Thinking about it...

Most of my everyday dishes are heavy duty. We have a set of green dishes that are real heavy weight.

We also have some platters we use a lot that are Restaurant Style.

But there are times when I am just having a sandwich and chips and I hate dragging out the heavy plates. I have been looking for something lightweight like melmac, but can't find anything locally and shipping on Ebay or Etsy makes them too expensive.

I have this Corelle platter that Mom gave me that I love. So now I'm thinking I might just look for some Corelle plates for my light lunches.

I found some patterns I like on E-bay. Our local antique store has a ton of affordable Corelle dishes that can be bought by the piece so I may look through their patterns this coming week. They have a Spring Blossom Crazy Daisy pattern that matches my Pyrex nesting bowls. I could look for some plates in that. 

Many years ago, I had some Corningware in the Abundance pattern and loved it. I could look for some dishes in it. 

This is called the Summer Impressions pattern and it looks like something I would like.  

But the one I would really like to find is the Indian Summer pattern. I love the busy flowery patterns.  I also love the color scheme in this particular pattern. I would be thrilled to find some of these. 

It reminds me of that pattern I love in the Arcopal France china line that is so hard to find in the U.S.

In my research of Corelle patterns, I discovered some Christmas patterns. I had never seen these. I do my kitchen in a lot of the reds for Christmas. This pattern would be so neat to stumble on for a tablescape. 

I have seen the holly pattern before. I may even have owned a piece of two in the past. I can't recall but for some reason I think I had a bowl or something from a yard sale in this pattern. 

This is a pretty pattern. I love busy patterns on my dishes, which is strange considering most of my dishes are solids. 

Whatever I find, I can mix and match if I want since they are just plates for lunch so I will only need two of each. 

Pics of my near future

We are coming into the busy season of the year. I was thinking ahead to what all is coming up and I am thinking I may have to go back to bed to get rested up for the rest of the year. 

It starts Saturday morning with my Thirty-One bi-monthly meeting. I can't wait to see what goodies are in store for us for the holiday specials. 

After I get done with my meeting, I am picking up Alexis, Caleb and Shelby to go to Trunk-or-Treat at our church. We always have lots of candy for the kids, good fun, music, hot dogs, popcorn and the train ride for the kids.

Caleb called me the other day and said he had great news for me. It turns out he volunteered me to make  cupcakes for his class for their Halloween party. Good thing I like to bake and that he has a small class this year. Just 15 kids. I think I will try to make some like these.



Then of course, Halloween arrives with all the little trick-or-treaters. I will buy some candy and leave my porch light on, but I don't look to have many if any. Last year, we had just moved to the neighborhood a few days before Halloween and didn't know anybody. But now that we have met our neighbors, maybe we will get a few.



The first of November is going to be the launch for my Thirty-One Wish List gathering. I'm preparing my list for my invites and getting packets put together ready to mail.

I have company coming to town in November and we are planning an entire day of antiquing. Hope to find some good Pyrex deals. 

The kids are out of school for election day so I am going to spend the day with three of my grandchildren. I'm not sure what we are going to get into, but I know it will be fun.



As many of you all know, I love Saturdays for shopping. My daughter and I go on a regular basis, even if it is just to window shop and get out of the house. But between her work and various commitments, it has been at least 3 or 4 weeks since we have went shopping. It looks like it is going to be a couple more weeks before we get a chance to go, but I know we are wanting to squeeze a trip to Turkey Creek into our schedule pretty soon.




It is that time when hubby and I start stocking up the pantry for our family Thanksgiving dinner. So there will be several trips to Food City, Kroger and Walmart in our future.



Then, of course, the joyful day for Thanksgiving. All that good food, browsing the ads for Friday sales, and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.



That is always when we celebrate my daughter-in-laws birthday. It won't be long and she will deciding what her birthday "cake" will be. We have changed that to birthday dessert because not everybody picks cake. Last year, she picked the Reece Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle. Can't wait to see what she picks for this year.



I am starting to look forward and plan for Black Friday. Not everybody loves Black Friday and to each their own. I have actually had a so-called friend who made me feel like I was less of a person because I shopped on Black Friday. She does most of her shopping online, but that is her prerogative just like going shopping on Black Friday is mine. I love it so please don't steal my joy just because you don't.



I also have to pick up my Christmas cards soon. I like addressing them on Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving while I'm relaxing around the house after two days of shopping.




I usually put my tree up within the first few days of September and decorate the house for Christmas. My little poinsettia basket that Mamaw Eden bought me 50 years ago is always the first thing to be set out.



We have already started practicing for our Christmas program at church which falls during December.



The morning we do our Christmas program, I have an afternoon meeting with Thirty-One for the new spring premier sneak peek. I can't wait. Should be an exciting day.

My twins have a birthday in December and 3 days after theirs I have mine so we always get together sometime during that time to celebrate. It all hinges on hunting draws for my son as to when we get together. 

Shadrack's Christmas Light show comes to the Smokies Stadium in December and I want to squeeze some time in to go to it. I have never been, but hope to go this year. 

I am on the parade committee for the Kodak Community Christmas Parade. We already have some participants signed up. Last year was the first year and it was a big success for such a small community. I can't wait for this years.

If we get a chance, Hubby and I want to go on one of his nights off over to Dollywood to see the Christmas lights. I love walking around looking at the lights and drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows. 

Sometime amidst all the festivities, I need to bake my annual orange cookies and chocolate cookies. As well as make fudge and various other baked goods, depending on what I'm craving. 

Then of course I need to find time to wrap presents for the family and the ones that I send off to Mom.

Sometime in December will be the Secret Sister exchange at church. I received a lot of goodies last year. I can't wait for the reveal this year to see who my secret sister has been. 

But nothing compares to the thrill of our family gathering at our house on Christmas Eve. It is the highlight of the season. 

Well, I guess you can tell I'm going to be busy from now through Christmas. But I look at it this way....it gives me plenty of blog topics!

I didn't want to leave....

I took a trip to McKay's Book Exchange yesterday with my friend, Sherrie. I love going there. I didn't have very many to trade in, but I still received a nice size credit toward new books. Here is what I found.

Six books by my favorite author, Barbara Delinsky. I love anything she writes.  

Another of my favorites is Debbie Macomber and I found three of her books that I had not read. 

Then there were an assortment of other authors that I like and I found a few books by them plus a couple by authors I had never read but the books looked good. 

We were almost ready to leave and I decided to go down this one aisle that had recipe and craft book. Oh, my goodness. 

I found these two large Christmas coffee table books for just .35 cents each. My heart just fluttered. 

I then discovered an awesome hardback book with holiday plastic canvas patterns which I just had to have for .25 cents. 

There were some hardback Christmas books with recipe and gift ideas. These were also just .25 cents. 

Then I found a couple with great ideas for fast and inexpensive Christmas crafts. These were just .25 cents each as well. 

I could not believe the selection. It was so overwhelming, I just had to stand there and stare at the choices. I am so glad that I decided to stop down that aisle. The only problem was, I didn't want to leave. I can't wait to go back again. 

Later that night, my daughter stopped by to pick up an order she had placed for Thirty-One. We missed Shelby and I went back to my office to see what she was doing. She said "I found my new Halloween costume." I'm going to be a writer. She has found my wild reading glasses and this is how she thinks she needs to do Halloween. (By the dirty face, I would say she also discovered my Kit Kat bar. 

My Top 10 Favorites

Just thought I'd share some of my favorites things with you today. So I prepared a list of my top 10 categories of favorite things. 

My favorite candy ... Junior Mints. I have a candy dish beside the couch and another one on my desk. They always hold Junior Mints. As you can tell, it's time to make a "mint run" as I am getting dangerously low. 

My favorite drink ... Caffeine free Pepsi. It used to be just regular Pepsi, but I switched about 8 years ago and love my Caffeine free Pepsi. 

My favorite food ... Pizza Hut pizza and breadsticks. My favorite is thin crust with Italian sausage. But when I really want to be extravagant and for special occasions I get thin crust meat lovers. Their breadsticks are a must if I am going to have their pizza. I can't have one without the other.

My favorite songs ... My all time #1 favorite song is Take it to the Limit by the Eagles. My all time favorite country song is Cross my Heart by George Strait. Hubby calls that our song. He sang in a band in his high school years. He does a great job on George Strait songs. My all time favorite gospel song is hard to pick because I like so many. I guess I would have to go with my current favorite one My Chains are Gone by Chris Tomlin. The first time I heard it was at my son's church when their youth choir sung it. It has been my favorite ever since then. I love that song because it includes Amazing Grace which would be my all time favorite gospel.

My favorite book ... I love Karen by Marie Killilea. It is the story of a little girl from her birth in 1940 until she is 12 years old. It is written about her life by her mother. Karen was born three months premature when babies didn't survive that early. She had cerebral palsy. She was an intelligent little girl and the story is about the day to day struggles she and her family went through. It is a heartwarming tale of how love conquers all. Her mother was co-founder of The National United Cerebral Palsy Foundation.

My favorite movie ... I absolutely love The American President. My favorite scene is when he says "It turns out I have a rose garden." I have probably watched this movie at least 20 or 30 times if not more. Love it.

My favorite color ... That would have to be red. It has been my favorite color since about 8th grade and has never changed. I have seasons of time where I favor other colors, but red remains my favorite.

My favorite car ... My all time favorite car that I ever owned was a 1996 red Dodge Stealth. I loved that car, but with grandbabies it just wasn't practical so we traded it in. But oh how I loved it.



My favorite store ... Most everyone will think I will say Walmart...and you would be right. It is the one-stop shopping place to find just about everything you need. I can't help it, I love Walmart. Especially on Black Friday. If that makes me a redneck, so be it. But my second favorite is Kohl's. I love to go there especially on Saturday when they have awesome sales.

My favorite TV show ... Without a doubt right now it is The Voice. Since that is seasonal though, I would pick my favorite that is year round show would be Hawaii Five-0. I just adore Steve McGarret.



What are some of YOUR favorite things?