Highlight of Yesterday

Yesterday, after packing in the garage all day long, I met my Bonnie, yes, I said my--I am lucky enough to "own" her friendship, at Mystic Paper, in downtown Mesa.Owner, Jennifer, was chosen by other owner, Kim, to be the one to snap our picture in front of the store. Kim said the camera looked too fancy for her to use. Funny, because all I know how to do is snap a picture. Pretty much the same thing I have done with any camera I have ever owned. Don't know why I thought my skills would improve just by buying a better camera. Sort of like the mindset the commercials use to get you to buy work out equipment or diet food.. They show all these beautiful bodies giving the illusion one will look the same just by purchasing the product. Da----I know better than that. Da---- guess I best experiment more or take a photo class sometime. Hint--Mystic---Photo class???

  We all had a great time discussing American Idol. For the most part, we were all in agreement this year is showing us fabulous talent! 

During our visit, oh my gosh, I can't remember her name-- (this is one of the parts about getting old that I just hate!!!!)  --- I think it is Judy. I know her husband is a police officer in Glendale and that she designs for the line of Seven Gypsies! If her name is not Judy I will correct it later. Anyway, she came to the store to bring her altered apron. Mystic is having an altered apron event for an animal shelter organization. Judy had altered her apron into a cookbook!!! Darling. Darling. This prompted a showing of the other aprons which had been turned in. The rest are due in next week. How delightful and amazing to see the various creations. Each was unique and different, just like each of us human beings. It is one of the things I appreciate so much about being involved with others who love this art. Kind, inspiring, delightful, humans belong to this group.

Bonnie, Kim, and Jennifer admiring Judy's adorable creation

Bon and I are off to have supper at Mango's, down the street from Mystic. Well, we all know both the first picture and this one were snapped at the same setting. Jennifer did such a good job making us look good though that I could not decide which picture to use so I just used both.

Hope you all have a Mystic kind of day!

It Feels Good To Be Loved

When one packs up for moving some of the best treasures are found and enjoyed. Yesterday I found lots of the cards I saved that my husband has given me over our years together. The above is one of those cards. I hope you can read what he wrote. This was obviously written when we had been together for five years. Amber would have been 13 when this was written. Amber is 38 now. Twenty five years have passed since he penned this and I am hoping my dear, precious, husband would indeed write the same thing to me again. The nice thing is, I think he would. It feels good to be loved.

Yesterday my goal was to get the laundry room packed. My laundry room was also designed to be a sewing room. Any one that sews knows this means fabric collection. This means bags of fabric. Letting most of it go. When I designed this house, storage was a main priority and storage there is. When we moved into this home I absolutely was tickled pink. I loved all the cabinet space I had to fill. As the years passed, fill them I did. Attic flooring came next, lots of attic flooring. Then came garage cabinets, lots of  garage cabinets. Now I find all this storage to be almost, yes , almost disgusting! I have twelve large garbage sacks of "stuff" to be thrown away. I have taken Good Will bags and boxes of "stuff". I have given some craft things away. And so it goes on and on. I have not even started on my own large walk-in-closet yet. It is just sort of funny to me how our wants and desires change through the years. What once I found so wonderful, I now find almost disgusting! Smile. I am saying almost as I still do adore this piece of land we have owned for the past 25 years. Now though I like my smaller place. I can clean it myself without being completely worn out. The smaller space feels cozy. What I would like, however, is two cozy places, the one I have in Pinetop and another one down here in the valley. Maybe someday----

I was at Trader Joe's yesterday afternoon. Every spring they have these amazing daffodils.  I grabbed some and came home to figure out what I would display them in since my vases are packed. I grabbed a glass out of the kitchen cabinet, saw clear packaging sacks not packed yet and there it was. Well, almost. It needed a ribbon so I went out to the throw away pile to retrieve the finishing touch. See, I am already pulling things out of the trash! 

I wanted to leave you today with a breath of spring!

Ahead of Schedule and a Little Reflective

Yeah, I am ahead of schedule. I stayed up working last night, as I knew I would. I am a little obsessive compulsive or, as I like to think of it, I am focused. See all those baskets below? They were full of craft stuff. I must admit, I was very American last night. I have two large black trash cans, along with four large 33 gallon bags of trash. I threw away years of STUFF. A lot of it I might regret but nothing that can't be purchased again. I also have bags and bags for Good Will. My studio up north is already filled to the brim. We have no storage and until this house in the valley sells we do not want to build the garage that will give us much needed more room. We already have a huge storage shed rented. Is what it takes when moving from 3300 square feet to 1600 and having had two antique booths that are no longer occupied. I decided last night that I must pretend I am moving, at least every five years, just to go completely through stuff and clean out. Today I will tackle the huge hall closet .  After that it is on to the laundry room ( which is also huge. One of the problems is, when I designed this house, storage was a top priority , thus I have plenty of hiding places for stuff, stuff, stuff. Is shameful actually. Anyway, I am pleased to be making progress. The sooner I can get a lot done the sooner I can take a trip to Mystic Paper or/and have a cup of coffee with my dear friend , Kim. How about it, Kim of Sweet Sage Vintage? Are you free anytime the next few days, for a coffee, or a visit to Mystic with me?

The sun is shining through the door as I took these pictures this morning, not last night.

Just a few of the boxes packed up last night.

Studio closet that one could hardly see any wall space when the door was opened, as it is in this picture!

The item you see still on the shelf is a dust ruffle. I am leaving it, just in case someone wants to keep the wall paper.  

Sweet, isn't it? This typewriter and the package beside it describe pretty much my feelings about packing up the last 25 years of my life. The typewriter belonged to my husband's Texas family. When his aunt died, a few years ago, I had Randy send me pictures when he went home to help his cousins clean out the house. No one but me wanted this beauty. I went on line this past week and found a source for new ribbons for it. The ribbons came on Saturday. I am in love with the vintage of the typewriter and I am in love with the technology that allowed me to find ribbons which will make my treasure usable. Yep, the best of both worlds, the old and the new.

Silence

How does one take a picture of silence?!

Grandy and Chandler left for Pinetop . I am staying to pack up some more closets. My first action after they left was to crawl back in the bed and take a nap. As I write this I am still in my pajamas and think I will remain in them the rest of the day and evening.  My plan is to pack, pack, pack after posting. I know myself. I will be up late working and might even start getting my days and nights a little confused. It is the way I have always been. I haven't asked my mom if I did this as a baby. Huuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmm--

I am hoping things go well for them. Randy is dropping Chandler off to his MaMa Ria to spend the night. Tomorrow is "our"day again, so Grandy will pick him up from school. I told Chandler he would have to help his grandfather cook while I was gone. Chandler told me they could survive on grilled cheese sandwiches. ( one of the few things Grandy knows how to make)

I promised there was more drama waiting in the wings so I will not disappoint if my soap opera life is entertaining you.  

One night last week, Ria got a visit from Robert, Amber's ex-boyfriend. He wanted to let Ria know he did not think Amber should be around Chandler at all. He proceeded to tell her the reason he had kicked Amber out of his house, the first time, shortly after Christmas- was she had pulled out a bag of meth from her pocket. He told Ria that Amber was out bragging the charges against her for ramming his truck were dropped. He said this is not true. They were some word I can't think of at the moment--maybe vacated? Yes, vacated, that's it. I am not sure what that means. Anyway, the dirt continues. He told Ria that he knew for a fact there was a case against her for a hit and run accident. Said she had been to Absolute Distraction ( her favorite bar--  I actually think the name is a great bar name!) and on her way home had hit some teenagers. Seems this event all ties into her taking her car and leaving it parked in a ditch and reporting her car stolen. This incident happened a few weeks ago. These were the main high points of his conversation with Ria. Now, Randy, also known as Grandy, and I think Robert is upset with Amber and this is his motive for all the dirt. Not that we think the dirt isn't true--just that Robert is not the best outstanding citizen around from what we gather soooooooooo

this event does not change anything. Just adds to the soap opera story.

Only other piece of info we have heard is Amber was seen at Absolute Distraction, one day this past week, at lunch time, wasted, with her head down on the bar. The sources were stopping there for lunch and did not stay when they saw Amber was there. This source is reliable. 

Amber has threatened Ria again with taking Chandler and moving to the valley May 1st. This is about the fifth of these threats. They always come when Amber is trying to extract money or having Ria pay a bill for her----same thing as when she was not going to let Chandler come to the valley----

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH--

Again, am just hoping Grandy does not encounter any problems while I am not there to give him support.

I am enjoying the silence in the air right now.  Below are some pictures of some of the not so silent times the past few days. I think, no, I know Chandler had a great time with his cousins and with us this past week. 

Chandler with Mary, mother of my dear friend, Janice's mom. Mary is in town from Wichita and we all met at Peter Piper Pizza. Janice has a birthday this coming week. Her grandchildren will be here from Ohio to celebrate with her. Janice's first grandchild was born on her birthday! Mary is their great grandmother and just listen to what the grandchildren call her-

G.G. Mary---I love it. G. G. stands for Great Grandmother.

Chandler got all sixty one candles on the cake, although by the time they got blown out  a few of them were getting rather short!

The best way to eat cake-dig right in!

I took Chandler by his great grandparents yesterday to swim. They have a diving board while we do not. It was rather sad to me -- not Chandler or the swimming but my parents. It was right before noon and my mom was in bed sleeping and my dad had just laid down on the couch for a nap. I asked dad if he wanted to go outside with me to watch Chandler swim. He said no, he was going to lay down to nap. This was a big surprise to me. I really expected him to want to be with us. I had actually taken Chandler there just to see them. Chandler and I slipped out the gate when we were finished as both Great Grandparents were still sleeping. 

My mom is wearing my dad out. We went out to eat with them earlier this week. It is really getting to the point my mom should not be going out to eat. When I took mother to the bathroom my dad actually told Randy he might have to put mother in a nursing home. I about fell over when Randy told me this. I was hoping to talk to him about this while Chandler swam but decided he needed his rest so as with most things, we will deal with it as is necessary. 

With that last statement I best go get some packing done. It is necessary! Smile.

In Love

If you are In Love with my tales of family drama--- stay tuned. There are acts waiting in the wings. However, I would suggest, if you have the following publication, spending your day perusing the pages. If you do not own it and you like anything to do with love, buy it. I purchased mine at Mystic Paper in downtown Mesa,Arizona but for those of you living elsewhere, I did recently see it at Michaels.

It is by far my favorite Somerset publication.

Oh Yes--This is my second post, within minutes of each other, this morning!!

Cast Your Burdens

Cast your burdens upon the Lord and he will sustain thee.

  Julius Schubring

At the end of a long, hard day, I collapsed on the floor by my bed and began to pray. I felt as if I was going to burst into a million pieces. My head was spinning and my mind was reeling. My soul was tired. As I was praying, the thought came to me. " What do you want, Rozanne?"

I paused and started to ramble about needing this and that. But it came again, " What do you want?"

I stopped and thought. What did I actually want? I realized in that moment that the only thing I really wanted was a breath. I wanted my mind to stop talking so fast and furiously. I wanted to relax. I wanted to look out my window at the lights and simply enjoy them. I wanted to feel encircled with peace and love.

As soon as I had the thought, my mind cleared and I looked at the ceiling. It was gone. The chatter was gone. My ears rang with the sound of quiet.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for an answered prayer.

Ro

The above is today's muse by Ro on the scrapgirls.com website. It was not a long one in text but a heavy one in content. As is often the case, it spoke to me. I have had quite a few peaceful and loving moments while in the valley. My hope is you will have many today.

Bits and Pieces

Chandler's Baseball Try Outs Last Saturday

I secretly love base ball--- but not for the sport!  Chandler is willing to have his hair cut really short so his hair does not interfere with his playing! 

The above is one of my packaging products this month.

The lollipops are chocolate cherry flavored. I cut out ears from felt and sewed to the bags to make them look like bunnies . I used felt on most of them but I ran out of brown felt so the close up below shows paper ears.

This is my other packaging product for April. On the door it says,Come in and smell the scents of the season. There are three candles inside the gable box, one scent for each month. The little yellow sticky is not part of the packaging. My sample, with my business name, was left in Pinetop so I have covered up the name of the client with a piece of yellow sticky. I can't remember if I posted the first one of these houses I created so I have posted below the winter house. The next one I make will be for July, August and September.

Green is my favorite color lately. 

Chandler is at the golf course with his Grandy. He had his first golf lesson today. We are encouraging sports for him. 

Tonight we have supper with my parents and then it will be home to see who is leaving American Idol this week. Last night my husband and I thought Adam stole the show for the guys and the 16 year old girl is amazing. I voted for both of them and then I just had to call in for Danny. I have quite the soft spot in my heart for him since his wife died just a week before the try outs.

I hope everyone is having a lovely week. It has been good to be in the valley away from Pinetop. I actually might be staying down a few extra days next week. We need to take two cars up so we have more flexibility up there. Since there is still much packing to be done down here I might be staying to get some of it accomplished. I am rather looking forward to some alone time. I know I can accomplish a lot without my boys here! Smile.