Better Day...Better Days

I want to start this blog of with first saying THANK YOU to my fellow bloggers for allowing me to vent and for reading my venting. Then my boys for letting me know they had my back and were here for me. Today is such a better day and I am not going to let anything stop me from doing what it is I need to do or trying to bring me down.

All day in the back of my mind I keep singing this song by Dianne Reeves called Better Days. Years ago I stumbled on this song and it instantly brought me to tears because it so reminded me of my grandmother.(the song is about a grandmother and granddaugther) My grandmother was the queen of our family, strong, independent, stern and the most loving person you could imagine. My grandmother was the glue in our family and handle all the issues that arose. My grandmother was never sick a day in her life, I don't remember ever hearing her complain of even a headache. But in early 1989 my grandmother was told she had liver cancer and only had a short time. LOL, I don't think the doctors remembered who they were talking to. I was pregnant at the time with my second child, yes a boy and he was going to have his name my grandfather's name so my grandmother was so excited. Summer came and it didn't look like she was going to make it until he was born. I went into pre-term labor with my son in Oct and was in the hospital. During my hospital stay I was explaining to my doctor the situation with my grandmother and how she is holding on until my child is born. The snowball effect started!!

Dec comes and my labor begins, 4 days of labor and a difficult time, my son was born! He was born at 7:05 am with my grandmother in a room up a few floors from us. I got to hold my son for a short time, they cleaned him up and whisked him away. My grandmother was called, she heard the him cry, she got all the details, got his name and got to see pictures of him that they took. One week later to the day and almost to the time of my son's birth my grandmother went home. It was hard on the family but everyone was relieved she got hear and see my son.

It was a month or two later when I was going through difficult times steming from the birth of my child I heard Better Days. OMG it was like my grandmother was in the room with me and letting me know it was going to get better and be okay. She was right!!!

Now my son is 19 almost 20, a personality just like his father(funny and full of himself) but the strength, determination and courage of my grandmother. My son let's nothing get in his way, he supports and will stand up for his family and when the going gets tough he is there. Funny how one beautiful soul leaves this earth only for another to take their place.

Before my grandmother died she did tell us my husband and I that she would be watching out for us, she'd come back and haunt him if he hurt me and she would let us know she is always with us. Well needless to say myself, my mom and my sons are always finding pennies, especially when times are rough and we are down and out. One time when things were so bad for us I found a penny out front embedded into the cement of my new home and later that day while at my grandmothers tombstone, the wind blew down her flowers and when my Mom bent down to pick them up under her name was a penny. Now my son who she so dearly waited for finds tons of pennies and always the one finding money on the ground. So whenever we find pennies we say "Nana's pennies from heaven" She is still looking out for us.

When you are down and out check out the song Better Days by Dianne Reeves.

One last thing, don't forget the giveaway! Or the PIF's!!!!

Did you ever have one of those....

Did you ever have just one of those God awful days where nothing seems to go right and as the day goes on it just gets worse. Well did I have a day from you know where yesterday. I woke up in such a good mood, excited to clean my house, update my blog and hopefully make some tarts. Well needless to say cleaning my house happened but nothing else did. I will say this by 1:00pm I wanted to crawl back into bed or under the nearest rock and act like I didn't wake up or I wasn't here. I was so excited to go to bed, thinking tomorrow can only get better, but I couldn't sleep!!!!! Now today I am tired, worried, stressed out and just plain old blah. How do you all cope with a really extremely bad day?

Well today is another day and it is better then yesterday!! THANK GOD! However I just can't find my get up and go. So does anyone know where it went? Or how I can find it again? I want so bad to make tarts, yes I am very low and or need new scents, but I just can't seem to get myself there today to make them. I am burning sun washed linen right now and it smells good and makes my house smell clean but I want a pick me up. Any scent suggestions?

I did have something shocking yesterday though, all of my 4 boys that are still at home, actually all stayed home and slept home last night! I couldn't tell you when the last time was that all 4 were home all at one time to sleep. Since summer started the 2 middle boys(17 and 15) are always in our home town (which is close by) sleeping over at friends house's days at a time. I was kind of shocked that they came home to sleep!!! My boys are always on the go...that is the 3 older ones still at home. Two of them drive so my goodness, no one is ever home. The nice thing about it is, as young boys they all fought as older - young men they all get along!!! Now when I say get along, I mean get along. From the oldest down to the youngest, they play sports together , go work out at the gym, go to wing night together, go out to eat and sometimes the oldest 2 take the younger one to the movies, out to eat, to Camel back beach, swimming and my youngest son loves every minute of it. (a little secret for you all...my boys still come in my room at night and sit with me and watch tv...sometimes they ever lie in the bed...maybe only 15 minutes but hey it is something!!)

This is just a reminder, do not forget about my giveaway and or the PIF's my friend Maryann is doing on her etsy site! Also look out for Tarts Galore to re-open, I think I found web hosting I am happy with!!! One more thing, be sure to check out some of my fellow bloggers who are following me, or who are listed as my favorites(which will be updated soon) I am sure you will enjoy reading them as well!!!!

Now this is a biggie....be sure to check out this giveaway as well!!!!!!
Bake Me A Wish Gourmet Brownie Cake Giveaway!!!!
http://snipsandsnailsboutique.blogspot.com/

Time to go back lunch for the crew I have here now. Happy blogging everyone!

GIVEAWAY!! Plus a PIF!!!

Good day bloggers!!! Well today I have decided to do my giveaway!!! WOO HOO!! This giveaway is going to be a simple giveaway but something hopefully worth while to some one or many of you. The giveaway is going to be for a surprise gift from me and possibly from a fellow WAHM!!!! So here is how my 1st giveaway is going to work. As of right now I have no followers :0( and zero comments, so for anyone who decides to follow my blog or leave a comment will be entered into my giveaway!!! I will run this giveaway from today, July 27th until next Wednesday Aug 5th. My winner will be posted in my blog Aug 6th!! So who wants to get in this giveaway!?!?!

Okay with that said I have more good news!!! Does anyone ever do any RAOKs(random acts of kindness) or PIF (pay it forwards)? Both of these are kind gestures made to one another in hopes of passing them on. Well I know of a few PIFS that I thought I would pass on to you all!! These are great PIF's too! Here is the link to check it out. http://www.auntmemmy.etsy.com
(http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5794172) Now I can say this person has great products and you will not be disappointed! She is a WAHM with 3 kids. She offers many types of items from homemade soap to homemade pain cream.(the pain cream works, I use it!!) SO be sure to check out her PIF.....20 cents can go along!

Is Sunday the day for rest? Not here!

Good morning fellow bloggers, how is everyone's Sunday? I will admit mine is off to a very slow start today. Woke up again with a slight headache, and it is very humid here and my house is screaming to be cleaned and I am just not in the mood today.(sadly I will have to do it sooner or later)

Did you ever have one of those lazy days where you just do not feel like doing a thing???!!! I want one of those days today! It looks like thunderstorms are coming our way, it is hot and humid and a Sunday....Sunday the day of rest I thought.
Well if Sunday's are the day to rest then someone better tell my boys on Saturday they better start picking up after themselves!!!!

Children are such a blessing. I was lucky enough to be blessed with 5 children and yet 5 BOYS! I will say it has been a fun journey watching them grow and mature into men and young men, but boy were they easier where they were younger. I still have 4 boys left at home...19, 17, 15 and 10 and they are great boys just a little lazy.(the other one is 23 almost 24 in 6 weeks!) Maybe I shouldn't say lazy maybe I should say spoiled. My boys pretty much have everything a kid can want, but I swear I think they think I am their maid!!!!!!!!!!

When they were younger my boys all had chores. Now when I say chores I mean like washing the cereal bowls after breakfast, one would sweep the kitchen floor, 1 take recycling out to the can and one dust. Oh and keep up with their room. Now of course I would have to re-do everything that they did, again mind you not of all these chores were done everyday by them but the days it was it helped even though I would re-do them. Well something happened when they grew up. Now their bowls and dishes sit either in their rooms or in the sink, clothes all over their rooms and shoes/socks shirts lay where ever they were taken off at. Shoes, you know the tripping hazard, those too, where they come off is usually where they stay. Can someone tell me where I went wrong? Trying to get them to do anything is like pulling teeth!!

So today my house is in not that bad of shape. Mostly the kitchen needs a really good cleaning and the dishwasher needs to be loaded. OH and of course the garbage bag is over flowing but other then that my boys seemed to have picked up their shoes and socks last night and no shirts were left throw over the stair railing. WOW! I must still be asleep....lol....nope I am awake. So just maybe I will be able to have that lazy day today.

Today I have my burners going as usual. Downstairs living room, kitchen and sunroom all have caramel apple. My bedroom, skinny dipping and my son's room has cherry slush. My other son's room has clean and sexy....and I honestly do not like this one!! My son doesn't like it too much either but since he keeps his burner on pretty much all the time, he has it in there now b/c he is at work. I bought a few of these tarts from another online vendor but I know now which not to buy...clean and sexy!!!!!!!!!

So does anyone else have anything burning?(candle or tarts?)

Candle Makin PIF's & RAOK's

Howdy Hoo Everyone! How are all of you?

Oh what a lovely day today is...yeah right...it is hot and humid.(which doesn't help my back and leg issues) At least it is sunny and not raining or thunderstorms like they stated.(day isn't over yet so better be careful)
Well I have some shocking news.....I am pouring candles today!!!

OMG it has been forever I think since I poured some candles! So far I made just a single jar candle in mac apple and now I am in the process of making a loaf candle in banana berry shortcake....with toppings and all. Waitig for my wax to cool is taing forever, so I need to decide what scent I want to make my next candle in. I guess I will go down to my storgae area and close my eyes and just pick one. Ya know what, let me go dow satirs pick my scent with closed eyes, finish my banana berry shortcake and then come back later and finish this blog. (maybe with pictures)
I'll be back later!

Okay later is here!!

LOL and I am all done for today/tonight.WOW it felt good pouring like that again. I made 4 candles, banana berry shortcake in a loaf pan, black forrest truffle, mac apple and brairberry clementine.The mac apple and brairberry clementine are just regular jar candles and the other 2 are of course more...black forrest truffle is grubby and the loaf of course is topped.

Okay why did I make these candles today after months of not pouring candles. I poured my candles for my friend Maryann, who I think you all need to check out...trust me you want to check out her etsy site (http://www.auntmemmy.etsy.com ) Maryann and I do alot of swapping and trading...we help each other. Since we do that, help one another out, I want to share some more with you on Maryann.

My friend Maryann is a very talented soaper. She makes such awesome soaps and bath & body products that once you try them you are hooked. Anyway she does PIF(pay it forwards ) which is similiar to a RAOK(random act of kindness) on her etsy site....http://www.auntmemmy.etsy.com She is offering a PIF right now, so ya may want to go check it out. Now you can also find Maryann's items on my website but her PIF is not there. SORRY!(http://tartsgalore.webs.com/)

Maryann is like me and we like to do PIF, RAOK and now giveaways. Now when it is time for my giveaway which I think I will post finally tomorrow, I may have a sample of her goodies in there as well. So be sure to watch for the giveaway and pass it on. Okay so here is just one picture, a quick not perfect picture of one of the candles.

Rainy day = Makin day

Rainy days!! It seems like this summer we had more rainy yukky days then hot & humid ones. HHMMM, I do not know which is worse. I'll settle for beautiful 80 degree weather with sunny skies.

What's burning? Today since it was so dark and windy and humid I put in my burners red velvet cake! YUMMY! And funny...my son's friend came in and asked what smelled so good and could she have some. LOL I don't think she wants to eat wax. I can't wait for fall, that is when I love to burn all my bakery scent and fall scents.(bakery I burn fall and winter and oh my I am in heaven!!)

Anyway since it rained today my son bugged me to make dipped critters for his little neighborhood friends. Since I had some stuffed animals I did not want, and extra wax I caved. It was suppose to be a joint effort but of course once we started and got one dipped he and his friends took off. So I made a dipped frog, a bunny, a nice size teddy bear and a chicken...yes I said a chicken. Each one was dipped, mind you in different scents and fluffed and now ready to go home. One problem with the going home part.....no one is around....all the kids took off, where to I have no clue!!!

Oh and in the mix of doing the dippies, my son told his other friend I would do cardboard air fresheners for her and for his other friend I would do a soap. GGeeeezzzz just offer my services. Well once again I gave in and made 2 card board mini heart air fresheners for his little friend. The soap will have to wait until tomorrow or later.(I had to clean up and clean up dinner)

It was so nice making things like that again. I miss it and can't wait to get back into the full swing of things when I find a new web hosting company!! I still am deciding if I want to change my name, but it is so tough to come up with something new. here is my problem, I like my name I have now, problem is I offer more then tarts. I want to change my name but have no clue as to what and how to come up with just that perfect life time name. Any ideas or suggestions?

Well my pot should be cool enough to put away now, so I guess I will go finish cleaning up and work on my giveaway. Yes my giveaway, I did not forget still just trying to figure out how to do it.

Have a good night!

Another day...

Hello again fellow blogger's, how is everyone today? How is the weather in your area? Here is is cloudy and humid!!!(I hate humidity!!)

Well today is just another day in my book. I really hate being home, I am longing to go back to work. My days seem to just run into one another, it is the same old same old everyday. I miss being able to see different faces and talking to other adults. I am so hoping my back and kidneys start to improve soon!!!

I got to make some room sprays today. Yes, I actually made something. It sure has been awhile. So far all I made was a Sun Washed Linen and a Sea Shore. Shortly I plan on making 2 fruity ones as well. Just can't decide on the scents yet. I want to do something different so we will see what I end up with then.

I also finally decided that yes I am going to do a giveaway. I know I have no followers yet but if just by chance someone passes on by here and decides to stop and read this...YES I am going to be doing a giveaway!! My blog yesterday was in debate over what I should or shouldn't do and I finally decided yes I am going to do my giveaway. I know exactly what I will be giving away too. Now I just have to find out how to do this and how to promote it and my blog.(any advice please share it) So that is my goal later today...to figure out how to do my giveaway.

Well I hear my youngest calling so I better go see what he wants or find out where he is going. Everyone have a wonderful day!

Giveaway!! Should I or shouldn't I?

GIVEAWAY, should I or shouldn't I is today's blog. Now this is silly b/c I have no followers yet...see I said YET, but I also posted something like this on myspace blog. I always see on blogs and myspace people doing giveaways, and they always catch my eye. No I have never entered one or held on but their is something about them that attracts me to them. They also make me want to do one myself. So my question is this...should I or shouldn't I? I must say I would love to do one, but first thing is I have no clue or how and where to post it and how to get people to enter. Ya know the funny thing is I already know what I would give away...tarts or a soap....LOL.

Okay so any of you bloggers out there who happen to stumble on this blog and can walk me through a giveaway that would be great! Also how in the heck do you get traffic to your blog? I will admit I do not write much on here b/c no one follows but my mind goes everyday to here but I just can't always bring myself to write.

Well thank you anyone for stopping by and if you want to check out my blog on myspace for the giveaway here it is www.myspace.com/candlesbydia

It's been awhile

WOW it has been awhile since I posted. Dang how time flies. Time sure does fly but can we all remember where that time went?? I know where the time went in the last week...but other then that it got away from me.

In the last week, I have had an epidural shot in my back, another doctor appointment about my multiple kidney stones and cysts and have been pulled from work due to all of my ailments. I will say this though, I am so very tired of living in pain everyday and just nto feeling well. Now hopefully maybe something will help me to get back to a normal life.

Now, back to my addictions!!! I am into a new scent called morning mist!!! I bought this scent off a tart supplier and my goodness do I like it. It is very soft, fresh and clean all rolled into one. Now I have to find a way to raise some funds to invest in a few more of these tarts.

I did make a few things yesterday, I made some soaps. The picture up above is of a popsicle soap scented in grape.