Happy Fall!!

It's official! My favorite season of the year has arrived!

Apples, cinnamon, pumpkins, nutmeg,

hay rides, cider, crisp air, red, orange, browns,

gourds, leaves, crockpot dinners.

Jeans, sweatshirts, football games, harvest, wood fires.

Autumn

Sunday Rest

I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you

with much joy and peace while you trust in him.

Then your hope will overflow

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

The Princess

Once upon a time there was a princess. She loved to prance about in beautiful dresses, twirl in front of the mirror, and change her outfit on an hourly basis. If any type of royal event was discussed, her first question was, "what will I wear?"

Sometimes the constant clothing dilemmas annoyed her mother. Since the queen did not have a household staff to do her laundry, she often found herself quite frustrated at the amount of princess garments needing attention. The queen did, however, enjoy watching her princess take delight in all the fancies. Occasionally, the words "high maintenance" escaped the queen's lips as she considered what the future might hold for her darling beauty.

Never in a million years did she expect to find, posted to the princess' door the following note:

No fashion. Only bugs and mud.

The queen will not be holding court today. She is in mourning.

Finishing the Collection:: 12 years later

{I'm linking up with Kimba's DIY party today!!}

During our 2nd year of marriage, my hubby and I purchased our master bedroom suite. It was, and still is the biggest furniture purchase we've ever made. We decided that if we didn't buy it before we had kids, we probably never would. I'm a girl that tends to change her mind/style quite often. But even after all this time, I still love the set. The only problem was that we didn't buy the matching headboard, thinking it would be easy to "just find a headboard."

Twelve years later, we were still on the hunt. When we decided to paint our bedroom a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I really wanted a headboard. At first we talked about using an old door or some shutters, but we couldn't find "it" at the right price.

What do you do when you can't afford a new headboard? You make one out of scraps:

We looked around at the scraps left over from our front porch renovation, drew some plans, and my honey went to work.
This is the last of the tongue and groove that we used here, here, and here. Talk about stretching the dollar! One side of the wood is smooth (like on the dining room table) and the other side is beadboard.
It turned out beautiful! I am so proud of my man. He even painted it for me. We chose white so that we wouldn't have to try to match the stain of the rest of the furniture, and because it's what we had on hand.

Total cost: $0

Sunday Rest

Without faith no one can please God.

Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is real

and that he rewards those who truly want to find Him.

Hebrews 11:6

Mountains of Fun

We've been on the:

Hubby was thrilled about his first visit here:
It was a tender moment to share with him.;) He was a sport and let me peruse. I returned the favor at the gi-normous hunting store we visited next.

Our Labor Day weekend was stretched into a beautiful 4 day mini-cation here:

It has taken me 2 full days to get back into the swing of things because I keep dreaming of this:

We got our exercise on a nice long hike. With 11 people, we didn't even have to worry about bears. I am sure they were scared of us. Especially when the grown-ups broke out singing "Desperado" at full volume, which led to the great debate over which version is best, The Eagles or Karen Carpenter. Please discuss.

As I face my mountains of laundry and dirty bathrooms, I will ponder these sweet memories:
Have a beautiful day!

Happy Hour

So. I have a slight addiction. The cravings only happen during happy hour (2-4pm). Fortunately, that's when drinks are half price. Now that my kids are with me 24/7, it's a little tricky to sneak one in. But at $.59 apiece, I've learned that it is a cheap way to bribe/treat them when we have to run errands.
They even get to have a medium when mommy takes too long in Target. Yesterday, I had a craving for a root beer float, but my #1 favorite is CRANBERRY LIMEADE.

I'm thinking that there might just be a wee bit 'o sugar in a medium grape slush.
When we turned onto our street, I gladly let them get out of the car and dance their way home.

(Yes, "Dancing in the Street by Joanie Bartels was totally going through my head)

Not to be outdone by a mere slush run, I earned tons of cool-mom points by allowing them to camp out in the backyard ... on a school night.
What's your favorite "happy hour" pic-me-up?