Thursday, January 31, 2013

Waiting





Recently we had a bit of snow fall


I don't know about you but I ache for spring


 I went outside and found this little guy praying for the same thing



Don't worry sweetie, Spring will be here before you know it


You'll just have to be patient



    


                                   "Ok." he said. "I'll wait"

                




Friday, January 25, 2013

Artsy Fartsy Friday~~~ Art by Anastassia Elias



Remember when this
                       
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became this...
                     
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and this.....
               :: sheet tent sleepovers ::
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transported us here.....

                           
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and remember when singing into one of these made you feel...
                          
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like you were singing here?
                  
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When did we lose that?




             Did we lose that?




                 I think in each and everyone of us sizzles that spark...




                     That ability to imagine and escape to a world

                                

                                  of



                                   Possibilities.



I guess that is why I love art so much.




I love to look at the artist's creative process and for an instant I am transported to their world....





Some of my favorite art is made from the most unlikely materials



Which brings me to this week's art...


The Artist, Anastassia Elias  makes art from....well, you'll see

  
     Artist: Anastassia Elias              Posted to YouTube by:geobeats







                             




                                        




                                       



                                                                                            
                                  



   I hope you have a Extra-Ordinary Weekend!



                              Blessings, Joanne


Friday, January 18, 2013

Grandpa




The night we told my husband's family that we were going to have our first baby was awesome. I had made pop up cards for everyone and inside it simply said...Congratulations you are going to be a ....Grandma ,Grandpa Uncle...etc


I noticed that my Father-in-law had a happy but almost worried look on his face.
                       
                               Norman Rockwell


He is a worrier.

He started to talk about how this was going to change our worry-free lives forever.


As My belly grew so did his worries.

           He worried that we weren't ready financially for a child.

           He worried about us not having a house yet.

           He worried that I may go back to work too soon

worry worry worry

There was something else too...I just couldn't put my finger on it. There was definitely something else.


Before we knew it I was in labor and my husband and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world.

We had a good part of the day to ourselves before grandparents were allowed to visit.
                             

Right before Grandparent's visiting hour, My Father-in-law stood right before the closed maternity ward doors anxiously waiting for them to open.

My Mom (who had just arrived there) witnessed (as the doors opened) my Father-in-law racing down the hall leaving everyone in the proverbial dust.

He raced to the nursery window and gazed at his baby grand daughter

In his thick Italian accent he said

             " Oooo She isa so beautiful, She looka like-a doll."


About a year later during one of our one to one talks he admitted that when we told him we were expecting he suddenly felt that he was too "young" to be a grandpa...( people, the man was about 65) but I understood though, I knew what he meant. The news made him think of his own mortality. He suddenly went from being a Dad to Grandpa.

Then he said something that touched my heart

                    "You know, I didn't feel ready to be a Grandfather, but when I saw J. When I saw her...I just fell in love."


He's a toughie, and quite blunt with his opinions at times, but that hard shell melts away when he is with his Grand kids...he lives for them. When they were little he would make them ramen soup and they lovingly called it "Grandpa soup".



They called him "Pop pop" for the longest time and I was sad when then graduated to calling him "Grandpa".  As babies they would steal his glasses from his pocket and in the summer they would over-water the flowers in his garden. He was the first one to introduce them to chocolate and then would complain that they were hyper! Three years ago he was blest with another Grandchild and he delights in her sweet voice and cute giggle. 




This week he had a Heart attack. He has a long history of cardiac issues. It seems every year or year and a half he is in the hospital for one thing or another.  This week, at hearing the news of their Grandfather's hospitalization ...my kids and I held hands and prayed.

We prayed for Grandpa's health

We prayed for Doctors to be blest to make right decisions

We prayed that God would allow Grandpa to stay with us.







God's answer was....







                                      YES.







 Tonight Grandpa told my Husband to let the kids know that he loves them





                               and they love you too Grandpa

                                
                               Norman Rockwell "Grandpa and Children"



Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Scale




Another rainy night here and I am feeling a bit
                                                 
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I can't help it.


       I must have passed by it a thousand times in the last week and today of all days I stepped on the dreaded scale.



        It kind of made this sound
                    



Why did I do it?


 I was minding my own business, thinking that perhaps I had actually lost weight while eating all those carbs... 


...and the scale screamed that I was wrong. It says that I am no longer pleasantly plump, no longer fluffy



             It says that I'm.....I'm just fat.



  So the truth has slapped me in the face and those numbers on the scale taunt me like a playground bully
                                
                                              
            


What to do what to do.


There is only one thing to do. 




I have got to put on my stretchy exercise sweats

I have got to roll up my sleeves

I have got to be committed to make that change.


                        That's right.





                I'm throwing out that scale!
                           
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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Artsy Fartsy Friday~~~Make A Wish~A Pop-up Scrapbook



Hi everyone Happy Friday!


        It's a rainy, cold Friday night here and while I was looking for some art to post I found the perfect piece that stole my heart.



Now, have I written of my love for pop-up books?




          People, I LOVE THEM!




This one was written and made for the artist's children and it's lovely and heart warming and makes you want to cuddle with your kids in an over stuffed chair and read it to them.




In fact, get your kids right now....I'll wait.....




           hummde dum....hummmmdeee dummmmm






.....you all look so sweet!


                                       Awwwwww
                                        
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                               Cute
                          
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Sooooo sweet
                     
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 Hmmmm maybe I should have set an age limit...

                     
                               Movie "Elf"




I give you a Pop-up  Scrapbook Made by thestampgoddess and she has a blog where you can see more of her artwork -http://www.fabulouslyartsy.com

This piece won her The
                     Close to My Heart's album contest for convention 2011.



Please enjoy Make A Wish-A Pop-up Interactive Scrapbook
                                         
      
                     Uploaded to You Tube by: thestampgoddess




Have a Warm and cuddly weekend!!!


                      Blessings, Joanne


Saturday, January 05, 2013

Artsy Fartsy Friday on Saturday....UGH!




.....late again.


I have not posted an Artsy Fartsy Friday post in a long long long time.... I miss it.


I have let other things get in the way of writing in the blog regularly and I am trying to get my mojo back.


Anyhooo


If you are a Mom of little kids then you have tons of these
                                          
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I love the smell of a fresh new box of crayons.  When I was little the goal...the highest of highs was to get the mamma jamma of all crayons boxes

                             
                              THE 64 COUNT BOX!
                         
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and they had to be Crayola crayons...no other brand would do.



To get that box meant you had arrived at the pinnacle of crayon ownership.

                 You owned ever color in the WORLD and now your skin tones were accurate and trees and flowers had shade and depth........


                                and


           It had a built in sharpener for cryin' out loud!




I think I got that box just once....and if I remember correctly I had to share it with my little brother...


         Which meant one thing...The beautiful gorgeous box of happiness soon became  this...



                                      
                                                      source


      ...a pile of peeled broken unidentifiable crayons and stuck to them were pieces of other crayons. 

                                         UGH!


 If you are a mom of small kids you probably have a similar pile.


what to do~what to do


Well, this brings me to this week's Art By Artist Robin Murray. The video is self explanatory. His art is GORGEOUS! Take a peek.

                                             
                
                        Uploaded to Youtube by: Robin Murray·                         


Hmmmm... maybe my brother was way ahead of his time. I'm off to find some broken crayons!



Have a Beautiful Weekend!
          
                         Blessings, Joanne



                                                          

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

So It's 2013.




So It's 2013.



                weird




Seems like just yesterday people were frantic about Y2K.






Around here 2012 had it's Ups
                         
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and Downs 
                       
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Sometimes 2012 handed me
                                              
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Then at times
                    
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In 2012 did I lose weight?
Get my book published?
Increases my blog followers by 100?
Sell anything on Esty?
Make anything to sell on Esty?







Wait, let me get an appropriate way to answer these questions
                         NOoooo!
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This year will be the first year that I have decided...
                                      
                           

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That's right...zippo, none nada




Lets just say with all that has happened  lately, I am just grateful for the safety and health of my family and the fact that we have a roof over our heads.




and because of that....I will jump with joy

                   
                               source   






  and maybe with all that jumping around, I'll lose a little weight...


                         ...just sayin'