A Little Birdie told me

I just did this for my mom. I think it will brighten her up her room

The hardest 2 weeks of my life

I'm back..................Thank you all for the well wishes for my daughter and my sweet mom. Don't click on the above picture to enlarge it, unless you want to see all of my wrinkles. Daughter arrived safely in Tokyo. She had put on some weight before she left and is struggling to get it off. (I know the feeling) For the industry she is to "heavy." What kind of society are we that thinks a size 2 is not small enough? This is the part I struggle with and she does too. She does not want to make herself sick to be thin and I applaud her for that. This is the path she has chosen and I'm sure she will figure it out.

Now for the hard part of the trip. Moving my dear sweet mom. Isn't she cute. She did not want to go. That was the hard part for me. I didn't want to be the one to tell her she had no choice. Finally her Dr. came to my rescue and told her she had to move. I didn't have trouble with her moving out of her house. In fact I'm now at ease that she is not living alone. She is eating and her meds are given to her properly. It was the fact that she had no idea what was going on most of the time. That part makes me sad. I feel like I have already lost her. Most of the time she thought I was my cousin. Asked me the same questions over and over, and was very child like in her behavior. When do we become our parents parent. In a word, "it sucks." She has been there a little over a week and so far (keep your fingers crossed) she likes it. She says the food is good and she likes all the people that are there. She eats with 5 others ladies and they are all so cute. She does however think she is just there to get better and then she will go home. I just keep telling her that it will be up to the Dr. For now I can only take one day at a time

Hearts from My Hand

These are just a few of the heart I have been working on. They have helped me release some stress. I can sit quietly and work on them. I leave tomorrow for California. Dropping daughter at LAX. She is leaving for Tokyo for 3 months. It is a bittersweet time. As much as I hate to see her go, she will have a great time and hopefully get lots of work. For those of you that don't know she is a model and she is 15. I worry that she won't keep up with her schooling and won't get enough sleep. Just like all moms (lol). After I drop her off I will drive up to my mom's. She lives about an hour north of Santa Barbara. This is a trip I'm not looking forward to. I will be moving her to an assisted living facility. I have been trying to get her to move for the last year. Now she has no choice. I have a feeling she will go kicking and screaming. She is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. It just breaks my heart to see her slowly slipping away. She didn't know who I was the last time I was there. That didn't bother me so much. But, if she realized, she would be devastated. I have an older brother who lives in the same town as her. He is not able to take care of himself much less her. Oh the things that drinking and drugs do to you. Then I will have the task of unloading her house of 45 years. I will probably break down in the middle of it all. Gotta run off to pack and help daughter sort out everything she is taking..........................

Christmas Donkey

Remember I had told you all that I was not in the mood to put up the Christmas Tree. Mr. and Kids were fine with this. A few days before Christmas Mr. and D said they had some where they needed to go. This is what they came back with. Pedro the Christmas Donkey. Complete with Santa hat and red nose. I laughed so hard. He is a Pinata for those not familiar with them. They are very popular in the Southwest. They are always at birthday parties. It put me in the Christmas mood. We hung him up in the living room and piled the presents under him. Christmas morning after all the gifts had been opened we all got to take a swing at Pedro.

Don't they look so excited. I hope everyone's teenagers look this happy.(lol). D has those devil eyes ready to do some damage with that drum mallet. I was going to use one of Santa's golf clubs. That didn't go over very well. S. is just so darn happy to be alive. Santa had filled up Pedro with candy. Like we needed anymore sweets in the house.

In the end, Pedro bit the dust. Poor Pedro. He just may show up next year. I think we have started a new tradition................

My beautiful Dog Daughter loved all her new toys. Isn't it crazy how we are all so goofy over our pets. She is the easiest one to buy for and she always loves everything she get. I never have to return anything, cause it is the wrong size or color.

She was so happy that she had to thank Santa for everything.

Tokens from the Heart

The above dress if for my dear blog friend Cindy
This is just to brighten her day . Like Cindy I also work retail. Only I'm in and out of all chain stores all day, everyday. I have been looking at Christmas since September. Now don't get me wrong I dearly love the Christmas season. However when I get home I don't want to look at or hear any more Christmas. By the time the actual holiday arrives I'm burned out. I still don't have a tree up and I have not wrapped a single gift. Cindy had expressed to me one day she felt the same way. When you work retail you are usually always a season a head. When you go into stores and you see Christmas in October. Those stores have had Christmas in their backrooms since August. Chances are in the stores backroom there may even be some Valentine's day tucked back in a corner. So back to the dress. Like I said this is just to brighten her day and it is not Christmas related. The dress is made from vintage and new lace coffee dyed. Enjoy Cindy and Happy every Holiday...........................

Beeswax Collage

I have been wanting to try my hand at beeswax collage. The best way to do that is to take a class. Mystic Paper was offering a class taught by Mike . Well, I knew I was just going to have to make time for the 3 hour class. And boy am I glad I did. Talk about fun. Mike is so much fun to take a class from. You should really checkout his site. He gives complete instructions and has tons of down loads. The theme of course was Paris. I had the small Eiffel Tower and just wired it on when I got home. So Santa if you are reading this I'm adding a melting pot, quilting iron,travel iron and beeswax to my Christmas list.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for Karl's What I Love about my Holiday Home. And for all your nice comments.

What I love about my holiday home

I'm joining Karla's party. I have not put up as much as I usually do. Don't even have the tree up. Here are just a few things I love about my holiday house. The above snowmen I love. I got these from Michelle when she had her shop in Gilbert AZ. The star Santa I made using one of my 3 wishes Cindy gave me. The joy wings below are also from Cindy.

In the peace sign I used another wish from Cindy. I have large collection on shells that I use year round.

Jars of star dust

The quilt on the table was made by my mom. It is one of the last ones she did before her stroke. She had made me many quilts and I treasure each one.

And of course Mr. Crow has stuck around for the holidays. He has decked himself out his holiday finest. Who needs a Partridge in a Pear Tree, when you have a Crow on a silver platter.

Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Holiday.