Catching up & BIG WOOL SALE Going on NOW

Hi everyone...I hope you all had spectacular holidays filled with wonderful memories that will warm your hearts for years to come. Me ? Well, this was just a downright odd, but very happy, Christmas. I never really got into the spirit of things, never got a cookie baked, didnt like the gifts I picked for anyone and just all around didnt FEEL like it was Christmas until just a couple of days ago when it finally snowed ! I felt rushed and hurried and just out of sorts.

But I do need to say a big thank you to all who have prayed and offered kind words of encouragement to my son Kyler (the Marine) while he was deployed. One of THE BEST gifts and answer to prayer happened when he got home here in Pa on Dec 23 and I cant tell you how many times I have hugged that boy since then. He will be here till the 13th and I think I can finally get back to my "normal" activities since he is spending lots of time at his fiance's. Wow, have we been running though....He took my car the first day he was home to go to the Steeler game in Pittsburgh and, well, lets just say he is HARD on vehicles, which is why we dont allow him to drive our good car lol. Well, long story short, it left him stranded 30 minuted from home and we had to get it towed and are still waiting to hear what the complete damage will be...no idea if it was something he did or if its just that the car is getting old...she's a 2004 but only has 76,000 miles on it and , up until now has been pretty great, but I dont drive much and we keep up on maintenance etc and well, like I said, he drives like a typical 20 year old Marine ! Sooooo, we have been driving him back and forth to his girls house or we go and get her (she has no car either...grrrrr) and it literally costs us $7.00 for each trip plus it adds an extra hour to the hubs already LONG days. Oh and I have to tell you he got me some francinsence from Jordan and a beautiful linen scarf in Kuwait.  So I think that would have been plenty but he said he had read that crime was getting worse due to the economy so he also bought me some Bear Repellent Spray to keep in my purse...yes, he has an eclectic personality ! Here's a picture of he and his fiance...They make such an adorable couple...

OK, well I also got another great gift on Christmas Eve...we had a beautiful candle light service and I was so pleased to be there with the hubs, Kyler and his fiance Ashlee but the night got better cause when we got home, my older son Kirk (who moved to Virginia back in the spring) was there waiting to suprise me...he worked that whole day until 3:30 and drove straight to our house ( a 6.5 hr drive) and literally had to leave the next day by 5 pm...He and his girlfriend Nikki were both so sweet to make that kind of sacrifice for me and I love them for doing it...just wish I had done more, you know...I only partially decorated, didnt bake or anything...and I had already sent his gifts to Virginia and I didnt evne have enought stuff to make our traditional Christmas morning breakfast buffet ! Neither he or his girlfriend like to get pictures taken but I did manage to get my 3 guys to pose for one just for me...

The hubs and I decided not to exchange gifts this year since so many people in our community and church were really hurting. Since I am the program director for our church foodbank, I knew we had lots of people who needed help and since I stock the pantry completely on what I can get from savvy shopping and couponing (church members bring me all their coupon inserts so it helps alot), I knew we were going to have to add more to it from our own funds than what we normally do. We have a very small church...maybe 60-100 if everyone shows up, but we do more outreach than most of the large and even the mega churches we have attended. Anyway, it did feel good to make sure that every needy family in our church (and several outside our church that people asked us to help) got nice big laundry baskets filled with food, cleaning products, health & beauty items and even diapers where needed..."Joy" was what I felt when we gave those baskets away...Just 8 years ago our family was on the receiving end of that type of program and it feels so good to be able to give back even in a bad economy.

Well I guess I have caught you up on the personal side...I am working on lots of Valentine projects at the moment in the workshop and in an effort to start the year off right I have a HUGE WOOL SALE going on right now with some deep discounts to make room for new arrivals, so be sure to click on the WOOL FOR SALE page on the right hand side of my blog. I will be having a Blog Yard Sale soon and will also be listing some of my finished projects for sale at deep discounts too so keep checking back. Once I get all the Christmas stuff put away it will be back to the dye pots so if you have any requests just shoot me an email.

Until next time,
Grace to you,
Margie