This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Oreo was feeling a little jealous, so he posed for a picture taken by Car Guy.  Have a wonderful weekend!!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Thankful

I wanted to take a moment and list the things I am so thankful to have. I think it helps keep things in perspective and helps stop the little things from getting in the way of life.

My husband and sons.  I am so very blessed to have them. They have enriched my life immensely.  They've made me stronger, more patient, more compassionate, more humorous and more loving. They drive me nuts, make me laugh and give me so much just by being there. I appreciate them more and more every day.

My Sainted Mother. She is the quiet strength that is always there to help get me through. She is the friend I can always count on and the shoulder I can always lean on. (Pictured here with Fabulous Frankie.)

My beautiful, talented sister.  I miss her terribly because she's clear across on the other side of the country, but she's always in my heart. Her quirky humor and ability to keep things in focus help keep me straight.  Thank goodness she is only a  phone call or text away.

My crazy, wonderful extended family.  I was so very fortunate to marry the "good" in-laws.

The simple things in life - My home, my job, food on the table and clothes on my back.  The things that make life easier.  They are so easy to take for granted.

My friends. The wonderful women who help get me through each day.....

The ones I learn with, laugh with, and love with.  They are a support group that go above and beyond. They keep me grounded while encouraging me to fly.  These ladies ROCK!

And you!  Thank you so much joining me on this journey of discovery.  I have been so amazed by the warmth, support and friendship I've found here. You've opened your hearts and the world to me. You've reinforced the hope that there are good people all over the world and that makes it a lot easier to get out of bed each day.  

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving - whether you celebrate or not - and know that your beauty and uniqueness is appreciated every day!

Still Knitting

I hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for Thanksgiving (if you're in the US).  I'm looking forward to spending it with my sister and brother-in-law, who are visiting for California.  I'm so glad they are here.

I don't know about the rest of your, but I'm am busily working of Christmas gifts.  Currently I'm working on the Gunn Au Lait hat. It a really simple pattern, but is taking forever because it's done in sock yarn.  I'm about to start my decreases, so I hope to finish sometime tomorrow.  Then I only have a few dozen more to finish.

We had our first wrestling match of the season last night.  Number One Son didn't wrestle because he needs to drop a couple of pounds and if he weighs in, it could affect when and what weight class he wrestles.  Number Two Son did wrestle and won by points.  The team won 58 to 18.  Looks like we have a really strong team.  We'll see this weekend when we go to the first tournament of the season.

I'll try to get back here sometime this week, but no promises as we have a very busy schedule with family, Thanksgiving and wrestling.  So I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are blessed with many wonderful things in your life....

One More Down

Here's one more Christmas gift done....

Sorry, not the best picture...now I have a lot more to do.....Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Don't know how much I'll get done since my sister is in from California!!!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

I know that there are not supposed to be words, but I have to add...

First, how I wish I'd been the one to take this picture of my lovely new niece being fed by my adorable nephew, but they are several states away and terribly missed. This picture arrived yesterday at the perfect time, after a long day.

Secondly, I want to thank everyone for their kind comments, emails, etc.  We definitely "felt the love" from everyone over the past week and it was greatly appreciated. The world moves forward and with each day comes many beautiful things to comfort us - like the picture above.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A Good Woman

This lovely lady is Car Guy's maternal grandmother Beryl.  She passed away this weekend at the age of eighty-nine.  She was a wonderful woman full of spirit and charm.  She knew her own mind and wasn't afraid to speak it, but was always a true southern lady.  She will be greatly missed.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

Sleeping Beauty...in the pantry.

 Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

This Boy

See this boy....

This funny boy....

This so sweet boy....

He turns 18 today.

*Gasp* 

How did this happen? 

When did this happen? 

Just yesterday he was that sweet little chubby, red headed toddler that thought I was the center of the universe.

Now he has a girlfriend (sweet girl).

Now he's applying to college.

Now he has one foot out the door and looking to the future.

He breaks my heart and makes me so proud.

Happy Birthday Baby!  I Love You!

Success! (and a long overdue Show and Tell)

It's the little things in life that make us happy.  Small obstacles over come that make us smile.  Sometimes these successes even make the family as a whole very happy.

As you know, I have been blessed with a cold.  So I decided on Monday that I would make some chicken noodle soup when I got home...not open the can of Campbell's kind of soup, but cut veggies, cook chicken and simmer kind of soup.  No one in the family complained because Number Two Son also had a cold and the others know when Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.  So if she wants chicken soup and she's cooking, we'll have chicken soup. But what were we going to have with it?  Hmmm.......some biscuits would be really good.......Yikes! Biscuits! For those of you who don't know, I've been struggling with biscuits for a long time.  So as not to belabor a point, just read about my shame here. 

I really liked the idea of biscuits with the soup, but wasn't sure that my current state was a good one for trying to rage this battle. I mean, let's face it, a cold doesn't bring out the best in a person. I was already tired and cranky.  Did I really want to add to my frustration? Then I decided "What the hey" and went for it.  I've tried several different recipes that weren't successful, so I decided I needed to try a new one.  So off I went to the Tasty Kitchen. .

If you've never been there, the Tasty Kitchen is kind of like Ravelry for foodies.  It's a spin off of the Pioneer Woman's blog and is a WONDERFUL resource.  There you will find not only Ree Drummond's recipes, but tons of others.  I wanted something quick and easy.  No yeast rolls, just some simple biscuits.  And there I found a recipe for - get ready, this is so great - Baby's Bottom Biscuits. Seriously?  How can you go wrong with something named Baby's Bottom? They come from Kat and her blog is Kat's in the Kitchen. She makes what I call comfort food and it looks wonderful.  I have a pretty good idea that I will be visiting Kat's Kitchen a lot.

Back to the biscuits.  The recipe was simple and the dough tasted like biscuit dough should taste - Am I the only one who taste dough? And....are you ready?  Can you handle the excitement? Here are the biscuits.......

Fresh from the oven...

With dinner....

And after dinner.

That's right...after dinner there were only two...TWO...biscuits left. And they didn't last long. No hockey pucks were present.  No teeth were broken.  None were used as weapons to knock their siblings, I mean other people out. I was happy.  My husband was happy.  My kids were happy. AND my dentist was happy! FINALLY!  I can make biscuits!  You have no idea how happy this makes me.  No more hanging my head in shame. I am a proud southern cook and I CAN MAKE BISCUITS!  I owe it all to Kat...and a little perseverance...and a good dental plan.....

So Kat has my undying gratitude and I'm off to make more biscuits....maybe a few Cheese Biscuits would be good.....What do you think?

Sharing

I've tried to be a good mother. I really have.  I've tried to teach The Boys the importance of sharing.  I've tried to teach them that sharing is good, but sometimes it's also good not to share everything you know and that they would understand this better as they get older and learn the importance of discretion.  I had hoped, as teenagers, they were finally understanding this.....but noooooo.  Number Two Son decided that, while he won't share information about the his social life and the girl he thought was so cute, it's quite alright to make his dear mother miserable by sharing his head cold.  There is something severely wrong with his logic. While I'd LOVE to know if there are any possible dates in his future, I could really do without the pressure of a stopped up head. *Sighs deeply*  I hope everyone else has a better start to the week.  I'm off to make me some ginger tea and chicken noodle soup....You might want to buy stock in Kleenex because we are going through a lot of it around here.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words  - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Happy Friday!!

  

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Finished Thursday?

Hello all!  How are you on this lovely Friday Eve?  I'm afraid I'm moving a little slow this week and just can't seem to motivate myself.  I've been crazy busy at work and by the time I get home, I'm pooped. Wrestling practice has started back up and in a weird way, that's a good thing for me.  I get off work at five and wrestling practice is over at six. I have an hour in between where it's ridiculous for me to go home because by the time I get there, I have to turn around and leave again. So I either stay at the office for a little bit longer or go sit in the parking lot at the school and knit or crochet.  It's a lovely little bit of quiet time. This is when I get to work on my projects without guilt or interruption...until smelly sweaty boys are banging loudly on the car window. "Let us in Mom!  It's cold and I'm hungry....Can we go home NOW?"  *Sigh*...it never lasts long.

Since it's not Wednesday (no WIP Wednesday - Ha Ha) and not yet Friday, I'll do a Finished Thursday.

This is what I've been working on in the beautiful, blissful twilight hour (there is a joke in there...wait for it).  They are a Christmas gift for a very special young lady who loves pink.  The pattern is Alice by Vicki Howell (named after Alice in the Twilight Saga - see, a joke!) and the yarn is Debbie Bliss (Blissful hour? Two for one! Lucky you!) Luxury Tweed in Raspberry.  The yarn is really soft with a touch of angora (My allergies did NOT like that touch) and I used less than one ball.  I will say that as nice as this yarn is, if you have tight tension, you'll need to be careful because it breaks fairly easy. I will make these again, probably for me :) because for a REALLY slow knitter, they worked up quickly. I'll just use a different yarn. Now I have a design question.  I thought about embroidering this young lady's initial down near the ribbing at the bottom, or possibly some small flowers.  Just a little something to dress them up a bit. I don't want to go over the top, because she's not a frilly kind of gal, but touches here and there pop up in her wardrobe all the time. What are your thoughts? 

Must get back to reality.  Too much to do and not enough time.  Work keeps interfering with my life.  Hate it when that happens!  Have a wonderful day!

Sick Day

See that sweet face?  See those tired eyes?  That's my (almost 16 year old) baby...that's bigger than me. He's home today.  He "doesn't feel."  He woke up with a fever and a scratchy throat.  I told him he shouldn't gargle with razor blades any more, but he wouldn't listen. So he's in bed getting better.  And I'm at work, counting down the minutes until I can go home at lunch and check on him. And shovel soup down his throat and do general "mommy" things that might not make him feel 100%, but they make me feel better. Please excuse my absence while I go make ginger tea for my baby.  Any natural, home remedy suggestions are welcome.  Hope to be back soon!