I {Heart} Fall

I love this time of year!! The weather getting cooler, the hoodies come out, and the anticipation of Christmas starts like a little whisper in the wind...

I know, a little mushy from me, but this time of year brings it out of me!! LOL :)

I have to share my latest creation. That's the whole reason I set aside time to post!! HA!! :) I am so proud of myself!! It's the first wreath I've made that doesn't scream "First Timer" or "Hobby Crafter"!! LOL It's simple, not too overdone, and it has one of my favorite trends...MONOGRAMS!! :) LOVE IT!! :) I can hardly believe I made it!! :) LOL

OK, here are pics :)

Since I haven't shared a whole lot from this past summer, let me give you a peek at what it looked like!! :)

Happy Fall, Ya'll!! :)

I'm So Random...

OK, I give up... You can read here to hear all about the last day of the cruise. Missy did a great job of recapping, and frankly, I've got a lot more things to blog about!! HA!! :)

Where to start? How about homeschooling? We've already started, more to get a feel for what kind of schedule will work best for us than anything. We're finishing up the reading book we started last year, and Abbey's just doing great!! I've got to say, it's a perk I never even thought of, but knowing that I taught her how to read is incredible!!

I've also found some great new homeschooling blogs, and I'm planning on doing a "links I've found" post soon to share all the exciting & creative ideas mommy bloggers are coming up with!! It's so much fun!! :)

This coming weekend is Labor Day, and of course, for us that means taking our annual trip to Somerset, KY. We went down about a week and a half ago for a funeral. A patriarch of our family, Great-Uncle Verrel, passed away from cancer. It was an honor to sing at his funeral along with my favorite voices to hear on the planet, my family. I hope that we offered comfort & peace to everyone grieving. His passing so close to reunion will make it VERY different "on the hill" this year. So many of my childhood memories exist because of his hospitality.

It was a good quick trip down & back, though. I really love hangin' with my family. I love the talking & the laughter & the sharing. They are such a blessing to me!!

We girl "cuzfrenz" went out the following night @ Cheesecake Factory... Oh, CF, how I love thee... Anyways, it was more of the same, giggling, talking, sharing, I just love my cuzfrenz. Yes, it is now a word.

I will be sharing links next time!! There are so many cool things happening in blogger-world...and I'm afraid that I'm passing on my addiction to others!! LOL Last weekend I was talking to my cuz Andrea & she was saying, "Thanks. I'm addicted to blogs, now, because of you." LOL I asked if she had her own blog, & she said, "No, I think it would stress me out!" LOL Just wait... She'll show up in my sidebar soon enough!! HA!! :)

The Adventures of Spray Painting

I admit I have not used spray paint much. I don't know much about it other than it's stinky & nice when you need it for graffiti... But, I have decided that I need to buy stock in a spray paint company, because the 'good stuff' ain't cheap & the cheap stuff is EXACTLY what graffiti artists use.

We went to Wal Mart last night because I wanted needed to get spray paint for the craft I mentioned yesterday. So, we went as a family (NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT TAKE KIDS TO WAL MART AFTER 8:30p.m. We were *that* family last night) because we needed to get more than just spray paint, I needed to get some other stuff for this weekend.

SO, off to WallyWorld we go... After the worst trip to WM I have ever taken with my kids, we left with no spray paint (I did get cake mix, though!! That was on the list!!) First of all, their selection STUNK!! I found ONE primer, and it was GRAY!! I needed, of course, NOT gray!! And, do you think they had any colors I needed? Either teal/turquoise & hot pink are VERY popular (& really, why shouldn't they be?!?!), or WM's selection was awful. Their prices on Rust Oleum or whatever was really good, though...

Today, I decided to take the kiddos to Hobby Lobby (they had, after all, gotten a great night sleep, right?!?!). Their spray paint prices were kinda painful...and the cute little bottles of spray paint were the EXACT colors I needed, but will only paint something the size of a thimble.

The kids were actually REALLY good @ Hobby Lobby, and I left there with baby cans of spray paint & a WHITE primer... (NOTE TO SELF: DON'T BUY IT IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE 40% OFF COUPON!!).

I laid out my drop cloth on the patio (you're welcome, Steve ;) I would find nothing wrong with turquoise & hot pink concrete, but I don't think he'd appreciate it!! HA!!), got my little treasures ready, already envisioning their metamorphosis into cuteness. Shook my primer...sprayed...and then there was.....NOTHING. The primer didn't come out of the can. So, I will be going back to Hobby Lobby, because I am NOT going to eat $5 for a can of paint.

Now, it's naptime, and both of my kiddos are asleep (Abbey is taking a self-initiated nap...I'm a little flustered!! HAHA!!), and my hour/hour & a half that was supposed to be spent spray painting? Gone... I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do, now!! Abbey might have the right idea!! HAHA :)

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Cruise Recap....

I just have to share something. I {heart} Joy's Hope blog!! Julie is an awesome person & very crafty!! Her 'boyfriends' have become MY boyfriends (sorry, Julie!! LOL), and she is just all around inspiring. And, in a blog world that is full of too-wordy posts blogs like mine, hers is refreshing in its simplicity. Plus, she has a pretty cool etsy shop...

Anywhoo... while reading Julie's blog, I came across THIS... so I have been stalking regularly checking out my local Dollar Tree, and guess what I'm gonna make?!?!?!

No, it's not catchup, Diet Vanilla from Sonic, or Abbey... but the TRAYS!! :) If you clicked on the link above, you can see what Julie did to these same components :) I'm hoping they turn out half as cool as hers!! LOL

OK, next time I'll give you the FINAL recap on our last night & the trip home from the cruise...although that one involves a lot of waiting & isn't quite as long...aren't you glad?!?!?! LOL

Love ya!! :)

How Do You Know You're A Grown-Up?

When you start parenting your Mother!! LOL No, no, we're not talking retirement home or anything, but Chelle & I had to break out the "Mommy Look".....on our Mom. Weird.

Some of you who know my Mom get this. It's a weird story. My Mom is calm, cool & collected 99.9% of the time. When she freaks out, there is usually a very good reason and no other appropriate reaction BUT to freak out. It has to BIG. Monumental. We're talking natural disasters, terrorist attacks, major accidents, that sort of thing. We rarely see her FREAK.OUT.

As we were leaving the beach, and Chelle & I had gotten waylaid on our way from the beach to our shuttle bus because of the gift shops along the way. We were checking out & got wind that it was time to GO, the shuttles were leaving. So, thinking that our very calm cool and collected Mom was probably already on said bus, Chelle & I proceed to the bus, get a great seat considering the bus was packed & looked around. Mom was nowhere to be found. Then, we saw the rest of our Posse heading towards the buses & thought, "Oh, there she....wait, nope, she's not with them." So, we sit on the bus, our "wise" cousin Jodi sitting across the isle from me, and Chelle & I are going back & forth, "Maybe she thinks we're still in that gift shop. Maybe she's waiting on us. What should we do? Should we go back & get her? I don't know, they're telling us this is the last shuttle back to the dock. Should we just leave her to her own devices? Should we go back?" We look longingly at our wise cousin Jodi, just knowing that she will share with us a nugget of her vast wisdom... Uh, yeah, she shrugs and says, "I don't know what to tell you to do." LOL So, then we're really worrying.

There is a lady coordinating the bus trips back to the dock. I think her main goal is to get everyone on 2 buses so they can save gas on the 3rd bus. I didn't know that then, but looking back, this just makes business sense. We decided that we'd better go after Mom. Just in case she was waiting outside the shops thinking she was waiting on us... The Bus Lady says, "Whoa, whoa, why you getting off?"

We said, "We think our Mom is waiting for us, back there, and we don't want her to get left behind because of us..." We could see her processing this in her business math head. We could see the wheels turning, like, if I let these ladies off, am I going to have to send that third bus?" LOL But, the looks on our faces must've been enough, because she relented & let us off & said, "We'll wait for you & your mother for 5 minutes!" LOL

So, Chelle & I go back down the now deserted areas of the gift shops, and was our poor Mother standing outside, anxiously waiting for her daughters to be done haggling over the price of 2 mini guitars, maracas, and a blanket? Nooooooooo... she was haggling over a RING. She was buying a ring, and Chelle & I both gave her "The Look." She didn't even try to pretend she didn't know what was wrong!! She came out of the shop with her head down!! LOL

We went back to the bus station & watched the bus our cousins were on drive away, and the 3rd empty bus pulled up. Bus Lady says, "You get on this bus!" So, there was the 3 of us, and ONE other couple that rode back on that one lonely bus!! LOL The Bus Lady looked at Mom & shook her finger at her, "You!! You have beautiful daughters! Not every daughter would go after her Mom like that, and you have 2!" LOL So, that was nice :) LOL She got a lecture from the Principal!! LOL :)

Once we got back to the little hot spot back at the dock, we walked around & shopped a little more, then headed back to the ship so we could get ready for a REALLY late dinner & more dancing & karaoke!! :)

And, if you thought the little story above was filled with drama, just get ready for this next doozy!! LOL

We were in our cabin, Chelle had just taken a shower, I was IN the shower, and Mom was cleaning out her beach bag...over the side of our balcony...and while she was shaking the sand out of her bag, her wallet sailed down to the pier and made a little "plop" noise.

Remember the whole little paragraph above about how she never freaks out? Well...SHE.FREAKED.OUT. I've never seen her so frazzled!! LOL I was in the shower, not much I could do, Chelle was at least decent, so while Mom finally got calmed down enough to get a room steward to get ahold of SOMEBODY who could go down & retrieve her wallet, Chelle stands guard over the balcony to, I don't know, look at the wallet? But while she's out there, I hear her yell, "HEY!! That's OURS!!" Apparently, someone on the pier saw the wallet & walked over & picked it up. Chelle then saw Mom & some security officers walking the pier going towards where the wallet was. Once Chelle realized the man who picked it up wasn't stopping to give it to them she yells from the balcony, "MOM!! HE'S GOT IT!!"

I'm out of the shower at this point, and Chelle said that the guy turned around & gave them the wallet.

Mom's sign & sale card was in that wallet (or so we thought at the time), along with her credit card & ID. This all happened around 9p.m. & we were scheduled to leave port at 9:30!! So, there was a time crunch along with the wallet scare. And, evidently, her credit card flew out of the wallet & is now in the bottom of the ocean!!

Mom was DONE. I've never seen her like this. She did come down to watch us karaoke for a bit, but she didn't shower or change from her beach clothes. It was kinda surreal. She doesn't ever leave without makeup or having gotten dressed. But she was DONE. We ate at the Midnight buffet (which was really good) & talked & walked with the Cousins & Aunt Di & Joy & her cousin. It was so nice!! We hadn't all been together at one time like that until that night. Not without dancing & karaoke singing. It was nice to hang out together :) Great night for that :)

I'll have to share the last day of the cruise with you next time. Right now, I don't think I could type any more. I know these recaps are long, and it doesn't look like anyone's even reading them, but I am so thankful for a place to write this out & revisit these memories, if for no one else, than for myself!! :)

Til next time!! :)