Life on the Wienee Ranch

A Wonderful Weekend of goodies arriving by mail!

2012-02-05T16:39:00.000-05:00

The past few months have not been great but I am blessed to have sweet friends in blogland that are kind enough to remember me in their prayers and send good thoughts and wishes my way. I have also been blessed with friendships and sweet swaping pals. Below are some pictures of goodies that
arrived this week and I waited till yesterday to open.

These are the sweet treats that Kim sent me. We had agreed to do a valentine swap and she always makes the cutest things. Thank you so much. I already ate all the white chocolate covered treats that she included. You package added a ray of sunshine to my day! Thank you for all the wonderful Valentine goodies.

The pictures below are from the package from Kendra of the Stone House primitives blog. She was my pal in Amy's from Bumble Bee Lane heart of winter swap. Oh my she spoiled me good. I love the heart shape pillow with 1982 on it. She found me a set of a dachshund cookie cutter and a dachshund cookie press too!! She included handmade heart shape dog cookies for the babies. YOu can tell Sarge was on the job of opening the package for the whole crew! Kendra, thank you so much for all of my goodies. Your emails the past few months have meant so much to me. I hope you know that getting goodies in the mail is fun but making a new friend is priceless!!1 I hope we will continue to stay in touch with each other.

Shirley from Zetta Apron's has become such a dear sweet friend. She worries about when we she does not see me around blogland. She brighten my
day by sending me this sweet Valentine shadow box and a vintage Valentine from her Aunt Jane's collection. Shirley, thank you so much for your kindness.

Life is not so great right now

2012-02-01T13:28:00.000-05:00

Hello,
I just wanted to post real quick and ask again for prayers.
I had a fall a almost two weeks ago and I am not doing so well at the moment. I spent most of last week on the flat of my back with heating pad
and ice packs. The pain is still there. I can not tell that the device is working. It was reprogamed a week ago Tuesday and they said to give it two weeks and to let them know. Well, I let them know yesterday that I wasn't
getting any relief. The dr called back and told me to try it one more week and then call and get an appointment. I am just so upset! I am disappointed and frustrated. I can't stand myself I am so miserable. Life is passing me by and I can't do anything about it. I am going to have to have xrays of my knee from where I fell! Please keep me in your prayers. I have received my swap goodies from Kendra for Amy's swap at Bumble Bee Lane but I have not opened it yet. I got Kendra's box mailed out Monday but want to wait to open mine till she receives hers. I have not mailed out my Valentine swap goodies to Amy yet but hopefully they will go out tomorrow or Friday. I emailed her to let her know that the package would be mailed out too. I am not going to go on and on about the shape of my life right now. Just wanted to drop in and let you know why I haven't been
online. Just feel to bad and the meds are making me sleep more and more.
Please keep me in your prayers.
I also got a beautiful valentine from Deb of Garage Sale girl. I will get your valentine in the mail soon too! Thank you so much for thinking of me!
Big hugs to all!!
Lynn

My first Rednesday of the Year

2012-01-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

Please visit Sue over at http://itsacherryworld.blogspot.com and join in Rednesday and show off all your red goodies!

Last summer as I was blog suffering I came across Old Glory Cottage blog. The name interested me because I am crazy about Americana and the Red,White,and Blue!! You can see previous posts for all of the pics in my patriotic craftroom! Any whoo back to Carol at the Old Glory Cottage! Her house is amazing as is all the goodies she collects. Well when I spend many days going back and reading all of her posts from when she started blogging. Ok, I just shared a secret so I guess it isn't a secret, when I find a blog and decide to become a follower, I go back and read all the archive posts! So, I am a blog geek!!! Now you know the rest of the story LOL! Carol's blog led me to Creative Breathing blog which led me to 521 Lake Street which led me to Its a Cherry World. I spent lots of hours reading all of the blogs plus the ones that were listed on their side bars. I loved the creative crafting of Elizabeth at Creative Breathing! She collects vintage children's valentines and displays them in the cutest way and stores them so nicely in red and yellow scrapbooks that she has filled with pages that have pockets in them. So cute and so organized. Well, I fell in love with those images of the vintage valentines and I started bidding on ebay for some. I have been lucky to win several auctions since the past summer. I have taken a few of my favorite ones and displayed them in these photo display thingies. I bought both of them at one of my favorite antique stores, Fanastic Finds in Newton, NC. If you are every in this area this is a must stop by store to visit!! They have 4 buildings of goodies to look at!!! We spend at least 1-2 hours every time we visit.

I am going to ask for some help. As you all know I share my life and my home with my four wonderful spoilt furbabies, Pebbles, Bella, Sarge, and Cocoa Puff. I also love dachshund collectibles. I am on the hunt for dachshund valentines. The one in the picture below is the only one I have so far. I did win an auction this past Saturday for a doxie valentine but it has not arrived yet, I will take a pic and post it! So ladies, if you see a doxie valentine please email me with the name and number of the store and maybe they will let me buy it over the phone and ship it to me. Big thanks and hugs for doing this!!! I never knew there were so many different designs of doxie valentines. There were two style so ebay auctions today but I was outbidded LOL I am on a budget and there is only so much I am willing to pay for 1 valentine depending on what it is. But, I will not buy it if it goes over 10.00 for 1 valentine! Not today, if I was still working and getting paid every two weeks it would be different, but I get paid monthly and it is less than one paycheck that I made working. But, I am thankful for that disability insurance!! It has been such a blessing and the smartest thing I ever did was to check that LTD insurance box when I was filling out my paper work when I started my job at Baptist Hopstial in Wiston Salem! Well, you guys have a wonderful day!
Hugs,

2012-01-10T08:28:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! It is a rainy, dreary morning here in Conover, North Carolina. I was looking in my cabinets for Valentines and I ran across
these. They were sent to my parents by each other during their short
time together. My real father was killed in an accident, he fell off
the back of a truck while it was moving. He was helping his brother move
and my Mother and my aunt were following in the car behind them. So, she
saw him fall off the truck. I can only imagine how hard that was on her.
I do not have a lot of my Father's things. My Mother remarried when I was 5
and my Dad's things were misplaced or given away over the years.I wish
she had kept everything for me, but you can't go back, so I cherish the
items I have so much. When my Mother was pregnant with me and people would
ask Daddy what he wanted a boy or a girl and he would answer a red-headed
baby girl! He got what he wanted. I say it was a gift from God because he
knew Daddy would only have me for 20 months before he was called home! Oh,
how I wish God would have let him stay a little longer so I could have a
real memory of him. All I have is a few of his things and stories from famiy and friends about him.

I am trying to get out of the gloom and doom slump that I am in and worked
on some Valentine's last night. I also put out some of my Valentine decor.
The pictures are below. That is all for now! Keep me in your prayers,
please! Talk to you soon!
Oh the furbabies say hello, they are a happy group this morning! They got
a bath last night and even though they are not so happy about the bath,
they feel so good after the bath they run all over the house while drying
off! It is so fun to watch. We laughed at Pebbles who is our oldest, she
will be 12 years old on the 30th of this month!! She is also just a little
chunky, she would take off running from the kitchen and jump on her pillow
in front of the fire place! Hubby built a fire so they could lay in front
of it after they got done with the bath! Pebbles would lay on the pillow
for a little bit and then run to the kitchen and run back and jump on the
pillow again!She did this like 5 or 6 times! It was soo funny.
Have a great day!!
Hugs,

Update on me and a Micheals Question

2012-01-08T21:21:00.000-05:00

Hello,
Nothing new to report from the drs appointments this past week. The appt. with the pain dr was canceled and moved to this week since I have not been able to use the stimulator. The appt with my surgeon, lets just say I should have stayed home. I saw the PA again and he said their was no decisions that he could make since the battery wasn't charging well. It picks up in one small spot only and it has to be pressed very hard against my body. I was finally able to get it charged to 3 bars today and that is holding it against my back for several hours!!!! Not a happy camper here!!! Also, the rep said it may not be picking up because of my FAT!!!!! Okay, I have not gained a pound since he met me in Oct!!! I was heavier that day than the day I had surgery. I actually lost 5 lbs between Oct-Dec because of my nerves!! I wonder why!!!! So, if that is the case and this thing isn't going to work!! I am considering a law suit!! Why put me through all the flippin pain and expenses if they thought I may have been too big??? Could it have to do with pay outs to the dr, the representive from the company??? Oh, I was livid and still get fired up when I think about what he said. My hubby asked me how I handled it and I said I started firing off facts like I had lost 5 pounds from the trial till surgery and if they thought I was too heavy why didn't they mention it before now, like before my back was cut open from the skin area to the spinal area so part of my spine could be cut away so the leads could be attached??? He said, how did he respond?? I said, he shut up and shut up fast!!! I am so upset, I can't stand myself. Pain level has not been tolerable today!!! I was up up until 2am back up at 7, back up at 9 and finally slept from 10:30 till 12:30 while sleeping with my hand holding the charger against my lower back. I told hubby I needed out of the house, could we please go by Micheals to pick up the lovely items I have seen on others blogs and to the Hickory Antique Mall? He said, sure anything to help you feel better after he teased me about burning my canned biscuits at 12:30am while watching the Smurf movie!!! I ripped into him and told him he was acting like his Mother letting me have it about the negatives in my life!!! Oh, that made him so mad!!!! O:(O:( not a happy life-we have a sign I got at my fav primitive store that went out of business 2 years ago, It says If Mama ain't HAPPY Ain't Nobody HAPPY

Micheals-My Micheals dollar spot is no longer a dollar spot!!!!!!!!!!!!
Those cute goodies I have saw on everyone blogs are 1.50 in Hickory, NC!! Did the price go up in your stores or is it just here in NC??? Please let me know. I ended up not getting anything. Everything that the email told me was on sale was not marked on the shelf so I left and we went to the antique mall. It is a huge store!! It used to be a Sky City department store back in the 50s-80s! I have pictures of my real father(he was killed in an accident when I was 20 months old) working in the store! Any whoo, I found some little tart molds, 12 for 12.99, a small syrup dispenser for 6.95, a cute baby piggy bank for 3.50, and three sizes of tin biscuit cutters for 5.00. They charge .75 for paying with a debit or credit card so I wrote a check!! What the heck is up with charging to pay with a debit card or credit card??? We went to Fanstatic Finds and I found another bigger set of molds, 6 for 7.99, two tin muffin pans for a child's kitchen for 7.49, a Happy Apple for 9.99, and a set of vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy for 5.95!!!! Yep 5.95!! I thought the ticket had 9.95 on it so I don't know if the girl made a mistake or maybe they were on sale!They take each ticket off for the sellers so I don't have anything put the receipt and it is just prices. I like the stores that write out what the item is and how much it was. I hope to take pictures of my goodies soon. I need to upload more pictures to the computer so I can post all the amazing items I got in December from swaps, trades, and goodies I bought!

On other news. Those that follow my blog know that we have two homes about 5 minutes apart. My husband inherited the house when his oldest brother died unexpectly in 2004!! It was the worst day of our lives so far. My hubby and his brother, Corky, were extremely close!! They did remolding work every weekend for years. My bil had never married and the will couldn't be found(another story for another time) so my MIL inherited everything. My bil owned 4 homes and 3 trailors. He rented the 3 houses and the 3 trailors, when they became vacant he would redo the entire house for the new tentants! He was an awesome man!!! He was a simple man who liked simple things. He also loved to go antiquing with us!!I miss him so much but I can't live in his house!!!! Am I crazy?? It is a ranch style home. It was built in the 60s. So now that my daughter has moved out of it we are going to redo it to and furnish it and decorate it in a 60s decor!!
So girls, I need your help!! Please feel free to send me ideals, pictures, anything that you know about the 60s style of decorating and what dishes I have to choose from, what colors were popular, are there books that you know about that I can get ideals from. My hubby thinks the house was built in the mid-60s right around the time we were born!! Me in 65 and him in 64!! It has three bedrooms, one bath with the original cast iron tub still in the home, wood floors in all the bedrooms and the formal living room. The kitchen and dining room are a lot bigger than at my house!!! I love to cook and have family gatherings there!! My bil enclosed the original carports and made that a huge den. My hubby installed a laundry room for my daughter in that part of the house and we need to finish that and I can't wait to decorate it with vintage wash boards and miniature clothes like I have seen on lots of blogs!! Then there is a two car garage! Also, there is four outbuildings on the property! One part of one building houses the pool table that was given to my hubby years ago but we didn't have room for it so my bil built a building for it!!Gosh, I miss him!!! He was such a keeper and he was hurt very badly by a girl when he was young!They were engaged and she broke it off for another guy! He never got over it!! He never dated that we know about, but he was a long haul truck driver for 29 years so we always imagined that there were girlfriends somewhere!! Oh, I tried to fix him up and it would last for a month or so and that was that!! But, lordy he could dance!! He loved oldies music and could shag like nobody's business!!! We would clear the furniture and him and my friend Judy would shag the night away!!! Oh, I miss him, did I mention that!!!!He drank Canadain Mist and sundrop so we keep Canadian mist in the freezer and the sundrop in the fridge in the kitchen there!! We keep it there!!!!We used to stay at that house on the weekends. We fixed it up and refurnished it in 2006. I had some online friends coming for a visit. That year, we hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas for hubby's family there and we would stay there on the weekends and when hubby was off work.
The back bedroom is pretty much the way my bil left it! I have always called it the Saloon bedroom. He loved westren movies. That bedroom has the red and gold velvet wallpaper like you see on Gunsmoke in some of the scenes. He had a big full size brass bed, a vintage dresser, a mini organ, and a bedside table. He had black and white prints of John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Audry, hanging in there. My daughter's cats have scratched the wallpaper in several places but hubby says there is another roll or so there so he can fix it. There is a white iron bed in there now. We had to replace the dresser he had with a newer one than the one that was in there, it is still vintage just not that vintage!! So, we are going to keep that the cowboy room. I saw some cute cowboy things today but I will get them later. One bedroom I want to do as a child's bedroom and fill it with vintage toys. So, I am on the hunt for a vintage doll house, doll furniture for baby dolls, and I am going to get vintage boy toys too. I have a vintage hobby horse that my fil bought for my son. I just have to have hubby put it back together.
Ok, I have rambled enough!!! Please, please send me your ideals, pictures, color suggestions, any books you know of!! Just help!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, if anyone is looking for the blue pryex bowls, the orange and yellow pyrex dishes. Hickory Antique Mall has a vendor that has shelf after shelf of them and the prices were pretty good too. 27.45 for the three blue pyrex bowls, and the orange and yellow pieces were all between 10-30 each. I did see three square pyrex bowls in red, yellow, and blue for 70.00 firm. Don't know if that is a good deal or not. I am on the hunt for a grease bowl by pyrex or fireking. I would even like the metal or tin one.
Thanks girls and please keep me in your prayers. I have drs appts on Thursday and Friday this week!! If this stimulator thing doesn't start working soon I do not know how I am going to make it!!!
Hugs,

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-02T20:39:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve and Day! At my house, hubby and I both had the dreaded crud, so we spend the weekend lying around the house! We both felt so bad that nothing much happened. I did manage to keep the dishes washed and the laundry done but that would zap all of my energy for the day! The sad fact is that we both feel horrible. Hubby has to return to work tomorrow and I feel bad for him! I have two drs appt this week. One with the pain dr and one with the surgeon. I hope to get some good news on the device and hope they can give me some good news about the pain in the upper incision. The lower incision swelling goes down for a day or so and then comes back so we will just have to wait and see what it does on Wed. Please keep me in your prayers. I will be back to post pics of all the goodies I got from wonderful blog friends during December.
Hope all is well with you guys!
Hugs,
Lynn

Christmas pics part 2

2011-12-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

My sweet little home all decorated for the Christmas season! I just love my
small little home!! We could move into our bigger home that we inherited
in 2004 when my brother -in-law passed away. But, I love this little house
so much! We have spent 29 years fixing it up and it does not even resemble
the way it looked 29 years ago!!There is still things that I/we want to do
to do to our home and we will get it all done eventually!
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We did! It was a very
different Christmas this year. Just my hubby, the furkids, and me! No kid
and no Mom this year. They decided they wanted to do something different
this year and that is ok! It was hard but we had a good day anyways. I still did all my baking and making treats and I decorated my home. Hubby and I did not exchange presents as we buy what we want all year long! Santa
Paws spoilt the furbabies as usual and they were thrilled with their treats,bones, and toys!!

Well, I tried posting this twice and blogger lost it twice so I hope it
works this time! I will be back tomorrow to post swap goodies and blog
wins that I received this month!

I am hoping to get my stove board, sink board, and bath board made today!
Got to print the pictures out so hubby can see what I am wanting and
then create it for me! I also am going to try to make some salt dough
ornies! I will let you know how they turned out!

These pictures were taken in the Master bedroom! I just love snowmen!! I will keep my snowmen out until it is time to decorate for Easter!

These were taken in my kitchen! I found the Happy Holidays from Sunbeam
at a new little antique store in early Dec! Is it not too cute?

I just love my tiny bathroom!! I so did not love it when we moved in
our home 29 years ago this week!! The bathroom was trimmed in hot pink paint and the wallpaper was yellow with hot pink cosmetics all over it!!
Can I say ugly! I want to put bead board up on the upper part of the walls
where we have wallpaper now and paint it all white and then decorate it
with more primitive accessories and a few outhouse theme items. I want a
primitive style shower curtain put do not want to pay 50.00 for it! If
someone knows where to find one for a more reasonable price let me know!

Merry Christmas!! (finally got pictures posted)

2011-12-25T00:23:00.001-05:00

grab a cup of cocoa or coffee! Lots of pics!
These are of our family room where we hang out most of the time.
Merry Christmas!

Santa mug and tree was a get well soon gift from Shirley at Zetta's Apron!
thank you Shirley!

sitting room mantle

guest bedroom

Feeling better

2011-12-24T01:26:00.000-05:00

First I want to say a huge thank you for all the sweet comments, words of encouragement, and prayers that have been left for me the past few days! It has meant so much to me! I really feel the prayers working and the hematoma seems to be shrinking! I hope so and I hope that it will continue to go away. Like I said before I prayed and I am claiming and believing that this hematoma is going to heal before my appt on 1/4/2012!
Thank you ladies again, your friendships have been such a blessing this year and your sweet gifts have filled my heart and home with the joy of the Christmas season!! The gifts I have received have all been wonderful and special, items picked out for me because I love those items or made for my home because I admired items that you girls have made!! Amazing that ladies that I have never met know my taste in decorations and items that I love and collect more than close family and friends! Thank each of you for making this year very special for me! I ask that you please continue to pray for me and our family. We are having some rough times but I don't like to talk about that stuff, hey I whine enough about my health issues don't need to whine about the other stuff too!! Please just ask God to take care of it He already knows what it is! Merry Christmas!

Had a wonderful Friday! Hubby and I drove up to the Blowing Rock/Boone area of the North Carolina mountains to get our Christmas tree when he got home from work around lunch time on Friday! We got to the tree farm that we have been going to for the last 3 years. I called the number on the sign and the gentleman answered the phone. I told him we were there to cut down our Christmas tree. I said, it is the lady with the back surgeries and he said oh yes, I remember you but I am in Florida!!! I said oh ok, we will have to go somewhere else! He said wait a minute is your hubby with you, I said of course. He said there is a chain saw in the orange truck, just go cut down your tree and leave the money (20.00) in the truck when you leave!! He has this truck thing without a body on it to go up and down the side of the mountain on his property to get the trees. Hubby has always wanted to drive it! Well this year he got too! He took off up the side of the mountain on this primitive truck thingie, found the perfect tree, cut it down with the chain saw and loaded it on the primitive truck thingie, came back down the side of the mountain, loaded the tree in our truck, put the chain saw and money in the truck, ( we gave a little extra for the fun of driving the primitive truck thingie), put the primitive truck thingie back in the barn, and down the mountain we headed! We did stop in historic Vilas Cruz to visit the original Mast General Store! I was so disappointed, I found a cute dachshund dog toy, some wonderful primitive style Christmas ornaments but when we looked on the tag it read MADE IN CHINA so I put them back on the shelf! We are trying very hard not to buy Made in China but it is so hard! It is so hard to fing things made in our country. We bought two sodas in glass bottles which taste so much better than soda in the plastic bottles! I wish we would go back to glass bottles. I remember taking the soda bottles back to the stores when I was little to get the deposit money back!!Why couldn't we do that today?? We bought a jar of local honey, a fresh baked fried apple pie to share as a snack, and that was it! I just was so upset that they were selling the stuff made in China. They do have replicas of the vintage Fisher -Price toys for 10.99-19.99, but again made in China!!! I am going to try very hard to get my pictures uploaded and posted later today!
Merry Christmas!

I am a mess now

2011-12-22T17:34:00.000-05:00

Hi. I have a huge hematoma under the bottom inicision! That is what the knot is. The dr is hoping my body will just absorb the pool of blood that is there. Worse case is that it comes out the opening from the staples and causes a huge open wound! They don't want that to happen!! I am praying and believing that God will help my body to absorb that blood before my appt on the 4th of Jan. If not, they will have to do surgery so my battery will charge. She the charger is on the outside of my body and it is a magnet that finds the battery and then charges it. It can't find the battery thorough the blood and swollen skin. If it can't charge it is useful to me so they will have to move it so it can be charged. It is more than I can take right now! I am just a mess. They took the staples out and my upper incision is giving me a fit. I can't understand how this happened. As after surgery it was all black and blue and that has healed. I have not hit it or anything like it. but, I am trusting the dr,if it doesn't look better by Tuesday they said to call the office. I have a ton of stuff to do but at this point just don't give a hoot about it right now. We always go to the moutains and get our big tree. We decorate it on Christmas eve but I am not sure I want to that this year. We will decide tomorrow. Please keep me in your prayers.
Lynn

URGENT: PRAYERS NEEDED ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-12-21T20:50:00.000-05:00

Please take a moment and lift me up in prayers. I have just gotten off the phone with one of the physican's assitants at my surgeon's office! My hubby was checking to see if my charger for the battery in my back would find the battery and begin to charge. It hasn't happened yet and the remote is showing that the battery is going down. Anyways, he said, Honey, your incision doesn't look good today, it didn't look like this yesterday. Girls, it is so swollen that you can tell it from the back of my pjs!! That is how far it is sticking out!!! It pushes my pj top out!!!! OK, I am scared! I called the dr on call and he told me to call the office in the morning to be seen. It is not painful, just really swollen but it is not draining!! I am so afraid that my body is rejecting the battery implant, you know that can happen! I know I am thinking the worse and it is just an infection. I am not running a fever and like I said, nothing is draining, Hubby says that it looks red around a few of the staples but that it is just really swollen and doesn't look good to him!!! So, I am going to call in the morning. Pray that it will be ok and I will be ok! I am just so tired of all of this you know!!! I just want to be well and normal again!! I am so tired of whiney about being in pain!!! I want me back! I want do to the things I used to, I want to be a good wife again!!! There is so much I can't do anymore and it isn't fair to my hubby at all, he did not ask for this life and me the way that I am now! He is soo good to me and spoils me all the time! I do not know what I would do without him. It has not always been a bed of roses and we have had our share of fights and troubles but we decided a long time ago ,29 years ago, that we were in this together! We got married young, I had just turned 17 and he had just turned 18!! We were parents a short 7 months later after we got married in Oct of 82. Our parents said we would not make it! But make it we did. My marriage has lasted longer than all 3 of my Mother's and my fil passed away a few days shy of their 39 wedding anniversary! So, we are good! We took our vows seriously, for better or worse, in sickness and in health! And boy, have I been sick!!! If you can live without it-I don't have it LOL except tonsils LOL \ok nervous rambling here! The more nervous I am the more I talk! Pray ladies pray! I will update when I know something tomorrow. I was suppose to get the staples out on Friday!
Hugs

Are you ready?? I am so Not Ready!!!

2011-12-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

Hello and Happy December 20th!!! 5 More Days to Christmas and Santa Paws comes to visit!! I tell the furbabies everyday only _ days till Santa Paws comes to visit!!! They know who Santa Paws is LOL He comes to see them each year for their own special holiday photo shoot. He always leaves them lots of presents and treats on Christmas day!!
I am slowly but surely getting there. I got all of my private swaps done and sent out in the last week and yesterday! I have been so blessed this year with wonderful new friends in blogland and they have filled my home with the Christmas spirit!! I need to take pictures of my decorated home and get those posted. I read Vivian's post Saturday from Viv out on a whim and boy did I feel like a slug!! I read it Sunday and the post encouraged me to attempt some baking and treating making! So, I made two batches of chocolate nut fudge and one batch of peanut butter cookies! Hubby had to go fill up the propane gas tanks and when he got home he asked what had gotten into me?? LOL He was happy with the cookies and fudge he was begining to wonder if he was going to have any treats this year!! I just finished 3 more patches of peanut butter cookies and I have plans to make batches of rice krispie treats and peanut butter fudge later this afternoon. Then I am making sugar cookies tomorrow and while I have the cutters out, I make may some salt dough ornies!!!! I have been meaning to make them all month!!! I have been reading blogs and gasping over the beautiful decorations in everyones home! My favorite prim tree can be found at Carmen and the Primcats blog. Oh my goodness, her decorating style is amazing. The most amazing finds she gets at her local goodwill. I have asked her if I send her money each month for shopping and shipping will she shop for me too? She finds crocks and jugs at her goodwill can you image?? Oh my!! I joined 3 Christmas craft swaps this year. Cindy's at Rick Rack and Gingham home ornament swap!! Oh my, was that fun and the wonderful ornaments I got. I joined a Christmas tag swap with Elizabeth at Creative Breathing and made 22 Christmas tags to swap! I got my tags on SAturday!! Oh my, little works of art each one of them!! I joined Susan at its a Cherry World for a one on one tag swap and my pal was Mary Jane Hutchins!Oh my, she made me an adoreable dachshund tag!!! I hung it on my pet theme tree that stays up year round in the sitting room. I had two Christmas swaps and boy did I get spoiled! I do not know the name of my Secret Santa but she spoilt me good. I got Vintage Christmas cards, two Christmas dish towels, a primitive birdhouse, a patriotic Snowman ornament,a cute Christmas baking set, some chocolate kisses, and an adoreable dachshund sign. My stocking pal was Wendy and she sent me a bunch of vintage collections such as Valentine's, old pictures, vintage ornaments, and owls. I have taken pictures and hope to get them posted soon.
Keep me in your prayers. I can't tell the device is doing much good so far. But, I still have a lot of pain from the surgery so I am hoping that the new year will bring relief and the device will work!!
I plan to be back before the big day to show you how my house looks for the holidays. I am so happy with my decorations this year! I was inspired to decorate my kitchen more this year and hubby loves the new look!!
Have a wonderful day!!!
Hugs,
Lynn

Home from the hospital

2011-12-09T11:31:00.002-05:00

I returned home from the hospital last night around 7pm. The surgery went well except for the fact that I am fat so the dr had a slight problem during the surgery.
Well, I was fat when I went for my pre op appotintment. Well anyways, the surgery went longer than expected. I went into surgery a little after four on Wednesday. I woke up in the recovery room at 8:20 pm. I knew something had went wrong because they told me I would be in recovery around 6:30 or so. I woke up in a lot of pain, the recovery room nurse did not give me enough pain meds so when I went up to my room I was in a lot of pain . My RN for the night stayed at the bedside most of the night. My blood pressure was 160-170s over 112-120 and it finally went down around 3am Thursday morning when we got the pain under control!!! She gave me everything possible and called the dr several times to get more pain meds ordered. She said it was because I only got 2 doses of pain meds in the recovery area!!!

The representative from the nerve stimulator company came to my room yesterday morning to program my remote. We didn't get a good program because of my pain and the
Way I was positioned in the bed. We will get better programs when I go for my post op check up.
Please just say lots of prayers for me today that the pain in my upper back around the surgicial site will go away and go away fast. I am fine if I am still but if I move around or do something that uses back muscles I get tears in my eyes. That is how bad this pain is. If I didn't have to move, I would be good.
I have one more swap package to finish and that will be done tomorrow and mailed out. Then to the ladies that are doing private swaps with me, I will finish up those goodies over the weekend and mail out on Monday. My sweet neighbor came down this morning and stayed with me for a few hours. She straightened up my house, helped me pack a swap box, changed my dressings, helped me to wash off and put clean pjs on. She also made me a cup of coffee full of baileys french vanilla creamer. I had a visitor this morning, a sweet friend that I met while hanging out with my niece and her family, stopped by to say hello and to check on me. I have almost all of my decorating done, we put up our main tree on Christmas Eve. I have received some awesome swap goodies. The house ornament swap that Cindy from Rick Rack and Gingham hosted was amazing. The little houses are pieces of art! I got my tag swap that Susan at its a Cherry World is hosting, Mary Jane was my partner and oh the lovies that she sent me. She made me a Christmas doxie tag!!! I love it so much, I will post pictures later. I have won two blog giveaways that I had posted on my side bar so all that hard work worked out amazing!!! I won two Ginger Bread theme giveaways!! I will take pictures of my goodies to share with you. I still need to take pictures of my Christmas decorations and get those posted but will do that soon.
Please just keep me in your prayers and thank you all for your prayers. I can certainly feel them!
Big hugs,

Cute giveaway

2011-11-18T15:52:00.002-05:00

Please visit the A Hole in the Basket primitive blog herehttp://aholeinthebasketprimitives.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-birthday-giveaway.html

She just celebrated her birthday and is giving us a chance to win a sweet snowman and a clothes pin basket.
Hurry on over!!

Amazing giveaway

2011-11-18T15:29:00.002-05:00

Hello
Here is another great giveaway to sign up for!! Amy at the Bumble Bee Lane blog is offering up a wonderful surprise gift for a giveaway. Amy has the sweetest blog and her home is prim perfect. She has an amazing talent to arrange all of her primitive goods. Amy was the first in blogland to let me sign up for a swap! She was my first partner and she spoilt me rotten with the wonderful fall goodies she sent me. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. Her father is battling cancer and her being the sweet person she is, is doing whatever she can to make his journey during this time easier on him.
Hugs,
Lynn

another give away

2011-11-18T15:15:00.002-05:00

Brenda at the Rusty Thimble is givingaway one of her little elf dolls. Please visit her here http://therustythimble.blogspot.com/2011/11/win-elf-for-november-sign-up-today.html and sign up for the giveaway. Please take the time to look at the amazing ornaments and other handmade items to decorate your home with or to give as gifts this Christmas season. My hubbie and I have decided on a handmade or bought handmade goodies for Christmas this year. I am so tired of helping China to get richer by buying their cheaply made and shottie workmanship goods. It is time we stand up for the good ole Americana workers. Please shop wisely this year and send a message to the big chain stores that we want products made in the USA!! If we all stand together and do this as a group of consumers we can make a difference in our country!!But we have to be careful just because we are buying homemade or handmade items are the supplies they are using made in America?? The craftsman has to do their part too and buy supplies that are made in the USA!! Also google items made in your state. You can make up gift baskets of items that are made in your state and give them as Christmas gifts. We have a wonderful candy company in North Carolina that makes the most wonderful melt away peppermint candy. I buy it by the little bucket full at my local Walgreens for less than 4.00 a container. The last Christmas I worked at Baptist hospital. I bought several buckets of peppermints. I put them in little baggies.Then I hand stamped a piece of peppermint candy. Cut them out and colored the image with markers. I assembled a bag topper out of red cardstock and white cardstock. I stamped the words Merry Christmas on the white cardstock and glues the piece of peppermint candy cut out onto the cardstock. Then I placed the bag topper onto the ziplock bag. Instead of handing out Christmas cards to co-workers I handed the bag of peppermints out. Everyone was thrilled with them. Just a little tip for a sweet little treat to give coworkers or anyone that you need to give a little something to.
hugs,
Lynn

Amazing giveaway

2011-11-18T15:01:00.003-05:00

Ha ha, I told you I would be back!!! I found this adoreable blog while I was hopping along the blogging trial. The name of the blog is Sweet Bear Creek Whims! She makes the most adoreable dolls and snowpeople, gingerboys and gingergirls. She is going to start making patterns to sell in 2012. Please stop over and enter to win the cute gingerbread girl and wish her luck on her new adventure. You can find her blog here!
http://sweetbearcreekwhims.blogspot.com/

Wonderful Christmas giveaway!

2011-11-18T14:45:00.005-05:00

Please visit of the Old Cupboard Door and leave a comment to win this adorable snowman! He is made with magical snowflakes don'tcha know:O)
Have a wonderful weekend.
Now go on over and visit a while!!
http://www.theoldcupboarddoorblog.com/2011/11/november-giveaway.html#comment-form

Wonderful Christmas giveaway!

2011-11-18T14:40:00.003-05:00

Hello,
Oh my, as I am blog hopping today I keep finding the most amazing bloggers that are offering the most amazing and cutest giveaways for the Christmas season. This sweet blogger is offering these cute little snowmen for her giveaway. Please visit the Barn Hollow here to enter this giveaway
http://thebarnhollow.blogspot.com/2011/11/november-giveaway.html

I am sure I will be back to post some more giveaways.
Hugs,
Lynn

another give away

2011-11-18T14:11:00.003-05:00

Please go to Rose Petals and Rust blog here http://stefanie-rosepetalsandrust.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-birthday-and-giveaway.html
and enter her give away for a beautiful handmade advent calandar. Also included in the calander are sweet little trinkets and surprises for each day of the Christmas holiday!!
Visit soon!

Wonderful Christmas giveaway!

2011-11-18T13:44:00.002-05:00

Please check out this sweet blog herehttp://friendshipcrossing.blogspot.com/
She is hosting a giveaway with 3 different prize packages and you choose which package you would love to win. I opted for Group A which is a gingerbread theme package. I am so inspired by the blogs I visit and the pictures of their Kitchen decorated in every space available for Christmas so I am trying to do that in my kitchen. So far I have cleaned off one set of shelves that my hubby built for me a few years ago. I put my set of snowman dishes on it. I have lost one dinner plate and one coffee cup but it is ok. I put my cute little snowman bucket that I bought at
the gift shop at the Wake Forest Unverisity Baptist Medical Center when I worked there. I would always volunteer to work either Christmas Day or Christmas Eve for a coworker that had small children at home! I could not stand the thought of them having to wake their kids up super early on Christmas morning or Christmas Eve to have their Christmas before they came to work. By working Christmas Eves I was able to take advantage of the 75% off of the Christmas items in the gift shop and the gift shop was all Christmas from Thanksgiving on and they had the neatest and cutest stuff and they also allowed us to charge up to 300.00 worth and they would take payments out of our payroll checks! I would save my charge account and use it at this time. I have really gotten some super cute goodies over the years and now that I am not working miss the gift shop greatly. They always carried the sweetest things. They carried a complete line of college collectibles to so I could always add pieces to my son's and future son-in-laws UNC and Wake Forest collections.
Back to the Christmas decorating in the kitchen. I put a cute snowman cookie jar, three sets of vintage Christmas salt and pepper shakers, cute collection of snowman tins, snowman mugs, and the sweet little gingerbread house that lites up and a cute Santa shaker that Shirley from Zetta's Apron made for me. I still need to decorate another set of shelves and the shelf that runs above the two windows above my sink. I put out my set of red enamel tins that I bought from www.factorydirectcrafts.com
This online store has the cutest decorative items as well as crafting supplies at great prices. Please check them out. The always have an advertisement in the Country Sampler magazines.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs,

" Wonderful Sunday at the Wienee Ranch"

2011-11-13T19:48:00.004-05:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Sunday! We had a good one at the ranch today. My sweet hubby built me a new shelving unit for my bathroom. We used to have a window in our bathroom before he build onto our home in 2005. So, I have been bugging him to turn that space into a shelves for me to decorate in my bathroom. I saw a picture in a Country Sampler magazine of how I wanted it to look. So, he used a set of vintage kitchen cabinet doors for the back of the shelves. Then he used pieces of rescued barn wood for the shelves!! When he was finished I squealed with delight when I saw it!! The first thing I did was to get out the bottle of Murphy's wood soap and a pan of water. I cleaned the back and the shelves real good. Then the fun part!! Decorating!! I have been collecting things all spring and summer to go on those shelves. I had a set of decorative boxes that had various cute phrases on them. A set of three tin canisters with vintage advertiseing images on them. I have been collecting old bottles for years. My favorites are the sweet little bottle with a giraffe embossed on one side. It is a bottle for a sore throat medicine! How sweet! I also have two different sizes of vintage Listerine bottles. They have Listerine embossed around the top of the bottle and the company name at the bottom of the bottle. I also had an old vintage first aide kit, some old medicine tins and containers. I wish our products were packaged like that today!! Wouldn't that be fun. I am on the search for old soap boxes, more medicine bottles, tins, or containers, and any thing that may have been found in a bathroom back in the old days lol. I am also looking for outhouse accessories for the space too. I really want the shower curtain that has the outhouses on it but can't find it at an reasonable price or if anyone knows where I can get a primitive style shower curtain for less than 50.00 would you please let me know.

I was so touched by the comments left on my post this past Friday!! Thank you girls soo much for those sweet comments and your prayers. Several of you have stated how brave I am, trust me I am not brave at all. I am just to that point in this journey of life that I am tired of being in Pain, tired of not being able to be me anymore!! There is so much that I can not do anymore and it has it effects on me greatly. I struggle with issues of low self esteem, feeling like I do not belong anywhere, that I am not as good as a person any more. I feel bad that my hubby has to go to work every day and I am unable to go. I do what I can around the house. I try to keep my home clean and a welcoming place to come home to. Every task leaves me in more pain than before I started. I am limited to what I can't do. That grabber device is a blessing. It allows me to pick objects off the floor and to reach things on top shelves without having to climb on a stool. But, ladies, please don't call me brave because I am far from it. Most days I am in tears at some point, but I try to keep going and keep doing things and I try to not have to lay down and nap but some days I have no choice. But, I am so thankful for those that have responded to me in a positive way. I am so thankful for your kindness and your concern and most of all your prayers.
I hope you have a wonderful week.
I did put up my little vintage tag tree in my bedroom and put up some of my snowmen collection around in my bedroom. I love the little tags that I have collected for years now. It is such a simple tree but I think it is lovely! I love those old vintage Santa's and angels.
Hugs,
Lynn

close up of some of the tag ornaments on my vintage tag tree in my bedroom

Mt vintage tag tree in my bedroom. It is decorated with tags made with vintage images of Santas, children, Vintage Christmas postcards, and some paper angel and Santa ornaments that were bought at the Dollar Tree in the early 90s

Vintage paper tag tree in my bedroom

My new shelves in the bathroom! My hubby built this today. The back is made using doors off of a set of vintage kitchen cabinets!! Do you not just love that sweet vintage green paint! The shelves are made out of old barn wood!! It has knot holes in the board!! I love it!! I showed him a picture in a Country Sampler magazine and this is what he built for me!! I am so lucky to have him for my hubby! He shares my love of old vintage items!! He loves to spend a day with me junkin as we call it! Stopping at our favorite antique stores or primitive country shops, out looking at old houses and farms. We love to hunt items at antique stores and junk stores. We also love it when we find something at the antique store that we have that item in our collection and laughing at how much they are selling their item for. I am such a lucky girl!! We have been together since 1980!

" surgery is December 7, 2011

2011-11-12T11:48:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone.
Thanks so much for the many prayers for me and my family.
I spend Friday morning in my surgeon's office. He gave me a good examination and then we discussed the 5 back surgeries. The new Doctor is in the same practice as my back Doctor and this Doctor assited with my third back surgery in June of 2009 when they cut the outer lining of my spinal cord and had to have another doctor to come in and help. So, the procedure is a hour or so long and they make two small incisions. He has to cut away some bone on my spine to be able to place the sensors on my spine. Then a battery is implanted in my lower hip area and that is under the skin deep enough that you can't see it but I can feel it if I was to press on that area. I will have to stay in the hospital over night and then the representive from the company that makes the device will come in the next day before I go home and show me how to program it and how to recharge the batteries and I have to have the battery unit replaced every 5 years. I am praying that this will help to ease the pain so I can get off of the pain medication! Right now, I am on 30mg of time released morphine every 12 hours and I have 10mg perocets that I can take in between for break thorough pain. This additional amount of morphine has had me sleeping more and more. But, that is to be expected. I am just so tired of hurting and tired of complaining about hurting. I want to be able to get up and do all the things that I have planned in my mind to do. Well, most days my body will not let me. I have become a flexible person LOL I now keep stamped images or printed out images from the computer in a large ziplock bag. When I am stuck in the bed because of pain either laying on a heating pad or ice pack. I cut out those images and if the are stamped images. I color them in and then cut them out. I have all kinds of thing ready to use when I feel like crafting and sitting up for an extended period of time. It has gotten to the point that if I lay down for a while or sit in a chair for a while, then when I go to get up, I am stiff and it hurts to move. So, please join in my prayer that this will take away all the pain that I am feeling and that I will be able to get my life back.

We spent the evening with my neice and her family. My great nephew will be 3 in December. We went over and they grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. Then one of their friends came over with her 3 year old. The Mom had bought some play dough cookie dough. It looked just like the color play dough we all played with when we were younger. My neice did not have any cookie cutters I told her she should have called me but hey that is an ideal for a Christmas present. Well, we made cookies as best we could making shapes out of the dough. The little kids gave up and were happy to eat the dough from the containers LOL we put a stop to that. We made suns, flowers, faces, and so on. I even made a red strawberry with green seeds and green leaves at the top. Well we all sat in the floor to do this. Hubby had to get the fork lift to get me up out of the floor. Not really, but you get the point.

Well, I need to get off of this computer and finish my Christmas ornaments for a swap and finish packing up some swap goodies for a pal or to.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
Hugs,
Lynn

Rednesday at the Wienee Ranch

2011-11-09T11:47:00.003-05:00

Hope everyone is doing well on this lovely November Wednesday!! I am getting the itch to decorate for Christmas but I am trying to hold off. But I have decided to decorate my bedroom. I brought the little table top tree upstairs from the basement and had to take a pain pill and rest a bit. I am getting so tired of being in PAIN!!!!It is really getting on my nerves!! So, please say a prayer for me. I am not expecting to be pain free completely but a day every now and then without that constant burning stabbing pain in my lower back and right leg would be heaven. I try to keep going and keep doing things but it wears on me!!!! I hate to ask for help for anything and my husband bless his heart gets tired of hearing me complain about feeling bad. I guess he is just tired of hearing tales of not feeling well, when he visits his Mother that is all she talks about, her ailments and the ailments of her friends and then he comes on to me!!! And I am always in pain so I really try not to complain to him. Last Friday was so bad that when he came home from work I was in tears it was soo bad!! He said did you take your pain pills and I said of course they just aren't helping. My dr is increasing the strength again!!! I have two choices to be in pain or to take the meds and sleep the days away!!! So, I am miserable!! So sorry to whine, I know that I am blessed, I have a home, I have a good husband, I am surrounded by loving furbabies and good friends, I can walk, I can see, we have money to pay our bills and a little extra to get the things that we want but don't really need.

Please stop by the blog http://creativebreathing.blogspot.com and congratulate her on having over 1000 followers. If you have never visited her blog plan to spend some time there and check out her files for each holiday listed on her sidebar. She creates the cutest little characters for each holiday. She makes the most amazing tags, banners, blocks, peg dolls, and snowmen that you have ever seen.

Please stop by http://it'sacherryworld.blogspot.com and see all the other cool reds out there in blog land.

I am thinking about hosting a Valentine swap like Elizabeth at Creative Breathing did last year. I know it is a 4 months away but I would love to host a swap and I love vintage style valentines and I wanted to know if anyone would be interested in
Swapping Valentines with me. I make a valentine for you and you make a Valentine for me. We can list on our sidebars how many Valentines we are willing to make and send and then if people want to swap with us they leave a comment or email us and we swap Valentines. We could even make a cute little mail box to put our Valentines in and then open them on Valentine's Day just like when we were little girls.
Let me know what you think.
Oh and if you love Christmas you must visit Debbie Dabble Holiday Blog. I am telling you this lady loves Christmas. She has 14 Christmas trees and her upstairs is already decorated for Christmas. She is into the Victorian Style of Decorating. I love to look at that style of decorating but it just doesn't fit with my home. Believe me, we tried it. Both my husband and I love antiques and love all the details that the Victorian style has. The wonderful gingerbread molding, the dental molding, the big rooms with lovely rugs, the fancy wallpaper, all of it but our house is more of a country cottage than a Victorian home. But, oh we dream, lol
Thanks for dropping by.
oh one more thing, I am going to have some scrap packs for sale in a few days. I am cleaning out my craft room and getting rid of stuff that I don't like anymore or is not really my style now. I have a bunch of Webster's pages and Graphic 45 products to
but together in kits. Let me know if you would be interested and I will photograph and send you pictures.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and a great weekend ahead!
Hugs,
Lynn

These are 3 boxes of ornaments containing 150 Christmas ornaments!!! I paid 8.00 for it!!! Was that a deal or what?? I do not decorate with purple,clear, or pearl looking ornaments but I will gift them to someone or sell them on ebay. I may see if there is a craft I can do to spruce them up. So any hints or how tos will be appreciated.

Santa's that I picked up at a yard Sales on Saturday. The big fat round one is a paint guord. Any tips on how to fix his hair and beard? It is all messed up and raggedy looking. Help please LOL

"Red-nes-day at the wienee ranch"

2011-11-02T09:20:00.005-04:00

Today is my very first time linking up to "Red-nes-day" at http://suelovescherries.blogspot.com/

Sue is also hosting a Christmas tag swap. In this swap, you just may one tag and send it to your partner. You can also send a few little Christmas goodies if you want to, put it is not required. I hope you will go over and give it a look and join us for some fun.

Okay for my red pictures. I finally found the red and white kitchen canister that I have seen in many of your homes. I only was able to get three from the set but I am on the search for the other pieces to add to it. I also have an extra lid because the lid that was in the set does not fit on the tea canister. I was in a hurry when we stopped at the sale and I just picked it up and didn't look in it to see how many pieces they were. Oh, well, I only paid 8.00 for it so I am not too upset.

The next pictures are of my dachshund/pet tree. The ornaments are mainly different doxies but there are a few cats and a chow chow ornament in honor of our Chow Chow that we had. Leo was the sweetest dog ever. He was more of a light orange/blondish color and he looked like a little lion cub when he was a puppy. We had him for the first 10 years of Dana's life and then one day he was just gone. We searched and searched but never found him.

Shirley, I posted the pictures of the tree because you asked me to and you are too sweet not to grant yuour wish"O)
Have a great day everyone!!
Hugs,
Lynn

Red and White canister set

Dachshund/Pet theme tree

close up of a few ornaments

few more ornaments

One of my favorite ornaments, Jim Shore's Dachshund ornament 2010 My daughter gave it
to me as part of my Christmas gifts last year!! It is just too cute!

few more of my ornaments up close

I hope you have enjoyed peeking at one of my favorite trees. I love this one so much that it stays up year round in our sitting room area. You can just see the bottom of
one of my antique telephones. Thank you for stopping by!
Hugs,
Lynn

"Halloween recap at the Wienee Ranch"

2011-11-01T12:06:00.012-04:00

Hello friends,
I hope you all had a joyous Halloween!! The wienee ranch was all aglow last night with Halloween Happenings!! For the first time in 29 years we had a double digit number of trick or treaters!! The highlight of the evening for me was my neighbors from a few houses up stopping by and wanting to see my house!!! Duane and I both took them on the tour. They were saying the nicest things and it made me feel good. It was the first time that they have ever been in my house. The icing on the cake happened at 20 minutes later when my neighbor's sister and daughter arrived wanting to see the cute house that her brother had been talking non stop about and to see the cute puppies!!! Oh girls, Can you imagine how I felt!! I almost teared up but kept it in check!! Oh, it made me soo happy and proud too. My hubby was beaming when they left and said You do a great job making our house a home!! I know I tease you about you going overboard in decorating the house for each holiday, but I love that you take pride in our home and make it a wonderful place to be!! Ok, then I teared up but we were here by ourselves! LOl,

Now to the furbabies!!! Oh my, they had them a time last night!1 I was very proud of them. The barked greetings but that was it! They were very gracious and happily accepted petting from everybody and would follow them to the end of the sidewalk. Heck Cocoa tried to follow the neighbors home. She was loving all the extra petting she was getting. Our next door neighbor had a treat bag for them so they got to go Trick or Treating and were very excited to get their treat from her. Of course the Great Pumpkin had dropped by earlier in the day and dropped off the treat bags from him. They got to Halloween toys each and 4 doggie cookies in their treat bags from the Great Pumpkin. Sarge was soo cute with his. He picked it up in his mouth and headed to his favorite spot in the house, on top of the antique trunk that sits in front of the window. I keep a dog bed and blankets on top of it for them. He worked and worked till he got his bag open. He ate one cookie and the bag fell so each time he would jump down, get a cookie, and jump back up to the trunk to eat it!! So funny to watch him. The girls had to have help getting their bags open. They are the cookies first and were not at all excited about the new toys but they will play with I am sure.
I hope you all had a great time. I can't wait to see your pictures.

I would love to do a Christmas ATC swap, ornament swap, tag swap, with anyone that is interested. I love to make things and do swaps. It is fun to collect those little pieces of art. Just comment or send me an email at pls0818@aol.com if you are interested in swapping with me.
Hugs,
Lynn

"BOO" Banner I made for my neighbor's kitchen

"BOO" Banner for my kitchen

Halloween ATCs

Table ready for Halloween Night

Pebbles

Cocoa Puff

Sarge

Bella Boo

Treats from Vivian

Treats for the furbabies

Treats from Kim

" A Little Help Please"

2011-10-30T01:11:00.001-04:00

Hello friends,

I find myself in the need of HELP!! I have been trying to print off some blog posts on different blogs that are sharing how tos, the problem is when I try to print that entry, my computer and printer are wanting to print all of the comments and other details on the person's blog!!! Each one I tried to print were 14-28 pages long!!! Does anyone know how I can print just the blog post and pictures that were included in that post? If you do, can you please email me at pls0818@aol.com

Also, I have been making out lists! Lists of items needed to create Christmas crafts, Christmas gifts, and Christmas baking! I have made lists of items that I do not have in my craftroom to make the items on the Christmas Craft List. I made hubby a list of items that I want for Christmas from our local antique mall,(took him there today and walked around and showed him what I wanted) and items from my favorite Etsy shops for Christmas. I made a list of things that I wanted to bake for Christmas and a shopping list of items needed to be added to the pantry before I can start baking.I made a gift giving list. I started with the name of the person and then jotted down some items that I knew they would like. I wanted to ask you girls what do you do for gifts for friends that are not a lot of money? I would love to make handmade gifts this year myself or buy handmade items as gifts. I have talked to my husband about that and he has agreed. We have also talked about cutting down on the amount of money that we spend on each person this year. We are doing ok with the money issues but why spend all of that money at Christmas, how do you know when you have enough presents for one person? Our children are 28 and 25 years old and in the past few years we have spent for them at Christmas like we did when they were young. A room full of presents for 5 people and all the furbabies! It is just too much and I am a stocking stuffer person. In our family, everyone loves their Christmas stockings and we all (meaning my MOm, my daughter, and me) buy stocking stuffers. By the time the stockings are finished being stuffed their is a big gift bag sitting under each stocking with a big Christmas tag on the front of the bag with each person's name on it!! Most Christmas mornings the gift bags are 1/2 to 3/4 the way full!!! It is just all way too much, so we have decided to cut back this year! And oh, by the way, each furbaby in the family including my four doxies, My Mom's cat furbaby, my daughter's two dog furbabies and three cat furbabies, and my son's dog furbaby each have a gift bag from my Mom, my daughter, and my hubbie and I!! Did I mention that the furbabies are just a wee pit spoiled??? So, I would love to hear your family's traditions on gift giving, stockings, and how to decided how many presents or dollar limit per child, other family members such as Parents, Aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and friends.

Also, I am cleaning out my craftroom this next week starting on Monday. I have way too many supplies. I have a ton of paper that I have bought and never used. I was looking at my stash and trying to find the right paper for a project and I looked at some papers and said to myself why did you buy that paper? I have a lot of Webster's Pages, Rusty Pickle, Fancy Pants, and Close to my heart paper that I am going to be selling on ebay. Would anyone like for me to share the pictures of the stuff I am going to try to sell on ebay before I post them on ebay? I also have a new in the box Making Memories Slice Diecutting Machine.I bought it off of an infromerical in November of 09 while I was in the hospital. Apparently I was up late one night or early one morning and bought it from my hospital bed!!! I remember my son bringing the box into my room in the middle of December and me telling him just to sit it in the corner of my craftroom. I thought it was the kit of the month that I belonged to at that time. So, I never visited my craftroom for any length of time until late Feb or March of 2010. I was hunting for some supplies to work on some cupcake projects for a swap and I found this box sitting in the floor between my wooden stamp tower and my dresser. I opened it and was shocked when I found the Slice Machine!!! I called the 1-800- number and asked for customer service and read the info off of the packing slip!! I tried to explain to them that I did not remember ordering this machine and yes I seen that it had been completely paid for and yes I know it says I purchased it in Nov and it was successfully delivered to the address on the invoice in Dec. of 09. I was not arguing those details. I just wanted to return it for a refund since I am a Cricut owner and did not need a Slice Machine!! They said I should have returned it in January!!! I said I did not know that I had bought it in january. I just found the flippin box a hour ago and called them as soon as I could pick my mouth up off of the floor from seeing how much I paid for the machine that I did not need or want!!! Any whoo, they would not take it back!! So, it has been residing in my craftroom since then!! It comes with a few more features than the one in the store has. It comes with the embossing and coloring attachments. It also has a pattern disc and a font disc. It comes with a paper pack from Making Memories. I am asking 125.00 for it or I will gladly trade it for primitive crafts, vintage inspired crafts, vintage items or make an offer on something you would like to trade for it. I paid 214.99 for it so I am not making a profit on saleing it at 125.00 or trading for product totally 125.00. I also have Close to my Heart and Stampin Up stamp sets for sale. They are new and never used also. I also have 12 x 12 scrapbook albums from Close to my Heart for sale. They are mint in the box also. I also have some Tear Bears by an artist known as Paper Piecings by Olivia. She used to sell on ebay and I bought a lot of her tear bears. I paid a lot for the ones that I was able to win. Her tear bear paper piecings are adoreable and she had a huge fan following on ebay and her tear bears went for big money!! I saw her Disney inspired tear bears go for hunderds of dollars for a 3x7 or a little bigger or a little smaller tear bear that was made to resemble tinker bell, My little mermaid, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Bell, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, well you get the ideal. Ebay made her stop making the Disney bears and she would make holiday theme ones, little girl or little boy ones, patriotic ones. cupcake ones,(I bought a lot of those last two sections). I have some on ebay now just search for Tear Bears by Paper Piecing by Olivia. I have them started at 29.99 and that is half of the amount that I paid for them. I bought them and never used them. I did frame my Halloween theme cupcake bear! She looks super cute!! I am keeping my Christmas cupcake tear bear and my Patriotic theme bears and an Army bear and a Wedding Bears but the rest I am selling so just let me know if you would like to look at them.
I have some fun pictures to post on Monday!! It is a Halloweenie around my house. The furbabies are getting excited!! It is almost time for the Great Pumpkin to visit.
Hugs to all!
Lynn

"Halloween paper bag album"

2011-10-23T18:22:00.004-04:00

This is a paper bag album. I am going to develp the pictures of my Halloween decorations this year and crafts that I have made and put them in this little book. I bought the paper bag album off of ebay last year. I used Daisy D Halloween paper kits that I purchased a Hobby Lobby years ago when they were 50% off. I made the tags with pieces of embellishments that I have collected over the years. I love the vintage images from Crafty Secrets. I hate that Daisy D is no longer making papers and kits. I loved their vintage images and feel to their line of products.
Let me know what you think about my try at a paper bag album. I still want to do a waterfall paper bag album like I saw on Paula Clare's blog. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to hearing from you. I am working on a few more Halloween craft ideals that I have seen on other blogs. I hope to get them done and I have also starting gathering my supplies for Christmas crafting.
Have a wonderful week!
Hugs,
Lynn

Welcome to Hart's Square

2011-10-22T20:30:00.002-04:00

Hello,
My husband and I had a wonderful day today. We started out early this morning on our adventure. He took me to a local hair saloon to have my hair shampooed since I can't take a shower for a few days due to the nerve stimulator attached to my spine. Then to the local grocery for picnic supplies. Then to Hart's Square. We got there and waited in a long line to park. We parked and our adventures began. We stepped back into the 1800s. There were camps sat up in between the restored cabins, houses, school house, doctors office, jail, general store, blacksmith shop, tinnery, outhouses, woodsheds, summer kitchens, pottery kiln, wood work shop, broom making, candle making, wool spinning, a working grist mill,bought 6 pounds of cornmeal made from the grist mill) a working cotton gin,all different kinds of cabins and houses. People dressed in 1800s attire, the medicine show had come to down and were trying to sell their tonics, my favorite was the Dr. McFilthy's Crouch Powder, an actual product from the 1800s with many uses from curing indestigon, to bed bugs, to polishing your silver, and growing hair LOL.wool dyeing on the large cast iron pots over an open fire, cornbread from a beehive oven, broom making, school yard games, a spelling bee inside the school house with medals for 1st and 2nd place, a Civil War battle between the Confederate and Union Army , sorry Yankee neighbors, the South won the battle today, two sweet chapels to visit and to say a prayer in, wonderful fishing ponds, a bootleg moonshine still hidden in the growth out back of the grist mill. We had fun, wished we had taken money with us, Dr. Hart has published a wonderful coffee table book on his beloved Hart's Square. He is attending the opening house of the Hickory Museum of Art on November 5,2011 so we will go and purchase a book that day. The money goes to the Hart foundation to keep his beloved 1800's village going. I heard that two families wanted to talk to him about donating some structures to the village so maybe there will be new places to see next year. There were 2 or 3 new additions this year. I will post pictures later this week.

The day was fun but I am paying for it. I have been in pain since early this afternoon and we would sit and take breaks. The machine does not help with the pain that walking causes. I have even broke downed and shed tears. This drives the hubby crazy. He can't stand to see me cry. I am just too emotional during this time.
Have a good week!
Lynn

"Procedure Day"

2011-10-20T19:21:00.002-04:00

Hello,
My day started out bright and early this morning. I had to be at the doctor's office at 7am. We got there 9 minutes early and were the only car in the parking lot. People started arriving around 6:55am. The office opened at 7 and I was the only pt there! They took me straight back and got my vitals and then the fun began. I needed an IV, they didn't tell me I would get an IV, I do not do well with any type of needle sticks for blood draws or IVs. 7 sticks later they got the IV started!! 4 people, 2 sticks each by the first 3 and the last one got it on the first stick but barely. They would have to reposition it each time they gave me a dose of medicine! The procedure was extremely painful due to the worse shape spine he has ever seen, fusions, metal, and scar tissues. It took them longer than they had planned for so instead of implanting two leads they just did one. It works on my buttock area and my right leg. But no help into the lower back yet. They said the permanent one will work on my back. The device works by stimualting the nerves with a tingling almost massaging feeling, you know the feeling of those massage chairs at the mall, it feels like that. I have a remote control to turn the vibrations on and off and to turn the strength of the signals up or down. So far, I can feel it helping in my right leg. I do not feel the tingling pin sticking sensations that I usually get. We are going to the Hart's Festival on Saturday, so I will be able to see if it helps with the pain I get in my legs when walking or standing for a prolonged period of time, you know more than a few minutes at a time. They will take this out on Tues and set up the appointment for the surgery for the permanent one. That is out pt and lasts about an hour. IN the mean time, no showers or baths. So, Duane gets to give me a sponge bath. Yep the rep told him he has to do all the house work and bathing me until Tues. I can not bend, twist, lift my arms above my head. The lead is just floating in my spine area, so movement can move it to areas that it doesn't need to go. If it gets out of place, the sensations will be felt in areas that may not be needed or not work in the areas that are needed. I am excited about this part of my journey, it makes me have a hope that maybe just maybe I will be able to have a pain free or a pain that I can tolerate and do things that I used to do. Keep me in your prayers. The weather has taken a turn and a cold front has moved in. The next few days with lows in the mid 40s and high in the low-to mid 60s. It should be a nice weekend for the Hart festival. I am looking forward to visiting the 1800's village and to see all the craftsman that Dr. Hart brings in for the day. I hope they do the Civil War reenactment again this year. It was such fun last year. I will take plenty of pictures to share with you.
Have a wonderful night and remember to say a prayer for me. I still have some Halloween lip balms from Avon if anyone would like some. I mailed our three packages yesterday to Musings by K, My Vintage Mending, and Parker's Paradise. I am also excited to be a part of Creative Breathing's Christmas Tag Swap!! I am finally going to get a piece of art from many of the bloggers that I admire soo much!!
Hugs,
Lynn

"Halloween Happens at the Wienne Ranch"

2011-10-16T23:21:00.001-04:00

This is the house we live in not the one we inherited and my daughter lives in:O)
this is for Robin:O)

This is a picture heavy post LOL So, go get a cup of your favorite yummy beverage and sit down and take a break. These are the decorations in my den/living room/family room whatever you want to call it. Our house is a 1930s cottage style home, so it is very small but I love it and it would take the purchase of a dream home which is a historic old home in the historic district of Hickory, North Carolina to get me to move. We inherited my brother-in-law's home when he passed away suddenly in 2004. It is about a 5 minute drive from our home and our daughter lives in it with her boyfriend, furbabies, Hush Puppie, Kenzie Mae, Sassie Mae, Prissie Mae, and Loki-Mae. The front porch pictures are some of my favorite decorating spots! My hubby built the cover porch last year. It runs the entire length of the front of the house. The old trunk in front of the windows was an estate sale purchase back in the 90s. I love old wood boxes and crates and love them for storage. I use them in my den area to store DVDs and VHS in. In the kitchen I have them stacked under my kitchen counter and use them to store cleaning products, cleaning rags, car care products, and all kinds of kitchen and house hold items in. They hide the clutter and look good too. I am still crafting for Halloween and I will take pictures of those items when I get them finished and put on display. I am wanting to decorate some owls and ravens that I picked up like those I have seen on other blogs. If you know how to decorate the owl and ravens will you please leave me a comment or email me at pls0818@aol.com
I still have some Halloween theme Avon lip balms to giveaway if you would like one or several. I would love to send them to someone. Please just leave a comment and then email me your address.
Thanks to all my friends in blog land! I get so much inspiration and ideals from visiting your blogs!
Have a wonderful week!
Lynn

"29 years Wedding Anniversary Weekend"

2011-10-16T14:52:00.001-04:00

Hello,
I am so tired today but a good tired. Yesterday was my 29th Wedding Anniversary!! My hubby and I spent our weekend at the races!! Yes, we went to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Friday night for the Nationwide race and then back yesterday for the Sprint cup race!! We had soo much fun. Thanks to my lovely neice, who just happened to be my flower girl 29 years ago,we had passes to the garage area and the pits!! We had a ball!! I was in pain from all the walking but would sit down and rest for a while and then get up and go see what we could find to look at. Watching the races on TV is nothing like being there in person and down in the pits and the garage areas!! Friday night, we walked and watched as the crew members finished the last minute details on getting the cars ready for last night's race. Each car has a wonderful big truck that carries the cars to the track and also everything that the crew will needs at the tracks. They are all painted and beautiful. Every part of those big trucks shine and glisten in the sun!! Everyone is so nice too. The teams have colors of drinks and water, help yourself. Some teams leave their signature snack available to the fans too. There are buttons to grab, photos of the teams and drivers to take. You may just get lucky and see the King of Nascar, Mr. Richard Petty setting beside one of his teams trailors right after the race has started. I walked up and asked, Mr. Petty, may I have your autograph please? He signed my backpack with his signature blue sharpie. I took this opportunity to say Thank you to him for signing a message to the troops, Thanks for your service, Richard Petty. Then this was made into a screen print and was screen printed on 6000 tshirts to be included in a care package of the troops that contain all item that were made in North Carolina. I was fortunate enough to meet the founder of this non profit and to offer my help. I have been blessed with a uncanny gift of getting people to donate things. I am part of the Blue Star Mothers and before that I did it on my own to collect items and send to the troops. With the help on my online scrapbooking friends, we sent over 300 quart and gallon size paint cans decorate for Christmas and filled with snacks and other items for the troops at Christmas in 2007. Then for Easter, we did it again, 300 Easter treat bags were sent. Then again at Memorial Day and 4th of July, we sent snacks and personal care items. All the items I sent were donated!! I just called and asked!!The gentleman with the North Carolina care packages said for me please to contact him once my surgeries with my back are over and I am ready to be involved, that he would love my help. So, I am excited about that.
Back to the races,
I got to meet Trevor Bayne, the 20 year old that won the Daytona 500 in Feburary. When I walked up to his trailor, I saw him and several of his crew in a circle praying! It brought tears to my eyes. When I got to speak to him, I told him how much his faith and his expression of that faith was an inspiration to so many young people. He said Thank You mame, it made me feel old Lol.
I meet and got autographs of the famous Wood brothers owner of the 21 car that Trevor Payne drives. They were so nice, polite, and humble, one of them asked why I wanted his autograph and I told him that he was such a part of the success of Nascar and that I had grown up watching the races . I grew up in Hickory, North Carolina,and my parents took me to the races every Saturday night at the Hickory Motor Speedway, home of the Nascar stars!! I watched Dale Earnhardt Sr, Harry Gant, David Pearson, and other legends race every week. We took our chairs and sat in front of the garage at Charlotte and watched the race on the big screen tv. We also watched pit stops from the back of the pit stalls. Oh, my those guys move super fast. You also have to watch every step you take. Cars going to the garage from pit road are on a mission to get fixed and back on the track, so get out of their way! We usually do not buy sovenirs, but we bougth two tshirts last night one for each of us. They just happened to have 10/15/2011 on the front or back of the shirt, a very nice reminder of where and how we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary!! I have pictures to download to the computer and I will post them soon. I got lucky and got a few autographs, Ryan Newman, Daivd Regan, Clint Bowyer, Juan Pabelo Montona,Trevor Bayne, both Wood Brothers, and Richard Petty.

Thank you Buffy for an anniversary of a life time!!! We love you!!

" A Little gift for you"

2011-10-12T00:40:00.001-04:00

Hello friends,
How are you doing? We are having cool fall weather here in Conover! The annual Okotber Fest took place in Hickory, NC this past weekend. Hubby and I went for a little while on Saturday night. We had so much fun. The most fun was we found a new consignment shop that carries all kinds of stuff, vintage and new!! They were staying open late to take advantage of the festival goers. I was in heaven!! I found a black cast iron dachshund bank and a red enamel cup!! I was a happy little camper!! They also have a good selection of vintage aprons for 10.00 a piece! For those that collect them, is this a good price?? Any help will be appreciated.

Ok, for the freebie! I bought a bunch of the Halloween lip balms from Avon when my niece was selling it last year. I bought them to hand out at work, but we all know that I was not able to go back to work after my last back surgery. So, just leave me a comment that you would like one or two and then send me an email at pls0818@aol.com and I will mail them to you. Just a little something something for my friends.
have a great week!
hugs,
Lynn

My Kitchen

2011-10-06T12:19:00.000-04:00

Hello friends,
I am just sharing a little glimpse into my 1930's home. My home is quite small but I love it. My husband and I have lived in this home for almost 30 years!! We moved into our home in December of 1982, two months after we got married. When we moved in it was sooo ugly!! The walls were covered with dark brown almost black paneling. The floors were covered with a hideous orange shag carpet. The kitchen cabinets were painted a dark brown, the floor was so ugly with a brown vinyl tile, and the bar posts were painted brown, orange, yellow, red, and green. It took many years but we redid the kitchen, my husband did all of the work himself. He installed the brown oak cabinets. He built the bar, the shelves, he laid the flooring, he put the tile on the counters and back splash. As my collection of kitchen items grew, he covered every wall space with oak shelves! He built the refrigator into the wall so we would have more space.I love the kitchen that my husband built me and I am so thankful that when I need more storage space I can count on him to find a way to install more shelves for my collections and he is happy to go shopping with me to find those collections.
In the two pictures below you can see the space underneath the bar. I have a wooden bench under there. On the bench is wood crates and under the bench is more wood crates. I use these crates to store my cleaning supplies, tools, and other items that I may need to use. The crates are great for storage because they can hold a lot and it hides the contents so well. I also have a brown crock and another wood crate beside the bench. I have the wood crate standing on its side. I have my black cast iron kettles and irons displayed there. I also have the furbabies water bowls in front of the wood crate. I use the plastic bowls from Wal-mart for the furbabies water and food bowls. They have sets for each holiday and season!! Yes, my furbabies are spoilt. But they so deserve it!! They love us unconditionally, they are always there to greet you when you come home whether you have been gone 10 minutes or days, there welcome home is always the same, excited barked greetings, jumps of joys, and kisses are waiting for you.

As you can tell by the pictures, I love old jars, jugs, kitchen gadgets, tins, milk bottles, apple jugs, cookie jars, kitchen scales, pot holders, a few roosters, and of course a couple of cows. Each of the items on the shelves were found while out antiquing and treasure hunting with my husband. We love to get in the car and set off in a direction and just drive and if we see an old store or antique store we stop and shop.

I would like to ask my blogging friends to say a prayer for my family. I will not bore you with all the ugly details but God in heaven knows the needs of our hearts and souls.

Thank you so much and thank you for all the inspiration, ideals, and joy that I get by visiting your blogs. I try to visit all my fav blogs on a daily basis but I do not always post a comment but I do stop by to visit and read about you. I have learned so much from all of you and I thank you again for sharing your life with me.

I want to say a special thank you to Linda Parker of Parker's Paradise. I comment on her super cute pillow and pillow tucks that she made a week or so ago. I was so surprised to find a package in my mail box with her return address on it. Inside the package was two cute stichted pillows. One says fall an the other has pears stitched on it and reads Quite a Pear. So cute and so briten my day. Hugs to you my special friend. Your kindness has meant so much to me!!

I hope to photograph my home with all the decorations for Fall and Halloween up and share those in the next few days. I am still dealing with the pain issues and I have been given another steroid pack to see if that will help the new pain that has shown up in the middle of my back. I am still a go for the nerve stimulator trial on the 20th of this month. I found out that I will be awake and they will numb my back with lidocane and inserts the leads onto my spine that way. I am more than a little nervous because when I was taking the pain injections, they hurt so bad because of all the scar tissue from the 5 back surgeries in the same area!! So say a prayer for me that the procedure will go well and I will not feel the pain while it is being inserted!
Have a wonderful day.
Hugs,
Lynn

my tags for the Autumn tag swap on its a cherry world blog

2011-09-24T16:18:00.001-04:00

Hi girls,
Thanks for the sweet comments left on my last post. I wanted to clarify that the vintage baby items I have had for years and just wanted to share mine because I have been drooling over the vintage nursery items on other's blogs.

I made these tags for the Autumn Tag Swap hosted by Sue at Its a cherry world. I decorated both sides of the tags. I used my stamps from Close to my heart for the scarecrow image and the crow. The owl is from Stampin up, it is a punch. The owl branch and the mushrooms are from a close to my heart stamp set. The dachshunds are from diecuts.

I made 6 tags total. So, if anyone would like to swap tags with me. Please let me know.
My tags went out today. I was under the weather and medicated the pass fews day and did not get out and about.
Hugs,
Lynn

GREAT NEWS and other goodies

2011-09-23T23:57:00.000-04:00

WARNING LONG POST AND LOTS OF PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello friends,
I finally got some good, no some great news!! My doctor's office manager called me
yesterday morning and told me that they just heard from my insurance and that they had approved the nerve block stimulator!!!!! She said that they had to scheluded a block of time for it and Dr. Martin was booked up and the soonest he could do it is October 20th!! I said, Praise the Lord, I was in tears with joy and I think Jennifer was too. We have been trying to get this approved for almost a year now!! I am so excited about this. I have been having some severe pain at the top of my scar on my back and all the way across my back. The pains are sharp and are so bad that I can't keep from crying. I have called the ortho surgeon and they are thinking it may be scar tissue and have told me to rub one of those pain reliever gels or lotion on it and to rub it from side to side. They said if it did not go away by Monday to call them back. I have never hurt that far up on my back, my pain as always been on the lower area of my back so I hope it just is scar tissue. So, keep me in your prayers that it is only scar tissue and that it clears up and goes away. I want to thank each and everyone of you that remember me in your prayers, I am so blessed to have had online friends praying for me and my issues.

I have been trying to find things and get my fall and Halloween items out to decorate the house. When I was on my search, I found things I forgot I had, so it was kinda like going shopping!! which was fun because with all the extra medical visits and tests , my spending money was not a whole lot the pass few months. I have taken some pictures to share with you about things I found while I was searching for my fall and Halloween goodies. I have also finally took pictures of swap goodies and care packages that I have received from online friends. So, go grab you a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or your fav beverage and enjoy.

As I visit the blogs that I love each day, I see that a lot of you like vintage baby items too. I thought I was the only one who would display them. My Mother-in-law always asks me why I display those old things and why do I spend money on buying all of that old stuff. I told her because I love it and her son does too. We would rather have an old piece of furniture than the stuff they are building and selling today! So, she pretty much got the message and does not make those comments or get in those little dings as I call them that much now days. The rubber cat, baby cup, and the crochet booties were my hubby's. His blue and white beaded baby braclet that they put on him in the nursery at the hospital is also on display in that little white tray. The white baby shoes were mine and they have my first name on the sole of one shoe and my birth date on the other shoe. The bunny shaped shoes I bought at an antique store. The collection of baby rattles I bought at an estate auction. The baby gown and the two baby pillow cases were made for me by my Mother's Mother, my grandmother, Palace West. Yes, her name was Palace, just like the dwelling of the Queen and King, and that was the name that she went by. My Mother honored her by giving me that name. I have never used it, I am called by my middle name, Lynn. But, I have lots of fun at the carnivals with the people that say they can tell you your first name if you just give them the letter it starts with. Well, when I say the letter P, they never ever guess Palace, but I have proof, it is on my social security card!!! LOL

Is this not the cutest thing ever??!! I bought this at a yard sale back in the mid 90's. I found her when I was hunting for those glasses. She is made out of a gray felt material I think. The socks and shoes are sewn on as is her security blankie and her little doll. She is now keeping company with my ever growing collection of teddy bears. She is with the teddy bears on display in my bedroom on top of the antique cedar chest that was my Mother's hope chest and she passed it on to me. I can remember the year I turned 13, I started shopping for things to go in my hope chest. I would buy sets of glasses, tupperware, bowls, towels, hand towels, and hand-made craft items for my home. By the time I got married at 17,(yes, I was a young bride but we will celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary on October 15!) the hope chest was full. I can remember Mom and I taking out all of the items I had bought and had received as gifts thorough those years and opening up the packages, washing everything, and then putting it away in our new home. If anyone made mouse dolls in the 90's please share your story and any pictures you might have of your mouse doll.

I found these vintage strawberry themed Christmas ornaments when I was looking for a set of glasses that I knew I had but couldn't remember where I put them. These were in a box lot of goods that we bought at an estate auction years ago. The strawberry dolls are made out of corn husks. The wreaths are those green bottle brushed and they say Merry Christmas from Strawberry Hill. Does anyone remember these or know anything about them? I know that a lot of the blogs that I visit love strawberries. If you would like some of the ornaments we could do a trade. The baskets are filled with plastic strawberries. The set has two ribbons with it. One is the strawberry material that is on the dolls and the other one is red gingham. Leave me a comment if you would like to trade for these or if you know anything about them.

When I first found all of the wonderful primitive blogs and I started drolling over the pictures of your homes, your collections, and your amazing crafts I wanted it all. Only thing is, I do not have as much money as I once did because I have been out of work pretty much for the last 5 years. I have had 5 back surgeries and I am still in chronic pain from the permanent nerve damage that I have in my spine. Which causes the never ceasing pain in my lower back and right leg. But as I read the blogs, I read where ladies were trading their stuff for the items they wanted that belonged to another lady. So, I went searching or shopping in my attic, basement, and closets. I found items that I had that I didn't use anymore or craft supplies that I bought and never used. I took pictures of these items and put them on my blog. I had two wonderful ladies that took a chance on me. I swapped with Angie from
Just a Lil Raggedy and Michele from Grannies Pantry. Michele wanted the Americana items that I had posted and I want a penny rug from her. She sent me the beautiful patriotic penny rug and two adoreable candle mats. She also included some salt ornies and some wonderful smellin fixins too. Thank you so much Michele. I love all the goodies you sent me and you told me that you were happy with your box of goodies. She also shared that her hubby like the patriotic goodies too. I still have a bunch of new, never used stamp sets and scrapbooking supplies listed for trade if anyone is intersted just leave me a comment or email me at pls0818@aol.com

I too was blessed to receive an awesome surprise package from the sweetest lady in blogland, Mrs. Linda Parker also known as Linda Claus! Thank you so much for the wonderful goodies you made for me and items that you found that were just perfect for my home. I love the baby shoe pin keeps. I had told Linda how cute these baby shoe pin keeps were and that I would love to have one but said I would have to have 2 because my Mom always wants one of the things I collect. She has furnished and decorated her home with items made by me or bought by me for her. Linda also included two adoreable ditty bags that she made. She knew that I love stacking boxes and I didn't have a set for fall so she found a set and sent them to me. I spoke of redoing my bathroom and she sent a silver walk pocket from the 1920's. My house was built in the 30's so maybe the original owners had something like this in the bathroom. She sent me some of her grubby Easter eggs, two pantry cakes, and a wood pocket. Linda, your friendship is such a blessing to me. Thank you for taking the time out to think about me and to pick items that I love to decorate my home with. Whenever I look at any of these items, I will remember the sweet kindness of an online friend. Thank you again for thinking of me and making my day brighter.

Awesome goodies from Amy in the Great Pumpkin swap!! Thank you so much Amy for all the wonderful goodies!! They are just perfect for me. I love the cute pinkeep you had made for me.

Awesome goodies from Ellie!! Ellie was a great pal in the kindred spirit doll swap hosted by Amy. She sent me this adoreable doll, two placemats, and a candle mat! All items will go perfectly in my home and with my collections. Thank you again Ellie!!

Where I create

2011-09-12T19:13:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,
I am back I think LOL My back went out and I have been down and out!!! I had my MRI and then had the follow up apponintment the week after that. My surgeon told me that there is nothing else he could do. He said I have a ticked off NERVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well that nerve has defintely been getting on my nerves. I spent my days in between bed rest and soaking in the bathtub with the water as hot as I could stand it. He made an appointment for me to go to the pain clinic to get shots for the pain. This became a pain because I had to have someone to take me, so I had to wait until I had someone to take me. Well, I finally got there. The pain clinic doctor came in and talked to me and I told him what the surgeon had said, so he left and went and talked to my surgeon, they are in the same practice just in different areas of the building. So, he came back and said that they agreed, I needed the nerve block device. Which was not new info, just this part was new, THEY DO NOT KNOW IF IT WILL WORK ON ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not ashamed to tell you that when I heard this news the tears started flowing. When I calmed down enough to talk, I asked WHY???? He said that the nerve damage was severe and with the problems that I am having, my right leg from the knee downs feels like someone is sticking pins in it up and down my leg. My foot feels like it is asleep most of the time which makes walking interesting, I know I am moving but I can't really feel it. So, he said that as soon as he gets the result from my pysch review that he is going to call my insurance and talk to them and tell them that I need to get this device and as soon as possible. When it gets approved(I am thinking postive thougths)Dr. Martin will make two small incisions on my back, the electrodes will be inserted into these holds and they will be placed around my L3 and L4 disks, the representive of the company will tweek the device until I feel some relief. They leave this in place for 4 days. I go back and if there has been inprovment on my pain level we will proceed and they will schelude my out patient surgery to be done by Dr. Maxey to put the device permantely in my spine. I will have to have surgery every 5 years to change the batteries. I have also been in a morphine induced sleep for the past week or so. Dr. Martin changed my medicines at my last appointment alone with giving me pain medicine shots in my arm. I take 1 of the time-release morphine every 12 hours. I also have perocet that I can take every 6 hours for break=thorough pain. These drugs make me very sleepy and they make me itch like crazy. I have scratched the blood out of my arms, back of my legs, chest, and face when I am asleep.So now when I take the pain meds, I take 2 benadryl at the same time and this seems to be helping. I try not to scratch my face instead I rub my face with the palms of my hands which as resulted in rubbing my face raw. I ran out of benadryl lastnight so my darling daughter brought some over for me. She took one look at my bright pink face and asked what was wrong. I said I am itching to death. She said I had rubbed the skin raw, I said I know, taking showers is interesting, because the areas I have scratch a lot burn when the water hits those areas.
So please forgive me for not visiting your blogs and leaving comments. If you have emailed me, I am sorry, I have not checked those either. Dana helped me straighten up my craft room and we took pictures after we got done. Warning lots of pictures. I love my scraproom. I have it decorated with my favorite things, red, white, and blue, patriotic theme items, the shelf at the top of the wall contains my growing collection of dachshunds, some albums that I have done,and pictures of my furbabies. I also have cupcake theme items that online friends have made for me, they usually decorate them in red, white, and blue. I also have some owl theme goodies that were gifts from online friends.

I hope you enjoy looking around my scraproom. Please leave a comment and fill me in on what all I have missed for the past few weeks. I have to take pictures of swap items that I have received and get those posted. Please say a prayer for me that the insurance will approve the nerve stimulator for my back.
Hugs,
Lynn

Awesome Give away

2011-08-15T16:48:00.000-04:00

Please visit this wonderful blog and enter the giveaway to win the wonderful prim pumpkin with the super cute little mouse on top of the pumpkin. Oh my, I want to win this one soo bad. I would love to put it on my mantle to decorate for fall.

http://oldroadprimitives.blogspot.com/2011/08/fallhalloween-giveaway-thyme-at-old.html#comment-form

Please let her know that I sent you.
Hugs,
Lynn

Prayers for my family please

2011-08-14T17:19:00.000-04:00

Hello,
Well, we had some bad news yesterday. They lost the baby!!! My son is so broken hearted. He is out in El Paso, Texas with no family close by. My heart is breaking for him. I can only pray for him and urge him to come home. He is not a little boy anymore and I have to let him make his own decisions. But, this Mama is hurting. I feel better when I know that my kids are good. I have not had a good week health wise myself and it is going to cost more money than I had planned on spending on it. It is always something. Somedays, I just want to give up. But, I know that it will get better some day. Please keep our family in your prayers.
Hugs,
Lynn

another great give away

2011-08-11T16:54:00.001-04:00

PLease visit this amazing blog and enter the surprise birthday giveaway.
Hugs,
Lynn
http://vicky-myart.blogspot.com/

great blog giveaway

2011-08-11T15:37:00.000-04:00

Hi friends,
I have been MIA this week. I have gotten a summer cold,a stomach flu, or something. I have missed out on getting anything done this week. This old girl has been one sick puppy. I went to the dr this morning and got some new medicine so hopefully I will feel better soon. I have appts next Mon and Tues to see what is going on with my back now, so please keep me in your prayers. Without going into a lot of details, I am asking for prayers for my son, Eric. Thank you so much because I know that my online friends will send up some prayers for Eric.
There is an awesome giveaway going on now for an amazing Halloween theme tree in the cutest little painted Halloween theme bucket. you can visit it here

http://countrycreationsbydenise.blogspot.com/2011/08/halloween-tree-giveaway-take-peek.html#comment-form

Denise does an awesome job on her creations. So please enter and tell her that Lynn sent you. The giveaway ends on 9/1/11.

I have packages to mail and pictures to take of surprises that arrived in the mail. I will post those soon.
Linda from Parker's Paradise sent me an amazing surprise package. It arrived on Monday. I have not felt like doing anything this week so all my goodies are waiting to find the perfect spot to put them.

I also wanted to thank Michelle from Grannies Pantry for the lovely and amazing penny rug and the two candle mats that she sent me. We are doing a swap together and I have a box of patriotic themed goodies to send her. The box is all ready to go. Just waiting on this ole girl to feel like driving to the po to mail it. I am hoping to get that done this weekend. If not it will be postal by Monday for sure.

I found a blog with a tutioral on how to make salt dough ornies and cinnamon salt dough ornies so I am hoping to feel like doing that next weekend.

We live in Catawba County in North Carolina. We have the pleasure of having Hart's Square in our area. A local Dr. started the village years ago. He finds old cabins and houses, purchased them, dismantles them and then rebuild them on his property. Every October, they have a date that you can buy tickets and go spend the day. Oh, my girls, you would all be in heaven. It is a 200 acre 1840's village with two churches, a bridge, and a beautiful bridge. You can read about it here:

http://www.visitnc.com/events/view/31264

Last year I was on the phone for over 2 hours before I could purchase our tickets. We try to go every year. It is just so much fun and he has the houses and cabins filled with furnishings, dishes, clothes, and bedding from that time too. There is a jail, Dr.'s office, a jail, and all kinds of stuff. If you can come for the day, please do and let me know. I would love to meet some of my online friends.

ok, time to go lay down. Please remember me and my son in your prayers.
Hugs,
Lynn

Winnings, swap goodies, and purchases.

2011-08-03T10:47:00.001-04:00

Hi friends,
Here is the awesome swap package I got from Angie of Just a Lil Raggedy..
I love everything that she sent me. I swapped some new stamp sets from Stampin Up, distress ink pads by Tim Holtz, glimmer mist by Tattered Angels, and some other scrapbooking goodies. But, Angie spoilt me!! I love the wrapping on every little item. She even sent me some salt dough ornies, stars in red, white, and blue. I am an Americana nut. I still have lots of scrapbooking and stamping items for trade if anyone wants too.

Next, I won the give away from the last week of the Christmas in July giveaway over at Samantha's Accessories. I won the Santa Bucket filled with tarts and room sprays. Oh my gosh, I could smell the goodies in the box LOL.

Next, I order some little pumpkins from Black Creek Primitives. They are soo cute and she gifted me a half a dozen of these cute little pumpkins. Can't wait till 9/1/2011 when I can decorate for fall.

I also received the goodies that I bought from Traci of York Moutain Primitives when she had her blog yard sale. Thanks for all the cute goodies at great prices.

Okay, I am off to clean the house and put up my new goodies on display. Some will have to wait till next month. I went to the dr yesterday for my back again. I have a MRI next Tues and then see the Dr again the next week. I am also waiting to hear back from my insurance to see if they will approve the nerve block stimulator for my lower back pain and the nerve damage in my right leg. Keep me in your prayers.
Hugs,
Lynn

We have had the best news!!

2011-08-01T17:43:00.000-04:00

OMG!! I am going to be a NANA!!!! My son called last night and informed me that he is going to be a DADDY!!! He has been in the Army and was stationed at Ft. Bliss in Texas. He has just gotten out of the Army (Thank God, I did not want him to get deployed again), and his girl friend let him know that the pregnancy test was positive!! I am so excited. They will be moving home to North Carolina in the next few weeks. We can not wait to find out if he is having a girl or a boy, so we can start the shopping. So, prim friends, if anyone makes baby quilts leave me a comment. I will be ordering some for the nursery. I will do a small nursery here so I can keep the baby while the kids work since I have had 5 back surgeries and find out tomorrow if another one is needed.

Ok, I have lots of scrapbook and stamping supplies for trade or swap. I also found out that I can make the old time silouttes with my cricut. It anyone would like one. Leave me a comment. I am making a few for me and will post pictures tomorrow. Maybe that will show you what I am talking about. I have an image for almost every holiday and occassion.

Looking forward to making new friends and making lots of swaps and trade for prim items and supplies.
Hugs,
Lynn

great blog giveaway

2011-08-01T15:07:00.000-04:00

http://oldecrowprimitives-janet.blogspot.com/2011/08/awesome-autumn-give-away.html?showComment=1312225589858#c7021127941982704888

Go here to sign up and tell her I sent you.
Hugs,
Lynn

great blog giveaway

2011-07-27T00:45:00.000-04:00

Hello friends,
There is an awesome blog, Old lady Morgan! http://primitivesbyoldeladymorgan.blogspot.com/
She is doing an awesome giveaway. One of the requirements is to post what makes your heart skip a beat.
I have several, my husband and best friend. We have been together for over 32 years. We will celebrate our thirty year anniversary 10/15/2012!!! Seeing my son in his Army uniform makes my heart skip a beat! Seeing the kind of care and respect that my darling daughter Dana gives to her patients makes my heart skip a beat. Watching my fur babies play makes my heart skip a beat. Watching my great nephew, Tavien, hit a home run makes my heart skip a beat. Watching my great nephew, Jadison, squeal with delight that his Dusweezee came to see him(my husband's name is Duane but Jadison calls him Dusweezee) makes my heart skip a beat. Jadison will be three in December and he loves Duane like a grandpa which is a good thing as we do not have grand babies yet so we can spoil Jadison!! Hearing my Mom tell stories of her childhood growing up in the Western North Carolina mountains, story of her meeting my father and them falling in love makes my heart skip a beat. My father, Larry Ray Kirby died when I was 18 months old. He was killed in a horrible accident, he fell off the back of a pick up truck when he was helping his brother move.

finding the perfect old, vintage, item to add to my home makes my heart skip a beat. One of my favorite things to bring home are old teddy bears. I see them in antique stores, thrift stores, or junk stores and some times one will just speak to me and I just have to bring it home. I need another teddy bear like I need a hole in my head LOL but I bring them home anyways.

Please take a moment and look at the list to the right on my blog. I have some new unused scrapbook and stamping items that I am wanting to trade for primitive handmade items, vintage items, labels for jars, items that you may no longer want. The Slice die cut machine by Making Memories is brand new and never used. It retailed for over 200.00. It is not the one you can buy in the craft stores, it was a special model that was sold on an infomerical. I bought it while in the hospital during my 4Th back surgery. I had forgotten that I bought it until I found it about 4 months after I bought it and it was too late to send it back. I already had the Cricut die cut machine so I did not need this one LOL I bought it while on really good pain pump LOL I would love to trade it for some awesome items for my home and for it to go to someone that would use it. It comes with two cartridges with an alphabet and phrase, and one that has images on it.

Please email me or leave a comment if you would like to trade or swap.
hugs and have a great day,
Lynn

Wanna swap

2011-07-26T16:39:00.000-04:00

Hi.
Please look at the list of new in the box or package scrapbooking and stamp supplies listed on the side of my blog. I would love to trade these items for some primitive decor items for my home.

Please stay cool and say a prayer for our friend Linda. One of your furbabies is sick.

Take care and have a blessed day.
Hugs,
Lynn

Christmas in July

2011-07-25T13:55:00.000-04:00

It is so hot and I am longing for chilly cold days where we have a fire in the fire place and all the furbabies are laying on their bed in front of the fireplace sleeping and soaking up them warmth from the fire. We could heat our home with gas or oil but my hubby rather use the fire place and the wood stove in the basement. You see the furbabies grand furbabies included love to lay in front of the fire. They are truly spoilt!!!!
I hope you enjoy my Christmas pictures as much as we do.
Santa visits every year to take pictures with the furbabies. What can I say, they are SPOILT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOT MONDAY

2011-07-25T13:40:00.001-04:00

Boy,it is still so hot in our part of North Carolina! God did bless us with two small showers over the weekend. I am so ready for cooler weather. I went to some yard sales on Saturday and paid for it Saturday night. My old back does not like it when I do lots of walking. Hopefully the drs will get it fixed soon.
I hope you all have a great week.
I have lots of scrapbooking and stamping supplies for trade or swap if anyone is interested in those types of items. New stampin up set and close to my heart stamp sets, ink pads, paper,a little of everything that you need to scrapbook or stamp with. Just leave a comment if you would like a list of what I have.
Hugs,
Lynn

Awesome Give away

2011-07-23T13:50:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends,
Please click on the picture in my side bar and visit Brenda at the Rusty Thimble. She is having an awesome give away in August. She is giving away 8 of her awesome handmade primitive goodies. I hope that I win. August is my birthday month so maybe I will win one of them.
Have a great day!!
Hugs,
Lynn

My Living Room

2011-07-21T15:32:00.000-04:00

Here are some photos of my living room. I love my little house!!!

Hello Friends

2011-07-21T14:07:00.000-04:00

Hi,
I have posted several pictures on the side of my blog. These are items that I have for trade or swap with anyone that would like to swap with me. I would love to trade for ditty bags, ornies, tarts, bowl fillers, salt dough ornies, beeswax items, old grungy cans, old tags, and anything old LOL I love all things old and primitive. I have a mixture of old pieces and reproductions in my collections. I am more country farm house than a colonial home. I am blessed to have a hubby that shares my love for old things and the things he brings home from his travels make me smile. I am also blessed that he is a handy man. We will celebrate our 30th anniversary next year. In all that time, I have never had to pay for a car repair, appliance repair,and home improvements. He can do it all. I am truly blessed.

I would love to swap with anybody willing to give me a chance. I know I am new to the primitive bloggers but I have been active in scrapbooking and stamping since 2004. I have done tons of pal swaps on www.scrapbook.com I am a great swapping partner. I love to shop for and to give to others. My pals were always thrilled with their packages. I tend to go over the dollar limit. I just like to spoil people. I treat my pals the way I want to be treated and that way I never disappoint anyone.

I hope all of you are staying cool during this heat wave we are having. Please remember to leave a bowl or two of water outside for our animal friends.

Please leave a comment or email me if you would like to swap with me.
Hugs,
Lynn

Boy it is HOT

2011-07-20T15:27:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends,
I have been busy straightening up the house today. It is so hot and humid outside. The furbabies go outside and start panting as soon as their paws hit the porch. They are most content to lay in the house and enjoy the AC!!

Please remember the Elliott family from Raleigh, NC in your prayers. I met Patti a few years ago when I helped to start a local chapter of the Blue Star Mothers of America. Her son, Lucas, was killed this past weekend serving our country in Iraq!!! Ever since Eric joined the Army that has been my greatest fear, getting that visit telling me my son was gone. My heart breaks for Patti and her family. My family will honor Lucas and his memory by never forgetting that He GAVE HIS ALL FOR OUR COUNTRY!
May God surround Patti and her family with love, peace, and understanding during this time and as their lives go one without Lucas.

HOOAH

hello Friends

2011-07-19T17:35:00.000-04:00

OMG!! I have had a fun time lately. I have spent hours surfing on the internet exploring all kinds of primitive blogs!!! I have found so many wonderful blogs out there!! I have contacted a few ladies and they have emailed me back. I joined my first primitive swap and my pal is Amy from Bumble Bee Lane. I am so excited to have a new prim friend. I met Linda at the Parker's Paradise and she shares my love of dachshunds. I have 4 and she has 9. So, she really has the Wienne Ranch lol. I met a wonderful lady at Backdoor Primitives and she sent me some of the handmade firecrackers. I love Americana and my house is decorated with that theme right now. I change out my bowl ornies with the seasons and I change the mantle decorations each season also. Right now, we are working on redoing our bathroom. I am waiting for hubby to put up new beadboard in the bathroom. Then I want to paint it antique white. I have been searching for barn star towel bars and barn stars hangers for the room. I also want him to build me a big shelf to go into the window opening since we no longer have a window in there. He closed that in years ago when he built a room addition onto our house. I love our country porch that he built me. It is wonderful. It is so big and there is a roof over it so we sit out there alot in the evenings. We eat meals out there and we sit and watch our furbabies play.

I am wanting to learn how to make pantry cakes and dip them in wax. If anyone has the instructions please let me know. I look forward to making lots of new prim friends.
Hugs,
Lynn

primitive bear give away

2011-04-17T15:40:00.000-04:00

Hello friends,
I was blog surfing and ran across a wonderful primitive blog york mountain. This blog is full of beautiful pictures of her primitive home and she has a blog to sell the primitive items that she makes. Please check out her blog here: http://yorkmountainprimitives.blogspot.com/

Thank you and have a great day.
Hugs,
Lynn

Win a mini Jingle album complete with tear bears!

2009-12-15T14:59:00.000-05:00

Hi,
I have been MIA! I had another back surgery in November. I am praying this one has fixed me.
I wanted to share an album a fellow close to my heart consultant created and is giving away. Just go to her blog and copy the pictures of the album and paste them on your blog, face book, my space , where ever you visit and then go to http://www.createwithheart.blogspot.com/ and leave a note where you pasted it so she can see that you pasted it.
I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas. I myself can't wait till 2010 and hopefully it will be a better year medically for me.
Hugs,
Lynn

New stamp store opening in the Bay area

2009-08-01T12:45:00.001-04:00

on 8/12/09 LaLa Crafts will be opening a new stamp store. She is giving away some awesome blog candy to celebrate the event. Click on the link on the side of my blog to take you to her blog.
Please stop by and visit her blog. She is having a grand opening gala which sounds likes it is going to be a blast. If you live in the bay area there are a few tickets left. You get a free goodie bag and other goodies that night.
Have a great weekend!

2009-07-27T13:46:00.000-04:00

I am totally amazed at the generosity of my online scrapping family. Packages arrived almost daily with more items for the raffle or silent auction. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. We will make a bunch of soldiers know that they are not forgotten this Christmas!!
Hugs,
Lynn

2009-07-25T22:13:00.000-04:00

PAIN IS THE PITS! I thought things or rather the pain would ger better after surgery. Buy, boy I was wrong. Please keep me in your ptayers.

Cropping for the Troops

2009-07-20T10:11:00.000-04:00

The Foothills Chapter of the Blue Star Mothers is my home away from home. Supporting the troops is very important to me. Scrapbook Royalty is helping us with this event. So keep checking www.scrapbookroyalty.com for the website to register on. We only have room for 40 scrappers so it is going to go fast.

If you have anything that you would like to donate to raffle off, be part of the silent auction, cash for shipping of the care packages. It now cost 11.95 to ship a box to soldier; and that is the flat rate box from the post office. you can contact me at pls0818@aol.com . We are a 501(C) organization, so we can give you a receipt for ever you donate.

Hope to see you at the crop!!!!
Have a blessed day!
Lynn

Hello

2009-07-13T19:29:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,
I am not really great at this blogging thing. I need to upload some of my scrapping projects and cards.
My friend, Nina, has just started a new blog called There is Magic in the air. She is working on some major surprises for us, but you need to go and check out the blog now. She has some major blog candy up for grabs if you follow the rules. I my confess that I am being selfish and I hope I win.
My life has been going a little sucky lately and I could use some good luck for a change!
For those that don't know me, I had my 3rd back surgery on 6/10/09. It did not go well, but that is the usual for me, I am like Eyeore, I have a black cloud over my head most days. I am walking without my walker but it is a unsteady walk and a little wobbly-looks like I have had too many Blue Hawians but I haven't LOL
Eric was home most of the month of June so that was great to have him here.We had a blast and he is getting back to a little more of his normal self each day. He is now at Ft. Bliss near El Paso TX and he loves it out there. He has already made him some friends. He is searching for an apartment but has not found one yet.
The Wienne Ranch is fine. Last week we had all 7 because I babysat the furgrandbabies while Dana went back to the beach. She brought me back some dachshund socks. They are super cute.

ok, be good and run over and check out Nina's new blog! There is Magic in the Air! This lady has more talent in her pinky finger than I do in my whole body. She is one of my favorite artist!
Have a blessed week!

New challenge site to open on 6/1/09

2009-05-25T04:04:00.000-04:00

The Next Level will not only be a fun and informative place to hang out for card crafters and scrapbookers of all levels, but it is hoped that it will also become a valuable source of information, hints and tips, tutorials, downloads and much more. We want to cover the craft of traditional card making but also add in a touch of digital, not too much to scare anyone away, but enough to explore the magical world out there at your fingertips for anyone wanting to venture.We would very much like you all to be part of this new venture and over the next two week countdown to launch day, we need your support in getting us off to a flying start. Here's how we would like you to help:-1. Please register as a Follower of The Next Level and also leave us a comment below with a link to your own blog if you have one.2. On your own blog, please spread the word about The Next Level and link people back to our blog with the lure of the fantastic blog candy that will be being awarded on Launch day. Doing this in conjunction with registering as a Follower of the blog will automatically enter you for the big Prize Draw.
3. If you have the time, please e-mail us (see link in sidebar) letting us know if there are any particular elements you would like us to include in the coming weeks’ and also what are your favourite kind of Challenges. We want The Next Level to be your blog as much as it is ours.4. The Next Level is looking for 4 Guest Design Team Members.Initially the new guest team will join us for around 8 weeks and then we plan to invite new DT members to join us as the Seasons’ change, to give more people a chance of sharing their creativity. Any level of card maker can apply and no previous design team history is necessary - we would also love to encourage people from the UK and Worldwide. If you are interested in joining our team, please send an e-mail (see link in sidebar) to register your interest together with a link to your blog.So what about the fantastic Blog Candy that is offfer. Below are the photos of the two stunning prize packs that will be awarded on Launch day, Monday 1st June. Anyone who has registered as a Follower of The Next Level and who also supported us with the promotion of the new blog and prize candy on their own blogs will go into the prize draw. The two winners will be announced as the new Challenge goes live bright and early on the Monday morning!

blog candy

2009-05-25T02:54:00.001-04:00

http://paperfuntastics.blogspot.com/2009/05/birthday-blog-candy.html

blog candy

2009-05-24T20:16:00.001-04:00

http://littlebirddesign.blogspot.com/

Do something this weekend to remember those that have gave their all for our country

2009-05-22T17:16:00.000-04:00

http://cardsforheroes.org/bloghop/

Cards for Heroes is having a blog hop this weekend. There will be chances to win prizes and goodies along the way. Make a patriotic card to send to a soldier to say thank you and we appreciate what you are doing.
See you on the blogs tomorrow!!

More blog candy!

2009-05-19T00:57:00.000-04:00

I am blog hopping like crazy!! Here is a link to another blog candy give away.
leave a comment and sign up to follow her blog!

http://keepsakesbymelissa.blogspot.com/2009/05/altered-tins-and-another-giveaway.html

More free blog candy!

2009-05-19T00:37:00.001-04:00

OMG this is an awesome blog candy give away!!
go and leave a comment and then sign up for her newsletter!!

http://scrappinoutloud.blogspot.com/

More blog candy!

2009-05-18T14:07:00.000-04:00

http://desiref.blogspot.com/

On this one-where you post your comment is way down the blog! Her work is amazing!!

free blog candy!

2009-05-16T10:46:00.000-04:00

http://shimmerzpaints.blogspot.com/2009/05/spritz-is-back-win-some.html

click on the above link and leave a comment on their blog to be in the drawing for some of the shimmerz paints

More blog candy!

2009-05-10T02:58:00.000-04:00

http://artfullyila.blogspot.com/

more blog candy! Go to the blog and leave a comment for a chance to win two great blog candies!!

More free blog candy!

2009-05-10T02:54:00.000-04:00

http://jacqui47.blogspot.com/
Awesome blog candy! go leave a comment for a chance to win~

Free blog candy

2009-05-10T02:48:00.001-04:00

http://bearlymine.blogspot.com/2009/04/blog-candy.html

Awesome blog candy up for grabs! Go check it out!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-09T22:01:00.000-04:00

As I sit here typing this post, I am remembering the day I found out I was pregnant with my first baby. Duane and I had been dating for over 2 years and had been engaged for around a year. I knew the moment that Eric was conceived, I remember thinking to myself, OMG, what have we done. I was a senior in high school, I had a plans to go to college when I graduated. My step-father pressured me to have an abortion but I would not do that. Duane and I got married in Octoboer. The 15 day of the month, which was the same day that my grandparents of my real Dad (who God took to heaven when I was 20 months old) were married on. I did not know that when we chose that date. Eric turned 26 last Sunday! It is so hard to believe that my children have grown up into young adults, out on their own, and starting their own families. I miss the days of running=you know running this one to practice, picking this one up from practice. Ball games every weekend, Cheerleader competitions,(my girls Rocked-we still have the trophies in the attic), softball games, football games, and then their dramas over boyfriends and girlfriends, hugging them and telling them it will be okay-one day God will send that special one for them. I miss all of that and remind the young Moms that are my friends to cherish each of those days!They go away so fast!!!Now it is just Duane and I and the 5 yes 5 furbabies! Shh-they are the best kids ever, they also greet us at the door with barks of excitement, the cuddle up with us when we don' feel well, they love us when we are very unloveable, they never talk back to us, they appreciate the least little thing, a rub on a belly, or a rub behind their cute little ears. Don't tell Eric and Dana, LOL, but when the good Lord takes Duane and I home, the furbabies get it ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Happy Mother's Day to all Moms everywhere. And to our little boy who is waiting for us in Heaven, we love you, think of you often, and wonder what life would have been like if you were still with us!!
Just always know that you are not forgotten and we can't wait to see you again!
Love ,
Mom

2009-05-08T18:01:00.001-04:00

http://fionajcardsandmore.blogspot.com/2009/04/its-candy-time-this-post-will-remain-at.html

More free blog candy! Go check it out!! Who does not like a chance to win something

Free blog candy

2009-05-08T17:37:00.000-04:00

http://meholder.blogspot.com/2009/04/blogaversary-candy-1-year-old.html
Go visit this blog and leave a comment.She is giving away an awesome amount of blog candy!

When it rains, it pours!

2009-04-14T13:08:00.000-04:00

Well, today has been very interesting. I have been bothered with right hip pain, lower back pain, and right leg pain for almost a year now. I have had MRI, x-rays, been taking enough meds to kill a horse and still no relieve from this PAIN in my A**! I finally got them to do a xray of my right hip. Guess what they found? Just bone on bone. All of the cushion between the different bones are gone! I am now in wait mode. Waiting for an appointment with the orthopedic doctor, waiting to find out what he will want to do, and waiting to find out how we are going to survive with me out on medical leave again! I had two major back surgeries in the fall of 2006 and the spring of 2007. Please keep me in your prayers. I am not a good person who deals with pain. I am a whimp,

My son, who is in the service, his life is turned upside down and all around again. The girl he married way too soon, are now seperated. They were seperated in space by the fact that he is in Italy with the 173rd Airborne and she is here in Conover. They were married a year last Sept. They lived as man and wife maybe three months out of that year. Eric was in Afghanistan or Italy for most of the year. I knew it would happen, but hate that he is hurt ykwim.

Dana and her man are getting married sometime this year. 2008 was not a good year for her. She was plagued by breathing issues and was mistreated with steroids for way to long. She had all the bad side effects of the drug. She gained a lot of weight, she had the hand and feet swelling, the mood swings, the legs aching, and the insomnia. So, her wedding was put off because of her sickness, I think she wants to wait until she feels better before they get married.

I have not been scrapping or stamping much. I do stamp once a month since I go with a good friend to stamp night at her house.
I signed up to be a close to my heart consultant and have met my sale requirements by my friends ordering.It is Close to my heart 25th anniversary and they are having all kinds of special.
April 15, 2009 to May 15, 2009 if you order 60.00 in stamps(excluding the K size sets and the stamp of the month) you get a special kit called Tickled Pink. It has adorable paper, embellishments, and a special stamp set. Please feel free to email me if you are interested.
OK, my pain meds have kicked in and I am going to take a nap. Keep me in your prayers!

2009-04-12T21:46:00.000-04:00

I won some blog candy and YOU CAN TOO! Read this.....
I "won" a homemade gift by leaving one of the first 5 comments on Nina's blog, the link to her blog is in this post title if you would like to check out her lovely blog. SO, now I'll see who my first 5 are. The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you!This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!2. What I create will be just for you.3. It'll be done this year! (I will get it to you in the next month or so, hopefully - grin).4. You have no clue what it's going to be. I have tons of ideas, but who knows what it will be? Not you, that's for sure!5. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog! (then come here and post, I WILL check your blog *wink*) The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!So....who will be the first 5 people????? (ends May 15, 2009)

Living life

2009-02-25T14:28:00.000-05:00

Some days life just stinks. It seems that any thing that can go wrong does. I feel like I have been
living my life like this for the past couple of years. I have had too many health issues to mention,LOL it would take two or three pages!!!
I am kept sane by my wonderful family. My darling husband, who loves me inspite of myself, because I can be vey unloveable at times, my darling daughter, who is a blessing and a true joy in my life. I am so proud of the young woman that she has become. We will be celebrating her wedding in May. She is my child who has their head on straight and thinks about things before she does them. I love my son, Eric, who I am very proud of and of his service to our country, but sometimes he can make the wrong choices and he is almost 26 years old so I can't make things better for help and step in and help clean up the mess he gets himself into anymore. He is dealing with a marriage that should not have happen, his wife called him on the phone and told him she wanted a divorce and now she has changed her mind and wants a year seperation!!! I told him, son, you are deploying again in June, so she will have her year seperation. Our family is praying that he will make the right decision this time and just end the marriage now-I do not want him on the battlefield worrying about a wife that is not totally commited to him. YKWIM???

On a brighter note! I am the Vice President of the Foothills Chapter of NC of the Blue Star Mothers of America, Inc. We are a non-profit organization that support our soldiers and their families and honor our vetrans. We are planning a crop in June with the help of www.scrapbookroyalty.com
I am so exicted about this and hope it raises lots of money for our care packages and shipping to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Keep our family in your prayers!

It is Monday!!!

2008-11-10T15:35:00.001-05:00

Hello. Life has been very hetic around the wienee ranch lately! The Blue Star Mothers have been busy collecting items and funds to send Christmas care packages to soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq this year.
I have been battling bronchitis or a cold for a few weeks now and wish it would go away!
I signed up to become a Close to My Heart consultant and my consultant kit arrived last week and it is still sitting in my scraproom floor waiting to be unpacked. I have opened the box and took each package in their out and drooled over it but it has not been opened yet!! Darling Dana asked me where I was going to but all of that stuff. I informed her that my Christmas present this year is going to be a lap top from my darling hubby and the desk top computer and computer desk is coming out of my scraproom and I will have a whole lot of more space for another table or shelves-which ever I can get hubby to buy me or build for me.
I really want one of those old antique kitchen tables to go in my scraproom. For those of you who do not know me, I am a red, white, and blue obessed lady. My scraproom is decorated in those patriotic colors as well as copies of WWII posters.
I have recently discovered Splitcoaststampers.com and all the awesome talented ladies over there. Thanks to splitcoast, I have discovered My Favorite Things Stamps, Hannah Stamps, Taylored Expressions, and the list goes on and on. Oh ,and I have to have some copic markers and a class or two to learn how to color like that ladies do.
I also need tons of help on how to decorate my blog-so please feel free to help me with that!!!
I can't not update you on all the wienee's! Baby turned 14 on 10/10/08. We had her a little birthday party with the rest of the herd of doxies. She is loosing her sight and is getting thin, but she still has plenty of spunk. I call her my Granny girl. Pebbles is doing great after her surgery in July to remove bladder stones. She is running around chasing the younger doxies-but she is still our chunky girl! Sarge and Bella are our little couple, they are adoreable to watch and you can see the love they have for each other. Where one is the other is always there. The snuggle together to sleep and to relax on the sofa! Cocoa Puff is our chocolate and red long hair that is the daughter of Sarge and Bella who are both smooth haired doxies. She is our little monkey-my husband gets so upset for me calling her my chunky monkey-she is not chunky at all but it rhymes LOL.
Please remember to say a prayer for the soldiers and their families tonight! Also, if you are looking for a project to do for Christmas, please visit www.soldierangels.org or www.adoptaplatoon.org and adopt a soldier to send a care package to this Christmas. My son, is safe and sound back with the 173rd Airborne in Italy, but there are so many still serving in Iraq and Afghanistan this Christmas.
Have a wonderful stamping and scrapping day!