Wonderful Friends!

Have you ever stopped to think about how lucky you are? Sometimes it's easy to forget how fortunate you really are. Have you you ever had a tough week then had a friend do something special for you? Did it make you feel better and make you realize how lucky you are to have such wonderful friends? That's happened to me. Going back to school after a wonderful summer at home is always hard for me. I love the kids I teach and wouldn't trade it, but it's a lot of work. I feel like I run around like a chicken without a head from September till June. This year is particularly crazy! At three weeks into the school year, I already felt like I was months behind in my work. One Friday a few weeks ago, I was feeling particularly tired and stressed when I left school. When I got home things started to look up.

I realized again that I'm so lucky to have the greatest friends! My friend Barb sent us a panda surprise in the mail! I came home to discover these Panda screen bags. Just look at them! There was one for my daughter and one for me! What a great surprise! We love them and feel completely spoiled!!! Thank you Barb! By the way Barb is an amazing seamstress (Yes, I'm going to brag and gush about my talented friend!) She has an ETSY shop if you're in the market for a screenbag, purse, wallet, travel pillow, etc. Check her ETSY shop here.

I've been super busy with school so I didn't get to post my random surprise mail package from Karen. I won a a giveaway over at Karen's blog a while back to receive a random package with a handcrafted Karen-made gift. It arrived totally unexpected(yes, I know that's why it's called random mail.) Karen sent an owlie zippered pouch made from her tutorial. You can see the tutorial here. I have my pouch filled with my Sharpie pens and markers so I can doodle when I get a few minutes.

Karen sent an Owlie purse for Nature Girl. Karen has some in her ETSY Shop (Yes, this is a plug for her shop. You should check it out.) Karen sells aprons, bags, pincushions and many other beautifully made items. We planned to buy an owlie purse from the shop, only she sent it in the random mail package. Thank you Karen! We love our goodies! Random mail really is great!

While we're on a roll doing shameless plugs for my amazingly talented and wonderful friends, I can't leave out Val. She has an ETSY shop here with mosaics, amazing crocheted goodies and aprons. She sent us some mermaid fabric unexpectedly this summer. I finally used it to make a car-bage bag to hold our trash when we travel in the car. I think it turned out great and should help keep the car a bit more tidy.

Thank you for being wonderful friends! I appreciate your friendship and generosity! It brightens my day and reminds me of how lucky I am! Thank you!