Loving my life.......

Happy Friday!!  Wow what a busy week and it sure is feeling great to be back into what I enjoy most and that is my relaxing and doing my crafts!!  I have SOOOO many ideas going through my head right now and the question is, can I get to all of them lol.  Guess I better write up a "To Do" list so I don't forget. 

So one of the things I'd like to do is this.  I found it on pinterest and it looks so simple so think I will attempt it :)  Isn't that the cutest thing!!

OK so back to what I've been up too lol.  With all my wood cut so far, I decided to make up these cute frames.  I also found the idea on Pinterest....love that place lol!!  This is the idea I found......

This is where I'm actually at with mine so stay tuned for the final product :)  Not sure if I will stain them, paint them or what yet but I'll see what happens lol.  Sorry for the blurry picture, I think my lens is dirty :(  I will clean that and make sure the final product pic is clear I promise.

Well that's it for tonight as I want to get back to getting a few more things done so have a fabulous evening and remember....

Happy Crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

It is feeling like crafting time again!!

Howdy!!  Well today I think I FINALLY hit my crafting mode again which is a great feeling.  I've been battling some stress with having a new job and dealing with my foot issue and physical therapy but today something hit me like a ton of brick.  I said nothing should get in the way of what I enjoy and love doing and that is my crafting so I started pulling out my wood I've stock piled and plugged in my table saw and away I went!! 

So what is on my agenda with all these wood pieces?  Oh lots of things lol.  I thought some word blocks, some frames, some holiday items and well, maybe I won't tell you everything.  You'll have to just wait and see lol.

So what else have I been up too?  Well I have to confess that my thoughts actually started changing last night as I was sitting here listening to some good ole country music and I was crocheting a cute little hat for a baby shower that I am going to at the end of the month.  I sat there and it felt great to shut down the computer, focus on something relaxing and finishing this little hat all within an hour :) The picture doesn't do it any justice but I just couldn't get a good shot of it.  The little pink on it is actually the end of the rim which I folded up :)

Well I promise that I won't be away so long this time.  It is time for me to get my priorities right and have that work/life balance and do what I enjoy most.  That is to make people laugh, enjoy my crafting and cherish my memories we're making with family and friends!!

Have a wonderful evening and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura



Can someone please slow time down!!

Happy Memorial Day weekend!!  Wow, where is the time flying to?  It was already a year ago that we had just finished Brandon and Carissa's wedding, we had sent them on their honeymoon to Mexico and I was starting to finally slow down.  Well I guess time didn't think that it was necessary to slow down.  A lot has happened this past year, some good and some not so good but that's life right?

I've been dealing with Plantar Fasciitis for the past 3 months and have been physical therapy twice a week for the past month.  It is starting to get a little better but I can't be on my feet for very long or it flares up and gets inflammed.  You don't realize how important those little feet are until something like this happens. Well things can only get better :)

So what exciting news is happening?  Well I started a new job 2 1/2 months ago!   But no, that isn't the exciting news lol.  The newest excitement with the family is .........

Yup, #7 grandbaby is on it's way :)  Carissa and Brandon are expecting their first little one December 27th, 2012!  We are all excited as the youngest grandbaby is 6 yrs old now so we're going to get a baby fix again :)  So now I have a few ideas on things I want to work on for the next activity, yup the baby shower.  I have some time to get my ideas together since she's only 10 weeks along lol :)

Well I just wanted to let you know that yes I am still alive and I have been keeping up with reading the blogs, just haven't had time to do much or post anything exciting so I'll be working on that :)

Have a great holiday weekend and be safe!! 

xo ~ Laura

Happy Easter!!

Hi!  I hope that all of you had a wonderful Easter with your family and friends today.  Ours was very quiet today as we spend time with our older kids and grandbabies yesterday.  We didn't have anything planned but a quiet little ham dinner with just the two of us and then we got a call from Carissa and she asked what we were doing and she said her and her hubby Brandon were coming over to visit.  We said OK then :)  Well in the door they came and was it just them?  No it was their dog Red, and Roger their rabbit lol.

This is the first time the Easter bunny actually physically stopped by our house lol.  It was a beautiful day here in the PNW and got up to 76 degrees so we were enjoying it and so was Roger.  He just roamed in the yard eating any of the long grass he could find.

I started a new job 3 weeks ago and have been working 12+ hours every day so haven't had much time for crafting and that makes me sad so I'm readjusting my schedules to get back to my "ME" time.  I am working on a few small things.  Want to see?

So that is all for me tonight.  Going to wind down and get to bed early as it will be a busy week.  Have a wonderful week and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Spring has sprung?????

Well hello!!!  I know it's been a few weeks and I sit and wonder where on earth the time is going and what exactly I've been accomplishing.  It sure feels like not much that's for sure lol.  I hope that all of you have been enjoying some beautiful weather and crafting away!!  I know change is good but sometimes change is hard to get used to or is it just me??? 

We have been adjusting to the change without our beloved Bandit.  It is always so hard to lose our furry family members and we miss him so. 

On the 16th, Cody (he's now our oldest at 9 yrs old) got sick and stopped eating so I had gotten home from work early and went to see how he was doing and only to find a lump on this throat area and it was very swollen so back down to the vet we went.  Mind you it had only been 3 weeks since I was down dropping Bandit off and that was the last time I saw him so the emotions were running high.  To make a long story shorter, the vet knew something wasn't right so he wanted to check him into the hospital to observe and start an aggressive IV medications immediately.  Now mind you, we got put in the same room as with Bandit and when they took him out of the room to take him back, he had the same look and it broke my heart.  I just prayed that he would be OK and we'd be able to bring him back home.  Well the good news it..... we got to bring him back home.  You can see where they had to shave his neck and also his booboo from the IV but a small price to pay to have him still with us :)

Did it end there?  Oh no...he was doing better and then on Friday morning (the 23rd) his swelling started coming back so you guessed it, back down we went.  The vet sedated him and looked down his throat but still couldn't see what is causing this as it isn't anything obvious.  Another fluid biopsy was taken and new medications.  Well this is our sweet Cody after 24 hours of being on the new stuff.  Definitely perking up again :)

His swelling has gone down but it still isn't 100% down and the hard part is, it is a mystery as all the tests are coming back normal so now we're on a wait and see game and hoping the steriods and antibiotics totally kick whatever infection is in his body.  Now is that enough change to have to deal with???  Oh no lol.  For those of you that have been following me for awhile, my life never seems to be boring hahahaha.  On Monday I started a new job and so going a mile a minute trying to figure everything out and get things running smooth.  Yes, I'm back in management again and there are some changes coming.......

I have been waiting for Spring to come around but it appears that the weather here in the PNW hasn't figured out exactly what it wants to do.  On Thursday I woke up to more snow!!  Our poor flowers don't know which way to go I tell ya!!  So I figured since it is officially Spring, I'll start bringing some cheer inside and start decorating a little for Easter :)

My little wreath at the inside of the front door.  It's missing something so definitely going to have to re-do this one.... maybe a cute bow????

 My cute $2 Spring arrangement.  Foam sparklies from the Dollar store and a $1 bucket from Target and extra flowers and TaDa!! :)  Now this makes me smile!!

Then of course the easter bunnies have to come out right?  So they are currently watching over our Mr. B :)

I am really starting to get the Spring cleaning bug and got a lot done around the house today and think it will be an ongoing thing around here for the next few weeks lol.

My DIL is wanting me to do up a few vinyl sayings as they just repainted their house so that is on my project list for this week and I'm trying to start looking around on things to start building now that the weather is "supposed" to start getting nice again :)

So that's really all I've been up to and just wanted to let you know I'm still alive and have missed all of you and your wonderful and creative ideas :)

Have a fabulous week and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Life is funny......

Howdy!!  I hope that you are having a wonderful weekend and enjoying yourself.  Prayers are going out to friends and family that are having to deal with those terrible storms in the states...stay safe.

Each day I am feeling a little better and the emotions are starting to settle down some.  I will never forget our sweet little Bandit and he will forever be in our hearts.  We have him home now and are slowly readjusting to how life is now.  It doesn't seem the same, not will it ever but funny how things happen in life and we do learn to change things around, settle in to what is all around us.

Wednesday our sweet little boy was able to come home.  My hubby went down and picked him up, put him so sweetly in my craft room not disturbing a thing and left it exactly the way that Carrie (the owner of the crematory location) gave it to him.  Larry put a few extra touches on it which when I saw it, I totally broke down and just bawled.  I brought it all out of the boxes and envelops and put it neatly on the table.

Larry added this sweet balloon, red rose and adoreable card.

 Our precious boy lays in this beautiful dark cherry box and Carrie does these wonderful memorial paw prints and she so sweetly gave us a tuff of his fur.

 The card was very specially chosen to have this be directly from Bandit and Larry said this is exactly how he loved his Momma.  Can you see why I was crying???

In doing so and going through the mourning process, I wanted to work on more projects to honor our oldest sweet boy.  I love the paw print and started thinking, what if it accidently gets broken?  Then what?  So I started to think how I could preserve his precious paw imprint.  Being crafty I thought I have to be able to come up with somethings....so after doing a lot of thinking, I decided to get some of my baking clay, gently press it into the imprint after putting some plastic wrap gently over it and I came up with a reverse paw prints.  I ended up doing 8 of them actually, 4 in white and 4 in brown so now I have plenty "just in case".  Yes this is his little paw paws...cute huh :D

Then I also wanted to do something to be able to hang some of his pictures up and to be able to change things around so this is what I came up with also.  See, I am feeling better as I didn't even cry when doing these :)

So we continue to move forward with life, missing him daily but know he's in a better place, not in any pain and watching over us.  We now focus and love our other two even more making sure they are well loved and taken care of.

Yes we all go through changes in life and even though at times it is difficult, we always make it through and learn to move onward.  Never forgetting, loving more and always cherishing things closely in our hearts.

Hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend and happy crafting!!

Hugs,

Laura

Ever ponder why???

Hi there.  I know I've been pretty much MIA lately and I surrender and say I've had enough.  As for those of you who have followed me for awhile, I've had a few challenges in life that have hit and I've landed back on my feet.  I thought things were going better and things started to hit again in December.

The kids Dad got word that he had to have a Quadruple Bypass, then a few weeks later I got pneumonia and our oldest dog was diagnosed with bronchial disease and an enlarged heart.  Well we made it through all of this and things seemed to be getting a little better and then last week we had to take our oldest dog, Bandit back into the vet for a recheck and through extensive bloodwork we found out that he was a sick boy.  He was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetis and his pancreais and liver enzymes were really high so we had to get him into the hospital to get that under control.  I dropped him off around 3:30 pm on the 21st and received a call at midnight that my precious baby boy had passed over the rainbow bridge as his heart had stopped.  At that point of time my heart broke.  Have you ever pondered why and what if???  Well let me tell you we sure have.

Here our precious Bandit when we got him back in 2002.  He was the cutest little guy and always to sweet.

Throughout all the 10 years we were blessed to have him, he had a personality like no other.  We called him our pretty poser and he knew he was a very cute boy lol. 

There are so many things that we will cherish and remember with him.  We are in our grieving and healing process and are focusing on our other 2 precious boys.  One day at a time. They are so much a part of our families and losing them hurts.  The one peaceful thing I have is that he was already asleep when all this happened as they were adding a line to administer his meds and blood draws so he went very peaceful.  We will be bringing him back home to us by Wednesday and although it won't be the same, our hearts can begin this healing process.  One of my ways I am coping?  Yup, crafting!

Here our Mr. B sits high on our mantel with the angel of healing right next to him.

 I bought him tulips because in the spring when they bloom, he loved to go over and smell them.  Yes I told you he was uniquie.  If you can tell, I did up his name with wood blocks on the vase.

I am working on more but wanted to share a few things.  I realize how much my crafting and all my blog friends are to me on a daily basis and I love you all.  This pain too will become less and we will continue on.  In the meantime, my mending will continue and will be focusing on more projects so stay tuned.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura