It was like Christmas...

Oh my goodness gracious I have soooo much catching up to do with you all. First of all I truly hope everyone had a wonderful, peaceful and restful Thanksgiving. Mine was wonderful since 2 of my 3 kids were able to spend the holiday with us. Having our Marine home was awesome, although it wasn't nearly long enough. Now this is the baby of our family and typical of the baby boy, he pretty much has always just signed his name to whatever his brother or sister did as gifts for most of his life and sent me to get most of his girlfriends gifts over the years (Thank goodness for camera phones) so imagine my suprise when he had our Christmas gifts with him that he picked out and purchased HIMSELF !!! It was so sweet...he bought me a beautiful necklace with these beautiful charms with each kids birthstone and , if that wasnt enough, he also got me the dvd of The Christmas Shoes...the 2 of us ALWAYS watched Christmas movies together starting the day after Thanksgiving so it was an extra special, very thoughtful gift ! Oh how I wish he could be here for the whole month of December but he's not even sure if he will be home for Christma which is killing me. He wont know until Dec 23 when he gets back from the field...GRRRR !

It was wonderful to have both my boys at home with us and the inlaws were with us too and we had a wonderful turkey dinner and then played cards and it was just a blast. Thank goodness I had that extra week (wink, wink) or I would never have been ready. I did finally get all those apples cooked down but ran out of time to get them canned so I figured I would send it over to the church along with my turkey and dressing that I was making for the outreach dinner. Well we all sent over our turkey drippings too so they could make gravy. Well imagine my suprise when I went down to the church kitchen after church on Sunday to pick up my dishes and one of the gals asked if I knew what happened with the gravy...One of the gals mistook my giant container of homemade apple sauce for gravy and added the entire tub to the gravy...Oh my goodness...she said it tatsed ok, but I think she waqs just being nice since I thinbk it would have had to have been ruined !!! I felt so badly about it but I cant understand for the life of me how she didnt smell the apples and cinnamon, especially since I sent my drippings in a mason jar !!!!

Well, now I have to tell you about the exciting swap presents I got in Friday's mail. Melissa from over at Libbies Home was my swap partner for Bumble Bee Lane's Christmas in The Cabin swap and oh my goodness, when I opened that box I was BLOWN away...Look at all the packages...

I was literally squeeling with delight ! My son came running upstairs cuz he thought I got hurt...Nah, just doing the happy dance with all my goodies. Melissa really did a fantastic job ...

Look at all these primtastic gems...I was in prim heaven. I have some close ups to show you each thing individually except I forgot to take a picture of the sweet magnetic grocery list with the prim snowman on it, which was great cuz I just used my last list !!!

I collect rolling pins and this little one is a beauty and Melissa made this sweet little wrapper for it too !

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this snowman pillow...how cute is he ???? Perfect addition to my snowman collection !

Isnt this grater and candle just divine ? I found the perfect spot...now I just need to get it hung.

Look at how swwet this mason jar is ? Her attention to detail was so sweet and so thoughtrul. I just LOVE it all.

I think this star is my favorite thing...it's just so perfectly prim.

This lovely candle holder has a wonderfully smelling battery candle in it so its perfect for a place with no outlet.

This little grunged candle smells SOOOOO good and isnt that a sweet little braided mat ?

Last but not least, look at all these sweet Christmas distressed tags. Melissa really went all out and I really felt like maybe I needed to send her another package because she really went above and beyond. If you ever get a chance to be her swap partner...well, you will be as blessed as I am...she did all this while grading papers and holding parent teacher conferences. Isnt she wonderful ???? Yes, she is !

Well, I guess thats about all for me. I am so excited to get my decorating all done...the hubs and I are going on Wednesday to get our trees...Hooray ! I love it once the house smells all piney ! Oh and I am committed to getting those Christmas red and wine wools listed this afternoon...in fact I will be adding them right after this post so if you are in need or the BEST Christmas red wools, be sure to check out my wools for sale page.

It's great to be back online and I will be trying to stop by all of YOUR blogs to see what you've been working on...I have to admit that since I had so much to do and wanted to spend every minute I could with our sons, I didnt even so much as check my email until late last night. I am looking forward to hearing from all of you...You gys are just the best and I appreciate those of you who "checked in" to see if I was ok since you hadnt seen any new posts from me...You really are such wonderful friends and I am truly thankful for you.

Ok, I really am going now.

Grace to you,
Margie

Proof Postive that I am an IDIOT !!!

Well if you read my post from yesterday, you know that I have been overwhelmed with WAY too much to get done before Thanksgiving.  Last night, not too long after I wrote my post, I was frantically trying to get everything done and in the midst of the insurmountable task the hubs reminded me that I also volunteered to write out 15 thank you notes for him (he has yucky hand writing) for people who had participated in his black Friday sale from last year and invite them to the one this year...So, in the midst of all the other things I was trying to finish, I sat down to write them out. He had a memo from home office with the verbage they wanted used. Well imagine my suprise when I read that they needed them sent by Monday Nov. 14 with a follow up call no later than Monday the 21st. OK, yes, idiot Margie actually used up valuable energy by running downstairs to the hubs man cave (he was watching the Steeler game of course) and said "Um, honey, why on earth would you send these out and then call them AFTER Thanksgiving to remind them...that's just dumb...I hate your stupid company, they make you do the dumbest things and never have their info right ! Shouldnt you have mailed these LAST week and called tomorrow since Thursday is Thanksgiving ?" Well of course my husband is smiling now...smirking perhaps, and said "Babe, you do know Thanksgiving is NEXT week right ? You know ...its the last Thursday in November...been that way your entire life " He was now chuckling and I was getting really irritated. I KNOW he told me Thanksgiving was this week and hello....I have been running around, baking cookies, painting porches, refinishing my buffet, etc saying things like "Oh my gosh, I am running out of time and I need to get all this stuff done by Thursday" and he never said a word...NOT ONE WORD!!!  I mean, its not like I have random Thursday deadlines to meet for pete's sake ! Well to be fair, I couldnt stay irritated long ... he hugged me and with a handsome smile said I was adorable and that I  "just needed to not worry about getting everything done, that the house looked fine and no one would notice dust bunnies when they were licking the gravy off their plates to get the very last little bit of a delicious turkey dinner followed by a great piece of pie ! Feed people and no one cares what the house looks like honey"....So, the moral of this story ?  Marry a great man and BUY a calendar !  Hahahaha. I figured I didnt really need one since the kids were all gone and, lets face it, the hubs works so much that I dont really have much of a social life. Its pretty much church, groceries, thrift store, repeat and who needs a calendar for that right ? Well apparently I do since I cant get my national holidays straight !!!
Well, its a yucky, rainy day here (ugh...that translates to achey, achey joints) but I do want to report I finally got some zzzz's last night...SIX HOURS all at once ! HOORAY ! Thanks to all of you who have prayed for me...it was greatly appreciated ! So between getting sleep and now miraculously having an additional week to get things done, I am off to prioritize and tick things off my list one by one. I got up early this morning and mailed some cookies out to one soldier. Last night I listed my new ruglets (a day early) and even some new wool for sale. Right now I am working on some absolutely awesome red wool bundles and hope to have those up this afternoon...they are really great and I had so much fun perfecting my favorite red dye recipe which I may share in my dyeing tuorial. Its perfect for prim crafts...rich and dark...great for houses, barns, samplers and santa's.

Well friends, off I go. Many thanks and hugs to you all.
Grace to you,
Margie

Finally Finished

Hi there my prim pals...Well, I am finally done hooking a few Christmas projects...Now on to binding them, which you all know is just my favorite thing to do (yeah right).  But I did get the mug rugs all bound...here they are...

They will be up as kits for sale by tomorrow along with the other 2 small ruglets (Cute, right ? ) They aren't really full size rugs or full size runners, but they're not candle mats either. They are great  for hanging on a cabinet door or over a door or in the skinny place where nothing fits...Well, I guess I should show them to you. I am binding the feather tree in red and I haven't decided about the snowflake...White might be nice or should I stick with the blue so the edges kind of just disappear ?

At just 18 x 6 and 18 x 4, they hook up in a breeze and are just so festive. I love all the different blues in the snowflake ruglet but I will offer any background color for the kit.

Well, I am trying to get my swap presents finished for Bumble Bee Lanes "Cabin In The Woods" Christmas swap...I have had soooo much fun making all sorts of little gifts to put in my swap box. I adore doing swaps and am so excited to send mine and to see what I am getting too !!! I have several wool bundles to get added to my wool for sale page too and oh, did I mention Thanksgiving is at my house ? And my Marine son is coming home ? (HOORAY) And I signed up to make some grub for our church's outreach Thanksgiving dinner, Feed The Need? Oh and I have a bushel of
apples that need canned like yesterday ? Oh and I have cookies to make to send out to the troops ? Does anyone else need an extra week before we sit down to our Thanksgiving meal ??? Forget about the fact that many stores will be open on Thanksgiving day with pre-black Friday deals ??? I have my list ready to go but still need to gather my coupons and coupon codes. I think something's gotta give this week and I have decided I am cleaning my house with the legally blind in mind ! Unless it jumps out at me and screams CLEAN ME...its not getting cleaned this year...maybe by Christmas I can clean off the top of my fridge !!!

Well, I am exhausted since I spent yesterday painting my porch, yes, its November and I was out on the last decent day, painting my porch. Why ? Oh well , thats easy...I am NUTS. Well, I had removed all the ugly carpet that was on it and got it scraped down (well, not really good enough) and decided I had a little bit of porch paint left over from the back deck and decided it would look better than seeing all the yucky colors and chips etc. Yeah, well its passable, but I have already started my spring projects list of the MUST DO things around the house...I adore the hubs...you all know that I feel I have THE BEST husband in the universe, but he is NOT handy and he works retail management which is 75+ hours per week ....if only he got paid by the hour, it wouldnt matter if he was handy or not because I could afford to just hire someone, but alas, that is not reality, so the list goes up and I will be devouring the DIY channels for the newest How To's.

OK, I am really tired and HOORAY, Sleepy !!! Those of you who know me know that I have a problem sleeping...a great little residual of the dreaded West Nile Virus. Well on top of a busy week, I have only slept approximately 12 hours since last Sunday....I am yawning...Pray that I can catch a few ZZZZZ's.

Hugs & Grace to you all,
Margie

Wools For SAle in New Place

Hi guys...no time for a long chat today ! Just a quick note to those of you who were asking...I have put up some new wool bundles for sale on their own page ...Look to the right...Yep, there it is , right above my Rug Hooking Tuutorial pages...Just click on the WOOLS FOR SALE and see whats new. I will be adding more wools as I have them bundled. Anyone who needs anything specific...just ask. I may or may not have it, but I can always look. I will take down the pics as they are sold, so only current wools will be listed...Hope that makes sense.

Ok, gotta skedaddle,
Grace to you,
Margie

Winner Announced

Hello all my prim pals...it was a busy, busy weekend getting my son moved.  I am exhausted from all the CLEANING...Good Lord in Heaven, what a mess !!! I love him dearly, but nope, he can never move back home, hahaha...I truly had forgotten how messy boys really are.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you wonderful folks who enetered my Fall Fun Giveaway. I tabulated a grand total of 127 entries and got several new followers !!! It took me 3 hours last night to write all the names out but since I dont sleep much, at least I had something to do at 3 am right ?  I always have the best of intentions and say I am going to write out every slip as the entries come in, but I dont...GRRRR, I am so dumb (or maybe a little lazy ?) !!!. Well, the hubs was going to pull the winning slip, but he fell asleep long before I got done writing everyones entries and cutting all the little slips etc, so into my giveaway tally box they went and out I pulled.....drum roll please...Susan from Glen Oaks Primitives. Congratulations Susan !!!  She has opted for the finished mat shown here...

and I will get it off to her tomorrow so she has time to enjoy it for the whole month ! If you get a chance to stop over at her blog http://www.glenoaksprimitives.blogspot.com/ you will be in for a real treat since she makes it her mission to list as many giveaways as possible ! You can spend an entire afternoon entering all the current giveaways listed on her blog. And dont get discouraged if you cant find the button to become her follower...It is WAY down toward the bottom.

I wanted to show you guys this great salt glazed pie plate I got at a farmers market with the hubs last week...I am salt glazed obsessed and was thrilled to find this to add to my collection. I love it when I find things that are salt glazed and are different, you know, not just a crock...

Isn't it just awesome ? Want to know what was even better ? It was only $7.00 HAPPY DANCE TIME !!!

OK...I gotta skadoodle !

Grace to you,
Margie