a giveaway...

This is my friend Teri
She is doing a giveaway at her blog for those creative type people...
be sure to check it out!!

Thankful Thursday

1.French tip manicures
2.Loose fitting pants
3.Sugar free coffee flavorings
4.Customers placing great orders
5.Spending time with the kids
6.NAPS
7.Christmas invites arriving
8.Planning vacations
9.Cinnamon candles
10.Comfy blankets

Monday memories

I remember as a child the rows of halloween costumes available in the stores. I don't remember one hanging up but I do recall packages of them. With lovely plastic faces. Do they even still make those? I also recall that in October the decor in stores was all pumpkins, etc. November was mostly scarecrows and pictures of yummies to eat. About the middle of November we would start seeing Christmas decor in the stores and the Sears "Wish catalog" would appear which we would pour over everyday and mark what we liked best. Never mind that for most of my life my mom was a single parent and would go to the big Montgomery Park in Portland the week before Christmas to get the best bargains...

Now though---well, look what these pumpkin baskets and I spied as I turned the corner at Target in the Halloween section....

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CHRISTMAS!!! Before Halloween...and I want to know just who needs a lit up pink flamingo with a Santa hat in their yard???

It is beyond me but since it is in the store I needed to look-
I can't decide which I like better- cute or shiny? So my solution is to alternate...I have cute one Christmas and shiny another. Although, I liked my new decor last year so much I will probably put it up again this year.
Gary would probably think these jammies are just a bit "too" festive for me to wear!

And Christmas music...
more shiny...
and pointy shiny...
Hope I didn't sound too OLD relating back to when I was a kid !!??!!

On Friday...

On Friday...it was raining...hard...
So after I went to the bank I decided to wander around Target.
However, I hadn't put any makeup on and I sure needed a little color. What to do? Wander on over to the cosmetics and "try" some samples out. Felt much better by the time I left this section...
You know the store has some great finds, just look at all the choices for women's clothes. Well not quite all, because this store like many others has a special section for those "well endowed" women....
Yep, see these TWO rows-oh to go crazy with all the choices...not.
Although these are sorta cute.
and so is this...

These made me smile-love bright colors in the dreary rain.

Oh, and these are fun too...

and my favorite aisle...
Now, I really don't do much Halloween decorating but these monsters are pretty funny.

I thought it would be funny to put this on Gary's pillow and not tell him...
There is more to share but I will wait until next time...

Thankful Thursday

1. Brisk air of fall
2. Cozy sweaters
3. Stay at home days
4. Exercise without pain
5. Getting things done
6. Baking molasses cookies
7. Making and buying Christmas surprises
8. Biggest Loser inspiration
9. Crochet projects with soft baby yarn
10. My family all have good jobs

3:20 am

again... i. am. getting. tired. of. this...literally!

So I came out to the computer to visit a few friends (only they don't really know me and I don't know them) and stumbled upon this blog...she is inspiring me, making me think.

http://ornamental.typepad.com/ornamental/

it is now almost 5 and I have been enjoying my time visiting Nina. She tells of her times creating and wandering and thinking. Of taking photographs and loving her friends and children and Ben and Walter. Of embracing where we are in life, of leaves falling. Her writing is very comforting and I want to read all of her blogs, but they go back to 2005 or so...I'll just keep up with the new ones I think.

But now I want to take even more photos of myself, of my hands and my face and those parts I don't necessarily want others to see. I want to explore my story more...is it from reading her words or thinking about the number that is coming up at my next birthday? Who am I? What am I?

see, told you her writings were inspiring me....

Very funny...

Hope you enjoy this...It made me laugh!

Monday memories

Yesterday after we did a senior photo shoot (rained out on Sat.!) we stopped by a building downtown so Gary could take some shots of the fall leaves. It was the old Pacific Bell Telephone office, the same office my Gran worked at back in the day. We have a photo of her standing in front of this same building. Grandma was a working mom back when it wasn't common for women to work outside the home. I never asked her or mom how that all worked out. Did she have somebody watch mom or did her and grandpa alternate? She worked for Bell Telephone from the time she came to Vancouver in 1928 until she retired more than 30 years later. The friendships she made there continued until late in her life. I remember driving Gran to play cards; pinochle and bridge, with these same friends and many others. They were always laughing and having a good time. These ladies made a routine of going to the Crossing restaurant here in town for birthdays. I have a pictoral history of grandma through the years from the Polaroids the restaurant provided. It is kinda hard to look at the pictures though. I see her age in a way I didn't when we were spending so much time together. I always picture her as she looked from around 1970-1986. Spry and ready for adventure!! Amy and I would spend a lot of time with Gran. Most days we would pop in to just say Hi, but we were her wheels since she never learned to drive, and we shopped a lot too.

I miss Gran and mom...always more so around the holidays. I am hoping that I am leaving the same kind of legacy for my little family.

Recipe

So last night while I was crusing around the internet I stumbled across this recipe...AMAZING!

Blueberry Crumb Bars

www.allrecipes.com

1 C white sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

3 C all-purpose flour

1 C cold butter (2 sticks)

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

Zest and juice of one lemon

4 C. fresh blueberries

1/2 C white sugar

4 tsp. cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Awake

for some reason-today the font size won't change-I am not screaming at you...

3:30 am...3:31 am...3:32 am

This morning that is what I saw when I woke up-very warm-with no covers on. As I began to process why I was so warm, with no covers, in a room with a closed heater vent a few things ran through my mind. Besides the obvious of do I need to use the restroom? Yes. Am I awake enough to do this? Yes. Am I so awake I should stay up once up? Maybe. Why the heck am I so warm? Am I doing a peri-menopause/menopause thing? I don't know. So I got up and did what I needed to and then of course I was thirsty and by then I was up and mostly alert. So I thought I'll blog hop for a bit to clear my mind. Worked for a while and then I had to reboot-twice. Then it worked for about a half hour-then had to reboot. Buggers, guess I'll go back to bed but it is now 4:30 and I am afraid of waking Gary. It happens lots of times and he has been working his two jobs so hard lately,
I'll just read for a bit...until 5:15. Can't keep eyes open anymore-must sleep. I'm walking into the room and he tells me to turn the alarm off. I almost jumped out of my skin. He was awake! Shoot, maybe I could have come in earlier...fell asleep almost instantly and awoke at 9:30...good thing I didn't have to get anyone off to school! Came out and opened the kitchen window and my car is out front. Why did my car get moved from the carport? Oh no, my car is in the carport-that must be Gabriele's car out front. They must have gone for breakfast...
So now you know how my brain works on little sleep and why I need to-do lists!

Thankful Thursday

1. Son is now a full-time employee!!
2. Fall colors
3. New warm clothes
4. New dedication to health plan
5. Yummy baking
6. Pumpkin smiles :)
7. Cards for service people
8. To do lists
9. Hardworking husband
10. Hot cocoa

Evolution

This is not what Gary does!
We want the kids to look like teen age kids....

Thankful thursday

1. making breakfast for my men

2. crock pots

3. fall dinners

4. celebrating friends

5. new seniors calling

6. "good" orders coming in

7. finding inspirational blogs

8. getting my "to do" list done

9. shopping for warm clothes

10.watching my kids excel

Monday memories

Gary took a photo of me on Sunday and on first glance I thought it was amazing. But then I pulled it up in Photoshop and started analyzing it. The thing I most noticed was the lack of a top lip.

I started thinking back and checking my backlog of photos and realized that every photo of me where I am really smiling-not just picture taking smile-my lip disappeared! I thought I just had a gummy smile, but nope the lip disappears. Take a look....

the one that started the processing-

in my 20's-

recent for Teri's birthday-

daughter's wedding-

with my baby boy-

at my ...reunion-

Now really...in the scheme of things there could be so many things wrong and I have just this one thing that bugs me sometimes. Now where do we get our ideas of what we should look like? Media, magazines, etc. but they aren't reality.

What is???

Being so happy that you smile big and your lip disappears!!!

Besides- it's better than this from when I was in 7th grade....

yep, smiling and no lip! Oh and a nifty crocheted suit mom made and after PE hair.....

so much more to stress about if I wanted to...

which I don't...

Dreaming...not eating

I just found this on a blog I frequent...now if there was a reason to make it and a group to eat it so I can just have a taste!!

oreo delight

OREO DELIGHT

35 Oreo cookies (1 whole pkg.) - I prefer mint flavor
6 Tbsp. margarine, melted
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1 (12 oz.) tub Cool Whip, thawed
3 1/4 c. cold milk
2 pkg. instant Jell-O pudding
optional: more crushed Oreos or Andes Mint baking chips to sprinkle on top

Mix crushed cookies and butter in medium bowl. Press firmly onto bottom of 9" x 13" baking dish. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and 2 Tbsp. milk in medium bowl with wire whisk until blended. Stir in 1 1/4 c. Cook Whip. Spread over crust.

Pour 3 1/4 c. milk into bowl. Add both pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk for 2 minutes. Pour over cream cheese layer. Let stand 5 minutes. Drop remaining Cool Whip over pudding and spread. Sprinkle more crushed Oreos or Andes Mint baking chips on top. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Thankful Thursday

1.This man who puts up bad moods2. This girl who brings such joy into my son's and our lives3. This boy that is the topping on my daughter's sundae

4. This home that holds me secure

5. This business that allows me to work from home

6. This group that reminds me to keep His word strong in my heart

7. This computer that allows me to stay connected to others though our lives are busy

8. This group of women who support me

9. Books that allow me to journey

10. My great big God who wants the best for me