My Tribute

Today we said our final good-bye's to a man who was larger than life and a real-life gentle giant.  My father-in-law was laid to rest today.  We grieve the suddenness of his death and regret that we were unable to say some final words.  If I were given that opportunity I believe this is what I would want to say to him:

Thank you for welcoming me into your family, at the young age of 19, and loving me like a daughter.  Thank you for seeing past my immaturity as a young wife and loving me anyway.

Thank you for raising your son to be the man he is today.  He is a kind, loving, sensitive, caring man and I thank you for instilling those qualities in him.  You impacted his life more than you will ever know.  You were his hero, mentor, boss, coach, teacher, coffee buddy and sports re-capper.  He admired you for your hard work and success in everything you did.  I am truly grateful and consider this a gift.

Thank you for being an awesome pa pa to our kids.  I wasn't sure how your big ole self would handle being a grandpa to a little baby girl.  But, you were amazing!  You called her your princess!!!  You spoiled her with a huge Little Tykes playhouse before she could even crawl.  You picked out the nursery bedding and bought every matching piece.  In her sixteen years of dance lessons... you never missed a recital.  Whewww!!  THAT'S LOVE!!!
When you learned we would give you a grandson I, again, watched you love that little guy like only an pa pa could.  You watched his baseball games since he started playing at 4 years old.  You gave him piggy-back rides just to hear him giggle.  When he got older he, like his daddy, followed in your foot steps by playing the catcher position in baseball... and becoming "a decent little catcher" at that.

You will be missed "Big Dave"!!  I am thankful that you made a decision several years ago to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.  This is not the end!!  We will see you again in heaven!  We thank God for that.  However, we selfishly grieve our loss but rejoice for Jesus' gain.  As our daughter said in her tribute to you, "Thank you for the great man you were.  Whistle tunes for Jesus and keep your mansion yard nice"

Fall Wreath from Burlap

I write this post from Rehab.... Pinterest Rehab.  It is a virtual Rehab that those who are addicted to pinning pretty pictures of objects we will never buy, clothes we will never fit into, crafts we will never make and recipes we will never try.  We open our meetings with, "Hi, my name is ____ it has been ___ minutes since I've pinned".   But, lucky for you, I have been crafting because of my Pinterest inspirations and am delighted to share this project with you.  

What a beautiful time of year in the Midwest.  I am inspired to put out the pumpkins, candles, and all things "fall-ish".  (I just made that word up... my blog... I can do that)  I found a wreath similar to this on Pinterest and decided to tweak it a little to my liking.  (ok, really just to fit the items I already had on hand)

HOW TO:
wire wreath form from Hobby Lobby $3.99
burlap (free, already had it)

Cut strips of burlap, thin works better.  Tie onto the wire wreath form until you reach the desired fullness.  Add bow.  I added an animal print bow because that's ME.

Fall Wreath

Well, boys and girls... that's all the time we have for today!  Tune in next time when we learn how to make a monogrammed pumpkin!!

Happy Fall!!!

WHY??

I got nothin' except for this little question:

Why would a health website send me an email entitled, "What your belly button is saying about your health".  I can't make this stuff up people.  That is a marketing degree in full use.

GOSH!!!!  As if my last two days haven't been enough of a blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!!!

My comment to that email would be:

I already friggin know what my belly-button is sayin' and I don't NEED an email to remind me of our tumultuous relationship.  MY belly button is saying, "you must have worn a fuzzy shirt today".  "I haven't seen sunlight since 1987".  And I also hear it muttering..."You may need to cut back on the donuts since you have one growing around your middle".  The words, "thank you for not getting that navel ring back in 1985" might also have been heard.  

What tax dollars have been spent on the clinical research to find out "What your belly button is saying...blah, blah, blah".  MINE, you say... (or was that my belly-button I heard??).

Tell Them Kids to Go Out and Play While You Do Your LIPS!!!

I am a "Reality" TV junkie!!  There!!! It's out!!
My latest fascination is Big Rich Texas.  My jaw drops regularly when the characters Bonnie and her daughter, Whitney, exhibit their acting skills.

Well, Botox Bonnie was a true delight last night ;)  She has evidently become the spokesperson for the sparkly shade of lips she was sportin' last night.  In her spare time Bonnie has a ph.d and is a scientist!!  No joke!

Here is a little tutorial for how she gets her Ridiculips!!  Its really quite fascinating... if I do say so myself.  I'm always a sucker for a tutorial.


Add some humor to you Monday!!!

Transformation Tuesday!!! Is a no show...

Blog reader world.....I couldn't transform anything today if my life hung in the balance.  Ok, well, maybe if MY LIFE but, yikes!  (Say "yikes" in your best Scooby Doo or Shaggy voice.  I dare ya)

I had a little surgical procedure Friday (novasure) and today is the first day I have really felt like myself.  I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or if there is room for improvement in that area.  But, I'm full of energy, appetite has returned (kinda wish it hadn't returned quite so strongly) and I am baaaaack!!  That was free of charge and thank you for asking about my well-being ;)

I have had the opportunity to do a little magazine reading and tv watching in the past 3 days.  At each change of season I like to look at Lucky, People Style and Style magazine to receive some inspiration.  Because, quite honestly, I am completely happy in yoga pants and a t-shirt and I need a little inspiration now and again.  Seeing how we are in the throws of NY Fashion week I was prompted to entitle this section as:

Would You Wear This?

WELL.....would ya??

I can hear her whistling "I'm a yankee-doodle-dan-deeee"

How is this for accessorizing??

I am sooo in love with the graduation cap as an accessory for this ensemble.

A day at the beach, maybe???  ;)

I ordered two of these
just in case I get asked to the prom.

I can sooooo see myself in this little number.  Meow!!!

Just can't wait to wear these little numbers to church.  But, in the meantime...

just give me a hoodie and skinny jeans and I am happy!!!

Transformation Tuesday!!! My fall wish list

Transformation Tuesday!!! My fall wish list by dvonahaws featuring aviator shades

Striped top
$40 - topshop.com

Belstaff zipper jacket
$1,525 - net-a-porter.com

Dorothy Perkins cigarette pants
£15 - dorothyperkins.com

BURAK UYAN studded booties
$925 - net-a-porter.com

Proenza Schouler army shoulder bag
$1,995 - kirnazabete.com

Miss Selfridge stone jewelry
£13 - missselfridge.com

Mulberry feather shawl
$1,200 - mulberry.com

Ray-Ban aviator shades
$139 - nordstrom.com

Fun with Food

I have a group of girls that I meet with once a week who are like sisters to me.  For 9 years we have been getting together to laugh, eat, talk, giggle, eat, cry, eat and pray together.  We rotate our meeting house each week.  This week it was my turn to host.  Sometimes I like to get creative in the presentation of ordinary, not so impressive, snack food.  As I confessed in my last post, I have a strong addiction to Pinterest.  Here is just a cute little idea I found while browsing.  BACON and EGGS!!!  No, I'm not real crazy about the idea of serving actual bacon and eggs... like the greasy, runny kind.  But, these are so cute and fun to make.  

Start with stick pretzels (I used gluten-free cause I'm a nerd like that).  Grab some white candy melts.  I don't recommend using the white mint ones like I did... but, that was what I had on hand.  You will also need yellow M & M's.  

Do this....

and this....

Pop in a heated oven for less than two minutes.  Just give the candy melts time to become slightly melted over the pretzels.  Once they are out of the oven and have cooled for approx a minute add the yellow M & M to the center.  Waaaa Laaah!!!!  You have this:

and you get this!!!  ;)

Here is the original Bacon & Egg post I found on Pinterest.  She has a cute little spin on this idea using them for St. Pattys day.

Pinterest just might have changed my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now, if "pinning" could just burn off a few hundred calories I would be 

Have a HAPPY Dance kinda weekend!!!