Fall Harvest Begins

Fall Harvest Begins! 

It’s that wonderful time of year again when the air gets crisp, the leaves turn golden, and the harvest season kicks off.

Check out this video of a local harvester in action, capturing the progress and hard work that goes into bringing in the cornfields.

Exam Cram - Boxes Full of Fun!

If you have children irrespective of their age, you know how difficult the last few weeks of the school year can be.  They are tired.  Tired of getting up early, tired of homework, studying for test, their teachers, their friends, whatever the cafeteria is serving for lunch, you name it they are tired of it!

It can be especially stressful if they have to endure 'finals' week, everyone's nightmare.  You know that feeling you get of doom and despair when your professor announces the final will count for 55 percent of your final grade and it will be comprehensive!  Well, that is the state our daughter, her boyfriend and friends were at last week as Auburn kicked off their final exams. I was looking for a way to relieve some of the stress that is just inherent with finals.  One afternoon as I made my way through Pinterest I thought what about a care package, but not a basic boring care package but one with their favorite foods, drinks and toys to play with when they just needed a break from it all.

I found some great examples and with those in mind I headed off to Dollar Tree, Target and the grocery store.  I made sure I had my list of all their favorites so I wouldn't buy the wrong stuff.  I had a blast shopping for every item and found myself laughing as a perused the toy and card aisles pouring over my plethora of options.  

I spent three nights in my craft room floor decorating the boxes with my stash of scrap booking supplies and then personalized the items with notes of encouragement and funny quips to help brighten and lighten their days.  I packed them tight, signed the cards and then topped them off with multi colored shredded paper.  I could hardly wait to mail them.

I was so pleased when my daughter and her beau called to tell me how much they loved their surprise boxes.  They went on and on about the glow sticks, light up yo-yo's, candy, and the all important " F this Test" book, which outlined all the horrible, terrible answers to final exam questions by Richard Benson.

I am so glad I could make a difficult time a bit more bearable.  I have attached a few pictures of the boxes as the work was in progress.  This idea could be used for your child of any age, I guarantee you they will love you for it.  Plus, I can guarantee you will have just as much fun if not more making them!

I am BACKKKKKKK!

I cannot believe it has been (2) years since I posted to this blog, where did the time go?  What was I busy doing?  Oh yes, I remember I was ...

1. Working a full time job
2. Raising a teenager who was graduating high school, applying for college and busy acting (17)!
3. Taking care of our dogs
4. Taking care of our house
5. Taking care of our family
6. Traveling
7. Everything else I may have forgotten.

I have a lot to catch you up on, and a lot to blog about.  As you know I do not spend time on FB and I am just dipping my toes into the instagram world, mostly to keep up with our college kid.  My passion is really this blog and having the opportunity to share with my friends and family the events of our life without having to play it out for review by the entire internet world.  So be patient as I begin to share with you the events from the last two years and catch up on this thing we call life.

I will start with the posting of a recent photo of our daughter Olivia and her new beau Mason.  This was taken the weekend they attended his fraternity's spring formal.  I really love everything about this photo, I love her dress, his hair and their expressions.

I hope everything is well in all of your worlds.  Stay tuned as I catch up, I look forward to posting and your comments!

Love to all!

Kaley

Olivia & Mason Spring Formal 2016
Auburn University

The Kid has a nose for this kid of thing!

So while the kid is waiting for her acrylic nails to 'soak' off she came up with a creative way to pass the time.  She is playing words with friends on her phone but get this it is with her nose.

I can scantly text with my fingers let alone play a game with my nose.  If that wasn't bizarre enough to zoom in and out she uses her lips.  Freaky!!

Salon Saturday!

Ok, so we are spending another Saturday afternoon at the salon in an attempt to get these nails right.  The acrylics, which were done at the "mail chop shop" are coming off and shellac is going on.  We have to get this right before next weekends event with Zach!

Whats Happen'...Captain?

A big CONGRATULATIONS to our daughter "O" who was selected to be part of the 2014 Bob Jones High School Marching Band Leadership Team as Color Guard Captain.  This will be her second year serving in a leadership position with the band, as she was Color Guard Captain for the flag line in 2013.

Everyday, I am amazed by her fearless nature, leadership qualities, academic success, quirky sense of humor, stunning beauty ( we are biased), kind heart, faith in GOD, her gift of music both guitar and voice, gift of drawing, creative writing, love of family, love an acceptance of those who may be seen as different, and most importantly her willingness to put herself out there and to try for what may seem difficult or nearly impossible, and her ability to remain positive it she is not successful and to try again!  Congratulations "O" we are so very proud of you!

Prom Day

The day has finally arrived, Prom!  We were up early and at the salon so Miss "O" could get a pedicure, and acrylic nails done, next, we have to pick up the flowers, run to Target for some last minute then home to begin getting ready.

Group pictures are at 530, I will be taking them downtown to historic Madison.  We had some beautiful blooms on the cherry and redbud trees day before yesterday, but we had a storm night before last, which wiped them all out.

Stay tuned, I will post pictures as we goo.

Smile for Miles

The hubby headed out this morning before 0500 heading to a new fishing buddy's home for a trip to Florence.  I received this picture from a group text.  I don't know any of the details, weight, length or location and time caught.  I do know the most important one...he (BT) is VERY VERY HAPPY!

Looks like the purchase of that Alabama rig paid off!  Happy Fishing!

Hawaiian dreams

Meet Lola and her sidekick reindeer dog Lula.  They are dreaming of warmer days when sand will replace snow.

Liv and I had a blast building our first snow duo of the season.  The fallen pine branches gave birth to the Hawaiian theme.  The left over coconut bra was from the kids 16th bday party.  Pretty darn crafty of us if I say so myself!

Dream it...you can do it - 3D Candyland

As part of our daughter's AP English assignment, they have been tasked with attending a different class, other than English, on Fridays as they study Da'Vinci.   The Space and Rocket Center is hosting the Da' Vinci exhibit and they will take part in a field trip to view it later in the month of February.

Since Da'Vinci was known for bringing his dreams and visions to life, the students were assigned to groups and tasked with the same.  Our brain child decided on a 3D Candy land, which she was convinced would be a piece of cake to build and take no time at all.

Since this happens quite frequently with her and projects ( in her mind she has a thought and her own timeline), which seldom transfers over to real life , I had to kick her into gear to begin.  So she started last week  with a trip to the Dollar Tree, Target's dollar aisle and Wal-Mart.  Here is a list of what she had to purchase

Foam Board
Cotton Balls
Pipe Cleaners
Paint Chips ( courtesy of Lowes)
Paint Stick ( courtesy of Lowes)
Erasers in the shape of lollipops
Erasers in the shape of candy conversation hearts
Tissue paper for the water fall
Candy Stickers
Colored Pom Poms
Pink Paint for Ramps
Craft Paint for Boards
whew....and the list goes on!

Eraser Lollipops from Target dollar aisle, along with eraser conversation hearts.

Size "C" batteries disguised in Three Musketeer wrapper to give the board some weight and balance

Fake chocolate candies straight from her 'play' food as a toddler

Her Dad helped her transport it this morning to the school library.  She said she felt like she was starring in one of the Food Network's cake challenges, where they have to decorate this huge cake and then get it to the table for judging.

Can you believe all of this and she wasn't even being graded.  You had to complete and compete to be eligible to attend the field trip!  Wow...really, how about next time we draw it instead! 

Study This......

In addition to the laundry room we had custom cabinets made for my husband's study.  We sold a set of Cherry bookcases, which we brought from our former home in Tennessee.  H&S Cabinets designed a safe cabinet, along with a cabinet console, complete with file drawers.  We had another stand alone cabinet built to place the printer, router, neat receipt and all the other sundry technological gadgets.

Here are the before pictures of the wall..........

And the after.....  Please note they came out a little red, it was due in part to the room lighting and the back flash of color from our Sundried Tomato wall cover.

We still have some tweaking to do, but it is coming along!  It will finally look like something other than a giant storage lot for a garage sale, now that my hubby has decided to get on board and get it decorated!