HERE IS WHAT ALL THAT YARN IS ABOUT

I am teaching myself to do needle felting.  I love it and I know I have tons to learn.  So far I cannot find any classes, so I read what I can online and experiment.  This is a felted purse I bought and I am needle felting the flowers on top.  It's kind of like painting with wool.  I met a beadmaker by the name of Shirley Cook years ago at a ISGB (glass beadmakers) convention.  She makes beautiful felted pieces.  Lots of bowls that are just gorgeous.  That is called wet felting.  I'd like to learn that too :)  I'll find her website and post it.  Here's the link to her Etsy shop.  Look at some of her sold items.....beautiful!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlamesAndFiber

OKAY, I HAVE NO EXCUSE

I have just zoned out for awhile.  Busy with the grandkids, a couple of shows, and getting ready for my niece's wedding.  I found another signage I really like, hope I can pull it up. Sorry I can't make it any bigger,but it's a good thought, for me anyway.  Well, never mind. It wouldn't transfer.
I have another picture I want to put in.  Can anyone guess what I' m doing?  I should mention I do many of my crafts on my bed....except for bead making, of course.   Obviously, I'm eating chocolate and gumdrops, but what else am I doing?  Any guessers out there?

JUST A LITTLE UPDATE

Okay, I finally got over celebrating my birthday, but it was a lot of fun.  Now, I have two shows to get ready for and I am low on inventory.  The first show is the yearly fund raiser for Day Spring, where my Sara lives.  I donate 50% of whatever I sell.  It's called the Concrete Ball because it is sponsored by several concrete businesses here in Louisville.  I have a great beadmaker friend, Jackie, who does this with me and donates 50% of her sales too.......now that is a good friend :)
Hank and I often talk about how lucky we are that Sara lives at Day Spring.  We bring her home almost every Sat and she spends the night and there is no one she loves more than her Dad, but she is happy living there.  She has friends and activities.  She goes to an adult day program 4 days a week.  I wish there were programs like this for all adults with disabilities.

I was in Florida last week visiting my mom.  It rained almost everyday while I was gone.  The first thing I noticed when I got home was this big crack in our kitchen ceiling right around the sky light.  HB had not even noticed it.  What is it with men and their vision?  Honestly, if Hank is looking for something, like his billfold, which is a daily occurrence I might add, if it is not within 3 feet of his visual field he cannot find it.  This crack was not tiny and he had not seen it......amazing :)

Of course this crack means $$$$$.  I hate spending money of things like that.  it's like buying new tires, who notices, or cares?  I would much rather spend the money on  glass for my studio, or a new computer, or things for my grandchildren....sigh.

Oh, here's a reason that my bead inventory is low.  I kind of found a new hobby.  It's just something I'm playing around with.  I tried Zentangles but found out I liked drawing real things, in odd colors, better.  It makes HB sigh a lot.  He thinks I should be in my studio creating beads :)


                                                                   

CELEBRATING MY 70TH BIRTHDAY ONE MORE TIME

Because we couldn't all get together as a family on my birthday my children chose this past weekend to celebrate my 70th birthday, and they did it in high style!!  On Friday night a Limo picked up Hank and me, our daughter Jen and her husband Paul and 4 of our grandchildren.  We drove to our son Max's house, dropped off the kids to a waiting babysitter and picked up Max and his girlfriend Nicole.  We went to a great eating place here in Louisville called Jack Fry's.  I had the best filet....yum.  We sat and ate and drank for 2 1/2 hours.  It was just wonderful.  On Sat. we went to Max's house and had a party.  Max and Jen did a great job, wonderful food, lots of friends and family.  It was honestly the best birthday celebration I have ever had.  Max went to a local bakery that is co-owned by one of his high school classmates.  He showed them my website and asked them to make me a bead birthday cake.  This is what they came up with.  It was the coolest birthday cake I have ever seen.
                                                 

It was a wonderful weekend and I am feeling mighty loved right now.  Life is good :)

                                           

LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED

                           
                                                 

                                                                 

These words above are some of the hardest I have learned over the past 70 years.  I've spent a lot of time these last several weeks thinking about this 70th birthday.  It's a hard one for me, mostly because I know the length of my days are behind me now.  I think I may have about 15 years left, maybe 20, if I consider all the other females in my family who have lived into their 90's  Having now lived 70 years, what words of wisdom would I want to give my children and grandchildren .......and would they pay attention anyhow, if I had some advice :). Well, here's a list of some of the things I now know for sure, through my own life experiences.
1.  Life is not fair.  You may think you deserve a good life without adversity, but believe me there is more than one surprise waiting for you.  Some happy, others not so much.
2.  Never make up your mind about what you cannot endure.  We are all much stronger and more resilient than we think we are.  You will discover your true self the first time life throws you a heart wrenching curve.  Pain and sorrow put life in perspective and you will find courage that you didn't know you even had. Happiness will be valued and appreciated more than it ever was before.
3.  High school is not the most fun you will ever have, in fact for many it is a personal agony.  If you are lucky you will end up with one lifetime friend that you knew in high school.  I feel that I am extra lucky in that area because I ended up with 4 high school friends that are still very much a part of my life.  However, I lived in a small town with one high school.  We spent all of our time together.
4.  Pick a profession you love, you're going to be doing it for a long, long time.  Women no longer have to be teachers or nurses, not that there is anything wrong with either profession, but it was our only choice when I was in school.  I wish I could have studied art way back then.
5.  Keep a journal, even sporadically, you will love reading it as you get older. It's never too late to start one. Write down the funny things your children and grandchildren say and do.  They will love hearing about it over and over.
6.  Don't settle for anything....a man, a job, a salary, a life style.  Think long and hard about what you want to achieve in your life and then be willing to work hard to get it.  Remember that there are no free rides.
7.  Raising children is the hardest job you will ever do.  If you have no children you have not a clue what I am talking about.  It is also the best job I ever had.  If you have small children you are now fighting with a two year old and wondering how you got in that position.  If you have a teenager you have my sympathy because those are the years that truly test your patience and restraint.  There's good news at the end of the line though.
8.  Those unruly, annoying, cantankerous children grow up, get married, become responsible adults and they give you....GRANDCHILDREN!  This is truly the very best thing about aging.  These sweet babies come to your home, you bake cookies together, they mess up your kitchen, they mess up your bathroom, they leave toys all around.  You play games, read stories, color together, go to bookstores, the zoo etc.  Eventually they get crabby,,,,,but then they go HOME.  It's wonderful I tell you!
9.  Be a good friend.  Everyone needs at least one special friend.  You know, the one you might not see for a while, but you can pick back up as soon as you are together again, like you've never been apart.
10. Be kind....to everyone.  I used to be afraid to talk to people I didn't know because basically I am kind of shy in the beginning.  However I soon began to realize how much I was missing and I also found out that other people were afraid to initiate conversations too.  Isn't that silly?  What I could have learned from some of those people is forever lost.

I don't know what lies ahead for me, however I have decided this.  I plan to live these remaining years, hard!  I love living and I want to soak in as much as I can.  I want my grandchildren to remember me as a feisty old lady who said what she thought....kindly :), who lived a full life and was grateful for it, and one who gave them annoying lists of lessons to live by :) :) :)  Maybe someday those lists will bring a smile to their faces, and they will remember me.

THINGS ON MY MIND

This is the year I turn 70.  It's kind of frightening, actually.  My grandmother once told me, and I think I've mentioned it before, that your life goes by in the blink of an eye.  I didn't believe it when she said it, but I do now.  The women in my family usually live into their 90's, however I kind of hope I don't make it that long.  If I lived to be 85, that's only 15 more years.  Do you know how fast 15 years go? I feel like these last two years have been such a hard time for our family.  I want us all to be happy again, but I think divorce leaves a scar that really never heals. It cuts through the whole family and leaves little nicks of sadness, anger, disbelief, and causes so much pain to all involved.  We all have struggled to understand and tried to move on, but when you had so much love for the person who left so unexpectedly it's difficult.  I don't want to be sad anymore, if I only have 15 years I want to live them hard.  I need to work on this, because as my grandmother said...it's gone in the blink of an eye.

CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS

Does Christmas make anyone else melancholy besides me?  Maybe it's because I'm older now, much older, but I have such mixed feelings about Christmas.  I think about the early ones I had, with my grandparents.  My sister and I sleeping in the same twin bed on Christmas Eve listening for the reindeer, the anticipation building and the agony of waiting until 7 am before we could wake anyone up. Those Christmases were so happy, so carefree. Then there were Christmases when my children were young.  HB and I had so much fun getting everything ready after the children went to bed.  Well, maybe HB didn't have so much fun all the time, because he was the one responsible for putting all the toys together, and it seemed there was always a missing nut or bolt.  The looks on the kid's faces Christmas morning always made everything worth it though.
Now we have grandchildren and the first couple of years were wonderful.  It's been harder since my son's divorce because he has the children every other year and this year is his off year.  We will miss them.  We will celebrate several days later with them and our daughter and her family and I know we are lucky that we have a family to be with.  I think the melancholy has to do with all the people who are gone from my life, especially my grandparents.  My sister and I were so loved by both of our grandmothers and our grandfather.  I'm almost 70 years old and I still miss them.  In memory, I think times always seem better than perhaps they really were in real life.  I don't know, I just know my memories make me feel happy. I'm the one providing the memories now.  I hope someday my grandchildren will remember HB and me and have great memories of our time together.  It's how we will live on.

MORE WORDS

I swear, sometimes these things just jump out at me!!!  This is the best one I've seen in a long time.

AND IT'S ANOTHER BABY PICTURE

Sorry, I know people aren't crazy about looking at pictures of other people's grandchildren, but I just had to show this one of Jake.  He went shopping for his first Christmas tree.  I just love his outfit, and he has that serious look on his face that his brother always had when he was that age.

                                               

I really liked having something nice to write about since it's been a pretty crummy week.  Sara had a bad fall at Day Spring, the community where she lives.  Since she can't identify where she hurts it becomes a guessing game to find out where the injury is.  This time is was in the place I always feared and knew was coming.  She apparently fell face first and hit her teeth on the floor.  She has a big chip out of one of her front teeth and the other front tooth looks like someone took a chisel to it.  It has tiny gouges all over the front surface of the tooth where enamel is missing.  I called her dentist and we are going in on Monday morning.  I just feel so sad for Sara.  I would give anything, and I do mean anything, if she could just tell us what hurts.  I would also give that "anything" if she could just keep her balance and not fall as often as she does.  She is so sweet and happy all the time. I   don't understand why the most innocent have to suffer so much sometimes.

A FEW SIMPLE WORDS, LIVES FOREVER CHANGED

Sometimes I read something that just strikes me in the gut.  This is one of those things.....and after all this time it still doesn't seem real.