Mama's Day

Here it is, the eve of my very first mother's day as a mama. I love taking care of this sweet little boy and doing mommy things and giving him his fill of hugs and kisses.

(For those just tuning in, my husband and I are foster parents to a little boy who will most certainly go back to his own mother once she gets her life back on tracks.)

He's been sick this week. He's had sniffles before but this bout was a little bit more severe. Most of last week he only wanted to be held. We spent quite a bit of time in the rocking chair humming songs. The poor dear is feeling better today. Just in time for me to come down with it.

Happy Mother's Day to my own sweet mother who taught me love by loving. I've thought of you so often these last few days of taking care of this sick little chickadee...and how even now when I'm sick, I still long for your warm hands to hold my head. Your hands are magic and I always felt better when you did that. 37 years of thank you's for that and everything else you did (and do!) for me.

Happy Mother's Day to all my mama friends out there. Feel loved and appreciated and cherished today and everyday.

more confections...

Cheryl whipped up more beautiful things to share with you...














Click here to order.

bam!

Hey! Guess who I saw today?

Did you guess Emeril?

He's taping a new show, Emeril Green, at our Whole Foods right here in my neighborhood. How cool is that??!

My friend Hope and I saw him there about 2 weeks ago, taping his show in the produce department. And today, as I was pushing my cart through the store, telling Baby the name for everything we bought and giving most things (not eggs or such) to toss in the back after his careful studying, a young lady flagged me down, whispered that they were taping and asked me to "act natural and do not look into the cameras" as I walked by.

I think I might start grocery shopping every day.

friends like these

Cast your eyes on this wonderful jar of goodies my friends Ann and Linda of the cottage gave me last night. They sure know what I like, don't they?
I haven't had a chance to do more than peek at all the goodies...I'm looking forward to dumping it all out in a big pile in the middle of the kitchen table and taking a good look at every little bit. Maybe tonight after Baby goes to sleep.

Darren's story

It was almost two years ago at my friend Claudia's beach house when she told us of their family's worries for one of her grandsons, Darren. Especially compared to his very active twin brother Trevor, Darren seemed withdrawn. After a battery of tests, it was confirmed that little Darren is autistic.

The twins are almost four now and we get positive progress reports from our friend Claudia whenever our rowdy bunch of friends gets together. Claudia's son and daughter-in-law have moved to Fairfax County to be closer to the exceptional care and support Darren can get here.

Not long ago, the boys' mother planned an art project for her boys involving painting and then tearing tissue paper. The response from family and friends at the amazing results propelled the idea to make the artwork into cards like that shown here. Proceeds from the sale of these cards directly benefits Darren and autism research. Click here to visit the family's journey through autism and to purchase a set of these cards.

bluebirds of happiness

Hope you like these birdies as much as I do. Is it wrong to love something you've made so much?

They are up in the shop. Click here to get one of your very own.

oh joy of joys!

This morning an angel showed up at my doorstep...Judit. She is going to be my cleaning friend and I'm just as pleased as punch. I'm giddy with excitement.

So, am I the only crazy girl who spent the entire day yesterday cleaning to prepare my house for the cleaning lady? Well, I didn't actually clean...although I had to fight the urge...I just straightened up and organized and put things away. Oh, and I not only shut the door to the studio, I locked it. This is just in case she misunderstood me saying "not this room"...maybe she heard "work real hard on this room". I think if she saw it, or if any of you did, you would not be able to look me in the eyes again.

So in juggling all the balls in this new life, the one ball that got constantly dropped was housecleaning. If I swept the floor at all, it was just once a day. And I can't remember the last time I cleaned our bathroom in a manner necessary for healthy living. When Judit was in our neighborhood the other week passing out flyers, I just knew she was to be my cleaning angel. I asked a few questions, talked to Rich, and it was all done so fast I couldn't believe it. And I can't wait to see all the sparkling cleanliness that is sure to come in just a little while.

I feel like Christmas.

look what flew in...

I'm hoping to put these sweet little bluebirds up on the site tomorrow. I only made these 6 (3 mamas and 3 babies) but I think I'll make more soon...I loved making them! and I love how they turned out!

mo made goodness

My friend Mo has been busy working on new things for her section of Inspire Co. Click here to see what she's whipped up for you.

who? me?

Today is our 11th anniversary. Our very favorite family from church took care of Baby for a few hours tonight while we went out for dinner. I can't say anything good about the meal itself (so I won't say anything but by not saying anything, I'm saying something, right?) but it was really so nice to have a date night and celebrate our wedding anniversary. Last year this time we were in San Francisco!

I bought this sweet dress from Target today without even trying it on. It looks so much sweeter than this picture...like Alice in Wonderland sweet. I wore it tonight.

After dinner, we went to Barnes and Noble to pick up a cd I'd special ordered. While there, we puttered around and I decided to look for the new Artful Blogging Magazine. I almost didn't see it...it was hidden behind Woodworking Magazine. It's so great to leaf through and see so many familiar people featured among the pages of this incredible magazine. I was reading through Holly of Holly Doodle Designs feature right there at the periodicals section and I think a little scream might have escaped my lips when I read a whole paragraph attributing her blogging beginnings to little ol' me!

When people say nice things about me and my blogging I get this kind of awwww shucks feeling and get all bashful and silly. I wish I could be more gracious and outwardly appreciative. Lots of times people send me such really nice emails so full of thoughtful things and I'm too embarrassed or shy or silly to even reply. I should work on this I know. It's just amazing and a little unbelievable to me that people really do enjoy reading my random thoughts so much.

I want to say a special thank you to Holly for including that bit about me in her story. I feel so honored and special and, well, awww shucks!