in the creative zone

Gift Boxes





Tin Can Votives

you all might remember I make the girls costumes for christmas every year

this year's costumes

J and D - wonderful adopted grandparents and wonderful friends



The dresses in color.

I guess I am a wimp and a bit silly....

For those who are interested in a dental report, here it is.

The black I saw is from the metal at the base of my crown (nobody told me and it never occurred to me).

After doing a bunch of different little tests and checking things out, he says I must be clenching excessively (I've had problems with excessive clenching and grinding over the years - but this pain is much worse than anything I've experienced before - I am particularly surprised by the ear pain that I am experiencing). I've tried mouth guards and don't tolerate them well.

I will have to see if I can come up with some ways to prevent or hinder this very bad habit of mine.

I will definitely need to get this under control - an aching jaw, neck, and ear make for a very irritable Mommy.

photo therapy

Thanks so much for all of your prayers. I am feeling better and also feel that the decision I've made is right. Tomorrow, I will go to the dentist and put an end to this.

40 years old

Hubby turns forty today. I made him a black trench coat and the girls bought him some desired cds and made him some bookmarks. I also made him this little bit of cubicle humor.

angels (opinions coveted)

please pray

Several years ago, I had two root canals. One of them was very, very close to the nerve.

In December, I noticed blackness of the gum around the base of one of my teeth. I proceeded to initiate, my standard mode of operation, which is ignore it. Eventually I showed it to hubby. After Christmas, I was supposed to make an appointment with the dentist. I didn't.

I finally did make that appointment last week. I couldn't get in until this Friday. Last Friday, I went to my doctor to have my ears and sinuses checked because I was suffering ear pain. I was up front with the doctor saying it could be my tooth. She checked me out and said it wasn't my ears or sinuses but did give me a prescription for an antibiotic.

It did help. But today, my ear is bordering on excruciating. I know it is the tooth - so I am trying to just get along until Friday.

I am apprehensive about this visit because I know they will pressure me for a replacement that will cost thousands, which I can't afford. However, hubby is hesitant to have the tooth pulled since it is three teeth forward from the back.

I need a little relief from pain - and I need wisdom.

Pollyanna type award...

Nearly a month ago, the lovely Emma from songs I sing gave me an award. I was honored as I don't generally feel like the worlds most optimistic person.




The concept behind the award being that the blog creators have shown an uncanny knack for seeing silver linings and making the best of bad situations (i.e., lemonade from lemons).

Rules: Name ten sites that reflect this silver linings philosophy.

My ten choices

Mimi from Listen to Grammie
Emma from songs I sing
Melissa from A Contemplative Joy
Jodi from The Deputy Domain
Heidi God's Grace in Practice
Heather from An Untraditional Home
Brian from Heavenward
Julie from Is there a shadow?
Judy from Simply Thrift
Bobbie-Jo from My Journey Home


A little story of found lemonade. I had an car accident on Monday. It was snowing. Nobody was hurt except for the vehicles. It was my fault - failure to yield. Or perhaps I yielded incorrectly - I yielded to the need of a Mom to meet the needs of complaining kids in the backseat rather than paying attention to the road.

I took care of business before we went home. We went to the insurance company and to the auto body shop. By the time we left the auto body shop. Light was shot and had a complete melt-down. You know the kind, the ones where you end up carrying a kicking and screaming child out of a public place.

Needless to say, I was more than a little discouraged on my drive home. I had been praying from the accident forward for patience and a willingness to let it go. On the way home, I had a thought, not a thought I offered in prayer. Just a desire of the heart. I hoped that I wouldn't have to clear the driveway. I hoped that the man across the street (one of the few snow blower owners near our house) would do as he occasionally does and clear our drive.

When I arrived home I saw him doing his neighbor's drive. It wasn't until I was backing the car into our garage that I realized he had cleared our driveway too. I ran down the street and thanked him.

Apparently, he did a few other neighbors' driveways too. That night, Tim went out after the plow to clear the stuff off the end of the driveway. He noticed that a man was clearing the restaurant house drive in the dark. (The restaurant house is owned by some people who own a Chinese Buffet and most if not all of their employees live in that house. It is the house to our left when you look at our house).

Then he cleared the end of the driveway of Mr. Snowblower. Turns out that Mr Snowblower had cleared his driveway. Sometimes good works do spread like a virus and when they do - it is really, really cool.

a very, very, very cool quote

I am reading Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik. First, a disclaimer. It is not the kind of book I would typically read. However, my next door neighbor gave me two of her very favorite books just before Christmas.

I finished the first one and am now reading this one. It is secular and has some very explicit material in it. However, I want to understand where she is coming from so I wanted to read her favorite books.

Never assume you can't find something worthwhile.

In this book, one of the characters is visited by her grandfather after his death. He was a believer but she never really believed. When he visited her (she was eleven) he told her that

"he was in a place of such peace and wonder it made earth look like the "cartoon compared to the feature."

I was delighted with the analogy; Saturday matinees had been our regular date."

Isn't that a cool analogy?

more clouds and darkness

I am currently rereading Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. On the evening of the day I posted my last comment on clouds and darkness, I read this

It is at the end of Chapter 11 and it is the conversation between a runaway slave and a kindly factory owner who he had been lent to as a factory worker but for whom he no longer worked:

"Is there a God to trust in?" said George, in such a tone of bitter despair as arrested the old gentleman's words. "O, I've seen things all my life that have made me feel that there can't be a God. You Christians don't know how these things look to us. There's a God for you, but is there any for us?"

"O, now, don't—don't, my boy!" said the old man, almost sobbing as he spoke; "don't feel so! There is—there is; clouds and darkness are around about him, but righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. There's a God, George,—believe it; trust in Him, and I'm sure He'll help you. Everything will be set right,—if not in this life, in another."

The real piety and benevolence of the simple old man invested him with a temporary dignity and authority, as he spoke. George stopped his distracted walk up and down the room, stood thoughtfully a moment, and then said, quietly,

"Thank you for saying that, my good friend; I'll think of that."

It is the kind of providential coincidence that just floors a person.

ice storm

There was a dandy little ice storm when we were at my parents for Christmas.



















And so it goes - I withdraw and post very little and suddenly you are flooded with posts.