Thursday, December 1, 2011

ETC: Heart Touching

My husband's birthday was the weekend before Thanksgiving, Day one of our pilgrimage to Pittsburgh. I wanted to be sure it was duly noted given the craziness of the trip and the tightness of the budget. He deserves to have a special day, but he also understands that where we are special has limits.

At the same time, I want our kids - mostly Grace at this point, to learn how important it is to show others how special they are to you. I suppose I am sort of bias in this, because I teach her to do the things I would do to show someone they were special...but anyway. In the midst of packing and preparing, I made sure to take her with me to buy his gift even thought I could have ordered it on-line or gone while she was at school. She needs to see me to nice things for her daddy. Then we wrapped! And then she made his card.

This is the part that totally touched my heart...and it wasn't just that she had to make him numerous cards. And it wasn't just the sweet way she asked me to write things like "I love you, Daddy" so that she could copy them herself onto the card. She made him a birthday banner....Just like the one's I have made for her, and her brother and some very dear friends. She was so proud and so excited.

It meant so much to me that she saw what I do for her as a way to for her to show her daddy love. I love that she got it...with out me saying a word!


Check out the other ETC'ers over at The Anderson Crew!




Tuesday, November 29, 2011

I know it is Tuesday and I should have a treasury today…but this is a busy, busy week for this household (aren’t they all?) and I just couldn’t get into it. I started a few, but with no luck. There is just so much weighing on my heart.

Last weekend – the weekend before Thanksgiving – as we were packing the car to go on our annual Pittsburgh Pilgrimage our girl dog bit our 16 month old son.

He is doing fine now – thanks to a trip to the ER, strong antibiotics and consistent wound care.  All that considered, it still should never have happened.

Our girl dog is a sweet, beautiful black lab and greyhound mix. She is sensitive and protective. She is excitable and affectionate. We adopted her from a rescue organization just weeks after we got married. She was supposed to be my husband’s dog, since we had a dog already that was very much my dog. She quickly became my dog though.

 Maybe it was her fear of men that pushed her to me. She was beaten- we assume by a man, probably with a broom or a stick. The man probably smoked. She has a strong negative reaction anytime she smells cigarette smoke.

When I was pregnant she would lie next to me on the bed with her head on my belly, or snuggled up behind my knees. She was on constant guard when the baby arrived. Any noise from the nursery and she was to the nearest person alerting them that something needed to be done, her baby was in need.

She did great through our daughter’s toddler years, but we were in a house with lots of room for her kennel and a bed for her, and a huge fenced yard for her to escape to.

The past few months with her have been rough, or at least I can see that in hindsight. She spent the summer with the kids and me at my parents. She had a nice yard to be in – away from all the hustle and bustle of the kids.  Back home, though it is a yard-less townhouse with less space and more activity.  I can say now looking back she was not happy, she was on constant edge.

Our son is walking, chatting and getting into everything including her space. I didn’t realize how uneasy it made her. Our boy dog is slow to react and when he does react it is to simply get up and walk away.  Not the girl dog. She seemed torn between wanting the affection (toddler pats and rubs, sometimes with toys) and wanting to be left alone. We never left the dogs and kids alone together, and we worked with our son to teach him gentle and when to leave the dogs alone. Learning those things is a slow process.

And so we reach that Saturday…The dogs were anxious as we packed the car thinking they were going. The kids were playing upstairs with my mom so they weren’t under foot as things were carted to the car and the last of the chores finished up. Somehow in all of that the girl dog had all that she could take and bit our son, puncturing through the external part of his ear and leaving several gashes.

This weekend, when we returned from our trip, my husband took the girl dog back to the organization we adopted her through. We had been in touch with them almost immediately after the bite and they were gracious enough to take her, as was indicated in the adoption paperwork.  

Our first responsibility as parents is to keep our kids safe. We want animals, dogs especially to be a part of our home and our children’s childhood, but it has to be safely.  We also have a responsibility to our pets to provide them an environment that they can thrive in, and our home just wasn’t that for the girl dog. I feel foolish that we didn’t recognize it sooner, and blessed that in the end all to show for the mistake will be a few small scars on our sons ear.

Looking back I feel that she was never truly at easy or comfortable with us, and maybe she will never be like that with anyone in any home, but I hope that is not that the case. I pray that there is someone with a big heart and quite home that needs the girl dog as much as she needs a quite place and someone to love. I pray that they find each other quickly, as I don’t know how well the girl dog will weather being kept in a kennel.



Sister Mary Marley Louise O’Jones…. She is no longer a part of our household, but she will always be a part of my heart. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Tuesday Treasure with maybe a hint of Made of Monday

Just over a week until Thanksgiving. Just a two days until my folks get here, and then the next day we are off!

The sound track of Thanksgiving travel is running through my head:
Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go…
On the road again….
Oh there’s no place like home for the holidays….Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie…

But then home is here – not there. Oh, there are things about there that are home – the people, the food, the time together, and the sense of heritage. I find myself walking a fine line between here and there.  The older I get the less connection I have to the place, though the connections to the people don’t dwindle, or at least the desire for the connection.

I love my family, but for nearly 25 years we have lived some place far away. Not some insurmountable distance, but far enough that daily life goes on. Other family moves. Kids grow up. Life happens. I am so thankful for all the technology that has continued to keep us connected so much better than long distance telephone calls and handwritten letters!

This week’s Tuesday Treasure is called On going Home. It is all about the things that come to mind as we prepare to journey to the “homeland”. 
  • ·         The pumpkin pie and sled from the songs we would sing on the way.
  • ·         The Steeler’s paraphernalia that gets packed and worn with pride while we are there among fellow fans.
  • ·         Tokens of the travel- Construction barrels that litter the turnpike!
  • ·         Images of the places we will see along the way and visit while we are there.


If you are traveling this Thanksgiving, I pray for safe travels for you. If you will spend your time with family, I pray for peace and joy for you. If you find yourself far from home and without family, count yourself blessed! No, I pray for you, too!

Enjoy this weeks treasure!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Tuesday Treasures...Turkey!

Thanksgiving is two weeks away...I can not wrap my head around that - that and everything that has to happen before and then in the wake of our thanksgiving pilgrimage to visit family...Regardless if I am prepared mentally or otherwise Thanksgiving will arrive...and with it BIG FAT TURKEYS!

Grace has been signing all about those BIG FAT TURKEYS, as she learns songs for the school program. It makes me chuckle. I love it!

I love Thanksgiving. For years it was the big holiday for me - the time when we traveled to be with family, and family gathered together. Sometime, Christmas gifts were exchanged early. There were always crafts and shopping and TURKEY!

Okay so really my favorite part of Thanksgiving is the stuffing...but there is no stuffing without... Turkey...

So here it is...this weeks treasure is turkey in all its Thanksgiving grandness...

Enjoy!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Free Advice Friday

It is my turn ladies…looking for some free advice this Friday!

What do you do with failure?
Does it harden your resolve?
Do you try again?
Do you blame others? Do you blame yourself?
Do you move on?
Do you change courses?
Does it paralyze you? Or does it light a fire for you?

I find myself not failing, but not really succeeding either, in an overall sense. I see changes that need to be made. I see things that need improved, but I find myself unable to make the changes, unable to find a place to start and feel like “This is possible”.

 I may just be on the verge of becoming a hoarder, or worse…Maybe I am just not a perfectly clean house kind of girl, but it feels so good when the house is that kind of clean. And maybe I am just not a blog everyday and run an Etsy shop kind of girl, but if feels so good when it is happening. And maybe I am just not meant to be wife, mother and student. And maybe I am just not as organized and together as everyone thinks I am…maybe I am just not who I always thought I was…but where does this leave me? What of everything on my plate does God want for me and from me? And what if what He wants for me isn’t even on my plate, yet? Then what do it do with all of “this”?

Okay…well, ladies…any advice…

I think I might go start throwing things away!

Happy Friday!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

ETC - Embrace the Camera

It was her first time playing Checkers.
The first few moves she had me worried...
I wasn't sure I could beat her!
This week embracing the camera was hard for me...yes, its hard a lot of weeks, but this week I didn't get in front of the camera. I wanted to capture the happiness of my kids, not how very alone I have been feeling this week....it was such a blessing to have friends join us for dinner tonight.



Not sure what this face is about?
He sure did like climbing in and out of the chairs.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Tuesday Treasures...32

So now that I am 32, I thought that 32 would make a great treasury...WRONG!

I really had to work hard to find things that had 32 in the description and appealed to me.

Oh it could have all been paintings or photographs or baby blankets...but i am made of so much more than that!

A few of this weeks listing were sort of pushing the 32...I included things that were 32 count or .32 or 3.2...or that were in a shop that had a listing that had 32 in the description...but 32 is what it is...

and so are Tuesday Treasures! Enjoy!