1000 Gifts

176. a holiday centered wholly around giving thanks to God

177. a good reason to use my creative juices for decorating

178. extended family that live within driving distance of us

179. being together, ALL together, both sides of our families

180. cousins playing, laughing, running

181. fellowship and good conversations

182. many hands which make for light work

183. completing a goal I had set for myself several months ago {5k}

184. getting a huge boost of confidence in knowing I CAN do all things through Christ who gives me strength!

185. more food than we need

186. friends who join us at the Thanksgiving table

187. two AMAZING Moms who teach me daily through their example

188. a thankful tree full of good things

189. seeing our children appreciate all the 'little' things

190. being thankful for the fun things too

191. the satisfaction of a clean home

192. pulling down Christmas bins from the attic

193. marvelling that another year has flown by

194. a girl who loves to read and her dogs that love to snuggle

195. an abundance of warm things to drink through the cold winter

196. being a part of a family that loves the Lord

197. prayers that are said for a family member who will be leaving us soon

198. our children praying along side us

199. cards that are made with the sweetest expressions of love

200. tears that pour down as we try to find the right way to say goodbye

201. modern travel that allows us to quickly get to another state to be with a dying relative

202. old grief resurfacing, with fresh tears that wash my soul clean


For each of these, whether they be happy things or sad things ... I give thanks to God in all circumstances.

Black Friday

Soooo, did any of you go out and shop on Black Friday?? I DID! I decided I wasn't going to be crazy and wake up at 4am so I just got up at my normal time and left my house around 7am. I'm glad I did because it wasn't too crazy out there at that time.

I looked through all of the flyers the night before and planned exactly which stores I would go to and what I wanted from each store so that I wouldn't waste time and money just wandering from place to place.

I went to AC Moore first because the most important thing I wanted was from there. It wasn't even busy there! They also had tons of employees there to help so I didn't even have to wait in line!

We got the girls the real American Girl dolls for Christmas and I wanted to get them these doll trunks so they would have a place to put the doll clothes. The one below is not the one I got, but it's something similar. They were originally $35 and I paid $14! Totally worth it!

Then I went to our local mall and had a couple places to stop in there. I wasn't planning to go to Bath and Body Works but decided to pop my head in there at the last minute and they had their regular sized, Signature collection for buy 3 get 3 free! It was great because I got some as gifts and some for myself! I love their lotions and body sprays and my daughters are getting to an age where they love the stuff too.

At JC Penney I scored some great prices on some stuff for my hubby and also this awesome Waffle Iron! I have always wanted one and just figured it wasn't a necessity. The one I got was originally $59.99 and I only paid $9.88 for it! wooohoooo! I was super excited! Now I'd love to hear your fave waffle recipes because I don't even know where to start!

I also got my girls some great bathrobes and slippers that I knew they wanted from the Children's Place. The whole store was 30% off and then when I was walking around the store with my arms FULL of stuff this lady approached me and asked if I'd like to use an additional coupon - which gave me an extra 25% off on top of the other 30%!! My original total was $107 and I only paid $56! Love it!

I left my house at 7am and was home by 9:20 ... all in all it was definitely worth it for me and now I'm 90% done with Christmas shopping. It's a GOOD feeling! One thing I really appreciated was that EVERY store had TONS of employees and they were all very helpful so it was easy to get in and out even with the crowds of people.

Anyone else shop on Black Friday? Get any good deals? A lot of my facebook friends were saying 'never again!' so I guess not everyone had a pleasant experience like I did! LOL

Women of Faith

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending a Women of Faith conference in Hartford, CT. It was AMAZING! There were about 50 women from our church that went but specifically I went with two of my best friends and all of our Moms.

The theme of the conference this year was Over the Top ...

This is Patsy Clairmont, one of the most funny and captivating speakers I have ever heard! This tiny little lady has more spunk that you could ever imagine! She spoke twice on Friday and once on Saturday and I just loved hearing her. I bought her new book called Kaleidoscope which is a refreshing look at the book of Proverbs.

We stayed in downtown Hartford and had this gorgeous view of Bushnell Park and the capitol right outside our hotel window!

I also got to hear Lisa Welchel {who I super duper ADORE!}. It was so cool to actually see her in person and hear her speak after I've been reading her books and singing her praises for several years now. She looks just as young and beautiful as she did when she played Blair on The Facts of Life MANY years ago!

And we were blessed to hear a couple performances by the amazing Sandi Patty! WOW, her voice is incredible!

We also got to hear a fun concert by Mandisa - she was SO good and so much fun! I have never really heard much of her music but loved it and bought a CD. She also spoke a little about her struggles with weight and self image and it was a great message. She is simply gorgeous and so full of life. Whenever ANYONE was singing, including the Worship Team, she would be standing off to the side of the stage just dancing like crazy!

Sandi Patty and Mandisa also did a duet that was awesome, two powerhouse voices together lifting praise to God - it gave you goosebumps!

What a blessing to share this time with my friends! We laughed, we cried, we had such a great time together!

There were several other speakers and they were all fabulous. I think my favorite was hearing from Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth Chapman as they shared about the loss of their daughter in a tragic accident two years ago. He also sang and I LOVE his music. I think I pretty much cried for about an hour straight during his singing and his wife's speaking! LOL

I have to add a song of his at the bottom, it's one of my faves and makes me cry every time. But it's so important for us Moms to realize that what we do matters SO much more than we could ever dream or imagine. I think that was one of the biggest messages that I came away from this conference with. That what we do MATTERS. Everything we do and say will have lasting effects in those around us. Which is why it's so important to make what you do count for eternity.

We also heard Anita Renfroe who is the genius behind The Mom song - which I will also post below. She has SO many funny videos on you tube, go check them out, I promise you will enjoy having a good laugh! One of my faves is 'All the Wrinkled Ladies' a spoof off of Beyonce's All the Single Ladies. SOOOOO funny!

There were so many other great things that I took away from this conference. So many things that spoke directly to my heart as areas in my life that I need to work on. It was both convicting and encouraging at the same time.

I'm so thankful that I was able to attend and for my in laws and hubby who helped care for the girls so I could go.

Fabric Flowers

I have a new addiction. Making fabric flowers! I have been eyeing some beauties from The Pleated Poppy for MONTHS now and then saw a tutorial on House of Smith's recently ... so I decided to give it a try. I have lots of spare fabric hanging around and lots of glue sticks for my glue gun so these were basically free to make!

First I tried this twisted rosette technique ...

Then I made a bunch of these - I love how they turned out!

I have some great ideas that I want to try and also want to find some cool new fabrics. I tried doing some as pins that you could put on a hat, purse, your shirt or a scarf. And I also attached a couple to a couple headbands to be worn in your hair and they looked super cute! I wore some at Women of Faith last weekend and got a lot of compliments!

Stay tuned as I'm sure I'll have more to share in the near future!

A,B,C's of Thanks!

How fun is this? A thankful list through the alphabet! OK, here we go ...

a. Automobiles - sooooo thankful that we have good, dependable cars to get us around from place to place.

b. Bob, my wonderful, amazing, loving husband! He has been my best friend and soul mate for almost half my life now and I thank the Lord for him!

c. Christ my Lord, my Savior. Without Him my life would not be anything like it is today.

d. Dads - my Dad who is in glory now, who was an amazing Father for my growing up years. And Bob's Dad, Dan who is one of the most kind, generous and selfless people I know. I'm thankful that I get to have him for a Dad for my grown-up years.

e. EVERYTHING!!!!! I AM BLESSED, I WANT TO SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS! I AM BLESSED, I AM BLESSED, I AM BLESSED!!!!!

f. Family. Immediate family and extended family. I'm one of those lucky {blessed!} people that has amazing family on both sides, the kind where we can ALL get together for a holiday and we ALL get along! Tomorrow we will enjoy having family here from both my side and my hubby's.

g. Grace ... where would I be without grace? As in grace from God, not GracIE our puppy {though I do love her too!}

h. Hope - my beautiful, vibrant first-born daughter. She is such a blessing in our lives and I can't imagine our lives without her.

i. Internet - I'll be honest, I love it. Love that it keeps me connected with family and friends, love that it lets me journal my life through this blog, love that you can find any information you need at any time .... love it!

j. Joy - our sweet, beautiful, funny second-born daughter. She's my cuddly sweetheart and has the most infectious laugh - I just adore her!

k. Kisses from my husband and my daughters.

l. Life - what a blessing to have life and good health and the ability to move and breathe and enjoy life to the fullest.

m. Moms - My Mom and my Mother in Law are two of the most amazing, Godly women I know. They each have faced some of the toughest times that anyone could possibly face in their lives and yet their faith remains strong and they continually encourage me, support me and love on me.

n. New life. I'm constantly amazed by the miracle of a new baby, how God knit these precious little ones together in their mother's wombs. How He created each and every person completely different from one another. {And no, I'm not preggo, but we have lots of friends and there always seems to be a new baby around!}

o. Over the Top Women of Faith conference I went to last weekend. It was AWESOME and I have many things I'm still thinking about from the speakers and musicians that were there.

p. Perspective, it helps get me through tough situations because it helps me see things in light of how blessed I truly am.

q. Quilts and blankets that keep us warm and cozy every night.

r. Rest, relaxation and reading ... all things I need and love. =)

s. Salvation - so rich and free!

t. TV - something I enjoy for entertainment and unwinding.

u. Underwear ... don't laugh! I mean, would you want to live without it?!

v. Victory over death through salvation that will mean eternity in heaven! wooohooo, can I get a HALLELUJAH?!

w. Water. Clean water to drink, to bathe in, to swim in. How many people in this world have NO clean water? I am blessed!

x. All of the eXtra stuff - things that I don't NEED, but am so blessed to have. More clothes than I need, more toys than we need, scrapbook supplies, sporting equipment, stuff, stuff, stuff .... more than we will ever need. But I am thankful for all these things just the same.

y. Youth .... no, not me I'm afraid ... LOL! But the gift of youth in the lovely little ones we raise and know. Kids live life with such happy abandon and help keep us young. I'm thankful that they help me to not take life too seriously and to just kick back and have some fun.

z. Zest!! God has given me a blessed life and I live it with joy and with zest ... I hope and pray to live long and leaving a lasting example. I pray that my kids and future grands would know how much I loved life.

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND BLESSED THANKSGIVING MY FRIENDS!!

For Bonnie!

My bloggy friend Bonnie has the exact same couches that I do ... she also has pets who, just like mine, like to take up residence on said couches. She posted some pics recently and I promised her I'd post some of my dogs too. Yes, they are super spoiled ... and yes, they are slowly but surely ruining the fabric on my couches because of their nails.

Here are a bunch of photos ...

See how the fabric on the seat is torn up?

They are spoiled, but they are cute and such loving friends!

Wednesday

Hey bloggy friends ... sorry I've been such a blog slacker lately. Do you ever go through those seasons when you feel like you're barely keeping your head above water? Well we seem to be in the midst of one of those right now. I mean, it's not like anything earth shattering is happening, but we're just BUSY! Busy with school work, keeping up with the house, yard work, church stuff, kid's activities, planning for the holidays, and trying to find time to train for the 5k {that is just over a week away! eeeekkk!!}

Needless to say, when life is busy here ... the blog falls to the wayside. :(

Today I have some random things to share with you ... the first being - check out this adorable mini globe! The girls and I found it at the ChristmasTree Shop a few weeks ago and thought it would look so cute in our school room. I love the black {instead of blue} oceans!

This month we're also working on a Thankful tree. I painted a large tree on some white butcher paper and taped it to the back of my front door. Then we bought some leaf and pumpkin cutouts at my local education store and we leave them sitting on the kitchen table. Each day we can write down things we're thankful for and tape them to the tree! This pic was taken a couple weeks ago and it's A LOT more full of leaves now! I'll add a new pic soon!

I've had the itch to craft and create lately but sadly, as I mentioned above, I've been very short on time! This was a quicky project that I've been needing to do for a while now. We have this large storage closet under the stairs in our finished basement. It's a great space for storing things out of the way. We HAD some closet doors on it, but they were cheap quality and after a few years {and kids yanking on them} they were breaking and not working well. So we took them down and decided that an inexpensive fix would be to hang curtains. I got 4 yards of fabric at my favorite little local shop {everything is $1.99 a yard!} and sewed some quick curtains. I love how they look ...

{before}

{before}

{after}

{after}

It looks sooooo much better now!

What else have I been up to? Well, my Mom and I are co-hosting Thanksgiving this year so we've been purchasing and planning for that. We expect about 22 people for dinner and I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm also still working towards the 5k goal. It's been getting harder and harder to get out and run, the weather is colder lately and my schedule is so busy. But I'm still trying to get out and do it 3 days per week.

I bit off more than I could chew yesterday. My laundry room has been disgusting lately and I knew I needed to clean it. But if you know me, you know I can never just clean something and be done. I suddenly found myself PAINTING the walls, moving appliances, re-organizing the space and creating for myself a MUCH bigger job than what I'd originally set out to do! Why do I do this to myself???!!!

And to top it all off, I was tipping up the washer and dryer so that my daughter could help me sweep under them and the HOSE for the washer POPPED off sending gushing water spraying everywhere! Even on my freshly painted wall! ugggghhhh! I actually had to laugh, because otherwise I might have cried! I figured out how to turn the gushing water off, cleaned up my mess and realized that the hose didn't simply pop off, it was rotted so it had broken! double UGHH!

Thankfully, hubby came to my rescue when he brought home a new hose after work last night so today I will need to work on finished my project. Again ... why do I do this to myself? Oh yeah, a prettier, cleaner laundry room in the end is the goal!


Oh and one last thing ... I just found this blog today and it has me drooling ... and yes makes me want to craft and create all the more! OK, I have to start clearing my schedule more often so I can be crafty and creative more!

Have a great Wednesday friends!!!!

CMA round-up

This made seem kinda weird but I just watched the CMA's and have all these thoughts running through my head --- so I figured I'd blog about them and see if anyone else wanted to chit chat about country music ... I know, I'm weird like that! LOL =)

So here are all my random, jumbled thoughts, I wrote as I watched so they are in order of what happened first.


I watched part of the American Music awards the last time it was on - mostly because I wanted to see Taylor Swift. But it was so bizarre, I mean there are some real freaks who call themselves musicians right now! Weird, weird people in weird get-ups singing crazy songs that you can't even understand! Now I know everyone has their own opinion about music and why they like what they like - but these are some of the reasons that I love country music. For one thing - you can UNDERSTAND the lyrics - yes sometimes they are sad but at least you can sing along and know what you're singing! Also, at the awards shows, you hear MANY of the people saying 'I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ' .... obviously that makes me happy to see them acknowledge the Lord first above their record label, producers, etc.

Loved the humor between Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood - they were fantastic co-hosts as usual.

Carrie is always simply gorgeous but I have always wondered why she looks like she is walking like a bird when she's performing ... is it the extremely high heels? Has anyone else ever noticed that?!

I must admit I didn't really think it was fair for Zac Brown band to win New Artist of the Year. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but they've been out for more than a year now - it's time to let one of the new guys win. Speaking of the new guys - some of them are soooo cute - Luke Bryan, Easton Corbin - whooeee, cutie pies!

Love, love, love Taylor Swift - her song made me so sad though. I'm pretty sure it's about her relationship with Taylor Lautner. It might sounds kinda funny but I know how she feels. I broke up with my husband {when we were dating of course} , then later regretted it and wanted him back many months later. Thankfully for us things worked out and we're still together but I know that feeling of regret.

Stuck like glue .... you and me baby we're stuck like glue ... LOVE IT!!! {her voice usually drives me nuts, but I really like this song, it's catchy and fun!}

Loved Brad Paisley's song ... this is what country music is ALL about! "So turn it on, turn it up and sing along!" See, just like what I was saying above!

I am loving the group entertainers lately ... love hearing the blending of their voices - especially Lady Antebellum.

It was so cute to see how excited Miranda Lambert was when her beau Blake Shelton won Male Vocalist of the Year. I kinda like seeing someone different win - it seems like it's always the same people like Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, etc and I like seeing someone else win it for once!

HATE 'If I Die Young' by the Band Perry - what a dumb song. Seriously, I change the station every time I hear it. Sorry if you like it!

Carrie Underwood's 'Mama's Song' makes me want to cry ... it makes me think about my girls growing up and getting married someday. :( Please Lord don't let it go too fast!

Did anyone notice that it seems like all the ladies of country wear BIG, huge platform heels? Is it because they want to seem taller or is it just what's in style right now?

WOW, Miranda Lambert had quite the night! Female Vocalist of the year - her beau won Male Vocalist of the Year ... pretty cool! I wonder if a country couple has ever won these two awards before?

Gwyneth Paltrow singing country and playing guitar? Who woulda thought? She was good too. I wonder if there is anything she can't do? She does look too skinny though, that girl needs a little meat on her bones!

Amy Grant looks as young and beautiful as ever. I swear she never changes.

Tim McGraw also looks as good as ever ... {sorry, had to throw that one in there!}.

Brad Paisley won Entertainer of the Year - well done Brad - I love his songs. They always have a great sense of humor in them and just make me smile. My fave is 'Welcome to the Future' ... I always tell my girls about how things were when I was growing up and that song really sums it up! And I love that he actually got choked up in his acceptance speech. Too cute.

And that's about it ... hope you didn't mind my lengthy country music round up .... =)