Poinsettia Place Suite

Hello, my crafty friends! I hope your week is going well. I have a video from George from Stampin’ Up!® for you today. He’s introducing the Poinsettia Place Suite from the new August – December Mini Catalog. This is one of my favorite suites, and I’ll be using it a lot this season.

I had planned to have a brand new project for you today using some of my new products from both the mini and annual catalogs, but…life. Following is the story of my life the past few days. You are more than welcome to scroll to the video. I’ll understand. (Actually, I won’t even know, so you can scroll on, guilt-free. But you’ll wonder what has happened…)

If you’ve read more than a few of my blogs, you know I have a beautiful, brilliant, kind, funny, and talented granddaughter named Amelia. (Yes, I am a bit biased.) She will be six this month, and she’s a treasure.

Amelia’s step-dad is a military reservist, and he had to go to Florida this week. Stephanie, Amelia’s mom, took a much-deserved vacation and went along. With the virus and impending hurricane, they decided not to take Amelia (wise decision). Between her dad and step-mom and me, we had extra child care covered. She and Katelyn had a blast together on Saturday, but Katelyn’s mom is moving next week and Katelyn had planned to help her pack on Sunday. I offered to hang out with the baby girl. And, oh, what a fun day we had. Amelia has discovered make-up, but the other women in her life don’t want to share. After watching her, I understand. We had several lessons on “flicking the brush” instead of “grinding the brush.” But she had so much fun playing. She put makeup on me (and it wasn’t too bad!) and then I did hers. And then she added a little more because I’m very light-handed with makeup. Then she picked out a prettier outfit for me as well as cuter shoes (apparently flip flops are not haute couteur) and we had to accessorize our outfits. There was also ice cream involved in the late afternoon. It was an awesome day.

My Wesley was off Monday and Tuesday this week, so I wasn’t planning on being back on call until Wednesday when he and Katelyn were both at work. Mike & I are “flipping” a house, so we’re spending all of our free time painting and doing a few upgrades to the house before it closes next week. Monday and Tuesday were going to be my “painting days,”  and then I’d have a sleepover or two with Amelia. Mike & I rehabbed a lot of houses in our early years, but after the boys were old enough to paint and do other things to help, I went into retirement. Now Wes has a job and his own family, and Jon is engaged to a lovely young woman and carrying the load of our electrical contracting company as well as being head coach for a local sports medicine facility, so I had to come out of retirement. I was going to include snippets from a phone call with my mom after my first day back in the painting business, because it made quite an impression on me, but I’ll save that for another day.

Life, however, always throws us alternate plans. If life is a bowl of cherries, my bowl broke and cherries are rolling all over the floor. I woke up Monday to texts from Wesley and Katelyn. He had severe abdominal pain. Did I have a heating pad? Did I have any meds for that? No – but I did have advice: Go to Urgent Care! Katelyn dropped Amelia off with me in the morning and, long story short, Wes was admitted to the hospital with appendicitis. After 12 excruciatingly painful hours for him, he finally got it removed. (Seriously, why do we have an appendix these days? Or tonsils, for that matter?) Since the surgery was around midnight (another long story), he had to spend the night at the hospital, so Amelia and I enjoyed a fabulous sleepover. We watched three movies, had popcorn, downloaded several books for her on my tablet, and much, much more. It was awesome, and it kept her mind off her dad being in pain.

Wesley’s hoping to feel much better so they can play the next two days. He works 12-hour shifts, so while one week is a grueling 60 hours over five days, the next is only 24 hours with five days off. Since he lost two of his days off this week (his short week), he’s hoping to make them up and play with Amelia Wednesday and Thursday since doctor’s orders are not to work and rest. I’ll still be on call, though, because I think he’ll probably need a little rest. Miss Amelia is capable of a lot of things, but she’s still only five, and, honestly, she’s not always restful. She has ideas. And her ideas mean work for someone (i.e.: whoever is the daily caregiver). I have to admit that whenever I hear, “Seesa! I have an idea,” I groan a little, especially if it’s after 5 p.m.

Even though I may not have a lot of time to craft the next few days, I will have an entry for the fun challenge Friday with Susan and Jackie. Be sure to check in Friday to see our take on the sketch we have. I love sketch challenges, because we always have a different interpretation of the challenge.

And now – here’s the Poinsettia Place video. It’s such a beautiful suite!

You can order the products now through my online store! If your order is less than $150, please use this link. It expires August 25, so order now!

Remember to use your Bonus Days Coupon Codes when you order. If you order online, you’ll need to enter the codes individually.

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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