Gonna be a Fun Night

 One of my sweet young Mommy friends gave me this idea of making Mummy cupcakes for tonight. Thanks so much Katie B the little ones are gonna love these!!

 Hopefully this will be enough for all as I have no time to make more.

 Rotten to the core Kara just left.

 I had one heck of a time getting a picture of her in her costume!!

 Her words "No no Nanny" when I ask her to say cheese burger.

But finally I got a shot with a smile of our Candy Corn Princess.

We are off for a night filled with all the Grands who will be sky high on a candy overdose. Hope everyone has a fun night with Trick or Treats!!

Hubby will for sure be a trick on them all. I have the cupcake treats so lets see who wins the grands over!! HA

The Finish Line

 All clean and ready for some Holiday action.

 Our poor cabinets could use a face lift after all the years of scrubbing. Maybe someday, lots more savings would be needed to refinish this many cabinets.

 Who knew a bakers rack could hold so much dust.

 This is RARE, our refrigerator is never this bare!!!

Stock up list is ready to rock just as soon as I find the items on sale and hopefully a coupon to boot.

 

The kitchen is done, finished, complete, ready for some winter cooking. Here is a tip on doing a big top to bottom clean in the kitchen. Don't do it on a cold day!! Having my hands in and out of water all day was a cold experience! I keep the thermostat at 62 degrees during the day unless the grands are around. For me that's a perfect temperature when I am running around working but having wet hands all day it was a bit too chilly. I am down to the laundry room and the last spare bedroom to finish before the end of the month. That would be today!

 

The spare bedroom will be a bugger as I have so much stored in there (thrown) for Christmas, attic, charity quilts, the list goes on and on. The laundry room should be quick and easy other than doing inventory of what we might be running low on in the back pantry. Thirty one days sure flew by!!!

 

The family will all be meeting at DD#1 home tonight for Trick R Treat, the grands will go nuts when they see Papaw in his Spiderman costume. He surprised me last night by running into the den and sliding across the floor in it. Holy Cow, Spiderman never looked so......how should I say this.....Hefty. AJ the beagle may never recover from the shock of it all.  There is a time in a mans life that tights should not be worn, hubby has hit that time. However he has the heart of a 10 year old boy and the playfulness of a puppy so he can get away with it.(if you don't look to close) This man of mine, oh how I love him!!!!

 

Time to get my rump in gear and get this challenge finished up. Having the entire house all clean and spiffy will be a great help as we head into November. We have a family vacation coming up as well as a sewing Christmas list that I am itching to get at.

 

 

 

 

Burrrrrr

 Miss Karsyn had a great time at her Birthday party Sunday. She loves to get dressed up "Pretty"

 Mom hosted the party at "Children's Discovery Place" here in town, they did a wonderful job keeping the kiddo's entertained. Kara's favorite part was playing in what I call the hamster cage.

 Our little girls are growing up so fast :(

 Mommy did such a cute job with the decorations. The party theme was Bubble Guppy's. Maybe if I watched TV I would have a clue as to what the heck that is.

Yesterday's top to bottom cleaning was the guest bathroom. I inhaled so much Pinesole I can still taste it, yuk!

What a difference a day makes. Sunday we were running around in sleeveless shirts and capri's, today its winter clothes!! Our temperature right now is 41 degree's with a cold brisk wind, burrrr The Carolina mountains have 10 inches of snow with lots more to come. I am glad our girls have all graduated from Appalachian, no more worries of if they will make it home for the weekend due to snow!!

The cold front blew in last night, chicken and dumplings with a fire in the wood stove was a nice change of pace!! I decided to hit the kitchen today for the top to bottom clean up and out. On a cold day like today nothing feels better than to be in the kitchen even if it is spending the day cleaning my little heart out. I have today and tomorrow to finish up the challenge of cleaning the entire house from top to bottom. The kitchen, laundry room and an additional spare bedroom is still left to go. I might not make the challenge but I am a heck of a lot farther along than I was on October 1st. Until it is all finished I won't be spending any time at the sewing machine, I sew miss it!!!

I meet a friend for a nice long visit over breakfast this morning, so good to get caught up! As we were having a nice chat after we were done eating I caught myself stacking up the cream containers. What the heck!!! I apologized and explained that to entertain the grands we play a game of stacking the cream or jelly packs then counting them as the little ones put them back in the basket. You know you are spending too much of your time with toddlers when out of habit you begin playing those sort of games with a grown A... adult friend. My friend just laughed, she had just returned home after 3 weeks helping out with her own 2 granddaughters, she understood. 

Off for the kitchen clean out with hopes of maybe being able to move on to the laundry room before the day is done. It will be so nice to go into the Holiday's with a super clean house!!!

Happy Mail

 Look what the mail man left on Saturday from my Secret Sister Suzanne.

 Inside the package was the "Family Forever" charm for my bracelet!!! Thank you so much Suzanne I love it. Suzanne if you have a blog PLEASE leave a comment so I can link your blog up, I haven't been able to find one yet.

 Our friend flew in bright and early Friday morning to purchase this hot Harley from another friend of ours. We expected he would be staying the weekend but with the incoming storm and winter weather to hit our NC mountains overnight and tomorrow he headed out Saturday to beat the storm. He called this morning after stopping for the night due to light rain and super cold temps only to get up this morning to light snow in the Rocky Mountains. Harley's and snow are NO FUN!!!!

 Since I had an unexpected few extra hours today I knocked out the top to bottom cleaning in the breakfast room. I decided to wash the window treatments and send them on their way to goodwill tomorrow. I am in the mood for something new and different. Our kitchen chairs are covered in fabric ticking, I'm thinking I might go that route just as soon as I get my hot hands on a 50% off coupon that is.

Humm, this photo turned out pretty tiny but you get the idea right? We are lucky to be far enough out of the path of Sandy that we are receiving only much welcome breezes. NC mountains on the other hand are under a winter storm watch/warning for overnight and tomorrow. Check out Kathy's post on preparing for this monster storm.

Hubby and I are finally taking a break for a bit before heading to Karsyn's Birthday party this afternoon. We have been in our own worlds today getting some much needed honey do's done on our respective lists. Together we got all of the mattresses turned and flipped (what a job). He has put together a "how to" for me on starting the generator that he expects me to learn today. If I don't post in the future you will know I failed in learning this new task!! Ha We are also having a neighbour over to learn how to fire up the generator in case hubby is out of town and the need should come up. Maybe between us both we can keep the freezers running in an emergency. When hubby made the generator purchase we bought the biggest portable one we could afford with plans to share the power with neighbours. Hubby is the expert on all things electric, I am getting better at all things none electric to keep our family safe, feed and comfortable in and emergency.

If you are in the path of this storm PLEASE stay safe!!!! All eye's, thoughts and prayers of the country are with you.

Beam me up Scotty

 I worked at warp speed yesterday morning to get one of the spare bedrooms cleaned top to bottom

 Slowly all of the rooms in the house are getting done.

 Next on my task list was get my Secret Sister gift ready to mail.

 That gift along with 2 others are on their way to new homes

 All was complete before this little gal showed up for the day.

 After a full day of play and no nap we enjoying (not) supper with Kara before we headed over to Karsyn's house for a little family get together to celebrate her 2nd Birthday.

 Mommy and Daddy got Karsyn the perfect gift.

 There will be lots of tea parties going on around this place.

Mason loves him some Birthday cake!!

What a day is all I can say. I am really to old for all this partying!! Today will not be much better as we have Kara for the day, a friend flying in for the weekend, and Friday play date this morning. To help keep things simple for dinner tonight Kara and I will be putting a pot of chili on this morning along with some bread and some sort of easy desert. Whatever is leftover will be used for some chili nachos tomorrow during the football games as we have Tyler's T-ball game to work in as well.

I thought as we got older things were to slow down...not so much. The month is almost gone and I still have  5 more rooms to do a top to bottom clean out of. Two of the rooms should be easy to knock out the others will be a full day I am sure. Hubby has been warned to get the heck out of the way next week so I can get this challenge finished up before the end of the month, I see lots of crock pot cooking in our future!! Ha

I hear hubby stirring about upstairs so I guess the day has begun. After breakfast this morning I will be picking up Kara then on to our play date while hubby does the airport run. I have HIGH hopes that Kara will be worn out enough after her play date that she just might take a nap today (rare) that might give me time to get a desert put together without any little hands. Today I am thankful for a large family a two feet that  are working pretty good as long as I wear the brace at night!!

Change of Plans

 After hubby's Dr appointment this AM we went too breakfast with friends then on too the early voting booths. Our wait to vote was 1 hour and 45 minutes. WOW  Later in the day we watched Kara so her Mommy could go vote, the wait was over 2 hours by then. I hope everyone will take the time to vote this year, be prepared to wait in LONG lines!!!!

 My plan after voting was to go on home and begin quilting this quilt...however hubby decided to take the day off so we could finally get around to working on a storage solution for holiday decorations that would keep me from climbing in and out of the attic.

 We got a late start due to all 3 of the little grands showing up for a few hours of play but finally we were able to get on it. Here is a small sample of what needed to be sorted from my side of the garage.

 More stuff to be dealt with.

 My sweet hubby added an additional 6 foot section of shelving so unloading decorating tubs will be easier to get too. The second shelf will be getting lots more TLC when I am up to it. Hubby just shoved stuff in that needs to be tossed.

All better now! We already had a 14 foot section of shelving that holds Christmas tubs and decorations now the entire wall is filled with shelving :( So much for downsizing. I am still trying to find someone to restore the dresser and bed frame of my Grandmothers so they can be moved into the house, which will give me a whole lot more room.

We had no plans of cleaning out my side of the garage today but when the mood struck hubby I wasn't going to back out!!! We loaded up his truck to make deliveries to all of our DD's homes of things they have left at our home over the past year or so. Other things went to goodwill, and a bit to the dump. My car is full of yet more deliveries for DD#2 tomorrow. Our kiddo's need to stop using our home as a free storage unit!!! Hubby's side of the garage in my opinion is hopeless. He has his Jeep, Harley, car motor and more tools than one person should have on his side. Things seem to always end up on my side since his side is so full. We also did a whole lot of downsizing of the grands riding toys, strollers and such. It's all just too much

While playing with the grands today I pulled a muscle in my how should I say this? Rear end, rump, bottom. Holy cow. Web MD suggests you elevate the area and use ice packs for 20 minutes on and off for the first 24 hours. I think you can get a visual by that description. I have both of DD#1 kiddo's all day tomorrow so she can attend a field trip with Tyler, then DD#2's Kara on Thursday and Friday. I have hopes that my back end will be able to keep up. Added to that we found out today we will be having company over the weekend. When it rains it seems to pour. I am off to re-prioritize my to do list somethings are gonna have to give.

Some Home Cookin

 Here is the fabric I picked up while in AL for hubby a quilt. I still need to find some hounds tooth fabric to go along with it. Right now I am thinking a very simple patchwork of maybe 8 or 10 inch blocks.

 Supper tonight is chicken, broccoli and rice. The rice has gotten very mushy, I think the recipe might be wrong as it called for cooked rice. Have no fear we still have........

 Spice cake

And home made vanilla ice cream for desert along with dinner rolls (store bought)

I didn't finish a room clean out and up today but progress was made. Instead I shopped for AJ the Beagles surrogate Mommy a gift for keeping her over the long weekend. My buddy has a GF weekend coming up this next week. I know she won't spend any money on something new for herself so I bought her a SUPER cute shirt, sweater, and chunky long necklace. Along with that I will be delivering her supper and desert tonight. Nothing like a home cooked meal after a day at work I am thinking.

Along with enjoying some time in the kitchen today I pieced the backing for a quilt that was in the UFO pile. I hope to get the backing and quilt top ironed after supper so I can sandwich and do the pinning tonight while the debate is on. Putting the quilt together, pinning and all seems to be my least favorite thing in the quilting process...I need to stop procrastinating.

Tomorrow is a new day Scarlett, maybe I will get back to the cleaning

Home Sweet Home

 A friend and I took a field trip to a local quilt store while in Al. I am happy to say I only bought a few pieces of "Bama" fabric to work up a quilt for hubby in the future as well as a pattern for a fun someday quilt. I have the best quilt shop in the world here at home, it is hard to find any place that can beat "Sew Much Fun" when it comes to fabric!!

 The fella's went to a local sports bar to enjoy Saturday football while we girls had lunch back at the German resturant. SOOOO good!

 If you are ever in Huntsville, AL this is a must eat at place. 

 We then went back to the hotel to finish her quilt top.

While sewing on her machine was a little frustrating due to tension problems her baby quilt still turned out great. We didn't have time to do the sandwiching and quilting but I left her with a good first time quilters book. I can't wait to hear from her how it all turns out.

 

We are home........There is nothing better in the world than being home in my book. We didn't arrive back until 8:30 PM last night. We did at least get the truck unloaded before we hit the bed. I don't think we rolled over once through the night, we were out cold!!!!

 

What a great long weekend catching up with friends we haven't seen in years, riding around town seeing all of our old hang out spots and reminiscing about old times. 40 years is a loooooong time!! Yesterday morning was interesting seeing everyone at the breakfast bar filling up before they hit the road. I am sure the pain reliever company's saw an increase in sales. Ha  

 

I have a list that is a mile long today when all I really want to do is sleep, eat and sleep some more. We never got more then 4 hours sleep a night since Thursday, we are too old for those late nights. I have managed to get the unpacking done, laundry started and mail sorted this morning but I am moving slow. Supper tonight will be from the crock pot just as soon as I figure out what to throw in there then its on to getting another room cleaned top to bottom. I am going with the easiest on the list for today as my energy level is very, very low.

 

I have the grands Wednesday-Friday this week, Saturday is T-ball, Sunday is Karsyn's 2nd Birthday party, along the way hubby and I have to pick up Karsyn's playhouse her Mommy and Daddy bought for her then get it built. We have an action packed week for sure.

 

 My goal of cleaning each room of the house from top to bottom in the month of October is on shakey grounds. I think I can still get it all in but it is going to be a race to the finish line. Where the heck did this month go.

We Have Come a Long Way Baby

 We did some running around yesterday morning of hubby's old stomping grounds growing up. We couldn't end the morning without swinging by our first apartment. We started out in a one car garage at a cost of $75.00 a month including all utilities. Way back then there was no such thing as Internet or cable! Ha The apartment had no heat or air, a drop down kitchen table, 2 burner stove with a tiny oven. We were young and happy to afford a place of our very own!!!!!

 We then picked up a DEAR family friend to treat for lunch. Such a special lady and a great time catching up. 

 In the afternoon I set up my sewing machine to work on a little Christmas cheer.

 While the bed isn't the best place in the world to lay out pieces it worked in a pinch.

 I finished up the table runner this morning. The kitchen table in the hotel isn't as large as a standard kitchen table but you get the idea right?

 I used a charm pack leftover from last year and yardage from the UFO tree skirts I finished last month.

I stuck with straight line quilting, easy peasy.

 

Quick post as I am headed out with a GF to see what one of the local quilt shops have to offer. Beautiful football weather and some great games to enjoy this afternoon before the dinner and dance tonight. Roll Tide!!!!!