The Big Reveal.

If you have followed this blog much at all lately, you know I've been enthralled with the pumpkin that volunteered in our office's flower bed.  I make a "Fru Fru" pumpkin each year and when it's time to send it on its way, I undecorate it and toss it into the back of the flower bed.  Finally, it took root and came back this year! So exciting!

To catch you up on the progression of this pumpkin - the plant (which for the longest time we had NO idea what was growing in this flower bed), then the pumpkin started showing up but was dangling outside of the flower bed!! We moved it into the bed and it really ripened quickly.  The bottom two pics were taken with 24 hours of each other. 

So back to the fru fru pumpkin - I hit Hobby Lobby last night (man, I love that store) and picked out what I wanted to do this year. And I'm in love with it. It cost considerably more than the dollar store finds I usually use in making these pumpkins, but it was SO WORTH IT when you see the difference. (By the way, I did a post earlier all about making Fru Fru Pumpkins, feel free to check it out for other ideas!)

TA DA!! I love the chevron and the blue/orange/burgundy combo.  The rustic colors and burlap just bring the look up a few notches compared to the dollar store glitter ribbon I've been using.  

This is last year's pumpkin with all items coming from the dollar store.  So this in total (not including the hot glue and stick pins) cost about $8-9 and will last several months. It will carry you through the entire fall season.  

I also did one a little tamer last year, still using dollar store items.  I bought a dish towel at the dollar store and ripped it into strips, fraying the edges for a more rustic look.  The fabric was too floppy on its on, so I used wide packaging tape along the back of one strip to form the bow shape.  I really liked this one, too. 

For today, I'm enjoying our new pumpkin in blue.  :)  AND I have enough decor left over to do another one for my house and I can't WAIT! We even have another pumpkin in our flower bed, so I may get two pumpkins for free! :)  If so, I'll show you how that one turns out, too. 

Ya'll have a lovely hump day! Thanks for joining me in my crazy fru fru pumpkin excitement!

Continue.

I told you I would come back to my Edisto photos... I just needed a little time. Here are some pics that came from my real camera (vs. my or mom's cell phone).

Sweet Niece #1 hanging with the frog at the aquarium

Baby sweet niece

Preteen sweet niece

Sister Love! 

My sister and the youngins 

Little girl LOVED the beach

There you have it - sweet nieces on the beach.  We got so many great photos of the girls I see many photo frames in the future, filled with beachie pics.  :)

So on a totally unrelated note, I read a devotional this weekend about being encouraging to those around us.  You know - Don't be a hater, be a celebrator! It really hit home for me because I know I'm very judgemental. I may disguise my comments so very slightly but the receiver knows it's some kind of a put down, disapproval, etc. Basically, it's not making the person feel better.  How ugly is that? Why would I want to be that kind of person? So I'm trying to stop these types of words coming out of my mouth. It's slow. I'm not sure I'm seeing improvement yet, but it's so heavy on my heart I do believe I can improve. It's like now that I've had my attention drawn to it, I really see the ugliness in it and I want to clean it up. So pray that I change. :)

Ya'll go have a great week. :) I'll see you back here in a few days.

Friday's Letters

This time last week, I was at Edisto, preparing to head for home.  Not that I really want to be back there right at this moment (you want to talk about hot and sticky, not that it's any better up here...), but I do miss being lazy and kicking back. Well, life marches right along, so let's get to some letters.

Dear Edisto, I enjoyed your relaxing properties...including the fact there is nothing to do while visiting you but relax.  That's a good thing!  Loved seeing the dolphins, shrimp boats and even enjoyed shopping at the Pig-Lo (was a Piggly Wiggly and now a Bi-Lo... a Pig-Lo.)  See you next summer!

what a horribly grainy photo

Dear bunnies in my yard, you make me so incredibly happy.  You are mostly tame at this point, hopping around my flower beds, my car, the pine trees - you seem to enjoy life and each other's friendship, and that makes me smile.

Dear God, thank you for the beautiful sunsets you've shared with me lately. So wonderful! Thanks for getting my whole crowd feeling better, for giving us a restful vacation and safe travels to and from, for my Pen Pals new wonderful job she starts soon!, and for so many other blessings.  I'm wandering about directionless right now, looking for a devotional to start, so please guide me in Your direction? Thanks.

Dear Crafty Gene, I've so enjoyed your sparks this week! I finally finished up the LOVE canvas that my 2-year-old sweet niece started and I completed the NOEL blocks from two years ago? I know, how horrible is that. But I love them and can't wait to display them this Christmas! (oh let's get real, they'll stay there until Christmas...).  More details on the Love canvas here...

Dear Seaside Tree, You have REALLY made me happy this week.  Starfish, seashells and many good vibes adorn your fake branches, your soft glowing lights soothe my frazzled nerves.  You are much sunshine. :) Or maybe my starlight... (should I decorate you for fall or leave you alone??)

And last but not least, you - the travelling fair - oh my, you were the highlight of my trip for training this week.  Seeing your gaily decorated rides and silly concepts (a strawberry tilt-o-whirl??) were the entertainment I needed to finally wake up until we made it back to the office.  Please treat the kids nicely, wherever you were headed, and please pass all your safety checks!

And that is a wrap, folks. I'm headed to mom and dad's for some burritos with the family and sweet nieces! Have a great weekend!

LOVE Toddler artwork

I'm sharing the post on my Pressed Clovers blog here, so you can easily head over there and check it out.  I post more craft-related things over there, tutorials and such, less personal things. Feel free to go see the LOVE Toddler Artwork I finally finished - AND ADORE!

GO SEE MORE at the Pressed Clovers Blog! :)

Home Sweet Home

Just got in, the car unloaded and strewn across the loving room floor, and heated up something to eat. Vacation is wonderful but nothing beats my own house and habits :)   

We kept it off social media and such, but my Mom, Dad, Katie, Roger, Sweet Nieces #1 and #2, and I headed for a week at Edisto Island, SC. Rented two houses, enjoyed hanging out at both houses, some beach time, some shopping time, just a good family vacay. 

One afternoon we took the girls to the beach for some sister pictures. I have others on my real camera so you'll be seeing them in the upcoming days. 

They are so adorable. Love love love! 

I'll talk to anyone and so will dad. We ate out for breakfast this morning and met a really nice thirty-something family from GA. They discovered they didn't like camping at the beach haha!  We always rent a house but this year our house was so horrible we left a day early and came on home. Ugh. Disappointing. The rental company was really nice though. But that didn't help the condition of the house! UGH!! 

If you've never enjoyed Edisto-it rocks. Not much to do, no chain restaurants, one Bi-Lo, a few gift shops, no hotels ... It's wonderful!! (Do you see this awesome photo?? Seriously!!) 

Sunset at the point. Dolphins were hopping by, tidal pools for the kids to jump in, sea shells and gentle lapping waves. Sunset at the point is unbeatable. 

I will recover from the lack of sleep and post more photos from my camera soon. Love Edisto but soooooo glad to be back in my house tonight!!! 

Friday's Letters.

Oh my gracious, I just read Renee's blog over at Southern Gal Thoughts and just sniffed my way through the video at the end.  Sniff Sniff - go check it out.

Today is F.R.I.D.A.Y. and that means it's time for LETTERS!   :)   :)    :)

Dear Pumpkin,
You are the greatest excitement in the office these days.  Watching you grow bigger each day just amazes me! See how little you were... and then you started turning orange... and look at you today! Wow, so cool! So, anyone know when the appropriate time is to pick a pumpkin?

 This was YESTERDAY!!! 

 And here is today! :) 

Dear Kohls, 

I adore you right now.  Finding a $139 purse for $27.00 and a few shirts for me and Sweet Niece #1, being able to use Kohl's Cash AND a coupon on my phone - OH YEAH! I'm so very very happy with you right now.  (Can I insert a plug for Retail Me Not here because I always try to hit their website on my phone before I check out anywhere... great coupon website!)

Dear Readers, (aka, my purple reading glasses), 

I'm trying to get used to you.  I feel like a dork taking you off and putting you back on a dozen times a day. But you do seem to be helping me see which is a good thing. :)

Dear House, 

You are being cleaned today. No, I'm serious this time. Big Brother is over for the week so no more excuses about TV.  You. Are. Being. Cleaned. TONIGHT. (at the very least by tomorrow.) 

Ok weekend, I'm ready to play! :)  I'm off to say bye to my pumpkin and I'll see ya'll next week! :)

Hello Sunshines!

SO BLESSED.  Ya'll, my family is so very blessed.  I looked back at the past few months and where we are today and I'm so THANKFUL it seems we are all on the upswing. Katie's surgery is healing nicely, I'm feeling better thanks to medicine, Mom is doing better and Dad received a good report from his scan for his bladder cancer.  SO SO SO Thankful. Thank you, Lord!

In my job, we work super hard and crazy late hours for a time, then we have down time and we all try to take off to get the OT off the books. Then it starts all over again (which, for me will be September - mid November). Thankfully, I had all this OT so I've barely touched my sick leave. Since the DR appts are tapering off, I took off a few days to just play with my 2-yr-old niece, Macy. Such a joy! I feel like I miss out on so much of her growing up when I'm working the long hours so I really appreciate the time I get with her.

This week we visited with my bestie, Donna, at her work. Surprised her! (maybe not the best decision, oops!). We played on the playground and enjoyed lunch at Cracker Barrel. She loved it all, loved the people, the playing.

As we were leaving Donna's work, we were on the second floor walking down the stairs and Macy yells, "Hello People!!" She is a social child!

I loved her shadow with her pigtail.  We are horrible at fixing her curly baby-fine hair and are usually baffled about what to do with it.  Her babysitter started pigtails, so this was my attempt to copy it.  I love it!

This was a BIG KID slide, she was higher than 6 ft in the air. And she did NOT want to go down that slide. But after a while she warmed up and decided she loved it, as long as she could hold mine and MawMaw's hands. Did I mention it was a spiral slide so the hand holding thing could only go so far... hahaha.  I enjoyed SO MUCH seeing her expand her comfort zone and be brave. Little by little she would conquer more things on the playground.

My mom finally broke down and got a smart phone - an Iphone - and is learning how to take photos and send text messages.  One day Katie and I were out playing and Mom sent this picture to her.  How sweet is this?! Hmmm... Dad might just find this in a picture frame for Christmas. Daddy can get this girl to sleep better than anyone.

Oh! and I made one more awesome supper last night and wanted to share the recipes with you, but I think I left them at home.  So YUMMY and from a diabetic cook book! with a few tweaks.

Cottage Cheese Baked Potatoes
4 large baking potatoes, baked for an hour in the oven.  Cut them in half and scoop out, leaving a small amount of potato and the peel (make boats, basically).  Put the boats back in the oven to crisp up (I forgot this part). Take 2 cups of cottage cheese, 2 tbps. of onion powder, some garlic powder, salt and pepper and whip it up but good. Put back into the boats and reheat them in the oven so that everything is warm and toasty.  I put Parmesan in the mix but will not do that again because I don't think you need to - just sprinkle some on top.  Everyone really liked these.

I also made Deviled Eggs (which I don't eat but they are pretty easy to make).  Baked onion rings. and some baked brie with honey, pecans and apples to dip. MAN it was tasty.

Ok, so I've rambled enough I think.  :)  Talk to ya'll again soon!

It's Friday? Time for Letters!

Again, my days are all screwed up from taking a day off in the middle of the week. Not that I would trade that day in for a work day... hahaha... but it does get confusing. I spent HALF A DAY cleaning my kitchen. Serious Deep Clean. Now my fridge is empty - and I'm totally not kidding about this. But maybe that's good. I can restock it with healthier choices (after the beach trip, of course...)  All this to say it doesn't feel like a Friday. But it is Friday, therefore, it's time for letters.

   

Dear Pintrest... I know you think all of your ideas are wonderful, BUT not all of us are perfect crafty people. Macy helped paint the four canvases and the pic on the right is what I imagine the final product will somewhat look like.  Cross your fingers for me.

Dear Macy, why are you growing up so quickly?? Look how long legged you've become! (I asked her when did she get big enough to crawl into that chair by herself and she said, "Aunt Bef, I grew!" hahaha). And because I can - here is another photo of her in her mommy's classroom:

Dear Coworker - thank you for going through the stack of doctor's bill and EOBs and matching everything up for me. The growing stack was very intimidating, but your expertise helped me out so much!  Now, who wants to pay these things?? :)

  

Dear Lego Movie - you really did crack me up! You are hilarious! Frozen, you were good, too. I surprisingly loved you! Now to watch Last Vegas and get these movies returned before I have to pay for another night.

Dear Big Brother - Oh my.  You are so bad for me. I stay up late reading your feeds and I wake up and start all over with more feeds. At least ya'll are interesting this year. Judd is still my fav (oh how I wish he would make a guest appearance in the house!) but ya'll are pretty entertaining.

Ok, I'm off to do battle with my insurance company and see what they'll do for me.  Ya'll have a gerat weekend (stay dry, it's pouring buckets here) and I'll see you next week. :)