Fun in the Snow up north

I took my nieces and nephew, plus their 2 dogs Lilly and Cooper up north to my dad's cottage last weekend in Waters, Michigan (between Grayling and Gaylord). We had a blast visiting my dad, my aunt, cousin and sledding in the snow. The dogs were besides themselves with glee running around on my dad's 20 acres. We had perfect weather and were able to enjoy the winter wonderland. We also celebrated Reeds's 16th birthday.

We visited my 100 year old grandma in the nursing home on the way home. Very nice to see her and pure entertainment. She can't see or hear very well and so she thought I was my niece Emma, so then Emma and I kept taking turns kneeling by her chair and talking to her - she thought it was Emma the entire time. At the end of our visit she thought she was our aunt, not our grandma. Too funny. Yet at times she was completely lucid and had a great conversation with my nephew Reed about his upcoming year abroad in Germany. Great weekend!

Cooper wants to go sledding with Reed.

Lilly leaping into a snow bank.

Cooper and Lilly running down the driveway which is more like a road.


Emma sledding

Blaire sledding

Reed and Blaire

Aunt Kelly (me) and Emma

Lilly and Cooper looking for birds. They are Braque du Bourbonnais (French Pointer dogs), so they point for birds all the time

Reed and the icicles hanging on the cabin

Charlie, my dad's 12 year old Lab. We love Charlie.

Lilly wearing my hat in the car and Blaire smothering her with kisses.

Construction pictures

Here are some pictures of the construction progress at our new Backyard Soaps & More location. They only started a week ago and have made a ton of progress already!

This is the "house wall" that will separate the retail store from our factory space. It will literally look like the front of a house when it's all done with a roof, windows and a swinging door.


An office

The front of the retail store. This is a big mess right now, but it will look a lot better in a week!

Another "house" only this one is more of a "shed" to cover up a stairway. It goes with the whole backyard theme.

Part of the factory space

Another office

Stuff

I don't want to continue down the melancholic path of my last few posts, but it cannot be helped. Today is the 9th anniversary of the death of my very good friend Patty Kaschalk Knecht from breast cancer at the age of 34. I've written about her on my other blog; about what a special person she was in my life, and continues to be as my very own personal angel. Her persona was bigger than life and although it has been 9 years, I know she is with me every day. I also remember the pain that surfaced each year on this anniversary the first several years after her death. I am happy to say that time really does heal. I can now look at today as a celebration of the day she escaped the pain of cancer and arrived in heaven. I feel her with me all the time and I talk to her whenever I want to.

In other news:

* My mom and I had a great time at the Gem Theatre on Feb. 7th watching the Marvelous Wonderettes musical. I want to go see it again, it was so good. If it comes to a theatre near you - buy tickets and go. You won't be disappointed.

* Tarzan and I had a great Valentines Day weekend just relaxing around the house. He left at 2 AM this morning to drive back to Chicago - straight to the office. That is one long commute!

* I've fallen off the wagon in regards to my weight loss. I had lost 6 pounds, but have put 3 pounds back on. It's so frustrating, but I'm going to blame it on the winter weather. It's not a great excuse, but I haven't gotten to yoga enough over the last few weeks. I'm going tonight!

* Construction has started at our new Backyard Soaps location and is progressing nicely. I hope to have some pictures later this week!

An amazing woman

A young woman whose blog I've read for sometime now has posted her goodbye. Her life is coming to an end after a life of living with Cystic Fibrosis. She has touched so many lives by making her journey public. She had a lung transplant a couple of years ago but her body started rejecting the lungs a few months ago. She needed another double lung transplant, which sadly will not come in time. I know Eva's legacy will be that thousands of other people decide to become organ donors and that perhaps they will someday save the life of someone. If you are not signed up to be an organ donor, please do so today. Her legacy will also be that she showed the world how to love.

Eva's lung transplant was documented and made into an award winning documentary film. Here is the link to the website about the film - 65 Red Roses

Her legacy will live on.