Pumpkins, Bowls and Half Naked Men

After a 3 month or so hiatus from the blog world I am posting once again. It has been a hard decision to make. I have been taking time to simplify my life these past few months. I have cleared my house out like you would not believe. I have edited unnecessary time wasters from my day and have relished this past summer and all of the time I have been able to devote to my family. But my kiddos are all in school now. And I have a little extra time on my hands. And today I felt a little twinge of desire to go and write a post. So here I am....here's to hoping a few of you are still out there to read my crazy ramblings!

After putting JK on the bus at 11:25 AM (half day Kindergarten) I high tailed it to the mall for a little {me} time. Look at the pumpkin I FINALLY scored. I have wanted this little bit of shiny goodness for 3 years now. Each year I sit on my butt a bit too long and decide I must have it after it is no longer available. Not this year! I walked into Pottery Barn this afternoon, saw it sitting on the shelf and snatched it up. (Note: if you go to the PB website you'll see it is NO LONGER AVAILABLE!!!)

Like I mentioned earlier, I am editing my life and my house. This includes decorating. My mantle is going to stay nice and plain this year. I felt like the mercury glass pumpkin made the perfect addition.

Just a touch of fall...

Anthropologie opened at my local mall two weeks ago and I have been anxious to check it out. It is lovely. Absolutely amazing. My big purchase? Two more latte bowls. We all just love them!

My final purchase of the day is for Kenners. She has grown up quite a bit over the summer and has developed an addiction to Hollister. I don't mind indulging her habit with the "50% off redlines" tables...Plus I do so enjoy their half naked men bags! It's a win-win situation!

The little munchkins will be home in just a few short minutes...how the times does fly!

Easter Sunday

What a glorious Easter Sunday!

Time spent worshipping our Risen Lord and Savior!

Time spent with family!

Time spent eating yummy Easter type food!

Blessings upon blessings!

Yoga Lessons

Yesterday I posted the following on my Facebook page:

Can I wait until the New Year to start eating right and exercising again?

Please say "Yes!!!"

Well, my friend Sarah responded with this:

"I've already started!

Got my first work-out in yesterday and about to hop on the elliptical now."

Great....that's just great. So I decided to go ahead and try out the Bob Harper's "Yoga for Warriors" DVD I purchased at the beginning of the month but hadn't gotten around to trying out yet.

I asked the girls if they wanted to do yoga with me.

I thought for sure they would both say yes. They both do yoga in school.

Rand has a teacher that starts out each class with yoga. She is now proficient in twisted dragon, eagle arms and legs, shark, downward dog, among many others.

Kenners' teacher does yoga with the class before they take a test to help with blood flow and brain power. (Maybe I would have been a genius in school if my teacher had used such techniques).

Anyway, both girls said no.

I was surprised...and a bit let down.

But I went ahead and did a bit of yoga by myself.

And it kicked my butt.

Who knew?

In January's Redbook, Ali Sweeney said that she does the same DVD and it kicks her butt too. I guess that makes me feel a little bit better!

Now I suppose I should lay off the Christmas treats and start back up on the treadmill and keep going with the yoga. But I have to tell you...these Salted Caramel-Pecan Bars are tempting the heck out of me. I might have to make them for New Year's Eve!

Love Rock

This afternoon I am going into Kenners class to do some craftin'.

I chose 4 different crafts for the kids to make.

A button snowflake,

A snowman magnet,

A star with dangly wires and jingle bells &

A white glitter rock!

I went foraging in my neighbor's yard for 24 rocks.

I cleaned them up and then painted each one white.

After writing a word on the rock (peace, hope, joy, believe, cheer, etc.) paint some glue on top and sprinkle on your glitter.

I chose the word "love" because of the shape of the rock....if you squint at it just so it looks like a heart!

White Tree

I have the first of my three Christmas trees up and decorated. I just bought this white tree from Wal-Mart last week and started decorating it right away. I went through my ornament collection and pulled out all of the blue and green ones I could find. (I know it needs more decoration by my goal is to decorate this tree as inexpensively as possible. I plan on hitting the after-Christmas sales for more ornaments.)

It's so different from any other tree I've ever had. But I like it and I am getting excited to put up the kid's tree in the family room (probably this weekend) and our big main tree in the living room (not until the 1st Monday in December...that's our tradition)!

But first, we must celebrate and give Thanks!

Looking forward to spending tomorrow with my family!

May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving!!

The Land of White Christmas Trees

I have decided to take the plunge into the world of White Christmas Trees. I have wanted to buy one for a couple of years now but knew that a white tree wouldn't fit in with my old paint color.

But now that I have repainted my walls into a light grayish-white I am going to do it!

Check out Just Beachy's white tree. Love!!

And then The Nester talks about decorating her $5 tag sale white tree.

I am not going to spend an arm and a leg on this not-needed-but-much-desired tree. Wal-Mart has a 6.5' pre-lit white tree (with white lights) for $38. I'm going to put it in this corner of the dining room.

I'm not hosting Thanksgiving this year so I think I'm going to go ahead and put the tree together tomorrow!! Stay tuned!!

Pumpkin Makeover

I absolutely LOVE reading other people's blogs and getting inspired! This morning I after reading Emily Clark's blog I immediately went out to my garage and cut the lights off of this pumpkin. Only half of the lights were working and I was thinking about pitching it into the trash. Boy, am I glad I hadn't!

I took my spray paint outside and I now have a black pumpkin!

Viola!

I think I need a Dollar Tree black crow to attach to the top of my newly painted pumpkin. I'll grab one sometime this weekend. But in the meantime....

...I am going to makeover my pine armoire that has been in my garage storing my garden supplies. If all goes well I want to use it in my family room. I'm going to start the sanding tomorrow!

Happy weekend!

So Random

This is a post full of my musings this morning.

JK's preschool is part of a church here in town. Each year the church sets up a pumpkin patch and the money they make goes to an organization that helps children. Last year it was for children who did not have a bed of their own. This year I believe it is a food ministry.

After picking JK up from school yesterday we popped in and bought a few goodies. This was one of my favorites.

I didn't have much cash on me so I have to go back tomorrow and buy some of their fantastic grayish-green pumpkins. How I love the shade of those pumpkins!!

I vacuum over my furniture (couches, chair, ottoman) everyday. Is that odd? Once a week, on Monday, I tear apart the cushions and do a thorough vacuuming but the tops of the cushions get a once over every day.

I picked these up at Michael's yesterday. They were $1 each. I think I'm going to go back and get the white & black coordinating mug to display the pencils. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the eyeglasses but thought they were super neat.

I am usually up by 5 AM and working out until 6:30. I haven't been able to do that since becoming pregnant. (I go today for my last {fingers crossed} round of blood work and will hopefully hear that I have officially ended this particular journey. I am feeling better and better each passing week...I just can't seem to recoup my energy and am still fighting exhaustion.) Here I am at 8 AM still in my pj's. I thought I'd show your proof...I even have yesterday's makeup smeared on my face. And my eyes are all squinty looking. I think I'd best hop into the shower pronto!

I have a stack of receipts I need to enter into Quicken as well as statements to reconcile.

This is my least favorite task in the world.

I would much rather scrub a floor!!

This is the view outside my front door.

The gas company is replacing the gas line and they have reached my house.

Living in my town's historic district has such charm. Old pipes and what not are not one of them!

Neither are power lines. Definitely not charming. But the super old, I mean mature, trees are magnificent! Just breathtaking!

Enjoy this wondrous day. I'm off to play Wii Sports Resort with my little guy and then I must take that shower!!!

First Ever Tutorial AND a Give Away

So after answering a few questions about my felt Thanksgiving banner I decided to try my hand at a tutorial. Keeping my fingers crossed that this goes well!

What you will need:

6 - 9"x12" rectangles of green felt

2 - 9"x12" rectangles of cream felt

4-6 - 9"x12" rectangles (of any combination) red, brown, yellow, gold or orange felt

Red embroidery floss (I used 815)

Orange embroidery floss (921)

Green embroidery floss (3013)

Cut outs of leaves & "thanks" (see scanned images below)

Stitch Witchery

Step 1: Cut out a total of 6 leaves (2 of each pattern) onto your choice of red, brown, yellow, gold or orange felt.

Step 2: Cut out each letter onto the cream felt. Each rectangle will accommodate three letters.

Step 3: Combine leaves and letters to your liking. Step back and ooh and ahh over your handiwork thus far.

Step 4: Add the leaf "vein" with coordinating embroidery floss.

Step 5: Add a running stitch outlining the edge of each leaf.

i.e. For a gold leaf I used the orange embroidery floss for the "vein" and red floss for the outline.

Step 6: Stitch Witch each letter to a leaf.

Stitch Witch each leaf to a green rectangle.

Step 7: Iron the top part of the green rectangle down in preparation for sewing. (I used pins to hold my fold in place while I ironed)

Step 8: Sew fold close.

Step 9: Using a safety pin, thread the twine thru each green rectangle.

Step 10: Hang and enjoy!

Now, who wants one?

I'm giving away one THANKS banner!

(Residents of the United States only, please)

Leave a comment if you would like to be entered into the giveaway.

If you would like an extra entry, follow my blog AND leave a second comment saying you are either an old or new follower.

You do NOT need to have a blog to enter the giveaway. Just leave an e-mail in your comment so I have a way of reaching you if you are the lucky winner!

Giveaway will end on Columbus Day: Monday, Oct. 11th @ 9 PM EST.

Good luck!

Scanned leaves and letters to make your own banner:

PLEASE e-mail me if these images do not work...remember, this is my FIRST time attempting something like this!