Apple Halves Salt and Pepper Shakers

Just in time for back to school!
Etsy seller: http://www.candyapplecrafts.etsy.com
These vintage apple salt and pepper shakers would make a wonderful gift for the teacher!
They are super cute too. :)

This week’s prize and contest is…

This week you can win a bar of our cold processed soap, a handmade crocheted (by me) star washcloth and a 2 oz. bottle of lotion in the same scent as the soap!

You have up to three chances to win! (Make each comment a seperate post.)
1) Follow my blog and comment. That’s entry number one! If you already are a follower just post “I already follow!”.
2) Go to my shop at http://www.cosmiccleanbody.etsy.com/ , click on the cold processed soaps option on the left and then come back here tell me what your favorite scent is!
3) Last way to score a chance to win… tell me which scent I DON”T carry that you’d like to see carried in the future.

It’s that easy! The winner will be picked by random drawing on Saturday.
Rules: You need only be a follower of my blog, be a US or Canadian resident and complete this week's contest requirements to be eligible to win.

Good luck!

Summer is almost over...

Jake in the new playroom.

I had a really bad week last week. Things are looking better but it makes you take stock and puts things in perspective. Some things that I thought were important last week just aren’t that significant anymore. Things that seemed miniscule now are priority. Funny how things like that work out…
Joseph registers for the 11th grade tomorrow. Both he and Jake start school on the 7th of September. My baby boy will be going to kindergarten. Who gave him permission to grow?! Luckily it’s afternoon kindergarten… so I get one more year before I have to fight with him to get out of bed in the morning. ;)
We have most of the school shopping done. Jake went with a Buzz Lightyear theme. He got the shoes, backpack and had to have the umbrella too. And he literally has four bags of school supplies. A little ridiculous if you ask me… I mean seriously, two dozen glue sticks?! I better see a lot of glued projects coming home.
Johnna is truly crushed she can’t go to school too. So if you live on our street and hear her screaming her pretty little head off everyday on the way home from taking Jake to the bus stop… well now you know why.

This week’s menu:
Sunday – homemade chicken soup
Monday – leftover soup and sandwich
Tuesday – tuna salad lettuce wraps
Wednesday – Pork loin, rice and veggie
Thursday – grilled chicken with pesto pasta and garlic bread
Friday – ffy (fend for yourself)
Saturday – Oven baked whole chicken, stuffing and veggie

And now for some exciting news…
New weekly giveaways starting tomorrow! Every Monday I will post a new goodie to be given away that week. Prizes could come from any of my shops! You need only be a follower of my blog, be a US or Canadian resident and complete that weeks contest requirements to be eligible to win. Stay tuned for this week’s prize!

This week I’m thankful for friends that just listen. Thank you.

Back and even better than before!

The sky over my house the night of my 17th wedding anniversary.

Since I am on my road to recovery and reopening my shops I thought I best get my dupa in gear and start blogging again.
I’d like to thank everyone for the words of encouragement and well wishes while I recover. I still have a long road ahead but I feel better everyday. I get to wear this lovely back brace until October but it’s not nearly as bad as the neck brace was so I’m enduring.
While recuperating I have managed to eek out a few new things. I had big aspirations of listing them all on Monday but I think I’ll just take it slow and list 3-4 new things per shop per day. Even that seems a little daunting so we’ll see how it goes.

John has been a cleaning/organizing machine while I’ve been laid up. It’s almost like he was waiting until I couldn’t move so he could do it his way. As much as I hate to admit it, he’s done a fabulous job. So I’m just letting him continue to do his thang.

John and I celebrated 17 years of marriage this past Friday.
John made it very special.
We’ve actually been together for nearly 25 years. Hard to believe, isn’t it?!
I hope we make it at least 50 more.

This week’s menu:
Sunday – Homemade meatball subs and chips
Monday – Sandwich Night – MYO (make your own)
Tuesday – Whole baked herb chicken and salad
Wednesday – Red beans, rice and sausage
Thursday – Pizza (takeout)
Friday – FFY (fend for yourself)
Saturday – Irish chicken and dumplings

Tomorrow I’ll start listing new things. Watch for them!
This week I’m thankful for all of you. Thank you!

SALE!

Going under the knife SALE! Save 25% off your order (excluding shipping) in any of my shops until midnight Wednesday! Just type “NOTHINGAFTERMIDNIGHT” in the comments to seller at checkout and await a revised invoice before payment. My shops will then close until I have sufficiently recovered.

Wonder who her neurosurgeon is...

The date has been set. Friday I will be transformed…
They will make me stronger…faster… think this will make me taller?! Now that would be something. ;)
Tomorrow the “man” is coming to fit my short squat neck with a lovely brace. Am I the only one all weirded out that this person drives around making house calls measuring necks?
You can be darn sure John will be here. Sorry, any guy with a vehicle full of neck appliances gives me the creeps. I think I’ve watched too many episodes of CSI…
Anyways, afterwards we are treating the munchkins to happy meals while I go to the hospital and give them even more of my blood. Anyone want to take bets on how many times they stick me this time?
Waiting for John to get home… having speedies for dinner and he’s manning the grill. That would be marinated pork tenderloin, onion and pepper kebobs served on a hoagie for non-upstate NYers.
Posting a sale for all my shops soon… stay tuned.

Humpty Dumpty…

Yup, that’s me…
Sure I’ve fallen… but not that hard! Yet, I am definitely broken… severely in fact.
I’m so not happy about this… but there isn’t much I can do about the situation now. It’s all in the doctors and God’s hands. OY!
Basically I have a couple of ruptured discs in my spine. The one that hurts, in my lower back, doesn’t concern the doctors right now. It’s the one in my neck, that doesn’t hurt, that has them scheduling emergency surgery this week.
The fact that my neck causes me no pain seems to concern and worry them even more. Oh, and the loss of balance. I just figured that was a sign I was getting older… From the MRI scans you can see a disc has ruptured and all the jelly like stuff is pushing so hard against my spinal cord that you can barely see any fluid. There also has been some damage to the spinal cord but they won’t know to what extent until they see it. So, they plan on going in, removing the offending disc and replacing it with a shiny new metal one and throwing in a handy dandy screw or two.
I have been prescribed a soft neck brace for the time being and have to wear it whenever I am standing or out of bed. They are afraid if I fall even once I could be paralyzed from the neck down. No car rides, no lifting… just waiting for the call.
Seriously?! It just can never just be an easy solution, can it? John says to think of it as a vacation. Uh huh… I’m thinking scraping road kill off of I-75 for a day may be more enjoyable. Almost forgot the best part… they’ll be doing the lower back about six weeks after... lucky, lucky me. *sigh*
I’ll be shutting my shops down as soon as I am told what day they’ll be fixing me. I’ll be back in business just as soon as I learn to function with the gorgeous hard neck brace I’ll have to sport for a minimum of 6 weeks.
The true lesson from this whole experience is that if you feel there is something wrong, don’t wait and endure, no matter how tolerant you are of the pain. I’m being told that I’m very, very fortunate right now that I’m still walking... scary thought, eh?

On to more pleasant things! FOOD!
This week’s menu:

Sunday – Sausage, pepper and potato skillet.
Monday – Speedies and chips.
Tuesday – Hot dogs and baked beans.
Wednesday – Hamburger gravy over rice and veggie.
Thursday – Pizza (takeout).
Friday – Linguini with clam sauce and garlic bread.
Saturday – Burritos and Mexican rice.

So today I’m just plain thankful!
Someone please remind me of this next week when I’m not…