cherry kingdom

2012-01-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

One Twelve Two Thousand Twelve, 1-12-2012, One Month Twelve Days Two Thousand and Twelve Years. How many ways can we describe our days? Where do we begin? Where did we begin? What are the beliefs, the actions, the raw of the emotions that have brought us to this moment? Our birth, our awakenings, our longings to grow are molecular. The stretching pain that we resist is palpable only to our own heart beat.

Testing, testing, 1 2 3 ....

2012-01-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

http://magicjelly.com.au/blog/

Ok... I've been trying to click the little red shoes but they must be on the blink, just like this blog!! Admittedly I had disappeared for a short while, (well maybe a little longer than short) yes life goes on and technology races faster than a speeding bullet, but really? If anyone has visited this blog since I last posted, you may be thinking "what the what?" Blogspot decided to upgrade evidently and now just look at my page, my background, my sidebar elements that used to be on the 'side'... HELLO... are now at the bottom of my page. What happened to my two column minima? What the heck happened to everything? Is anyone else having issues with this besides me?

Something that will never change is my love of vintage illustration. Check out the really super duper cool site link above for 'Magic Jelly'

Tally hoe until next time....

Finding Christmas in Christmas Past...

2011-12-08T07:20:00.001-08:00

I was thinking this morning that my love of 'Nutcrackers' may be a little known fact. I'm not quite sure why I love them so, but I have since I was a child. Although I never had my very own until I was a young adult, married with children and putting up my own Christmas decorations.

http://german-steinbach-nutcrackers.com/2010-steinbach-nutcrackers.html

Marley's Ghost

Every year since, I have tried to add only one to my collection no matter how big or small. Did you know that nutcrackers have been allegedly around since the 15th century and originated in Germany and that 'Steinbach's' are one of the most sought after?

William Shakespeare

While I don't have any 'themed' nutcrackers such as these made by Steinbach... (Wowza $) I love all my little traditional nutcrackers just the same... although I like all of these very much too, esp. the Wizard. I wonder if I would ever incorporate him into my collection, I tend to be a purest in certain things Christmas. Did you know there is a 'Nutcracker Museum' in Washington? And the 'Nutcracker Lady' curator of the museum opened Conan Obrien's first show on TBS?

The Wizard of Oz

It has occurred to me to try making one in years past...but this year I may actually give one a try with AH's help... It also may be a little known fact that AH has 'mad' carpentry skills. And ironically enough "so" patient with the details and 'patient' is never a word that I would use to describe him...but the quality of his work is amazing. Now that I'm saying this, it makes me wonder if that's why he likes making gingerbread houses so much??

36" Nutcracker

The 36" nutcracker above is almost exactly like last years addition to my collection, the only difference is in the hat...mine as a black fake fur hat with a emerald and feather affixed to the front. I was so excited the day I brought him home. I got him for a steal, already on sale plus a store coupon made him almost free...I would have never paid full price for him no matter how much I loved him and I do love him! He is the biggest nutcracker I have...the rest are all sorts of shapes and sizes. AH has gradually over the last couple of days been sorting Christmas boxes for me so we can figure out what exactly will fit in our wee little cottage. He had set last years nutcracker beside the kitchen hutch and as I was looking at him last night I asked AH how easy he thought it would be for us to try making one, for which he replied happily but cautiously, 'easy'. He then reminded me how close to Christmas we are and gave me a small but caring lecture about my tendency to take on 'too' much and the consequences for me which usually = me being in bed for at least a day and depending sometimes longer. Appreciating the thought I assured him I wouldn't be a crazy lady and push it, I said this could be this years addition and if it's not finished by Christmas it would be ok... so to be cont... Hopefully I will have pics to post of the process.
Until then... I hope your having a blessed day.

My search for Christmas...

2011-12-03T08:53:00.001-08:00

http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2011_11_01_archive.html

Have you ever seen a recipe for 'candy coal' before? That Heather Baird is just so original and clever.

I'm so sorry that I didn't save the link for this pic when I saved the pic... ugh. I apologize to the owner profusely, I like to give credit where credit is due... and thank you. None the less I wanted to share bc. in my search for Christmas I am looking for inspiration and I think this would be awesome turned into a Christmas Family Recipe book. No? Actually, I wish I hadn't taken such a long hiatus bc had I not I would have tried to organize a small swap about a month or so ago, wouldn't it be awesome to do a family recipe custom cookbook swap with this inspiration? Originally I thought I might make this for a certain girls 'housewarming' gift but I may have changed my mind. Speaking of gift giving, food and Christmas, check out 'Just Something I Made', Cathe is sharing free download labels.

http://justsomethingimade.com/

It's been too long...

2011-12-01T09:35:00.001-08:00

"Where Are You Christmas"

Where are you Christmas

Why can't I find you

Why have you gone away

Where is the laughter

You used to bring me

Why can't I hear music play

My world is changing

I'm rearranging

Does that mean Christmas changes too?

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. The months have flown by with winds of change gusting and leaving me to gasp for breath. Everything has changed. The environment, my family, my home and along with it my thoughts, my core, my purpose, every fiber of myself. Is that possible? A life time unraveled? It's hard to explain, a million and one cliche's pop into my head and while we all know that change is enevitable, I once lived with a certain amount of certainty that only now I see was niave. I do not let go easily and am exhausted from gripping so tightly. I have fought, cried, screamed and kicked my way to where I am now, letting go with a clean slate which is perhaps the most terrifying place of all to find myself.

This is now my front yard or sometimes I call it my living room attached to a wee little cottage in the middle of a fog forest filled with giant red wood trees. The purpose was to pull back from life, to heal, to remove myself from chaos. I discovered that this is life, the earth from which I sprang and so long ago forgotten in the middle of concrete and possesion.

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

Henry David Thoreau

Amelia Elizabeth

We had a new additon to our family in September, my son had his first child and I have to say that still it feels quite surreal. It's amazing how life forces on wether you are ready or not you don't really get a choice. I used to think I had control over a certain amount of things, I now know that only fools assume control and only the blessed live blissfully with such thoughts. Therefore by the grace of God go I. I have lived to quickly, without hesitation, franticly pursuing my days as if they were unnumbered. I was thoughtless in how I spent energy, time, money and persuasion. Only now as new life forces I am reminded again the childhood lessons taught to us in ryhme and song.

Baby girl, Joan (the best realtor on the planet) and Travis on final inspection day.

Baby girl has been going through her own growing pains and has jumped into the world of adulthood with a new job, a new home and trying to navigate her future and where her path should lead her. I try to think of wisdom to impart and it quite escapes me and given the barometer of change in my life right now the only thing I know for certain is that no matter how painful... life does renew itself, it is only up to us to embrace it. I hope any of you out there who may still find your way back to visit Cherry Kingdom again are well and blessed.

Let them eat Cake! Let me eat this cake!

2011-05-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share just a little sweetness.... 'Sprinkle Bakes' and Heather Baird has allowed me to do so. If Cherry Kingdom were to throw a party the 'Crown Jewel Cake' would be the dessert. How amazing is this cake? Perfect, impressive summertime dessert and best of all you can click on the pic and get step by step details for how to make this. Thanks Heather!

Happy Easter Morning

2011-04-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter Morning

How adorable are these cute little tags? My new friend Nan from Alaska sent these to me. Nan's blog is called 'Retired in Alaska' and she has many fascinating things to share, not to mention beautiful pictures of the environment she is surrounded by...so lovely.

I hope you have a blessed Easter day surrounded by all whom you love!

XOXO

Keke

Babies on my mind...

2011-04-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

You may have already checked out the button in my side bar for this new non-profit I'm starting...what started as a compelling urge that wouldn't go away to help the children in Japan has turned into a walk of faith and the unknown. If I told you a series of things happened to make me believe this prompting to be divine inspiration would you think I was crazy? It's ok if you do...sometimes I think I am. In any case, I thought of every reason to deny this prompting mainly being my Dystonia and then talked to Mitzi to see if she thought I was crazy...her reply, "so what if it wasn't divine inspiration...you'd still be doing something nice." True enough, and Project Baby Bird was born. The idea is comfort for mama's and babies in devastating situations...I had already given money to a couple of sites...and still a voice inside my head was saying it's not enough....and then random things kept happening, and then other people started telling me that they too had felt the same way. So while my impatience gives way to letting things happen in God's time I only hold on to faith that it will and miraculously, Project Baby Bird seems to have a life of it's own...to my amazement. Since the start of Project Baby Bird I have been sick more than not and trying to sort out life with Dystonia prevents me from spending the time I think it deserves or I'm compelled to give, even though it's physically not possible...it continues. Contributions large and small continue to come and at times has touched me so deeply I couldn't stop the tears from falling for the shear love, generosity and the humanity of it all...and maybe that is why I'm supposed to do this. Dystonia has tried to wreck my life for nearly three years now, and honestly I was losing my faith in humanity, the Hippocratic oath and at times in God if you want to know the truth of it...How could a God that loved me let me hurt so much? And then they come, others who stand in the gap to let me know all is not lost and goodness does exist. So if you feel inclined to do so, please click on the baby bird in my side bar to read a little more, and 'little' is the key word since I've had a hard time getting posting done. None the less you'll get the idea. The question is..."If everything was lost and all you managed to grab was your baby in your arms what would you need?" More importantly, what would bring you and your baby comfort? I know there are organizations out there providing food, water, shelter...but beyond that, what would bring you comfort? So I thought totes...what else would you carry your rice in after you stood in line for three or more hours to get it with your arms full of baby? And then, something soft like a stuffie for a child to hug, maybe baby bottles, baby food, baby wipes...there for the Grace of God go I...can you imagine having nothing to care for your little ones? I can only realize the desperation one would feel, and If I received such a gift from a perfect stranger half a world away, the hope I would feel that I matter and someone actually cares....

Speaking of babies...the new baby in our family is now a month old and I can hardly believe it...I look at him and it seems that only yesterday I was a new mama holding my own with all the dreams and possibilities in the world resting in their eyes. For my faithful followers the answer is yes...Mitzi is smitten!

And so dear friends...just a little catch up and hope that I will speak with you again sooner rather than later...I hope that you are blessed with long days of sunshine and abounding joy.

Keke

Have You Met Mary Jane?

2011-03-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

Click HERE to meet Mary Jane. You'll be charmed I'm sure.

This is what was in my email waiting for me...I love the Mary Jane newsletters. Did I ever tell you I was raised on a farm? Did I ever tell you that when I was a kid all I dreamed of was leaving that farm that was in a one horse midwest town? Yup! That's right, I was moving to San Francisco and I was going to be an architect or a lawyer.... It took me 25 years and I only got it about half right....Did I ever tell you that NOW...all I can think about is having my own little farm in the loveliest place on earth!! Click on the pic to go to the Mary Jane's Project of the Week page.

Project of the Week

Make Your Own Seed Starters
What you’ll need:

• Used newspaper

• A tin can

Creating starter pots from newspaper is cheap, easy, and environmentally savvy. Just take a sheet of newspaper and fold it so that it’s about the height of a can of veggies. Then roll your can in the paper. Slip the paper a couple of inches down off the bottom of the can, and fold it in against the can as you would a roll of coins. Fill with potting soil and sow your seeds. When the seedlings sprout, you can plant the whole thing in the garden, where the newspaper will decompose!

I'm dreaming of spring and knee deep in a nine point promise to God while I'm trying to get back on my feet again...

I hope your day was abundantly blessed!

XO Keke

Is that a Cherry or an Apple?

2011-03-12T23:24:00.000-08:00

I was in the book store about three weeks ago and I found this awesome magazine from the U.K. I can not tell you how many times I've poured over the pages of this magazine...like a sloppy bucket of crazy I am simply mad for it!!

Unlike a lot of other DIY magazines on the market, for some reason, this one just speaks to me. My favorite thing about this magazine is the term 'maker'.

I spent the first twenty years of my life designing and making folk art, dolls, primitives, etc... yet I always had a hard time calling myself a 'folk artist'. Never mind the fact that my designs were taken to show in Chicago and other places around the country,I had a pretty sturdy following and received calls almost daily from prominent folk art stores for my wares... I didn't have the confidence to define myself.

I think I was hung up on the term 'artist'...It felt presumptuous to call myself as such. All these years later, although I dibble in this and that and no longer sell for profit I still struggle by the same definition, until now. It's taken 27 yrs to know how to describe myself or what I do... I am indeed a 'Maker'. I love that term!! There is no pressure to claim to be an artist, as if the word 'artist' by definition demands some type of approval or credibility. I'm simply a 'Maker'. No less no more. I also absolutely adore that this mag is called 'Making'.
I couldn't wait to try a pattern, and since I've seem to have forgotten how to crochet, which totally blows my mind since I use to crochet like a mad woman when I was a teenager, here I am trying to remember...trying to retrain myself, and we won't even discuss how my attempt to learn knitting is coming along... I read the pattern, of course I can do this, easy peasy, hands down. And when I was all done....

THIS!

Is what my attempt to make THIS turned out like... ughhh...sighhhhh... Is it an apple or a cherry? None the less since it's the size of a ping pong ball I'm most likely not going to be wearing it proudly on my sweater any day soon!! Practice is as practice does...I shan't give up, only take a deep breath and try try again. In the meantime, if you want to have a better look at this awesome magazine go HERE.

Until tomorrow...

May your day be filled with rainbows!

XO Keke

aka: 'A Maker

2011-03-11T21:47:00.000-08:00

In light of today's events I can only offer prayer to the people of Japan.

May God bless them and keep them.

I don't know if you've noticed, but I placed a button at the top of my page for the victims in Christchurch. It seemed like a lovely idea, and now we are faced with the tragedy in Japan. A few years ago I remember seeing a news program where someone in another country, I don't even remember which crisis that it was now, had stated that Americans were self absorbed and do not care what happens to the rest of the world.

It stung me, as I know I care and I know that comment was not true. I was only reminded a few months ago of this attitude when I went to a cardiologist with AH. This cardiologist from a different nation decided in a very coy manor to ask AH who the prime minister of Canada was, and then who was the president of Mexico? I'm not sure how these questions were related to AH's examination but the memory and sting of that news story came back to me in an instant. Please excuse me, but for an alleged educated man...he was plain and simply an ignorant bias ass! After his questions were answered, he then saw fit to give AH a stress test that I'm happy to report came back fine. But I've digressed ....sorry.

My thought tonight was in this economy it's very difficult for average Americans to know what to do. Most do good to buy the essentials. When I was surfing the other day, I found 'Red Gingham' by Sarah of New Zealand and she offered that we in the hand made community might offer to donate a hand made item that would do nothing more than offer comfort to her countrymen. I am reminded of how many times I lament that our society isn't as thoughtful or respectful as it once was.... I am not a millionaire but I can write a kind note, a prayer, crochet a pair of slippers or a scarf, maybe a stuffie for a child.

And now Japan...which brings me to thinking a movement of the hand made community to do the same. I'm curious if any one else would be interested? Just a thought. I remember after 911 the news stories of so many from other countries who wept beside us. Not governments offering aid, or diplomats and politicians, but actual every day people like you and I. I remember the comfort of not feeling like we were alone, that someone so far away would care. The humanity of it all...

Please leave me your thoughts...in the meantime, go HERE if you would like an update on Christchurch and in the coming days as I work on my humble offerings of comfort and find out more about Japan I will post more information.

Bunnies and Lambs are Dancing in my Head!

2011-03-10T20:18:00.000-08:00

I know Easters a little late this year but bunnies and lambs and all kinds of things are jumping around in my head!! Check out the pic below and tell me that's not the cutest funniest little cookies you ever saw.

How adorable are these cookies? Apparently all you have to do is dip a cookie in melted white chocolate candy coating and cover with miniature marshmallows. Dip chocolate m&m's in a bit of the melted chocolate to add for hoofs. Using more melted chocolate add a cookie for the head, mini marshmallow eyes with mini chips for the pupil. Squish mini mallows for the ears and attach. As soon as I'm back on my feet I'm going to try these and show you how they turned out. In the meantime if you click on the pic it should take you to the complete instructions from Southern Living.Com along with a lot of other amazing ideas for spring.

I hope you had an abundant day today flooded with rivers of blessings.

I heart U.
Keke

La Vie En Rose

2011-03-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

One of the best things you can do when the world is storming around you is to pause.

-Mitch Thrower

Pink makes me happy.

I hope it makes you happy too.

Click on the pictures to take you to happy places.

Give yourself permission to pause...if only for a moment.

XO Keke

Steampunk

2011-03-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

Steampunk?

This wasn't the original post I'd planned on sharing today. I'm actually working on a tutorial for things I made with that cute little 'Old Mac Donald' wrapping paper from

"Waddlin' Onion Designs" that I shared with you on this post for

"The ShelbyR Foundation."

Unfortunately, I was a little under the weather today, coupled with a trip to the doctor's office that took most of the day...needless to say I've spent the rest of the day surfing in my nest.

Which brings us to this.... I've been noticing a lot of 'Makers' (I'll explain that term in a future post I have planned.) have been advertising certain items they've been making or selling as Steampunk. The researcher in me, (you can take a puppy off the porch but you can't keep her from running back home...) forced me to dive head first into the land of Steampunk.

I'm curiously excited to tell you it's been an awesome visit. Some where between past and future in an alternate universe you land in Steampunk. Just in case your wondering...YES, OH YES! I would wear this dress in the most beautiful place on earth...and just in case you want to, you can find it HERE. They call it a two piece traveling suit, and since I'm trying to travel back to the most beautiful place on earth I must have this! Besides, AH has long called me Ms. Poppins so it's very fitting.

I've found a myriad of Steampunk art in every form imaginable. I can tell you for certain that if I show AH that pocket watch he will want it for himself! I on the other hand want the necklace! They call it 'The Duellist Cantosonic Wave Gun', and while I'm dreaming of wanting...I so want that Steampunk lap top pictured above!

After all of my research on this topic today I think I love it because it embraces the past with wonder and curiosity wiliest giving birth to all magical futuristic possibility.

Have you ever heard of Dr. Who?

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television program produced by the BBC which began filming in 1963. The program depicts the adventures of a mysterious and eccentric time lord known as the 'Doctor' who travels through time and space in his time machine, the TARDIS (an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space), which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s British police box. In any case, I read today that Dr. Who was Steampunk before the term or this counter culture existed.

I also have to say, (sorry William Hartnell) the 'Doctors' have improved with the passing episodes.

Do you know that Amazon.com offers 44 Steampunk Art Books? Who knew.

Would you wear these glasses? While I don't exactly fit the 'Wiki' definition of Steampunk...

I think I've been a Steampunker for a very long time, and the above images remind me of so many childhood illustrations from the story books I remember reading. I guess I just discovered one more layer of self defined.

I also found the work most makers describe as Steampunk does not fit into Steampunk in the classic sense as defined. But then again, can one ever define art? Is not art that burning deep inside... so deep inside you that words can not define?

Could you be a 'Steampunker'?

XO Keke

The Winner Is..... Drum Roll Please....

2011-03-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

To all who supported Olivia... we would both like to thank you ever so much for your kindness.

Without further ado and with the help of RandomList.Org

The winner of 'The Big I Love You Give Away' is ...

Patti from 'Creative Cottage Dreamer'

Congratulations!

Thanks again and blessings on your day!

XO Keke

One More Prize and 'The Big I Love You Give Away'

2011-03-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

I have one more prize to share today...
Meet baby Max. Only we won't be giving this prize away for all the votes in the world!

For my faithful friends, Mitzi is now a grammy... For new visitors...

Meet my big sister Mitzi and her first grandchild...

Today was a pretty special day.

Baby Max is such a lucky little man....All of the beauties surrounding him above is his new aunts and they have been waiting forever and a day (and all last night) to get their hands on him....

I love this picture...Mama watching her baby hold her baby...

And baby makes three...what a lovely little family...

Once again I have to give credit where credits due...Huge thanks to 'Liv in the Moment Photography' for providing me these pictures to live vicariously through since I live thousands of miles away... I heart you.

Speaking of...

Remember all of these prizes for the 'Big I Love You Give Away'?

Go HERE..Click on the little thumb...that's all you have to do, close the page.
Leave a comment stating you voted for Olivia.

Later...I will be posting the winner of 'The Big I Love You Give Away'.

Thanks to all of you for your support...it meant the world to Olivia.

XO Keke

The Big I Love You Give Away - Count Down Days 3,2,1

2011-03-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

Time flies when your having fun!

I can't believe we're down to the final days of 'The Big I Love You Give Away'...

Day #3 add in is this really awesome book 'Paper + Pixel' if you want to see inside it go HERE.

What makes this book so awesome is the well laid out instructions for the beginner and the CD that comes with it in the back that is filled with digital images for you to use. I bought two, one for me and one for you...and I already know it's going to take my scrapbook and collection of memories to another level.

Day #2 add in is this awesome book on ribbon crafts. If you want to read more about it you can go HERE.

You will love the sweet little projects in this book. From simple ribbon beads to an awesome how to on party lighting...I just know your going to love this book!

And, as all good things must come to an end... our last add in for the 'Big I Love You Give Away' is this awesome little alligator made for you by Bodecia Arietty Zinglehamper.

If you need a smile today go HERE. Bodecia's writing style and sense of humor is over the top, I highly recommend you put her on your daily places to visit...what's that saying...'a happy heart doth good like medicine...' Ms. Zinglehamper is good medicine!

Which brings us to how you can win 'The Big I Love You Give Away'...

The goal: To help my niece Olivia win scholarship money

Go HERE and click on the little thumb. That's all you have to do to vote for Olivia, close the page.
Leave a comment on this post or Olivia's 10oth post stating that you voted.
Post about this give away on your blog.

That's all! Easy Peasy right? About five seconds of your time and you could win an awesome humongous prize while your helping the most awesome person on the planet win scholarship money! I think that signals a 'win-win'!

' And just in case you forgot...here's a collage of all the prizes....

XO Keke

'The Big I Love You Give Away - Day 4

2011-03-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited about today's add in to 'The Big I Love You Give Away'.

Have you seen these yet? Finally a travel cup for the tea totaler...it even has a removable strainer! And to make it extra special, I even made a cute little cup huggie for it...can you see the cute little flower buttons?

And don't forget all of these great prizes ...

And all of these...

With three more prizes yet to be posted...

Which makes 'The Big I Love You Give Away' a humongous prize package...

And it's so easy to win!!!

The goal: To help my niece Olivia win scholarship money.

All you have to do is...

Go HERE and click on the little thumb to vote for Olivia's essay. Just click the little thumb and your done. Close the page.

Leave a comment on this post or Olivia's 100th post telling us you voted for her.

Post about 'The Big I Love You Give Away' on your blog.

That's it...easy peasy!

It only takes about 5 seconds and then your name will be entered to win 'The Big I Love You Give Away'! Oh I do hope you'll play!

Have a blessed and abundant day!

Keke

'The Big I Love You Give Away -Day 5 and 6 With 5 Days, 2 Hours and 15 Minutes Left to Vote as of this Posting

2011-03-01T09:46:00.001-08:00

"The true beloveds of this world are in their lover's eye's lilacs opening, ship lights, school bells, a landscape, remembered conversations, friends, a child's Sunday... - Truman Capote

I think this photograph above is exactly what Truman Capote remembers when he thinks of lilacs. Lilacs a spring time promise, another gift to ignite our senses remembering God's promise of renewal. (When you first saw this photograph could you smell lilacs?) It is also another gift, (photographed by Olivia), for day six of 'The Big I Love You Give Away'. This beautiful 8x10 print will come matted and ready to hang on your wall (minus the 'Liv in the Moment Photography' stamp) .

Day number 5 add in for 'The Big I Love You Give Away' is a bundle of vintage papers, cards and ephemera. Perfect for your next project, I particularly love the vintage shredded wheat story card.

For those of you just visiting for the first time... I am hosting 'The Big I Love You Give Away' in an effort to help my niece Olivia win scholarship money. Every day for the last 10 days I have added another prize to the give away. I have 4 more day's of prizes to reveal.

This is a collage of the prizes so far...

The requirements for 'The Big I Love You Give Away' are easy peasy.

Go HERE and click on the little thumb. That's it...close the page
Leave a comment stating you voted for Olivia here or on Olivia's 100th post.
Post about 'The Big I Love You Give Away' on your blog.

That's it! On Monday I will be collecting every one's name who voted and by use of the random number generator, one person will win this humongous prize package. (valued at over $200.00)

I hope you'll play along....

XO Keke

'The Big I Love You Give Away' - 7 More Days - Mystery solved?

2011-02-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

Super sleuth...I've been doing a little investigating and have a new lead.... and a new friend... How much do we love Nancy Drew. There's a certain nostalgia I feel looking at this journals book cover.... How much would you LOVE to win this Nancy Drew journal? A LOT? Well that's perfectly awesome because Mitzi has been at it again and has created this journal just for you!
Yes, that's right, this is today's add in for 'The Big I Love You Give Away'.

I haven't written the clues that I have been following in this journal...I'm going to leave the pages fresh and clean for your clues....
But...I have gotten honest feedback from a new friend who tells me that the facebook requirement for this give away is a bit 'confusing'.

Thanks 'Nan', already an honest and faithful friend! Nan said the link took her to this page, she clicked on the little thumb that represents 'like' in facebook world, but then she didn't know if she was supposed to do something else. The answer is 'nothing else'...that's why I kept saying 'easy peasy'...but I should have explained it more...one persons easy peasy isn't necessarily an other's...
To catch you up...above is a pic so far of all the gifts in 'The Big I Love You Give Away', not including today's Nancy Drew journal. Every day I'm adding in a new gift. The give away is to help my niece Olivia win a college scholarship. I'm tweaking the requirements just a little to make it even easier...

Go HERE and click on the little thumb to vote for Olivia...that's it, close the page.
Leave a comment on this post or Olivia's 100th post stating that you voted.
Post about The Big I Love You Give Away on your blog.

That's it...it really is easy peasy and will only take you about 5 seconds.

Remember... "EASY PEASY" means:

Click on the thumb to vote and close the page...that's it!

In seven more days I will use the random number generator to pick a winner for 'The Big I Love You Give Away! Yayyyy...I do hope this explains things better and you'll want to play along...

XOXO Keke

'The Big I Love You Give Away' - 8 More Days, Searching for Spring...

2011-02-26T23:48:00.000-08:00

I love spring...I want spring...I love you...I want you...to go HERE and vote for a well deserving talented young woman's essay so that she can win scholarship money. Sigh... oh, why won't you I ask myself? Do you not have a Facebook account? Is 'The Big I Love You Give Away' too big, too scary? Does it seem too confusing, too many steps to win? Do you not want to add one more blog to the blogs you follow?

Yesterday, on my way to the pharmacy I stopped at an awesome little farmers market that was selling wool in all the colors of an Easter egg. It inspired me to make this little needle felted bunny and this little Easter basket. Can you 'I Spy' that little vintage wooden thread spool? This little basket is today's add in to 'The Big I Love You Give Away'.

In case this is your first time stopping by...we are trying to help my niece Olivia win a scholarship contest. The picture above is all of the prizes that will be sent to one lucky person (maybe you) if you'll just take 5 seconds and go HERE to vote for Olivia. (Every day leading up to the end of the contest another prize will be added) If you'd like a closer look, just scroll down and see the previous post about 'The Big I Love You Give Away'. The idea behind 'The Big I Love You Give Away' was to make it impossible for you to not to want to vote for Olivia. One humongous prize for 5 seconds of your time. In the end, we'd all be helping one well deserving young woman win scholarship money to pursue higher education. (In case your wondering...by clicking the like button on Olivia's essay page you are merely casting a vote, Facebook will not automatically start sending you random post to your profile, nor will the scholarship site.) Three easy peasy steps to win this humongous prize:

Go HERE...click 'LIKE'
Go HERE...Leave a comment stating you voted and become a 'Liv in the Moment' follower.
Post about this give away on your blog.

In 8 more days I will use the random number generator to select one person to win this humongous prize package. Won't you pretty please play along?

And as far as my search for spring...this is what happened...
So I guess I'll be waiting and searching a little longer...

Much to my daughter's delight!

Please take a moment to vote for Olivia....I hope you have an abundantly blessed day...

XOXO Keke

'The Big I Love You Give Away' - 9 More Days - Facebook is not Scarey - Waddlin' Onion Designs

2011-02-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

Who loves charm bracelets more than I? Since this is 'The Big I Love You Give Away', I had to share with you my love of charm bracelets. By share I mean literally, since this is today's add in to 'The Big I Love You Give Away'.

Just look at all those yummy vintage charms...are you old enough to remember when we actually got these sweet little toys in cracker jacks and gumball machines? I mean it...I am smitten with this little bracelet and you can have an opportunity to win it if you'll only go HERE.

The give away is growing larger every day... and winning is easy!

Visit Olivia's 100th post on 'Liv in the Moment'
'Like' her essay.
Comment on her 100th post telling her you voted for her and become a follower of 'Liv in the Moment'

That's it, easy as 1,2,3, no commitment and just in case your worried or wondering...by clicking like it does not appear on your face book page. You will not get random post from the scholarship site. You are simply casting a vote for an amazing and talented young woman to win scholarship money for college. In the process you will be eligible to win an amazing prize! I know you want to open that big ole' heart of yours and help Olivia win!

On a side note... guess what I got in the mail this week?

Old McDonald had a farm and I'm a lucky, lucky duck...with a quack quack here and a quack, quack there... I found an amazing site and got this amazing wrapping paper and stickers. Trust me...the pictures don't even come close to showing you how amazingly cute this paper is. Guess what else? This site is dedicated to a very special little girl and her amazing little life. A portion of all sales on 'Waddlin' Onion Designs' goes to 'The Shelby R Foundation'. I will be using this paper in a few days to make something very special for 'The Big I Love You Give Away'. It's going to be amazing and I can't wait for you to see! I just know your going to loooovvvveeee it!

Please click on pictures to visit these amazing sites. Wrap a present, read a story and help some precious babies out in the meantime.

Wishing for you blessings and abundance,
XO Keke

"The Big I Love You Give Away" - 10 More Days

2011-02-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

With only 10 more days left to 'The Big I Love You Give Away', we have another amazing add in from Mitzi. Remember yesterday when I said Mitzi was an amazing artist with over the top craftsmanship? Doesn't this soldered charm look too good to have been handmade? I can not even tell you how much I love the fortune cookie paper she used for this.... another $40 value thrown into the

"Big I Love you Give Away."

To win this amazing pendant and the rest of items in 'The Big I Love You Give Away' all you have to do is:

Go to Olivia's 100th post on 'Liv in the Moment'
Follow her instructions by 'LIKING' her scholarship essay on Face Book.
Become a 'Live in the Moment' follower and post about 'The Big I Love You Give Away' on your blog.

That's it! Easy Peasy! Now run right over there and get it done so I can get

'The Big I Love You Give Away'

in the mail to you!!!

XOXO Keke

(Please read prior post for more information...)

"The Big I Love You Give Away" - 11 More Days

2011-02-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

Have you been lucky enough to find a book journal yet?

Well your a lucky, lucky duck today!!

This book journal is today's add in for 'The Big I Love You Give Away'.

This is the first of the lovely items Mitzi is donating to 'The Big I Love You Give Away'. For those of you who may not know...Mitzi is my big sister, she's also an extraordinary artist, friend, wife, and mom to my niece 'Olivia'. Olivia being the one whom this party's for!! Thanks Olivia for being so fabulous and for giving us a reason to be inspired and to play...

Aren't you all so happy Olivia is pursuing higher education and a scholarship? Mitzi has such outstanding craftsmanship, not to mention her her eye for detail. There are lots of writing pages in this sturdy little journal, not to mention Mitzi includes the pages of the original story book!

Fab or not? Can I hear a big 'ooohhh, aahhhh, I just gotta have that'?

And pictured above is a reminder of all the other items in

'The Big I Love You Give Away' so far....

And don't forget...there are 11 more days to go, which means

'The Big I Love You Give Away' just keeps on growing!!

Come on....

All you have to do is go HERE.

Follow the directions on Olivia's 100th post by:

Liking her essay on Facebook right HERE.
Leave Olivia a comment on her 100th post stating that you voted for her essay and then become a 'Liv in the Moment' follower.
Post about 'The Big I Love You Give Away' on your blog.

That's it... (all easy standard give away requirements)

And then you make it possible for me to mail you this humongous, yummo scrumptious prize package! And I really, really want to send it to you....

XOXO Keke

The Big I Love You Give Away 12 More Days

2011-02-22T12:00:00.001-08:00

Are you a sewer who loves photography? Perhaps a photographer who likes to sew? Either way look at this adorable little camera pin cushion I've made in honor of my niece Olivia who happens to be a talented photographer.... This little pin cushion even has a pocket in the back for you to slide your little scissors into. (sorry...scissors not included...I like my little scissors.)

Do you know why this little camera is smiling? Because he likes you and he would like to come sit on your sewing table...actually, you wouldn't even need to poke him with pins, he's adorable just as a little stuffie!
Let's see...so far 'The Big I Love You Give Away' includes:

1. 3 yrds of fabric (including that yd of vintage Holly Hobbie)

2. Paper Doilies

3. Vintage Cloth Doilies

4. An adorable Heart Apron

5. 'He loves me, He loves me not' Daisy Lapel Pin

6. Pin Cushion Camera

I don't know about you...but I'm getting really excited!

The list will be growing a lot larger too!

And guess what? Olivia will be giving away some of her art in 'The Big I Love You Give Away' and so will Mitzi. I can't wait for you to see!! So far the give away has grown to an approximate value of $75 and it's only going to get better!

All you have to do to win this beautiful prize pkg is visit Olivia's blog:

http://livinthemomentphotography.blogspot.com/

Read and follow the instructions in Olivia's 100th post. Which are:

Like Olivia's essay on facebook
Leave Olivia a comment on her 100th post telling her you voted for her.
Become a "Liv in the Moment" follower
Mention the give away on your blog.

That's it! I do hope you'll support Olivia in her pursuit to win scholarship money. I would love to write your address on a mail box and send you 'The Big I Love You Give Away!'

Blessings on your day...

XO Keke

'The Big I Love You Give Away' 13 More Days to Win!

2011-02-21T14:59:00.000-08:00

This is today's add in to the 'Big I Love You Give Away'. This pretty little daisy pin is just calling for spring. In case this is your first visit...every day for the next (now) 13 days I will be posting a new give away item to a humongous give away prize!

Please read yesterdays post to see how you can win, or go to...

http://livinthemomentphotography.blogspot.com/

Read Olivia's 100th post, like her essay on face book, leave a comment that you've voted

for her essay, become a 'Liv in the Moment' follower,

and post on your blog about the give away.

Easy peasy!

About 5 seconds worth of your time and you become eligible for

'The Big I Love You Give Away'.

In 13 more days I will collect every ones name and with the help of the random

number generator I will be announcing who won

'The Big I Love You Give Away'.

I hope you'll want to help my niece win scholarship money and win a lovely humongous basket of prizes in return!

Blessings and abundance,
Keke

"The Big I Love You Give Away"

2011-02-20T09:38:00.001-08:00

Whoo Hoo...Are you ready for 14 more days of yumminess that will result in one 'Big I Love You Give Away' See the awesome little heart apron below? That is today's add in to the stash of yumminess I posted yesterday. For the next 14 days I will be adding an item each day.

The purpose of the 'Big I love You Give Away' is for the little beauty you see below. Please meet my niece Olivia. As hard as it is for me to believe, time is so fleeting, Olivia will be starting college in the fall. Like most college bound students Olivia is applying for scholarships. I won't make you listen to me gush about how beautiful she is inside and out...or how talented she is...or about my belief that she is destined for great things and that by taking the time to vote for her would in a sense help to make the world a better place, in addition to helping her win scholarship money... Instead, I will just tell you how to WIN

'The Big I Love You Give Away.'

It's easy peasy...
1. You must have a face book account. (if you don't it only takes a minute to sign up, like all other sites you only need an email and password which I'm sure you probably already have.)

2. Visit Olivia's blog... 'Liv in the Moment'
http://livinthemomentphotography.blogspot.com/
(you'll get to see what I mean by her talent)

3. Read Olivia's 100th post and follow the instructions by clicking on the College Plus link and "LIKING" Olivia's essay.

4. Leave a comment telling Olivia that you have 'LIKED' her essay and become Olivia's 'Follower'

5. Mention 'The Big I Love You Give Away' on your blog.

That's it!! Yayyyyy! This will only take you about 5 seconds to do and you could win a HUMONGOUS basket of yumminess! In 14 days at the end of the scholarship contest I will be taking all of your names from the comments on Olivia's 100th post and with the help of the random number generator pick one name to win

'The Big I Love You Give Away'!

Come on...Join the fun! Help a college student fulfill their dreams...Make the world a better place in the process, and win the 'Big I Love You' give away. :)

Please come back tomorrow and the next day and the next to see what's being added each day.

I hope You'll play... XOXO Keke

'Big I Love You Give Away', Valentine Swaps, Beautiful Girls and Mr. Holiday

2011-02-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

Isn't this Valentine Mitzi sent me awesome...oooh how I love me some Mitzi!I love you too!....no seriously I do. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways... 1. I love you because you have come to visit me in my humble little kingdom. 2. I love you because most likely the fact that your here means you are creative, artistic and have a really big heart. 3. I love you because when your done reading this post I just know your going to want to help me help someone I love very, very much...but more importantly you will be helping to make the world a better place because 'she' is destined to do great things and 'she' is one of the best people I know! Keep reading for the details of the "Big I LOVE YOU Give Away"... I'm not joking...It's going to be HUGE!!!!!
Starting tomorrow I will post the details of this 'Big I Love You Give Away'. Basically we have 15 days to help my Olivia win a scholarship for college...and it's really easy. Aside from my camera's bad pic quality...the pic above is just the beginning. What you see is 1 yard of semi-vintage teddy bear fabric, (I say semi, because it's from the 90's, and unlike some sites I've seen, I'm refusing to think that the 90's are considered vintage, but that thoughts for another day...). Additionally there is one yard of new Valentine heart fabric hence the love, along with two pkg. of paper lace doilies. I'm also including homemade vintage fabric doilies that I bought at the estate sale I went to a couple of weeks ago.... but wait...there's more....

Remember Holly Hobbie...I loved Holly when I was a little girl...aaah again I digress, I found Holly Hobbie fabric at that estate sale and am giving one yard of that away too!!! But all of this is just the start of it. Along with tomorrows post about the details, I will be adding to this nice little beginning stash. That means that along with the above items, 15 more items will be added, one for each day leading up to the end of the contest... So please come back tomorrow, and the next day and the next to see all the goodies that indeed add up to one HUGE "Big Love Give Away"!!!
See the beauties above, my heart is about to bust from the love for these two ... Mitzi's beautiful babies...WOW she did an amazing job!! On the left would be Em and the right Olivia, (I can't believe she's on her way to college...) Sigh... long distance love can be so cruel, and only softened by tokens of love sent via snail mail... the amazing thing is that extreme creativity is passed on through DNA!
Here's my evidence...see the beautiful little love bug wall hanging above, lucky, lucky me...this was one of my Valentines. Sent by sweet, beautiful little Em. I've said it before, but I have to say it again at the risk of gushing...if you could know these girls, be still my heart, you would be as lucky as I! Oh...why does my new camera have to be so terrible...after complaint at the 'Target' store camera counter I was told to contact Kodak about my issues with the 'EasyShare ZD15' (WHAT!) Yes, that's right...something about the date on my receipt had expired for return...Ugh! But this post is about LOVE...so I won't digress. The above and below pic is my Valentines sent to me from my 'Olivia' or 'Olive' as baby girl likes to call her...and it always makes me smile and warm inside that she loves her cousin so much because long distance relationships are difficult to maintain...and well there's more but again, I won't digress...

If my camera weren't so horrible you would be able to see the amazing detail of this new found artistic endeavor Olivia has started... and you know what...she's going to open her own shop to sell these...she will even send them out for you. EASY PEASY...and how thoughtful. Olivia recognized a hole in the market in that it's so difficult to find the time to send snail mail love...especially something crafted so well, so charming. It will be a new business start up and she's working on the details now...I will keep you posted for how easy and reasonable it will be for you to send love to all of your loved ones with just the click of a mouse! In any case...Mitzi's band of princess' love me so well and I feel so blessed to receive such love from such lovelies!

Speaking of lovely...you may have seen the button in my side bar for the Strumpet Crumpets Valentine swap...The kissy kiss wreath above was sent to me from my partner, Robin of Canada.

Thank you Robin...you truly are so sweet!

Speaking of sweet...and adorable and yummy and oh...I could gush till I'm blue in the face!! This mini fabric collage was sent to me from 'Betty' from 'She's so Pretty' http://shessopretty.typepad.com/ and not only is she pretty, she is wonderfully sweet and our shared love of vintage made this swap just that much more fun! Um...please bear with me. This post is getting a little long but I can't post my mini collage with out giving love to 'LINDA' , keeper of "A Swap for All Seasons" http://aswapforallseasons.blogspot.com/ I've said it before and I have to say it again... "SHE ROCKS" no matter how many participants, and usually there's a ton...she host the best swaps on the planet. I've heard from so many people how much they love the idea of swapping but have gotten burnt in the past so they've given up swapping, I PROMISE you this won't happen at 'A Swap for All Seasons!" I have to admit that even I have had experiences that have left me severely disappointed and I swear I'm never swapping again...and then it will be just about time for another 'A Swap for All Seasons' swap and Linda makes all my disappointments better!!! Thanks Linda...'Your the Bomb!'

Above is another bad pic but oh so lovely apron from my Valentine apron swap. This apron went to Wendy in the Netherlands. Unfortunately you can't tell just how beautiful this apron turned out and not to toot my own horn but I've never made a full apron with this level of detail and I was really happy with the way it turned out.

And this little adorable doll went to Robin in Canada for the Strumpets Crumpets Valentine swap. My favorite thing about Leeloo is her little vintage Swiss dot dress with her baby pocket filled with miniature valentines.
And this little yummy pkg all wrapped up and ready to send to Betty for our 'A Swap for all Seasons' mini collage swap.

And above my mini fabric collage that I made for Betty. Sweet little vintage paper Valentine with a little Valentine hankie tucked in...

And for those who have sent me love in emails I truly thank you...you bless my heart. For those of you asking about Mr. Holiday....he's still up to his capers...that is the one thing I can count on as a definite in my life. The above pic is from 'Super Bowl Sunday'... Mr. Holiday and Baby girl holding up the #45 with their fingers. Yes...'Super Bowl' has been considered a holiday in our house for 25 yrs. The funnest part of the bowl this year was Mr. Holidays obsession yet again with the menu and most importantly his football deviled eggs...see below...

The night before the bowl Mr. Holiday was explaining to us about his plan for his eggs. He was so excited and he exclaimed..." I'm really excited and I think my eggs are going to be a big hit this year." Btw. his tone of voice and facial expression and the fact that it wasn't like we were having a hundred people over...it was just going to be the five of us made baby girl and I giggle at the cuteness of his excitement. Actually...his bowl eggs did turn out pretty awesome....

So that's it...sorry about the long post, that's what happens when I try to catch up... But hopefully I will see your faces back here tomorrow to receive all the instructions and details for my HUMONGOUS "Big I Love You Give Away". I promise, you really don't want to miss this one!! And it's a win win for everyone.....See you tomorrow....

P.S. Tomorrow means Sunday...today is actually 2:37 p.m Saturday even though my post will say yesterday because that was when I actually started pulling this together....hope that wasn't too confusing... :[ ugh...

Blessings and Love,

Keke

Mother and daughter doctor-heroes: Hawa Abdi + Deqo Mohamed

2011-02-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

Mother and daughter doctor-heroes: Hawa Abdi + Deqo Mohamed

I found this video so inspiring on so many levels, as a woman, as a mother, as a patient and as a human being. If these woman, this mother and her daughters can treat 300 people a day, complete 20 surgeries and manage 90,000 people when others fled to far off lands... If these woman can change their world in a country filled with war and poverty, what's the least we could do in a land of opportunity? Will we gather or flee? This video came in God's time, a time when I needed to be lifted up to fight. It's so strange to me and wonderful at the same time. 'What ever your seeking...it's seeking you.' I have said to both my children in the last couple of days... "That's how reveloutions are started." FAITH. I'll explain later in the post I intended to leave today. For now if you could do me the favor of soaking this story in and passing it on...consider it 'paying it forward.' I hope your day is abundantly blessed today. XOXO Keke

Gratitude

2011-02-04T07:27:00.000-08:00

Ok...I promised myself that this morning I wasn't going to wait for my med's to kick in and I was going to wake up take them and head straight for the shower....the truth of the matter is the med's aren't working well anyway and every morning this week I have stressed myself out by almost being late for court....thank you God....the angels on my bumpers made way for me and I managed, some mornings by the skin of my teeth to be on time.... I told the judge in my hardship claim that early mornings weren't a possibility for me. The problem may lie in what is considered 'early', my 'early' now is any appointment before 11:00 a.m. is nearly impossible for me to make. It's frustrating to me. I have been an early riser my entire life. 'Early bird catches the worm girl' has had to redefine her expectations of herself. None the less, since I rec. the last round of toxin I have been awake every night every half hour. I'm exhausted. I'm hoping today will be my last day, we are to go into deliberation this afternoon, but this whole experience has been so unpredictable I don't know what to expect. And here I am, visiting the kingdom, waiting again...last night my neck went into a twist that was so severe I considered going through ER. I tried to call my neuro, but I got the after hour machine, all I really wanted was to leave a message for him so he would get it this morning and hopefully be able to help me today in between court. I couldn't bear the idea of the ER or the after hours on call doc...so, I hooked up my electrodes and wrapped my neck in heat. Eventually my neck muscles released themselves but this morning my neck is so sore it feels like some one held me by my head and flung my body around in circles. It doesn't help that I'm out of some of my meds, and I called my primary doc for refill and was promised a call back. No, I didn't get the call back, and I knew I wouldn't because of 'incompetent normal'. That's what I call one particular office person in Dr. M's office, if I get her on the phone I know it will take about four more days of calls before the doc even gets my msg. Anyways, I'm going to call both docs again this morning before court, some one has to help me before I start banging my head on the wall...ugh! But none of this is really what I wanted to share with you this morning, so what am I doing????

What I wanted to share is gratitude.... since Christmas I have come to a great appreciation for how many generous artsy people there are in this world! So many willing to inspire and share, I can only be filled with 'GRATITUDE'. Even on days when I'm not up to creating, I can surf and dream.... Speaking of 'Inspiration'...has anyone seen 'inspire co' ?

Amy has the cutest little inspiring blog.... http://inspireco.blogspot.com/

I absolutely love visiting her site...and she publishes an 'e-zine' that is filled with all kinds of inspiration and loveliness....

In fact...she has a new one for spring coming out after Monday that you may want to check out... I for one am excited to have something to look forward to. Speaking of...what to you think about my new page? Not sure I'll leave it this way, it's not very 'cherry' but at least I'm making progress to unstick myself, right?

And some more love inspiration....images for you to print...how cute is the little lover above?

And even though I haven't had breakfast yet....i so would eat the sundae above if I could wave my cherry wand and make it appear in front of me.

Here kitty, kitty... hmmm...I just had to share the above Valentine....the look on that cat's face makes me laugh...she looks so vicious...this maybe could be considered a passive aggressive vintage valentine? LOL!!

Ok...now that I have all of that off my chest... I can not procrastinate my shower any longer...

I hope you all have a blessed and abundant day today!! XOXO Keke

Sweet Valentine

2011-02-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

I'm back in court today...hopefully this won't last much longer. Being a juror has left me with much to share about this experience...alas it won't be until this is all said and done. The spot in my neck that Dr. D missed unfortunately is still out of control. Ugh!

But on to happier things...

Love is in the air....
Valentines day is right around the corner...

I hope you can click on this to enlarge and print...they really are so adorable. Why don't they make Valentines like these any more??

I wish and pray that you are all abundantly blessed today.

XOXO Keke

Under Construction

2011-02-01T09:19:00.000-08:00

I've decided to reinvent.
reinvent: re-in-vent; .v. 1. To make over completely.

My blog and my life. For well over a year now I have felt completely stuck. A precarious situation for a girl like me because it really isn't in my DNA. I feel like I've been lost in a dark forest. Why the sudden change. Not really so sudden. More of an awakening. To be continued... lets just say the events in my life seem to be pointing me in the direction of awakening and realizing that life is fragile, life is too short, and if my lucky, lucky stars have given me people to love and who love me back, and a new breath today, then it's up to me to make the very best of all of it. Let's just say yesterday was a pretty rough day that sent me running home wanting to throw my arms around AH and baby girl who was here waiting for me when I got home. I walked in my front door to hear and see them laughing hysterically and ...uh-hum...playing dress-up.... they were organizing my closets for me....
Ah...and I've been wanting to share with you some new vintage valentines I have found. I think if you click on the pic it should enlarge so you can print.... I hope...let me know.

Have you ever seen a more beautiful girl? Yes, this is one of Mitzi's beauties...and it's her birthday today. Happy Birthday Amy! She's also the one that's about to turn Mitzi into Memsie.

Now, I have been predicting for months... 'It's a Girl'. Any day we will get to see if my instinct was correct as she and her lovely husband had decided to 'be surprised.' In any case, I'm calling the baby Lily. Baby Lily is due any day and the mounting anticipation is driving me crazy!

Have a blessed day...XOXO Keke

Life is Fragile

2011-01-31T08:05:00.000-08:00

No matter how much I promise, commit to visiting the kingdom daily... life waits for no man, or cherry queen, as I've said before. Before I get into the thick of it, I wanted to share this site with you. So many people doing good things...unfortunate they never make the five o'clock news, but I won't digress...This almost new nonprofit start-up pictured above is so sweet I had to share with you. Their motto is, "Preserving memories and dreams because a life documented is a life remembered."
They make and donate scrap books to families with sick children. You can find them here...
http://cropsofluv.com/cms/

Since I've last posted, life has brought a myriad of things beyond my control, and some things delightfully within my control, yet surprising....
Just look at the yummy new vintage fabric prints I've found, that was within my control, yet I showed absolutely no self control upon the purchasing of this fabric. Uh-hum...I promise to try harder next time. One complaint though...when did fabric start costing $16.99 a yard? Remember when we used to sew because it was cheaper than buying off the rack? I'm afraid those days are gone... I guess the law of supply and demand comes into play here. I did tell baby girl that while that theory has gone out the window, we can apply a new...now we sew for the 'quality'. Unfortunately I think this one will hold true for a long while in our disposable, we'll just get a new one society. Do people still value heirlooms?

I ask because of an estate sale I visited yesterday, unfortunately I don't have time to post pics of my treasures this morning, but the children and I brought home someones life time of love and it's given me pause and a lot to think about, and a lot of comments from the children. It also turned us into detectives to try to discover who this sentimental woman was. To be continued hopefully tomorrow.... (ok, I know) don't hold your breath.

I have jury duty this morning...that's another to be continued story.

I rec. my botox shots on Friday, again to be cont., the short story is...I think Dr.D may have got most of the spots right on this time except '1'....and that '1' is a big one and causing me to curse, if it weren't my new years resolution to not curse, not even a single 'darn'. Why was that my resolution you ask? In case your wondering, no, this cherry queen did not have a 'potty' mouth. However, I have become painfully aware of our English language and how it seems to be going out the window...what was that quote from Gandhi...something like, 'you must be the change you seek in the world'...or something like that. In any case, I will be calling Dr. D today because I don't think I can wait three months until the next round of the toxin..

See these yummy little ottoman's...It's an Amy Butler pattern. She calls them gumdrop pillows, trust me, they're ottomans. I wish my blasted camera took better pics because the color in these are so yummy....guess who made them?
Baby girl did a splendid job on them for her first project with her new singer.... nothing like a mum's pride.' But I have to run now... blessings on your day. XOXO Keke

Time (nor dystonia) waits for no man or 'Cherry Queen' as the case would be....

2011-01-09T23:26:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here tonight trying to patch my sore heart and cursing dystonia.... From the beginning of receiving this blasted diagnosis I have been determined to not let it interrupt my life...or at least allow as little interruption as possible, no matter the consequences....I have learned over the last two years that there are some things that even 'Cherry Queens' can not control.I should be sound asleep right now at Mitzi's house 3000 miles north...instead, I'm in not so sunny Oz at a mere 32 degrees feeling just a tad bit sorry for myself and guilty for not being there for my Mitzi.

Instead I've been laying on the couch whip stitching little magic mushrooms trying to cheer myself up and trying to ignore the pain of the dystonic tremors that have been kicking my tail since before Christmas. Just like that! Mr. Holiday was filling the house with merry, I was hanging in there the best I could and then boom! The north pole was turned upside down and Mr. Holiday got the stomach flu that lasted a week and a half...then we both got a cold/flu....and it never stopped, just round and round we go.... I think the worst thing besides the obvious is the guilt I feel for letting everyone down and not being able to finish things that I start...like posting the last dozen matchboxes! Ughf! But Christmas came and went and so did mine and Mr. Holiday's 25th anniversary, and New Years...the children came, pitched in to help with things to be done...Baby girl has been running around trying to take care of all of my business for about three weeks now...she really is such a sweet and wonderful baby girl....and then she got the flu and is sooo sooo sick right now! Ok God...forgive me, but could we get a break here????

And most disappointingly...I've missed my trip to see my Mitzi and her band of princess'...oh they are so sweet and yummy and beautiful....

Today was one of Mitzi's princess' baby shower...ta da...just like that, it was a blink...I remember the day my niece was born, I remember being really angry because my parents made me go to school, I remember talking incessantly to my best friend on the school bus all the way to school about this new baby ball of wonder that had just been born and gave me a new title...'aunt'. Hmmm...but I'm wondering...Mitzi is not old enough to be called 'grandma', she certainly doesn't look like a grandma...nor I a 'great' aunt...but I could skate with being a 'great aunt'...but what should Mitzi be called? Baby girl has informed me that should my son and his wife have a baby in the near future that I should be called 'memsie', for the reason above...and I quite like that...so maybe Mitzi should be called the same.

Speaking of Mitzi or soon to be 'Memsie'...I've missed out on sharing so much over the past few weeks....this is a glimpse of yummies sent in one of the Christmas pkgs. received. Mitzi's little Em made these adorable 12 day of Christmas felted ornaments for me...so sweet. And I won't tell you that I ate almost that whole tin of the yummiest cookies you ever wanted to taste by myself....
And below, our sweet little Christmas kitty dressed in her Christmas scarf that she didn't even mind wearing because it has been so ridiculously cold here....
And her naughtiness continued with the Christmas tree and presents....

My son and his wife arrived early to pitch in with Christmas dinner...below is the vegetable tray he put together complete with what he called reindeer dip because...well you can see for yourself.
And he set the table beautifully.....
The nutcrackers lined up to play Christmas carols....

And Santa brought baby girl and my daughter-in-law new Singer sewing machines for Christmas and the delight on their faces says it all.....

And then....well, I made Mr. Holiday a sock monkey for our 25th wedding anniversary...isn't that what everybody gets for this occasion? I can not even tell you how excited AH was with this gift seriously!! No I'm not kidding....and he immediately named him 'Jack'.

And just in case your wondering....AH a.k.a. 'Mr.Holiday' tapped the naughty little kitty's toy mice to his mini coopers on his race car track so 'Jack' and the naughty little kitty could watch them go round and round.

I hope this post finds you all better than well, with wishes for a bright, shiny and happy new year filled with abundant blessing beyond your wildest dreams!

XO Keke

P.S. I placed a new button in my side bar. A Swap for All Seasons has a new Winter swap started and it is a simply sweet one indeed just as 'Linda' the best swap hostess on the planet intended. You should really come play along if you can....

Match Boxes 11-15, I'm a lucky, lucky Christmas Girl!!

2010-12-14T23:51:00.000-08:00

Um...I've never had so many problems trying to blog post in my life, which is why this is being posted today instead of yesterday. Has that ever happened to you...yesterday I had my post nearly done, which was no small feat considering how many pics I'm including in this one, and boom! Post disappeared! What!?
Ooooh, lucky it"s Christmas and merry and I'm surrounded by Mr. Holiday! And then this morning my pics are disappearing... is this a test for how many times I can upload?
LOL. In any case, the match box days will be out of order because I just don't have the heart to fight pic day #ll down below #12. Maybe it's because I'm just still a little under the weather and everything that can go wrong is because I probably need to be in bed but I don't want to miss out on all the merry making. Mr. Holiday has fixed me up a nice little nest on the couch so I can watch everything that's happening at my crazy frenzied holiday house...which is sweet, but still...you know what I mean. Ok...I'll stop my grumby fumby, there's no place for it right now. Besides, I know I'm still a lucky Christmas girl in spite of everything....So on with the show!!

Match Box Day #11
The match box below came to me from Marie Entwistle. What can I say? Adorable, magnificent, excellent craftsmanship, just all together so awesome? Yes, all those things and so much more....
My pics just don't do justice! And you know what? If you visit Marie @ http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/ you'll get to see Marie's pics of 'real' little elves!!! It's true, and I would be jealous if I hadn't been so happy just looking at their shiny little faces! Thanks a million Marie! And if that's not enough enticement to visit her I'm telling you should 'RUN' don't walk on over there because she's having a give away of the most beautiful kind!! Seriously, the one who wins her giveaway is going to be a lucky, lucky duck!!!

Match Box Day #15

The below wonderful matchbox came to me from Amy Duff @ http://papertrailsleaver.blogspot.com/ You can not even imagine how excited I was to see the wonderful little gift inside this box! Complete with my favorite word! Thanks a bunch Amy! You should also know Amy has a wonderful blog with a wonderful giveaway going right now! Tis' the season, better to give than receive, more the merrier? Yep!

Match Box Day #14
This cleaver little box below came to me from Linda Gates, winner of my give away. Remember I mentioned one of my biggest challenges with this swap was how and where to put the tag so it didn't look all junked up? Uh.....why couldn't I have been as clever as Linda and put a cute little hangy tag on mine? But you know what...it's ok, I'll know better the next time, and the best thing about swaps and new blog buddies is that inspiration abounds everywhere! Please go look for Linda @ http://countrypickins.blogspot.com/ Thanks bunches Linda! Match Box Day 13
Ok, get ready, I'm on a good roll! The cute little minimalist styled,(one of my favorite themes) matchbox below came to me from Jan Roberts and I can not tell you how thrilled I was to see the little gift inside the box!! Is that the most adorable puzzle charm you ever saw? Which is so very clever again!! Jan met my #2 biggest challenge of trying to find a cute little something, something to put in the box without breaking a sweat!!! Again, why couldn't I have thought of that?? Doesn't matter...lucky,lucky me!

And you know whats so silly about my artist block on this challenge? "I LOVE Miniatures!" This should have been no sweat...again, next time, because since we started opening boxes I've thought of a thousand ideas, and none of them are the same as the ones I got, I just found so much inspiration after opening all of these...it's like my artist block flew out the window and I've had a hundred ah-ha moments.... You can find Jan @ http://www.artfriendzy.blogspot.com/ And yet another blog that's so fun to visit, you'll even have a cute little owl on your pointer if you stop by for a visit....Match Box Day #12

The below match box came to me from Arizona from Pam Snow. It's so wonderful finding out the distance your swap gifts travel as well as being able to find so many new blog buddies! Pam's cute little retro box is covered in sheet music and filled with little red heart buttons...awe.... thanks Pam! You can find Pam at ...

http://treasures-n-textures.blogspot.com/

Have you been wondering where Mr. Holiday is? He's still in the kitchen, and yes he's up to his usual merry shananagans....

My baby girl caught him doing this...and in typical 'Christmas Ham' style, when he discovered her, he did this....

He's patting his sugar cut out cookie dough into rounds so he can chill them in the fridge...I'll have to share more with you later... It's time for me to rest now...I hope all of you are having a blessed Christmas season!!

Thanks for stopping by....

XOXO

Keke

We have a winner!!! Match Boxes and Just a Little Under the Weather

2010-12-13T17:29:00.000-08:00

Without further anticipation...

The winner of the Gingerbread Apron and goodies was Linda from Country Picken's. Whoo Hoo!

Congratulations Linda, and thanks to all of you who played along and made my first ever give away so much fun! You can find Linda @ http://countrypickins.blogspot.com/

Ok, I was only going to post one picture of Mr. Holiday pulling the name out of his Santa hat...

but when I started to look at the pics, the look on his face was priceless!

Can you see the concentration and holiday anticipation on his face?

The one below is my favorite as he's looking off into the atmosphere determined to make it a blind drawing! LOL... Mr. Holiday takes the festivities very seriously! LOL

By the way...Mr. Holiday is feeling better thank goodness...baby girl said the other day that it was starting to feel like 'A Year Without a Santa Claus'...awe...it was so sad... But now he's feeling better and guess what? I think he's passed it on to me!! Which is why the drawing didn't happen yesterday! :(( So sorry.

But still...there is inspiration everywhere, and merriment and hearts of good cheer, even if my dystonic tremors are off the charts and I have the sniffles. Above is a cute little Candy Land swag I put together a couple of weeks ago... I Love the Candy Land decorations...reminds me a little of 'Babes in Toyland' which Mr. Holiday and I just watched the other night. Did I ever tell you about our Christmas movie collection? There's not enough page to list them all...but you can imagine.

The above is a close up of the Candy Land swag...Can you I spy the Gingerbread Snowman Mr. Holiday had baked when he was making his Gingerbread house? Oooh and look closely, attached is this chain of plastic retro candy that I bought a million years ago, and as cheeky as it is, I just love it...every year it seems to get a new life.... Do you want to do something fun? I think it would be really fun if we all posted a picture of our oldest or cheekiest holiday decoration to share with everyone.

And before I forget to show you...Look what I found for Mr. Holiday. Mr. Holiday was very upset at Thanksgiving time to not have a proper carving fork. I was so happy to find this one! Gotta love Paula Deen! Not only does she have yummy recipes, I have to say her cookware line is pretty nice too! Do you know how hard of time I had finding a nice one to Mr. Holiday's specifications? Shhh..Don't tell. I think Santa is putting it in Mr.Holidays stocking.

So with Mr. and Mrs. Holiday both under the weather....baby girl came to fill in the Holiday gap. Yesterday when I woke from my nap I found her sitting on the patio making snow on the sliding glass door.... Baby girl loves snow... and lucky for her Aunt Mitzi keeps her in good supply.

And look what else she's been up to.... How cute is this large 'Reindeer Food' matchbox. She's planning on filling it with Reindeer Food too! Do you want the recipe?

Look at the other boxes, I just love the one with the snow globe on it...

And, do you know how clever she is...the snow globe is actually a gift tag that she altered just to use the snow globe. It is just so darn cute and when you shake the box it actually has snow inside the the globe.... her use of these tags not only made them ubber cute, it made them really quick to put together....

And I wanted to show you the one I made for her... For those of you that are new to the Cherry Kingdom...you maybe starting to notice I have an obsession with decorating match boxes. What can I say...it's very economical, you can do a million things creatively with them...I especially like making them 3D.

And...they make great gift boxes...it's like two presents in one! So large or little, you just really can't go wrong when creating with match boxes! The large ones are easier to work with and to fit things into, but the little ones are like creating little treasures. This one is sitting under the tree waiting for baby girl to open on Christmas morning...what's inside? That's a secret...wink, wink....I'll have to show you later, just in case she sees this post.

Speaking of match boxes, I need to post #11,12,13 and tomorrow with the best intentions #14....

Until then, I hope your holiday hearts are warm and merry and abundant blessings are surrounding you!!

Warm wishes and holiday kisses,

Keke

Match Box Day #10 and Gingerbread Give Away

2010-12-10T03:28:00.000-08:00

Match Box #10

The cute little matchbox below with all it's snowman goodness came to me from Sherry Wescott.
Inside was my favorite word of the year, 'JOY', transformed into a cute little yo yo ornament. Thanks bunches Sherry! You can find Sherry at.... http://ificouldsetmysoulfree.blogspot.com/

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Updates:

Unfortunately Mr. Holiday had to take a break from his 'merry making' to help our son with a home improvement project yesterday and to celebrate our daughter-in-laws birthday. I'm sure he'll be right back at his capers today though....

Please don't forget to sign on for the Gingerbread Give Away....Please see post below for details. You have until midnight Saturday to sign up.... Then Mr. Holiday will be pulling a name out of his Santa hat!

I hope you are all abundantly blessed today!

Keke

Matchbox Day #8 and #9, Mr.Holiday Presents and My First Ever Give Away...

2010-12-09T00:36:00.000-08:00

Ok...first things first, we have to get business out of the way before we move on to silly nonsense and yummies, oh....and the giveaway!! Who Hoo! It's posted, it's finally posted!

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MatchBox #8

The sparkly snowflake matchbox above came to me from Shannon Linde. Thanks a bunch Shannon! Inside was a cute little bookmark with a jingle bell and a love charm. You can find Shannon @ http://quiltinginpinksbulldogsatmyside.blogspot.com/

MatchBox #9

The matchbox above came to me all the way from London from Sherry Edwards. Darn, darn, darn I wish my camera took better pictures....This cute little matchbox with postal stamps had a lovely domino ornament on the inside. Thanks for sending me such a lovely box Sherry! You can find Sherry @ http://sherrysimpleblog.blogspot.com/

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Holiday Capers and Mr. Holiday's Great Reveal!

Drum roll please.....

Here's Mr.Holiday standing in front of his giant Gingerbread house. All said and done, the house measured out at 19"x 19" and weighs 25lbs (I'm sure most of that was royal icing weight, Mr. Holiday really liked the royal icing) It took 8 lbs of candy to cover, but I'm not sure how much of that got ate or went on the house! LOL

Here's a picture of Mr. Holidays house next to my little one...

A close up of my little house of joy!

Now do you want to see what Mr.Holiday has been up to lately?

Well the above picture is of him pretending to be an elf.
(Note his ears sticking out. He pointed out to me that is a very important elf factor.)

And then there was the afternoon he made gingerbear cookies...I think it was the day before yesterday...honestly, he's got so many holiday capers going I can't keep track...

Mr. Holiday using his cookie scoop to make an assortment of peanut butter cookies...
(He made the recipe X's FOUR!)
Ok...things are getting just a little out of control around here...what in the world are we going to do with all these cookies?He made peanut butter and jelly cookies.
And cookies with Brach's chocolate stars in the middle, citing that they taste way better than Hershey kisses and they look better too.

Here's his trail of cookies.... I told him tonight that I will take no responsibility for any holiday pounds added this year!!! LOL My house looks and smells like the North Pole! What's a girl to do besides eat a cookie???

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And now for my first ever give away in honor of Mr. Holiday and 20 years of making Gingerbread.

Ta Da!! I hate to keep whining about my camera, butttt...

The above pic is of the most adorable chef style gingerbread apron you ever wanted to see!
And some lucky follower is going to have this (and a couple of other gingerbread goodies) mailed out to them this weekend just in time for Christmas!

Above is a close up of the print on the bottom of the apron. I chose to make a 'chef style' apron specifically because of the print... I didn't want to take away from the detail of the print with too much ruffle and foo foo. Oh, and what I mean by 'chef style', just in case is.... have you ever been to one of those $50.00 a plate, foo foo restaurants where the waiters come out with their long aprons on with the long ties that wrap around their back and tie in front? Just straight, clean lined simplicity.... It may be my new favorite apron to make, (actually they're really nice to wear too!) and if any of you have some last minute Christmas gift need, I highly recommend making this style of apron, it really is quick, easy, elegant and so stylish!

Ok...do you remember the give away rules?

1. Leave a comment letting us know what you think of Mr. Holidays Gingerbread House and let us know you would like your name in the drawing.

2. Become a Follower

3. Post on your blog about Mr. Holiday's Ginger bread House and Holiday Capers and link back to here.

That's it! Easy Peasy!

Entries must be posted no later than midnight on Saturday, December 11th.

Winner will be drawn and posted on Sunday, December 12th.

I do hope you'll all play along...Mr. Holiday is having a blast being the subject of my holiday blog post...but then again, I did tell you he was a Christmas Ham!!

I hope you are all abundantly blessed and enjoying your holiday season!!!

XOXO

Keke

Matchbox Day #5, #6, #7, St Nicolas Day, Monsters and More Holiday Capers

2010-12-05T19:50:00.000-08:00

I hope every one is following along...Cherry Kingdom's first ever giveaway is getting very close....

Matchbox Day #5

I want to apologize for being MIA the last two days...too much going on with doctors appts. and sick kids... ugh. I also want to apologize ahead of time to my swap buddies for my inadaquate camera. The pic to the left is matchbox #5. I can not express how adorable this matchbox is....I'm in love...I want to make a whole village of these and the little tattered joyeux banner that was tucked inside was just delicious!! Gratitude and love go's out to Marcia Chunn for all of the time we all know she dediated to this yummy! You can find Marcia @ http://vintagefrenchhen.blogspot.com/ It's a lovely blog, you really should take a look...

Matchbox Day #6

Next is matchbox day # 6. It's simplicity is soft and charming. Tucked inside was a little paper tree stamped tag. Thank you Sarah Sommerville for this cute little matchbox. You can find Sarah at
http://ourpumpkinandsweetpea.blogspot.com/

Matchbox Day #7

Matchbox day #7, which is technically today, just very early today...(12:51 a.m) ugh!... None the less the early hour does not deminish my excitement for this matchbox made by Michelle and Ashley Cox.
Thank you ladies! Tucked inside was a cute little beaded snowman ornament. I'm so sorry you can't see it better it really is cute. You can find these ladies @ http://thetatteredquiltcottage.blogspot.com/

St. Nicolas Day

Did everyone know December 6th was St. Nicolas Day and that St. Nicolas is the patron saint of children? Children all over Europe was waking up to their tiny little boots and shoes filled by St. Nicolas....
St. Nicolas came to my house and filled a beautiful little red shoe filled with candy and toys for baby girl...

I liked the shoe filled so much that after she took her candy and presents from St. Nicolas out to take home with her, I refilled the shoe and put it under the Christmas trees in Christmas corner...I will have to tell you about Christmas corner later....

Making Merry

I'm so lucky that AH is Mr. Holiday...even on my days when I don't feel so well and spend the day in bed, he continues.... My Christmas wish is that everyone who may not be feeling well this month would have a holiday person in their life to surround them with the magic of this season. Some how, some way, it just makes you feel better , at least a little.... To the left is a platter of gingerbread ornaments waiting for the ribbon so they could be hung on the tree...AH put the ribbon in them last night and they look awesome on the trees in Christmas corner.

Popcorn and Cranberry Strings and Monster Cookies

AH decided to sting popcorn and cranberry's Saturday night while he was watching holiday movies....sadly, he threw them out today because the cranberries molded????? I don't remember that happening when we made garland as children??? Does anyone have a helpful hint on this?

So sad for all the work he did....at least he had fun doing it!

Mr. Holiday also made Monster cookies Saturday night! Danger...danger...abort!!!! I've gained 5lbs of monster wieght since Saturday night...they are incredible, and that says alot because as wierd as it may sound, I've never been a fan of Monster cookies...but these were not ordinary monsters. Instead of the normal m&m's and choc. chips he threw in a whole list of items. White choc. chips, Heath bar toffee bits, almonds, pecans, red & green mini choc. chips and m&m's. I'm sure I probably left something out!

I just had to take a pic of him doing this...and being the Christmas ham that he is...he just had to give the Vanna pose!

Gingerbread Capers Continues and the Giveaway is getting Close

AH left no candy pebble unturned...he covered it from top to bottom and all four sides!

AH is getting so excited for the big reveal and the giveaway....he just had to put his bumble teeth in for this picture!

Sleep Sweet Dear Ones.... I hope your holiday season is blessing you abundantly!

XOXO Keke

Match Box Day #4 and More Gingerbread Capers

2010-12-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Matchbox Swap Day #4 came from Valerie Williams @ http://itsanalienlife.blogspot.com
aka 'Mrs A' made the adorable little box below with a cute little pin for the surprise inside.

Thanks Mrs. A and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

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The Gingerbread Capers continues.....

Mr. Holiday became obsessed with the embellishment process last night and worked on his house until 4 a.m this morning.....ugh! He kind of looks like he's scowling but it's actually the look of extreme concentration... I'm thinking he's fallen in love with the 'pastry bag', which of course really is a wonderful thing....but I watched him use it for everything even things he perhaps could have used a spoon or spatula, which was no big deal except watching him struggle every two minutes to refill his pastry bag was slightly painful...LOL. Then it occurred to me that of course...a pastry bag is a 'tool'...and men need tools to get the job done! ;) wink wink....

He's getting close to being finished... which means it's getting close to posting for the give away...

I'm so excited, I can't wait for you to see!!!

Happy Saturday, Happy Holidays... I hope your day is blessed!

XOXO

Keke

Match Box Swap Day #3, Gingerbread Capers and My very first ever Giveaway!

2010-12-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

Below is my Matchbox #3 which came to me from Cami @ http://creatingmyselfcreatively.blogspot.com/.

Thanks Cami!

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And guess what? Just by happenstance she recieved one from me for day #3.... posted below.

Every day's a new surprise and this swap as is always with 'Swap for All Seasons' has been stellar. I really don't know how Linda manages, but as I said before...she has to be the best swap hostess on the planet. I don't know what she has planned for the next one but you can be sure it will be top notch as always, so if you want to have a little fun you should go visit her site....You can find her link in my sidebar.

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Gingerbread Capers:

Guess what Mr. Holiday is up to now....

I loaded these pics backwards...ugh! I'm just a little disheveled lately....but, in honor of this being our 20th holiday season of making ginger bread houses, Mr. Holiday has decided to make the gingerbread house of all gingerbread houses! And I have decided to have my very first ever Give Away! Whoo Hoo!! It's about time!! My how time flys!! I can't believe it's been 20 years, and it was a blink.... I wish I had pictures of the past years...I might have a few somewhere...but when we started technology wasn't exactly what is is today.

All you have to do to win is:

1. Watch for me to post Mr. Holidays finished gingerbread house and leave a comment on how you think Mr. Holiday did. This will be Mr. Holidays first gingerbread house that he made all by himself from start to finish.

2. Become a follower

3. Mention Mr. Holidays finished house in your post once the picture is posted in Cherry Kingdom with a link back to here.

I hate to keep you guessing....because I love you all so much...but keep checking in. I will post both the prize and the finished house within the next 7 days! :)

XOXO Be blessed and well!! Keke

This is how it began.....

Matchbox Swap, Making Merry, Rudolph Party and Thanksgiving

2010-12-02T09:01:00.001-08:00

Remember my Matchbox Swap.... Well as the first day of Christmas month is upon us, it is time to start posting... I'm a day behind already...but hopefully I will stay on track from this day forward... The matchbox above is the one I made and sent. Lucky for me Genie, a teacher from Lexington, VA was thoughtful and posted a thank you msg. so I could see where it went and capture a pic. (I love teachers! It has been my experience that almost all teachers I've met always seems to have an extra gene of thoughtfulness...) I can't believe I forgot to take pics of my boxes before I sent them... ugh-dah! The little pin I put inside the box was a new invention and I absolutely love how they turned out.... It's hard to see in the pic, but they really were yummy!

You can find Genie here: http://buttonsforbaga.blogspot.com/

For me, participating in these swaps bring friends both coming and going...meaning I can't decide what I love more, seeing where my gifts came from or where they went to. None the less, Genie has a sweet little blog and you should jump on over and check it out....

Matchbox #2

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me... a match box with a silver star for my Christmas tree.... Thanks Jenny Sellars! You can find Jenny @ http://theredbulletinboard.blogspot.com/

Matchbox #1

This matchbox came to me from Jill Doyle... Such yumminess, so well put together...so many little details she gave her attention to. One of the most challenging things for me in putting the boxes together was trying to creatively add a number to ea. box without making it look junky...Jill's idea with the little tag on the ribbon was awesome!

The second biggest challenge was trying to come up with 25 little yum yums that would fit inside the small matchboxes....how cute is this little paperclip with a classic button? I want to make a 100 more for myself and gifts. Simple but yummy and again, put together so well. I so appreciate it! Thanks Jill! You can find Jill @ http://file-under-misc.blogspot.com/

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Jingle On It's Way....

Baby girl was kind enough to model the apron I made for my MIL....

I'm so sad my camera is so crappy!

The apron is a Charlie Brown print with snoopy and candy cane stripes. On one of my MIL's visits we took her to the Snoopy Museum and she absolutely loved it...so did we actually, it was pretty awesome.

The museum gave me a new appreciation for the talent of Charles Shultz...I always liked the snoopy comics and the holiday cartoons but never imagined the scope of his talent. If you ever find yourself in Oz, it's definitely worth the visit. In any case, AH and I have been getting a kick out of the fact that every since we took her to this museum, she acts as if she knows Charles Shultz personally... it's really kind of cute. It worked out wonderfully, Halmark has a really cute animatronic snoopy and piano...(I'm not a big fan of animatronics, but this one was of really good quality and played really well.) My MIL however loves animatronics, and last year she made a point to tell me at least 10 times while they were here that she had only ever had one apron in her 75 yrs. on this earth, that her aunt had given her one but that was yrs. ago. I had made baby girl a cute little pink apron to go with a pie cookbook that I had gotten her for Christmas when my MIL was here...and the for rest of her visit, and all last yr when she talked to AH on the phone that's all she's talked about... The pics don't do it justice, but it please AH that I made this for his mother and I hope she likes it as much as he did. In any case, while I like to get her something she would like, the fact that it pleased AH so much is good for me.

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It Wouldn't be Christmas without a Cat in the Tree...

Ummm....just one problem...I don't think it's as funny as AH thinks it is...I really like my silver retro tree and would really like her little big bottom to not bend my branches!

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Mr. Holiday Rocks Out...

Ok...AH has a collection of hats he can pull out depending on which Christmas character he feels like being.... however, the rock-n-roll Santa glasses with white fake fuzzy sideburns maybe taking it a little too far!

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Rudolph Party...

Evey since the kids were small we would always have a Rudolph party the day after Thanksgiving...The idea was to make up for not being home on Thanksgiving celebrating together because we always had the obligation of running around to both sides of our family on Thanksgiving day...The Rudolph party was our little family's way of cozying in together and celebrating our thankfulness for one another in the warmth of our own home. Now that the kids are older I think they kind of feel silly, antler headbands, light up noses, baking cookies and of course watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer...

This year AH was a "Bumble", hence the scary teeth...but his rock-n-roll Santa glasses are kind of throwing off his 'bumbleness'.

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Thanksgiving Day....

The pie cookbook I bought baby girl last year really paid of in spades on Thanksgiving day this year.... Look what she brought...mmmmm....mmmmm is all I can say! I was so proud of her, the crust was the perfect flakiness and the filling was so rich and nutty!!! Yummo, it was the best pie I think I've ever had! And look how pretty she made the top.

Sometimes the holidays bring about an empty nest feeling for me...I was telling baby girl a few weeks ago how much I missed hearing the pitter patter of their little feet running for the kitchen in the morning, their shiney noses peeking around the corner to see what yummy goodness was being cooked up in the kitchen, their squeals of delight. She said, "but I'm still here mom". I know, but it's not the same, she wakes up at a different house now... and lets not forget hands traced around on construction paper and paper pilgrim hats....

So...on Thanksgiving morning bright and early look who was knocking on my door for breakfast....

A cute little pilgrim girl, paper hat and all...and yes she even gave me a little squeal and then we both laughed really hard....

And then we had breakfast together...before she had to go to her BF family Thanksgiving meal..I hate to be selfish...

But I liked it better when I didn't have to share.... however, I'd always told the kids that their holidays would be their holidays to spend how they chose and I would never make them feel guilty or try to manipulate their emotions so that they would feel as AH and I did when they were small. Put up or Shut up time...kind of wishing I would have shut up! But that's not very nice of me now is it....

Besides...I still have AH, and my favorite thing on the holiday is that he cooks with me... We've always worked well and seamlessly together on projects and I love this about us.

Not to mention, Mr. Holiday wears a turkey hat when he carves our turkey.... but wistfully it was a quiet afternoon with just the two of us....

I hope you and yours had a blessed Thanksgiving... XO XO Keke

Don't Buy Brown and Serve

2010-11-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

As promised...the homemade bread recipe...I will be making this recipe into rolls for Thanksgiving instead of the usual brown and serve or rolls of that type because it is so worth the very small effort that it takes to make....Mr. Holiday aka AH will be swooning again....

Amish White Bread

2 c.of warm water
1/3 c. of white sugar
1 1/2 T active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 c. of vegtable oil
6 c. of bread flour ( I didn't have bread flour...and all purpose still made awesome bread)

In a large bowl mix the warm water and sugar until sugar is disolved. ( it really only took a couple of minutes, it wasn't completely disolved and it was ok because the yeast still needed to proof which took about another 5 min.)
Add in yeast and allow to proof ( which basically means it will get foamy and have air bubbles.)

Mix in salt and oil into the yeast mixture.

Add in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough lightly... (at this point I wasn't feeling well enough and AH did it for me...he only kneaded the dough for maybe five minutes at the most.)

Place in a well oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth in a warm place until doubled in size...( mine took about 45 min.) Punch down, knead lightly, form into your loafs or rolls, place in your oiled pans and let rise approx. 30 min. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Minus the time for it to rise, which really doesn't count because it's not like you stand there and watch it, this recipe really only took about 15 minutes max to put together and it's really worth the effort.... I hope you'll try it and see just how easy and yummy it is... it has really encouraged me to try other bread recipes and I'm a huge foody so I'm not sure why I never did before...probably because of the myth that making bread is too much work...it's really not true, at least in this case and as I move to try to put more natural food into my body for health reasons this is one more thing that I can pretty easily do... :) Not to mention there's just something so comforting and satisfying about having bread baking in your oven that didn't come from the freezer section.... The original recipe called for 2/3 c. of sugar, I cut it down to 1/3 and for my Thanksgiving rolls I think I'm going to try omitting it all together. I'm working on cutting out all white food from my diet....now thats a daunting task!!

Changing gears...I would like to introduce you to blueberry...he's the latest newborn to come to our family.... He's a gracious little pony, but he is a little melancholy because he doesn't have stripes ( he thinks he's a zebra) and he's worried that blue makes his butt look big....I've tried to explain that he's beautifully and wonderfully made but I don't think he's come to full acceptance of this yet. Poor blueberry, I hope that he will be able to love himself for who he truly is soon... it's so hard to watch him struggle with self acceptance.

In the pic above Blueberry and Ms. Itty Bitty was enjoying a little quiet time to themselves...

Oh....and the Mad Christmas Hare is more out of control than ever....I've stopped counting how many times he's moved his tree....I've given up and wonder if he's just high strung and has nothing better to do with his energy....he is sort of nervous and jittery all the time....

Above is another family picture with the newest members...oh how they all seem to enjoy each other and get along so well, considering their vast individual personality traits...

So funny....while getting together for a family picture, MJ couldn't help herself and decided to get in the picture...she is such a naughty kitty most of the time that I thought she was jumping on the stool to grab one of them...instead she laid perfectly behind as you can see in the pic above.

And I just had to post this pic of MJ that Mr. Holiday had taken, she's all tuckered out and sleeping with her pet flea.... I don't know if I told you, MJ is Mr. Holiday's third child...seriously! I think it's a 'Godfather' thing...(you know, the movie), none the less I'm sure she is the most spoiled pet on the planet!

I have so much more I wanted to tell you...but I'm too pooped out right now so I'll have to save it for morning...Until then...I just want to say I am so thankful for you and I hope you are blessed beyond anything our minds could concieve!

XOXO Keke

P.S. It is only 30 degrees outside tonight and we are all on 'snow' watch... so much for 'Sunny CA!!!)

Sugar Plums, New Friends....and shhh...lets just forget September.

2010-11-16T22:39:00.000-08:00

Meet my new friends...I can't remember if I mentioned, but last December when Mitzi came for the wedding she gave me a crash course in needle felting. We were in the loveliest hotel on the pier in San Francisco, the night before she was to fly back home. We had gone to the city the night before because she had a much too early flight. We spent a lovely evening window shopping in the city, drinking cocoa, exchanging our Christmas gifts and her showing me how to needle felt as we sat on our beds in the hotel room (she also taught me how to wet felt with a bar of guest soap in the hotel bathroom)....Thinking about it now, I don't know how she had an ounce of energy left to show me and I'm shocked that I retained anything at all .... selfishly, I wish we could repeat our stay at this hotel five days before Christmas this year.... minus the exhausten and the early morning flight. :)

Please note that my new camera needs to be returned, it takes such awful pics and it really doesn't do justice to how cute my new friends really are, however, I'm happy to introduce you to...

Dough dough the Christmas bird (he is a royal). Harry (yes I know an unlikely name for an elf). The mad Christmas hare with his snowman tie... and in front, please meet "Plum". If you wish to speak with her you'll have to use sign language because unfortunately she's deaf due to a lack of enough periwinkle blue wool to finish her ears....

Poor, poor Plum, and she is the sweetest one of them all... hopefully tomorrow I can introduce you to a few more new friends as new ones are born each day, just in time to be adopted by way of gifts in time for Christmas. The original intent was to put a string in the top for ornaments....but as they sort of, kind of, start to come to life...I'm rethinking...I'm also selfishly trying to decide if I can even give them up for adoption now....

Today brought "Bitty", that would be 'Ms. Itty Bitty', who is a precocious pink wiener dog with white polka dots. Ms. Itty Bitty made fast friends with Little Miss Plum, as I knew she would because Plum is a friend to all.... Harry however thinks Ms. Itty Bitty is his pet pooch and you can imagine the upset around my house today as Ms. Itty Bitty let him know straight away that she is 'nobodies' pet! As the tantrum ensued, dough dough bird just sat quietly eating his gingerbread cookies and the mad hare stood stoically pondering the placement of the Christmas tree, which he has moved and rearranged at least ten times already...he really is quite mad!

This last week has also brought a new bread recipe... AH thought he was in Heaven and I had every intention of sharing it with you...but as it's quite late, it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Just a pinch more of catch up....September brought baby girls 23rd birthday. Pictured below is the birthday girl complete with her pearls and sash...and my big boy and his wife.

A few days later brought literally three weeks worth of misery for baby girl.... there were moments that I really didn't think either one of us was to live through this one... What seemed to be a typical visit to the oral surgeon turned into trauma and visits back to his office every other day...literally, I'm not kidding....thankfully she is all better now, but lets just write this last September right off the books... There was a little bit of irony and grins however....her oral surgeons name was Dr. Choo.... LOL, that doesn't happen everyday....

Sleep Sweet Dear Ones...
XOXO
Keke

More sugarplums.... with a pinch of catch up.

2010-11-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

Remember the matchbox swap...well I received my swap back. Twenty five little boxes filled with tiny little gifts. No matter how good my intentions are to post everyday, inevitably each day passes with a blank page yearning to be written. The last time I had spoke with Mitzi about my dismay, she said, "don't worry about catching up, just go forward, always go forward..." Good advice. But somethings are worth being remembered.
Sugar plums are still dancing in my head.... I've started little odds and ends of Christmas yummies to be given if I manage the fantastical feat of finishing them in between my down times. But first...

The end of October brought AH to his alter ego... "Spiderman". AH has been in love with Spiderman since he was a little boy...and now he has become "Spiderman". I wish you could have heard the delights of all the little boys telling AH, "I love you Spiderman", "Hi, Spiderman!", "Spiderman, your awesome." You can imagine how this made AH's heart soar.

World Series week brought excitement, cheering, moaning, jumping up and down and all various sorts of chaos to my living room. I wish you could have seen AH...I'm still giggling about his shouts of victory as the "Giants" brought home the World Series trophy...

And then there was AH's favorite Giant, known in our house as "Timmy".

But in between spider treats and baseball dreams sugar plums still dance in my head...

Who would like to get a roll of cookies in the mail? BHG has wonderful holiday recipes and gift ideas on their website right now....

Or how about a little envelope of cheese straws laid on each guest plate? Maybe even for Thanksgiving...maybe instead of old paper, maybe a note telling each loved one around your table why you are so grateful for their presence. That envelope above actually looks more like a sheet of parchment neatly wrapped around the cheese straws. So much inspiration, so little time... which is why a girl whose never made a list in her life is making one this year. One for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas.... Little things done each day no matter how small...that way when the big day comes I'll be totally organized and if AH or baby girl needs to step in for me it will be totally laid out for them. And that my friends will make Merry!

Check out another BHG inspiration above. How darling, CD jackets with a beautifully adorned cookie on the inside peeking out the window. How nice would this be for a teacher, mailman, your favorite grocery store clerk, co worker or maybe an acquaintance that you just feel like doing a little something for. I'm in love with that idea.....

So for now...sleep sweet dear friends. I hope to visit with you more, offering a little inspiration along with a little catch up along the way. Be blessed and well! XOXO Keke

Dreaming of Sugar Plums before Halloween?

2010-10-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

I have been dreaming of Christmas for months now. Why? I can't say for sure. It's complicated. Story of my life. I have a list of though.

1. First and foremost I never know when I will have a good/bad day (s) ... what I used to take for granted, all that I could accomplish and shove into a day, I now have to be well planned for. Additionally, the simplest task seem to wear me out now? Wear me out = dystonic tremors = bed all day. I find that to be the most frustrating thing of all.

2. For some reason I feel the need to amend the travesty of last years Christmas.

3. I just finished Count down to Christmas matchbox swap. I can not wait to get those little gems in the mail. I love decorating matchboxes....they are easy, I can do a little, rest and repeat.

Linda at, "A Swap for All Seasons" is truly the best swap hostess on the planet. {aswapforallseasons.blogspot.com }The idea was 25 matchboxes swapped for 25 in return and then opening one a day starting December 1. Kind of like an advent calendar only better. I have to give props where due and I couldn't have accomplished and finished with out baby girl's assistance.... (One more thing I hate and can't get used to....my own self sufficiency is ultimate to me...it's very difficult for me to wave a white flag) However...I am so grateful when she rescues me, esp when I'm refusing to be rescued.

4.The economy is tough right now, things are tight. When the kids were little and AH and I had so little money, I always shopped year round, I always had a gift closet filled with all things wonderful, it was truly an awesome thing. I never had to worry if the kids came home with a last minute birthday party invitation, etc. I was fully stocked, and enjoyed my friends making the comment, "I just don't know how you do it?". That my friends is how I did it. And actually, everyone ends up getting much lovelier gifts because I can find things at a fraction of the retail price by not waiting to shop until a week before I need it.

5. AH. That's all I need to say. I wish you could all see him on Christmas morning, it's like magic, his face is all a glow and his Christmas spirit is so real you can taste it.

I won't continue my list...we could be here all night, just thought I'd let you all know where my head was these days...it's truly a great distraction.

How cute are these paper dolls? I copied and shrank them to use like tissue paper to fold over the little goodies that was in each match box. I hope I posted this right so you can click to enlarge and print it out, I have a whole bunch of favorite girls out there who have little princess' that this would make simple projects for.... you know who you are. Think of having them cut these out to make pennant banners for Christmas with.... paper,glue, scissors,string and a printer is all you need.

A. Print out two or three copies.
B. Have the baby girls cut out all the little pieces.
C. Draw small triangles for them to cut out.
D. Paper punch the corners of the wide part of the pennant.
E. Glue dolls and accessories to the triangles.
F. Add any beads, glitter or embellishments that make them giggle with sparkly delight.
G. Tie pennant flags together with sting, ribbon, torn fabric, etc....
H. Hang like garland all over the house.

How much fun would this little project be? Not that messy, just glue, string, paper, etc.
Could be a ten minute project or an hour depending on how busy you want to keep them...and I think a sweet keepsake to keep or even maybe a tradition for years to follow. Uhhum...and I will be doing this, so I'm hoping I'm not a dork and the only one out there with a little girl inside that just wants to come out and play.... WALLAH!!! Yummy adorableness!!!!

When my match boxes come I will try to post a pic of each every day beginning Dec. 1, (if I can wait that long.... most likely I won't be able to. At least I have good intentions of doing this.... I'm also going to try to post inspiration at least a few times a week from now until baby Jesus' birthday. It makes me happy, and infinitely better and more motivating rather than posting my complaints and challenges. Speaking of baby Jesus, check out 'aswapforall seasons.blogspot.com' Linda's last matchbox posted was one celebrating him and it's soooo adorable as well as the story she posted along with it....did I tell you how much I love her and what a stellar person I think she is? You can also find link in my side bar.

All things frivolously mentioned above....I hope you are all better than well! Sleep sweet dear friends.... XOXO Keke

A Lovely Day....

2010-10-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today was the loveliest day I've had in a very long time. I spent it with the most gracious couple pictured above. Mitzi's daughter Amy is in the city celebrating her honeymoon with her new husband and was generous enough to take a day to spend with me.

They came early this morning and then we drove up to the loveliest place on earth.... except it wasn't as lovely as it normally is....after a long hot summer everything lacked the green and glow that it usually has and was more crispy and brown. The flowers that are usually in abundance were barely found and a few of the shops and my favorite gallery was closed since it was mid week, and it was 90 degrees. Still.... all was right with the world because the two of them together exuded the glow that filled the plaza with that which was lost in the summer heat. We did see a few shops, had a nice lunch, sat on a bench in front of the duck pond and listened to the water fall. This afternoon we visited the champagne caves, but again, the caves were closed....so we sipped on a glass of champagne on the terrace over looking the vineyard and the mountains and chatted a while. We ended the day with dinner at a Thai restaurant before it was back to the city for them. Honestly more generous than I would ever expect, I would have been thrilled to have had lunch with them considering they're on honeymoon.... AH and I both really liked Amy's new husband, he is very friendly and out going and seemed to be very genuine and kind, all the qualities we want our daughters to find in a good man. I could tell that he was very attentive to her and it was sincere. Honestly.

As far as the above pics, I have to give credit where credits due...the beautiful pics above were taken by Liv in the Moment photographer, (because I seem to be so scattered and absent minded these days and I forgot my camera!) Ugh, dah! It's ok. Mitzi's little Liv is a far more talented photographer... I've posted about her keen eye before, but honestly you should click on her tab in my side bar...I'm not being a braggy aunt...she really is taking amazing pics.... And to that I'm going to say good night, it's been a full and lovely day...sleep sweet dear friends.

I hope this post finds you better than well. XOXO Keke

Let's Hear It For the Girls, Even If We are all A Bit Upside Down Right Now.

2010-10-06T00:39:00.000-07:00

As always my near and dear faithful friends are always there.... humbly I thank you all. Everything feels upside down right now. As I visit each of you it seems we all have so many struggles to overcome right now and my heart is challenged to stop the tears from flowing....
I am committed to pray with out ceasing for all of us. How is it that such goodness and light be surrounded by so much darkness? I was thinking about it for the last couple of days, people are always so quick to quote, "God never gives us more than we can handle...." Sometimes the quote angers me...but I was thinking yesterday that maybe it's because we are not supposed to handle so much and in blind faith hand it over to him? Just a thought to make some kind of sense of the struggles we are all facing right now....

I have a new neurologist... Dr. Duncan. Yesterday after months of fighting with the botox pharmacy, insurance, etc. I finally received my shots. Now I sit and wait to see if they're effective. I did appreciate is approach, instead of the nine or twelve stabs that I have become accustomed to, he only injected me twice. One injection in the front of my neck and one in the back. He assures me that it will be just as effective and that there is no need to stick me as many times as the other neuro's did. I'm afraid he should have injected me one more time on the right side. It usually takes three or four weeks to see how they are working, but the right side is driving me crazy in excruciating pain tonight. I woke up this morning with my body so sore I felt like a mac truck had ran me over. AH liked Dr. D tremendously...I think he really like it more that I didn't break his hand from squeezing it yesterday...usually he holds my hand through the shots, but baby girl had gone out and bought me stress balls to squeeze instead....it worked pretty well. The shot in the front of my neck wasn't pleasant but no where near the pain from the one in the back left side. It felt like he stuck the needle so deep that it was going to come out the front.... but lesser of two evils and at least I have finally found somewhere to go where everyone from the receptionist to the nurse and doc were empathetic, friendly and professional. I told AH that usually my body goes into shock from the pain of the shots, but this time I think I was in shock by all of their kindness...sad but true, I have never been treated so kindly in the two years since I've developed dystonia. Amazing and sad to think about when you consider how many doctors I've seen. Still thanking God for mercy none the less.

I have much more to tell you all but I'll leave it with this for tonight. I hope all of you are blessed and that God will send you strength and his angels to surround you all so that you can rest if only for a moment in the feathery down of their wings.

XOXO Keke

P.S. Yes the cutie hanging upside down on the rings is Mitzi's Em. I could just bite her she is so adorable!

2010-09-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

The last time I posted was actually an accident...I downloaded a new photo application and was trying to see if it would post to Cherry Kingdom.... Um...the I love unicorn pic would actually be one of Mitzi's beauties... Princess Em. I was also rushing to try to post as everyday spins out of control and takes a life of it's own around here....so much has happened and happens everyday it's not a wonder I'm exhausted to scramble to keep up. In any case, Em is Mitzi's baby, only she's not a baby any more. I thought I should post the proof... less she complains to Mitzi again that I am posting 'unapproved' photo's. ( She doesn't know yet that a bad pic could never exist of her, she's so beautiful it's just not possible!) I was speaking with Mitzi the other day and gasping over the latest photo's of her. I asked Mitzi "When did that happen" in my mind all her girls all live perpetually as little girls and obviously that is not the case.
Time is such a thief, and since sadly I don't get to see them everyday and I live by the photo's posted, I must say I'm in shock. Instead of beautiful baby she has become a beautiful babe....and that will take work for me to reconcile.

Speaking of time and thievery and beautiful babies....

Remember beautiful boy and girl got married and had a beautiful baby....I received an invitation to baby Alex's first birthday party....remember the ultrasound pics I posted the summer before last...well look at this beautiful boy!
Unbelievable beautiful boy....
As I struggle to re-engage in blog land because I miss posting and all of you so much....I feel like this last year has been stolen from me... poof! Gone! I have so much to catch you all up on...battles fought...still fighting...and the struggle to keep my head on straight. "No pun intended." I hope that this will be the first of a continuance and that you are all better than well! I hope your summer has been filled with warm sunshine, lot's of laughter and love from your family and friends....and for now I'm off to another doctor's appt. which is the appropriate segway for what I have to tell you either tonight or tomorrow morning.... Be blessed!

XOXO Keke

2010-09-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

Pretty in Pink

2010-08-12T08:58:00.000-07:00

Pretty in Pink...I want to look like this woman...I swear I was born in the wrong decade! Although...living in Oz would actually permit me to dress like her and wear the up do without being questioned. I remember when I first moved here and I was complaining about not looking good and my good friend and the first friend I made in Oz...'Sarah' laughed and said, "Keke, haven't you figured it out yet? You can't look bad here." I remember looking around at every one that day and realized that what she said was true. Everyone in Oz seems to march to the beat of their own drum and it's not questioned... not like in the mid west where status quo was pretty much expected and you would not be able to present yourself differently with out stares and comments. Social prejudices, fear... I will say that every other day when I've decided I need to move away from Oz and struggle with 'where to?', I always put that acceptance on the pro side.

I'm rambling...I have much to catch up on, these last few months that I've been off line have been overwhelming. So much so that I find myself compartmentalizing my life now. I have put everything away in it's own little box and some boxes are only taken in small peeks, others not at all, for now....

I've decided that each day I will offer a small peek into only one box, otherwise this blog page would implode...and as I sit here trying to figure out how to rebuild my life it forces me to look at all the things that went wrong, my responses to all the wrongness, and most of all, how will I respond in the future should similar situations come along... and I know they will... What's that saying, 'What ever we don't learn we are doomed to repeat?'
In any case, getting started posting again is harder than I thought...but it had been calling to me for months...and I've so missed all of you.

The tutorial from yesterday, "How to make a purse out of a book" is dedicated to my dear Mitzi...artist extraordinaire and maker of book journals.... I think I will try to make one...a little differently though... I love that a man was doing the tutorial...for a minute I fantasized about AH being the star of that tutorial... "YUM!" it would then make him the perfect man, well, ok, maybe not perfect, but.... ERRRRCKKKKK... ok, sorry reeling it back in... You have to admit there's nothing sexier than an 'art man', hmmmm...clarify...during the day he's going to have to be a construction worker or a fireman or some other manly profession, I like a manly man with a dash of sensitive creativity...but he can't like handbags and shoes more than me. LOL I've gone to far...

I hope to catch up and visit all of you sooner rather than later...I hope you have a blessed day! XOXO Keke

How To Make a Handbag Out of a Recycled Book.

2010-08-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

2010-07-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends, I know it's been far to long since I've last posted. Hopefully, I pray that all of you have been well and I want to thank all of you for your kind messages and emails during this difficult time. I hope to be talking to all of you soon on a more consistant basis.
XXOO Keke

A little Martha inspiration; just what the doctor ordered, besides Yoga...

2010-04-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Inspired by yet another yummy awakening...literally, I had nodded off on the couch with the television on and I awoke just in time to see Martha demonstrating this clutch with Robin Grawunder of Upstyle Designs. You can find her here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Upstyle?section_id=5790712 Robin sells these little yum yums already made for you; or thank you 'Martha' and Robin, you can make your own per the instructions below or find the printable or sharable version here: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/fabric-clutch I can think of about at least fifteen or twenty of my favorite girls whom I would love to make these for as soon as I get my steam back! :)
I hope you have an inspired and blessed day...XOXO Keke

Fabric Clutch

Add a pop of color to any outfit with these simple-to-sew fabric clutches from Robin Grawunder. Include a personalized label on the bag's interior, if desired.

ClutchTools and Materials:
Decorative fabric for outside of clutch
Fabric for lining
Heavyweight fusible stabilizer
Fusible fleece
Rotary cutter
Grid ruler
Iron
Sewing machine
Coordinating machine-sewing thread
Transparent tape
Bond 527 Multi-Purpose Cement
Metal clutch frame hardware

Clutch How-To:

1. Cut 13-by-13 1/2-inch pieces from outer fabric, lining fabric, and heavyweight fusible stabilizer. Cut a 10 1/2-by-13-inch piece of fusible fleece. With an iron, fuse heavyweight stabilizer to wrong side of outer fabric, then fuse fleece to center of stabilized side of fabric.

2. With right sides of outer and lining fabrics together, sew 1/2-inch seams along both longer 13 1/2-inch edges.

3. Turn sewn pieces so right sides are facing out, and press seams flat.

4. Fold in half, matching seams at top, with lining on inside. Sew a 1/4-inch seam on outside raw edges, then trim seam allowances to 1/8 inch and snip in at the corners. Turn again, so outside fabric is on the inside. Sew 1/4-inch seam along edges, creating a finished French seam, then turn right side out.

5. Fold corners down; mark and sew a 2-inch gusset on each. Trim corner to 1/8 inch. Turn again so lining faces out; sew a 1/4-inch seam along gussets to finish seams. Turn right side out one last time.

6. Apply a bead of fabric glue to metal frame. Center over top seam, carefully insert fabric in metal frame, and secure in place with tape. Allow glue to set for several hours.

7. Remove tape, tuck outside corners behind frame, and snap closed.

Personalized Label:

Tools and Materials:
Computer with program for designing labels
Inkjet printer
Jacquard Inkjet printable silk
Iron
Steam-a-Seam double-sided fusible interfacing
Scissors or rotary cutter

Label How-To

1. Create labels in an 8 1/2-by-11-inch document using any program that generates images, words, letters, etc.

2. With an inkjet printer, print document on silk side of printable silk page. Let ink set for 15 minutes.

3. Carefully peel off paper backing from silk and discard. Place sheet on flat surface and gently reshape. Apply Steam-a-Seam double-sided fusible interfacing to wrong side of silk with a warm iron.

4. Cut labels from sheet. Peel off paper backing, and iron labels in place on handmade items.

ResourcesMetal clutch frame hardware and purse supply kits are available on Etsy.com. Jacquard Inkjet Sheets are available on Amazon. Steam-a-Seam is available from Warm Company.

2010-04-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience by which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.”

-Eleanor Roosevelt

A Diliberate Life and Lucy Stone

2010-04-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

Lucy Stone
I'm all over the place this morning, my thoughts racing to catch up to my intentions. The words from my rude lawyer still stinging from yesterdays conversation. The questions go unanswered, another woman in business that fails to attempt civility, grace, manners and any form of decent professionalism. Friday's conversation left me with knowing that I would most likely need to fire her, she was supposed to have ready Tuesday the demands for my suffering, for the discrimination and harassment enacted upon me. Tuesday the phone call came that she would need more time. The point being that my concern is not her delivery of the demand letter as much as her dedication to my case, and trying to figure out if the 3.5 billion dollars behind my employer has brought about corruption as she is telling me things on Friday that lead me to that very question. Yesterday's phone call again left me with the same conclusion as Friday. Every conversation I have with this lawyer is as bad or worse than the one before, if we measured the time I have spoken with her it would be less than one minute, not to be confused with time spent in conversation with her which would be a generous approximate of 45 minutes, since handing her the currency required for her representation. AH and I both had reservations about keeping that appointment that day, we had both at different moments spoke out loud that maybe we should cancel and sleep on it some more. Hastily we did not listen to ourselves or each other and now it seems the plot has worsened by falling into the hands of a pettifogger.Every conversation as the last, she'll ask a question and before I can return with the answer she will interrupt with an outburst repeating the same question. Honestly, I'm starting to think that she and soulless could be sisters. Friday's conversation; 'I believe you still owe me the chronology' I answered "I've already sent it". Response; "Oh". Well I believe you still owe me medical records". I answered, "I've already sent it". Response; "Oh". I told AH it was as if she were digging for a reason to justify her not delivering on the money I've given her. If she didn't know these documents had already been sent to her office, how well has she familiarized herself with my case? Furthermore, who might she think she be to respond to me with such an amount of arrogance, disrespect and shear blasphemy? She is who I allow her to be, shall I exercises my voice of intolerance for her ignorance, or shall I remain submissive and speak nothing of the unkind ignorance and allow her to remain attacking for the next that should come along? After all, I have no disillusion that I am but a victim of the world, I know that she comes to me of this nature because others before remained mute. Although surely we all must see the irony that she would suggest to represent against her own kind and that of all the representation listed on the masses of search engines, unknowingly I would find my way to her of all others. The voice whispers again the lesson that I must learn or the voice I must free. I will say again as I've said before, I am not sure where this path is leading me, in God's time and with his will... What I do know is I am the King's child and will no longer tolerate such abuse, the grace she has been allowed to this point is just that, 'grace' it should not be confused with weakness that I have shown respect in a professional manner. Old chains that bind, that howl and clank in our hearts and our souls as women, lest we be categorized with those such as these. I asked AH last night why don't I trust myself and listen to the voice that whispers don't listen to this, speak up, don't do that, don't go there? A womans intuition is perhaps the most powerful thing on earth... It's how we protect our children, our family, and our homes. How is it that we rarely use this tool to protect ourselves? How is it that we find ourselves in bondage by our very own sense of decency and respect for others although they show nothing of the same to us? How is it that we listen to others with regret or anger and somehow don't muster the courage to stand against it? As a woman who's youth was framed by the woman's rights movement and all that it has brought, I question whether we are any further along. That's ridiculous, of course we are. I do however believe that women such as these, who like to mourn and cry out over the glass ceiling over a glass of wine and a gigantic sense of ego, are the very women who keep it in place, kept in place by their very actions, lack of manners, and ethics, their ability to contain their emotional outburst in everyday business practice, let alone the board room. As a woman I don't want to be subjected to their behavior, why would any one else? Soulless on several occasions mourned the glass ceiling and the venom she spewed from her teeth angered mine and your sense of intelligence. Would either know to breath the name of Elizabeth Cady Staton, would either know of the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions? Yet they dare spout for their own benefit, ignorance's not defined with only enough key words to hold the rest of us in bondage by their representation of the female form. I dare say that Lucy Stone would turn in her grave to know that her sacrifice and courage has been wasted on the likes of these, although surely there must have been likeness to these during her time in this place. Lucy did not waiver, she lived a deliberate life of purpose, and maybe, just maybe this is my lesson...

Walden - Chapter 2

Where I lived, and What I lived for

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.

Henry David Thoreau - 1854

And I digressed in a manner that I did not intend. Originally this post was to be a parody of tax day and a few pics of vintage pin ups just for the delight of it. Although I must say as much as they are visually colorful and fulfill my love of vintage art, I hadn't realized how provocative some of them were and now must rethink the use in creative endeavors... I wish you blessings and hope that you are all abundantly well today. XOXO Keke

Two for Tuesday

2010-04-13T22:09:00.001-07:00

Whoo Hoo, I'm awake, I really get to pull off 'Two for Tuesday', which is my way of making up for missing one to many 'Something Good Mondays and the Joy Factor'. Actually, it may be a record, I've been awake for an hour and a half and I'm not starting to nod yet.... A little problem for me that has came up of late...I can be sitting up, talking on the phone, eating, [which AH seems to think is really funny], etc...and I will just nod off. What is that all about? Before this time period it would happen to me randomly but not often over the last six months, it has grown to be a daily problem...Sometimes it really freaks me out, sometimes it feels like what people describe a coma to feel like...sometimes I will just get up and move, no matter how tired I feel I will just stay on my feet, I haven't nodded off standing up yet...LOL! In any case, I'm awake and I've been stopping by saying thank you to all of you and as always am blessed and inspired by the visits...Dawn at 'The Feathered Nest' is an amazing and generous artist, [our favorite kind]. If you haven't stopped by, your in for a treat!

http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/

When I was visiting I ran across a button that lead to free images and another amazing giving artist [ http://tammytutterow.com/ ], where I found the image above and thought, "Hey, that could be Mitzi and Me".

And do you remember in December when I shared with you an amazing specialty online bakers supply shop called 'Fancy Flours'?

Just look at those amazing cookies, remember me telling you that Mitzi and I discovered edible glitter for the wedding cake? Well those cookies are adorned with edible printed paper, I so want to order some! According to the description you apply them to the cookies with Karo syrup. Easy peasy!
And remember my fascination with 'Wonderland'? Wouldn't you just love to have these figures for a cake? A little pricey for the unemployed but delightful just the same!

However...there are these edible images for cookies that one might afford and they are just as delightful!

Last but not least, how adorable are these cupcake toppers? We have a birthday coming up soon for baby boy... I was looking for something unusual to fit the occasion and Fancy Flours definitely has anything and everything you can't find else where.... YUM!

And that wraps up 'Two for Tuesday'...I wish you sugarplum dreams...

Sleep sweet dear friends...XOXO Keke

A Working Out and Call to Honor

2010-04-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

I hadn't intended on missing this weeks 'Something Good Monday,'again this week. It just sort of happened...so I was thinking today could be 'Two for Tuesday.'More like 'Two Thousand for Tuesday," so many things rambling in this head of mine...I realized that I'm sleeping about 18 hours a day right now...hmmm...Mitzi did remind me not too long ago that sleep had always been my preferred method of coping...well, maybe only at certain times. There was the whole decade of the nineties that I didn't sleep a wink. I was too busy, making folk art, catering parties, teaching children...I miss those days, so much life buzzing like honeybee's. Then we could add in there 2004 through March 18, 2010. Not so much love just survival and I'm coming to realize years wasted that I will never get back. It may have started with a conversation between AH and I. Never having worked or existed in the mind numbing, dizzying world of corporate enterprise, AH had tried to warn me...I didn't listen, I only heard a challenge. The challenge was what I called, 'a six month bump', I would work as hard as I could and do what ever I needed to do to be promoted every six months as long as it wasn't illegal or immoral, to work my way to the top with my integrity in tact. AH said it wasn't possible, I argued for everything the American dream is made of...boot straps, calloused hands, hard work, ethics, integrity, grit, determination. I thought I'd found the perfect company to accomplish this challenge. It was working, every six months I had received a promotion for the first three years, until... The founder of this company lauded this philosophy at every employee assembly, the posters are hung in every building and office {business with integrity, social responsibility, respect for our people,our land etc.} ...his story is told as rags to riches, building the empire from the ground up, like a mythological creature, the largest family owned winery, started with hardship in the 70's when an eminent domain lawyer turned grape farmer couldn't sell his crop. I missed the in-between, {lawyer, eminent domain, etc.} I fell hook line and sinker for a man that had the voice of a gentleman, a kind and weathered face, the posters on the wall spoke to me in the tone of his voice, I bought the whole farm, only to find out there was no farm, lucky for me, I wasn't offered a bridge. Speaking of farm's, I digressed...Meet Mary Jane. Oh please promise to click on this link - [http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/] this is what my latest dreams are made of. 'You can take the girl of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the girl,' Mitzi and I grew up on a farm, Mitzi has had many types of farms over the years, and currently is raising special little goats and selling their fur... fur? wool?, no couldn't be wool, maybe it's just called fiber? Mitzi would know the proper word...hmmm, she's in love with this, and so are the princess' from youngest to oldest...[http://www.fuzzyfiberfarm.com/home.html]
Can you see the love on Mitzi's face?
And look at my sweet little Em with the baby goat, oh she's so yummy I could bite her! Talk about all American, doesn't she look like a sweet all American girl with her pigtails and and sweet adorable smile? And she's so clever and smart, everyone should be as lucky as I.

They even take them in the hometown parades.... but again I've digressed...

Mary Jane is selling this little trailer on her farm girl site...since I'm experiencing fight or flight...LOL I thought it might not be a bad idea to have one of these on the back burner! Good thing it's not sitting beside my little red car right now, I'd already be gone...

It has a trunk, with a 12 gal water tank and a stove and a cooler and a sink!

Her site has a general store that sells a number of things that stir a far away longing in me...how much do you love this vegetable fabric?And aprons, I love,love this apron...I think I remember the women from my child hood wearing these dressing little aprons at family events, like weddings and holidays, etc...I think we all need to start wearing aprons again, to remember a bygone era, where people were kind and generous, and practiced manners. Women were sure of their own strength, it radiated quietly, you could see it, smell it, it was palpable by their own breath. They didn't need to pretend to be strong through use of profanity that would make a sailor blush, or tantrums and threats, then cry and excuse it as their softer side when true strength was required. Yes, I'm talking about soulless...
Funny to me, we live in a world of noise and constant streaming information, it's an assault of sort. Words and phrases play through my head...baby girl and I were having a conversation yesterday about people rushing or completely skipping the things, the rituals that once marked a significant event, and with that we've lost meaning to the words, the skills to cope, our heads spin and leave a empty hole that we can never seem to fill up. From the beginning of this sojourn many people have had something to say, from my loved ones, {all of you} it has been my strength and the light on days I couldn't find my way from the darkness...from others, unsolicited advice comes in the form of rushed, assault, meaningless waste. There are those that repeat words that they have no concept of the meaning, 'integrity, ethics, victimization, move forward, move past, anger, generous...' Surprise.... ! I will move as fast or slow as it takes to walk away from this thing without an empty hole that will take the rest of my life to never fill up. I am exhausted by such people with their PHD fast food life and no concept of this process in which I speak. I will practice the rituals, I will for once do what's right for me not caring how uncomfortable it may make those who have stamped this case 'rush' with their rubber stamp, this process will be on God's time and the time he has set for me. I have ran a marathon for the last almost six years not stopping to think what was waiting at the end...which means the six years of nothingness and assault and victimization must be given a voice by me...Why? So my sisters, daughters, mothers, aunts, friends may in some small way step up to the front of the line with me, and we will shout no more. We will stand with grace and strength and lend a voice to that quiet strength that has all but mostly passed with generations that came before and we will renew for our daughters and their daughters, that words like dignity, integrity, propriety, grace and strength have meaning. So that far away, long ago memory of gentle but fierce strength will be shown representation and live on through their voices and actions, not just their memories. Tie on your aprons ladies... it's time to remind the others like soulless and her sisters, [and my lawyer] the true meaning of being a strong woman, it's time they've been taught some manners! I think we should start an apron movement.

XOXO Keke

P.S... Said people can stop lecturing me on confidentiality, another word they don't know the meaning of...and I plan on shouting the truth from every roof top. It's a little late to ask me to play your game, PC is no longer in my vocabulary, only truth and justice.

Tatterdemalion

2010-04-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am trying to hear the music again...

Trying to find my land legs...

Trying to find Joy.

JOY
1 a : the emotion evoked by well-being,success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight
b : the expression or exhibition of such emotion : gaiety
2 : a state of happiness or felicity : bliss
3 : a source or cause of delight

This has been a time like no other in my life. Most of us, having reached a certain maturity can claim to have experienced most everything one can imagine, or at least it sometimes feels that way. I think that old cliche' could come into play, just when you think you've seen everything...

I have to say that still, I am quite surprised at this turn in the road my life has taken. It truly is 'the best of times, the worst of times...' Before I digress further, I want to say thank you to all of you and all the ways that you have shown your love and support. This ugly situation can literally make me feel like I've lost my mind, and just about the time I'm ready to believe it's certifiable, one of you come along with a kindness or a word of encouragement and it's powerful, and I am humbled and grateful for your love. I know I've been MIA for a while, mostly I've been sleeping, literally, I will be up for an hour or maybe two if things are well and then this uncontrollable feeling to lay down before I fall down will come over me. I have to say this is disconcerting to me... I feel as if I'm living out a nightmare and praying for it to end...but yesterday afternoon something happened that shook me awake and I'm determined to stay on my feet today. I have much to catch you up on, and I will... but for now, I'm going to leave this as I started, my heart bursting with humbled gratitude for all of you. Thank you. Thank you. All my love. XOXO Keke

Lost Somewhere...What do I do now?

2010-03-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

The Guest House

The human being is a guest house

Every morning there is a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness

Some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor

Welcome and entertain them all

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house and empty it from its furniture still, treat each guest honourably.

He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

Jelaluddin Balkhi Runi (1207- 1248)

I never used to think my identity was centered around my work. Yes there were the fights AH and I would have when I spent to much time working or took calls from soulless during the evening, weekends, vacation days...and then there was the long weekend I took to fly to Mitzi for one of her princess' weddings and I spent the whole weekend other than the wedding in her motor home in the yard hooked up to work... then I told myself I had to, soulless really did require all of this, I would argue that I needed my job, and this is what she clearly communicated was expected. It wasn't until I got sick and she had passed on me for a new version of me that I realized that this was all just wasted time. How did I lose my balance? Why didn't I just say no...round and round we go...because I needed my job. I need my job more than ever now, or I should say I need my paycheck and the health insurance...But the struggle and the cruelty became too great, I could feel me slipping back into the same state I was in the Winter of '09. AH has a theory that once this is over that I won't need health insurance, at least not for the Dystonia...he believes I'll go into remission...I'm hoping and praying he's right, but now what? I was online this morning looking for employment, I thought of sending my resume in for a position in the same industry... Fear...will it bring more of the same?

I'm almost 45. I feel too old to ask myself what I want to be when I grow up...and then again I argue that point with myself. AH told me yesterday that I need to breathe and relax. This thing isn't even over yet.

I have never been a person that could let grass grow under my feet. It's all really too much...I hear the awful news stories of people who have not found employment for two years... baby girl and AH are still job seekers. They both put in more applications yesterday... I like to pretend in my mind that maybe it's possible for me to start and make a living on my own business. Maybe there really is a market for Art here...but it's too scary. Owning your own business is always feast or famine, unless your one of the lucky few who survive the first five years. I long for stability at this age...but after this last two years I also long for freedom from the demons of the corporate world. So the question is now, 'What am I going to do?' I know there are others that brave this situation with courage and have come out on top...Lord I pray let this be me... I try to tell my self that all of this is in God's hands now...and I do believe it, so why all of this fear and doubt and emotion?

As always, thank you for your kind words, I really don't know what I would do with out all of you and your voices of reason and sanity...

XOXO Keke

Something Good Monday and the 'Joy' Factor

2010-03-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

Monday, Monday...So, here I am...I have to say it's a very strange feeling to know that I will not be rushing this morning to get my neck as straight as I possibly can to rush to madhatter time...I'm experiencing an overwhelming amount of emotions this morning...to know that soulless is addressing my staff this morning, a staff that I had poured my heart and soul into brings overwhelming sadness...and fear...and anger... What will she say to them? I can only imagine, and then she'll go into one of her dramatic acts, I can hear the words coming out of her mouth...I've been present too many times for one of these events...she will sigh, and look distraught and she will tell everyone how victimized she is from my actions, and undoubtedly that I just walked and left the company in a very critical position at a very critical time...and then she will say 'but we'll get through this' and what she really means is she'll make my staff work as much overtime as she can and she will will harass them every five minutes until they lose their mind because she doesn't give them a moment to breathe or get their work done, as she continues to live her life uninterrupted...I want them to know that I was fighting for them, for us, this wasn't just about me. It was about how we were all treated on a daily basis by soulless...they won't know any of this. This whole process was supposed to be held in confidence. I held up my end, soulless did not hold up hers, of course.... So all they will know is whatever soulless tells them and the fact that I'm not there and will not be returning. All being said, it also brings the emotions of relief and even 'joy' the possibilities of new beginnings. Change is scary, but it was more frightening to me to see where my health would be even a month from now. I truly was getting sicker with each day that passed. I have some cleaning up to do, wipe the cobwebs and visions of the corruption out of my head, and hopefully I will be able to sweep up the broken remnants and polish the tarnish of this experience from heart and soul.
The HR person had asked for me to call her this morning in the voicemail she left me on Friday...she wants to meet with me possibly tomorrow morning to figure out what 'we' need to do...she also would like to give me the opportunity to discuss with her anything I feel the 'independent advisor' may have over looked... Ummmm.... 'NO' I have repeatedly given documents and proof...I'm done speaking and providing. In the last 31/2 months I have spent approximately 20 hrs. of my life that I will never get back in their 'interviews' and so much more in research and providing documents of corruption...no more. Is the pen mightier than the sword? I hope so...As I told them on Friday, it was nice for their 'employer lawyer' to massage and caress this investigation to reflect a no harm done outcome, as they are both trying to tell me they really know nothing of her that she was hired because someone had recommended her...more lies and games, and as I've said, it's so offensive for them to patronize me in this way as if I wouldn't possibly have the intelligence to figure it out...

So what's something good today? I can still stand, I will stand and best of all I can breath again. I have all of you cheering me, I have a lot of work to do but with love and encouragement I know that I am luckier than most. Thank you as always falls short, you all will never know how much your love, prayers and encouragement mean to me...In fact, with the love of my family and all of you and the grace that God has given me I give credit that I stand. I hope that you find your joy factor today...
Be blessed and well.
XOXO Keke

Humpty Dumpty by Edgar Allan Poe

2010-03-21T08:31:00.001-07:00

I hope you enjoy this dramatic reading, a little twisted but it made me smile. XO Keke

Can justice be found in the body of truth?

2010-03-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

It's time to go the walrus said, to talk of many things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings...

And so it is done. The meeting went as expected. The company denied all three of my complaints and any wrong doing by the parties involved. It was an expected out come. The corruption is staggering. Everyone keeps using the word 'fair'. My expectation wasn't fairness, it was justice. Obviously I can not go into detail as we move to the next phase of this process. What I will say is that they were provided undeniable, indisputable evidence and pointedly told me that the documents stood as is. I told them that I would not quit but that every day that I report to soulless I get sicker. A short time after I left the meeting I received a phone call. By this time I had gone to bed, it's amazing how just an hour of this nonsense knocks the wind out of my sails.... When I woke I received the voicemail, they have placed me on paid administrative leave. I guess we move to round two; the meeting has tarnished my belief that people will do the right thing if given a chance. They were given a chance; it's all wrong. At least now maybe I can get a little rest, I doubt it. I keep replaying over and over in my head the look on the presidents face as he's telling me the adverse memo's would stand, even though I provided the proof that the information was wrong. Amazingly brilliant corruption in a company that advertises respect and integrity in it's mission statement.
I'll end with this because I've seem to have lost my words. I hope you all have a spectacular spring weekend. XXOO Keke

Happpy St. Patricks Day!

2010-03-17T06:52:00.000-07:00

I love Ireland and all things Irish, St Patrick's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays!

I can not celebrate St. Patrick's Day without thinking of W.B. Yeats..

According to the Wikipedia:

William Butler Yeats; 13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He was the first Irishman so honored.

One of my favorite writings by W.B. Yeats is titled 'Into the Twilight'.

Out-worn heart, in a time out-worn,

Come clear of the nets of wrong and right;

Laugh heart again in the gray twilight,

Sigh, heart, again in the dew of the morn.

Timely, I once had copied this poem in calligraphy and framed it for my wall.

How awesome are these St. Patty graphics? In case you didn't notice, in my sidebar under 'Resources' you'll find 'Free Images'.

http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/

I often turn to this source for vintage holiday images that I can glitter and glam.

Today is my last day of work, (thank goodness), before Friday's meeting.I am taking tomorrow off for car repairs early morning and a doctors appointment in the afternoon. Then Friday morning 10 a.m. will be the defining meeting to start the end of this hellish nightmare that has been my existence for far too long...

I am in a good place with this and am ready. It's what all this going through the motions has been leading up to.

I am taking both my friend Susanne's advice and Patti's love with me. The high profile lawyer finally called me back. I am not making a decision about that until after Friday's meeting. The ball is actually in their court, their response will determine my next choice.

But for now, it's madhatter time...oh and before I forget to tell you, I printed off and made those St. Patty's Day paper toys from 'The Toy Maker' for my staff's desk and left them for my staff to find this morning before I left work. They were so easy and fun...I hope you had a chance to view and possibly make some...

XOXO Keke

We could hardly live without the magic of a few good friends...

2010-03-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

I am part of all that I have met;Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades forever and forever when I move.
~Tennyson's "Ulysses"

I took a few minutes last night before bed to try to visit a few friends. I stopped by my friend Jullie's site only to find wonderful magical things.

http://shabby-jules.blogspot.com/

Jullie always has things of wonder and beauty on her site but this one was exactly what I needed to escape... I have spent too much time in the kingdom lately mourning my work situation and complaining about soulless. It is time for some magic....

My friend Suzanne's team of docs are indeed very wise in their treatment of her. It is not good to dwell in dark places too long... and I'm following their advice for her. So let me introduce you to...

Marilyn Scott-Waters
http://www.thetoymaker.com/

Amazing giving woman and this is such a magical place. Paper toys to print and play, and even though my girlhood days are long gone, and I have no little feet to pitter patter around my house, I was delighted just the same. I have placed the link above and in my sidebar.

Thank you Jullie for your ever constant inspiration!

These are paper fishes that I will print and put together. Aren't they darling! I can just see them blowing on my patio just in time for summer.

She also is a children's book author and has wonderful stories and characters for you to print. So perfectly awesome. Most of you know how much I love to play with paper. I have been folding paper since the children where small... so wistful memories of folding paper cranes and laughing until our bellies hurt came to lift my spirits last night. I think the most wonderful thing about Marilyns sharing is that it is not just for children, and although I only have a couple of days left I am going to put a few of her things together for my beloved staff members. I have made paper things for them before, just a little something yummy and was delighted in how much they liked them. All of them still have the little paper creations on their desk. Marilyn also has holiday creations and the St. Patrick Day items are just in time. I do hope you find as much delight in this site as I, and stop by and give Jullie a shout, you'll get lost in her wonderland as well... Just what the Dr. ordered.

XO Keke

Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia. ~ Charles M. Schulz

Something Good Monday and The 'Joy" Factor.

2010-03-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

New rare beautiful flowers. That is what you all are to me everyday. Each kindness, each kind word, thought or prayer extended is so rare and precious. All of you rare and beautiful women. We live in a time when there are such few women mentors and role models in our neighborhoods and true and loyal friends are just as hard to find. There was a time in history when it was rare to be anything else. There was a time if your neighbor were sick, sincere concern and care would be given. Women did not use language that would make sailors blush nor did they have more flesh showing than what was covered. Thoughtfulness and sincerity was the same as a breath. Effortless manners, sincere caring was the norm.

You all keep the light for me to remember. You have my undying gratitude. I believe no matter how old we get we need strong and kind women to look to. Mentors, role models such as you all are. Do not underestimate the power of the smallest kindness or gesture of favor. You are all the examples of what women should be, it is hope for our future. Those of you, my friends who have baby girls are raising more women to carry the light my friends who have baby boys are instructing them in what a woman should be, and hopefully our young men seek out such young women so the light continues. This is your legacy. It is unspeakable profoundness and rarity that I think is not seen or rarely recognized. Wouldn't it be awesome, at a time when every one has something to protest or 'movements' are by the dozen, to start our own? A movement of intention and light. We have powerful tools these days to be able to spread the word. If it only touched one or two lives it would be worth it, but we know it would go farther than that....These are the things I'm thinking of again. I told AH as strange as it sounds I'm actually starting to dream again, about my future, my vocation, my happiness. I can only describe it as waking from a dark haze, as if I'd been buried alive. I am digging and scratching my way through each layer of the earth. I am starting to see flashes of light and hope. My biggest fear has been losing my health care, as AH pointed out, what if I no longer need it when this is over? Going with the suspicion that I have had all along that my toxic workplace was what made me sick in the first place. We all underestimate the power and poison of stress, even though numerous scientist have documented the effects. How I lost my way in all of this I do not know... it was insidious, one evil random act that followed another, so small that I didn't realize what it was building. But that is what I was speaking of all along, we have become a nation where so much negative and nastiness is accepted The small acts that we encounter every day and then let go, the grocery store cashier that throws the produce that we just spent 10 min carefully picking out, the road rage driver honking and flipping you off because even though you were going the speed limit, it wasn't fast enough for them. The doctors receptionist who feels the need to spew her venom on you, (this one in particular I will never get, the medical profession used to be one of honor, of healing, of intention.) I'm thinking of the receptionist that I called out and she giggled and made the excuse that she is sometimes just that way. She stopped giggling when I suggested she find another profession. How many times do we encounter negative behavior in a days time and let it go. I say, don't let it go. As I always tell the children, you don't have to scream and name call to make your point. In fact the calling out is more powerful if you are calm and just state your facts. By the same token I always, always recognize those who I encounter and offer kindness and courtesy, which is bittersweet. The sweet part is the happiness you see wash over someones face when you recognize their effort, the sad part is the look of surprise, going back to above where I said it should be as a breath, the look of surprise tells me they aren't recognized enough.Today I am 'choosing' rebirth again. How many times are we as women reborn. It is the eternal optimist that soulless nor anyone else has the power to take from me. It is my birthright. It is the downy feathers that I claim and lay rest in. I am also claiming the meaning of my name. My name means 'warrior spirit'. As I believe that it is chosen by God, there is nothing insignificant. It is madhatter time for me again, I will go forth with the light and kindness that you have given, and rest in all the power of Heaven above. I will put on my armor and claim my birthright. Last week I couldn't imagine how I would get through this week.

This morning I am choosing to hang onto the fact that even the smallest creature is cared for as am I. Friday will come soon enough, and in all of the poison arrows, lies and evilness that tried to destroy me, soulless and her minions can not. I am claiming the thrown and will march on. I have made a decision about Friday's meeting, I will prepare for it. This too shall pass and I am actually filled with hope for the promise of new beginnings. I carry you all with me in my heart, thank you for sharing your strength and love. You are my something good, you are my 'Joy'!

XO Keke

2010-03-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

I am looking for spring time. For sunshine, for birds singing, for hope. I think everyone could probably say this right now, but I mean it metaphorically as well. I knew this road I chose would be a battle, even in the worst of times I knew the worst was yet to come. And every day is a little worse than the day before. Soulless is reduced to walking around with black eyes again, her hatred of me is palpable. She is seething, she wears it like a self righteous cloak. The meanness is evil, you can see the black aura encircled in a radius around her every step, her body, her face, I'm waiting for her to lunge at me. Her aggression is there to see. Everything is all wrong. My department is crashing, the other department we support is loosing their mind with worry. They've done their job now it's up to us to finish the race. They have no faith that me and my department will. The phone calls come daily. Soulless created this environment and she is angry as most evil beings are when you dare to shed light on them. HR came to the conclusion and put it in the famous investigative memo that the staff member that launched a complaint against me was guilty of verbally attacking and harassing and being aggressive with me and others. It said the company has a no tolerance policy against this, yet she still returns to my department day after day. Soulless scampered to give her a written warning...irony, the woman whose anger toward me prompted her to make this complaint and walked around like a cat with a feather in her mouth for months found out just who soulless was...she was so certain that soulless would take care of her. Soulless gave her a one time written warning that said if she ever behaved in an aggressive manor again she would be fired. She left work crying, soulless and the VP called me in after to tell me what they had done, they were so proud of themselves...they pushed the memo across the table at me and began to ramble about how they don't think she even realizes that she is 'being' aggressive and they believe she can be coached through this. At some point they began to sound like Charlie Brown's teacher. I didn't read the memo until the next day. The statements that soulless wrote in the written warning were wrong. She wrote falsehoods on this one time warning and I haven't decided what to do with this.

I also found out last week the lawyer that the company hired had broken my confidentiality. I also received an email from the 'facilitator' who told me she didn't want to know anything yet was in constant conversation with the 'confidential independent advisor' and who my alleged confidential information was given. Next Friday I am to meet with the 'facilitator' and the VP's manager, the President to hear the outcome of my complaints. It will go as all of this has gone thus far. It will be riddled with mostly lies, half truths and nothing will be done.

They will conclude my complaint against soulless, HR and the VP and make way so that HR and soulless can fire me. They wouldn't dare to do this while they are under investigation. They also will not find in my favor. It would require them to admit a wrong has been done by senior management representing the company.

I called one of the three lawyers that I had found yesterday, I really just wanted information, I have never had to retain legal council before. The person I spoke with gave me what she called an assessment interview. She asked me questions like, my age, the size of the company, is there anyone willing to testify on my behalf. It's all about money...this particular attorney takes on high profile cases. It was unexpected. She said she would call or send an email to tell me if the attorney wants to take my case. I said wait, I called for information, she said, "what do you want to know?" I said, "how this all works". She said you give the attorney a $1500 retainer fee, then she takes 40 % of what ever she wins for you. She hung up. I started laughing. All of this is so ridiculous. She is going to call and say if she wants to represent me. I didn't say I wanted her to, I only wanted information. Ego in this large lost land I'm in seems vast and far. I have to call the other two lawyers, and then probably more..I need help, I need advice, this is bigger than I am and I can't find my way out. Should I call Washington? At this point I want to shout the injustice of all of this to the world! What do I do now? I can not return and continue to take the punches from soulless. I get sicker by the day, I'm back to when I was at my worst and all I did was sleep, go to work, sleep, go to work....there is no quality to my life. Which is why this post is going to say that I wrote this March 10th when I only put the pics on here that day, today is actually Saturday, March 13th. I can't find the time for any of my personal items be it personal business or just things that bring me joy. Speaking of joy, I am having coffee with my sweet friend this morning. She is always a voice of reason and stability and a cheerleader for me. Exactly what I need after last week.
XOXO Keke
P.S. If any of you have advice on the legal system attorneys or how I go about the next round of battle please send...I really don't know what I'm doing at this point....

Something Good Monday and the "JOY" Factor

2010-03-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.maryengelbreit.com/blogs

It's been a long day...so short and sweet it is.

I have spoken before how much I love, simply adore ME.

Imagine my shock to jump on her site only to find out my favorite magazine has been temporarily suspended due to lack of advertisers, due to the economy. Insert small tear streaming down the center of my cheek. ME is still however worthy of a 'Joy' factor post, and besides Mary states that hopefully this is just a small vacation until other game plans can be implemented to gain new advertisers. Which is 'something good', one because I believe her and I do believe she will resurrect the 'Home Companion', and two, it demonstrates the hope and strength of women and how we can turn even the bleakest situations around. I hope the link above leads you to your "Joy" factor...even if it's the smallest smile! Isn't the above print the best? I love animal balloons. Did I ever tell you about the balloon artist I met in my beloved Sonoma and that I had her tie up a dozen pink poodle balloons and put them on a stick? I then wrapped the pink poodles in tissue paper so it looked like a bouquet of pink poodles! LOL, it was the best!

XOXO Keke

Curiouser and curiouser!

2010-03-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!

(This is exactly how I feel right now...)

Baby girl surprised me Saturday when I got home from work with a gift. It was a red tote bag with images of the Red Queen on it and inside the card were movie tickets for all of us to go see 'Alice and Wonderland'.

So today, AH and both kids and I went to the Sunday matinee. It was a lovely warm day here in Oz. It has been so dark and gray for what seems to be months on end. It was lovely. AH, the kids and I haven't been out as a family for no reason other than the delight of doing something fun in ages. So sweet that baby girl of mine. Funny, I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for months, but with my current state of existence I had totally forgot the movie was coming out on Friday.

The movie was ok, not quite as fantastical and as exciting as the trailers had depicted. Still, it was nice to be out as a family, and just a reminder, as my friend Patti reminded me of what is really important in this life. And baby girls thoughtfulness and generosity makes my heart smile.

This has been a curious week. I think I've said this before, but I originally started this blog as just sort of a journal. I didn't really expect anyone to read it, and what's more, I didn't expect to be gifted with such dear sweet souls to look after me. In saying this, I realized that my current situation has been racked with such emotion that I ramble and must leave all of you with confusion. Actually there are times when I look back at this 'working out' on page and it all seems more fantastical than 'Alice in Wonderland' was today. When I look at the story, it doesn't even seem possible, but yet it is. I think you all have a good idea of who soulless is, the rest probably leaves you with a confused curiosity. I've decided that in the next few days I will try to briefly bullet point how I came to this position, to offer clarity. The story starts with AH and I moving to Oz...

Unknowingly I secured employment with a company who produces a luxury commodity
Almost everyone told me how lucky I was. In the beginning it appeared to be so. This company is a leader in the industry and very prominent in Oz and every where else for that matter.
I actually felt lucky in the beginning and was naive enough to believe that if I kept my head down and worked hard enough I would eventually live the American dream.
I first hired in as a purchaser. I loved my manager. He was a retired decorated Marine officer. He was easy, he was very direct. I never had to worry about what car in the emotional roller coaster he was on. I never had to second guess anything I needed to say to him for fear he would break down crying or go into some kind of profanity laced melt down. I did my job, went home lived a happy life. Respect was mutual and work was satisfying and fun. He was tough and no nonsense but you also knew that he cared and he wasn't going to ask you to do anything that he wouldn't do himself. All he asked was excellence and he gave it back in return. I still consider him a mentor. Unfortunately the position ended. He called me into his office one day and said, "good news or bad news first?" He had found me another position, I was fired and re-hired all with in about two hours. I left his office and unknowingly went to interview in the building across the parking lot with the person I have come to call 'soulless'.

Even then I did not realize the power, the politics and the money behind the business I was about to become permanently employed by. My mind doesn't work in those types of measurements, or I should say didn't... These have been hard truths for me to learn over the last five and a half years. I work for a self made billionaire. A man that I once admired, and even during the dark days I would justify him not knowing the practices of this company that he has built from the ground up with many excuses. Excuses I can no longer make... that will have to come later in the story.

To be continued...

Sleep sweet dear friends, thank you for all your love kindness and support, I could never express what your kindness' have meant.

XOXO Keke