Planning Ahead

I am planning an open house for my Thirty-One business around the end of October, first part of November. I was thinking of a theme and decided it would be a great opportunity for my guests to do some early Christmas Shopping. I was thinking they can shop two ways: They can buy for those on their Christmas list and they can make a Wish List for themselves. I will provide envelopes where they can write down the address of their significant other and I will mail him the wish list with a nice little letter of how I can help him make his shopping easier. I will even offer to gift wrap the presents when they arrive and all he has to do is put them under the tree. I know a lot of husbands who would appreciate that and a lot of wives who will love finding items from their wish list under their tree on Christmas morning.

Then I started thinking of what to serve to make it a Christmas festive open house. I have a lot of assorted Christmas cups and could pick up a few more at yard sales or the Dollar Tree between now and Christmas. 

I could go to Sam's Club and buy instant hot chocolate by the bulk box and use the coffee pot to keep the  hot water heated.



I saw these on Pinterest. All winter, as soon as candy canes become available, I drink my hot chocolate with marshmallow and use candy canes to stir it so I have a nice sweet peppermint chocolate mixture. It is delicious. So it was a no-brainer to decide to do this for my open house.



I thought I could buy some different cheeses and fix these little Rudolph's to go with some assorted crackers.



And I love this beef stick, cheese and cracker Christmas tree. I could definitely do this.



I could make cheese pizza and cut it up with cookie cutters. The peppers could garnish some and leave some plain for those who don't like peppers.



Since you always like to have some fruit for those who don't care for heavy desserts, this would be a good way to serve strawberries and keep the Christmas theme going.



For those who like their sweets, I could easily make these wreath cupcakes. At Christmas, you can even buy a whole bag of M&M's in nothing but red and green.



Since I love to bake, I thought I could make a little gift box of cookies for each guest to take home with them.



This will be a huge undertaking, but I am going to start planning now. Hopefully, it will be a huge success and I can host one every year. 

Unexpected Blessings

I love little surprises. Those times when you have just been rushing hither and yonder, doing this and that and then out of the blue, you get a little surprise. 

Sunday I went to Sunday School and while I was getting ready for our program, one of the church members came to borrow me for a few minutes to go with him to see his wife. They handed me a present. I was floored. I love this couple to pieces. They are very special to me and my hubby. Being a typical girl, I ripped off the paper and found this pretty box.  

When I opened it, it contained this beautiful necklace and earrings. I have a blue sweater this exact color and can't wait to wear them together. 

Then when I came out of choir and was heading back into the sanctuary, someone pointed out a bag with my name on it. It was a gift from my Secret Sister. She leaves me the most amazing gifts. I love the little box it is in. 

It was assorted Bath and Body antibacterial hand gel in their new fall fragrances. Awesome! 

You just gotta love those little surprises!

Happy birthday, Michael

Today is my son-in-law's birthday. 

I couldn't have asked for a better husband for my daughter. 

He's a fantastic dad who loves his babies very much. 

I can't count how many pictures my daughter takes of him and the kids piled up in his chair. Lots of places to sit in the living room and Caleb and Shelby's favorite seat is on his lap. 

Whether he is riding in a Bike Ride

Or driving in a Christmas Parade

Or turning the front yard into a shooting range

Or helping coach a baseball team

Or simply snuggling up for some quiet time

He is a blessing to our family.

Hope you have a wonderful birthday, Michael. Happy birthday, we love you. 

6 Most Beloved Words ...

....You're going to be a grandmother.

Oh, what a feeling. You hear that from other grandparents. Your Mom tells you how great it is to be a grandparent. But nothing, absolutely nothing, can prepare you for the phenomenal feeling you get when you hear those words. And not just the first time, or the second time, but every single solitary time.

I have had the privilege of being told that five different times. And it thrills me the same each and every time. My heart overflows with love for these five precious little beings that God has blessed our family with. 

I want to do a photo blog today. I started going through photos and trying to pick a few of my favorite ones. I would just "copy to folder" when I would see some I thought would be cute for my blog. Well, next thing I knew, I had a folder of over 500 photos I wanted to share. So I went to work on narrowing it down. After about an hour, I had finally narrowed it down to 184 photos. Let's face it, I think I have the most adorable grandchildren in the world and can't decide which photos are my favorites. So I decided my best bet would be to simply pick a pic of each one of them to share with you. 

Christian Garret

 Caleb Michael 

Alexis Caroline

Shelby Rayne

 Colby James

There you have it. The loves of my life. And the thing that makes me the happiest is that they appear to love me as much as I love them. 

One of my most memorable moments as a Mamaw happened a few years ago when Alexis was about 5. She came and sat on my lap and said "You know why I always love you?" and when I asked why, she said "Because you are always in my heart."

And that sums up the way I feel about each of my grandbabies as well. 

For all my readers who are grandparents, Happy Grandparents Day! 

Amy's Amazing Crafts

I thought today would be a good day to feature some of the latest crafts my niece Amy has been making. She is very talented and I love sharing her projects when they are completed. 

Love the little "carrot". This would be an awesome idea for a decoration on a harvest tablescape. 

 

This is a "no-sew" table runner. Simply buy the material you like at 2" bigger than the runner or scarf you want to make. Fold the edges under 1" all the way around and use fabric glue or seam tape to glue the edges to the back side. 

I love this. It is probably one of my favorite things I have seen lately. You need a clay flower pot with saucer, round wooden ball, and a glass bowl. Spray paint the flower pot, flower pot saucer and the ball. Turn the flower pot upside down. Glue the bowl on the pot. Amy used E6000 industrial strength craft adhesive like you can find at Michael's. Glue the round wooden ball on the bottom of the saucer. Fill with candy, place the saucer "lid" on the clear bowl, tie a ribbon around the base and you have a gorgeous candy dish. I have got to make this. Notice it setting on her little runner. 

Remember at Easter, Amy showed us to put a candle or flowers in a vase with Easter Eggs or Jelly beans. Well, she has done it again with little pumpkins. How adorable are the little pumpkins? I love it. I asked her where they came from and she bought hers at Craft 2000 in Parkersburg, WV. Just $1.00 something a bag and I think she said she used about 3 bags. I couldn't find any locations close to me so I'll have to ask her to get me some if I can't find them at Hobby Lobby. 

Fabric wreath she made. There are tutorials all over the internet for fabric wreaths. Look closely at the little acorns and leaf in the middle of the wreath. 

This is a floral wreath for anytime of the year. I think I will buy some artificial mums and pull the flowers off each stem to make one in oranges, yellow and reds. It would be neat to do one for Christmas with Poinsettia's. I forgot to ask her, but it looks like the flowers are glued onto a grapevine wreath. 

This is a box, I'm guessing a shoe box, that she covered in...DUCT TAPE! How cute is that. I have seen the sheets and the tape in fabulous patterns at Staples and Walmart. 

And jumping ahead to Christmas is her primitive Snowman dishtowel. This would be very easy to make and self-explanatory. I love it. 

I am so proud of my niece for her many talents. Can't wait to see what she comes up with for Thanksgiving. Thanks, Amy, for letting me share your projects. 

Some unique Pyrex patterns

I may head back to Farmhouse Antiques #2 tomorrow. I have been thinking more and more about the Pyrex restaurant style dishes. Plates and platters are a weakness of mine. I don't just have one particular plate I like to eat from, but one particular plate for certain foods. For example, I have a plate I only use for my Franco American Spaghetti O's and another that is used every time I have soup and grilled cheese...and so on.

But the more I look online at the Pyrex Grecian Gray platters, the more I want to go back and buy two of them.



I found some more on E-bay that I liked. This one is called Copper Filagree.



And I love the little Blue and White striped cups.



And how adorable are these Pyrex Bronze Milk Glass cups.



Some sites call this pattern a Red Fern, but I don't know if that is the right name or not. But I do like it.



I couldn't find the official name of this pattern, but some places refer to it as simply the skillet pattern.



This is the first Friday in a long time that I haven't taken off. It feels weird and I don't like it. But you gotta do what you gotta do. Hope everybody has a great weekend.

Top 10 Awkward Moments

...when you are driving down the road and honk and wave like a maniac at a friend....only to realize it wasn't them.

...when you pull into the gas pump and you are on the wrong side...so you pull out, circle around and pull back in....and you are still on the wrong side...you finally get parked, go in and pay...then you go back out, get in your car and leave....without pumping your gas!

...you place a fast food order, you drive up to the window and pay, they tell you to pull to the next window and you drive off forgetting to get your food. 

...you order a Wendy's single with cheese, pickle and mustard...and you are at McDonald's. 

...you get the giggles when it is not appropriate to laugh and the more you try not to laugh, the harder and louder you do until you actually snort.

...you go to the self-checkout at the grocery store...you scan all your groceries and you see your total...the machine won't take your money...you get the cashier to help and she simply presses the "Pay Now" button.

...you are walking in the middle of the mall and trip and almost fall...and there was nothing in the floor.

...you run outside to get something out of your car real quick in your jammies because it's early and nobody will see you...only to walk off the porch and hear your neighbor say "Good Morning"

...you run into an acquaintance in the store and simply smile hello because you know that you know her from somewhere, but can't remember where...seeing your smile, she stops and proceeds to ask about the family, work, church and then proceeds to tell you what is going on in her life...after 10 minutes conversation she hugs you goodbye, tells you it was so good to see you again and goes on her way...you turn to hubby and say "What was her name and how do we know her" and he has no clue. 

...you see your turn up ahead and you try and try to get into the other lane so you can turn...only to get there and realize that is not your turn...your turn is in the lane you were originally in so now you have to try and try to get the same people you were slowing down to let you BACK into their lane.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, yes, these are all things I have done (some more than once). I apparently tend to get distracted and don't think clearly. Can I blame it on being 55? 

Please tell me you have done at least ONE of these so I won't feel like so alone.