Prize Information and a Miracle!

Hi, Everyone!

The weather's been crazy again, hasn't it???!! Wouldn't you know that, the day after we buy 200 more gallons of propane, the temps would decide to lurk in the 60's. I trimmed up some of our trees (as far as I could reach - although a ladder was propped up against one of our apple trees, I decided I wasn't that stupid...) and shrubs yesterday. And, although my back and hands might disagree, I really didn't overdo it. I left the clippings for my hubby to clean up. ;->

Well, I have to tell you, I fell in love with Tracy's dressed-up bottles when I first saw them. It was no surprise to me when her blog was featured in Artful Blogging Magazine. They inspired me to jump into my pile of old and broken jewelry and my aptly-marked box of Cool-Stuff-I-Don't-Know-What-to-do-with-Yet and come up with my own bottle jewelry. This is what I've done so far:

I love them, and hope you do, too because I've decided to put a special one together and include it in my March Drawing! Remember, all you have to do to qualify is leave a comment on my blog! If I was a better organized person, I'd show you a picture of everything that the March package will include. However, I've always tried to not act like something that I'm not, so why start now? As you know, I add things as the month goes on so the final prize is always more than whatever the first pic would be, anyway. So, I'm asking that you trust me and know I'm telling the truth when I tell you that the prize is worthy of a little comment or two!

I've posted some closeups of them here.

Now, I have to share a real miracle with you. When I was a teenager (13 or 14 years old), my Dad's younger brother (my Uncle Narcisco) was a soldier in the Filipino Army and was able to visit us in Indianapolis. It was one of my very favorite memories, as you can imagine we rarely got to meet any of our relatives. Plus, he was young and cute and my girlfriends were sooo envious that I had such a handsome uncle - and in uniform, to boot!

When he had to leave, I was so sad. He was so sweet and personable! I adored him. I knew that, once he left our home, I would never see him again; I knew that we would never return to the Philippines and his return to the U.S. would be unlikely. Okay, fast forward 40+ years to this past week. Surprise of all surprises, his daughter Annabel left a comment for me on this blog! Her family had apparently been looking for my brother and me! Thanks to God (okay, and to Bill Gates), I have a newly discovered cousin and BFF! She emailed some old pix to me - that's 13 year old me in those manhater glasses!

Go ahead and laugh, it's okay. I did! I may have been ugly, but I wish I still had those legs!

Annabel and her family (she and her husband have three absolutely beautiful children - but then, she's drop dead gorgeous!) are living in Tokyo where he currently works. She sent me pix but I don't want to post them without her permission. We've been trying to document the past 40 plus years through emails.

I'm so excited to get to know them, even if it is electronically! Our Dads, by the way, have long passed on but they would both be so pleased to know that their children have found each other. I think Annabel is about the age of my own children. I'm hoping that they can all get to know each other, too.

Okay, I'm now off to the post office and the pharmacy! As always, thanks for stopping in!