'twas the saturday before Christmas . . .

Last night we headed out to another Christmas party. This time it was our church's choir party. It was such a great time!! Our hosts were the music minister and his wife, and their beautiful home was decorated to the nines!

We played some wonderful games and ate some wonderful food and had some AWESOME fellowship!! Todd and I were on a team that won one of the games -- a Christmas carol game -- and took home some yummy flavored hot chocolate as a prize!

This morning we took advantage of the fact that neither of us had to be anywhere, and slept in! We got up around seven-thirty and got our coffee and enjoyed french toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Then Todd had some maintenance things to attend to around the RV and I headed into town to do some grocery shopping.

When I got back, I saw that my Stocking Elf had been by again!

The Stocking Elf has never made an appearance before this year. I guess I've been extra good?? So far, he's placed Christmas socks, a candle, thin mints, M&M's, and some chocolates in my stocking! And Christmas is still a week away!

I had a gift to finish ... just a little peek. This is for the original best man in my life; my daddy!

And I worked on my Secret Pal's Christmas gift, which I'll put on the table tomorrow (the last Sunday before Christmas)!

I got my copy of Celebrate: Winter this week, too. Yummy!

Hopefully there will be a quiet moment in the next week or so that I can sit down and enjoy its pages.

One of my Charming Girls goals for November/December was to hunt up some new, healthy recipes for dinners. I'd found a couple this past week on Fitness Magazine's site and we tried one tonight. Well, sort of. The recipe was for seared pork chops with orange-chipolte glaze and smashed potatoes; I modified the glaze to suit us, but it was wonderful!!

This evening, I made Todd & I some sugar-free gourmet hot chocolates, and we're putting in The Polar Express. Let the week before Christmas BEGIN!

:)

full day and a funny . . .

Yesterday was a lovely stay-at-home day, but it was also busy, busy, busy!

I'd gotten gifts for several events over the next few days on Friday. Todd's station Christmas party was last night, and I had to get a 'lady's gift' for that, a gift for my Secret Pal, and an ornament for my Stitcher's Group Christmas party on Tuesday. For the first two, I got darling little cookie platters from one of my favorite local small shops -- Two Friends.

But cookie platters, no matter how darling they are, don't look right unless they have COOKIES on them! So I baked some chocolate chip cookies and arranged them prettily and tossed in some Godiva truffles for a festive look! A little cellophane wrapping, a little ribbon, and a cute gift tag, and VOILA . . .

I made the gift tags in Publisher. I really like making my own gift tags! I printed these on photo paper so they'd be glossy and the fun Christmas colors would really shine.

So, after the cookie baking and platter wrapping were done, I needed to make an apple pie. I had popped the fire in the DVD, but I was really ready for a movie, so I put White Christmas -- a classic favorite -- in my laptop. Then I plopped down on the couch with a bag of apples and peeled and sliced away!

For one pie I use three large Granny Smith apples and three large Braeburn apples.

Piled high in the shell!

And since this was for a Christmas party, I fancied it up a little by making little holly leaves out of the trimmed pie crust!

It baked up very prettily!

While the pie was in the oven, I pulled out my yo-yo's and finished up this cute little tea towel, to give as a hostess gift. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, and it was super-simple!

Okay, now for the funny . . .

When Todd came home off shift yesterday morning, he brought with him the mail, and tossed it in my lap. One of the pieces was the priority envelope below, which was from Honeybee Fabrics. I am currently doing a block of the quarter from them, and I had chatted, via e-mail, with Melissa (the owner) earlier in the week about the mailing of the next installment. She'd told me it would be sometime this month. Naturally, when I saw the return address, I assumed it was the BOQ, and I said, "Yay, something for me!"

Now Todd looked over his shoulder at me and said, "It has my name on it!" Well, yes it did.

But that happens sometimes, especially if I order stuff through paypal; because of the name on the account or the name on whichever card is used, sometimes my things come with his name. They're still my things, though he often teases me about opening stuff addressed to him.

What I saw was . . .

Honeybee Fabrics and it didn't register with me that it could be anything BUT my BOQ! So I ripped into that envelope and pulled out the contents REALLY expecting to be dazzled by the next applique installment. Especially since Melissa had sounded really excited about it.

I was so confused. Where was the magazine? Where was the fabrics? What in the world was . . . OOPS! It really *was* supposed to go to Todd. He'd ordered something off my Christmas wish list . . . from Honeybee Fabrics. LOL! There was no hiding the fact that I'd opened the envelope, so I just 'fessed up.

Todd said, "Well that won't be a Santa gift! Merry Christmas!"

:)

playing with food = creative process . . .

I was sitting at work, playing with my food-- which I'm apt to do--and I arranged my candy corn like thus . . .

I don't know why; I just do things like that. It's worse with M&M's, because I have to arrange them in lines (and pyramid shapes) by color. Anyway, I digress. I was playing with my candy corn and for some reason, thought about the little leaf table topper I'd just finished.

If leaves and acorns made a cute, quilted table topper, how much more fun would a quilted candy corn table topper be, especially if your secret pal *loves* candy corn?!?

So I opened up Publisher and found a fun candy corn clip art, and created a concept picture.

Folks, I have the fabric. I can create the template. I do believe I know what I'm going to be working on this Saturday, at our stitch group's stitch-in!

And finally, because my day isn't complete without a new photo of my precious grandbaby . . .

:)

photo shoot . . .

Sawyer's daddy is a photographer. He does terrific work -- really terrific work! He works with another photographer and they're known as Something Beautiful. Yesterday he called me to see if they could come up to the camp and do a photo shoot with Sawyer. Uh, YEAH!

First, though, I took a picture of Sawyer in his quilt! Yay!

He's saying, "I love it, Grandma, thank you!" :)

Then we loaded up and headed down to the lower field to take some photos. It was evidently a great spot, where the afternoon light was perfect for picture-taking.

James had already taken all his props to the spot. I particularly like the picture frame. He took the above picture. Sawyer does such a good job posing! I took the rest of the photos I've posted here with my little Canon.

This boy always has something in his mouth!! He was so cute, trying to grab the grass and get it to his mouth before mommy could stop him!

And I can't believe how strong he is -- sitting there just as happy as can be!

He'd spotted his mommy -- he was ready for some mommy-loving!

I think the series of photos they took in the trunk were my favorite! Chubby cheeks and just happy. Plus, the colors were so much fun -- the mustard, orange and brown!

The whole 'sitting in a trunk' thing was pretty cool, too -- and I really think Sawyer had the most fun in the trunk! They took some where he was sitting on a little chair, holding a book -- but he kept standing up. Every time he stood, Kim had to run over and grab him before he fell. It was the oddest thing watching him go from standing to sitting like that! He's so precocious -- I'm betting he's an early walker.

Still working on the Secret Pal thingie -- but it's cute, oh so cute!

:)

lazy saturday . . .

It's absolutely lovely today -- I have the windows open to let in the most glorious autumn breeze!

Todd's on shift, so after making a run to the post office and securing the camp after the RA group left, I pulled out one of the new books I got for my birthday. Actually, my dear friend gave me a gift certificate to Patches & Stitches for my birthday, and I spent it last week! I got two Art to Heart pattern books. I really like their stuff. The books always have a nice variety of projects (from simple to more intricate), clear, easy-to-follow instructions, and good templates. The two I got were Tidings and Easy Does It For Autumn.

Anyway, I pulled out the Autumn book and started perusing the pages. There are so MANY cute and relatively simple projects in this book! One in particular caught my eye . . . it's just darling . . . I have the fabric already . . . let's DO it!

Aren't these guys cute? And then pair them with this group . . .

Just a teaser, for now. If it turns out nicely, it'll definitely be a Secret Pal gift!

I'd love to spend the afternoon working on this project, but I got a call from my son (whom I love even more), and they want to come up to the camp and take pictures of Sawyer and spend some time with me!! How lucky can a girl get? Plus, I hear that Sawyer is saying "Daa-daa" now! Can't wait!!!

And can you guess what kind of pictures will be on tomorrow's blog?

Life is GOOD!

:)

happy birthday to ME!

And what a great weekend it's been! It started when Friday's mail arrived, and with it, my own copy of EQ7!!! One of my darling sisters had read my blog in August, when I'd talked about wanting Electric Quilt, and she ordered it for me! I was so excited -- it kinda made it hard to focus on work for the rest of the day!

On Friday evening, I got to spend some sweet grandma time with Sawyer. James and Kim were headed out and so I got to sub for a bit! Sawyer loves his daddy ...

We had a nice evening, Sawyer and me. We played, and went for a walk outside, ate dinner, and took a bath, before heading to bed. He's such a good boy and so personable! I told him that he would get to celebrate my birthday with me, for the first time!

"You're how old, Grandma?!?!"

Saturday I loaded EQ7 on my computer and played around with it. The first thing I did was recreate the Christmas table topper Pat had done for me. This program is definitely right up my alley!!

I finished up the candy corn wreath for my Secret Pal. It turned out so cute! Joc saw it and wants me to make one for her, too. I sprayed it real well so that it can be saved and used over and over. I hope my SP just loves it!

It looked pretty good hanging on *my* door! Hehehe . . .

We had campers in the camp on Friday and Saturday night. It was a nice group of young adults. They seemed to enjoy the outdoors and I certainly enjoyed hearing their laughter and especially smelling their campfires! That's one of my most favorite smells -- especially in autumn!

When I came in late on Friday, I rode to the pavilion to see if they were still there. They'd already gone up to the camp, but they'd left all their food in boxes, sitting on the picnic tables. I knew that the coons would have a huge party and the group wouldn't have any usable marshmallows the next day, so I took the golf cart and headed up to the campground. They were grateful for the warning. Saturday morning, two of the girls said they'd seen raccoons watching them from a tree limb! Probably the coons were wondering where their easy marks had gone.

Today, after church, our kids all came up here for a cookout/birthday party! We set up under the pavilion and Todd, my darling husband, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs!

There were some brats in there too!

Joc made my cake -- chocolate on chocolate -- from SCRATCH! And it was delicious, too!!

Pay no attention to those candles . . . what's in an age, anyway?? LOL!

Sawyer didn't have any birthday cake, but he did have a little bit of vanilla ice cream!

He liked it very nicely, to say the least! He's so darling -- he just gets passed from one set of willing arms to the next. Although his mommy's arms are his favorite!

By the end of the afternoon, he had this glazed look in his eyes -- I'm sure he fell asleep about two seconds after getting into the car!

Even Uncle Jason got some Sawyer time in this afternoon! Jason is practicing for February!

It was a sweet birthday celebration; there's nothing better than time spent with my family!

L'Chaim!

:)

glue gun monday!

Monday was the epitome of a beautiful October day. It was sunny and clear, with enough of a crisp nip in the air to keep you mindful that cold is coming! Sweater weather! This truly kicks off my favorite time of the year -- from now until the end of December!

Todd & I headed to town early, had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then headed to the Madison Baptist Association to have our picture taken for the directory. We also ran some other errands -- bank, Tractor Supply for bird seed, and Hunter Road for slippers -- before heading back to the camp. The weather was perfect and traffic was light because all the schools are out for fall break.

To that end, my daughter (the teacher) and I celebrated by meeting up at Emma's Tea Room for lunch. And my sweet girl brought me a pretty ceramic pumpkin! It totally went with my outfit, so the proprietor, Rebekah, insisted that I hold it in the picture.

My beautiful daughter is twenty-one weeks pregnant and just found out last week that she's going to have a BOY!! She's very excited, as is this grandma! Another grandson for me! I'm *so* very blessed!!!

After lunch, we made a trip to Hobby Lobby. I love that place! I could have spent a LOT of money there, but RV living makes that rather pointless, so I restrained myself to this darling little thing . . .

It rather perfectly goes with our whole "living in a campground' way of life!

From there, we headed over to Earth Fare. We had planned to go one Saturday in May, but the day before we were supposed to go, I had the wreck. It's a nice store -- fairly similar to our favorite Whole Foods Market, in Nashville! I can see it getting more traffic from the two of us! She did mention that it would make sense for us to coordinate our menus, so that we could shop & split. Since we're both cooking for two, it makes sense!

While I was there, I purchased an apple and a pear. When I finally got home, I made a yummy apple & pear tart for Todd & I. It seemed like the perfect fall dessert.

After dinner that evening I got out my trusty hot glue gun and finally started on the candy corn wreath for my Secret Pal. My sister gave me that hot glue gun AGES ago for my birthday, and it's the best one I've ever worked with. It's cordless, so I can remove it from the base and not be hampered by a pesky cord. It's been a while since I'd used it -- I forget how much fun they are!

I used a round, straw wreath form, instead of the styrofoam form (which has squared edges). I have to admit it made the placement of the corn a little more difficult, but I like the look better.

I'll hang it outside on Friday, once the candy corn has had time to get good & stale, and I'll spray the whole thing with a preserving spray. Once that's dry, I'll but the black ribbon on it and it'll be ready for delivery.

While I was playing with Jocelyn, Todd gathered up some acorns for me. I figured while I already had the glue gun out, I'd use those and some tiny pine cones I'd collected from Hunter Road to make something fallish.

Isn't it nice the way nature supplies such great crafting materials??

These little pine cones are really darling. And they look like flowers, when you look down on them!

Just playing around with things I had, I fashioned a cute napkin ring holder. Cute, huh? Worth making a second, I think. It was super easy -- it's just ribbon wrapped around a section of sleeve cut from a paper towel cardboard. I hot glued the ribbon in place, and added the decorations I wanted. Super simple, but pretty cute.

Finally, I was going through my fall pdf files, and stumbled across this little guy that I'd found in Martha Stewart's Living magazine. I haven't finished cutting him out, but you get the gist. It's a favor holder -- you fill the log with chocolates or nuts or candy. Since I'm using them more for decor than for favors, I'll fill 'em with pea gravel. I just thought they were really cute!

Happy Fall, ya'll!

:)

candy corn . . .

One of the MANY things I really like about autumn is candy corn. And not necessarily to eat, but because it just looks so - fun! It's orange, yellow, and white -- happy colors! And it's triangular -- happy shape! It makes great turkey beaks, nicely fills a clear glass candle votive, and, evidently, makes a great wreath, too!

I happened upon the latest Woman's Day on the newsstand this week, and this was their cover photo:

Cute, non? And since my Secret Pal *loves* candy corn, I figure this may be my next project AND secret pal gift! I'll post pictures when I've finished.

Instructions are easy and can be found on the Woman's Day site, HERE.

They also had great instructions for preserving the candy corn and/or the finished wreath HERE!

Bon appetit...errr...Happy crafting!

:)

waxing clean . . .

So while in the grocery store the other day, as I perused the magazine aisle (cuz I'm a sucker for that aisle), I stumbled upon a new healthy eating magazine . . . Clean Eating. I hesitated for just a second, with my hand hovering mid-air, and then I gave in and picked it up and started paging through it. And then I put it in my cart. :) I was intrigued with some of the claims on the cover like, Easiest Breads You'll Ever Make (Skip the Bread Maker) p.57 and Low-Cal, Low-Sodium Minestrone Soup with Quinoa p.40, to name a few. So I got it and took it home and really went through it. And I have to admit, it was worth the $5.99 newsstand price. Some interesting articles and lots of yummy-sounding, healthy, and inexpensive recipes that aren't so full of bizarre and strange ingredients that I've never heard of or have to spend a small fortune on, or have to drive to India to find. You know what I mean . . . like cooking one of Martha Stewart's recipes! (Who I love dearly; I'm just sayin.)

Oh. And I do know you can't drive from Alabama to India.

Anyway, I was *really* captivated by the Minestrone (about which I think I posted a blurb on Saturday) which was featured on the cover, so I pushed up my sleeves and made it. And it was quite good, and pretty, too! This is a before Parmesan shot.

And this is the cornbread I made to go with it. Cornbread is so good. It's so bad for you and probably cancelled out all the good I was doing with the Minestrone, but it's so yummy and perfect for a cold winter's meal . . .

I prefer to cook cornbread in an iron skillet, but I don't have one small enough for two people, and I refuse to make a full recipe of cornbread to accomodate the skillet method. I just need to purchase a 4" or 6" skillet!

The after Parmesan shot. Wasn't that a pretty table? And yes, those are vitamins that you see at each place! :)

I also flipped to page 57 (the breads page) where a recipe for Apple Drop Biscuits caught my eye. They were made with oat flour and spelt, two flours I'd not worked with before. They sounded good (the biscuits), but I didn't want to invest money in the flour. Interestingly enough, there was a section of different flours and how to use then, to vary from the normal white/wheat flours. It also talked about milling your own flour from oats, or whatever, so I thought I might give it a try, using the steel cut oats I had on hand. The first attempt with my food processor (which I've never been impressed with) was an epic fail. But then I remembered reading about people using their coffee grinders to grind things like nutmeg and whatever, so I pulled it out and put the steel cut oats in it. *Perfect.* I was so pleased! So I used the oat flour and then for the spelt, I substituted a mix of pecan meal and wheat flour. They were very good!

Needless to say, when I stopped in the grocery store this weekend, I noticed that a new issue of Clean Eating was out. It went home with me, too. :)

These were my reveal gifts from my secret pal, April. Oh, along with the Hancock's gift card. Wasn't she sweet?!?!



And finally, here's a quick glimpse of Sawyer's baby quilt. I still have to cut the vertical orange strips and then sew all the strips together. Kim has the bumper pads and the crib skirt done already. It's going to be so cute! I've decided I'll tie off the polka-dot squares with a small orange satin ribbon, and then I'll quilt an "S" in each of the striped squares. I got some beautiful rich chocolate brown flannel to back it with. I'm so excited!

Let the week begin!

:)