Shipping Overseas Info:

With the Holidays getting closer & closer thought I'd share this

Starting in November (now), we are required to list every item in the box, item by item. So it won't be enough to say "snack items" or homemade....whatever. They want them listed specifically by name and quantity also weight. It'll take more than the few lines on the pre-printed forms so it's recommended using the online customs form for FPO & APO because it'll expand as needed! Whoopee.....let's make it more difficult to mail things to our sailors! At least we still have flat rate boxes ;)

Customs Forms .... Standard & Military FPO/APO

Early Birthday Present

This morning I recieved an early birthday present of crochet patterns. I'm still doing the "Happy Dance" and grinning ear to ear! Thank you sooooooo much for the surprise "C" your the greatest!

The first pattern is "Harvest Moon Doily" and my hook is itching to get started on it as soon as my birds are done



Another present "Contest Favorites Dishcloths" from "C"....... I like working on quick projects while I'm working on my doilies LOL



Hope your also having a FANTASTIC day in every way!

Potholder Swap & More Crochet stuff

I didn't relise how long it's been since I updated here but thanks to my DD bugging me for an update here I am LOL It's really nice knowing that she likes to take a peek here every now and then ........ Love you Amelia!!!!!

Crochet:

Where to begin with my crochet projects ..... I'm still working on my Hummingbird doilies but I'm really close to finnishing them up, I'm working on the last group of pineapples then on to the borders my goal is to have all 3 done by next week so be on the lookout for pictures :)

A friend from one of my groups sent me the 4th of July Dazzler doily pattern I didn't have it done for the 4th but it is done on the 12th. I still haven't blocked it or found the perfect place to display it yet, I want to get wallet size pictures of my Sailors to put on the doily



I joined a potholder swap at Crochetmania and am having a blast making potholders and looking for patterns... friends in Brazil have some FANTASTIC potholder patterns listed! I think this year my DL's will be getting kitchen baskets for Christmas ;)

Miss Kitty is running the swap and didn't have a partner for phase 1 so she picked 2 swappers to send a surprise to .... guess what I was one of the swappers that was picked here's what she sent:

Miss Kitty does such wonderful felting .... maybe someday I'll give it a try



I was hooked up with TXCL for my partner and this is the the potholder she sent me .... it has insulated fabris inside of it how neat is that!



For phase 1 of the swap we were able to pick out any pattern that we wanted to do ... I really enjoyed seeing all of the chicken potholders I'd see when visiting friends blogs in Brazil and this was the perfect time to finaily make one LOL I used the pattern from Whimsical Potholders and added a big flower instead of a bunch of little ones.

Here's the chicken potholder I sent to TXCL:




For phase 2 of the swap Miss Kitty is giving us clues every couple of days for the potholder/hotpad I think I know what were working on but everyones keeping hush hush about it ... BTW call me crazy again... I have 3 of them going ... I think I'll post pictures of all of them when there done and have my partner pick witch one she wants ;)

Hope your having a FANTASTIC hump day!

July 4th " Independence Day"

On the 4th of July most people think of BBQ's, parades, fireworks, and enjoying the day outdoors playing baseball or my favorite horseshoes. But a lot went into making the 4th of July a National Holiday, I can say I'm proud to fly the USA flag!

A Prayer For Our Nation

God bless America
And keep us safe and free,
Safe from "all our enemies"
Wherever they may be.

For enemies are forces
That often dwell within,
Things that seem so harmless
Become a major sin.


Little acts of selfishness
Grow into lust and greed,
And make the love of power
Our idol and our creed.


For all our wealth and progress
Are as worthless as can be,
Without the faith that made us great
And kept our nation free.


And while it's hard to understand
The complexities of war,
Each one of us must realize
That we are fighting for
The principles of freedom
And the decency of man,
But all of this much be achieved
According to God's plan.


So help us as Americans
To search deep down inside,
And discover if the things we do
Are always justified.


And teach us to walk humbly
And closer in Thy ways,
And give us faith and courage
And put purpose in our days.


And make each one of us aware
That each must do his part,
For in the individual is where peace
Must have its start.


For a better world to live in
Where all are safe and free,
Must start with faith and hope
And love deep in the heart of "Me."


~ Helen Steiner Rice ~








My Fireworks Display
***Remember to always have a bucket of water handy to put your sparklers in and your hose turned on and close by you ready if you should need it !!!!!


All of my Fourth of July pages are dedicated to my Father

Michael J. Sliwa
September 19,1919 - July 4, 1973

Whenever We light any fireworks on the 4th We're always saying HI to you up in Heaven. Love & Miss you Dad!!!!

This & That

Miltary:

Haven't talked to Sailor son #1 since the beginning of May on the phone. We just hear from Christopher through emails now & then .... he's out at sea and really can't say much ;(

Sailor son #2 is really enjoying being stationed in Maryland after being in Maine for 8 years .... I think the change is doing David & Kathy good, sometimes you have to be away from family members (Kathy's folks live in Maine)

Sailor son #3 (Julian) likes Guam and was already out to sea but only for a couple of days ... they were headed to China and there was trouble with the ship so they turned around and went back to Guam .... plans to head back outto sea are in the works ;)
Julian has started loking at cars to buy waiting to hear word about what he decides to buy ... we're all telling him to stay away from the rice burners LOL. Mean while Julian tried another way to get around Guam a couple weeks ago





Family:

My Mom's cancer treatments are all done her last one was on June 25th hopefully the radiation killed off all the remaining cells ..... we will find out at her check up.It's a good thing that I have a strong & close family since my Mother lives with us!

For Father's day this year I figured the kids should send me digital pictures of themselves and I'd get the frames to put them in. Instead of getting 5 frames this is what I had done at Walgreens ( Only needed to buy one frame for a change LOL)



Jim really liked the picture and said we'll have to update it every year ;)

Crochet:

My Humming Bird doilies are slowly getting done I'm working on 3 of them... I know call me crazy

I have all the flower parts finnished and also the humming bird bodies, I started on the wings this morning ( have 12 of them to make) then on to the heads and build the birds then attach them to the roses

Doily 1: yellow rose and yellow accents
Doily 2: pink rose & pink accents
Doily 3: lilac rose & pink & purple accents

What the doily will look like when done:



I noticed that I don't have any Patriotic doilies so I've been on the hunt looking for a pattern. I really like the one in this book but haven't been able to find it. I put out the word for the book in a couple of my groups but so far no luck, maybe someone who reads this blog could also help me out finding it




Hope you have a wonderful day!

This And That

Life has been busy for me the last couple of months.... family visiting, funeral, everyday things, work, etc, it looks like my summer will be busy also .....but at least I'm on summer vacation from work ( I work at a school LOL) My mother had a operation on her thyrod last month ( calcium deposit) and they found cancer , they removed the cancer growth (it was pea size) at the time but she has to do 3 high dose radiation treatments in a couple of weeks hopefully everything will go good .... she is a 9 year cancer survivor of breast cancer

Military: All of my sailors are doing thier jobs and doing good :)

Crochet: I've been busy making thread bookmarks .... no brainers while at the Dr. with my mom. I also started working on some irish roses for a doily that's been on my to do list forever. Right now I'm in the zone making the flowers the ones I don't use will end up being used in the future on another project....... whenever theres stress in my life I always look for a doily that has a lot of pieces to it that I have to build LOL

Here's the doily :

This & That

Alot has happened around my house the last couple of weeks and this morning I told myself that I have to get everything put into my blog while things are still fresh in my mind LOL

I decided to first add some pictures before heading off to work when I get home I'll be adding captions and rearrangeing the pictures in the order they should be in this weekend ;)

MILITARY:

Sailor Son #1 (Christopher) and his family arrived in Michigan on April 12th and were in Michigan until April 23rd ......
Jacob took to all of us right away we were afraid that he'd be shy around everyone

Auntie Amelia took Jacob for a walk around the block Sat morning

then she had Jacob pick some flowers from Grandmas garden ;)

Jacob had to show the flowers to my goose dressed up as the Easter Bunny and give a big kiss to my goose


After Church on Easter Sunday we came home and had a little bite to eat then change our clothes to head off to an Easter Egg Hunt that our city's fire department does every year at a park by the lake(all of my kids would go to the hunt when the were small ... what a great feeling I had that my grandson was able to go just like his daddy)

The start of the egg hunt





The Easter Bunny left an Easter basket at Grandpa's and Grandma's house but it took Jacob awhile to find it , he was busy running around in the basement with his baseball Easter basket that he won at the egg hunt LOL ..... after telling him that he's hot or cold for about 5 minutes Jacob finailly found his basket (Auntie Amelia had to sit in the chair where the basket was hidden under LOL



Look at Jacob's goodies



While Christopher & Yumi went shopping at some outlet malls by us (Yumi LOVES to shop) Auntie Amelia had a blast with Jacob

After a lunch outside of mac & cheese with dinasour chicken nuggets they had some creamsicyles

Jacob's first ice cream on a stick :)


then the two of them played with some of the goodies in Jacob's Easter basket



Auntie Amelia taught Jabob how to blow bubbles from a wand instead from the mouth LOL

Writing on Grandpa's & Grandma's house :)


Christopher Yumi Jacob & one of Christophers freinds went to the zoo and I really like this picture of Jacob


Christopher wanted to have a little birthday party for Jacob in the USA before they left since last year and this year they'll be in Japan ...
Jacob's birthday is June 6th



Grandpa reading one of the story books to Jacob that we got for him

Jacob reading to Grandpa :)


Like Father Like Son:
When Christopher & David were little Jim & I just had to buysome shirts for them that we thought were really cute I saved them and now Jacob is wearing his Daddy's .5 half pint shirt LOL

Jacob looking for Uncle Dominic











Jacob just being silly :)




24
25
26
27
28

Strong Hearts:

It's a good thing that Jim & I both have strong hearts ....
Christopher Yumi & Jacob left Michigan to go back to Japan on the 23rd so the 24th was a day of relaxing and missing our little Jacob the house was sooooooo quite. Amelia & Jim went to bed early Dominic and I were the only ones up. I was downstairs and I heard Dominic go out the front door around 11pm then a few minuites later I heard pounding on the back door ( I thought Dominic locked himself out) I went to open the back door and didn't see anybody so I turned on the flood lights still didn't see anybody look down the window and saw a sailor hat ...... started freaking out because I just knew it was going to be sailor son #3 (Julian) Dominic and Julian where planning a surprise attack for 2 weeks waiting for all of the Military paper work to go through ..... Julian will be here until May 25th then he heads straight to Guam

My big SHITHEADS (said with love)


Jim jumped out of bed and hurried up to get dressed when he heard all the noise LOL


Julian & Amelia going off the next day .... still don't know where they went LOL


Easter Egg Hunt at Crochetmania:








Squares for Maria's comfortghan:
On April 17th I posted a request for 12" squares for a compfortghan for my SIL at Crochetville

My SIL started treatments for stage 3 ovarian cancer in October and everything was looking really good until 3 weeks ago the cancer had spread to her lungs, my brother rushed her to the hospital on the 10th of this month from all the pain she was in from the coughing ( her ribs are badly bruised) they scheduled an MRI for the 13th to see how much the cancer is spreading. My brother called me last and told me that it has spread to Maria's brain and they will be starting radiation treatments again then on to chemo to try and kill off all the new cells they are keeping her in the hospital for now. My brother and his family live in New York and the only comfort I can give them is on the phone.

Update on Maria April 27th:

I talked with my brother last night and the doctors said that Maria might be able to go home from the hospital on Sat. (May 2nd) but to be prepard for hospice. She isn't on a morphine drip yet and Maria's spirits are really good so that's a good sign. Maria dosen't want a hospital bed in the living room when she comes home so my brother is going to move their hide a bed into the living room (hopefully she'll be comfortable).

Here's pictures of all the gorgeous squares I recieved so far ..... Thank you!!!!











I plan on to start putting the squares together after I finnish up a couple more of the squares I'm working on .....