Another New Listing on Etsy

12-13-2012

Jeans for 18 Doll or American Girl Doll made from by Greengourd:

'via Blog this'

I made another sale this week

Woo Hoo!

Thank You Emily!

I officially sold out of all my doll cloths with this sale!

Having 2 doll cloths sales in one week, got me a tad motivated.

I promptly got sewing!

I got 4 dresses made yesterday and then got them listed today.

I wish that I had gotten motivated just a little sooner.

Better late than not at all.

But I still have close to a week left to get them sewn, listed and shipped out to arrive before Christmas. 

I better get busy!

Etsy Transaction - Jeans for 18" or American Girl Doll made from recycled material

Thank you Stacy for your recent purchase!

Etsy Transaction - Jeans for 18" or American Girl Doll made from recycled material:

'via Blog this'

Git er Done!

I barely even saw Mary over the weekend.

She was hanging with her 2 favorite guys...

Phoenix and Baby Sean!

While she was gone, I took full advantage of all the "FREE" time.

I finished listing all the pieces that I plan on putting on my 

Greengourd Etsy Shop

  

or at least all that are finished right now.

I may get a few more pieces completed for the shop.

However, I have a feeling that the majority of time I have between now and Christmas for making gifts may be reserved for 

family and friends.

We will see...

I am feeling pretty motivated lately.

I got 3 new purses listed.

 Bill's Lamp

And the rest of the doll cloths that I have that are finished.

I may get a few more of these pieces finished and listed before 

Christmas.

As well as still taking custom orders.

Mary has already received her first present of the 

Christmas Season.

LOVE IT!

Her best bud, Nat sent her this awesome handmade journal set.

Mary is writing up a storm!

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to see that.

Writing is her #1 problem subject this year in school.

Thanks Baum Squad, ya'll are awesome!

Every Christmas is the same!

The FIRST decoration to be set out for the holiday season is...

The Nativity

The rest is sure to follow...

and usually I am slow to the gate.

I will admit that I usually dread dragging all the Christmas boxes down from the attic and putting everything out.

But for some reason, this year has been different.

Mary and I actually got the majority of our decorations put up this morning before school started.

I'm shocked!

BILL's Stocking

 

The Animal's Stocking

It was mine...

before my very first stocking found it's way 

HOME

I can't believe how good this thing still looks after all these years.

One of these days I am going to knit one for Mary and Bill and maybe even the rest of our animal family.

The girls with the red toe and heel and boys with a green toe and heel as it was in my family of origin.

We downsized this year and put up one of Bill's metal trees.

Then picked out a handful of our favorite handmade and sentimental ornaments.

Ahhh... it sure was nice not having to completely rearrange the house to set up a tree.

Now I know it's Christmas Season...

Elvis and Nat King Cole on Pandora

We started class off this morning with an 

Advent Wreath worksheets

and then started a daily project that we will work on till Christmas.

An Advent Chain

Every morning after her Bible readings, she will cut out a link in the chain and write a Christmas prayer.

Then attach it to the chain.

This will be a nice school project to get her rolling in the morning!

She didn't even complain once about having to do it.

I like it when school goes like that.

Last week I received something that I have not seen in a very long time,

A Thank You Card!

It is a courtesy that I am afraid might be lost in this new age of technology.

It was so nice to receive this note.

I remember my mother making me sit down after a birthday party or  Christmas and writing Thank You notes to everyone who gave me a gift.

I use to HATE doing this.

And I am embarrassed to say that it is a habit that I have fallen out of.

But THANKS to a friend that is pleasantly out of fashion,

I think I will try to make more of an effort and get back into the habit.

And have Mary do the same.

I use to make her when she was much younger and it was much more difficult for her to write.

Now that she is older and quite capable of doing this on her own...

Why shouldn't she do it.

There is no time like the present.

It isn't chestnuts roasting...

it is our first batch of peanuts that we grew this summer.

I had forgotten all about them.

Til Bill came in with a bucket of raw peanuts from the garden.

I haven't had a chance to try them yet.

Maybe, I will use them to make some homemade peanut butter.

Pretty cool!

We didn't get a huge harvest...

but it was a nice surprise for a first time crop.

I do have some great news to share.

I have been free from white flour and sugar for ...

9 Days!

And I haven't eaten 

that round flat cheesy thing in over 

2 months.

I can't believe it!

And I have to say that I feel amazing.

I still have a long way to go and many alterations to make to my always changing lifestyle

but today 
I am going to bask in my accomplishments!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

5 New listing on my Etsy Shop

I got a few more pieces listed on my Etsy Shop today!

I might actually get everything listed by 

Christmas.

2 Recycled Horseshoe Blanket Bars

And 

3 Recycled Horse Feed Bags

I barely had these bags listed when they got featured in an 

Etsy Treasury.

What an ego boost!

Maybe this will motivate me to hurry up and get the rest of my things listed.

And get busy making new pieces!

december finds by Alex L on Etsy

I have been featured in EcoWood's 

Treasury on Etsy

check it out!

december finds by Alex L on Etsy:

'via Blog this'

Giving Thanks

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend.

I know that I did!

I didn't make the trip to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and his family, like we thought that we might do.

We decided that the temptation to make Thanksgiving about the FOOD 

might be a little too much for me.
Not to mention we need to save our pennies.

So we stayed home and kept things simple.

Instead of having one massive day of sanctioned binge eating...

with way too many choices

we decided to have several "normal" meals over the weekend.

1 protein

1 vegetable

and 1 starch

with NO white flour or sugar.

Let me tell you...

I didn't feel the slightest bit deprived.

OK, maybe a little deprived.
I caved at the last minute... 
and sent Bill to the store for a bag of stuffing.

Uggh!

My downfall...

I could have planned ahead and prepared a cornbread stuffing alternative

that would have fit my

no white flour or sugar  rule.

But... I truly thought that I could/would stick to the meal plan.

I even blew my NO sugar with one lousy bite of coconut cream pie...

And I don't even like coconut!

Grrrr...

I had told Bill to pick up a pie when he went to get the stuffing. 
I felt bad that I wasn't making him the 

Strawberry Pretzel Surprise.

He KNOWS I don't like coconut...

he must have thought I wouldn't be temped by this evil sugary desert.

He was WRONG!

I may have slipped...

But I think about the Thanksgivings of the past.

Compared to those my food choices and portion sizes were drastically better this year.

I didn't make the oyster stuffing along with regular stuffing or make the peas and carrots, collards, green bean casserole, creamed onions, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, strawberry surprise, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pumpkin cheesecake that I usually make every year. 
We just had the turkey and stuffing.
Instead of green bean casserole, we had fresh green beans.
Instead of mashed potatoes we had wild rice with onions and mushrooms.
Then Mary and I split some sugar free cheesecake pudding.

I may have stumbled a bit but I didn't come completely off the hinges.

We spent a wonderful day together 

AS A FAMILY.

We prepared the turkey TOGETHER and then sat down for a marathon game of trivial pursuit.

(Which I dominated!)

After the game, we finished up the rest of the meal preparation.

Then once all the prep work done was done

and Bill said that he could handle the rest of the meal,

Mary and I set off to the movie theater to watch

Breaking Dawn Part 2

Which by the way was ...

AWESOME!

By the time we got home from the movie, 
everything for dinner was ready.

All I needed to do was to make the gravy.

(which I made with corn starch instead of flour)

It was a wonderful day!

It may not have been the Thanksgiving of my childhood, 

filled with tons of food and good intentions.  

I may not have been surrounded by cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents and siblings.

But what I did have was a day filled with laughter, love and cooperation.

I couldn't have ask for more.

We all went to bed that night feeling grateful and content.

Black Friday

We had a lazy morning then it was off to the barn.

I came home to a surprise message from my girl Mary Neva. 

The fact that she had sent me a message wasn't the surprise.

The surprise was that she was on her way here to play a couple nights at the 

Port-O-Call  Gaslight Bar and Grill.

I was so happy that I didn't have a refrigerator full of left-overs that I would have gorged on all day

leaving me passed out and sick not wanting to go anywhere.

Instead I was excited to step out and I didn't even need to take a nap before I went.

(Big improvement fer me)

Ya Hoo!!!

I even took my daughter, Mary out to see her 

GoGo Godmamma.

Neva pull my little sunshine up on stage to sing with her.

Shew...

Mary Elizabeth was beside herself!

Back for round 2 the next night.
Does this look like the face of happiness?

The second night, I didn't have quite the giddy up and go as the night before.

I'm NOT 20 something anymore.

Those late nights put a hurting on this ole gal... 

I don't even want to think about how I would have felt if I had been tilting back the cocktails.

YIKES!

I would have had to crawl into a cave to hibernate for the rest of the winter.

It took me a few days to feel almost "normal" again.

But eventually life at the Marchitelli home 
fell back into a routine.

While Mary did her schoolwork yesterday...
I tried to get some "work" done as well.
I managed to get a few new items listed on my etsy shop.

3 Sunflower Birdhouse Gourds

Look...
They are even signed and dated 
2012 

Wok Horseshoe Bird Bath

These were the only pieces I got listed before we had to head out to the barn.

We switched our regular barn days up a little this week since we had to be at the barn on Thursday to meet the vet.
No surprise injuries...
Thank God,
just a follow up appointment for Phoenix's leg wound and his yearly float.
Well, we got a call from the vet's office asking if we could change our visit for that day instead of Thursday.
We of course said 
YES!
Mary was so excited ... I thought she was going to jump out of her skin.
Squealing... "I might get to start walking Phoenix today!!!!!!"

We cut class short and headed out to the barn.

It was a BIG day for Phoenix

TEETH FLOATED

 Dr. Shanna REALLY loves her work!

She told Mary that if you work hard there are two roads she can choose in life.
To do what you LOVE 
or 
To work a job that allows you to do what you love.

I LOVE IT!
So work hard and do your very best on your school work,
It's important 
and it will help you choose your path.
Thank you Dr. Shanna for the words of wisdom.

Mary was able to get up close and personal.
And really get a FEEL for what's going on inside Phoenix's mouth. 

 BEFORE

Can you see the points?

 AFTER

Now for the news that we are all waiting for...
How is Phoenix's leg?

A little over a month ago...

Yesterday
November 27, 2012

Amazing!
The bottom flap that we almost cut off because we thought it would most likely die...
It's ALIVE!
And completely reattached. 
Now we just need to combat the proud-flesh.

WARNING !!!

This next shot is a little bloody.

It had to be removed with a razor til it was below the skin.
Then we wrapped it back up.
The good news is...
Phoenix is healthy and sound.
And he is released from the vet's care and the stall confinement.
We can start gradually working him back into his old routine.
And even start going back out into the pasture.

Finally ...
he went out for his first walk in over a month.
He was a "little" wobbly and needed to walk off his sedation.

Mary took Phoenix around to see all his buddies.

Today...
he got out and exercise.
Mary took him out to the round pen and he cut loose!
He was so happy to be out of the stall.
He went buck wild.

We are hoping to get him out into the pasture for a little while tomorrow.  
And make sure he is still cool with his old pasture pals.
We don't want him getting hurt again. After a couple days of that... 
if all goes well, 
he may get turned back out. 
Then it will be back to business as usual.

With some gradual exercises, Mary may be back in the saddle by next week.
She is one happy young lady!

Thanksgiving may have come and gone but the attitude of gratitude still remains.

My Girl...

Gettin Her Kicks!

Southern Culture on the Skids

Talk about QUALITY TIME... with her God Mamma!

ROCK STAR!