Lets begin a New Year

Lets begin a New Year...WOW ! That hard to believe isn't it, that another year has flown by. For most of us the past year was met by alot of illness, grief, and some triumph....But we made it though. Yeaaaaa !!! Think of all the friends we met on the way. FANTASTIC !

I want to thank each and every one of you for the friendship and prayers you have given me. May God bless each and every one of you.

I have to say a special thanks to my very own precious daughter, Alexia Antoinette !!!

For without her loving help, my blog would not be possible.

Thank you dearest daughter for all the help and still helping hands you give me. Thank you for all the corrections you make before you set up my post.

I want all of you to know that Alexia makes all my beautiful banners. She also creates the most beautiful flyers for me. Some of these I use on my T-Shirts. XXOO Alexia !!! Here are 2 flyers she made:

Have you ever met someone for the first time, and felt like you've known them forever, So strange a feeling. Sherry of Edie Marie's Attic...Thats how it felt when we just commented on each others blog. We kept going back to each other.We had so many things in common ,yet from two wayyy different backrounds. Sherry is from the North and I'm from the very deep South. Sherry took a little trip though the Southern states and stop by my home in the woods...LOL. It was like something out of a movie. We acted like we have been friends and just was parted for awhile. Only difference between us is that I'm a tad more meaner...LOL. But don't let that sweet face of hers fool you...She can be the dickens. We consider ourselves sisters. There is no if, ands or buts about that.

Well let me show you what dear old sis made for me this Christmas!!!

She made this drop dead gorgeous crown for me. The picture does not do it justice. Sherry also made my daughter Alexia a crown just as gorgeous with Princess on it. How sweet is that. Here are pictures of Alex and me wearing our crowns. Alex wanted me to let all of you know that, she is very ill in her picture, She was, my poor baby girl. I have no excuse...LOL

Here are the other just fab things Sherry made for me.The first ornament was made by her using an old vintage broch .The second ornment is a beautiful Angel.Sorry about the picture.But the button also came from a vintage stock belonging to a family member.You can't see it clear...the button has a peacock on it.Its just sooooooo beautiful.

Here is my first story of the season. Its not a bar story, its a pet story.

My Lemon...The story of  Rusty

Have you ever bought an appliance or a car, and discover it was a lemon right off the bat?

Well you can buy a pet and sadly discover it is a lemon also. Rusty was the 5th Rottweiler we owned. We always kept two at a time. It makes them happy.We bought Rusty to keep our then Rott... Buck company. He's another story.

We bought Rusty when he was 6 weeks old. Something about his face, kind of goofy or comical looking. He was very big for 6 weeks. We really love on our dogs right away. But Rusty was just as loveable as can be. So sweet and good natured.

about a week I started noticing little things...such as when he would bump into something he would yelp. I told my hubby something was wrong with the puppy, of course he dismissed me. You know how men are, we foolish women. Get got worse. So when he bumped into the rocking chair, well he let out a very big howl and sure enough Bill did notice that. So here we go marching ourselves to the Vet. AND of course its bad news. Our sweet loveable pup has very bad Hip Displacia on his left side. The Vet said what he normally would suggest is to put the dog down, because it is not only very costly, but very painful to the dog to put them though it. But the vet said we can try a give him meds to help control the pain. He said Rusty was such a beautiful dog and lets try and do that.YES!!! I said. I've already fallen in love with him. If it gets too bad then we will do what we have to. Well time went on, and he was doing well...

He was two and coping with the hip very well. He played with Buck...kepted real close to him in fact...I knew all along something else was wrong. LOL...Hubby again ...Your imaging things. There was a reason why he bumped into things Bill I said. I think he don't see very well. So Off to New Orleans to a Vet that specializes in eye sight for dogs. Very costly, but we loved him so much. MORE bad news. He's almost blind...Detatched Retinas. It will only get worse. We decided to not to put him down.

You have to understand...this is a dog that looks like he's always happy. He plays with us, plays with Buck. Buck would grieve without him. My poor baby...my poor baby. I can't stand the thought. So we kept him. You know what? I knew something else was wrong. I kept that to myself. Time went on . Rusty did not let blindness stop him from going anywhere he wanted. All of our ten acres is fenced in, Thats Scotty's and Niko's story. Rusty knew that ten acres very well. He always followed Buck around. Then Buck died( old age). Now Rusty was alone. He needed another dog to help him. We bought Rip...who we still have. Again...another story.

Back to Rusty. As I said...I knew something else was wrong. That sweet goofy look. Not coming when called, except when you yelled.Bill asked me,why are you always yelling at him. Well Bill...because Rusty is almost Deaf !!! Always have been , but its worse. So now Deaf blind and hip displacia. But still sweet and still he was the happiest dog I've ever seen. Happy go lucky Rusty. Amazing...By the way ...did I mention that Rusty was about 163 pounds??? So it was hard to move him around.And move him around we did, cause after Katrina...the woods were like matchsticks. We managed to clear the downed tres from our surrounding home, but there is the down trees still there today. (Katrees.) Well Rusty could not find his self around to much anymore.So we would have to go find him now. STUCK ...I'm only 4ft 11, try lifting his front legs over fallen trees or going to look for him when he got lost. But he was happy. Always happy.

Well my Lemon died around Christmas before last in Bill's arms. His heart gave out. What a heart he had, to endure all the obstacles he had in life. He knew he was well loved, for we loved him right off. That big goofy face.

Rusty about 8 wks old, and below picture about 6yrs old.

Guess what??? I inherited more dolls from my best friend(Shannon) who passed. Her husband Butch brought them to me. Pebbles and Bam Bam.They both still have all their geer and tags.They were in their orinal boxes, but the boxes were to water damaged.Yes they did have some mold on them, but it came right off.Bam's outfit has some tiny bug holes, I washed it very carefully. It smelled so bad. I had no choice. It did turn out OK.



This will tell you where my brain is. I won a charm from Joy at Cupids Charms, then forgot about it. Joy Asked me did I till want the charm...Well hellooo...Who would not want something made by Joy? Of course I want it...LOL. So anyway I did finally send her my addy. Here is my beautiful charm. Its in the middle. Between the pretty box and cards. I thank you sooo much for this charm.I had it hanging on my tree, I had several comments on it. Just gorgeous. XXOO Joy!!!
Here are more wonderful Christmas gifts I recieved from Kris of Lisianblue. The most beautiful stained glass ornaments. One is a Moon, with a little star and the other a gorgeous Christmas tree. Kris makes some wonderful pieces. Pleas go give her a visit. Did I mention she is also a wonderful friend.XXOO Kris !
Look at the beautiful soap I bought from Marie at Savon Marie's. I bought the white cameo type from Marie, Its smells wonderful. Marie also sent as an extra the soap on the left.Its oatmeal soap.Ya'll need to check these out.I won't use the picture bar,but the oatmeal soap is devine on your skin.It really does make your skin feel so good, and the lather...you can't even imagine. It all comes wrapped so pretty. Thank you Marie!!!
This wraps it up, till next time, I'm going to be workin g on a couple of projects. Hopefuly I will get at least one of them done by my next post. As you know Mardi Gras is near and thats a very big happening down here. That and the Who Dat Gang (New Orleans Saints).

May all your dreams come true this New Year, May ills get healed,

Happy New Year Ya'll

Marie Antionette and Alexia