"Oh Christmas tree, oh christmas tree---"

My beautful silver tree-not vintage but so cool!
And it rotates!!

Well, Christmas is almost here and I hope this message finds everyone waiting with great anticipation for this most holy of holidays!!  And, hopefully no one is still fighting the crowds as you do that last minute shopping, or baking like a madman/madwoman as you prepare for all those out of town relatives you only get to see once a year, etc. etc. etc.  And me?  Yes, I am still doing the 'last-minute' thing and although I am preparing for my oldest daughter to come visit for the holidays, I am NOT preparing/planning any meals other than chicken-n-dumplings for Christmas day! And yes, even though I'm a vegetarian I know how to fix chicken for my children! (I pick the chicken out of mine and just eat the gravy and dumplings--so would that be called 'dumplings-n-dumplings?!)  This is a great time of year, filled with joy and good cheer for those of us who are so blessed and have few needs--but let us remember those who have little or even nothing all year round and how hard this time of year is for them.  My prayer is that we all learn to step out of our own comfort zone and share the blessings we've been given with those around us in need--not just in this Christmas season but all year long!! Amen and amen!!  God Bless all and any who read this,
 Pat,  A Remade Life

Some of my ornaments are old, some are just groovy!

My mantle and the fireplace I painted and antiqued

And no Texas Christmas is complete without a snowman in his sombero!!

Colors Abound!!



For those of you who don't know me very well I will share a deep, dark secret----I am a vegetarian!!  I've been a veggie-ite for almost 20 yrs.  Now, I'm not a vegan which means I do eat dairy products such as eggs, cheese, etc and I've been known to eat fish about every 6 mos. but basically no other meat gets pass my lips!!  This was simply a lifestyle-choice, no other reason behind it and I do love my veggies!!  So, I will be passing along some of my 'health-tips' every once-in-a-while just to share with you a little of my dietary life!!
 First tip:  Make it colorful!!  Nutritionists say that one of the ways to get a well balanced meal is to have a wide variety of colors on your plate.  Of course, we need to be sure these colorful choices are, as much as possible, from all the different food groups!  After all, Jelly Belly jelly beans are about as colorful as you can get but they are VERY limited on nutritional value!!  It also helps to have a really fun, colorful plate.  So, here is a picture of a typcial meal at the Gill home-let me know what you think and please feel free to share your tips and comments for a healthier lifestyle.  God Bless all and any who read this---Pat,  A Remade Life

This meal consists of:  salad which is full of
lots of colorful veggies-vinigrette dressing; sweet potato
fries, baked, not fried; fruit, cantelope; and soy
protein ribs (sorry, not meat); there was also
whole wheat bread on the side.  YUM, YUM!!



Moving at the speed of Life!



It has been really busy these last few weeks.  We discovered my mom has pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and that her left lung is now non-functioning.  Not good news, but managable.  She is currently on oxygen at night and boy, has it helped!  She is still weak, but at least now she can function and stay at her own house which is where she is happiest.  Going over there tonight to stay with her so I'll take stuff to work on since she goes to bed early.  Did a show last week and got great complements on my little 'glass bottle snowmen'.  They are really great fun to make and each has his own personality!  I'll share more on these little guys later.  I also made some 'cuffs' out of different items and I enjoyed showing everyone what they were.  Most had never even heard of cuffs!  So here's a few pictures of my stuff--hope you like it!!  God Bless all and any who read this--  Pat,  A Remade Life                

Anatomy of a Trade Show

As part of my regular office job, I manage a Trade Show 6 times a year.  We usually have around 80-100 vendors of all kinds, but mainly antiques and collectibles.   I've worked this show for about 9 yrs and I decided to show everyone the 'inner workings' of setting up a Trade Show.  My son Jonathan also works with me on these shows and really works hard to make the show a success!  I set-up the advertising for the show as well as coordinate the booth assignments, review product lines and well, anything else I can do to help the show!  My co-worker Cindy is also a great help organizing and keeping everything straight.  Here is what we do:

 

First we must sweep the entire Expo Hall which is no small job since it is....


  

HUGE!!!!





We must then 'mark' all the booths with numbers which takes a while!



Jonathan hard at work













Then comes the fun part-putting tables in the booths

  

Jonathan does MOST of this work, but I help (a little)

   

And now the booth is ready for the vendor.



The vendors begin their part of the job!



The show opens and in rush the customers



And then the show is over, the vendors pack up and Jonathan and I clean up

Whew!!!  and there you have how we put together a Trade Show---It's time to go home
 and rest now 'cause we will do it all over again next spring!! 
God Bless all and any who read this,  Pat--A Remade Life







Firmly Rooted

I have a hibiscus plant in my front yard--it was there when my son and I bought our house 2yrs ago.  No one had lived in this house for 2yrs and the previous owner was an older lady who couldn't do much, so the yard wasn't tended to as it should have been.  Needless to say, the yard (and the hibiscus) was a mess!  Shortly before we moved in, a hurricane came through our area.  It leveled the poor little hibiscus!  We staked it up and prayed it would recover.  It did.  Our first summer in our 'new-to-us' home was hot and very, very dry.  Our yard and the hibiscus dried-up and turned brown.  We watered the hibiscus as much as possible and prayed it would recover.  It did.  Our 2nd winter in our home was one of the coldest we've known for a while with 4-days of below freezing temps and snow--twice!  This is quite an accomplishment for this part of Texas!  Most plants, including the hibiscus, froze to the ground even though they had been covered.  We cut the sweet little hibiscus back and prayed it would grow back.  It did.  Yesterday as I was leaving for work, I glanced over at my thriving hibiscus and saw that it had bloomed--a beautiful, huge red bloom!!  I'm thinking we could learn a true life lesson from this little plant.  No matter how bad things are or how difficult our situations, all we have to do is to remember to pray and ask our heavenly Father for help.  Not only will we survive but we will eventually bloom right where we are!!  I Peter 5:6 '...casting all your cares on Him for He cares for you.'  God Bless all and any who read this,  Pat  A Remade Life

Under Construction!!

Support your local police dept. victim unit and donation huggable bears!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted, but between getting the antique mall shop up and running, ebaying and getting ready for 3-shows--well, time has been short!!  This blog will be under contruction for the next few weeks as I begin re-vamping and re-doing my shop, business and LIFE!!  Please hang-in there and continue to check back as I step into the next adventure in my life.  God Bless all and any who read this!  Pat, A Remade Life

Antique-mania!!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but I've taken the antique-plunge and I am now the proud owner of a shop in a local antique mall!  My friend Judy and I have gone in as partners-we are so excited!!  This is a well established mall-25 yrs-and has many vendors that have been there for 10yrs and longer.  Judy and I feel that is a good sign.  The mall is open 7-days a week and we don't have to work it which is good since both of us have full-time jobs.  They are all very friendly and helpful there.  It took us 3-very tiring, hard-working days to get set up, but we did it!  Now all we need is to sell, sell, SELL!!  God Bless all and any who read this,  Pat   A Remade Life

Bad show, new friends

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My new friends Avola & Ruth

I had a craft show this past Saturday not too far from my home and unfortunately it was a very bad show! There were around 100 vendors in a lovely, very large church---but no customers!! It was so sad 'cause I don't think I saw more than 30-40 customers the whole time. I made a little money-my booth fee plus a little-but so many vendors didn't even make their booth fee. It would have been a 'bummer' but I met some ready great, friendly vendors. One vendor even wants to buy some of my old, vintage doll clothing. We shared stories, future show locations and generally had a good time. We even exchanged contact information and left with a hug, a smile on our faces and hopes that we would see each other at the next show!! You know, it's all in how you look at it. We could have left tired, angry and very discouraged, but instead, we left with good feelings, inspiration and new hope that the next show would be better. God is so good to help us 'look on the bright-side' of unpleasant situations!! Praise Him name!! God Bless all and any who read this. Pat, A Remade Life

Trade Show at Winnie, TX

Here are a few pic's of my booth from this past weekend.  This is my booth after I had sold alot of stuff.  It was a great show although many told me it was one of their slower shows.  I did great, met lots of wonderful people and had a fantastic time!  I will be at this show every month.  It's well established and has a large following of customers.  And I managed to get an indoor space, thank the Lord!!  It's no fun being out in the Texas sun this time of year!!  This market is mainly for my 'gentle used' items and not my art work.  If you are ever in Winnie, TX be sure to check out Larry's Old Time Trade Show and look me up in the Antique Mall building!

Back on Track!

I'm back from Lubbock, my daughter is safely home and looking for a job and I'm getting ready for a show in 2-weeks!!  Thanks to all you who prayed for our safety as we traveled--it worked!  This weekend will be my first time to do the Winnie, Tx show called "Larry's Old Time Trade Days".  It's a well established show and I've got an inside booth, away from the heat--thank you Lord!  This is were I sell (hope too) my collectibles, antiques, resale items, etc.--it's not really a craft show so I've got a foot in two different worlds!  My craft show will be in 2-weeks and that's were I will sell my recycled purses, dolls, pincushions etc.  I 've attached a few pictures of the pincushions I make from recycled picture frames and other stuff.  I've also added pictures of some dolls I rescued, cleaned and dress.  Let me know what you think.  I'm post pictures of my booth at the Trade show early next week--hopefully it will be almost empty by Sunday!!  God Bless all and any who read this.  Pat,  A Remade Life     

Temporaily out-of-pocket!

I'll be out-of-pocket this week as I deal with my aunt's funeral and my trip to Lubbock to retrieve my youngest daughter.  My dear aunt Ella Mae pasted away at the young age of 87.  She was a very creative soul and I'm sure that's were some of my abilities come from!  She will be sorely missed.  My youngest daughter is also moving back home for a while and I will be helping her move.  Will be posting some new stuff soon!!  God Bless all and any who read this,
Pat,  A Remade Life

Hooties

Here are pictures of some more bra-bags I just finished.  And they now have an official name donated by my friend Judy---"Hooties"!!  How awesome is that!  These Hooties have a definite victorian flavor and were so much fun to make.  Hooties will soon be listed in my etsy shop--just click the icon at the top of this page to see it.  I am still having lots of fun checking out all your wonderful blogs--wish I could take vacation from work so I could just loose myself in them!!  Everyone is so encouraging and uplifting--you are an awesome group of people!!  I will be posting some 'Patty Fannys' I'm working on very soon and hopefully a few more Hooties too!   God's blessings to everyone who reads this and have an excellent weekend!! 
Pat,  A Remade Life

New 'purses'

Good Morning all you wonderful women (and men) in blogland!!  I have been having soooo much fun with the blog party--there are so many nice bloggers out there.  Please forgive me if I haven't yet returned the favor of a visit to your blog--lots going on around by home--but I promise I am working diligently and will 'come to call' on your blog!  I have been getting ready for an upcoming show in late July and found my mind (and creativity) flittering about from here to there---it's terrible having adult ADHD!!  Anyway, a friend of mine discovered a little item/purse that I have found so amusing I thought I would share it with you.  He showed me a picture and I took it from there!  So here are the new purses I've just started making------from BRA'S!!!  That's right,  they are Bra-bag's and they are so much fun to make!!  Of course, the 'bigger' the bra, the 'bigger' the bag! And then there are those that only rate as a 'coin purse'.  These are my first two but I plan on making many and posting them in my shop at etsy--aRemadeLife.etsy.com.  Let me know what you think--maybe we could plan a "Brassiere Extravaganza"!!!  Lots of love   Pat,  A Remade Life