Almost 20,000 Visitors

I've been watching the visitor counter on my blog (in the lower right hand column) and it now stands at 19,980!! That's a lot of visitors. When the counter hits 20,000 I'm going to do a giveaway for a bar of soap. The scent will be a surprise! Watch the counter and also for the giveaway post.

I've Been BOO-ed!

Thanks to Cathy from Home Sweet Home, Noble for the BOO!

Who would you like to BOO??? Go to as many friends as you want and tell them they've been "BOO-ed". Have them link back to your blog to pick up their Halloween Treat (picture) and tell them to BOO their friends. Then put the picture in your side bar so everyone knows that you've already been BOO-ed.

My Front Porch

Tuesday

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers for Stephany. She is doing so much better. I took her to the doctor on Saturday for a quick strep test. It came back negative but they sent a culture to be tested at the lab. Over the weekend she was running a 101 temp so I knew that something was still not right.

Monday morning the doctor's office called and said that Steph had Strep C and they were calling in a prescription for antibiotics. She had to take two yesterday morning to jump start things and by tomorrow evening she was feeling so much better. Today was even better as she was hungry! I made her favorite - chocolate chip pancakes - for supper. She had 5!!

It's been another beautiful day here with lots of sunshine. However, it's supposed to start raining on Thursday and will be a little damp for Halloween. The rains are starting.

My friend Kim and I are taking the kids trick or treating on Friday. They are both getting too old so this will be their last one. It is fitting they should have the last one together as the kids used to go together when they were little. We are even taking them back to our old neighborhood where we owned our home. My elderly neighbor Pat always makes the kids do a "trick" before they can have their treat. She is a sweet Christian lady so she encourages the kids to say a Bible verse or sing a song. When Steph was little she would work on her "trick for Pat" for two weeks before Halloween. It's a sweet memory!

Kim and I will sit in the car with her dogs, drink hot chocolate, and listen to oldies on the radio. It's going to be a fun night.

Dove vs Soap

Have you seen the new Dove ads? The ones where they talk about how soap leaves a scum on your skin? And then shows an artistically enhanced picture of what soap scum might look like on your skin? It's pretty disgusting looking as the person stands there with all this white stuff all over their skin. Pretty good propoganda to get people to buy their product.

Here are the ingredients in Dove:

sodium cocoyl isethionate, stearic acid, coconut acid, sodium tallowate, water, sodium isethionate, sodium stearate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium cocoate or palm kernelate, fragrance, sodium chloride, tetrasodium EDTA, trisodium etidronate, BHT, titanium dioxide and
sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate

Here are the ingredients in my handmade soap and the same ones that many soapmakers use:

Olea Europaea (Olive) Oil , Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Fragrance or Essential Oils.

Yup, handmade soap might leave a little scum on your skin (nothing like what is depicted in the Dove commercial) but it also doesn't contain a bunch of chemicals that you can't pronounce. Chemicals that are absorbed through the skin and into the body. I know which I'd rather be using and it isn't Dove.

Beautiful Saturday

This is what I see outside my dining room window today! Lots of sunshine. I love this view. I see it when I'm on the computer. I love the way the tree looks at the corner of the window and the shade from the side fence.

We're going to enjoy our sunshine for the next week because November starts the rainy season in the Western Pacific NW. November, December, and January are the wettest months with only maybe 5 days of sunshine each month - sometimes not at all. But that is what makes it so lovely and green here. I can endure those 3 months knowing that we have Spring much earlier than many parts of the country and our summers are the best! No humidity and no bugs!

Today is my youngest grandson's birthday party. He'll be 10 years old on Monday - too old for my liking. I love "My Little Guy" as I like to call him and I miss him being little. He doesn't like me calling him that anymore. He's getting too old he says!

Steph is still sick so we are off to take her to the doctor for a strep test. Hopefully it is just a virus. She hardly ate at all yesterday and slept most of the day. I don't it like when she's sick.

When we get home this evening I'm going to my room to sew some more zippered bags and herbal pillows. I got the cutest flannel at Joann's for the covers for the pillows. I made these last year. I fill them with flax seed and lavender. You just heat in the microwave for 2 minutes and you have a nice heat pack for sore muscles, for tummy cramps, etc. One of my customers got one last year and wrote to tell me that when her little Yorkie likes to sleep next to the pillow because it's warm!! I like to put mine under the covers to warm my feet.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Fall day!!

Good Night

It's been another busy day and I'm tired. I ran errands all morning then came home and puttered around the house. I sat down this afternoon and knitted on a special project - it felt good to relax.

Steph is sick with a very sore throat tonight. She had mono from January to May this year. I certainly hope she's not having a relapse. It's probably just a virus but I still worry. I did the usual mom things - made jello, got her cough drops, chicken soup, and greased her throat with Vicks. I hope she'll be better in the morning.

I'm off to bed - pleasant dreams!!

Miss Rhea's Blog Giveaway

Are these not gorgeous??? Just makes you want to dive in and eat. But they are not for eating - just decorating!! Miss Rhea makes these for her Etsy shop and is giving away a set in honor of the 100th post on her blog. Just visit SweetnShabbyRoses before Saturday, October 25th, leave a comment, and then cross your fingers.

What Are You Doing Today?

My list grows longer by the minute!! But the first thing I'm going to accomplish is to clean my dirty house. I have let it go - I admit it to the whole world. It's not filthy as in one of those shows on TV. I couldn't stand that!! But there are dust bunnies floating around the floors, dust on the furniture, and floors that need scrubbed.

There were days when I was just too "down" to do anything. All I did was sit on the couch and watch TV or sleep. Bad, huh? I've also been making soap like crazy so I haven't been entirely lazy. That's a good thing as my sales have picked up a lot. Such a blessing!!

Now that I've taken myself to task and had an attitude adjustment, it's time to get busy. I still need to get more soap made but today is cleaning day.

Have you ever wanted more than one bathroom?? So did I until I had to clean all of them. We have 2 1/2 baths which equals 3 toilets. I don't like scrubbing 1 toilet much less 3. Kind of makes outhouses look appealing, huh? Just leave the stink outside and no scrubbing involved!!

Bottom line is I really do like to clean once I get started. The best part, as it is with any job, is when you're all done. You can stand back, look at what you did, and enjoy the accomplishment!

Now I'm off to find my cleaning bucket, supplies, and rubber gloves!!! Leave a comment and let me know what you're doing today. Have a great day!

Hugs,
Kay

I Got An Award

Cathy from Home Sweet Home, Noble (and one of my favorite customers!) gave me The Blogging Friends Forever award. Thank you so much! You made my day!

The rules are:

1. Only five people allowed.

2. Four of them have to be dedicated followers of your blog and one has to be new and live in another part of the world.

3. You have to link back to who gave you the award.

Who to pick? I have such a hard time doing this as I just enjoy everyone's blogs so much and consider all of them my BFF's!

1. Theresa from Take A Sentimental Journey

2. Paula (and Hamburger the rooster) from Fraker Farm

3. Darlene from Stover Lane

4. Tina from Garden Goose

5. Marian from The Princess of Pink Creations in the Netherlands

Please stop by their blogs and say hi!

Tuesday Tip - Pumpkin Tealights

How cute are these? I am going to do some now for Fall decorating and these will definitely be on my Thanksgiving table.

This is my kind of craft - quick and easy. I got the instructions in an online newsletter I get and just had to share. How about some glitter on those pumpkins? I love glitter! If you have a Joann's near you they have bags of 100 tealights on sale for $4.19 a bag.

Enjoy!

Hugs,
Kay

Where Have I Been???

I have been sitting at home feeling sorry for myself, feeling afraid about the economy, and just generally having a pity party. I didn't think it was a good idea to post when my attitude was not right. I figured out that I was just watching too much news. Especially the Fox Business Channel. Every time I'd see the stock market take a nose dive so would my attitude. Last Saturday I turned it all off.

These is nothing I can do about the economy. All I can do is pray for our country and pray for all those that are struggling to make ends meet. There is nothing I can do about my job situation except continue to look for work. Thank God for His provisions!!

When I let worry and fear creep into my life then Satan has a field day! He loves it when God's children are afraid. It also means that I'm talking the will away from God and trying to fix things myself - something I have struggled with all my life.

No more worry, no more fear!! Just praying each and every day, letting God take my hand and walk beside me. I will keep plugging away each day doing what I need to do and wait for God's will.

Cottage Rose Soap for Breast Cancer

There are so many beautiful women who are fighting breast cancer or who are survivors. Two special blogging friends are in the midst of the battle - Cora from Hidden Riches Secret Places and Stacy from Stacy's Stuff. In honor of Cora and Stacy I have listed an auction on eBay with 100% of the proceeds to go to Susan G. Komen. Pink roses to help fight breast cancer! I hope that you'll bid and help in this fight. Just click the picture above to go to this special auction!

Small Town Living Magazine

The October/November issue of Small Town Living is available online! Just click the magazine cover to go to the website and download a copy. I am honored to have my products featured in this issue (page 62) along with those of many other talented artists. Paul and Tina Wilson publish this wonderful magazine and each issue just gets better and better. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.