Boots....

Kendall bought me an awesome pair of cowboy boots for Christmas.  As I struggled to get them off, I remembered as a kid my Dad had made me a "Boot Jack" for getting my riding boots on & off.  So I searched everywhere for a cool Boot Jack.  Finally I ended up on Etsy & found some awesome hand painted boot jacks.  I ordered one & love it.  Ordered another for Lorraine's birthday.  Then someone said, You could SO make these.  And we were off to the races.  Here are most of the ones we have made so far - as you can see each one is completely unique.  Emilia was wondering how we could start a business selling these bad boys...  We're taking orders if you want one; the blog comment system doesn't seem to work too well for some people so email me directly or send me a facebook message with a description of what you would like!  Just be prepared that what you get will be one of a kind & may not be exactly what you had in mind...  The price is $40 each, that includes shipping.  Delivery time, well that depends on how bad chemo kicks my butt.  Lorraine's boyfriend, Ben, is going to put a few on the floor in his store - Backcountry Experience, Durango, CO.

I have to say how much I absolutely LOVE making these with Emilia.  It allows us to do something together, be creative, express ourselves, chat while we're doing it.  It is without question one of my favorite things to do - to be creative with my babies.  In fact, if there is anything I'm looking forward to in the next several months, its that I will be around more to do these type of things.  Granted, I may not feel like doing it, but it really isn't very taxing to sit at the kitchen table & paint.  I'm hoping against hope I don't lose my desire to do this stuff or my ability to do it.  Granted the ability part could be questionable, especially when you look at the "preschool mountains" I painted below, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

"americana"

"peace"

"eriana"

"preschool mountains"

"daisy palette"

"payton"

All of our creations.  Many aren't quite done...

So, Kendall & I had a wonderful surprise last night.  We finished our delicious dinner at The Palm & the manager came over & said our meal was all paid for.  My sweet Dad had a long conversation with the manager yesterday & gave him his credit card to pay for our meal.  It was a wonderful treat and a priceless surprise.  The manager told us what a nice man my Dad was & that they had chatted for quite a while.  Thats my Dad.  After that we went to Shen Yun at the TPAC, an interesting Chinese variety show of sorts.  We had a nice quiet breakfast this morning & then headed home.  Believe it or not we missed the rugrats after just a few hours.  I haven't been away from them for a long time since I haven't been traveling.  Could definitely get used to not traveling.

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day here today so I planted a ton of pansies which the kids & Kendall played in the creek building a tree house of some sort.  I'm pretty tired tonight but in a good way.  Our sweet neighbors, Miss Betty & Mr David, made us chicken spaghetti for dinner.  I could definitely give up cooking (or at least forget how to cook) by the time I'm over with this ordeal.  I did make the girls' favorite Coffee Cake this afternoon as well as a casserole for tomorrow night & one for the freezer. And yesterday Emilia & I had JAMs Jams in full production mode; by 10 am we had made 3 batches of our famous and coveted strawberry jam as well as a batch of fresh blueberry scones.

We'll be off to Vanderbilt in the morning to have my port placed.  Hopefully we will be home by noon or 1 pm.  I'm sure I'll be pretty loopy in the afternoon tomorrow.  Tuesday is back to work, all the way until next Tuesday!  Hooray.  Hope all of you have a wonderful week!