More Hats

There were so many tags left on the Angel Tree at church and they extended the due date so I was able to take another tag and make some more hats.

 

 

He Better Be Good

The mascot went to see Santa today.  He did not want to cooperate on the first try and tried to jump out of the sled and gave Santa a scratch.  On the second try Skippy still wasn't so sure but was a little more cooperative and Santa told him he better be good and he'll give him something extra for Christmas.

Sneak Peek

This is a sneak peek to one of my Christmas cards.  Each card is individually hand made and different. 

I wanted to be able to participate in the OWH blog hop by posting a love card.  I know this card will not work for OWH, but at the moment I am unable to make a fresh new card for OWH with all the holiday prep going on so I thought that this one would work since it is a love card.  I will be back on track with OWH soon, hopefully in the next week or two since OWH needs cards because November through February are slow times.  This card would not work because it is Christmas and the deadline has passed plus there is glitter - a big no no for Operation Write Home. 

Stay tuned for the rest of my Christmas cards coming soon.  Most of my list will be getting them this weekend and some probably next week.  After they are all mailed I will post them on here. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

The recipient of this card already received it on Thanksgiving.  This one went to my sister and bro-in-law.

 

 

Angel Tree

Tis' the season of giving.  I've been working on these hats for my church's angel tree which needed to be done by this coming Sunday.  The hats will go to a women in the nursing home across the street from my church.  I knew I could get them done, but now is the time to buckle down and finish the rest of my Christmas cards (about 16 left). 

Paintings

My sister requested some paintings for her house.  So I made these two for her part of her birthday gift:

 

Now I'm off to knit house my church for Christmas gifts to go to the nursing home.  I still have at least 16 Christmas cards to make.  I will be getting those made after the hats.

Today Is A Gift

Today is a gift that we are given and we should take the time to be grateful.  This is what I was grateful for this year - to have the day to celebrate with family.  I was also thankful that I am still alive today since I had some troubles this year:

 

January, if it was not for my husband and his quick actions I would have choked to death.  Thankfully, he saved my life by doing the Heimlich 3 times on me after seeing me turning blue.

 

July and August - I went through the whole skin cancer issue.  I was thankful that I finally had gotten it taken care of since it was growing towards my brain and who knows what that may have caused in the future.

 

Also, I think that my family was most grateful that they made the trip to celebrate with us even though it was through some tough weather.  

 

Joe said he was thankful for a wonderful wife, home, pets and everything else he has been given. 

 

Here are photos from our Thanksgiving celebration.  Amazing how quickly the time goes when my family comes up for a visit.  We did our normal black Friday routine - going shopping all day.  My sister hates that I take so many photos, but you can never go back to take them so take them now so you will have them.  I know that one day she will be happy that I took so many memories.  Joe always says that if our house is ever on fire as long as the boys and I are out of the house he will save the photos before anything else. 

 

 

 Thumbs up for a great meal.

 Addicted to bubble wars.

 

The morning after. 

 

Where did everyone go?  It is suddenly quiet again.

A Feast Fit for Anyone

This is how our Thanksgiving is starting out:

 

 

And the bluebirds even came by for a visit:

 

 

 And the food is all ready to be cooked and then the "pigs" will gather around the table to enjoy:

Turkey

 

Twice Baked Potatoes



Stuffing Balls

Green Bean Casserole

 

Happy Thanksgiving

We have many things to be thankful for and one of those things is that my family is almost here (probably be here before the end of this post).  They drove in the rain, sleet and snow tonight on about a 8 and a half hour drive which is normally a 5-6 hour drive just to spend Thanksgiving with my husband, boys and I.  We are all grateful that they will be here soon.

Also, we are thankful for the beauty of nature.  Here are some pics from this morning that I took.

By the way, the mascot is going crazy so that means that my family must be pulling in.

They are now in our house after barley making it up our driveway.  Tom was burning tires to make the last half of the driveway, but he made it up!!!

Newspaper Article

There was an article about myself and my work with Operation Write Home in our local newspaper today.  You can also read the article online at http://www.quaboagcurrent.com/, November 21 edition pages 3 & 5.  What a great way to try and get more awareness for Operation Write Home. 

Here is the text of the article:

Imagine being half a

world away from a

husband, a mother,

or brother, and having

nothing more than

a few post-it notes

and maybe an envelope

and a half-inch

length of pencil to

write with that you

sharpened with your

pocket knife. Diane

Loughrey, a Warren

woman, has

not known this

type of trial but

she knows that it

exists because she works tirelessly to make a difference

for those living this reality.

“The soldiers that receive the cards I make are

the most grateful people,” she said. “Sometimes they

write back to me and tell me how they have had no

way to get cards or even paper to write letters on and

how much they appreciate the program.”

The program that Loughrey is referring to is Operation

Write Home, a non-profit organization that

was founded in 2007 by Sandy Allnock in Federal

Way, Washington. The group of crafters is nationwide,

with hand-crafted cards being created on a

revolving basis and care packages of cards being

sent to contacts every month or so who see that deployed

soldiers have a way to write home. The cards,

Loughrey said, are varied in theme ranging from

birthday and anniversary cards to holiday cards and

“just because.”

“This last year alone I have made 238 cards,”

Loughrey said. “Combined with last year, I have

made nearly 400 and Operation Write Home has

passed the two and a one-half million mark. I also

write Hero Letters, and think that those are as important,

if not more, than the write home cards

we send.” Hero Letters are letters that are mailed

to deployed soldiers that simply say hello to a hero.

Loughrey said that the parameters for writing are

wide, with the only real rules being that the tone is

upbeat and positive and cannot have a political undercurrent.

“People write about their families and their pets,”

she said. “Nothing negative. No one living in war

wants to talk about war so the point is to tell them

about positive things and give them a person to correspond

to.”

Interestingly, as committed to the cause as

Loughrey is she has no direct experience with deployment.

She said that she originally became involved

after seeing an advertisement for the organization

on a blog that she frequented and she felt that

it was a calling to use her crafting talents as a way

to help others.

“I consider this my job, even though it’s not

paid,” she said. “I have had people who have wanted

to support me and sent me materials to use and that

sort of thing. My family threw me a party for my

birthday back in August and as part of my gift they

had people write letters to the troops that I could

send.”

Loughrey said that she has been crafting since she

was a little girl and her love, and talent, has gradually

grown to its current level. Most recently, she was

awarded a presidential citation by President Barack

Obama for her efforts and dedication to Operation

Write Home.\

“I wrote to the president and the objective was to

get him to honor the woman who started this whole

program,” she said. “A short time later I received a

presidential citation thanking me for my dedication.

It was pretty exciting.” Loughrey said that what she

would really like is to see more people become involved

in the project.

“Every time even one more person becomes involved,

it makes a huge difference,” she said. Loughrey

said that people who are interested can find out more

about the organization at operationwritehome.org or

on her own blog, which can be found at allfromtheheartcrafts.

com.

My 10th Letter

So the other day I was asked how many cards and letters I have made this year for OWH.  I had thought it was only 120 and the person was impressed, but I went and checked my latest receipt from Operation Write Home and found that I have sent in a total of 238 cards and letters this year!  Some letters, approximately 30, are thanks to others who helped me and wrote Any Hero mail which is always appreciated.  My all time total is 390. 

And this letter marks the 10th one that I have received by good ol' snail mail and I have also gotten a few letters through emails.  Pretty cool that she has a beagle at home!!!