I had such trouble on what to post today. I have such a backlog of things to share with you. How did this happen?!?!?

Oh well, just means I'll have lots of posting material for you guys. :)  I want to share with y'all a craft that Dev and I did for the kids' Christmas tree. I ended up having to recycle a bunch of the ornaments that he and I made last year, and I needed something quick and easy until I can fill the gaps.

Today I had a hard time deciding what to write about. I mean....all my Christmas decorations are up and almost all of the boxes are back down in the Christmas closet, and I really really want to show all them off, along with the ornaments that Dev and I made for the kid's tree, but I got the thinking right before I started writing this post.
I got the thinking about luggage. I mean everyone has it. Our luggage is several years old and is teal and black. It was a set that we got from Target for like $80, and its perfectly fine for a trip that lasts several days long, but do we have anything that would be perfect for an overnight visit? Not really.

Well I was cruising around CSN and came across  sling backpacks . These things are adorable and their uses go far beyond just an overnight jaunt to your favorite shopping destination! 


Take a look at some of these styles. 

I am thankful for so many, many things. I'm thankful for Jesus first and foremost, for my wonderful, loving husband and for my sweet, little dogs. I'm thankful for my family and my friends and job and so much more. I'm also very thankful for electricity. As the power went out yesterday an hour before I was supposed to serve dinner, and Mike peeled potatoes by candlelight, I said, "Lord, thank you so much for the gift of electricity. I am happy that I have the serenity to accept that there is nothing I can do about this power outage. Now that I have this acceptance, can I please have power back?" Everything turned out perfectly fine, but I do not wish that kind of Thanksgiving adventure on anyone, haha.

The table is set.

Well the baking is in full swing to get ahead of the roasting tomorrow. My hands are so dry from all the hand washing, but while waiting for all the baked goodness to get done yesterday So I decided that needed some new napkin rings. I busted out my old napkin ring projects and moths flew out.  Hrm. Ok so its been a while, but never fear. I have a plan! So on to the show!

Well here is another pleated pillow. I am in love with pleats. I love my boys, but boys do not like girly pleats or girly pillows, and husbands do not like girly pleats or girly pillows in their sons' rooms. So I will make these girly pillows for you guys and then put them up in my shop so that someone else can enjoy them. :) I like this plan. Do you know what's nice about this particular pillow? Imagine doing it with a boldly color variegated thread against a gray. That's not girly at all. Maybe I will end up with a full on boy pillow that's pleated. Ruh roh...the gears are turning. Ok well I'll consider the most recent idea that just vomited itself from my keyboard, I will tell all of you how to create your own square pleated pillow.

Can you believe that Black Friday is 4 days away?!?!? Cyber Monday is a week away! Eeeek! Are you guys already behind on your Christmas lists? I know I am! I have a list a mile long of things that need to be made for people, and we've only gone shopping for a few people. You'd think we'd be better planners than this. Its not like Christmas is at the same time of year every year. ;-)


Well if you guys are anything like most of my family then you're going to love what I'm about to share. Gina over at The Shabby Chic Cottage is hosting a Christmas Carnival and a day of giveaways! How amazingly awesome is that? Who doesn't like free stuff.....especially at this time of year?!?!

Well the news gets even better.....I'm participating in Gina's carnival, which means that the shop wares are up for grabs, but if you're impatient (and I sincerely hope that one of you is!) I have decided to give everyone a little bonus. I know that I rarely ever win giveaways and I know that a lot of you feel that way so I'm going to try and give everyone something. :) For the next week, from today, 11/22, to Cyber Monday, 11/29, I am offering a 10% discount to all of you, my faithful readers!

This could also be called "Cooking At Work", but more on that later. I am incredibly blessed to work for a company that I love, doing something I really enjoy. There are lots of reasons I love the company that I work for, but one in particular is that we do things together. Aegis has numerous company events throughout the year, many of which are potlucks. These are really fun in an organization that fosters great relationships. Some really amusing food-rivalries develop, wherein you see items like "Rob's Better-Than-Jen's Deviled Eggs" on the potluck sign-up sheets. Well, we just had our annual Thanksgiving potluck, and I had a lot of trouble deciding what to bring. This was my issue: There are about 150 people in my building and seven microwaves. You do the math. There was no way I was going to try and fight for a microwave, but I really don't do cold dishes (I am my mother's daughter) unless it's a dessert. Well, don't you know that a lot of people had the dessert idea before me? Dang. What now? Slow cooker! The only problem with that was that I didn't really have a slow cooker recipe that I wanted to try, so I converted an oven recipe...sort of. Here's what I started with.

Well as promised here is the first of a few pillow tutorials for pillows that I made for the Gift Fair this past weekend. The pillow we're making today is a nod back to when dresses had smocking and intricate pintucked patterns. So without further ado, lets get started!

So yesterday I showed you guys my window art {this post}, and I was quite happy with how it turned out. Then I hung it on the wall and I couldn't get it too look quite right. Then I started wondering how the heck I was going to get the main attraction {for this season} to hang correctly on it. So I went back to the drawing board, but before I get to  that I want to share my other project for the window.

Ever since I started blogging I have wanted to make a wreath for inside the house, but I did not have a good place to put one because of where I had put our art. So this started a long thought process over what I wanted to put above the mantle. Then fate stepped in and I ended up a with a bunch of windows, which I am thinking of selling some of them so if you're interested email me.


Oiy, I'm getting off topic, I'm so scattered brained today so back on track. A few years ago I saw a nut wreath in Martha's magazine {I think} and I have wanted to make it since then so without further ado.....On to the show!

I'm not going to lie when I tell y'all that I love having a pile of wonderful old windows at my disposal. I've been wanting to update the space over my mantle for quite some time now. Its not that it looked bad or anything, but I just wanted a change. So I pulled out some windows. :)

I took the oldest two of the pile and cleaned them up (and got splinters in my hands) and then set them aside for about 3 weeks. Then when I was searching for windows for the display I came across two other windows that would be perfect for my burgeoning idea for the wall space. So out they came and along with the hose.

I played with a couple of configurations for the windows and then finally decided on one. I attached all of the windows with braces. For the little windows I elevated them with small blocks and then attached the braces to them.

Saturday was my very first gift fair, and it was a learning experience. I met a lot of nice ladies, and chatted with them throughout the day. There was not a lot of traffic, but for the traffic we got I'm quite happy with what we sold. I got a lot of ideas about where to head with the etsy shop and what changes to make to what I sell.

I want to share with you guys what the booth looked like. It did change a couple of time during the day as I rotated the pillowcases around and what not, but I am quite happy with how our space turned out.

I need send out a big thank you to Marian for all of her help and advice on setting up the booth. She answered all of my questions, because I was quite apprehensive about how it was all going to come together. :)

So without further ado, here is what the space looked like Friday night.

I have a confession. I cheat...sometimes. With food that is. I once said there's a thin line between laziness and creative genius. I also said that I like to think I walk that line everyday. I definitely walked it this week when I bust out a fabulous soup mix. Yes, I know mixes are what has killed many a great homemade recipe, but they're just so darn convenient! At least it was healthy.

There's a really great place called Great Harvest Bread Company. They sell a lot of all-natural, made-from-scratch mixes and foods. This is one that I got a while back.

I hope you guys didn't think I'd forgotten about my laundry room. I didn't. In fact, I was trying to hold off on posting anything until she was 100% completely done, buuuuut yea, that might take a while. I am hoping that it doesn't take too long. I'd like to have her completely done in the next week or so.

I'm so jealous of the people that have these nice walk-in laundry rooms that have room to maneuver in. Mine is ok....but it'd be better if there wasn't a nook in it. Oh well. I will work with what I have.

So I'm sure that you all remember the haphazard state that my laundry room was in before. Oh that's right. I didn't really show you anything. :) I really can't believe that I'm showing these pictures to you guys, because the room has looked worse and better. This would probably be on the worse side.

I seem to be on a food quick this week. Its not really that shocking because none of what I'm sewing can be shared yet, so we'll just have to make do on food. :)

Here's a  super simple dinner that we had last week. The squash takes some time, but its so worth it. I love that Acorn Squash is back in season. I love Acorn Squash. So I'm going to share this recipe with you. Its from Taste of Home, of course. :)

It feels weird to have skipped a day on this blog. I know. I don't really have any excuse except to say that I was tired. We drove 20 hours over three days, and then today I drove another 3 hours to get the boys home. I am tired of our car. If I don't see the inside of that car for another week then I will be very happy, but with that being said...I've been meaning to share this recipe for a while now. It started off as a chili recipe that we got from my mom way back when, but then we started playing around with it. :) This is a highly customizable recipe, for whatever taste you want. So here goes!

It was one of those days. One of those days where you clean up after other people and put out their fires. All you parents know what I'm talking about, I'm sure. Well, I could at least go home and switch off at the end of the day. I know so many of you brave, selfless folks can't, so well done you for carrying on! Despite my rather-small-in-comparison struggles, I really, really didn't want to cook that night. That's when my hero, my knight in shining armor, my wonderful husband swept in and made my day. Here he is, folks! Meet Mike!

Sup?

I'm such a bad planner sometimes. I'm impulsive. I'm impulsive about a lot of things, but I love to have a plan. Confused? Me too. I change my plans, and then expect people to keep up with me because I've  spoken out loud about the changes I've made. Even if I've gone over a couple of different scenarios. I can keep up.....can't everyone? :)

So as to the chili recipe....sorry. Plans changed. :) I'll share it next week. Steve suggested that I show you guys a sneak preview of the laundry room, which is coming along. Its taking a little longer than I anticipated because  I found a project that I've asked Stephen to help me with, and a sinus infection has decided to come visit me.

I was going to share my favoritest chili recipe. I know I already shared the chicken chili, but this one has red meat, but it will have to wait.

I would like a mulligan. A do over. My day back. Yesterday sucked.

First, Stephen found out that one of his closest childhood friends very unexpectedly passed. He honestly scared the hell out of me, because he found out while I was napping and when he woke me up, after I told him that I didn't want to move because I was warm. He'd just gotten off the phone with his friend's mom, and I'm sure you guys can fill in the blanks.

During dinner we got a call from my dad and were told that our last remaining dog from childhood, Rascal, had passed last night. Rascal was 16 or 17 years old. He was such a character. Total goofball. He will be missed.

I had an idea that maybe some great prose would sprout and I'd at least be able to leave you guys with a thoughtful and meaningful ending to this very uncharacteristic post, but I don't have it.

I'm sorry guys, but I'll be back tomorrow with some happiness. For now I need to figure out if I need to change weekend plans.

Much love and happiness to all of you. Give those you love gigantic hugs.

So as any Mom knows, sometimes common foods get simple names. Other times we rename foods so that the kids will eat them because of association. Last week we had Cherry Cheese Blintzes, but Dev has no idea what a blintz is so I told him we were having cherry pancakes with icing. He was super excited for them and ate two of them! This is what Moms do. So when I wanted  to have Banana Fritters later that same week, I told him they were Iced Banana Donuts. He was excited.....until he ate one. He did not like the lemon icing. Oh well, at least he liked the banana fritter donut. :)  So here's what I am sharing with y'all today. I hope you enjoy.

This recipe is from a cookbook that my mother-in-law gave Steve and I when we were just starting out. It's called Pass the Plate. It's by an Episcopal church down in NC circa 1981. This particular recipe was submitted by Annie Kinsey Whitford.

I hope that everyone had a terrific Halloween. We sure did! Stephen and I are now enjoying candy. Not Dev's candy as I think he's probably taken a tally of his take, but Harrison's. He doesn't mind. :)

Here's all of us in our costumes.