Monday Confessional

First, some imformation: Jana and I signed up to be vendors at a Christmas bazaar in two weeks. Or, more accurately, Jana signed up because she's the crafty mama, I offered to be her assistant because it sounded fun and I wouldn't have to do the work, but then decided I could probably whip up some delicious treats to try to sell since I was going to be there anyway.

I do love to bake, remember.

And that's how I ended up going to a local holiday bazaar on Saturday to "scout" out the booths and get ideas and take notes. 

How many people can see where this is going? 

Remember when I talked about my little problem with the Costco sample tables and saying no to the food vendors? Apparently that problem is multiplied tenfold when talking to friendly folk selling their homemade wares. 

Because within the first 10 minutes I had already bought four things.

And then I called Jana and told her she was on her own because I had to ESCAPE QUICK BEFORE I BOUGHT THREE SOCK MONKEYS AND A WOODEN TOY BANK AND A PAIR OF FEATHER EARRINGS AND A GORGEOUS TURQUOISE NECKLACE. 

Or something like that.

The sad thing is I'm a selfish shopper. Did I buy Christmas presents or stocking stuffers or something that would actually be helpful towards sticking to our holiday budget? Oh no! I bought these goods instead:

 A knit hat. That I love. 

A bag of peppermint fudge. That may have come with a few more pieces than you see in the bag. Which I took a picture of  as soon as I got home. Mmmm.

Homemade soy candle melts for my Scentsy warmer! Sugar Cookie scented. I was pretty excited about these.

And a Pampered Chef small spatula. Not homemade but I lost my old one and it was discounted so I snapped it up happily.

And then ran away before all the vendors I'd rashly promised that I'd come back to spied me.

Hello, Insta-Friday

This week has flown by. Instead of blogging the past two days, I've been busy painting, grocery and Christmas shopping, attending my daughter's basketball game, hosting a visit from a friend, and catching up on some much needed sleep.

(Difficult to do when you're also reading two books and not wanting to miss this week's episodes of Survivor and The Office!)

Now I'm back with this week's phone pics, which I'm linking up to Jeannett for Insta-Friday. 

Target & Starbucks, a winning combination. Our Target happens to have a Starbucks inside, making it virtually impossible to resist. Well played, Target, well played. 

 Miley and buddy Max (the Doodle dogs) all ready to watch the Ducks/Vanderbilt game at our friends, the Nofs. Oh ho ho ho he ha .

Our favorite place in town to get Mexican food. Not joking. It's so good and the couple that run it are so sweet. 

 Blake down and out with a fever last weekend. Didn't matter what was going on around him, he was OUT COLD.

Kid also got a bloody nose out of the blue. What the heck? He thought he was COOL BEANS walking around with a tissue up his nose though, didn't phase him a bit. 

And look, more Blake! He accompanied me to the MAC counter at Nordstrom this week and thought the makeover chairs were just perfect for him. Fine by me... better to keep him out of touching every.single.thing.in.sight.

Ummm... delicious! Good in coffee or hot chocolate I've found. It's sad to admit, but I am the person that will have a cup of coffee just for the creamer, not the caffeine.

And on that sweet but pathetic note...

They're back and I'm in trouble!!!

Have a great weekend everyone :)  

Blake gets his groove on

You guys. I uploaded a video clip. Small fries for most. Big fat baked potato for this non-techie mama!

(Also, I may be hungry.)

I give you Blake, the dancing dude.

Blake gets his groove on. from Jodi Halverson on Vimeo.

My favorite part, besides his awesome dance moves of course, is when he tries to copy Russ's finger snapping, can't figure it out, and then claps instead without stopping his performance. Smooth!

(In case you're wondering what THE HECK we're listening to, it's a preset DJ track on Kendall's keyboard. Blake loves to get one started and then go get his groove on :)

(Oh, and please ignore the giant pile of stuff to the left... evidence of my massive clean sweep of the kids' room!)

The weekend report

Well there's not much to report, sadly. All plans came to a halt when Blake came down with a fever Friday night that didn't go away for the rest of the weekend.

Do you know how many TV shows you can get caught up on when you're stuck home all weekend with a slug-on-a-log three year old? (Five is the answer. I know, I was impressed too.)

I got my domestic on too, cooking and baking and keeping the house relatively clean... always a tricky thing on the weekend. Here's a few pics of what else went on...

Kendall stacked three cords of firewood all on her own. Earning herself $25 buck towards Kanani (yes, the American Girl dream lives on).

Russell and his buddy David built a 24 foot lean-to off our shop. In 3 days.

We got new rock for our driveway and it made for a fun game for these two.

(Until Daddy smoothed it out.)

Blake pretty much looked like this all weekend, poor guy.

 Kendall and cousin Maddy (we shipped in friends since we weren't going out) let me experiment on their hair... I give you the sock bun! 

And then Blake stole my camera and took the following 4 pictures...

Someone's finally feeling better!

CAUGHT! I sometimes wear leopard jammy pants all day long! (And I have a messy, unfinished laundry room.)

"Hey, you little camera stealer!" 

And that's the weekend report. Here's to a fever-free week :)

My favorite veteran

In honor of Veterans Day, I wanted to talk about my Papa, a World War II vet.

Harold Dale Wilson

This man was and will always be one of the most important men in my life. He passed away less than two months after I got married, and my Nanna says my upcoming wedding was the only reason he held on as long as he did.

I will always remember...
- His favorite snack: molasses flavored graham crackers in milk.
- His blue chair that he would never let Nanna get rid of.
- His amazing painting and beautiful finish work that he was known for, even with fused wrists from years of arthritis pain.
- The hope chest he built me for my 18th birthday.

- His vegetable garden.
- Playing pictionary with him and his frustration when no one could guess a particular drawing, "oh, fiddle!"
- His laugh.
- His famous meatballs.
- His most well-known exclamation, "well, shoot, Jeannie!" (that would be my Nanna ;)
- And my favorite... "What in tarnation?!"
- His love for the Lord and his family.

Yesterday I visited his grave site with Nanna.

It is an honor to be buried here, and it is breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL. 

Overlooking Portland.

 

My beautiful Nanna. 

It was such a special day, one I won't forget for a long, long time. 

I am thankful for all of those who have served our country. And I am thankful for the one I knew and loved so well. 

 I will see you again in heaven, Papa.