day not going as planned

This is the label that Luke made to use on our favors for the shower - the favors being bags of coffee.  I think they turned out so cute.  I had to smile when he pointed out that he made the steam from the coffee pink.  (It's all about the details)  : )  I will post another picture after I get them all put together.

With Stella's help of course - we got them printed.  Her reaction to the printer was fun to watch.  After printing one page - she would look where the paper fed in and then walk around to where the paper came out after printing.  I think Stella is too smart for her own good sometimes.  : ) 

Today isn't going quite like I expected.  Richard brought home a great carpet cleaner from work - so we should be cleaning carpets - Right? . . . The wand fell on the floor and a brass connector that has everything to do with feeding the water broke.  Just what we didn't need to happen . . . but I don't get too shook up about things like that because he can fix about anything.  It does delay cleaning the carpets though.  I have been dusting and cleaning while I am waiting for the carpet cleaner to be fixed.  Dusting and cleaning would be so much easier without all this junk that I like.  I have eliminated a lot of the clutter in my house the last few years - but there is something about a shelf filled with my favorite stuff that I like - hate the dust though! 

I can't think about everything that I have to get done before Saturday morning - and here I sit on the computer . . . time to get busy!

A Few of my Favorite Things

I have always liked and collected small things. Sometime I think about taking this printer tray down - but I can't bring myself to do it. Some of these items I have had since I was a child - others are things the kids and I have picked up over the years. Some of my favorites - one of my mom's thimbles, a set of three porcelain cats I got when I had my tonsils out (when I was 5), a little doll that my Aunt Sue made out of a spool, and a "Kennedy for President" campaign button. It is a pain to dust - but I will keep it hung up - and keep collecting little treasures .
You can't help but feel a little better when you look at a sunflower. They are big, happy, cheerful flowers.
"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows follow behind you."
~ Maori Proverb
This small trunk means a great deal to me. It belonged to my grandma when she was young. For some reason I never can really picture my grandma as a young girl playing with this trunk - when she talked about her childhood - she did not always have good things to say. I wish now I had asked her what she used this trunk for - what she kept tucked inside. I have been thinking about her a great deal lately - and even though I had moved so far away from her - and did not see her often - I miss her dearly.

Since these Raggedy's are nearly the same age as I am - I will not refer to them as old. These were mine when I was a little girl - and I love to see them sitting on this basket - holding memories of my childhood.
If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older. ~Tom Stoppard

Fun Stuff - Czech it out!

Czech out these cute buttons! How could I not get these - especially the czech one - (and for only 50 cents). The little boxes are incense. I have a small burner (shaped like a leaf) - that came with small sticks like these - but after they were used up - I could never find any small incense to use it again. They are lavender and lily. (I had to give Jennifer one of the "Lily" ones - that is what she is naming her baby).
I am making a pennant type banner for Jennifer's baby shower. I cut things out last night and found the letters I wanted yesterday. So hopefully I will have time to make it tonight. I really need more time to do the things I like to do - maybe 6 extra hours a day. - and a room all of my own to do it in. I don't want to sound anxious to have my kids leave the nest - I just want one of their rooms.
This is not a very good picture - but this little stopper/plug/stirrer thing is so cute. It has a mermaid on it. I wanted you to see this Amy. I like the stickers back there better.
It is getting to be that time of year again! I have already gotten three Halloween magazines full of great stuff. These little guys are so adorable. As soon as I am done with Jennifer's baby shower - out come the Halloween stuff.

- A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.
- Better a lie that soothes than a truth that hurts

- The government will fall that raises the price of beer.

- Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends

CZECH Proverbs

In the Pink!

I have been sorting through stuff for days, trying to get everything organized in my house. I am nearly done - and even though I would rather have been doing something else, I can find something fun in the process - like all of this pink stuff. How can you not love the color PINK!
And how can you not love this kid! Before he went swimming tonight he had to put on Kasey's swim cap. It is probably a good thing we didn't have some Speedo's - he probably would have put them on too. (I can only think this came about from watching so much of the Olympics. :-)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

" We're off to see the Wizard." ~ Luke sent this picture to me - after I was looking for a version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." When the kids were young we used to watch "The Wizard of Oz" quite regularly, but I haven't watched it in sometime. It is a cold and rainy day - so I think after I get back from the fabric store and settle in to sew - I will put it on. Things are much different than when I was young and we anticipated the one time of year when the "Wizard of Oz" aired on tv. It was a big thing - I remember being frightened by the scene where the monkeys carry Dorothy to the witches castle. I always enjoy this movie - no matter how many times I watch it - so today I am off to see the wizard.
"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." ~ Dorothy

Little Black Bags

I love small black bags. My collection is small - but growing. The one in the middle here is one I found a few weeks ago in an antique store. The clasp is a round cluster of rhinestones. They have always caught my eye for some reason - for as long as I can remember. I often wonder when I find one that I like - what the history is behind it - who it may have belonged to. I think that is one of the main reasons that I like antiques or anything for that matter that belonged to someone else before me. There is a history to them - and although I do not know what what that history is - it is connected to those items. Something about a bag that I like may have been the same thing that caught the eye of another woman years before me who picked it up, turned it over in her hands, deciding whether or not she was going to purchase it. A small - but a connection to the past.
"The past is not a package one can lay away." ~ Emily Dickinson