Christmas Tree Ideas

I would love to have a Christmas tree that looks like this.  Hundreds of lights and all twinkly.  However, I have 2 cats!  Last year we only had 1 cat and Miss Sophie knocked the tree over 5 days in a row.  I finally took it down and put up a small one on the mantle.  This year Jude has been added to our family.  He is only 6 months old and into everything.  I know how it's going to go if I put up the tree.  Sigh.

I need some ideas on a cat proof tree.  Help!!!

Small Business Saturday

Today is the first ever Small Business Saturday! American Express started the movement to encourage everyone to shop at local and online small businesses on the day after Black Friday. Did you know that 68 cents of every dollar spent at a small business stays in the local community?? About 60 to 80 percent of jobs created each year for the last decade are attributed to small businesses.

In honor of the day I am having a sale in my Etsy shop - 20% off everything until 6 pm tonight! All you need to do is enter the coupon code THANKS1127 at checkout and the discount will automatically be deducted.

Shop small today!!!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is almost here! It is my favorite holiday. I love cooking the meal and just having time to spend with family. Everyone will be at my house this year except for my grandson Justin. We will have lots to eat, play games, and enjoy each other's company. I have put off my grocery shopping so I will have to go on Saturday. I am sure the store will be crowded and the lines will be long. I am praying for a good attitude because patience is not my virtue!

I have so many things to be thankful for this year. God is always so good and so faithful. I am thankful for God's grace and sending His son Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of my life. I don't deserve the grace but He gives it freely to me every day.

I am thankful for my beautiful family, for our nice warm home, for having food to eat every day, and the daily blessings that God provides.

This year I am particularly thankful for Stephany's sobriety. Four months ago our life was in chaos. Day by day everything has gotten better and life is starting to feel normal again. My beautiful daughter is sober, happy, and thankful for her second chance at a wonderful life. God has blessed us in this situation too, and because of what we've gone through, we have the testimony of His love and grace to share with others.

I am thankful for all of you who follow my blog and return again and again to read my ramblings. Thank you for your comments - they are a blessing to me. Thank you for your prayers for our family. I love you and cherish you!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Boot Camp

I never thought I'd be going to boot camp but I am! I started Etsy's Holiday Boot Camp today (it actually started 9/23 so I have catching up to do). It is a series of newsletters with homework designed to help you get the most out of your Etsy shop for the holidays. For me it's about the business of getting down to business. I need to treat what I do as a business and not as a hobby. I need to learn how to run my business so I'm going to boot camp. If you have an Etsy shop and would like to sign up click here and sign up for the Etsy Success newsletter.

Today one of the assignments was to write a mission statement for your business. I hate stuff like this. I don't want to have to think, I just want to create! But it's part of the process so I did it. Once I got started it was good and really made me think about what my mission is for The Rustic Cottage. I am baring my soul here and it's not something that I am comfortable with so here goes.

My mission statement:

To always maintain my priorities in the correct order - God first, family second, and business last.

To create high quality, handcrafted bath and body products using natural and organic ingredients.

To share information and educate others on the benefits of products made with natural and organic ingredients.

To build a rapport with my customers so they don't feel like "just another sale" and provide them with products that are helpful and benefit them through healthier skin.

To be fair and honest in all my business dealings.

To be a full-time business woman running a socially and environmentally conscious business doing what I love and providing for my family.

I hope that by reading this you will know where my heart is and I hope that it may help you with your business too!!!

Hugs,
Kay

Google and Lotion Bars

Have you ever Googled yourself? I occasionally check my business name to see where it is in the rankings. Today I Googled "quilters lotion bar" to see how many others are making them. I was very pleasantly surprised when my lotion bar came up #1!! Even had a picture!! How cool is that??

Friday was my last day of work. The business I work for has just not recovered fully from the financial downturn in 2008. I was working full-time and laid off in May 2008. I was blessed to be called back part-time and have been back to work for almost a year. Now I am unemployed again but, quite honestly, I am glad. Everything that our family has been through this past year has let me drained emotionally and physically. I need some time off to clean my house, get rested, and work on my business. In fact, I am hoping that I will be able to remain self-employed. It is pure joy to me to create and work with my soap and lotions. I have spent the day working on my Etsy and Artfire shops and that leads back to why I Googled myself!

Barn House And Vintage Gathering Sales

Emma took her mommy and me to the Barn House sale in Battle Ground today! This is the first one for all of us and the first sale for Missy & I in a long time. We got there at noon and the place was actually starting to get emptied of wares - it's that popular! I did find lots of things to inspire me though. After Barn House we traveled down the road to the Vintage Gatherings sale - loved it! Lots of vendors, lots of vintage treasures, and reasonable prices! I got pictures at Barn House but not at Vintage Gatherings (Nana was carrying Emma around so Mom could shop). Enjoy!

This wonderful old bath tub greeted us as we walked in to the gate. It was filled with straw and pillows.

Isn't this chandelier the best?? It was accented with dried hops.

Love this chair and the pillow! I want to learn to screen print. The sun was so bright that it washed out some of my pics - sorry.

Linen apron - these were just the cutest things ever! I'm inspired to sew again. Now to get my hands on some linen.

Beautiful displays everywhere - sunflowers make me happy and the vase was so pretty.

I am so in love with this bolster pillow by Maison Douce and the chair's not too shabby either! Can't you just see the bolster at the head of a bed covered with a fluffly down comforter, quilts, and lots of pillows?

Pictures

I've been working on my blog design today, adding music, and visiting other blogs. One thing I know for sure - I need to take pictures!!! I have this fancy new phone that has an awesome camera so I no longer have an excuse. Hope things will be a little more colorful around here in the future.

Back On A Schedule

It has been a busy summer and now is turning into a busy Fall!! Steph is enrolled in school and will start on Monday. She is going to Summit View High School which is an alternative school in the Battle Ground District. We had her orientation last week and I am so impressed with the school!

She goes to school two days a week from 1 to 4 and then the rest of the time is independent study. She has one on one time with each of her teachers for up to an hour. That is exactly what she needs and this will help her get back on track. She has lots of credits to make up but that's ok. At least she wants to go to school now!

Our life has settled into a happy routine and is much more calm now - if that's possible with a teenager in the house. We still take it one day at a time but each day is a blessing. I have been so wrapped up in Stephany for so long that I'm having to learn to do things for me again. I started attending Al Anon and I know that is a start. The soap shelves are totally bare and it's time for me to get busy with that again. It's soon to be bazaar season and I plan on doing several this year. I need to get my creative juices flowing again.

Emma has brought so much joy into our family! I love to go visit and just hold her. There is nothing better than that sweet baby smell. Missy brought her over last Saturday for her first visit to Nana's house and I even got a smile!

Christien started Middle School last week and seems to like it really well. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that he is old enough to be in Middle School!!!

God is so good and so faithful!!! I see His mercy every day when I look into the clear, bright, happy eyes of my daughter!

Welcome Emma!

My beautiful granddaughter Emma was born on July 26th!! She is a tiny little thing and only weighed 5 lbs when she was born but she and her mama are doing fine!! She now weighs 5 lbs 11 ozs. Emma is like a breath of fresh air in our family and we have all needed that.

The same day that Emma was born we left for Yakima for 3 days of family therapy at Stephany's treatment facility. I wanted to wait at the hospital to meet my new grandbaby and she waited until 6:17 pm to arrive. I held her for 5 minutes and then left because we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us.

The therapy went very well and Steph's dad and I were able to tell all the things that her use has done to us and to our family. One thing that we learned is that our whole family has been sick - not just her. It was a very helpful 3 days and opened our eyes to many things. Especially that we are not alone in this as the room was filled with 20 other families going through the very same thing. My heart just broke for the families - many were adult patients who had a wife or husband attending as the family member.

Steph graduated from her treatment on August 5th and is now back home. She has had 38 days of sobriety and is doing so well. She attends 3 outpatient groups a week and has been going to AA meetings. That has been her decision and is a huge step in her recovery. There is still a long way for her to go but we take it one day at a time!

It's Been A Month Since I've Written???

A month is way too long to go without writing on my blog. I could make the usual excuses of being busy with summer gardening, canning, etc - not the case. It's been a very painful and emotional month for me and for Stephany. It has been one of the hardest periods of my life. I had to be able to find the right words to post on my blog.

If you are a regular reader then you know the struggles we have been going through with Stephany's drug use. She started outpatient treatment and things were going along pretty well for about a week. Then it went from bad to worse. After the last time that she ran away she quit smoking pot only to replace it with alcohol.

I talked to Steph's outpatient leader and we both agreed that she needed to go to inpatient treatment. Stephany agreed that she needed to go and on July 8th she checked into a facility near Yakima, WA. I had to spend two days there in parent meetings and both of us had to meet with psyhcologists. During that time Steph said she wasn't staying - I think she realized she wasn't going to be on vacation. In the state of Washington a child can make their own decisions about that kind of thing. She cried, begged, and pleaded. She got mad and lashed out at me. On Friday we had to meet with a counselor at 12:30 and when we were signing paperwork Steph looked at me and said "I assume by signing all these papers that means I'm staying." I just said a very matter of fact "yes." She was so angry with me that she would hardly tell me goodbye. We hugged and I walked out of the room and out of the door of the facility. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

Steph has been there 2 weeks and has had some very rough days. She could have no contact with us for the first 7 days. That is a very good thing as that is a crucial time for a new patient. I was able to write to her and have sent her a letter every day. We got to talk for the first time last Thursday and I was amazed at how good she sounded. On Friday she had a very bad day and they let her call me. She said she wanted to quit and come home. I told her to give it through the weekend and we would talk on Sunday evening. When we talked on Sunday I could hear a strength in her voice that I haven't heard in a very long time. She said that she was staying because she was going to complete something that she committed to. That is a major step and something that hasn't happened for a couple of years.

Steph said that she is learning so much from the lectures, videos, and the AA meetings that she attends. She has to go to 2 meetings a week and really likes them.

But all of this has not happened by chance. It is God!!! So many people have been praying for her and I have made sure to let her know that. I have been in constant prayer for her. She is working hard and He is giving her the strength. Next Tuesday we have to go to her treatment facility to spend 3 days with her in family counseling. I am sure this is going to be a hard time as it is probably going to open lots of wounds. But sometimes the wounds have to opened to let the poison out so that they can heal.

It has taken me two weeks just to let go of much of the stress that I have been feeling for months. There has been so much turmoil in our home. I can put my head on the pillow at night and not have to worry about where she is.

Steph will get out of treatment on August 5th. I know that coming home is going to be hard because the temptations will be here. But I also know that God is faithful to her and to me. He will walk her through this journey. She may have a relapse. I pray she doesn't. But if she does I know that there is nothing I can do about it. I have to let go and let God work on her. He knows the plan. I just have to go along with it.