Candy Corn!

This past weekend my husband was kind enough to attend a craft bazaar with me. While there, we saw the cutest little wooden candy corn decorations, and if you know me at all you know I love candy corn. It kind of borders on an obsession. I picked one up, determined to own it, but after Cory saw the price tag he said, "I can make those." To which I replied, "Yes, but you don't have the time." He pointed to the price tag and replied, "I'll make the time." And he did.

That evening we went shopping for a few paint brushes and some candy corn colored paints. Cory then cut out not just one, but three sizes of candy corns. The following day he made several more, and we proceeded to paint them and distress them with a bit of sand paper. The picture below is our project about half finished. It went really fast!

And here's the end result! It's hard to see, but if you click on the picture it will enlarge it to show detail and you will notice some of the edges are a bit sanded off, giving them a shabby chic appeal, the perfect accompaniment for all my Autumn decor!

Reeeaaaalllly Noowww!

It's not very often that I watch our local news, for several reasons: 1) It's boring. 2) It spends a ridiculous amount of time on sports coverage and 3) I'm usually watching FOX news instead. But today I turned on the TV, which was currently on a local station, and the news came on. As it turns out, there was a breaking story about an inmate/patient at a local state hospital, for people with mental issues and/or the criminally insane, who had escaped from a field trip. Yes my friends, you read that right. Apparently inmates get field trips. Who knew? So I continue to watch. This guy, who was committed for MURDER was on a field trip to our county fair, when he decided to ditch his group and take off. As of writing this blog, he's still at large. So let me get this straight. Some judge determined that the guy's not fit to be with the general public, and he's been institutionalized because he committed a murder. And yet, the powers that be at the state hospital, in their infinite wisdom, disagreed and deemed him fit to be at the county fair where he can mix and mingle with small children, farm animals and possibly ME? I don't know about you but I've always been under the impression that once a person was locked up, field trips were no longer an option?! Color me all kinds of surprised. I can honestly say, I did NOT see this one coming! If this is my tax dollars hard at work, I demand a refund!

First day of Home School Co-op!

The photo album below is the girls on the first day of home school co-op. They were super excited to see their old friends and sign up for classes. Cayla couldn't wait to show off her new glasses. The weather was nice, but still required a light jacket that morning. It will be the first of many as our sunny, warm days give way to icicles and snow.

Blog Quickie!

Just a quick thought here. Do any of you other bloggers ever "write" blogs in your head? I think I'm constantly blogging in my mind, but often my thoughts don't transform themselves into the written word. Usually I can think up a considerably better blog than I actually write. It seems by the time I get to the computer, the amazing choices of words have suddenly vanished and I'm reduced to writing Kindergarten sentences. Artists carry a sketchpad with them everywhere so they can draw when inspiration strikes. Perhaps I should carry a notepad! Happy Monday everybody!

My Rant II

If you clicked on "My Rant" from your website and you were directed to a site that said, "the page you are looking for does not exist" there's a reason for that.  I wrote a rant that I had to recant.  End of story :)

Cleaning Up My Act!

Normally I'd consider myself a pretty savvy shopper. Meaning, I shop frequently and I'm always on the look out for stellar deals. Apparently though, I'm also a mundane shopper. No matter how many commercials I see on TV advertising new and improved products, those items never actually make it onto my shopping list and into my grocery cart. Instead, I stick to my tried and true products that I've been using forever, and this in turn, induces product envy. My latest product envy is stain removers. According to my niece over at Clare's Contemplations I am missing out on some serious stain removers. In my laundry room there are currently about 700 brands and varieties of stain removers, and they're all pretty much not even worth the plastic they're poured in. It's aggravating. Apparently, despite seeing the ads a thousand times, there are a couple of products that I've missed in my shopping ventures. Shout Advanced and Spray-n-Wash Dual Action...or something like that. According to Clare these products actually work. I'm serious. She claims they can remove crayons and grease and dirt and all kinds of other semi-permanent stains. I must try them. I must break out of my mold, expand my shopping horizons, and strive to be more like my niece (and sister), who somehow knows about every new product before it's even available to the general public. If you have any amazing products you want to share, I'm all ears (or would that be eyes?). Otherwise, I'm off to fight crime stains.

School Days!

Just a quick update.  After a whirlwind weekend of planning for upcoming church activities and socializing with friends and family in honor of Labor Day, we're understandably exhausted.  Tuesday is however, a new day, and not just any new day.  It's the first day of school for us.  I've already gotten my curriculum organized and I cannot wait to get started.  Christian Liberty's curriculum (recommended by my sister, who KNOWS home schooling :) looks amazing and I know it's going to both challenge and encourage the girls as they begin their school work.  Here we go.....

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.  Proverbs 1:7

Audi-envy!

So, if you've been keeping up with me on Facebook at all, you know the switch that controls the brake lights on the Jetta stopped working. After two trips to Napa and one trip to Auto Zone....3 switches later, it STILL did not work. Finally, out of desperation we called the VW dealership. We never call the dealership first because they're expensive. But this time, we were out of options. With no brake lights, not only were we a total hazard on the road, we were at risk of being ticketed. So Cory called Appleway VW/Audi and found out the Jetta's brake switch was under factory recall and if we brought it to them, they'd fit us in and fix it for free. Not only did they do just as they said, they vacuumed and washed the Jetta. It was glorious!

On a side note, while there, we saw the most exquisite Audi of all times. We knew it was something special as we drove by it. To the average eye it just looked like a boring old sedan, but to car connoisseurs like us, we knew it was something amazing (the brakes were oversized and the wheels cost more than my entire car) We were right. Turns out it was an Audi S8 with a Lamborghini V10 engine and sticker price of.........eeeek.....$114,000+. Needless to say, we didn't buy it.....or touch it, and we basically stopped looking at it after that, for fear of scratching it, but it was beautiful to behold!

Here's a picture of one I found online, but the photo does not do justice to the car we saw. Yeah, I want a new Audi, but not if it's going to be nearly the price of my house :)