Lots Going On

It's been a busy week around our place. Lots of little things have been going on and of course I'm going to use that as an excuse for my lack of posts :-) Seriously, after mom went home last week, it seems like tons of things started to happen. The weather turned pretty chilly here in TN and when that happens, there's always plenty to do outdoors in preparation for winter.

I had a huge task in pulling down all of the lovely morning glory that had taken over our deck railing. They just weren't dying quickly enough and our deck looked more like a botanical garden that an actual deck. It was pretty but very irritating to try and navigate. I didn't tell Jeff how many morning glory seeds fell to the ground as I pulled it all up. Should be fun to watch it next spring. He only thought it came in thick this year!

I'm also trying to organize my photos so that I can start scrapbooking them. I'm terrible at buying supplies but then never doing anything with them. I decided that was crazy and that I need to stop being so lazy. I had forgotten about all the digital photos I have to sift through so I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I even had some photos on my cell phone that I had forgotten about. I had Jeff remove the micro sd card from my phone and download them so now I'm all set. I've even got supplies pulled out and an album for each of the girls. Now I just need to make time to sit down and work on them.

We're finally almost finished with our tile flooring in the bathroom. I've finished sealing it and now I just need to get the room painted so that we can finally put the toilet and sink back in. It'll be so nice to have my bathroom back!

We have a Reformation Day celebration going on this weekend at church and the girls are really excited about that. I'm hoping it's not too cold on Saturday so that we can all enjoy ourselves. This is always a fun time of year for me. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday and this weekend officially kicks off the countdown to then! I can't wait to roast a big ole turkey!

That's about it for now. What have you guys been into?

Granny and Me Craft Day

A few weeks ago, my mom came down for a visit and brought lots of projects for the girls to do with her. The house was upside down for a few days but they had a blast. I've determined that we need to do lots more of this. I don't think I cleaned anything for at least three days, which was quite liberating for me!

Mom made sure to carefully instruct Caroline

The result were these cute little Christmas trees

They made the trees with felt and buttons. They attached a twig to the bottom to make the tree trunk.

Later on, they worked on making scarecrow pillows. Logan runs when I get the camera out so I only got a picture of her pillow.

Logan's handiwork

Mom also helped Logan and I make costumes for a party we attended this past weekend. I guess I should say that mom pretty much made the costumes herself. She worked really hard and they turned out well. Logan did sit still long enough for me to get a picture of her at the party.

The force was with her......

Thanks mom! We appreciate all of your hard work and we really enjoyed ourselves!

That's One Way To Diet

Today we went to a local Mexican restaurant after church. As we were eating, I started to play with my straw. That's when I noticed it. Big pink lipstick stains were all along the rim of my water glass. I immediately started laughing because that's the only thing I could bring myself to do. You see, I don't wear pink lipstick and those weren't my lip prints!

Needless to say, I was totally grossed out and couldn't drink any more of my water. In fact, I couldn't even finish my lunch. I think I threw up in my mouth a little!

Ewwwww.....

Wanted: Yummy Recipes

We've been on a real salad kick recently. One night a week, that's all we have for supper. I make this huge bowl of spring mix greens, fresh strawberries, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, grilled chicken, feta cheese, and the most important ingredient, candied pecans. We were buying pecans at the store but decided we'd try our hand at making them at home. The first batch I made were pretty good but not restaurant quality. I rolled the pecans in egg white and then a sugar/cinnamon mixture and baked them. Good, but not as good as O'Charleys (they have my favorite candied pecans). This week, we decided to try another recipe to see if we could capture the flavor we were looking for. Jeff made them this time by first baking the pecans, letting them cool, and then boiling the sugar/cinnamon mixture. After it was boiled, he coated the pecans with the mixture and laid them out to cool. Again, they were good but not what we were looking for.

Rather than looking through tons of recipes, I'm wondering if you've made them. If so, would you care to share your recipe? These things are so good that people eat them as snacks at Christmastime. I'm also looking for homemade egg nog recipes so if you've got one of those, pass it my way. I'm planning to have both of these and would love to perfect the recipes by the time December rolls around. I'm also wondering if you could make a pecan pie out of candied pecans. Have you tried it?

Wordless Wednesday: Love Those Freckles

That's What Friends Are For

A few months ago, my sweet friend K made me a beautiful necklace. She and I have been on a journey of sorts. We started trying to live healthier and using each other as motivation. In doing this, we became close friends. This has been a real blessing to me because I left my best friends behind when I left my hometown seventeen years ago. As the years passed, we just lost touch because we lived a few hours apart. I have really missed having those relationships but I also realize that people change and their lives go in different directions.

I am so thankful for K and look forward to many years of laughing really hard, crying equally as hard, and just general fellowship. I wanted to share a picture of the necklace and remind you to be thankful for those friends in your life.

The circles each have an inscription on them: Strength, Focus, Imagine, Passion, Integrity, and Discipline.

I love it K! Thank you so much for your friendship and encouragement. You are truly a blessing from the Lord.

Time Keeps Slipping.......

My mom is visiting from West Virginia for a few days and has roped the kids into several different craft projects. I hope to share plenty of photos in the coming days. In the meantime, my kitchen looks like a war zone. The kitchen table is covered with buttons, sewing needles, glue, scissors, craft paint and paint brushes, two sewing machines, and plenty of fabric and felt. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to cook in there again (that's a good excuse, isn't it?).

Our garden is dying out but the tomatoes are still hanging on. Every morning when I peek out the window, I see another ripe one hanging there waiting for me to come get it. The leaves are falling off the trees and the yard is scattered with them. My deck is covered with morning glories that just refuse to die out. I really need patio furniture covers for all the stuff out there.

It seems like just yesterday that we were getting everything ready for summer and now it's time to winterize everything. Honestly, where does the time go? It seems like I blink and a year passes. For the next few days, we're gonna kick back and enjoy all the crafty goodness going on over here. All of that other stuff can and will have to wait. I'm trying to remind myself to take time to enjoy life because in an instant, it passes and you can never get that moment back.

Ten On Tuesday: Band Edition

10 Bands/Artists that Remind You of High School

 

1. Guns N Roses ~ Patience was my favorite song.
2. Cinderella
3. Poison
4. Winger
5. Bon Jovi
6. Bryan Adams
7. Skid Row
8. Aerosmith
9. Def Leppard
10. Warrant

For more TOT's go to the official site.