The month of April seems like a blur to me.  The month started out spectacularly as my colleagues at work presented me with an award named in my honor, the activities of Holy Week, and a very joyous Easter Sunday.  As I celebrated Easter with my dear family, I felt as if I were coming down with something.  I passed it off as allergies, since it is that time of the year.  But as the week after Easter progressed, I felt more and more ill.  Work became very difficult as my “allergies” developed into a considerable amount of chest congestion and a constant cough.  I decided it was time to have this checked out and to my surprise I was diagnosed with pneumonia.  Three weeks later, I am finally on the road to recovery.  I am very fortunate that I have never experienced this in my life, and hopefully I won’t ever again.  It made me stop and think about how terribly fragile life is and how things can change so quickly.

Spring seems to be especially lovely to me this year.Read More »

I received a wonderful surprise last week – an email indicating that my Old-Fashioned Cookie recipe was being featured on the Gold Medal Flour website.  As I reported in a blog last August, the cookies received the New Entrant Award in the Gold Medal Flour Best Cookie contest at the 2014 Illinois State Fair.  I introduced the cookies and the recipe on the blog that was posted on February 12, 2013. Read More »

Happy Holidays!  I hope that your Christmas was filled with joy, laughter, and wonderful times spent with family and friends.  Here are a few pictures of Christmas at home on Grange Hall Road.

The living room tree is all decorated and the presents are all wrapped as we anxiously await the arrival of our sons and their families.Read More »

I hope that each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had a delicious traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, dinner rolls and even more delicious desserts – pumpkin surprise, apple cobbler, and sugar cookies.

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My goodness.  Time certainly seems to fly by.  I am a bit sad that this blog has not flourished in a way that I had hoped when I first started.  It seems that it is more and more difficult to find the time to post.  But I am determined to keep it going and to post often as I can.  Let me fill you in on what has been going on.  Kathi, Carla and I have been extremely busy.  Two weeks ago, we participated in our first Morton Pumpkin Festival Craft Show.  This was very exciting for us.  As I have posted on this blog, we started our company, SistersCg, almost two years ago.  We did a few local craft shows and earlier this year were so very fortunate to be able to rent a space at Second Betty, an awesome shop in Peoria Heights.  We also wanted to stay involved in a few craft shows each year.  The Morton Pumpkin Festival Craft Show was at the top of our list.  Early this spring, I submitted our application but received the news that there were no spaces available, however our application would be kept on file in case of a cancellation.  This is a large craft show with a wait list to get in, so I did not think our chances were good.  About ten days before the start of the festival, I received a phone call saying that there had been a cancellation and asked if we wanted the space.  We were so excited and of course said yes!  However, that meant some very long nights of crafting and planning.  Remember, the three of us still work full-time jobs!!!  What a great time we had.  This is a 3-day outside event.  The first day was cold and wet.  In some of the pictures below, you can see our little area wrapped to keep out the wind and rain.  The next two days were very nice.  We sold a lot of things and made some wonderful contacts and new friends.  We spent last Saturday morning at Second Betty rearranging our little corner of the world with delightful fall items.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.Read More »