How to Serve Those in Need- on a Budget

Hello Everyone!!

With the holidays upon us, I am realizing that with this new chapter of our life, we are going to have to find new ways to help those less fortunate than ourselves! We are so lucky to have a warm place to sleep and yummy food to eat, but sadly there are those who are not so fortunate. In the past we have always adopted a family for Christmas- we bought the Santa gifts for the little ones, made sure the grown-ups had a little something to open up and provided  the makings for a delicious holiday meal. There have also been times when we have been lucky enough to pay off someone else's Christmas lay-a-way!

This year there really is just no possible way for us to do those things, so I am looking for ideas  on how to take part in what the holidays should really be about - helping the less fortunate.

Here is the beginning of a  list of  some of the things we can do to serve that won't cost anything but time:

1.  Clean out our pantry and take some food to the local food pantry.
2.  Serve at the local homeless shelter on Thanksgiving or Christmas.
3.  Take any extra coats, gloves, hats to the fire station.
4.  If you have extra fabric hanging out (most crafters do) you can make blankets for the babies in the
     hospitals.
5.  Take extra blankets and clothes to the Homeless Shelters.
6.  Write a letter of thanks to someone overseas in the service.
7.  Visit the elderly at a local rest home.

I am still looking for more ideas. Do any of you do something special to serve this time of year? Please share your ideas!


Until later,
Hugs,
Shelly

Surviving and unexpected Start Over....

Hello Everyone, You may remember me from my previous blog "Nama Halacy's Comfy Cottage"I am so excited to begin this new blog and document my new adventure!

Sometimes life feels like chapters that begin and end with certain events. For example one chapter may be before you had children, or before you moved out on your own, or for some it may before or after a divorce. Well the hubster and I are at the beginning of a new chapter in our life. We didn't choose this chapter but how often do we get to choose? I am the type of person tho, that looks at each challenge as a new adventure!

Before we start with this new chapter, let me update just a bit of my past chapter. I am married to my soul mate, I know that may sound cheesy to some, but I know it to be true for me and the the hubser. Mike is my best friend and I would not want to do any of this without him. I just know that he was meant to be mine and i was meant to be his. Together we have a blended family of 8 amazing adult children and 11 adorable little grandies, all of whom I truly adore! Not too long ago we were living the American Dream, both of us working and earning not a huge but a decent living. We owned a cute little cottage in the country, had toys and were affording comfort and fun. Unfortunately, while hubster was serving in the Army, in his younger years, he injured his back, and through years of working, playing and living, it became unbearably painful. After many doctors visits, much discussion, alot of research and a ton of praying we decided that back surgery was the answer. At that time we were assured that after six weeks of recovery, hubster would be released back to his job as a Heavy Equipment Mechanic. Guess what? THAT-NEVER-HAPPENED!! After the surgery the doctor informed us that hubster would never be returning to his 36 year career!! We were stunned! Not only that, but a year or so after the surgery it became apparent that it didn't help with his pain, in fact it made it much worse. So this began the loss of our American Dream. I don't blame anyone but ourselves. We should have been prepared, we should have had a savings. The fact is that we didn't. Hubster instantly applied for his Social Security Benefits, and they did come - 3-years later. In the mean time we sold everything we could and tried to skimp by, but with the hospital debt and other debt we already had, we finally had to claim bankruptcy and our cute little cottage was foreclosed on.

So here we are today. Learning how to start over. This will not be a depressing blog, but it will be truthful. My life is still fun, I still love living and like I said, this is just another adventure, and I look forward to adventures. There is not a little book out there that tells you how to begin again, so I am hoping that this little blog will be helpful to people that find themselves in the same situation or one similar to this. I am certainly not claiming to be the expert, if I were I wouldn't be here now, but I am aleady starting to see things I should be doing differently. If I write as I go it may be helpful or at the very least comical!!

So please follow as I go, offer advice, ask questions or just laugh along with me as we rebuild our American Dream.

Until Later,
Hugs,
Shelly

Look what I made!.....

For Mother's Day this year I made these really adorable, really easy jewelry frames for my daughters, daughter-in-laws, Mom (of course), two of my lovely friends and also as a B-day gift for a teenager -whew, seriously I made about ten of these babies!



I started with this-

Alot of scrapbook paper and modpodge.



and this -

Plastic canvas and many colors of Krylon Spray paint.



and this -

Fabric, fake flower wire, gorilla glue and/or hot glue.



and this -

Frames and again, many colors of Krylon Spray paint.



Here we are in process:

First the letters - I just ripped the paper and modpodged it to the letters.

Then the flowers - I just wrapped the fabric around the wire and rolled it, gluing as I went. I discovered half way through that I really didn't need the wire. Oh well, what ever works best for you is the way to go!

The plastic canvas covered with lace - I spray painted some of the canvas and some I didn't, then I covered them with lace, but you don't have too.

The frames - Just sray painted the frames, they don't have to be perfect, you want them to have character.

I added this Krylon glitter to some of the frames -

Then I put them all together and added little hooks for necklaces, bracelets or rings.

Here are the final results -

Here are some close-ups -

Earrings hook to the canvas. Rings, necklaces, bracelets and watches hang on the hooks. They look so cute hanging on the wall, just like artwork that serves a purpose. How awesome is that?!



I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed making them! I am linking to

and One Month To Win It and and Patches of Pink and





Until later,

Hugs,

Shelly

Ch-Changes are a comin....

So it has been quite a while and so many things have been going on. I am going to start this post with a reminder of things from the past that lead to where we are today. About 3 years ago the hubster had a back surgery. Before he had it the Dr. said he would be able to return to his job as a mechanic. Well he wasn't able to, the Dr. would never release him to his job of 30 years as a mechanic. This was the beginning of a huge snowball that would finally end up sending us on an adventure we never thought we would be on, at this time in our life. First we went for about 4 months living on only my income. I do make decent pay but we had a lifestyle that took two incomes and of course we weren't smart enough to have anything in savings -big lesson learned! Then finally he was able to get disability for awhile. In the mean time we decided that to save our house we would need to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Well by the time they had everything worked out it would be a monthly payment of $700 each month, Ughhh! There really was just no way especially because the disability ran out. My sweet hubster did try to go back to work for awhile as a utility locator, but it really was just way to hard on him. He had to get up at 6 am and sometimes I wouldn't see him until 7 pm, plus he had to work many weekends. He was in so much pain, so he decided with my total support to quit. We are in the process of trying to get him Social Security Disability, but as most of you know, that is a very long process. We talked with our attorney and decided to stop the Chapter 13. We are now going to lose our little Country Cottage. :( I am also losing my cute little Sucker Orange HHR.:( So this is where the adventure begins. We have lost alot, but I am going to do my best to put a positive spin on it!! I have never in my life lived in an apartment complex and there is one in my area that is so beautiful! It is brand new, has granite countertops thhroughout, tons of storage, a dog park, a swimming pool, a wading pool, and so much more! It would be like living in a very nice hotel! I am hoping to move there for about 2 or 3 years and then we will buy something where the hubster won't have a ton of yard work, like a townhome or something. We will hopefully be filing a Chapter 7 and just starting over. This really is not where we thought we would be, but it is where we are, so we are going to make the best of it! Sorry this is so long, but I have decided that I am going to write about this new adventure and I would love it if you would come along! Until later, Hugs, Shelly