Family and Another OWOH Gift

Hello fellow bloggers, Hope you all have had a great weekend. Mine has been pretty good. We've had somewhat nicer weather and I even got my van completely clean inside and out with hubby's help. It smells so much better in there and the dash board is nice and shiny again. :)

Today we had a family gathering at my mom's place to celebrate Bobbie's 1 year since her surgery and one of my brothers has a February birthday. Bobbie wanted to cook and we have a vegetarian in the family so I made the meat sauce yesterday and filled a crock pot and she made the vegetarian sauce at mom's house plus cooked the noodles. I surprised my brother with a Cherry Chocolate cake, a favorite. It was so nice having Bobbie's help instead of her zonked out on the couch. Everyone has noticed how much better she is doing. The cousins enjoy seeing each other and they are all growing so fast.

This is us: My sister and her family and one of my nephew's is missing from the pic. Mom is sitting on my niece's knee. She started this brood, with me, yep I'm the oldest in my family. LOL! The little guy is my daughter Billie's best friends son. She (they) are also her and my son-in-laws roommates. They are like family to us so we didn't mind at all when the little guy jumped up on the bench with us. She (Ashley) is taking the picture.

Sasha smells something in this pretty pink paper.

So I thought I had better get to showing my latest OWOH win received recently. This is from Angie of Big Hill Goddess . Her blog is a lot of fun. I loved that this One World One Heart blog giveaway offered a chance at two different packages and a cross stitch. I was especially delighted when I found I had won the dream package. It is all purples and lavender and I have always been interested in the meaning of dreams. Not the nightmare kind of dreams, just the dreamy dreams when silly things play out in our heads while we are sleeping. Like people flying, or dogs jumping through windows or trees talking. The first two are recurring dreams I have. So here are more pics of my wonderful OWOH win...

Frankie has joined Sasha in the inspecting of the package.

Isn't this just the loveliest little Art Doll! The package is dried lavendar.

I plan to wrap the lavendar in this pretty embroidered hanky to make a sachet. I'll use the pretty purple yarn Angie used to wrap the package with to tie the sachet up.

My package even included a handmade journal. A ribbon is wrapped completely through this journal to tie it up with. I love the artwork in the front cover. And the dream book comes with a journal too.
(I have no idea why blogger loaded this picture sideways.)
So now you've seen it. My dreamy package from Angie at Big Hill Goddess. Angie is a mom to three grown children and to put it in her own words: "I enjoy baking and cooking, sewing, crafting art dolls, and reading. And I am somewhat of a coffee addict. ". I have enjoyed Angie's blog since finding her through OWOH and am following her now. I do hope you will take the time to visit her little piece of blogland. If you really want to get to know Angie read this swap-bot introduction post. She does a great job of introducing the blog world to who she is and what she is about. I can't wait to see more of her Art doll creations.

Well I think this post is way too long so I will save my finished 2010 January Journal for another day. I know it's the last day of February already. It should have been finished a month ago. But that's OK, I've had fun playing in it and I finished the back cover recently so I'll show you the last pages soon. Until then...

Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Yourself,

Tess

(For those that are missing spell check in blogger, mine is back. Have no idea where it went for a few days but am glad it is here again.)

R.I.P. Tony, R.I.P. Dennis, This Holiday Over - Another to Come

Greetings, This has been a very traumatic Thanksgiving Holiday. One that we all will not soon forget. For starters my cousin DeAnna was found unresponsive during the night on Wed. night. She is a severe diabetic. Her husband could not get her mouth open. She registered zero blood sugar at the E.R. Long story short she spent some time in ICU and is now home with her family and doing well. This just a few weeks after heart surgery.

My cousin Sara's husband was found shot on Thursday morning. Both Tony and Sara are Illinois Highway Patrol Officers. We still don't know the whole story but are being told it was a self inflicted wound. Sara is young, early twenty's. Their marriage was young, maybe 3years. They have a baby boy. They need a lot of prayer.

Thursday evening my youngest daughter called to tell us her best friend since 1st grade father died. She called him dad too. Dennis had been ill for some time but this was not expected. His family needs your prayers too.

As always we all try to go on with our daily lives in the face of death. It is harder for some, Tony's wife, Dennis's wife and children. But we all try. Sara is with her sister. Dennis's family is coming together. My youngest even called my oldest just to talk. This year of trials and illnesses has brought them closer together. For this I am thankful.

Then to top all of this off of the 14 people that were at my house 9 were sick with the flu by Sat. At first we thought it was food poisoning but could not narrow it down. Then we found out one of my nieces had the H1N1 vaccine at school on Wed. The CDC informed my sister anyone receiving the vaccine is contagious for 48 hours after. Hmm! Why then administer it the day before a holiday? Luckily we all got the seasonal flu as it only lasted 24 to 48 hours. I hear everyone is all better now. Thank God!

I found a heart shaped potato. I wish I had photographed it before peeling. But still it shows it was heart shaped.

Showing the love on Thanksgiving Day is my daughter, brother and nephew. Silly bunch...



Our town does a Christmas Parade every year the day after Thanksgiving. This year we participated with a Cub Scout Pack instead of just on-looking. It was a good distraction and a lot of fun.

Yukon Cornelius and The Bumble were there too.

I've posted more pictures of the Parade Floats on my Associated Content site. You can see them if you go here.

I apologize if I seemed to ramble in this post. I just had things to get out and I know you all would understand.

On a happy note today is my husbands birthday. Wish Chuckie a Happy birthday for me will ya!

Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be yourself,

Tess

The Kreativ Blogger Award

As I mentioned in my last post Peggy Gatto has bestowed upon me this wonderful award.

I am honored and humbled to know that someone would think I am a Kreativ Blogger. Wow!

So now to the fun, here are the rules as taken from Susie's 1st floor flat blog (she gave the award to Peggy):

The Rules:
List 7 things that you LOVE.
Link to the person who has tagged you.
Choose 7 more bloggers to give the Kreativ Blogger Award to.
Comment on those 7 blogs to let the recipients know you chose them.

The 7 things that I love are:
1. My husband, who was my love when I was still but a child. The one who never betrayed my trust and remembered that even if I didn't look like it I was still a child. The man whom found me (or did I find him) and renewed that love as an adult and married me with my troubles and all. I love you honey.

2. My daughters, two young ladies who have seen awful things with mom and still survived. One who was raised by a mother who was also still a child and yet still today calls me mommy and has forgiven my faults. And one who has grown to become miss independent but still remembers mom needs to hear her sweet voice now and then. I love you my daughters.

3. My family, a large extended group of people. Mother, siblings, Aunts, Uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and an honery and lovable granddaughter. These people that I can be apart from for days and weeks and months on end and then sit down to chat with as if we had just seen each other yesterday. Yes, blood is thicker than water and I love them all; even the ones that tend to get under my skin.

4. I love the smell of fresh cut grass, always have. There is no smell as inviting to me than the scent of freshly mowed grass in the air. Even now with allergies and asthma affecting my senses I still enjoy that wonderful scent even through watery eyes.

5. I love how my husband smells after he has grilled our supper. That smokey, charcoal scent of an open fire or even when he's cooked over the gas grill. There is just something about that wonderful scent that increases my appetite. And I love the smell of the big camp fires at Boy Scout camps too.

6. I love poetry. The mixing of words to create images in the readers mind has always intrigued me. Reading poetry, writing poetry, there is no better companion when one is ill or hurting. No better therapist when one is trying to figure out an inner haunting.

7. I love the Internet and all of the wonderful blogs I have found. Believe it or not there was a time I argued the point about getting a home computer or the Internet. "We don't need that". "It'll cost too much." Bah!! Now I have seen places I had never imagined existed. I have found poetry and art and museums so wonderful and magical. I have made friends in India and Australia, Canada and Finland. And Hawaii, oh I mustn't forget Hawaii. And here I found wonderful souls willing to pray for my Bobbie, for me, and offer me strength in the form of words of encouragement. I love this thing they call the Internet.

And now for some blogs I believe deserve the Kreative Blogger Award also:

1. Mamta over at glimpes of me is a new friend I met at poetrydances. She is one of my favorite poets and I love reading her posts. I am sure you will too.

2. And then of course there is the wonderful arteology blog. I believe I found Jamie through this years OWOH event. She is such a sweetheart and I love all of the vintage pics she finds. She must have helped create Photo Shop because she sure knows how to use it. :) Her wonderful images never fail to make me smile.

3. Misty Mawn definitely deserves the Kreativ Blogger Award. It was Misty's January Journal challenge that really got me to experimenting more with paper, crayons, paints, fabric and learning how to just play and not worry about what others might think. She wears her emotions on her sleeve and if she's having a down time she just says so. I think she gave me the courage to be able to send out a prayer request for Bobbie. Misty's art is so inspirational to me. I love it and how she mixes words, thoughts and quotes into the mix.

4. And if you haven't yet you really must visit the evolution of nancy. Nancy is an exceptional blogger, mixed media artist and photographer. She is another blogger I found through the OWOH event I believe. She always has such interesting content on her blog and often tells the stories behind the photographs or artwork. (She also sent me a surprise gift by snail mail. I'll be blogging about it later this week.)

5. It's Turquoise Cro Thyme. I like making collages and I like seeing what others do with the art of collage. This blogger has some really fun and interesting collage ideas and I love seeing what she has come up with next.

6. Aimslee of the Paper Paisleys blog is so talented and comical. I love visiting her blog as I'm always guaranteed a good laugh or just a feel good smile will come over me.

7. vol.25 is one of the first blogs I figured out how to follow. Jessi is so very creative. She is a stay at home mom to cute Trinity and Journey and she sells her wonderful drawings and such in her etsy shop. I own an original she made of an idea I offered to her. A wonderful car with a wonderful quote.

I could blog about so many more wonderful bloggers out there that I follow; like Lori and Diane and Jude and Nina and, and, and. There is never a lack of creativity among my online friends. Painters, crafters, sewers, bloggers, poets, sculptors, photographers and so much more. I found some of these people by following links on comments on other peoples blogs. It's fun and a great learning experience, following blogs. Now go say hi to all of these fine bloggers and find some new ones to follow too. If you're feeling blue you just might cheer up and if you're feeling sunny you just might cheer someone else up. Go ahead, browse around, you know you want to! :)

Bye for now,

Tess

Bobbie is Out of ICU

Please read an update on Bobbie at my AC site posted Feb. 20th first if you haven't yet here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1496189/update_on_bobbie_post_surgery.html?cat=5

Then see the photo update of my granddaughters first visit to see mommy since the surgery (below). The visit went well. Bobbie is out of ICU and in her own room.
Raven wasn't shocked at all to see her mommy without hair. We prepared her by showing previously taken pictures.

Bobbie has missed her little girl and so enjoyed her visit even though it really tired her out.


Gifts for Bobbie to brighten her room. The bear is a Ty Bear named The Beginning. We thought the name was perfect and so did Bobbie.

Bobbie gives a smile for all of the wonderful prayers, thoughts and words of encouragement she has received from family and friends here and in blog land. The black eye just appeared a few days ago as well as swelling and bruising on the right side of face. We are told this is normal.



The sun setting on a beautiful day.

Bobbie can walk, talk, use the bathroom and feed herself. Praise God!!

She still has trouble with some paralysis of the left hand and arm but can move it and is working with occupational therapy to strengthen it. This morning she said she fed herself breakfast and didn't even have to change her gown afterwards. She has stated she had no idea using a spoon could be so hard. She now understands what babies learning to use utensils must go through when we adults are impatient with them. I told her to take all the time she needs to master that arm/hand. Her walking is somewhat slow but she is gaining speed daily.

Thank You all for your wonderful gift of prayers and encouragement for us.

Flowers from her sister.

Please continue to pray for Bobbie's swift recovery............

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is My Mothers Birthday


Greetings everyone,

Today is a very special day. It is my mothers birthday. I wanted to mark her special day by posting something here just for her. Something that not only she would see but everyone would see. My mother and I have not always had the best of relationships. For many years we were completely apart. I found out though that she never gave up on me, not really, not like I had thought. And I thank her for that.



So today I want to wish her not only a Happy Birthday,

but many other things as well.

I could wish that we had never been separated like we were,

but so many lives would be altered if I wish for that, so I can't.

I could wish that she lived closer to me,

but she loves her quiet country home, so I shan't.

So instead I wish for her-

many sunny days to warm her face,

many friends to cheer her when she's down,

good health to keep her active,

enough in her bank account to satisfy her needs-

and a bit more to play with,

enough love to spill out of her heart-

for both her and others,

but most of all,

I wish for her many more lovely years

here with us on this earth.



Happy Birthday Mom, I love you !!!!