Happy Halloween!

With it being Throwback Thursday and Halloween, I thought I would share this picture of a 98% Good Witch, our Kendall. This was made about two years ago and I thought she looked so pretty!

It is supposed to be a rainy Halloween here so I am wondering if my bowl of candy just might become too much temptation for me! I have Margaret's birthday coming up and I need to make some goodie bags so I will save it for the party!(hopefully!!) I always look forward to seeing all the little ones dressed in their costumes so I hope to have a few drop by my door!

The BFF's and I are off to try a new Mexican restaurant in town for lunch today then I hope to come home and clean some as I am having Baylor as a weekend guest. Ben and Katy are moving to their new home and we are so happy for them to get settled in before Asher arrives in December.

Have a fun Halloween Friends!! Thanksgiving will be here before we know it!!

Another Treasure

 My good friend, Maria, gave me this pretty little glass box on Monday. Maria knows I love Boopie Glass and she found this precious little treasure on one of her recent antique "picking" expeditions.  Maria thought I would like this and she was right. My china cabinet is filling up with lots of Boopie glass and anything that has little glass balls as ornamentation.  You can see one of my Boopie glasses to the left of my box. The blue and white tea set was a gift to me from my son, Charles. He brought it all the way from China for Mom!

Here is a better picture of my treasure. Thank you Maria....I love it!!

Good Luck Laura

 This week my niece, Laura, will be off to Louisville, Ky where she will participate in the FFA(Future Farmers of America) National Competition. Her category is the FFA Creed...she will be representing the state of Georgia. What a great opportunity to go and meet other FFA members from across America. When I was in high school only boys were in the FFA so it is good to see some girl farmers joining the ranks! Here is Laura on the farm....

 I was noticing that there are quite a few girls on the FFA Float in the North Murray High Homecoming Parade.

And here is Laura with Lucy, the orphan calf, putting some of her farm skills to work!  We are pulling for our girl as she competes this week! Go Laura.

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Our Landon(Bubba) turned five years old yesterday! It is so hard to believe that he is almost ready for kindergarten. He had a nice party at Dad's house on Saturday and will have a Grimm family bd party on Saturday the 2nd.  I am sure I will have lots of pictures to post. The week after that, we have Margaret's bd party here at our house. It is a busy fall.

We had a quiet weekend at home which is always appreciated. After church yesterday we had lunch with friends then came home for naps and the World Series game. Go Cards!!

Back Alley Bistro

One of my favorite restaurants here in Decatur posted this pretty picture on Facebook and I decided to borrow it. Back Alley Bistro is quickly becoming one of The Places in Decatur to dine for lunch or dinner.  The food and the ambiance is so nice that you just relax the moment you step inside the door. They also have some musical entertainment on the weekends and that pulls in a lot of the late night crowd. I have to say I am the lunch or early dinner diner. About the time the music is starting at Back Alley, I am curled up in bed with a good book. If you are in the Decatur area, check out this neat eatery.

Allegiant

Look what I found while shopping today. If you are not familiar with the Divergent Series then you probably don't care about Allegiant. Allegiant is supposed to be the last in the series but I have heard rumors that there might be more books to come. We will see!  The series features a young heroine by the name of Tris Prior. She lives in a Dystopian Chicago of the future.  At sixteen, she makes a choice that will change her life forever. Frankly, it has been so long since I read Insurgent that I hope I can remember where Allegiant picks up the story! With Harry Potter, I had no trouble remembering all the characters, plots etc but Tris and her friends are not so memorable. In fact, I found the Divergent series to be similar to the Hunger Games. Maybe all Dystopian books have a similar theme. This is a new genre for me.

And I found the Southern Lady December Edition on the shelves today at Target. If I had to pick only one magazine to read each month, it would be Southern Lady.  It is pure eye candy!!  Can you believe that Christmas is two months from today? I am trying to get done with my shopping and I am stocking up my pantry for Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts! I was happy to find out that our favorite BBQ place, BBQ Smokehouse, will smoke two turkey breasts for me for Thanksgiving. That is one chore marked off the list. If you have never had a smoked turkey breast, you do not know what you are missing!  And that will free up some of my oven space for dressing! I am making two pans of dressing this year. One will be a Conecuh Sausage dressing and the other will be Mama Dip's Turkey Dressing. Oh my, I am getting hungry just thinking about it!! But Thanksgiving will be here in a blink of the eye and I want to be ready so I can enjoy my company!!!

A Royal Christening

 My younger two children, Amelia and Charles, are about the same ages as Prince William and Prince Henry and I enjoyed watching the royal lads grow up.  Of course Diana was all the rage back in those days. I remember getting up in the wee hours of the morning here to watch Diana marry Charles. It did seem like a fairy tale but unfortunately it did not have a Happily Ever After.   In spite of that, Prince William seems to have grown into a nice responsible young husband and father...things his mother wanted for him I am sure.

I found this picture comparing christenings and I have to say Prince George is the cuter baby!! Of course George is  older at his christening than his father was on his Christening Day.  It looks like George has his mom's dark hair and eyes. The Duchess of Cambridge did add some good looking genes to the Windsor family!

I read that after the christening the family returned to the palace for a little party which included the top tier of the Cambridges wedding cake. It is an English custom to enjoy the last of the wedding cake at the first child's christening!

The Archbishop of Canterbury encouraged Prince George's parents and godparents to teach him about Jesus and to help him to grow up to be the person God created him to be.  I hope those around the young prince will remember this advice and put it into practice!  Prayers for this young man who will one day be King!

A Little Treasure

As Marvin and I were strolling about an antique store the other day, I saw this match holder. I pointed it out to Marvin, noting that it looked like the one that belonged to his mom. Mama G's match holder hung on the wall by the sink in the kitchen for many years. We decided we had to bring this one home with us. We have not decided where we will hang it but we will keep out little matches in the holder. It is really designed for Kitchen Matches...long matches that were used for various chores. Marvin went online to see if he could find Kitchen Matches and they were available for about $20 a box!! How times have changed.  Once our parents are no longer with us it seems we enjoy having things in our home that remind us of our loved ones.  I know we will think of Mama G when we use this little gem.

Women Walking Worthy

 On Sunday our new women's ministry(Women Walking Worthy or W3) at First Bible  held a kick off meeting for the ladies of the church. There were pretty decorations, tasty goodies and sweet fellowship. We are going to have our own t shirts as you can see above.

 Here is one of the tables. Sixth grade girls made the W3 sign that is attached to the small pumpkin and some sweet eighth grade girls made the polka dotted pumkins!  The womens ministry wants to include the young ladies of the church as well, which is a great idea.

Everyone received a pretty book mark that shared some Life Giving Questions. Please click on this photo to take a look at these guidelines for ministry.

I am really looking forward to seeing the ladies of our church turn into Titus Women!!

My Passport is Complete!

This week I finally completed my Around the World reading challenge at my local library. I only tackled 20 countries while some more adventurous readers went for 40!  I did learn new things about other countries and their cultures on my journey but I am happy to be able to read only what I want to read now that I am finished with my traveling! Here are the places I have visited the last year via my armchair and a good book.

The Girls of Atomic City.....USA
Tout Sweet.....France
As the Pig Turns....England
Mother Teresa.....India
Pippa Passes....Italy
A Bridge Between Us....Japan
Inside the Kingdom....Saudi Arabia
Beyond Belief....Australia
The Russian Word for Snow....Russia
To School Through the Woods....Ireland
My Years with Corrie.....The Netherlands
The Bridesmaids.....Monaco
10,000 Sorrows....Korea
The Outside World....Israel
Dinner with Persephone....Greece
Limetree Can't Bear Orange....Trinidad Tobago
The First Rule of Swimming....Croatia
Lullaby of Polish Girls......Poland
Shame and Sacrifice.....Germany
Looking for Palestine....Lebanon

Happy Birthday to my Better Half!

 This little baby is 62 years old today!

 Marvin and his older sister, Mina with their Easter baskets. Mina will celebrate her birthday tomorrow.

The  Grimm grands with their Granna, Pansy Morel Crane.  Pictured in the front row is Amy, Edward, Granna and William. Mina, Lee and Marvin are in the second row. As you look back on pictures you remember once again that time does fly by! We had a nice day celebrating Marvin's birthday. We took a print that Marvin bought in New Mexico to be framed then we just puttered around Hartselle and Falkville. Marvin and I had a good time checking out Tractor Supply. It was one store I had never shopped at but I must say I will be going back there. They have lots of unique things for hard to buy for people! We finished up our morning out with lunch at Mama's Roadhouse in Falkville, Alabama. All I can say is YUM. I think I have found another favorite restaurant. Now we are home, just chilling and Marvin is doing one of his favorite things, watching college football.  Ga Tech won for him on his birthday...how neat is that??

Conferderate Rose part two!

One of my blog friends asked me where the confederate rose got its name....Well that is a good question and one I did not know the answer to so I did some research. The Confederate Rose is actually a form of hibiscus and it typically grows in the coastal south. My cousin, Dewilla, in Savannah, says that her dad has one growing in his front yard. That is why it is so unusual to see them in our neck of the woods. Southern Living magazine says global warming is allowing this pretty plant to thrive in northern portions of the south. That is their opinion! Southern Living Magazine also gave two explanations for the name of the Confederate Rose. The first explanation is that the ladies of Mobile, Alabama, gave these showy flowers to the Confederate soldiers as they came home from the war. The second explanation is a little gorier! These roses often change colors as the day wears on...starting out white or very light pink in the morning and becoming a park pink by evening. It is said that these bushes soaked up the blood of the wounded soldiers causing the colors to change. So take your pick but I am going with the Mobile version!

A Confederate Rose

I have lived in the South all of my life( If you include three years in Louisville, KY) and I have never seen a Confederate Rose. I had heard of them but yesterday I saw a lovely bush FULL of those pretty pink and fuschia roses.  I was visiting my friend, Deborah, at her farm after dropping Landon off at preschool and I saw a bush with leaves similar to an oak leaf hydrangea but the branches were full of these pretty flowers. Deborah told me it was a confederate rose that she her mom had given her when they moved to the farm several years ago.  Deborah said that many people think they will not grow this far "north" but hers are thriving.  They bloom in September and October! A pretty surprise at the end of the summer.

Fall Photos of the Grands

 Our Ledlow grands have been having a wonderfall! Their Dad and step mom took them to an Auburn Game over the weekend. I love their Auburn togs even though I am a BAMA fan!

 Here is a good picture of Landon, taken by Mommy. Love those dimples!!

 That sweet boy became Robin! He is trying on his Halloween costume. Soon it will be time to trick or treat.

 And her is Miss Kendall heading off to school one morning. She has grown up so much in the last year! And we are so proud of her school work. She loves her new school and her new teacher.

 And another Halloween preview...Smurfette. Of course, when Amelia and Ben were little, they thought Smurfette's name was Smurfhead!! Brings back so many memories as the Smurfs have been around since my children were small.

There is nothing like the love that comes with those sweet grands. I am really looking forward to meeting number five, Benjamin Asher Grimm!!

More Tales from the Cracker Barrel

 Did you know you can learn to tie a scarf at Cracker Barrel? When we were in the store the other day, we saw some scarves that appeared to be braided! How could you do that with just two ends of a scarf? Well the nice lady who wraps gifts at Cracker Barrel gave us a demonstration right there in the clothing aisle!

 Of course by the time I got home, I could not remember exactly how she had done it. Google to the rescue. There were two you tube videos on braiding scarves and with a little practice I finally got my own scarf tied in time to wear it to church on Sunday!

 I also found that you can find multiple scarf sites on the web and you can learn to use your scarves in many ways...tied or draped!! I love scarves so I am sure I will be trying out some other new looks.

A New Look for Miss Margaret!

 Our Miss M came by on Saturday so we could see her new pink glasses!! Here she is with Grandpa...both of them wear glasses. Nana is getting new glasses this week too so maybe I can pose with Margaret next time.

The eye doc said that Margaret was the most mature three year old he had ever tested. In fact, he said she is the youngest patient that his office had successfully tested!  She is a smartie for sure!! Our princess looks so cute with her new bob and her new glasses.  It is hard to believe that she will be four soon. All of my babies are growing up so it is a good thing we will have another new baby soon!

WaHOOO!!

Last night Marvin and I had an opportunity to spend the evening with our favorite cowboys, Riders in the Sky. This group has been keeping the western music of the plains alive for 36 years now! We first heard them when our kids liked to watch Riders in the Sky tv show on Saturday mornings back in the early 90s. We were hooked. We had the pleasure of hearing them about ten years ago in Huntsville but last night they were at the Princess Theater in Decatur and we had seats in the third row!  Marvin was excited to get his photo made with the only cowboy physicist we have heard of...Woody Paul. Woody Paul has his PhD in Physics from MIT. But he has never worked as a physicist, he has always toured with Riders in the Sky. The evening was filled with old cowboy songs that took me back to my childhood days watching Roy Rogers on Saturday mornings. Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Happy Trails, Ghost Riders in the Sky, and Cool Clear Water were just a few of the songs  they sang last night. One of my favorite songs that they performed was Rawhide! That song took me right back to watching Gil Favor and Rowdy Yates moving those cattle along the trail. At our house, we always watched Rawhide, Gunsmoke, The Virginian and Bonanza. My Daddy ruled the tv viewing.:) The Princess was almost full of people about our age, wanting to relive their childhoods. But you may also recognize Riders in the Sky from the Disney movie, Toy Story. They sang Woody's Round Up and Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl for Toy Story 2.  I was also amazed at the great sound of these guys who are in their mid 60s. Their voices are still mellow and the harmony was still pure. The cowboys were heading up the road to Nashville today and they will be appearing at the Grand Ole Opry tonight. I would not mind going with them to hear more of their sweet singing!

In the Land of Cotton

When you smell the odor of defoliant in the air, you know it is cotton picking time in North Alabama. Crop dusters spray defoliant on the cotton, exposing the bright white bolls! These fields are so beautiful just prior to the cotton picking machines harvesting the year's crop! It always makes me think of the Bible verse, The fields are white unto harvest.  Have a blessed weekend Friends!

Breakfast with Friends

Having breakfast with three good friends at Cracker Barrel is a great way to start off Thursday!! Our Deb is still traveling so we invited friend, Maria, to come and join us. Maria is recuperating from surgery and is still unable to drive!:( Fortunately she has lots of good friends who are glad to take her on some jaunts! Being unable to drive anywhere you want to go is hard on us modern women! I shared my Call the Midwife Season One DVD with Maria. It should help to pass some of the time that she is housebound. Maria works at a local OB GYN office so I know she will get a kick out of watching babies being born back in the late 50s early 60s. Another friend had loaned her all three seasons of Downton Abbey so Maria will be busy watching all those dvds.

We had a great time eating and gabbing before we took time to stroll about the Country Store. You know how dangerous that is for me! I did find a cute winter cloak there...it is red with pretty ruffles around the top. Here in Alabama it seldom gets cold enough to require a heavy coat. Most of the time we can get by with something cozy to wear from the car to where ever we are going. I look forward to a chilly Sunday so I can wear my pretty cloak to church.

After breakfast, Maria and I took some time to just drive around and enjoy the fall leaves. We like to look at houses, so we drove through several neighborhoods. I have always loved the idea of being a real estate agent. If I could get Marvin to get a license, I could do the fun part of showing houses and let him do all the contracts etc!  I enjoyed driving around with a friend who loves looking at homes as much as I do!

Now I am back home and there are several things I could be doing but Thursday is my day Off...so I am probably going to just enjoy the rest of this fall afternoon by curling up with a good book!

Cleaning Day Two

 When I was a child the only maid I knew was Hazel! (pardon for the fuzzy picture but it was the only one I could find!) Of course the Adams family had Lurch and Cissy, Buffy and Jody had Mr French on Family Affair but in north Georgia where I lived, maids were scarce. Having three daughters, my mom had us helping her clean from the time we could follow her directions! Now that I run my own home, I am glad that I learned so much from Mother.

And as a child I could never understand why Samantha wanted to do all her laundry, cooking and housekeeping without using her magic! If I had her nose, I would twitch away all the clutter and dirt in a minute.:)

But I have to admit that having a clean house is a source of satisfaction for me. Yesterday I cleaned four rooms thoroughly and I must say that I was a happy tired at the end of the day. And I slept well last night too, I think hard work does that for you.  Today I plan to tackle my kitchen...which may take most of the day. I love my bright white cabinets but they show every bit of dust and grime if you do not keep after them.  I also wonder how two people can create so much dirt and clutter. I tried to be brutal in getting rid of things that we do not use but seem to hang around the house, mainly catalogs and magazines. So the cleaning goes on and I hope to have it completed by the end of the week. Then I will call my carpet cleaner and have him come to do our bedroom and the man cave. Then my house will be ready for the Holidays!

The Remains of the Day

I am a little late in reading this great book was published in 1989 and made into a movie starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. I have not seen the movie but I have to admit that I pictured these actors in my mind as I read the book!  Anthony Hopkins is one of my favorite actors...he excels at all he does!

The Remains of the Day is about a man who has spent his life serving as a butler to a great gentleman. Life at Darlington Hall is all about Lord Darlington and his wants, needs and desires.  Stevens strives to become one of the 'great' butlers. These men are known all over England and are held in awe by all the servantclass of the country. Stevens is a very good butler but at the cost of a life of his own.

After WW2 much change comes to England. Lord Darlington has died and an American speculator, Mr. Farraday, purchases Darlington Hall. The new owner has no clue how things are"done" in his new country. He tells Stevens that a portion of the house will be closed off and the staff will be cut accordingly. While Mr Farraday is off to America for several weeks, he suggests that Stevens take one  his automobiles and take a trip through the English countryside. Stevens has hardly left Darlington Hall in all his years of service there so he decides to take Mr Farraday up on his offer.

As Stevens travels through the country staying at guest houses and inns, he begins to mull over his life and wonders if it has been a worthy one. Stevens also plans to see Mrs Benn(the former Miss Kenton) who was housekeeper at Darlington Hall for many years before leaving service.  This meeting is a bittersweet one as feelings that have been suppressed for many years rise to the surface.  I think both of these wonderful people have questions about what might have been if they had been more honest with themselves.

I really enjoyed this book. I think all the Downton Abbey mania has made novels about English Country houses popular again. I was surprised to find that the book was written by Kazuo Ishiguro. Ishiguro was born in 1954 and moved to Great Britain in 1960. Educated at the University of Kentat Canterbury, he is a  celebrated author having his works translated into 13 languages.  I would be interested in reading more works by this talented writer.

Now I need to try to find the movie in order to see if it lives up to the novel!

Feels Like Fall

This morning I went out to get the newspaper and it was quite nippy!! That makes me happy as it means fall is approaching here in the South. On the way home from church yesterday, Marvin and I noticed that the leaves are already falling from some of the trees.  Of course I am looking forward to seeing the leaves change colors before they fall!

I had to share a picture of some of Kendall's Halloween decorations from years ago. When she was a little thing, she painted these inexpensive candle holders we purchased at Walmart. She decorated them and we added a battery operated tea light for a flickering glow. I still get them out each year and put them on display in the play room. I need to let the other grands make some of these votive holders too.

This week the children are with their dad and step mom so I have a week to do some cleaning around here. We are hosting Margaret's Lala Loopsy Birthday Party here on Nov 9th.(Her birthday is not until Dec 2nd but with the arrival of Mr Asher slated for around that time, Mommy wanted to make sure Margaret had a big party.) And we will be having a Grimm Thanksgiving this year with Charlottesville, Virginia and Memphis, Tennessee Grimms coming to celebrate with us. My hope this week is to declutter a bit an to give my kitchen a good cleaning.  It is true that a woman's work is never done!!

Around the House

 I am so glad that the back of our townhouse backs up to such a pretty field. Yesterday the fog was just floating above the ground...lovely. As you can tell, the trees are just beginning to change into their fall garments!

 I found this pretty flag at Zoey's in Hartselle. I felt that it would last through Thanksgiving. I use this little flag to hide my gas meter out back! I just hate looking at ugly things.:)

And this pretty piece of art came from Zoey's as well. I have to give a shout out to this nice store. The owner is so sweet and helpful. I love to just spend some time there looking at all her pretty eye candy.

No big plans for today....hope everyone has a wonderFall weekend.

Punkin Patch Day

Grandboy Landon headed off to the punkin patch this week with his friends at Hartselle FUMC Preschool. He and Mommy motored out to Gullion farms where they spent the morning playing in the corn crib, climbing tire mountains, petting small animals and finally riding in a wagon to pick out Landon's own pumpkin. No tractors pulling this wagon, just two gorgeous draft horses. Not many children get the opportunity to ride in a horse drawn wagon these days. And below you can see Landon with his pumpkin. Grandpa told Landon to be on the lookout for the Great Pumpkin but there were no sightings this year. If you live in the North Alabama area you might like to spend a day at Gullion Farms. The website is www.gullionfarms.com

Never Let Me Loose in Cracker Barrel By Myself!!

 Okay, last week when we were in Gulf Shores, I stopped at the Cracker Barrel to look for a Halloween costume for Margaret. After a morning of shopping at the Outlet Malls in Foley, Marvin said he would just stay in the car and rest while I shopped. Well Cracker Barrel did not have the costume I wanted in Margaret's size so I started out the door and low and behold, I saw this ceramic Christmas tree! I knew I had to have it. And here is why!

 When we were newlyweds, my precious mother in law, Mama G, made us one of these trees at her ceramics class. Well in our last move to our town house, this heirloom got broken. I was so sad... I began to look on etsy and ebay for a similar one but I was shocked at how much these little trees went for these days.  The Cracker Barrel Tree is not an exact match to the broken tree but it was good enough for me and priced very reasonably.  Marvin was surprised to see me lugging this big box out of the store. He just smiled when he saw what I had purchased. He knows he is married to a crazy lady!:)

My Boy, Baylor

Welcome to my Grands Gallery. This gallery displays portraits of each of my grands as they looked when they were between one and two years old. You can see that Kendall's picture is probably the fanciest. When you have your first grandchild you tend to spend the dollars on photographs, forgetting that you might just have other grandchildren some day.:) Landon and Margaret's photos were taken when they were about 18 months old.  I did not have a picture of Baylor to add to the wall so I decided to take matters into my own hands when I saw that www.canvasondemand.com was offering 50% off their canvasses.  I had taken this cute picture of Baylor but the background was not to my liking.  No problem, for a fee I could have the background changed to a pretty gray color.  I had never used this company before but I have to say I was very impressed with the results and I will be using them again!

 Now I just need to get a frame for the canvas and my grands gallery will be done until Mr Benjamin Asher Grimm arrives later in the year.

The Back Door

 My Blog Friend, Myra at www.myblessedlife.net shared a cute fall craft yesterday recycling a tin can into a fall bouquet holder for her door.  I did something similar last year with a cute little basket I purchased at Tammy Eddy Antiques here on Bank Street in Decatur.  These cute baskets feature a leather strap that allows for hanging this sweet treasure just about anywhere. Last fall I hung this creation on my secretary in the living room. This year I decided to hang it on my turquoise door in the garage. Why must all decorations be used to impress others with your creativity?:) Every time I pull my car into the garage this burst of autumnal color makes me smile!!

 And another shot....The blur in the window is a fall banner that features a turkey! While it is a cute view from my kitchen, not so much in the garage!

And this is another basket decorated for Christmas. I think I am going to have to add some more bling to this one! I often take pictures of my crafts as it helps me to see what is "missing". This tip has really helped me to see my projects without bias!

With this being the first day of October, Christmas will be here before we know it. One of my facebook friends just posted that there are only 17 Saturdays left before the Big Day!! Gotta Get Busy!