"Step Right Up! Get Your Thank You Here!"

Thank you so very much for all the lovely birthday wishes! I had such a wonderful day with my husband who surprised me with a cake, a beautiful card, and a dozen red roses.

You will not believe AGAIN I have gotten a year younger. All year I have thought I was turning 54, and wouldn't you know ..... I am 53 today. I tell you there are some advantages to being clueless! Just look at the expression on Peanut Vendor Vernon's face. He looks a little wary about this craft room's mistress.

It truly is a three-ring circus here at Creative Breathing as I work to finish last minute crafts I am excited to show my sisters-in-law. They have never seen my craft room before.

It is late at night here in the Heart of Ohio as I make mental lists of all that I need to do in preparation of our wedding picnic on Saturday. It is such a funny thing to live with a man who is a flight attendant and is used to ordering scads of food. He will throw into our cart what I call "Airplane Food" such as shrimp cocktail and red curly lettuce for lining our food trays. "Hon! We're having hamburgers!" I say to him.

Don't even get me started on the breakfast he has planed for Sunday morning. "We don't need fruit trays! A few bananas will do!" Can you just hear us in the grocery store?

When Joe's Mom called me this evening to ask what I am bringing to the picnic, I replied, "Baked Beans". I was too embarrassed to mention all that my husband will be bringing.

Again, thank you for letting this Creative Breather pick herself up again and again.

PATTERN NOTE: RING MASTER USES UNCLE SAM PATTERN
Please do not Pin pattern to Pinterest.

Day 8

All was going well with the Big White Puppy and her Partner in Crime. The maze of baby gates that had become my home to protect my new carpet while a little confusing as to whose freedom was being restricted, was working out rather splendidly. Our sliding glass door left open, curtains hanging over the opening, their own dogie door to the great beyond otherwise known as "My Husband's Yard". And then came Day eight...

A chilly September day, the sky as blue as can be, leaves just beginning to turn on all the ...... "Hon, there are trees missing from our yard!"  Where there once were five, there are now only three. How is it possible for dog to eat a tree? There are no signs of branches or roots or a single colored leaf. Gone, I tell you, gone. But this was only the beginning ....

I should have known better than to leave the puppies unattended in the yard over long. A call to come brought the white puppy encased in mud from head to toe, her cohort trailing close behind ever so clean. It seem Elan the German Shepard, aka "The Nose", had scouted out a scent underneath our shed. There was a hole the size of Nahala the Samoyed, aka "The Digger"! I tell you I nearly had a nervous breakdown! Just try bathing a white dog whose hair will not get wet!

When TSG called to tell her father she and Joe were on their way to pick up the pups, he responded they would be waiting curbside with all their belongings. It has taken me an entire day to Spic and Span my home. I'm a little wistful about my ten puppy sitting days... Well at least the first Eight!

Lake Ann

Of all the craft room characters I make, my "little" pom pom birds are my very favorite. This fall feathered friend tells the story of my very first home as a new bride in Lake Ann, Michigan, whose claim to fame was a tornado touching down in the center of town, and a sighting of Big Foot.

Being a city girl from Washington, DC where such things didn't happen, I always kept one eye on the sky and one eye on the woods that passed by my car window while driving through town. Lake Ann consisted of a bait store where you could also purchase a tank of gas, and a post office where a key was needed to open a little door with a glass window giving glimpse of your mail within.

Our 700 sq ft cottage was nestled within a thick forest of trees on the far side of Lake Ann, the river feeding the lake winding it's way through my yard. We hadn't any neighbors as surrounding cottages were only occupied in the summer months. It was a quiet and restful place, perfectly perfect for someone like me.

On the weekends my husband and I loved to walk through the woods that enclosed us in a quiet darkness that was all our own. The sound of leaves rustling when scuffled through a favorite sound to this day.

Each morning my husband and I would drive together into the city to our places of work. I loved this time together as the car heater slowly warmed our bodies our talk reflective on how grateful we were to live in such a place.

And how grateful I was never to have spotted Big Foot!

Hobby Lobby

When I am standing in line in the lobby of my bank, I know I will have to address once again the issue of on-line banking with the teller that is assisting me. "Mrs. Andrus, do you know how easy it is to pay your bills on line?"

"I do." I reply, "But my husband's hobby is paying bills, and he simply won't be deprived of the enjoyment he gets by doing this by mail."

I love this little quirk of my husband's. He sits at his desk tucked in a corner of our bedroom with a front window over his shoulder. The sound of perforated paper being torn reaches my ears as I sit in my craft room. I know that he is as happy as can be, and I am happy for him.

Oscar

The enthusiasm of my own Newlywed Days matched the excitement in my heart of having my very first job as a receptionist in the Trust Department of the Traverse City State Bank. Honeymoon Wardrobe carefully selected each day to make the best impression. Appreciative glances from the customers I would usher into the offices of the department's lawyers.

Lunch hour of my own, I loved to window shop along Front Street, the turquoise waters of Traverse Bay glimpsed between buildings, paycheck hoped fors changing with each new something that caught my eye. A sidewalk bench overlooking the view became the place to eat my sack lunch and admire other passersby.

This was how I came to know Oscar. A simple open face that had never known a frown, a gentle soul who found joy in making others smile. Bib overalls his daily uniform, a cap with ear flaps folded up on sunny days, a grocery sack rolled down many times always carried in his hands. With each person Oscar would greet, he would unroll his sack and offer a piece of candy. Wishes for a wonderful day, Oscar would be on his way.

Reception Desk typing, phone answering, client ushering, busy to near distraction,  there was Oscar sitting in my waiting area his rolled sack on the floor by his feet. Oscar greeted me with his now familiar smile and said, "I have an appointment."

For all the days I would work at Traverse City State Bank, I too would become one of the many individuals who looked out for the welfare of Oscar. Siblings eager to leave their humble farm origins and the care of Oscar to their aging parents now wanted Oscar committed to the city's mental institution thereby giving them control of all that had been left to Oscar. It seems the mineral rights of the vast acreage of the farm had made Oscar a very wealthy man. For all of Oscar's days, his every need would be provided for, his rolled down sack never empty of candy.

 

Tickled to Death

Have you ever made something and decided it was so darn cute you had to make another?

And then another?

I tell you I tickle my own self sometimes when the characters I create turn out so unexpectedly sweet.

I absolutely love these little leafy elves with their banners announcing the coming of their own special days of the year.
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Any excuse for a celebration in this beloved craft room is fine by this Creative Breather.

Tickled to Death , I tell you!

 

Pattern for personal use only.

TSG Gets Married!

I have so wanted to share with you before my last day of blogging, the photographs from Joe and Kellye's wedding. 

If my blog has been about anything, it has been about the Tenure of Motherhood and the gossamer threads that hold mother and daughter together when it seems friendship is not a possibility.

These joyous photographs are tangible proof to me of God's willingness to answer our prayers if we will only open our heart to all He promises.

"Kellye, can you hear God calling?" He was calling me.

And so I learned from my daughter that God calls each of us to him in his own time. I know in my heart she will one day hear his call as well.

Perhaps, when she has a daughter of her own.

Who loves to twirl and who asks her mother, "Is there someone special just for me?"

And who will answer just as her mother did to her, "Yes sweetheart, there is someone very special waiting just for you."

These are such sweet days for me, and I thank you so much for letting me share them with you. I thank you for the many well wishes that have been given to me to pass along to Joe and Kellye.

Every mother's story should have an ending as happy as this.

Always, Elizabeth

 Joe and Kellye Sauder 9/10/11

Traditional Hawaiian wedding rings, Mother of Pearl and diamonds.

GUILTY on a Poorbaby Payday

My husband is someone who never seems to buy anything new. I think he is morally opposed to it. I have deduced this over the years by the scowl that always seems to greet me on return trips that have caused my wallet to lighten.

To avoid this tension filled moment I try to avoid it all together. In fact, I try to avoid him! Poorbaby Paydays always coincide on the one day of the week I know he will be away at work. The window of opportunity carefully constructed to PERUSE, PURCHASE, and PUT AWAY, before he next lays eyes on me! The Jersey Shore housemates have nothing on me with their GYM, TAN, WASH routine.

But on this Poorbaby Payday I have been SUBMARINED! With only moments to spare before my husband's return from work, I pull into my neighborhood court and pull into he garage. With one foot on the stairs to my craft room, who should I see driving into the court as well? Time stands still! I have been caught!

Rationale for my actions? Oh I have a defensive list ready.... "But I never go anywhere!", "I color my own hair, what else do I have to spend my money on?" "These are supplies!" and the very best, "I only spent a few dollars!"

The Dance of Buyers Remorse is very short lived as my husband knows the things I say to him are true. He will say to me he is at his most happy when he knows I am happy.

And I am very happy on this Poorbaby Payday!