I have a Julie Bag

http://juliejac.typepad.com/crazy_little_thing_called/

Julie's blog is a delight of family fun, keeping it real and her creativity. She sews purses and then hangs them over a chair, photographs them and shows them on her blog. Yesterday she came to my house with friend Alissa, daughters Belle and Shelby. They were all dressed as witches and took some great photos. She brought me a purse, a Julie purse. So, I hung it on a chair, snapped a photo and am blogging about it. After all that is the way it is done. Isn't it cute? Love the button 'T'. It fits perfectly in my bike basket. Makes me happy.

Also, I must print a retraction. Starbucks won't be getting in the Cranberry Bliss Bars until after Thanksgiving, even for moi. Sorry. An employee was misinformed and so sorry...

We may have to have another Sip 'n See with Cranberry Bliss Bars in December. I'll keep you posted.

Sip 'n See

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman is a very popular blog. Ree posts the best recipes, most beautiful photos, she's funny and she lives on a ranch. Many of you probably read her blog, she gets thousands of comments. Recently Ree wrote about a Sip 'n See. In the South, women get together and sip (tea, punch, wine or whatever) and see either a new baby, old friends, someone's redecorated room etc. I thought, "Ooooh, I want a Sip 'n See of my own." Then it dawned on me, I have one planned! Already!
Thursday evening the Lynden Merchants have their stores open for a holiday shopping night. The Lynden Pioneer Museum Gift Shop is open until 8:00 p.m. And y'all are invited. And Starbucks is coming with something to sip. And I have lots of new Christmas inventory to see. And Jerrie is wrapping gifts for y'all! A Sip 'n See! Oh, and I'm baking. And Starbucks is bringing the...drumroll...because now the holidays may begin...Cranberry Bliss Bars!

Cute gifts and luggage tags for the traveler on your list.
Stocking stuffers!
The wall o' Legos and Playmobil for the kids.
And my new favorite, Swaps, little watches with a choice of bands. Also, photo charms. I love this line.
Oh and at seven the museum is featuring Tams Alan. Tams will be showing us how to set a table for 12 courses, just like Victorian times. And the manners to go with the dinner. She puts on a nice program.

Regroup and Revamp

Think it will rain? Yikes. Our Fall was so beautiful this year, dry, no wind, the leaves took their time turning color and falling. Lovely. But now it is over. Rain and wind are here. Of course, we waited to finish our gardening for the year and so now we have a big ol' wet mess.
Football is finished for the season. It was so fun, I'm sad without it.

It is time to come inside and I like that time of the year too. It's too early for Christmas prep. I feel a bit lost. I need to regroup and pick some projects. Time to change things up a bit. Yesterday I rested up, actually just crashed. Now I am ready to get going again. Just can't decide what to do first. Any ideas?

Remember to Vote

This is the first Presidential election that Sam can vote. We sat down last week and all of us voted. I mailed our ballots in last Thursday. I do kinda miss going to the polls. We took our guys with us when they were little so they could see for themselves how voting was done. We wore our, 'I Voted" stickers. If you now have small children what do you do to teach them to vote? Just wondering.

Sam voted right.

Cereal Bars

Happy Halloween! Hubby and I are at home cleaning today. Trust me, it's scary. Very scary. Tonight BIL John is coming to spend the weekend. Nothing like company to get the cleaning crew moving.

We are going to Max's last football game. I made the game day breakfast, washed his pants at ten p.m. last night, drove him to school and made him a HuGe lunch with lots of protein. Max eats a lot of protein and cereal bars. I have done my part.

If he has a fumble it is SO not my fault.

Speaking of scary, last night hubby and I went on a food run. We shopped Trader Joe's, Costco and Target. Hubby is at Safeway right now. Grocery stores are scary places with the prices the way they are. I get a little depressed at the store these days, after all I am feeding guys.

Last night though, while at Joes, I had to laugh.
I bought cereal bars for Max...

Funny, funny stuff, people.

Happy Birthday Emilyn!

Today is Emilyn's 6th birthday! She didn't think she would actually be six until after school, however; I think she woke up six years old. Her party is on Saturday and I'm invited.
The guys are invited too IF they like Hello Kitty.
We decorated a haunted castle cake last night. She wanted to take it to school to share. I quietly told her Mom that she licked fingers a lot so maybe the cake should stay home. She did most of it by herself. Cute!
I had a box of gnarly teeth on the steps and Caleb and Emilyn found them instantly. They each picked some out to take home. I love gnarly teeth.

Last year when Dan was home, we had our pumpkin carving party. I asked our friend, Mark to take a picture for our Christmas card. He was all over it. Got ready for the shot and was a little surprised when he told us to "smile".
That kind of thing cracks me up.