Weekend wrap up...

I was off work on Friday so my friend, Sherrie, and I went to McKay's bookstore. I didn't have many to return for trade in value, I was hoping to get at least $5 or $6. But I ended up with $16 in trade in credit and these came to $20.05 so I only paid $4.05 for 15 books. You just gotta love a great deal. Really happy that I found the rest of my Sherryl Wood Destiny series. Plus I was able to find the first four in the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. I also got a couple of books that are Christmas romances. These should all last me till the middle or end of December. 

Every year around Thanksgiving/Christmas, Necco puts out Orange Creme Thin Mints. They are so addictive. I buy them up when I find them so I can have them through the holidays. Family Dollar had three boxes the other day, so I snatched them up.

I cut out my plastic canvas to start making some snowmen. Four or five of my friends want one of these so I need to get busy. It takes about one to one and a half hours to make one in the canvas. I just have to gather twigs somewhere before I start assembling them. I'm just doing the canvas pieces for now.

Saturday was a 10 hour work day and they fed us pizza around 4:00. I had a piece then and another piece around 8:30 so I wasn't really hungry, but stopped by the store to pick up some trash bags and decided to get some caramel dipping sauce for my apples. That reminded me I needed Hershey's syrup which remind me I was out of ice cream. So trash bags turned into this.

Once I got it all home, I realized that I WAS hungry. So I had a late night snack. Am I the only one that fines humor in the fact that I eat a decadent, calorie laden dessert at 11:00 at night in a bowl that says "Nourish". Pretty sure this isn't the right kind of nourishment but man was it delicious.

Since we are decorating today at work for Christmas, they let us have any of the fall mums when we left on Saturday so I took this pretty bunch. Got up Sunday morning before I went to church and decided to grab the piece of old wood laying under my porch and scrub it up and write on it. Not bad for a impromptu fall decor for the rest of the fall through Thanksgiving.

I work a short day today, so I should be home in time to treat the little trick or treaters that come to my house tonight. I don't usually get many, but I always get something to hand out just in case. 

Have a Happy Halloween!

Sunday Songs

My Halloween grandbabies...

It's that time of year when the schools let the kids come in Halloween costume and the churches and businesses have Trunk - or -Treat. The big day is Monday here in our little corner of the world. My two oldest grandsons, Garret and Caleb no longer participate since they are 17 and 13. But the three younger ones still get the thrill.

My daughter-in-law has pulled off another magical homemade Halloween costume this year. This is Alexis, my 12 year old granddaughter.

And this is Alexis as the Invisible Man at school the other day. I don't know how Jamie figures these things out, but I love the ideas she comes up with.

My youngest grandchild, Colby, also belongs to Jamie and my son Chris.

He was a Power Ranger. And such an adorable one. Colby just turned 6 this month and is in Kindergarten. Can't wait to see what he is the next 6 or 7 years.

My daughter and son-in-law only have one youngest enough to participate. And that is Shelby. She's 8.

She tells us she is a diva all the time, which her definition of diva is a princess with an attitude. And that is true. She kept saying she was going to be Wonder Woman and went with her Mom to get the Wonder Woman gear and decided at the last minute to be the Pink Power Ranger (who by the way, in the show is named Shelby.)  

So there you have it. My Halloween Grandbabies.

One proud Aunt

My niece, Emili, graduated has gotten a job with the NCCC. (The NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) strengthens communities and develops leaders through direct, team-based national and community service. In partnership with non-profits—secular and faith based—local municipalities, state governments, federal government, national and state parks, Indian tribes, and schools, members complete service projects throughout the region they are assigned.)

She was offered a position in Denver, Colorado. She is the first in my family to move so far away from home (Barbousrville, WV). We are so proud of her for the work she will be doing in helping communities in America. When my dad was a young boy, he joined the CCC and ending up traveling to almost all 48 continental states.

She arrived in Denver earlier this week and has shared some amazing photos of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I thought they would be great for my Friday Foto Friends post. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. She is a great photographer.

Almost Friday....

I just have to work an 8 hour day today and off tomorrow. I am so glad. An 8 hour day will be a walk in the park. We are in our busy season and I have worked 9 straight days without a day off and 6 of them were either 10 or 11 hour days. Needless to say, I am tired. So I plan on really enjoying my day tomorrow. 

And with our Christmas show starting on November 1st. On a normal day we do two shows with once in a blue moon a third one added. During the Christmas season we do anywhere from 2 - 5 shows a day with tons of groups coming from everywhere to see the show. it will be a while before things get back to normal. Well, at least a semblance of normal for the tourist industry.

I did manage to spend some time on Facebook this week and have accumulated things that made me laugh. I really like this one for when I eat a lot of junk food then don't understand why I can't lose weight. 

I niece posted this one today and said she didn't know why, but it reminded her of me. Well, it could be because that is something I would probably do. Okay, let's face I probably have. I dropped my keys at work the other day and said "Sorry." Guess I thought I had to apologize to the key chain. It must have been one of my long days and I was just tired. Yes, that's it. Tired. My story and I'm sticking to it. 

I had a bird get in my car the other day and thanks to Alfred Hitchcock, I freaked out. So when I saw this, I knew I had to share. I have been scarred for life. I watched the birds when I was 8 because I insisted I could handle it. Not so much.

And I totally agree with this. Many nights that is all I want for supper. Biscuits with homemade bacon gravy and a side dish of apple butter.

And yes I do know that I am a little crazy at times and I do have to laugh at myself a lot for some of the thing I do and think. My best work friend shared this with me the other day on Facebook. We are two peas in a pod so this was very appropriate.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

And then I thought.....

At 10 after 8 this morning, I was thinking. Dangerous, I know. Anyway, I was thinking about how tired I am of Pepsi (gasp!) Then I thought about how tired I am of sandwiches for lunch and how I have been craving some deviled eggs. Then I thought how much I love mashed potatoes when I have deviled eggs. Then I thought about how long it had been since I had some good old fashioned peanut butter fudge. 

Yeah, you guessed it. I got busy in the kitchen. First, I made a pitcher of grape Kool Aid and added lemons to it like Mom did when we were little. Then I made deviled eggs and mashed potatoes (even though I had to use instant because I only had one potato left.) Then I went ahead and made my peanut butter candy.

So my lunch is now packed with a quart jar of Kool Aid to put in the cooler at work for my drink today, some deviled eggs and some mashed potatoes. With a container of candy for dessert. I didn't do any meat because I didn't have anything that I really want or had time to fix. 

This is the first thing I saw when I signed into Facebook this morning. Guess I took it to heart because mediocre people don't do out that first thing in the morning. 

Have a great day!

Halloween memories

This is a re-post from 2010, but I have a lot more followers now than I did then so I wanted to share it again. 

I remember with fondness many years of dressing up and heading out for trick or treat. Back then, we didn't have a lot of money for extras like store bought costumes or trick-or-treat bags. We simply dressed in things Mom found around the house and we carried pillow cases for our treat bags.

Each year, I went as either a gypsy or a housewife. The gypsy always had big gold hoop earrings. We would take the rings from Ball or Mason jars and tie yarn on them. Then we would loop the yarn around our ears. Wah Lah....instant earrings. We would also wear extra jar lids as "jangle" bracelets on both arms. When we dressed like a housewife, we would wear one of Mom's house dresses and stick a pillow in the top to give us bosoms. We would put a belt under the pillow to hold it up. By the end of the evening, everything was slipping and we just sagged. We always put a head scarf on and tied it under the back of our hair. Either costume was so much fun because we got to wear rouge (never even hear that word anymore) and bright red lipstick. 

(Courtesy Pop Sugar)

Back in WV, late October was so cold, you usually had on layers of clothing under your costume to keep you warm. But by the end of the evening, you were so hot and sweaty, you couldn't wait to get home and out of the costume. We would have to wash and get our PJ's on when we got home. Then we were allowed to lay in the floor and dump our goodies out and "trade" with one another. Some things my siblings liked that I didn't so we would swap and deal. 

Those were some good times and some wonderful memories. Gladys and Walter across the road always gave apples and Orvel Marcum always gave the big size Snickers and Milky Ways. 

I polled some of my friends and the majority of them also grew up using homemade costumes. They went as ghosts, princesses, some of the boys I polled even dressed as women. What fond memories. Many of them remember their grandmothers always making popcorn balls for Halloween. Have things changed that much over the years or have we? Do we now take the easy way out because it is faster and we live life at a higher speed. I don't know, but I know I miss those simpler times. 

My daughter-in-law puts a lot of thought into the costumes she makes for her kids. The first time she decided to get creative, Garret was a boy in a cage carried by a gorilla. Jamie made the entire outfit. His legs are inside the gorilla suit and the top of the gorilla body is stuffed. I wish I had the year Alexis was a mermaid in a treasure chest. She is so talented. I was amazed at the ideas she came up with.

My daughter works at a company that all the departments dress up each year. Sometime it is a theme and sometimes it is just whatever you want. 

(My daughter is the 3rd from the left)

My cousin Connie said it best " I think our homemade ones were better and more creative than store bought ones. And we had just as much, if not more, fun with our costumes."

My obsession with Junior Mints...

For so long, I have been the Queen of Junior Mints. They are my go too candy for a quick snack. I have a candy dish on my home office desk, in my living room and by my bed....all for Junior Mints. I love nothing more than some Junior Mints, a Pepsi and a good while laying on the couch at night.

One Christmas, Edgar even got into my Junior Mints when I wasn't looking.  (Edgar is my version of Elf on the Shelf that Daddy bought me when I had my first place when I was 20.)

I just can't get enough of them. My friend bought me a big box to work one day recently and her husband, bought me a smaller box because he thought I needed more.

I have love them since I was a little girl. Mommy & Daddy would take us downtown on the bus since they didn't drive and we would always go to McCroy's. I would get a box of Junior Mints and a box of Pom Poms.

I never see Pom Pom's anymore, but I recently had a little box of Milk Duds from a Halloween Candy mix. It was enough to get me hooked. I forgot how much I like the chocolate caramel flavor.  

Since I rediscovered that chocolate caramel deliciousness I haven't bought any Junior Mints. But as I sit here tonight with a box of Milk Duds and no Junior Mints anywhere in the house, I think it is time to go back to the mints. 

Sunday Songs

I know I share this one a lot, but you can never say it enough, OH WHAT A SAVIOR!

My crazy Friday

Yesterday was a unique day to say the least. It started out being good when I found the add image button to look at some old photos that were from my phone. I was fascinated that the lights twinkled and the snow flakes fell. For those who use blogger, here is where I found it. Select add images, then on More click the down arrow and select from your phone. It was that simple. Then scroll through and select your photos and add them as you normally would.

Our weather has went nuts. I have been group greeter and work the last couple of days. Thursday, it was so hot that when we were outside with the groups we had in the mid to high 80 temps and we were about to sweat to death in the heat while we greeted them and took their group pictures. Then yesterday, we woke up to a day that didn't get out of the 50's and it was dreary and rainy.

While I was greeting one group, one of the umbrellas we use for days like today decided to collapse while I was standing under it so all the water on top of it had no where to go except down...on me. I did get my hair a little damp and fortunately had on a fleece jacket so I survived, but it was cold. Having natural curly hair, I just used my fingers to fluff it up and all was good (wasn't as disastrous as this picture, but it give you and idea.) We laughed about it all evening.

Then another lady at work was telling me about a new umbrellas that closes upside down or inside out or something like that. So when it closes, it holds the water and you can just turn it upside down and any excess water comes out as opposed to the way they are now where you shut them and the water on them goes everywhere.

I ended up getting off work around 7:30 and then had to stop at Walmart for some little sausages for a dinner today because Food City was out of them. Walmart. Friday night. In a tourist town. NEVER a good idea. You would have thought it was black Friday.

Then I met up with a friend to deliver an order to her. We had a lot to catch up on and stood in the cold at the gas station where we met up and talked forever. Bottom line is, getting off early at 7:30 did me know good because I got delayed everywhere I went. When I got home, it was too late to do anything but have a snack and go to bed. 

Hope everybody has a great day today.