Just a Heads up



I'm having a little problem with the number of days between Thanksgiving & Christmas

this year....or rather, the lack of days between Thanksgiving & Christmas this year.

 

So, my Christmas décor will be appearing a little earlier than usual to make sure that my love of

"how the house feels during the holidays" will be completely satisfied.

 

No, I can't "just leave it up a little longer".  It. Comes. Down. January. 1st.

Because that is how I am.

 

Yes, Layne is on board with me.  Really.

So here's the deal.  You are more than welcome to come visit us on or before Thanksgiving, but don't be surprised, or offended, if you are dazzled by the beauty of Christmas.

 

 

What is your opinion on such a short time between Thanksgiving & Christmas?

Who cares?

Same as me?

Bah! Humbug!  I don't decorate for Christmas?

It's so fun to win the Championship Game

It has been a LONG baseball season this year.

BUT

What a way to finish!

 

Mitch's team (Zanesfield 1) are the

Logan County Champions for 2013!

(Mitch is second on bottom, right.)

Zanesfield 1 captures little league title | Peak of Ohio

 

Justin's All-Star Team

2013

 

They won their tournament too!

(I hope to find a better picture.)

The Eagle has Landed

Congratulations, Todd!

 

 

April 12, 2013

Bellefontaine, Ohio

 

 

Our three Coleman Scouts.

 

 

 

It is so nice that this has finally happened.

Todd finished his Eagle quite a while ago, but it seemed like one thing after another kept getting in the way to finalize the whole process. 

Anyone who has ever had to work with "the scout office" knows that anything could and probably will happen.  The day Layne heard me use the word 'incompitent' more than once over the phone he knew it was time for him to step in.

 

But, that is all behind us, and we had such a wonderful evening with friends and family.

Thank you to everyone that helped in anyway.  From day one to the court of honor.  Todd (and Layne & I) couldn't have done it without you.

 

Todd, who doesn't really like recognition type moments, wanted it short & sweet.  And that it was.

 

These are a few letters of recognition from Ohio's Governor Kasich, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, a couple of commissioners from the BSA, the President of the USA, and a nice letter from the

General Young Men Presidency

of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

 

 

He even gave a very nice acceptance speech.

 

 



 

Then we had some yummy, and super duper darling refreshments.

 

We had some of Todd's favorites...

*cupcakes*

* Rice Krispie Treats, USA style, of course*

 *jalapeno popper dip*

*and other yummy vegetables and dip*

Now, lets talk about the eagle cupcake toppers.

I handed over the ingredients and my friend Beth whipped them out in a flash.

I can't look at these without smiling.  They just make me happy.

I'm thinking these will have to make an appearance at the 4th of July party.

(Not these ones, but some just like them.)

 

My friend Becky is my go-to when I want anything with pretty frosting. 

She made the cupcakes so very very pretty and totally delish.

 

 

 

 

When we all got home last night I noticed that Todd walked in with a big smile on his face.

He had a good time, and that made me the happiest.

 

 

One more smile before you go.

They are so stinkin' cute!



I know you've been waiting for

my review of the Oreo cookie options

 

Normal


Double Stuf


Mega Stuf

The winner is.............................................................Double Stuf!

Normal, just not enough yummy center cream stuff.  Mega Stuf was just too darn much.  It kind of made me a little sick.  One was enough, and that is just kind of sad when it comes to Oreos.
The double is perfect. 
Here's why: 
1. Just enough room to insert your fork tines perfectly so you can dunk your cookie into your milk without any wet fingers.  This is especially important if putting your fingers in your milk makes you hate drinking it later when you run out of cookies. 
2. If you are a twister and like to take the middle out to eat on its own, this is the best thickness to get it off in one, nice, perfect piece. 
3. You can eat four or five before you realize that eating them in the first place was probably a really bad idea.

I know that there are about 40 other styles, colors, and flavors in the Oreo family, but I kind of lean toward the traditional style. 

Mitch keeps telling me that I really need to try these.  Triple Double.  Hum.  Two cookies in one; really good idea.  Have you tired this one?  Maybe I'll just have to give one more Oreo variety a try.  Just to have an opinion in case you wanted to know what I thought. 




What one is your fav?
This post made me want a glass of milk.

I'm sure no one else ever does this.


(source)

Something needs put away, but it never really gets to its destination.  For several months you come across it now and again, and for about 1/2 a second the thought passes through your head that at some point you're going to wish you had put it away.  But you still don't do it.

Then the day comes.  Your son comes in and asks why you never transferred his religious knot patch from his Cub Scout shirt to his Boy Scout shirt. 

"I did," I say.
"No you didn't," he said.
"Oh, I made you do it," I tell him.
"No I didn't,"  he says.
"Here, look'"  he shows me.

"Oops. Sorry.  I'll do it right now.  Let me grab the..................where is that baggie of patches that I took off the Cub Scout shirt FIVE months ago?!"

So I head for my three main "stash & dash" locations. 
And today I've decided to come clean, and let everyone see these very secret spots in my home. 
This is when I remember that when you have to dig around cluttered spaces it usually takes making an even bigger mess to clean the original mess.
On the up-side, you can find some other "lost" items that you didn't even know were lost and you find stuff that you didn't know you even had. 

For example:

 

Don't you love junk drawers?  You can find most anything in one. 

Except for the religious knot badge I was looking for....grrrr.

It is almost like being at that game show from the 70's that I used to love to watch,

Lets Make A Deal.  I loved that show.  Did anyone else love that show?

(Yes, I know it is on again, but it isn't the same and I don't love it.)

 

Here are a few interesting things I found.  A dinosaur shaped sandwich cutter.  Didn't know we even had one, nor have I ever used it.  Tossed it in the garbage.  Seed packets, zit medication, glue of various types, and lots of shoelaces.  But this is the grossest thing I found.  I even used sticks to pick it up with.

 

Someone's mouth guard.  You got to see it right before it landed in the trash. 
Lots of stuff landed in the trash, or got put where they should have been in the first place, and now the drawers look like this.

Ahh, so much better.

 

 

The messy, top, left hand cupboard. Yep, that is usually what I call it when I need someone to get in there for me.  I was amazed at how many types of thank you cards I have.  I didn't think I had any so I kept buying them, I guess.  Another reason to clean up your clutter.  You will save money because you don't rebuy things that you already have.  um hum.

 

No, I didn't find the patches here either, but I did find items from the scouting community, so I'm feeling a little bit more confident.  I found lots of water balloons.  We love water balloons at our house and I'm still wondering why the Bear scarf is in here.  We haven't had a Bear in our house for over three years.  Probably because of the same reason I'm looking for the baggie of patches, right?  And there is my labeler.  It wasn't lost though.  I use that guy a lot and so I did know where to go for that.

And now it is a nice clean, top, left handed cupboard.
Yea!

Before I started on this one last location I scanned the top of my dresser, a drawer in my dresser, my jewelry box, and a drawer in the laundry room. Guess I just wanted a change in scenery.  And I may have gotten a little side-tracked while putting away other things I found. 

At this point I was getting a little worried that I wasn't going to find the baggie.  I really didn't want to pull everything out of here.  You can see pumpkins that got shoved there after Thanksgiving.  Lots of cookbooks.  The blue tape that I couldn't find so I bought another roll!  (You can see the second tape purchase up in the drawer picture)  arggggg  Remember the saving money thing I mentioned earlier? 

Robin socks.  I'm pretty sure this is the last place I would have looked for them next time Mitch wanted to wear them.  They are pretty cute when they are on.  With their little cape in the back.  Mitch's friend has Batman ones and they wore them to school (while wearing shorts) on Super Hero day for spirit week.

Mitch's athletic pants that we searched the house for on Saturday.  Mitch's again....hum, starting to see a theme here.  I'm not even asking why he has clothing shoved in this cabinet.

Why our wedding album was in there, I will never know.  I did take a snap shot of a darling picture of Marcee (5) & Geri (4).  So sweet.

And guess what.  SUCCESS!  and clean drawers, cupboards, and cabinets.  Maybe my bad habit isn't 100% bad.  This way these secret little areas get a good cleaning every couple of years.




Now, to find the thread box.  humm

A Tisket, A Tasket

We found this darling food hamper by our front door this morning.

(A hamper is a British word for a wicker basket.  Yes, I watched Downton last night.)

 

I had to go get some dog food and milk this morning.

What?  You did too?  Weird.

When I returned home I saw this cute basket sitting on the porch.

 

I asked Mitch to go out and see what it was.

Then I hear, "You have got to be kidding".

 

 

This is what we found. 

A nice breakfast and three handmade cards

from three young girls.

 

Card #1 - a girl that professes her undying love for Mitch.  With lots of flowers and hearts and young love fluff written all over the card.

Card #2 - a girl that says "hi" and that she is just helping girl #1 and hoped that he enjoyed the breakfast they made for him. (this is the only girl I really do know, and yes, I like her)

Card #3 - a girl that only says, "I poisoned your breakfast!"

 

I think I love girl #3.

 

 

They brought him a bowl of sausage & biscuits and gravy, two red velvet pancakes, two fried eggs, and three slices of bacon. 

They did a very nice job.  As a person that cooks a lot, I dug in to see how well they cook.

The eggs were perfectly done over-easy.

The bacon was cooked to perfection.  NO kidding. 

The pancakes and biscuits & gravy were as good as any I've ever seen.

I was impressed by these 12 year old's cooking skills.

 

The only problem? 

We didn't notice they had droopped it off for sometime, apparently.  It was only 13° F when we got up and when we found the hamper all of the food was frozen solid. 

Never fear.  Frozen food doesn't scare us.

 

What does scare me is that girls are already starting to bring Mitch food.

I know about girls that make boys food.

I used to be one of them.