My Birthday and Giveaway Results...

Wow! My blogging budd's are awesome! Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment yesterday - My Birthday!!! I've gone over to Tara Frey's [typing out loud] blog and used the Random Number Generator she so graciously makes available to all of us in Blogland. Thank you, Tara.
I now have five names...Five winners of my Followers Only Birthday Giveaway. But first, you'll have to endure a few photos. This is what 55 looks like at our house...

First thing yesterday morning, these beautiful flowers
arrived from my BFF Lee in Wisconsin.
Thanks, honey. I absolutely love them.

My birthday gift from Handsome was a brand new iMac with 1 TB of memory! That ought to hold just about anything I can throw at it in the foreseeable future - including those music videos I need to burn to dvd! Thank you, Husband. I had great fun taking down my "old" computer and setting this one up yesterday!
Our UPS driver brought a mystery package from our younger son's family. Daughter-in-law, Jessica made these beautiful placemats for me thinking they'd be great for breakfasts and lunches with Handsome. I called to tell her how much I love her work. As a professional artist, she has complete control of color and pattern combinations, and she's very skilled as a seamstress, too. I didn't take a photo of the box of decadent Angel Food chocolates she, our son and their girls also sent along. I think I'll just keep that to myself, thank you!
The doorbell rang again early in the afternoon. Another floral delivery. This time, roses, snapdragons and lilies from my dear Mum. Pink roses always remind me of Mum and these flowers were perfectly "her". Thank you, Mumsy. I really love them.

Elder son called last night and gave me the gift of his time. We spoke on the telephone for over an hour, catching up on his life and family in Wisconsin, and what his dad and I have been up to. I loved every minute of our chat. He and our daughter-in-law are so busy with their own business and lives, so it's hard for us to find the time for long calls. I thank him so much for his gift to me last night. I really was nice.
Handsome had a music rehearsal to get to, so we ate dinner separately and planned ahead to postpone my birthday dinner with a Friday Night Date Night/Birthday Celebration/Pizza Night. Yay! I get to continue the celebrating!!! When he got home, we shared this birthday cupcake. The truth is that over the past six months, I've been working at losing extra weight (Actually twenty five pounds so far!). As much as I truly love cake, I love being a bit thinner, so I decided it would be better to have a large cupcake than even a small cake which would be around for a few days. We lit the candles, I made a wish and then we shared this cupcake late last night.

So there you have my birthday update, dear friends. God has blessed me with 55 years and I pray that He allows me many more. He's also given me the perfect mate with whom to share my life, loving sons, their wives and children, and I'm supported and blessed by a wonderful circle of friends and extended family. I have everything a woman could ask for...and so much more than many.

Thanks so much to every single one of you who left comments and Birthday Wishes for me today. I loved reading every thought and can't wait to offer my next giveway celebrating 200 Followers! Add to that the phone calls and notes from my loving husband, brother Del, sister Di, Mum, sons and their spice (plural for spouse around here), grandkids, nieces, nephews and dear friends, you all contributed to a perfect day for me. (imagine grateful sighs here)

Without further delay
Here are the winners of my
Followers Only Birthday Giveaway:

Jo Nielsen
•
Marcie from The Rustic Victorian
•
Dee Dee from Dee Dee's Craft Spot
•
Katie from My Paisley Apron
•
Twyla from Two Crazy Crafters

Congratulations, gals! Please email your addresses to me so I can send off your Brynwood Needle Keeps.

A Very Merry Unbirthday To You...

Today is the big day...MY birthday! I'm such a dork about birthdays. I love 'em. They're a big deal. They sure beat the alternative (NOT having birthdays). I drag them out for as long as I can every year. AND, my birthday is far enough away from Christmas that I don't get "lumped" presents! Yay for me!

This year, I'm celebrating (55) by giving gifts to YOU! I'm going to choose FIVE names for my Followers Only Birthday Giveaway today. All you have to do is 1) be a follower that I can see on my list, and 2) leave a comment before midnight tonight. I'll announce the winners in my Friday post!
Each of the five giveaway winners will receive a prototype of my new Brynwood Needle Keeps. These are my trial keeps. I've been working out the bugs, so these not perfect (some of you who know me are running for smelling salts right now), but I do know that these are the only ones that will have these lovely brown velvet ribbons on them. I'm changing to satin ribbons for the rest. Each has my name label front and back (I'm still debating which label to use...my name or Brynwood); two pockets on the inside, as well as wool felt for storing your needles; and inside, my Brynwood acorn charm as the finishing touch.

Watch the video, leave a comment (I'd love to know what you think of them) and I'll be back tomorrow (full of cake!!!) to announce the winners. A verrry merrry unbirthday to YOU!

Busy, Busy & A Heads-Up...

While I had to be away from home yesterday, I still managed to get a couple of things accomplished before I left. So, here's today's update...
I finished my embroideries for the wedding hankies, and they're now in Adele's capable hands for the creation of the crocheted lace. The monogram is the groom's initial on the left, bride's initial on the right and their new shared last initial in the center. As they're marrying in January, the bride asked for a snowflake or two, so that's where the snowflakes come in. Do you like it?
Here's the heads-up...
I'm working on these for my Followers Only Birthday Giveaway tomorrow. Any guesses? HA! I'm not telling! You'll have to wait until the giveaway to find out...but I'll tell you one teeny, tiny secret. There will be FIVE winners for this giveaway, so if you're not already publicly following my blog, you might want to sign up now. You'll need to leave a comment tomorrow - and be a follower to be eligible for the drawing. If I can't see you're following me, you won't count. This will be a one day giveaway. My birthday ends at midnight December 3rd, and so does this giveaway. I'll choose the winners with a Random Number Generator (Handsome can't stand the pressure anymore!) and I'll announce the winners on Friday, December 4th.

Gotta get back to work now, so I'll see you tomorrow!

Happy Birthday today, dear Larry. I know you're really proud of your kids and grandkids and you're watching over them. They're all honorable and loving people...and it's obvious they're from you and Eli. I love and miss you. Dee