Bring on the holidays...we're ready.

I can't believe our 5 day weekend is over. It went so quickly. We had such a nice Thanksgiving in North Carolina with my husband's extended family. It is so awesome to see our kids together and to know that even though we are so far from 'home' we still have family close. This year the holidays are going to be much easier than last year. Our first holiday season last year being 3,000 miles away from family and friends was a little tough.

I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed 'Thanksgiving' food this year. I couldn't wait to come back home and try my hand at cooking it again. It had been a couple years so I was for sure a little rusty, plus, as I said before it's not my favorite meal to cook. Yesterday morning I gathered all my supplies and just had at it.
I decided early on that if I was going to attempt this meal that has been my nemesis for so long I was going to keep it real simple. In the past I have gotten too caught up in whatever the hippest, trendiest recipes are, trying to keep up with the Food Network's chef's...whatever, I am o.v.e.r. that. Now it is time to get down to the nitty gritty...green bean casserole (recipe from the back of the onions, not the 'new' version by some fancy TV chef), dressing (or stuffing, whatever you wanna call it) without any fancy nuts or fruits or anything, just the simple stuff, fried okra and the turkey. My in-laws were bringing the mashed potatoes and gravy along with the biscuits.




there I am preppin away




Well everything seemed to be going real good. I got the bird on, the house was smelling great (oh and btw for the turkey I consulted butterball.com and went totally old school) and I was real thrilled with how it was all coming along. My husband brought in the two tons of Christmas decorations that we have hoarded kept for the last 17 years or so and I got my decorating on. (pictures to follow, I need to finish this turkey story first). Five hours later, I had made the two casseroles, my in-laws arrived and it was time to pull ole' Tom out of the oven....oh wait, I forgot to give you this tip, which you may already know about, did you know that the EXACT same size turkey, the EXACT same brand is like half the price if you buy it frozen? I had no idea. Back in California I was always under the impression that we were the Rockefeller's and I bought the expensive 'distel' turkey and ordered it from the expensive grocery story where the real Rockefeller's shopped...well y'all we learned our lesson and this year I bought a $15.00, 16 pound turkey. The same size turkey, also Butterball brand but 'fresh' was $35.00. Shoot y'all I felt like I was extreme couponin' I was looking for the camera crew! Okay, back to the story, so we pull that bird out of the oven and it was real pretty. All brown and fabulous looking and I knew right away that I had finally nailed it. Then I saw it. Red. Red 'juice' coming from that dumb turkey. I was so mad. After five hours and following those directions from the website that darn bird still wasn't cooked. ugh. In stepped my father in law (do you hear the angels singing) and he went at that bird like he was a trained professional. He tore that thing up into pieces and cut out the back bone and 'butterflied' him and put it back in the oven for another hour and...VOILA! we had an amazing dinner. It was just delish!


After dinner was cleaned up my youngest wanted to start making gingerbread houses. This year I was smart and bought the pre-assembled version. What a difference! Getting that roof to stay on is half the battle. This time all we had to do was make it look pretty.



Here we are getting our building on

Here are the houses complete, mine is the one with the white roof, Gianna got all fancy with her roof....showoff.

We had so much fun making these bad boys. I might have to head to the Wal Mart and buy a couple more next week and we can do it again. This time we will do it when Allison is home so she can make one too.

I mentioned before that we had alot of Christmas decor. I think we have so much because our house in California had a much bigger downstairs than this house so when we bought that house I added to my Christmas collection by quite a bit. I love all of it. I have gotten rid of some stuff over the years but the stuff I have left I just love. Here are a few pictures of our two trees and all the other random stuff around the house.

I love these cookie jars

The main tree

A close up of some of the ornaments on the main tree

The kitchen tree.

He is one of my very favorite pieces. I just love him.

So in case you haven't noticed, I kind of have a theme. Snowmen. I have tried to venture away from the theme a little bit lately but I have been collecting them for quite a while so they have accumulated. My main tree has the snowman theme going but the kitchen tree is lime green and red. I am not the kind of mom who puts handmade ornaments on my tree. I know this isn't really all that nice, I know that I sound a little "Mommy Dearest" but do.not.mess.with.the.decor. for reals. I am totally aware of my neurotic tendencies and have no problem admitting it. I have kept the stuff my kids make, I just don't put them on the trees. Whatever. Don't judge.

Well I hope you have enjoyed the little peek into my home. I am looking forward to sharing the rest of our holiday season with you.

Giving Thanks

It is the night before Thanksgiving and I don't have one thing that I need to do. What a good feeling. I just love it when we are lucky enough to be invited to someone else's house for Thanksgiving. It is a meal that I do not really enjoy cooking all that much. I love to cook but for some reason the traditional Thanksgiving meal is not fun for me.
Tomorrow we will be driving to North Carolina (about two hours from us) to Chris's cousin's house. We had them at our house last month for a family birthday party and they had us for Easter. It is just great getting to spend time with part of Chris's family that we lived so far from for so many years. His cousin Sue has 5 kids and when her kids and our kids get together it is just as fun as can be.

For the last 24 days I have been posting one thing I am thankful for every day on facebook. I think I could do this for at least another month and not run out of things. I still haven't even gotten to my kids and husband yet! I think with everything we have been through in the last two years I realize now more than ever how many things I have to be thankful for.
Right now I am super thankful that the kids get a 5 day weekend. Woo hoo! Shoot, that means no driving! So happy about that.

I have been real busy lately making and listing new items on my etsy site. Here are a few of the clipboards I have made-

I just love the way these came out. I am loving the papers I have found online lately. I also listed a new sign and about 11 other signs. I have been busy! If you haven't been over to my etsy store, here it is.

Well I need to get busy go get back on Pinterest and facebook since I don't have any cooking, baking or cleaning to worry about. Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

"We were on a break"

The famous line from 'Friends' uttered time an time again from Ross Geller as he kept defending himself to Rachel Green have been ringing in my head tonight about this blog. I just had to break up with it for a while, and even now I am not sure if we are back together for good. I am here now and I am writing and that is all that matters, right?

I had to sit down and write tonight because today is my one year anniversary from when I left the only state I had ever lived in, California. I didn't leave by myself of course, my whole family left. My husband, my two girls and me. Took a leap of faith and packed everything we owned and moved all the way to Virginia. I remember at the time I kept looking at maps of the US and thinking 'oh.my.gosh. that is so far'. I didn't know how I would do being that far from all my friends and family. I will be honest, in the beginning it was just awful. There were times when it was good, days when we would wake up and think 'ok, we can make this work' but most days were just downright depressing. We left California because we had virtually lost everything we owned. We were the epitome of victims of the recession. We needed a new start and we figured we might as well try VA. Turns out Virginia might be for lovers, but it ain't for us. We are not Virginians. The good news is we left there and high tailed it down south to South Carolina. Well y'all who knew I was such a southerner at heart. This place is just wonderful. This is not to say that living here has solved our problems, that we are back on the financial fast track...we're not. But what this move has done for us has been so much better than that. It has brought us so close. We are so connected as a family. When you move somewhere new it takes a while to make friends, not just for the kids but for us adults too...so consequently we have spent all of our time together, as a family. It has been priceless. Everything we have been through has been humbling, and at times humiliating but it has made us a strong family. Stronger than we ever knew we could be.

Some days I wake up and miss California so bad I can taste it. For 41 years it was all I knew. I was and still am a very proud California girl. It's a beautiful state, it's full of promise, glitz, glamour and all the things you see on TV. It is a great place to grow up. It is a liberal state where you are taught to be politically correct so as not to offend anyone, you are taught tolerance of others that are different than you and people work very hard to maintain  their chosen lifestyle. All of those things can be wonderful. All of those things made me who I am. Both of my parents were born and raised in California. My roots run deep. I will never bad mouth the state where I am from, it's a part of me. I will say that living in the south has given me so many new perspectives. Here people are honest and tell you like it is, yet somehow they are still warm and friendly and manage not to be offensive (that's why they add things like 'bless your heart' or 'darlin' after everything they say, it just sounds nicer) They stand up for what they believe in, not worrying about who it may offend. They are steadfast in their beliefs and this is the bible belt. They believe in God and his will. They do for each other at every chance they get. They are proud to be southern, even if that means being poked fun at times. They aren't worried about what kind of car they drive or what kind of handbag they carry. Their door is always open and they will welcome you with open arms. This isn't 'home', California will always be home. But this? Well it's the best place for us right now. It is exactly what we needed and it is where I want to finish raising my kids. I want them to have a little bit of California and a little bit of South Carolina. I want them to have the best of both worlds and I do believe they are getting just that.

This post is a little heavier than I usually write on this blog, it's more of a 'so they will always remember' post but it was just how I was feeling tonight. I will get back to regularly scheduled programming next time. I will start blogging again and sharing my southern life, after all it IS what inspires me.



 Thanks for reading y'all.

I stink at this whole blogging thing sometimes.

So here is the thing y'all. When you are a 'blogger', like a true blogger you keep up with the latest happenings, you keep your readers updated and all that jazz. That is my struggle. I read blogs every couple days, however for me to write a post every coupla days is almost impossible. I just feel like I don't have enough to say. So here I am trying to catch y'all up.

Last post I was telling you about Allison's birthday trip to California. She went, she loved it. She's back and she loves being a Carolina girl too. Thank God. I was so afraid she was going to go and see all of her friends and not want to come home. It was a great trip and she just loved seeing all her friends but at the end of the day that kid is a mama's girl and she missed her family and her room, her stuff and she likes routine ALOT and getting back into a routine is important to her.

Chris's parents moved here last week from California. They are staying with us for a bit until their place is ready. Gianna hadn't seen her grandparents in almost a year and that was just awesome to see how happy she was. Allison had seen them when we went to CA over the summer. It has been great to have them here and show them around our new town. We love it here and we hope they do too.

Yesterday was our second craft show. It was bigger than the last and super well organized, which was great. However it wasn't as successful as I was hoping it would be. The good thing was I got to share it with Heather. She brought her darling necklaces and headbands to sell. It was great hanging out with her and her girls. She is just such a genuine, sweet girl and I am so glad that I am getting to know her and that she lives here in this great little town.

Chris and his dad had built me a new display out of shipping pallets and I just love it. I feel so much better about going to the shows now, I loved the way my signs looked on it and it is big enough that it grabbed every one's attention. Too bad that it just didn't grab their attention enough to buy more stuff! lol.

So even though we didn't sell too much, I still felt like the day was a good one. There were a bunch of people who picked up our cards. I haven't really had any exposure here locally so people seeing my stuff and showing interest in it is a good thing.
I love that my girls are doing this with me too. Allison sells her beanies that she knits and Gianna sells her duct tape hair bows. It is a great bonding experience for us.

Today my in laws took my kids to get pumpkins. She bought me some potted mums to put by my front door too. They are so pretty and the whole thing kind of inspired me. I haven't done anything to our front entrance since we moved here. I just haven't even thought about it. But then I read all these blogs and all these southern girls really go all out for fall on their front porches. Well y'all know how I like to be considered one of them, so I had to step up and do a little something.



So first I added a little vinyl lettering to welcome my country guests, and my not so country guests too of course. I mean after all South Carolina is the home of southern hospitality (which speaking of southern hospitality we saw Paula Deen today at Costco!).

After the vinyl went up I felt like maybe I should actually put up one of my signs. Of the hundred and something signs I have made I have only hung up one in my whole house! Unfortunately it was night time so the pictures aren't great but I am really happy with how it all looks. I beefed up the whole look today and took new pictures.

Do you  see it up there on the brick? Like I said it was dark and the brick is dark so it just doesn't show up real great. Here it is close up-



Well folks I really am going to try to be better about updating my blog more often. Hopefully some really cool things will happen around here in the weeks and months to come so I have something good to write about.

Oh and by the way, I am offering a deal at my etsy store. If you want to see what that deal is go on over to my facebook page and like it. Thanks!



working like a dog!

That was me today. I have been working like crazy. For one, my in laws arrive tomorrow so I am trying to get laundry done and get ready for visitors. For two, I have been kind of lax with my etsy store lately because I knew I had all of these craft fairs coming up and I wasn't sure how it was going to work, if I have things listed and then I sell them at the craft fair, what if I no longer have those papers or can't get them? Well I just decided that I have got to show the etsy store some love.
With etsy it is all about the pictures. I am not a great photographer so this is kind of my struggle. I have a great camera, I just don't read directions very well. I just like when things are self explanatory. Camera settings are not. So I just set my setting to 'auto' and let it go. Whatever. I am trying. The problem is I have had several customers who have said to me 'oh my gosh, your work is so much better in person, the pictures don't do them justice'. Ugh. So I went to work today taking new pictures of many of my listings and adding several new items.

This is one of my new items. I made it for Allison yesterday since it was her birthday.. the funny thing is as soon as she and Chris both saw it they said 'oh that is super cute, are you going to list it?' I had not intended to list it but then I thought maybe it would be a good idea. It would make a cute prop for a photo booth at a sweet 16 party and it would look really cute at the gift table or cake table. What do you think? Do you think that you can get an idea of what it looks like by this picture? I don't know. In real life it's super sparkly and you can't see that here at all. Hmm..what to do.

Well speaking of Allison's bday...she got a big surprise. Three of our friends in CA went in together and bought her a plane ticket to come visit this week! Oh my gosh that girl was so excited!! I am freaking out a little bit about putting her on a plane by herself but I am so happy for her that I am going to just have to take a xanax and get over it! lol. Here is what she looked like when she opened the little box that had the plane ticket in it-

My what big eyes you have!

Gianna was a little bummed that her sister was going to see all of her friends and she wasn't, but I am so not ready to put both of my girls on a plane together without me. Allison is ready but I think if she had to take care of Gianna it would make her nervous. So next time Gianna and I will go alone, just the two of us. Plus this way she gets time with her grandparents all alone. See win/win!

Well if you have any comments or suggestions about the pics I would be glad to hear 'em. Oh BTW, have you noticed that I kinda lost my southern drawl? Shoot. I better get to workin' on that. See y'all later!

October is here!

This is just going to be a quick post, just wanted to write a little about our first craft fair and some other things that have been going on around here.

So yesterday was our first rodeo as they say. The girls, Chris and I all packed up my car and his truck and headed over to the site where the craft show was being held.

 Of course Olga (our name for Chris's gps on his phone) gave us the wrong directions so we got a little lost at first, but after a little while and a phone call to the place we found it. I didn't have super high expectations for this show as I knew it would be a smaller one. I was kind of looking at it as our 'practice round'. I thought it would be a good chance to get the booth set up and see what we would want to do different next time.

Allison all ready to make her first sale! (oh my gosh, how about the guy in the background totally grinning like I was taking a picture of him! hahaha)

For goodness sakes, how could you NOT buy a duct tape bow from this girl?

Set up went pretty smoothly and we were up and running in no time. The weather was p.e.r.f.e.c.t., a little chilly but just beautiful. As a matter of fact the sun was shining so much that all my pictures came out with such a glare that I don't really have any of our cute booth.

Here is a shot that you can kind of see the corner of the two tables. It was a little crowded but everything looked pretty good. (I sold that Halloween sign in this picture! yay!)

Here is my little business card holder and my new business cards, I think they look pretty cute!

Gianna made the first sale of the day! She actually ended up selling 6 bows, which I thought was pretty good since we were at an old folks home. Our next fair is at a school and I have a feeling she will do even better!

One zebra bow...$1.00

She was so cute, as soon as she made the sale she grabbed her notebook so she could keep track of what she had sold. She and her two girlfriends are doing this together so she wants to make sure she is fair and keeping track. I love that kid!

So those are all the pictures I really have. It was a great experience and I am so looking forward to doing it again. I was really excited because while we were there a lady was passing out fliers for another show Nov 4th and 5th! woo hoo! I am going to be on the craft show circuit before long! I love that my girls were there sharing it with me and that they are learning to be little entrepreneurs. I think it is so good for them to have a sense of pride in the things they are making, to get out there and meet new people and to spend quality time not only with me but with each other. Allison is getting older and will be out of the house and in college before we know it, I want to them to have as many memories together as possible.

Today was a good day around here too. I woke up early, before anyone else and jumped in the car and did something I have never done. I drove to Krispy Kreme (the hot sign was on!) and got a dozen donuts to surprise the kids (and Chris) when they woke up. Then we spent the morning cleaning up and doing laundry. My in laws get here in a few days so I wanted to make sure we had as many chores done as possible.

Then it was time for football. Our favorite thing to do around here on game day is hang out and eat snack type food all day, no real meals just appetizers. So I made sweet fire meatballs (will have to do a recipe tutorial on those, they are simple and good!), some chili queso dip with homemade chili and we went by Allison's work and picked up some pizza. We spent the rest of the day eating, dancing (that might have just been me) and enjoying our day together. It was a wonderful weekend. I needed it too. Last week was a bit rough for me and just having my little family around me was just what I needed.

Well I am going to sign off for now. I will have more to write tomorrow. It is the big day. Allison turns 16. Holy moly. It just kills me. I am so proud of this girl. I hope tomorrow is as special as she is. I can't wait to tell y'all all about it.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

Y'all, I am freaking out. October is gonna be crazy. Downright nuts. We have 3 birthdays in this house, my in-laws are moving here from California and staying with us until they find a place (pray for all of us please, there is a good chance someone is going to lose their mind, but we are prepared so that is a good thing), my brother in law and his girlfriend are coming to visit from CA, we are having a family birthday party here on the 22nd and all of my husbands cousins that live in NC and IL are coming....(take a breath here) AND I have my three very first ever craft shows. Holy moly.

Do you see now why I am a little panicked? I am excited about all of it though. It was my idea for my in laws to move here. Last holiday season without any family (it was our first Christmas after my mom died too) was not that much fun. I also think it's super important for my kids to have their grandparents around. For them to be on the other side of the country was hard. For them, for us, for everyone. I figured we loved it here so much and they were ready for a change, so it all made sense. I am also looking forward to my brother in law visiting. I love sharing our new town with visitors. I doubt he will embrace the 'country' as much as we have but I think he will like it. I am super looking forward to the family party. I l.o.v.e to have a party. I can't wait to start planning the food and all that jazz.

Before I start planning any parties I have to get through the first craft show. We have been working like crazy around here. Crafting, knitting, painting, mod podging, dancing-oh wait we just dance all the time...anyway, it's been crazy here. Let me show you some of the fruit of our labor.





 I am really happy with these. Especially the little ones. They are tooth fairy boxes. Love products that help a parent out like that. No need to worry about waking your little sleeping toothless angel by trying to lift their head to get to that tooth under the pillow...child places the tooth in the box...'fairy' comes in, grabs the tooth, leaves some loot (and if you are one of those creative over achievers you can write a sweet note from the tooth fairy). Isn't that perfect?



This is a bigger box. I don't know what someone would use it for....I mean I can't come up with all the answers for goodness sakes.



Oh wait, I have an answer for this one! You use this one at your wedding instead of a guest book. It is filled with 4x6 cards that your guests can write a special message to you on and then drop it in the box.

A new sign. Just sold my other sign with this saying so I thought I should make another. New papers this time.

Another sign. Love these colors and the message. Good for young girls.

This is my other new product. Coasters made from ceramic tiles. Great little hostess gift.





 These are my newest clipboards. I am making a bunch more this week. I just love these (is that super tacky to say that I just love something that I made myself? if it is I apologize for being tacky, but I love 'em)

Before I show you what my girls are making let me show you a little something I made to keep my business cards in. I saw the tutorial on a blog and then I pinned it to Pinterest the project on the blog is for a bigger bowl but I saw all the parts today at A.C. Moore and thought I would try a smaller version. I started with these.


You might not be able to tell from the picture, but these parts are all kind of miniature. The base is a 4" square. I got all three parts for $3.90. Not too shabby.

This is what it looked like after I glued it all together. Now that I am holding it you can kind of see the size better.

Here is the finished product. Isn't it just the cutest thing? It would make a really cute candy dish. (btw that was my daughter Gianna's idea, not mine)

Okay so onto my creative kids. Last year Gianna made some duct tape hair bows and sold them at her school for a fundraiser. They were a hit. We sold them at a dance and I think we sold 42 of them in an hour. She was so excited. So now she and her two best friends here in SC are going into a little business together and making them to sell at the craft shows with me. How cute are they?

Now Allison's story is a little different. This past summer the kid started knitting beanies. For her babies. Her babies that she is planning on having when she is all grown up and ready to be a mom, we are not trying to get on the MTV show 'Teen Mom' she just is a planner. She has her wedding planned, her kids named, her plans drawn up for her dream house and most importantly her education planned. She is the opposite of her mother for sure. I am STILL trying to plan my future and my future is here! Anyway, after realizing that she was all caught up with beanies for her own six kids (yes, that child wants SIX kids, and no we are not Mormon or Catholic, she's just an ambitious little girl) she decided that she wanted to keep on knitting. So much like Forrest Gump would attack a new venture this kid hasn't stopped knitting in 3 months. We have beanies coming out of our ears. So she has decided to sell them. (whew, I didn't want her to think she should have a baby for every beanie she made)



Super cute, right? I have a few favorites but they are all pretty cute.



These are some of my faves. How about that camo one? These southerners are gonna eat that one up!

OK y'all it was a long post and now I am exhausted. Plus it's Sunday night at 9pm and Big Rich Texas is on and it is a big guilty pleasure of mine. So I gotta go!