Heartfelt Thank you ..

Was surprised to find all the kind thoughts on my blog messages as have been a limbo here..My mom is now at my sister's home and Hospice was ready and fast in helping to make things comfortable for her.. Saturday all the siblings will be together for the last time with our mom..I am the oldest of 5 ..our mom was fiercely independent, full of energy always... and stubborn as heck !! But gave us our love movies and food..worked hard all her life, drove us crazy and we all thought she would live to be a 100!! So really was a shock to learn of the stomach cancer and everything just going wrong so fast.....thank you again for taking the time to read my blog and just connecting...this was a picture at Thanksgiving at my sister's home , my daughter, me, my sister and her daughter our mom and holding her first great-granddaughter..

Bad Blogger because..

Hello, I haven't been blogging since I got home, as we just learned my mom has 'stomach cancer' so have been rounding up all the siblings to come home for her... surgery is soon... will have to remove her stomach... anyways, everything has been put on hold right now... I started a Facebook awhile back and alot of friends have wanted to hook up but has been decided to keep as a family only connection as we are scattered everywhere... but will start up a new Facebook account sometime next month under the name 'HopHopJingleBoo' ...and all you creatives souls can visit me there...thanks! Will be back soon...

Back Home!

Boo Hoo! no more Starbucks coffee ..we are hours away from the nearest Starbucks..

I'm finally back home and the daffodils and primulas are in bloom..the weather has been lovely...

Really missed my man, my cats and my bed.......hmm, what a old lady I have become ..

Had a special day with 'just' my daughter and me.. so we went to 'Zingerman's' http://www.zingermans.com/ in Ann Arbor for a wonderful lunch of a Reuben, mac n' cheese and asparagus vinaigrette, cake and some great coffee.. truly excellent.. but the store was so crowded I could not move, much less look around [don't go on a Sat. if you want to shop there and we did wait in line just to get in the store to order at the deli..] I did get their catalog..and a bag of serious chocolate Brownies! I resisted the bread but now will have to order some! After that rich lunch,we did some shopping at the Kerry town shops http://www.kerrytown.com/.. got Art papers from Hollander's http://www.hollanders.com/ and Spices from http://www.spicemerchants.biz/ my daughter bought 2 adorable outfits for her daughter at a cute shop called Elephant Ears plus other shopping on the way back to Lansing! A very good day..

Butterflies in the greenhouse at Frederick Meijer's Gardens http://www.frederickmeijergardens.org/ in Grand Rapids..We went on a rainy day but had fun with the kids and a nice lunch there at the cafe...unfortunately we didn't get to walk around much because of the rain..and everyone had sniffles ...

Inspired by the Frederick Meijer's Gardens I put one of my rabbits under glass.. and bought a pretty paper lantern at World Market http://www.worldmarket.com/ a favorite store I like to shop at when down at my daughters house..

Bought a big amber swirled glass ball at the very nice gift shop at the Frederick Meijer's Gardens to add to my collection of glass balls that hang over my kitchen sink...

Cactus flowers in the bloom and some barrel cactus that were pretty..

Use to have alot of catus and succulents always loved the blooms on them...now I have faux cacti.. really nice too...

Detail of the Chihuly art glass in the main greenhouse lobby..

It was very pretty but a tad big to hang over my sink!!

Also went to the Detroit Zoo ..that was nice took lots of pictures of the grandkids..and a quick trip to the Somerset Mall in Troy.Wandered around in Anthropolgie[ the one store I had to go to!] but was so pooped out and brain fried from the Zoo trek didn't buy a thing! Yikes!

Well, had a table full of mail when I got home, catalogs, magazines and a few packages of goodies..like this stamp from http://www.characterconstructions.com/ wrapped so nice, will use to do a Marie Antoinette paper doll for a swap.. that I'm late with..

A peek at the work in progress for my collage..sewing paper to the canvas then add all the fun stuff after...a complete change in plan ,was originally going to do a paperdoll on the canvas ..too many ideas and out of time!

Well ,this is it so far... tomorrow with add all the decorations and sparkles...but then had to do a second one as had so much papers plus will do a paper doll for my partner Wendy.

A nice surprise on Saturday ,got my Marie Antoinette Swap in the mail from Wendy in Georgia,a lacy confection with treats besides!! Thank you Wendy ,it's so pretty..

Finally a short 'Thank you to Calamity Kim' http://www.calamitykim.typepad.com/ ..I received a fabulous package from her, was my Bunny Apron!! [see pictures on her blog,will model when I have someone to take my picture here] well had extra treats.. yummy tea, a lovely hand made card and these awesome paper dolls, posing in my new huge bamboo bowl..[from World Market]..Thank Kim, a big belated hug!! Now to start hanging up these new goodies...