Happy Easter

May you have a blessed Easter Holiday!

Calling all Papercrafters!

A couple of months ago, I mentioned that I was asked to host a retreat. The plans are under way! The girls and I have coordinated make-and-takes, and we're getting everything ironed out.  Here's a big shout out to anybody interested in attending! 

I'd love to get to know my readers in person! The retreat is scheduled for this summer, June 21-23 in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Whether your interest is scrapbooking, card making or general paper crafts, you'll have plenty of room to work as much, or as little as you'd like, all weekend. I have to get the hotel rooms reserved soon, so if you're interested, please email me and I'll give you more details. I'll have a special gift for any of my followers that decide to join us. Looking forward to having you join me!

My "Journey" is complete

Since the title of my cross stitch piece I have focused on was "Joy in the Journey" I thought this seemed like an appropriate title today! I have finally completed this piece, my first finish of the year, and I couldn't be happier!

I started this in November, and I think I have completed it in record time, for me anyway. I should have pressed it, but I was just happy to be able to put it away, and pull out a project with not so much green on it! I have a couple of other WIP I'll get back to now, one being a Christmas piece. I'm looking forward to working with the red!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

A Little Bunny

I have a wonderful group of customers that I get together with faithfully. For the last 5 years, these girls have come to my house on a Friday night, once a month to share our love of papercrafting. This is the part of my Close To My Heart business that I look forward to the most! We take turns providing a meal, and we enjoy each other's company. They are more like the sisters I never had, than customers. 

This past Friday was our night. I design a scrapbook layout that everybody assembles together, as well as another small project, usually a card. With Easter so close, I wanted something other than a card. Digging through my boxes of creative stash, I found Chinese take-out boxes that were calling out to be used, I've stored them way too long. With a little inspiration from another consultant, and a little bit of tweaking, we created bunny boxes:

Several of the girls have little grandchildren, so the boxes are perfect to put some little surprises in. Isn't he just the cutest! You can't see it, but he even has a fluffy cotton tail on the back! As it turned out, I had just enough boxes for the girls to each have one, not one left for myself. This is actually the one that Pam created. I'll just have to enjoy the little bunny in pictures!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

And so it begins!

Saturday was a busy day for us. We started out with a lot of enthusiasm, a good case of nerves, and just a little bit of fear. Saturday was the first day of our motocross racing season. There have been a couple of races already this year, but Avery chose to hold off. His first race was at a track in Lafayette, called Wildcat Creek. He's pretty much grown up, learned to ride there. It was his comfort zone. The weather was a wee bit cold to be standing outside, but the sun was out! Race number one, he chose to ride his new Kawasaki, 450cc bike. He did great, finished 7th place. Pretty good for his first race on that bike. Second race, he stalled the engine right before a jump, which put him in last place at the first lap. He quickly passed half the riders, and finished 12th. That was not his best, but pretty good. After completing all the races once, they go back, and do the same races a second time, and average their placement to determine their final standing. Avery got back out on his 450, ready to ride. If you've never seen the start of a race, let me tell you, it's scary. There are at least 30 bikes lined up side by side. When the gate drops, they all merge, trying to make it through the first turn, which is about one car lane wide. Avery has a fast reaction time, and was one of the 4 at the front of the pack, a perfect place to be. Unless the rider right in front of you decides for some unknown reason, to hit his brakes. The riders immediately behind can't possibly avoid a collision. In this case, the rider behind, was my son. I had my head turned, and from what I'm told, it was good I did not see him be thrown like a rag doll. All I saw after the traffic cleared, was my son, not able to get back up on his own. As a mom, as a nurse, first instinct is run out there to my boy. And I have done that, and been scolded by track officials, but I waited this time. He had gone done right in front of the medics. Needless to say, he didn't finish that race, or even start his next one. We loaded up, with the help of all our motocross friends there, and headed to the ER. I had the camera with me Saturday, but never pulled it out. I took one picture that day, with my phone. I wanted him to see what the rest of us were so worried about:

This was through 3 layers, which I am thankful he had so much on that day! He was run over by multiple bikes, so his elbow and hip were torn up as well. We were afraid of broken ribs, but amazingly, nothing broken. He's young and healthy, and is recovering slowly. There isn't another race again until after Easter. Bikes were taken apart over the weekend and new parts ordered.  Avery's had minor crashes before, I think this is the worst I've seen. So our season is just beginning, and I know it's going to get better from here!

Saying Goodbye

In my opinion, my boys have been fortunate. They have grown up in the country, with a creek to catch crawfish in, and a pond to fish in. And they always had a big dog, or two, by their side. When we moved to our current house, we had a black lab that quickly adapted from a fenced in city yard, to having acreage to play on. Then the neighbor had puppies. I went to see them, and brought one home, a Great Pyrenees that we named Buddy. At the time, I didn't know how big he'd get, I just knew he was a little fluffy white ball of fur that I fell in love with.

For almost thirteen years, Buddy fished with the boys, swam in the pool with them, and just kept his eyes on them. The past couple of years he has really slowed down. We were afraid that one day soon, we'd have to have him put to sleep. As if he was still looking out for us, he died on his own. We were by his side, and his tail wagged until the last minute. As hard as it was for a few days, I know he won't be suffering from skin allergies again this summer, and finally, I can smile for him.

Updates

With all of the running around, I realize that I haven't yet posted my update for the TUSAL this month. If you aren't familiar with this, you can read more about it on my previous posts. I haven't had near as much stitching time as I wanted this past month, but in my opinion, some is better than none. Here is my collection of threads for the month, as well as the piece that I've been working hard to complete:

I've done more stitching since taking this picture, and I'm getting so close to finishing this, hopefully this week! I've got a couple of other projects started that  I'm anxious to work on, but want this one done first.

The first weekend of March, I travelled to Wisconsin for my nursing clinical weekend. Everything I had read or heard said you will not believe the amount of stress this weekend would cause. I travelled out a day before my test so I could relax. I took my camera, hoping to get out and do some sightseeing. I never pulled it out. It was bitter cold and foggy. I was just not feeling it. And after 5 hours in the car, I really didn't want to drive anywhere either, so I stayed close to the hotel. I took my exercise clothes with me too, thinking workouts would be good for the stress. The hotel I stayed in has two buildings, connected by a skywalk. I was in the portion of the building that did not house the fitness room. My building did have a conference center, which hosted a pretty rowdy wedding reception the weekend I was there. There was also a major basketball tournament in town, so a lot of exhuberant basketball players/supporters. Needless to say, not much sleep, and I did not make the walk to the gym. I did go outside and walk around the hotel and local shopping center for about an hour. There was a bicycle trail behind the hotel that had mile marker signs, and I was tempted. I couldn't see very far down the trail though, and it was foggy, and I was alone, so on second thought, decided against it. I think a woman alone in a city she doesn't know, can't be too careful. Being out in the fresh air was good for me, I was calm when I showed up at the hospital Friday. All went as I hoped, and I was done testing, and back at my hotel by checkout time Sunday, with the coveted completion letter in hand. Now that I am done with classes, I am almost at a loss during the day! I still have some studying to do, since it will be almost two months before I get to take my state license exam for my RN. I have plenty of things I pushed aside the last couple of months, and I am finally getting around to them.

Last week, my baby boy finally made his way home, I was so relieved to have him back here. By 8pm the first night, he was already bored! I just laughed. He was used to hanging out with the guys all day until about 10pm. I tried to remind him before he left S. Carolina, we do live in the country, everybody's in school all day, it won't be the same back here, but he came home anyway. While I was testing, he shared a couple new snapshots with his dad, which they withheld from me, so as not to scare me! He's come so far with his riding:

He's made a couple of visits with his local friends, and I sense a change. He's been on his own and has grown up, not so much with his friends. He's gone to work today, and it's so very quiet in the house. I wish we could just stop the hands of time.

I spent my weekend cleaning. I emptied what was the guest room, and is now officially youngest son's room. I didn't realize how much I had stored in there, quite a bit of which needs to make its way back into my scrapbook area. Hm, I have already filled that back up since removing all that stuff, not sure where it's all going to go now. I was easily sidetracked going through boxes of my grandma's old pictures. I hope to be putting my dad's baby pictures into a scrapbook soon, now that I have them all sorted and into a common area. Among all the pictures, I found the sweetest old valentines, from my great grandfather to my great grandmother! They are so fragile, I can't believe they have survived. And my dilemma, what to do with them now? I will keep them, but I'd love to be able to have them in frames to display for valentine's day, without destroying them. Anybody have any ideas how to do this?

Well, I'd love to chat a little bit longer, but I promised the hubby I would spend the day completing the taxes. Plenty of other things I'd love to do, but he's been waiting patiently for weeks. Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Simple Woman's Daybook-March

Outside my window it's still dark, all is calm and quiet, the rain has finally stopped.

I am thinking that I am going to relax, and do some cross stitch this morning.

I am thankful that I COMPLETED NURSING SCHOOL this weekend! What a crazy, stressful weekend, but I only need to get ready for state boards now.

In the kitchen, a pot of coffee is staying warm, waiting for me to enjoy.

I am wearing my comfy robe. Nowhere I have to go, nothing I have to do today. I'm not in a hurry.

I am reading questions from fellow students on my school website. Now that I am done, I am comfortable responding, and helping others out.

I am looking forward to clearing out my practice lab that has taken over my basement for months! Maybe today I will pack it all up, and offer to share it with another student preparing for the weekend I just completed.

Around the house all is quiet. My favorite time of day.

A favorite quote for today: "I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me". Philippians 4:13

A few plans for the rest of the week are to get some cleaning done! My baby is coming home from South Carolina this week. We were in the process moving him from one bedroom to another, and that was put on hold. It's time to finally combine everything to one room, before he gets home!


Have a beautiful day, I know I will!