Pay It Forward

Amber got her package today and got a picture of the tote I made her... and wrote such nice and lovely things on her blog. Thanks Amber!!! It was fun to make and put together the package, and take a guess what you guys might like. My little friend Cate picked out the chicken and the lamb for your Ethan when we were picking up chicken feed for our real chickens. (Poor little kid... I take her everywhere!) But I think she was confused and thought they were for my Ethan.

Isn't this a Craft Blog?

I know, I know... but with out a camera to document what I've been doing, it seems silly to try to keep up with the crafting I have been doing. It would read something like this, "I made another tote today, but I can't show it to you, so never mind." I am really hoping to have my camera back soooooon. We had to send it off to to Connecticut to be fixed. So, yes, not having my camera is annoying me to no end....

Whoa

No- I haven't disappeared entirely... it has just been unbelievably busy, weird, frightening and crazy around here.... my last post was on June 8th to announce the winner of my Pay It Forward contest. The days just prior to that were the dance recital, and I felt like taking a break from everything and just re-cooping a bit... then on Monday June 9th at about 10:50pm I got the scariest phone call of my life. I was enjoying a glass of wine and watching Atonement when the phone rang... it was my mom. My dad had been in a head-on collision in his little sporty convertible about ½ mile from their home. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital and that was all she could tell me. "Don't freak out," she said, which was her way of saying hold it together for a minute, ok? I could tell by the panic in her voice that she was freaking out just a bit herself. (She was calling me from the car. My sister was driving her to the hospital. She hadn't even seen him yet. But because the accident was so close to home, and my Dad's friend was following him, and called her when it happened, she was at the scene and saw him being removed by EMTs and loaded into the helicopter.) My brother in law came over with my niece and they slept on my couches while my children slept in blissful ignorance and my other sister drove me to the hospital. (My husband was traveling for business.) We sat in the ER for hours before we were allowed to see him. And he was lucky. He sustained a severely broken arm that required surgery to repair, a broken neck, broken ankle, bruised lung and lacerated knee...but he was going to be ok. It is moments like that, receiving that phone call, that shake you up and make you step back and take stock in your own life. I'm happy to say that Dad is home and recovering nicely (well, he had to go back to the doctor because he developed cellulitis in his ankle) and we have all taken a collective sigh of relief, but man, was that scary.

Then we had a wicked storm here and we lost a tree to lightning and it took out our internet access for a while :(

But I am back...my camera is still broken which really stinks because I just made 3 new totes as end of year thank you gifts for teachers and I really want to photograph them. I am just now putting the finishing touches on my Pay It Forward package for Amber...who by the way gave birth to Noah on MY birthday. What a great gift! Thanks Amber!!

And the Winner is...

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:10
Timestamp: 2008-06-09 01:17:02 UTC

So that means that Amber is the winner!
Amber said...
I have to get in on the contest fun!I am already scheming about what to make for a give away on my blog if my number came up...

Now, I know, it seems strange that the one person I have linked to on my blog is the one who won, but hooray for you Amber!! It also is funny to me that we both have sons named Ethan... and she is expecting baby #2 any day (or minute) now... in fact I just checked her blog and as of yesterday she had not delivered... but maybe she has by now. She's totally crafty and makes some super yummy looking soap, aprons and totes. You may have to wait a little while before her contest is put up because, you know, she is delivering imminently...but it will be worth it!

So, I am here...enjoying a glass of wine thankful and a little down at the same time... the dance recital(s) are done and I always feel a little bit down when they are over. For nine months dance consumes our evenings, then for 3 weeks we breath "performance".... sweating over costuming details, props, rehearsal schedules, etc. and then... it's done. But it was fantastic! I am so proud of my kids (and my neice- she was great too). I have no pictutures to share becasue my camera is broken and was shipped off to be fixed :( Hopefully my sister got some good pictures.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by because of Indigo Girl!! I hope you come back often!

Pay It Forward

I won the Pay It Forward contest over at Indigo Girl, and even though I am totally swimming in dance recital prop-making, end or year school gifts, birthday "stuff", soccer games, field trips, etc. etc. etc., I decided I'd better step by and do my Pay It Forward contest soon or I would forget about it and then I'd feel really crappy.

Ok- so here goes.... leave a comment on this post by 11:59 pm EST Saturday June 7th and you are automatically entered to win a package of stuff from me! I will probably make a little tote and fill it goodies.... essentially a grown up version of the Busy Bags I make. Then I will use a random number generator to choose the winner. I'll then contact you letting you know that you won. You will email me your address so I can send you your goodies. Then, you have to have your own contest on your blog. "But what if I don't have a blog?" Well, I will copy Indigo Girl and randomly choose someone else from my comments and then you can mail them a package and then they can have a contest on their blog. Got it?? Pretty easy.

I know I have bemoaned about how busy this time of year is, but it is seriously kicking my butt! Last week and this week coming up are crunch time at the dance studio where my kids dance. They have rehearsal every night except Tuesday for their dance recital which is on Friday and Saturday. I have unofficially been crowned prop "finder/maker" and have spent the last week making big fake cupcakes, peppermints, candy canes, gingerbread men, lollipops and a giant wedding cake from bakers clay, cardboard, foam core and paint. I really wish I could post some pictures of what I have been working on but my camera broke (WAH!) on Thursday. Unbelievably bad timing. My husband made a ship for the recital that will carry two little sailors and the baker off to the land of sweets. Did I tell you that where my kids dance they don't do a normal recital? It is always a story ballet, which is so much more entertaining than just a regular recital. This year the story is about a French baker who has lost his touch. The baker fairy takes him on the Good Ship Lollipop to the land of sweets where he gets inspiration for news yummy creations. Then he goes back to France and makes all of his goodies. The dances are the goodies... skittles, lollipops, blueberry muffins, raspberry sorbets, cherry cordials, hot chocolate, bonbons, etc. My daughter is in four dances- she's a skittle(tap), a demanding kid (I Want Candy! jazz) a cherry truffle (ballet) and a Tootsie Roll (hip hop). She is also in the wedding cake scene, although she doesn't dance (she's the bride) and in the opening act reading part of the narrative. My son is a Good n' Plenty (ballet), a gumdrop (tap) and a lollipop (jazz). He gets lots of little extra parts in each dance because he is one of only 4 boys out of about 180 dancers.

On top of all the dancing going on around here, we also are swinging into soccer mode.... with 3 kids on 3 different teams that means that someone plays and/or practices every night.

Chickens are doing good.... still alive! Stop over at my family blog to see the exciting thing Alex and I did this past week (when my camera was still working- thank God!!)

None of this is all that crafty, is it?? Someday soon......