A to Z Blogger Challenge? I Must Be Nuts!!!!!!!

Last year around this time I signed up for the A to Z blogger challenge.  Its blogging everyday in the month of April using a different letter of the alphabet each day.   At the time I thought why not?  I can do that.  Tons of people that were also doing it picked a theme for the month like movie titles or wines which makes it much easier to pick your word or phase for the day.  I of course like to fly by the seat of my pants and picked no theme, just did my usually babbling each day.  After it was over I thought, I will never, ever do this again, but low and behold I just signed up again for another go.

So I am still asking myself, what am I nuts?  Hmmmm when I think about it, I signed up for it again because even though it got harder as the month went by, on the whole I did really enjoy it.  It challenged me to find a something to write about everyday  for each letter of the alphabet.  I also enjoyed visiting others and seeing what they were writing about.

In the end I will be trying to write everyday for the month of April.  I am racking my brain for a theme but have come up with nothing yet, but I still have time and maybe something will pop into my head and make it easier for me this year or maybe I will again do my usual babbling.

I guess time will tell.

Moving Forward, Way Harder Then I Ever Dreamed

Yes again its been over a month since I last blogged but I have a good reason, I have been continuing to work like a maniac to get my house ready for sale.  For anyone who has done this its just so overwhelming. You live with things, the way they are for years, often thinking to fix or change them but the projects just seem so daunting and you just ignore them.  Then a  Realtor enters your world and sees plenty that needs some fixing and the list seem endless.

Some of the things on the list I have had to hire a contractor for and others like painting I have tackled myself with some help from my son.  Its been weeks of messes in my house and I am really tired of living with such upheaval, but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I am hoping in a few weeks I will be home free and it all will be done.

When we bought the house new over 30 years ago there was no family room so after awhile we decided to add one on.  At the time we added on the large 22 by 16 foot room but left the existing door and closed up the window that was over the sink replacing it with and octagon window that could open so I could be part of the room if we had company.  At the time I loved that idea.  Years later I decided I hated it. A few times I had gotten some estimates to remove the wall but I could not face the mess so I never did it.  When we decided to sell I knew one of the first things I had to do is open up that wall to give it more of an modern feel.

This is the wall before we opened it up.  You can see my horrible octagon window,  yikes clueless that I actually thought it was a good decorating decision.

Here is the after.  Way better.  Not sure why I waited to do this.  Now its done for someone else to enjoy when I could have been enjoying it for years.  Crazy!!!!!!!!


Well for my next blog, (hopefully not in a month) I will talk about my bathroom redo.

Mary Ann

Renovations Days Before Christmas, WHAT!!!!!!!

Christmas is days away and I have been crazy enough to do home repairs during this already stressful holiday time.  Certainly it was nothing that I planned but I had been trying to get this contractor to come and do renovations since August.  He kept putting me off with one excuse or another.  Why would I wait you ask???  Well I had used him many times before and I knew once he got here he would do a great job so I waited and waited.  When I got a call 2 weeks ago that he could start on December 12.  I was totally irritated but my thoughts were that if I said no he would put me off even longer so I agreed and  instead of a decorated Christmas tree  I have my contractors buckets and junk piled up.

Day 1

Day 8

Maybe I should just hang some lights on the buckets and call it a tree

Mary Ann

Winter Past

As I look at my window from my upstate NY home this morning and see the bleak sky,  I know that some bad weather may be coming our way.   Snow and ice are just part of living in the great Northeast.  In my older years I can't say that I love the cold and the bad weather but I am lucky enough, at this point in my life to be able to stay home, if the weather is bad.

When I was little and growing up in Queens we had very few big snow storms but when we did wow, they were doozies.   It would take days  for the plows to get to our street.  The snow would block cars in, no school and snowball fights in the two foot snow covered road, with no worries of cars coming down our city block. When the plow finally did come through, it would bring a collective moan from all the neighbor kids that the fun was over and it was back to school.

During the winter my dad would take us often into NYC to go ice skating at the Wollman Ring in Central Park.  I would feel so small skating beneath the tall skyscrapers of Manhattan.

Afterwards my dad who had been patiently waiting  for us to finish would  take my sister and I for a nice steamy cup of hot chocolate at a diner along the way home.

Although I have not been ice skating for over 20 years I was inspired to create this skating ornament that brought back sweet memories of gliding on the ice in Central Park.

Mary Ann

Christmas Is Coming Fast, No Stopping It.

All I can say is Wow.  This year has flown by.  I have been super busy with  creating new things, promoting my Etsy shop and everyday life.  Last year around this time is when I started my blog.  I honestly had no idea what I was doing.  I went into it with a wing and a prayer but I limped along and did OK.  After my A to Z blogging challenge in April I kind of fizzled out.  I was really exhausted to think of something to write everyday but with that said I think I am going to do it again in 2014.  I know crazy!!!!!

So I decided to repeat my very first post.  Its still applies today since I have been listening to those awesome Christmas tunes and putting up my Christmas tree.  This is the one that made me realize that I really enjoyed writing.

So my Christmas season has begun.  I was excited and could not wait to decorate my Christmas tree.  So it was time to trek up to my attic to retrieve the ornaments.  I could see the ornament box way at the back in the far left corner of the attic.  I made my way tripping over my daughters Barbie Dream House from 1980 and my sons old Tonka truck, which he made me swear to never get rid of, cursing the entire time feeling all my Christmas spirit dissolving with every step.  I finally made my way to the box and dragged it down two flights of stairs to my family room.  .

There the box sat all tattered and dusty next to the pre-lit Christmas tree whose lights had failed me. Yikes this season was already not looking good.   From a distance I could hear the garbage truck coming and for a fleeting second I thought I should just chuck the tree and the ornaments and let them intermingle with all the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers from miles around. 

Still in a bad mood I ripped open the box with a vengeance sending the cats running for cover.  As the flaps of the box opened and I look inside I feel the light of memories pouring from the contents.

As I wrap my hand around a Batman ornament, I remember buying it for my son when he was three and how he has been hanging it on my tree every year for the over 30 Christmases.  I see the faux stained glass angel that my daughter painted at my kitchen table so many years ago.  The glittery teacup ornament that my friend Chris bought me one year after telling her how I had wanted it but thought it was too extravagant to buy for myself with money being so tight.  The friendship tree that my friend Eleanor gave me one year. As I hold it in my hand I think of her kindness and how I value the times that we have spent together.  I see the bits and pieces of foam and paper that make up the ornaments that my grandchildren have made for me and how I lovingly hang them on my tree year after year.  Each ornament brings back memories of such happy times in my life.  My good mood has returned and so has my Christmas spirit.

Mary Ann

Super Busy Party Time Week

So for our family from Oct to the end of the year is celebration after celebration.

It all starts the beginning of Oct with my brother-in-laws birthday followed in a few days by my sisters birthday.  Last Sat we celebrated my grandsons birthday at a bounce party place.  Lots of crazy kids but they were all having a blast.

Jack waiting for the cake and present opening

Jack and his friends riding a train

This past weekend was Jack's sister Lily's birthday.  This one was at a local orchard in upstate NY.  It turned out to be a perfect fall day and one of the best kids parties that I have ever gone to.  

View of the Mohawk river from the orchard

Lily and her friends visiting the animals

Birthday doings inside

Yesterday was the finale of the party week and it was a trip to Build A Bear to use that birthday gift card.

Jack and Lily's picks

Well more birthday fun to come.  My other grandsons birthday is next week, my daughter is the end of November, Thanksgiving, other granddaughters birthday and then Christmas.  

Wow exhausting thinking about it but looking forward to spending more time with my favorite people.

Mary Ann

Its Been Awhile

Well its been a few months since I last blogged.  Its just been a super busy few months and quite honestly with all that was going blogging was at the bottom of of list, but now I am back and feel ready to go.

One of the things that has kept me extremely busy after my August Round Lake Craft Fair was the flood of orders that came in for my Paper Purses.  Yikes I could not believe their popularity.  I have made hundreds of them in the past few months for showers, parties and events.

One events that I had an order for was a banquet for a organization called the Women's Fund http://www.womensfundofcny.org/.  The organization goal is the improve the lives of women and girls to serve as a voice and advocate for other women.  The theme this year was the Power of the Purse.  My paper purses went perfectly with their theme.

Below is a sampling of some of the ones that I have made from my orders for parties and events.

I actually love making them and each one is different.

This was just for one order.

Oh well that's all for now.  Gotta to get back to my paper purse creating.

Mary Ann