A recipe for a neighborhood

Ingredients:

1 copper fire bowl
1 bundle of wood
1 fire starter block
1 lighter
1 bag of marshmallows
5 roasting sticks
6 folding camp chairs
16 flyers

Post flyers on the doors of each occupied home in the neighborhood and drop a couple at the sales office. Take all other ingredients to the cul-de-sac and set them up appropriately. Once darkness falls, build a fire in the fire bowl. Wait a few minutes and watch as shadowy figures come out of the dark carrying their own chairs and drinks. Sit around the fire with your neighbors and get to know each other as you scoot closer and closer to the fire because it's getting colder. Makes one close-knit neighborhood.

Nothing profound

It's been quiet around here lately, probably because the grown-ups have been sick with colds. The kids are just fine, thank you, which is great since they've outlawed kids' cold medicine. I thought we were over the worst of it until I had a relapse yesterday evening, but I got 10 hours of sleep last night plus a 3 hour nap today, so hopefully my immune system is strong enough to kick the last of the germs out on their little germmy hineys.

My brother is engaged. Did I tell you that? He and his fiancee are planning their wedding for next August. Outdoors. In Texas. Please start praying now for a freak cold snap. I totally agree that since weddings only happen once in a lifetime (yes, that's the way it's supposed to be), you should have the one you really want. But a cold snap would be most welcome. And this will bring the number of special family days - birthdays, anniversaries - in August to a number just below infinity. At least it's easier to remember. If you can't remember someone's special day, just send the card in August and you're probably right.

(For those who are planning to send me a gift, my birthday is in December. Just so you don't miss it.)

Let's see, what else....

I lost my calendar which contains my life for the next year. All my appointments, birthday reminders, field trips, special events. I was torn between panic over losing all that data and joy at the thought of getting to select another planner (I know, I have issues), but then I found my calendar stuck under a half-finished pumpkin coloring sheet. It did remind me that I need to update my online calendar so if I do really lose the paper calendar, I still have the information.

Speaking of on-line, I think I've decided to do this year's photo album on snapfish. I finally ordered last year's album so I could archive those photo files and clear some space on my hard drive. I did the book on iPhoto and it's beautiful and it's wonderful to have a bound book. I just decided to do a little browsing and decided that I like the themes available on snapfish. I've been putting the book together and have gotten all the way through our mission trip a couple of weeks ago. I love how quickly the on-line books go together versus the scrapbooking method, even though I do miss the scrapbooking parties and weekend retreats and getting to pick out and use all those neat papers and accessories. I found a book yesterday about breaking free of all those unrealistic mom expectations and it included *scrapbooking*. Sheesh! It's such a phenomenon that we now need self-help books to help us get away from the self-imposed stress of it!

Oh!!! I think I hear the UPS truck!! I think they found us!

Election?? Who cares! Look at these pictures!!

On Friday, I took the girls to a nature preserve a few miles down the road where we tried to take some portraits. It was awesomely, amazingly beautiful, but the pictures mostly turned out fuzzy or washed out.

Sigh...I have a new camera at the top of my Christmas list.

Today, I made the girls dress up again, charged the battery on Mr. at Home's fancy camera, and we headed back out there. And I am SO GLAD we did. As beautiful as it was Friday, the color and amazingness had multiplied a hundred fold. It was just indescribably gorgeous.

We redid the pictures we tried to take on Friday, but before I had gotten off one shot, I fell over backward. No really. I fell over backward. I tripped and instinctively grabbed the camera, which kept it safe, but I sacrificed my elbow. Of course, I didn't let that stop me and we kept shooting. The girls were in good moods and spent most of the time laughing and giggling and they took some fabulous pictures. Since I'm planning to use at least one for our Christmas cards, you don't get to see them all, but I'll share some. So when you get frustrated by the one-sided election result coverage, just come back and gaze at these pictures and feel the stress just flow disappear.

Visual Interruptions

Today, I am sharing some of the cuteness and beauty that is assaulting my vision today. This is your fair warning to click away before you simply get sucked in.

First is little L. If you've been reading this year, you know about the multiple hair cutting episodes we've experienced with her. Thankfully, she's moved on from cutting her hair and she's been anxiously awaiting the day when her hair is long enough to "have braids". This morning we decided it was time to try and L was sporting french braids for a few hours. She was so happy!

Second, it's fall here. Really fall. The leaves have reached their peak color and while we were driving around running errands, I could barely drag my eyes from the trees to the road. So I...ahem!..."borrowed" Mr. at Home's nice camera and took some pictures from our backyard so I could share a little taste of the beauty around here.

A Tinker Picture

I still haven't put the rest of the house pictures up on the website, I know. I'm working on it!
Ok, I haven't actually *worked* on it. The pictures have just been sitting here on my hard drive and I just haven't uploaded them and written the post. It's a lazy thing. And I still haven't got any intention of doing it tonight. I made the poor decision to clean the oven for the first time (which makes a lot of stinky smoke) when I had a headache starting. The headache is settling in to stay and I'm headed to bed. But I wanted to leave you with a little teaser.

This is our cat, Tinker. And this is one of the places she likes to sit. I still don't know how she manages the jump to and from this ledge to the loft wall, but she does.

Holiday Decorations and clearance

It's that time of year. The time of year when you're switching holiday decorations more often than you have to clean out your fridge. That is, of course, if you actually decorate for the different holidays. My mom does. She goes all out and has all kinds of holiday stuff all over her house. It's really cool looking, but way too much work for me. My holiday decor is much more...understated, but I do have to admit to buying some Halloween decor a couple of weeks ago.

We were Cracker Barrel and they had all their Halloween decor half-price. Half price! And I found the most perfect thing - a kitchen canister in black with a silver lid, which was perfect for my new kitchen with the black counters and stainless steel appliances.

It seems the weirdest thing to be in "seasonal decor". I mean, how many people change out their *kitchen canisters* each season? The only thing that made it Halloween was that it was black. I've been looking for new canisters since I first saw my new kitchen. This black one was exactly what I've been looking for. So I grabbed two (one for sugar and one for flour) and they now grace my kitchen counter. The only problem was that they're both the same size, so I made some bows of different colored ribbons to tell them apart. Aren't they (spooky?) pretty?

Congratulations, Mr. at Home!

As of today, the first of November, Mr. at Home got a promotion!! He's a now a senior whatever-they-call-him-this-week, which means that he's finally getting the title (and pay grade) that goes with the work he's been doing for awhile. It means he doesn't have to change jobs or responsibilities *and* he still gets to work from home a lot. I gotta love that!

Congratulations, Mr. at Home. You deserve it!