Three Word Wednesday

Big

Boy

Haircut

The Halls are Decked

I've pretty much finished the inside of the house. I dread the outside, but want to make it fun for the baby. Our next door neighbor has his yard packed full of the blow up decorations and LMW is in awe.

My inside decor....

I have no mantle, so this is the closest I can come to it. SR cut some blocks for me out of scrap boards, and I Modge Podged scrapbook paper to them, then painted the letters. The elves were made by me when my children were very small. They are named accordingly.

The top of my pantry cabinet.

 The carolers and Santa picture on the front entry table were my mother's.

This is one of the stuffed gingerbread folks my Mom had. I took some of her Christmas fabric and draped it over the lamp shade so it would blend in.

 I added some balls, candy canes and lights to the top of my living room window. LMW loves it.

I also added lights, garland and carolers to the buffet my tree is on. It makes it a bit more festive.

I'm pretty pleased at how this corner turned out. If you'll notice there are no pulls on the buffet doors. It's the only way to keep the baby out. LOL!

Tiny Post

I have a tiny tree so this is a tiny post. Since LMW is into everything, and likes to destroy, we had to use a very tiny tree and sit it out of reach.

I couldn't do much with it, since it's so small, and I wound up getting LED lights, which I'm not really happy with. But it will do well enough.

What I Did on Thanksgiving Vacation

Since our family gathering was last Saturday, I spent the morning in the process of decorating for Christmas. I'm not finished, and it usually takes me about a week to get it all like I want. Well, it never really gets there, but enough that I can relax and let it go.

I received a wonderful ornament from my friend Y. She actually gave it to me for my birthday in September, and I'm so glad she did! I L O V E it!!

Truer words were never spoken! Invariably, when I am trying to rush through something, the sewing machine starts doing weird things that slow me down. That ever happen to you??

I"m not going to show my entire tree yet, as I'm not finished with it yet. But, here are some odds and ends I did get around to this morning.

I got this idea from Pinterest. I didn't have different sizes of the same color, so I used what I had. It looks better in person.

I had this wreath last year, but when I unpacked, it looked a little sparse, so I added more to it.

I made this last week. I think it needs a little more peppermint.

My Mom loved Gingerbread folks, and had several little stuffed people in her decorations. I was blessed enough to get them. LMW likes them too, and they are something he can play with, and me not worry about him breaking them. When he gets finished, I just put them back where they were. I have a few more scattered around the living room.

Mom also had that little Christmas china set. I thought it would be a nice thing to remember her with, on this shelf in my bedroom.

I painted the "Comfort" and "Joy" plaques a couple of years ago.

Well, that's all I'm going to add for today. I took a "Morning" for Me instead of  Minutes for Me this time. I'm thankful I had the free time to do these things, and the freedom to do them. I'm also thankful for something else...

I'm thankful I didn't fall and break a limb. While climbing down from a step stool, I lost my balance when I put my foot on the floor. To catch myself from falling, I wound up sticking my foot in LMW's toy box. One of his blocks sheared the skin off the bottom of one of my toes. A bit of blood, wailing and gnashing of teeth, but otherwise I'm ok. Thanks be to God, because I was alone. I'd have been that famous woman who cries, "I've fallen and I can't get up!" if God hadn't protected me.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

I pray each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. And I thank God for you all.

With Love,

Belinda

Trying to Be Gourmet

With all the new cupcake shows these days, I began to think I might just wanna try something new. I'm a decent baker. Nothing out of the ordinary, and I usually stick with my tried and true recipes. But, I have had a hankering to branch out and try some gourmet type cupcakes.

I looked online for recipes, but nothing really appealed to me. Or if it did, it called for all kinds of expensive ingredients I never buy. So, I improvised.  I bought a package of Hershey's peppermint kisses and some butter recipe cake mix and experimented a bit.

First, I chopped up some kisses into tiny tiny pieces.

Because my first experiment with regular vanilla chocolate chips ended with all the chips on the bottom of the cupcake, I thought to try just putting the little pieces on the top of the batter, thinking they would sink a bit.
(Aren't you supposed to coat the chips in flour to keep them from sinking?)

This is how they turned out.

No sinkage. So, I tried adding batter on top of the little pieces.

This is how they turned out.

Not very gourmet looking are they? But, I learned that I can mix them up in the batter and they won't sink to the bottom. That's helpful! I made the icing from cream cheese, real butter, and powdered sugar, then dusted the top with bits. They tasted really really good. So, I will definitely make them again.

So class...
Butter recipe cake mix + Hershey's peppermint kiss bits + cream cheese icing with peppermint kiss bits = Delicious!

Fun in the Mail

Woo Hoo! Lookie see what I received in the mail the other day...

My bloggy/quilty friend Sharon sent them to me with lovely little stories about them. How she does that tiny work is beyond me, but she seems to like doing the tiny things...don't you Sharon?!

I had to wade the lake and streams in our front yard to get to the mail box. Here is an idea of how it looked outside our front window.

Poor little tike kept saying, "Ssssiieeeed" pronounced, " Sigh-eeee-d. He wanted out so badly.

Thank you Sharon. You rock!

Family Gathering

Since some of the family have to work on Thanksgiving day, and others are committed to their in-laws' feast, we had our Thanksgiving family gathering last night. Ohh my at the food. There was deep fried turkey, dressing and gravy, mashed and sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, home made bread, rotisserie chicken, sausage stars, and cranberry salad. And for dessert, pecan and coconut pie, and Milky Way cake. We all made ourselves sick and were guilty of the sin of gluttony.

I used my china for the first time since the kids were little. And before you get to thinking I spent a lot of money on it, or got it all for wedding gifts, let me tell you I purchased it a piece at a time from Mad Butcher. Remember when they would offer china with your purchases, and give you points for them when you bought groceries? Yep, that's how I did it.

I didn't take a photo of all the food because as soon as we got it all ready, folks dug in. But I did take a few family photos. I always like to do that when we get together. My Mom never took pictures when we were growing up, but I like to have a record and the memory to see. I did manage to get a pic of K's Milky Way cake. Mercy...

K and J

MK and LeLe

LMW, who held court and entertained like a circus clown all evening.

He wanted DOWN

J and Me

The Mr. and me

The Father-in-law with his son and grandson

We had a great time together and the food was awesome. But, the next family gathering will be at noon. Eating that much before going to bed is not conducive to restful sleep.... szzzzzz....

I hope each of you have a blessed Thanksgiving week. Enjoy!

LMW's First Deer Camp Trip

I made my first trip to the deer camp today.  At first I really didn't know what to think, but I quickly got comfortable with the folks I didn't know, and proceeded to roam the territory, either Da or Nanna on my heels.

I walked hand in hand with Nanna down the trail, picking up sticks, and kicking leaves. Then we all three hopped on the four-wheeler and took a ride. Nanna tried to take pictures while we rode, but they got a little fuzzy.

I don't mind the fuzzy pictures, and I'm glad she didn't make us stop every few feet so she could take them. Before we left, I told Da he needed to take my picture with Nanna. She really didn't want to, but I put my foot down.

You can tell how unhappy she is by the look on her face. I still had a great time and was so tired when I got home, I could barely keep my eyes open. Good thing Mama was there to rock me.

I had a great day! Next year, I'll be a really big boy and can have even more fun!

Random Saturday

You can't see me...I have on my camo.

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Today is the first day of modern gun season in my area, and all the men are in the woods. I am in the house, but I still have on my camo, so you can't see me.

I have a mountain of things I need to do, but I've already piddled two hours away this morning. I think I must be tired. That or I've finally FINALLY accomplished a slower attitude. Like my Mom, I rush through the day as if hounds are on my heels. It's ridiculous. I even scrapped some projects I wanted to get done by December 1rst, simply because I'm tired of pushing myself like a slave.

Speaking of my Mom, I've been scanning some old family photos and want to share this one with you.

Wasn't she a beauty? No wonder my Dad fell for her. And she was a gifted athlete. She was offered a basketball scholarship in 1957. She turned it down to get married. What a shame...but I wouldn't be here if she hadn't.

Look at those long legs. She had about three inches on me with those things. I would have loved those three inches as I'm barely 5' tall.

I must get moving around here. Time to start getting things together for our family Thanksgiving feast next weekend. I have to start early or I wind up stressing myself to illness. I didn't get that from my Mom!! Must have been my Dad. LOL!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Words on a Wednesday

There's a lulling in my brain these days. Maybe it's the weather, or fatigue, or who knows what. But, there just aren't any blog posts coming to me. That being said, I decided to just start writing, and begin with a photo of LMW. I took it this morning while he sucked down some juice.

I have very much enjoyed the weather the last couple of days.  The leaves have danced to the ground and when I see it, I want to capture it on video. There's no time to run get the camera, but I do think of God and how He gives us such beauty. There's nothing like the feeling of the wind whipping around, and the leaves swirling in their fluttering dance.

I spent the last couple of days replacing an ugly light fixture in my bathroom.
Before:

It's a cheap builder grade and even with all those bulbs, I still couldn't see well.
After:

I had to do some patching to the wall, and if you look closely, you can see where we put a ding in it while screwing in the fixture base.  A dab of paint will fix that right up. I am amazed at the amount of light that comes from this little thing. And embarrassed to see dirt I've missed. Bleh.

I've been working on some sewing and painting, and will post to The Seam Rippers tomorrow I think. I continue to learn from my mistakes.... Again I say, Bleh.

Happy Wednesday to everyone!

Where Is It?

Where do you find your strength? I mean, when times get hard, where do you look for support? Family can offer some, and we all (or most of us) rely on our family in times of trouble, but sometimes they aren't what they need to be. Unfortunately people fail. I  have. You have. We all have.

When things look bleak, and no one on earth can do anything else, do you have faith enough to let God take it? He wants to. Do you even ask? 

James 4:2b tells us, "You do not have because you do not ask."

I wonder how many blessings I have missed because I simply didn't think I needed to ask....

Falling Behind a Bit

I've not been very good at posting lately. Seems I'm just too durn busy at this and that, but nothing very interesting.

Keeping LMW is almost a full time job for me. And nuttin gets done around here when he's in the house. And that's ok.

I've been working on little projects but nothing turned out well enough to share. :/ And that's ok too. Because not every single thing I do needs to be blogged about, eh?

I'm working on getting some things finished by our family Thanksgiving meal that will take place the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day.

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And I'm working on some Christmas things that need to be done by December 1 at the latest. We all know that you can't always post those Christmasy things because it will spoil the surprise!

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I took five quilts to the NICU Tuesday morning and dropped them off. No more on the agenda until all my Christmas things are finished. 

So, this is just a "I'm still here" post.

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