Sometimes this is all you need

Its been a crazy 2 weeks for me and my family. I cant even begin to tell you how hard it is to keep going at a full time job outside of the home, attempt to build and market my body business and candles as well as try to be a good Mom and Grandmom. Some of you may already know exactly what I'm talking about. When anything happens out of the ordinary, it just throws you completely off kilter and its almost humanly impossible to keep the pace. Trying to please everyone, do a good job at work, is just exhausting. AND..I'm trying to learn how to make new scented candles all the time--and for me its not easy. I also threw in my first Craft Show to attend to market my products and so I'm trying to build a stock....Anyhow, I came h ome yesterday after a nearly 12 hour day at work just wiped out and thinking of cancelling my craft show project because I dont know if I'll be able to get my stock up. On my table were these beautiful flowers. My first thought was---Baldyman remembered to get some nice flowers for the Thanksgiving meal. Then I saw the card..it says ---Thank you..well I knew then it wasnt from Baldyman. What would he thank me for? Well theres alot I guess but I just sensed it wasnt from him. We've got alot of personal tough times going on with our 3rd son and trying to help him. He is the one who put the flowers there with a very nice card saying Thank you for all we are helping him with. I just thought after reading the card....Ya know, sometimes this is all you need in life--someone grateful for trying your best. I dont need big fancy houses, new cars, diamonds, wonderful trips all the time--I just need to know sometimes I'm a good Mom, grandmom and that I do my best. I may not be the best--but I do my best. So, I'm feeling very thankful that my kids know I try hard. Add to that, another nice letter came my way from someone that really made me smile inside so this week on top of being very physically and emotionally trying was also very heart touching.

I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving meal with their loved ones and your homes are full of laughter and love. This is my most favorite meal of the year. I absolutely love it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

One of the greatest Gifts of my life

Growing up the way I did, I didnt get to see my Grandparents all that often, and I know I missed out on alot. The times I did spend at my grandma and Grandpa's I remember good food, ALWAYS good Italian food, alot of laughter, alot of yelling (they were Italian) and my grandma's love of BIG Costume Jewelry. When she got dressed up--she had the biggest earrings, pins, etc. She died many years ago and I never had the heart to ask anyone for anything of hers. Years had to go by before I did finally share with my cousin Rose and my Aunt Yvonne that I would like something of Grandmas. My Aunt Yvonne gave me a Mary Statue that Grandma had in her room but I've always wondered about her Costume Jewelry.

This weekend my cousin Rose, her blog is here, came to visit. She brought along this Keepsake box of some of my Grandmas Costume Jewelry. It was a gift from my Aunt Yvonne, made with her and her daughter Paulette. I just about cried. I told Rose, I just could cry. This jewelry struck some memory cords in me, I remember her wearing it. I remember as a young girl thinking how "bright" Grandma was--and how everything was so BIG! Even her hair was down the middle of her back. She liked us to brush it. She also always had me use that Pretty Feet Lotion and get her dry skin off her elbows. This was one of my life's greatest gifts. Not only do I feel so priviledged to have this of my Grandma, but also because my Mom and Dad didnt let us out of the house that often I really feel like I was a lost child. There was no closeness for us and so our memories of our extended family are very few.

I'm happy to show you all this gift...its really special to me.

Las Vegas

I had a few more than I thought. This didnt turn out like I would have hoped. I cannot tell you how beautiful it was to come around the corner after nearly 23 hours of driving and see these lights. It was utterly breathtaking. If you ever drive to Las Vegas, plan your arrival at dusk...its just amazing how bright and beautiful this is.
This is a mountain in Utah. I think this picture turned out pretty awesome. My husband cannot get enough of Utah...I can take it or leave it after seeing it 3 times,,,,he still gets amazed.
This photo--cracked us all up. Janell (DIL) who is 8 months pregnant--had to stop and go potty. We pulled into this pretty desolate station and all that was there was this cage,,filled with grass, dented in and look at that sign!!!! Pet Exercise Area-and even funnier...Please keep it clean!!!! We just had to laugh.
This is Colorado on the way in. Its become one of our normal pitstops to get out and walk--go potty etc. It was kinda cool here, in the 60's. Its amazing how the temps change from state to state--and in Colorado from town to town. You can go literally from the 80's to the 40's in sometimes less than 2 hours. It also will be sunny and hot--then cloudy and snowing. You dont get to see those kinds of things when you fly.

I wish I had taken more--but like I said--we just werent thinking.

Hello fellow bloggers!

We made it there and back safely...no problems! The trip was exhausting, we did alot of running, constantly going out, wanted to see as much as possible. I lost about 120 dollars, then on the 3rd night I wont it all back. I gambled a bit more..so my total loss was about 32.00. Not bad considering I hit the slots ALOT! We saw so much this time around. The only real disapointment was we just couldnt seem to find a reasonably priced good meal. AND...get this--I only took one picture! I got a picture of us arriving at nighttime, all the lights. It was so beautiful. I will post that tomorrow. I dont know why we didnt take any pictures..we just didnt. I'm glad to be home. We drove straight thru...left Las Vegas Thursday morning--arrived home Friday afternoon. Unreal. We were in the car about 24-25 hours, except for potty breaks.

The picture above is of a couple weeks ago--Genie and Bugsy laying in bed with me. This was before Genie got sick. Genie was doing pretty poorly up until 2 days before we left. She seemed to be slowly improving so we went ahead and left. When we came back--our neighbor who watches her for us, said "Let me tell you about your dog Genie....she's got better each day I watched her", "She's getting healthier and better every day". I was so happy. She still collapses when she runs, so we try real hard to not let her run or get real excited. Its hard because her personality is of a fast, nosy, pesty animal. BUT... we want her around as long as possible and she continues to fight to. She's only 6 so I just cant imagine life without her.

When we got home, it is hotter than in Las Vegas. I'm lovin this weather. I hope everyone is doing fine--I have alot of catching up to do!

See yas!

This is me, baldyman, our daughter on the left, daughter in law on the right, last May in Vegas at the Wynn. Daughterinlaw is now 8 months pregnant and on her way to Vegas. She didnt want to go but once her doctor gave her the go ahead they packed up and left last night. She wont be drinking or having that cigerette like last year,,(thank god). Our daughter Annie, just passed her RN exam and found out yesterday so she may have a celebration drink. I'm just starting to get excited. I hope to see lots of sun and hot temps.

See yas next weekend!

Tara Renee's Graduation Day

This is one of my twins, Tara Renee. Today she graduated from college with a degree in Teaching. Standing next to her is her fiance Andrew.
Here's Baldyman and his twins, Annie (Elisa) and Tara.
The two girls here are my daughters in law, Janell in the gray shirt, and Toshina in the yellow. Both are expecting boys this summer. My 2nd son Jon (Janell's hubby) is next to her and the guy in the blue shirt is my cousins son Justin.
And lastly here is myself and my daughter Tara. The weather wasnt as great as it looks, it was really windy and quite cold today. She had a nice day, with just her siblings over for dinner and my cousin Rose and her children. A couple of her friends also stopped by. Everyone is gone now, house is all cleaned up and we are chillin. Hopefully tomorrow I can get a few pictures of my little escape. We got it done enough so that it could be used.

Windows on Cabin

This is one of the front windows baldy made. You can remove this wooden panel and their is a screen underneath. He's going to paint the trim forest green, add some handles, maybe something decorative in the middle of it.
This is a window on the side of it, that he just purchased and put in. They were only about 40 or 50 dollars, not bad at all. He has it all cleaned out, the plan is to finish the windows today, get the trim up, possibly paint the trim if the rain holds off and move most of the furnishings in tonight. I have to tell you, I have some really cute stuff. Our daughter graduates tomorrow morning so today is all we have to finish it to get it to at least be able to use it tomorrow for folks to sit in and enjoy it. If it hadnt rained so much around here, we would have made it, all we need really is one more day. I"m on a mission to find a really neat mailbox for the front, I need window boxes for the side windows and then once we are done we are going to lay a little brick patio in front.

So, theres my last update before I get pictures with all the frilly girly stuff in it!

Cottage Update!

Okkk here it is! This is the window Baldyman built. YEP he built it, he's to cheap to buy a window or windows so he's designing his own. This is the screen part and he's just about done with the cover for it...he's building that to. We found windows for as little as 25.00 but he didnt like them. He said he wants a specific look....okkkk, i won't argue.
Here are the skylights--he made these to. We had rain 2 nights ago and they leak--lol...well he's got a fix for that to. We'll see, but I told him if I'm in there watching a show or snoozing away and i get rained on--I'm gonna be one hot mama and not the in the way he wants. From the inside they look good, he's just gotta go back and do some work to stop the leaks which arent real bad, so he says. The walls will remain just like you see, I dont want walls. We are going to nail different size pieces of wood here and there though so i can have built in shelves for all my cutsies. Shellmo you asked a while ago if I was buying things for my little hideaway and yes...I have been saving up all kinds of things. I also got some things for Mothers Day. My 3rd son bought me the fireplace for it, i've been using it in my bedroom and I tell ya--it rocks. My 2nd son and daughterinlaw bought a relax sign and some dragon fly pictures. I will take a picture this week of all my goodies.

My daughter Tara graduates from college this weekend. My hopes is that this will be done in time so I can have an Open House. As much as i appreciate what Baldyman is doing for me, I doubt this will happen. But, he says its like Extreme Makeover and he's on his timeline now. Yesterday I was having a conversation with Tara's twin (Annie) and she made a comment, "you know Dad, he's slow",,, I couldnt stop laughing because I said in what way...lol! I think its both!

Anyhow, here's my little update!

Happy Mothers Day

I hope everyone had a nice relaxing day yesterday.

We did, we stayed home and just made a light lunch and the kids popped over whenever. I didnt feel like going out and I didnt feel like a big meal. This little bike planter was a gift from my oldest son and daughter-in-law along with two yard ornaments. Its really adorable. The plant needs alittle trimming up which dorky me didnt even notice until i uploaded the picture,,,I would have trimmed it before I took it! I found a neat place to put it, next to my pond, where I can see it from the my cottage when its done. (if its ever done-lol). Actually, there is progress being made, I will get a picture tonight. I have just about everything I need for it now except for a rug.

Well, its back to work for alot of us, I hope everyone has a great week!

Hot tubbin

Our grandaughters were all over tonight and to end the fun night they all wanted to hot tub. They had a couple of friends along to! Sure looks fun, the water was perfect. My 3 are the 3 you see, Ms. Ellie being held by Kaitlyn and Kaylee who looks like she's digging in her butt..lol

Things are coming along on the little hideaway we are making. Baldy is working on the roof now and the skylights. Once he's done with that I'll take another picture. I cannot believe I'm only able to get on here about 2 times a week now. Its amazing how fast the days go by. I think for me,,,its because the weather is much warmer and after work I head outside and on the weekends I'm either out gardening or working in the yard or now, we have also opened our trailer for the summer.

Things are going well here,,,for now. We plan on taking our vacation to Las Vegas within the month. We drive there and absolutely love it. For us, its about a 22 hour drive. So far, it looks like about 3 out of our 5 kids will be coming with.

I hope everyone is doing well, and enjoying the warmer weather. I'll be checking out your blogs!

Grandma and Ellie having fun

Ms. Ellie popped on over for awhile tonight. I bought this goofy flashlight a couple of weeks ago at a Book Fair at work. It has different colors on it and then it has about 14 various spooky sounds that you pick to listen to. I realize its not Halloween but then anyone that knows me--knows I always go for the strange stuff. I'm the weird Grandma! She was mesmorized by this light. It took her all of 15 minutes or less to memorize every sound on it and she was able to tell me which one to pick.
This is us making the sounds of the ones she picked. Excuse my condition--I do know I look "rough"...lol What I didnt know is there is a huge stain on my sweater--lol!
I'm sure this must have been the monster one by the looks of our mouths! Having Ellie is always a blast. Our other two grandaughters popped in also--but Baldyman didnt get their picture with Ellie. Its amazing to me that in 2 months she will be 3. Her baby brother is due in August and she calls him Baby Eli, and I"m the big sister!

You cant beat being a grandma!

Bugsy's Gone!

Our son showed up yesterday and came and got Bugsy. I thought he was coming today. While I dont miss some of the chewing and messes the little guy made I DO miss him! In fact I called my son 3 times last night to tell we missed him and want him back soon for a weekend visit. i have to tell ya--he kept us on our toes. This is our living room floor cleaned up...vacumned and all of Bugsy's toys put next to his crate.
This is Bugsy's girlfriend pillow. I think it was the leopard fur trim that attracted him...pretty sassy huh? He was quite brutal to his girlfriend pillow.
Forgive me for the almost X-Rated picture of Bugsy. He was in the process of biting and flinging around his girlfriend pillow. I told ya-he wasnt to kind to her.
And...look this is Bugsy after he tore up my house, ate alot of my pretties around the house and decided to take a nap next to me while I was on the computer. Its hard to believe something so little did so much damage! Even so,,, I miss him already. Its amazing how fast you become attached to these critters.

Baldyman has the floor of our little cabin in--and thats as far as he got! We did other work on the yard. Baldyman has been complaining his legs hurt. I told him if this is how he gets after just a floor--I might NEVER get this done! We have a rainy day ahead of us, but the rest of the week is suppossed to be nice and warm and sunny. I'll get him going!

Guess whose visiting Grandma for the week?

BUGSY! He moved in tonight for the week. Thats his little house for the time when Baldyman or I are not around and at night when he sleeps. His daddy--(my 3rd son) is going on vacation for a week and so we got Bugsy and Peschie which at this moment is hiding underneath the chaise that Baldyman is sitting on. Aren't Bugsy's ears the cutest thing you ever saw? Joel (his daddy) brought about 1 years worth of food, a box of toys, his cage, his bed, his nail trimmer--shampoo--lol...unreal. This dog has more beauty prodcuts that I do and he's a boy! I can tell Bugsy is already missing his daddy...but i also know he love his grammy. It should be an interesting week, with Joels dog and cat and my spoiled Genie. I'll keep you posted!

31 Years!

I put this up because honestly this is all I could find in my pictures of the two of us bozo's together! Yesterday was our anniversary...31 years! I should have taken off of work but for some odd reason I forgot to. We did manage to make it to dinner last night-we went to the Melting Pot Fondue Restaurant. It was sooooo, soooo good! The perfect meal because its slow going and it forces you to talk, relax etc. We shared a Martini called The Love Martini...very good! They took our picture for us and gave us that in a frame--how cute! It was a nice night despite having worked a super long day. Baldyman bought me a nice pair of heart earrings and then on Saturday we are going away to the Sybaris for a night of romance. 31 years, I was waiting for someone to say--NOOOOO you could not be married that long--you look to young! No one said it, lol.

Busy Weekend!

I'm kinda glad its Monday. I'm ready for work. Friday we went to our 3rd sons house and spent the night...I didnt sleep well there, but we did have fun. Friday the weather here in Wisconsin was beautiful, we were able to walk on the lakefront, go without coats, and watch the snow disapear. Saturday, we wake up to rain, rain, and more rain. And it got chilly again. Sunday we wake up to Rain, more rain, and MORE rain. We are now in a flooding stage once again. There are small lakes everywhere you look.
Ms. Ellie came and spent the afternoon with us yesterday. She's still a really good baby to have over, and is alot of fun to be with. This is my oldest son with Ms. Ellie. They are expecting their 2nd child sometime in early August.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, I'm off to catch up on some of your posts!

Memories of Grandma

Since I left my birth home at the age of 15 and aged out in foster care, I dont have anything from my childhood. So many of you have such neat things from your childhood, its got to be wonderful to reconnect with when you were a little child. For me, even though I was at my birth home for 15 years, before that, we werent allowed to socialize much with our extended family, like our Grandmas, Grandpas, cousins, Aunts, Uncles, etc. When I see old family films or pictures I see how much I didnt really know my extended family and how much fun stuff I missed. For me, This statue was given to me a couple of years ago by my Aunt. It belonged to my Grandma who passed away when my twins were born. She was able to hold them and see them at about 4 months of life--then she left us. My memories of my grandma werent that great, to me what i remember is a woman who was sick, stayed in her home alot and just not a generally happy person. I do have some memories of when I was really young--of her playing jokes on me and my cousin. She liked to play jokes on us kids. She also liked to cook and was an Italian one at that. I can still taste that homemade bread out of the oven slathered with butter and jelly. And we cant even begin to talk about the meatballs or Lasagna!

The older I get I've been asking some of the family members that i do talk to if they have anything of Grandmas that I can have. Aunt Yvonne gave me this Mary Statue a couple of years ago. It plays or played music at one time. I keep this on my dresser, I call it Grandma! lol...NOW I DO NOT--DO NOT believe in ghosts. But when I got this, I attempted to have the music play and it wouldnt. Well, gosh its probably at least 50 years old. So on top of my dresser it sits. Last summer, I was taking a nap with my furchild Genie and we were laying there and all of a sudden I hear this music...I look around my room like oh oh--did I die during my sleep and i'm on my way to the pearly gates or is someone in the house? Genie looks at me like What the hell is that? I realize its the statue. It hasnt been touched in at least a year because I dont dust! lol...did i admit that? Well, the statue played for us for about 5 minutes. It was quite nice. I figure it was my Grandma letting me know she is ok. Hasnt played since or before that.

This is about the only thing I have as of now of my extended family memories as far as something I can place about my house. My Uncle a few years ago took all of my Grandpas old time movies and had them made into a VHS movie. I did get one of those and that is neat to have also. Isnt it funny though--now VHS is out of style so i may have to get that redone to! I love seeing many of you bloggers with your treasures of your youth--I'd thought I'd share mine!

Bathroom Jar of Bath Soaks!

Here is a nice jar full of Bath Soaks. As you can see I make them in various colors with various scents. The mold I use are the Wilton Cake Molds so they are always coming up with new molds for the holidays and seasons, which means I've always have pretty bath soaks! I havent seen anyone else do it this way and I think they are much prettier for our bathrooms then the round ones. This jar I'm giving to my MIL for her 85th birthday. Funny story behind this....on her party last weekend I gave her a bunch of my products, now this 85yr old isnt what you would think. She's much younger looking, still golfs, travels, lives in her own home etc. She asked me what the bath soak was, ( i had given her 1 of those) and I told her you place it in your tub and its got all kinds of goodies in it like epsom salts, shea butter etc..so you not just smell good but feel good. She says to me....so i put this whole thing in the tub? I said yes--she goes...Well I'll need more than one!!!!! I just about crapped...because I had given her MANY other things I make...lol. Sooo feeling about 1 inch tall, I made her a whole bunch and even bought the dern jar! I then went after baldyman and told him--Your mom is greedy--lol and expensive...so he has to at least pay me for the jar and materials. Now that she is into bathing again, I have a feeling I will be getting calls for these all the time. I tell ya--these MIL's are sneaky arent they?

Anyhow, have a great day!

Winter Storm!

And we thought we might escape another winter storm! NO way...this is Saturday. Our 2nd son pulled the 3 girls on a sled thru our yard. This is our 3 grandaughters. Ms. Ellie is buried, you can barely see her. She was suppossed to spend the night with us on Friday but stopped at Jons for a visit with her cousins and decided she wanted to stay there. So, Baldyman and I walked over there and spent some time with all of the girls. Saturday they came for breakfast and were pulled over on the sled. It snowed all day long, I think we got about 7-8 inches. Saturday afternoon we drove down to Racine for celebrate Baldymans Mother's 85th birthday.
I'm hoping it warms up and most of this melts this week,,if we are lucky we might hit 40 by Tuesday or Wednesday. I hope everyone had a great weekend, and now its back to work!

Meet Grandpuppy!

LOL-----is this funny or what? this is bugsy, at least i think thats his name. Our 3rd son Joel came for the weekend with his new puppy. He looks like Toto. He isnt potty trained yet, so Joel went and bought him diapers. I never knew that they made dog diapers! He pooped outside but he did pee inside! He's lucky he's so cute.
This is bugsy getting abath! Joel said he threw up on the trip here! lol
Unreal! My son is treating this dog like a baby. He already has clothes, jewelry, shampoo, all kinds of toys. He gets blow dried to! I must have raised this boy right. I'm putting this together Saturday evening--for Monday morning. I'll fill you in how the rest of the weekend went with this newest grandchild.

Happy Friday--Anti-Aging Butter~!

YIPEEEE for all of those who work outside the home--today is it! You made it....now we get 2 days to work INSIDE the home..lol. I dont normally post over the weekend so I'm leaving this picture of my newest product. Anti-aging butter. I'll be honest, at first I wasnt sure I liked how body butter is, it will appear greasy at first. THEN,,,once it soaks into your skin--your skin is so soft and stays soft. I will never use lotion again. I put mine on after a shower. I do notice a distinct difference in my skin and how it feels and looks. This butter has different butters in it so I'm calling it Anti-aging. Olive butter is excellent for anti-aging and mature skin as well as shea butter and i also put in some avocado butter and various oils. I always mix the oils so that we get the goodness each one has to offer. I put in some Vitamin E and the scent is Romance--Sandalwood and Rose. Add alittle sparkle so your skin has the lightest glow! Click on the picture to see how pretty it is. I've seen body butters with these quality ingrediants in the $30.00 price range...mine's a steal at 15.00. So thats my newest product.

For this weekend, there are so many birthdays in February that I decided instead of having everyone over once a week, I'm just having one big birthday bash on Sunday. So, that means I'll be a cooking fool--tomorrow and Sunday. I also think my 3rd son is coming for the weekend AND he's bringing his new baby puppy--it looks just like Toto. He's cute as a button--but remember he's a puppy which means--NOT potty trained, and naughty! I think I'm in for a hell of a weekend. To bad my flask isnt ready. I will try to remember to take a picture of our Valentines Dinner and I hope to see everyone else who is staying in--their romantic pictures to!
Have a great weekend everyone!