happily ever after: October 2012

Monday, October 29, 2012

Hello Monday

Hello hurricane sandy, bringing us days of overcastness and wind and wet.


Hello feeling more fallish and cozy so I made pumpkin spice pancakes for breakfast while Sweetie worked at the kitchen island.


Hello soft pretty feet, I gave myself a pedicure last night while the guys watched what would turn out to be the last world series game.


(plus, I figured it's been awhile since y'all have seen a picture of my feet...your welcome!)


Hello flavored water...apples & cinnamon stick, so yummy. I just kept it in my water bottle all day and kept filling it up with water. You've got to try this!


Hello stealing a few pieces of Halloween candy.


Hello break in the middle of the day for a lunch run to Taco Bell and visiting Dad on a job.


Hello cozy two hour long afternoon nap.


Hello mountain of laundry. (This is after I had done most of it. Lovely.)


Hello buying a couple of Sweetie's favorite goodies for his Birthday Week.


Hello Cheesy Veggie Chowder & Whole Wheat Yeast Rolls for dinner, while watching a movie with the family.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sweet Sunday

Yesterday evening I felt sick. Exhausted. I slept for 10 hours to a new morning and a renewed spirit. So thankful.

Don't you just love Sundays?

A time to see some people that I love the mostest.

A time to worship with my family.

A time for fancy lunch out with fun friends.

A time for long naps while the trees and leaves blow outside.

A quiet evening with no pressures at all.

So thankful for God's renewing strength.

Hope you had a sweet Sunday as well.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

One Tough Mudder

Sweetie did the Tough Mudder today. You can google it, if you want, but basically it's a 13 mile run with muddy, crazy obstacles during the run. The electrical wires and ice pool were the worst of it, overall he did great and had a total blast. I'm so proud of him.


Telling Dave & Greyson all about it. They can't wait till they are 18.


Telling Calvin all about it. I like how his leg is in the air.


After sending Sweetie off early this morning, I got to enjoy the quiet house to do my Bible Study.


Me and the boys driving to football, the trees are getting gorgeous.


The boys have to be at the game an hour before it starts, so I dropped them off and got myself a London Fog latte. (think vanilla & lavender tea, that tastes like calmness & warmth, yum.)


Then I thought I'd bless my boy with getting his truck washed.


And filling his tank up with gas. This is going to be huge for him.


Schnoogie Buns. It was his last game of the season today. Good and bad. He ended up on a kinda bad team this year, they don't get to advance to the playoffs next weekend. He's glad the season is over, but only because it was not as much fun for him. But he's still darn cute in his uniform, and pretty darn good at running that ball.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Thankful Thursday

1. The leaves falling on Durant Road, and driving through those leaves and watching them blow around behind me.

2. Making dinner for a sweet friend the other night while visiting with her while my guys were at football practice.

3. Precious ladies at precious ladies Bible study led by the precious Nancy.

4. Lunch and shopping with Sue-Bee, it had been way too long. So much laughter.

5. Dinner with our small group last night. So lovely.

6. Sleeping in the cold. But being warm under the covers.

7. Fall scents. Aided with my yummy yankee candle.

8. Falling asleep to the sound of my guys reading their Shakespeare together in the living room last night. Too cute.

9. Tonight is Date Night. Can't wait.

10. I get to stay in my p.j.'s for most of today, till Dave's dentist appointment, unless I can get Calvi to take him.

Happy Thankful Thursday everyone!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Where I Cook

This is my kitchen.

It started with needing to clean my oven and turned into a morning spent scrubbing and straightening and falling in love again with my kitchen.


(I realize that's tile & tub cleaner, but I have 2 bottles of that stuff left over from our tile shower at the last house, and it works really well on these smooth top stoves.)


This is the kitchen. It's dark, but only because of the paint color. Otherwise I love it. A creamy white paint on the cabinets. Butcher block counter tops. Stainless steel appliances. Linoleum flooring. And that island that makes everything better.


A sink that doesn't stare out a window, but instead stares at the rest of the house. That's a first for me.


Oh, the fridge is black, I don't like black. It shows everything, and drives me nuts. But it's big and it's ours and it works and has ice maker and water coming out the door, so it's all good.




This is my favorite part of the kitchen. Where the coffee is made. Yum.


The little skinny coffee cupboard. Mugs. Coffee. Tea. And on the top shelf, Mulling Spices.


This is my little drawer by my sink, with miscellaneous doo-dads in it. Everyone needs a miscellaneous doo-dad drawer, right?


The food storage cupboard. Tupperware and pyrex glass storage containers. It makes me happy to sit on the floor and totally organize this cupboard. I'm thinking there is something seriously wrong with me. But it's cheap therapy.


Yes, this is my spice cabinet. I'm a hoarder of spices and I don't care who knows. And yes, they are alphabetized.





My butter crock and rooster cutting board. Used everyday.


All the dishes and glasses. And by glasses I mean recycled jars. And my cork board recipe holder inside the cabinet door.


Our vitamins. My itouch player for our daily sing & dance sessions. My mixer. Just recently realized I could put my mixer here, plug it in and then slide it out to use it...so easy.



All the bakeware. Minus a couple of my bigger 9x13's that are holding leftovers in the garage fridge.


Ok, here's where it gets fun. This is the top one of the middle drawers in the island. I LOVE wraps and baggies.


Boo-yah! My baking drawers. I had these old containers for everything, but the lids stopped working and so I had to get new ones. Ugh. I would slowly pick up a couple every other week trip to Walmart. They fit perfectly. Plus they are red. Nice!


(Um, this picture is upside down...I'm not really standing on top of the island.)


My teeny-tiny junk drawer. When it's teeny-tiny, it demands to be kept neat.


Another favorite spot. All our water bottles, coffee travel cups and STRAWS!


The fridger. Paper goods are kept in that pain of a cupboard behind the cereal. And that's my bread basket and our plethora of cereal. I have two teenagers in the house, we go through A LOT of cereal. This is actually us getting low on cereal. Time to re-stock. My grocery list, and passage that moved me this week, favorite pics of three guys, our family calendar & precious pictures of loved ones.


My cookbooks. Love.



The 'keeping room' or breakfast nook. This was where you'd put a little kitchen table & chairs, before the island was put in. So now, it's just this little spot. But it's perfect to have a friend sit and visit with me while I cook. Or sit with the mail and the sunshine on my shoulders in the afternoon. That's my rocking chair that Grandpa did for me when I had Calvin. Precious. And my Mama has a matching one.


The pantry. Is in the laundry room, right off the kitchen. Very convenient to have the laundry here. This pantry is hilarious. I can barely fit in the doorway, I gain just 5 pounds and I ain't goin' in.


I have a love affair with pantries. LOVE them. Love to see and organize them. So much fun. On the inside of the door is all the cooking oils and vinegars.


Top shelf is rice & beans basket & extra condiments.

Second shelf is fruits, spreads & pasta basket.

Third shelf is miscellaneous foods, beans & soups.


Bottom shelf is tomato cans, taters & onions basket, and then mexicany foods.

My plastic drawer thingy is filled with drinks & teas, & vitamins.

On the floor to the right are different drink mixes, hot cocoa, protein powders and such.

And my stool, cuz I can't reach the top shelf without it.

I believe in keeping my pantry stocked with our staples, so I can easily make a meal without having to go to the store.


Laundry room. Another REALLY dark room. And something happened with my lamp over there, it no longer works, and NO it's not the lightbulb! Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE doing laundry???


This room is lined with a shelf around the ceiling, and that's where I put all my small appliances. Lunch boxes & grillin' tools hanging on the wall.

I see the boys have put their stinky football gear in here, I must get started on squelching that stench.

Happy cooking & laundering everyone!