Too Busy for Me.. Just Venting!

Frustration leads the day today. I was supposed to open my Etsy.com shop yesterday, but alas, my items to list are not quite finished. I am so busy cooking, cleaning, laundry, feeding five people and two dogs, laundry and did I mention LAUNDRY, that I NEVER have time to sit down and sew. I'm not complaining, I just wish I could figure out how to fit everything in. Anyone else have this problem? I see other Primitive business owners just producing their product like crazy and very creatively, I might add. If I ever do get a moment, I'm so physically tired or brain dead from all of the noise that I can't think!

You ask how am I finding time now? Well, the dryer is going, the kids are eating lunch and I'm on hold with an important phone call, so thought I'd drop a line or two on my blog while I wait.

Here's the deal for those of you who do not know. I just turned forty-four a couple of days ago. I have two grown children, a daughter 25 and a son 18 (picture to the right.) My daughter has two children ages 3 and 4 1/2. She went into the Air Force at eighteen, got married, he turned out to be a bum. The Grandchildren have been with us all but about 3 months of the oldest and all of the youngest life. I was there for my grandson's birth and was the first to hold him. That was special. My son was a C-Section and I didn't even get to hold him for hours.

Alex age 2

You know, in  1996, I began praying for the Lord to allow me to have more babies. My doctors gave me a 3% chance of ever having more children... my son is truly a miracle.  God doesn't always answer our prayers the way that we think He will, so I can't argue that these two precious babies are looking to me for their care right now.  However, I'm getting a little old for the energy they have, Soooo.... sometimes I get fussy and I wonder how in the world I'm going to keep up. I was supposed to be doing this.. and doing that.. blah blah.. then they smile and hold their little arms up to me... then it's all heaven on earth again.

Robin, age 4

I don't know why things happen the way they do. We just have to hang on and trust that there is a higher Power in charge. Of course, I'm a Christian, so I believe Jesus/God is that one and only higher Power.  He knows how much I can handle and I can just call on Him when I think I can't do it anymore. The trick is finding joy in it all and not getting upset when things aren't quite going the way I think they should.

In closing, I'm going to try harder to find joy in all things. I enjoy making my primitives, so I will keep striving to do so. Lord, help me to keep my attitude straight, my eyes on You first and the children in my life happy and safe... including my "grown-up" ones.
By the way... I'm still on hold!

Some of My Dolls

I know.. I know.. I haven't posted anything in a while. This blogging thing is hard to get used to. We've been real busy too, which makes it more difficult to remember to update things!

I've been busy working on my new website that will open in March. I've also been busy working on some items for my Etsy.com shop that will also open in March! Spring is coming and those primitive bunnies are soon to emerge!

Since my last post, we've had three snow storms. One was a little one, but when snow is so rare, even a couple of inches is noteworthy!

 

Also, my husband fell three weeks ago scraping his leg. It was a very large spot on his calf. I told him to go and let a doctor look at it, because it just didn't look right. Well, he's stubborn and he said it'd be fine. It wasn't! Two weeks went by and it turned into a huge hematoma under a closed abrasion. It became swollen enough that he finally went to the emergency room. They did surgery on it and kept him for a week! He now has one of those wound VAC's. He's unable to work right now which is driving him mad! I believe it has been a blessing in disguise because his attitude has changed like night to day about his health. Thank God!

I've had a few requests to see some pictures of my dolls and I'll close today with those. I promise to post more often!

THINK SPRING!

Okay, I'm still alive! We have all been so sick that the doctor wanted to put one of us in the hospital, namely me. However, the Mother of the family can't get sick, right? So.. it took six weeks and I'm still sniffly, but I'm still kickin'.

Having a bit of my energy back, I've been busy today cleaning house really good. I'm so ready to start sewing again. If you are a fellow doll maker, you know how that fabric and sewing machine faintly call your name. About the only thing I've been able to keep up with is the kitchen and laundry. I still have to finish taking the Christmas tree down.

I am hoping to finish a Valentine doll that I've been fiddling with this week. I may just move on to Springy stuff as Valentines is just not my thing. Now, don't think that I'm unlucky in love as I have the most wonderful husband of twenty-two years, BUT I've never been the Valentiney type of gal. I'd much rather have my pick up truck and blue jeans than diamonds and frilly things. I do like to play with dolls though. It's all good, right!?

With that said, I'll post some more pictures very soon of Muddy Britches prims for 2010! If you do Facebook, you can add my page by searching for Muddy Britches Primitives. I'd love to see you there!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year is the best ever. I know I am looking forward to 2010 as 2009 was a bit rough for our family. God bless you and yours!

Merry Belated Christmas

Chaos! That's why I haven't posted in a good while. We've had a time the past few weeks fighting sickness and other junk.

I hope that everyone had a wonderfully blessed Christmas and that you got everything you expected. That doesn't necessarily mean just material things either, of course!

Our Christmas was very good except for being so sick. Russ (hubby), me and our granddaughter, Robin all had bronchitis, double ear infections, eye infections like pink eye but caused by the upper respiratory infections! I have NEVER been so sick, but we all piled into the doctor's office on Christmas Eve, got poked, prodded, stuck and left with a bag full of prescriptions. We're not well yet, but a far sight better than we were! I got to thinking about all those people in the hospitals that are that sick or sicker in hospitals that don't have much hope of feeling any better. It made me so sad thinking about that.

Christmas Eve was nice. Russ wrapped gifts and fixed supper for me while I cleaned house and finished the Christmas tree. I normally have it up right after Thanksgiving, but not this year! Our daughter came by and we all opened a gift a piece. We put the little ones to bed and all played Santa until 2 a.m.  Wheew!
Christmas morning was wonderful. Our grandson got a train that he was enamored with and our granddaughter got a big doll house that was a big hit.
My in laws came up from Georgia yesterday (Dec 26th) and we've been enjoying their company. Tonight we'll have our family Christmas meal which consists of a standing rib roast, sweet potato casserole, salad and fried green beans. It's just a tradition we've had for quite some time IF we can't afford the rib roast, we sub something else. That happens some times!

It's almost time to say goodbye to 2009. I'm hoping that Muddy Britches Primitives can rise up once again and I can get my dolls back out there. There are three shops that I've found semi locally and I hope that I can get some of my items in those this next year. Please pray that the economy gets better for all of us and that the primitive look will come down south more!

Anyway, we survived and now it's time to look forward to a new year. I'm happy about that because 2009 was a tough one!  I hope that 2010 is a productive, healthy and happy year for you and yours!

God's Blessings from Dana / Muddy Britches Primitives

Rain Has Abated from Ida and the Sun is Wonderful...

I never thought the sun would show itself again! I've been busy this morning cleaning up the debris left from the storm. You couldn't even see the driveway and patio for the leaves and pine straw!
The two little ones have been really sick with a cold this week, so I've been running around with medicine, snot rags and water for the vaporizer every day! I'm just so thankful I didn't get it this time and they're feeling much better today!
I made the best chicken soup though. I'll post the recipe on my other blog tonight, so remember to go print it out. YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY! Hey, I am tooting my own horn this time.. yum!
I've been working on Snowman Head Ornaments for a few days now. I just wear so many other hats that I can't sit down and finish something in a timely manner, but I'm trying. My son is seventeen and is a little jealous of the two little grandbabies, so I try and "baby" him a little more. He acts all gruff and bullish, but I know he appreciates the little extra attention of me bringing him ice water or hot chocolate to his room. He's working hard and I'm proud of him.
Raleigh had a fire last night and he was able to help them do the finishing touches. He's part of the Explorer group, btw. He's always in a better mood for a week or so when he's able to go to a fire and help!
I hope to get much accomplished today and if I do, I'll post pictures tonight. Hugs to everyone!

A Productive Saturday...

Well, here I sit eating popcorn and watching an old Robert Mitchum movie at 11:30 pm on a Saturday night. An exciting life, right?  I love it! Everyone is asleep and it's quiet in the house other than me and Maggie (the Pekingese.)

We cleaned out a storage building out back today. Well, it's not really a storage building, it's more one of those big polyethylene carport sheds. We bought it for temporary storage until we moved. It's almost a year later.  Our neighbor has asked us to move it because the reason why he moved into his house is so he could see the "woods" through our back yard. Hmmm.... Well, we're taking it down. Seems like we're always trying to accommodate someone else! I'll be so glad when we're able to move out of a neighborhood. We're clean, quiet and have a well groomed yard by the way..hehe.

Anyway, we depleted our stuff by more than half today. We're not pack rats, but after fourteen years in this house and raising our children here... my son parted with a bunch of his old toys. He's almost eighteen and he chose to do it, but it's still kind of sad. My husband is the one who likes to hold onto things, but I was proud of him today.

I finished another Santa last night. I call him "A Child's Wish" because he holds a stocking full of what a child wishes for for Christmas... for Santa to come with toys, candy and for snow.

I didn't get to work on anything today, but tomorrow is a new day.

I'll post a picture of the new Santa here once my image hosting site is back up... or you can look at him on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150386889962

Take care all!

My First Doll After Soooooooooo Long!

Well, I have completed my first doll after a long long time of no thread and needle in hand. It feels so good!
 

Today is the first Monday of a new month and I'm hoping to get a lot done this month, not only with making dolls, but also in the house. I have quite a bit of storage to go through. I'm hoping to get it all done this week, but I'm sure it is an ambitious wish.

It has rained for days, but the leaves have fallen like showers themselves and it has been so beautiful. I love the autumn with the scent and rustle of leaves on the ground.. my cinnamon clove candle burning and the cool breeze blowing in the window. I wish it would last longer, but know that winter is upon us. From the looks of the squirrels and my little Pekingese, it is going to be a cold one. They are extra fuzzy!

 Thank you for reading!

A New Day... A New Adventure

Let me first say welcome to my first ever blog. My name is Dana and I make primitive dolls under the name Muddy Britches Primitives.
We live in Garner, NC which is just south of Raleigh. We've been remodeling our home for FIVE long years and are near completion. Next step? Trying to sell it and move to eastern North Carolina where we hope to have a small farm.
I've been married to my husband, Russ, for twenty-two years and we have two children, a girl who is twenty-four and a boy who is just shy of eighteen. We have two grandbabies (daughter's) a girl, age 4 1/2 and a boy, age 3. Both grandbabies have lived with us since the oldest was two weeks.  Our son is working and heavily involved with the Raleigh Fire Explorer Program. He'll begin to pursue his firefighting career next year with school and volunteering, so he's busy busy.

I've been out of the primitive loop for a little over three years as my husband and I have taken on the loving task of raising our two grandbabies thus far. Now that they are getting pass the baby phase, I feel that I can venture back into my creative side and I sure need it! I know I'll have four little enthusiastic hands helping me along the way.

I've called this first post A New Day, A New Adventure partly because I've never blogged before.... and because I need to take time for me as a person, which I have not done for twenty-two years. I've been raising my children for those years and to be brutally honest, I feel as if I lost _me_ somewhere! I'm also very shy and it puts a new twist on everything I do. Call it a mid-life crisis (I'm 44) or whatever you will, I'm ready to get out there and shine! (Those words are so strange coming from me.)

So again, hello, my name is Dana and thank you for taking the time to read my blog!