Puddle Ducks

(Picture "borrowed" from Flicr ~ I failed to note where ~ so sorry!)

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! I was a single mom for many years, raising my kids on my own without the help of any child support coming my way, so I did what I had to do and worked two jobs for more years than I want to count. I had a hard time, as a lot of parents do, finding good day cares where I felt comfortable leaving my kids. I have some horror stories I could tell, as I'm sure do many of you. I feel like I didn't raise my kids, the sitters did while I was at work making money to pay the daycares. It was a vicious cycle. Anyway, I've always said that when my kids had babies of their own, that I wanted to be the one to watch those babies while they worked, so they wouldn't have to go through the daycare nightmares that I did. Our first grandbaby, little Ayden, is in Germany, so not much I can do there to relieve that pressure for Ryan and Natascha, but Natascha doesn't have to go back to work for quite some time yet and her family is there. Our newest, little Noah, is here and Brittany does have to go back to work pretty soon. We are not in a spot where I can just stay home to watch our grandbaby, so I am doing the next best thing. On November 1st, I am opening a home daycare. My licensing is in place and I have taken the CPR, child abuse and food handling certifications that are needed here in Oregon. Puddle Ducks Day Care is being born. I am structuring my time like a pre-school with music time, letters and numbers, playtime of course, reading time, crafting time, etc... I am so excited and so looking forward to spending my days with these fresh little wonderful people. Yeah for Puddle Ducks!

I have been wanting to show you a couple of things that I have gotten from fellow bloggers lately, so without further adieu...

These sweeter than sweet little baby booties (I think she's calling them Carpet Shoes now) came from Laurie at Old School Acres. I was out making bloggy visits one day, flipped over to Lauries site, and 'Lo and Behold this little booties came up with a post that she had just listed them on etsy. With the little octupus and crab on them, I just had to have them for our new grandson. Living on the coast, they are absolutely perfect. Check out her other "carpet shoes", they are fantastic!


I splurged and bought myself a present for my new craft room a couple of weeks ago. This lovely Mermaid came from Lucy's Etsy shop over at Sweet Repeats. Lucy has recently started selling some of her collages that she's been perfecting. This was one of the first that she had done and I just loved her, so when she started selling them I kept waiting for the Mermaid to show up in her site. When she didn't, I asked Lucy about her. She didn't think anyone would be interested since this was one of her earliest pieces. WRONG! She is hanging right beside my sewing machine. Lucy was one of my very first blogging buddies, so I love that I have a piece of her work in my creative space.


And look what Lucy threw in ~ one of her mini altered clipboards. It's in my favorite fall colors and I just love it. Thanks, Lucy!!


See, I really have been squeezing in a tiny bit of crafting between all the other craziness that's been going on around here lately. I just haven't really completed anything, but it's a new week, things are gonna start happening in that sewing room. Above you can see a new bib that is embroideried and ready for sewing, a little Raggedy Ann doll that needs to be stuffed and sewn, a knitted Christmas stocking in progress, a wool bear stuffie and a cat pin-cushion/needle book. At least I have projects to finish.

May you all be blessed with new adventures...