Thursday On My Mind

"I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home...I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby."

 

~ Nancie J. Carmody 

 

 

Thoughts on this Thursday before Thanksgiving ~  It is very cold and very windy and I love it very much.  Every time I look over at our dog today she is staring at me with total love in her eyes...right back at ya sweet pup.  Who, what, where and when were all of these clothes in the laundry pile worn?  I love acorn caps, jingle bells and piles and piles of fabric.  My glue gun is quite Hot.   I really, really love these quite days before the holidays begin.  I have gleaned enough crafting goodies to last me and ten of my friends until the end~of~time.  I love Uggs.  I want to marry 'em.  The old fashioned pressed apple cider that I am drinking is really stinkin' delicious!  Maybe I will marry it too!  I think I will make French onion soup for dinner.  I wish I lived closer to my Mom.  I wish this war would end.  Just some random thoughts swimming round my ol' noggin today.

 

This face of fur and I walked a couple of miles today for the third day in a row...take that high blood pressure! 

 

 

 This tennis ball should be a food group!

 

 

She looks like she's singing...la, la, la...

 

Made some of these for ETSY...

 

Blowing in the wind...

 

 I love copper spray paint for the holidays...

  

Cut up an old vest...re~purposing gone wild...

 

 It's coming...I can smell the sweet smell of freshly cut pine...

 

And now, back to painting burlap and gluing acorn tops to anything that will sit still!

I hope that your Thursday before Thanksgiving is full of wonderful thoughts and activities.

Smiles ~ Ramona

Thoughts Of Thanksgiving

I always say that preparing for Thanksgiving is like my own little holiday before the holiday.  I absolutely LOVE this holiday.  For me, it begins right after the last trick~or~treater has knocked on our door.  As I wait for the price of turkey to drop...I write out the menu....it is usually the same over the years...but I always, always try to add something new and unexpected to the buffet.  Keep 'em guessing....you know.  One year I added crab cakes and another time it was refreshing Waldorf salad...but the year I discovered Rachael Ray's Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran~Apple Relish...well, I thought I better get some cutie~pie individual soup crocks for my Thanksgiving table....cuz this one is a keeper!

Doing the prep well in advance makes the whole day...fun~ner!  I love to plan the menu, read recipes, make place cards, iron cloth napkins, set the table in a new and surprising way,  this work is filled with such peace and delight for this wonderful holiday.  

And all the while....the family has know idea that I am deep in holiday mode!  Thanksgiving just might possibly be the best holiday around.

 Pumpkin soup crocks....

If you have heard the news that there is a shortage of pumpkin puree this year...don't fret...it is easy~peasy to make your own...and it makes your home smell wonderful...

 

 I am doing squash colored napkins this year...found this pack at Home Goods...

 Another crock...maybe I will put the cranberries in there...

 What the who~ha....this squirrel nutcracker has found my burlap acorns...

 Pretend squirrel and pretend acorn together again! 

 Platter....empty now...but not for long...

Cocktail napkins for pre~turkey tid~bits...

Even with my Thanksgiving preparations well in hand...I have an upcoming bazaar on the brain...

 I have been painting red burlap...

 

 And remembering how much I love jingle bells....

 

Yep, love 'em...

 

  These are bound for my ETSY shop...

And you can bet that they will be jingling~all~the~way!

 

 I am thankful for this opportunity to serve my family...

little do they know what a blast I have planning for this special day.

Do you love the Thanksgiving preparations too?

Smiles ~ Ramona

The Art Of Giving Thanks

If the only prayer you said

in your life was "thank you"

that would suffice.

Meister Eckhart 

Happy Tuesday morn to everyone...sweet Tuesday morn...precious, un~crazy~busy Tuesday morn...a true calm~before~the~storm kind of morn...and it just happens to be a Tuesday.  A perfect day to practice the art of giving thanks.

It is a wonderful art...giving thanks...and it will feed your soul like nothing else in the universe.  How blessed are we that by celebrating the simplest of gifts in our lives....we are rewarded with the blessings of gratitude....pretty stinkin' lucky, Id say!

As I marinate in the somewhat calm days before Thanksgiving, I have, on purpose and with a full heart, slowed down and said ~ thank you.

It looks like Mother Nature is getting a jump start on decorating for the holidays!

  

 This face is the ONLY thing that stands between her black lab life and the alternative...well let me put it this way...there is a reason God gave hyper and happy seven and a half month old black lab puppies cutie~pie faces....I'm just saying...

After a Northwest storm...

And the calm before another one...

 

Chores...but raking is fun~ner than folding laundry...

 

Peace...

 

I cannot help but give thanks...

 

No words...just gratitude...

 

Still...

 

My summertime burlap painted pillows...festooned for winter...

 

Garland...

 

Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday for decorating with found and gathered objects...you know, wonderful bits of this, that and the other which you have gleaned for that special "someday" project...

I took a cup~hook~a~rama and attached it to the inside of a kitchen cupboard door....

 

 Then I swipped a gigantic spool of twine from the garage and hot glued it to the base of one of those cinnamon~y pine cones from the craft store and slipped some little wooden beads on the twine, tied a knot on the end and hung it from the cup hook~a~rama...

 

I plan on doing this on several of the cabinets...

 

I was making this in the middle of a Northwest thunder and lightening fall storm thus the light in these pictures isn't so great...

A Thanksgiving craft and a fun project on a stormy afternoon... 

 Both of which I am thankful for... 

 

 Enjoy these wonderful fall days before Thanksgiving....as for me, I am going to practice the art of giving thanks...living in the moment, finding joy and happiness in the simple and true things all around me...if I skip a beat and forget how to do that...all I have to do is look into this sweet face...she is grateful and happy and playful and joyful and lovable and I am sure...thankful every minute of the day.

Have a great day!

Smiles ~ Ramona

Halloween Eve ~ The Last Hours Before The Storm~ola

 I have been running around preparing for Halloween.  Making special treats for the really young ghosts and goblins that come to the door...whipping up my special chili dip recipe...{if I didn't make for tomorrow...well the world as we know it would end}...carving some pumpkins and decorating the porch till the porch can't be decorated anymore.

And not to be ignored, Thanksgiving and Christmas had to join in on the holiday who ~ ha as well...I should probably get serious and make some dinner and sweep the buckwheat hulls and burlap scraps away...but what fun is there in that?  Playing with acorn caps and velvet, making ghosts out of tootsie pops, and watching the Charlie Brown Halloween movie is just plain fun~ner!

I wanted to share the acorn cap do ~ dads that I have been distracting me in the most wonderful way.

I have been having a blast developing the pattern for these...velveteen and bells and acorn caps....Jingle Bell Acorns!  Now that's what I'm talking about.

Don't you just want to marry jingle bells?

Then I stitched up some with burlap...and added baby buttons in fall colors for a bit of autumn cha~cha~ness.

I thought these would be fun on a Thanksgiving table...or with a place card attached...or hanging from some branches standing at attention in an urn....the possibilities are endless!

Acorns are all over ETSY these days....and my shop is no exception...if the squirrels of the world only knew...

 

Before I go...don't you just love it when there are leaves in your grocery cart in the fall?  I do...it never fails to make me smile.

 

Even a grocery cart becomes more charming with nature's touch...

 

Looks right at home in my cart...

It has been a silly day...a welcome change from the seriousness of the past week.

Have a wonderful weekend...as for me, I am deep in the super~duper creative season that my soul delights in...it 'tis a messy season and it 'tis a crazy, crazy busy season and it 'tis the season where I am the happiest camper of them all.

Smiles ~ Ramona

The Story Of My Monday As Told On A Wednesday

...rainy days and Mondays always get me down... 

~ The Carpenters 

Well, not usually....I generally love rainy days {I was raised in San Diego where when it rained we all ran to the window and gazed in amazement} and as for Mondays...I love 'em...yes I do...they are like a mini fresh start...you know, new week, new to~do list {or...the same to~do list, but re~written on a fresh sheet of paper}.

I know it is Wednesday...and I know that I should let a Monday that had a rocky start go...but I wanted to share the magic of blog composition and creativity found in the most unexpected of places.

Who would of thought that an idea for a blog post {a goof~ball~o~rama blog post} but a blog post non~the~less...would be gleaned from a rainy Monday that was starting to get me down.

4 am  {Yep, 4!}  Up and at 'em

7 am ~ Wake the fam...make coffee, lunches, read email, feed the dog, feed the cat, wash dishes, laundry, mop floor, re~write last week's to~do list on a new piece of paper, chase dog down and retrieve my cowboy boot from her mouth {dog's have died for less}, check calendar, shower, put on cowboy boots {it is pouring outside and folks drive crazy when it rains so a horse might be a better choice}

8 am ~ Leave house to drive daughter to school and the 7 month old lab that tried to have a cowboy boot with her morning coffee knocks me down!!!  I announce to the world {or at least the neighbors within a three block radius} just how happy I am about this, I get into the car and my daughter is not sympathetic and I tell her that we are not listening to Hanna on the way in...we are listening to the 40's station...{she, of course is thrilled}, and off we go on our less than merry way.

8:15 am ~ Kiss 12 year old good bye and she tells me to have a better day...and good golly with the sweet smile she gave me and the gentle touch on my hand...well why wouldn't I? {I love this kid!}

8:20 am ~ Run into same school for a quick meeting...

9 am ~ Park in Office Depot parking lot and pop in to buy a box...but first...take a big, fat fall on the wet floor...you know the kind....the kind where first you try to recover...swinging your arms around like a gymnast but then just giving in to gravity and down you go...but Monday's fall had the added bonus of my feet with the chewed on cowboy boots going up in the air...it was the kind of fall that you would normally do if you were laughing with friends and you KICK your COWBOOT BOOT covered FEET UP IN THE AIR WITH ATTITUDE.

Good grief...it was only 9 am!

Still pouring outside and believe it or not...I am still optimistic about the down pour...I head on over to Michael's...gonna turn this day around...only good things happen at Michael's..right?

Right...

9:20 am ~ Walk {carefully and SLOWLY} I quickly find exactly what I am looking for and dash {carefully and slowly} to checkout and I am served by the sweetest gal that asks me how my day is going and I tell her that I have been on the ground TWICE today and it isn't even 10 am!  We had a laugh and told her that I am slowing down and being more careful for the rest of the day...and she added that when you slow down you see things along the way that you otherwise would have missed...she was right.

Here is the post I wrote in my head while walking carefully and slowly to the car in the rain still with my trusty cowboy boots...yee ~ haw sisters.

Mother Nature ~ The Queen Of Decoupage  

Even Mother Nature loves decoupage to enhance her Autumn decor.  She is so good at delightfully  applying it in otherwise unnoticed places like on wet cars, damp windows and drenched parking lots...she deserves the title of "Queen of Decoupage"...Cha, cha, cha.

  Taking the sweet gal from Michael's advice...I slowed down and look what I noticed...

They were everywhere...

The fall leaves....not washed away too quickly...sometimes I love a long good~bye...

Delight found..even in a wet parking lot...

Can you imagine what folks were thinking while I was taking pictures of the ground?

...after kicking my heels up at Office Depot earlier this morn... 

Red leaf...

At the end of this day...a rainy day and a Monday didn't get me down.

Lesson ~ If you are going to turn around a bad start to your day...cowboy boots really help.

Smiles ~ Ramona 

Note to readers ~ No seven month old cutie~pie black labs were harmed while writing this post...I'm just saying.