Teaching Little Girls Jewelry Making

Today Mom and I had a great time teaching 11 little girls how to make jewelry. The PTA at my sons school asked us if we would participate in the PTA's Enrichment Program. Of course we would love too! So, Mom and I spent last night putting bracelet kits together and preparing for today.

Our first session, 5 girls from the 4th and 5th grade came in and we explained who we were and what we were going to do. You never can tell about kids now a days but, they were very excited to get started. We began with the simple earrings we had planned to make, then next came the bracelets. I was ready to see all kinds of "interesting" designs. Much to our surprise they were very good at making wonderful patterns and we helped them finish up the bracelets with crimps and split rings.


The second session was a group of 6 girls this time 3rd and 4th graders. It was exciting to help them learn the different jewelry terms and tools. They all did very well with their designs also. Both Mom and I had a fantastic time with all the children, it was a great experience. Maybe we have started the next great jewelry designer on her way!


Next year my son will be in middle school but, I will let the PTA know we would love to be apart of the program again:)

Mom and I Visit the Auction!

We have a local auction house that we just love to go to. They have an inhouse auction every Wednesday night. Other auctions are onsite where the estate happens to be. One very memorable trip was by myself as Mom and Dad had company and Mom wasn't able to go. Well, needless to say I came home with more than I planned on spending. Mom immedately informed me I was not to go to the auctions again unless she could go and suppervise my spending.


The auction house is our biggest source of vintage goods. We find lots of great items that we resell in our GramsVintageButtons Etsy shop and our LottieMaesVintage shop also on Etsy.


A few weeks passed and a great auction was coming up. Mom and I went to the regular inhouse auctoin with the intent on looking for a FEW things to add to our growing vintage stock. We came prepared with pad and paper, Mom wrote down the items we really thought would make fabulous additions to our shops. There was a little bit of this and of that, we knew we just had to have and then there were items, that if we could get them at a good deal, and so on.


I forgot to mention, my oldest son works at this auction house and has for the last 3 years :) So, Mom and I get to sit right up front. Now you see, we had every intention of sticking to the list but, there were these deals on such awesome stuff....;) Before we knew what we were doing, we had trays and boxes full of teriffic goodies!! It took to guys to haul everything to our van.


Bottom line....Mom helped us spend twice as much as when I went alone. If you like vintage, keep checking on our shops because it will take us quite some time to get all of this listed.


Here is a sample of our New Years 08 Vintage find - buttons and buttons and more buttons.

Russell and Cody - Their Turn

Russell has lived with us for almost 6 years now. He came to us a 6 week old puppy. We had just lost our beloved Doberman "Rusty". He was the most beautiful red doberman you have ever seen. Yes, I know, we were a bit bias but, he had the nicest shape. You know the ones, the big huge chest and little bitty waist. I would loved to have had that shape myself :) But, at 10 years old he got sick and he went to doggie heaven. In my grief we went and got a puppy! I needed a dog to love. So, I just happened to talk to my brother who lives 600 some odd miles away and told him of our puppy search. Well, he just so happen to have pasted the television set and "WishBone" was on and out of his mouth came - "Why not get a JRT?" "A what?", I asked. "You know, that cute little well behaved dog from the T.V." "Oh, sounds good." Right?!

Well, not really!

But, my hubby obliged and off we went to get our new pup. I picked up every puppy there. One that I kept picking up would go right up my neck and cuddle with me. Sold!! We'll take him. My family had discussion after discussion on what to name him. R2 for Rusty the second, Repeat, Ditto, and so on. We finally settled on Russell which we figured was a proper name for Rusty. Russell was only six weeks old when we got him and if you get only one thing from this story it would be - Don't get a puppy that young! I am sure Russell truly believes I'm his Momma :)

And guess what?! WishBone is a very well trained dog and has to be on T.V. for 5 minutes at a time. Real JRTs are very active, very hyper, very protective and they jump up and down just like the commercial on T.V. Moral to my story - never listen to your brother who lives 600 some odd miles away!

Ok, then every time my in-laws came with their dog, Russell was actually better behaved. Even after LottieMae came to visit - now that she is big - Russell was a very good dog. I came up with this fantastic idea! Let's adopt a dog!! I begged and pleaded for my hubby to let me get another dog. Yup, he loves me, we got another dog. Cody is a Brittney. His owner had passed away and his family was unable to care for him. We were so happy, he was just the kind of dog we wanted. A dog that had been loved and wanted all his life but, due to unfortunate events lost his master. We didn't want a dog with issues - we had one of those :) Cody is the sweetest dog you ever will meet. He is a role model for his little brother Russell. Well, most of the time :) He learned quickly that once you come inside from potty time you get a treat. I do swear that Cody will hold some back just he can go out again and come back in just to get his treat. He knows just where the treats are kept even when we move them around, he finds them.

I keep in touch with Cody's Aunts, they send letters and have sent some of his puppy pictures. I hope they know how much we love Cody and will care for him always. He is such a wonderful big brother to Russell. When Russell gets in trouble he has to go to his crate. Cody will remind us that Russell has spent enough time "in the corner" and we should let him out.

Cody is in love with LottieMae. He takes bones outside and leaves them so LottieMae will come over and get them. He gets all jumpy happy when she comes to visit. Yes, as you can tell we love our dogs. Hope you enjoyed my stories and the pictures of these wonderful furry friends :)

Matt, my brother visiting at Thanksgiving - he thinks Russell is a great dog. Of course this is the one time he is actually behaving, go figure ;)

Just Who Is Lottie Mae?

Well, I am glad you asked :)

Lottie was my Dad's grandmother and Mae was my Mother's Mom. I never met my great-grandmother Lottie but, my Father said she was a sweet and loving grandmother. Mae my grandmother, I knew very well. I am the first grandchild of the first daughter so, I feel we had a special relationship. Gram and I shared many wonderful times together. As the grand kids had their own children we called Gram, GG. Gram-GG has been gone for 10 years now and we miss her dearly.

On to the rest of the story. Two years ago my parents, who still lived in Virginia had lost their beloved cat Reilly to illness/old age and were considering a new pet. Dad wanted a standard Schnauzer, anyone who is familiar with this breed knows this is a huge dog. Reilly was a big cat but, Mom cringed at the thought of a mini horse in the house.

Luckily for Mom, while on vacation in New York they found out that a relative had been breeding mini Schnauzers for a while and was expecting a litter in a few weeks. So, they went home to Virginia and waited the birth of the puppies. At last they were born and ready for adoption. Mom and Dad drove to my house in New York, an 11 hour trip. They spent the night and first thing in the morning my Dad, hubby and sons set off to get the puppy. Mom had spent 11 hours in the car the day before and opted out of the 8 hour round trip to get the puppy and come back to our house.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this was in January and in central New York we have snow at that time of year. Off the boys went to get a fur ball and Mom and I went shopping for beads :) and other important things.

By dinner time Mom and I had shopped till we dropped and the boys were just getting home with an adorable ball of fur. She was the cutest little thing. I asked Dad what he would name the puppy. He said "Lottie Mae". Lottie Mae? Where did you get a name like that? Well, he told me what I've already told you. A sweet little name for a sweet little puppy, right? Yeah, she is the sweetest little dog you will ever met. Ok, well I am off a bit on that one. Lottie Mae is very sweet and everyone wants to take her home with them. The issue is she has gone from a little puppy to a portly little dog :)

Let's back up a bit. Mom and Dad took their new baby home. Mom held her alllll the way home, all 11 hours. Spoiled, no of course not, she's just a baby. I called Mom every day as apart of my normal habit but, now we had a long discussion on the "BABY". She did this or did that fun thing or "She is so smart!". Yeah, she was smart, she was wrapping 2 grown ups around her little paws ;) She was fussy about her food so, Mom would hand feed her till she ate from her bowl, like ever happened! Mom and Dad held her and rocked her so she would be happy. Dad started training her, she was very smart! She learned quickly and thus earned her spot as the smartest dog in the WORLD!

Just to add a note here, we have a dog a JRT-Jack Russell Terror (not a spelling error) he had an issue with "Darling Lottie Mae". He is after all a hunting dog and a little grey furry critter was open invitation for hunting time. So, needless to say every time I talked to Mom or Dad they would ask how my ROTTEN dog was.

A year passes and Mom and Dad come for Christmas. Wow, they get out of the car and out comes this huge grey furry critter. They come into the house and Russell runs for his life :) Lottie Mae struts her stuff and lets Russell know she is the Queen and doesn't go for any of his silliness.

Here are some photos of Sweet Lottie Mae. I'll finish her story later. Hope you enjoyed getting to know her :)