I'M STILL HERE !!...Along with boxes,paints, textiles, and a Halloween sampler

Hi everyone!!!...I'm still here!!!...Sorry I haven't posted in two weeks....It was two weeks ago today that the Country Sampler photo shoot was here...Needless to say I needed a much NEEDED break...Taylor had left to go to my parents for over a week visit, so I gave myself permission to take a break and get some things done...I did some cleaning out and some x-stitching along with watching movies EVERY afternoon, watching cartoons, and playing with Luke...It was relaxing!!!...I regret that my emails piled up...Linda (Behind My Red Door) and Pam (basketsnprims) along with others emailed to check on me to make sure I was ok...Sorry to worry you!!...I should have posted I was taking a break...I didn't know I needed one so bad!!...Getting ready for the shoot for months wears you out!!...Mentally and physically because you think so much about it and do so much to prepare for it...I think it was harder too because I have a 2 year old and NOTHING stays straight for long....ha!ha!...I laugh as I remember on the day of the shoot I had to remake the bed about 6 times because Luke kept sneaking in our bedroom and playing on the bed when we weren't looking...AWWWW!!!....BOYS!!

Alot of changes this week...Luke's baby bed came down and a toddler bed went up in it's place for now....It was sad, but I don't know why because he only slept in it maybe twice....In the other house he slept in our room in his pack-n-play....Now before you say "OH, Jennifer!!!"....I suffered from post partem and anxiety after Luke was born....It was pretty bad!!!...Along with it I had fears of something happening to him...Looking back it probably is as everyone said that I'd had been through so much with the cancer, miscarriage, and the scares while I was carrying him that it manifested in the post partem...I couldn't let him out of my sight even at night....I had to be able to wake up and see him and know he was safe....And also looking back I was 40, so I was a tad bit more tired than I was when I had Taylor at 23....So it was easier than running to his room all night....So when we moved to this house we are in now there was very little room for a pack-in-play in our room...But I had kept saying he would sleep in his own room when we moved...For the first week I had alot of anxiety with not being able to see him at night in our room...Fears of someone taking him in the night....But it eventually got easier....Not completely gone, but easier!

I still suffer from the anxiety and the move didn't help...Getting use to a new house added to it, but I can finally say that after a year and 4 months in this house I'm pretty much back to normal without having to take anything...I weathered the storm!!!...It has been a long and emotional 2 1/2 years....

I think the hardest part was not trusting and having control over my body...We all need to control things!!!...Having the gestational diabetes I could get the shakes and feel light headed anytime I was out...So after Luke was born my mind still remembered when i would get the shakes and be sick and Tim and Taylor weren't home...I had no control!!!....So I would have the anxiety when they would leave the house...I was afraid to be alone for the first time in my life!!...Or when I had to go somewhere alone....

But i'm proud to say last week with Tim and Taylor gone everyday I suddenly realized that i didn't have that fear anymore....It had gotten better so slowly that I didn't really realize it...So Luke and I had a relaxing week and I'm pretty much back to normal with only minimal anxiety...As normal is!!...

OK, I wasn't going to put my heart on my sleeve and share all ot that...It just seemed to come out....So I guess I was meant to share it!!...Maybe it will help someone going through the same thing....There is light and peace at the end of the tunnel...Not that I'm not still overprotective of my kids....I'm still REALLY over-protective...And it's NOT good for me to watch Nancy Grace and hear about all the child abductions...UGH!!!....But as mothers we all worry about our kids!!!

So needless to say I don't worry about Luke at night anyway because he now sleeps in the bed with us!!..ha!ha!...As soon as he could climb out of the pack-n-play he started getting in the bed with us....But I don't mind...He's only small for a short time...

So now he has the toddler bed in his room with the baby mattress in it which is good for the second change...POTTY TRAINING...I had started it back in January, but decided he wasn't ready and I wanted to wait for warmer weather...So this week we began....Wish us luck!!

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Ok, on to other things...And I will post as long as I can...A bad storm is coming and the thunder has already begun....

Hobby Lobby had their boxes on sale last week, so on Monday we made the hour drive to Aiken, SC to the closest one...I was so disappointed...They are usually so stocked and it isn't unusual for me to leave with 4 carts full piled as high as I can get them....But it was slim pickings this time....So when we met my sister outside Atlanta this past Saturday to pick the girls up...(Taylor had her best friend go with her)....I made plans to meet at the Hobby Lobby to get what they had....So this is my collection ready to be painted...I'm still really disappointed that I couldn't get more, but I have these to work with....

I also wiped both stores out of their Americana Uniform Blue....Michael's doesn't carry it anymore at our local one along with any of the other blues I use, so I will have to start ordering them along with the stain...When I did craft shows and did the folk art painting I use to order from the Artist Club....So I found that they have the blue colors and the stain available...The stain in the bottles that doesn't smell bad and can be applied in the house and has easy clean up...No spending time out in the 90+ temps staining here!!!....I have learned over the years!!

Ooooooops!...I ended up with 2 pics and I couldn't get this one deleted off....

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Here are some old quilt and textile pieces I got in the mail on Monday...I ordered them from Tammy of A Primitive Place.....I absolutely love them...The red will be perfect for Christmas...And I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the blue textile pieces....I'm always on the lookout for them...

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And last but not least...This is my first Halloween/Fall sampler completed....I absolutely love it!!!!....The fabric measures 14 3/4" by 18"......So it is a large piece of linen....It is a Stacy Nash design....And heavily antiqued!!!...It took me a while, so I'm glad I've completed it and on to something new....SOLD!!!!

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I have so much more to share, but it will have to wait!!!....I hope you're having a good week and enjoying your last days of summer...It is funny saying that because I'm not sure when ours ends.....It will be HOT and HUMID when I start decorating for Fall...It always is....We will have some cool weather, but it's not uncommon for us to have a warm Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas....In fact this past Christmas Day til New Years we were wearing shorts and had the screens open on the doors here at home while it was very cold up in Chattanooga when we were visiting a few days earlier.....So we'll see what this Fall and Winter brings....But we should have some cooler weather by the end of September...HOPEFULLY!!!...So we have a ways to go yet, but Fall is coming!!!...YEAH!!...The BEST time of the year!!!...Right Linda!?!?!?....I know you're nodding your head girl!!...ha!ha!..

So until next time!!!!....hugs, Jen