How Exciting!

What an Honor!



Lynn of Lady Lynn's Boutique (http://www.ladylynnsboutique.blogspot.com/) honored me with this wonderful award! Thank you so much! - I am honored.

Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:~ inspires you~ makes you smile and laugh~ or maybe gives amazing information~ a great read~ has an amazing design~ and any other reasons you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

The rules of this award are:* Put the logo on your blog or post.* Nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing!* Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.* Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

Here are my nominations for the Uber Amazing:
http://bumblebeedesigns.blogspot.com
http://littleladybugdesigns.blogspot.com
http://sweetpeacakesetc.blogspot.com
http://changingdesigns.blogspot.com
http://bumblebeebabycreations.blogspot.com

Let's All Share A Favorite Holiday Memory ~ I'll Go First!

My Mom & Dad
Always remember how important family is









I just love these older depictions of Santa Claus. That's the way I've always seen him in my mind, so happy, kind and jolly. Things were so much simpler when we were children but we didn't know it and just couldn't wait to grow up. Now that I'm grown up I yearn for my childhood. If I only knew then what I know now I would have been like Peter Pan and never wanted to grow up. I am blessed though because I can relive some of the wonderment and innocence of childhood through the eyes of my 2 and 1/2 yr old grandson and it's wonderful. Anyway, one of my favorite holiday memories was when year after year my mother and all of us children would pull out boxes and boxes of holiday decorations (it seemed we had just packed away) and begin decorating the house. My younger sister Mary, myself and the next eldest sister Sharyn, would just wait for Mom to pull out one of the many old mangey Rudolph's or Santa's that she had had for years. Some would have bald spots where the fur on the reindeer had worn away or a Santa would have an arm that had been haphazardly glued back on, they were a sight. We'd nudge each other and giggle about those pitiful decorations and wondered why she didn't just throw them away. Those poor things looked like they were ready for the trash can but Mom would look at them with such a gleam in her eye and all of our joking, giggling and prodding would fade away as we watched her put each one of those items in "just the right spot" as she did every year. As we grew older, my sisters and I often speak of those raggedy old decorations and wish we still had a few to add to our collection of newer decorations. My Mother always had a way of making something that could have been trash into something that was a treasure ~ just as she was a treasure to all of us kids.

Ok, now it's someone else's turn to relive their favorite holiday memory and share it with us all. What a truly wonderful and blessed season this is, it reminds us all how truly lucky we are.

Winners of Our Enchanted Children's Great Giveaway!

It took me a little while to get this posted, but here are the winners ~

Mary Cybulski won the little girl's Tutu
Tamee Kirkendoll won the Guardian Angel baby blanket
Kelsey Beesley won the Blue Princess Purse
Wendy Crivello won her choice of handpainted/personalized Piggy Banks
Roberta Martinez won the adorable girls Christmas sock
Becky Capps won the 2 sets of girls hair ties/bow

Congratulations Everyone, and thanks for playing.

My Six Secrets Devulged

My Six Secrets Devulged
Denise, from Changing Designs just tagged me. She was "tagged" by another blogger to basically share six secrets about herself. In turn, she tagged five others. One of those five was me! My life is about as boring as you can get but I'll try to come up with six not so well known secrets about myself.
1. I've lived in the same house for 21 years (and it looks almost as it did when I bought it and that's nothing to brag about :)
2. I have Agoraphobia and used to check myself into the local psychiatric ward and call it a vacation ~ and it was for me!
3. I lived in Maryland my whole life.
4. I have very low self esteem.
5. Sometimes when I was married, I would turn off my husbands alarm clock so he would be able to stay home with me the next day (he never knew I did it)
6. I am a big crybaby and cry at the drop of a hat. While watching a sad movie, a love story, talking to someone about something close to my heart, and mostly when I'm lying in bed at night remembering the way things "used to be".

So now I don't suppose I'll be hearing from many of you again but I'm going to make my 5 picks.

1. Nina Robinson of Nina's Window
2. Miriam Grafer of Wire Crochet for Today
3. Caroline Riepler of Little Journey's Baby World
4. Lisa Slain of Lisa's Little Luxuries
5. Jenn Rogers, Founder of Mom's United in Business

The Holidays Are Fast Approaching....

I'm sure you don't need anyone to remind you that gift giving time is just around the corner. I wanted to take this opportunity to show you all a slide show of some of the wonderful gift ideas we have on our website for the children in your life. I am so lucky to have some of the most talented creative artisans selling their items on my site ~ I know you'd be hard put to find a nicer collection of unique items in one place on the web. Please take a few minutes and watch my slide show and if something pops up that catches your eye ~ grab a drink and a comfortable chair and mosey on over to http://www.ourenchantedchildren.com
ENJOY ~

Our Enchanted Children's Great Giveaway!!!

Please be sure to visit my webstore and sign up for your chance to win one of several great prizes. No purchase necessary, entries must be in by September 29, 2008.
Good Luck!

Bits of Wisdom

I received this from a friend and thought I would share it with you all.

Bits of Wisdom to help in having an Exceptional, Superb & Powerful Life!

1.) Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate antidepressant.

2.) Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.

3.) Buy a Tivo (DVR), tape your late night shows and get more sleep.

4.) When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to ________ today today.'

5.) Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

6.) Watch more movies, play more games and read more books than you did last year.

7.) Always pray and make time to exercise.

8.) Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of Six.

9.) Dream more while you are awake.

10.) Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less foods that are manufactured in plants.

11.) Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli , almonds & walnuts.

12.) Try to make at least three people smile each day.

13.) Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.

14.) Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead, invest your energy in the positive present moment.

15.) Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class .......but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

16.) Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card

17.) Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.

18.) Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

19.) Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

20.) Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

21.) You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

22.) Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

23.) Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.