A Day of Wonderful Blessings...

My daughter lives in Texas (much too far away!) and is a 4th grade teacher there.  Her daily commute to work takes her on two major freeways.  Busy, traffic filled... crazy driver filled freeways.  This morning one of her tires had a blow-out.  Very thankfully, she is okay!!  It happened as she was turning onto the service road.  If she had to have a blow-out, I am happy that it happened there, and not on one of those freeways!!

It was close enough to home that her grandma could quickly come to her rescue and trade cars with her, so that she wouldn't be too late for work.  Then to make it even better, she was right near a tire store... what good luck that was!  Of course, she didn't even realize that at first.  She was too busy concentrating on the build up of traffic on the freeway in front of her - getting more and more worried about how late she might be.  But Grandma to the rescue!!!  She noticed the store and stayed until the tire was replaced, and Melissa went to work and was only about 15 minutes late.

I am so very thankful that it happened the way that it did!  I wouldn't even want to think of what could have happened!

Yes, today was a day of wonderful Blessings! 

Creativity Everywhere!

I had so much fun creating these three custom order cake toppers!!  One is a Wedding Cake topper, so cute... two little sheep.  The couple who purchased the sheep topper live in the UK.  I love how the internet allows people to easily purchase things from all over the world... and it's quite something to think that one of my little creations will adorn the wedding cake of  someone from another country!

The other two cake toppers were a unique idea... the couple wanted to represent their hobbies on the Grooms Cake - her hobby is photography, and he plays the guitar.  These two toppers took more time than I had anticipated, but I really enjoyed creating them.  I thought that I would share all these fun wedding cake toppers here on my blog.

Now that I am finished with these three custom orders, my ideas are flowing about what to create next... my mind, however, works faster than my fingers... That's probably a good thing - because if I ever get them all created, there will be absolutely no room for anything else in my house!  Clay creations everywhere!!  There are already many cute and whimsical clay creatures filling up lots of places in the house right now.  Good thing my family likes my work!  I have started, and nearly filled, an entire notebook of ideas taken straight from my imagination, and can't wait to start on the next one.  Etsy has been a great place to have a shop for showcasing and selling my items.  So many wonderfully creative, talented and helpful fellow artisans!

That Picture Perfect Time of Year...

It's that picture perfect time of year... when the sun paints beautiful, vivid colors across the sky - both when it rises, and when it sets.  Our house is in the perfect spot for watching as the sky changes colors.  Our kitchen windows face the east, and the large living room window faces the west.

I can watch the sunrise each morning (providing it's not a "never ending" rainstorm) as I drink my cup of coffee.  A moment to enjoy before I rush off to work.  As I sit at the kitchen table and look out the window toward the creek, the bright pinks and purples peek through the trees and light up the sky.  Truly an amazing sight!  The temperature outside is cool right now, a bit of a chill in the morning air, and the trees are just beginning to turn colors.  I love to go outside and breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the beauty of the fall.  As I walk around outside, sometimes I can see the mist still laying just above the fields that surround the yard... the squirrels and chipmunks are scampering about, playing, and busily gathering food for the long winter.  Mornings are so quiet and peaceful in our back yard. 

After the busyness of my day, I love to come home and kick off my shoes... I can watch the sun set, while sipping a glass of wine, relaxing and unwinding from my work day.  The sky lights up in all different shades of  yellows and oranges.  It's a perfect time in the evening to go for a walk and enjoy the scenery around me!  There is a beautiful park here in Midland, with bridges that cross over the river.  The sunsets are spectacular from there too!  The colors, lighting up the sky and reflecting in the water... Breathtaking!

Airports Are So Much "Fun"...

So, I am on the computer, making reservations for my trip to Texas with my son, and he says to me, "Be sure to check the box, so that you can get text messages to alert you to changes on your flights."  Sure, sounds like a great idea.  I must say I never needed that feature more than I did on my flight home!!  I was all packed and ready to go (well, not really ready, I wanted to stay longer!) when I got a text message saying my flight was delayed.  I wasn't worried because I had a three hour layover in Detroit. It was great, I got another whole hour to spend with my mom!  So, after stretching our visit as far as we could, it was off to the airport... no more texts... must be that all is good.  Great.  I go through security pretty quickly, which was nice.  My gate was right across from security, what could be easier!  We boarded the plane right on time, and off we flew to Detroit - Once there I would have two hours, plenty of time to grab a bite to eat, relax a little...

The first leg of my flight home went wonderfully.  We landed, and when I turned on my phone there was my text message giving me my gate info, and saying that my connecting flight was on time.  So, off to my gate I went.  It was all the way down at the end of the same terminal, which was nice - a bit of a walk, but there have been times I've had to walk to a different terminal, take a shuttle, go outside, go back inside, through a tunnel, take a taxi.... to my next gate. (You know how that is!)  I arrived at my gate, and my flight was listed on the monitor.  It's all good - so I settled in with a snack and my book.  I was there just a little while, when I looked up at the monitor and there was a different flight listed... what happened to my flight?  I didn't hear an announcement about a gate change.  Certainly I didn't lose myself in my book so much that I missed my flight completely... just then I received my text message alerting me of a change in gates.  So off I go... about half way back down the terminal.  My flight is listed on the monitor - so I sit down.  Everyone is talking about the change of gates, already aggravated... and then we go back to our books and newspapers.

Not too long after that, I look up at the monitor, and  it doesn't say Flint... Flint is my final destination, why does that monitor say Charlotte?!  Oh wait, there is my text message... a change of gates again.  So I announce it to the people sitting next to me, who were thankful, because they were waiting for some sort of announcement over the loud speaker - which never came.  Off we all go, the group of us a little bigger now.  This time the gate was all the way back where I first started.  We all sit down, chatting a bit with one another, when suddenly...

My Texas Visit...

I've just returned home from a wonderful visit with my family in Texas.  My son came with me and, lucky him, he is staying there until Saturday! My mom has plans for some fun things for them to do together while he's there - I'm sure they'll have a great time.  

My daughters 4th grade classroom!

My visit, however, went by far too fast!  But we sure packed a lot in... It had been much too long since I had seen my family... hadn't seen my daughter since January.  A lot has happened in her life since then.  She was just hired to teach 4th grade at a school in Mesquite, and loves it!  They needed another teacher due to the number of students enrolled, and because school had already started - it was a rush for her to get her classroom ready.  She called me and asked if I could help her on Friday evening, so my mom and I headed over there... (Thankfully my mom had been there to help her earlier in the week as well!)  I was so glad to be able to help her put some finishing touches on the room, and she is very happy with how it turned out.  It does look great!  But... talk about a surreal moment!!  When I first walked into her classroom it brought me back in time.  It seemed like just a short time ago she was a little girl in elementary school, and I was a volunteer mom... and now there she was, standing before me, all grown up, with a classroom of her own!  Where does the time go?!  Anyway, she is a great teacher and I am so proud of her!!! 


My mom and I went to a meeting held by the North Texas Polymer Clay Guild.  They meet once a month and this month it just happened to be on the weekend I was there.  Everyone was so nice and welcoming!  Tory Hughes did a demonstration on her polymer clay techniques for jewelry making.  We learned some new things, and got to see some wonderful polymer clay artwork made by the members, which they brought in to share.  My mom enjoyed it so much that she joined the Guild.  I would have too - if I lived there!  She will enjoy her membership... they have workshops, demonstrations by clay artists, and seem to love to share ideas and techniques with each other.  I'm glad their September meeting just happened to be while I was visiting!

Homemade Ravioli... Yum!

My brother, Michael cooked some delicious meals for us!  He even spent his day off on Sunday making homemade ravioli and a sauce that was incredible!!  It brought back memories - for all of us - of our Aunt Mary when she used to make homemade pasta and she would have it drying all over the house!  She was a wonderful lady... we all have a lot of fun memories of her!  Anyway, Michael really loves to cook, and you can certainly tell that when you see him in the kitchen... and then again when you sample his meals!  Everyone came over to enjoy the dinner, and each others company.