Any K12-vers out there???

I'm happy to report that we survived a year in public school, but both Jackson and Lilly are both begging to be home schooled.  Of course, that could have to do more with staying home and playing.  ;)
 Have any of you tried K12?  I would love to know the good, bad, and ugly.  Otherwise, please leave in the comments the curriculum that you tried and love.
Thanks so much!!
Elise

Goin' to California...

I'm sooo excited, because in two days from now I will be in California!!!!  I finally get to meet Jenny and Emilie!!!  I will be staying with Jenny{my bestie from the westie, you may know that already}...I "met" Jenny{on the left} from a swap Emilie{on the right} hosted a few years ago.  I will definitely back with tons of photos, as we plan on lots of thrifting and crafting!!!
Happy Trails to you, until we meet again...

How about I leave a favorite "California song"...

BeautiFALL...

This Fall has been absolutely gorgeous!! I couldn't let this season pass me without blogging about it. This post is quite picture heavy...

The above picture was taken probably in September. A little early Fall...

This tree is down the road from my house. I loved the colors of it this year!!

Same tree, different angle...

Another beautifall tree...

Same tree as the other couple pics. I love the variegated leaves. God did a great job, and just because He loves us!!

I love the rustling of the leaves...my new favorite nail polish...

Trees in my side yard...

Cory and I celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss{um, okay, maybe not blissful all the time} and got some time away in the mountains. It was gorgeous when we went!!

This was near the center of town.

We had to hit a few local yard sales, right?!?! This was someone's backyard!! I would never tire of this view!!!

Back home...my Fall flag and FREE pumpkins!!!

One of my new friend's and I went to our girls' Kindergarten class to do a Thanksgiving craft. We took in a fun, festive treat!!

I made a ruffled burlap valance. I love it, but its not really for perfectionist's. I'm in recovery. ;)

I still have two more to make...

On the opposite side of the living room sits my craft cabinet. I painted it and now have issues with my doors sticking. I'll get around to fixing it eventually.

Jenny, my bestie from the westie, made my photo booth props. They are so cute, huh?!?!

I just tied a vintage doily around a jar with thrifted lace, set atop a vintage frog...threw in a folding measure tape for good measure{??}...hahaha!!

{If you look closely, you can see my old window treatments in the mirror...actually not so old, just made them a few months ago, but they have got to go. For now.}

Of course, I "Falled" up the dining area. Do forgive this photo quality. My camera and I are working on our relationship. Its a little more take, and I just give, give, give!!

You'd know, after I uploaded the photo, I realized the tray is way high, however, my microwave used to sit on the buffet. Attractive, yeah...

Here is a little close-up...The pinecone turkeys are the craft I did with Lilly's class. She is thankful for Mom, Dad, Tree{the first word she could spell, aside from her own name-but hey, I'm thankful for trees, too. Obviously...}, and Toes{toys}...The little fabric turkey I made a few years ago with the kids' hands. I found a tutorial after I made ours, and yep, I did it the hard way!!

An embellished candle...take one of those awesome, inexpensive candles from Wal-Mart, and mod podge scrapbook paper, doily, and tie twine and you have a cute decorated candle. These would be an awesome teacher gift, too!!

The backroom...Finally, at long last, I got the curtains made. I'm am so pleased with how this room is shaping up!!

I received this leaf garland a few Fall's ago. I love the way it looks hanging in the window!!

It wouldn't be Fall without Halloween. Or would it?? I was just "okay" about Halloween this year. You can tell I went all out for the costumes. Fisher fell asleep on the couch around 5:30, and didn't wake up until the next morning, so it was just me and the biggin's. Along with some new friends.

We went to the apple orchard. Yummy, fresh mountain apples!!

Jackson turned 9. My, oh my, where is the time going?!?! He requested pancakes, so the Pioneer Woman pancakes it was!! See the cake mix box in the corner. I decided to pull a little prank on my prankster. Well, really, I couldn't find tape, so I wrapped his Tony Hawk{free from Kohl's-yay} shirt around a movie and put it in the cake box and hot glued it close. He had requested strawberry cupcakes for school, so this was perfect!!

His party theme took a couple turns before being a game night. This was his cake before it got mutilated. Um, yeah...

I had a birthday. I turned 33 on 11, 11, 11-how cool is that!?!?!

My little people got me cozy socks, which I love, and made me the sweetest cards!!

When we got home from our anniversary trip, not only was my house spotless{thanks, Mom!!}, I had a package waiting. Jenny made this altered art for me. Poor thing, I think she was afraid to send it, because after she had made it, we were talking about aa and I said I didn't care for it. I guess I said it, but I had to reiterate that it was the scary kind with the eyes from one person pasted onto another person's face. Yikes!! This kind of altered art I LOVE!! Its fun, not freaky!!

Anyhow...this is my fun, happy corner of my kitchen!!

Happy Fall, Y'all!!!!

Opening that can...

I have so much I want to share...decor, projects, ideas, etc. I feel like I first have to take care of some "housekeeping" if you will. This picture has absolutely nothing at all to do with the post, by the way...

I think anytime you open up and put yourself out there, you run the risk of someone taking it the wrong way. Its so hard to come across in the very sincere way you mean to, when you can only read, and not hear the voice. I just checked my dashboard yesterday and found a comment that needed moderating. It was for this post.

Before I get into it, let me just say that I have what I call a "park friend". I met this lady at a Girl Scout sign up, and we found out we both have Fishers. Well, her's is spelled Fischer. We then saw her at the park one Friday afternoon shortly thereafter. So now, we meet up with them at the park. We celebrated Halloween with them, eating dinner, then trick or treating. Want to know the funny thing?? She and her husband both drive Mercedes!! I promise I am not really going there, again. I thought this was all so funny, since God revealed to me, that this lady, who was so down to earth, friendly, not at all snobby, and shopped at Wal-Mart, was possibly in my life for the very purpose of me not judging people based on what they have, versus what I don't have. I think that may have made sense...???

Okay...onto the comment. I felt the need to share it and clarify myself. Because...what if it was a new friend that read that post and wrote this comment?? A post that I did not mean to come across in any ugly way, at all.

Aren't you insecurities about your "cheap" car the same thing? People buy what they like and what they campn sorta afford. If someone is high-income, a "nice" car might be relatively affordable to them. Maybe no other dealer would finance them. Maybe thet're working 100 hours a week to buy that car, that house, that lifestyle. Maybe they ear ramen all week but really enjoy a nice car-- that's their one luxury. Sure, some people buy thongs for show. Others have worked their whole lives to buy their dream "toys." others may have ingerited those things, or be upside down on the payments but couldn't find a buyer. You're judging them on wealth because you perceice they're judging you on poverty. But, you don't know wjat those people have been through or stand for... nor do they know what you've been through or stand for. It's not that someone makes the car. That's silly because it over emphasizes possessions. You have your needs more than met- that's whatnmatters. You have a caring family and food and shelter- that's what matters. The car or house are not what you make- they're what you've been given. Some have more, some less... but being prideful in things is futile, "making" your car is futile. You are valued as a human, not because of what they or you have.

So...I do agree with what some of "anonymous" wrote. The parts I could understand, what with the typos and whatnot. I know that my problems were totally mine and not anything anyone said to me or about me. That is just something I have to pray about and work through. I sincerely hope I haven't offended anyone, as it was not my intention. There it is...

Anthro-Inspired Dishtowels

Hey y'all!! Some of you may remember last year when I posted about being featured on Edie's blog, Life in Grace. I decided that I would share it here with y'all now.

For my part, I am showing y'all how to make some cute tea towels. These make wonderful hostess gifts, teacher gifts, girlfriend gifts...Tie up with a loaf of homemade pumpkin bread and a Starbucks giftcard and you have a perfectly cute, perfectly welcome gift!!

First, gather all the supplies:
*towel
*cute fabric-three different prints
*pompoms
*thread-the color of the towel, pompoms, and fabric{I actually used white here, but you can match the thread with the fabric}
*m&m's-optional, I suppose ;)


I personally think holiday colored m&m's are more fun to eat!!

Let's get started...

You'll want to cut{or tear} your fabric into strips, roughly 2 inches wide by one and a half to double the width of your towel.

Turn the dial to the longest stitch length. Sew down the middle of each strip.

To gather, you just need to grab one piece of thread and gently slide your fabric down, being careful not to rip the thread.

You will want to make sure your ruffles are the width of the towel and evenly gathered. Play around until you get the placement you like.

Pin the ruffles to the towel.

Next, you will sew the ruffle to the towel, going over the gathering stitch and taking out pins before it goes under the foot. DO NOT LEAVE THE PIN IN!! Ask me how I know...it involves a broken needle and a call to 911. Thankfully, no lasting damage was caused!! I now have safety glasses curtesy of my husband's co-worker. ;) Do make sure to turn your stitch length dial back down.

Cut pompoms to size and sew them to the back of the towel. You will want to change your thread to match the pompoms and the bobbin to match the towel.

Voila!! You have a cute, ruffled dishtowel that anyone would love!!

***

I also have another towel to share with y'all. I really love the way this one turned out!!

This one I made from a flour sack towel. You will also need three fabrics, pompoms and wonder under for this towel. You can get a four pack of these flour sack towels at Target.

I used a salad plate and a bread and butter plate for the circles. Lay the plate atop your fabric and cut a square just a smidge larger than the plate. Do that for both circles and your image. Once you get that square, you will iron it to the wonder under, being careful not to iron the wonder under itself, or else it will make your iron sticky.

Then you will use a fabric marker or pencil{I think the water soluble markers work best} to trace the plate onto the fabric. Cut out the shape. Do this for all three fabrics. I opted to use a rooster shape{click here for image, copy and save} for the applique, but you could do any animal or even a monogram. I made a Valentine towel, with a heart, for a friend, you can see it here. For the rooster, I just saved the image and opened a word document and enlarged it. I printed it and cut it out. Then I traced it on the fabric and cut it out.

I opened the towel and ironed the creases out. They are folded about four times and once you get your towel all prettied up, it will only be folded into thirds. Determine the middle third and place the biggest circle in it. Iron it on, then sew inside the edge. I used a contrasting thread and around it twice for more whimsy. I then ironed the second circle onto the first one and sewed around it, then did the same with the rooster. Once that was finished, I sewed the pompoms on like the first towel. If you don't sew, don't fret, you can totally make this towel. You will just get another wonder under type-they make some that are no sew and use Allene's craft glue to adhere the pompoms.

Another fun, cute towel for some lucky person on your Christmas list!! You could customize this towel all kinds of ways, using a tree for Christmas, bunny image for Easter, star for the Fourth of July, the options are endless!!

Why Lilly Has Diabetes...

When Lilly was first diagnosed with diabetes, I was like, "Why the heck does MY kid have this??" I didn't take it very well. Over the course of time, it has gotten easier and I can say, "Why not my child??" I wouldn't have chosen it, but if her having diabetes draws someone else closer to God, then so be it. He could have let Lilly die, but he chose to save her. For that we are very grateful.

A Few Thrifty Finds...

Hey there, y'all!! Just wanted to pop on to share some thrifty finds I've gotten lately. You know how sometimes you want to wait to share something until its "done"?? That's how I felt about showing y'all this table, but I don't feel like waiting. Ha!! My friend, Amy, found this table in my favorite little church thrift shop a few months ago. I went to go look at it, but it was out of my budget at the time. I decided I would make myself paint and sell my other table first. Well, last Thursday I had to run an errand in the same town as the thrift shop so I ran in there to see if it was still there. It was!! I think they had it priced so high no one would buy it. This place is normally so cheap on everything else, too. Anyway, I managed to talk them down $40, so even though I still paid more than I wanted, saving $40 was awesome!! Now I just need to finish my other table and get it sold!!

Y'all can see that I decided to go with the red chairs from Ikea!! For some reason my husband isn't super sold on them with this table. On the subject of the table, I cannot decide if it needs a makeover or not. My thought was to maybe re-stain the top a dark walnut and paint the bottom white. I kind of like it like it is, too. What do y'all think??

I found these owls at Goodwill a few weeks ago. I thought they looked so sweet. However, they will be getting a makeover. I trying to decide on a funky green or teal. Any opinions?? These cute hoots will go into the kids' room. Y'all might remember I briefly mentioned that all four of them are sharing a room...I'm trying to make it as gender neutral as I know how. And I don't. I am gleaning a lot of inspiration from all of you, however!!

Ahhh...this table. I've actually had it for over a year. I paid $20 for it at a yard sale and was so tickled pink to have a table that not everyone else does!! I did paint and glaze the wood top. The lamp is also a secondhand find. Brass originally, I sprayed it with a Fern spray paint and it looks fab!! We had to put a few of our favorite Fall books in a basket!!

Anybody else seeing the irony{no pun intended} of all the dust on my "Domestic" piece?!?! Hahaha!!!

P.S. I'm listening to Christmas music right now...How crazy is that?!?!