Sigh..... Christmas is over...

When did the kids grow up and where does time go? Even though they aren't little and "cute" anymore, they are still a joy to watch as they anticipate opening their gifts. This year it was also a lot of fun to watch them as they gave to others. To see the looks on their faces, as they eagerly gave away their gifts that they had personally picked out and bought for others, was priceless. I'm so proud of the children and what they have become. The family gatherings were wonderful and there was a feeling of love all around. It's kind of sad when things go back to normal and we don't concentrate as much on pleasing others, as we do during Christmas time. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could truly keep Christmas in our hearts year round?

When the dogs are quiet....

When the dogs are extremely quiet..... BEWARE! As I opened my shower door to get out, this is what I saw! I heard absolutely nothing... silence in the house!
Mommy, it's been a LONG time since you let us have toilet paper! Thank you, thank you, thank you.... this is FUN!
Sweet Pea! You bad girl! But Mommy, you left the toilet paper on the edge of the tub for me. Since it wasn't on the holder where it was supposed to be, we figured you left it for us!
Butterbean! You bad boy! But all Sweet Pea let me have was this cardboard roll. Am I in trouble? Do you still love me? Yes, I love you both!

Merry Christmas from Sweet Pea

Merry Christmas from Sweet Pea, my sweet little puppy! We had our Christmas celebration with our family last night. We all had a wonderful time, but we are all exhausted this morning! The kids have to visit their other families today and tomorrow, so it's a nice feeling to have ours done for this year. Husband and I are following Sweet Pea's lead and resting today. I will be working the next three days, but we will head "home" to see our parents this weekend. Here's wishing you a very blessed Merry Christmas and hope you get lots of sweet rest!

New Addition to our Family

My daughter got married today! She and my new son-in-law decided to elope during their winter break from school. They made all their own plans for this, rather than waiting for a big wedding in the spring. They went to a chapel in the mountains today and will be staying in that area to honeymoon until Sunday. Am I sad that they didn't have a big wedding? Yes and no.... I would have liked to have seen my little princess walking down the aisle with her daddy to meet her groom.... and I would have cried and it would have been beautiful. All the money would have been spent and they would be on their merry way. Both kids are still in college and decided they would rather have a simple private wedding and keep the money. This way they can continue in school without too many financial struggles to stress them. They are both quiet people and didn't really want a big hooplah centered around them. I think they made a wise decision and I pray they will live happily ever after.

It's almost here...

Okay, guys, it's a week away.... Christmas! Are you ready? I'm not quite ready, but should be by the end of the day. I got up at 5:00 am and went in to work, only to find that we were over staffed today!!!! Yay! I quickly volunteered to go home and ran to the time clock to clock out, before anyone else could beat me to it! *grin* My son and I went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, then to several more places to help him finish up his shopping. I've just come in to drop him off, let the dogs run for a few minutes, and then it's back to town for me! Wish me luck.... I really really really want to finish my shopping today! I hope everyone is in the Christmas spirit!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Okay, so it's not a big Christmas tree , but it's better than nothing! It really looks pretty in here at night when it's dark outside. The lights on the little trees give the room a nice glow. Now, where to put all the presents? Right now, they are being stored in my bedroom. What a mess in there! The mantel is a work in progress, as I hope to find more red pieces to use on it. I saw some beautiful stemmed glass votive holders today in red, but they were $15 each. I wanted six of them, so decided to pass. Maybe I'll find something like that on sale after Christmas? Note: new fireplace screen! Yay! ( a long story!)
This is my very favorite Christmas decoration. This is a nativity set that my mother in law gave to us the first year we were married. The kids always enjoyed helping me put out the display and I am so thankful it has survived all these years. (I did have to glue Joseph's lantern back on a couple of times) Since we've lived in our current home (three years) I've never really had a place to display our nativity. This is the first year I have the new cabinet in the dining area and am very happy with how the nativity is displayed on top. The star is new this year.... Hobby Lobby! (1/2 price, of course) I hope you guys are getting along well with your decorations and preparations. My husband and I shopped today and got a LOT of our shopping done. I think I can finish up by myself in one day, if all goes well. I love the feeling of being almost ready... but I love the feeling of being completely ready a whole lot more!

I'm not a scrooge after all!

Okay, guys! I'm not going to be a scrooge after all. On my way in from church today, I snatched the scarecrow arrangement off the front door. I'm making progress! ha ! Actually, I bought two pre-lit trees that I will use on my fireplace hearth. I got these yesterday while on our three hour trip for my daughter's wedding shower. I hope to get these put up tonight and maybe I'll have pictures to share by later in the week. The wedding shower was wonderful. Daughter and her fiancee' received some great gifts. I think we all need to throw ourselves a shower every 10 years or so. Wouldn't it be fun to have all that new stuff again.... everything new at once? Of course, I have a lot of very well loved things that I could never replace. They may not be as pretty as hers are right now, but I wouldn't trade some of my worn cooking things for the world. The gifts were great, but better than that, was seeing family and friends that we have not seen in a very long time. It was almost like a big family reunion. My sis in law did a great job and was able to create another wonderful memory for us all!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Go ahead and admit it.... how many of you have your Christmas tree up already? I do not! However, on a good year, I would definitely have my tree up by now. When I was growing up, we always put our tree up on Thanksgiving afternoon. Thanksgiving was such a big day for me, as I loved helping "mix" the dressing and I loved decorating the tree!

I still love mixing the dressing and I still like decorating the tree, but it seems a whole lot more difficult to get it all done these days. No wonder my mom let me do those things... I'll be she was tired too!

We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal at my house on Thurday. Then it was back to work for me ... 12 hour shifts ... Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

When we got back to work on Friday, the activity department was busy ripping down Thanksgiving decorations, packing them up, and bringing out Christmas decorations. By the time I left work on Friday night, we had four Christmas trees up, as well as lots of other miscellaneous decorations. Even though it was pretty to look at all weekend, I was a little sad because I still had the Thanksgiving frame of mind going on in my heart. (not to mention the Thanksgiving leftovers in the refrigerator)

I'm not even sure I'm going to put up my big tree this year. More and more, I'm thinking of getting a small tree for my kitchen table and skipping the big tree. Years ago I would have never dreamed I'd be doing this! I have found that the older I get, it feels as if Christmas comes every six months, instead of every five years like it seemed when I was a child. I feel as if I just packed all that Christmas stuff a few months ago! I'm sure by next Christmas, I'll be ready to see the big tree again.

I hope to work on my Christmas shopping this week. I've picked up a few things so far, but I have a lot more to do. I also have to get a blanket made for one of my patients by Christmas. I need to buy groceries today. I will be traveling six hours on Saturday for my daughter's wedding shower. I have two more 12 hour shifts to work this week. I have several loads of laundry that need attention. Whew! I'm so tired! Just thinking about all that makes me need a nap.

No wonder I'm skipping the big tree this year. I do, however, want to see pictures of yours! So don't forget to post them on your blog.

And no, the picture above, is not my tree. It is, however, the tree I would have this year.... if I was going to have one.

Being Thankful

Thank you, Lord, for your blessings on me! God has truly been so good to me and my family. Not only do I thank Him for what he has done for us already, but also for what He is going to do. Even though I grumble and complain way too often, I have a wonderful life .... a life so much easier than a lot of people have. It's a joy to be a child of the King!

Great Friday Gifts!

After my day started kind of weird, (see post below) it just got better and better as the day went by. The mailman drove into my driveway and blew the horn for me to come out. This has never happened in my whole three years at this house. (I got to meet my mailman today!) He had not one, not two, but THREE packages for me! The first was from my dear blog friend Nancy Jo http://www.nancy-jo.blogspot.com/ (sorry I don't know how to do the fancy link thing) who embroidered this cute puppy and made this darling little bag. Inside my bag was a wonderful cinnamon smelling sachet with a silver piece of jewelry attached and a piece of lace with several wonderful old brooches attached. (I couldn't get a good picture of these... I tried) I have been on the lookout for old jewelry because I have this idea of making a little feminine wall hanging for my sewing room that I want to cover in old jewelry. Thanks so much Nancy Jo; you made my day terrific! I participated in a fall swap recently hosted by "Whatsoever Things...." (see link on sidebar) My new friend, Amy, sent this beautiful assortment of gifts. She made the beautiful little pillow which I absolutely adore, as I love primitive art. This box also smelled very yummy when I opened it. Everything was wrapped so sweetly in autumn colored wrap. (I should have taken a picture of the wrappings, but I got ahead of myself because I have no patience. I just had to see what was in the box!) Thank you, Amy, for a wonderful treat!



My other box was a mistake ... I recently ordered a piece of jewelry from a friend's home party. I had already received my bracelet and today I received the same bracelet all over again. I will send it back, as I think keeping it would be wrong. (even though my little evil heart did think about it!)


I did my grocery shopping today and I think I'm all ready to cook my Thanksgiving meal. What a great feeling to know that the shopping is already done. I hope your day was a good one too!

What is happening here?

Last night when I came home from work, I came inside to "check" the house to see if the lady who cleans for me had been. I wasn't sure at first, because the kitchen was a mess, and so was the livingroom. I asked my family if she had been and they replied yes, and couldn't I tell? They had cooked pizza for supper, left the mess in the kitchen, and had left many of their belongings all over the livingroom. My husband and I then had a conversation about whether or not I should continue with the housecleaning service, as it is often hard to tell if she has been or not! Plus, my kids put up notes on their bedroom doors before she arrives , telling her not to clean their rooms because they don't want to "straighten" them up before she arrives. Who knows if I'm getting my money's worth or not??? After awhile of discussing this , my eyes were itching and burning, so I gave up and went to bed.

I dreamed last night that when I got home from work, there was a 98 year old lady on our lawnmower, buzzing away and mowing our grass. When I looked closely, I realized she was one of my patients from the nursing home. I was very puzzled and wondered if my camera was charged so I could take a picture of that for my blog. I went inside the house to find another one of my old lady patients unloading my dishwasher! Inside the dishwasher was wet boxes of spaghetti, four of them, on the top rack. When I questioned her as to why she had washed boxes of spaghetti, she didn't understand what the big deal was and why I would be questioning her. I worked my way through my junky house to find my husband relaxing in his chair. He informed me that these ladies had moved into our house without our knowledge and that they were going around our neighborhood telling everyone what a poor housekeeper I am.

I was so upset and could not figure out how to get these old ladies back to the nursing home. Everyone thought it was great that I had taken them in and was caring for them.

I don't remember anymore about my dream, but I woke up this morning with pink eye and a sore throat. Thankfully, we still have antibiotic drops from the last eye infection that we had around here. I did manage to clean my kitchen very well and straighten the livingroom this morning.

Does anyone care to interpret my dream for me?

Believe it or not....

Believe it or not.... I have finally finished embroidering the little dresses that I started two years ago! This was a block of the month project from an online site: "Bobby Socks Quilt Company." The patterns were free each month and I could hardly wait to see and print a new one each month. I never dreamed it would take me so long to complete them. I would pick them up and worked on them here and there, but just couldn't sit down and devote a lot of time to them all at once. Now, we will see how long it takes to put the little quilt together. I plan to hang this on the wall of my sewing room that I will be getting soon. My daughter is getting married next month and I have plans to take ownership of her room as soon as she leaves. Yes, I'll miss her, but I look forward to having my own room!

8 Random Things about Me

I was tagged by Debbie J. from Homemaking Dreams to list eight random things about me. I thought about this off and on while at work today, and decided I am a very boring person. But here goes:

1. I am the youngest child and the only girl of three children. My two older brothers say I was spoiled while growing up. I don't agree.

2. I have lived in Eastern NC, Western NC, and now in Central NC. I currently live two miles from the king of Nascar: Richard Petty.

3. I have very blue eyes. When I was a small child, I had a fleck of metal get into one of my eyes. We had to take a trip to the eye doctor to have it removed. It scarred the edge my eye and if you look very closely, there is a small section of "blue" missing.

3. My favorite job ever was working in the school cafeteria when I was in high school. I was the cashier who collected everyone's money when they came through the lunch line.

4. I always dreamed of being a teacher when I grew up. I played school all the time when I was a kid. When it came time to go to college, I didn't think a four year college was an option for me financially, so I went along with my friends to a two year college for nursing. They flunked out and I was the only one who made it through nursing school at that time. I sometimes still dream of being a teacher. Nursing has been a good career, but I sometimes feel the joke was on me!

5. When I was in the seventh grade, my teacher taught me to make yo yo's for a yo yo quilt. The quilt bug bit me then, and I've been sick with it ever since. I dream of the day that I can really concentrate on sewing and make all those wonderful quilts that I now dream about!

6. Governor Easley's brother was my OB/gyn and I also used to assist him at work with circumcisions. So, I "almost" know the governor. ha ha

7. I burned my foot one time when I was in nursing school. I was trying to take a roast out of the oven while talking on the telephone. I spilled the hot roast on my left foot and suffered a serious burn. I remember taking care of patients while my own foot was bandaged up with no shoe on it!

8. I have always been a nail biter. I have broken two teeth in the past year from nail biting. I decided I could go through the rest of my life paying the dentist to fix my teeth or I could get acrylic nails that I could not chew through. For the past six months or so, I've been going to the nail salon every two weeks to have short acrylic nails redone. I'm the only person I know who wears really short acrylic nails!

I don't really know who to tag, but let me know if you participate, so I can read all about YOU!

Sick Friday

I called in sick to work today... the first time I have ever called in sick in four years! I have this headache and sick feeling that has been lingering for the past 24 hours. I'm sure I'll be fine, but am planning a day of rest and relaxation. I am reading a book that I bought from the local thrift store, "Becoming a Vessel God Can Use" by Donna Partow. It is a 10 week study that I cannot hardly put down. I am reading it through quickly and then plan to go back and really "study" it afterwards. I highly recommend it to anyone desiring to have a closer relationship with God. The picture on the left means nothing... other than I thought it was cute. I found this when I was looking for the soup picture a couple posts below. I hope you all have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday to me!

No, it's not my birthday! But I did have one in July and here is one of my gifts. My mom always sends me money for my birthday and I spent it on fabric this year. We took our beach vacation just after my birthday and I had already made up my mind to spend my birthday money at a quilt shop this time. There is a beautiful little shop in Morehead City and I have always wanted some of the 30's reproduction "Aunt Grace" fabrics. Not only did I receive the gift of fabric, but I spent a leisurely afternoon browsing through the shop all by myself that day. No distractions, no one rushing me along! I'm not sure what I will do with these pretty prints, but I sure do like looking at them. Even though I didn't live during that time, I love the nostalgic feeling of old things. I like the beautiful "art" quilts that are being made today, however, I still consider the old timey patchwork quilts the best!

Wednesday

It's a nice cool day here today and I don't have to work! I have a pot of vegetable soup on the stove and the house smells so good. Even though we've had a few cold nights lately, we still haven't turned on our central heating unit. I've been getting up before everyone and turning on the gas fireplace and letting the house warm up before they get out of bed. I'm sure before long I'll give in and turn on the central heat because I got a little chilly last night while sleeping. I'm going to try a heavier quilt first! With the gas prices going up, up, up, I'm trying to be conscious of saving heating fuel. Our fireplace is capable of using firewood, but I'm just not ready to "go there" yet. We've done that before and I have a rough time dealing with all the mess that goes along with wood fire. How do you stay warm without it being too costly?

Weekend's Over ALREADY?

I did a google image search to find a picture of how I feel when I think about going back to work tomorrow. This little boy's face just about sums it up for me! Where did the weekend go???

We had a very nice weekend at our house. Today I prepared a nice lunch and invited a friend of my son's and his girlfriend to join us. This was my sneaky way of getting them to attend church with us. We had a great Sunday service and we all enjoyed stuffing ourselves for lunch until we were miserable. The young couples went off to play golf and the rest of us took naps! It was a great Sunday!

As much as I wish I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow, let me say that I am very thankful for my job and the ability to do my job. There are many who wish they could find work or have the physical ability to work. So, yes, I am truly thankful that I can work. I hope everyone has a great week!

Here Piggy, Piggy!

Look what I found in front of my garage door when I came home from work Tuesday night. A sweet little pig! My sweet aunt and cousin have been reading my blog and discovered that I like pigs in my kitchen. This little pig walks and grunts and plays cute music when his foot is pressed. When I pull his tail, he snorts and grunts and snorts and grunts! Isn't he cute?
Well, Butterbean and Sweet Pea weren't so sure if he was cute or not! Sweet Pea ran away and Butterbean barked and barked and barked! It was hilarious when we introduced them to the new pig.
As you can tell, they got a little more friendly with their new friend after a little bit. Butterbean finally greeted him with the customary dog sniff and began to nibble his ear. Sweet Pea still hasn't made contact, but she is getting a little closer. I will have to keep my new pig friend up high so the dogs don't decide to take care of him. Thank you so much S. and A. for a sweet little gift!

Happy Halloween

I'll be working on Halloween, so won't have time to post, so I'm saying Happy Halloween early! My work encourages us to dress up for Halloween, but it's hard to be a nurse while wearing a costume. Plus, I guess I'm too self conscious to wear a costume. I did, however, buy myself a new scrub top with pumpkins all over it, that I plan to wear tomorrow. This photo was sent to me in an email saying, "You've been mooned." I was supposed to send it to everyone I know before they could send it to me. I thought I would share with you all, as it was so funny! So, I guess you've been mooned!

First Frost!

Good morning! brrrrr! It's chilly in the house this morning. We had our first frost in central NC last night, so the fireplace was lit this morning. It felt so yummy sitting next to it while drinking coffee in warm pajamas this morning! The dogs didn't know quite what to think of the fire and barked for a little while before settling down. Winter is on its way!

Baby photo

For lack of having anything to post today, I decided to post my baby picture. This is one of the few that my mom had taken of me and I recently submitted it for a contest at work during nurse's week. Our director had the nurses bring her their baby pictures and she put them all on a bulletin board to see how many people could identify them. I must still look like this because my picture was not a mystery to anyone. It was a lot of fun to see my coworkers' baby pictures and to try to guess who everyone was. Does anyone else want to share their baby picture with us?

What's your view?

I don't wash a lot of dishes by hand anymore, but I still spend a lot of time at the kitchen sink. This is my view... can you tell it's been raining? The japanese maple right in front of my window grows rapidly and has to be trimmed back often, because I'm short and it blocks my view. I've lived in two houses without a window over the sink and I could not stand not having one there. Do you have a kitchen sink? What's your view?

Waste not...

These bananas usually would have been thrown into the garbage at my house. But yesterday I thought "hmmmm, what can I do with those bananas?" So I went to the internet to search for a recipe using bananas and buttermilk, as I had buttermilk that needed to be used also.
Immediately, I found this yummy sounding recipe. I didn't have walnuts, but I did have pecans in the freezer!
In just a few minutes, I had preheated my oven and mixed up my batter! It sure smelled yummy. I had blueberries that my mom grew, picked, and sent to me this summer!
In just a little over an hour, I had a loaf of delicious smelling banana blueberry bread cooling on my stove top.
And this is what I had last night after supper. (which was also a "use what you have" meal) My family was very pleased and the loaf was gone before everyone left for work and school this morning. The ultimate compliment came from my son when he said "you can make one of these EVERYDAY." :0)

What consumes your time?

I've seen a lot of posts lately and have been having a lot of thoughts on the subject of "time" and the importance of how one spends their time. It is true that each day is a gift from God and it is our choice in how to use it. Do we make the most of our gift? Lately, my time seems to be consumed by work and all things dog related. I never knew that puppies could take up so much time. If I'm not feeding, bathing, or walking them, then I seem to be cleaning up their messes or shampooing carpet to "cover" their messes! Everyone (including the vet) tells me that I am doing this to myself and that I need to start crating them more. They both have their very own spacious crates that are usually very empty. Their water bottles hang on them and they frequently visit their crates for water. Otherwise, they are usually in my lap or at my feet. So, I wonder why I have a difficult time getting things done. When I woke up this morning to the sweet little dog kisses, I decided that today is the day! They will have to spend time in their crates. (it is now 10:25 am and the little one is sleeping behind my back in the computer chair and the bigger one is at my feet) I need all the encouragement I can get... how do you all manage your dogs so that you can still have a life? ********** (don't laugh at me, mama!)**********

A "Girls" Weekend

I spent my weekend with these three very fun girls! The tall one is my daughter and the other two beautiful girls belong to my brothers. The shortest one is the oldest of all and my daughter is the youngest... go figure! Anyway, the two nieces drove up Friday afternoon (a three hour drive for them!) for their first ever visit with us in our current location. All the "cousins" went out on Friday night, leaving me home alone with the puppies, which was wonderful. I bought take out Chinese (Sesame Chicken) and spent the evening watching t.v. and looking through new magazines.

On Saturday these three girls and I spent the day shopping! We had the best time as you can see! They all tried on cute hats, but nobody bought one. People look so cute in hats; I don't know why they don't wear them more. My son and my future daughter in law met us for lunch and we all laughed and had a great seafood lunch. Of course, there was lots of new gossip and those girls kept me laughing! I almost felt young again. hee hee However, I remembered how old I am today after church. I cooked a big lunch for the family and future son in law.... then I hit the couch. I napped for almost three hours. Nope, not that young anymore.... but it was a wonderful weekend! I hope yours was good too!

Child's garden

This is NOT my garden, but I wish it was! I saved this picture from another site a long time ago, hoping to "copy" the idea one day. I love the little girls in the garden and the children's toys. Isn't it adorable?

Cute!

There is nothing "autumn" about this chair, but I wanted to share this picture from a Williamsburg shop with you. I think the colorful way the chair is painted is so cute!

Summer's gifts continue

I went out to my fallen, sad looking tomato vines this morning just to check for signs of life and look what I found.... three beautiful red tomatoes! These may be the last for this year, so we must truly enjoy every bite of these! ~Simple pleasures~

Quilt Shop

This was another fun shop we visited while in Williamsburg last week. I am not a very experienced quilter, so I often feel lost in quilt shops, but I still love to go inside to browse. I have found that most all quilters are nice people and are very friendly and helpful to those of us who really don't know what we are doing!

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday Everybody! I have to work every other Saturday, so it's such a treat to get every other one off! I long for the day that I can have every weekend off again, to know that I can attend church every Sunday and Wednesday night, and never have to miss a special service again. I know that day is coming!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Saturday. I got up first thing and did my grocery shopping. (stocked up on sale items from Food Lion and was early enough to get some pretty cuts of marked down meats!) I've basically worked on laundry all day and played "mama" to the puppies. I stopped at a local yardsale on my way home from the grocery store and spent 30 cents! I bought a really pretty decorative plate for my kitchen plate rack, a cute summer hat with orange and white flowers on it, and an adorable drawstring bag that I mainly wanted to use as a pattern. I've got my fingernails painted and pretty for tomorrow and am now thinking about cooking supper. D.D.'s boyfriend is coming for supper, so I have cherry pie cooked for him. (Mrs. Smith's) He loves cherry desserts.... hates chocolate... which is our usual favorite! I've enjoyed watching cooking shows today while letting the puppies sleep in my lap. ~~It's been a great lazy Saturday.~~

I'm going to work on my embroidery project some tonight. I am so NEAR being finished. I bought some pink and black "Aunt Grace" border fabric from a quilt shop in Williamsburg while we were there. I am looking forward to bringing the sewing machine out again and completing this project!

How was your Saturday? I hope it was as relaxing and enjoyable as mine has been!

Back from Williamsburg

My husband and I took a couple days and visited historic Williamsburg, Va. Everything was very pretty, and of course, one of my favorite places to visit was the HUGE Yankee Candle Store. Inside were lots of pretty smaller shops, as well as plenty of Yankee candles! There was even a little restaurant inside. See below for more pictures. (I have yet to figure out how to post more than one picture per post!) We had a nice time together, but as always, I was so glad to get back home!

Beautiful fall!

This was one of several fall displays in front of the shops. It was gorgeous inside and you can just imagine how good it smelled with all the Yankee Candles!

Christmas Room

Moving along to Christmas.... there were plenty of Christmas decorations here too. This picture doesn't do this room justice. It was so very pretty, with all the twinkling lights!

How many days???

This is also part of the Yankee Candle Shop. This was taken yesterday. How many days left until Christmas????

Good-bye Summer!

"Good-bye Summer, " says the scarecrow. Well, I think it's still pretty warm to say it's fall weather, but we are getting closer, for sure. It was cloudy and cool here this morning and it really felt like a fall day. However, the sun came out and warmed us up again, so I guess Summer must have laughed at the scarecrow for trying to wave good-bye.

Simple Things

The simple things remind us of all we have to be thankful for. This little cup and saucer set is one that I bought a couple years ago, but it reminds me of something old and a much simpler time... these might be cups like our grandma's would have used to serve their coffee to friends and family. I rarely think to use them, but when I do, my coffee seems a little more special to me. Fall seems to be the time of year when I start thinking "simple, simple, simple." Generations before us did not have nearly the "things" that we have now, but I truly believe they were much happier with their simple lifestyles and slower pace of life. Joy comes from God and when we experience that kind of joy, we can really start to appreciate the simple things in life.

Fall table

I only seem to blog in spells, so today you get TWO! This is my little kitchen table with my fall arrangement for decoration. I also have a huge oak pedestal base table with six chairs, that I tried to fit into this small space when we bought the house. Needless to say, it didn't work. (that table now resides in storage) We bought this one several months ago and I just love its little farm table style. The drawer on the side is a real working drawer, but I don't have anything in it yet. I guess I could store napkins in it. Happy Fall!

My new kitchen pig

This is my latest "pig" addition to my kitchen. I found this little mobile at TJ Maxx last week. (my favorite store) It was in the clearance section for only $3.00. It had a huge ugly copper sphere thing hanging from it, but that was easily removed before I hung it. I never really had a thing for pigs, but ever since we moved into this house about three years ago, I had wanted something to display over my kitchen cabinets. One day while in TJ Maxx I found my first two pigs, decided they would fit nicely in the space, and have been collecting ever since. I need about 5-6 more to fill up the rest of the space, but half the fun is in searching for them!

Happy Fall Y'all

I love the Fall season! I put my little scarecrow door decoration out this week. This is the third year I've used him, which is unusual for me. I usually get tired of things before that. Either I like him or I'm getting too old to bother. We'll just say I like him. I usually put out other things with this arrangement, but decided to go simple this year... just the scarecrow, nothing else! If you look into the reflection of the door, you get to see the view from my front door. Happy Fall!

Home Sweet Home

I am home today and plan to enjoy being here all day! By that, I mean I have plans NOT to leave the house today. It is such a treat for me to be able to manage my day without leaving the house. Some of you know that my goal is one day, in the very near future, to be able to stop working outside the home and be a full time HOUSEWIFE! Yes, I said it.... housewife.... there is nothing wrong with that term and nothing wrong with being one!

Today I plan to pretend that I am one. My goals for today:

1. Clean up the porch area you see in the picture. It has been so hot that we have really neglected our patio. It is nice outside this morning, so this will be my first project.

2. Wash blankets, shower curtains, etc. and hang on the clothesline to dry outside today.

3. Shampoo the carpet.... AGAIN. These new little puppies are really working on the carpet. Yes, new carpet IS in my future!

4. Cook! This is something I don't do too much of these days. I plan to cook a pot of dried beans, potato salad, meatloaf, cornbread, and I may even bake something yummy today.

5. Decorate my front porch. The fern is just about dead and I am going to move everything and put out my fall decorations for the porch.

6. I may bring out my fall decorations for my livingroom. I have a pumpkin garland that I decorate my mantel with and have two spooky portraits of a Sea Captain and his wife that I use. (spooky, according to my family.... gorgeous to me!) I have a picture somewhere in one of my earlier posts.

7. Laundry, of course. There is always laundry to do.

8. I hope to semi-organize my pie safe. I have a pie safe that I use as pantry storage and it is very hard to find anything in there right now. I hope to get to that today.

9. I'll admit I have someone who cleans the house for me every other week. This is a luxury that I afford myself since I do work full time. However, there are little things that she doesn't do, that I hope to work on today. I think I will enjoy cleaning my own house again when I become a full time housewife!

10. Last, but not least, I do plan to get my daily nap in, too. This is something I wish I didn't do, but I can hardly make it through the day without one. When I'm at work, I always head for the coffee machine at 3:00.... my usual nap time!