31 Days: I Love a Little Walk Down Random Lane

Question:  Can you even believe that the above picture was taken a mere 24 hours or so before the snow started falling here in our little Valley?  Now mind you, we didn't get any goofy annoying lovely accumulation with said precipitation, but there was a fair amount of noisy sleet and all manner of Facebook status updates.

Snow of any amount in the month of October is NEWS around these parts.



Question:  Does anyone out there close their front blinds and ensure the porch light is in the off position before darkness falls on Halloween for the simple reason that she neglected to buy candy for the precious little neighbor children?  Anyone? 

Anyone at all?


Would anyone like to clean up that mess of a run-on sentence for me?



Question:  Quick show of hands.  Who among us has found herself at the mall wearing jeans with orange peanut butter crackers smeared all over the leg. 


I know you're out there...?


Surely there are others amongst us with a sweet little bundle-o-boy-joy in the form of a grandson/son/nephew/brother/husband who has shared the snack-cracker love.


Come on, y'all, fess up...am I the only one to wear the same jeans twice, thus finding myself in unclean dungarees at the Food Court?



Question:  Before the preceding five seconds, when was the last time you heard anyone use the word "dungarees" in a sentence? 


I do believe this was my very first usage of said word. 


(It just came to me from Out Of The Blue.)


(It's a gift.  And a curse.)




Question:  Have you ever in your life consumed carrot soup?


I have!  I made some tonight per PW's suggestion, and I must say it turned out pretty well. 


I think I might have enjoyed it even more if I actually, you know, liked carrots.



Question:  Did anyone see this?  I'm not gonna lie.  It made me a cry a little.  It also made me want to call my brother immediately.  Unfortunately he was at work and that was not a viable option. 

But I still wanted to. 



Question:  Do you think this post this is completely and totally cheating in the whole staying-on-topic nature of my 31 Days series? 


If so, would ya still be my friend anyway?

Until tomorrow!

(unless you break up with me...)

 **To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love Chasing Him Up & Down and All Around

It matters not whether Owen is outside hunting pumpkins in the neighbor's yard or exploring inside, either way he is not often still.

I forget how fascinating the world is to an 11-month-old.

...and how much energy they have.

...and how very pleased they are when they achieve their goals.

And certainly as time flies by and his first year feels like eleven minutes tops, that dogged determination so unique to our littlest ones figuring out the world can fold into blurry memory.

However, I will never, ever forget how utterly delicious it is to share in the adventure.

     ...or how yummy the kisses when I finally catch up!

Happy Sunday :)

**To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love Saturdays

So here's the thing.

I have a terrible, terrible, I tell ya, case of blogger's block.  I don't know what it is about this whole tied-to-one-topic(sort've) scenario that has me so stymied, but STYMIED I AM.

Katie thought it was amusing earlier as I was whining and complaining and she realized I'd run out of things I love.  

I am not as amused.

It's not so much that I don't have anything else to love.  

There are gazillions of things of which I am fond, but I just feel so repetitive and redundant.  and maybe a little repetitive.

sigh.

So tonight I'm just gonna ramble for  a few and then find my remote.  I'm already a couple of extra days behind schedule in getting in my 31 days due to my writer's paralysis, so if I don't push through I fear we'll be sliding into Thanksgiving :)

Katie drove in for a little while today so she and the Littles could meet her new sweet nephew, Wyatt.  (Jeremy's brother's newest bundle of joy).  They visited for about 10 minutes, and then we went out for an enchilada (for Kate!) and fajita taco (for me!) or two.  

Audrey and Owen were so good but I'm not gonna lie.  Owen is approximately 11-1/2 months old and MESSY.  I always feel like the tip should be doubled just for the baby cleanup.  

Either way, the waitress was really sweet and no one sighed loud enough for us to hear, so I'm assuming all was well.

When we got back to the house we visited for another 10 minutes and they then hit the road so they could get to the Main Event, which was the oh-so-tiny and shiny-brand-new Baby Wyatt.

Even Naynay can't compete with that kind of wonderfulness. 

My favorite part of the day was right after they arrived.  I had carried Audrey inside from the car because she was all sad about realizing she had left something suddenly vitally important back at home, and Kate brought Owen in.  

After we sat down, with Kate in the chair across from me, Owen started reaching for me & smiling (awww...), so Katie put him down, and he walked right to me :)  

It was just maybe three or four steps with the typical new-walker landing into my arms at the end, but he was definitely walking.  As I scooped him up he snuggled right up with me laying his cheek on mine.  

It doesn't get any better than that, folks.

After they left I felt kinda lonely but mostly chilly, so I pulled out my trusty favorite black blanket (thanks again Kate!) and enjoyed an episode of Murder, She Wrote.  That Angela Lansbury is like a plate of warm cookies to me :)

One more thing.  My new sewing machine arrived today!!  I am so excited and yet also a little stressed thinking about all the stuff I need want to get done. 

For starters, that would be figuring out how to operate my new sewing machine :)

Have a great night, y'all!

**To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love October Skies

Happy Friday :)

 **To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love Every Single Page

Approximately about maybe 18 years ago, give or take a couple of years, I found myself at Lifeway in the midst of a sale and picked up a Bible on the clearance table.  

It was, shall we say, inexpensive even at full price, and I think the final charge was in the neighborhood of about nine dollars and ninety-nine cents.  

plus tax.

Also of note, it was a "Living Bible" and while I was a touch exhilarated by my foray into paraphrasical Scriptural renderings I also felt more than 65% naughty for spending even $9.99 (plus tax) on a purchase of something that was not the Traditional King James.

Isn't it interesting how these things sometimes go?

That inexpensive impulse buy became my very best friend.

I still have my good ol' King James, and my kids bought be a lovely study Bible which I've really enjoyed.   

...and don't tell but I just might have recently purchased an NIV edition with rather large-ish print.

But the difference is kinda like comparing new friends you hope will be in your life for a while to the best friend you've had for like, a hundred years.

Apples and (less emotionally-attached) oranges, my friend.

The pages started falling away from the binder years ago.

I left it on the (covered) front porch when living on Plymouth and it rained.  No direct hits, but it was crazy windy & I can still find the pages that got wet that day.

I can also find the pages blurry from all the crying. 

...and I remember like it was yesterday sitting in my bed all night long unable to focus on words.  

So I just sat there holding it open to my chest, sometimes praying.  

and occasionally breathing.

...and that was enough.  He was enough.

This beloved Old Friend is all marked up from heartbreak-y times and joyous discoveries alike.  

Page after page is covered with Truth...and precious memories of how God revealed Truth to me as I opened them.

I take my new Bible with the larger words to church and Bible study, and I pull out the study Bible when digging in the Word, 

but when I just want to visit with my Father for a bit it's my old, falling apart inside the used-to-be-popular-mauve-ish zip-up-cover Friend that I reach for.

This fake-leather-bound paraphrasical rendering is more precious to me than I know how to articulate. 

...and I'm so grateful for all the learning, and growth, and wonderfully tender comfort I've received from these pages...and The Author who gifted me with them.

 **To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

 

 

31 Days: I Love Being Their Mom

   



Have a great evening!

 **To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love Poaching My Daughters' Photos

**To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love Reliable Transportation

It will be eleven years in November since I bought what I have often referenced as my-only-asset-doggone it! when hollering at my teenagers who were doing things like letting friends literally run over it with their much larger bullying truck (Hi Darren- love ya!!) and allegedly spilling chocolate milk over every surface and cleaning it up as only an unmotivated 16-year-old could.

(I know that was an absurdly thorough run-on sentence but it's Monday and I'm not proud.)

I suppose I could have been nicer to my teenagers, but I like to think that my willingness to share with them my-only-asset-doggone-it! and allow them to contribute in abundance to the total mileage reflected on the odometer -  with only occasional complaining/hollering - balances things out.

Prior to my beloved car I had a sweet ride that had belonged to Mamaw Farmer.  I was terribly grateful for her generosity, and it was a nice car...but when it was time to replace it I must admit to being excited.  

I walked onto the car lot on my lunch hour and by the time I got back to the office I owned a still-smelled-new-but-better-because DEPRECIATION car.  

The men around me were shocked.  and horrified.  and extremely disapproving of my impulsiveness and lack of spending at least MONTHS investigating and shopping around.

I'm not a shopping-arounder.  I'm a get-it-over-with-er.  So I got it done.

I haven't regretted it one single day.

She has been nothing short of wonderful.  In all these eleven  years she hasn't caused me any grief that I didn't deserve by wearing her OUT, taking her everywhere with me.  We've done some driving, she and I, from Miami to Lake Placid...as well as all over tarnation.  

It's not her fault she's tired.  At 133,530 miles I'm tired too.  If she wants a new battery here & there, or maybe a new set of tires once in a while I say she's deserved it.

I'm praying that she'll give me another year or two before starting to really feel her age.  We don't gallivant like in the Glory Days (neither of us are as young as we used to be), and I let her rest a good bit now...just hanging out in the driveway sunning herself...so things are looking good for our immediate future.

But I can say right now, if she did give out today and find herself unable to go another mile I wouldn't blame her.

I would miss her like the old friend she has turned out to be, and I'd be very concerned about how in the world I'm going to replace her...

But I wouldn't be mad.  She's been good to me, and I'm thankful for the time we've had together.

Thanks, Old Gal, for getting the girls and me everywhere we've needed to go for these last eleven years.  Through ice storms & blizzards, and wind and rain we have been safe and warm...and we looked a bit sporty in the process.

(These pics are from today...doesn't she look GOOD??)

Happy Monday :)

**To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love Singing Along When Only He Can Hear

....and a little JJ Heller on a sunny Saturday :)

Have a great day!

**To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love Licking the Bowl

So I mentioned yesterday that I had tried a pumpkin muffin recipe I had seen on Pinterest.  It looked extremely promising because it only took three or four ingredients, and frankly it had been repinned about a zillion times, which implies greatness.  

However, I thought they turned out kind've just okay.  I don't know if it's because they were actually not that great or if I couldn't help comparing them to my favorite recipe.

For whatever reason, I won't be putting the experiment in my muffin rotation.  

Frankly there's no point when I can indulge in the below pumpkin-y goodness.

  

Pumpkin Muffins

4 eggs

1-2/3 cups sugar

1 cup oil

1 can pumpkin

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt

Because I'm not so much a specific-recipe kinda cook I have no idea how long I bake them, but I'm  pretty sure I preheat the oven to about 350 degrees.

p.s.  Thanks Donita, for gifting my family with a basket of these more than once and sharing your recipe :)

Goodnight y'all!

**To read more of the 31 Days of Things I Love just click right here

31 Days: I Love the Occasional List

Since I'm feeling hopelessly behind in pretty much everything in my whole life it seems today would be a swell time for a listy offering.  

Lists are this busy fatigued lazy blogger's way of emptying out a few of the thoughts that rattle around inside the ol' cerebral cortex.

1.  I heart Chipotle.  I love some good Mexican food so much that if my grandchildren were there I would happily brave the thousand-degree temperatures and move to Texas (home of the best Mexican food EVER - except maybe, you know, MEXICO) just so I could consume it on a daily basis.

On a side note, how is it possible to love Mexican food with my whole heart and yet hate cilantro more than any other food group in the history of ever?  

I have no answers for this great mystery of life but am grateful that it's a complexity we can all live with.

2.  I don't understand how this is even possible but I recently, and by recently I mean in the last 48 hours, viewed the first two seasons of "Sister Wives."  

OH Y'ALL.

I'm a bit chagrined to admit that I found the whole thing riveting.  

RIVETING.  

and I have no earthly idea why.  My fundamental issues with polygamy aside, one man attempting to keep four different wives and 16 children happy just seems like a Terrible Plan fraught with all manner of aggravation and frustration.  However, after watching a few episodes I suppose I can see how some women might be drawn to the abundant sense of family, especially if they were lacking in family when young.  

One thing these people are not is lonely, that's for sure.

In my opinion it looks about a zillion times harder and less wonderful than the way God designed it, and frankly, I'm thinking marriage is challenging enough without us mucking things up unnecessarily.

I do have to say this, though, and I don't mean to be at all mean, but while I really kinda liked all the "wives" - who seem to be devoted mothers and just basically kind people - Kody The Husband is downright goofy.  

Well-intentioned probably, but Y'all... SO GOOFY.

Which leads me to that age-old question.  How in the world do the goofballs end up with FOUR different wives when perfectly nice people like me don't even have a fella?

Just a question. 

Next up in my Netflix-y rotation would be Toddlers and Tiaras.

Because it's all about stimulating the cerebral cortex. 

3.  Audrey just spent a few days with me.  That right there was some grandparenting delight is what that was. 

4.  It dropped from around 80 to around 50 degrees in the span of approximately 12 minutes around here this week.  That makes for some weird weather here in the Valley.  WEIRD WEATHER.

5.  I tried a three-ingredient pumpkin muffin recipe I've seen floating around on Pinterest, and while I have eaten four or five of them I have to admit they prove the old adage, easy is not necessarily better.

(I'm not sure that's an actual adage.)

(What's an adage?)

I'll share my favorite muffin recipe with you soon when I'm less busy fatigued lazy.  It may have more than three ingredients but, how can I say this...it tastes like you actually tried.

6.  My head still hurts.  In other words I still have a headache.  

This is ticking me off because basically I've had a headache for about a hundred years.  Or at least a few weeks.  Same difference.  

I only mention it here because, and I'm just gonna say it, I'm fed up and also sick and tired of having a headache.  Therefore I'm appealing to you, my bloggy friends, for suggestions.  I know lots of ya have had a headache before, so I'm hoping maybe you can give me your tips on how to avoid losing my ever-lovin' mind.

Happy Thursday ;)

**You can catch up on the rest of my 31 Days of Things I Love series right here