Christmas Crafting

I started some early Christmas crafting this week.

This blue and white set of Christmas ornaments are made with vintage Lilly Pulitzer fabric, white felt and beads. They come with a ribbon loop attached, all ready for hanging.

You can find these and other crafty fun in my Etsy shop!

Happy 4th of July!

Here's hoping you all enjoy your day and remember the freedoms we have (that many other's don't) very day of the year!

Happy Easter 2012

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Happy Halloween 2011

From my old bones to yours ;)

My Cauldron Still Bubbles!

So here it is, Fall 2011. It's been a long hot summer and as far as I can tell, it's going to be a long hot winter in my house too. I was hoping my hot flashes and night sweats would start to ease up soon, but I was wrong they have come on stronger and with a vengeance!

I just started adding vitamin E to my supplements to see if that helps. I've read several reports of women finding some relief with vitamin E. If it just eases up enough so I can sleep, it will be a huge improvement.

I want so much to get excited about the holidays for my son, but between the lack of sleep and the constant daytime feeling like your going to faint dead away, it's hard to stay cheerful.

I also have been dealing with a fair amount of nausea which I was not really aware of as a symptom of menopause until I did some reading.

This is like pregnancy on steroids but you don't get a baby in nine months. Worse, it goes on for years! About five so far for me. I'm gonna just say it: Menopause sucks.

* I'll let you know if the vitamin E helps :)

It's a New Year

So now it's 2011, where have I been for a month? This holiday season has been so long and drawn out and depleting. At least it felt that way to me.

Now I think I have a cold coming and just want to sleep. Of course that's not going to happen, on to plan B.

All I need now is a plan B! Happy New Year all!

Happy Turkey day!

Icicles, Winter 2010

Icicle in Florida, winter of 2010.

Icicles in Ohio, winter of 2010.

No comparison. I'm staying in Florida.

Christmas Cactus

My Christmas cactus is blooming! Just in time.

Happy Holidays To All!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas

and Happy Holidays!

No More Grandma Elf

Some of you may have seen the Grandma Elf video I posted on the weekend. It was one of the Elf Yourself videos you can make. I made one with my mother's face on the disco dancing elf, and I thought it was cute. She however did not. She does not have Internet or understand blogs (she's 82) so I showed it to her when she was at my house this weekend, plus the one I made with the kittens.

I really thought she would laugh at herself dancing to disco in an elf suit. Boy was I wrong! She called me today and told me she didn't appreciate being made fun of and that the video was obscene and offensive. I was floored, I don't get it! I didn't put her head on a stripper, it's an elf for crying out loud. I was trying to include her in our holiday fun. I have one of my son doing the same dance. So I deleted it today.

Maybe she was afraid my many, many readers (three, I believe) were laughing at her. I never think of her as being from such a different generation than I, but I guess she really is. I saved a copy just for me and my son, because he thought Grandma made a cool elf, too bad she didn't think of it that way. Hope I didn't offend any other grandma's out there.

Something Else to be Thankful For

Thanksgiving has always been kind of an odd holiday at our house. My father was half native American and my mother is English. I didn't live in this country until I was twelve. We did celebrate Thanksgiving but it never had any long standing family traditions or recipes we shared. Mom did her best to cook the standard fare and we were told that it was a time to be grateful for the things we had. Dad stories of the Pilgrims and the Indians, did not match what we were taught in school however.

The textbook stories made the day easier to celebrate, but in my gut I always thought it sounded too warm and fuzzy to be entirely true. As an adult, I know the real history now and choose to celebrate it as a day to give thanks for the harvest and the good things we have shared throughout the year. This is what I will tell my son and as he grows, I will teach him about what really happened to the Indians. Considering the actual history, I suppose we should also be thankful any of his ancestors survive today.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all!

If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them

Over the years, I would wait until two weeks before any holiday to put up decorations or begin the seasonal celebrations. I figured two weeks was plenty of time to get in the mood and get things done. Then I had my son and a strange thing happened. Two weeks was not enough time to enjoy the season. In fact, there was not ever enough time.

As the holiday approached I would get more depressed and anxious that it would be over too soon. His second Christmas, his third Halloween, it's here and gone. Never to be back again. So I began to procrastinate. I didn't think about the approaching holiday at all. I tried to ignore it, as if I could stop it from coming. Then time could stand still and my baby would always be with me. Of course then it would three days until... and panic would set in.

This was not working either. I can not stop time, I can not even slow it down! What I decided this year was to throw myself into it as early as possible. Maybe those folks who put up their decorations early knew something that I didn't. Perhaps when you have a child you need all the time you can get to submerse yourself in the season and make as many memories as you can.

So this year, the candles are out, the Jack-o-Lantern is on the porch and we are going to an October Fest today. If you can't beat them, I say join them!

Make many, many memories, because that really is all that's left you.

Easter Eve

It’s 10pm Easter Eve and my son has finally fallen asleep. I have put together his Easter basket and now it goes back in the closet until after our pet sitting rounds in the am.

We had to do this at Christmas too, no time to stop and open gifts when there are dogs waiting to go out all over town.

Our holidays are not the same as most folks. Since most of my pet sitting clients are special needs animals (I’m also a vet tech) on medications, we make multiple visits to check on them during the day, so holiday meals and schedules are worked in around the animals. For my son who is four, it has always been this way. He knows that we go feed the pets first and Santa/Easter Bunny, comes while we are gone.

For me, it’s hard because this was not the way I envisioned holiday mornings with my son but then again, much of my life is not the way I envisioned it. Running my own business is what allows me to be at home with my son so I’m grateful for that. I doubt I will be doing this forever, but for now it sort of works.