Have Fun!

This may be the last official weekend of Summer but never fear! You'll get another one next year! :)   Enjoy this lovely Labor Day weekend. I hope you all are doing what it is you would like to do and that the weather cooperates with your plans. Bbqs perhaps? yard sales? We were sitting on our porch last night talking about what a great Summer it has been though it did go by very quickly! We packed in a lot of fun. A couple of short trips, day trips, bbqs, beach, bowling, library programs, VBS,  garage sales and lots of crafting. I read several books I wanted to in between my house work and fun stuff. My husband got to take some extra days off this Summer which is always great and we had some days where we just stayed home with each other and had firepits and smores. A fun time! There's still this weekend for more fun and we have some nice plans. School begins Wednesday! 4th grade for Caitlin and 10th grade for Billy. Let the Fall begin I say!

Today I am putting up all my silk leaves on my windows and doors. I've been dying to do this and also put some more Fall around. I was trying to hold off so that the kids didn't think I was rushing them back to school! I just love my Fall and have a hard time containing my enthusiasm for it and the colors and decorations.  I crafted two more rooms for my Halloween candy tower...I have to photograph it today. One of the rooms is pumpkin patch..wait and see.   I made some ornaments for my Halloween tree. This is one of them almost done..

Some Fall decorating...I love decorating my foyer. This is just the beginning.

I picked up these great woven placemats at a yard sale. Four of them for $1.

This grainy looking picture is through a screen in my window. It's the chestnut tree in my backyard. Leaves are falling off at a rapid pace. Fall is coming! Yippee!

Here's Missy Moo Moo and Jinxieboo relaxing....don't you wish you could sleep so soundly at night?            

         

Monday, Monday!

Another Monday upon us..I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. My son has been working with my husband as many days as he can this Summer and so happy learning my husband's craft and earning money as well. It warms my heart when I see the two of them leave the house in the morning together as buddies even though I hate waking them up and disturbing their sleep :(  When I open my son's bedroom door in the darkness of the early morning, little Jinxie comes running in too meowing and meowing as if to say "wake up Billy! wake up Billy!"And then off they go to start another day! School opens September 3rd so I want the kids to enjoy their remaining days. I find (with Caitlin) that I can ease the "return to school" with telling her about all the fun things we have to look forward to in Fall! Apple picking, pumpkins, Halloween, leaves plus we are going to be visiting  a new flea market we never went to in September and more. You have to give them something to look forward to no matter how small! It helps! Trust me!     

Last year I decorated an unpainted bird house I had purchased from AC Moore. 

I had so much fun! I discovered I had one more to do so that's what I worked on yesterday. 

                                                                                       

Here is the rear view:

Simple and easy....Today if I have a chance I want to work on some ornaments for my Halloween tree too and I have an idea for another section of my candy house tower...

Caitlin was in the toy closet the other day and pulled out an old family favorite--Lincoln Logs. She spent a rainy day building and playing. Sometimes it's so great to rekindle an old friendship  Caitlin/Lincoln Logs! 

Amazing toys that build their imagination no matter what age cause when my husband came home that night, he was building log houses too!

Have a great day!

Halloween Crafting Has Begun!

It's another chilly night here! We've had some nights go into the 50's...I'm loving it! The house is cool, and I love sleeping with the windows open. Turning off the air conditioner in August! Amazing! It just accelerates my eagerness for Fall too! The cats were all snuggly cause they were chilly! Little Jinxieboo was in a deep slumber on the couch. He's such a cutie.

So back to the crafting...remember when I received the candy display from CVS last year? Look above...I had decided to do each space into a vignette and I did my first one! I had been putting it off because I couldn't pin myself down to actually start it....I wanted to do something so badly but started over thinking it. Finally I just started and the fun began. My first room is done. How does it look?

I love the witch! She's flying high above! And the ghost lights up too.

Room #1 complete...planning for room #2....Have a great weekend!

Shorter Days and Lemonade Stands

The days of August are going by quickly. Trying so hard to slow them down and savor each day but the days are marching on. Let them be filled with the last of all that Summer offers--warm days and cooler nights, fireflies and bbq's. We had lunch on our porch yesterday. This week included walks through a beachy town and icecream. Simple days and quiet nights. Billy and I have sat on our porch many nights this Summer in our rockers enjoying the evening. We watch Caitlin do her cartwheels and feed peanuts to a blue jay who knows how much we enjoy sitting sitting  outside. He visits us every night. I always look forward to my favorite season Fall, but I have enjoyed this Summer. It has had its share of troubles with my Mom's health and my son's stomach disease but overall a very nice Summer. Thank you Lord! You always coax me to see the positives.

And who could resist buying drinks and snacks from these two? Not many because they made $43.00 in three hours! That's my Caitlin in the pink and her bff Jackie. They sold drinks, popcorn, chocolate chip cookies and rice krispy treats! All .25 each! So much fun!

Everybody needs a bff, right? I have a few. One of them, Cheryl, brought me over this lovely bouquet of flowers all from her garden and look what she put them in? One of those special Coke bottles with words and this one says "Friends"....

Really touched me...but I'm sensitive like that. 

We visited Michaels the other day...oh my goodness, there were such good sales and so many craft projects I would like to start. I was so happy to see they are now stocking some miniatures! How nice it seems that more and more people are crafting again because I noticed such a large variety of new craft ideas and oldies brought back. Perhaps because our weather situation has changed dramatically over the last few years where we get even more snow and our cold weather starts sooner that people are thinking of nesting? Crafting on a long cold night? Who wants to leave their cozy house when the wind blows when you can stay home and spend a nice family evening and make something special? It's just my guess. Even Walmart by us is back to stocking a full craft section and they brought back fabrics and materials last year. They had been missing for a long time. Hurray! I'm so happy to see that. From long range weather predictions, we should be having a very cold September and may even have our first snow by Thanksgiving!! I would like a very chilly Fall..more excuses for hot apple cider and pie...You now I'm right :)

I picked up this mason jar with the tea light candle suspension in the lid from Michaels. It also has a little chalkboard on the front so you could write something. I filled it with some mini pumpkins.

 

More fun things I picked up were these wooden signs to paint. Caitlin and I each got a few. We picked up some Martha Stewart Craft Paint too to make them Halloweenish.

I had a couple of other things to show you that I took out from the attic....

My swan received a new neck ornament complete with Fall leaves....and my friend Mary had given me these adorable little shops. They are musical and what is in the "window" revolves.

 The pet shop plays "How Much is That Doggy in the Window?" and the Sport Shop plays "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

Mary said she started purchasing these when she first got married in 1982. She would find them in card shops. She said she has some more for me. She's downsized all her collections. 

Have a great day friends!

Random Stuff!

It's waiting...patiently..I see it when I go into my shed just waiting to be released but it's August! No. no, no it must wait!!!!! No Halloween yet! A little Fall....okay, a little Fall...after all,  the silk leaves will be up in all my windows by Labor Day and a few scarecrows... I'm just dying to take it all out and play! My kids have never started school without seeing scarecrows, leaves, apples and all my Autumn decorations! We start school September 3rd. August is such a difficult month for me because I'm torn between Summer and my overwhelming desire for Fall to arrive! I know a lot of you feel the same way when I read your blogs.

Anyway, it has been a good Summer and one of our favorite things is VBS! Caitlin just completed her week and the finale was the VBS fair!

What is so fun about VBS fair, is that the kids can only use VBS tickets they have earned during the week. No money is exchanged. They earn tickets by showing grace to others, learning their Bible verses, participation and more. Caitlin had 40 tickets by Friday night and was able to use them for rides, games and even purchase items from the VBS general store! All with her tickets! What a great week it was. My friends and I stayed most days and participated in various activities for adults. So many of the people affiliated with our church have connections to Amish Country in Pennsylvania too. Trips and activities with our church and various spots in PA Dutch country are always happening. Within the church is our bookstore and the owners are an elderly couple who LOVE Amish country and go quite often. We have become such good friends over the years that they are always passing on beautiful books to me when they come home from book conventions. They gave me this one on Friday.

It is signed by the author, who by the way, I have read some of her Amish fiction novels. So sweet of them to think of me. The three of us gather in their bookstore and talk about our love for the PA area and the Amish. They are so lucky to be visiting two times in the next few weeks. Once for a Christian Book Conference at the Shady Maple and another time just for fun with their visiting niece.

My larger tomatoes are finally ripening. I'll be using some today for a tomato salad. Carol and Frankie took "dirt baths" yesterday; that is something chickens just love doing!  Frankie was truly enjoying herself! She's the black one rolled up in a ball! Oh Frankie!!!!

Before I go just a few random thoughts....I guess this post was not about much but I feel it's important to stay connected! So I am trying not to hold off blogging just cause nothing exciting is happening...but anyway---I'm loving my little iron decorations. I had gotten this one in Bird in Hand, PA and it is on my counter.

This one I got a few years back but just took it out again and put a new pip berry ring around it and candle for my kitchen table.

Found this little guy on my front porch from my wonderful friend Mary.

 And, my shed in the early morning. I love how the sun shines by her!August is a petty month!

Have a great day! Hope the sun is shining on you!