The Plaid Hat

My daughter-in-law is a beautiful girl...inside and out. She is also a very sharp dresser. She loves dresses and big chunky jewelry and she can wear just about anything well.

Occasionally she will come by without makeup, her hair piled on top of her head, a baggy shirt and well worn sweat pants dragging on the ground...but let me say...those occasions are rare...and the girl still looks good!

I had requested Christmas Wish Lists from my family and on Bernadette's list it said...Black and White Plaid Hat and Gloves from Eddie Bauer. I thought, "That should be easy. How many Black and White Plaid Hats and Gloves can Eddie have?"

Well, Irv and I arrived at Eddie's Thursday evening and started scanning the store for what we knew would be a cute little black and white knit hat and gloves, but there weren't any to be found. Around and around we walked and wherever they had hats and gloves displayed....we looked. No luck.

We stood in front of the main hat and glove display and saw one black and white plaid hat, but we immediately dismissed it and kept looking because it was not a cute Bernadette hat...it was some goofy, poofy bomber hat with furry edges.

We walked around a couple more times and decided they must be out of whatever it was that she wanted. Just to be sure we weren't missing something though, I texted Bern to get a better description.

Me: "Bern, what kind of hat and gloves were you talking about?"

Bern: "Black and white plaid down."

Me: "Cool, thanks."

I looked at the main display with the bomber hats and they said they were down, but nothing else said down that I could see. Irv asked a saleslady if they had any other black and white plaid down hats and she said no, not this season....just the bomber hats and matching mittens.

Irv and I looked at each other as if to say, "There is no way that Bern wanted THAT hat!"

I decided to text Bern one more time.

Me: "Bern, what does the hat look like?"

Bern: "The hat is kind of crazy. It's a bomber hat."

Me: "Okay, thanks."

I started laughing hysterically and Irv immediately joined in. The people in the store must have thought we were tired shoppers that were losing it right there in Eddie Bauer! This tiny little picture is the only picture of THE hat that I could find, but it will do.

Once we regained our composure, I checked the price on the Black and White Plaid Hat and Mittens. I had already bought something else for Bern and the hat and gloves would have put us way over our family agreed on spending limit for this year. So, after all that...we didn't get to buy the Black and White Plaid Hat and Mittens!

Bern, if you read this...I am SO hoping that someone else in the family buys you that hat, because I can't wait to see it on you!

If someone does buy her the hat....trust me my blogging friends....you will see photos!

My guess is...she'll look like one of the models you see wearing them in all of the big ads now because like I said she can wear just about anything well....including a plaid bomber hat!

Love you Bern!

A Special Gift

Irv started the yardwork this year as soon as the last bit of snow melted. He's been working in the back yard since that is where he spends most of his time. I'm usually in my workshop...inside! He even started planting some of the flowers he grew from seed into pots and planters. I usually do that part, but with the show in a few weeks...not this year!

We were backing out of the driveway over the weekend and as I scanned the bushes in the front of the house, my eyes caught glimpse of....a tulip...a pretty little red tulip.

Now that isn't strange in northern Illinois in April, there are tulips blooming everywhere. What makes it a strange site is that we haven't had tulips in front of our house in at least 15 years! There was a time way back when we had some tulips up there, but they never did real well so we removed them.

Is it a sign of some kind or did a happy little squirrel plant me a gift from a neighbor's yard?

However it got there, it is a welcome site and totally reinforces my new life of living in "the Now".

So, for now...I will enjoy my little gift!

The Wedding Shower

The wedding shower was wonderful! I think everyone had a nice time. If I had to pick one "glitch" it would be that my niece was sick and couldn't come...and she was the "talker" for her end of the table. I was very careful with the seating so that every area had someone that would keep the conversation going. That is always a concern when you have a number of people that don't know one another. So, with her absent, we had a quiet end of the table....and a loud end of the table.

We had a wonderful waiter named Andrew. He even helped Bern carry things in from her car!

The room was magnificent! It's was called the wine room with one whole wall lined with bottles of wine. The long wooden table was gorgeous. We place our menus, place cards and little jewelry gift boxes at each seat, and Bern set her five cake stands down the center of the table. She made ones like I sell in MyOtherShop, but she used plates in Tresa's green and did them different heights. On them we put the wonderful little pastries we had purchased from Deerfield's Bakery. It looked awesome.

When everyone had arrived we found our seats and Andrew took all of the orders. At that point I gave our guests permission to eat dessert first if they liked and most of them took me up on it! My fear was that everyone would be way too full after lunch for dessert, and I didn't want them to miss out. So, we ate dessert! Then we had bread and then we ate our lunch...and was it ever fabulous! We had plenty of great things for people to pick from. Good food, great conversation, a bit of wine and some fantastic desserts....what more could you ask for?

After dinner, Tresa and Chris opened their gifts. She told me later they were overwhelmed with everyone's generosity. They registered at Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn. The gifts were so cool that it made me want to have a shower...for ME!

I had to laugh a few times when they would open a gift and Chris would look at Tresa with raised eyebrows and a questioning look because he didn't remember registering for that item. Tresa would just say, "Oh, I added that to the registry!"

After they opened their gifts, someone asked them how they met. Chris stood up and told a very funny story about how they were actually at a couple of the same parties, but Tresa was sitting in the corner with friends and wouldn't give him the time of day. Finally, the third time he was able to talk to her and also spilled his beer all over her! He said the spilling of the beer gave him a reason to "follow up" with her so he could offer to pay her dry cleaning bill. During that conversation he asked if he could take her out to make up for the mishap and she said yes.

He wanted their first date to be very special so he took her to this place that said they had entertainment. The entertainment was people speaking and reading their poetry. The very first guy that got up started doing his "share" I guess it's called and it happened to be about his father's genitalia! Not exactly what you are looking for on a first date. Needless to say, they didn't stay long. Other more successful dates followed and now here we are planning a wedding!

Tresa said the shower was perfect! I'm so glad she liked it.

Now, it's on to that necklace she asked me to make. I'll keep you posted!

Made With Love

Those of you that have been following my blog for a while know that some of the members of our family had decided to have a "toned down" Christmas this year...a more meaningful holiday. We wanted to keep our traditions, but eliminate the over the top gift giving and the waste.

I made my Christmas cards this year using a beautiful snowy mountain photo that my son, Matt had taken, and I wrote a personal message inside each one. I made a special card for my 4 siblings using a photo of our Christmas dinner from 1954.

I purchased less gifts, but I purchased gifts that were needed and wanted. In that same spirit, Matt, my 25 year old that lives in Colorado decided to make gifts for all of us this year.

Matt is very conscientious when it comes to recycling and not wasting. He hates that people run out at Christmas and buy, just to buy, with little care as to whether the gift they are buying is really needed or wanted. Many of those unneeded, unwanted gifts don't get used and end up in our overflowing landfills.

When Christmas came, I couldn't wait to open Matt's gift. He is a very creative young man. He can draw, take wonderful photos and writes amazing poetry. His gift to all of us was a 18 X 22 inch framed print. He had cut and pasted words....lots and lots of words....things like "magical, forgiving, friendship, optimistic, faith, love, thankful, promise and dreams with the word FAMILY in larger, bolder letters throughout. Then as if that wasn't beautiful enough, when you look at it closely, each of our names runs vertically within the words....Kathy, Irv, Tresa, Michael, Matt, Bernadette (Michael's wife) and Chris (Tresa's fiance)! You can see my name in the close up on the far right side....Kathy.

We were all so touched. Matt's gift will be loved and cherished forever. It will hang in a place of honor in each of our homes and it will never, ever end up in a landfill.

I received many wonderful gifts for Christmas this year. Everyone really took the time to find things I had asked for that I truly needed. It made the holiday so very special.

Have you ever received a handmade gift that made your heart melt because you knew how much love went in to it's creation? I would love to hear about it.

Major Meltdown on the Way

Okay, so I am a great multi-tasker. I do not get rattled. I do not get stressed. I don't fret over things I cannot control. I'm pretty good at staying in control. My workshop is usually pretty tidy, because I like order in my workplace. I go with the flow. I always get things done well in advance of when I need them. So, why on earth do I feel like I am about to have a major meltdown??

Just kidding!

I will say that things are piling up a bit, and tonight I really don't give a care. I have tons to do and I'm thinking that tonight I just might not do a darn thing! I went to the dentist today, and it left me with an aching jaw and a nasty headache.

What do I need to do? Well, let's see....tomorrow is Christmas Eve, but we go to Irv's nephew's house and I have the gifts for the little kids ready to go. Tomorrow I need to make shrimp dip and a cake that I have never made before, but no big deal.

I do have gifts that are not wrapped yet that I need on Friday...so those will need be done soon.

Let's see...I have to finish and mail the invites to my daughter's wedding shower, but I am waiting on the confirmation from the restaurant so I can hand write the insides. Don't want to start writing until I know we are good to go. They need to be mailed by the weekend.

Sitting in a little plastic storage bin are the favors I am making for the shower guests. I have 5 done with another 15 to go. Hmmmmm.....the shower is on January 25th. That gives me a month to finish those. No sweat.

I have some thank you cards I need to finish for gifts I received the last day of school. Those I need for Monday.

I have some funny Valentine's Day cards started that I would like to get done and listed soon....

I bought the unfinished wood things and haven't even had a chance to start sanding the rough edges yet. I really need to get some of the pieces done since that is what I intend to open MyOtherShop with in a few weeks.

Oh, and then there is the file folder that is overflowing with FourDogDay receipts...none of which has been recorded or added up. I've been avoiding it. I really don't want to know what I spent to get this business started in comparison to what I made this year. I do need to get that done though. I like to give our stuff to the tax guy as soon as I can. If we get something back from the wonderful IRS, we might drive out to Telluride this summer, and that would be fantastic!

In addition to those receipts, I need to go through our personal tax things and get those in order for the accountant too.

Now, looking at all of that....I keep thinking I really should be on the verge of some kind of breakdown. Maybe the fact that I am not is an indication of my metal state?

Well the boys just got back from doing their Christmas shopping and Michael already asked if I could wrap Bernadette's presents for him..."Please, please, please Mom. It will take me an hour to do it myself." Geez, how can I say no? Just add it to the list....he needs those by 3:00 tomorrow.

In order for me to really not have a meltdown, I think I need to prioritize some of this stuff, have some dinner and then I need to dig in and at least get something done, but instead, I think I might chill out this evening and start fresh in the morning!

Have a great evening and a lovely day tomorrow!

Ho-Ho-Holiday Preparations

Oh my...it's almost here! I am so excited as always. How are your holiday plans coming? I really do love this time of year. Irv and I headed out early this morning to finish up the shopping. My plan was that I was not coming home until I was done, and I did it! I must say that Mr. Bah Humbug started to get a bit cranky when we left the mall and headed into town to hit a few other stores. He can only tolerate so much holiday spirit in one day.

Me, I could have circled the mall all day and been very happy. I love the atmosphere. I love the people and the decorations. Ho-Ho-Ho!!!

We went into the pet store and Mr. Humbug wasn't pleased that I spent over $30 on the four dogs. We have two and the boys each have one. Good dog toys aren't cheap. Ours are getting the fleece toys without the stuffing because no matter how strong it says they are....my little toy fox terrier, Sparky can destroy it in no time and she throws that stuffing everywhere! Mine got the cheap toys. It's the boy's border collie and aussie that cost a bit more. Hey, they are bigger and require bigger toys. Ho-Ho-Ho. I don't care. I love the dogs.

We finally got home and Mr. Humbug started straightening up the "guest" room, figuring someone will be sleeping in there. Mr. Humbug was crabby. He didn't want to be cleaning the guest room. I said I would do it, but Mr. Humbug likes to do nice things and then complain the entire time he does them.

Then we talked to Matt and he thought the basement might be a better place for him to sleep because it's bigger and he travels with a lot of stuff. So, Mr. Humbug went down and cleaned up a bit down there. Now, even though Mr. Humbug complained, he made it so nice down there with the little fake fireplace and some Christmas lights. I told you he does a lot of nice things, I think he just likes to hear himself complain.

I sat on my workshop floor (and let me tell you...sitting on the floor is not very comfortable anymore) and got all of the gifts into the boxes and started wrapping and after two whole gifts I ran out of tape. UGH! I had hoped to get everything wrapped tonight. So, Mr. Humbug went to town to get a new furnace filter and tape....and Subway for dinner.

After dinner I will dig in and start wrapping again. Matt just called and he will probably stop for the night in a couple hours. He's been driving for 15 hours already on only 3 hours of sleep. He hit some nasty weather in Colorado that slowed him down a bit and his windshield squirter things were plugged up and wouldn't squirt! He wants to be home by 11:00 tomorrow...he didn't say why, but I would suspect that it has something to do with football.

Oh, we also have to fix our little Charlie Brown tree...he is trying very hard to fall over. We will never, ever buy that type of tree again. The trunk is very soft as are all of the branches. The lights are having a hard time staying on the branches and now he is falling......timber!!!!

I was talking on the phone earlier to Mr. Humbug's and my daughter, Tresa who I shall from here on out call....Ms. Humbug. Ms. Humbug decided that next Christmas I am going to go shopping with Chris, her soon to be husband, and she is going shopping with Mr. Bah Humbug. She likes Christmas about as much as he does. She went shopping today and hated the snow, the people, the lines and everything else about it. Hmmmmmm....wonder where she gets that from.

Fa-La-La-La-La-La-La-La-La

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful....

but that could mean a day off of work! I really don't think it is going to be that bad, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. I could really use an extra day off right now! They are predicting rain...which it is doing right now, then temps dropping to the 20s and then ice and a few inches of snow tomorrow. I just hope we don't all get to work and then get stuck there!

I had such a great day today. We went and did our grocery shopping first thing this morning. I spent some time last night working on my shopping list, leaving off things from my "avoid" list and adding things that I can eat. Even though I am not making the big switch until after Christmas, I've decided to start eliminating things from my diet that are easy to eliminate. I can give up the potato chips, and potatoes, some of the vegetables and things like that.

For example, my son was here for dinner tonight and normally I would have loved the baked potato with asparagus, carrots and onion baked on top of it......but instead, I had a salad with romaine, red, green and orange peppers, kidney beans, egg, ground flax, chopped pecans, sunflower seeds and carrots with a little fat free Italian dressing. Potato and asparagus are on the "avoid" list....along with a million other things.

I made sure I bought a lot of different vegetables and fruits today since those will be the largest part of my diet. I intend to finish up things I still have some of like my oat cereal and my loaf of bread, but then I will be done with those for a while. I'm not as freaked out as I was the other day....just a little sad to say good bye to some of my good friends...like sugar and croissants, but I can do this!

After the store we headed out to a different mall since we bombed yesterday and only ended up with two gifts. Within 20 minutes of walking in the first store I had gifts for my son and soon to be son-in-law and my daughter. It was great! Everything was on sale, plus I had an all-day 20% off coupon that was good on many of the things. I can't tell you the great stuff I got because my family tends to read my blog fairly regularly and I don't want to spoil the surprise. After that mall, I had to go back to a different mall where I had bought something yesterday that I wasn't thrilled with, but bought out of desperation. Then I found something else for my soon to be son-in-law and headed home. It was a very good shopping day for sure.

I came home and made 3 new funky plates for my etsy shop, but I can't show those to you either, because the glue is still drying. They are so cute, I can't wait to get them listed this week. One is full size and 2 are soap dish size that I made with the little dishes from the resale shop yesterday.

I think I will pack up my lunch tonight since I will have to leave really early for work tomorrow if we do get the ice and snow they are predicting. So, we will keep this short and sweet today. Off to make my lunch!

Shop and Save this Weekend!

Holiday Sale

Friday, November 28-Sunday, November 30

Please join us for our first Holiday Sale at

FourDogDay

(Click to go directly to our shop)

Stop by our etsy card and gift shop and enjoy
BIG savings on dozens of items,
including beautiful photo greeting cards,

unique photographic prints,
great jewelry, fun gift tags and more!

Great Gifts at Fantastic Prices!

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

&
HAPPY SHOPPING