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!!!

Jack O Lanterns

Well, it is the day before Halloween and we finally got our pumpkins carved. We started them around 8:30 pm and finished about 9:00 pm. I remember when we were kids, we couldn't wait to carve our pumpkins and usually did them so early that they ended up rotting before Halloween. Then when the girls were little, it was so fun to watch them and help them get their pumpkins carved, that we got them done in plenty of time. But now it's just the two of us and we are trying to stay excited and involved about the holidays, but I must admit that sometimes it is just hard to muster up the interest and motivation. The important thing is that they will be on our doorstep when the little trick or treaters come by tomorrow evening. I will let you guess which one of us did which pumpkin. I think they are both quite cute!

Three more blogs I love

I was blog surfing and decided that I wanted to add a couple more of my favorites to my blogs list. One of them is another designer and she is just so cosy. I say that because her blog name is Posy gets Cosy and she is just really a lover of life in so many ways and you just really appreciate the little things right along with her. I read her blog at least once every few days.

Another one that I visited regularly several months ago and then lost track of was a gal who lived in the Arctic Circle. She often writes about the weather and takes fabulous pictures of the area. I think she changed her blog address although the name of the blog is the same. It is called The Pancake Chronicles and I was delighted to find her again. She loves where she lives and is fun to read, especially in the winter time.

One more that I want to share is a young mother living in England, taking care of her family and knitting delightful little animals, including Little Cotton Rabbits. She has two children, one of who is an autistic boy and she shares her life and struggles in her blog. She is also an amazing knitter. Her animals are absolutely amazing. One of these days I am going to buy one of them.

My arms are ready!

As the day grows closer for the birth of our second grandchild, this little one, still unseen, enters my mind more and more often. I realize that my arms are ready for an infant. Perhaps you have heard the saying 'her arms ached for a baby'. There is something to be said for that sentiment. To hold that child in my arms and then watch her grow, as I have watched Abby grow will be an amazing thing. They really do grow too fast, don't they.

I hope to take advantage of this opportunity, as well, to spend more time with my Abby. This is an opportunity to make good on all the good intentions that I had with my own two girls.

Sugar and Spice and all things nice - Girls, they seem to come in twos! We would have loved to have a little boy, but how exciting that Abby will have a sister. And we will have another little one to love.

I love pumpkins!!! (at the Circleville pumpkin show)

Saturday afternoon Leon and I ventured out into the wonderful fall air and headed south to the great and renowned Circleville Pumpkin Festival. We have been there a couple of times and it really is a great experience. However, we haven't been there for a couple of years, so it was great fun to get back to our fall routine. I love pumpkins and all the autumn 'decor', the gourds and leaves and crisp temperatures. I wanted to get lots of pictures of the pumpkin display, which is absolutely outstanding and would like to share them with you. Oh by the way... I tried the pumpkin brownie and had the standard pumpkin pie. Leon had a pumpkin burger and we shared pumpkin seeds on the way home.

This was my very handsome date.

Zoe is back for Halloween

This is Zoe, designed by Jenny B. Harris


One of my favorite blogs is "allsorts". It was actually the first one I ever saw and I regularly visit to see what she is up to. Her name is Jenny and she is a designer, as so many of the bloggers are. She has had a tough few months here recently. She lost her mother and her blogs have reflected her grief with their infrequency. However, when I clicked on it this morning and saw that Zoe is back, I was delighted. Zoe is a darling little character than she uses to do screens for children. I have seen a room decoration screen, a Christmas gingerbread screen and today, I found that she had her Halloween screen up. I hope that she is back and feeling better everyday, because I love her blog and whether it is for children or not, I love the Zoe screens and activities. I am adding her to my favorite blog list.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

I just finished another book, which I have reviewed on Goodreads.com. This book touched my heart and reminded me of our Molly, that we lost in March. It gave me another way of understanding her time with us, and her purpose in our lives. Very thought provoking - Dog lovers say they cannot read dog stories that are sad. I understand, but this one is so unique and has such a message. I recommend it! Here is my review......





The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am not a race car fan and I am not a dog lover, but I loved a dog. This book was an amazing story of a dog and his master. It was a wonderful book and the parallels drawn by the author between the races that Denny participated in and the ultimate race of his life were true and genuine. I was struck by two main issues in this book. First was, as just mentioned, the author's apt correlations between the psychology of driving a race car; and of fighting for the important issues of your life. The second issue that really felt very personal to me, was the idea that once Enzo (the dog), had achieved his purpose in life, that his time to die became a matter of nature. Enzo's philosophy was that he would not die until his purpose had been achieved and once Denny had finished the "personal race of his life", Enzo was able to let go and pass on.


The beginning of the book was a little slow going for me until I got into the feel of the idea of Enzo's narration and the idea that dogs really can reason. The book does nothing but get better and the last third of the book is absolutely spellbinding. My comment to the author would be "I get it!!"




View all my reviews.

Pshewwww- Finally

Well, I have a dress for the wedding. I had taken today off to shop and had one by 12:30, after finding nothing on Saturday or Sunday. I like it a lot. It is very nice, navy blue, long, with long sleeves and some ruching at the waist. I don't know if the spelling is right on that, but it is a really neat feature. I can't show you a picture yet, but I am pretty happy with it.

Somebody else got their dress for the wedding today. Miss Abigail Grace. I caught a sneak peek from a phone picture and it was adorable.

Pretzel Day

Yum, Yum, the final product

Couldn't wait long to try one and look at that luscious inside!!

I have been anxiously waiting to make the pretzels from the mix that I bought last weekend at Freemans farm market. Yesterday got away from me, because I was out shopping for a dress for Melissa's wedding. Unfortunately I really didn't have much luck, but I have the day off tomorrow, with a list of places to check out. I do have one that is online, that I like a lot. I am going to go ahead and order it tomorrow, whether I find something or not, so that I can have a choice or in case the one being ordered is not what it appears to be. That way, I can return one or the other. Anyhow that is a whole other story, so back to the pretzels. I decided to make the pretzels today, so after church and some quick errands, I settled into the kitchen to enjoy my little pretzel making adventure. It really was quite easy and the pretzels were wonderful. For those of you familiar with JoJo's pretzels in Northern Indiana (JoJo's is a step (or two) above Auntie Anns pretzels.), mine turned out nearly as good as JoJo's. I was actually quite impressed with myself. The kit made 10 pretzels and I put salt on 8 of them and parmesan cheese on two of them. I haven't tried one of those yet, so we will see how they taste. I took pictures, so that you could see how fun and easy it was. Leon and I each had one as soon as they were out of the oven and the rest are for later tonight and tomorrow.

Tea time

I got some loose tea at the farm market on Saturday. I love Earl Gray tea and although I usually use a tea bag, loose tea is a fun little diversion from the routine. So on Sunday, I decided to fix myself a cup of tea, using my loose tea and my tea ball, to drink while I read the newspaper. There is something peaceful and basic about brewing fresh tea. It is one of those things that women (and men) have done for centuries. Also, being a descendant of Welsh heritage, tea is a really big part of that lifestyle, from peasants to royalty. So I have a little bit of a renewal of spirit with every cup of tea, and brewed tea just enhances the feeling.

I would really love to drink some of the other teas, but I just cannnot get past Earl Gray, but with winter getting closer, I will drink more tea and may try some different ones. Funny, but I don't really care for iced tea. Also, for those mystery readers, there is a little tea shop series of mystery books. I need to find out who the author is, but will let you know. I have read several of them and they are nice quick little reads.

One more little item. I am practicing for the reception centerpieces and wanted to share just a teaser. The picture I am adding does not show exactly how they will look, but I wanted to see how they look and how the flowers hold up. Overall, I am quite pleased. But I must warn that the final result will be much nicer. I am also shopping for my dress. Busy times!!!