Mama's Mumblings I've been away a while!

Hey friends!  The few of y'all that have stuck around in my absence.  I did not have plans to take an impromptu break. It just sort-of happened.  At the end of my long days, I just haven't had the energy or brain power to come up with any sort of decent post (if you can consider any of my blog posts decent. lol).  So, I thought I would just pop in and let everyone know that I'm still here!

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We should have known something was going to happen.  Every time Marty gets something new at work, his job or position changes and he doesn't get to enjoy his new equipment.  Well, Marty has been waiting several years for a new work truck, and he finally got it about 6 weeks ago.  About 4 weeks ago, Marty starting having a lot of pain in his hip and leg, and finally broke down and went to see someone about it.  They initially found out his hip was out of place, and after several chiropractic treatments, it was much better. Suddenly, his pain became worse than before.  After a MRI, they found he also has two bulging discs in his back.  He sees a neurologist on Friday, and may be having an epidural next week.  Of course, during this time, he's been out of work, and his poor new truck has just been sitting, waiting on Marty to come drive it.  Prayers for a complete recovery would be appreciated.

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Jameson and I went on a fantastic field trip to Stone Mountain last week.  The weather was perfect and all the kids behaved.  It was pretty much a perfect day!  We left Talladega at 6:30 that morning, and didn't get home until around 10:00 that night.  It was a LONG day, but we all had a blast!

I LOVE THESE KIDS!

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After several years of having the same schedule at work, things are changing.  We've had some staffing changes over the past few months, so I am being moved around to where I am needed the most.  I'm still doing phone triage, but am also working some out on the floor, too.  It's been a huge adjustment after sitting on my bootie for the past 7 years!  It is nice to actually be able to see some of my patients face to face now.

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Blueberry Hill Handmade has been booming!  I pretty much spend every waking hour that I'm not at my bill-paying job, working on Blueberry Hill orders.  My poor house is definitely suffering!  I could probably clean for a week and still have a ton of work left to do!  Oh well, the housework can wait, right?  Here are a couple of the fun Halloween things I've been working on.

My customer sent me a picture of this and asked me to recreate it.  I think it turned out really cute!

The pumpkin shirts have returned!  These are some of my favorite shirts ever!

My friend Katherine from Grass Stains sent me an e-mail a couple of weeks ago, asking if I had ever thought about making reusable tote bags.  I hadn't thought of it, but decided to try making some, using Kat's great ideas!  I think they turned out SO CUTE!  I love making these!

If you are interested in anything you see here, or have something you would like for me to to make for you, visit my page Blueberry Hill Handmade.

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Speaking of Halloween, this is the first year since we've been in this house, that I have not decorated for Halloween.  I am SO BUMMED!  Since Marty hurt his back/hip, he can't get into the attic to get down all of our stuff, and my big ol' bootie ain't fitting up those steps, so I guess there won't be any witches' legs on display!  Also, our temporary front porch steps have been moved to get ready for more permanent front steps, so trick-or-treaters can't even get to our front door!  Not that we ever have any trick-or-treaters.  But those are on hold, too, until Marty's back/hip problems are fixed...and we try to bounce back financially from his not working for a month.  It's always something, right?

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*whew*  That's a lot to cover, and I'm sure there are 100 other things I meant to tell all of you, but just can't remember right this minute.  LOL  I hope you all are doing well, and I hope you have a fabulous week!

Mama's Mumblings

Hey friends!  Yeah I know, it's been over a week since I last posted.  I would like to say it's because my life has been so exciting and action packed, but that would be a lie!  LOL

I've been sick-as-a-dog and swamped with orders, so I really haven't had time for or felt like doing anything fun or exciting.

I know you are all jealous and want my life.  Just admit it!  HAHA!!  (Totally kidding!)

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I almost screwed up BIG TIME before the Alabama game on Saturday.  I almost forgot to hang my lucky wreath back up on the door!

Last year, I only took the wreath down for ONE game (during the week of Halloween) and we LOST! SO that wreath went right back up on that door and didn't come down again until after the National Championship game!  It must have worked, because we won!  LOL

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I just realized that I never posted about the last EXTREMELY fun and exciting thing I did.  Marty and I got invited to the official #TwitterSupperClub part 2!  Katherine and Grayson (Grass Stains) invited us to their house for fun, food, and friendship.  We had an incredible time with Kat and Grayson, along with Rachel and Chris (Grasping for Objectivity in a Subjective Life) and Stephanie and Tadd (Plain Chicken)!  I swear, we need to do this every week because I'm telling you, these people are FUNNY!  I'll try to get my act together and do a proper post in a few days.  But in the mean time, you can enjoy Katherine's post about the night!

Photo stolen from Kat.

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I took off work the to be with Jameson during the first week of school, and was scheduled to go back the next week on Wednesday and Thursday.  Well, guess who got sick-as-a-dog Tuesday?  Yup, that would be ME! I was so sick Wednesday and Thursday, I could barely move.  I did manage to make it from the bed to the bathroom to the recliner, and that's about all the movement I had for those two days.  I HATE, HATE, HATE that I had to call in to work, but driving that 100+ miles each way would have been impossible!  So, that means I went almost 3 weeks without working.  Going back this week was ROUGH!

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I went to Wal-Mart today JUST to buy drinks and cat food....

**sigh**  You see how well that worked out, right?

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Finally, fortunately this year has been going pretty well for Jameson.  So far, we've been able to keep a handle on his ADHD and he's tackling homework like a champ.  Some nights have been worse than others, but it's mostly on the days that our routine has been disrupted.  One thing that his school has started this year is working great, too.  They have starting using the Class Dojo system to help parents be able to see how they have been acting/participating during the school day.

The first week, Jameson had some problems with talking in class and in the hall, but once he realized that I knew about that before I even picked him up from school each day, he's been at 100%!  He gets "thumbs up" for participation, keeping his goals, finishing his work, working as a group, etc....  So far, it's been working great!

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I hope you all have a wonderful week!  I'm off to work on MORE shirts!

Mama's Mumblings

Hey friends!  I hope you all survived the holiday weekend.

Ours was RAINY and BORING!  Marty either had to work or was on primary call from Tuesday through Sunday, so we spent a ton of time at home. The ONE time I decided to go out and about, I got SOAKED!

Since we didn't go anywhere on the 4th, I thought I would cook a big meal that we could eat on all day.   Wednesday, I cooked a huge pork roast, with the plans of shredding it up on Thursday and making BBQ sandwiches with it.  WELL, that didn't quite work out like I planned.  I left the tenderloin in the oven just a little too long and I may have burned all the "drippings"...maybe:

The meat itself wasn't that bad, but it definitely wasn't the juicy succulent pork roast I had imagined:

Fortunately, most of the sides (baked beans, corn, potato casserole, Texas toast) tasted OK.


Blueberry Hill Handmade has been doing well since I "officially" opened the Facebook store last week! The response has been fantastic! I've really been shocked (and excited) at the positive response to the page! Thanks to all of you who have helped me by "liking" my page! It REALLY means a lot to me!

Not only did I decide to officially open my store, I had another huge change at the very same time.  Remember a couple of months ago when I told y'all that my computer was on it's last leg? It actually completely died on me, I bought another computer, and that second computer died on my the first day I had it. CRAZINESS I tell you. I managed to get my old computer back up and running, but every day it would let me know that it was on it's last leg.  I've had it for over three years and I've REALLY put it through the ringer, so I guess I can't complain too much.  BUT, I have to have a reliable, working computer to do all of my Blueberry Hill designs. So, after MUCH thought and research, I took the plunge:

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the computer and I know that in the long run, it will be the best investment, but BOY have I had a huge learning curve! After using PC's for the past 20 years, learning an entirely new operating system has had it's challenges! I mean, for the first day, I couldn't even figure out how to get online. Talk about feeling DUMB! But now on week 2, I can at least pull up my design software and create again.  **baby steps** LOL

Speaking of Blueberry Hill designs, this is my newest creation:

This monogram is on burlap. I love the way it turned out!  I made this for my friend Julie's birthday. The split letter monogram I made for her on her birthday last year went on to be my most ordered item! I figured I've made over 100 split-letter monograms since I first made Julie's!


I went to Hobby Lobby on Saturday, and this is what I saw:

It IS JULY, right?

I may have watched this movie AT LEAST 10 times over the past two weeks (probably more like 20 15 times).

Photo Credit

It's to the point that I can pretty much recite the movie word-for-word. Rebel Wilson (Fat Amy) KILLS me! She is so hysterical! I love the music, too.

For all you gardening/landscape people out there, any clues to what type of mushroom this is?

Not my photo...my friend Cassa took this.

My co-worker, Cassa, noticed this in her yard a couple of weeks ago, and nobody seems to know what kind of mushroom it is. She said it was HUGE. She saw it when she was backing out of her driveway and thought it was a CAT because of all the "fur".  It's really nasty looking, that's for sure!

Well, I guess that's enough for now! I hope you all have a wonderful, calm, beautiful week!

Mama's Mumblings

Hey friends!

I hope you are all enjoying  this warmer weather! It seems to have gone from Winter to Summer here. No Spring for us, but that's not unusual for Alabama. I hope everyone is recovering from the floods and tornadoes that have seemed to plague so many of you!

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School is finally officially out for the summer! Jameson had a really great year. He made all A's for the year, and got several awards at Awards day.  We are so proud of how hard he works!

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Speaking of Jameson, he has easily fallen back into the summer sleep schedule. He slept until 11:20 this morning! He never, ever sleeps that late!  Of course, I am LOVING not having to set an alarm 3 days a week! That changes next week, though, when Jameson starts two weeks of Science Camp.

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It's strawberry picking time! We picked strawberries at Watts Farm for the first time last year and had a blast, so we knew we had to go again this year. We only picked 2 gallons last year and they didn't last a full week, so we picked 4 gallons this year!

Soaking in a vinegar and water bath!

4 Gallons of berries ready for the freezer with a bowl macerating with sugar for cake!

If you live in the Northeast Alabama area and want the best strawberries you've ever eaten, Watts Farm is the place to go!

 

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Marty got the Redneck Rivera swimming pool cleaned and ready for swimming this weekend. My two great-nieces came over for some fantastic pool-time fun!

Jessie flying through the air!

He's not too sure about swimming around with 4 girls.  LOL

Kacie and Chelsea decided they enjoyed watching more than swimming.

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The "Business" continues to be active, especially with Mother's Day and the end of school. My dining/craft room is worse than it's ever been, but I am hoping I'll have a chance to sort/clean/organize some now that school is done. Here are a few recent orders.

Frames are still my favorite thing to do!

Have you ever seen a pink Iron Man?

I'm working on something that will hopefully make looking/ordering things easier for everyone.

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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!