creative little daisy

Lost in the junk drawer

A few days ago, Rachel emailed out of concern that I had fallen victim to my out of control junk drawer and was unable to find my way out. So sweet!  I assured her that I was fine, that the junk drawer had not sucked me in and tossed me to the back with the twist ties and random batteries.  Nope, I'm here and I'm well. I'm busy and happy and have a life full of blessings I should be documenting.  I'm such a slow blog poster. I type and delete, type and delete. Stare at the flashing cursor and type and delete some more. I find it so difficult to jot down a few lines, throw in a relevant photo or two and get on with the rest of the day. I want to work on that and maybe I'll have more success at blogging on a somewhat regular basis. In the time since my last post, things have been pretty busy- where to begin...what to talk about first? Since my last post there has been a trip to the  beach, Bible School crafting, some fireworks watching, transplant evaluating, and a little sewing. 
In the next week, I will try to catch up and do it in brief posts, instead of the long rambling ones that take forever to read and even longer to write.
A few justcause photos, just cause I hate to post without a photo. 

More random bits

I'm not sure what has come over me, but I'm riding the wave while it lasts. I'm on a cleaning/organizing binge. I've cleaned parts of my kitchen that haven't been cleaned since, well, possibly never. I've rearranged cabinets, thrown out clutter- do sprinkles have a shelf life by the way? Cause I can't tell you when I've sprinkled anything, but I had four bottles of sprinkles. Had being the key word. I actually have two cabinets with nothing in them now. Imagine that! I threw out canned goods with '05 expiration dates. See what I mean about riding the wave while it lasts. It may be years before it hits me again. I'm not a slob, I like things clean, but I just don't have the energy to be a clean freak. I wish I did. It is noticeably  easier to clean a house with two occupants than a house with four, especially when two of the four are teens.  I still have to tackle the dreaded junk drawer and the darn tupperware cabinet. For the life of me, I can't keep plastic bowls and lids neatly placed in a cabinet. I organize and straighten, think everything's cool, go back to find an explosion of bowls and lids strewn about. It's worse than socks in the dryer. Nothing matches up. What happens inside that cabinet when I turn my back?
Along with scrubbing and scouring, I've done some prettying up too. Some new shelves (built and hung by my sweetie)  to hold pretty bowls and plates and changing out the lighting over my bar made it feel like a new kitchen.

We had recessed lighting over the bar. I never liked them, it was a harsh, bright light so I rarely turned them on.  One day in Lowes, I noticed these. They were a little more than I wanted to spend on something that really wasn't necessary.  I kept watching them though. I'd stroll down the lighting isle and consider putting them in the cart, then tell myself, maybe next time. Last week I took my stroll through lighting, and what's this? Clearance?!! I didn't even have to put them in the cart, they jumped right in.  The best fifty dollars I've spent in a while.

I think the next project, once I get control of my tupperware cabinet and junk drawer will be to paint my lower cabinets black (and all of this cabinet that surrounds the oven and microwave).  Sound like fun?


I also want to remove that useless piece of real estate (aka a desk) in the photo above. It is right beside the door and ends up being a catch all space. It's never been used as a desk, so I want to replace it with this.
Another project I'm itching to tackle is putting sheers on my back porch. I can't be blamed, how could I possibly resist after seeing this? Heaven on earth!

Gotta go, that junk drawer isn't going to clean itself.

Random bits, part one

Here I find myself, once again, like I have many times before, thanking you guys for being so good to me. Your words of sympathy and support on the loss of our sweet little Gracie  have meant so much.  Truly, if you wonder if your comments matter, if they make a difference, let me say,  yes!  Yes they do! Your words are uplifting and encouraging and I treasure each and every one! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I've been getting used to life with one less four-legged family member. I'm still so saddened by her somewhat sudden and unexpected loss, but I am smiling more at happy memories of her gentle and loving spirit. Life goes on, isn't that what they say?  Here's proof.

Alyssa and I  found these little guys abandoned in a parking lot. No mama in sight. I don't plan to keep them, just fatten them up a bit and find them loving homes. These photos are from their first days with us,  they are eating kitty food now,

and getting fat, round little bellies. A  welcome addition to their formerly emaciated little frames.

If you live in the southeastern NC area and want a sweet little kitty (or two) to love, email me. I can hook you up! Seriously.


Toby loves the babies,

and they love him.

It seems as though I've been away from this little corner for so long. There is so much I could ramble on about, life is so full. My blogging voice seems a bit horse, forgive me while I try to catch up.  We were lucky enough to have Casey home for a few weeks. He was able to get recruiter's assistance duty while waiting for his class to start up in Pensacola. It was really a joy to have him home and I'm so happy to be able to say that.  Even a year ago, joy would not have been a word I would have used in conversation about time spent with Casey.  I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong and I was wrong in feeling that joining the Marines was a terrible decision for Casey.  I don't look forward to the worry that will surely be my constant companion when the time comes for him to be deployed, but the contentment that he carries with him, the confidence. They mean so much to this mama.

His flight out left from Charlotte, so after dropping him at the airport, we visited Ikea. It was my first time. Wow! What a huge and wonderful place that was.

More random bits to come. Try to contain your excitement, but it involves cleaning my kitchen.

I have a sad, sad heart...

My sweet little Gracie girl died yesterday.  She had been a part of our family for ten years. This morning as I looked through photos to include in this post, it became even more apparent how present she was in every minute of our lives. Sets of photos of birthday parties, Christmas, photos of Bayleigh... you name it. Gracie may  not have been the subject of the picture, but if we were gathered, she was there. Part of our family.

Watching Casey open presents on his birthday with the rest of the family.

In the middle of the mess on Christmas Eve.

Making unexpected appearances in shots on her way to get near me.

She did love me. Unconditionally, wholeheartedly, she loved me. If I left for a while she watched out the window and cried and met me at the door, tail wagging as soon as I returned. She was the top dog for a long time. Till Toby and Lucky came along and she became on of three vying for attention. I say one of three and not four, because Angel has always preferred to be a little more to her self than the other dogs. She likes a pat on the head and an acknowledgment that she's a pretty girl, then she's fine to be off in her bed instead of in the middle of the action. Not Gracie, if there was action, she was there. She was kind and gentle with Bayleigh, but chose to watch her from afar when possible. She was so smart, we often swore she was more human than pup. She would pout if your hurt her feelings and look back to see if the pouting was working. She would make a big scene of eating her dog food while we were eating dinner (only after giving up on getting any table scraps) she would get a piece of food and make sure we could see her eating, as though to say see what I have to eat, while you sit there eating real food.

She wasn't a prissy little yorkie. If I took her to get a fancy hair-do, she'd have the bow out before we got home and once home she'd promptly roll in the grass till her hair was no longer smooth and silky and was full of bits of grass.




She was such a sweet, smart little girl. I know time will ease the pain, but this morning, my heart is broken and I'm missing my tiny girl with the huge heart.

Goodbye my sweet girl. Thank you loving us and letting us love you  for those ten short years!
You are so missed!

A public service announcement

Turtles pee in large volumes when frightened.
Just in case you find yourself driving along and see a turtle upside down in the road and decide to stop and flip him over. Even if you get an umbrella cause you're scared to touch him cause he's kinda big and may bite your finger off.  Just be mindful where your feet are, especially if you are wearing flip-flops. If they happen to be just behind the upside down turtle's back end, there is a good chance when you nervously touch the turtle with your umbrella, you are going to get the unexpected little surprise of being sprayed on your semi-exposed feet with large, seriously large, amounts of turtle pee.
Don't say you haven't been warned.

Care to join me?

the dress code is casual

the tea is sweet (and cold)

and the mosquitoes are big!  (bring the bug spray)

If you don't mind, when you've had enough rocking and sweet tea, could you step inside and help me out a little. You typepad users, I could use some blog sprucing tips. Everything I do when it comes to the look of this blog has always been trial and error. I'm usually pleased enough with it and can stumble my way around till I find what I want. Now, it seems I just don't have the patience to spend an entire day making small changes. It's looking a bit jumbled and cluttered to me.  I'd like it to fill up more of the screen so that the content doesn't seem jumbled up in the center. I'd also like for the banner to be centered and fill up more of the screen. When I change my main column to fluid instead of a fixed width, then the banner isn't right and my photos seem too small. No hurry, sip your tea, relax. 

I love hugs

And that's exactly what it felt like, reading all your comments on the last post- like a bunch of warm, caring hugs. For that I thank you so much! You guys get it. I knew you did, I just hoped that in sharing all the joys being a nana brings to me, I had not inadvertently led anyone to believe that Bayleigh does not have loving caring parents.  We just happen to be a family who feels like you can never have too many people to love and nurture you and the fact that I am in a position to help my daughter out with childcare while she finishes school and can selfishly spoil my granddaughter in the process is just a double bonus.

Comments from strangers who can't be responded to shouldn't bother me, but...

they do.  It's only happened a couple of times, the folks who take the time to comment here are always kind and thoughtful. Really, I feel like we are all friends, and sometimes even friends who mean well can be hurtful when they don't think before they speak. I'm hoping that was the case with the comment that is bothering me, even though I keep telling myself not to worry about it.  I deleted it right away. Right after I tried to respond by email, but my email came back undeliverable. I deleted it because I felt it would be hurtful to Alyssa. My first reaction was to respond politely to the commenter, delete the comment and forget about it.  Then my email came back, leaving my polite response unheard, or unread in this case.

The comment was on my last post, the one about Bayleigh's birthday party.

                            Does her mom do anything for her? Does she live with you?

I'm sure it's just the bluntness of the wording that caught me off guard and the fact that long before I was a doting nana, I was a doting mama, who loves her daughter very much. This is the response I tried to send- 

Bayleigh lives with her mom and dad. I care for her during the day, while her mom is in nursing school. Her mom does a wonderful job of caring for her, but she isn't the author of my blog. I write about things from my perspective.

I plan to delete your comment. I'm hoping you meant no harm by it, but I know the wording would be hurtful to Alyssa and she reads my blog regularly.

I fully realize that I don't owe any explanations to anyone about the content I choose to write about on my blog or the photos I choose to share, but just in case anyone else has wondered the same thing, I'd like to clear things up. Bayleigh lives with her mom and dad. We are a very close family and we live in close proximity so we spend a lot of time together.  I realize that I've had little to talk about on the blog other than Bayleigh since she was born, but this blog originated as a craft blog. A place to share a little of this and that, but mostly my creative ventures. Before Bayleigh was born, I had a lot of spare time that I spent sewing and spray painting and moving furniture about, now that she's around, my spare time is spent differently. Since I don't have as much sewing to write about, when I take the time to write a blog post, there's a pretty good chance she will somehow be involved. So that's what you see here, photos and snippets of my life that I choose to share. If it were Alyssa's blog, she may write about the struggles of caring for a child while attending nursing school full time. Only she could tell you what it's like for her to be a young wife and mom, to have tests and clinicals to study for, dinner to cook,  a house to clean. Hers is a story very much like many others, but it's hers and not mine to tell, so I share photos of my beautiful granddaughter and things she's done to brigten my day. 

Bayleigh with her daddy at her party
 

and with her mama.


 

Party Girl

Bayleigh's first birthday party was this past weekend at her nana and papa's house. 

I made her little birthday crown using this tutorial. Nana and papa got her a ball pit that was much bigger than expected, but lots of fun for all the curly haired cutie pies in attendance.

 

I found the idea for making these favor bags in a magazine, but I don't remember which- Mary Engelbreit Home Companion, perhaps? It was easy, just cut off 3/4 of the green bag, snip around the edges to make some blades of grass, put a little white glue or double stick tape in the bottom before inserting the white bag then glue on a little butterfly. We put some sidewalk chalk, bubbles and a pack of fruit gummies inside.

 

I've seen the Martha Stewart pompoms around and finally had a reason to give them a try. Fun stuff, decorating for a little girl's birthday party!

 

 

 

I love this caught by the paparazzi shot .

The weather was beautiful, the company was great, it was a delightful time to celebrate a delightful little girl.  Our list of blessings just keeps on growing...

Some Bunny Is One Today

Happy Birthday Bunny!!