Ten on Tuesday

1. This has been One. Long. Week. It feels like we’ve packed two or three weeks of stuff into it – but it’s all good. [Really Good. – We. Are. Blessed.]
2. Emma Lou [aka Squiggles] went to The Shoals with us on Saturday and Sunday and even though she wasn’t out and about with all the activity -- she was worn out and went straight to bed when we got home Sunday evening – lol. We wanted to also! But stayed up to watch The Amazing Race – which came on MUCH later than usual due to the ballgames [Live! – no dvr – weird.] This is her new winter parka - lol
3. It was a short work-week for me and I enjoyed having Wednesday at home to just ‘be’ with the youngest a bit and make Craig’s favorite cake. We also went to the visitation for friend’s mother that afternoon. What a gift they gave her when they brought her home to their house since she did not want to pass away in the hospital.
4. Thursday we hated for our moms to be alone so Craig, youngest, and I drove over to The Shoals to have dinner and a little visiting time with each of them. We had a semi- celebration for his birthday that night when we enjoyed a bowl of that yummy cake together!
5. I also braved the ‘Black Friday’ sales to run down to Sam’s to pick up a skinny ‘pull-up’ Christmas tree – and I’ll concede that it’s not half as beautiful as my post-prison Martha Stewart tree that is GORGEOUS but is heavy as a log-wagon and takes up a ton of space [we all know her best designs have been since that time.] Photo taken with my camera - not the best , but you get the idea of the size and shape -
6. I had the new one up and lit [all by myself!] in about 15 minutes [yay!] and I think once it’s decorated it will be beautiful in a different way.
7. We had our family dinner that afternoon and I have to say that I love Aunt Betty’s Sausage Dressing – DELISH. We also had salad with cranberries and walnuts, roasted chicken, green bean casserole, veg-all casserole, mac & cheese, and pumpkin roll to end the meal – so good. I love to cook when I have lots of un-hurried time to do it [Recipes on the tab above.]
8. Saturday we went back to the Shoals [minus youngest who went ‘home’ to AU for The Game – exciting to be a part even when we know the expected outcome] to be with Craig’s extended family and enjoy a non-traditional – YUMMY meal of enchiladas with all the fixin’s, layered dip, and chocolate and pecan pies. Again, delish. Spent the evening visiting together. The next day his sister was taken to the ER where she was treated and released for complications of her illness. Please join us in prayer that she can have continuous days of wellness.
9. And Sunday we were supposed to be together with my extended family – but alas, they all had the crud and couldn’t make it [we’re extra careful about exposing Mom to any wayward germ.] And since she didn’t feel great herself we sent oldest and his gal on home and gathered Christmas decor from the house to take to her apartment. She was able to eat some crackers and soup while we were there decorating her door with the candles [big and plastic] that have been a part of their Christmas décor since the first gr-son was born. So sweet to carry on traditions even when circumstances change [I know the photo is horrible - but I just cropped one down form a photo of a scrapbook page - lol. I'll find a print and scan it in later -]
10. Before heading home Craig and I enjoyed a very relaxing [birthday -?] meal at our favorite place in the area – we were so hungry by that time that I ate my entire meal [and I’ve never – ever done that there.] I always get the Chicken Ricatoni – grilled chicken with goat cheese, steamed veggies, and garlic mashed potatoes – yum. It was nice to have some unhurried time to re-group together before our upcoming work-week; a good way to end our very busy week…

Birthday Boy -

Well, some of you know that I’m married to a ‘turkey-baby’ – born on Thanksgiving Day – and this year we celebrated that evening with his favorite cake [Tres Leches – recipe in the tab above,] and a special gift – a little something I’ve been planning for a while now. Craig is the world’s best gift-giver [something to do with his love of shopping, I think] so I have to work hard to think of something that he’ll love [and hasn’t already bought for himself!] But I love this – and I think he does too.


First, I gathered photos of the official Shrimp Festival posters from past years [note – since 1983 we’ve been to this event more years than not, it’s practically a family tradition.] Then I pondered how to pull them all together in a neat way - settled on working in photo-shop with a poster to drag and drop them into, all the same size and coordinated. [but, honestly, I don’t work in photo-shop enough to just be able to open it up and go for it – would have to pull out my cheat cards to get it done -]
Then I thought of the collage prints at Walgreens and checked to see if they did large sizes. Bingo. Love that you can rearrange your photos to highlight the ones you like best [and strategically offset the white backgrounds with colored ones.] LOVE that it helps you know the best size to print when your pixels might be smaller than normal [without this I would have messed up, big-time.] And loved that Walgreens printed it without a hassle [was concerned they’d get all copy-right on me…] and I especially love that I was able to surprise Craig with it.

Favorite Photo Friday

A family tradition for years and years.


Mama, sister,* and me leaving a store with Christmas decorations on
Thanksgiving afternoon several [many -?] years ago.
- Yes, even then there was one little discount store in the area that opened at noon -
* She has a name, but I'm not sure she'd want me to share it here, and even though many people call their sister 'sister' here in the south - I'm not one of them - lol.

Ten on Tuesday

1. The week started with travel to Montgomery for staff meeting. I chose to not spend the night – making it a 14 hour work day – yippee. And of course it was a rainy messy day – Craig and I have decided that we can almost predict the weather based on the days I plan to travel. LOL.
2. And the next day was a little worse with storms south of us for most of the day. I had a little ‘come-a-part’ when I couldn’t reach the youngest after hearing of the tornado in Auburn . I’d talked with him minutes before and he was in a basement at the BCM where he lives [so much safer than the 3^rd floor apartment they lived in before – although, I did love that little apartment.] And finally reached him afterwards to learn that all was well. [Thankfully, no lives lost, although there was substantial damage in some of the student trailer parks.]
3. Craig and I went to Turkey Toss the next morning – had a lazy [comp-time using] morning with my favorite sausage and tomato biscuit and then we went on over to hang-out with the boys of the show – and watch people toss those frozen turkeys! It was fun to see some of the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff that goes into a radio show [I'm not sure this photo is fixable -lol.]
4. And low and behold later in the week a former pastor said hello to me while walking past me in Wal-Mart – this is the same pastor who would walk right past me over and over [and over again] and never even give me a nod when I was a member of his church – in a teaching position with Craig as substitute music director. Go figure. I’ve always tried to be benevolent and say that he’s just not an extrovert – but still….
5. I worked on my little ‘30 Days of Thankfulness’ book this week – made from a hardbound library book I picked up a thrift store [with 30 numbered pages, how fun is that?!?] I put some pumpkin paper down on the front, painted the edges, and then finally decided to try this iron-on [for fabric] that I’ve had for a while – and it worked well enough. Used alpha –stickers for the title. I’ll try and remember to share photos of the inside before the end of the month.
6. It’s been an honor to prayfully walk along side some close friends who said good-bye to a loved one this week. It’s always hard – even when it’s not unexpected. Please keep them in your prayers in the coming days and weeks. LOTS to take care of. Love you guys.
7. Had a routine doctor’s visit this week, took care of some insurance requirements [whew!] and talked about some things that need to be scheduled during the new year. I’m ready for it. [Nothing serious – I’ll share more later on.]
8. Youngest is home and we enjoyed the traditional $1 Night Sushi with oldest and his gal. Nothing says family time like raw fish – lol.
9. I went to Lowe Mill Saturday to sell my wares. Surprised to find that there were less vendors than the last time I was there. And I LOVE my new cart to carry things in /out on my own. – Also still love the set-up that my sweetie designed for me using old shutters.
10. Today is the last work-day of the week for me as we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving – it’s a favorite holiday for me – with the only expectation being to enjoy family time. And THAT we will – lots of traveling over the next few days. And cooking, something I really do enjoy when I’m not rushed to get it done. Hope you all have a wonderful day – remember your blessings – the greatest one being our Savor who loved us enough to provide redemption.
    

Felting - a new obsession -

I wanted to take a moment to share about a new obsession of mine – one that requires so much more time than I want to give to it!

But I love it –

FELTING

I shared a bit about the delightful class I took with Emily Falconbridge during Spark and how we felted soaps – so easy [relatively quick] and just plain fun! I’ve followed Em’s blog for years and it was such a pleasure to learn from her IRL – so of course I jumped at the chance to take her on-line [wet] felting class at BPC. My first dilemma was finding roving that was easily available and wouldn’t break the budget. [We have a historical hardware store downtown that has it – it’s pric-eeey,] but there’s this Yarn Shop

that I’ve been wanting to go in - not too far from work, so I headed over there during lunch one day. And wow! Wish I’d taken a photo of the walls of lovely wool that she had! Delicious! She has just about anything a person could want! Most of her wool is from sheep in Tennessee, and she also has some alpaca [sooooo incredibly soft – although, I don’t think it felts so well] and she’s dyed it in just about every color imaginable. I pulled out basket after basket to choose my colors. Since the ones I chose were dyed straight off the sheep [lol] she put it through a ‘carding’ machine

[she called it something else] to comb it and separate the fibers a bit. Love how it goes in as a rope and comes out so ‘flat’ and usable.

At the end of my hour there [yes, I had to take a little extra lunch leave that day] this is what I ended up with: 4 glorious ounces [a plastic grocery bag full] of roving for about $10.

[She gave me a discount on one ounce.]

LOVE IT. And while I’m also loving the idea of all the projects in my class I’ll admit that I’ve only had time to execute one and I think I’m addicted to these flowers.

So easy to make [although they do take a little time.] I’ll be making lots of them throughout the winter months. [I put a pin on the back so they’re wearable.]

I’m happy that BPC now allows their classes to be accessed forever once you’ve taken them. No more printing of all the instructions and finding a place to store it all – now I can just click on the site and bring them up whenever I’m ready to work on something.

And working with all this wool is making me itchy to get my needles out to knit once again [not that I’ve ever knitted with wool – I’m just not that good. LOL]

Ten on Tuesday

1. It was mostly just a normal week for us – temps are cold and warm, like a southern ‘fall’ should be. I harvested the last of the peppers and gave them away. Still have some tomatoes ripe on the vine as I type this, and am contemplating if I should try to save the last basil plant that’s still living by bringing it inside for the winter [LOVE the idea of fresh basil through out the winter – caring fro the plant, not so much.] Brought the bougainvillea in and hoping it can winter over inside…enjoying these little mums that I planted last year…
2. I’ve had this urge to do a cartwheel for a few weeks now – strange? Perhaps. [Many] years ago my sister and I made a semi-pack that we’d do a cartwheel every year on Thanksgiving – but who can remember the last time that happened? Still. I kept thinking, I want this 50+ year old woman to give it a try – thinking that I’d probably break a leg or something… so one evening this week when I was out in the backyard with EmmaLou I just went for it.
3. Wow. Wasn’t expecting the WRISTS to be weak. Ha. I made it all the way through, but, wow, the wrists hurt. LOL. And sadly, that may be the last cartwheel this old woman ever does. SO glad I didn't break my wrists.
   
4. We went down to see our city’s new veteran’s memorial after church on Sunday – it’s so very nice and respectful. Gives a great history of the USA ’s defense of our freedom and honors those from our area who have lost lives fighting for our country.
5. Enjoyed dinner with good friends on 11-11-11. So fun. We’ve tried to get together each year on these ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ dates. But as life has gotten busier we’ve missed a few years. [Missed our boys – had them text me a photo at 11:11 a.m.]
6. Here’s a quick [?] run-down: 01-01-01 – Disney; 02-02-02 – bowling; 03-03-03 – Pizza Hut; 04-04-04 – picnic on the mountain; 05-05-05 – Cinco de Mayo potluck; 06-06-06 – cook out; 07-07-07 – The Melting Pot; 08-08-08 – we moved both boys to Auburn; 09-09-09: who knows? I have one photo taken that day of a scrapbook frame I completed and other photos that month included Drew's birthday and mine and Craig's trip to the sunflower field; 10-10-10 – Mentone antiquing; 11-11-11 – Macaroni Grill; and 12-12-12 –? We’re hoping to do a progressive dinner all together – but we’ll see what the next year has planned for us.
7. Cropped with friends on Saturday – so thankful that I have a group close-by to get together with regularly. And it’s so fun that we’re different in lots of ways and yet still find so much in common while sharing this love [addiction - ?] of paper crafting. And I say that because everyone had different projects to work on – cards, and mini-books, and vinyl lettering on glass jars [fun!] and scrapbook pages, – and I finished up 24 tags for a swap [did two pages too!].
8. I’m taking a couple of on-line classes right now – I always think its great to try new things. One is [wet] felting which is so fun, but I’m not sure I have the patience for it – lol. Still – I’m loving the projects, the flowers in particular. The other is a Christ-based creativity / art class. I’ve done one painting from that class that I’m happy with, but I love the way it stretches my thought process. And Craig and I worked on a little ‘trophy’ project for a friend at work who’s retiring; should be fun – we enjoyed putting it all together.
9. I’m also enjoying discussing Mama’s homework with her as I type it up for the class she’s attending [via DVD] – ‘Jesus and The Gospels” with Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson from Yale and Emory Universities . Love seeing her involved in so many things in her new community.
10. And lastly, praying for so many I know who are dealing with illness – their own, and that of their loved ones. Praying God’s peace will be felt as they walk through these days.
    

Once a Month [Old Stuff] GiveAway

Thanks so much for all of your comments throughout the month!
I love reading them and think it's so fun to share together!
I appreciate each of you taking the time to stop by and visit!

The winner of this month's OMGiveaway is

bfran55 :Enjoyed your blog. Looking forward to visiting again.

Send me your snail-mail address: Judy@faithabsedpages.com and I’ll get a box in the mail to you!

And remember that the NEXT winner will be chosen from COMMENTS ON THIS POST.

So comment away on any of the posts from the last month!

Deadline to leave a comment: November 30th

Check back with me at the end of December to see if you won!

[I’ve been cleaning out stuff from two big events this month and my give-away box is over-flowing! ]

I look forward to getting together and ‘talking’ with each of you then!

favorite photo friday -

So here's one of my all-time favorite photos

- love that it's [somewhat] not posed
- love that we're all enjoying being together!


Taken at the San Diego Zoo a few years back.
Those little feet refreshers ARE very nice after walking the hills of the zoo.
I was still recovering from an untreated torn meniscus cartilage
[yes, I'm stubborn like that -]
so it wasn't my feet that were hurting so much as my WHOLE LEG.
And those hills just about killed me...
Still, I do love that zoo --
And seeing the koalas up close and personal was worth any pain I had...

Spidey --

is without a doubt the biggest piece of art I've ever done -

When the oldest moved into his own place a while back - he bought a quirky little [?] house that has [extremely] tall ceilings running down the middle – and I wanted to do a HUGE piece of mixed media art for his living room wall – and as with most of the stuff I do, I had to ponder it in my head a bit before I took the first step. First I had to have a general theme to think on - he’s into comics [the weird ones – ha; the ones I’m unfamiliar with] so I asked what his favorite comic might be and he surprised me by saying Spiderman. I asked about an appropriate quote for this and without hesitation he stated, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”

Love it. So I started the mulling process in my head with Spidey ---

Then I had to consider the background – I wanted it BIG – but all the things I was considering were also HEAVY and I didn’t want it to be too difficult to get up on that wall --- so I’d almost settled on using a piece of paneling with some hangers on the back [loved the idea of the grooves going horizontally] when I was at our local Re-Store and saw this HUGE office white board [$10] and immediately called my local pick-up and delivery guy [aka my sweetie] to come haul it home for me.

I decided to hang it upside down and then if oldest wants he can add little led lights underneath the over-hang so it looks like a miniature billboard.

First, I painted the silver edging black. Then he pulled out all of his old calculus homework / tests and I mod-podged those to the back. I added strips of cardboard and tissue paper, etc. to give it a little texture.Next I painted and painted and painted some more. I used three – four different shades of both yellows and greens [cheap paint form Hobby Lobby.] This thing is bigger than our dining room table and took hours to dry between coats. Another coat of podge went over it all [I make my own, non-glossy, podge: 1 part water to 3 parts white glue {a gallon was $10 at home Depot} that works well.] Then I struggled a bit with whether to stamp on it or not – and finally settled on using my rolling stamp from Fiskars with stars on it. I also used a small print texture stamp and then rubbed the stamp pad over the top of the entire thing to catch the ridges and bumps of the base layer.

Next step = Spidey. I used a BIG old cardboard box cut open and flattened; it has different heights depending on the packaging. I had a great desire to decoupage him out with wrapping papers of patterned reds and blues – but I finally decided that painting was the best way for me to go. I’d purchased several Spiderman decorative pieces [invitations, party bags, etc.] and scanned the one I like best. Then I projected it on a wall where I’d taped the piece of cardboard and traced him on it. I took him to an all-day-crop and settled in on the floor to paint. I have to admit that at the beginning, when I was painting the reds on, I just wasn’t sure he was going to turn out like I was hoping. But as I added the blues and then lastly, the black, I was so surprised to see what I had created. [I used several shades of blues and reds to give him a little dimension and shading, and I used a black pen to define his eyes a bit.] I coated him with glossy mod podge and he just popped with color! [I’d forgotten how much I LOVE glossy!]Next, I cut him out using a craft knife [I found that holding it up a bit helped cut through the layers of cardboard more easily] and then trimmed with scissors. I positioned him on the background and started working on the quote. And let me just say – do as I say – not as I do – lol. Start small and cut bigger if you’re not happy with it. [I started with 4 inch letters and then moved down to 3 inch and then down to 2.5 inches and then down to 1.5 – lol – and as a result, I have LOTS of red / blue alphas in the above quote that I’d love to give away – if you can use them – just let me know! So glad I got THAT paper on sale at Hobby Lobby.] And in the end I decided I liked the black letters better with a little hint of red behind the focus words [which are also a bit larger.] – I used the Superman cartridge [cricut] for the alpha and was pleased to hear someone say, ‘Oh, you used the comic alphabet too!’ when they first saw it. –It’s all in the details, y'all. Fun. Another coat of podge sealed it all in -

And then I glued Spidey down – I used my E- 6000 glue and he’s been propped against the fireplace for a few days now and he’s still holding on! I sure don’t want to get it up on the wall only to have him fall off, so I may go back and add some hot glue around the edges that are off the base a bit.

Oldest thinks it’s neat and I’m looking forward to getting it to its new home. [we’ll have to transport as Spidey won’t fit in a car -] But for now – I’m glad it’s off the dining room table.

Ten on Tuesday

1. LOVING this fall weather! And I’ll surely miss the view from my office once we’re moved to the new building!
2. And I so enjoy having time to [just] sit out on our patio [at home] to enjoy God’s creation.
3. I took some time this week to get all the scrappy – creative stuff unpacked and sorted [for give-away] and put away. Between the two events in October – there was a lot of STUFF.
4. And I’m taking two on-line classes right now so I also have a lot STUFF out for works-in-progress. I’ll share them soon.
5. Soooo happy to report that little Emma Lou has [for the most part] gotten the hang of house-training. Something just clicked during the weekend she traveled with us to Atlanta. Sooooo happy to have the doggie gates down. [Of course – she’s crated when we’re not home.]
   
6. It’s hard to believe that there’s only a few weeks left in 2011 – in some ways it seems like it’s gone in a flash and in others, it seems time has lingered on. I usually pre-post the monthly quotes when I work out / town in January – and there’s only one pending now. Wow.
7. So I’m making plans for blog changes for 2012. I want to be mindful about my posts. One category I’m hoping to add: family heirlooms. As we’ve been going through things in Mama’s house it’s clear that the BIG things aren’t always the most meaningful.
8. Sooo fun to have youngest and his gal home for the weekend – love that our boys enjoy spending time together. And this is another one of Craig’s toys that he’s enjoying tinkering with –
9. We enjoyed a nice steak dinner before THE GAME on Saturday – and I made this little dish to go along with it. YUM-eee. It was an attempt to be healthy, but then we finished the meal with these. LOL. Warning: Apple Dumplings should only be made when you have a group of people to share them with –
10. And lastly, I must say once again, how thankful I am for multi-symptom cold meds – lol. It reduces the swelling and takes care of clearing the sinuses all in one [well two] little pill[s]. Yay. Because of them [and the zyrtec I take nightly] I have not been to the doctor since January –

Imagination is the true magic carpet.
- Norman Vincent Peale
[Photo: Utah 2011 - From my friend Nancy -]

Ten on Tuesday

1. In the past 14 days I’ve been away from home for nine days - in five states and traveled [most of the day for] six days – and I’ll admit – I’m VERY HAPPY to have a week with no out / town things on the calendar!
2. The travel’s all been for good things [well, one day was work related-] and as you know I had a blast in Utah – but also enjoyed seeing family in Knoxville as one of the youngest members of our family celebrated his 6^th birthday.[Photo taken by his mom-]
   
3. We also decided to carry-over a work trip into a quick overnight in Atlanta to pick up THE BATHROOM SINK. Guess which one we got? [Hint – it’s been discontinued and we had to get it quick!] We also enjoyed a delish meal at a favorite place – Pappadeux – where Craig had craw-fish ettouffe’ and I had the most delicious cheese grits – ever!
4. We took EmmaLou along and we both agree she won’t be a constant traveling companion – but she did SO WELL – it made us very happy.
5. LOVED seeing the beautiful fall colors as we traveled –
6. Had time with my sweet Mama on Sunday as we went over to ‘help’ her sort through some of her clothes [in quotes because my sister did most of the helping there-] and gathering of things from the house. Mom has never been one to hold on to things – but there’s still lots of ‘stuff’ to make decisions about.
7. We’ve decided to finalize some of those when all the gr-sons are there for Thanksgiving. There’s already a ‘for sale’ sign up in the yard – change is hard, but good too.
8. Missed the mark on my goal of completing the HUGE mixed media project for the oldest – I had hoped to have it done by the end of the month – it’s SO CLOSE – lol. Hopefully I’ll be sharing photos of it NEXT week.
9. But THIS ONE is coming home for the weekend, so who knows – yay. [Yes - the kangaroo -]
10. Can you believe the holiday season is fast approaching? [It happens every year – lol] The cooler weather we’re having is really helping to set the mood!