What Are You Afraid Of?

Personally I have a phobia of spiders. Let me make this very clear...a PHOBIA - not a fear. Not a simple I do not like them or think they are creapy. I am TERRIFIED of spiders. I have no idea where this irrational fear came from. I start off screaming. Then it leads to irrational screaming and crying. THEN comes the hyperventilating. Then it feels as if my throat closes off. The gasping of air comes pretty quickly after that and then in the past I have passed out. There it is folks. A phobia.

Anywhoooo...here in NC there are some BIG ass spiders. This here fella is now living in my backyard. That is until tonight when my brave hubby comes home and I tell him to remove the spider from the premises. Now I will not make him kill him. I know they are good and kill insects. I actually feel sorry for this little guy. Do you notice anything about him?? Spiders are suppose to have 8 legs. This beauty only has 6. Two are missing. I do not even want to think about what happened to them. Yick!

Now you are probably thinking how in the world a girl with a phobia like mine was able to take this photo. I have a great zoom lens! LOL

Another thing that NC is blessed with is fire ants. This is the third big mound that I have had to tackle this fall. I sprinkled the crystals/poison on the mound yesterday so today I went to check on it. Again...yick!

Looks small right now. Poison must be working! Wait....see all those dark pits? Those are not pits of dirt. They are piles of dead ants. The ants that are still alive are removing the dead bodies from inside the nest. Once again....yick!!

                                    

Dinner Last Night

Last night for dinner I made Rachel Ray’s Individual Beef Pot Pies. OH MY! They were so very yummy!! I did not even think to take photos of mine because honestly they did not look like Rachel Rays! LOL

Here is the link and the recipe Rachel Ray

I used ground beef instead of the skirt steak because that is what I had on hand. It was SO good. My husband loved it. It was easy to make too! :)

Halloween Party Fun

We all gathered at a friends house today for lunch, fun and Halloween cupcake decorating. It was a wonderful day fun of lots and lots of kids. I am EXHAUSTED!

Lunch was “mummy hotdogs”.  The kids loved them! They were so easy to make. Hot dogs wrapped in strips of raw refrigerated crescent dough. Bake them in the oven until dough is cooked and puffy. Add eyes with food marker or even little bits of olives. Perfect!

(My daughter bit her mummy before I could get the photo)

  Then for the Halloween cupcake decorating! 

The kids and the parents all had a great time!

Some creations….

    

Hope you had as much fun today as we did….

How many hours til bedtime???

Test

I am testing out the Windows Live Writer….finally figured out how to get into it. Whew!

Now to learn about all the fun things you can do with it!

Look at that! Very cool!

Windows Live

I have heard how wonderful Windows Live is for blogging and how much easier it is so I downloaded it today. Now...I cannot figure out for the life of me how to blog with it...anyone that can help??

 

Halloween Costumes

What are you going to be for Halloween this year? Every year our friends have a Halloween party and it is so much fun to get dressed up. The kids are invited too so there is a big crowd. They have a costume contest for different catagories with prizes. Tons of fun!
This year my kids have decided they want to be characters from Star Wars....even my daughter. They also want my husband and I to dress up with the Star Wars theme BUT have you seen the prices on the adult costumes?? Crazy!
Here are a few ideas from the costume contest over at HGTV. These are photos that people sent in. Some great ideas!

This last one of the Simpson's is SUPER! I have never been a big fan of the show but this costumes are great! What a wonderful job they did.

 

Halloween Crafts with Kids

Today we are working with Crayola Model Magic. It is a wonderful soft clay that is easy for kids to mold and shape. Air dries so there is no need for the oven. Only problem is the kids love playing with it so much that it starts to dry after a couple hours of play! LOL :) It does not dry rock hard but you are able to paint it if you choose. When I was teaching elementary school we used this all the time for projects. Now I am using this with my kids! I am making ghosts...my son is making hammerhead sharks and my daughter is making "potions". The camera battery is charging but here are some neat photos of other Halloween crafts. This one is from Family Fun magazine (which I LOVE by the way). Here is the link for these adorable little guys.

I did this one with the kids last year. We put them around the tree in our front yard...not as easy as it looks. My ghosts kept falling down in the wind. Oh and the rain...forget it! These are also from Family Fun Magazine. Click here for directions.

And as usual Better Homes and Gardens always has wonderful ideas!! Here are a few...Click here.

Very cool and look easy enough to make without a lot of money spent! :)

Homeschool in the Dining Room

Where do you homeschool? We are lucky enough to have a guest room upstairs that I though would make a wonderful school room. Being an elementary teacher in my previous life...I have a lot of "stuff". I had these fairy tale dreams of going up to the school room every day with my kiddos, happy and ready to learn. Yeah right! Between the crying, whining and finally yelling to get up into the school room I realized this was not working the way I had dreamed it would.

Now don't get me wrong...having a room to keep all your crap educational materials out of sight is wonderful BUT not practical. I needed to be in the heart of our home just as much as the kids did. I wanted to be able to pour a 3rd or 4th cup of coffee without having to run downstairs. I wanted to get lunch or dinner ready while they were finishing up their work. That does not happen when you leave the kids upstairs to finish on their own...at least not in my house.

SO...I am moving a lot of our things into the dining room for a trial run. I am torn. I love my dining room. It is my pretty place. I love that it is neat, clean and NOT full of toys. In all honesty we use the dining room about 2 times a year. Really? A room that I keep neat, clean and pretty to be used 2 times all year long??? What a waste. I am not ready to put the posters on the walls or move everything down there just yet but we are giving it a try. It has only been a couple days but it is working so much better.

So...where do you homeschool??

Amazing Dolphins

Have you seen this video?? This is amazing. One thing I have always wanted to do is swim with the dolphins. I love them...always have. They are intelligent animals. This video proves it. Watch!

Halloween...cookies??

This is what my husband did with my "Halloween cookies" and posted it on Facebook.

Candy Corn Cookies

Attempting to cheer myself up today with some Halloween cookies. Have you seen these adorable Hershey kisses that look like candy corn? Too cute!

One of my favorite cookies are peanut butter cookies with a chocolate Hershey kiss on top. I decided I would try these cute little kisses with some sugar cookies. My kids LOVE sugar cookies.

I lit the Yankee Candle Pumpkin candle and turned on the oven.

The smell has filled the house and the cookies are warm and gooey. Perfect! You have to try these. So yummy. Comfort...it is what I needed today.

 

Random Thoughts

I am grieving. Someone from my past that I was very close to for a long time passed away unexpectedly a couple days ago. At 38 years old. No warning. It is like a bad dream. This cannot be happening. This should not be happening. I do not understand. My heart is hurting.

I am new to blogging so every little comment left on here so far has been treasured. To think that someone out there will be reading my blog is amazing. :) I am excited to begin this new adventure in my life. If you have any kind words, advice, cool things I could do/change on my blog or any other blogs you think I should read I would appreciate the advice. Thank you for commenting!

 

Tell Someone You Love Them

Did you do that today? Did you tell your friends and family how much they mean to you? Please do. Please take the time to let your loved ones know how they make a difference in your life. Take time to laugh with your children and enjoy the small things with them. We often forget or take these things for granted. We think we will do that tomorrow....there is too much work to get done today. Do not put it off. Tomorrow may never come.

I am mourning a loss today and my heart is hurting...

Decorating for Fall

I LOVE pumpkins! How about some pumpkin decorating for Halloween?

All these wonderful ideas are from Goodhousekeeping. I love the simple ribbons around the tiny pumpkins. Perfect!

Here are some more ideas from A Storybook Life. 

Looks like I have some new projects to add to my list! :)

Feels like Fall

I am a New England girl who moved to the south over 12 years ago. I LOVE the south. I love everything about it. Well, mostly everything. Every year when fall rolls around I miss New England. I miss the "feel" of fall. The leaves crunching under your feet, the smell of the pumpkins, spices and leaves. The sound of people raking in their yards, kids jumping in leaf piles and giggling. I miss the COLORS of fall in New England. The beautiful reds, golds, yellow, orange and even the browns. Fall is the best season in New England. Apple picking, apple cider and cider donuts...sigh. Every year I get homesick for the place I grew up. Today feels like fall here in North Carolina and I am loving it. We certainly do not have all the colors out there on the trees but if I close my eyes I can see them...and smell all the wonderful scents of fall.

Hooked on Vintage Handkerchiefs

I am participating in Hooked on Fridays over at Hooked on Houses for the very first time. I have been reading the blog for years and loving all the different links every week. Sadly this is my first time participating but also the last time for Hooked on Fridays. I am sure there are many more exciting things to come over there!

I am hooked on vintage handkerchiefs! This is a photo of the window in my laundry room. I use the term room lightly. It is more of a laundry space...but it does have a small window and I thought this look was perfect. They are hung on the line with small clothespins from Michaels. I am sure they can be found at any craft store.

Now be sure to leave a comment and introduce yourself. :)

Welcome

Today is the first day of my new blog! Yay Me!

I am a stay at home, homeschooling mom of 2 adorable kids. I have followed other blogs for years and just finally decided to jump in....so here we go!

Welcome and I hope you visit often.

Testing my new blog

I love it!