Thankful In the Midst of It All

Well, Thanksgiving hasn't gone as planned. It hasn't gone as any of the 4 different plans that we've had and changed. Brennan woke up throwing up at 5 a.m. this morning. His sickness has not been short lived. He is just now keeping some liquids down and resting. He had a flu shot yesterday, so I'm hoping at this point that we can blame that for his illness (and it will NOT be passed along). Mom called at 7:15 a.m. to pass along the news that my grandmother passed away. We had been told Monday night to expect this soon, but it doesn't make it much easier. At that point we were planning to have lunch at my parents, and Mike was going to take our food and bring back plates. Then Mom called back around 10 to say that she too was sick and lunch was canceled for now. I had already started the sweet potato casserole, a recipe passed along from my grandmother, so I made a small one for us and have a larger one ready when we do eat together. Mike's family is all out of town this year.

In the midst of all this, I find myself even more thankful. My day is much for focused on my thankfulness and less so on the feast we usually partake.  I'm thankful for the traditions that I know will now change, because they gave me a place in life. I'm thankful for the sadness I feel at losing both grandparents in the last seven months, because this sadness comes from getting to enjoy them in my life for so long. I'm thankful for the anchor they both have been to our family. I'm thankful that I will get to see all of my family this holiday season after all. I'm thankful for my precious little boy, who can manage to make us laugh even when he feels miserable. I'm thankful that his illness will go away quickly and he is overall a very healthy child. I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who doesn't mind cleaning up messes and being a shoulder to cry on. I'm thankful for a dog who can bark loud enough to wake up a hard sleeping husband, and alert him that Brennan and I needed some help at his sickest point. I'm thankful for good shows on NBC today since I'm watching more TV than usual. I'm thankful for the people working today so that we will still have some turkey from somewhere. Most of all, I'm thankful for a God who has perfect timing and a perfect plan. He never gives us more than we can handle, and always provides us with the tools to manage each situation. I love traditions and think they have an important place in life, but isn't it ironic that in the absence of them the true meaning of this holiday has become the focus..

Thanksgiving 2010

A Fun Weekend!

We've had a weekend full of fun! Mike took off Thursday and Friday so that made it extra special. We spent Thursday and Friday cleaning out the room that will become our master bedroom. We are getting ready to put a finish on the concrete floor and use the room for some entertaining before it becomes our bedroom. After the holidays, and a two year old's birthday party, we plan to finish it and move on in. I still have to decide on a paint color for the walls. Three of the four walls have windows, and it's a good size, so I can go with something deep or light. I'm debating between a soothing aquaish blue or a warm grey/brown putty color. The floor will be chocolate brown. Anyone have a paint color in those ranges that they love?

Before

 Saturday morning I went to Under the Christmas Tree at the VBCC with a friend. It was great to have a little girl time, and I saw several cute holiday ideas. I also know of a few shops I want to visit now, like Pimentos in Athens. Brennan got to ride in the red truck, a special treat, and go play with trains. Then he and Mike ate at Chick-fil-a. I'm pretty sure it was a dream day for that little boy!

Saturday night we decked the house, and ourselves, for the "game of the century". Of course this was a little unusual since I'm usually cheering for my tigers. We had a few friends over and enjoyed a great night of football, even if the wrong team managed to get more points on the scoreboard.

Today we enjoyed that extra hour of sleep before heading to church, lunch, and then Christmas open house for the businesses in downtown Hartselle. We went mostly just to support our town. I did find some yummy smelling bee balm for my terribly dry hands at the Beehive Bathhouse, and three little chairs. They are already in primary colors and will be perfect for B and friends to use. He's already put one to work.

Oh Christmas Tree

Seven and a half weeks until Christmas! I'm really not one to start thinking Christmas this soon normally. Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday. I love the family time without the pressure of presents, and the sweet potato casserole!

This year I started thinking Christmas in October though. I got the wild idea to make ornaments for Mom's antique store, Sweet Annie's . Since open house is Monday, November 7th, the ornaments had to be done early! I got most of my ideas from Pinterest, of course, where I now live a part of each day. It's kind of like a baby, I can't imagine life without it now. The ornaments are all simple, inexpensive creations that I hope others will like. But if not they can fit right into my decor next year. See what you think:

Wreath of burlap strips with love banner

 Burlap joy banner

 Burlap ornaments

 Painted metal ornaments

 Decoupaged chipboard letter with scrapbook paper

 Painted metal flower

 T-shirt pom poms

Burlap wreath made with a pool noodle

Most of the ideas and instructions can be found on my Pinterest boards Tis the Season or Sweet Annie's. Come on out to Sweet Annie's to get into the holiday spirit! Happy Holiday Decorating!

Decking the Halls With Decoupage

I've been a little Mod Podge crazy lately! How about you? I've tried it on pumpkins, with yarn, on chipboard, and on wood. There are so many ideas on Pinterest. It's fun to be able to use the beautiful scrapbook papers I love since I don't actually scrapbook. I quickly realized that decoupaging with Mod Podge could get a little expensive! I was thrilled to find the recipe using glue and water instead on Pinterest. I tried it first with Elmer's glue, but as much as I was using that was even more than I wanted to spend. Next I tried this glue from Hobby Lobby:

It was only $1.99 for a big bottle, and then I could also use the 40% off coupon. It has worked great! I actually have liked it better on every project except with the yarn. (The yarn just takes a ton of glue period, but this glue didn't harden as well.) I've completed several projects and still have 3/4 of the glue left. I don't know about you, but I don't like to spend much on crafting supplies so this has made me a happy girl :). As for the projects I've done, most are for Christmas at Sweet Annie's. Mom is having open house November 7th, so we are decorating this week! Pictures are a comin'! Here is a project I completed for  Halloween:

It's a matching game for my niece. There are actually 16 pieces to spell her name twice. She can either practice spelling her name, or match the letters. I know, I know, I must have been out of the classroom too long already. It would have been more appropriate with capital letters, but she's advanced so she'll do fine. I found this idea on Pinterest of course and it came from this site 

Source: mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com via Sallye on Pinterest

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We've had a very fun Halloween this year! Brennan went trick-or-treating for the first time and loved it. I got to meet a few neighbors and visit with others that we don't see often. He also loved handing out candy once we got home. He dressed as a "vintage" clown. I wore the clown costume here:

And here he is for his second Halloween:

And with Mae Mae the sock monkey:

And with his Jack face as he calls our jack-o-lantern:

We had a lot of fun carving Jack also. He had to bring his little pumpkin inside to sit beside the big one. He wouldn't put his hand in the pumpkin, but wanted Mike to take the seeds out and give them to him. It didn't take long for him to get bored with waiting for the Jack face, so he just put his feet up and constantly asked, "Ready to go outside?"

He ended the night with a little candy which couldn't even make him happy or keep him awake he was so exhausted.

On the Town

This weekend Mike and I celebrated our 3 year (and 11 day) wedding anniversary. He was out of town on October 11th, our actual anniversary, and we wanted a little getaway to celebrate. Boy did it end up to be good timing! In the last week our lawn mower quit working, vacuum belt broke, and washing machine went kaput. LOL! So we just left it all behind. Brennan has only stayed away from us once (last weekend, ha ha), so we didn't plan to go far or for long. We had dinner at Bonefish, dessert at Maggie Moo's after listening to Big Band music outside,  and stayed at the Westin at Bridgestreet. This morning we went to Starbucks for breakfast, then relaxed with a stack of magazines and books at Barnes and Noble. It's amazing what becomes a rare pleasure once there's a precious toddler in your life! Of course we probably had the most fun picking out a book for Brennan. We ate lunch at Nothing But Noodles and headed out to several Parade of  Homes tour houses. The parade happens this weekend and next. We spent our time today on the west side of Madison County. Our favorites were Shiloh Run and Olde Cobblestone. If we were actually in the market for a home I think Shiloh Run might have been a pretty good value after seeing several others. It had some neat added touches. Olde Cobblestone blew everything else away in our minds. Since we are just looking for remodeling/updating ideas we probably have a different outlook than an actual buyer, but these houses are way cool! If you haven't visited the area, the houses are close together with small yards (not necessarily my favorite part) and made to be like older homes (LOVE) on a main street. I loved the colors they used, the tasteful decorating, and all the details put into the building. In one house the master closet and laundry room shared a wall. In the closet there was a tall shelving unit and dirty clothes bin under it. In the laundry room there was a tall, double door cabinet. When you opened the laundry room cabinet it opened to that closet shelving unit and the clothes bin pulled out to the laundry room side. No more carrying laundry from one room to the other! They had also put in amazing outdoor living rooms. I really liked the feel of each house. We ended the day picking up our two favorite boys, dropping the furry one off at home, and grabbing a quick dinner before relaxing together for football. It was a wonderful break from routine. It isn't often that I get my sweetie to myself without interruption for an extended length of time. It felt good to be a couple without responsibilities for a little while.

Just For Fun

I thought I would share a couple of Brennan's recent funny shots.

One night I was going to sneak away for a relaxing bath. I started the water and then Mike and Brennan came in the bedroom to ask something. I answered Mike and  turned around to find Brennan here:

In the bathtub, pj's and all! You can see that mischievous little grin peaking from around his paci. He knew exactly what he was doing :). He is so quick to see an opportunity and take it.  I have to stay on my toes!

This is just a funny picture:

If you can see his hair, it's standing straight up all over. I don't think I could have gotten this look for him if I tried. He had spent his first night with Nonna and Papa, then came home and took a nap on the sofa. When he woke up we were eating, so he came and sat down oblivious to his nice do!