Every year, a custom carries on that was started by my dear Mother-in-Law years ago: we wake on Thanksgiving morning and flip on CBS to watch the Macy's Day parade
as we busy ourselves in the kitchen, preparing a family feast.

Several years ago, I was half watching The Morning Show with Harry Smith,
who narrated a segment with Anne Graham.

Anne read a prayer from her father, the Reverend Billy Graham.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing on television...
it moved me to the very core of everything I believe,
and I wanted to share it here with you again this year.

Each year, I come back to this post and each year,
it's as poignant and real for me as ever it was....  it goes like this:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.

We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography

and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers

and called it enlightenment.
 

Search us, oh God, and know our hearts today;

cleanse us from every sin and set us free.



Amen.”

As families gather for the holiday,

please remember there is no reason to have a holiday called Thanksgiving

unless there is Someone to thank.

Thanks be to God and Jesus Christ His Son for all the blessings on our fair land.

 

 

I've been busy in the dungeon creating some pieces for the Christmas season.

I love this time of year and cant wait to decorate.

 

I've uploaded these and several other pieces on the Primitive Handmades Mercantile ...

Please stop by and check out all the great artists work!

 

I love this guy ... Oil Can Ollie cant wait for the snow to fly! 
His nice warm hat hasn't come off since he got it  :)

 

Olde Red has pockets on both sides to fill with anything you choose. 

He comes loaded with fragrant sweet annie.

 

 

Stop by and check out all the sweetness being offered!

Halloween 2013

Halloween is my favorite holiday - I love decorating the house and look forward to passing out candy to the kids that come door to door. 

 

But my favorite part of Halloween is having my nephew and his family come and spend the night with us. Sullivan has a very precious part in our hearts and now, at 3 1/2 yrs old, he is getting to the age that I adore.  Full of questions, he seems to pick up on the sensitive side of everything around him whether its a movie or pretend play time. And we sure have fun on Halloween!

 

He is really into stuffed animals and we spent a good amount of time last weekend playing pretend with some Halloween dolls I gave him to take home.  We love to laugh together and he says the funniest things.

 

 

 When I saw mom and dad coming up the driveway, I knew it was going to be a great night!  Cheyenne is pregnant with Sully's brother, Milo - due December 20th.

 

 

 

Cheyenne is pregnant with baby #2 - Sully's brother named Milo Scott.

So it was only fitting that mom and dad dress up like Juno and Bleeker  :)

 

 

 

Each year, his mom Cheyenne and Nana Julie collaborate to come up with the best of costumes.  This year, Sully was Max of "Where the Wild Things Grow".  He was a perfect Max too... rrrrrraaaaarrrrr.

 

 

 

 

 

Our neighborhood goes all out for Halloween and attracts hundreds of kids from surrounding areas. Some houses are decorated to the nines and we had great fun walking around seeing the sights.

 

 

 

Sully seemed very comfortable talking to the ghost in the corner who just happened to be his size!

 

 

The kid behind this mask was about 12 years old and so gentle in his approach. He shook hands with Sully, gave high ^5's and even took his mask off so Sully wouldn't be frightened. When he put his arm around Sully for a picture, Sully turned to him and said "please put your mask back on"  lol.

 

 

We had a grand time - and Sully didn't want to leave.  He even tried the "sitting in the middle of the sidewalk and not budging" routine.  Sadly, dad had no part of it and we headed back home for a night watching Wall-E on tv.

 

 

 

It was the best weekend I've had in a very long time and I'm so looking forward to next year.  I cant wait to see what mom and Nana come up with for Sully's costume.

Here is a collage of his costumes through the year.  They do amazing work together!

 

 

Anne of Green Gables sums it up perfectly for me.....

 

 

Farewell, October.

I love you.

 

Where has the time gone?

I have realized that as I get older, time goes by faster.  Maybe not news to many of you, but when you are looking back, you realize just how much has occurred when you weren't paying attention.

Take for example ... my blog!
Mercy, has it really been this long since I posted anything?  The TDIPT Mercantile has been closed for months now and as sad as it was to see happen, time marches on. 

In the course of the last year, I have gone through many life experiences... some good, some not so good, and some downright heartbreaking.  I have laughed, cried and fallen to my knees at times in total dependence on God's mercy.

My husband lost his job in the fall and was laid off for over 6 months. It was a struggle for me watching as he was trying to grapple with the fact that he was unemployed.  Darrell has run some of the larger construction crews, building some of the great landmarks in Kansas City like the Sprint Center. When things came down around him, it was particularly hard for me because I knew there wasn't much I could do besides quietly and solidly supporting him and continually lifting him up to the Lord. During those 6 months, I never doubted God was in control of even this - and was confident He had big plans for Darrell. Because God cares for His children, it was no surprise that Darrell was offered a job with the Kansas City school district the very same week he got notice from the state saying unemployment had run out and he would have to refile.  God remains Faithful and True.

In March, Sully turned 3 years old!  So hard to see this precious boy growing up before our eyes but his mom and dad had a grand birthday celebration for him.  His dad, Darby was starring in a local play called "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and they invited the entire party to the Landing in St Joe, Mo to watch the play and celebrate with milk and cookies.  What a fun day!

In May, my heart was broken when we had to put our sweet Tuck to sleep.  We tried for several months to relieve the pain and discomfort he was suffering in his back leg and after many visits to 4 different vets and a trip to the specialists, we learned he had bone cancer. I knew it was time one morning, when I realized our sweet boy had diarrhea and was not able to get out of his sick bed to make it to the potty box.  With a very heavy heart, we said goodbye to our precious Tuck. I think I have shed a million tears and I know this sweet boy will always have a special place in our hearts.

 

 

 

 

And that brings us to the current....

I have high hopes for a new venture with an online selling group

that I have long admired. 

 

I will share more about that in the coming weeks,

but you can look for more news and I hope you will join me

 as I venture forward.

Tonight's the night....

Be sure to stop by the TDIPT Mercantile tonight

to see what all the amazingly talented ladies have to offer!

 

I have been creating up a storm due to the blizzards last week,

so its especially nice that something fun can come from my time off  :)

 

 

This guy has been up to his neck in the carrot patch

and decided to come up for air!

 

 

 

 

Love the primitive Rooster Weathervanes too -

mounted on oil cans!

 

 

 

Sure hope to see you tonight at 7pm cst on the TDIPT Mercantile.

SNOWPOCALYPSE vs SNOWMAGGEDAN

I know.... it sounds like a cheap Japanese thriller from the 60's with monsters busting their way through downtown with their tails knocking over skyscrapers on the way. I used to love watching these movies because their mouths would still be moving 3 minutes after the dubbed voice-over stopped.

However, it's what the recent and upcoming storms have been dubbed by us midwesterners who havent seen snow like this since I was a kid and looked forward to the school days!

The weather forcasters had been predicting a doozy was headed our way and while we watched with doubts swirling (we've heard it all from weathermen before with results that never came to fruition), we still waiting, watching out the window for something to happen.

And boy did it.... the morning started out calmly enough ...

but 45 minutes later, we were in the throes of Winter and before the day was over, my husband measured 12" of snow in our front yard! 

                                

Now, he had purchased a mega-monster snowblower 2 years earlier so he wouldnt have to kill himself shoveling and it wasnt until last Thursday that he had the pleasure of breaking it in. 

Wow... did he ever have fun!  He did our 3 car driveway, likety split - and then proceeded to head over to the neighbors and help out there. Before he made it back home, he had cleared 5 neighbors and offered to do another one.

So, this left me sitting in the house with an upcoming Mercantile upload and a snow-day on my hands.  What could I do but get busy!?!   And getting busy was just the ticket for that storm - I have been busy creating and feeling accomplished all along the way!

One of my projects was this sweet bunny and babe -  from a pattern by Lottie Laycheck. "Mama B" is mounted to a pedestal and ... shhhhhhhh.... we dont want to disturb her sleepy baby.

This sweet dancing rabbit has taken up residence in the trencher on my kitchen table. She is mounted on an awesome chippy spool I found last weekend when I was out "junkin".  She has a deep red velvet heart pinkeep sewn to her backside - just clear of the sheeps wool tail.

    

I have a couple of other items that will get polishing touches put to them before the upload on Thursday night - and then, my next project is to finish this special order who is just waiting for some clothes.  Sure hope she doesn't catch a cold from the drafty dungeon  :)

If you are interested in anything here, I'm happy to share my snow -

or give you more information on any of the rabbits listed.  :)

just a little smudge....

Admittedly, I know very little about Catholicism.
All I knew about Mardi Gras was that a huge party went on in New Orleans! I had no clue what Fat Tuesday or Ash Wednesday was about growing up but that all changed one Wednesday a few years back.

I worked for a company in Kansas City and was part of the screen actors guild. We shipped movie posters and trailers to theatres all over the country. We had a 5 story warehouse downtown packed with current and upcoming movie posters with 2 full floors of very vintage posters, ranging in sizes from 22x28" to 40x60" large.  I do have a few posters that might hold a little value - among them, an original Wizard of Oz, a 50th anniversay Gone with the Wind, 3 Stooges around the world in a Daze and 3 Stooges meet Hercules (which I gave to my brother).

But, I digress.... one morning I got to the office and was enjoying a cup of coffee while I visited with the ladies before work. One of our older associates was the sweetest little lady by the name of Mary Lou. Well, Mary Lou was running late this particular morning and I began to get a little concerned about her safety.  It was totally out of the norm for her to be tardy so when I saw her car pull up, I sighed a bit of relief and watched as she came into the building.

Now you have to understand, Mary Lou was never anything but perfectly put together when she left the house in the morning. So when I saw a smudge of dirt on her forehead, of course I only wanted to help her out and wipe it away before anyone else saw it.  Why.... you'd have thought I had just tried to steal her purse by her reaction!  Little did I know that grayish black area had very special meaning and she was meant to wear it until it wore off.  I think I was as stunned at her utter horror when I tried to help as she was horrified that I would even think of wiping away something so sacred to her!

Suffice it to say, she educated me there and then - and I never ever ever attempted to wipe anything from anyone since!  :)

 

Rolling out the TDIPT Red Carpet ....

It's going to be such an exciting time over on the TDIPT Mercantile tonight!

I've been very busy creating some new things to offer

and cannot wait to show them to you.

I love working with paper mache'

and have created some unusual cupboard hangers to sell.

I also have a lovely sunflower cupboard hanger for sale...

guaranteed to bring sunshine to a cloudy day!

I call this piece "Hang in There, Love" and it's adapted from

a Kentucky Prim pattern.  To add to it's allure,

a couple of field mice have joined in.

LOVE STINKS

is a fun piece I created ...

of course more field mice got into the act

and wanted to find a nice warm

(and stinky) place to hang out!

Last but certainly not least ...

the TDIPT Mercantile is holding a charity auction with several artists participating.

I have created this sweet little prairie dress with a puppy theme for our

TDIPT Charity "Kindness Matters Big and Small charity.

100% of the proceeds will go to 

Make a Difference Rescue in the Metro Detroit area and

Branch County Humane Society in Southern MI.

please make plans to join us tonight at 8pm cst on the

TDIPT Mercantile.

Your purchase will help so many without a voice!

Just one of those days....

Woke up quick, jumped out the bed.

Got tangled in the sheets and I bumped my head.

Had to be at work five minutes ago.

If I'm any more late, it's no call, no show.

Looking for my keys, God help me please!

I can't find my wallet or my cell phone, jeez!

Throwing on my clothes like never before.

With my shirt on backwards, I was out the door.

Laughing at myself as I was driving away.

Man oh man, it's just one of those days!

by David Greenwell

I know it's only January, but I'm ready for Summer....

I was recently asked to fill out a personal survey and one of the questions posed was "what do you like best about your hometown?". Without hesitation, the answer came to me: THE FOUNTAINS!

Kansas City is known as the City of Fountains, and ranks second in the world only to Rome, Italy! Summertime in this wonderful city is a sight to behold as you drive around the entire metropolis. We have over 200 fountains in varying size, detail and magnificence.

I'd love to share some of my favorites:
The most famous fountain in Kansas City is appropriately named J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain for the builder and architect of our wonderful Plaza. The figures were originally created by French sculptor Henri-Léon Gréber in 1910 for "Harbor Hill," the estate of Clarence Mackay in Roslyn, New York. The four allegorical equestrian figures reportedly represent four great rivers of the world — the Mississippi River, Volga River, Seine River, and Rhine River. The work is enlivened by sculptures of little children riding dolphins in the pool surrounding the main figures.

Although known as Pan Fountain, this sculpture is more likely to be the personification of the Greek god Bacchus holding court. The 10 thousand pound lead sculpture was purchased by the Nichols Company in 1960 and found this suitable home on the Plaza. Bacchus is surrounded by nymphs and satyrs in the center of Chandler Court near the Swanson's building on the Plaza.

Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon, is surrounded by cherubs and is positioned in front of a hotel overlooking the Plaza. The waterfall is 17' tall and 56' wide.


The Mermaids Fountain on the Plaza has 2 mermaids, each blowing into a shell that sends a single stream of water into the pool.



This one is the Volker Memorial Fountain, in memorial to William Volker an equestrian figure of St. Martin of Tours, who had done much to enrich the city. To add a touch of humor, the scupltor has an angel playing the flute from the wrong end and carved a wristwatch on another angel.

Henry Wollman Block Memorial Fountain, honors the co-founder of H&R Block, Inc. - the fountain is located outside of Union Station, which was restored to it's original glory from years past, when it was the railroad hub of the city.

The Muse of the Missouri personifies a goddess bestowing her interest and guidance on the Missouri River.

Also on the Plaza, this fountain depicts Neptune, god of the sea, with three mythological sea horses in movement.




Pomona Fountain depicts the Roman goddess and protector of gardens.



This is the largest and only memorial in the United States dedicated to those who served in WWI and its museum is the only one whose sole theme is that war.

The Firefighters Fountain commemorates the city's firefighters, and memorializes those who have given their lives in the line of duty.

I've given you a brief inside peek at some of the beauty, showing you a few of my favorite spots around town. I could go on and on but at the risk of boring you to death, let me close by showing you my ultimate hands-down favorite fountain in our great city -

Called the Childrens Fountain, it features six sculptures of local children at play. It is one of Kansas City's largest fountains and the dedication reads: "The bronze figures represent children everywhere to whom this fountain is dedicated and the activities that shape young lives making childhood a joy." The figures, from tallest to shortest represent: joy, meeting challenges, ballerina, soccer player, hand-stand boy, girl walking.









             Can you tell I'm ready for summer?