Tomorrow (actually it’s today now)is mine and Craig’s 26th anniversary. I’ll be sewing all day and he’ll be in school for at least half the day! It’s no real biggy for either of us. With our anniversary always falling so close to the Thanksgiving Holidays, we’ve never really made anything huge out of it. However, it’s supposed to be cold tomorrow and possibly snow so that’s a gift for both of us. And it’s free!

Adam got a new job at PacSun and we are SOOO proud of him. He will be a full-time assistant manager. He’s always loved PacSun so we are delighted that he will be working there.

Jes finally got in to see a new doc (crohns) and was VERY impressed with him. He told her that she is NOT in remission and that she hasn’t been for the past 4 years. He’s put her on different meds (yay! The old ones didn’t work AT ALL!) and answered a ton of questions she had. She has quite a few issues that turned out to be crohns related. The more we dig into this disease the harder it is for me not to feel guilty that she has it. Totally illogical, I know. But no mother I know of has ever said that logic and motherhood go hand-in-hand!

Wow…I just did the math….My sister will be here in 4 days! Holy Cow!!!! I gotta go do stuff!

The first items to be put up for sale are the Christmas Pine Cone Ornaments. Here is an example of one.

I have 9 different color combination’s to choose from with more on the way. I absolutely LOVE making these things (although it takes almost 3 hours minimum to make one)! If you want to check out the other ornaments go take a look here. They are absolutely beautiful hanging on a tree!

Still to come are all my aprons, bags, and a bunch of different stocking stuffers. I hope to get my aprons up next. I have a couple of Mother/Daughter sets, a tween apron and more. Hopefully, these will be up sometime tomorrow.

I’m headed out now to run some errands, then back home to take more pictures and cut out more aprons.

It wasn’t long before the boys showed up and they loved it as well. Adam made the comment that he felt like he was back in Nashville. As I got up to leave, the group had just finished a song. I thanked them for making my evening such a beautiful delight and every one of them, from the teenagers to the old-timers, smiled and thanked ME for listening to them. I asked them if they played there every Thursday night and they said yes. It’s an open group…all people, young and old, all skill levels are welcome. I told them I would definitely be back. As I was walking out of the store, I again thought of Adams remark that he felt he was back in Nashville. The Colorado mountains were right in front of me, the Bluegrass music behind me. It was a beautiful evening with the promise of snow in the air. As I was contemplating all that I had just experienced, the realization of what I was wearing hit me. I had on my Tennessee overalls and Colorado Birkenstock shoes. My two favorite worlds had met and so much beauty came from it. It was a moment outside of time and I’m so very grateful for it. Peace and contentment. What precious gifts.

THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO HELP ME OUT!!!

I purchased 4 wine glasses so my friends don’t have to drink out of plastic cups anymore.
Technically, they are eggnog glasses from the grocery store.

Both my kids are coming home for dinner tomorrow night and Adam is staying for the weekend.
I will be cooking all day tomorrow because both my kids are coming home for dinner tomorrow night and Adam is staying for the weekend.

I found a new wrinkle on my face today.
It is a wrinkle caused by laughing and smiling.

Craig gets to teach at Front Range Community College (Boulder County) next semester.
At least 8 people have to sign up for the class so that it is not dropped so that Craig can teach at Front Range Community College (Boulder County) next semester.

Life is both good and bad.
God is good and never bad.

Today is a cutting day. I need to make at least 10 “work” aprons, 5 more pinecone ornaments, at least 5 purses and 5-6 little carry-all bags. All before November 24! I also have to work on Christmas gifts.

Speaking of Christmas. In the Kendall household the minute Halloween is over, it’s CHRISTMAS time!!! I would put up a tree now if I knew it wouldn’t die (you HAVE to have a live tree when living in Co!!) I don’t have the time right now to do much as far as decorating goes but I’m certainly going to listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies (while I’m sewing of course). It’s still warm here today (upper 60’s) but tomorrow is supposed to be cooler (upper 40’s). I’m SOOOOO ready for SNOW!!!!

On a personal note, Adam has an interesting day today. Please pray that things will go according to God’s will and that Adam will respond accordingly. I very proud of him and how he is leaning on God when things are rough!

Also…Craig has an important meeting on Thursday. We’re just a little excited about it but that is all we can say right now.

Jes is still having issues with crohns so prayers for her are always appreciated.

I have estrogen again. All is right with the world!!

Lily….sleeps and eats all day. What a life.

Well…off to cut out stuff!

Most of you who read this blog know that Craig and I no longer “attend” an “established” church. Contrary to what a lot of people think, this move is something that God very specifically and very strongly led us to do. No, we aren’t having a middle-age crisis. No, we aren’t mad at the “church” or any of the people in it. No, we aren’t bitter about job loss etc. We are simply following our God’s lead. For those of you who know us well, you understand this. Most of the time I don’t bring it up in any conversation unless the other person starts asking questions. This is where God has US. That doesn’t mean it’s where He has YOU. However, there are a few times when someone makes a remark that sticks with me and just won’t go away.

Most people, when they hear of the path God is taking us down, are a little confused but trust that we are following God’s lead as best we can. However, there are times when we get the whole “oh….REALLY?” or “how sad” or “that’s unfortunate” or “what happened…they were such ‘good’ people?” response. Normally I let these comments roll off my back because I understand that throughout history, God has given many of His followers instructions to do something that no one else understands. And He usually doesn’t hand out “this-is-really-what-I-told-them-to-do-so-back-off cards. When something like this occurs, God often reaffirms this path we are on in many different ways. So here’s how He handled this one situation.

A couple of weeks ago, Craig and I were at the Market on Sunday as usual. While there, we met a young couple that had just moved to the Boulder area a couple of months ago. This happens to us often (seems that a lot of young people are moving into Boulder for various reasons from all over the nation) and we really enjoy meeting all of these young couples. Craig and I had been talking about the way we are changing our life. Stuff like finding what it is in life that you love to do and do it all the while living within the means “it” provides. We had also been discussing the need to listen VERY close to what God is saying so that we don’t miss an “appointment” He has made for us with someone else. Turns out this couple had just been talking about something similar and hearing it from us encouraged them to continue what they were doing in life. (Here comes the part that might sting a bit!) Today I was reading in Mark (yes…I do STILL read the Bible;) where the leaders of the church were angry and put out with Christ because He healed a man’s hand on the Sabbath. One response Christ made was to ask which was better? “Helping people or leaving them helpless?” In the past, I would have been “attending” church and therefore not been in the place to make a small difference in the life of this young couple who were feeling all alone and discouraged. God used Craig and I. And it was on a Sunday. And we were NOT in “church”. We WERE in the body.

So…what’s the conclusion to all of this? Don’t have a clue…for you that is. This is about me. What God is doing in my life. Take from it what you will or be offended even though no offense is intended or wanted. After all….my call is to listen and follow…however strange it may seem. He said “blog this” so I said “are you crazy?” then “yes sir”. Just remember. I LOVE you all!!! But I love Him the most.

I also got a couple of ideas/requests for items I’ve yet to make. One was a coupon organizer that Nancy and Michelle asked for and the other is a fabric “basket” for shoppers that don’t wish to use plastic bags. I already have the designs running around in my head for both. Now I just have to find the time. My orders for next week include 3 non-traditional baby bags and 3 full aprons (one of which is still in the designing stage). I also have to prepare for an upcoming show which means I need to make at least a dozen work aprons and way too many purses! On top of that, I need to take pictures of all the stuff left over from the market and update the CraftyGirlz site! I really wish I could teach Lily how to clean since it doesn’t look as if I’m going to have time to do any myself.

The woman at the counter takes the cutting ticket for my fabric and starts ringing it up. She’s punching a TON of buttons and the whole time has this VERY confused look on her face. Evidently, one of the item numbers on the fabric wasn’t “ringing up right”. So she calls the girl who cut the fabric and asks for the item number to be brought to the front. The girl gets to the counter and they supposedly get it worked out then the cutting girl leaves. The woman at the register stares at the keys for another TWO full minutes, has that same confused look on her face then punches more buttons and hits total. Well, the number that comes up is way more than it should have been. So I ask a couple of questions and she gives me the run-around. At this point I wasn’t about to add anymore confusion to the problem so I decide to just take my bag and my receipt and check it out myself before I leave. Sure enough…there were several areas that looked very questionable to me. So I go BACK into the store and ask to see if the manager could please look at my ticket and help me out. Well…the manager never shows but the girl who cut my fabric said she would help. After getting all the original prices from each bolt, we head back up to the counter again. Here’s a little of what went on…
Receipt says the fabric was $8.99 a yard but was 30% off. So the amount was then $6.29 a yard. The next piece of fabric was $6.29 a yard but also 30% off. However, I had not received that discount. Since the girl is just standing there staring at the receipt, I ask her if she is going to take the 30% off. She answers “No. I’m going to take 30% off.” I said “okaaayyy…?” She is silent for a bit then says, in a slightly frustrated voice,”Oh…I’m just going to take 30% off!” Well…I really didn’t quite know how to respond to that so I just nodded my head and smiled. Still more buttons being punched and by this time the receipt looks like some sort of computer code. Plus this, minus that, regular price here, sale price there, void, add, tax…etc. Finally she said I was charged $10 too much. So she puts the money back on my card. Then she hands me the receipt to show me where it was added back to my card but she couldn’t read the receipt either! I was a little skeptical of the $10.00 part because a number that even rarely happens. But at this point, I just wanted to get out of that store!

By now it is dark and raining outside and I have to use my Google maps on my phone since I had never been to this part of Littleton before. I’m going down the highway and the sign shows that there is a fork in the road ahead and the lane I’m looking for veers to the left. So right at the point where I’m veering to the left, I see in my peripheral vision, a second lane that splits off into yet another fork in the road. And sure enough…on the left side of THAT fork is the lane I’m suppose to be in. I’m sure I missed that sign that says “OOPS! Sorry…we meant veer to the left of THIS fork!” So I’m now driving down the WRONG dark road, in the rain with TERRIBLE night vision. However I soon start to recognize where I am and remember that I had seen a sign pointing to the correct highway just a couple of streets down the road. So I’m heading to what I thought would be a ramp to enter the highway. Well….there was the highway alright. But no ramp. I’m looking at the entrance to the highway and can’t believe what I’m seeing. A STOP SIGN! I’m serious. Picture a highway with all the concrete dividers lining the right side of the road. Then picture a 20 foot opening in the dividers with a road leading right up to the opening and ending with a stop sign! Here I am, sitting at a stop sign while cars, trucks and semi’s are flying by at 65+ miles an hour right in front of me! So I draw on all those years of CRAZY drivers/driving in Nashville, take a deep breath and plunge onto the highway….shifting furiously!

I did finally make it home and got all the fabric into the house. I’m still pretty sure that I was charged too much money but the receipt is so messed up, I don’t think anyone could figure it out. I’ll give it one more go tomorrow but right now I’m just too tired!

It’s a beautiful day here today. Well…at least MY kind of beautiful. Rainy and a high of 45. LOVE IT! The mountains are getting snow again as well. I love living in Colorado! The trees are so beautiful. We have an Autumn Blaze Maple in our backyard and a stand of Aspens. The maple is fully turned and is truly blazing. A very orange/red color. The Aspens and the Chanticleer Pear tree have yet to turn.

Lily is curled up beside me on the couch, snoring away. Sometimes I can tell that she really feels all of her 8 years (56 human years….we really like it that our dog will always be older than us!)

That’s about it. Since I’ve not done much more than lay around and be sick for the past week, there’s just not much to say.

Hopefully I’ll feel like sewing again sometime in the next couple of days. I need to get back to life!

Have a great Sunday!!