My gift from God twenty years ago today!!!

My daughter Kaitlin was born 20 years ago today! So hard to believe!! She's already in her third year of college!! She is a hard worker and high achiever. She is very involved with our United Methodist Flint District and is the head of the Young Adults for all of the Flint District. She is putting together a Breast Cancer Walk through the United Methodist Women for the Flint District in October. She is designing the shirts, and they are green and pink, and say "Walk by Faith". Which is what she does.

She is a special sister to her brother Danny who is autistic.

She is a best friend and a big Detroit Tigers fan!!

She is a beautiful young lady and a blessing to our life.

Happy Birthday Kaitlin!!

Thought I'd show you our little Caylee Bug!!

Caylee is four in a half months old now. She's smiles alot and always seems to have this cute serious look on her face!! We went down and had a cookout with the boys and their girls. It was a beautiful day. Caylee is so cute, of course!!  

Here is Grannie Frannie and Caylee just chilling in my lawn chair. I got two of them at an estate sale. You can see part of my daughter Brooke in the yellow one. Note that mine has brown and orange! I love them. This is Labor Day weekend and I can't believe summer is almost over!! Today our weather was really chilly and windy!! I loved it, I made a pork roast in the oven, and was loving the heat in the house!! No humidity!! I even canned tomatoes!! I got 2 quarts and 3 pints!! It's gonna be so awesome to have them for chili this winter! and the best part is the tomatoes were given to me, free!! Sim and I went to a bomb fire tonight, very chilly and alittle rainy, but it was nice to wear jeans and sweatshirts!! Kaitlin and I did alot of cleaning and getting stuff for a benefit rummage sale for a family in need. It feels good to be able to pay it forward and still get some things done here. Suppose to be warm again tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. XO Fran.

Sharing some love, friendship, and a little nesting!!!

Back in June my friend Lori did a bird swap! I was on vacation and tried to sign up through email stealing wifi from behind a coffee house. Well, me and computers, mainly me do not work well together, so I sent it to cyberspace, one again. When I got back I resent an email to Lori that she actually got. The swap was already assigned, but Lori has the biggest loving, caring heart, and said she would swap with me. I really love crows. She does not!! But she sent me some cool things. I wanted to share them with you. One I am saving to show with my Fall decorations. Lori knows I am planning a new craft/studio. So, she sent me this awesome burlap holder with black birds on it and she tied all of these ribbons on it. I have decided on these colors for the room. And of course my favorite brown and orange.

I've put my Where Women Create magazines in it. They fit perfect and I only get them with my 40% off coupon from Joann's. Most of the time I go to Borders, have my chai tea, warmed chocolate chip cookie, and look at all the magazines!! I am always writing things down. One of my favorite dates with Sim.

 

Lori made this awesome sign for my new room!! I put some of my favorite things with it!! The birds nest is a real Robins nest that Sim's Mom gave him for his birthday if he came over and got it!! He got two of them!! Those robins build some awesome nest!! I love my coffee and this coffee cup! This special sign will be going right over my desk area where I can see it!! The weather is finally starting to break alittle here in Michigan and that means we can start painting real soon!! I can't wait!! Thank you my friend Lori for letting me put alittle bit of our friendship in a room that will mean so much to me.

A few pictures and memories of our vacation!!!

This is Lake Huron, a small beach in Forestville we found. We love this beach as it is usually not very busy. These were in the water from a family that was resting on the beach. We just thought that was an awesome picture.

On our first weekend, we spent the day at a Civil War Re-enactment. It was amazing! The people really act like that time period. One of my favorites was the cemetery walk we did of the Civil War veterans of the town of Port Sanilac. There were quite alot of men who were in the Civil War. This is the guy who led us around to all of their graves and gave a brief history of them. Of course my love of history made this such a special thing for us to do. 

These guys did a gun salute for the memory of the Civil War veterans, and taps was being played in the distance from a bugle. We all had our hands on our hearts and looking at the flag. I couldn't help but cry.

This man here who served for us, had a farm he and his wife raised their kids on, and farmed their land until he died. We were going down the road M-25 that follows Lake Huron. And I saw a road sign that said Basler. There are alot of farms and dirt roads around this area. I said to Sim, I know that name is one of the Civil War veterans. So we went down it to see if the farm was still standing. Couldn't tell, but this is what we saw on this very special road!!

The beauty of God's World.

It's nice to get away, but it's good to be home too!!

This is The Raymond House Inn Bed and Breakfast in Port Sanilac, where we stayed on most of our vacation! It is an old beautiful house restored. It has nine bedrooms!! That also includes the Inn Keepers. We had the most wonderful breakfasts!! Christy is the owner along with her husband Gary. Christy and I bonded over creating!! She has a gallery in the back of the Inn. She makes the most awesome things! She is making china plate pins, earrings, and bracelets. She cuts the plates herself and puts the jewerly parts on. Every year Sim and I go to Port Sanilac, Michigan this time of year for the annual Antique and Yard Sale around the Thumb. It is almost 200 miles long! Sim and I only make it to a couple of cities. It takes all day, and it's three days long. We like to go on Friday. The first day. I was on the hunt of course for cool vintage items. Especially sewing, black and white photos, etc. I did find quite a bit. I save up dimes all year for this, and had a yard sale of my own. I also had something new to look for!! Christy showed me everything there is to know about china!! LOL So I found a few items for her too! She said as a thank you, she is going to send me a pin!! There was a plate I fell in love with!! It was gold,orange, and black!! Just my colors!! Sim has even got in on the creative bug now!! She told him he should start making and selling with me! That's what her and her hubby do!! So, he is starting to make very prim wind chimes!! He got the coolest rusty and other type things to start making them with!! I'll show a pic when he gets one done!! After the weather gets better I'll be kicking out some items too! I am so excited about the cool things I got!! My mind is creating but my laundry and house are calling me!! Shucks! Hope everyone is staying cool. It's good to be home!! XO Fran.