It' Fall Ya'll

I have a deep love for this time of year. Perhaps it was my childhood spent in the Ozark mountains but I love the color change, the smell of a wood fire, and crisp mornings followed by mostly sunshine filled afternoons. I love football season, homecoming parades, school carnivals, Halloween costumes(well,the cute ones),and the pinnacle of the season--Thanksgiving!

Therefore, I go a little overboard and love to transform my living space to reflect what God so supremely does in decorating the outside world.

So here's a little tour.

Front porch. Don't love it this year. I have a black concrete container that I prefer to use this time of year but I got this basket (with all the plants) for a bargain very early in the season so I'm going with that.

During high winds this morning, the fern took a tumble out of the bucket turning the whole stand over into the mums (which I just replaced yesterday due to some previous mum neglect). The new mums are crushed in the back and will surely die.

I am death to plants.

Come on inside--the heart of the home, the kitchen. where the finest take out is ordered.

Kitchen table. With or without candlesticks? I can't decide.

No flat surface is safe.

I love this rattan tray/basket I got from Target last year. Hubby-- does not like it so much. He usually moves it from the ottoman to the floor. Maybe the candy corn will change his mind.

The way they were. Love this. Love them.

Thanks for stopping by. Come again.

Picture Story

Soon, we will be going here

To see her

and maybe some of these people

especially the newest one

but for now, I'm trying to decide which one of these to put on my toes because...

besides my heart, she may have left with my favorite nail polish as well.

Gina

That’s a Wrap

The Homecoming festivities and activities have come to an end.  Now we can return to normal—whatever that is.  No more tie-dying in the front yard… no more pajama days at school. 

The cheer dinner is done and the pasta bar was a hit.  All the moms packed a goodie bag for each girl.  They also received a personalized photo frame and a crown!

The big game ended in our first loss of the season so there were a few tears--however, THE dress arrived in time and The Princess did indeed look like one. 

 

 

That’s enough for one old mom to deal with in one week.  I’m going to bed- wake me up when it’s May.

It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

A co-worker presented me with 2 cans of pumpkin when I arrived at work today. She found them at the next store on my list to search. For .79 each they could be mine.

I am happy to report that no babies or brides were blackmailed in the process.

Let the cookie baking begin.

I'm On a Mission

Apparently we are having a pumpkin shortage. A wet growing season and a run on the product last holiday season has resulted in a shortage of canned pumpkin this year. This is not good news especially when I've been requested to prepare my nearly famous molasses cookies. They are wonderfully delicious on their own but even better when served with a pumpkin frosting/dip recipe that requires, of all things, pure packed pumpkin. I had hoped that I had a can in reserve but when I searched the black hole that is my pantry I came out empty handed.
News agencies and grocery store managers assure the public that there will be an ample supply available the first of October but that doesn't help me now. I'm not desperate enough to scrape out my own pumpkin but I will not sleep until I get my hands on a can.

See you on aisle 9.
Gina

What I Love about Fall, Ya'll

My in-laws have been here for a visit from Arkansas this past week. My friends said I started talking southern while they were here. Maybe so. After 10 years living in the Midwest, I am afraid I've lost my "ya'll". I haven't forgotten how to call the hogs though--too bad it wasn't enough to pull out a win on Saturday.


This is my 100th post!
One year ago I thought I'd try this new fangled thing called "blogging". It's been a creative outlet for me as well as proof positive that you can, indeed, teach an old dog a new trick. So for my 100th blog post, I wanted to share with you my favorite things of my favorite season of the year...Fall.

• Pumpkin Spiced Lattes from Starbucks

• Apple crisp, apples and caramel dip, apple cider, cream cheese stuffed apples, Fuji apple chicken salad at Panera Bread Company (it's actually offered year 'round--I was just on a roll with the apple thing)
  

• Mums- all colors. Decorated front porches. I'd like mine to look like this from the Pottery Barn catalog:
  

• Trees changing colors and falling leaves

• Fire pits and fireplaces

• Football games

• Yankee candle in Spiced Pumpkin (my standard fall fragrance; the new fall scents were great too)
  

• Candy corn and dry roasted peanuts

• Warm days and crisp nights

• Molasses cookies with Pumpkin dip

• Fall fabrics and colors

• Soup and chili recipes

• Start up of Women's Bible studies-- I'm doing these two:

We all have a time of year that we enjoy the most but I hope you can find wonder and beauty and joy in whatever season you are in.

So what do you love about this time of year?
Gina

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words?

Have you missed me?
I know, it's been sometime since my last post and I'm so close to post #100!Well I've been busy and I thought I'd let some pictures tell the story...

5 year anniversary. August marked my 5th year anniversary serving on staff at New Covenant Bible Church. I love my job and the people I work with. This plaque is what every staff member receives on their 5 year anniversary. I have looked forward to receiving my own print. The artist is Timothy Botts and I have admired his calligraphy for many years and have a couple of his books. I am blessed to work in a healthy environment and know that what I do helps make a kingdom difference!


Labor Day weekend in Chicago! This was the view from our hotel room. If ever I move to Chicago and live in an apartment downtown, I want to live here.More fun- delicious steak dinner at Gibson's, nighttime view of the city from the observation floor at the John Hancock building, late night stop at Starbucks, a stroll on the Magnificent Mile, lunch at California Pizza Kitchen then a train/subway ride to the baseball game between Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox.





Football season has begun. We are an SEC family living in Big 10 country. We don't have any strong allegiance to our state's college teams so we love watching high school football. Our local high school is known more for it's basketball championships than football but the year is starting out great. They are 4-0 even after facing their strongest opponents. It's been great fun to watch a winning team and there's a cheerleader on the sidelines that I could watch all day long.


Projects. I've had a few projects around the house that I've finally wrapped up.

Changing over my closet...I love Fall colors and fabrics!
Put husband's divot tool collection in a shadow box.
Wall stencil over kitchen door.



Senioritis. 4 years ago I had a great plan that we would scrapbook through The Princess's high school years as the events happened. We inherited supplies from my mom and bought a book to get us started. What we soon discovered is that neither The Princess nor I much liked scrapbooking. We only got a third of the way through her freshman year and then lapsed into just making a pile of programs and pictures and dried up corsages. Now that she's a senior and a graduation party will be here before I know it, I have tackled that pile and am resolute to get it into some form of display. It will be hard to stay motivated when the professionals are turning out great pictures like this one:
I think one picture is worth a thousand scrapbook pages, don't you?

Gina

Getting Ready for Goblins

I'm not sure it's christianly correct (I just made that up) to like Halloween...but I do. Not so much the culture of the holiday--just the candy and costumes. Maybe it's my theater background but I've always loved dressing up in costumes. Once past high school musicals and community theater, I didn't have an outlet for costuming until my children came along. I couldn't wait for the first pre-school Halloween party when I could get creative for the occasion. My lack of sewing skills required me to be creative. I also had my standards--no store bought costumes. If it couldn't be glued, stapled, or pinned--it didn't get made. There was great joy when I discovered the magic of Wonder Under (that tape that you iron on -- still my friend today for quick hems and seam repair).

One year Firstborn son was a dinosaur made from a purple warm up bottoms and top from Walmart (probably the girls department but we won't tell him that 20 years later). I stapled spikes made from felt squares down the back of the shirt and covered one of his ballcaps with material, glued on big scary eyes and made teeth from white felt squares that hung from the bill of his cap. I was so proud..he was so cute (I mean scary). My favorite year for costumes is captured in a sweet picture of all 3 kids on the front porch of our Georgia house. Every year I put it out to remind me of that slice of time in our lives. One pirate, one Peter Pan, and baby Princess was Minnie Mouse--all from things we found around the house!

It's been a couple of years now since The Princess has gone out trick or treating and since I've had the opportunity to create a costume. My Halloween custom now is to buy all our favorite candy (just in case there are leftovers) and relive days gone by as we sugar up the neighborhood kids and stand in the doorway to see what wondrous costumes their creative moms have wrought ...or bought.
Even though she's outgrown the trick or treating thing, The Princess just HAD to make our traditional Halloween cookie.

Here's the recipe:
1 pkg Nutter Butter cookies
1 pkg of Almond bark (white chocolate)
mini chocolate chips


Heat Almond Bark in the microwave
Dip Nutter Butter cookies in Almond Bark (nearly all the way or all the way)
Lay on wax paper
Drop 2 mini chips on for eyes
Let harden & eat. No trick, just treats.

Creating Fall

Have I told you how much I love this season? I love the crispness of the air, the colors of the leaves, the apple harvest, the fragrances- cinnamon, burning leaves, cider warming on the stove. I love the fabrics of the season--corduroy, tweeds, sweaters & light jackets.

I've always loved Fall--as a kid I loved the start of a new school year (back in the day when they waited until after Labor Day to start school)- new clothes, new shoes, new crayons!; the county fair, Halloween costumes, candy-apples, hayrides...

Even now as an adult September feels like the start of a new year. Maybe it's the former teacher in me but my life for the past 25 years has been on a school calendar. Being on the paying end of of the new clothes, new shoes, new school supplies isn't quite as exciting but with college kids and a high school junior, I don't even get to buy school supplies anymore.

Living in the midwest gives me another reason to love the Fall-- because everyday we get of wonderful Fall weather is one less day of Winter! I didn't hate winter until I moved to the frozen tundra (as my friend JoD calls it) but my southern blood has yet to adjust to the sub-zero temps of January & February. So to celebrate the season and maybe stretch it out a few more weeks, I spend some time adorning my porch and various places around the house with touches of the season. I've discovered that other than the mums on the front porch, artificial works best for me. This discovery came after one season as I would walk the outdoor trail near my house, I would stop and collect the acorns along the path. I would bring them home in pocket fulls until I could fill a Pottery Barn knock-off container. How cute they looked--so natural...until they sprouted worms that crawled all around the inside of said Pottery Barn knock-off container. Eeeeewwwwww!

So, what's YOUR favorite season?

Homecoming- Then and Now

When I was in elementary school we lived a beautiful college town in the Ozark mountains and home to the University of Arkansas. It was probably the most idyllic time of my life. One memory is the occasional football games that my parents would attend. Whether it was just this one time or a few, I remember hanging out with the Warren girls while our parents attended the football games. Their dad was a professor at the U of A so they lived just off campus. On this particular memory, they were making some money by charging people to park in their yard. It must have been Homecoming because I remember being enamored by the pretty co-eds in their Pendleton wool plaid blazers or skirts (in Razorback red of course), wth their teased & sprayed bobs or flips (that's a hair style for all you young whipper-snappers), and their cute dates wearing sport coats and ties. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to dress up and go to football games.

Fast forward 10 years...

Homecoming: Circa 1972-1976

It was the 70's and even though life in the coastal suburbs of Houston Texas were decidedly more casual (can you say hippies & surfers?), my high school had a pretty strict dress code. A girl's skirt had to be no shorter than 3" above the knee, a boy's hair could not touch their collars. It wasn't even until my senior year that we could wear pants to school (then only a "pantsuit"). We spent four years avoiding the vice principal and fine tuning ways to break the rules (The movie Footloose was my life). Homecoming was still centered around the game. Homecoming outfits were casual and standard date etiquette required a mum (double if the date was generous) complete with streamers and a pipe cleaner goalpost. Pictures were taken with a Kodak Instamatic camera and the festivities included: Go to ballgame, go to the dance (except as a good baptist girl I was not allowed to do the latter). Home by curfew.

Fast forward 30-something years...

Homecoming: 2008

Homecoming is what prom used to be...Matching corsage & boutineer, special occasion dress, matching shoes, date's shirt and or tie to match the dress; clutch/evening bag to hold cell phone, digital camera, cash or ATM card, student ID and lip gloss. Trip to tanning salon for that special "glow", hair appointment for up-do, nail appointment for french mani & pedi. School pictures, Group Pictures, Dinner at restaurant (reservations made weeks in advance), All of this before the Big Dance- daughter gets to go (mom set free from baptist bonds), change of clothes for the post dance bonfire then a sleepover with friends ending with breakfast the next morning.

What will they think of next?

Shopping the Man Mall

The top secret project I referred to in an earlier post has something to do with this:


Now obtaining this item required me to engage in one of my favorite activities--shopping. I consider shopping to be my spiritual gift (one of these days I'll find a scripture to back that up). I eagerly participate no matter what the object of purchase may be. As one who has sharpened her shopping skills, er... gift, I also know that knowing where to shop is key to claiming the perfect purchase. I was on a tight time frame and did not have the luxury of cruising the aisle of various discount and craft stores in order to produce the top secret project contribution. So I called in reinforcements.
Have I told you what a great group of people I work with? We're a team, we collaborate, we encourage each other, and take turns picking up the Chinese takeout meals. So a quick email went out requesting tips on the most likely place that may sell the object of my search. Immediate responses came back to my rescue. It was clear that I would need to patronize stores whose main clientale are men wearing bib overalls and workboots.
I was not intimidated by this challenge. I happen to be the designated handy person in our home and have made a fair share of trips to these men malls. I do not fear the sideways glances I receive as I toss my designer bag on my shoulder and head for the aisle labeled with simple signage: tape, nails, and fasteners. The key is to get in and get out and not make eye contact with anyone along the way.
So with my mission accomplished and my purchase "in the bag", I was fully prepared to head to the secret gathering place and contribute to the greater good.
Stay tuned and more will follow as the project comes together and you will see what an integral part my purchase has played.

Friday NIght Lights

Reserved Tickets to the local high school football games: $40
Hot dog, nachos, and a coke from the booster club concession stand: $6.00
Watching The Princess cheer with the varsity squad: Priceless!
Winning the second game of the season: Joyful!