The Simple Woman's Daybook 1

I have decided to participate in this Monday writing exercise. You can join too if you want to. Find all the information by clicking on the button below.

FOR TODAY August 31, 2009

Outside my window... The sun is shining. The leaves are rustling. It is in the mid to upper 60's. A beautiful day for reading, resting, dreaming.

I am thinking... about the future of my children. Especially my "adult" children. How they will do this year in college, how they will pay for it, how I wish I could help them with their tuition.

I am thankful for... the love of my family.

From the kitchen... the sounds of silence. I have yet to figure out what I am going to make for dinner!

I am wearing... a long sleved pink t-shirt with my pink comfy, plaid flannel pants.

I am creating... a secret for my secret angel...

I am going... nowhere tonight!

I am reading... my prevention magazine... trying to be more healthy!

I am hoping... my Daughter's temperature won't come back today. It's never easy seeing your children feeling unwell.

I am hearing... the sounds of the Disney Channel. I will miss the sounds of summer, with the children home and making noise. On the other hand, I am also looking forward to the sounds of silence again!

Around the house... I see folded towels that need to be put away and toys strewn about on the floor!

One of my favorite things... the feel of my Daughter's arms wrapped around my neck as she tells me how much she loves me. I cherish these moments, she is growing up so fast and I will miss this the most.

A few plans for the rest of the week... I am taking one of my children in for their driving test...nuff said!

BRB...

I'm preparing for a craft fair that starts tomorrow. I only need another week. This is how I feel!

24 Years Of Marriage

It was a dark and gloomy day. The rain seemed never ending. She knew that no good could come of the weather, she was afraid it was a portend of things to come....

Sounds rather like a victorian novel, doesn't it? That is exactly how my wedding day, 24 years ago today, started.

So, let me tell you a story about a man named Jed Tony...

The day of my wedding dawned rainy and gloomy. I was afraid that the weather would ruin the whole thing. I drove over to the hairdresser's to have my hair fixed for my big day. I made sure I carried an umbrella so my hair would not be ruined by the constant drizzel. Tug, pull, brush, curl, spray, pin, spray. I felt like a child's doll who was having her hair brushed after many days of neglect. As I looked into the mirror, I decided it was all worth the painful scalp. I had the curly, victorian upsweep that I had imagined for my special day.

Leaving the hairdressers, there was a momentary respite from the rain. It lasted until I entered the house, then began again.

A little later, the limo (which had been a wedding present from my Mother's best friend Jeannie) came to pick us up. As luck would have it, the rain had again abated temporarily. I was in the process of taking my hat out to place it in the limo, when a gust of wind came along and snatched it out of my hand...and dumped it right in a muddy water puddle. Using a word I don't normally, I threw my hands up in the air and said "The whole ****ing thing is ruined!" The limo driver rushed to open the door as I retrieved my hat from the ground. Shaking off the water, I tossed the hat in the back seat. Stressed much??? No, not me!

My Mother, maid of honor (Tiffany), and I climbed in the limo. The driver suggested that we open the bottle of champagne that was awaiting us for after the ceremony. He said he would go purchase another one while he was waiting for us. Me, not being a fan of wines in general, had no problem drinking a couple glasses of what he offered! It was much appreciated and helped calm my nerves.

Jump forward in time to saying the vows, as everything up to that went as expected. Just as we turned toward each other, a ray of sunshine shone through the stained glass window. I felt like it was God giving a blessing to our marriage...something I felt we needed after the morning I had had!

Flash forward again...we're driving down the road. My (now) Husband and the best man (Darryl) are standing up, heads out the sunroof toasting the cars that go by. Mind you, the wind is sluicing the wine off the top of their glasses...right onto my maid of honor and me!!

We stopped at a store halfway to the reception hall, to get the guys another bottle of wine (we girls were wearing half of what they already had). Remember all the rain? Did you know that rain makes things slippery??? Well, you guessed it, just as I was walking in the entrance to the store...down I went! Mud and grease all up the back of my skirt! Truely, at this point, I just didn't care anymore!

When we arrived at the reception hall, my attendants helped me bustle my skirt up and... lo and behold...you couldn't see the mud! Awesome! The rest of the evening went as expected...rushing by in a blur of family, friends and dancing!

Following are a few of my wedding pictures:

Some things haven't changed. I often wag my finger at Tony, telling him he shouldn't do this, that or the other. By the way, yes, he shoved the cake in my face. That hasn't changed either, he still doesn't listen to me!
Our first dance as a married couple. We still love to dance together! There is a moral to my above story. My wedding day was full of up's and down's. Moments of joy and moments of despair/anger. In the end, it pretty much went as expected. That pretty much sums up our last 24 years. We've had great highs, and some very bad lows. Most importantly, we have shared a LIFE together. Life is never easy and neither is marriage. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. To paraphrase Stitch from Lilo and Stitch: My family is sometimes broken, but it's good...yeah, good.

Thank you honey for the last 24 years and here's to 24 more!

A Couple More Giveaways...

First up is this fantastic giveaway over at Creating from the Heart. Here are a couple of the goodies she is sending out to some lucky winner:

Next up is this fantastic giveaway over at Quilt N Quilt Things. Among other goodies she is giving away a lap quilt!

Sew Many Ways Giveaway

Karen over at Sew Many Ways... is having a giveaway! Look at all this Thimbleberry goodness! Check it out!

Stitcher's Angel Has Begun!

Well, I wanted to be able to show you pictures of my goodies, but the lighting has been terrible the last couple of days, so no pictures yet.


I am participating in the Stitcher's Angel Swap again this year. Helen from Hugs 'n Kisses has posted the first project. You don't have to be part of the swap in order to get the free patterns. There will be six projects in total, one every Monday. Here is this weeks:

Isn't it cute! Run over to Helen's page and grab it while it's available!

Our Little Trip...

was over way too soon!

This is the route we took. We started near Flint, Michigan and headed north to the first star which is Picture Rock in the Upper Peninsula. We stayed in Escanaba (2nd star). Then we headed south to Wisconsin Dells (3rd star). We then headed to Indianapolis to see Lucas Oil Stadium (4th star). We stayed...in Kokomo! On the last day we went to Shipshewana (5th star)which is a large Amish/Mennonite tourist trap (which I loved!). Here are a few pictures:

Walking on the beach:

Picture Rocks, Upper Peninsula Michigan:

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin:

Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana:

Shipshewana, Indiana
These were some darling little girls having a bake sale. Look at the cute little horse drawn cart!

One of my highlights at Shipshewana was Lolly's Fabrics. I'll show you tomorrow all the goodies I got there.

A Road Trip with Spartan

I am on a little road trip with Spartan right now. I promise to have some wonderful pictures for you at the end of the week! We have gone to Picture Rock in Michigan's upper penninsula so far and it was absoulutely gorgeous...I took ton's of pictures there! Stay tuned for an update and some visual aids!!!

My Grandmother's Bosom...

As defined on the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

1bos·om
Pronunciation:
\ˈbu̇-zəm also ˈbü-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bōsm; akin to Old High German buosam bosom
Date: before 12th century

1 a: the human chest and especially the front part of the chest b: a woman's breasts regarded especially as a single feature; also : breast

2 a: the chest conceived of as the seat of the emotions and intimate feelings b: the security and intimacy of or like that of being hugged to someone's bosom

3: the part of a garment that covers the chest or the breasts

Pronounced in my family (and I believe most) boo (like book with out the k) sum.

It may seem like an unlikely thing to blog about, but I want to tell you about my Grandmother's bosom. Here is a picture of my Grandmother, Ruth Anne, when she was about 14. Apparently the picture at one point had included her, then, boyfriend on her left side. She tore him out long before my Mother or I were born and threw him away!

Wasn't she sweet looking? And so stylish too! My oldest Son looks so much like her it's uncanny!

Anyways on to the reason for my post. One of my favorite things growing up was my Grandmother's bosom. They were soft, warm, smelled good and always could be counted on to have a kleenex tucked in the middle for runny noses or the stray tear.

She would hug me close and I would rest my head on her bosom where I felt loved, protected and safe. When I was a small child, she was like a safe place I could count on to be there for me.

Later, when I was an adult, and I could no longer feel comfortable laying my head on her chest, she was all that and more for my two oldest children. Here is a picture of her with my oldest at his baptism:

My Grandmother was a demanding, loving, wickedly funny, argumentative, fiesty, wonderful woman and I miss her so much.

So to all of you that are Grandmother's, as I hope to be one day, hug your baby's babies close to your bosom...it is a safe harbor in a busy life for them and trust me...they will remember it!

A Giveaway Heads Up...

Jenny from Elefantz (one of my favorite blogs to go to) is having a lovely giveaway! She is giving away a vintage reproduction tin, a fat quarter of material, some antique glass buttons and the best part, one of her own stitched blocks! Now, you don't really have to go look, and put your name in as I fully intend to win this and really, you'll just be wasting your time...;o)

A Lovely Mother-Daughter Day...

Baby Girl really missed me while I was gone, so I decided to treat her to a special day. We went to a place near our home called "Past Tense." It's part gift shop, part cider mill, part antique store. It's divided into three different buildings and is wonderful! First we went into the antique gift shop where they also sell lots of lovely teas. I had promised Baby Girl that she could pick out her very own tea spoon. I have one with a tea pot on it and she chose this lovely one with an angel on it:

We wandered around and I took a few pictures with my phone of Baby Girl and some of the displays they have set up:

I bought this darling striped pyrex bowl. I just love the stripes on it!
After wandering around the two shops, we went over to the cider mill and had lunch. It was such a perfectly lovely day. I am so proud of my Daughter, she is such a sweet little lady. While I was snapping pictures I was also taking mental snap shots to keep in my heart.