Change your Address!

Just a reminder WE'VE MOVED to http://www.ourfamilystone.org/!  Make sure to change your link address or your favourites!!!!

Salvage Giveaway!

I'm a crafty person by nature, in a good way.  I can be all Martha Stewart crafty when the mood strikes (and just for the record that's pre-prison crafty, the kind that involves glue, and glitter and ribbon, not red and black pens, calculators and white out)  I'm the sort of gal who spends hours upon hours knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, designing and creating.  I love seeing the end result and sharing that with someone else, it brings me great joy.  I may not be the best at what I do, but I take pride in it and love every second.

I also spend countless hours with my girls creating, making and sharing.  I want them to learn as I have the gift of giving a handmade gift.  I also want to teach them the value of receiving something made with love.  It's a full circle sort of thing.

Nothing is more exciting to me than visiting a wool shop, or checking out an antique store, and without a word of a lie the annual Christmas craft fair is in my planner, on my Crackberry and written in red on my kitchen calendar to make certain I don't miss it.  I'm all sorts of anal cool like that.

Anyways, I have this cousin Stephanie, who's crafty herself, Martha's got nothing on her.  I can remember being a kid, and watching her create and craft beautiful Christmas wreaths and the most adorable dolls from mops (clean not dirty ones), I still have my mop doll.  She, like many of us crafters has creative mood swings and changes from craft to craft, project to project.  Adjusting her style to suite her lifestyle, which is what she's once again done.

She's gone into the salvage business, searching the earth and every garage sale on the continent for one man's trash to turn into another man's treasure.  She's repurposes, creates, cleans and rebuilds the vintage into the beautiful and it's amazing!   I have yet to visit her shop, but she's created a blog and seeing all her treasures is a pretty sweet deal! 

That's what you could win! I love it! (ps, I totally snagged this shot from her blog)

If that weren't cool enough, she's also hosting a giveaway a week for the month!  I know!  If you weren't already thinking awesome thoughts about her you are now!  Anyways, all you have to do is go over and leave her a comment, there's no kick back here to me, I just wanted to share something cool, both the creator and the prize.  And hey, why not share a little linking love, everybody loves a good link or 2, right?

So why not go over and browse through her pages and then come back and tell me (just because I'm needy like that and feel slightly neglected by the lack of comments ahem) about your favorite picture, your greatest treasure or if you are a closet crafter?

ps, I'll have her link on the side bar should you ever want to go take a gander at her site again.

We've Moved! And I'm giving something away for FREE!

Just to tell you the same thing I did the other day, Our Family Stone finally has moved and we're settled!  To commemorate the move I'm doing a GIVEAWAY!!!!  Click the link and go enter. 

Also, be warned that by the end of the month I will be changing this URL to forward directly to the new OFS.

Movin' On Up!

Ok!  It's official, the new site is up and running and I'm exhausted!

I know it's coming as a surprise to many of you, but I've been feeling the urge to take things up a notch around here and move on.  So, after much debate, and about 6 months of pondering it over I decided to go solo and purchase a domain name!  That's right, I'm doing it without training wheels.

So the new home of Our Family Stone is...

http://www.ourfamilystone.org/

Click and go on over and see!  Please change your feed readers, your favourites and your home pages!  I still want your visits, I still need your comments and I can't wait for you to join us at the new and improved Our Family Stone.

I'll be leaving this post up for a little bit and then I'll have this URL automatically forwarded to the new space, just in case that happens and you're confused.  But please do learn the new and much easier URL (ps, .org makes me giggle).

And in honor of the move and all things fantastic, there will be a new and wicked awesome contest over at the new OFS, starting on Monday!!!  It's one that everyone can't miss out on!

So, thanks Blogspot for the past 4 years they've been grand.

Pride Comes at 13.1 Miles

UPDATE: They finished and the results are as follows (this 1/2 marathon was 13.1 miles, not KM people, MILES!)
Dad - 3 hours 35 minutes and 11 seconds, finished 8876 overall and 2777 in the mens category
Mom - 3 hours 35 minutes and 11 seconds, finished 8877 overall and 6100 in the women's category

Great Job Guys!

I'm going to be late for church this morning.  At least, as it stands right now, I'm going to be late.  It's 9 am, and I'm supposed to be getting dressed, feeding my kids and heading out the door.  Instead, I'm sitting in my recliner, still in my PJ's, glued to my computer.

I'm not stuck here because I'm still trying to design and get ready to release something new and fantastic (although I am and it's pretty much causing my brain to catch fire).  It's not because Facebook offers huge amounts of entertainment (haha), or because blogging is that distracting. 

WATCH THEM HERE!

This morning I'm sitting in front of my computer watching a video, one that's a live feed from Denver Colorado.  And I'm watching it with tears in my eyes, all because of my parents.  Partly because my Mom is an emotional soul and passed along the loosely tied tear ducts, but mostly because what they are doing today is so great!

Today they are doing the Rock 'n' Roll Denver 1/2 marathon!  Of all the things I thought I would tell you about either of my parents, I never even imagined I would be telling you that they are participating in a marathon of any sort, 1/2, 1/4 or upside down.  And yet, here today, they are!

Months ago now, in fact I think it's close to a year ago, my Mom stumbled upon a website called Transformation.com.  The events that took place from there are amazing and some of the most life changing she's ever experienced, that we've ever seen in her.  Her Transformation story, while not complete is one that is moving and one that I'm going to let her share with you in a guest post that is soon to come.

One of the things that Bill Philips the organizer and founder of Transformation.com does every year is organize a marathon to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation.  This marathon holds so much for so many, the chance to help someone else, another step in their journey, an opprotunity to have a little extra exercise and, for people like my parents - a chance to acheive a dream they didn't even know they had.

An accident a few years ago has left my Mom with a back injury that haunts her days, that makes doing some of the simpliest things excruciating, that has taken so much from her.  My Dad has a bad leg, in fact to say he has a bad leg is an understatement.  He has a knee that is trashed, destroyed and in desperate need of replacement.  Over the years his drive to work hard and get 'er done, has caused him to be less than kind to his body and that body is starting to speak up.  Some nights he can't sleep, inspite of the pain medicine, because the hurt is so deep.

Today, they took the back pain and the knee pain and put it aside.  In fact it's kind of like they flipped those hurts the bird.  My mom has been training for months to do this, because she had to.  Because she wanted to, because somebody's little kid needs her to.  My Dad has been training, when he's not working right along side her, because she asked him to, because he loves her and because he wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

The pride that I have for the both of them is HUGE!  It's intense and it's all consuming!  My parents are doing a 1/2 marathon today ya'll, and that is pretty freakin' awesome!  I have so much to say, but I don't think I can face saying without sobbing, it's that emotional.  Not being there today, to hug them as they cross the line is hard, heartbreaking even. 

This transformation thing has given me a new Mom, it's given her perspective, insight and brought into her life new and old friends who, until they arrived she had no idea would be so important to her.  They are the voices that encourage when her family can't, they have been the ears that have listened when she's had a broken heart and they've allowed her, a woman with more love in her pinkie than the Dahli Lama has in his whole body to love them back.

Anyways, there's more to share and it will come but for now I'm going to say "Chow!" this blogging is cutting into my watching time and I need to go.

But check out the link above to watch them, and please, if I never ask you to comment again (which I will because I'm needy like that) leave them a comment.  Encourage, congratulation, say Hi, tell me your shoe size for all I care, but tell my Mom - Jackie and my Dad - Darwin, how awesome you think they are!

Congratulations Papa and Grammy (Bummy), Mom and Dad - we are so very proud of you today and each one that follows!

The Grey Cloud of Mommy Guilt

It's up! (Why is that phrase makes me giggle? I know, I know, grow up) That's right there's another post up over at Mamapedia Voices.  Today, I'm talking about "The Grey Cloud of Mommy Guilt"

Please go over and take a look, then if you like what you read, link to it on Facebook or Twitter, or link to me here, pretty please!  This is one of those topics that for me was a real revolation.  I had no idea that I would feel like that, and I had even less of an idea that it was totally normal.  Why not share the news and take the stress off those guilt ridden people we call parents.

In Case you forgot, CLICK HERE TO READ!

And if you felt really awesome (which of course you are) come back and tell me what you think.  Do you agree?  Do you disagree? Share a moment of the guilt with me, let's shed a little light on that cloud and make it not so grey!

A house full of Turkeys

When I married Corey, I gained so much more than just a husband (although I have to say that's the best part of what I gained).  Along with him came a whole new family, to put it technically - The In-Laws.  One day I had only 1 younger brother, a mom and a dad, the next I had 3 other brothers (one of whom is older and facing the barrel of 30 this year!), a father-in law, a mother in-law and an almost father in-law (they were married a month after we were).  Not to mention all the aunts, uncles and cousins who call Corey family. 

As it is with most people, it took time to adjust to my new family.  To learn how I fit into their mix and for them to learn where they fit into mine.  I could make it all sugary and sweet and say it's been a leisurely walk through Candyland (Bethy's new favourite board game) but that would be a lie. 

It's not easy adjusting to new people, I was used to the way my family did things, our traditions and rules, the do's and don'ts of family gatherings and so forth.  Corey, was used to the same from his family.  And his family is a large one, with parents that have been divorced and re-married/attached and so that juggling act took a while to figure out. 

It wasn't all cavities and root canals either, but the past 5 years have seen their share of tense moments, laughter and conversation.  We've had babies arrive, more marriages and life changes, and through it all we've been trying to find the mix.  It's  not totally perfect but I think we're almost there.

We've all  learned, maybe the hard way, that when you acquire a new family member there are adjustments to be made.  Sacrifices for some, compromise for others and if everyone puts for a decent amount of effort, a good time can be had by all. 

I can say without a shadow of doubt, this past weekend saw the rewards of those compromises.  We had Corey's Mom, Step-Dad John, brothers Travis, Wyatt, and Scott, Sister in Law Chelsea, and nieces Hayley and Chloe join us for Thanksgiving.  We've been planning this weekend since July and the anticipation had certain family members bouncing off the walls by Thursday night, right Cor?

As is my M.O. I worried my way through to the weekend.  I baked and I cooked: normally I'm not a horn tooter, but today I'm totally tooting (and not because of the brussel sprouts), we had nanaimo bars, cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing, buns, cookies, cranberry sauce, stuffing, potatoes extrodonaire and gravy all from scratch, and I did that! (we also had brussel sprouts, turkey and carrots but I can't exactly claim "scratch" on stuff that someone else grew), ok I'm done.

Once the weekend arrived, we had a wonderful time, full of visits and laughter, endless amounts of laughter. 

As time wears on we're all settling into being a family.  We've learned how to make it work and we no longer just survive a family weekend (not that it was ever that bad, but I think if each of us were being honest, we'd all admit there are times we were all just biding time) but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you so much to everyone who came (and to my mom for making a stellar pumpkin cheesecake dessert), we love you all and can't wait to do it again!