Swan dive off the sidewalk!

So if things weren't hectic enough with everything else going on, I decide to take a swan dive (and it most likely resemble more of a dodo bird landing) off our sidewalk on Wednesday.  I had just finally gotten to my regular hours at work and no more training, so I had to readjust the time I leave for work on Wednesday (luckily later in the morning as I'm now working 9:30 to 6).  I walk out of the house and go down the front porch steps fine.  Nothing was wet, the sun was out, no frost on my car.  Walk down the sidewalk and step off the last step into the driveway and a flying I go!  I had NO CLUE what had just happened except that I'm now laying in a muddy driveway, my travel cup opened up and ice goes all over.  I knew I hurt my knee and eventually got up.  Put my hand on the step to help myself up and wouldn't you know it.....it was  FROSTY!  Couldn't even see it!  Luckily it was my knee and not my ankle.  I've twisted that ankle so many times, the last time it was MONTHS that it hurt to walk on it.  So I had to hobble back inside and change clothes and got to work.  It was sore throughout the day but manageable.  Stupid me didn't think better when I came home to put ice on it or anything and night time was horrible trying to sleep.  Thursday morning....couldn't walk.  It was so sore, swollen and stiff.  I had to call out to work.  Just killed me to do so since I've only been there a month and to waste a day on something like that.  Grrrrrrr!!!!!

Thanks to everyone with their kind words last week, still trying to get back to my replys.   Mom is still hanging in there but just depressed.   Hoping we can get her spirits up a bit. 

On the crafting front, my sister brought me 2 big bags of soda cans so I have to start cleaning them out.  I've been cutting out 3d barn stars and snowflakes out of the tin with my Big Shot Pro (I am in LOVE with my Big Shot Pro!!).  I've got to get going on some stitcheries but I seem to do those more in the spring and summer months sitting out on my porch so I'll get my mojo back on those soon!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Dawn
"Aunt DeeDee"

Life got hectic and I'm tired!

I haven't posted recently but life got a little hectic and worrisome at home.  Mom had to go into the hospital.  She has a cancer but more recently had gotten sick in October and November which was what her regular doctor chalked up to pnuemonia, but she never quite shook it.  So she finally got back to her specialist doctor and had blood work done.  Her doctor called one morning and said I want you in the hospital.  She had fluid in her lungs and her kidneys were down to less than 10% function.   So she was in for just over a week and is now getting dialysis (probably spelling that totally wrong!!).  So we are all working together to get through all of this.  I am so glad I moved into the other half of the house.   Now that I'm working further away from home I at least know that when I am home, I'm just next door. 

So between helping out my parents and getting into the swing of things with the new job I haven't had a chance to be on the computer much.   But I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to work on projects....oh and get caught up on laundry, the cleaning.......but I swear I'm fitting in some crafting time!!!

Take care,
Dawn "Aunt DeeDee"

Giveaway Winner Announced!

Whew....it's been a long past two days for me!  Rough getting back into the swing of things with starting a new job.  But after almost 6 months of unemployment it's most definitely a welcome change!  The ONLY downside I see so far in this job is the commute.  REALLY not used to that at all but it is what it is!  I'm hoping that once training is done and I start my normal hours which will be 9:30 to 6 that I will miss a good portion of rush hour.  Without the traffic the drive is 45 minutes.  Today it took an hour and a half and I didn't have a minute to spare.  So tomorrow I'll leave even earlier.  You just never know with this major highway of ours what may pop up and delay traffic.  But otherwise, everyone has been so nice and I think it's going to be a nice work environment!

OK......so on to the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!   Please excuse me that I don't have pictures of the list of entries or a screen print of the random # generator but the camer isn't charged and I wasn't sure how to get a screen print of the # generator.  But after listing each entry and the double entry for those adding it to their sidebar, there was a total of 27 entries.  The random # generator picked # 26 which was...................

LIL RAGGEDY ANGIE!!!!!!!!!    CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Please email your mailing address so Peter Cottontail can jump in his box and be mailed off to you!!

And to show my appreciation of all of those who took the time to leave me a comment and also those who helped spread the word, I picked 5 more winners!  Please email your info and a lil something will be on it's way to you as well!

1. Carmen @ primcats
2. Connie
3. Amy @ cottageprims
4. Michelle
5. Lecia @ Farmhouse prims

I had a few inquiries on the shabby barn stars, if they would be for sale.  I should have some listed this weekend and will post a note here when I do for anyone that may be interested.  

Have a great night and thanks again to all who entered the giveaway and helped spread the word about my blog!   I'll be planning another giveaway soon so stay tuned!

Aunt DeeDee

Barnstars and a GIVEAWAY!

Well good news.........I was offered a job!!  Woohoo!!!  I accepted and now it's just subject to the background check.  So once that goes through ok, then I should get the final offer and start date.   So now I'm preparing to going back to working days and because of the commute.....longer hours.  But my nights and weekends will still be my crafting time!!   I'll be working this weekend in getting all the cleaning and laundry done so I don't have to worry about it coming home at night.  And I also found time to work on some new stuff. 

I had gotten the Sizzix Big Shot for Christmas and have been playing with it since.  Was excited to get the 3D 5 point star die and experimented with recycling soda cans and I also had some nice cardboard/chipboard type of scraps.  Where I used to work in an insurance agency, we ordered ID card holders.  And they had these nice strips of cardboard in the packaging.  I had been grabbing those for awhile knowing they could be recycled somehow.  I used a lot for Santa Key doorknob hangers.  And then I knew I could use them for the 3D star!   (Mental note to contact one of my old co-workers and see if she can still collect those for me!)

So here is the one made from recycled soda cans.  It took 2 and 1/2 soda cans to make one star.  I die cut the pieces, embossed them with the curly embossing folder and then used Ranger alcohol inks (total of 3 colors and a little gold) to color the pieces.  And then assembled.

The 2nd one is made with the recycled cardboard pieces and used a nice shabby set of coordinating papers.  Distressed the edges with inks and also assembled. 

And now onto the giveaway!  With spring and Easter on it's way, I decided to offer up one of my Peter Cottontails.  He's really looking to go to a nice loving home and I hear he's planning on bringing some extra goodies along with him.  So what is needed to bring Peter to your home?   Easy!  Just be a follower and leave a comment for one entry.   Want a second entry?   Post on your blog or facebook and let me know in your comment and that will earn you the 2nd entry.  New followers......the more the merrier!  Please enter!!!  Signup by Monday, March 7th Midnight EST.  Winner will be announced on March 8th!   Good luck!

Have a great night,

Dawn "Aunt DeeDee"

Still unemployed but getting craft mojo back!

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post!   I've been still searching for a job.  In the beginning when I was laid off, it was like "Ok, I haven't had a vacation in awhile and let me take some time".   After the 1st week or 2 you get motivated into finding a job.  By the 4th, 5th, 6th month.....PANIC sets in!  I found that especially towards the end of the year there were absolutely NOTHING posted jobwise.  I think most places are wrapping up their end of year stuff and not looking to hire.  Now that it's the new year, things seem to be picking up a bit, but the problem is...there are so many people out there unemployed it's almost like playing the lottery.....not great odds!   Next week I have a 2nd interview on Monday at which they said it's between 2 of us and they'll most likely make a decision that afternoon.  I'm really hoping for that one.  It's a little less money, but still local....15 minutes from home!   If that one doesn't pan out, then I have a 3rd interview for another place that has seem promising up to this point.  This is supposedly my last stop in the interview process.  Everything seems really great about this job except for the commute.  When I calculate the cost of gas alone I'd spend in the year, I'd probably be making less than the closer job.  But at this point, I'm hoping one or the other hires me.


So I've had some time on my hands.  I got back into researching the family history more and got a bit added onto the family tree.  Finally came across some older photos of my one grandfather which was nice.  Up to that point, all I had were really old ones of my grandmother when she was little and her side of the family and then my grandfather once they were dating and then married.  So nice to find older ones of him and some of his family.  We know that one my direct ancestors (a great great etc grandfather) came over on the Mayflower, so that's exciting.   I'm trying to get photos that go back to at least my great-great grandparents and then I want to try to incorporate those photos into some sort of altered craft or scrapbook type of item.  Here's one of the photos I found of my Great Grandparents.  I just love the old vintage looking photos. 

And I've tweaked my bottlecaps a little.  My parents gave me a Sizzix Big Shot for Christmas and surprise!  I can flatten my bottlecaps with it.  That was probably the coolest thing I've done with it yet!  When my camera batteries are charged I'll share photos. 

And I've noticed that the # of my followers is starting to creep up.  Stay tune this coming week, as I think it's time for some sort of spring giveaway!!!!!

Hope all is well with everyone!
Aunt DeeDee

Christmas and New Year's Wishes!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to starting a brand new year! I spent a nice quiet Christmas with my parents. This is the 1st time in my 39 years that I didn't sleep at my parents house! But since we live in a 2 family house connected by a garage in the middle and all I had to do was wake up in the morning, go through my kitchen door into the garage and into their kitchen.....just sayin' it's not really much different!!! BUT it was nice to sleep cigarette and smoke free for once on Christmas Eve! Mom decided to bake a ham so she didn't have to cook much in the way of dinner.


I had mentioned about how we used to always get a puzzle for Christmas when my sister and I were little. And then mom commented how she thought a Thomas Kincaid puzzle would be pretty. So I wound up getting her a 1000 piece Thomas Kincaid puzzle and she wound up getting me 2 Springbok winter puzzles- one 500 pieces and the other 1000. Christmas day we put together the 500 piece one and the last piece was put into place at 3am! Boy that was hard!! And the other day we started the Thomas Kincaid one and we've been cursing that one out ALOT. I have no clue why we thought puzzles were so much fun!!!  Here's the one we did on Christmas, it was pretty when finished.

The most fun I have at Christmas is taking pictures of my parents cats on Christmas morning.  They currently have a total of 8 cats!  Yikes!  This year I didn't even get pics of all of them put here are a few of them:

This is Jack, but I call him Mr. Jack.   He and his sister Jill aka Beanie were mine for awhile.  We had found a home for them but the person had to give them back.  I kept them for a bit while trying to find a home for them but got in trouble when the landlord found I had them.  So mom took them for a bit and we knew at that point they'd stay with her.  She already had their brother so it was a happy family reunion with them.  Jack is still my baby boy though.  Isn't he just the most handsome lil guy???  And he ALWAYS hangs his legs over the edges of things.  Sometimes he has both hanging down....he has unually long legs. 

This is Jill aka Beanie.  She's just a teeny tiny tot.  She is really a small little girl.  All of the mean kids in the family seem to pick on her, but just like her brother, she's still my lil girl!! 

And this is Woody, their brother.  Caught him in mid yawn!  Guess we were tiring him out!!  His a big ol' boy!  I think he and his brother got all of their mama's nutrients and poor Beanie didn't!!

Awwww.....the newest additions to the house!  My parents lost 2 of their males this year within a week apart.  They were Dad's boys and he was really missing them.  While at the garden center this summer, we found the farm had kittens there and well......here are Gizmo (left) and Ralphie (right).  I hear them getting yelled at alot!!   But they had fun on Christmas morning.  Ralphie loves to shred paper...at which he gets yelled at for.  Well, he thought Santa was just the coolest for bringing lots of paper to shred that morn!

And should my mom EVER find out that I posted this picture I will surely meet my demise, but I just had to.  Snapped this while we were baking peanut butter cookies.  I'm pretty sure I got yelled at after snapping this!

And here is my little tiny prim and country tree.  You can see a bit in the above picture of my mom's tree.  She still does a more traditional tree....colored lights, various ornaments, garland.  When I went out on my own, I went different.  I love the white lights opposed to the colored lights.  And the past few years, I've participated in prim ornie swaps so just about all of my tree is handmade ornies.  Only the top portion has store bought ornaments that are small, but still prim in nature!  :)   And then I have some wooden candy canes and metal icicles that were also bought.  I found a new tree at Lowe's that I wanted to buy this year, but after losing my job I couldn't justify buying a new tree.  I always think I need a new tree but then after putting my little Charlie Brown tree up, I just love it.  So I think it will be a keeper for at least another year!

And finally I must post a picture of one of my girls, Gracie.  I tortured her this year by buying a Santa cape.  She was the only one stupid.....uhhhh I mean gracious enough to leave it on long enough to snap a pic!  She really was not amused by it!!!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!!

Aunt DeeDee

Giveaway by the Rusty Thimble

Brenda from the Rusty Thimble has been so generous with her giveaways this year.  Each month she has offered some wonderful items and given them to lucky followers of her blog.  As we close in on the end of 2010, Brenda has one last giveaway and it doesn't disappoint!!!  Go on over to her blog and check out the darling snow girl ornies that she is offering to a lucky reader! 

http://therustythimble2.blogspot.com/2010/12/december-giveaway.html

Now I'm off to do some errands and visit the craft stores.

Take care,
Aunt DeeDee