Make It A Good One.

A good DAY that is....

How could you not with ONE EXTRA HOUR of sleep?! Bliss. Simple and Pure.

Image via Pinterest. Simple and True!





I have a tendency to be what could be deemed "anti social" at times, so this fits me well:

When I feel like this I always joke with my B/F/F "Not sure what I'll do today alone. Stare at my foot. The wall. Ponder things. You know. The opportunities are amazing!"


Hoping you have a Saturday that is filled with all things amazeballs and special sauce!

xo

T

Halloween Wrap Up. The Fun. The Pageantry.

Emerson, Ava (in purple hat) and Andrew with the evening's winnings! YOW! As I'm sure you can tell, Emerson was an astronaut. Props to my sister Dawn for making him a very rad home made costume! His jetpak was made out of cardboard, a dollar store "silver visor for your car window" and some hosing from her old vacuum cleaner. His little hazmat suit was from a co-worker as were his stickers. He also sported Brad's former motorcycle helmet. He no longer has the cycle, so Dawn spray painted it silver. In all, it was quite sweet. Ava was a princess. She's 3 1/2 and adorable. Also..quite the trooper. She was the only one to NOT complain while trick or treating. Andrew was some green thing. I still don't get it. A morph-something? He originally had hardly anything on under this extraordinarily tight costume and my sister told him "Seriously!  You have to put some clothing on under that thing!" Andrew: "I DO! I have underwear on!"  Dawn: "Well, you need MORE! You can see everything you own. You should probably wear your nutcup from baseball." Lol. It was tight. I can't stop laughing.

Em rocking it on the streets of Minnesota.

Ava, Emerson & Andrew. Dawn was losing her cool at this point as "It's 7:15! We've got to get going or no one is going to be passing out candy!"  Me: "What world do you live in?"

I love the vibe on Halloween. All of the kids in the neighborhood..the excitement, the costumes. It was also VERY mild and almost warm here in Minnesota which is rare. I grew up having great costumes ruined by being forced to wear winter coats, boots and all else. This was a perfect night. Andrew looked like an alien and at one house I heard the guy ask "are you the alien and he's the astronaut who found you?" They thought this was FAB and used it as their schtick for the rest of the night. It was all I heard door after door "I'm an alien!"  "And I'm the one who found him!" It was like they had some comedy routine. Andrew referred to it as their "Mowto" and I said "I think you mean Motto?" and he became a bit irritated.

Their neighbors get really into Halloween which I LOVE. A few years ago someone played "Thriller" for a good three hours. It was amazeballs! This year, Andrew decided to go up to every house without lights on no matter how many times I told him "They either are out of candy honey or they don't WANT to give out candy." He even walked up to a couple with outdoor lights OFF as they were getting in their car to head out. It was embarrassing AND hilarious all at the same time! It was fun to see them have such a good time and in the end, I was able to grab a bit of candy for myself. Today I felt completely oversugarfied and a bit blah. Que sera sera.


In latest news...Curtis has fallen deeply in love with Brandy the dog who lives behind us. Brad refers to her as "Bridget" so that's what I call her now as well. She's a puppy but much, much bigger than Curtis. There's a nature preserve between our houses so she has to travel through brush and God knows what else to get in our yard. But she does. Daily. She steals his bones and toys. Then I realized that he's purposely bringing stuff out there and LEAVING it I think..to entice her!  They sometimes meet in our sideyard and I can tell it's her because of his bark and subsequent heart wrenching cry. This pic below is of him after she left. He'll stare out the window for an hour looking for her. It's so cute but it makes me a bit sad for him. Why? Because the other day she came over, but was more interested in old banana peels and some other stuff (all things which will degrade naturally, food and plant items.) near our firepit than seeing Curtis. He seemed despondent.

Watching. Waiting. 'Is she coming out anytime soon?"

I've never seen a dog sit like this for any length of time much less rest his little head on his paw. Like a hand! My poor son. Love isn't always kind.





Finally..scored this for a STEAL at a vintage shop with my best friend last week! I'm not sure what I'll make with this frame, but it is GORGEOUS and smells weird! Ideas to take the vintage "scent" out of vintage items? It's all wood and looks amazing but smells...less than stellar.

Kim tells me that this is a coffee stain. I think it's water damage. Unsure but again LOVE the frame.

I'm off to bed. It's getting dark early now..6:30PM! This means that next week when daylight savings ends, it will be dark at...wait for it...5-5:30PM. Good God! I guess I'll get my stack of winter books ready, a bottle of brandy (gotcha!) and a lot of "telenovelas" (nod to Zoila on Flipping Out!)

Hot Tea, Bed Before 10PM and All Things Fine~

xoxo

T

Corn Maze Mania.

The BIG deal of Corn Maze Day seemed to be getting "air" as you were hopping from one bale of hay to another. In order to get these most fabulous of photos, many were taken and the boys would look at them and say "No..let's try it again!". This is Andrew above. SWEETEST of jumps.

Emerson "floating" above bale of hay! Again, what I loved about this day was how much fun they had without electronics, games and their total disinterest in the spendy helicopter rides at this maze. It was OLD TIMEY FUN at its best!

My sister Dawn and Andrew going over photos....

Middle of the maze..are we lost? Have they chosen to go off course?

Making their way. They did a good job with the clue sheet and finding answers. They even learned what Semper Fi means! I've already forgotten as my memory is extremely short these days and those games on Lumosity aren't doing much other than stressing me out! Specifically the math in rain clouds!

Sweet Success! We made it out alive!!

I honestly find this photo pretty and relaxing. I guess I could sit and stare at corn fields all day. Who knew?

Make it out and get mini donuts, rootbeer and rock candy! RARRR!!

LOVE this pic because they're having so much fun! This thing was awesome- even for adults! About 3 feet of corn...that you jump into and run around in. A good workout after donuts and just fun for everyone! I jumped in and fell up to my knees in corns! Even after emptying out my shoes later in the day, I had corn in them for at least a good day or so. Emerson ended up having corn stuck in his pants in a spot in the leg where we could not access. We decided we'd wash them and I told him "Won't it be cool if they come out of the dryer and the corn that's stuck in there comes out as...popcorn?!"

Pandemonium!!

At this point Andrew decided they needed to bury one another IN the corn "up to the neck" and Emerson didn't like that he was getting corn IN his ears!

After about a half hour the boys came back and told me "Feel my feet! The corn makes them really soft! My feet have never felt so soft!" I found it hilarious and random. At this point they had their socks filled with corn and were hitting one another with the socks...

"Hmmm..should I take my shoes and socks off and get the corn pedicure?"

Must have self-shot!!


Hope your Saturday is fabulous! It's KIND of nice here (40 degrees now and sunny versus raining and the other day..snowflakes!) so I put away all of our outdoor items into the garage and took the dead stuff off of my hostas. It seemed to excite Curtis the puppy and he "helped" by gnawing on the plants!

I'm off to eat leftover marble cake that Dawn made for me and Brad!

Have a great weekend!

xo

T

Corn Maze Teaser.

It was a beautiful fall day in Minnesota on Sunday.

I mean, Magical. It's been cold here. Wet. blustery. Yesterday the Gods shined upon us and it was sunny and nearly 70! Can I get a YOW?? Or a WHAT WHAT? So we headed last minute to the Corn Maze!

My sweet nephews Andrew and Emerson yesterday. Don't let the photo fool you! They had fun!  I daresay this photo makes it look like we forced a corn maze visit UPON them. But no.

Andrew and Me. Isn't he cute? At the end of the day he said what a "great Sunday this was!" and the cutest part? Both boys were happy trying to find their way through the corn  maze and jumping around on bales of hay. There was a rock wall, helicopter rides and a bungee jump, but they were both satisfied hanging out doing what I would deem "Old Timey Things." That was fun to see!



I'm off to help fix a rotten caramel apple explosion that happened in our living room but will be back with MORE photos! Always more. So much so that yesterday Andrew said to my sister Dawn "Please! You're not going to take photos like this the whole time, right?"

If you have to use a satellite..isn't this a nice little corner to use it in? I think so. Beauty is where you find it, folks!

Have a great Monday!

xo

T

Become A Sponsor

Just want to throw this out there with the holidays coming up...

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm


This is one of the BEST organizations for sponsoring a child and I've been sponsoring a little boy named Edgar in the Phillippines for the past year and a half. We write letters, I get photos and drawings and nice letters from his mom. She lets me know how they're doing as Edgar is only 8. When we give the family a gift, I get pictures of all of them and his mom Maricar sends detailed lists of what she's able to buy. All of the money you sponsor goes directly to your child and their family. So if you send $100..they will be able to buy necessities, rice, various foods, etc.  Maricar is always buying them toothpaste, soap, rice and then they get some chocolate. Those letters are some of the best moments I have. It's probably kind of selfish, because you, the giver ends up feeling like you get something out of it.

Image via http://blogs.ocfamily.com/is-the-love-letter-no-longer/



I was moved to do this through Shannan at Flower Patch Farmgirl (thanks Girl!) http://flowerpatchfarmgirl.blogspot.com/ and I must say, it has been life altering. Once Brad gets better, we plan to sponsor more kids and we'd like to eventually be able to visit Edgar and his family.

Anyway..just an idea for Christmas. If you don't want to sponsor now, you can always send $20 so all of the kids in the program, sponsored or not, receive a Christmas gift.

Holla With Love!

xo

T

Eating Cakes and Pies

I've been eating junk..for days now. It's got to stop but for the time being, it is NOT. I'm clearly craving something and what I've had, while yummy hasn't seemed to "do it" for me. Suggestions?

I ate this two days ago. Pumpkin pie.

Brad laughed when he realized I took a pic of it. Food choices must be photographed!

He had a piece of peanut butter cup pie. It took him a good day to even take a bite, so I did him the favor of eating the rest of HIS pie just yesterday. To be fair,  I did warn him. Something to the effect of "Brad, this pie is staring at me. If you don't eat it soon, I can't guarantee it will be here."


It was beautiful yesterday! For the first time in weeks, the wind went away. I took the opportunity to take our gazebo down. I must say, I'm much more butch than I give myself credit for. I put all of my irritation and hormonal rage into taking it apart (with a few different screwdrivers) and yelled a few times. It's down. It was therapeutic and I realized: I'm much better at taking things apart than putting them together. What does THAT mean?

Curtis decided to use the beautiful day to catch and kill a mouse near our firepit. Ugh. The good thing about a fenced in yard (that we did not have last year at this time) is that I gave myself the "gift" of not being a part of the mouse thing. I put him in the backyard and went in the house. It's impossible to get him to let go of the mouse, I didn't want to try and pry it out of his mouth and for once, I didn't have to worry about him trying to take it inside, so I left him in the backyard. Ugh. I was able to entice him with a piece of chicken after awhile. He went for the chicken, I picked up the dead (and half eaten) mouse with the dog poop scoop and got rid of it. He then roamed the yard and seemed heartbroken. Oh well. And I didn't let him lick or kiss me for the day.Gross. Gross. I LOVE him, but oh so gross!!

Curtis and Daddy a few days ago. Brad was having a rough day. Curtis had a cool bagel bone to show off.


I'm off to make something out of this frame..

..and make some pasta.

mamma hungry!

I MAY even hit the McD's drive thru for...you guessed it.. a McCone!

Have a Happy Wednesday!

xo

T

Family Pyramid. Costa Rica via Kiki. Teanation ART.

Yep. For reals.

I've been trying to get friends and loved ones to make human pyramids for years now. Until our awesome second generation arrived and aged a bit, no one would do it besides my sister Dawn. And as we all know, two people does not a pyramid make.  Left to right bottom: yours truly, nephew Nick, niece Kirsten. Second row l- r: niece Madison, sister Dawn. Top: Nephew Emerson.  I never had any aunts or uncles who wanted to do this, did any of you? How fun will this be to look back on? Very. I say, very.


Kirsten (above) was in Costa Rica for a month this past summer for college (she will be a teacher after graduation in spring of 2013!) and has some amazing photos that she took:

This architecture bedazzles me. And yes, "bedazzle" seems to be my word for October even though this month has been less THAN bedazzling!

Kirsten a.k.a. Kiki IN Costa Rica. Is she not gorgeous? More importantly, she is kind, generous and very, very smart. Luhs her.

I'm so proud of her because what a scary trip to take alone at a young age! I moved to Arizona when I was 24, but I never left the country on my own to live with strangers for a month.  One day Emerson was talking about how "military guys" are really brave and I said "Well..yes, but bravery is also about doing things even when you're scared. Kiki is in Costa Rica right now and she was scared, but she still went. THAT is bravery, too." He looked at me like I was a bit of a nutjob, but I think it got in there on some level.


Finally..a random photo or piece of art depending upon how you see it. Via Facebook. I can't credit the original post or site as I don't know, but it makes me laugh every time I look at it! I know this is random, but where would I be in my life without random? I'd be unhappy.

I've been lucky enough to reside in....Canada, KKK and Rattlesnakes and Sand.

What more can a girl want?

Happy Monday!

xo

T