Lessons From My Mother's Journal -- Guest Post

Lynzie and I are gone to England so my friends are running the show! I'm so excited to welcome my friend Laura as a guest blogger today! Check out her blog: My Corner of the Woods.

“I don’t know who will suffer most and how to ease their pain.”

My mom died when I was 9.  My family never talked about it.  Not when they knew it was coming and not after she died. I don’t remember even knowing she was sick – except that on Friday I noticed the whites of her eyes were yellow and I looked at her and said, “Mom, your eyes look funny.”  Sometime that weekend she pulled me into her bed.  She was wearing a wide-ribbed navy blue turtleneck and I think she had her stockings on and she hugged me and said, “No matter what happens to me, I’ll always love you.”  On Tuesday in art my class made get well cards for her and I asked Dad if we could take them to her at the hospital. “Tomorrow,” he said.  But tomorrow she died.

We never went back to visit her grave, never spoke much of her sickness or death or even her life.  It has always seemed kind of strange to me.  Maybe it’s because I’m her only daughter, I don’t know, but it has always been weird.  Who was she, this woman who was my mother? In recent years my father has alluded to me being like her when I talk about cooking for my family and how we enjoy being together, but I don’t really know what he means.

Yesterday my daughter brought me a pile of stuff that my youngest had pulled off a shelf and one of the things was my mother’s journal. So I opened it, and started reading. There wasn’t much, and it was all written a few months before she died.  “I don’t know who will suffer most,” she wrote, “or how to ease their pain.”  Interestingly enough, she knew in May that she had cancer in many places in her body; she knew she was dying.  In her last entry in the journal, she spoke of her struggle with a friend and how she didn’t want to be a burden to people. Her final words struck me: “I hope I never drag other people down when I’m down. There is just so much to appreciate and enjoy if you take time.”

I’ve never forgotten her final words to me, and I pray I never forget her final written words either.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring?  In the meantime, there is just so much to appreciate and enjoy if you take time.

This article was first published on, My Corner of the Woods. Reposted by permission of the author.

England Outfits!

Lynzie and I leave for England in just two days!!! Woo Hoo!!! We've been busy sewing the last couple weeks and I told her everything has got to be done by tonight! She's not quite ready to do her big outfit reveal yet, so I might add her pictures to this post later on, but here are the two outfits I made to take. 

This dress, minus the spencer jacket, was my ball gown from 2013. I lowered and widened the neckline and fixed some of the fabric-covered buttons on back. Then I made this spencer jacket to go over it. It's my favorite dress ever and the one I plan on wearing when we visit Bath Abbey for church on Sunday.

My favorite part of this dress is the lovely set of fabric-covered buttons on the back. (I replaced the plastic ones.)

This dress is made from silk that I got on an excellent deal earlier this summer. I made a pelisse to go over it from some sari fabric a friend gave me last time I was in England.

I admit, it was a little scary cutting into this beautiful fabric---but it all turned out ok.

Here's a sneak peak at Lynzie's dress. She wants to do a photo shoot later today so I'll put those up when I can. 

The next week or so will be filled with guest posts from some of my friends and family. I hope you'll check out all their hard work and leave lots of sweet comments. I sure appreciate my guest bloggers!

Linking with:

Shabby Chic Birthday Party Pudding Cups #ReadySetSnack #ad #cbias

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I'll admit, it's been so hard for me to wait for today to post these adorable pudding cups! Aren't they the absolute cutest things? Brenna's third birthday is still over three months away and I'm already planning the prettiest, shabby-chiciest party ever! These super sweetly-decorated Hershey's Chocolate Pudding Cups and Hershey's S'mores Pudding Cups are going to make her party table look beautiful!

Hershey's chocolate has been around longer than anyone currently on Earth has, yet they're still coming up with awesome new ways for us to enjoy the rich, creamy, cocoa flavor. These two varieties are great snack sizes for an excellent party dessert. I recently tried the S'mores flavor for the first time and loved the marshmallowy-graham-crackery taste of the white mousse on top of the signature taste of the chocolate pudding below.

These are great for an after school snack. In fact, you don't have to wait for a party to pretty them up. Make some special for your kids to enjoy when they get home. They'll love it!

I found Hershey's pudding cups at Walmart near the gelatin and yogurt cups in the refrigerated section. They were easy to spot with the well-known Hershey's logo on the package. I like to buy these for convenient snacks for the kids' picnic lunches or afternoon snacks.  They're easy for the kids to access on their own and make a good treat to tide them over until dinner time. Make sure to check the September/October issue of All You magazine for a coupon.

I like to pretty things up whenever I get the opportunity so I decided to make a cute party snack idea to share with you all. It's easy to decorate your own pudding cups in colors and patterns that go with any occasion. Just start with some coordinating fabrics and buttons or other embellishments. Be sure to keep the foil lids on your pudding cups until you're finished with the project.

Cut thin strips of fabric that will go around the cups with a bit leftover to overlap. You could even use pinking shears for a pretty fabric edge.

Next, wipe a spot of the cups really well with a dry cloth to remove moisture. You'll want to have all your supplies ready to go before this point because the refrigerated cups will quickly collect moisture again.

Immediately attach a glue dot or spot of hot glue (don't touch the plastic cup with the metal tip of the glue gun).

Then set your fabric strip on the glue dot at an angle.

Wrap the strip around the cup and adhere with another glue dot. Use a glue dot to attach a cute, contrasting button and you're all set!

What simple ideas do you have to brighten up Hershey's Chocolate Pudding Cups and Hershey's S'mores Pudding Cups for a party table? Let me know in the comments below and make sure to check these out next time you're looking for a great afternoon snack for your kids!