Gratitude

I saw a post yesterday on a friend's Facebook page.   He said he was starting a new habit where he would write down one thing that he is grateful for each day and keep a growing list.   What a wonderful idea!  I have SO many things to be grateful for and keeping a journal of it would allow me to take a look back every now and then and revisit those things that are so meaningful to me.  

So I too am starting a new habit:  a weekly post entitled  "I am grateful for".   

Today, I am grateful for...... My Sweetheart.   

I could write about this sweet man for days and days and days.   But I'll keep it to what happened this week.  I am grateful for how thoughtful and chivalrous he is.   

Thoughtfulness 

 I got this email from him on Monday:

Hi Sweetheart,
Did you make it to work today?  I miss you.  Thank you for the food
I love you very much so.

He makes my heart happy.

Chivalrous
He blocked the sun for me while we sat in church on Sunday morning.   I sent him this email:  

I forgot to thank you for blocking the sun for me when we were in church yesterday.  You are such a gentleman, Sweetheart.   Thank you.
xoxoxox

He replied:  

Yea, that was a rough start but it went away fast enough.  I was able to sleep....I mean close my eyes and listen.

I never asked him to shield the sun that was shining through the stained glass windows.  I didn't make a fuss, it was just there and my concentration would have been on the mass.   But as we sat down he saw the sun was shining directly on my face and he asked to switch seats with me and then leaned forward so the sun was not on me.   It didn't last long, the sun moved quickly enough and when it did I saw him sit back and relax.  See why I call him Sweetheart?? 

So very grateful for this man.  

And thanks J, for the inspiration. 

Kate Spade Valentine Day Treats

Sweetheart showered me with gift on Valentine's Day.  It's a day where we usually don't make a big fuss.  If we do get gifts it's very low-key.   But this year Kate Spade happened to be having a 65% off sale on select items.  So naturally, I emailed the link to Sweetheart along with a picture of all the items that I would like.    I didn't mean for him to order everything on the list, just a few choice items.  I guess he figured at 65% off he could splurge.

I got three bangles, three sets of earnings, a charm bracelet and a ring.  

The charm bracelet was not part of the 65% but I really, really like monkeys so he picked that out on his own.  Boy, was I surprised when I opened the box!  The tag line on the series is "how charming" and that it is!  I just love it!

It's not your usual charm bracelet with links.  This one has beads with spacing in between so charms can be added.  I love stacking the bracelet with a bangle and my Kate Spade watch. 

Hello little monkey!

I also got the Hole Punch Spade Hinge Bangle in gold:

And the Take a Bow ring in gold:

And the Take a Bow studs in silver:

And in gold:

Also, the Knotted Rope Bangle in gold and an open hinge bracelet with a white spade:

He also bought me the matching Knotted Rope studs in gold.    I was touched by how sweet he was and how much he loved watching me squeal with excitement with every single box I opened!

A Cupcake Party

During a recent visit with my cousin she comes up with the idea of having a cupcake decorating "party".   She pulls out a cupcake decorating book and tells us that she wants to try the Cupcake High Heel.    My sister and I looked at her like she was a little crazy because we didn't think we would be able to pull it off.  It looked complicated.  It looked like work that should be left to the professionals.     But my sweet cousin had complete confidence in us.  We decided to have the party at my house in Phoenix.  Was I excited!  We set a date and assigned to-do tasks (for all the different ingredients that make up that little shoe)  and then got ready to have fun!
 
This was my cousin's shoe cupcake; it's a peep toe heel:

Is that not the cutest thing ever???

This is my second attempt at a shoe.   That's my cousin's hand, she took the piping bag from me when she realized I had zero skill.   She cleaned up my mess:

The shoe on the right is round one.   When we got to round two she was really getting the hang of it:

The shoe on the left is my 'round one' shoe.  It was a hot mess.   But we had SO much fun!   We laughed and laughed and then laughed some more!

I didn't take as many picture as I wanted to because my hands were full of icing during most of the process.   Not that it's supposed to be that way, I just figured out a way to get the icing all over me and anything I touched.   

Oh and my sister and my sweet grand niece stayed the night.   She is just the sweetest little girl in the world!  We had a such a good time, I miss her!   And she misses Grievous -- she kept saying "he's mine".   And she hugged him and followed him everywhere!   

We are already planning our second cupcake party.  Next on the agenda:  cupcake purses!

Dollar Section and Clearance

Sweetheart was in Greenville, SC on business this week.   So while he was dealing with the rain, snow and cold conditions of the blizzard that hit the east coast this weekend, I was enjoying 73 degree weather in Phoenix.  Since I was flying solo this week, I decided to use the alone time productively.  

I may have mentioned this a time or two before but I LOVE the dollar section and clearance sections at Target.   I make a weekly trip in there just to hit the clearance areas in every department and of course the dollar section gets a quick look at.    Most of the time I buy something and it goes straight into my crafting closet for future use.  

Nearly everything I used to decorate my crafting desk area  is from the clearance or dollar section from Target:

I love the gold-sequenced arrow -- it's a Valentine's day dollar section buy.   The three frames are clearance buys -- I just added some scrap paper to the frames.   The lamp and the tray are clearance items.   The board with the cloth pins is also a dollar section buy. 

The white ceramic box and the candle holders are from a Target clearance.   The striped three ring binder is from the dollar section:

The poka-dot agenda is from Kate Spade -- although I use electronic lists and calendars I also love using a calendar I can write in and color code.  

I added a chalk board label to the white box and wrote a signature "Y" on it to give it a little character:

Cute, huh?

My little helper.  She's always in here with me:

It's those little things that make me happy! :)

Christmas 2015

This year my Christmas decor consisted of this:

I had emergency gallbladder surgery on December 18th.   Up to that time I was still suffering from Bronchitis, which I had since late October.   I was tired and weak and didn't have the energy to get my Christmas decor put out on Thanksgiving weekend like I normally do.   The second week of December Sweetheart helped me put the tree together then quickly afterwards my gallbladder attacked me.    Sweetheart took me to the emergency room on Tuesday and by Wednesday morning at 10am I was being operated on.  So, for the rest of the holiday season, our tree sat with no ornaments, no star, no tree skirt and no nativity.   The nutcracker made it out because it was a new purchase this year -- a gift from Sweetheart.    On Christmas night we sat in the living room with only the tree lights on and agreed that even though the tree was not embellished, it was perfect.    We were together at home and we were able to visit with my family and we were able to go to mass on Christmas eve -- all was good.

-----------

While in the emergency room, Sweetheart found this monkey at the gift shop and brought it to me.  I have a thing for stuffed animals (and monkeys).   I held on to the monkey the entire time.  It was comforting for me; I'm sure the entire staff thought I was mental: 

I still sleep with him every night......

I had to stay in the hospital a couple of days because I had an infection.   That was the worst.   But when I was finally home, this guy took good care of me:

I didn't think I would be able to make it to Tucson this year for Christmas but at the last minute I felt good enough to travel and Sweetheart agreed to take me.  That took some convincing (and/or tears) because he thought it was best to just stay home because my condition was still very delicate.  Once he decided we would go, he helped me wrap gifts.  All gifts were put into gift bags:

   

Incidentally, my best friend Monica and I had our annual wrapping party scheduled on the day that I was released from the hospital so we didn't get to have our party this year.   But she was a huge support through the entire process and I am very thankful to have her friendship. 

I felt so good on Christmas eve that I was able to get dressed and attend Christmas mass -- I was so very thankful for that.   We were even able to have our traditional Chinese dinner afterwards:

Of course that was more for Sweetheart because I wasn't able to eat much; I'm still on a very limited diet.   At first it was because I had to be careful now it's more fear of getting sick by eating something that is too fatty.  

Sweetheart surprised me with an after Christmas gift this year.   While in Tucson he saw that I loved my sister's new Uggs so he surprised me with these:

They are so comfortable and they keep me so warm!  

This guy.  What would I do without him?

He was just so wonderful while I was sick.  He jumped in and handled the grocery shopping, the cooking and the cleaning.   Speaking of cleaning when I got sick in October, he hired a cleaning service to come in every other week to clean the house.   That took a tremendous load off my mind because I'm a nut about a clean house!  The two ladies that come in do an incredible job and I am just so pleased with their work.   I am so very grateful that he is in my life -- I am truly blessed!

Here's looking to a healthy and happy 2016!

Christmas Cards 2015

I really didn't think I would be able to pull it off this year.   It's been a tough couple of weeks for me.  I came down with a bad case of bronchitis mid October and I am still suffering from it.   But I couldn't bear the thought of not sending out a hand-crafted card this year.   

So I kept it simple and worked on the cards during football:  Sunday night football, Monday night Football and Thursday night football.....

I didn't have to pull out my Cricut this year either.  I just used two snowflake punches:

I cut red and green snowflakes -- which took forever!

Then I arranged them in a wreath, added some pearls and a gold-glittered bow:

I stamped the inside of the card:

and the backside:

It took me about a week or so to get them all put together.   Then Saturday I was able to drop them at the post office:

Next up:  getting the Christmas tree up!

Recycled Wreath and another Basket

Am I the only one that loves front door wreaths?  I mean, I really love them!  I have a different wreath for every occasion and even non-occasion.   I always have a wreath on my door.    It drives my sister crazy.   In fact, she loves to mock my wreath obsession.   That does not stop me from adorning my front door with a new one at least eight times a year.   

A couple weekends ago I put this one on the front door:

It's a simple one, but lovely nonetheless.   Since I still have that painting situation going on I didn't put any Halloween decor out nor will I be putting any Thanksgiving decor out.   I'm okay with that because holiday decorating is not conducive with what's going on the main rooms right now.   But I'm not okay with having the same wreath on the front doors for months on end.  So I decided to repurpose the wreath I had hanging on the door.   And it didn't cost me a thing.  I took apart the wreath I had on the door and shopped my craft room for the rest.   After it was all done I added a chalkboard tag on it to give it the perfect finish:

 I've said it once, I'll say it again.  Little things make me happy.

And speaking of happy, remember the basket tray that I bought at Joanne's to corral my spoons and such?  I ran out that same weekend and bought another one to house the doggie treats.

I actually combined two areas.  Doggie treats (and human treats) and the key basket all in one:

Another win.   It keeps the counters clean and Sweetheart really is a good sport about respecting my love of organizing and neatness.  He just goes with the flow and pretends to really love it.  I know that he could care less but I love that he pretends.  :)

p.s.  progress in the painting situation.  I've started the primer process.....