I have waited all week to put this up, and I am so excited!

Saturday I went to my very first auction with my grandparents! The auction was down in Fluvanna County, so I went down Friday night and spent the night, because my grandfather wanted us to leave the house at 7:30.

We got a slightly later start, but by 8 we were all piled into his 1980 GMC Sierra. That truck is older than me!

Sorry about the blurriness, but the truck, or maybe it was the road, was a bit rough riding. :)

It didn't take long to get to the farm where the auction was being held. It was an estate auction and the farm had once been a dairy farm with a canning operation, and the family never through anything out. Yay!



So here we are. We have arrived!

The truck is a big 'ole monster, but its been meticulously maintained by my grandfather.

So after arriving we registered and waited for the fun to begin. The auction started down by the barn, and Bet and I just wandered down there to see what Grandpa was interested in. I ended up bidding on some windows. 23 windows and 1 door to be exact. :) All for $10. I probably could have offered $5, but this was my first bid, and I was a bit of a newbie. :)

Here's my auction number!

There is my pile of windows....There is another pile behind it and the door was off to the right.

Most of us were waiting until the furniture was auctioned off! It took forever, but in reality they started about 10:15.

The two beds you see in here were what I wanted. One would be for Dev and the other for the Guest room

Here's our load! Most of that is mine. The patio set is my grandfather's.

Here's another shot of the take. So excited!

All told I spent $68. Not to bad for 23 windows, 1 door, 2 full size beds and 1 super-ugly lamp! I do not have any other pictures of the haul, because half of it is still down at my grandparents' house and the rest of it is still in the back of my car. I plan on unloading the car today after cleaning out our garage some.

Devlin has already picked out the paint for his biggest-bed-ever, and its a lovely shade of hunter green, almost like British Racing Green, but I won't lie when I tell you that I was really pushing and prodding for a soft gray blue. :)

The other bed has some veneer issues, that I think I'll fix with glue and wood putty, and then a coat of white paint. The ugliest lamp ever is going to get a coat of white and then some nice shade treatment for Dev's room, and the windows.....well there are a lot of possibilities for them! :)

I  hope you guys have a terrific day and enjoy yourselves!

Hey guys! I'm at it again. I needed more decor balls for the house. I don't know why, but I did. I guess it's because I'm getting tired of switching out the same old, same old, so I needed to add something new to the mix. :)

There's just one little thing......the tutorial is not here. Its over at 6 inches of ribbon! Ashley has a great little blog, so go on.....Go check it out! Go.Now.

See ya there! Have a great day y'all!

So while visiting Dana, I came across some Fig Jam in her Publix. Well I have a recipe that calls for Fig Jam and I have the hardest time finding it, so when I saw it down there I snatched it up! Then I left it down there. So when I received the following in the mail from Dae...I just had to giggle. :)





That sister of mine has a sense of humor. :)

Hope you guys giggled as well. :)

I married a guy who is still able to make me laugh and smile. :)


Happy Anniversary Hubby!

Did you know that the first day of Autumn was this week? True story! Though I can't pin down the exact day, as it seems to differ depending on what part of the world you live. Anyway, I'm so excited! I love Fall! Fall is when the holiday season starts again, the leaves change colors, and the temperature lowers to what my husband Mike calls "snuggle weather". Best of all, though--yes, better than snuggle weather--Fall has all the best foods and flavors. In my opinion, anyway. Cinnamon, nutmeg, squash, corn, cranberries, pumpkins, apples...need I go on? Even as I sit here and type, I am enjoying a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks, available starting in Autumn every year. Like I said, I love everything about this season. That being the case, I decided to start breaking out some of my Autumn recipes. One of my favorites made the post this week.



Butternut Turkey Bake
1 med butternut squash (ab 2-1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 Tbsp butter
2 cup seasoned salad croutons
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cup cubed cooked turkey
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cut squash in half; discard seeds. Place cut side down in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan; add 1/2 in. of hot water. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 45 minutes.

Drain water from pan; turn squash cut side up. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until tender. Scoop out pulp; mash and set aside.

In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter until tender. Stir in the croutons, salt, poultry seasoning and pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes longer or until croutons are toasted. Stir in the squash, turkey and broth; heat through.

Transfer to a greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until edges are bubbly and cheese is melted.


The first issue comes with getting rid of all of that nasty pulp and seeds. I found that scraping around the edge with a spoon and a little elbow grease got the job done quite nicely. A grapefruit spoon might have been even better, but I don't own one, so I couldn't try.


These beautiful gourds came from my local farmer's market. I do love how long squash lasts (a few weeks if you buy them fresh and keep them dry). I could have waited a while to make the dish if I wanted to.


I know the recipe calls for cubed turkey, but I had ground from my meat CSA, so I used that instead. I think I prefer the ground; it integrates better.


Your squash will cave in a little during the first bake session. That's okay. I also moved the squash out of the pan to drain it. Trust me, this is the best method.


Tongs! My bestest cooking buddies. I double-fist these whenever possible.


As you can see by the demolished skin in the upper right-hand corner, my first attempt was...not good. I found, however, that if you keep the skin intact and just carefully scoop out the filling, you'll be left with neat, empty skins and expertly extracted squash-meat.


As you can see, there's a lot of stuff to be added together, so make sure to use a big pan.


We added the cheese just like the directions said, but, honestly, I think the cheese would be better all mixed in. Also, I know I didn't use cheddar here, but it wasn't thawed and the Mexican blend was.

I really, really love this dish. It's almost a complete meal (we threw some green beans in as a side) and it's super tasty! I have to say, though, I think there's room for variation. What about adding some dried and re-hydrated cranberries for some kicks of sweetness? Or chopped walnuts for crunch? Or corn for added texture? The possibilities are endless! I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do. It's a great kickoff to Fall.

Hey all! So today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday. Glad we got all that straightened out, because I went most of yesterday evening thinking that it was Thursday. Being as today is the day before Dana posts whatever deliciousness she has for FFF I think its time for me to show off some more of her looks and curves. :) Aren't I nice? I think so!

So right now ZZ TOP is stuck in my head. I know you guys are probably shocked, because of the title. :)

Here are some pics that Dae sent me of the newest jacket and top! She was doing some businessy type stuff and wanted to look professional or some reason like that :)



 I think she looks smashing! Loving the flippy hair!

She also ever-so-kindly sent me these pictures of the blue suit! I wish I had some sparkley, flashing lights type of text for it. I think I've mentioned before that I made this suit 2 years ago for her for Christmas. Included with this suit was a  matching pair of shoes and an adorable brooch. The suit is a nice poly/cotton blend that is machine washable and doesn't wrinkle. There are shots of iridescent thread throughout the fabric. I wanted it to be a 3-season suit so I trimmed it out with ecru satin piping, which also happens to be the same fabric that I used for the blouse. The blouse didn't need any embellishment but I added a delicate lace trim that was accented with rhinestones.

I added this trim because Dana has a scar from her catheter that she prefers to cover. I'm going to deviate a little bit here, and just say that my sister is amazing. She's always had a happy, perky personality and even a bout of cancer couldn't diminish it. She is truly an inspiring person, and she is one of my personal heroes. Not to say that we don't have our moments as all sisters do, but she's always been my little sister, the one that Nicole and I looked after and defended. It is just about the only thing that Nicole and I agree on. Look out and after Dana, that's it.

Ok so now back to the outfit. Here it is!



I don't remember what pattern this was. I think it was a Butterick pattern, I'll have to dig through my stuff to figure out which one it was.

I hope you guys have enjoyed seeing these 2 creations! I had a lot of fun making them. As I've said...Dana is a blast to sew for because of her physique, and she's still got that young, career woman thing going for her. Mom life isn't suited to a lot of the styles I like, because really.....what looks good with half-eaten, drool soaked goldfish hand prints on it? :)

Well, I've got to finish up Dev's Yoshi costume, before he nags me to death. Have a great day y'all!

So my little guy's birthday is in a little over a week, and we are gearing up. I sent out the invitations for his party the day after we got back from vacation, and I'm thinking I should have waited a bit, at least until my brain was working. Can you see what I did?

Yea.....I totally forgot to put Harrison's name on there. Anywhere. Yay, for thinking. What's worse is that I had Stephen proof it for me before printing them out on plain white cardstock. Oh well, at least he and I were on the same page mentally. I mean why wouldn't you know it's Harrison's birthday?!?! Sheeeeeesh. ;-)

So this AM, Dev and I started making the banner for his party. Here's what we got.

Yep, we're doing a coffee filter banner for H. I'm very excited, which is weird considering we started working on this at 7:30. Dev wanted to do green but I don't think it would have matched. Here's a sample of what the center of the banner will look like:
Very Seussian methinks! :) I'm so excited for this party! Dev is going to help me make some Lorax trees next week, and I've still got to get the felt for the Sneetch party hat table. Hopefully all of my ideas come to fruition!

Happy crafting to all y'all! Enjoy today!