Have you heard of Red Clay Home? When Fabgrandpa and I had our last house, we collected pottery and various other forms of art that we loved. So, while we are waiting to hear whether or not we are approved by the lender to buy our next house, we have been looking at things we want to put in the house to make it our home. We want eco-friendly items, whether they are recycled from thrift stores, or they are new but made in environmentally friendly, sustainable ways. Red Clay Home is a website where you can get some very nice new pieces for your home that are absolutely gorgeous, without sacrificing the earth.
Incline at Sunset Bowl
Their website describes their passion for art and design. When you purchase a Red Clay design, you are buying more than a vase or a pillow. You are supporting an idea, a community, a mission. Here is what they have to say:
“We stand by our belief that honest materials and honest manufacturing processes leaves little impact on the earth and its inhabitants with nothing to hide. Doing so can meet your unique needs and style at a competitive price. That standard is the future and we’re setting out to pave the way with your help.”
All prints are printed with soy ink
All Red Clay art prints are off-set lithograph prints done on archival quality, 100% post-consumer waste paper (that means no new paper was made to create this print!) with soy based ink (a renewable product and easier to recycle compared to the petrol-based inks traditionally used). Every product you buy from Red Clay is made in the USA from start to finish.
Twisting Pillow
BUY IT! Check out the Red Clay Home website to see their beautiful designs.
WIN IT! One lucky reader will win a $59 gift code to shop for your own favorite piece from Red Clay Home. To win, just leave a comment telling me which piece you would choose!
Tweet this giveaway (once per day per twitter account) “@RedClayCo beautiful style that loves the earth #giveaway http://bit.ly/sPCn7R #CBias @fabgrandma ”
Follow me on Google+ in my sidebar
This giveaway will end on December 15, 2011 at 11:59 pm EST. One winner will receive a $59 gift code to Red Clay. The winner will be selected using And The Winner Is…plugin. Giveaway open to US mailing addresses only. Winner will be notified by email, so please make sure you use a valid email address when entering. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the notification of winning. If the winner does not respond in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. You can enter once each day by tweeting about the giveaway one time each day per twitter account. Giveaway is open to residents of the United States and must be 18 years old or over. Prize is the responsibility of and will be shipped by the sponsor. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery after the giveaway closes.
This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are my own
I know everyone has at least one old gift card laying around, that still has money on it, and has not expired. You may no longer live near that store chain, or there is not enough money on the card to get something you really want. So, it lays around, collecting dust, while the store pockets the money paid without having to cash in on it. [Read more…] about Got Gift Cards You Won’t Use?
Fabgrandpa and I don’t celebrate Christmas in the traditional, spend all the money in the bank on useless gifts way. We DO send a small gift to each of our children and grandchildren, we just don’t buy gifts for each other. It is just not what we do. We feel blessed that we have reasonably good health (OK, I have plantar fasciitis, diabetes, and high blood pressure; and he has had oral cancer and has COPD, but we DO ok with our health), and that we have “enough”.And believe me when I say, I know what it is like to not have it.
In the course of my day today, I read about Kathryn and Bill. They live in Texas near a friend of mine, who is good friends with them. They have been married for 35 years, and raised six children together who gave them 21 grandchildren. In March of 2009, Kathryn followed her lifelong dream and opened up children’s boutique and consignment shop in Katy, Texas called The Children’s Carousel. In November, 2009, they received custody of six of their grandchildren. As a grandmother myself, I can see where that would change their life immensely! Taking care of children is a chore best fit for the young–being a grandparent parenting six grandchildren would be not just emotionally and physically exhausting, but financially draining as well.
In July 2011, Bill felt a sharp pain in his neck and developed a blood spot in his eye. This turn of events landed him in the hospital to have what they expected to be a simple stint proceedure, but actually turned out to be open heart surgery. After he surgery, Bill woke up to kidney problems and the realization that he was blind in both eyes, due to complications from the surgery.
He was moved to an assisted care facility, then home. He needs around the clock are that no one in the family is able to provide for him. Kathryn has tried to remain strong through this ordeal, but the realization set in that Bill is no longer able to see and can never work again. Now the legal guardians of only three of their grandchildren, they are the sole providers for them, and have the other three most of the time as well.
The events of the past several months have been hard enough to digest. Add to that the fact that their house is being sold in a short sale and they are forced to find somewhere else to live. As if that wasn’t enough, Kathryn fell on a makeshift fence at The Rice Harvest Festival and broke several teeth and is in constant pain.
I am asking you, my readers, to think about what you would do in any one of these circumstances, and try to find it in your heart to be a Christmas Angel for Bill and Kathryn and their grandchildren. You can make a cash donation via paypal, by using my email address, fabgrandma@gmail.com, or email me for the email address of their friend, Lisa, who can give you a mailing address if you want to send clothing, food, or toys, gifts other than money. If you send a paypal donation, please put Kathryn and Bill in the subject line. I will certainly make sure it gets to them. I only wish I could do more for them, or that I lived nearby so that I could lend a hand in some way. At the very least, if you could share this post with your friends and family, tweet it or share it on Facebook, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you. May the spirit of Christmas fill your heart tonight.
With all the inspections being done on the prospective new house, I decided it was time for me to get in and get myself “inspected” again. Well, OK, it was time for me to get new prescriptions for my metformin and lysinopril, and since Dr. Lee is two hundred miles away in Alabama, I needed to find a new doctor to call my own.
I hate going to a new doctor for the first time–the new patient visit is the most intense, and they always want to do all the blood tests and other stuff involved with being a new patient, and I understand all that. How could they possibly treat me if they don’t know what’s going on with me. But, still, I hate it because for the last 12 years, with the exception of being Dr. Lee’s patient for two years, I have always been the “new patient”. Buying a house in this area will finally finally give me a doctor patient relationship that can go on for years to come!
So, it with all that apprehension that I arrived for my appointment with Dr. Howell at the Tallapoosa Family Medical Center.
I shouldn’t have been so afraid! This is my new doctor, Dr. Tara Howell. She looks like she is younger than my youngest daughter, but that doesn’t matter at all. She and I clicked right off the bat. She is smiley and cheerful, and put me at ease just by walking in the room! She seemed genuinely interested in me as her patient, and that is not something I have seen every time I have been to the doctor. And, she seemed quite knowledgeable about things that could be (well, ARE) wrong with me. Isn’t she just too cute to be a doctor? Ok, Dr. H, if you are reading this, please don’t be offended by that. You remind me so much of my niece, and that is a good thing.
After Dr. Howell got through with asking me questions about my health history, and discussing some options about that dang plantar fasciitis, she turned me over to the lab for blood work. And that where I usually DREAD sitting down. Those lab people, those, those, PHLEBOMOTISTS, they usually poke and prod and jab me a hundred times, trying to find a vein. I HATE that part of going to the doctor SO MUCH! I used to tell a joke that went like this “I hate going to the hospital because they poke me with needles and make me take a baby home”, and that was not far from the truth. I have actually had a medical person use an ultrasound machine to find a vein after she had poked me three times and I refused to let her try again.
But, let me tell you, MJ at Tallapoosa Family Medical is THE BEST PHLEBOTOMIST in the history of PHLEOBOTOMY! While I was telling her that people ALWAYS have a hard time finding my veins, she tied that rubber thing on my arm, gave me a ball to squeeze, poked the needle in and had the blood drawn and I DIDN’T FEEL A THING!. MJ, I could have kissed you on the lips! You deserve the Phlebotomist of the Year Award.
If you are in the west Georgia area and need a doctor, I would not hesitate to recommend the folks at Tallapoosa Family Medical. I’m glad that I found them, and while I hope I don’t have to give blood often, I hope that MJ is working the next time I have to. Thanks, y’all! You made an other dreadable situation almost fun! (and thanks for posing for the pics!) Oh, and I have to mention, Dr. Howell is NOT FAT! She is making a baby!
While we are waiting for THE PHONE CALL telling us we have been approved, we had to get the house inspected for termites. The exterminator went out to the property, and crawled under the house to take a look. He did find some evidence of subterranean termites, which is not unusual for Georgia, but he did not see any evidence of damage from them.
Ronnie, the exterminator, sent me an email with a PDF file of that contained a drawing of the house, with marks to indicate where he found evidence of termites. Also included was a letter for the lender, and a tentative contract for treating the house for termites. If we are approved for the loan, we’ll sign the treatment contract and send it to Ronnie, with a copy to the lender’s representative. This inspection cost us $45, but $45 can save you lots of headaches down the road. And so, we wait some more.
If you like to sew like I do, here are some quick to make sewing projects that make pretty nice gifts. Just click on the picture to take you to the project. If you’ve got an hour, you’ve got time to make one of these!
Zippered Cosmetic Bag
One Hour Apron from Stop Staring and Start Sewing
Oven Mitt Pattern from Skip To My Lou
Soft Kitty Doll from Sew 4 Home
Harry Potter Doll Tutorial from My Paper Crane (MY daughter would LOVE this!)
I spent the afternoon cracking pecans with my bullet nut cracker. I love that thing! Later, I decided to use some of the nuts to make Spiced Nuts. It’s really easy!
SpicedPecans
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups pecan halves or pieces
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
Melt the butter in a skillet.
Add pecans, and saute for 2 minutes.
Add sugar and cinnamon, and toss well to cover all the nuts. Spread on a cookie sheet that has been covered with foil.
Bake for 20 minutes in a 400º oven. Let cool on pan, then store in an airtight container.
…to sit on Santa! I think the last time I had my picture taken sitting on Santa, I was about 38. I don’t celebrate Christmas much, but I do like to tell Santa what I want just in case:
Poor Santa! 1990
Someone shared this little video with me on Facebook. I love it, because you really are never too old!
How old were you the last time you sat on Santa’s lap?
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Have you heard of Red Clay Home? When Fabgrandpa and I had our last house, we collected pottery and various other forms of art that we loved. So, while we are waiting to hear whether or not we are approved by the lender to buy our next house, we have been looking at things we want to put in the house to make it our home. We want eco-friendly items, whether they are recycled from thrift stores, or they are new but made in environmentally friendly, sustainable ways. Red Clay Home is a website where you can get some very nice new pieces for your home that are absolutely gorgeous, without sacrificing the earth.
