Chicago

I got busy last week and forgot to post about our Chicago trip. We had a great time as usual. I had planned on staying in and reading and just relaxing, but the city was calling to me so I ventured out on my own and I LOVED it! I had to keep reminding myself that I didn't have a schedule and I could stay as long as I wanted in a store without anyone waiting for me. I could also walk into and out of a store without waiting for anyone myself. I'm definitely not a big-city kind of girl, but I do love the energy of Chicago. Thursday was darn cold and snowing so not much fun, but Friday and Saturday were sunny and brisk--perfect for walking around and taking in the sights and sounds of Christmas in Chicago. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency which is right on the Chicago River and one block off of Michigan Ave. This means that all the fabulous shopping is right at our doorstep. I didn't find any bargains, but I did come home with stuff from Macy's, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, and, of course, the Lego store. (Oh, and Walgreen's.) This year I really did wish Parker and Jack could have been there to see the Macy's window display. For once, it was kind of a "boy" theme with robots and mechanical contraptions. Every other year it seems like a little girl fairy fantasyland. Also, they would so love the Disney parade and the fireworks which we can see from our hotel.

My turkey farm

Well, it took a very, very long time, but I have my own little flock of turkeys now. It wasn't difficult, just time consuming. Personally, I enjoy doing little detail work like this, but it isn't for everyone, I suppose. Best of all, each individual part of these little guys is mighty tasty! These cake balls are chocolate cake with caramel icing. Yummy! I individually wrapped a few little guys in some Martha Stewart bags that Tracy gave me eons ago. I finally found a use worthy of the cute bags!! I plan on taking a plate of these guys to the teacher's lounge at Parker's school and giving out some individual ones and the rest will come with me to Great Grandma's house on Thanksgiving. If I can part with them, that is. They are so cute!

Oh No, Not Again!!!

We are having computer issues again. We are not completely down this time, but it looks like that is where we are headed. I'm hoping they mark computer waaaaay down on Black Friday 'cause I guess it's time we get a new one. Bummer.
So, don't e-mail me if it's urgent.

Windy City

Travis and I leave today for a school board conference in Chicago. (That sounds like a really dull weekend, doesn't it? Trust me, it is anything but dull!) I am sort of looking forward to it but it needs to be one day shorter for my taste. Anyway, it's supposed to be COLD (I mean really cold!) so I have brought lots of activities to keep me busy in the room. I think it will be nice to read books and magazines, and do some busy work without any interuptions. How I wish I had a laptop so I could spend 3 days in the blog vortex! I have a few places where I want to shop, but for the most part I'm staying in this year.
Parker reminded me last night that a few years ago he totally conned me out of going on this trip. I had forgotten about that. This year they seem just fine with it. That is definitely a plus!

I just added this picture because it is sooooo cute. It's actually a bag! I love owls right now--very trendy! I can't remember where I saw this, but I will add a link when I do. I want to give credit where credit is due!

Plan B Turkeys

When my turkey cake balls turn out looking yucky, one of these is my back-up plan. Probably the Oreos and peanut butter cups because I always welcome an excuse to bring Oreos and peanut butter cups into my house! (Don't the turkeys look like they are pleading "Please don't eat me!!!!")

Teacher Gift Star

*If you are visiting from Just a Girl , #107. treyandlucy gives a really nice tutorial on how to make a star just like this one only using Christmas papers and photos. It's adorable! I think I will be making one of those for myself!


Each year, McGaughey School has a different theme. Last year it was, "Put Your Best Foot Forward" and we did all sorts of wellness type stuff including keeping track of how many miles each child walked over the course of the year. This year it's "McGaughey's Shining Stars" so I have run with the star theme. You know I love stars! I made this GIANT tin star for Parker's teacher. I think it must be at least 30 inches across--maybe more. This was one of her birthday presents from the class and she hung it from the ceiling above her desk. It looks so cute and colorful in her room and the kids love it too.
I got the star at Gordman's for $5.99 and I had tons of paper here at home. I just Mod Podged it onto the star, lettered it and put the kids pictures on with glue. Honestly, pretty easy stuff!

Gobble, Gobble!

I am so totally going to try this next week! This lady has the most adorable ideas! I can't wait to see what she does with Christmas stuff!!!!!!!


***Per Jenna's request. Check out this blog to get the "how-to" BAKERELLA
I will be using a peanut M&M for the face, little red Christmas tree sprinkles for the gobbley-hangy-chin thing and probably a tiny bit of black food coloring and a toothpick for the details and I'm still searching for the beak but I think a mini orange M&M cut in half will work just fine. (Yes, I tried it. You can cut a mini M&M in half). Oh, and I don't think mine will be on a stick, they will just sit down so they don't need any pretzel legs.

Just sad

My heart is so heavy today. Two guys (24 years old) were killed yesterday in the very early morning when the car they were riding in flipped and hit a house. The driver was drunk. She is in jail. The other passenger is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Travis just played golf with these guys a month ago. One of them is a Mt. Zion kid. I believe he was the oldest of 3 brothers--a former state golf champion. I hate that in one stupid moment, so many lives are changed forever. I hate that this kind of thing happens every day to someone out there. As a parent, I can't help thinking about what it must be like to get that phone call about your child. So sad. So, if you are the praying type, please say a prayer for the Yelovich and Samuelson families today because they definitely need all the prayers they can get.

And on another sad note, our local librarian, Jennie Alexander died last week. She was only fifty. Travis' Aunt Shelly is a librarian and used to work with Jennie. Every time we would go to the library, Jennie would always remember that Parker and Jack are Shelly's nephews. I love it when people make the time and effort to remember something like that. She will definitely be missed.

Check this out!

I am completely addicted to blogging. Not to writing on my blog, silly! To reading other people's blogs. I get so many great ideas from blogs. On every subject imaginable--although my favorite is definitely crafting. One of the super smart bloggerS out there is having a "party" and she has invited people to link their best craft ideas on her blog. I have slowly been working my way through the list and there is some great gift ideas out there. Check it out here: JUST A GIRL

I'm in mourning

My beloved Elliptical machine is broken. Not fixable. I'm sort of kidding but I did cry. It is one of the main reasons I was able to lose 40 pounds. It's been there for me 6 days a week for the past 8 months. I very much enjoyed using it. If they were $50, I would just go buy a new one but they definitely aren't. Bummer. So, now I'm trying to decide if I should just try to make do with Excercise TV on On-Demand, or bite the bullet and buy a new machine. And, if I buy a new one, should I wait until January when all that kind of stuff is on sale? Decisions, decisions.....

Sushi, anyone?

My boys are obsessed with sushi. They certainly have never eaten it. I don't even know if they've ever seen it. I'm thinking they must have talked about it on iCarly or something. Anyway, I saw some candy sushi on a blog last night and we made some today. This is sooooooooo very, very easy!!! It even tastes as good as it looks!

Here's the how to:
-pre-made Rice Krispie Treats
-gelly Orange Slices
-Swedish Fish
-Fruit roll-ups (I bought several boxes in order to have enough green ones but you don't actually need too many because you are cutting them into strips.)

For the Swedish fish sushi, I just cut the krispie treat in half, put the fish on top and wrapped it with a strip of fruit roll-up.
For the Orange slice sushi, I flattened out the krispie treat just with my fingers, sliced the tip off of two orange slices, laid them next to each other on the krispie treat, and started rolling as carefully and tightly as I could. Then I cut it in half and wrapped it with fruit roll-up.
Easy, peasy and adorable. I even added the chop-sticks and "sliced ginger" (sliced orange slices) for effect.
If I were really with-it, I would have added some chocolate syrup in a tiny little bowl as soy sauce.
BTW, I did try to find some cheap little square sushi plates, but couldn't find any. It's times like this that I really wish we had a World Market or Bed, Bath and Beyond in Mt. Zion!!!

Trick-or-Treat

My little vampire and gladiator. I would say they are cute, but that probably isn't the right word for a vampire or a gladiator. How about fierce? Or deadly? Of course, they had a blast and came home with TONS of candy which they gorged themselves on. I'm fine with that. In fact, I let them eat pretty much whatever they want for a few days and then they seem to completely be over the candy and forget it's even there. I'm having a hard time resisting the chocolate. I will be spending a lot of time working out this next week to make up for my indulgences!

Girls Weekend

My high school friends and I met in Carbondale this past weekend for our girl's weekend. Heather, Carmin and Michelle live in Nashville, Laura lives in Bloomington and Sherri and I are Mt. Zion so Carbondale was a nice half-way point. We arrived at about 11:30 on Saturday, went to eat Mexican, went shopping, back to the hotel for freshening up, then to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, then back to the hotel to hang out until 2:00 a.m. (or 1:00 a.m. because of the time change) I love these girls so much. I have been friends with them for 24 years and I still think they are awesome. We laugh so much and we all still have so very much in common. We all have many of the same struggles and joys. I realized that although we do tell many of the same stories every time we get together, our perspective changes through the years--especially now that some of us have teenagers. I never get tired of hearing the same stories and I think we would all agree that we all thought we had heard everything there was to know about each other's high school experience, however, we discovered something new this weekend! Heather told us something new and it is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. I am not going to share the story because if she kept it quiet for this long, I don't think she wants me telling it on the internet but just trust me, it is HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. So, the moral of this story is....good friends are a rare find and I am very blessed to have these women in my life. And, just when you think you know everything about them, they might just surprise you! Just in case you might think that I am overzealous in my love for these gals, check out MICHELLE'S BLOG because she said it better than I could!

Wonder Twin Powers Activate!

One day I googled "friendship bracelet" and came across a bracelet with a poem that talks about how each color represents some different aspect of friendship. I thought the bracelet was very ugly, but I figured I could come up with something better. So, I tried my hand at jewelry making and this is the result. My girlfriends and I had an "All Girl Getaway" and I gave these to each of them. I think they turned out pretty nice.

Halloween Party

Jack had his Halloween party at school which is always fun and crazy with a bunch of hooligans running around.

Actually, it's an apple orchard....

We went to the Okaw Valley Orchard last Thursday on a very beautiful fall day. There really isn't all that much to do by this time of year because the apples have all been picked but they LOVE to play on the cool playground they have. Mamaw and Buddy came with us, of course. For the last few years Jack has called it the "apple patch" which is just so cute. This year I told him we were going to the "apple patch" and he said, "Actually, it's an apple ORCHARD." Well, it was cute while it lasted.