From Chaos Comes Happiness

"Mommy . . . . Mommy . . . Mommy? Will you lay with me for a little bit?" I looked at the alarm clock on my nightstand. The blurry numbers 4:00 flashed back at me. This morning. 4 a.m. "What's the matter, honey?" I asked, trying to get my mind and body in sync. "I just wondered if you would come and lay with me in my bed," she asked. My Ella. She doesn't ask that of me very often. She is such a good sleeper, and going to bed has never been a big battle with this one. However, every once in a while she wakes in the middle of the night and can't seem to get herself back to sleep. That's when she finds her way to my bedside, and with her sweet little hand, gently nudges me to the land of the living with her soft voice. I don't mind crawling into her bed with her on nights like that. They are few and far between, and it's so rare that this little one stops long enough during her day for a snuggle, that I love late nights (o

Ok, maybe not a thousand photos. But, more than one . . . for sure. In the middle of life right now, I am taking part in a cool project called "101010 - 10 women, 10 businesses, 10 questions ". It was born out of an e-course by Kelly Rae Roberts that I took in 2010, and it consists of 10 women from this course answering 10 questions about their business. It's been a great process for me . . .  remembering what was important to me when starting my little creative adventure, and getting me back in line with my dreams for my business. Starting May 1st, I will be participating in the project. I'll be reminding you about it here, and sharing the link where you can go to see what my answers are to some questions like "What color describes your business?" and "What do you need to STOP DOING in your business?" It's going to be fun to see how my fellow artists have answered them, too. So, as I was preparing my materials for the project, I de

Note: I think we will do a Blog Post #601 or Blog Post #602 give-away. I'm in need of writing today, and the subject just doesn't fit with a give-away. So we're going to postpone our celebration for a few days, if you don't mind. Thanks, dear friend! So, my Mom had surgery for her left knee replacement yesterday. She is doing really well today - in a bit of pain (which is expected) - but she is on the road of recovery and needs to go through the steps to getting back to normal. She'll be recovering at home this time, and I'll be staying with her for a few days to assist her with whatever she needs. So far, so good. Knee replacements. Kind of like a getting new tires put on, don't you think? While leaving the hospital late last evening, I started thinking about how very much our bodies are like automobiles. No, I'm not the first one to make an analogy like this. But I think it's the first time I really thought about it, and actually got it. Ther

"WHERE IS THAT MONDAY VLOG?!?!?!??" "YOU SAID THERE WAS GOING TO BE A MONDAY VLOG!!!" "YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO HAVE A GIVE AWAY!!!!" "WHAT'S UP WITH THAT????" Yes, I hear you. I hear you loud and clear. But my friends . . . I've been busy today. I've been . . . working. Yes, I have. On my Etsy Store. It's open , by the way. Did you hear that? MY ETSY STORE IS OPEN!!!!! WOOOOOOooooooo HOOOOOoooooOOOOO!!!! You forgive me for not having the Vlog all ready for you this morning, don't you? I mean, you understand. Because, you know, I've been WORKING!!! :)     :)     :) So, do me a favor, will you? Go on over to that Etsy Store and pay me a visit, will you? Here's the link: Leanne's Etsy Store You're going to love it. Now, I know I don't have a lot of stuff in the store now. But people . . . I'm making BIG strides here, d

Greetings, dear friends! And welcome back to "The After" of our living room project. Yes, it's been a fun week of DIY tricks here . . . really, we just painted our living room. That's all. No walls knocked down. No drastic room changes. Just a different color on the walls. But it feels so good, you know? Yes, I've been feeling stuck and in a rut for a while now. Since I stopped working last July, I have been spending most of my days in this house . . . God bless all the folks out there who spend all their days in their homes. It sure can get on my nerves. So, PG and I started talking about changing things up here. And I am thrilled. We started with the living room.  If you remember, last week I shared a "before" photo with you . . . how the room has looked for the past (gulp) 10 years. Yep. That's how it's looked for quite a while. I'm not sure if you can get a total picture of the color it was, so here is another shot of the ro

2 Phone calls and 1 email. All received today, from loved ones and friends far and near. Each one saying pretty much the same thing . . .       "What's going on with you?"              "Where have you been?"                   "Why aren't you writing?"                         "Where's the vlog?"                                "What's happening?"                                      "Are you alright? Really?" 2 Phone calls and 1 email. How cool, don't you think? Yes, I am blessed. My support system is far and wide, and each time I begin to feel alone . . . out of the wood work they come. Angels, I call them. And I am surrounded by them. If you were one of the three who reached out to me, I thank you and I love you. Truly .       "What's going on with you?" was one of the questions asked of me today. The answer? I'm . . . living. It sounds much more pathetic than it really

My friend Peggy told me last week that she doesn't like when I am quiet; when I don't blog; when I don't vlog; when I don't update facebook. All of that kind of stuff that used to happen like clockwork for me. She's right, you know? She knows me so well. Usually when I am quiet with my words, that means I am internalizing something or working through something in this dangerous mind of mine. Sometimes I feel as if I need to retract. It's ok. Really. It's all good. SO don't worry about me, ok?  Just know that I am working through some things. I'm here . . . checking in with all of you . . . reading all of your blogs (even though I am not commenting). I just need to be still for a little bit. Quiet. Breath. Focus. Dream. Believe. All of that. Now, to some GOOOOOOD stuff. This has been a really exciting week for me! Did I tell you? This May, I am participating in a really inspiring project with some WONDERFUL and amazing souls. You can read more a

I spent the day in the cellar yesterday. The Scrapbook Cellar, that is. A day with three of my dearest creative souls.  The three people who I can't hide from. The three people I can't cover things up for, and who can see right through me.  I hate that.  ;) Actually, I love that. Because I can't sugar-coat anything for them. They see right through it. They call my bluff. They get me. Sometimes a person just wants to be "got", you know?  I usually leave the cellar having learned a number of lessons. Yesterday was no different.  The biggest lesson I learned?  I have issues. No, I'm kidding. I mean, I'm not kidding that I have issues. I think we determined that I definitely have issues. And I really am my own worst enemy. What I am kidding about, though, is that that wasn't the biggest lesson I learned.  The biggest lesson I learned was that I must stop listening to that voice inside of me telling me YOU CAN'T and I must start listen