A bit of Sugar...

Introducing Little Miss Sugar. She's a 10 week old Dachshund that we recently introduced to our family. I know....AWWWWW!!!

Boy is she a little handful, has given us plenty of laughs with all her antics!

Her favorite activity is stealing bones/chew toys from out 5 year old Staffordshire Terrior, Jake! He's pretty tolerant, considering and they have lots of fun together. ; )

Wow, she really is a Mini!! Jake's good sized, but this pic makes him look huge!

This is Jake, my lover boy. So very proud of him for being so great to his new 'sister'

Just thought it would be fun to share what we've been up to. Haven't been on for awhile, so wanted to let you know I didn't fall off the face of the earth! lol!

Happy Day! and Creating!!

The Busy-er We Become, the Harder We Fall

That's what I've learned in the past week anyway. The busy-er being trying to juggle all balls in life, no matter their weight differences in an even and ever faster rotation. Somethings gotta give...well that was me. One full week of being sick and not able to do any of it! HA! Life is full of surprises and potential for laughs. It also presents one with opportunities. Now these opportunities don't always look as such, not until you slow down to look...and what better time than when you are feeling as low as the mud stuck on your shoe? ; )

So I find myself at a cross-roads. It involves work, family time (more or less depending on which road is taken), a knowing of ones self and the chance to expand that knowing. I know I'm not being specific, but there is a place and time...and, I don't really think you want the little details. Just know this is a different sort of time for me and my family....a kind thought sent or prayer would definately be a good and nice thing.

I hope that you and yours are doing well. And while I'm sitting here counting my blessings, making decisions, I hope I've inspired you to do the same.

Have a wonderfully creative day and I'll type to you all soon. ; )

Spacin' Out

Well, if you were at all wondering where I've been.....my hubby and I made a trip down to Houston, TX for a week. For him to train for his job and for me to get some R&R and hopefully get computer related business stuff done....well, the R&R part worked out pretty well, until I was about to scream...and definately found that I'm not always awesome with designing website layouts.

Anywho....we did get to see and do some fantastic things while in Houston. One absolutely wonderful excursion was to the Space Center.

<------ This suite actually has moon dust on it's toes!!

We saw some pretty spectacular rockets, engines, the training area....Wow, just wished our kids could have seen all this neat stuff!!

We also made it over to Galveston. It's looking pretty good, alot of repairs have been made since Hurrican Ike...but you can sure tell something made it's way through this tiny island town. We stopped at a neat Mexican Resturant named Salsa's....really good Chile Rellenos! Yummmm!! We were soooo full! (The photo is of a cool spanish horse at Salsa's)

We also took a walk by the sea wall. It was a bit grey and rainy, but it was still neat to see the Gulf of Mexico. We took some great pics and were in awe of how the waves took out this dolphin statue's base...it's all cracked and jumbled up. Crazy!

Good trip...but, also glad to be back home. Next time we go, we will bringing the kiddo's. There's just so much to do there that they'd love. Waterslides, carnival rides, Imax theatre....

Yes at good trip. ; )

Black-headed seagulls...yeah don't have them in Northern, NV

Renewal, the Orchid....

Orchid Blooms....they're so pretty.

I thought I had lost this one, the stem going brown and dead last winter....

But here it is again in full bloom, with many friends on the way.

Wow, what a renewal!!

That is what today is about....

Renewing my thinking, how I look at the world...getting rid of the bad, brown stems.

It is time again to bloom, be a beautiful orchid...

You Are Super

Wow, what a great year! I know the news likes to tell us otherwise and it's easy to look at all the 'downfall' out there, but stock and housing markets aside, it has proved to be an eye-opening year. I'm talking about the true-ness of families, the steadfastedness of friends pitching in to help each other out. The raiding of our kids closets of out-grown clothing to warm our neighbors with mittens, coats, etc. If nothihg else, these tuff economic times have made a numb, uncaring population into what communities should be. No, I'm not looking through rose-tinted glasses, but this is what I see and am in awe of the transformation. Yes, you are super.

This time of year is always a time of reflection. It's when I look back, go over the last year and note the good, bad and ugly. The changes I want to make and the accomplishments that were achieved. I want to say thanks to this wonderful family of mine pictured above, without my family I probably would have given up bringing handcrafted soaps to the world. My daughter is a great inspiration...'purple and grey look great mommy!', 'why don't we put some of the soap together mommy,' says my son. The Sugar Pine Boutique shop on Etsy isn't solely created by me and I thank them so very much.

I also thank the support that I have recieved from family and friends. As many of you know, it is very difficult to get any sort of business off the ground without the support of family and friends. Thank you SO much!!!

I hope you all have a great Christmas and no matter how many presents are under the tree, remember that the true gift of the year are those gathered with you on this special holiday.

Climate Change

In some parts of the country, the change from summer to fall to winter is a gradual, lovely affair that can be cherished for a few weeks. Here in northern Nevada, it seems more like summer crashing into winter. As September clicks away into October outdoor temperatures drop like a rock.

You out there, you with significant others may have the same seasonal convo as we do around our house. I'm one for energy conservation, not to mention sub-doer of humongo gas/electric bills. In summer, I figure we can servive at 77'C, in the winter 70'C should be fine....granted you might have to put socks and long sleeve shirt on. But every year my husband and I do the thermostat war. After a week of haggling the numbers up and down, up and down, we generally come to the settle at a happy 73'C...or 74'C.  Does this happen to you? : )

Living quarter temps aside, I've been patiently turning and gazing upon my little pumpkin soap that I made a month ago and it is finally FINALLY, ready for everyone to see. I'll be posting several on my shop page today. But also will be putting together several for a craft bazaar at our local junior high school. I figured this is the way to go. People need to be able to touch and smell soap...no picture can replace tactile experience. I'd consider hooking up with an experienced craft fair seller and striking a deal. Absolutely awesome exposure.