Tomorrow's Birthday is dedicated to....

my INCREDIBLE mom. That's right folks, tomorrow is my 42nd birthday. Just me and ole Abe Lincoln. I like to tease my mom and ask her why she couldn't have held me in for another 2 days so that I could be a valentine baby and celebrate with my grandpa.

This was my 1st birthday in 1973. And the man holding me was my amazing grandpa.

Every birthday I am reminded how blessed I am that God gave me such a wonderful mom. She was faced with the challenge of raising my sister and me after my father left. I always felt that mom deserved flowers on my birthday for giving me the gift of life. Mom, these are for you...

Thank you for being strong for me when you felt weak. Thank you for giving me what I needed, not what I wanted. Thank you for keeping your cool throughout my childhood temper tantrums. Thank you for making me feel important yet not allowing me to think the world revolved around me. Thank you for loving me when I was unlovable. Thank you for telling me I can do anything if I put my mind to it. Thank you for giving me life. I love you!

Mom always made sure I was clothed, fed and loved.

and when I was bad, she fed me to the goats!

1973: In my pj's hanging out with mom

Such a toothy grin! 1st grade 1978

Graduation Day! 1990

2004: When mom married my step-dad

Life is so good! Here's to 42! May it be full of wonderful things (like perhaps a piece of chocolate cake with peanut butter icing)!

 

Thanks for celebrating with me down by the creek!

Diane

Snow Day in PA...

Hello and welcome to a very snowy Silver Creek Samplers blog post. I hope you wore your boots and mittens because we are cleaning out from a storm that left us with perhaps 10" of that cold white stuff. I can't really complain too much as I have said I'd rather have snow than the brutally cold temperatures we (and a lot of you other folks) endured for much of January.

While my boys are out shoveling, I thought this would be a good time to catch you up on what's happening in my corner of the world. With the projected storm on it's way, yesterday my boss declared today a snow day. The print shop I work at is a very tiny company with 3 employees and my boss has a 1.5 hour commute to work every day. He said he couldn't expect us to get to work when he himself would most likely not make it either, so we closed up shop for the day. Quite sensible if you ask me.

So glad the boys didn't have trouble getting the shovels to start!

First order of business: an update on my transformation. I mentioned in a previous post, my long over-due and sorely needed trip on the weight-loss wagon. I'm still riding the wagon with a total weight loss of 55 pounds so far. I haven't felt this fantastic in many years. I can't put into words how good it feels to look in the mirror and actually like what I see. I have taken my picture every month so I can remind myself how far I've come. If you don't mind, I'd like to share them with you now...

September 2013

 

October 2013

 

 

November 2013

December 2013

January 2014

I'm up Monday-Friday by 5:30am to walk my 4 miles on the treadmill. I also walk every Saturday, just not as early. I hope to participate in a 5K in May and another in July. Thanks for sharing in my victories so far. Now on to NEW stitching business...

With so much of my focus on weight loss, I don't seem to be stitching or designing as fast as in years past. BUT I do have something new in the works that I'd like to share a sneak peek of...

"Shelter of Your Wings" will be my next release, as soon as I can finish the stitching. As with weight loss, stitching does take time and doesn't happen over night, but the rewards are sure worth it!

Thanks for visiting with me here at Silver Creek. Oh by the way, I'm almost up to 100 followers. Me thinks that it's almost time for another fun pattern give-away, so spread the word and invite some new friends to join my growing list of followers.

Stay warm and happy stitching dear friends!

Diane