Dusty

We went to a bbq at a friends' house and ended up with this dog! Gary and I both swore we would never have another dog. We don't have the time or the energy that being a responsible do owner entails...Treven has been crying and begging for a dog for so long and we kept telling him no. At this bbq, though, Treven carried poor Dusty around all night. My friend asked Treven is maybe he could just keep him overnight for her. We finally agreed and she promised she would come get him if he was any trouble at all. That was a month ago...guess who is still at our house? Guess who will be staying at our house?

Treven loves the dog and he has been a pretty good dog. We've had to chain him up outside because he is so friendly that if we aren't home, he will go to the neighbors to find someone to play with him. I'm afraid he may end up running into the road and getting hit, so when we can't be outside with him, he has to be on the chain. He stays right with us when we are outside, though. He will run after Treven or just come sit by my feet. He does jump a little, but we are working on that. He's pretty good about sitting and lying down already. He sort of plays fetch, too. I think if we work with him enough he will turn out to be a good dog. He loves kids so that will be a plus.

Ellie loves him, too. She is the one he tends to jump on, mostly because he is excited she is out there. She loves to play with him, but she likes him better from about 10 feet away. She's not too sure about his wet kisses and wiggly tail!

Here are a few more of the Halloween projects I have done. The flowers are part of a floral arrangement I did that sits by our front door. The bib is from the same glow in the dark fabric that I made dishtowels out of for our family reunion. It was so cute I couldn't resist. I also made Treven a pillowcase out of the same material. The ladies at the fabric store probably thought I was crazy; I just kept going back for more! The sign was just a cheap old frame from the dollar store that I put a vinyl sign over. I used some patterned paper for the background and did a bit of rubbing and VOILA! Easy as can be. It looks cool, on my shelf, though. I placed some bottles with colored water by it so it kind of looks neat!

Weekly Menu

Monday: chicken gravy over mashed potatoes, green beans

Tuesday: Crockpot lasagna, green salad, garlic bread

Wednesday: hamburger helper, corn (don't laugh; it's Treven's favorite)

Thursday: school carnival-chili and cinnamon rolls

Friday: shepherd's pie, bubble bread

Saturday: white chicken chili, cornbread

Sunday: salmon, baked potatoes, green salad

Breakfast:
Monday: cream of wheat
Tuesday: muffins, pears
Wednesday: cold cereal
Thursday: applesauce and granola bars
Friday: waffles

Years ago, my mom made a ribbon holder for the girls. Now that we have Ellie, we needed another one! I looked everywhere for some wooden rings, but I couldn't find any, so I bought a package of 12 shower curtain rings instead! Worked great and I got to finish what I had going on in my head! I bought a spool of the polka dot ribbon and ended up getting 4 holders! I threaded the ribbon through the ring and sewed a straight line across the ribbon to hold it in place. Then I embellished the stitched line with flowers to cover it up.

When I was buying my ribbon and rings, I bought 6" of various colors of satin to make bows. You use several various sizes of circles and burn them to make them curl. Put a brad through the circles to hold them in place and glue onto a clippie and you have an easy but cute hairbow. One trick I learned, though...don't use a lighter to burn the edges. It burns the living daylights out of your fingers. Spend the extra couple of bucks and buy one of those aim-a-flame things! Way worth the money!!! These are fairly small and not too curled because they were for Ellie. When I made some for the older girls, I used bigger circles and curled the edges more. It looked funny on such a little girl, though, to have them so curled.

Here is the final project finished and hairbows all in place. No more smashed bows or digging through the drawer to find the one you're looking for!

This is reality, folks!

Welcome to my life...I know I showed pictures of Ellie and her beef stroganoff, but seriously...this is reality. Every day reality in all of it's glory! This is what makes up my days...cook breakfast, clean it(and Ellie) up. Cook lunch, clean it (and Ellie) up. Clean house (clean Ellie's face at least two more times). Cook dinner, clean it (and Ellie) up. This is what being Ellie's mom is all about and believe me, we couldn't stage this kind of mess even if we wanted to! I've decided that there is nothing I can do to change the fact that I have a mess maker; I'm going to sit back and enjoy it while she is still little...and take lots of pictures!

Lagoon Pictures

We went to Lagoon a week ago or so. We had so much fun! I was going to leave Ellie with my mom, but Gary thought we should take her with us...I really thought we were headed straight to DisasterVille! She was so incredibly good, though! She didn't have a nap all day and still she was smiling and stayed in the wagon even when the older kids were riding and she wasn't. The kids had a ball and we really didn't have too much fighting or arguing about which ride was next. They got me on Collosus twice and Wicked once. Gary didn't feel up to riding any of those rides so it fell on my shoulders...he stayed with Ellie. When it came down to the haunted houses, he took over and I stayed with Ellie. During Frightmares, they have people dressed up and walking around the streets. While they were in line for the haunted house, one came right up behind Mikayla's shoulder. She knew he was there, but she didn't want to turn around and look so she threw a fake punch over her shoulder. He was so close to her, though, that she popped him right in the chin! Pretty funny! The three older kids all got tattoos before we left and then we went to Red Lobster for dinner again. Treven insisted he wanted lobster. He was told no so he said, "fine. I'll have crab." He ended up with popcorn shrimp and then he ate almost all of my crab legs.We had a good time and it was nice to spend time as a family!

Weekly Menu

Another crazy, busy week around our house! If we can make it through this week and next (school carnival and Red Ribbon Week and Halloween!) then maybe things will start to slow down! Anyway, here's the menu for this week"

Monday: eat out

Tuesday: roast, potatoes and gravy, green beans

Wednesday: french bread pizza, salad

Thursday: hamburger soup, rolls

Friday: leftovers

Saturday: tacos

Sunday: ?? we may be helping some friends move so we will most likely eat out

Breakfast:
Monday: oatmeal
Tuesday: scrambled eggs
Wednesday: cold cereal
Thursday: pancakes
Friday: fruit and toast

Now I'm off to do some laundry before going to work. Have a super day!

Gooding Homecoming

My niece, Linsday was nominated for Gooding's Homecoming Royalty. David called one day and asked if they could borrow the BMW so she could be in the parade, so Mikayla and I drove down and took them the car. Lindsay looked so beautiful!

This is Lindsay with her date. I'm sorry but I can't remember his name. They looked really cute together. All of the nominated royalty and their dates lined up at the end of the parade so there are a lot of other people in the background. I tried to zoom in on them the best that I could!

Here is Lindsay getting ready for the parade. The car has a VERY SMALL area that she had to sit on. I found out later that she and her date had to fit there...tight squeeze! Good thing she is so skinny!

This is Linsday before we left their house. Mikayla helped her do her hair and she looked absolutely fabulous. It amazes me how fast our little ones have grown up....so not right. I can still remember when Steph and I would take the girls to the park and Lindsay would never sit still. She was always running away from Steph so she could go down the slide or play on the swings. I love having self-functioning teens, but there are days I wish we could go back and do the swimming pool, park, McDonald thing all over. Our girls used to spend every weekend going back and forth between each others houses and then we would meet up at least once a week for play dates. Now they want to date boys and hang with their friends instead of with us! I guess it's all part of growing up, but it doesn't mean I have to like it! Anyway, we are really proud of you, Lindsay! Thanks for letting us come and be part of your big day!

Weekly Menu

Monday: creamy chicken enchiladas, Spanish Rice

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday: hamburgers, fruit salad, chips

Thursday: Hamburger helper, corn (retreat!)

Friday: Frozen pizzas (retreat!)

Saturday: Mexican lasagna

Sunday: Salmon, baked potatoes, zucchini/carrots

Breakfasts:
Monday: toaster strudels
Tuesday: german pancakes
Wednesday: cream of wheat
Thursday: yogurt and toast
Friday: cold cereal

I'll be spending the next three days frantically getting everything ready so I can go to the retreat. There are apples to be dehydrated, peaches to be canned, laundry to be done, bags to be packed, a homemade surprise for each of the welcome bags to make, auction items to be finished, all on top of working two days at the shop this week! Whew...wish me luck!

The Retreat is Almost Here!!!

For the past year and a half, my mom, my aunt, my sister-in-law, and myself have been involved in a ministry of sorts. We have been putting together scrapbook retreats for about 22 ladies twice a year. I can't tell you how much fun we have. They are a ton of work, but so worth it. For a mere $90, we get two nights stay at an awesome inn, all of our meals for the two and a half days we are there, a fun project, and lots of other goodies and prizes. For the last retreat, we had a beach-type theme and each of the ladies got a beach bucket full of treasures.

These three lovely ladies are all sisters-in-law. Poor Jennifer was due to have a baby within a few weeks so we were a bit nervous about having to possibly deliver a baby, but it all worked out in the end!

Here are the four of us that have been coordinating all of the fun. We all look so fabulous...I'm not sure why everyone wants to take photos the morning everyone is going home....no make up, no fancy hair, pajamas and all!

These were the youngest of our group, Sarah and Allie. They thought it was amazing when some of us stayed up as late as they did! I had to laugh, they put that thought out there as nicely as they could without directly saying we were old! The place we stay is rumored to be haunted and we had so much fun freaking them out...good times, girls! Anyway, this week is the next retreat and I am so excited! I'm really looking forward to some time away with friends and all the yummy food that Robin is making! No pressure there, Robin!!! I'm thinking that the first of the week is going to fly by and Thursday morning will be here before I know it...better get my stuff ready!

Mikayla's Bug Collection

Every year in science, the sophomores are assigned a bug collection. It must have 25 different types of bugs and there must be at least 10 different orders of bugs. Not as easy as one might think! It freezes a little earlier here in the mountains and by the time the teacher gave the assignment, most of the bugs around our house were long gone!

We got everyone on board and all of us were catching bugs anywhere we could find them. Chelsey was helping Grandma Jones can salsa one Saturday and she found this caterpillar.

We caught a praying mantis, but someone from school gave Mikayla this one. It was much bigger than ours so she wanted to use it. She got all of her bugs pinned down and the morning it was due, she noticed the poor praying mantis' head had fallen off and left a oozey pool of stuff on her project.

She ended up being two bugs short, but she had all of her orders. She also got extra credit for having a cat spider and because her project was so neat and orderly. She also took the time to look up each of the scientific names for the insects. She did a really good job and took 110% home for her grade!

Treven's soccer Pictures

Treven has been playing soccer every Saturday for the last couple of weeks. So far, the weather has been perfect so it's not so bad watching! Last year, he really didn't want to play, but we talked him into trying it.

He's still not really into soccer that much, but when I asked him if he wanted to play, he said yes and was excited about it. He has a hard time paying attention to the ball, but he sure snaps into action when he hears his name being called.

He seems to know a bit more about soccer this year and is doing a lot better. Maybe if we just keep him in there, he will eventually decide running isn't such a terrible thing!

Weekly Menu

Monday: pizza burgers, green salad

Tuesday: ham and potato augraten, corn

Wednesday: fajitas, spanish rice

Thursday: beef stroganoff, green beans

Friday: shrimp gumbo

Saturday: chicken gravy over mashed potatoes, peas

Breakfast:

Monday: applesauce, toast, juice
Tuesday: oatmeal, juice
Wednesday: muffins, peaches, juice
Thursday: french toast, milk
Friday: cold cereal, juice

You may have noticed several repeat meals; for one reason or another, we have some meals that I bought ingredients for but we never ate them. This week is clean out the freezer and get things used up week!

Freezing Corn

Last year, Woody and Lee clued me in on the secrets of good corn! It all starts with a blazing hot fire outside so there is no mess inside! I'm diggin that already!

After hours of shucking corn, you drop the cobs in a wire basket and boil them for a few minutes. not too long, just enough to bring out the goodness!

Woody would boil the corn over the fire for a few minutes, then dump them into a cold water tub and then immediately into the other cold water tub. I guess it's the cooling them quickly that makes the corn so darn yummy!

Chelsey had several jobs. She would bring the cold corn from the water to the table, help cut kernals off cobs, and she would help dump the kernals into bowls.

Mikayla helped cut the kernals off of the cob. When there was enough, we would dump the kernals into big bowls and Lee would scoop them into baggies.

Even Ellie gets in on the fun. Her main job is to play in the really cold water! We would find all kinds of little bites in the cobs as we were cutting the kernals off; she would take a bite and throw it back into the water...

October Blog Hop Projects

Okay, okay...canning isn't necessarily creative, but these were in a way! I wanted to make some sauces for ice cream and I couldn't find any recipes that could be canned. There were lots of recipes out there for chocolate sauce and stuff, but you just made a couple of cups and refrigerated them. So, I found some recipes for jam that sounded good and I tweaked them to make them what I wanted. The red jar is chocolate-raspberry sauce and the yellow jar is a tropical sauce. Both are delicious over ice cream! They are also good on french toast, pancakes, and waffles if you like very sweet toppings for breakfast. I have to have them in small doses when we eat them for breakfast!

This was a fun project and so simple. I bought the fabric last year and used it this year as a table runner. I also bought the glittered HALLOWEEN sign last year. I put it up somewhere and then I couldn't find it to use last year. Luckily, I found it for this year so I can use it! I bought the tall vase at the dollar store and also the skeleton heads in the vase. I bought the tall white candles at the dollar store, too and I just hot glued some spiders on them. It came together really well and was so cheap it's almost scary!!!! LOL!

My last fall project was this sad little pumpkin that I bought at the dollar store. It was okay, but I thought it needed a little something to make it pop!

I found these accent flowers also at the dollar store. They were 2/$1 so I bought two and thought I could add them to the top of the pumpkin.

It looks so much better now. I made two and put one in my kitchen and this one on the coffee table in the living room. Only trouble is that Ellie keeps trying to pull off the little pumpkins!

Check out all the fall projects! Forever Lois has some fun things to see at her blog and there are two projects at A Creative Day that you will want to see! Let me know if you are interested in joining the blog hop; it's a ton of fun and it is just the motivation I need to get things done! Our November theme is House and Home. Any project that fits the theme is perfect....it can be a home decor item, a scrapbook page about your home, a new neighbor gift idea, anything that suits your fancy! Can't wait to see all the new projects!