I've been MIA

I have been out of town for 4 days so I missed a few days posting. I have been in West Virginia with my mother who had surgery. She is back home and in excellent shape. The doctor was very pleased with how well she pulled through. Here is her picture just 30 minutes after coming out of the recovery room. 

I got to see a lot of my family when I was there. I got to see my brother Jack.

My brother Andy (this is is son, Coy).

And my sister Rachel 

My niece Amy and her precious daughter Makenzie.

My nephew Robby with my nephew Coy.

I also got to enjoy my favorite Gino's Pizza. It is a local chain that I wish would expand south. It is the best pizza in the world.

I got some wonderful gifts while I was in from various family members. Come back tomorrow to learn more about these and many more other goodies I want to share with you. 

Later this week I will be blogging about my cousin's beautiful home I got to visit while I was there. 

We left the warm weather of East Tennessee last Saturday when we headed to West Virginia. The weather wasn't too cold there until the morning we had to head home. We woke up to a light dusting of snow.

The trip home was full of snow flurries, snow squalls, rain, sunshine and even a rainbow. We didn't know what we would find 5 miles down the road all the way home since the weather shift was ever changing.

But we made it home safely. I had an awesome trip and I give God all the glory for how well Mom came through the surgery. 

Easter Craft projects

I have been to Pinterest again. Easter is just a month away and I thought I would check out some crafts. I love anything that sparkles. How cool are these eggs?

Now this would be a very easy wreath to make. 

An awesome candy dish.

I think this looks super easy to do. I may have to try it.

My Sunday School kids would love this one.

Once I do the yarn eggs, I could display them like this. 

This is adorable.

And the last one but my favorite one. Something I can do to use my milk glass vases.

Love Pyrex 4 Trade Facebook Group

I love trading Pyrex. There's just something about helping someone complete a set while at the same time you get something that you've had your eye on. I put the following items up for trade last night.

So far, I traded the Butterfly Gold in the lower left corner for the same size bowl in Butterfly Gold 2. There is a little difference in the pattern and since I don't have anything else in that pattern, I traded so she could work on her set. My new one will look like this and I do like this pattern.

I traded the golden scroll in the upper right corner for a lime green 024 bowl and lid. I have the round cake pan in this color and actually like it very well.

And the last one I traded was the Old Orchard Casserole dish in the middle. I actually traded it for something besides Pyrex. I have been looking for some milk glass planters and she wanted to trade me TWO planters for the casserole dish. So I definitely said yes. She sent me a lot of pics to choose from and I picked this one...

And this one....

I can't wait to get all my new goodies.

You gotta love a bargain....

Our local Staples is getting ready to remodel. As a result, they are holding a lot of clearance sales and sending out a lot of coupons. I have been buying my home office supplies there for years so I have a rewards card that provides me with coupons as well. I received some coupons the other day and decided to drop in and see what was on sale. 

The first thing I looked at was their battery charger. I needed a new one for AA batteries and figured if I had a coupon to help pay for it, maybe I should see what they had. They had what I was looking for at a price of $12.99. That price wasn't bad compared to the ones at Walmart which weren't the quality the one at Staples was. 

Next, I needed a package of Martha Stewart dividers for my notebook. I love her line of products. They had them for $4.99 which was $1 less than usual so I picked up a pack.

I was looking for a small pink notebook to keep notes in for the National Conference I am attending this year. This was perfect and it was Martha Stewart as well. It was normally $1.99.

I decided to breeze by the clearance section just to see what they had. I found the perfect tray for my IN/OUT files. I have those plastic ones that always seem to crack eventually from the heavy load of paperwork that crosses my desk. This wasn't priced, but I thought it was exactly what I needed. So I took it with me to check out and had her scan it first since it was on clearance and is a very sturdy solid piece, I figured I would get it no matter what the price. Imagine my delight when the scanner said it was just $1.00!

Before coupons the price was $20.97. She rang up my coupons and then applied sales tax on the new balance. My final cost out of pocket was a whopping $1.83. That's right, just $1.83 for all this. You gotta love a bargain.

Mid week update...

So much to catch you up on. Saturday, I went running around with my daughter. We were in Target and I was looking at towels. I stumbled across this bath mat. I love my bubble bath but can't find a good pillow to lean on while I read. I saw this Bath Lounge Mat at Target for $20. This has been added to my wish list. I am going to have to get one of these. 

I looked at plants at Walmart. I am going to need some plants for my new office, especially in the corner with my desk and my file credenza meet. I am thinking a palm but don't know. These prices were really good at Walmart.

Sunday we had my oldest grandson's birthday at the Blue Moose. The food was delicious and we all had a great time. Most importantly, I got some pics of my family. Here is the birthday boy, my first grandchild, Garret. He turned 15. 

My second grandchild, Caleb, is 10 and will be 11 in just a couple of months. 

Next is my third grandchild who was my first granddaughter, Alexis. She is 9 1/2. They are growing up too fast. 

This is my fourth grandchild, Shelby. She is 5 1/2.

This is my fifth grandchild, Colby. He is 3 and he is a character as I'm sure you can tell by the mischievous little smile.

This is my son, Chris, and his wife, Jamie. They are the parents of Garret, Alexis and Colby.

  

This is my daughter, Diana, and her husband, Michael. They are the parents of Caleb and Shelby.

It is so hard to get all The Grands together in one picture so I decide to split the group up. Her I am with my beautiful granddaughters.

And here are my handsome grandsons. Garret is going through the I don't smile for pictures phase. I can't believe how tall he is getting. And Caleb isn't far behind. They are both going to tower over their poor old short mamaw. 

Monday night was the county VBS training for our bible school in June. The theme is secret agents as we learn to Discover, Decide, Defend. 

After coming back from VBS meeting, I started gathering things around the house that I want to use for decor in my new office. 

Tuesday night I decide to catch up on some baking. I made a chocolate cake for my friend Stevie. We do a lot of bartering and I owed her this for a dishtowel she made me. 

I haven't made my son any goodies in awhile and I asked what he would like to have and he picked no bake oatmeal cookies so I got up this morning and made him a batch. 

I am getting ready to start some craft projects (yes, Rachel, I will finish yours before I start new ones.) I was going through my yarn and found some more pastels for spring. I think I will make some coasters or an Easter basket. 

I found this yarn I had bought a while back. The label says it all.

The ultra stiff plastic canvas is getting harder and harder to find. I am down to my last three sheets. I need to check at AC Moore and see if they have any more in stock.

A few weeks ago, I got this little appointment book but had never started using it. I sat down and got all my upcoming appointments caught up in it.

I love it because it is landscape format instead of portrait. I also love all the little places for notes. 

And last but not least, I experimented with something to clean my canvas tennis shoes. If you wear canvas tennis shoes, you know how dirty they can get and just regular washing still leaves a faint shadow of any stains from daily wear. So I experimented. I have new detergent I am trying out and I love it. It is Arm and Hammer with OxyClean. I took that and mixed in some Dawn because they say blue Dawn is great for stains. I added some Peroxide because they say that is great for stains and I put in a cup of carpet shampoo from my shampooer because it is great on carpet stains. The result was some really clean white tennis shoes. I am very easy on shoes. These are three years old and I wear them every summer (when I'm not in flip flops) and I think they look fabulous. Very happy with my concoction.

How is your week going so far?