posies and thoughts

Among lots of other things, this is what I have been up to. I have made hundreds of my quilled Paper Posies in the last few weeks or so. It is very calming to me and lately I need that!! I have been running here and there passing myself in the driveway it seems coming and going. If any one has any suggestions on how to clone one's self...PLEASE let me know. I have often had to try to figure out how to be two places at one particular time slot.

I am getting very stressed out about summer pursuits for Elise through the children with disabilities advocacy. She will be 17 in a few short week's time. We are trying to get her a short term work experience with pay. It will only last 4 weeks and will be 48 hours total of work time. I have had to attend endless meetings and together we have done 4 or more hours of paper work asking for everything to be released except for my first born male offspring and my right arm and left eye ball. Sorry- I am often accused of being dramatic, yet it is almost THAT bad lately. The hoops you have to jump through as the parent of a special needs child is enough to make your own head spin and get so gosh darn angry you may want to bite someone else's head off! Elise is my FULL TIME job...oh yeah and I am still a wife and a mother to 2 other children. My own desired activities always come last.

I get started on making these Posies in the moments when I can steal time (usually about 15 minutes or so here and there!) and before I know it they have become a whole explosion of color and bloom. I find I can sort my thoughts as I twirl paper.

I will list some small "bouquets" in the shop or studio soon.

I promise I am not twirling my stress INTO them!!

toot the horn!

Please skip this post if you are rolling your eyes about a Mother being proud of her child.

I am announcing the list of awards that Anna (age 13, 7th grade) received at an assembly the last Friday of school .

1. Advanced Math

2. GATE (Gifted And Talented Education)

3. Language Arts

4. Science

5. Social Studies

6. Art

7. Band (French Horn)

8. Phys-Ed

All the above classes held a 93% or higher grade throughout the entire year

9. Year Book Staff Photographer

10. A+ Mentor (tutoring other students)

11. Quiz Bowl Team

12. Perfect Attendance Record

Nicholas, age 8 1/2 going into the 3rd grade, will be tested for 2 hours on Monday to qualify for the GATE program also. I will keep you posted.

Anna has been in the GATE program since early elementary school.

thoughtful gifties

The other day I received wonderful and thoughtful gifties from sweet Nita

(of Red Tin Heart and Tattered Lace Diary) .

Have you met Nita?

For those of you who have met her, you know she is the kindest hearted person. She is a talented artist, a great Mom, a gifted fiction writer, superb photographer ...and has been strong through a string of adversities. Through all her pain, both physical and emotional, she has been a strong woman even though she aches deeply within her heart. Her true goodness and faith shine through, even on the most difficult days.

(vintage embroideries, fun seed packets-can't wait to plant those!)

(See that table cloth in the background? I put it on my table on the back glassed in porch where it looks like it was always meant to be...with my red and white decor. We love to eat there in the summer and it has now brought a happy connection to my blog friend.)

( Sewing kit-always need more thread!, an embroidery hoop- I need several of those as I often have a project going in several places including my purse!!, a tiny memory book kit, and a pretty note from Nita -which I think my Elise will claim for the front graphics for her oriental room. She loves the look of water color like Cherry Blossom botanicals.)

(Vintage rick rack, seam binding and lace trim, and a handmade ATC of felt!)

( A tiny photo frame-now to decide which photo to put into it, and a better view of the felt art and embroideries)

( A very, very soft cotton vintage quilt top . I love this and will treasure the fact that I am the caretaker of this piece with lots of interesting history!)

Nita, I am so very honored by these heartfelt gifts. I wish for you easier times ahead for you and your family. Be strong and keep on letting your creative spirit show!!

Stop by and visit Nita here and here and tell her Amy sent you!!

One day left

Elise only has one more day (one more exam- American History)to go for her junior year of high school to be history. Where does the time go? Today I picked her up in the late morning from school after she finished her Math and Environmental Sciences exams. We decided to do a girls' day while her two siblings were still in school for the full day.

We ended up going to Chandler Cafe which is a tiny little place with wonderful food and baked goods tucked inside a historical building which used to be Chandler's Hardware about 100 years ago. I love the old exposed imperfect brick walls and the painted tables. I love to paint things like they paint things. Lots of bold colors and graphics!!
That's Elise above getting ready to taste her scrumptious Cinnamon cake. That's a mango smoothie you see. The verdict.....Deeeelicious!!

Oh my golly was this ever yummy, a cobb chicken salad sandwich wrap and chicken soup!!

Look at that peanut butter cookie...have you ever seen such a treat?! It was huge! We split it.

This was the view out the front window where Elise chose for us to sit. There was a custom designed painted park bench out front- and can you see it??- toile fabric on the back of the bench peeking through the window at us! Below is a closer look at one end of the park bench. I LOVE it. I like putting finials on things too! And the painting is right up my alley!

You can see the puddles in the background as it had rained all night and early morning but cleared up by the time we were out snooping around finding places to go.

We ended up going to a newly opened thrifty store too while driving around. Elise found some brand new boots with the original tags still on them to wear at the horse rescue where she volunteers. Her old barn boots had become too small. Silly growing kids (do you have this problem too?)!! We were glad to find those as it was the last thing we expected to find. The boots were a good reasonable price, but I was pretty shocked when I saw some of the "priced too darn high" prices of some of the other things. I struck up a conversation with another customer and we laughed about the fact that you could get a lot of these things brand new at Target on sale for the same price they were asking!! I was disgusted that they were trying to sell glass and ceramic ware with huge obvious chips and cracks and just plain old broken for $5.99 and as high as $7.99. What the heck were they thinking????

Guess what? After our fun day together I looked at my photos and realized I never took a shot of the front of the really cool painted park bench. I thought I did. But I didn't. Now I will just have to go back. Oh darn. *smile*

Meet Cali

This is Cali and she has come to live with us. She is now Anna's kitty. Anna loves fluffy kitties and since her "Fluffy" cat died at a pretty young age she has been missing having a cat of her own. Cali is a family cat that needed a new home (at the age of 14!!) and so has become Anna's new kitty. You can see some pictures of Anna's Fluffy here , here and here.




Cali loves to cuddle with her mouse toys in Anna's bottom bunk where I painted the walls by using Anna's sheets as an inspiration. You can read about it here. Anna is minus a closet but has gained a neat-o area instead!

Cali seems very happy in her new home and Anna is very, VERY happy!

Welcome "home" Cali.

a gift

These two delicate tussie mussies came to my house from Suzette.

They are now cheering up my front hall, and I think they fit right in, don't you?

Take a look, there is a little bird nesting inside...


Thank you Suzette. I love you!

blooming...

Everything's coming up ROSES

in my Etsy shop.

Go see!

These vintage cards are great for display or

super duper to harvest for art projects!!

drool....

While surfing I found someone's really great Etsy shop to drool over. If you love MILK GLASS...

Check it out- My Milk Glass Shop.

Anna's last concert

Anna performed in her last 7th grade concert last week. She looked so grown up to me. Oh how much she has changed since 6th grade!!

She really enjoys school and says she will hate to leave junior high after next school year. She is looking forward to 8th grade but is sad to have this year come to an end. She has made so many great friends this past year. I remember that feeling of "What if my friends don't have the same classes as me next year?"
Anna will receive her awards for the school year in a special ceremony this coming Friday. You can bet I will post about that!!! You won't mind a little proud parent bragging, will you, as I throw my shoulders back and toot the horn?~how do you like that pun to go with these photos?

Anna is definitely her own person but I do see a lot of myself at that age in her. Her expressions (both facial and narrative) and likes and dislikes. It is fun and kind of strange at the same time to see yourself in your child isn't it?! One day she came out of her room wearing her hair a certain way with MY "old" (haha) hair clips. She plopped down on the couch and I just stared at her. Once I could collect my words to make them come out of my mouth I told her that it was scary how I wore my hair that same way with those very hair clips at the same age!
[Insert the Twilight Zone theme music here!]

sweet little shoe

Isn't this the sweetest little shoe? It is porcelain and has that nice crackle effect in the vintage glaze. I found it in my travels and just knew that someone needed to have it who shops my Etsy.
It is filled with Styrofoam and Spanish moss on top right now. I could picture it with some little rose buds added to the moss or some hat pins. You could remove what's in it and make it into one of those beautiful pin cushions I keep seeing creative people making, or just fill it with baby supplies in a nursery or colored pencils in a studio. What other ideas could be attached to this sweet little shoe? Many, I'll bet!

my computer companion

This is my kitty named Bella and she is 5.

She loves to curl up in boxes and baskets. She adores this basket next to my computer and she is often found there while I tap away at the keyboard.



See the rack next to Bella with vintage cards displayed on it? I have one listed for sale at my shop that is shaped a little different but would do the same job. Take a peek.We have a new kitty at our house since last weekend. Her name is Cali and she is about 14 years old. We adopted her from a family member. She is slowly getting used to her new surroundings and Bella and Cali are trying their best to be friends. They are both used to being the only cat of the house! I will take some pictures of Cali and post them soon so you can see our new senior citizen kitty.

On the line...

{ some ephemera from my collection. Please play nice and use for just your own personal efforts. Not to sell.}

Well the sun is going to be shining after 3 days of rain....so out on the line will go loads and loads of washing at my place today! I like to line dry my laundry when I can, but now it will be a money saver on the electric bill for the clothes dryer too. Saving money is always good. Especially after my shock of the repair man's news yesterday for the refrigerator/freezer. A few dollars short of $300! Yep! It seems these new appliances have computers in them. Darn that computer technology!! We recently had a power surge in the neighborhood and it fried the computer board that controls the temperature and shut off cycling. Who knew? A computer inside my appliance!? I am always the last one in on this stuff! After talking to my neighbors I found they also had things (all different items) that were fried in the surge too.

So we will now have a surge protector on our appliances. The repair man showed me the bad part. Yikes! Burned up! He said he is always repairing brand new appliances...hardly ever old ones-the old ones run and run with stamina-NO computers!!

So today I have just two MORE WORDS for you...

SURGE PROTECTOR!

I have just two words...

...and they are

broken freezer

That's how my day is going. Sloppy ice cream puddles in the door bins of my freezer. Squishy fish and chicken breasts...you get the picture. After just getting my new diamond ring that is disguised as a washing machine I didn't think my diamond necklace disguised as a refrigerator/freezer (only about 6 years old I might add!) would be loosing it's brilliant luster!! But alas I am waiting for the appliance repair man to come in that all predictable window of ~between 3:00 and when ever he feels like it~ to tell me how long we will have to play my favorite challenge game. Maybe you have played the game yourself- It's called "let's see how many other expenses we can put off to make up for this unexpected one"!!

better than original vintage...

I have been taking some of my vintage photos to be fixed up on a professional Sony photography scanner to make them even better than original. I have brightened them and zoomed in when possible. Now they are offered in my Etsy shop for your enjoyment!!

Studio

Curiouser and curiouser each new day as I move in....
click the icon above to peek!

My Birthday

Today is my birthday and I am 46...how did that happen?

I always thought it would feel older to be 46.

My memories are not that old are they?

I still remember when I was in high school on the edge of 17...

the same age my oldest child is now!!

I still remember the unwelcome zit coming on my nose

just when I had a big event in junior high...

the same as my second oldest child is experiencing now!!

I remember the pure carefree joy of playing on the playground

at school in second grade with my friends...

the same as my youngest child!!

Yep! I still feel young...except for one big difference=

responsibility.

I wish I could go back to the responsibilities of my youth.

I would do that trade any old day!!!!

Because with adulthood and parenthood comes the worry that is attached to responsibility, from which you can not run away. Just as you can not run away from the years making you get one year older each year...at least in number!!

I am endlessly harping at my kids to enjoy the sense that their biggest responsibility is getting their homework done. Wouldn't we all, as adults, wish we could go back to that being our ONLY true responsibility??!

This is me with Mark, one of my big brothers. My protector, my hero.

He grew up to be a firefighter and deep sea diver and water rescue EMT!

I am not quite sure what I grew up to be.

I wear many hats these days.

I help other people each and every day. My own family, my extended family, my friends and neighbors and family of friends, and at school, too.

I think I get lost in it all and don't take care of me.

Oh, I wash and eat and drink and sleep but that is about it. I do what I have to do each day for myself and not what I want to do. When I sneak in a minute of want here or there I am behind in what I need to do. I am hopelessly "a helper" to all but myself. I am told by many it is in my power to change all that.

That may be true, but there are chapters in life that dictate how things must play out.

I am currently in the middle of one of those long chapters in life. The kind when you keep trying to peek ahead a few pages to see if this chapter is ever going to end so you can start a new chapter (not unlike a blog post that runs on and on, bear with me as I rant). I can't turn the pages any faster no matter how hard I may try. The chapter will still be just as long and difficult to read.

I used to write on my blog frequently about my special needs daughter (my oldest child) and her mental health/brain disabilities, if only to be my own best counselor and let off some of the frustration. Then somewhere along the line I pulled most of those posts off my blog and have saved them in draft mode.

The effort it takes to keep the daily struggles with her to myself, inside, bottled up... some days I feel like a shaken up pop bottle building up pressure. You're asking- do I get professional counseling and help with dealing with her? Yes, for years and years! But when it really boils down to real everyday life and those around us, no one wants to hear it over and over again. They're sick of hearing it. I know that. Not many people understand it. "Can't she just stop? Won't she just grow out of it?",

is what many say... or think, if they are not saying it.

I don't care what anyone says...society has not made enough strides toward unstigmatising mental health issues.

So among my many hats I wear, my full time hat is that of advocate for my daughter. It is stacked on the very top of all the other hats I wear each and every day.

Underneath all of them is Amy - somewhere.

But TODAY I will put on my party hat under all the rest. And pretend for this one day that the advocate hat on the very top does not scare me to death and make me lose sleep and want to run away. But remember, want is always overshadowed by what I need to do.

Some people think of New Year's Day as the beginning of their new year. They have hopes, dreams and goals for the coming year.

I have always felt that way about my birthday.

So as I ponder my possible hopes and dreams and goals for this coming year, I will enjoy these absolutely gorgeous flowers that Suzette had delivered to my house yesterday. A true bright spot and happy surprise as the delivery man caught me while I was just leaving out the door to cope with another stressful day.

I will enjoy my cake that my sweet William brought home from the bakery that I requested. And I DID enjoy the dinner out last night. French onion soup, broiled trout, baked potato, and we shared onion rings.

Here's a funny story. Before we left for the restaurant, my sweet William said when he made the weekly deposit at the bank he should have kept more cash out of his check for going out to eat. When the bill came after dinner we owed a grand total of $2.33 for our two dinners!! We had used two gift cards towards the total and made out quite nicely. I should have ordered 2 lobster tails, don't ya think??!!

Kid art and the play of the day

I love kid art...this is Nick's latest, done yesterday.

He has been having fun with his friends at school making up plays at recess...about pirates!

He is spending the night at a friend's house tonight (for the first time). He packed his pirate gear so they can make up plays and dress the part this time!

When Nick is not dreaming about pirates he is out catching toads. We seem to have a plethora of them with all the rain this spring...along with the overpopulation of mosquitoes to go along.

"Don't keep them in the screened cage too long Nick...they need to roam free to eat all those mosquitoes before they all eat me alive!!"

Honor

Available 5x7

click here to see listing