The Voice

I love music of any genre. I am constantly surfing stations on my radio and love to have CMT playing while I clean house. 

I am addicted to The Voice. I can't miss it. If I do, I watch it the next night with On Demand. This year, my three favorites have made it to the Playoffs. I really like Trevon Hunt and Nicholas David.

But Terry McDermott got my vote the minute he hit the stage and opened his mouth for the first note. I really liked his voice.



Then he really grabbed my attention when he did Carry on My Wayward Son for the Knockout Rounds. He aced it and became my favorite at that moment. 

But Monday night, he absolutely stole my heart with More than a Feeling. I mean he is seriously awesome. Unless something major changes, I am keeping him as my number 1 pick. Love his voice. 

Some things I want to share....

I have a few things I want to share with you from the past couple of weeks that I hadn't shared yet. 

First, my niece Amy sent me this beautiful piece of Pyrex. I am collecting the primary colors bowls. She found the red one in an antique shop near her home and snatched it up to send me. I love it. 

Now I have three of the four pieces. Just keeping my eyes open for the green one and I'll have the complete set. I love when there is some wear and tear. It shows how much the piece was used. I like to think about all the things that were mixed or served in these old bowls. 

I recently posted that I would love to find the Corelle Indian Summer plate. On a recent trip to Heartland Antiques, they not only had the plates but they had the cups as well. So I now have one set for myself. Hubby still wants to stick with his favorite plate. However, they had over 20 of the plates and over 20 of the cups. Even had some of the saucers. I may go back and pick up a few more so I can have them for the grandkids to eat on when they visit. 

I'm reading a book that I had bought not too long ago. I wanted to put it up and read it during the Christmas holidays. But the longer I waited the more I wanted to read it so I started reading it yesterday. It is the 20th book from The Virgin River series. I have read every single one of them. I feel like I personally know everyone in town and would love to vacation there. 

This past Saturday when I was running around with my sister, she stopped in Rack Room shoes. Check out these boots. I fell in love with them. I may have to add these to my wish list. They are just too cute for words. 

I have been looking at my Pyrex collection. When I started it, I just collected anything I found that was a reasonable price. Since then, I realized how much I love to actually use what I bought. Since I am limited on how much room I have to store things, I have decided to part with a couple of pieces. That way I can make room for more of the bowls that I like. I thought I would like the divided vegetable serving dishes, but I don't. So I'm going to part with the Square Flowers Verde dish.

And the Early American dish with the lid. Now I just have to figure out the best way to sale them and a reasonable price for them. 

I had a comment yesterday asking if my new tea books had any scone recipes. They happened to have two different ones so I thought I would share them. 

Have a happy over the hump day. 

Tuesday Tutorial-No Sew Runners

No-Sew Table Runners. 

You will need materials (needs to be 2" bigger on the length and width then what you want the finished product to be. 

You will need your iron and ironing board. 

Scissors, hem tape and measuring device. I alternate between a ruler and a tape measure. I actually like the ruler the best. 

Lay your material face down so that the wrong side is facing you. 

Fold in all four sides 1" and press with iron.

Unfold the sides.

One by one, lay hem tape inside the fold. 

Press down the iron per instructions on the hem tape (directions vary per brand)

Repeat for each of the four sides. You will have this on the back.

Next it is time to make the points on the ends. Measure the width of your finished product and find the middle of the material. 

Fold each side in (on the back side) to make the point and place hem tape under the edges and iron it down as you did the rest of the sides.  Repeat process for each end of the length. 

Press the final piece and you have a beautiful runner or scarf. 

I make them in many different shapes and sizes. Just simply cut the material 2" bigger in both directions and repeat the above process.A special thanks to my niece Amy for showing me hers and telling me how she did them. I hope to see your results on your blog soon. 

When a sister comes to visit....

My sister and brother-in-law came to visit this weekend. We had an awesome time together (we always do). It is so great to have someone who thinks like you do and understands you like nobody else does. 

(L-R: Me and Rachel)

Rachel's birthday is in October and mine is in December (we are just a little over 13 months apart in age). So every year around this time, we try to get together for our birthdays and we always celebrate by having a little gift basket of items we have accumulated over the year to give each other. Here was the cute little basket I got this year. It is going on top of my kitchen cabinets with my other cute baskets. 

Here are the items that were in my basket. I adore stretchy bracelets. My basket had three new bracelets. I love them. They were made by a lady that lives across the street from Rachel. I wore the red one to church yesterday with my favorite red sweater and got a lot of comments on it. 

She also got me this cute little pill box with lavender flowers. This is going in the bathroom with my other little pill box. She made me this gorgeous dishtowel with the pumpkin on it. I'm going to hang it in the kitchen on the handle of the toaster oven. I loving having seasonal towels to hang there. 

She was in a pink theme on some of the items. We both love pink. I adore the candle and frame. I can't wait to polish my nails pink and wear my pink bracelet with it. She even got pink gum to keep with the theme. 

My kitchen is going to smell so good with the Paula Deen Vanilla Pound Cake candle. I'm going to burn it on Thanksgiving. 

She brought down some things Mom had accumulated for me this year. I love the milk glass vases to add to my collection. I didn't have either one of these. And this little pumpkin dish is so cute. I'm going to use it for some dip to go with crackers for an appetizer on Thanksgiving. 

And she brought me my birthday present from Mom. I was allowed to open it early since Mom knew I decorate for Christmas before my birthday. Don't you just love it? My mom made the stocking and the little mouse and then put some picks around it. I am so in love with this. I showed a picture to the ladies at church and they fell in love with it. One of my friends is going to try to make one herself. It is just too cute. 

All of that combined to make an awesome weekend. Then I went to church Sunday and my Secret Sister surprised me yet again with a little gift bag full of goodies. You know I love anything to do with tea. Check out the cute little tea books, a new cup for hot tea and some assorted teas. My hubby laid claim to the Blackberry Lipton the minute I took it out of the bag. We may have to fight over that flavor. But I would be willing to share with him. 

Then I stopped by my daughter's yesterday evening and she had been going through some drawers and found these cookie cutters and asked me if I wanted them. The Queen of Cookies? Do I want them? You better believe I did. She doesn't fool me though. She thinks if she gives me the cookie cutters she can ask me later to make her some cookies to take to work for Christmas. I know her game plan. 

As you can see it was a weekend chocked full of goodies. 

Our veterans.  The proud men and women who fought for our freedom and dedicated their lives to make our great nation what it is today. Some have passed on and some stand strong today. Nothing touches me more than to see our veterans proudly carrying our flag as they lead parades down Main Street across America. To watch other veterans along the route proudly solute that flag…the very flag that they defended on land, on sea and in the air.

My daddy, Luther (Luke) Garretson, fought in World War II. He was in the Navy and was stationed on an aircraft carrier. After his stint with the Navy was up, he spent a couple more year in the Coast Guard. 

I dedicate my page today to the loving memory of my father,

Luther Harden Garretson 1923-1999.

Today is the day to honor those proud men and women who stood for our country to protect our freedom. And I also believe today is the day to say thank you to those in our military who continue to protect us. My heart swells with pride as I look at this young man who is my nephew, Jacob (Jake) Garretson. I was honored to attend his graduation from Parris Island as a United States Marine just a year ago last week. 

I know his Papaw Luke would be very proud of him for serving his country. Here is one of my favorite photos of Daddy and Jake. Daddy was teasing him and asking him if his nails needed clipped and Jake stuck his foot up to the clippers Dad had been working with. He must have really trusted his Papaw.

One of my favorite military quotes actually comes from the movie A Few Good Men. It is when Commander Jo Galloway says: 

"Because they stand on a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch."

Happy Veteran's Day

My Friday Find

Hubby and I did our grocery shopping yesterday and we were just browsing through the Christmas Candy aisle at Walmart when something caught my eye. 

First, let me say that I have loved M & M's as far back as I remember. I have a jar that is always filled with M & M's. 

Another love of mine is orange creams covered with milk chocolate. I just love orange and chocolate together. I even eat a handful of malted milk balls when I have orange sherbet. 

So imagine my delight when I found these. 

They are actually a little thicker and bigger than a normal M & M and the chocolate center has a taste of orange flavoring in it. They are by far the most divine flavor M & M has come out with in years. Best invention since peanut M & M's. If you like orange and chocolate, you need to try these. You will fall in love with them. 

Frolicking Friday

Frolicking: Play and move about cheerfully, excitedly, or energetically.

That is what my mind is like by the time Friday rolls around. I have 1001 ideas thoughts plans just plain "stuff" floating around excitedly in my brain.

I made my Thanksgiving menu out the other day and then last night I broke it down into a grocery list and checked off items we already had in the cupboard. Let the Thanksgiving feast shopping begin. I get so organized for Thanksgiving it is hilarious.

I actually make an Excel spreadsheet of items needed, what we have; what we need to get and where we will get the best deal. I've been clipping coupons for a few weeks preparing for this. My hubby thinks I'm nuts, but hey, we never miss an item for the BIG DAY!

Santa (the one that lives next door to me) has his Christmas lights up and added some displays yesterday. He also has a fully decorated tree on the porch. The lights are gorgeous. I don't ever decorate until after Thanksgiving. But I guess when you are Santa you gotta do it when you have the time. I don't expect to see much of him and Mrs. Claus after Thanksgiving. I was able to get him and the Mrs. to be in our local Community Christmas Parade in December. 

I can't believe that there are ads posted on Black Friday and I haven't had a chance to go look at them. Yikes! That is so not like me. But that's okay. I may have some time tonight because there isn't anything good on TV.

Speaking of TV. I didn't get to watch Hawaii Five-0 this past Monday. When we went to bed at midnight on Wednesday, I decided to find it On Demand and watch it. What a major mistake. It was their Halloween show and it was scary. I don't do scary movies and can't believe I watched a scary Five-0. Hubby said he couldn't believe I watched it since it was so gory that night. My response..."It's McGarret. I couldn't NOT watch." But I had nightmares all night. Worst night sleep in a long time. No more scary episodes before sleep.



I am tired of pink and blue and yellow in my office. It wasn't what I had planned. It just fell into place because I had a few blue and pink pieces to sit on shelves. Then I found a pair of curtains at a yard sale in those colors and next thing you know, I had a pastel office. Which is not really me. I am more into hunter greens, burgundy, deep blue. I think I will look for a new pair of curtains in those colors and rearrange some things around the house to bring those colors into my office/craft room and do something else with my pink and blues (which are mostly candles and tea sets).

I was also wondering last night if Pyrex will be coming out with clear bowls with Christmas designs since they did for Halloween. I'm going to keep a check at Target to see. If anybody sees any, let me know. If they don't I may end up getting some of the ones with just red or green lids.



I guess I have rambled on enough for one day. Hope everybody has a great weekend.