Touch of Fall

Well I am starting to get the Fall Bug. Here are a couple of little Fall Vignettes around the house.
I hope things are cooling down around your home and you are thinking about pumpkins and candy corn!

Welcome Fall and all the fun and family that it brings! I love it because just about this time everything starts to get very busy. The weather cools down and outdoor entertaining is more of an option, all of the craft shows start, and of course it is the start of the HOLIDAY SEASON!

Corner Hutch

Before...

This is my little shabby corner hutch! I keep all of my blue and white dishes in it. I have had it for a few years. It was already shab-i-fied when I bought it. I think that it is probably from the 50's but I'm not sure about that. Cute, but not spectacular. Right? ... Anyway.... I have a pine hutch that is from the 1800's that I love. (I will show it sometime) But it has the back painted pale blue. However, it never occured to me to paint the back of my white hutch blue until I saw Cindy's at My Romantic Home. Now, I can't imagine that you haven't seen her blog but if you haven't you have to head over there and take a long gander. She has quite a beautimus blog. It is a dee-light for the eyes! She painted the inside of her pretty white hutch blue and it just made such a huge difference that I decided I also needed to do this.


What a super simple high impact project. It totally improved this corner. Thanks for the inspiration Cindy!

Remember My Give Away?????

If you will remember Miss Jill over at At Home in the Country won. She has done a very

loverly post with her prize. It is so pretty in her home. Thanks Jill for sharing!!!! She has such

a beautiful home and her Blog is just as pretty. They are building a new home and she is sharing

the journey. Go over and see. You'll like it!

A Day In The Pines

A couple of weeks ago I was really missing my daughter and decided that it was high time that I saw her. After all it had been at least 2 weeks. Plus my mom had never seen where she goes to school. So I thought it would be a great day trip to drive up to the Pines! We set out and about 2 hours later we were in Flagstaff AZ. Home of Northern Arizona University and the Lumberjacks!
GO JACKS! : )



This is the "Visitor Center" It is also the AmTrack Train Station. This is the "hub" of the city really. It is positioned conveniently on "Famous Route 66" ..... Personally, I would like that for a house.... : ) Sweet English Todur .....





Flagstaff is a sweet little town. Very Picturesque! There really isn't a lot of great shopping. We came across a couple of cute little shops but I wasn't thinking and didn't ask to take pictures. So sorry about that.

After taking a tour of NAU we had lunch at the Beaver Street Brewery. I'd give it 2 thumbs up!
We didn't sample the beer but it is brewed on site. It looked very refreshing....


UUUMMMMM! Yummy fries! and a tasty chicken sandwich!

After that it was walking! Flagstaff has a very high altitude and is very hilly. We hit all the major tour spots with in an afternoon. Before heading back to Phoenix we stopped in at Macy's Coffee Shop. This is a cool little spot that actually roasts it's own coffee beans.


Macy's serves some pretty good coffee! I am a major coffee lover so I know! They also have wireless internet so that you can sit and do homework.



So ... to sum it up .... coffee, fries and beer... pretty much the staple of any small college town I think! : 0

MacKenzie Childs Cabinet Knobs

I really love the look of MacKenzie Child I have nothing of hers in my house, but I think the place to start is in the kitchen.
I would like to put new door pulls on all of the cabinets in my kitchen....
Very Mary Engelbreit... Right?

What do you think? Should I do it? Or is it over the top?

Knit Washcloth ~ Easy One Night Project

When I was about 7 years old, my grandmother taught me to knit. She was a wonderfully talented woman who could do anything. She was legendary in our family. Sew, Knit, Decorate, Bake, Play Golf, work all day and still have an incredible home. I don't know how she did it! Anyway, one week of every summer (sometimes 2 weeks if I was lucky) I would get to go spend with her and my grandfather. Ma and Pa. It was a fabulous Little Girl Heaven! Chocolate sheet cake and playing house in a cool basement. These are cherished memories to me.

Anyway the point was, I love to knit and I was thinking of her when I decided that I would share this little project with you. I don't like huge drawn out projects though. I made a sweater once when I was in high school. I started my freshman year and finished the summer that I graduated. The sweater was out of style by then. But dang it! I finished it! So now I don't take on the big projects anymore. When the whole knitting craze started a couple of years ago, I was looking for simple projects that didn't require a long term commitment. When my daughter went to college I made her this outrageously wide and long scarf. I think that she still uses it to this day!

When my 2 Aunts were here from MO a couple of months ago they gave us a little gift. One of the items was a knitted washcloth. I thought "now that's something I can do in one night!"
So I went on line and found the pattern. Super Simple. After I made a couple I decided that it would be good if they were a little larger. So I knit to 48 stitches not the 44. I also crochet a loop at the end to make it more finished looking.

Finished cloth measures 6 inches square.

Supplies:

1 skein Cotton Classic yarn

Needles size 8

Directions:

Cast on 4 stitches.

Knit 2 rows.

Knit 2 stitches, yarn over, knit to end of row.

Repeat until you have 44 stitches on the needles.

K1, Knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end of row.

Repeat until you have 4 stitches on the needles.

Knit 2 rows. Cast off.

These are a couple of samples of my "handy" work. : )

If you all have any other simple projects like this let me know. I would love to see them!

It Is Too Soon To Forget

These photos are taken from "Standing for the Flag" a Photo Essay on the the White House Website.

"One day after terrorists used commercial airplanes to destroy the World Trade Center Towers and attack the Pentagon, firefighters take a moment to unfurl the flag over the scarred stone as inspiration for fellow rescue workers searching through the debris Sept. 12."

Marines conduct a flag-raising ceremony for President Bush and Mrs. Bush on a quiet Sunday at Camp David, Sept. 23.


As President Bush visits the site of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, New Yorkers offer their own words of determination Sept. 14.



Do You Remember The Way You Felt In The Days After September 11, 2001?

The Painted Hall

Well! I have wanted to get it done for quite some time. I finally told myself NOW is the time. So I moved it all out, taped it all up and got going. One long day is all it took. I am really happy with how it turned out.

Before

The color is Laura Ashely Swiss Almond. I was a little tentative because it needed to blend with the living room and with the mural that my friend did several years ago. But this color turned out just right ....

After



The color is soft. Before the white to me looked stark and didn't blend with the mural. I'm pretty happy with this little project.

A Little Home Town Pride!

Okay! I'm not trying to go all political on ya here! I Promise! This is really about me showing off and dropping a name here and there....
These 2 folks are John Shillington and Ruby Brown. John is our Music Minister (also the pastor who married my husband and I) and Ruby is a Soloist. Our Pastor, Dan Yeary also closed the RNC in prayer Thursday night. I get the joy and pleasure of listening to John every week. So it is no wonder that we are all so proud of both him and Ruby! They were invited by Cindy McCain, who is a member of our church. I hope you enjoy it.

Three Cups of Tea....A Girlfriends Bookclub Review

This is an interesting story of a young man raised in Tanzania by his Lutheran Missionary Parents. After returning to America as a young adult and serving in the military, he becomes very involved in the mountain climbing community. He plans an expedition trip to K2 in Pakistan. One of the worlds tallest and most dangerous climbs. As he is almost ready to achieve the summit he and his friend are called to help in a daring rescue. This delays the assault to the summit and further exhausts the two men. After successfully rescuing the fellow climber, they decide to rest for the night and continue their assault to the Peak. The sub zero weather and treacherous conditions cause the two to become separated. Greg Morton (the Subject of the book) becomes lost and in desperate need of his own rescue.

Disoriented, freezing and dehydrated, Morton is found by an experienced Porter from a near by, small and remote village. With winter in full throws, Morton is encouraged to spend the rest of the cold weather season in the care of the village. They take him in and truly help him survive. He becomes familiare with their customes, language, and simple way of life.

After the season is over the Porter escorts him back to the K2 base camp. But first a deep friendship is developed. Morton realizes that the greatest gift that they need is education. Out of appreciation, he promises to come back and build a school for the village. The bond of friendship is sealed when he fullfills his promise and comes back to actually build a bridge... Yes a bridge! There are more intersting details, but I don't want to give the whole book away. There is even a little romance.

In My Opinion....

Reading this book was slow and challanging. I found it to be a little dry at times. But this was mostly because I had such a hard time with the names and places. ( I know! How American of me) It was interesting as it gave great insite into the years right before the Taliban took over Afganistan. It also reminded me that as Christian's, we need to meet people where they are. I think that sometimes we feel that no good can be served if we don't share Christ. I think that maybe, sometimes, we are to plant silent seeds. Seeds that can grow. Sometimes, I think that we are to just be examples of Jesus. The mission that Mr. Morton takes on is formidable and admirable. How he achieves the goals that he sets out to do is amazing. In my personal opinion the only down fall of the book is that he does not give any credit to his faith. No where in the book does he give the reader the indication that he is a Christian. But again...That's just my opinion!


I hope you found this review useful! Our Girlfriend's club meets every month and we pick a book to discuss the next time we meet. For our October meeting we are reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.

And the Charming Winner is...

I had so much fun and I am so glad that everyone joined in. Thank you to all the lovely, lady bloggers that joined in. You are all real charmers! : )

Okay! This is how I entered the names in the contest. Everyone who posted was entered twice. Once for posting and linking, once for commenting. If you posted a comment you were entered once. I put all the names in a bowl and had my wonderful "handy" husband pull the name.






And the winner is.....

Sweet Jill from At Home in the Country

YAY! Check out her lovely Blog!