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.

 

A night at the fair

The weather was cold and evetually wet...

The food was expensive and I'm convinced could cause a heart attack on the spot...

But it was a night spent laughing and playing with my husband and kids and I relished every last bit of
it.

And after a night of thrills, fair food, and then rain...we were ready to head home and warm up.

I love nights like this one.

They make me want to hit the "pause" button and hold on just a little longer.

A Saturday afternoon

Saturday my husband was out of town.

So I, along with child #1and #3, set out on a mission to find pretty places to photograph.

We had so much fun exploring places we didn't even know existed.

I'm not a professional photographer by ANY means, but I do love both old and pretty things and taking pictures, so why not?!

This was my first time really venturing out with the purpose of finding things to photograph.

I love altered art and mixed media so maybe this fall when I have a little more time, I'll work with some of the pictures I took.

But that's not really even what I sat down to write about.

I just realized how many details I miss every day because I don't take time to look.

Somehow just looking at the world through a camera lense causes me to see details that I don't normally take notice of.

It was so nice to just take the time to "stop and smell the flowers" and enjoy exploring the world around me with my kids. The sky was gorgeous, everything was so green, the temprature was perfect...

And you know, I didn't even hear any "I'm bored" exclamations until a few hours into our trip.

What a beautiful day.

And what a wonderful God that created it.

I wanted to thank Peaseblossom Studio for adding my Vintage Zero fan to their treasury. What a beautiful layout!
I also wanted to thank Dandy Bread And Candy for featuring my retro timer. What a cool blog! Right up my alley. Full of anything and everything vintage. I had so much fun browsing through the posts today.

Back to school creations

I found a wonderful blog several months ago called Orange Flower patterns.

This morning as I was browsing her tutorials I found this very cool pencil pouch. Very Cute!


Her tutorials are fabulous so I wanted to share them! Simple to understand and well detailed. I have used a few of them, one of which is this crocheted basket that she had posted last year. The perfect place to put school papers etc. until you have the time to sort them.

Simple even for someone who is fairly new to crochet. I was thinking this would be cute hanging open on a hook on the wall or something. You would probably want to use a sturdier yarn. Maybe nylon cord or hemp twine?

Anyway, better start sewing...only two more weeks until school starts!

How He loves us

I'm in sort of a reflective mood today. Just thinking about the things God's been bringing us through and the things that we're learning along the way...About some of the 'pruning' He has had to do on us which brought pain for a season, but is beginning to yield good fruit in our lives...Just thinking about His patience with His children and how good He is.

"He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricain, I am the tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of the sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions
Eclipsed by glory
And realize just how beautiful you are
And how great are your affections for me
Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so"
(You can scroll down to the playlist music box on the right to stop the music so you can hear the video.)