In Loving Memory Of My Dad

Today I'm remembering my dad, he was my step father, but in my eyes he was my DAD. He raised me like his own child from the age of 1. He was born August 20th 1936. He passed away on May 21st 2009, 3 years ago today from Cardiac Arrest & Coronary Artery disease. There wasn't one thing that my dad couldn't do. He was the most hardest working man that I've ever known. He lived a full life. In his younger years he was a miner for the Prospectors of "59 in the northern cascade mountains. He served in the army from 1959-1962. He was a private E1 (P) and a welder and blacksmith. He earned medals as a marksman (Rifle M-1 & Carbine). He worked at the Van Horn Mill in Everett Washington. He married my mother on November 17, 1966 and had 4 children. He worked for the Washington State Dept of Highways in Seattle, Washington. He was a logger for years. He had his own log trucking business and was a log truck driver. He could run any piece of equipment out there. My mother and him drove long haul trucks together for several years, all over the united states. He enjoyed fishing, camping, hunting, and building a log home from scratch with my mom, he loved making things from wood and working with his hands. One of the things I will treasure all my life is the wooden wishing well he made for me for one of my Birthdays, it resides in my back yard. He loved working on motors and collecting all kinds of things. In his later years he enjoyed playing games on the computer, listening to sports on the radio while watching another sports game on tv, and going to the casino with my mom. He loved my moms cooking, especially her lemon mereign pie and home made bread. My dad dedicated his life to providing for his family. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of you Dad! We love and miss you soooooo much! Thank you for being my dad!

Oooh So Busy With Photos

As summer approaches many of us are so busy with camping, BBQ's, fishing and all sorts of outings with family members. That holds true for us too. I've been busy with many things lately, which I will talk about one by one with photos. We've been working on our home for god knows how long now. We finished getting our kitchen cabinets, countertops and new appliances in. I still need to put new handles on my cupboards yet, but for the most part the kitchen and living room are done. When the handles are attached to the cabinets I will post photos. A couple of weeks ago we started on our only bathroom. This bathroom had all the updates from the 1970's. White tiny tile floor, oak vanity with a white plastic countertop, and old porcelain tub & shower surround. It was absolutely disqusting! And that's putting it mildly. Everytime I went into the bathroom I wanted to take a seldge hammer to the floor. You could never keep it clean. The toilet was so old it had rust everywhere on it or in it! So let the mess begin. We've taken down a couple of walls due to the way the last remodel was done. We have the new walls up, and the new tub and shower surround in. But what a dusty mess! Sanding down the putty for a smooth surface makes for a dusty mess. And there's more dust to come. It seems you can clean and clean and it still keeps coming. I will be SO GLAD WHEN THE DRY WALL PART OF IT IS DONE! Here's a photo of some of the work, that's my hubby doing the work himself.

Here's the new tub & shower, it's nothing fancy, but it's better than what we had.

I've also been spending time with my grand kids. It's been really nice and sunny here in Washington so when I'v had them we play outside. Here's some recent photos of the girls. Brailynn is two and Madilynn turned 9 months on Mothers Day.

I've been busy painting too. I just finished this canister for a customer. I just love how it turned out. It's a Jamie Mills-Price design. I will put it on my website soon.

I had unpublished my hand painted category on my website so I could catch up on orders. That didn't work to good, I was found on Facebook, lol. So I turned the pages back on and will continue to take orders. I'm so greatful and blessed that so many of you want my items in your homes. I feel bad that sometimes you have to wait for your items due to the backlog of orders I receive, but I'm only one person, and I can only paint so fast. So thank you all for waiting. The other day I received a phone call from one of those customers who had to wait. She told me that the items I painted for her we're well worth the wait, and that she loved them so much, and was surprised at how nice they were. That made me feel sooooooooo good! I will post a photo from her on my blog tomorrow of what I painted for her, and how they look in her home. One of the other reasons I had unpublished my hand painted category on my website was so I could make some new things and offer them once I got caught up on my website orders. Now that those pages are published again, I decided I'm just going to have to get up early in the morning and work on the new things for a couple of hours otherwise I won't get any new items made. So I'll be posting some new things soon & and their going to be really cute! I'm offering a new way to save money on products through my website. Everyday I send out a newsletter offering one item that has been marked down for the day. The only way to know what item I've marked down, is to receive my newsletter. You can sign up for my newsletters on my website. It's on the left hand side at the bottom. I do not rent or sell your email address to anwyone! This is only for you to be able to purchase my products at a discounted rate. Ok, this was a long post, sorry but had to catch ya up! Take Care ~Jody~