Happy Happenings

I was doubting our weather experts last night when no snow was falling, but this morning I awoke to the blizzard they had been predicting.

So today was filled with snow... hot chocolate... a warm cozy home filled with the kids... and that is the recipe for a wonderful day!

The kids played ping pong & board games... didn't even turn on the TV for a movie! Yay!

My youngest even played his violin for me! Isn't he adorable?

 

We're still under the blizzard warning but it looks like tomorrow will be back to work and school as usual. Tonight, however, I'm going to bed feeling blessed for a day shut in. It was full and fabulous!

It's that time of year.

Yep- winter is upon us here in west Michigan and the snow is delighful! So long as I don't have to drive in it. My husband does, so I'm not crazy about that part. But it's already snowing and blowing and the weather report is that we'll be getting a blizzard this week. The storm system looked HUGE on the radar! When I took the dog out earlier I was getting smacked in the face with teeny tiny snowballs falling from the sky. It's a regular winter wonderland!

To add to the beautiful snow, the Christmas lights are glowing throughout the neighborhood. The old fashioned lights on the round shrubs remind me of gum drops on frosted cupcakes underneath their thick blanket of white.

At my house the special ornaments have been retrieved from dusty boxes in the basement and the kid's handmade decorations from Christmases past are displayed about the living room. My cinnamon, spice and fir scented candles are filling the air with the aroma of Christmas. My #2 offspring seems to think there is something inherently wrong with you if you don't want Christmas music playing 24/7 so when she's awake there's music filling the house as well.

I'm not so convinced that "Jesus is the reason" for this insanely commercialized season anymore, which deeply saddens me, nor am I sure it ever was after looking into it's origins. But I can say that I do still love this time of year. It's just...cozy. I think tomorrow I will turn on the Bing Crosby Christmas music and work on my Christmas cards for a while. Then it's out to the backyard to build a snow man! I found the most adorable little book called Snowmen that I think we'll refrence.

Ahhh...and right now I think I'll grab myself a cup of hot Chocolate.
How's the weather in your neighborhood?  Any snow?

And we begin again...

  How did I ever let such a long string of days slip by me without a single blog post? Where did they go? This seems to be my reoccurring theme these days. Well, if I'm going to be honest, maybe my entire adult life. But especially so in the past few months. Minutes blur into days and then into weeks and just like that! …Those little moments are gone and it's nearly a new year.

  It's not that I haven't been "noticing" the little things. Rather I've not been "noting" them. I would sit down to my laptop, feeling hopeful that I would be able to eloquently get my ideas and visions from my head to my blog, but alas…nada thing. Instead I would fret over what I should or shouldn't blog and then dissect every word and every sentence until none of it would do and I would click "delete".
  I think one of my problems, aside from my own writing insecurities is that I had read something somewhere a few months ago that sort of warped my idea of what my blogging "should" be. The writer believed that if you were going to blog you should never surprise your readers by veering from your "theme", that you should always leave out the personal and so on. Looking back, I probably misunderstood some of what they were trying to convey. But, when I started this blog I guess I really thought its primary purpose was to share my creations and vintage findings, however I couldn't resist writing about other things that mattered to me or inspired me. So it got messy (in my mind anyway).

  So what was my "theme" anyway? Perplexing…Was I blogging to share my Etsy, vintage finds, artful-crafty tidbits? Or to share my stories, my life- me? Herein lies the problem. I can't divide the two. My life (like everyone's) IS art. Hand-crafted and shaped by a creator... and at this point, yes, I'm vintage too. On top of all this I'm definitely a "veerer"! I much prefer the rabbit trails over the expressway. So the answer has to be- Blog about both!

  I know. You're probably thinking "Why all the drama? Of course you can blog about one, the other or both." But that is the big deal! Me, the newborn blogger, has just found her wings. She has been freed from such a narrow "theme". I've recently found other bloggers who have been where I stand. And they've inspired me to not only look at the things I post about as art, but also to look at the one who's posting as art. (Now that I think of it; my husband has always told me I'm a piece of work ;)
  To make sure we're clear; this is a blog about the very imperfect life of an A.D.D. girl who loves God, crafting, family- life! Call it eclectic. That sounds much more impressive than A.D.D.!
  So this is my "tabula Rasa" post. (meaning "clean slate") No more nit-picking over words, phrases or that picture that can't be posted due to the pile of dishes in the background. Nope. Just the real stuff. Art- Imperfections and all.   My life is full of surprises, art, God, family, adventures, photography, mishaps, crafts, vintage treasures, handmade lovelies, handmade disasters, laughter, tears ...and it's all wrapped up into one big wonderful-weird package! I just cannot divorce my crafting from the everyday life stuff! They're intertwined.

My soaps...almost ready for my Etsy shop!

Just wanted to share the soaps I've prepared to sell in my Etsy shop in the next week. I'm hooked! I absolutely love making each and every bar and love using them even more. So far I've got Autumn Oat & Honey, Amber Romance, Tea tree and Cashmere & Cotton.
I'm going to have to do an update post here pretty soon about the happenings around the homefront. Lots of happy things to report! A busy but blessed autumn season.

A Tale of Two Soap Makers...

I've been quiet lately, but not idle! My company has stayed fairly busy lately so I've been working, tending to sick children here and there (all of them just fine now), playing with food and textiles when I've had a chance... but the coolest thing I got to do/make was natural soap!

My friend Cindy and I had a soap making adventure earlier this week (that she detailed quite nicely on her blog).

Neither of us had ever made cold pressed soap and I really thought it would be a lot more difficult, but with the instructions we followed it was pretty simple and straight forward.

We were a little nervous about handling the lye, but found that it was really not that scary.

(We still, however, took that part out to the garage.)

Came back inside to mix in the oils,

...poured it into our fancy, wax paper-lined molds,

... and swadled in a blanket for the night.

Cut...

...and then place on a rack to dry for 2-6 weeks! I can't wait. It smells so good!

If you've been thinking about it, but haven't known where to begin, check out the link for the instructions above or another help we had was the book Natural Soap Making by Susan Miller Cavitch.

Two batches down and hopefully a few more before Christmas is upon us!

 

Not promised tomorrow.

It's been fairly slow-paced around here this week after a couple of days of chaos last week. My husband had to rush to make plans to fly out to Oregon last Friday with his brother.  His step- father (who really was "dad" from age 1) has been battling cancer along with other health issues for a few years now and he passed away Saturday- just hours after the boys reached his bedside. He was still so young.  Another reminder to me that we're not promised tomorrow. Or the next minute, for that matter.

So I've tried to be more aware this week of how I spend my time, my words, my energy...

 Grabbing all the hugs and kisses I can get from the kids,

Relishing those nightly phone conversations with my sweetie while he's gone,

Enjoying the day at home with my sick, stuffy-nosed boy,

Visiting with my neighbor for an afternoon,

(Spending less time on the computer!!!)

thanking God for every moment He's given me.

So while I've not been dragging my laptop out to blog; I did take a few snapshots of life this week.

A rainy morning...

The rain smelled and sounded beautiful.

A new candle I got from the artisan market downtown.

It really does smell just like real apples.

Perfect for a rainy first day of fall.

Got a few projects done (Which I will share later).

And a few got started.

Hello kitty!

And time to call it a day.

I'll share some of the things I'm working on in my next post. I have really had a lot of fun playing around and creating things this week. The only nice thing about Nate's absence this week is that I can spread my various projects all about my kitchen table (instead of my desk in the dungeon) and not clean it up every night!

Oh! I will also share some of my recent vintage fabric finds that will be added to my Etsy shop soon... Very cool finds indeed!

Reflections of summer

 It's been a  good summer.

A little camping...

A little gardening out back...

Watching our new kitty grow...

More time w/ the kids...

A few projects were completed...

I made the tote w/out the cat "applique"...

So here we are at the end of it -just like that.

Autumn is going to be good.