It's the little things in life...

that bring us such joy. A kind gesture, a compliment, a smile, a pretty flower, a new haircut, a hug, a pat on the back, etc. There are small things in nature that make me smile, as well. Colorful art and flowers make me smile.

I stumbled across a note in my drawer at work yesterday from my daughter that is nearly 16 now and it read, Mom hope you are enjoying your day, I love you, Alexandra. How sweet is that! She had packed me a lunch and tossed it in, just like I did when her and her brother were little.

Anyway, I found what looked to be like a dragonfly on my inlaws deck during a visit during his illness, and I like to think of these as small signs of love and that we are being watched over. Call me crazy , but that's just me. My inlaws had not noticed it in the 5 years they had lived there. It could be that I have an observant eye. I look for the good stuff.

Sorry this is so long, but I am wishing for you the small joys in life and the eye to capture them.

Have a lovely Saturday!

Happy Hump Day!

It's Wednesday and that means only 2 more days left of the work week. Yay! Today is yet another lovely day. We are so fortunate to finally be able to enjoy spring. Out of the last 23 days, it rained on 17 of them. All day rain, too. Everything is growing like crazy. The dinathus is a vivid hot pink against the freshly cut green grass. It is so pretty.

I am so happy to hear the birds chirping the chipmunks making noise and the sun is shining. The windows and doors are all open. We will grill out tonight. Something simple. We will eat on the patio and enjoy chatting.

Wish you could be here to join us. Badminton awaits us in the backyard. A fun family game, that we thoroughly enjoy playing.

So, I have to get some packages mailed out for a few swaps. These are my, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Should be fun! Two of them are form out of the country. I always love to send and receive snail mail and packages.

I am off to light the grill. Have a lovely evening.

Tammy

Baltimore Inner Harbor Memorial Day Weekend

We went to Baltimore this weekend, to spend time with mom and her husband. We had a good time. The weather was gorgeous! So sunny and in the low 80's with a breeze. Just perfect weather for walking around the inner harbor.

We visited this odd art museum. I say odd because the art left a lot to be desired. I love art, don't get me wrong, but it was some scary stuff. From the outside the artwork was fabulous, so we went in and paid the $15. each, but it was not worth it. All 5 of us were disappointed. Oh well, you never know until you try something.

We stopped at an Irish tavern for appetizers and drinks. And then off to do a little shopping. I just loved this bird and birds nest balcony. So creative. Baltimore is full of nice neighborhoods and well groomed streets. Lots of activity and things to do. The aquarium and shopping are great. Look at the neat dragon boats in the harbor. So colorful and lots of them.

Tammy

Saturday...my favorite day of the week.

Yay! It's Saturday and I slept in until 8 am. Woohoo! I have a couple of little projects to finish up. This bench is one of them. It is beng sent off to a lady whom has a lakeside cottage in Michigan. The cottage is in the painting and the birch tree is in the picture that she sent me of the view from her deck. Those are her canoes, as well.

I took all of the custom order items out of my etsy shop and I am going to take it easy right after school gets out. What about you? Do you ever feel overwhelmed and have to sit back and reevaluate your life and what you can do to make a change?

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. I am. Oh yeah, we saw Iron Man last night. Who knew I'd enjoy it? I certainly didn't expect to but Jack let me choose our last film so I had to let him choose this one. Robert Downey Jr, Gwenyth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges were in it. It was a pretty good story line. Not hokey like I had expected.

I'm off. See you later!

Tammy

TGIF...

What a week! I am so glad today is Friday. I have not been able to post here or get my laundry done or do the grocery shopping, etc., etc. Life has been a little crazy around here. I would love to be planting flowers in the window boxes and shrubs on the side of the house. Sitting and reading a good book. Enjoying just being...for a little while. I have decided to take a break from my Etsy shop for a month or so, just so I can do these things. To enjoy time with family and friends. Sometimes we let our lives get too hectic by not saying, "No". I am now saying no to all the unnecessary demands. Life is too short.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, too.
~Tammy

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all of you wonderful moms out there!

This is my mom. She is a rock. Such a strong woman who has endured more than her fair share of hardships. Always managing to make her way through it and somehow seeming unscathed. She is a foundation for me, someone whom I look up to and envy. She has always been the type of person to give you the shirt off of her back, asking for nothing in return. She has led by example and taught me how to act in every circumstance. To be a lady, and to stand by your word . To be a hard worker and to give 110% to everything that you do. I am proud of my mother. I think she should be an inspirational speaker. She is excellent at building others up and making them see their true potential. She gives hope and has faith and for this I am grateful. She raised me up single handedly and worked 2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet, never complaining. I love her!

Hugs to all,

Tammy

A Mothers Day journal of memories

This is a journal I made for my mom back in 1999. I came across it when she moved recently and thought it might be fun to blog about it before this mothers day. So this is only a sampling of the whole thing. asicaly what I did was relive my memories on paper and embellished each page with those things that were rerpresentative of those times. Mom loved it and I loved finding it an drereading it. What fun it was to relive those fun times of childhood.

So, if you need something special for mom and want her to know how much she meant, this is an idea for you. Have a lovely day! Hugs, Tammy

Come sail away with me...

Yep, I am dreaming again of that far away place where I leave all of the cares in the world behind and let the gentle breeze wisk me away. Today is a rough day for my department at work. We had some major changes to our daily procedures come in to effect on Monday and we are short staffed with no light at the end of the tunnel. We are all ready to find a new job. Not kidding. Anyway, I am sailing away for the next few minutes back to Aruba, here and enjoying the peace and solitude of this lovely sunset. Come join me... Hope you are having a lovely day. hugs, Tammy

Our first garden harvest of the season.

Well, this weekend Jack worked so hard on his garen, planting, and pulling weeds and thinning, mowing the lawn and such. He loved every minute of it. Well he was so proud of his lettuce crop and being able to save it from the bunnies, that I wanted to surprise him and make a salad with some of it and added roasted chicken breast, grape tomatoes and a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese, for color. I then sprinkled them with cracked pepper, opened a bottle of red wine and sliced a crusty loaf of bread to go along with it. We sat on the front porch at the table and enjoyed the "bounty" from his garden.

Don't you know his chest was puffed out a bit and he was so happy with the salads that he asked me to take a picture of them and send them to his brother Scott. Now this is funny but the two of them only 2 yrs apart are always competitive about their gardens. When we go on vacations the two of them bring their harvests trying to out do the other. lol Boys! They really never do grow up. Anyway, they love the challenge and the prodding and poking at eachother. It's pretty funny to sit back and listen to the two of them. My sister in law and I just smile and shake or heads. I love them. :)

Spring Dance

My daughter and one of her best friends. These two just finished getting ready for the Spring Dance. These two crack me up. Talk about gabby and giddy when they get together.

Do you remember how much fun it was to get together with your best girlfriends and shop and gossip and dance and listen to music while you shared fun stories? I moved so much that I had several friends like that but lost track of them in the many moves. I am glad that she has many but still keeps in touch with most of them.

The boys are too young to dive just yet so I chauffered her and her boyfriend. I did not manage to get a picture of the two of them, as it was pouring down rain and Alex did not want to get all wait. Can't blame the girl. But I was a bit disappointed, I cannot lie. Oh well...there will be more dances.

~Tammy

My Son, Chris

Well, this is my son, Christopher (Chris). He is in college in Greensboro, NC. I miss him terribly. He is studying Design, as in graphics, packaging and products. He is quite the whiz on the old photoshop. Wish he was here to teach me a thing or two.

He is so much fun and just plain goofy, as in the smile he gave me in the picture below. Such a nerd! He was trying to keep from laughing because he and his sister did not want to be standing in the middle of a mall posing for a picture for mom. So that's the smirk I got. He and his sister, Alex are 7 years apart. Supposed to be the ideal age, but no, it wasn't. Too much of a gap. Oh well. They are getting closer as the years go by, so I am happy. Chris is a great soccer and basketball player. He has these crazy fast moves he makes on the field and court. He was always so much fun to watch play his sports. He is quite smart, also. Brains and braun. Yep, I am a proud momma. :)