MORE homecoming pictures!

Homecoming night!

Tonight was THE BIG NIGHT....Homecoming! 5 couples gathered at our house and the limo picked them up here. We have an arbor in our side yard so I decided to decorate it to use as a nice fall backdrop for pictures. When my husband and I went to school (okay, so it was back in the '80s :) our homecoming was NOT as big a deal as what it is nowadays...Homecoming today is like our proms were back then! We wore like jeans and a nice sweater (or a miniskirt with leggings, two pairs of socks with boots, big poofy bangs - anyone out there remember this?!) but never as over-the-top like tonight was.

All of the kids looked so nice! Their parents and other family members were here taking pictures, too. We had quite a crowd in our yard!

Taylor's date is a really nice boy. In the excitement of getting that display put together and curling Taylor's hair and helping her get ready, we forgot to get him a boutonniere. I felt pretty embarrassed :) Some of the boys had one and others didn't so I guess I wasn't the only one. Oh well - note to self: Next time pick up flower for daughter's date! LOL

Hope you enjoyed seeing a peek into the beginning of Taylor's exciting, magical night of fun! "Cinderella" is going to be home at midnight. You know I'll be anxiously awaiting to hear all about everything!

All of the kids are gone for the evening so I think B and I are going to go have some dessert at our favorite little "mom & pop" restaurant in this little town where we live. Their pies are homeade and soooooo delicious!!!

Thanks for looking!

All part of the territory...

THIS is what we woke up to this morning!!!! Hmmm, I guess this is part of the territory that comes with being the parent of teenagers, huh?! Oh yes, a typical teenage prank - I remember... I'm not THAT old :) Taylor and her friend so graciously cleaned it up, grumbling all the while :)

Busy, busy, busy

I've been keeping pretty busy for the last few days! It's Homecoming weekend around these parts and our daughter Taylor is going to the Homecoming dance on Saturday night. It's her first "real" dance (she just started high school this year) and she's very excited! Today we went shopping for shoes and jewelry. Taylor already has a beautiful dress to wear. Saturday will be here before we know it! I'll share some pictures of the big night with all of you!

On another note, I am preparing to hold a craft openhouse here at my home in the middle of October. That's another reason why I've been busy. There's been a lot of planning, painting, sewing, crafting and scrapbooking going on at my house! I LOVE it! This will be the first time I've actually done something like this - have a party to sell my handmade things - I've always given everything away as gifts! But after much encouragement from my blogging friends (you guys know who you are...THANKS!) & my family, I've decided to jump in with both feet and JUST DO IT! Even my teenage son is getting in on the act by "giving me a lesson" in economics and how to price my items - it was a very enlightening conversation, let me tell ya - you know, coming from the perspective of a 16 year old boy and all :)

Have you heard the news?

UAW & GM reached a tentative agreement so the strike is over - PRAISE GOD!!! That's great news, isn't it?! I'm rejoicing!

Calling all prayer warriors!

As many of you know, General Motors workers went on strike today. Please pray for a quick resolution. While my husband is not a direct employee of GM, he IS a sales manager at a GM dealership so the effects of a strike eventually trickle down to that business. So many people I personally know will be affected by this strike. I am very confident that God is our source but I don't think it's a bad idea to pray for this to get over with very quickly! Thanks so much in advance for your prayers :)

Chicken Caesar pasta salad recipe...

Okay, ladies, here's the recipe. The credit goes to Amy over at the Mom Advice blog. That's where I initially found this delicious recipe. I changed the quantities just a little bit, according to our particular taste - so just go ahead and see what works best for you :)

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

1 pound chicken breasts
1 pound penne pasta (1/2 lb. in other version)
1 romaine heart, chopped (I use 2)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes (1/2 pint in other version)
2/3 cup Caesar dressing (I use just a bit more)
A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (I did not use any)

Bake chicken breasts as directed on package on a cookie sheet. Chop the romaine heart and halve the cherry tomatoes while the chicken is baking. Cook pasta until al dente, as directed on package. Drain and rinse pasta with cold water. Dice the cooked chicken and put this in a bowl. Toss pasta, tomatoes, lettuce and the dressing. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined. May be served with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Happy Autumn!

AN AUTUMN DAY

Pumpkins in the cornfields,
Gold among the brown,
Leaves of rust and scarlet,
Trembling slowly down.
Birds that travel southward,
Lovely time to play,
Nothing is as pleasant,
As an autumn day!

~Carmen Lagos Signes

Making memories...

Yesterday I enjoyed such a GREAT day! You know, one of those kinds of days that you know you'll remember back on and just smile as you think about it. Sweet memories...

Now, I come from a BIG family and between both sides of the family combined, I have somewhere around 40 first cousins. I am very close to one of my cousins close to my age. She is a year-and-a-half older than me. Her name is Tammy. (She is camera-shy so I wasn't able to get a picture of her!) We always had such a good time together growing up and shared a lot of fun and laughter. Her mom and my mom were sisters. (We lost both of our moms to cancer.)

Tammy lives just over an hour away from me. We made plans for her to come here for a visit. I was honestly like a little kid all week as I anticipated her visit! Just like when we were kids, we still have a great time together and enjoy a lot of laughs.

It was fun to put together a nice lunch for us. We had chicken Caesar pasta salad, French bread, cheese & crackers, lemonade and for dessert - our most favorite - cheesecakes & cookies. (We both LOVE cheesecake - absolutely LOVE it - so it's become something of a tradition for us to have those when we get together! I tell Tammy if she's on a diet, to temporarily suspend it!)

Our grandmother actually grew up in a farmhouse a few miles down the road from where I live. It sat vacant for a number of years but it is now going through a renovation so Tammy & I went by to see it. Several months ago, we worked together on a very special scrapbook that included pictures of that house where Grandma grew up so it was really something to see the house back in its "heyday" - a home filled with lots of kids and lots of life going on...compared to seeing it now sitting vacant in disrepair. (The renovation work had not yet begun at the time we made that scrapbook.)

I am planning to get a picture of the house taken back in the 1920s and giving it to the new owners. My feeling is that anyone who is interested in renovating an old farmhouse is probably interested in the history of it, too. What do you think?

All in all, yesterday will most definitely be remembered as a wonderful day where lots of great memories were made. It's a really great thing, in my opinion, when you're able to count one of your family members as a treasured friend, too...

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

Can you stand one more post about a trash-to-treasure mirror?! Well, I've got another one! I really love round shaped mirrors and wanted one to hang in my living room. Neither one of my daughters wanted to use the lime green mirror in their rooms so I decided to redo it with...you guessed it! Yes, more scrapbook paper - LOVE that stuff! LOL (Oh, and I really do use it for its intended purpose of making scrapbooks - someday I'll share some things I've made - but mostly I've given them all away as gifts :)

*On another note*...if you wouldn't mind, please say a prayer for my husband and his family. One of his uncles is dying; they honestly don't expect Ted to make it through the day. (My husband is actually making the hour-long trip there right now.) He was moved to hospice this past Sunday night. Ted is the brother of my mother-in-law. Thank you in advance for uplifting this family in prayer; it is a very difficult time for everyone, especially Bobby's grandma. It's really sad.

Junk mirror gets another life!

Does anyone remember one of those fake wood grain mirrors like this from Home Interiors? Well, that's what this mirror used to look like. My MIL passed it on to me a few years ago. I had painted it a cream color and used it for a while. Then I didn't really care for it anymore. I was planning to junk it or give it away. I've been on this "decoupage with scrapbook paper" kick so this little baby got a new lease on life with some craft paint and paper -oh, and I almost forgot - some cool black trim, too! Yup, I really like to use assorted trims on my projects. I prefer ball/fringe trim but I cannot tell a lie; I don't always like to spend money on them - they can get kinda expensive, I think.

See the "CAFE" picture sitting on the top shelf? I made that yesterday. It only took me a few minutes. I had some floral chipboard letters sitting around but needed black ones. Out came the handy-dandy black spray paint! I used more of the same scrapbook paper I had used for the other cafe pictures I made and voila - it's all done!

Take it from me, it pays to put on your creative thinking cap before giving something away! See if you can redo it in a better way. I have "saved" a lot of things that I would probably have otherwise gotten rid of. I also saved money by not going and buying something new because I was able to repurpose it.

I'd love to see some of your "redo" projects! Point me in the direction and I'll come by to visit your blog :)

Thanks for looking!

A New 'Do

I was feeling old and frumpy the other day so I decided to get all of my hair cut off in the back. It was past my shoulders but I found that I kept pulling it back into a ponytail or putting it up in a clip. Nope, enough of that... I needed a STYLE again!
My husband was out of town for the weekend so he got a surprise when he returned home on Sunday night! He's such an easygoing guy - he could really care less what I do with my hair, just as long as I have some! LOL His reaction (which I expected): "Oh yeah, looks good, honey."

Remembering Mom....

This is a picture of my sweet mom, Alice. She passed away 15 years ago from breast cancer. She was only 49 years old, just about three months shy of celebrating the big 5-0. Her birthday was on September 13 so last week was a little more difficult than it usually is for me. As many of you know, grief knows no timetable, really....or at least that has been my experience.

May I share a little about my mom? I was extremely close to her and we enjoyed a great relationship. She was a very strong woman of faith. My mom didn't preach at people; she simply lived out her faith. She was 45 years old when she found a lump in her breast. So sad and tragic - especially because she had been a nurse working on the cancer floor for more than 23 years. My mom knew all of the stages to come in the cancer journey. As a nurse, she deeply cared for her patients and made a difference. I know this is true because many family members of her patients came to the funeral home when she died and shared how my mom had impacted their lives with her gentle nature and tender care.

As with everything she did in life, my mom handled herself graciously throughout all of it. I never heard her curse God. She wasn't angry about her situation - she tried to make the best of it. I don't really know that I could handle it like that. But that's exactly what she did.

My mom was loving, gentle, kind, nurturing, caring, and silly - oh, how she loved to laugh! Have you ever met someone who had the kind of laugh that was so infectious it made YOU want to laugh right along with them? Well, that's how she was. I think I miss that the most! Sometimes I close my eyes and remember those crazy moments of laughter. Sure, it's bittersweet but I don't want to forget. EVER. My mom was creative. She loved to cross-stitch and was an excellent, talented seamstress. She made lined suits, her wedding dress, clothes when we were little kids - we worked on my wedding dress together. That's such a special memory.

She would have LOVED her grandchildren - 4 granddaughters and 5 grandsons. At the time of her death, my nieces were 4 years old and 1 month old; my son Tyler was 10 months old. I wish Tyler was able to remember her, but of course he doesn't.

Out of all the many gifts my mom gave to us, the most important one to me is the spiritual legacy she left us. Reflecting back on how she lived her life - genuine in her beliefs and simply walking out her faith day by day...well, that makes me want to be the best person I can be and live a life that honors God. My mom taught by example. I will forever be grateful for that and hope I can be as great a mom as she was.

Purse picture

I've made several of these purse pictures over the last few months - one for Taylor, one for Tess and a few to give as gifts. That's what the one pictured was - a birthday gift for Tess's friend. She really liked it a lot and even had it already hanging on the wall in her bedroom when I went to pick Tess up!

Many thanks again to Jennifer @ This Is The Day for her wonderfully creative ideas - this purse picture idea originally came from her and I've kind of modified details each time I've made one. On this one, I added the pretty trim for a more three-dimensional look and I was pleased with how it turned out!

Something to think about...

There's a song by Lincoln Brewster that keeps running through my head today. It's called "You Are The One". I don't know if you've ever heard it. If I was a little more computer savvy I'd link a "YouTube" thingie so you could hear it, but sorry I don't know how!

Anyway, I got to thinking about the following verses from Psalm 139...
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. (Verses 13-16; NKJV)

Now, really, how AWESOME is THAT? He knew us before we were born and ordained ALL of our days. I think that's pretty exciting!

YOU ARE THE ONE (written by Paul Baloche & Lincoln Brewster)

You're the One who made the heavens,
You're the One who shaped the earth,
You're the One who formed my heart long before my birth.
I believe You'll always lead me,
All my days have been ordained,
All your thoughts toward me are holy, full of love and grace.

You are the One who is holy,
You are the One who is worthy,
You are the One, You are the One everlasting,
You are the One.

You are the One I will worship,
You are the One I will serve all my days,
You are the One everlasting,
You are the One, Jesus You're the One.

My girls...

I haven't posted too much about my daughters...let me introduce you!

Taylor is 14 years old and a high school freshman. She's an outgoing, silly, loving, affectionate, friendly girl who loves to read, spend time with her friends, talk on the phone and shop.

Tess is 11 years old and in 6th grade. Tess is very nurturing, caring, funny, loving and affectionate like her big sister. She's also a reader and she loves hanging out with her friends.

We are very blessed to have such wonderful daughters. Between the two of them and their brother, there's never a dull moment at our house...but I really wouldn't want it any other way!

Decorating and Hospitality

I LOVE decorating books and Emilie Barnes is by far one of my most favorite authors. I have several of her books and was very thrilled to have found the book "Beautiful Home on a Budget". Emilie co-authored the book with her friend (who is also a professional designer) Yoli Brogger.

Sadly, we can go through our whole lives without ever sharing the gift of hospitality with others. Let's all make an effort to open our homes and hearts to others. Don't wait - do it soon! I will too!

I'd love to share an excerpt of the book with you! What they're saying is soooooo true in these paragraphs....

In the end, what really matters is the sharing.

You want your house beautiful (even on a budget).

You want it comfortable and cozy for you and your family.

But whatever you to do to your walls and your windows, don't forget that the most wonderful adornment to your home is your spirit of hospitality, your willingness to share your home and your lives with others.

You don't need to wait until everything's perfect. It will never be. After all, people live in your house. Something will always need painting or re-covering or replacing. You'll always be wanting to add something here, take out something there.

But share anyway. Love what you have and invite others in to share the bounty. Your gracious welcome will fill the gaps and make the problems seem to disappear.

Your home will always be its most beautiful when you stretch out your arms in welcome and say, as Yoli's sweet, gracious grandmother always said, "Mi casa es su casa."

Please share with me some of your experiences as you step out and invite others to share in your life!