May God Bless America

Let Us Remember.

"Two Thousand One, Nine Eleven"
 
Two thousand one, nine eleven
Four thousand-plus enter heaven.
A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying, "Let's sit and chat."
 
They settle down in seats of clouds
And a man named Martin shouts out proud,
"I have a dream!" And once he did,
The Newcomers said, "Your dream still lives."
 
Groups of soldiers in blue and gray
Others in khaki, and green then say
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine."
And the Newcomers said, "You died not in vain."
 
From a man on sticks one could hear
"The only thing we have to fear--"
And a Newcomer said, "We know the rest,
Trust us, sir, we've passed that test."
 
"Courage doesn't hide in caves
You can't bury freedom in a grave."
The Newcomers had heard this voice before
A Yankee twang from Hyannis shore.
 
A silence fell within the midst
And somehow a Newcomer knew that this
Meant time had come for her to say
What was in the hearts of the four thousand that day.
 
"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sports
Worked our gardens, sang our songs,
Went to church, walked along.
We smiled and laughed, knew love and hate,
But unlike you, we were not great."
 
The tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood and said, "Don't talk like that.
Look at your country, look and see--
You died for freedom, just like me."
 
Then before them appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets and twisted beams
Death, destruction, smoke, and dust
And people working because they must.
Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee-deep in hell, but not alone.
 
"Black man, White man, Brown man, Yellow man,
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin, as he watched the scene.
Then: "Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."
 
And down below three firemen raised
The colors high in the ashen haze.
The soldiers above had seen it before--
On Iwo Jima in '44.
 
The man on sticks studied everything closely
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly
"I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow--but I don't see fear.
"You left behind husbands and wives
Daughters and sons, and so many lives 
are suffering now because of this wrong.
But look very closely: You're not really gone.
 
All of those people, even those who've never met you
All of their lives, they'll never forget you
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together, together as one."
 
With that the man in the stovepipe hat said,
"Take my hand," and from there he led
Four thousand Newcomers on into heaven
On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven.

A Long and Busy Month

Boy  it is nice to have the month of August over with. We have kept so busy tearing apart, painting, staining things, and adding new flooring to the kitchen. All this while George worked 5 days a week.  I thought you might like a tour of the new look.

We had years ago enlarged the kitchen and added several new cabinets to one wall in the kitchen.At the time we put down just some cheap tiles on the floor not knowing what we really wanted to do for flooring. We figured a few years down the line we could put in  a good last floor. Well that was about 8 years ago and I had been living for the last couple years with peeling, cracking tiles that just would not clean good any more.

This is what we started with

 We looked and looked for what we would like and could never agree as to what we wanted. What George wanted I did not want and what I wanted he did not want. While shopping one day at Menards we noticed they had a flooring sale which was pretty good. We found some swift lock type of ceramic tile looking flooring we both loved. Well guess what. They did not have enough for our kitchen and it was a discontinued item. Would you not know it when we find some we both agree on there is not enough and no way of getting more. So we left empty handed as far as having flooring. A few days later we decided to head back up there and we were determined to come to an agreement and come home with something for that horrible floor. Well after looking and looking we had narrowed the flooring down to two different looks. One a hardwood bamboo and one a swift lock that was almost a granite type look which I really liked. George thought it looked to dark though. So we decided on hard wood bamboo.

Getting it started was a job. When our home was build in the 60's nothing seemed to be squared. Once the first few pieces  were in it got a lot easier.  George got 1/4 of it done and came out and said. I am thinking of maybe moving the pantry cabinet over where the refrigerator is and the refrigerator where the that cabinet it what do you think? By then I am thinking oh no what else will he decide to do.

  My light switch is hidden behind the refrigerator with it this way.  And the dog dishes  have always been next to the refrigerator. Switching will open up the light switch was his excuse for doing this. So I agreed to moving the two around. Now I just need to get him to switch the door  of the refrigerator to open the other way. But I have to say stove, sink and refrigerator are now in the triangle they should be in to be efficient.

Well the floor is done and I am loving it. Sure made a big difference . We bought new cushions for the chairs and last week I asked my dad if I could have a few of moms linen table clothes being they no longer had an oblong table. I came home with three nice ones that I can use with nice place mats.

Here is the final look.

This is looking from the living room into the kitchen..

This is looking towards my computer and sewing room. 

This shows some of the teapot collect. Top cabinets here are the original ones in the kitchen which were a very dark brown, almost a black. I stripped, sanded and refinished them several years ago. Bottom cabinets are all new.

This shows my sink and the new window along with a lot more teapots in my collection.

The small space between the pantry cabinet and regular cabinet will have shelves added to make it look finished. I will have enough room there to add a few small teapots from my collection. Hanging next to the pantry cabinet is a picture I was given back years and years ago by a dear friend whom I took painting lessons from. . 

Today is a rainy dreary day so I have been baking. It seems great to be able to have it cool enough to turn on the oven. Oh how I miss baking in the summer. Even with air conditioning I just refuse to turn on the oven.

I am looking so forward to fall this year. I have been getting my fall decorations around and even talked George into a pretty new tablecloth, fall place mats, and new rugs for the fall months when we were shopping this past week end. Will get it all up and share my decorations  later with you. 

Now on to the next project . We have torn off the deck and will be rebuilding It is years old and even with treated wood we had some buckling of the wood and it was just not as sturdy as we would like.This is what it now looks like out my back door. 

 Also we are going to paint the guest bedroom. It is a green paneling and  a dark green at that. I am so ready for something different in there. And we will replace the carpet after painting. We are trading our king sized bed from there with our daughter for her queen size. Will be great having a bit more room in there. 

I have slowly been doing my fall cleaning. We had to have everything away by 3 feet from all the windows for them to install the new ones so I went into cleaning mode while doing it. Figured no time better than now. 

Well off to do some cookies. Got letter from  our grandson who is in the Marines. He said that if I could bake either 80 or 160 cookies that would be awesome. He wants for the whole platoon. Can hardly wait till Christmas to send baked goods and homemade candies to him. 

I hope everyone has a great week.

Crafting Paintstick Ornaments

Well my Christmas Holiday Season has started. I love crafting and making things for Christmas. Not only for decorations but also love making gifts.  So my Christmas  is now in full swing.

I am trying to prepare for the annual fall Craft Sale the local Senior Center holds each year. I am planning on taking in a few of my crafts. I had hoped it would be in October as I have lots of Halloween things I had started on . But alas it is not until November.

Last week I started the week making ornaments out of paint sticks. They are addicting and go quite fast. So many different variations of these. I found the cutest printables at http://www.todaysfabulousfinds.blogspot.com/.
I printed them out , cut out and got started.

The paintsticks came from Lowe's. They are the 5 gallon size sticks. Just the right size for making these and you get 4  ornaments and 1 snowman out of each paintstick. You will need the following for the ornaments.

Scissors
Wire ( color of your choice)
wire cutters
needle nose pliers
paint and paintbrush
Word sayings of your choice ( there is also a blank template to add your own sayings too if wanted at this site.
http://www.todaysfabulousfinds.blogspot.com/
Modge Podge  or Instant Decoupage
and of course  paint sticks.

To start measure and mark your paint sticks starting from the bottom of the stick into 4 inch segments. The top part of the stick should be 5 inches. This piece save for the future project of a snowman.  Cut your sticks on your measured marks and you are ready to really get going. At this time you will need to drill a couple small holes into the top corner of each ornament for adding a wire of hanger of your choice. Paint your 4 inch pieces on both side and edges. I put on two coats. If it does not cover the words fully your saying  will be large enough to cover so you will not see the words.  Here I actually did a few by painting on a dark color dry and then covered with a light color. I then used sand paper and distressed the edges so the dark showed through a bit. .
This is what it will look like if your decide to do the two coats and distress them.

After  your paint has thoroughly dried you can then start adding your words to them I cut out my wording on all but the distressed one buy following the outline of the word. I thought they looked a bit more fancy with it done in that manner.  After cutting out the wording you are ready to decoupage  them onto the ornament. Brush on a good coat of the modge podge or decoupage and  lay your wording over the ornament while wet. I used my paint  brush handle flat and drew it across the paper to make sure it stuck good and had no air bubbles under it. Then brush on a layer over the whole front of the ornament . This will stick your paper down and seal it good. After it has dried then paint the edges and back of the ornament with your mod podge or decoupage. This seals the ornament. Dry thoroughly.

Now is the time to add a hanger for your ornament. I used wire and cut it at approximately 14 inches. I then poked it from the back to the front, wrapped it a few times tightly around the tip of the needle nose pliers.. It makes a little curly Q and looks  pretty that way. Then I wrapped a part of the wire into a larger curly  circle  around the handle of my paint brush, slide off of the brush and  poked the opposite end in the ornament back to front. Make a curly  on the wire tip  with your needle nose pliers.

And there you have your paint stick ornaments.  These would make a great extra to tie onto your gift packages, make for your friend, family or co workers. I love having a few extra things I can hand out to people.

These are ready for the wires to be placed.

And here are the ones I have all done and just waiting for the Christmas Holiday Season to be given.

There are so many possibilities with these. You could use pretty scrapping paper to print out you sayings, or splatter paint the saying before adding  or splatter paint the ornament leaving the saying clear. I love changing things to fit my taste and need.

I hope that this post finds everyone enjoyng their summer. Finally a break in the weather today and I may get outside and try to catch up a bit out in the flower beds. Bought a few new day lillies I need to get into the ground and am way behind in weeding. I am enjoying the windows open today and hearing the birds early in the day. Listened to all the wild turkey's below the hill and accross in the field for an hour or more this morning. Boy they sure can get loud. And early this morning there were a couploe baby squirrels playing in the apple tree out side the kitchen window.

My week end was long and busy. Chatted with my Grandson last night. His last night before being sworn in as an official Marine.  Sure will miss having him pop in on MeMaw and Peepa as he called us for years.  Seems like the Grandkids are growing up way too fast and it makes me sad.

I hope that you all have a great week.

A Bit of Crafting and Odds and Ends

       Well this week has started out to be one of firsts. I started out Sunday by riding a float in the Fair Parade. First time ever have I ridden a float in a parade. Been high school since I have even been in a parade and then I was in the band walking or should I say marching  the parade route.

I was on the Adrian Senior Center  Handchime float.  We had a great time. There were several differnt floats from the center showing all the wonderful things you can do at the center. I made an Eight Foot Banner to lead all our group. It was a challenge sewing it being I had injured my back and could not stay in one position for long before having to move aroumnd . But I perservered  and got it done on Friday before the parade.  I took it in on Friday to the center director and she had to show it over the lunch hour . The seniors loved it and I was so glad I could do something to give back to the center. Here is a picture of it leading the Center Floats and cars.

The antique car belongs to one of our seniors. He and his wife love going to the parades.  Sure was a beautiful car.

The line dancers from the center walked the route. They sure looked peppy. Did not get to stop and dance along the route . It would have been great if they could have but they kept us moving right along at a pretty good clip. We have several that come in twice a week for line dancing that are in their 80's and 90's and let me mention they could dance me under the table with their moves. One gentleman is a retired Doctor and is 93. He comes for the biginner session and stays right through the advanced session both days they dance plus does any performances they do which may be 3-4 a week at times. He never even gets winded and never misses a beat.

Here are the line dancers.

I might mention the theme of our County Fair this year is "City Meets Country". As you can see we went with the Country theme.

The Chime Group rode in a float. Most of the members here are in their 80's and a couple in their 90's. We had several that could not be with us but we still played and sang for 3/4th of the route.  I have directed the group for almost 4 years now and love doing it. We travel throughout the county and do performances in the fall and over Christmas, and then again in April and May. We play at several Senior Complexes, Nursing Homes, Assisted Living homes and last year played for  the Foster Grandparents Christmas Party. I love putting a smile  on peoples faces.

I am the one standing with the cowboy hat on. The amazing thing I think is that most all my members can not read music and have never had any music training. The music is written with symbols such as a blue circle, red, star etc. and each hand chime has corresponding symbols on it. These gals are all just so much fun to work with.

I have managed to get started on a few craft ornaments for the Christmas Holidays this week. Am going to do a couple tutorials on these as I go along.Now things are settled for the summer I would like to be able to post here at least 2-3 times a week. These are a few I am working on at this time.

I love this cross and have made several over the years not only as ornaments but as bookmarks as well. They are loved as gifts by anyone I have ever given one too.

I love gingerbread men items and use them in my kitchen over the Christmas Season. I just love the way this turned out.

This little snowman's hat is just one of the easiest ornaments to do and  takes very little time to do one up. I would sit last year and do a couple up each morning while drinking my morning coffee. I used them for an exchange I am in each fall.

This is the painted ornament I am doing for  an exchange this year. I love painting ornaments and have learned how to use the scroll saw so I no longer have to make George cut them out for me. Makes him happy at least until I manage to break the blade and can not see good enough to change it myself.

I also have several small birdhouses I am painting . After I get a few done I will share them with you too. Oh I bought cork to do gingerbread men and women out of too. As you can tell I am in the crafting mode once again. Been a long time since I have really done a lot. And I have to say sewing the banner  really has gotten me wanting to get back to sewing again. And that is good since I bought the fabric for 6 different wall hanging I need to quilt for Christmas.

Well we have another first that has transpired this week. I got up this morning to the words "She said yes" posted on my Facebook page. The first of the grandchildren is going to be getting married. Boy can I be that old. He is leaving in another week for the Marines and now a wedding to plan. I think the family will be a bit on the busy side. What do you think? The grand babies are just growing up way too fast to suit me. In three weeks the oldest heads off to Chicago for a year and a half of Grad School. Does not seem like she is old enough to be a college graduate let alone now being in her own apartment and going to Graduate School.  Where have the years gone.

I hope that you all are having a great week and remember " Smile and the Whole  World Smiles With You. " Have no idea who said it but I love the saying.

                                                                            Hugs,

         

Reminicing and Exchange Gift Recieved

What a weekend it has been. And can you believe I forgot my camera and never got one picture at all. I am so disappointed.

To start off the week end I had friends come in for the weekend. Jill and I had been childhood friends through out Jr. High and High School. She had moved into the house kitty corner from us the summer before we went into 7th grade. I moved out of Ohio just before our Senior year started coming back to my hometown in Michigan. Though all these years we have kept in touch, but it had been 45 years since we had seen each other. That was on her wedding day. She got in touch with me a few weeks ago and had told me that she would be officially retired as of that following Thursday. Then came these words" We are heading your way" . Oh I was so excited to know we would finally get to see each other once again.

And to top it off this was the week end of our big family get together to celebrate  one of my grandsons graduation and a going away party for him. He had signed up for the Marines and leaves on August 6th for Camp Pendleton. So this ment that she would get to meet my whole family, daughters, son-in-laws, grandkids, and again see my sisters and my dad.

They got in to the campground late on Friday and on Saturday headed to our house. What a wonderful time we had. It was just like we were sisters yet after all these years. We talked about past, present, future, laughed, cried a bit and just caught up on each others lives.  Our poor husbands could not get too many words in so just chatted together. We headed to my daughter and son-in-laws later in the day and most of the family was there. So nice for my daughter Jill to meet my friend Jill as she was named after her and always head stories of our lives but had never met.

After the cook out and party we headed to spend time with my dad who was not feeling up to the party with the heat and high humidity. Oh it was great reminicing with dad too about our younger lives and all the wonderful things that were done together with our families.

All in all it was a wonderful day and one I will treasure forever. Now to get her direction. I woulld love to have the oportunity to meet her boys and their families.  George and I have talked several times of going to Virginia to search for my Silveus roots. Now maybe we just can get to Virgina and check out the Shenandoah Valley and go on to visit them . 

Also I wanted to share the exchange gift I recieved in the craftaholics summer exchange at this blog... http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/ . In a previous post I shared the craft I had sent.  I recieved a wonderful watch from Alisa  from    http://www.beadedtime.blogspot.com/  . It was a beaded band  beaded in Christmas Colors. She also had a wonderful brown beaded strap so I could wear it the year around.

Are they not just the greatest. Thank you Alisa. I loved doing this exchange.

I wanted also to mention a wonderful give away taking place at  http://theivycottageblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/ode-to-hobby-lobby-giveaway.html . Amanda is giving away a $25.00 gift card to Hobby Lobby. Stop over and take a look.

I love Hobby Lobby and can spend hours looking. I even have George trained when it comes to craft shopping.

I hope that everyone is  enjoying summer. Please remember keep hydrated. With the hot weather we are having  you need plenty of fluids. And remember if you have to be outside don't forget your sunscreen.

                                                                              Hugs,

Pennies From Heaven and Other Signs

This is a post I have been contemplating for weeks on.  I an a true beliver in signs from above and have for years and years believed in "Pennies from Heaven" being a sign that a loved one is watching over you. It is truely amazing just how many times I have thought of my Grandmother ir Great Grandmother and happened to look down and there lay a penny.

I have always heard that a penny found is a sign from above that your loved one is watching over you. I all so believe  there are many other signs that are sent by your late loved ones.  A sight or a smell can make you think your loved one is close by.

I remember as a child that when I would go to my Great Grandmothers home there always was a certain odor I could smell that I never noticed anyplace else. and I never could tell what the odor was. Grandma went to be with Jesus when I was 19, the year after I graduated from high school. Maybe around 15 years ago Avon came out with a candle. I have always loved candles and upon opening this candle to smell the memories flooded back. I looked at my Avon Lady and said I want one of these. It is the smell of my Great Grandmothers home. It was called Kefir. I have kept this candle all these years and only burned it a few times but every so often I just take the lid off and let the ordor out to enjoy and think of all the wonderful times at Grandma's house.

My latest happening was in May on my birthday. As many of my friends no it was the first birthday I would celebrate since loosing my mother. I was not looking forward to the day at all  as mom had passed just 15 minutes after midnight the day after my birthday. I have mentioned before that my mother loved birds. There were dozens of feeders and birdbaths in their yard. She loved the cardinals but come summer she could sit and watch the wee little hummingbirds for hours.

 I inherited this love of birds from my mom and those are my favorite birds. I love to be out early in the morning sitting on the deck watching the hummingbirds dive and swoop and come to the feeders. They are so amazing to watch. Mom was as excited as I was the day I finally got a hummingbird to come to the feeder I would hold. This is a picture of that day.

The closer to my birthday it got this year the more down I became. George decided we needed to get away over that week end so we decided to go north to a wonderful National Park Campground we had camped at a few times over the years. It is a large campground but being mid May not all areas are open. They had just two sections opened. The campground is in the middle of pretty much an all pine forrest. A few hardwood trees scattered here and there. There were no wildflowers throughout any of the camping areas and even the campground hosts did not have any flowers on the lots as of yet. We pulled in on Friday early afternoon and got all set up. We had our 13 year old grandson with us. We pretty much relaxed the rest of the day just enjoying the quietness  and warm weather of the day. Saturday was my birthday. It arrived bright and sunny.   I woke up before George and Austin our Grandson. I got up and went outside to enjoy the quietness of the early morning. Coffee was brewed and I sat down at the picnic table to enjoy a first  cup and read a bit. Reading just was not doing it for me though. I was thinking how much I would miss my Birthday call from Mom that day. It did not seem possible she had been gone a year but it seemed it had been forever too.Oh how I missed our chats even though the last year she lived our chats were not as many as the Parkinsons had really affected her speach.

George got up, poured a cup of coffee and came over to the picnic table and sat down. I had just mentioned how much I would miss hearing from Mom that day. I guess the firsts are always the hardest. I had no much more than got the words out of my moth when all off a sudden a little female hummingbird flew in from my left. She got right in front of me a hovered right in front of my face looking at me. Then away she flew. I sat there just in awe of what had just happened. George said to me " That was a hummingbird wasn't it"  I said yes it was. Mom just sent me my Happy Birthday wish through that little bird .; And I truely believe that it was her way of wishing me a Happy birthday.

We spent another 2 days there and never saw another hummingbird at all.

I have had so many different signs over this past year since moms passing. At Holiday time last year I decided to do an Angel tree in memory of mom. Mom had a huge collection of Angels. I started looking for angels for my tree in early November. On one of my trips to town I stopped at Hobby Lobby just to see if they had any new angels in. While looking through the Christmas section  I got to chatting with a couple there about Christmas  Legends. She was looking for a Christmas Pickle ornament. Her husband thought she was nuts. I told him there was a legend of the pickle hidden in a tree and that I had one in mine. I was telling them that I was looking for more angels and why I wanted angels. We wished each other Merry Christmas and went on about our shopping. About 5 minutes later she rounded the corner and said I am so glad that you are here yet. I found the perfect Angel for your tree.  On the skirt of the Angel were the words "Remember I am Always With You".. I think this lady was sent to me by my mother just for saying I am Ok and will always be watching over you.

I hope that everyone will start seeing the signs of your loved ones and know that they are all Ok and with you at all times.
                                                               
                                                                            Hugs

A Craft Exchange and other things

Summer is finally in full swing here in Michigan.  The garden is looking great and looks like we may have lettuce and radishes within the next week. We have small tomatoes on the vines and a few small peppers showing on the plants. Melon, cukes, and squash all have blooms so will not be long and we can have fresh veggies picked and cooked for that nights dinner. I so look forward to that. And it is about time that I can fix one of my favoite cakes, Chocolate Zuchini Cake. It is so good you do not even have to use frosting on it.  I will share that as soon as I have zuchinis to do one.

I have been doing  some crafting. Not as much as I had hoped but have kept busy with crafts per say. I did join a Christmas in July Craft Exchange this summer at http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/ . Been years since I have done this and I have certainly had fun working on the gift for my partner. I made a clay pot garden  angel for her. I sure hope sure hope she likes it.  I think she is a cutie and would love to have some huge clay pots to do one I can actually use in my flower bed. Am hoping I stumble accross a few large clay pots at garage sales this summer. I will use  large enough ones to use a bowling ball as the head.

This is the one I did for my exchange partenter who was Alisa  from http://www.beadedtime.blogspot.com/.

And last week I recieved my Christmas In July exchange gift from Alisa. I recieved a beautiful beaded Christmas watch along with an extra beaded band in browns so it can be used the year around. I love it and will certainly wear it proudly. I will lost the watch in another post later this week. Seems like blogger does not like me and will not download the picture. So I will save that for later.

This next week will prove to be a very exciting week for me. I have a friend from Jr. High and High School whom I have all these years kept in touch with. We have not seen each other since her wedding about 45 years ago. I got a message from her last week and she retired last week and next week are heading out RVing and guess where they are coming. To Michigan to see us. How exciting is that. I am sure looking forward to digging in the closet and rattling all those old bones with her. It has been way too long.

I an franticly trying to get the house in order. Lots of craft things to take care of. The senior Center had about 15 boxes of craft items donated to them so I had brought them all home to go through them to see what all we can use. And the center is out of storage place. I get one large cabinet and 3 drawers so guess where the rest is. Yup stacked in boxes in my basement. I need to do lots of rearranging.

I also am trying to get around for the Center  Celebrate with Tea Day. They have asked me to do one of the tables for the tea. So I am searching yard sales for cups, saucers and sandwich sized plates to use on the table. They do not have to be the same patern but blend together good. I want to do the all
Victorian style.  Any suggestions would be welcome .

Well off to the basement again. I hope you are all having a great week.