I Felt Like This But Because of You I Now Feel Like This!

Yes ~ This was me just last week

But look at me now! See the me after the clouds parted. Oh' yeah, I guess the miracle is I turned into a grinning Cheshire Cat from a Sad Little Puppy!!!! (I don't know where I found these pictures but think they are so cute and thank you to someone).

Oh' My Goodness. Because of all your love and all your warmth and kindness I have so much to be grateful for today. I wish I could paint a different picture of what the last two weeks have been like but I'm not going to do that. It was what it was. It was not pretty. It was not fun. It was a struggle. But it was a struggle that I could have never gotten through had it not been for the people that loved me enough here in blogland. I'm not exaggerating.....it's true the words that you shared with me. The time you spent to visit me is truly and most certainly what saw me through. Thank you all so much. I wish I could send every single one of you a bouquet of spring flowers.

There you go not a huge Miracle Monday for most but quite a big one from me. The miracle itself besides changing from a dog to a cat, is the way The Lord has used each and everyone of you to help me. You've sent me messages of love and comfort. Suggestions and overall support to encourage me. I know so many of you have prayed for me and lifted me up to our Father. Thank you, Thank you!!! I know there have probably been prayers that I never knew about but our Father did and they did not go unheard. Thank you for those who thought of me but didn't say anything. I have been amazed!

And Kate you've were a lifeline. Thank you for checking in on me many times per day and seeing me through. Thank you immensely!!!

I love each of you and pray that you know just what you all have done for me. I know that it takes more than prayer. It takes searching for answers with Drs, my life, and a lot of hard work. The crisis time has passed for now. I know my battle of depression is not over but I'm hear today only because of the kindness you have given me. May God bless each of you over and over for your kindness and love.

Warmest of love and hugs to each of you......Tracy :)

I Want This and I Bet You Will Too!

There is a new giveaway in Blogland and to be quite honest I really hope I win this. It looks so calming and precious.

Julie over at Prairie Thistle is celebrating her 400th blog post. She has created this absolutely gorgeous Madonna and Child Reliquary for a Giveaway.

Click on her name or here to go to Prairie Thistle. Here's what you need to do to be entered in the Giveaway...

1. Become a follower of Prairie Thistle blog.

2. Post a link on your blog, feel free to use any of the images from her giveaway.

3. Leave a comment on Prairie Thistle blog.

Julie's is a mixed media artist. Her blog is full of beautiful photos and where you can see her love of nature, vintage nostalgia, yoga and living on the prairie. I really think you will enjoy her blog as much as I did. I just found her today and thought I would pass this along to you ~ oh' yeah and I wanted to enter and win this, BAD!!!

Hugs Dear Friends.....Tracy :)

Do You Have A Miracle You'd Like To Share?

Calling all angels / friends (same thing to me). I'm having a little trouble. I have so many people in blog land that I love. People, like you that I just love to visit. I enjoy seeing all your beautiful creations, hearing about all of your memories and family love. So today I'm asking if you can share a little love with me and my readers.

Do you have a miracle big or small? Do you have just a thankful heart for something? It can be the simplest of things. Maybe you have a really big something. Maybe you've just heard or read a good news story in your town. I know I would sure love to hear it and I bet a lot of other people would too. Good news does the heart good! And I love, I mean I really do love small town news stories. It must be the small town girl in me. Is there someone who took a moment to speak to you? Something that just radiated with you? I'd love to be able to appreciate it with you.

To those who noticed.... I was absent last Monday. I'd been sick and going to the Dr. so I didn't get to post anything. This week I am just a bad girl. Here it is 8pm and all I have for you is this post with more questions than answers.

I really want this blog to be a happy place. I am grateful to our Lord for every blessing. I am not somehow happy with myself. I shouldn't say it out loud it really doesn't accomplish a thing. I feel like I'm at the end of I don't know what. I hope I haven't ran anyone off yet. Who wants to keep hearing drama? But I feel sick, literally sick of myself. I just hurt inside. I hurt in my heart, and I hurt in my gut. And I'm sorry to say it to all of you but I just feel like a rag twisted tight and like gushes of water are going to come pouring out. Have you ever just wanted to run and get under the blankets until it passes? I really want to run into a loving Grandmothers arms and just cry and not have to feel better to make her happy but to just have her love and comfort me until it passes. I would love to have a retreat, like a women's church retreat to go to but I don't belong to a particular church anymore and if I did right now I couldn't come up with the money. I feel so lost and so unhappy with me. Not with anyone but me. Not my circumstances but with me. And it's all my fault if you want things to be better you have to do something about them. What's wrong with me, I just don't. Why can't I be grateful that I don't have a devastating illness or I've had a better life then so many others.

And don't get me wrong, even worse I know I have nothing physical to be upset about. I have the most wonderful people in blog land stop by and say some of the kindest things. And I swear I'm not fishing for compliments. I just genuinely hurt/ache! God forgive me for complaining or not appreciating enough of what has be given to me. I hate sounding desperate, but right now I feel desperate. I love each of you. I admire all of you. I hope you all know that.

Best of everything to all of you. All my love, Tracy

Petite Valentine Inspiration Box Swap

Hi Ya'll. I'm dying to show you all the pretties that I received from my latest swap. Heather at Speckled-Egg hosted the most fun swap for Valentine's Day called Petite Valentine Inspiration Box Swap. She put us in groups of 4 and we all made made altered match boxes and filled them with lots of little goodies. All my swap partners were just so generous. Look at all the different things. That's what's so fun about swapping, you get to see everyone elses take on the theme. I hope you'll take a minute to stop by Heather, Kris, Tia & Stacy's blogs. They are all so creative.

The first one above is from Kris at Loves Me Some Crafts it was filled to the brim and over flowing with vintage goodies! There were tons of charms and valentines and even chocolates packaged so sweetly. Um, you're not seeing a picture of those because, well ya'll know I can't wait on chocolate. It went quick. And there was even a little vintage note book in there. My terribly old camera doesn't take the best pictures but her beautiful box is in there. It was covered in a wonderful vintage map with glittery (we all love glitter) red hearts and pink vintage wings. And it was all packaged in a pretty red burlap! Thank you so much Kris. I love it all.


Above you'll find the oh' so cute box that Tia from Domestic Underground created and covered in vintage paper. On the outside she had this precious little porcelain baby's hand holding the pretties glittery pink heart. And it was filled with the most precious items. There was a sweet little Valentine box covered with lace and inside a tiny little bottle of precious silver glitter. I get excited over miniature things. Did you notice the darlin' cupcake picture holder? There was a pretty pink flocked velvet heart, pink tickets to craft with, lots of cards, a bingo card and other crafting goodies which I love. Tia, thank you for so many lovelies!

Above is a photo of the stash that Stacy from Creative Muse sent me. This lovely box full of pink and red goodies covered in a pretty pink paper and tied up with tulle was just precious. Every time I see tulle I automatically think of weddings. Look at the beautiful heart and jeweled pin she created! Isn't it just so sweet. It had the sweetest little cigar wraps in red and gold. There were satin roses and even candy beads for a necklace, which promptly got eaten. Really you can't leave sweets around me. This was so fun Stacy. Thanks for being my swap buddy!

I'll come back and post the boxes I sent them tomorrow. Thank you Heather for putting this together. And a big thanks to Kris, Tia and Stacy for being such generous swap partners.

Happy Valentine's Weekend Ya'll. Hugs....Tracy :)

3 More Giveaways For You

Wow, there are so many giveaways out there. I'm trying to keep up ~ no, make that catch up, and I'm doing my best to try and put them together for you in a few posts.

No. 1 - My friend Melissa over at Melissa's Home and Heart is hosting a giveaway featuring Lisa Leonard custom stamped silver jewelry. I love these necklaces. Stop by Melissa's by clicking here. You can click on Lisa's name above to visit her sight and view all her lovelies. She has several ways for you to enter. Good luck!


Giveaway #2


What says Valentines more than jewelry. And bloggers are so lucky because we have access to the most creative people in the world. I found a new blog today. Patine Soul is devoted to "The love of all things old, time worn, chipped, tattered, torn and aged to perfect". I know you'll like this blog. She is hosting a giveaway featuring jewelry designs Erin Kate, from www.eKate.etsy.com.

The winner of this giveaway will get a $40.00 Gift Certificate to use to purchase one of her wonderful hand-stamped jewelry designs. On February 14th one lucky winner will be chosen. So be sure to stop by Patina Soul , just click on her name and enter. To see more of Erin's jewelry designs just click on her etsy address above.

Giveaway # 3

Oh' all you girls out there that love wonderful old goodies, you're going to be so happy about this! Sweet Lisa over at Tarnished and Tattered is giving away a wonderful basket full of goodies to say thank you to her readers. My heart is still skipping beats. Just go by Lisa's blog Tarnished and Tattered and leave her a comment. Her blog is so lovely. I bet you'll stick around for awhile once you get there.

Well that's it for now ya'll, not that there isn't a ton more out there. Maybe I can get some more listed tomorrow. Good luck!

Hugs Sweet Friends

Bloggers Syndrome

I hope you can see this whole picture. I don't remember where I found this image it's been so long. But I love it. I would love to have a secret garden and a place where you could just stumble upon this amazing sculpture. I just thought this perfectly symbolizes how I feel in this blog post. I just can't keep up with Martha and I'm beginning to think ya'll might have her beat.

When I was younger, it was Martha Stewart syndrome and now it's bloggers syndrome. I was so naive in the early years of Martha. Like most women I thought she is amazing, how does she do it all. What a failure I am ~ I don't have that energy. Well neither did she. You would have to be inhuman to make 40 hours fit into 24. Admittedly she does have incredible amounts of energy but if you think that her house and family were bright and shiny with fresh baked Christmas ornaments well how wrong you would be.

You'd think I would have learned but no I'm now blinded by the glitzy shine of it all. I can't stop looking and I keep thinking how are they doing it all. I don't even have children at home. How do you look and create, much less keep a home or have a real life. I just love blogging. I too would love to get paid or even perks for it but for now I'm just pedaling as fast as I can trying to catch up.

There are so many wonderful giveaways out there and I want to share them with everyone but right now it seems I'm barely keeping up just leaving a basic post myself. I've got lots of things I've worked on that I'd like to post soon. And I'm going to try to get you a big ole' list of giveaways posted too. Stay tuned and try to stay warm. This is the craziest weather.

Love ya'll.....Tracy :)

You'll want to SEE this new giveaway I found.

Laura at Unpaint is hosting a new giveaway. She is the mom of Lily a toddler and blogs about her life and lots of giveaways and product reviews. Her newest giveaway is one a lot of us could use. GlassesUSA is sponsoring this giveaway and one winner will receive their choice of frames (with your prescription)- single-vision prescription eyeglasses (for distance OR reading correction). Giveaway ends Thursday, February 24, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. For your chance to win a pair you can click here and see Laura's post and leave her a comment. Remember I'm not hosting the giveaway so you will need to visit Laura at Unpaint. Good luck everyone!

Hugs...Tracy :)

Friends Like You Bless Me

Hey Ya'll. I'm so excited and so honored. My darlin' friend Cindi from Tally's Place has given me my very 1st Blog award. The Happy Blog award. And believe me I am!!!

Now to accept this award I must tell you 10 things that make me happy and then I will pass this on to 10 more blogs that make me happy too. You know the old saying Pay It Forward - So here we go.

10 wonderful things that make me happy:

1. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost
2. My Family ~ Neil, my son Ty & wife Christal & Grandchildren Zack, Ki'a & Tristan
3. Chocolate, particularly Godiva & Lindtz
4. Giving others something that's just what they wanted or never expected & seeing them smile
5. Shopping though I've slowed down to null. I love a great bargain. Whether through sale or coupon or better yet both. Love to walk out with it free.
6. A freshly manicured lawn ~ Oh' that smell & just for that short while it looks magnificent
7. Traveling anywhere
8. My Pets
9. Creativity whether doing it or viewing it
10. I have to say it......I love contest and sweepstakes or better yet when someone lets me know they think about me. I can't help it, it makes me feel loved and like I make a difference to someone. (Like Cindi).

Now...the 10 blogs I send this award to (in alphabetical order):

1. Beneath My Heart
2. Carol Anne's Boutique
   
3. Cherry Kingdom
   
4. Common Ground
5. Creative Breathing
6. Deb's Country Crafts
   
7. Fiona and Twig
   
8. GypsyMermaidLife
9. Living Beautifully
   
10. The Feathered Nest

I hope everyone will take a moment and visit the blogs I've listed that may be new to you. Thank you Cindi for showing me the Love! Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Hugs....Tracy :)

My Vintage Studios Picked Me ~ See What I Won

I won the most wonderful giveaway! Take a peek at all the goodies that Sharon over at My Vintage Studio sent to me earlier this week. You can click here to go visit her, she has a wonderful site and you'll be happy you did. I would have posted it earlier but I was in bed sick.

Boy did this package of goodies put a smile on my face! Look at the bright colors of the hand towel. You probably know by now that the red, aqua's & blues are fast becoming my favorite colors. And with me you can never go wrong with pink and pastels. I know I'm all over the board. I love earthy tones too.

When Sharon posted this giveaway she showed the plate, towel, pot holder, syrup pitcher ~ isn't that so cute with the bright red lid, and the Betty Crocker cook booklet ~ notice the color is coordinated with the other items. It all made a perfect package but Sharon didn't stop there. Just take a look at all the other fun stuff she included. It was all a surprise and I felt like I'd won not one but two giveaways. Oh' Happy Days.... Oh' Happy Days.... Can you hear me singing that old spiritual. It's probably better if you can't. Ha-ha! She added more than 20 vintage postcards ~ I'm LOVIN' that!!!! There are just so many fun craft pieces, I can't wait to get started.


The milk glass plate with the plums is soooo pretty. I'm crazy about it and the too cute vintage pot holder.

Under the Weather or Sheets

Hi everyone.

I just wanted to let ya'll know, that I'm partially here. I try to check in every now and then but I've been sick and not really up too much. I can't wait to get better so I can post and share my very first award with ya'll. Plus I won and receive a wonderful giveaway package and I have lovely swaps to share with you when I feel better.

So don't forget me while I'm out of circulation, cause I'm always thinking about ya'll.

Hugs and hope you all have the best weekend. Love, Tracy :)

2 Valentine Giveaways - Guys Never Get It Right But Girls Always Do

Okay, we all know that most guys just can't seem to get it right when it comes to Valentines Day. I didn't say all, I've heard about all the great guys, romantic, smart, know's how to keep a woman happy, in other words a perfect shopper. Well this year I'm working on making myself happy this Valentines. I started with a wonderful Valentine Swap, which I will post more about tomorrow. So here are a few to good to be true Valentine Giveaways for you.

Giveaway #1:

Thank goodness for Dawn at The Feather Nest. If I ever miss a giveaway I can count on her to share it with me.

This time it's Diane over at Diane Knott's Musings who's having the giveaway. Just click here to enter. I just love her beautiful creations. She has made the most beautiful collage plus a pin cushion (which is almost to pretty to stick) and precious valentin tags. I thought about being greedy and not sharing because I really, really want this - you know to make my Valentines perfect all by myself (okay with the help of my blog friends) this year. But I quickly came to my senses and remembered that's just not what blogland is all about. It's all about sharing and how could I not be a friend to Diane and help spread the word and how could I not let all my friends know about it too. So we'll all sit together with our fingers crossed until February 14th when a winner is chosen.

Giveaway #2:


One of my sweet friends Donna over at Brynwood Needleworks is hosting a Sweetheart Valentine Giveaway. She has loaded this one with goodies. Another one of bloglands talented treasures, she creates beautiful needlework creations. For this giveaway she has handmade the most darling wool Valentine pillow decorated with hearts and flowers for the centerpiece of her giveaway. But of course that's just the centerpiece ~ she's added lots more goodies for the giveaway. Just click here to go by and sign up to be a new follower if your not already and enter. Donna will draw a winner on February 13th. You'll be happy you follower here even without a giveaway.

Good Luck Ya'll!!!!

Hugs....Tracy :)