Pumpkin Carvers

Saturday was one of those days when it starts out cold and turns into a lovely day. The cows came down close for breakfast and it was quite overcast.

But as the morning progressed, the sun came out and after lunch the pumpkin carving began, as well as college football spectating.

LittleBuddy made his own spider design, while looking at another pattern of a spider. He was quite happy with how it turned out.

MyGirl moved more carefully. She found a pattern of Minnie Mouse she liked, and had to keep reminding herself that scooping out all the guts was worth it.

Of course, LittleBuddy, seeing some untouched snow off the back deck had to leave footprints - bare ones at that. Then he came back inside and wanted something warm to eat. That's my silly Boy!

A rare picture of MyGirl happily working on her pumpkin.

And, how cute is Minnie!

Finally, BigBuddy could leave the game long enough to come carve his pumpkin. I'll wait and show it to you  on Halloween when its all lit up. He used only a pattern he himself created and it was very creative.

Halloween Creations

Last week there were two days off of school. We were busy all day out and about on Thursday, but on Friday and Saturday we wanted to do something for Halloween. These were all MyGirl's ideas to make cupcakes to give to friends and to make a haunted house for us.

Using homemade white frosting and store-bought mini chocolate chips, a package of edible eyes, and a bag of candy corn and pumpkins, this was what we came up with.

Black-eyed Susan in memory of living in Maryland.

Mr. Mummy.

The cyclops eye.

MyGirl found this kit at our local Walmart and begged to have it. It seemed easier to me than making the gingerbread and cutting it just the right size and making purple and orange frostings, and it was. I did nothing.  While I did laundry, Littlebuddy helped her and they were very proud of their creation. They placed it downstairs where they can see it every morning when they get up. We have five good sized pumpkins sitting in front of our fireplace. This Saturday the plan is for the kids to carve them all. I'm sure it will be a messy and exciting time for everyone. . . will post pictures later.

Our fall has been long and gorgeous, beautiful weather, beautiful sunsets, beautiful trees, and beautiful skies until today.

The first snowfall of the year. Not even a full inch. We're expecting more this evening. It should be back to the fifties by Sunday. Truly I do love our weather here.

I also wanted to mention some great reads I've read in October. My mother loaned me two of these. Between airplanes and doctors appointments I've had more time lately to spend in one of my favorite past times. I started with Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. To get a glimpse into one man's extraordinary life from being an Olympic athlete and meeting Hitler to being an emaciated prisoner of war was both inspiring and humbling. I would highly recommend it not only for the great historical details (I learned a lot) but also for the gripping way the author helps us to sense this man's heart and fighting spirit as well as his demons and struggles. Mr. Zamperini also showed amazing creativity along the way and I was again reminded that creativity keeps us both sane and helps push us forward.

Next, was The Cross-Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini.  I picked this up in Branson on the dollar rack at a bookstore Mike and I visited. I've read a couple of her books and always enjoyed them. This is a novel, about a group of quilters who come together at a retreat in Pennsylvania and then go back home and how their lives are still intertwined and inspired by one another as they face their own trials or troubled pasts. Its an easier read than the one above, and certainly less gripping, but I enjoyed it still, recognizing that women everywhere who share their hobbies find ways to connect on emotional and real levels, because we are women first and creative crafters second. I like that it showed that true friendships often come about because of our hobbies. There's also a love story woven in that stays G rated throughout. I always appreciate that.

Last was a Mary Higgins Clark book, The Shadow of Your Smile. This was another fast read, a novel, perfect for doctor's appointments and the first one by I've read by this author, though I know she's immensely popular. What I enjoyed most about this book was its genealogy emphasis and strong women characters. Its also a little bit of a mystery, but not a major whodunit, by any means. I liked the messages running through it of compassion as an inherited quality, and not being too quick to judge another, as well as the power of prayer and what does it really mean to be a Saint? However, there were too many coincidences to be believable, especially in a big city like New York, and I thought some of the characters were no more than caricatures. Still, it was G rated with a love story throw in again. It felt like watching a Hallmark movie, and that's not all bad.

Pear and Partridge Pages

Just wanted to show both pages from this Christmas Paper Packet. I had fun teaching others the sponge dauber technique and now I am ready for December's 2013 pages. . . . just the rest of the months to begin . . . later, probably after the holidays.  I really like the rub-ons in the second page (the tree and the bird.)  Easy, fast, and make a big impact.

Seasons

Fall in all its Glorious Splendor is upon us! This is a photo of our maple tree in the back taken two days ago.

This is a picture of it taken yesterday. . . the winds came and in one night we lost more than half its leaves. Good thing for photography!

The hills behind us are shades of orange and gold and brown and a little green. The cows were out two days ago.

Then yesterday we had three deer that stayed all day long and into the evening. Four different times I spotted them, lazily finding grass and wandering through the trees.

Littlebuddy has had a busy week. Our ward (church congregation was divided as we had so many people last Sunday,) so the 12 and 13 year old boys got together at Ben's house for one last party. Today he's at a a birthday party for one of his best friends. Last night our youth group went to hear a rabbi teach us about Judaism. It was interesting and we had a good discussion all the way home.Here he's drawing after completing his homework.

MyGirl here enjoying facebook. She continues to work on school work. She is sad her garden in the back died so she spent one afternoon this week pruning bushes in the front yard. She was made for everything domestic.

Bigbuddy here working on his on-line classes, while eating. The boy is hollow, I'm pretty sure. He has another ultrasound tomorrow. May this be the last one ever! We hope it will finally show what we suspect, but I've been disappointed before, so we're in the hoping and praying phase.

I've been the chef, chauffeur, personal shopper, secretary, counselor, nutritionist, nurse, house-cleaner and laundress this week.  Nothing new. I did manage to squeeze in some creative projects and that always keeps life interesting. (Working on Christmas, but feeling behind already!?! I should have done more this summer.) I'm also teaching some stamping techniques to a few ladies next week, and they are scrapbookers, so I  hope they'll enjoy making this page. I just can't say enough about how much I love the Cricut cartridges CTMH puts out.  Making these ornament shapes was so easy!! To learn how to color the ornament easily in multi-colors, clink the you tube link below.

To Be Well-Mannered

I read this during the week and was reminded that I can be more polite. I can use better manners and I can teach my children the same.  It may be something that everyone knows but it was good for me to see it in one place. Sometimes creating the life we live is an act of discipline and rising above the incivility of others. While these words are not mine, I have given them a title:

• To Be Well-Mannered
• 
  
• -Never exaggerate
• -Never point at another.
• -Never betray a confidence.
• -Never laugh at the misfortunes of others.
• -Never give a promise that you do not fulfill.
• -Never speak much of your own performances.
• -Never make yourself the hero of your own story.
• -Never fail to give a polite answer to a civil question.
• -Never call a new acquaintance by their first name unless requested.
• -Never attempt to draw the attention of the company constantly upon yourself.
• -Never exhibit too great a familiarity with a new acquaintance, as you may give offense.
• -Never fail to tell the truth. If truthful, you get your reward. You will get your punishment if you deceive.
• -Never fail to speak kindly. If in any position where you exercise authority, you show yourself to be a gentleman by your pleasant mode of address.
• -Never attempt to convey the impression that you are a genius.
  
  
  By Doug Giles

Card-Making in Three's

I had a number of birthdays and a BarMitzvah to make cards for this week. I started by cutting out three butterflies and picked three colors and it felt balanced. (The lower butterfly is yellow, but appears more muted in this photo than it is in real life.)

Then I moved onto three flowers with three buttons. Again, three colors and white as a the neutral.

I wanted to use up some of the chipboard that I had, so sponging ink in one color then using its next darker color around the edges seemed to dress it up adequately. White as the brads worked here too.

This card is actually 5 x 7 and uses more than three colors, but there are three main colors - white, watermelon pink and citrus leaf green. Then the insides of the flowers are sunny yellow, breeze blue and citrus green. Two sets of three, see? Loved the little sparkles between the flowers to bring it a little 3-D in real life.

Last, I used washi tape mounted on cardstock then cut into banners. Three banners, three colors (light green in the ribbon and the background of the banner square) and again, things feel balanced.

Branson

Long time, no blogging, I know. I thought I'd share two cards I made in September. The first is rather simple, but I liked the colors. The cardstock is from a Project Life pack I found discounted somewhere. I know I wasn't going to buy more paper, but sometimes the temptation is just too much. It was a small pack, and the fact I'm using it up is a good thing.

The second is a card I gave my parents. I needed it to be more special because they do so much for me. Last week they watched over my family as MyMike and I went to celebrate our 25th anniversary in Branson in a timeshare they gave us.

This was where we stayed, the Timber View Lodge at the Lawrence Welk Resort. The setting was beautiful, the room itself was about 1300 sq. feet of gorgeous comfort, and we thoroughly enjoyed staying here. This was the view from our outside patio. We wondered if we would be the youngest people there, and in truth we met a couple celebrating their 50th anniversary, and saw several people older than us, but we also saw 20-somethings and families with kids too. Really, its just a place for people who love music.

We flew into Tulsa and rented a car, and while we were at the car counter, the gentleman there, being very friendly and all, and hearing we were celebrating our anniversary, upgraded us to a Black Mustang. He wanted us "to have some fun." We had to laugh that several people commented on it, and yet when we drove in it, it felt less responsive than the car Mike already drives. Oh well, it was fine and we did have lots of fun all week long.

One of our favorite activities was boarding the Branson Belle Showboat for dinner and a show.

After dinner and before the main show, we walked out on the different decks and enjoyed being out on the water. I selected this picture because of the flag and Mike. Everywhere we went, they honored the Veterans, and that was neat. We liked all the shows we saw and its fun to go out to eat for a week and explore new places, but the best part was just being together. He's been so crazy busy this year, that having a week just for ourselves was wonderful.

After the amazing show, it was time to depart and this was the view! Gorgeous!

We had hoped to see Andy Williams, but he passed away ten days before our show at his theater, but we still ate at his restaurant and saw his wonderful art collection on the walls and gold records above the bar and saw the Osmonds at his theater. The funny thing is, we hardly know any of their music, but I knew most all of the songs Andy sang. We also had a lot of great laughs throughout the week too, and that was a gift we needed. Branson is much bigger than I thought. There was plenty to see and do. I even found a wonderful quilt shop there and of course picked up some new fabric.

Mike and I love music and my best memories of the Mustang include listening and singing along to the radio stations that played "music of the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90." There was one station for each decade and some showcased all four. Everything from the Beatles to The Temptations to Billy Joel to Queen.  We remember the music of the generation before us, it was what our parents listened to, so we did too, and it was fun looking that far back, and still being able to remember it today. Frankly, as the years go on, that gets harder than we'd like, but at least we're going in that direction together.