My Father-in-Law Left a Wonderful Legacy

As some of you know, my Father-in-Law has been very ill for the last four months. He lost his battle to many problems including complications after double bypass last month and passed away very peacefully on Sunday. He may have lost the battle - but he won the fight as we know he has finally met our Savior that he has modeled his own life after.

This is the type of man that left a wonderful legacy without even trying. Always kind and gentle, he ALWAYS put everyone before himself - especially his wife of 53 years and his three sons.

I'm not able to put down in words everything that I'd like to as the pain is too fresh, but I did want to pay tribute to Bert Randall, 80 years old, husband to Hazel and father to Danny, Terry, and Gary. May he enjoy his new life in Heaven and may he rest in peace.

Yankee Candle Wood Lid Tutorial - Recycle is Good

I've been on a quest recently to find out something to do with candle jar lids without dumping them into my recycle bins. So, I managed to come up with one thing for the Yankee Soy Candle wood lids.

I discovered that the wood lids can be separated from the plastic seal and used for crafts. Just use care when cutting the plastic rim.

I tossed the plastic rim into recycle and used the wood disc as the base of a wood candle holder for more stability for a future project. Using E600, I glued the wood disc to the base of the candle holder and I'll use the metal circle for another project. I had just bought a wooden disc at Hobby Lobby for $.99 but with this quick project, I got three wood discs for free just by recycling!

My First Craft Mall Teeny Tiny Booth

Newsflash:

In the midst of the rat race I'm running, I finally took the plunge and signed a six month lease for a very small space at a relatively new (but very busy) craft mall near me. The Calico Rabbit in Plainwell, MI has a great corner storefront in the middle of their quaint little town. Small

is good for just starting out I think, but I filled it as well as I could. The good news is that the owner invited me to bring in more goodies to overflow in the empty booth next to me. In fact, she said that I could bring in lots more junk and scatter them here and there in a couple more semi-empty booths. She'd rather have things in the spaces and then clear them when the spaces are rented. Sounds grand to me - extra space for me rent free!

Here's a few pictures of my space. The mini lights are pink, great to help highlight Chic Cottage Junk!

It's not very big but I loaded it up! The previous tenant had painted the pegboard brown and I thought it went just fine with the Shabby colors I use.

Life Has Gotten in the Way ...

As many of you find, Life has a way of - well - of getting in the way. I have been away from home a lot staying with my Mother-in-Law a couple of hours away. After two months of health issues for my Father-in-Law and in-and-out of the hospital, he suffered a heart attack a month ago. After double bypass a month ago today, he has had many set-backs and complications.

Last Wednesday, while going through minor surgery for the insertion of a feeding tube into his stomach, they lost him after his heart and breathing stopped. After 10 minutes of full recessitation including chest compressions on a chest that three weeks earlier endured open heart surgery, the doctors were able to revive him. He has improved over the last week and the decision was made yesterday to transport him to an acute cardiac care rehabilitation facility. At this point he is still stable but is in for a long road of rehab. He is very weak and cannot even feed himself at this point.

I was gone for a week and it feels good to be back home ... for now.

Been Outta the Loop for awhile

I've been AWOL again, but I've had lots going on and just haven't taken the time to blog. I had my first fall craft show a couple of weeks ago, hurt my back and neck, getting ready for another show Saturday, and Life in General, getting in the way!

I'm just checking in and I wanted to thank Janis Gurney (http://janisgurney.blogspot.com/) JunkDreams for mentioning me and one of my past projects on JunkMarketStyle.com! What a dear! Thank you so much for the mention - and the fact that it was included in the latest email from Junk Market Style! Janis - your Masher Bud Vases are beautiful - and an improvement on mine! Thanks again.

I need to get to bed with some good ole Ben Gay on my neck and shoulder. I've been fighting this "pain-in-the-neck" for a week and a half now and I'm really getting tired of it. It's been pretty painful and has really put me behind in production for my October shows. Dang it all!

Not a whole lot new here I suppose. Andrew's new job at the Vet Hospital is going well and he is really settling in well. First full time job WITH benefits and a good paying job until he gets picked up by National Geographic. Jeremy got a new cast last week and is still fuming that he won't be wake boarding any more this year!

Thanks for your patience while I try to get back to blogging. And thanks to the new followers - I really appreciate you stopping by!

Sue

Mom, I'm gonna be ok so don't freak ...

Have you ever gotten that phone call from a child that starts out likes this ...

"Mom, I'm gonna be ok so don't freak". Yup, I got that one today. Jeremy, my oldest (three weeks shy of 28) called me from the emergency room this morning and started the conversation with the previous line. Of course, as a mother, I had to freak just because he told me not to. Actually, I didn't freak, but I knew it was going to be bad. He was wake boarding this morning when he "bit it" or "wiped out" or "biffed". Whatever you want to call it, it wasn't good.

While falling, he hit his forearm on his knee - and you guessed it - he broke his arm. Not a fracture - broke it all the way through. Not a clean break - a bad break. A jagged break. So, they put him out to set it and then put on a pretty white cast. That will hold him until next week when he will ultimately have surgery to put a shiny new plate in his arm. Not to freak, mind you, just the typical phone call a mother might get from a 28 year old who likes extreme sports!

I'm glad my younger son was driving the boat and was able to take him to emergency. Andrew took him home, detailed the boat and got it covered for the night when he took a bad fall on the dock. Andrew's belongings flew out of pockets and his cell phone landed - well, where else might it land? You guessed it - in the lake. (Jeremy put two iPhones in the lake too) Lakes and cell phones are not a good combination. So, Andrew had to go to work tonight filming a high school football game and will stand for several hours with undoubtedly a sore back side.

So, it's been a rough day around here ...

I'm Not Sure Who was More Scared ...

So...I have this little friend...I call him Chic Munk...yeah, I know that they are called chipmunks, but I like Chic Munk, it just sounds cuter. And he is cute! He is DARLING cute! He sneaks into the garage when I'm painting my junk and then scurries out when I mover around the garage and accidently frighten him. He helps himself by sitting right in the middle of one of our bird feeders and stuffing his little CHIC Munk CHEEKS full of bird seed and sunflower seeds.

So last week I was taking one of my flower walks ... you know the walk ... where you WALK slowly among your flower beds and admire the calming beauty that flowers offer. I heard Chic Munk scurry up the down spout above my rain barrel. He likes to perch on the rain barrel and run up the spout when he sees me. It's just a cute GAME we play - just me and Chick.

Anyway, I ran to get my camera because I could see a photo opportunity unfolding. I was in the middle of my "photo shoot" when I decided to get really close when he ran into the spout again. I moved the decorative trellis thingy in front of the spout a little for a better view up the spout - the trellis bumped against the camera - which scared Chic - and then he scared me!!! I smacked my wrist on the trellis and instantly one of the veins inside my wrist burst open inside.

The pain and the fire inside my wrist almost took me to my knees. My husband was out of town with his parents (FIL in hospital) and I had to call him to ask if I was going to bleed inside to death - should I go to emergency. In the scope of what he was dealing with regarding his father, my blood filled wrist was probably not an emergency. But to me it was. I resorted to icing it several times that night and I'm fine now, just a little tender in the area.

You'll have to look closely to find Chic Munk, but he really is there!

Rainy Friday with a Previous Project ...

Potato Masher Bud Vases ...