weekend fun

heres a fun craft project that even a 3 year old can help with, assuming hes willing to help. all mine wanted to do was see what would stick to the clear contact paper we were using. we used the madison courier  christmas song book that we got with our paper on saturday morning and just went create-crazy from there.
and of course NO thanksgiving weekend would be complete without putting up the christmas tree... and then having pie. yes, im not ashamed to admit that my pie grand total came to the belt busting number of 10 pieces, for the whole weekend, thursday through tonight, not 1 day. that would be embarrassing.

ring it in!

im considering this weekend's food fest the ring in to the holiday season, i ate no less than 9 pieces of pie since thursday, thats more pie than i have consumed in the last year!

the pie is almost gone, but i do still have three quarters of a tub of cool whip, which i plan on just eating. what? dont tell me you wouldnt do the same thing!

im a lazy blogger!

more and better stuff to come, tomorrow perhaps.

stitchin' fool!

a few more gifts for my buy nothing christmas challenge. i have found SO MANY sewing patterns and tutorials on the website sew, mama, sew (its on my blog roll bar). its been fun so far. 

lucky lady

look at the cute flower pin i won as runner up in tricia's birthday giveaway! it immediately found a home on my knit cap. thanks tricia!

no crankies allowed

its probably happened to you, if youre a mom that is. my beautiful, well behaved little angel (thats him as a cute little cranky baby, back when the crankies could be excused) did it, for maybe the third time ever, he had a meltdown in public.

the crankies had been fighting for control for the majority of the day. we went with the silly approach to banish them, we fished them out of his head with a toy fishing pole , threw them down the garbage disposal and turned it on. hahaha, everything was good for a while, so we ran a few errands and even went on a "field trip" (a short walk in Clifty Park). by 1 the crankies were back i asked my angel what happened, we threw them down the garbage disposal? he said "i got it out wis my fissin pole"

this little exchange occured on my way to get gas, since the light came on and the bell dinged, i didnt want to waste any time.  i do want to mention that i FILLED my tank of my malibu for 18.75, the pump elation i felt was however, short lived. i needed to stop by the office, as we pulled into my office parking lot my angel asked me if he could have a sucker when we got inside, "im sure Maribel will give you one if you ask her" was my answer. he didnt want to. when we got inside i was standing there chatting and my angel literally threw himself down at my feet and just started wailing! thankfully the guy im talking to has 3 boys and looked at us like 'this is no big deal'.

i tried to pick my angel up and he went completely limp, still screaming i laid him back down on the floor . i stood there for a second, this has only happened to me once before, with the screaming and the laying on the floor and the limpness, and for a minute tried to get him to tell me whats wrong. then i lowered my center of gravity, got a good grip and carted the kid off to the car screaming all the way.

10 minutes later when he had gotten a hold of himself,  we started to discuss. it was determined that the crankies completely took over and started their own party when Maribel wouldnt give him a sucker, a sucker that he never asked her for. 

my angel is taking a nap now. im hoping to be able to go to the grocery store later. NO CRANKIES ALLOWED!

giveaway alert

hey guys, megan is having a giveaway, she has amazing fine art photos to give so check it!

im a baby

im always given a little bit of insight on the way God has to deal with us when i have to deal with The Boy (age 3)

he says he wants something (ie. water) and when he gets it looks at it, looks at me and bursts into tears because its not in the doggie cup. its not what he expected it to be.

thinks that when i say we will go to the library, it means get your hat and coat fusses and pouts until distracted by the cat. just because i said we will doesnt mean we are going RIGHT NOW.

pretends to be busy doing something of equal importance (in his mind) when told to take his shoes to his room . is disobedient while trying to justify disobedience.

and the list goes on and on with the childish things related to me, the baby and God, the loving parent.

im such a baby.

i also want to say thanks to all of you who blessed mom with a happy birthday wish, and for the record Grandma (who was in the hospital, see comments for happy birthday post) is doing fine.

happy birthday, mom!

without you there would be no me! so happy birthday i hope its a good one.

i didnt buy it!

these are the first fruits of my "buy nothing christmas". a set of four coasters that i found on the web and duplicated using some fabric scraps.
and a first attempt at this cute and cuddly doll, i was rather surprised that my first one turned out this well.  Ken said i should give it to a woman we know who is opening a doll museum, but we both agreed it reminded us of my mom. i'm sure there will be more to come i have really enjoyed spending the day sewing and looking for patterns and ideas for my free christmas.

christmas for free!

 want a free christmas? well, maybe not 100% free but non commercial anyway. i just found this site, buy nothing christmas, can we step up to the challenge? 

im going to try.

i get it!

i had the opportunity to go on a womens overnight retreat this weekend at a wondreful rustic retreat center in henryville, in. 

our theme was  "get it", with the emphasis on "it"  as in, what is "it"?

the answer my friends: "it" is wisdom and discernment.

do you want "it"? well, guess what! ask and God will give "it" to you! (matt. 7:7)

awesome! 

so ask for "it" then stand up and take "it" and use "it". "it" was what solomon wanted most in the world, more than riches, more than fame, more than the death of his enemies, he wanted an obedient heart,  to know how to rule his people in the right way, and to know the difference between right and wrong. wisdom (truth) and discernment, so thats what he asked for, and thats what he got (1 kings 3:9-13).

well, do you get it?

oh yah, its there dontcha know.

i noticed tonight that when i get upset or impaient my northern iowa accent comes out. which is funny i guess, although it isnt by far as pronounced as Frances McDormand's in Fargo (if you havent seen it, dont) or Bobbys mom in Bobbys world cartoon or sarah palin's, it is there dontcha know. and it is funny

as per your request

its hard to get a good picture of because it is so sparkly, which is why i didnt include the photo on the last post.

----------------------------------------------------

and on the random thoughts note:

if i could have any job in the whole world, i would want to be a professional back-up singer.

i would get to wear cool clothes.  possibly stand behind oh say John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and maybe even Bono! 

check it out, ive been practicing on waiting for the world to change 

waitin' .....  aaaaahhhhh waitin'  

this is all i have to do and johnny does the rest. 

how much does a gig like that pay i wonder?

plus, i totally rock on Tom Pettys "american girl"

i better get an agent.

compliment junkie

time to get the warm coat out. im not real thrilled about this, i had to wear my winter coat to church yesterday morning. the upside is i always get compliments on my pin. which is a rhinestone kangaroo that my mom got me for christmas like  (OMG) 16 years ago!! am i that old!?

to rake or not to rake

im thinking we better rake. thats too many leaves to just run over with the mower. but its a rule, you must play in the leaf piles before throwing them on the compost heap.

give it away!

 i saw alot of candy excess in blogland yesterday. i thought of something to do with all this candy!

send it to the soldiers and include it in our operation chrismas/samartians purse shoeboxes!

so quick, dont unwrap that tootsie pop, put it and all its sweet little friends in a bag and take it to the american legion.

with a side of sugar

someone hide the candy!!! 

the majority of the chocolate is gone, no more sourpatch kids, no more "gory gummies"(what they were good) one pixie stick left we are basically down to tootsie rolls and dum dums and do you think it stops me?NO! 

ive gone candy crazy, maybe thats why ive been so tired the last few days, im crashing hard from the sugar highs.

awwww c'mon

ahhhh the revelation of spending the first half hour of my day with the Lord.

 God doesnt want me to be comfortable, he wants me to be useful. apparently that combination, while available on a sedan, is not an option the life of one who wishes to grow spititually. you cant have it both ways with God.

and im so not speaking of physical comfort here, so relax moms and dads, im fine physically and in the way of material comforts, at this time.

no little kids, only people

i know it has been a few days since i have posted but these pictures cover thursday and friday of last week, we had a guest over on both days 16 month old A. his grandma was under the weather so his days were spent here on the hilltop. D liked it at first but late on thursday while he was trying to play quietly with his big boy play doh, i heard the quote of the year from D "no little kids, only people" were allowed to touch the play doh

and of course the fun of halloween night, after the parents of my young charge came to fetch him on friday afternoon, we got dressed up and went to a halloween street party downtown followed by a little bit of trick or treating.

im still recovering from my saturday to sunday trip to Ohio but it was nice to see friends and i even got to go to a bookstore! even though i had to stay in the kids section it was nice and smelled booky (is that even a word?)