How blessed am I.

I am so delighted to tell you that my darling grand-daughter graced us with her presence on Wednesday, 28th March 2012.  Her name is Katherine Anne and she weighed in at 8lbs. 10ozs., a beautiful, bonny lass.  Here's a photo of her and I can't wait to go out of town (on the Greyhound bus - I picked up my ticket today), to visit and hold her in my arms....................

Unfortunately, her poor mum didn't fare so well.  After having a C-section, she became very ill, in fact very seriously, and they had to take her back into surgery where they found that she had blood clots.  She was in so much pain and had trouble breathing and spent the next couple of days in I.C.U. and the first night on a respirator.  We were all so very worried, especially my son and his mother-in-law who fortunately was visiting and stepped in to help with everything.  A girl needs her mum at a time like this and what a great mum she is.

They are home now and everyone is doing very well, thank the good Lord.  There were so many people praying for her - who says prayer doesn't help????  Big brother, who is going to be three in June, is going about his day quite unconcerned about all the excitement and every now and then will approach his little sister and give her a gentle pat on the head and then take off, LOL  Typical male.

Last Saturday I put on a Shabby Chic Craft Show here in my apartment building (forgot to take a photograph of course) and sold a few of my recently made crafts.  I have so much fun making all these delightful things but I really don't like selling them, I would rather give them away, but you really can't continually do that sort of thing.  You have to recoup some of the money you spend, as you all know, materials are not always cheap.  For the longest time we, here in my city, have been looking forward so much to having a Michaels store and one recently opened.  It was such a shock to find out just how expensive it is, even with their 40% off coupons, etc.  I was so excited to be able to purchase some mod podge, but not excited about the price and after using up my first bottle, I decided to go online and find out how to make my own, which works just as well and only costs pennies to make.  Here's a link just in case you would like to try making some for yourself.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_to_make_mod_podge_at_home

Yesterday I did very well.  A local store had closed and the owners of the building decided to use it for a couple of weeks to have a basement sale.  I guess for years they had stored personal possessions in the basement, including children's toys, unwanted furniture, etc. and decided to find homes for all that "junk".  I didn't realize just how good the "junk" was until my friend Laurie came home with a large, beautiful mirror made of wood and sporting some hooks for hanging a jacket, a hat or some other lightweight article.  (I noticed that she has already bugged her hubby to put it up on the wall in her entrance way and it looks great.)

These are some of the items I picked up dirt cheap for me to work my magic on and hopefully resell them..............

The items below are prints by Canadian wildlife artist Glen Loates, still in their original packaging.  I wonder if they are worth anything???

I also picked up something really spectacular for my darling grandson but I can't show it here just in case my kids read my blog.  It is my intention to present it to little guy when I go to visit and I don't want the surprise spoiled.

Last, but not least, I am excited to show you my first real work of art.  I have been attending an art course the last few weeks and today we finished.  Even though I say so myself, I think the end result is pretty good for a beginner and couldn't wait to go and get prints made of it so that I could give one to special people in my life, e.g. my friends at the Library where I used to work and my special friend Laurie who puts up with all my crafting nonsense and actually encourages me in my habit.  Here it is..........................

It's entitled "Gone South".  The print I gave Laurie, who is a wonderful artist, she has framed in a gorgeous frame with a lovely dark green matting.  I like hers better than mine, LOL  I will have to look out for a better frame because this one really doesn't do it justice, hers looks SO much better.

Well, I guess that's that for now - oooh, almost forgot, yesterday I met up with a few delightful ladies and had an Easter lunch with them at the Senior Centre, aren't they beautiful...............

and tomorrow I am having lunch at a local restaurant with another group of delightful ladies.  This retirement is getting better and better.  Forgive me if I boast and say that I am enjoying it, or should I say, "Loving it".  God bless, talk to you again soon.