Potpourri

No not potpourri as in rose petals and lovely smells but rather potpourri  as on Jeopardy where one category is a bunch of leftovers! Being newly home from a week away, my brain is still adjusting and I cannot think of one topic to focus on!

Here is Miss Audrey wearing her I Drink Until I Pass Out shirt that her parents picked up for her in Gulf Shores this summer.   I am biased but isn't she a cutie? We have not seen her since June and this Nana is surely missing her Audrey Katherine.

My kitchen hutch with its pretty cards and Halloween decor.  My childhood friend, Linda, sent me the card with the dragon fly and I am thinking of cutting out the dragon fly and using it for a bookmark. It is so pretty!!

Here is the garden flag that will go out this weekend. I love jolly Jack O Lanterns. One of my new readers stated that she liked my happy Halloween decorations. I am not a fan of all the "dark" Halloween decor that features blood, ghouls etc.  I love happy things just like the candy corn eyes this jack is sporting.  Amelia and I were set to go paint next Thursday but she will be in Hawaii...so she will not be joining me. Can you imagine that? I will pick up her cut out and she can do it at home. I am going to be painting a candy corn...not sure how I am going to decorate it yet.

I mentioned I was going to the Cross Stitch Peddler yesterday. I picked up the materials to do the Prairie Schooler Nativity. Marlene helped me to pick out a darker color. I wanted the scene to appear to be at night.  And of course I could not leave with just one project.

I picked up the original Home of a Needleworker by Little House Needleworks as well as the Starry Night by P Schooler. Marlene, the owner of Cross Stitch Peddler, had worked up several of the starry night pieces and had them finished as Christmas ornaments.   The three Kings is my favorite.  I also picked up two needle minders. After debating about whether I liked them or not, I am finding them very helpful in keeping my needle from wandering to the sofa cushions or onto the floor.

So today I will do some stitching. I am also going to look for some pumpkins and mums for the front porch. Impatiens will be pulled up and fresh mulch put down so that my front entry will be looking more fall like! And today it will be cooler so I am a happy camper!! Have a blessed day Friends.

The Stream

I am adding a few pictures to the stream today....jump on in while the water's warm.

1. We were eating Ice Cream at Matt's Homemade Ice Cream in Gulf Shores and as we were leaving we came across this sign...

Old Guys Rule...the older I get the better I was is written in small print!  If you are wondering what flavors of Ice Cream we enjoyed...Creole Praline was voted the best by both of us. We visited Matt's two times and also tried Toffee, Glazed Donut and Chocolate.  Now we know where to go for the best ice cream  at the beach.

2. I got in some stitching at the beach and since this photo was made I have finished about 3/4 of the project.

I just love Prairie Schooler. I managed to find a very old P S sampler of the nativity. I had been looking everywhere for it but finally found it at 123 Cross Stitch. I am going to Cross Stitch Peddler today to get the fabric and threads for it! I doubt it will be finished by this Christmas but I live in hope. I am also working on some baby bibs as a gift for my sis in law, Lanier. She has three baby grands and she wanted some personalized bibs for them to use at her house.  And lastly I am working on an ornament for Audrey.  So I am trying to get a lot of stitching time in. If only I could stitch and walk at the same time I would get in my 10,000 steps and finish my projects.

3  Progress on the little house is slow as we wait for trusses to be delivered this week. We are having a cathedral ceiling in the living area and that required trusses. However we did get the power lines in last week.

4. One of the things I love about coming home from vacation is sorting through all my mail. I got several magazines, some catalogs and two sweet thank you notes. One was from Linda at Linda's Life Journal and the other was from Whitney at Come Home for Comfort. I love getting snail mail!!

5. We attended Landon's last soccer game last night. They came in 3rd in their league. Landon has really improved his game and is looking forward to next season.

6. I did not watch the so called debate as people do not know how to debate any longer. I blame much of it on CNN and Fox News.  Talking over each other and screaming seems to be the order of the day in all discussions.  Like many people in America, I wish I had a third choice but I will vote for the lesser of two evils and leave it at that.   I will pray for this country that means so much to me.

7. Several errands to do today. One of my diffusers quit working so I will head to Bed Bath and Beyond with my 20% off coupon to get a new one.  Then to the cross stitch store for my supplies and on to Ross to see if I can find some more of those little art boxes to finish up two projects.   Along with that I am having a sweet friend over for coffee this morning.  It is going to be a good day here in NoAla and I hope it is a good day in your part of the world too!

Bag Lady

We are back home and while vacation is pleasant, home is best!  We took the time to unload all our luggage etc on Saturday afternoon. Marvin and I make it a point not to sit down until everything is put away.  We work pretty well as a team after 40 years together.

We were back in church yesterday and enjoyed seeing our friends, worshipping and studying the book of Ephesians. After  lunch with our friends, the Gosnells, we came home and crashed!!

Marvin is off to work this morning while I have a Raindrop massage and do errands.  A raindrop massage is an essential oil massage that  gets you ready for the cold and flu season.  I am hoping to build up my immunity! Flu has already been reported here in NoAla. So in spite of the summer like temps the flu bug is making the rounds.

I thought I would share some bags with you this morning. They were painted by my friend, Bess, who is an artist.  I could not resist getting one for myself and one for Amelia.

Amelia  loves ALL things flamingo so when I saw that Bess was painting these bags and selling them I had to get one for my girl. Amelia really liked it and who doesn't like a Happy gift?

Here is mine...complete with monogram. I plan to use it as my library bag.  I could not help but think of my blog friend, Linda, as I know she loves Sunflowers. She is an artist as well. If you check out Linda's Life Journal on my blog roll, you can see the pretty sunflower canvases she is doing right now.

I am glad to be back to blogging each day now. It is a big part of my life and when I do not blog for several days I truly miss it. Have a blessed day dear friends and like you, I am looking forward to some cooler temps this week. Maybe fall is here after all!

A Goal Met

One of my goals for this year was to meet a blog friend in person.  Knowing I would be in the vicinity of Sandy's hometown, we made plans to meet up in Pensacola. You can find Sandy on my blog roll, I Majored in Home Economics.  We both enjoy cross stitch and purses along with some other things. I often read Sandy's blog and think, she must be my secret sister!!

Marvin was a good sport and drove me over to Pensacola where we met Sandy at The Tin Cow.

What a neat restaurant in the old part of Pensacola. As we walked up the sidewalk, I spotted Sandy immediately.

We are both Silver Foxes...rocking our silver locks. We were laughing about the newest trend among young people as they want silver hair too. We both agreed that they need to enjoy their youth and not rush the silver!

We had a wonderful time talking and sharing. Marvin found out that Sandy knows a work colleague of his who went to school with Sandy. It is a small world. Sandy and I talked about our current cross stitch projects and how we have to limit our Floss tube watching! We also agreed that we are more project cross stitchers in that we like to finish a piece at a time.  Many of the floss tubers have about 8 or more projects going at one time. That would make me anxious and cross stitching is what I use to calm myself down!!

Purses were discussed and I had to show Sandy my new hot pink Vera Bradley I found at the outlet in Foley. She was carrying a pretty Spartina bag in Auburn colors.

Sandy was just as sweet and genuine as she is on her blog!  We were laughing at some of our family members who are a bit skeptical of meeting someone you know only online.  The ladies who I count as blog friends are not a scary bunch at all.  I have promised Whitney at Come Home for Comfort that I will meet up with her the next time we visit family in Brevard. Terri D at Your Friend From Florida has offered to drive up to visit  some time when I am in Gulf Shores.  And that would be quite a drive for her so I appreciate that. Leslie Anne Tarabella wants to meet in Fairhope next year as well.  I long to go back to New England and the next time I do I want to meet Mrs T at Across My Kitchen Table who has been a long time blog friend.  Once our little house is done, I am determined to meet Mildred  at Mildred's Blog, who is another sweet blog friend and prayer warrior for my family. She lives in driving distance to our little house.  So maybe I can just cross off several names on my list next year. Do you think my friend, Martha Stewart would like a visit?:) Somehow I do not think she would be as welcoming as these other ladies!!

Well it is our last day in Gulf Shores and we plan to get in some beach time before we pack up the car and head back to NoAla. It has been a wonderful relaxing week.  This yearly trip  always gets me ready for the busy fall season!

The Boys

I said I would not post much this week but I am up early and I have some pictures to share.  It seems I am always posting pictures of the girl grands so today is Boys Day. Thanks to Amelia and Katy for sending me these pictures.

Landon and his friend at the Soccer Tournament.  Landon is turning into quite the sportsman.

Katy sent me this early morning picture of Baylor...having his biscuit and sausage before school. He also has his little soft toy that he enjoys.

And here is Elliott asleep in his big boy bed. He has only fallen out one time!!  This bed has an interesting history, it was once in the officers quarters at Redstone Arsenal.  I love furniture with a story.

Marvin and I went to see the movie, Sully, last night. I highly recommend it to all of you. I had tears in my eyes as I watched several scenes.  I told Marvin, it makes you proud to be an American. Not only did Captain Sullenberger do an amazing job at landing that plane in the water, the boats on the Hudson River that came to help were incredible. They had the passengers from the plane wings and rafts in 24 minutes. That is the difference between life and death in the frigid temperature of that January day.   Tom Hanks was terrific as usual and Aaron Eckhart as his co pilot really did a nice job of acting as well.  Laura Linney plays Mrs Sullenberger. I kept wondering who that actress was...she was familiar but I could not place her. I looked her up online the minute I got home. When Marvin asked who she was, I told him, "She's the woman who used to say, This is Masterpiece Theater." I knew he would not know any of the movies she had acted in on the big screen.

Well time to head to the beach....then dinner at Cosmo's our favorite place in Orange Beach.  Have a good day Friends.

A Beautiful View

We are having a good week. It was raining when we arrived on Saturday but since then the weather has been very nice.  We have spent most of every day on the beach, reading, watching the dolphins and taking the occasional walk.  The dolphins were putting on a show yesterday as there were about six of them playing together. And of course, everyone on the beach was pointing and laughing with delight. It is nice that such a simple thing can bring joy to all sorts of people.

I have been working on a new Prairie Schooler, Let it Snow.  And I have enjoyed watching a bit of floss tube as well as checking out some cross stitch Facebook pages. I love seeing all the different pieces that are being done. The most interesting one is a cross stitched picture of Jim Morrison.

Hope all of you are having a good week. And while the beach is wonderful, I concur with Dorothy that there is no place like home.

R and R

My posting will be short and sporadic this week as Marvin and I enjoy some beach time to celebrate 40 years of marriage! This morning it is a bit overcast but we are having breakfast on the balcony enjoying the sound of the waves. Reading, cross stitching, sitting on the beach and eating lots of seafood is our plan for the days ahead!