Capture the Details

okay. got it.

Is anyone else out there feeling the frazzle dazzle of the Christmas season??? Getting stressed out by the mile-long to-do lists? Just wondering. :-)

I will admit I'm feeling the frazzle dazzle.

I think that's why I was sent a message. I'm scurrying around here doing the everyday laundry and dishes and the daily 'pick ups and put aways' while also trying to do the Christmas baking and decorating and shopping and wrapping and gift making. It leads to holiday

As I was doing the dishes this afternoon I got my message... Stop. Take a breather. Take a break. Look around you and enjoy all that you have been given. And how, you may ask, was this message delivered?

By this little sparrow. He sat on the window ledge outside my kitchen sink taking a nap, and I thought How can he afford to do that when it's so cold and he should be busy eating seeds and keeping warm???

Then it occurred to me. The lightbulb lit above my head. If this little bird can pause for a few minutes and collect himself and not freak out because there is only so much time in a day to get his things done, maybe I should do the same. This little bird will still be here tomorrow and he will still have his list of things to accomplish, but he will be a happier bird because he paced himself and didn't worry. OK. Got it. I need to allow myself to

 

Close my eyes and be still. Take in the smells... cookies baking, a fresh Christmas tree, bayberry candles burning. Take in the sounds.... holiday music playing softly in the background, the kids peeling the plastic wrap off their candy canes, Benny tapping his foot on the floor as he lays there writing more things on his Christmas list (LOL). Take in the sights... the glass container filled with Christmas cards from family and friends, a beautiful tree decorated mostly by Sarah and Ben, a pretty pink poinsettia on top of a cabinet in the living room, our two nativity sets laid out just so by Sarah.

Relax. Enjoy the season. Let go of the guilt (that's a biggie for me... don't know why I carry such a load of guilt about everything). Message received and taken to heart.

Even Sophie gets it. LOL!   buh bye frazzle dazzle....

:-)

unending work in progress

I think I am finally going to get my Christmas decorations up and it will be time to take them down! This Christmas feels like a work in progress that will never end! But it's all good! :-)

We are still decorating the tree. I did the lights today while the kids were at school. Had a bit of help, too...

Tonight the kids were putting on the *special* decorations.... their handmade ornaments from school over the years and all the decorations that have a special history and meaning. Next is the antique shiny bright ornaments that I inherited from my grandmother. And finally the bead garland and the star of the tree ~the angel. All in good time. LOL :-)

After school today Ben was working on a special project for the student teacher that will be leaving their classroom on Thursday. Each child is creating a page for a book that will be given to her on her last day. I had my camera out from the afternoon when I snapped a shot of my lighting assistant, so I took a few of the kids at the table.

Of course, Miss Don't Take A Picture Of Me realized what I was doing....

...and gave me the look... 

I was even trying to be sneaky and use Mr. and Mrs. Claus as a shield but she still knew what I was up to. The girl knows her momma. :-)

By the way, Mr. and Mrs. Claus were made by my Grandmam a good 25 to 30 years ago. I remember her sitting at her dining room table making them. She made three sets, I believe, and her set came into my possession this past summer. They sit prominently on my kitchen table and I treasure them dearly. :-)

one VERY happy little boy

Months and months and months of waiting have finally paid off.

I can't remember if it was last Christmas or Ben's birthday, which is March 3, that Ben got a frog habitat for a gift. It included a coupon code to order a leopard frog tadpole. He was disappointed to learn that the company didn't ship the tadpoles until it was the proper time, which in this case, is November. So Ben waited all this time and when November rolled around he started to get anxious. Finally, yesterday I got email notification that the tadpole had shipped. Ben has been floating on a cloud.

Today, in the mail, was a small Manila shipping envelope stamped: live, keep from heat and cold. Inside the envelope was a tiny test tube and inside that was one very teeny tiny tadpole that now has the official name of Tad....

Can you tell Ben is happy?

He loves this little guy.  We tied a string around the test tube and let Tad float in his new home for awhile, getting accustomed to the water temperature.

 
He's in good company, we have three other amphibians in the family as well.... Toga the African dwarf frog, and Spotty and Hot Tamale, the fire belly toads. :-)

red

 
A beautiful red pear. So pretty that I had to stop eating it, set it by the window and take a picture of it.

Ahhhhhhhh, red.

May you find a color this weekend that stops you in your tracks and makes you aware of the beauty around you. :-)

flutter

My ideas remind me of butterflies. So pretty, and yet so elusive. I have countless ideas - I am constantly inspired by all the beautiful blogs and magazines and books that are available for creative individuals. I drool and get excited about package design and paper patterns and clever projects created by others. I might see a technique or color combination and a little butterfly is born inside my head. It flashes its wings at me. I want to jump up and carefully capture it before it disappears. Most times I'll jot down what my idea is in a little inspiration notebook that I keep.

So pretty.

And for some reason right now, so elusive to me.

I sit at my creative space all ready to *make something*. I crack my knuckles and wiggle my fingers and get ready to dig in and then..... nothing. I have my pretty little idea in front of me and nothing comes from it. A creative block. I am filled with doubt and fear. What if I don't make the right thing? What if it doesn't turn out like I envisioned it? I've had bouts of this before, I think every creative individual does, no matter what their medium. But this is the worst it has ever been for me.

My little butterfly model seems to want to send me a message, though. I saw him outside my kitchen window as I was doing dishes. Several hours ago. He is still there. Flitting around and flashing his beautiful wings. I think he's trying to tell me that if I hang in there the creative block will pass, as it always does. And those pretty, creative ideas will land and settle and allow me to *make something*. :-)

fall finery

I'm a Spring girl at heart, but I do love Autumn when it rolls around. The colors are so rich and the lighting is more dramatic at this time of year. And there's nothing like the smell of Fall... the leaves in the woods, the baking of pies and crisps, and the ripe apples.

So, it's that time of year again, time to make homemade applesauce. It's becoming a tradition for my mom and me and Leann to get together and spend the day making a huge batch.

We started off early at the farm, with our own cute little apple, Aubrie....

We bought our Ida Red apples (they make a pretty pink applesause) and then took a bit of time to admire and smell the beautiful mums....

 
Then we walked down to visit the animals...

Aubrie got a kick out of the "gucks" (ducks) and the goats...

 And then it was back to my mom's house to make our applesauce. Tonight for supper: pork chops and applesauce, of course! (remember that episode from the Brady Bunch?!)

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I took the kids to visit my Uncle Jim and Aunt Jann at the greenhouses a couple of days ago. Sarah wanted to get a little gourd pumpkin and she picked out a cute one...

Sarah and Ben walked around quite a bit.... reminds me so much of me and my brother Doug when we were younger and played there...

Doug and I used to build forts and tunnels out of the bales of straw, and just to smell the fresh straw brings back memories. We would have on our winter coats and gloves, but our wrists would get all scratched up from the straw poking in underneath our sleeves. Sarah and Ben climbed around a bit and made 'furniture' out of exposed corners in the pile. I got a nice shot of them together....

There is nowhere near as much straw as there was when Doug and I were little... production has changed a lot in the past thirty years. But there was enough for them to get a taste of what I experienced when I was their age. :-)

Edgar says

Meet Edgar. I adopted him today. Found him sitting with a bunch of friends in a Pottery Barn store. It was love at first sight.

He's my buddy now. He is so well behaved. He sits where I ask him to sit. He has no qualms about wearing creative accessories. He is so polite. If you listen close you can hear him.....

Edgar says, "Have a nice weekend!"   :-)

tooth fairy central

The tooth fairy is scheduled to make an appearance tonight, and she was just here three nights ago.

Ben lost his top front tooth today at lunch, so he has the all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth look...

He has another tooth on the bottom that is very loose and he was trying like crazy to get that one out today, too.

Sarah had to have her two top eye teeth pulled and she had that done Thursday after school. If you know Sarah, you know this was no small thing. She has always had an intense fear of having anything done to her body, be it a shot, exam, having a splinter removed, having her feet measured (I think everyone in the mall heard her screaming that day), whatever. I can remember when she just turned three and the doctor and I had to physically restrain her - she was screaming, kicking and punching because she didn't want the doctor to touch her.

When her orthodontist told me this past July that she should have her eye teeth removed I thought oh. my. goodness. Lord, help me. You don't know my daughter.

But, I am soooooo proud of her. She was brave (but scared) and she had them both removed. This was her first experience with Novocaine (shots - egads!) and she wanted to know exactly what the dentist was doing. He, thankfully, is very good with kids and he worked with her to get her through it. So those of you that know Sarah personally - be amazed and proud!

Here she is today, and you can see the two gaps in her smile....

So proud. :-)

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In other news, I have a new item in my store called Flower Patch....

They are so cute! I used a few on a layout....

I know we're heading into fall, but I can never get enough flowers! :-)

grab a cup of coffee and make yourself comfortable.... it's a long one

I have a lot to share.....

•I made a mini album for my sister in law's birthday...

I played around with some lettering. First lightly in pencil, then in black ink and finally highlighted with a white pen...

The inside is very simple, just pictures on the pages and a bit of decoration inside the cover...

And, of course, you have to check out the back cover when you get something from me...

You wouldn't want to miss a picture like that!

•Todd and I took the kids up to my parent's cabin in the Poconos this weekend. Todd took the kids fishing in his boat, while I just sat back enjoying the view and reading a book....

Unfortunately, the kids didn't catch any fish, but they sure did try....

•Sunday night we celebrated my sister in law Kim's birthday. I finally got a picture of the four little monkeys together (these are the four *favorites* from the mini album)....

...and some cute pictures of them playing in the yard. The sun was setting so the light was very dramatic....

•Leann added a bunch of new things to her Etsy store. Here are a few highlights, but you can go to her store to see all the new stuff by clicking here.

This scarf is soooooo cool ~ it's reversable, cream on one side and a pretty blue on the other. Look, I'm a model....

You can see other images of it here.

This scarf has gold yarn woven in with the other colors. Go ahead, click on the image to see the pretty gold color...

Check out the details here.

She added a bunch of dish cloths like these....

Lots of fun colors, great for yourself or as gifts (Christmas is coming!). Check out the ones above here, and then look at all her other sets.

Really neat neck warmers in a bunch of colors. Here's a striped green one....

See all about it here and look for the other colors.

•I added a new item to my Etsy store this morning. Black Cat Crossing Scalloped Tags...

Details here.

So, did you finish your coffee? I did. :-)

checking in

Hi! Sorry it's been a bit quiet this week - I'm a bit under the weather. I think I'm on the rebound though, so hopefully a more colorful/entertaining post will be only a day or so away. :-)