Christian Halloween Story!

Happy Halloween!

My hubby and dear friend Jason and our little punkin!

Cookies and pumpkins

What a crazy week! I have been running around like a chicken all week. Until today that is. Today I had friends over and we baked cookies. Oh man they are SO good. I will give you guys the recipe. Actually I might send you over to Be Jolly By Golly for them lol. Anyway, we let the girls play hard and then we had pizza and cookies and then went out and carved our pumpkin. Well, I pretty much did it while chatting with my friend and watching the girls play. It was the best morning I have had all week. I also sold a car seat on Craigslist! Yippee!!!
Well, I am going to go munch on some cookies and post them over at BJBG!!! Go over and get and if you try them let me know!!!

*A preview ~ The recipe will go up tomorrow at BJBG!

Of course, after I do that I need to clean my living room it looks like a tornado (or maybe just 2 little girls happy to be together again) came through!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

So Anna is a chatter box! She is 3 and sometimes she sounds like she is 13.

Her latest and greatest phrases are:

I think so. (pause) maybe!

maybe so. (pause) probably!

Can you tell she likes to pause for effect!

Before nap time she says:

"Wait, Mommy I want to hide." So she will run and "hide" on the bed. Where I will have to "find" her. Ahh, the games we play.

Somewhere along the way we have gone from Mommy all the time to rotating between Mommy, Mama or Mom. I don't know where she picked mom up but she typically uses that when she is trying to get my attention.

I have been so busy unfortunately I can't remember any specific conversations. I just wanted to get these few things down so I wouldn't forget. It amazes me what a big girl she is turning into!

For more Tiny Talk go HERE.

Fun-filled weekend!

Filled is the operative word there! It was crazy busy but we enjoyed it. Friday night was the calmest night. Saturday we woke up and got ready for a birthday party. Anna was so very excited! It was for one of her friends and she picked out the present. She was also excited about singing "Happy Birthday". She seriously LOVES that song!

After that we headed home and grabbed a short nap. It was short because we wanted to go to the Bamboo Farm for a Fall Festival. We got there later than we hoped for and it was already starting to close down. Anna got a balloon though and that made her a happy girl.

Then later I left Anna and Chris to go out for a girls night. We were going to play cards but didn't have enough people. We ended up watching a scary movie instead. That was fun lol no seriously! I was spooked and a little freaked out. Especially when Dustin the 13 year old boy decided to scare me half to death during the movie. It was Saw 1 apparently the 5th one is either coming out or already out. It was a good movie though. It kept you thinking and on the edge of your seat. Of course, I woke up at 4 and all could see was a horse head. I did come up with a good Sunday School lesson at that time before I went back to sleep. I got up at 7:30 and wrote it all out. I might share it with you guys tomorrow if I can find time. Sunday was church as usual and we had Choir practice as 4. By the time we got home had lunch and got Anna down for a nap it was time to go again!

I have a lot of work to do this week. Between the Carnival Friday and company coming I will be a busy - busy girl!!!

Oh, for those that live near me guess what comes on tomorrow!!! The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!!! Don't miss it!!!

Halloween

Halloween is almost upon us. When I was little I LOVED Halloween. I mean seriously, you get to dress up like someone else and go get free candy! We had this one neighbor when I was little that would always do little goody bags and popcorn balls for the neighborhood kids. She was my best friends Grandma Mrs. Mason. I loved going to her house. I always knew we would get something yummy from her. I can't tell you in general how much time I spent at Mrs. Masons house but it was extra special on this one night. She would oooh and aaaah over our costumes and make sure she slipped a little extra in for us. I miss Mrs. Mason! She has since passed away and I regret not getting over to visit her after I got married. Anyway, this post is about Halloween let me focus here lol.

Our Fall Festival at the church is next Friday night (Halloween night). My job has been to beg, no not beg just ask very nicely, for door prizes. I have done ok with my collections. Not quite as good as I would have liked but I am not done yet so maybe I can get more. I thought I would give out a big thanks on here to those that were nice enough to donate to our church.

Store ~ Item Donated
Carter's Outlet store ~ They let Anna pick out a toy! Anna chose a stuffed bear. Imagine how hard it was to explain it wasn't hers lol.
Cracker Barrel ~ Gift card for Dinner for Two
Sonic ~ Several coupons for $2 off.
125 coloring books with coupons in the back.
Burger King ~ 50 kids meal toys
Flying Frogs ~ 10 passes to their playground
Price Wise Foods ~ $30 worth of $1 toys
Chuck-E-Cheese ~ They are donating something although I am having trouble tying them down Seeds of Faith ~ They are donating something to be picked up Sat. It is a surprise!

I have several different irons in the fire but these are the ones that have come through. If anyone would like to donate something and it can be to me by Friday just let me know!!! We expect to have a crowd of 300-400 people.

I forgot to mention that I was out in the pouring rain and cold this morning doing this. Now I feel chilled to the bone. Well, really my feet and hands mostly but... Anyway, here are some pics from last year! Are you ready for Halloween?

Video Friday

Photobucket Album

Christmas! My favorite topic!

I just blogged over at Be Jolly By Golly. I posted pics of my favorite Christmas decorations. Why don't you run over there and check them out. I did it to enter a contest over at Curvatude! You can go there and enter yourself if you want! Don't forget to mention I sent you over. I want as many chances to win as I can get. The A would make a perfect ornament to add to Anna's collection!

Ok so for all of you out there wondering what to get me for Christmas this year ~ here it is!!!



I would love a necklace with a cross on it!

I want to try my hand with a bread maker!!!


To see other Christmas Wish Lists go HERE!

My shopping for the week!

Food Lion (WIC)

Milk

Egg

Cheese

Juice

Saved $12.93

Food Lion

Cube Steak

Chicken Breast (on the bone) $.99 a lb

Hi-C (a splurge for Anna)

Fritos & Cheetos (2 for $4)

Orange Juice

Zesta Crackers (BOGO Free)

Total Spent: $17.43

Total Savings w/ MVP card: $9.46

Kroger

Pasta

Brown Gravy

Tomato Sauce

Diced Tomatoes

Speghetti Sauce

4 cans Chili beans

Beef

Turkey Sandwich meat

Peas and sauted veggies (Green Giant) They were on sale and I had a coupon! $.50 each

Cottonelle (4 pack) They were on sale and I had a coupon! They cost $.49

Goldfish

Butter

Bacon (B1G1 Free)

Laundry Detergent

Total Spent: $26.45

Coupon Savings: $1.50

Kroger Card Savings: $9.37

These items were given to us from a friend at church!

Oh and I got trash bags at the dollar store. I still have around $2.00 left!

Now what I have here is nothing compared to some of the pros I have seen on-line but hey it is a great place to start! If you have any favorite places to find coupons I would love to know!

You can go HERE if you want to see what I am going to do with all of this!

Menu Monday

Today I sat down with 3 different sales papers and plotted out my shopping journey. I ended up going to Kroger and Food Lion and then finally the Dollar General. This was my first attempt at shopping different stores. I think I was pretty successful. I had $50.00 and I needed not only groceries but also misc. house items as well. I will post the break down on another post just for fun! Honestly, trying to work my shopping list to fit my budget was kinda fun!

Anyway, here is my menu for the week.

Monday: Cube Steak, Rice and peas in a butter sauce

Tuesday: Chili

Wednesday: Hot Dogs and Chips

(Will use any leftover chili for the dogs or maybe even some yummy frito's, chili and cheese!)

Thursday: Speghetti

Friday: Either French Toast or Bacon, Egg and Biscuits

Saturday: Grilled Chicken, Dressing and Sauted Veggies

Sunday: Leftovers

For more great menus go HERE

Rain ~ Rain

Well my yard sale didn't happen. I woke up at 5:30 this morning because I was afraid I wouldn't hear the alarm clock. So I got up and got dressed. I went outside and it was raining. I climbed back in the bed completely dressed and slept until I woke up to Anna climbing over me lol that was at 7:15. Now I have all of our yard sale stuff still in the living room and no idea when I will be able to try again. I think the bigger items I will just put on Craigs list and see what I can come up with. I can't have a sale next weekend because we have a birthday party to attend at 10 am. Then the next weekend is Halloween and we will have company.

Then I got up and made some yummy homemade biscuits.

Preparations for a yard sale

Tomorrow morning I am having a yard sale. I am dreading the early morning but at the same time I am hoping for a great turn out. I have collected items from throughout the house and still have more to gather. Anna has been sick for most of the week so today has been the only day I have had to make preparations. Chris is going to get us some tables from the church so that I can set up everything on them but then I have to decide how to place the clothes I am selling. I also have to figure out how to sneak some of Anna's things out there lol.

Well, I need to get back to it while Anna is sleeping. Wish me luck! If you have any good pricing ideas for any of this stuff let me know. Or creative ways to make a yard sale a success I would love to hear that as well.

Contest!

I just entered a contest HERE! It is for Photoshop Element. Can you imagine all of the fun I could have with Anna's pictures! If you would like to register to win go to The Secret is in the Sauce!!!

MY HAIR!!!

You guys know if you have been around for a while that my neighbor use to cut my hair and color it all in exchange for dog sitting every once and a while etc. It was a wonderful arrangement and I LOVED it. Well, that neighbor has now been gone for about 4 or 5 months. Meaning that I haven't had anything done to my hair in that long! I hate having to go out and find someone that can do my hair because let me just tell ya, a cow LOVED me when I was a baby or something because I have so many cow licks my neighbor was shocked lol. Anyway, I use to call my neighbor and say Bethany I need you NOW or I am going to do something crazy! She would always come over in the next day or two. She was the best!!! Well, since I didn't have her to call I did something crazy lol. I decided I needed bangs. I was tired of looking at my big ole forehead. So y'all tell me what you think. I know I need to go somewhere to have them straightened a little but are they terrible? No nevermind don't answer that!!! I would rather not know if they are lol. Anyway, let this be a warning to you: pick up the phone don't go crazy like me!

Just so you know I am afraid to try to even them up because I would probably just keep going shorter on one side or the other until they were way to short!

Works for me!

Last week Shannon gave the rules for using y'all. I was thinking if y'all can use the word y'all, you should also be able to make real sweet tea! Here is how I do it and if anyone else wants to add anything please do!

I heat water up in my tea pot.

At the same time I pour roughly 2 cups of sugar in a large pitcher. (I don't measure so this is a guess.) After the water boils I pour it in the pitcher. I let it stand for a while with 3 family size tea bags. I like Lipton but I am using the Food Lion brand right now and it is fine.

After I let it stand for about 30 minutes or longer if I forget about it. Squeeze your tea bags and then toss them. Now, add some cold water to it and mix it up. I prefer to drink mine after it has been in the fridge for a while but my hubby likes it hot out of the pitcher. I tell him that is the Yankee coming out of him ;)

I don't make it to often cause obviously we don't need a lot of sugar. Although we have had our friend Jason over a few nights a week lately so I have made it more often. I made this batch just for you though so pull up a seat and stay for a while!

(My daughter wanted me to include her cup lol)

For more great ideas go over to Shannon's!

Wordless Wednesday!

Tag your it!

Nancy over at Southern Blessings tagged me.

The instructions are:

* Go to your Sixth Picture Folder then pick your Sixth Picture.

* Pray that you remember the details.

* Tag 5 others.

Here is my 6 x 6. Anna likes to have her picture taken. This particular day We were outside in the front yard. She was trying to play with Buddy who was to old to really play!

I am to tag 5 people so lets see:

Reynie
Lori

Allie

Stitchblade

You are the last one. Play along if you would like and let me know!

Must Be Santa Monday

Here are a few things that I would love Santa to bring Anna!The top is a jump-o-lene! Anna loves to jump and I think it would be perfect for those cooler days or hotter days when we aren't able to spend a lot of time outside!

This of course is a kids camera. Anna loves taking pictures. I would love to be able to encourage that without risking my camera!

If anyone has ever used either of these items or something similar I would love to hear your feedback!

Warning Label: TMI!

Let me just tell you guys about our weekend. It started off on shaky ground and ended up pretty much the same way. Friday afternoon we were going to visit Yia Yia and Pop and Aunt Casey. Anna and I got the car all packed up and the house all locked up and we went to pick up Chris at his office. On the way Anna told me her tummy hurt. I asked if she needed to go potty and she said no. We get to Chris's office and I asked her how her tummy felt and she said it it's a little better maybe. We had to wait for Chris to close down his computer and all of the other things you have to do to walk out of your office a little early on a Friday. All of a sudden Anna starts vomiting. It was horrible. I had the car still running but when she started I jumped out of the car and ran around to her where she proceeded to continue vomiting for what felt like FOREVER! I had nothing to catch it and no way to get her out of the car without it going everywhere. By the time I figured out how to get her out she was done. I called Chris's cell and told him to "Get out here NOW". I strip Anna, Chris skids up to us and was shocked to see what is going on. We finally get Anna changed and the car cleaned up. I am thinking hmm, maybe we shouldn't make this 2.5 hour trip. Anna is adamant that she is fine and wants to go! We get on the road and about a mile down the road Anna said she had to go pee pee. Not just a non-committal kinda way but I have to pee pee now or I am going to wet my pants. We pull into Target, take care of business and then get back on the road. About half a mile later Anna turned a little green and said she was gonna be sick so we pulled over to the side of the road. I wish you could see Chris tell this part because he is so funny. Anna and I get out and she is suddenly fine so we stand there looking at the inter coastal waterway and the boats out there. We are having a talk. I told her if she felt bad we just needed to stay home. We could not stop every 2 minutes or we would never make it to Yia Yia's house. I told her if we had to stop one more time we were going to turn around and go home. I needed her to be strong! She agreed and we got in the car. Chris during this conversation was sitting in the car on one of the busiest streets in our city. He said the car was bouncing around every time a car would zip by. Anyway, we finally got on the road again and made it to Yia Yia and Pop's house without stopping again.

Saturday was a rainy, yucky day. We didn't get much done. My sis in law did buy some Christmas stuff. Ornaments and new wreaths things like that. She blamed it on me that she bought them but they are SO cute! If you have a Hobby Lobby near you, you should go there. A lot of their Christmas stuff is 50% off already! We did have a very yummy coconut cake, too.

Sunday was a pretty day and we spent much of it outside. We went to visit some horses and some cows. Had car trouble! Oh yeah, we were full of issues! My car would not get out of park. It cranked up beautifully but we couldn't drive it lol. Finally, the neighbor across the street was called and he walked over and fixed it. It is OLD! Is what he said was wrong with it lol. He had to work the shift loose. It apparently just got stuck! Crazy, right?

We finally headed home around 3pm or so and headed straight to church. I missed choir practice. We had a social afterwards though so we joined in. It was a nice visit and we headed home around 8pm. I was exhausted it felt like it was 10 but I had to stay up to watch Desperate Housewives! We crashed around 10pm and around 3am was awakened by Anna. She was sick again, diarrhea and vomiting. We were up until around 4:30am. It was not pretty and I was awake for a lot longer. She has been fine this morning.

Happy Birthday Aunt Cakey

Casey is my sister-in-law. She is so much more than that though. She has been one of my very best friends for a very long time. She has been with me through good times and bad! She loves me even though she knows pretty much ALL of my faults! Casey ~ I love you like a true sister! We enjoyed spending the weekend with you! Thanks for being such a cool and fun person to hang around!

Happy Birthday to the very best

1. Sister-in-law
2. Aunt for my little girl
3. Confidant
4. Co-conspirator
5. Travel companion
6. Mexican dinner partner (whenever I want it, well as long as we are in the same town!)
7. Escape artist
8. Shopping buddy (just never again on black Friday!)
9. Explorer
10. FRIEND

Oh yeah, Thanks Lynn and Charles for bringing her into the world and raising her to be such an incredible woman!

Making Chores Fun Again!

Anna is full of life and energy. She loves doing anything as long as we do it together. We washed the car this morning and she kept going on and on about how much fun she was having. It was absolutely adorable. To bad we lose that feeling as we get older. Life would much easier if we could just enjoy doing things for the sole purpose of doing it with someone we love. I would like to recapture a little of that. I would like to stop focusing on needs and realize that just because we NEED to do the dishes it isn't so bad. I have my daughter do them with me and it goes by pretty fast and we have fun doing it. Therefore, weather I need to or want to shouldn't matter. Life is to short to sweat the small stuff, right? My mission for the next week is to see which mundane chore can become the newest highlight of my day.

Wordless Wednesday!

Many Halloweens ago!

Menu Monday

So I went to the grocery store with my menu as I have done for the past few weeks and guess what... Half the stuff on my menu wasn't in the store. I had gone by the sales paper and had made my menu by the meats and stuff on sale. Well, apparently they sold out over the weekend or something cause what I wanted wasn't in. Therefore, I had to revamp my menu for the week and I didn't do so well. I know I spent more than if I had been able to go by my menu. Now I just have to find a way to keep from having this happen again. Maybe come up with an alternate menu to have as a standby or something. Anyway, enough about that here is what I came up with.

Monday: Pork Chops (grilled)
with Pasta Roni and some peas

Tuesday: Hamburgers and hotdogs (our friend Jason will be coming over)
I still need to go get hamburger buns and some fries. They didn't have any buns except for the super expensive ones and the potatoes (on sale) I was going to get to make homemade fries weren't there.

Wednesday: rice and black eyed peas

Thursday: Speghetti

That is all I needed to shop for this week. We are going out of town this weekend. Some how I spent $38.00 and still didn't get everything I needed. I did get cereal and sandwich meat and things like that but still where did my money go this week?

For more great menu ideas go HERE!

Rocking Chairs, Rocking Babies!

Tuesday Anna and I had a playdate with friends. Anna was feeling a little fiesty or off kilter or something. She cried any time I asked her not to do something or she would cry if the other kids were doing something and she had to wait her turn. I didn't know what was going on but we stayed and worked our way through it. When one of our friends left and it was just Anna and Allie it was as if the sun had come out. Apparently she didn't want to share her friend! We stayed a while longer and we were out sitting in the yard when this really odd bug started flying around me. I moved out of his way and then realized it was a baby and its Mommy had been under the arm of the chair. The baby landed on its Mommy's side and hung out there. My friend Shanda and I decided the baby was nursing (do bugs do that? lol) Anyway, then after watching for a few minutes we decided maybe the Mom was dead. I mean seriously, she hadn't moved in about 5 minutes not to mention she didn't mind having me sit on the chair or Shanda touch her. Finally, I saw her little legs moving so we knew she was alive. Anna and Allie kept asking what they were doing so we told them the baby was drinking milk. They continued to ask so we said oh they must be taking a nap now. Anna looked down there and said "but where is their rocking chair?" My sweet baby girl apparently thinks you shouldn't take a nap without a rocking chair lol. During the week, yes, I still rock her to sleep even though she is 3 years old. I still hold precious those moments when we get to snuggle and cuddle and just be still with one another. I love to feel her breathe on my cheek or my arm. I love to have her snuggle a little closer when she feels me stand up to lay her down. I love when she gets to bed and she looks up at me and then just rolls over and goes right back to sleep. It is like she has this complete trust that I will be there when she wakes up and I will protect her while she sleeps. I am going to cherish it as long as I can because I know it will not last forever and all to soon she will not need me (as much).

Wordless Wednesday

Anyone know what kind of bug this is?

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!