Hey Mom, What's for dinner (Thanksgiving Day)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Carrie and Matts house. And of course, Abby was all excited about Thanksgiving and so this picture is absolutely great. The adults were all hustling around trying to get the food around and get all those last minute details taken care of before sitting down together. I couldn't resist the opportunity to snap this picture of Abby patiently waiting for the big turkey to appear.

Of course, Matt was working hard on it and eventually we all sat down and had turkey.
We also had to watch Lissy, until Chad saw to it that her hands were safely out of the way.

Brides, brides, everywhere brides

The finalists


Okay, everyone, Strike a Pose

My weekend was filled with fun, starting with Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends, to a movie with Abby to Texas hold 'em (where I lost it all) to a bridal shower for our cousin and family members that I really love. But now I am home, and despite all the family, warm fuzzies and fun, it is where I am glad to be. There is no place like home! But I would love to share some of my weekend with you. I think I will split up the posts, just so that the titles are relevant.

I have to share the shower for those of you there and those of you who couldn't make it. Most women have played the tissue paper bridal gown game at a shower, and this one was no exception. Darling Taya ( I want to say little, even though she is now a gorgeous young woman), put together a really fun shower with great games, great food and great people. We had five teams putting together the bridal gowns and although I thought my own daughter looked terrific, my team with the Ellie as the bride outshone them all. We went for the ruching (very trendy these days), constructed a bustle and did a grecian thing with the ribbon. Very cool, I do think!!

In order, from left to right, they are Ellie, Melissa, April, Not sure of name (Lyndsays friend) and Craig's mom (can't remember name)

Of course, when Lyndsay picked the winner, she stepped forward and you can see the result.

They just don't make them like they used to!!!
We had a great time!!!! Thanks Taya and Kyla!!!


Now for the Bride to be -- whose big day is coming up very soon. Here she is!!! She got lots of cool stuff and is ready to start making cookies. Sounds like Craig is quite the chef as well, a man of great qualities, in my opinion. Personally, my girls and myself have similar tastes (or requirements) in our men. You gotta have a man that cooks, right, girls!!!

Lyndsay, I just thought you looked so beautiful yesterday. Here you are with your ribbon bouquet (designed by April).

But I really liked this picture of you, as well!
A great day!!!!

Getting crafty

Well, I have not posted for a while for several reasons. I have been swamped at work and when I get home I just want to veg out. Then I caught Leon's cold and have not felt well for several days. But I have kept going and now it's the weekend. I am working on some crafts and wanted to share them. I am hoping to maybe be able to share them in our little open house at work. It started last year and we are doing it again, so I thought I'd join in and make something to sell. So, at the moment I am making little purses, hair yoyo's and yoyo ornaments. The theme here clearly is yoyos since the little purses sometimes have yoyos on them as well, as you can see by the picture. I have a long way to go, but have nothing to lose since I am using all material and embellishments that I already have. I am including a photo of the little purse. I came up with the strap idea from another blog where the gal was making bandana bracelets. Go to July 30 on the link. Thinking that the sort of grunge, rustic look might appeal to teenagers and young adults, I decided to give it a go. What do you think?

Abracadabra

I promise I will add more pictures this weekend, but in the meantime, I came across this one. I had to share it and the story behind it. Lissy gave Abby a bag of princess type toys for her flower girl gift. It had a cute crown, a feather boa and among other things, a wand. Well, Abby loves this wand. It is sparkly, lights up and has ribbons and other embellishments that hang from it. She absolutely loves it!!!!! You can't see it real well in the picture, but it goes so great with her beautiful dress.

I do!!!

Monday morning and the house is quiet. The happy couple is in Cancun on their very special honeymoon, swimming with dolphins and with each other. All the pre-wedding stress has melted away and I do believe I can feel them glowing all the way from their honeymoon. Carrie, Matt and Abby are back at home in Indianapolis and be assured that Abby is still thinking about how fun it was to dance at the reception. Carrie, I am sure, is beginning to settle into her last months of anticipating the birth of their second little flower girl. Matt is back at work; and Leon left about an hour ago, with only a head cold as a remnant of the weekend.

It was a beautiful wedding with all the appropriate hugs and tears; family and friends; drama and fun; in other words--it was perfect!!

I have just one final comment, although I will have more to blog about at the days go by. I was so incredibly proud of my family. You all just did me proud!! and that just felt so good!! I gotta go, before I get this computer all wet. I love you all!!!! and I love you all as though you were the very first person in my life, but will list you in the order in which you came into my life---------- Sandi; Carrie; Lissy; Leon; Matt; Abby; Chad and our new little one to come.

President Elect Barack Obama

picture from Flickr

How absolutely wonderful for Pres. Obama and for our country. I am personally pleased at the result of the election, on so many levels. I am happy for this gentle, steady man who has run such a clean and fair campaign and his lovely wife, Michelle and beautiful little girls.

I am happy for the African American people who have endured such a long road to dignity and recognition of their worth and contribution to this country.

I am happy for the entire country as we attempt to turn this country around under the leadership of this very able and talented new president.

I am happy for all the other groups of diversity that will benefit from this heightened sense of unity and 'liberty for all' - from blacks to women to ethnic groups to senior citizens to the poverty-stricken. All will be affected for the positive, perhaps just a little bit or maybe profoundly.

I feel hopeful about our environment, our economy, our global relationships, our children's future and our values as a country.

Absolutely amazing!!

I am so blown away by the talent and creativity of people that I would have never known about, except for the advent of the internet. I found one of those people in the Etsy site and had to share. She does pencil pins and pendants and they are just so cool and so unique. Wouldn't they be a great gift for an accountant or an artist? She currently has 20 items for sale. I chose the red white and blue to show you, because of the upcoming election and the other one just because I like it. Sometime, when you have a chance to just peruse the Etsy site, you should do that. Some of these people just put my feeble attempts at creativity to shame. I wish I had their talent!!!!

Last weekend at Old Man's Cave

Old Man's Cave

Having read most of the Jean Auel books on the pre-civilization period, I could just imagine the characters in those books setting up house in these caves, which their handmade tools and utensils. I could imagine their rituals and daily activities. It made those books seem so much more real and I read them probably 10 years ago. If you haven't read them, you should consider it.






I am just now getting around to sharing our trip to Old Man's Cave in the Hocking Hills last weekend. We have been meaning to get to the area ever since we moved to Columbus 8 years ago. Finally, last weekend, we took off in the car and headed down to the Hocking Hills, with Old Man's Cave as our ultimate destination. From what we could tell, there is just a ton of stuff to do in that whole area, but with just a few hours to spend, we decided that Old Man's Cave would be a great way to spend the afternoon. The weather was great with crisp temperatures and a nice mix of sun and clouds. We stopped at the welcome center to get some literature on the area and the specific directions to the cave and then headed down the road for our 'walk in the cave'. And what a cave it was. It was truly different that what I expected, because there was no "deep in the earth" cave. It is really just a cave-ish area with areas that recede into the earth just a little bit. We walked through the cave, across a couple of bridges, up rock steps, down rock steps, around corners and even through a couple of rock tunnels. It is a really cool place and I am so glad we went. I woke up sore for the next two mornings. I am really a bit embarrassed to say that, but let's face it, we just don't have places like that in Columbus to get that sort of a work-out. It took us about an hour and a half to walk the trail that we chose.

After leaving the cave, we headed a bit farther down the road to check out a very famous tourist stop in the area. We had seen signs about it all along the road, and just had to check it out. Once we pulled into the parking lot, the charm and popularity of the place was very clearly evidenced and influenced by the very well-chosen name of the stop. You can see by the sign what a wonderful place it must be!!!!!!!



After turning back towards home, we stopped at a little commercial area on 33 where we saw a genuine looking diner, thinking that we would have lunch there. We parked the car behind the diner and headed to the front door - the diner was so cool looking, all shiny metal and just the 'picture' of the old time diner. We were so excited, but as we approached the door, we saw that the restaurant was not yet open. I didn't get a picture. We were disappointed, but managed to find another little cafe for lunch and browsed through some flea markets there in the shopping area.

We headed on home tired and happy. It was a nice trip!!!