Wednesdays With My Mom

Welcome to the world, Steve. Except that left me all alone up in heaven to wait for my turn... 2 1/2 years later.
My mom's dress here is AMAZING!!! I absolutely love it. I remember seeing Oprah being interviewed on the David Letterman Show a few years back and she was wearing a dress so similar to this one, but in a beautiful brown silk, I think.
A little fairy had sent a package to my mom recently, so she opened it when I first arrived.


Thanks little fairy. : )
Well, I'm sad to report that my mom's Alzheimer's is progressing. I brought these bean bags, that go into my fabric pumpkins, so my mom and I could hand sew them closed while we visited. However, that was not possible for her, so we just visited and watched TV while I worked on them. Maybe it was just a bad day and things will get better.
Till next time-------M.L. And don't forget to sign up for PJ's Giveaway (details in post below).

A Grand Giveaway

My good blogging buddy, PJ, over at 'Seens from the backs of my eyelids', is having a great giveaway over at her place. The prize is a $75.00 e-giftcard to Amazon.com. All you need to do is become a follower and leave a comment on her Giveaway post before midnight Friday. So run, don't walk, over to her place to sign up. Good luck!!

HALLOWEEN FUN!

Of course...a pumpkin patch.


"Hey Mom, look over here."

Sara just wanted a cute little baby one to paint white and decorate. Great job, cutie!!!
A grandbaby on each arm. : )
Ding-dong!
Wardrobe malfunction..."hold up."
With the 'Good Witch'. Look who got to wear Aunt Sara's costume this year. : )

Looks like someone found Toto (below). Hee-hee!
Haystack maze.
Next, 'Trunk-or-Treating'.



Hmmm...what should I be this year? Decisions, decisions...
And here's what we landed on. Sara joined her friends for some fun activities last night.
Hope your Halloween was as fun (and exhausting) as ours. : )
P.S. Still crazy-busy over here, but having fun!

Wednesdays With My Mom...AND Sara's new dress!

I just had to show this one first today. I wish my mom would have saved those masks. They're awesome!
Some of you have asked where I fit in, in my family. Well, I ended up being the caboose. So, my mom is expecting my brother, Steve, here.
Last Wednesday was a most unusual day. When I arrived at my mom's Home Care facility, my mom was sleeping. Sam, the caregiver (along with her husband, Roger) asked if I could run and pick up some things Mom was out of. So I ran to Walmart, Costco, home to pick up my sewing machine and then to my mom's storage unit to find her previous comforter and pillow shams. She had really been missing them.

The only problem is, that I left the nice chart that my SIL made with all the box numbers and contents listed on it at home. Stubborn me did not want to go back home again, so I thought I would just start opening boxes to find it. HUGE MISTAKE. I probably opened twenty heavy (and stacked) boxes before finally finding it.
The reason I picked up my sewing machine was so I could turn this Queen sized comforter into a twin. But Sam said, "Let's just use it as a bedspread and call it good." Thank you Sam!!! I had to laugh when I opened one of the boxes to find this book, This Too Shall Pass, staring at me. So I snapped a photo. : )
Since I didn't snap any pics of my mom last week, I thought I would include this adorable one of my sister and mom at the Zoo (from last Friday). What an angel she was to take her and push the wheelchair that day.
A couple of Summers ago we got on this Amy Butler kick over here. We finally got around to finishing up this pattern.
The only change we made was to the sleeves. For some reason Sara didn't care for those little puffy capped sleeves, so we changed them out for the ones you see here. Sara did most of the work with some assistance here and there from me. Great job, sweetie!!
Also, that Summer, Sara picked up this pattern, below, along with some Amy Butler fabric.

Here's her bag, below. I like it even better than the one shown on the pattern.

I'll leave you with something to chuckle about today. Yesterday, Sara had an eye appointment. While in the waiting room she tapped my arm and whispered in a concerned voice, "Mom, look down that hall."
Then we both cracked up when she said, "Oh yeah, I forgot...it's Halloween." Silly girl! : )
Have a good one!!

Daughter Does Her Mother Proud

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Like mother, like daughter"? Well, when it comes to Holiday decorating, the saying applies to all my children. They've happily carried on the tradition of going ga-ga over the holidays. : ) We went out to my married daughter's place last weekend and here's what we were greeted with.




Also, last Saturday, we had these two little pumpkins over for awhile while Mommy and Daddy ran some errands. So...we colored some Halloween pictures.
Oh, notice the cute hair bows daughter made for the girls.

We watched one of our favorite Halloween shows, 'The Halloween That Almost Wasn't'. We've watched this every year since...almost forever. : ) Our other fun tradition is to watch 'The Ghost and Mr. Chicken', with Don Knotts, while we carve our pumpkins. It's a "must-see"!
Grand finale where the Witch flies over the moon.
Next we made some Halloween cookies. YUM!!



Enjoying their work. : )
We are going to miss this little Trick-or-Treater this year. He is in London with his mommy and daddy. : ( Daddy is there working, and mommy is there going to school.

We love and miss you guys. The holidays won't be the same without you this year!!!
I'm behind in catching up on your Sites. Don't give up on me, I'll catch up over the weekend.
Have a great one!

Wednesdays with my Mom and What I've Been So Busy With

Oohhh, what's this I see...another maternity top??? Looks like Steve is on the way. Look at these kiddos. You can't help but smile. And notice little June's perfect pose. So cute!!!
I think this is one of my all-time favorite photos of my dad. It's SO Mr.-All-American. Looks like Mom snapped this just as he was off to Work.
Time for another Lab test to see how some new Meds are doing. : (
When we got back to my place, Mom got a big kick out of my silly Halloween doll.

Well, in case you've noticed that my Shop is running a little low, here's what I've been busy doing. These seven pumpkins (below) were a special order for a gal up in the Northwest. Thanks, Cindy...and Cami, who showed my pumpkins to Cindy. : )


Hope you're having a great day!
M.L.

A Spooky Little Tutorial

This project above, came from the magazine below.
On page 111.
As you can see, the two jars on the right came from Goodwill, but the third came from a half-off sale at Michael's.
I typed the word "Boo" in several fonts, but settled on this one which is called 'LD Type keys'.


I wanted the jars to look like they were on little pedestals, so I put them on glass candlestick holders. Also, I needed the candy corn to keep the papers in place.

Martha Stewart inspiration below...glitter up your skeleton heads for a more "bewitching" effect. Chris, over at 'Just a Girl', did this last year with her skull and bones and I LOVED it!
Next, I took a "Poison" label that I got from the "Graphics Fairy" and glued it onto an old bottle.

I got this idea (below) of putting the moon face on a clock from another Halloween magazine, but I can't remember which one.

Just a little poly stuffing in the glass to look like a foggy-brew of some sort.
Like I said last week...Happy Haunting. : )
M.L.

Wednesdays With My Mom

Darling outfit, darling hat.

Dad with the first three kiddos. Steve and I were still up in Heaven, waiting to make our appearance. : )
Nothing to "write home about" on this day last week. We just hung out and watched several episodes from this DVD of the first season of Green Acres I had found recently for $3.99. Sara even joined us for part of it and got a kick out of it. Funny stuff. : )
At one point last Wednesday, my mom said, "I wish I had a notebook of some sort to keep notes in." The funny thing is, that I had just picked this up (below) at a book store recently because it was so cute. I ran and got it and gave it to her. She was SO happy. Her reaction made me smile. : )


You know how you never forget how your mother's hands look? There's just something about it, they're imprinted in your mind and heart all your life.
As promised, I dug up some old photos of Sara in the Dorothy costume I made when she was little.



Happy Haunting. : )

Spooky Fun Around the House

Our weekend was fun!!! As you can see, we got busy and started on the outside too. I bought the rope web and Skeleton in the window after Halloween last year on clearance. So glad I did!



I got the idea for my new Header from another blogger, Jamie, last year. Her cute Site is called 'Right at Home' and you can find her inspiration post here. Thank you for the great idea, Jamie!
I added to my Lori Mitchell collection of trick-or-treaters over the past year. I LOVE her art!!!

I just had to buy this Dorothy because I made Sara the costume one year. I'll dig that up later and post it. Talk about adorable!!! I think she was about 10.








These 'Beware' and 'Spooky' flags are from the shopping trip Sara and I made the other day. What a fun addition. : )

This adorable witch below, I ordered from the Bethany Lowe Company. Gotta love her! She's just plain weird...no wonder I love her.



Yippee!!! Time for bed! Happy decorating. : )
M.L.

Come with me and Sara to the "BOO"-tique : )

Sara and I both needed some "down time" this afternoon, so we took off for one of our "happy places". We weren't disappointed!!
I absolutely LOVE it when you girls take lots of pics when visiting a favorite store or craft fair and such, so I thought I would return the favor. The store clerks were so gracious about us taking pictures, which I really appreciated. So enjoy!!!

SILLY SARA!
These glasses were hilarious!
Sara stole my camera from me for a few minutes to take all these Disney pictures.
So Fun!!!

And if you've seen Sara's room, you know she's crazy about Damask. : )
Next stop, a Scrapbook store that had this pumpkin on the counter. All I can say is WOW!!

Okay, onto the pendant/necklaces. These were SO FUN to make.



This one below cracks me up. I told Sara that I was going to put "Halloween costume" on the back and she suggested I make it "This is my Halloween costume". Smart girl. : )

These are sitting over in my Shop for $10.00 each if you would like one. Thanks for coming by today.

Mary Lou

Wednesdays With My Mom

Mom's hair had started to grow out by the time this pic was taken.

My blogging friend, PJ, told me last week that my dad reminded her of Ronald Reagan. I never thought that before, but with that thought in mind, I can see it now. : )

These next photos were not actually taken last Wednesday because I was getting ready to go out of town by then. These were taken earlier in the week when I had my mom stay over for a few days. I know how much she loves to help with projects, so I asked her if she wanted to work on some of my pumpkin stems.

Boy, did she go to town. What a trooper.

Showing her beautiful handiwork here. Thanks Mom!!

One of you sweet bloggers said in the comments from my last post, "I hope you will show more pics from your trip to Salt Lake". I was very touched by that, so here you go. : ) This photo below is of Emily and Grandpa at the restaurant during lunch.

After lunch, we went down to the first floor to kill some time while we waited for William to arrive. There just happened to be an Art Exhibit that day of these beautiful photographs, depicting different scenes from the life of Christ.

They were all so beautifully done.

My favorites were of the children.

Then guess who ran up and surprised Sara from behind. Thus, the big smile. : )

Just had to throw this one in (below) because it was So Darn Cute!!

And, a sneak peek at what's coming to the Shop next. I've got six in the works, but here's the first three.

The Fronts (above) and the Backs (below).

I'll be putting these in, in the next day or so. Hope you're having a great Wednesday.

M.L.

Leav...in'......On A Jet Plane...

Actually, we already left and came back. My girls and I just had a wonderful "Girls Weekend" together. We flew up to Salt Lake, stayed with my In-laws, saw my brother, Andy, and met up with Sara's cute William.
Below: Andy, Sara, me, Emily and Grandpa. Grandma was scheduled to play on her bowling league that afternoon and couldn't join us. We missed you!!

My sweet brother, Andy, took time off from work that day to join us for lunch. (You remember Andy with the groovy sandals from my last post, right?)
I took the next two photos for you, my blogging friends. This was in the lobby where we had lunch and was SO stunning.

After lunch, Will met up with us... (drove down from up north where he's attending school this semester). Andy got to meet Will for the first time.
My handsome big brother. : )

Thanks for spending so much time with us that day, brother. We miss you already!
On this night (below) Sara and Will went out for the evening.
Look who got pumpkins as a 'thank you' for all their kindness, delicious meals and sweet hospitality. We miss you both already, too!
On the way home, we just had to capture this full moon outside our window.

Greeted by part of the Welcoming Committee. : )

Waiting and waiting for Aunt Sara's bag to finally show up.

I left so much out, but just wanted you to know what we've been up to. We had such a wonderful time. Look for me to be catching up on your Sites this week.
M.L.