Showing posts with label general. Show all posts

And, once again, I prove how badly I FAIL at keeping anything updated!
I apologize for not posting an update last week, but my family was really, really busy and I didn't get much time to stitch. (Honestly, I think I sat and cross stitched for maybe 2 hours last week.)  So, there really wasn't anything to actually post...

I did get some time to stitch this week!

It is a lovely day outside and I had a few spare minutes, so I thought I'd seek outside and snap a couple pictures of the budding trees in our yard.
We even had one tulip in bloom! (Our poor tulip bed needs some work!  Hardly anything came up this year.)

Our lilac trees are getting ready to bloom...
(And I can't wait, I just love when all the lilacs bloom!)

Almost didn't think I would get this post up today...
...got busy working on new pictures for the shop and lost track of time.  Luckily, my hubby made it home from work and is making dinner for us tonight, so I have a few extra minutes to get this post written up!

Well, after finishing my post last week, I started this week all "gung-ho" to get stitching! (I really wanted to make some progress on my projects.)
So, I started the week working on my angel project and you can finally see the angel!

This week, there was a contest in a devianART community, that I am a member of...
The theme was "sleeping cats".
You could only enter three pictures, but of course, with four cats running around in my house, I took tons of pictures!  So, I thought I would share some of the pictures here, because they are pretty cute. (I know I am a bit biased, but I do think they're adorable, especially when they're asleep.)

"Dogs come when they're called.  Cats take a message and get back to you." (Mary Bly)

So, last week was spring break for my son and my aunt really wanted him to come and stay with her for the week....(who am I to deny family spending time with my kiddo!)...
So, I got to take vacation, too!
My husband is an over-the-road truck driver and whenever I get "free-time" (basically, whenever my aunt is ready for a long visit with my son), I go along with him.  I have a lot of fun! 
I've never traveled much, so tagging along on his routes, allows me to see a lot of the country...and, I get to spend more time with my hubby. (Plus, I get to take a break from work and catch up on my reading, search word puzzles, magazines and napping!)
Usually I don't take my camera along with me, but last year, there were many times I wished I'd had my camera. (I missed taking pictures of some really cool things.)  So, this trip, I packed my camera and planned to capture as many "moments" as I could...Unfortunately, we were really busy, so we didn't get much time to take breaks and walk around. (Plus where we were sent, didn't offer the greatest opportunities for pictures.  Oh and I kinda slept through 50% of the trip!) ;)
I did manage to take a few pictures, that turned out pretty good. (Taking pictures from inside a moving semi-truck, is no easy feat!)
(I'll try to remember where I took the photos, but I have a horrible memory and I'm really bad with locations.)

Well, a new month is upon us...
The month of March is always a bitter sweet month for me.  It has been a month filled with great joy, with the birth of my son, happening near the end of the month.  It is also a month filled with great sadness, since I lost both my parents in the month of March.
The reason I am writing this entry, is so I can discuss the illness that claimed my mother's life.
My mother was a wonderful person, caring and kind, hard working, creative and always worried about others before her self.  She also suffered from Lupus.
Lupus may be a disease that you haven't heard of or it might be one that has touched your own life or someone you care about.  In my house, Lupus was one disease that my family and I knew intimately well.  I am certainly not a doctor, nor a researcher, I am simply the daughter of a woman that suffered with it daily.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease, that can damage any part of the body.  This disease is chronic, which simply means signs and symptoms last longer than six weeks and often for many years. (My mother had Lupus for 18 years, with only a 3 year remission.)  With Lupus, something goes wrong with the patient's immune system, instead of the body attacking "invaders" or the viruses, bacteria and germs that can make us sick...a patient's body begins attacking healthy tissues.
One of the most difficult parts of the disease, is that it affects people very differently.  Some people with Lupus have problems with their kidneys, other have issues with their joints...
My mother's Lupus affected her blood counts.  She had very low blood counts and was often left unable to fight off common colds or flu. (She would also bruise very easily, especially when her platelets were low.)

I do want to make it clear that a diagnosis of Lupus is NOT a death sentence.
Yes, my mother did pass away, but she died 13 years ago.  There have been advancements in Lupus research, since she passed away.  Plus, what ultimately claimed my mother's life, was an experimental treatment. (Her disease had gotten to a point where "normal" treatments weren't providing results, so she underwent a new treatment and unfortunately, it didn't work.)

So, some may be asking..."Why are you writing this entry?"
I'm writing this entry to start to tell my mother's story and share my family's experience with this disease.  I also want to expose Lupus to as many people as I can.  The more that know, the better!

There are some wonderful resources for people with Lupus or for those that just want some more information...
Please visit the Lupus Foundation of America.
Thanks so much for visiting and reading!  For my household, March is Lupus month, so I will be sharing information about Lupus all month long.

Today, a past customer of mine contacted me, to find out my method for cleaning out soy wax jar candles...
So, I figured I would post my method on here, too. (In case anyone else wanted to know how to clean their jar candles.)
(Please note, this method has only be tested on soy and palm wax candles in glass jars.)

How I clean my soy wax mason jar candles?
-I get an old pot (nothing huge, but big enough to hold water and the candle) and place about a 1 - 3 cups of water in the pot. (The amount of water depends on the size of the pot and the size of the candle, but the water should just cover the amount of wax that is left in the jar.)
-Then start boiling the water. (I leave my jar in the pot, so it gets used to the temperature increase.)
-Let the water boil. I use a fork to check on the wax remaining to see if it is turning to liquid.
-Once the wax has started to melt, I pull my garbage can to me and start to dump out the wax. (I use my husband's tongs that he uses for grilling, to lift out the jar and pour the wax.) Be careful when you're dumping the wax, the jar and wax will be very hot.
(If there is a still a chunk of wax, I'll break it up with the fork and either lift it right out, or put it back in the boiling pot to melt down.)
-To get the wick tab out, I use the fork to move it around, while it is in the boiling water. It will usually come right up and I just throw the tab in the garbage. (Use the fork to pull the tab out of the jar, because it too, will be very hot.)
-Once all the wax is out of the jar (or most of it is out), I put the jar in the sink and run hot water and soap into it. (I just use whatever dish soap I have on hand.) I let it sit for a few minute to cool off and then I scrub it with a scrubby pad, hot water and soap.
-Let it dry and scrub it again if there is any residue left.


**Just please remember to be careful during this entire process, the water will be boiling and the wax will be very hot!  Make sure to use hot pads and tongs (and a fork) to keep yourself from getting burned.