Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom and I during a wonderful cheesy moment.

I want to pay tribute to my beautiful mom who celebrates her 82nd birthday this Thanksgiving weekend.
She is the most unselfish and loving woman I know with a heart full of charity and love for others.
Through failing health she concentrates on the joy and happiness her family and the gospel of Jesus Christ brings her.
On any giving day she is still found working in her garden, taking dinner into a family, driving a friend to an appointment or visiting with her loved ones.
She has six children, one son and five daughters. She lost her oldest daughter 6 years ago to brain cancer.

None of can keep up with her, never have and never will. This woman knows how to work and how to make All who are around her feel special! Each and every grandchild or great grandchild thinks they are her favorites:)

That takes some doing since she has 27 grandchildren and currently 46 great children with two more ‘greats’ in the oven.

And she still has 8 grandchildren yet to be married!!!! Wow, this wonderful large posterity is hers, just because two people fell in love.

Mom and Dad also raised a niece who was struggling in life and also had five Foster Native American children during the school year. Our home always seemed to be bursting with people coming and going and filled with her wonderful goodness.

Mom has been alone for many years as my dad died following an auto accident when his car was hit by a drunk driver, while dad was on his way to work one night. He was only 57 years of age.

She has taught us when life gets hard and your heart is troubled, to reach out to the Lord because it is through Him, we will find the strength to get through the hard times.

She asked me just this week, "Have you ever imagined holding the Saviors hand, and looking up into his eyes and feeling his strength flow through you?" I am glad she taught us to love and trust in the Lord.

I am so blessed to call her, my mom. Happy Birthday Mom! May we enjoy your love and wisdom for years to come.

I can't wait to see her at the wedding! (She lives in a different state)

Tomorrow night is our son and his new bride's wedding shower /open house with about 150 people coming to a nearby clubhouse. Then afterwards he has to catch a red eye back to Virginia to take 3 huge tests including the National Dental Boards before flying back in 6 days for their wedding next weekend...! It will be a hard, yet the best week of his life♥♥♥!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I wanted to share with you one of our favorite Holiday Breads. Caramel Monkey Bread has been a tradition for 25 years or more at every Thanksgiving at our home. Our daughter is making this delicious bread this year.

Caramel Monkey Bread

25 frozen (Rhodes ) rolls thawed, but still cold. Or your favorite recipe of refrigerator rolls
1 cup brown sugar mixed with 1 TBS cinnamon
1 cube real butter melted
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Spray a Bundt pan with non stick spray very well. Cut the rolls in ½ and roll into the butter, then the cinnamon sugar mixture and place into the pan. Alternate the rolls and the pecans until the rolls are used. ( I like to pour a little butter in the bottom of the pan and sprinkle the bottom with the cinnamon mixture first.)

Sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture, buts and butter over top.

Cover with wrap and let rise until they double in pan. If you let them rise too much some could possible drop in the bottom of the oven. I usually place a cookie sheet beneath or foil to catch any 'ROLLS OVER BOARD' which might fall:-)

Bake 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cover with foil the last 10 minutes of baking. Immediately after baking invert onto plate. Do not under bake!

Our hearts are full this Thanksgiving with Gratitude for ALL the Lord has blessed out family with. We know ALL we have comes from the Lord.

Beth~♥

P.S .The insurance adjuster came out and the damage to the Kitchen in the basement came to $ 2133.30. We decided not to make a claim for the truck or garage door to keep our premiums lower:-) Our dishwasher won't be fixed for 10-14 days...LOL eeeek! Breathe in and breathe out....

So the wedding and Thanksgiving will come and go and then I will be very grateful to have my wonderful dishwasher running again:) We forget how easy our lives really are with these conveniences.

We are grateful for Insurance, even with deductibles! Thanks for laughing along WITH me & for all your cheerful comments!

Oh Holy Hannah! It is Raining!

When it rains it pours! and it is raining at our house!!! Yesterday was a day in my life which will not be forgotten. So I must share...
This is our new little kitchen downstairs.

I hope the adage, 'things happen in threes' is correct and doesn’t keep going to fours and fives!:-)

Now, if you need a good laugh, enjoy one on me! Or with me.

It all started last Friday when Miss P Mc Call came home from school and yelled for me to come down stairs quickly. There was water dripping quite rapidly from the ceiling can lights in the kitchen downstairs. Then I noticed damp spots forming in different places of the ceiling. It seemed our P- trap had gotten plugged up in the drain leading from our washing machine.

It must of swallowed the sock I lost in the wash last week:)
Well, to make a this long story shorter. The walls were soaked! My husband had to drill holes in the wet ceiling and cut along the fur down going into the family room so the drywall and insulation could dry out. What a mess right before my nieces shower the next day!!!

Drywall and peeling paint everywhere! The really sad thing is he just finished our basement/kitchen and got it ready for my sister only one year ago...

THEN yesterday my wonderful Maytag dishwasher quit..:) My thought was NO, NOT THIS WEEK! Oh my heart... We have about 25 coming to Thanksgiving dinner!
Today when my hubby left for work this morning, the third car garage door ( which isn’t electric) came down on his truck and damaged the truck and damaged the garage door!

So I am LOL! What else can you do???
People, this is Thanksgiving and the crunch time for our son’s wedding next week!

LOL!!!! You have to just Laugh or cry. I picked laughter.
So this morning I called the plumber to fix the p-trap. He called back just after I applied tint to my hair!

YIKES!!!! He was only five minutes away.... I only had my p.j. bottoms on with a towel wrapped around my shoulders... So what does any new blogger do? I grab my camera!!! LOL again.

I was also vain enough to hurry and apply some eye makeup and then put Handiwrap around my head so I wouldn’t stain my clothes and I got dressed just as he rang the door bell. Buggers! He was fast!

This is 'JOE, OUR PLUMBER!' Boy, did he look at me weird with plastic wrap around my golden locks. NOT a pretty sight!!!

But then he didn't have a clue at was was coming either.....poor guy;)

Then about 30 minutes later as I was shampooing the tint out, which I had to do in the kitchen sink, because I couldn’t very well excuse myself, to go take a shower...

My daughter and two grandchildren drop in and start laughing... (She is still laughing tonight! ) She said she thought, "What is the deal with this...why is my mom's head buried in the sink and this guy standing there watching her?"

My rear end was up in the air as I was squatting with my feet about four feet apart trying to bend at my hips, to use the hose sprayer above the sink to get all the dye out. Arrrrgggg... (I still can’t bend because of a back surgery I had last year fusing three vertebrae together after breaking my back...) I am quite awkward to say the least.
The poor plumber was standing at the snack bar with a bill in his hand trying not to laugh.

" Oh Crap!!! " I didn’t know he was already finished and he was watching me!

LOL and thinking 'Oh, crumb ball...'

"Sorry sir, I will be with you in just a minute" comes out of my mouth and my poor daughter is busting up laughing.

"Nannie, what you doin?" My sweet three year old grandson is asking me?

So with raccoon eyes and dripping hair, I kindly wrote the man a check and he quickly left laughing all the way to his truck. Oh, what a disastrous sight I was! LOL

Then this afternoon 'DAN' the Maytag MAN on the left, came to fix the dishwasher just when my hubby got home from work.

We are told it needs a new timer which of course is out of stock... for about 250.00!

Today got expensive real fast. We haven’t heard back from the insurance adjuster on the damage to the laundry room and the basement. I was told by their office, the garage door would be a 500.00 deductible & the truck was ALSO a 500.00 deductible because you can’t be liable to yourself, when you are the one who causes the damage or some silly thing like that. AND the damage inside the house was another 500.00 deductible... $1500.00 in deductibles!!! F0r a three day period. LOL

I do not want hear the word deductible again in the near future.

So, since it is Thanksgiving, I am grateful we have a HOME which could be damaged, for a TRUCK to drive my hubby to work, a garage to park the truck in, and for the APPLIANCES which make our lives so much better. I am trying to have an Attitude of Gratitude!

I am grateful I could LAUGH today and PRAY things will be better tomorrow:-)

Happy Thanksgiving♥♥♥

Shower of Fun and Laughter

The first shower is over and was a great success with 22 women and 7 babies! Sometimes it sounded like a

nursery:-) The food turned out wonderful and Tasted better than my little camera can do it justice.

The salads all looked yummy and I got so busy I didn't take pictures of any but the first two!

She got some darling gifts and I got some fun ideas for future personal shower gifts.

Some of the fun ideas were:

♥♥♥ Her own personal Pink Tool Box with the pink tools inside! This gift was so dang cute!

♥♥♥ A Human Ice Cream Sundae Basket with all the yummy stuff, along with a book on how to have a happy marriage with two cherries on the front cover;-) LOL

♥♥♥ A basket with Matching flannel pajama bottoms, a movie, and popcorn for their FIRST SLEEP OVER Together:-)

♥♥♥ A popcorn bucket filled with their favorite treats for a Date Night, along with several nights worth of movie passes and restaurant gift cards.

Of course she also got all the fun gifts that seem to come at a personal bridal shower;-)

We played a fun game which her mom, Kate and another daughter prepared. They packed a suitcase full of all the things the couple might need or want for the honeymoon. They showed everyone the contents of the suitcase and the person who remembered the most items, won prizes.

This is the fun suitcase!

The main thing is the shower was a huge success,

The bride was happy and the groom grinned from ear to ear!

Let the Games begin!

The first of our two showers during the week of Thanksgiving is quickly upon us.

This is our other soon to be wed couple. Kate's daughter's (my niece's ) shower is at our home on Saturday.

It really will be a simple and fun party. Some are bringing their favorite salads to share and we are serving hot rolls with eclairs or cream puffs for dessert. I haven't decided whether the eclairs will be bakery bought or if I will have enough time to make them. (It is Thanksgiving people!!!!! Breathe in.. & ..Breathe out:-)
♥
It is a PERSONAL SHOWER with both moms, aunts and the girl cousins and just a few friends! I can guarantee when the women in our family gets together, there is always lots of laughter and fun, AND what her cousins have planned for her... oh my! ♥♥♥ LOL
♥
Aren't they so cute??? He was the big college football player and she the miniature cheerleader! She is a ball of fire and certainly doesn't need the pitch fork to keep him in line. LOL
♥
They met in their Freshman year of college and now four years later are getting married. They will be heading off to Law school for him and she is looking forward to getting her masters. He is in the interviewing mode at different universities right now.
♥

I have to smile every time I see them together. Just look at the difference in their hand size:) Her engagement ring is a tiny size 3!

A Toile Tale!

My Husband was getting ready to haul our old dining room set away as we really didn’t have the space to store it. So it is our own trash which is my new ‘Treasure’ for the craftroom/office I am slowly redoing.

I want to show you first how the chairs turned out. We only had five of the original six left and so I picked the best two and spray painted them Black. I found this black and white Toile decorator fabric for a steal in the dollar bin at Fabric Decor.

I really love the deals you can find there. The total price of the fabric was only 1.28 !!!!

I used chair pads and added a little softness to make these chairs comfortable

to spend hours sitting on and creating to my hearts content!

Did I mention it was only for the grand price of $ 1.28

My table has taken a couple months to finish and .....it is finally done!!!

I will soon show it on another Trash to Treasure post. Please Visit Diane for more 'Trash to Treasures.'

Gratitude

This being the month of expressing gratitude, I would be very remiss if I did not express gratitude to my loving Heavenly Father for the blessings he constantly blesses my life.

During this hectic time last week I have had my annual medical check up with my Primary Care Physician.

I was then sent for my yearly mammogram.

I received a phone call the next evening telling me they found suspicious spots on the ex-rays and I needed to go to a specialty Breast Clinic in another hospital for more tests the next morning which was Friday.

Last year I had also had to have second tests and an ultra sound..

I thought maybe what they had seen before, had grown.

I was nervous.

I waited nervously in my gown after the last tests, as my life flashed before me. Three doctor and Hospital appointments in just a few days makes you feel very vulnerable.

I kept thinking I don’t have time for breast cancer, with the weddings, showers and Thanksgiving and then Christmas! But then, WHO DOES have time for a life threatening illness.... None of us is exempt!

Why would I be any more special than say, my brother in law who is my age with renal lung cancer, or my nephew who is fighting brain cancer right now. I prayed so hard the tests would be negative and clear.

My heart and prayers go out to ALL who are suffering...

When the Specialist and nurse finally burst through that little room I was waiting in, with huge smiles on their faces and happy news, I felt my prayers had been answered.

I felt on top of the world and a humongous burden was lifted.

Now I can handle all the busyness of the next couple months and with much gratitude in my heart.

I Love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

This Thanksgiving will have so many special reasons to be grateful.

"Mammogram a few minutes for a lifetime!")

Ladies take care of your health!

J&K

J&K
It is beginning to feel a lot like Wedding, every where I look!
With Invitations and Announcements stacking up ... here & there:)

First, are the invitations for a shower being given for Kevin and Jamie,

which will be on Thanksgiving weekend.

You might notice, they have two different invites, which are color coded for two different shower times!

The fire code at the club house will only allow fifty people in at any given time:) LOL

This is the rest of their their wedding announcements and invitations.

Most have been mailed been sent. Hooray!

Our little Miss P Mc Call asked me, " What does the j+K mean?"

Then in immediately in a serious tone, she asked,
"Aren't they really getting married? JK means 'Just Kidding."

They don't mean that this is a joke, do they?"
She made me laugh!

(I love our 12 year old 'new text wizard!')

These pictures were taken on Labor Day, which was the last time
these two cute people were able to be together.

Though they have been than glued at the ear, from over 2000 miles apart!
Thank goodness for Verizon!

The night of the shower, he will be catching a red eye back to school, until the day before the wedding...
Thanks goodness, their wedding will soon be here...


Hope your Thanksgiving won't be as hectic,

BUT AS HAPPY, as ours will be:)

It's our year to have the whole family come home!!!

Wine Chicken

One of our families favorite meals and most often requested is ‘Wine Chicken’.

I have been making this favorite meal for over thirty years. I got this fast and easy recipe from a Cuban friend after she made it for my family when I was in the hospital.
My picky eaters loved it. That was a shock!

It is soooo easy to make and so yummy.
Sunday was one of those busy days which I needed to have something already prepared and ready to eat when we came home from church.
We had our daughters family of six coming for dinner and then right afterwards, we were celebrating my FIL’s 86th birthday at his place.

Wine Chicken was requested... Which is funny that Wine Chicken is it's name...because it actually is just cooking wine which evaporates and it is optional....

The recipe calls for just a few ingredients which we usually have on hand.Chicken, potatoes, carrots, cream of chicken soup, chicken broth ( I perfer Campbells broth) and white cooking wine.

Cut the chicken breast in serving pieces, season and brown.

Place quartered potatoes and baby carrots in the crock pot.

I enjoy using Reynolds slow cooker (crock pot) liners as then there is hardly any clean up!!!! .

Then deglaze the pan of all the wonderful tidbits left from browning the chicken with the wine or broth..
Stir in the remaining broth and soup. Pour this mixture over the chicken and vegetables.

THEN add the lid & forget about it!
Turn on high if you want to eat in 4 hours or less and on medium if dinner isn’t for 6-8 hours.

This is so yummy I can’t wait for the finished dish. I am known to be dunking a piece of bread into the rich gravy and sampling before it is ready to serve:) Hense the hips!!!
Sometimes, we like to add steamed broccoli at the end. It makes a pretty addition and we get to eat more vegetables:)

We love hot rolls, smothered in real butter and jam.... which is usual the norm with this meal. Shaila asked in a comment if these were out of a can. Nope they are from a frozen bag. Wonderfully delicious frozen Rhodes Bread rolls. They taste as good as home made. Sunday's are suppose to be a day of rest! LOL

Our Sunday's never end up being a day of rest:) But then, never are any other days of the week! I just love making bread creations from Rhodes rolls! They are so yummy, easy and have simplified my life. Once in a blue moon will I ever make bread from scatch, except for cinnamon rolls. These bread sticks are made from Rhodes Texas rolls or Gourmet rolls which are found at Costco or Sam's club. Sunday, I made several pans of wonderful bread sticks. Half of the family love garlic seasoning and the other half like them plain.
I promise you, if you will make this easy and wonderful dish, it just might become one of your families favorites also. Enjoy!

Traditional to Contemporary with an Award!

For my Trash to Treasure this week I wanted to share a picture my sister did for our basement family room.
My sister Kate moved into our basement us last year. She and her daughters have their own bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and the large Family Room which is contemporary in style. It sports a bright Red Tomato accent wall. She had more traditional furniture with aqua, brown and black accents. So the hunt began to make the room look and feel like their own without spending much money.
This used framed art was a great find. Although the picture was pretty, it wouldn’t go in the room.

She found this great print at Michael’s for just a few dollars on a sale. She turned the original picture around, spray painted a used mat, black . She added the New Print for a whole new Contemporary look for just a few dollars and Whaa Laa! Our basement looks great with all her wonderful talents!
For more 'Trash to Treasures' go visit Diane at A picture is worth a 1000 words, where she is hosting this event each Tuesday.

And I received this award from a darling lady Melanie from the United Kingdom who I met when I first started blogging, five months ago. She is sooo talented! She posts marvels from cooking, sewing and decorating. She is awesome about showing us around her beautiful Kingdom. I love the journeys she takes us on. Please pay our 'Jelly Bean Angel' a visit!
I want to pass this award to a talented Photographer, Sharon who has posted some incredible photos of New England in the Fall.
And to my friend Cindy of Rosehaven who shared wonder insights to, 'What Kind of Pumpkin are You?' She also is an amazing Photographer and writer.
Last, but certainly not least, I have been impressed with all of YOUR Fall decorating ideas so I want to pass this wonderful award to all those who reads my blog, so you can pass it to those who you have enjoyed. You are awesome! Thanks for the inspiring ideas you share:)

Soon to tie the knot!

This picture is our son Kev (so cute in his scruff) and his beautiful fiance Jeebers taken while they were back packing in the beautiful Wind River Mountains of Wyoming last summer. It has to be true love for any woman to want to go into the mountains for a week. No hot showers or baths...YIKES! Or a woman who takes after his own heart, of simply loving the great out doors.
Actually it is both. A perfect match made in heaven, so to speak.
The wedding is less than a month away!
It is a story of a girl from Napa Valley, California and a boy from Salt Lake City, Utah who meet in beautiful Virginia while each is attending graduate school. She is through and working in Montana and he...... is still in school in Virginia. They will only be apart for 5 months after the wedding, and then he too will graduate. We think they will settle in beautiful Colorado. Even though distance is an obstacle, their love continues to grow. YES, we get another beautiful daughter!

So it is a whirlwind right now of addressing envelopes and planning showers, and we couldn’t be happier for them... or us.

I have to smile though... he just had his bachelors party and he was disappointed he DIDN'T get anything fun and naughty:) They are great kids have both saved themselves for marriage and I think he is getting a little BIT antsy:) LOL

For the Bachelors party he and his ( all poor grad students) friends all hung out at a sports grill to watch the University of Utah game. They DID buy his chicken wings though!

Spray Paint goes Classy

Diane @ A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words is hosting a

Trash to Treasure Tuesday Party

I'd like to share a post I did earlier. Visit her blog and go see the other creative entries! This will be an fun event she is planning to host each Tuesday, so save your treasures and share them with us.

I finished a PLASTIC spray painting project for my craft room and it turned out great. Who knew you could spray paint plastic drawers and get a classy look. I think I am developing a new friendship with spray paint all just because of you, my creative blogging friends. I bought this cart at Costco several years ago. It has been handy to organize scrapbooking and arts supplies in. I didn't care for all the different colors and wanted a more conservative look.
So, I used Valspar Spray black paint for plastic and it worked great!





An after another quick run to the store for a second can


and we had a new look, to our cart of many colors.

Autumn Beauty & ALOHA!

In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905 I am loving the color and the beauty this fall and I am in awe of it's splendor.

This is my view from my desk as I watched my sweet husband work for several hours

filling three garbage cans full of beautiful leaves

and fertilizing our yard to get it ready for winter. Notice how clean our neighbors yards are.

Well ours become that way too.

Then, this is what it looked like from my window this morning!!!!

There will be lots more to clean up when he returns.

Because right now he is enjoying the soft breeze and sand on the sunny beach of Waikiki, HAWAII!!!!

He is working of course:) This week he will be flying to Maui, Kauai and then the Big Island before returning home.

DANG! I want to be there with him! It is one of my top five most beautiful places to vacation.