In case you were wondering....

...I am a rock star. I have known this all along, but today on my 39th birthday blonde rascal confirmed it.He made me this sweet card, including a picture of Alvin our barn cat. (No, I did not get a card from Jake and Reese, although I am sure they were thinking of me, that is my People magazine peeking out.)

I let him lick the icing on my glittery pink birthday cupcake.....only because he feeds my rock star delusion.

It is a good thing I think he is so cute.
(Yes, you might notice I have on my pj pants while my top half is still donning my normal clothes. It was 7pm, and that is what you do when you get old. Or as my good friend Kristen explains...there are no transitional clothes between daily wear and jammies, straight to pj's is where it is at.)

It was a fun day. Hubs gifted me with some new clothes cash. I SO need clothes. The best moment of the day was when The Marine called from Afghanistan. He did not realize it was my b-day...he had not slept in 3 days and is fighting a war...perfectly understandable! None the less, it was perfect timing. Hearing his voice was a gift.

39. Hmmmm. That has great potential to be scary, the safety net between me and 40 just got pulled out from under me. It is a good thing I still feel like I am 22. And I am a rock star.

Is it really December already?

Where to begin? You notice how time slips right through your fingers the moment when you flip the calendar page over to November? You catch your breath again in January when you are packing away the final box of Christmas decorations.

There was all of this, the days before Thanksgiving...


Which in turn led to lots of this....


Food and family. What more could you ask for?

We have so much to be thankful for, and the family I so love dearly (both those present at Thanksgiving and those far away!) tops my list.

A few days later it turned super cold and we got a little of this...Love it.
Unfortunately that was all we got and it melted off that day. It has stayed pretty cold since then. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more!

Saturday night was the Christmas Parade here in small town West Tx. A friend invited us to ride in the parade in the covered wagon with him.
How fun was that? It was cold and bumpy and charming and heart warming all at the same time.

The parade route took us around the square. The end.

It was big time! Crowds lined the street and we waved and shouted Merry Christmas.
I loved watching the towns people smile and enjoy the parade. Simple.
This fantastically adorable store opened about 2 months ago on the square. I just can't get enough of it."Hi Mason Jar! Mmwwahh! I love you!

I was so excited, looking forward to getting some cool night time pretty lights shots with my camera. I even took it off automatic and had been playing with different settings in anticipation. However, a jarring ride in a wagon is not ideal for night photography. Most of my pics ended up looking like this...
I don't know how Laura Ingalls got good shots, her Canon must have been much more fancy than mine.

After the parade we took our shivering selves to the coffee shop (which I might add is remarkably hip for this small town), also on the square. It was almost like an out of body Mayberry experience. There were people milling around the square, greeting friends and enjoying the pretty lights on the court house.

It seemed so Norman Rockwell like. It made me smile. This big city Houston girl has fallen in love with this small town and its people.

A tender heart

I packed a care package for the Marine yesterday. It was sitting on the kitchen table last night, box still open.

Blonde rascal wrote a note for his brother and put it in the box. Then he went off to his room and came back with an armful of Hot Wheels. He put the cars in the box and I asked him if the cars were for his brother. (His brother would totally understand that gesture because anyone who knows blonde rascal, knows that he has 9 million Hot Wheels and loves EACH individual one. It would be a significant symbol of love to be given one of his cars!)

However blonde rascal said that no they were not for his brother, they were for the Afghan children.

Big tears streamed down my face, my heart bursting. He gets it. How proud that made me.

At bedtime we prayed for each child in Afghanistan that the Marine will be giving blonde rascal's cherished Hot Wheels to. Prayed that they would not have fear and that they would know that there is a God that loves them.

I probably should go check blonde rascal's Christmas list now...there might be a plea for more Hot Wheels!

The Chair

I finally finished the chair.

There it is before, my little lavender Craigslist chair & ottoman number, in what I have claimed as my little reading nook.
I simply cut the fabric according to what section it was going on, pinned it all together right side down. Took it off, sewed it up, then turned it right side out and slipped it on. The sewing was a little difficult because of the curves...but it is a shabby slipcover, so wonky seams are part of its charm. Right?
There is someone always jumping into my shots...If it is not that one, then it is this one....
Not to mention a hazard to my feet while snapping pictures because of this...


You'll notice the big black hutch thing from the before picture is gone. That is the rest of the story. Hubs thought the hutch took up too much room. I was not offended by this because, first of all, it itself was an affordable Craigslist find from a few years ago that I bought for our old house, not some expensive piece I had pined over for years. Second of all, that meant I would have to scrounge around and find something new to put there. It's a good thing that rearranging furniture is my most favorite thing to do. Hubs never has much of an opinion about decorating (mainly because he knows things get moved around so often) so when he does, I know it is a valid point.

The one and only thing to do was to head off to my most favorite spot in our new little town. A ginormous junk store. It is ha-uge and crammed full of crap juntiques and treasures.

This is only one level. It goes on and on. See the hole in the ceiling. It's a classy place. I kind of itch and wheeze when I leave but it sure is fun to prowl around.

I spied the perfect piece....
See it under all the "treasures"?

It had no mirror and no knobs, but after a little cleaning it was a real beauty!


When we bought the house there was a little opening of spindles in that wall. Spindles scream 80's, yes? So we made the spindles go away.

Here is the before, when the previous owners still lived here...
...and now....

p.s. Today is our anniversary! 14 years of wedded bliss to my favorite person!

p.p.s. Happy Veteran's Day! To all veterans and current military...a great big hug and a thank you!!

p.p.p.s Go find lots more ideas and inspiration on DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land!

Oh. My. Gosh.

We are having company over tonight. Late last night I made these to serve for dessert.

I believe it would be in your best interest to make some. Today. Do not hesitate, do it now.

For the love of all things sacred, it is apple pie in your hands people.

What are you doing still sitting there reading this?? Go! Go peel and chop some apples. Round up all the butter in the fridge. Apples cancel out the naughtiness of butter, you knew that right?

And don't dawdle on Meg's blog, it is totally delightful yes, make the bars first and then go peruse her blog....with apple pie in your hand.

Oink.

Eau du Toilette

It sounds so (did I spell it wrong?) sophisticated when spoken in French conjuring up images of a lovely perfume.

As opposed to here in West Texas where it would be, and especially in our case this week, "EWWWWWW... the toilet?"

At our house the past couple of months there has been this random waft of sewer odors on one end of the house. There was no rhyme or reason to when we would smell it, so we imagined it to be a vent pipe clogged up or something.

We are having family here for Thanksgiving so I wanted to rectify the random poo smell problem.

I called the plumber this past week and he crawled under the house, lucky man, only to find that the pipe to the master bath toilet had come loose.

Sewage under our house. Sewage that in a perfect world goes to the septic tank. That explains a lot, yes? I was mortified on so many levels. He said that the kitchen sink was tied in to all of that, so there was also food decomposing on top of the ewww the toliet!

He repaired that and the sewage smell is gone. Thank you Jesus.

In other news, thank you for all the prayers and kind wishes for our American Soldiers. After I posted that, we have not gotten any more phone calls reporting attack. Instead the Marine has told us interesting stuff. Like how it is so hot that he sat the instant mac-n-cheese, that I sent him, on the hood of his crane and within 10 minutes it was cooked. He also said that the Iraqi people are appreciative of the soldiers being there. And how the soldiers interact with the Iraqi children. That makes me feel good. He is being moved to Afghanistan in a few days...and that does not make me feel so good. More prayers.

Last weekend I experienced one of the best days of my life.

This.........got covered up.
I will not think of that pool again for 4 or 5 months, when with much regret we uncover it again! Covering it was a major pain in our bottoms. It took all dadgum day as you can tell by the night sky in the after picture. Think trampoline like material being stretched over a body of water, with much of it sinking while trying to hook the springs down. Nightmare I tell you. Good thing we bought the house with the pool already there, because I hate to think HOW upset I would be if I had spent 30K or whatever it cost, on nothing more than a thorn in my side.

So, Thanksgiving at our house. The countdown begins. The honey do list is getting longer every day. Hubs loves that. My list is kinda worrisome. For starters I must recover my lovely lavender Craigslist chair & ottoman in my little reading corner.
I am terribly intimidated by this project. Wish me luck as I am starting on it today.

Mommas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be....Soldiers

There is our Marine on the right, live from Iraq! It makes us so happy to see that boy with his cute smirk on his face. The fully loaded automatic weapon he is holding is a little disturbing... but I am glad he has it.

I wish he was here. Here loafing around on our couch. Overdrawing his account. Skipping his cell phone payments. Generally driving us crazy. All of that seems like such a better option now.

His unit has been attacked twice in the past week. He called last week after fighting for like 12 hours. He admitted to hubs that was scared for his life during those 12 hours. There were no fatalities, but some of the guys had to be flown out. They wear all that protective gear thank goodness. The marine told us that he does have cuts and bruises from the shrapnel.

He called hubs yesterday to tell us they had been under attack again. He said he now has trouble sleeping....flashbacks.

On the days we get those calls I turn into a big fragile emotional blob of jello. It is almost too much information to handle. The days between the calls I am able to stay strong and pray. I know the only humanly possible thing I can do is pray.

One side of me wants to call the president and scream at him to send our soldiers home. That part of the world has been fighting since the start of time, and I don't believe anything we do will stop that.

But, alas I am not in charge. (Thank goodness, huh?) Our Intelligence Agencies are privy to more information than we could even be able to imagine or handle. I have to trust their judgement.

Our son voluntarily joined The Marines and when he did, he swore to obey the orders given to him. He is doing his job and I am so proud of him for that.
Today as we all go about our mundane daily activities...grocery shopping, homework, Starbucks, watching TV, blow drying our hair, blog surfing (not that I do that), eating dinner with our family...and do it all in peace without fear of attack, think of our soldiers who could be fighting for their lives at this very minute across the globe. Pray for the safety of those brave men and women.

And for crying out loud when you come across a member of the military...pat them on the back and thank them.

The quilty shack is no place for a 9 year old boy

Edited to add: Some words have been highlighted like they are a link, and they are, a link to games or stuff for sale. I didn't do this and it does not show up on the Html so I can't remove them...hmmmm has my blog been attacked? Don't click on them!)

The feature about this house that sold me was not the porches, cozy interior, the damn pool or the pretty surroundings. No sir, the quilty shack was the clincher for me. Yup, the outbuilding that the previous owner was using as her hair salon had quilty shack written all over it. It was what made me sign on the ''x".

I have not had time to sew at all since we moved and it was a disaster of epic proportions.

The Marine's best friend from high school got married last weekend. We have known this kid since The Marine was in 8th grade. I spent many years yanking him around by the ear, smacking the back of his head, feeding him... you know just like he was one of mine.

He married his high school sweetheart whom we have also known for years. So I decided these two deserved a quilt as a wedding gift.

In preparation for this I had to get the quilty shack in working order.

I chose a Saturday a few weeks ago and set about organizing the chaos.

My 9 year old shadow decided to "help" me. While I was trying to organize, he was bringing stuff in that he thought would be fun to have in the quilty shack.

For instance, his gumball machine...which he decided to take apart....

The remote control fart machine...Which let's be honest, no sewing room would be complete without one.


The cat...
Cars...

And of course what every boy leaves behind......a muddy floor!!

In the cabinet in the little bathroom he deposited Oreos and Cracker Jacks.......the child goes no where without snacks.

Despite all my "help" I managed to get the shack organized at least enough to sew in.

And I happily unearthed a completed quilt top that only needed quilting and binding. Ahhh a quick wedding gift!


So the wedding was Saturday evening, at the bride's house, outside. Don't let me forget to mention we had a cold snap Saturday...and it was 44 degrees at the time of the outdoor wedding.The poor sweet bride said she was numb.

So was I. Sitting in that metal chair in 44 degree weather. I pondered during the ceremony if it would be rude to go unwrap and snuggle up with my wedding gift?

Thou shalt not covet.

But you will.

A few weekends ago MIL and I went to visit hub's aunt and uncle in Weatherford.
We had a grand time, as we always do.

Dear sweet talented Aunt Gay, who I have mentioned before is my quilting muse, gave me the most wonderful quilt she made for our new house. And I should mention it is perfectly charming. And I completely adore it. And no you can't have it. (By the way, hubs still holds his Aunt Gay responsible for strong arming him into buying me what he considered a ridiculously expensive sewing machine. Man I love that woman....and my Pfaff)
You're kinda coveting right now aren't you?

I think I have read somewhere that it is ok to covet...handmade quilts.