Christmas is Coming!

It's been busy around here! I just got all caught up on my shipping after having some great sales over the last week! About half my sales were to international buyers. I sold to England(a few), Japan, Singapore, Australia(several) and Lithuania! It's great knowing that my things are traveling the world and going to new homes in distant places.

I will be adding lots of new things in all my shops in the next few days. I have several Christmas/Holiday jewelry items that I haven't even listed yet. Not good! It's getting too close to Christmas.

I just opened a Soopsee account that features everything in all 3 of my etsy shops. Click on the badge in the upper right to see it. I've having fun customizing it. Lots of great shops to see there too at http://www.soopsee.com.

I haven't even started my own shopping yet! I need to get on it. I plan on buying many of the gifts for my family on etsy. So many unique things that you can't find anywhere else! I'd better hurry or we'll be opening our gifts after Christmas!

I'm still in the process of decorating for the holidays too. We got the tree up the day after Thanksgiving but it sat there bare for a few days until I put the decorations on. I love doing it! I like the juice can lid ornament my daughter Kristina made in grade  school. It has a photo of her and lots of glitter! The simplest handmade ones are the best and most meaningful.

My sister gives me a new sister ornament every year....soon that is all I will have room for on the tree. I've got so many now! She also gets me the animated Hallmark snowman every year! I love them too. I'm struggling to find enough places in my house to display them.....especially with a Beagle that likes to tear things up during the night. I get child-proofing but never thought I'd be "dog proofing" as well! Oh Penny, you are such a trouble maker!

The weather has been cold and clear the last few days----in the 30's during the day and 20's at night. I can't get used to it! I'm cold all the time...I drag my little oil heater right next to me and I'm still cold! Hopefully, the sunshine will last long enough for me to get some photos taken of jewelry I will list later on. I need to take it when I can get it! I bought a photography tent and lights but I don't like the whole set-up and the lights don't seem to be bright enough. Live and learn!

Thanks for reading this rambling post! I hope everyone is more ready for Christmas then I am! See you soon, Kitty

The Grandsons: Evan and Ezra

Evan just turned 3 years old the other day! It seems like he was born yesterday. He obviously didn't want his photo taken but I took it anyway. That's just what Grandma's do.

Ezra is a drooling machine. He soaks everything! Hoping those first teeth will come in soon. Guess he's a late bloomer. But still a little cutie! He smiles all the time!

Emma is missing from this post! I don't have any new photos of her. I need to work on that.....

My Girl.....

Here's my girl! My granddaughter Emma! She's the inspiration for emmasgems. She's 9 years old. She's off to Bible Camp this week at the same camp her Mom went to at the same age. It's funny how life is a circle. I never would have guessed that someday I'd be taking my granddaughter to the same camp! She's off to swim,craft,study and stay in a cabin with her best friend, Jordan for 5 long days.

I'm looking forward to the trip to Southern Oregon. I've been missing the area where we used to live and like to go back to see how it's changed. It's been a few years since the last visit so it will be fun. We'll have some extra time before the girls get dropped off at camp so we'll show Emma where we used to live and take her to her Mom's old schools, etc. Hopefully, these are all things she will keep in her memory.

I remember my Grandma telling lots of stories about places she'd lived, other relatives and things she'd done but never really paid attention or retained the information. I listened to her, just never thought that I would forget all of it. Now that she's no longer here some of those stories are lost forever. I do remember some of them. Probably a good time to note that some things should be written down for future generations, photos should be dated, photos should have the place and/or individuals noted.

These are all things learned after my grandparents died when piles of photos couldn't be identified. They kind of lose their meaning to the family....which reminds me that I have a huge box of loose photos.....undated and unidentified! I think this is now on my "someday" list.

I have spent quite a bit of time on genealogy research within my family. I thought it was important to have that information to share with my everyone in my family. It is unorganized and would not be understandable to anyone but me! I was working on a couple different lines at the same time and even I would get confused sometimes! Okay, another thing added to the "someday" list. I think it is important to know where all the branches of your family came from, their struggles and triumphs! To have all of that information available is a blessing. Wow, did I go off on a tangent! Funny how one thing leads to another.....