If you were a Giveaway Winner last week....

I AM SO SORRY! I just realized last night that I didn't have my Christmas graphics on my site for you to choose from for your address labels!! Wahhhhhhh!

I have them loaded on there but not named yet. But that's OK, if you see something you want on your labels, just describe the graphic to me.

If you'd already emailed me with your choices, please look again and let me know if you'd like Christmas labels instead.

Again, I am so sorry! I feel so stupid!

Follow the link to go to my selling blog...Peterson Creek Mercantile
to see the Christmas choices.

Giveaway Winners!

Well, now, I said that I would draw 5 names as winners, didn't I??

I've decided, since I'm in such a give-y mood, that since only 7 people signed up, ALL 7 of you are winners! WOOHOO!!! What do ya think about that??

So, check out my site (link is in previous post) and comment me or email me with your choices! You get 2 sheets of labels, so feel free to choose 2 different graphics. If you only want one graphic, I can do both sheets the same.

OR if you would like to have 4 graphics, I can do 15 labels the same on each sheet, the other 15 with something else etc. Clear as mud?? lol

CONGRATS EVERYONE!!

A Giveaway!

I'm in the mood to give something away!

I think I'll give away 5 sets of 60 address labels using any graphic from my site Peterson Creek Mercantile. There will be 5 winners & each winner will get 2 sheets of labels (60 labels total). Perfect for your Christmas cards, etc!

Just comment me to enter! I'll randomly draw names on Wed. Nov 11.

Just in case you're a winner, go ahead and check out your options HERE.

Let the giveaway begin! LOL

Updates & a CuTe autumn project

Thought I'd better get busy and post another update! The days go by in a blur!

Since my last post, my mom has been in the hospital again...and is back home...again. Bless her heart! She is still doing physical therapy 3 X a week and is on oxygen at home.

We've rec'd bad news concerning my father-in-law's cancer. It has spread quite a bit, including in his lymph nodes and bones in his pelvis as well as his spine. He started chemo again this past week and it's been 100 X harder on him this go-around. He was very, very ill today and his oncologist insisted he go to the emergency room, so he did. He was admitted tonight. His white blood cell count is very low.

I've been having a lot of pain still where my right ovary was, so I went to the OB/GYN on Tuesday. He froze off a spot below were my uterus was...there was a spot that had over-healed and was kind of like a skin tag that was very painful and causing blood in my urine. But, for the other pain where my ovary was, I had a CT scan yesterday. Hope to get the results soon and I'd better NOT need surgery again! lol

My baby girl is growing by leaps and bounds! She is up to 25 lbs now. I can barely keep up with her!! LOL Here's where I caught her last night! She used 2 forks to bang on a pot. When she was done, she put the forks back in the silverware caddy, climbed off the dishwasher door, stood up and closed the door and laughed, said GOOD GIRL! while clapping her hands!! She is so stinkin' cute and funny!

I took this pic today, between rain showers. I was standing in our garage, looking down our driveway.

I can't remember if I posted that our house is for sale or not...but it is!! We want to move to Indy to be closer to our families!

Tonight, I discovered Pleasant Home and I love it! I found the cutest project on the site...see the pic below...

How adorable are these Tic Tac containers?? You can read the super easy Tutorial (the pix are awesome!) HERE-Easy Peasy Tic Tac Holders I think these would be adorable for Girl Scout projects, cheerleading teams, trick or treat goodies for older kids, etc.

Ryleigh is going to be a lady bug for Halloween this year! Can't wait!

News!

Hello All and Happy Autumn! It has arrived in Indiana in full force! The news said it's 10-15* colder here than average....Brrrr...Love me some autumn though! lol

We've been out of town...went to a water park resort in Ohio as well as Dresden, home of the Longaberger Basket company...

The above picture is Longaberger office headquarters...it's an actual building that is the largest basket in the world!

This basket above is a basket in the town of Dresden.

Driving by the building...

How would you like to work in a basket??

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We've been making trips to see my mom. She is 2 hours south of us...after spending 84 days in the hospital and nursing home, she is back home! She thought she would be happy at home, but she isn't. She's finding it very hard to take care of herself. It's a difficult situation for all of us, at best. She finally got out yesterday...she wanted to go to KFC for dinner....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A couple weeks ago, my father in law got bad news concerning his prostate cancer. Waiting on results of latest bone scan. Maybe I'll post more later on that...
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It's official!! Our house is for sale!
Where we live now, we have no family near us. Since Ryleigh's arrival, having family and friends around is now more important than ever! We plan on moving to Indianapolis when our house sells...we'd then be close to my hubby's family as well as mine.


You can view our house listing here:

http://idx.cblunsford.com/showdetails.idx?&MinBed=3&script=res&mls=7&MaxPrice=200000&sortby=PRICE&City=NEW%20CASTLE&orderby=DESC&ElemSchool=BLUE%20RIVER&HighSchool=BLUE%20RIVER&Show=5&MinPrice=190000&MinBath=2&Property_Select=res&Page=1&mlsnumber=39564

We're keeping our fingers crossed that it sells before the snow flies! lol
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I'm so honored to be featured at Down the Handmade Path
for the hand-did cards & addy labels I make and sell at
Peterson Creek Mercantile.
Thank you!!
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I had joined a Harvest swap over at The Pickled Pepper Patch and I received this awesome pumpkin from Judy at Season of the Heart 2nd Generation. Thank you so much Judy!!

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And lastly, my little munchkin is doing great! She turned 15 months old Oct. 1!! Her 14th & 15th teeth are coming in! She is so super busy and into everything! She is such a joy though!


Well, that catches me up on my news, I think! lol Hope you are all well!

My Goodwill Finds!

My first find was the chair for $6.99. More than I would've like to have paid, but I really needed it, so I went for it. I've already got the first coat of black paint on it. I have a built in desk in my kitchen and needed a chair there...but didn't want an office chair, although that is what the previous home owners used.

Then next find was the star mirror! It's actually quite large and painted in a pale yellow. It was $4.99. I might sell it if anyone is interested. I just couldn't leave it at the store! LOL

I found the penny rug/sheep plate for $1.99!

The large P is perfect for us! (Peterson). It's black with mustard yellow underneath. No need to change it up! I paid $5.99. It weighs as much as my 14 month old baby. It's going to go on the mantle, I think.

Then, lastly, I found the snowman "Winter Tyme" crock. It's by Roseville and was $2.99. Too cute!

I'll post more pix once I get my goodies settled in their "new homes". LOL

I never find these kinds of goodies at our GW, but my in law's just moved to Indianapolis and they have at least THREE GW's within 3 miles of their house!! I've only hit one of the GW's but plan on going to the others ASAP.

My Baby Girl!

Addicted!

I am totally addicted to FaceBook & Farm Town!! Yikes!

Catching up...

Where's the summer going??? A friend's children started school today even! WOW!

It has been a cooler (for the most part) summer around here. I haven't even gone swimming once.

I've been keeping busy chasing my little one around! That is a full-time job!

My in-law's bought a house in Indianapolis, so that's exciting! They'll be living only an hour away from us now! Woohoo!

I'm thinking about having a yard sale! I have SO much stuff to get rid of, including tons of prims! When I first started collecting primitives several years ago, I bought anything and everything, even if I already had two of the same thing at home. So, I'm thinking it all has to go! It's just all in storage in totes. I have TONS of old kitchen things.

Did I say TONS? lol

Hope you all in blog land are having a wonderful summer!

Where've I been??

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I've blogged!

Where've I been??

Well, around the time of my last post, my MIL was here with me for about 10 days or so. Then, we had my little one's first birthday party on June 27...then we celebrated on her actual birthday, July 1. July 3 was our 16th wedding anniversary...July 4 celebrations..

.July 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 my mom had a heart attack! She didn't even know it, that's why we aren't sure of the date! July 4 she went to the ER with breathing problems (COPD) and was diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home. July 6, she was taken from home in an ambulance and asked to go to a smaller hospital. The paramedic thought mom was having heart problems instead of just breathing problems, so they rerouted to a larger hospital, where she was admitted.

All her heart tests came back abnormal. Meanwhile, she's being treated for pneumonia (which we find out later she didn't even have!). July 13 (still in hospital) she has a routine heart cath surgery. There's one artery blocked 95%, so she gets two stints. Somehow, during this surgery, another artery is nicked, although it isn't known at the time. Post-op, she was feeling pretty bad, but we thought that was normal. We made the return 2 hour trip home. Mom continued feeling bad and through out the day, she BP steadily dropped. My sister lives about 30 minutes from the hospital. She was almost home and was called back to the hospital. They stuffed her in a waiting room by herself and quickly pushed me into the ICU.

Tests showed mom was bleeding around her heart. We'd been home for 2 hours when my sister called at 10:45 PM to say mom was headed to surgery. We jumped back in the car and was back at the hospital at midnight.

The Chief of medicine and a heart surgeon came to talk to us and said the sac of blood around mom's heart was preventing her from breathing well. They'd considered drawing the blood out with a needle, but decided against it. He said it was a wait and see sort of thing and they'd hold off on the surgery. 45 minutes later, the surgeon came to get us. He took us to mom's ICU room. I can't talk about that much just yet (too difficult), but we had to sign emergency open heart surgery papers. My sister signed them, then vomited. The surgeon said that more than likely, he'd have to saw through mom's chest bone to clean out all the blood since it was probably clotted by then.

At 4 :30 AM, the surgeon came out and said the surgery was a success and in his opinion, saved mom's life. Going into surgery, her BP was about 79/50 (+/-) and once the blood was cleaned out, her pressure instantly rose.

We couldn't see her post-op. But, we saw her the next morning. She was on a ventilator and sedated. It was so scary. My sister and I just couldn't stop crying. Skipping over some here....about 3 days later mom was removed from the vent...had a collapsed lung...eventually was moved to Cardiac Critical Care. She was there for a week.

Two days ago, she was released from the hospital and sent to a nursing home for 2-3 weeks of rehab.

It has been an exhausting month. I've just shared the highlights here...so much more happened with mom, but what matters is that God touched her and she is ALIVE!!

MERRIE...New Winner!

UPDATE...it's been 15 days and I haven't heard from Laurie, so the NEW winner, drawn randomly is MERRIE!
Please contact me here with your info!




....well, I'll tell ya in just a second!!!

This is the first chance I've had time to post the winner!!!! Phew!!!!! Busy, busy days!!!

So, my dear hubby randomly drew and name and the winner is:

Laurie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS TO YOU, LAURIE!!!!

Please give me your mailing address either by leaving a comment or by emailing me at fnpmlp(at)aol(dot)com.

I'm having a giveaway!

In honor of summer and one of my favorite holidays, Independence Day on July 4, I am having a giveaway!

I have a brand new, hand-painted primitive table runner by Park Designs and a new pack of
4" X 6" American flag recipe cards by Saltbox Illustrations!

Leave a comment here for one entry, put a link on your blog to this post for another entry!

Good luck!

The winner's name will be drawn on June 23!

An awesome giveaway!

Farmhouse Primitives is having an awesome giveaway just in time for Flag Day! Register here
The winner will be announced June 15!

Love my new project!

I found a really cool project at Bless Our Nest...Shannon had taken a silver tray and painted it with chalkboard paint. You can see her result here

I decided to give the project a try as well. I found these two trays at Goodwill for $2 each. I bought a can of chalkboard paint at Walmart for $10.
Here's my results:

I got so excited doing these projects that I hunted around in the garage for something else to paint and found an old board I'd been saving for eons, not knowing what to do with it but loving it too much to chuck it. I love the beveled edge on it. I covered the whole board in chalkboard paint and here's the results:

This sign will stay on my covered front porch for the summer and I'll prolly change out the saying when I get a whim.

If you decide to do this project, let me know! I'd love to see the results!

A Freebie! Inspirational Word Labels Collage Sheet

UPDATE: Someone has said the link to this is no longer valid. Email me/comment if you'd like me to send you the download, because I saved it to my computer last night. =)

I found a link for a free sheet of vintage labels, etc. and the Relax label you see on the bottle is an example of what's included. You can find the free down-loadable sheet here. The labels include different words and pix of vintage ladies. the possibilities are endless!

A new project & an antiques shop find

I decided to try a new project, so I got some tulle, elastic and my scissors...

and this is the result:

I'm selling custom tutu's on my selling blog: ryleighemajane

I found this old wooden tool carrier at an antiques shop for $12.
This is what I've done with it so far:

And here's some pix I took last week. It was almost dark when I took them:

1st Birthday party ideas needed!

Ryleigh's first birthday is coming up on July 1! I need some help with a party theme! being July 1, we could go with a red, white and blue theme, but I'd love to hear your ideas!

Ry in her 1st Jacuzzi last week! lol

Ry & I went for a walk today!

It felt so good to get a shower, put on "real" clothes and get out of the house!

I'm home!

Pre-Op. I was so relaxed that when they came to get me for the surgery, I was snoring! LOL

I had my surgery on Monday and came home on Tuesday! The surgery went great! Doc removed my right ovary, tube and uterus. The right ovary had a lot of scar tissue from my ovarian disease. The left ovary had some blood vessels starting to grow on it so he clipped those. He wanted to leave the left ovary if at all possible so that I didn't start menopause now.

The most painful things have been my back and then the catheter. During surgery, I guess they sort of have your head down towards the floor with your lower body up in the air and the position hurt my back so bad! I have a degenerating spine and arthritis in my spine. Post-op, I had to have morphine and toradol (sp?) just for the back pain!

Then, the catheter hurt so bad I cried and when I mentioned it to Doc he said it was more than the catheter...that he'd used a scope in the same spot to check for scar tissue, etc. Once that tenderness went away, I did fine with the catheter.

The surgery lasted about 2 hours and I think I was in my own room by 2 PM. By 3 AM Tuesday morning, I was eating pudding and crackers & drinking Sierra Mist! At 6 AM, I'd already been up walking, used the bathroom on my own and was released by the DR! I think I slept until about 11:30 AM though and had hubby pick me up then. I could have stayed as long I wanted, but thought I would rest better in my Temper-Pedic bed! I was right! lol

I got a shower today and rode to town with hubby. It was so nice to be out in the sunshine! I did well, except felt a little car sick. We had called the surgeon prior to my little excursion, just to make sure it was ok.

Post-op my BP was too low. I know it was 98/51 at one point. They kept me on oxygen the whole time almost. I also had to do breathing treatments to get the air flowing.

With the da Vinci robot doing the surgery, I am stitched up from the inside out, so there's very little "pulling" when I move, which is awesome! I have NO pain when I cough or sneeze! I'm just amazed!

The swelling is going down from my face, hands, etc. All the swelling is from "standing on my head" during surgery. lolSO swollen post-op!!

I have 5 incisions. This one is in my belly button.

Here are 2 more incisions. These are on my left side. I have two more on my right said.
This is it! Can you believe how far hysterectomies have come?? My mom's scar from her 1970's hysterectomy is from "stem to stern!".

For pain, I'm only taking 1/2 a Vicoden twice a day!! Woohoo! LOL

The very hardest part for me is not being able to hold or lift Ryleigh. I have just cried tonight because I couldn't lift her out of her crib and she cried and clung to me, not understanding why mommy wasn't helping her! UGH! I can't lift her for 4 weeks!! But, these weeks will pass quickly and we'll get on with our summer!

I'm so happy to be on the other side of this surgery! Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers!

The Big day!

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm anxious to get the surgery over with and get back home! lol
Please help me pray for a quick recovery! Everyone hold the fort down! I'll be back ASAP! LOL
Hugs to all!

Pre-op...a robot?!

I had my pre-op appointment this morning with the OB/GYN.

My surgery is Monday at 9:30 AM...have to start the yucky prep Sunday. Yeehaw.

He said I may come home Tuesday, but that we would decide when Tuesday gets here. My in-law's will be here to keep Ryleigh and Fred will be able to be at the hospital with me.

He's going to take my right ovary and tube and uterus and is hoping I get to keep my left ovary so that I don't have to start menopause right now.

I'm having the surgery done with the da Vinci robot and apparently recovery is much, much quicker! I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I'll actually be sewn up from the inside out!

I'll be laying on the bed like in the 3rd picture with the robot arms over me while the DR controls everything, as shown in the first photo. YIKES! LOL I'll have 5 incisions.

Scrambling around the house now...trying to get everything in order because I'm in that wedding this weekend in OH. Which, I'm thankful for because it will be a good distraction from the surgery! My surgery is the very next day after we get home!

And, my in-law's will be here beginning tomorrow for at least 5 days. Lots to do, lots to do! lol

Surgery & a wedding

6 more days until surgery! Yep, I'm having the hysterectomy after all. Not looking forward to the overnight hospital stay, etc. but I am looking forward to feeling better in the long run!

Gotta be a bridesmaid this weekend in my nephew's wedding. Hope I don't trip going down the aisle!

I'm excited about the rehearsal dinner! It's gonna be in a castle! I'll post pix!

Lovin' my new door decal!

I ordered this "Welcome" vinyl decal from www.ScribbleItOnline.com and I'm loving it!!