SOUP'S ON

Can you believe Thanksgiving has come and gone? Does it seem to you that time has suddenly gone into warp speed?  Having last week off was so nice, and getting back to work is nice, too.  A few more weeks and I'll have a little more time off for Christmas. Seems like I only focus on the next off period:) Tomorrow my dh is having carpal tunnel surgery. We've heard it's not too bad, but it's going to be hard for him to not use his primary hand for 6 weeks.  I just don't think it's possible.  We should be back home before noon, so I'm hoping to get some Christmas decorating done. 

Cold weather has moved in and with it the joy of fires and hot chocolate and yummy warm soup.  We're really cold at night (in the 20's) but warm up nicely in the day. Hard to know how to dress. When I went out to get the mail at work today it felt like spring . Crazy!

I hope you've had a great day. I'm so glad you stopped by!

MY FAVORITE THINGS

 Hello! How are you? Have you switched gears from Fall/Thanksgiving to Christmas yet?  I think I'll be putting a little Christmas Spirit around the house today.  Hopefully I can get my tree up, can't wait for someone to get up so we can get it!

Today I'm sharing  my nature collection and joining the fun at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for Favorite Thing Saturday. This has become a favorite of mine, I hope you'll check it out and join in the fun!

                        Here is a shelf that I've dedicated to my collection.  It's just things I've collected over the years...a rock here, a bird feather there. Once while on vacation we visited a zoo and I followed the Avairy guy around as he fed the exotic birds. Woo-hoo! You should have seen my excitement as he brought out feathers for me! Later in the day he found me and gave me a penguin feather! That was so sweet of him, I've always remembered his kindness.  Another time I got an ostrich feather from a man who had a children's petting event at a school I was working at! Their feathers are surprisingly beautiful. 

 I have loved and collected rocks since I was a child.  I have a few rocks from Nova Scotia that my sister brought me. Did you know there are beautiful rocks there? I didn't! They are pink and blue!  Some rocks were gifts from a rock hound I knew. He would bring me beautiful rocks from the digs he went on. The snake skin is from the ball python my son had.

There is also a couple of  arrowheads, a fossil and a civil war bullet in the mix. I hope you've enjoyed this little viewing of my nature shelf! What are some of your favorite things? 

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful Saturday!

THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm taking a little break from the preparations to post my tablescape. I'm pretty happy with it. I made a Magnolia wreath, which I think turned out lovely.  I wanted a woodland theme so I cut little circles of moss from my yard and have them on a small plate at each place setting. I then put a few acorns on  the moss and a little woodland animal. Actually, they are jungle animals. I decided to add the animals late in the day and could only find jungle critters. But I thought they would do.  On top of the moss I added a little candle cup.  Napkins are homemade, a pretty fall leaf print. I added some peas to the hurricane glass, and though it doesn't show in these photos, I've raised the candle a bit, so more of it would show. We're having a small celebration  this year, there will just be 6 of us. My dad will be spending the day with his great grandchild - he's very excited about that!  I hope you're enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family. I'm linking with BNOTP for Tablescape Thursday.

HOLIDAY PLANNING

I have the great pleasure of having the week of Thanksgiving off from work.  It's so wonderful to have the pleasure of lovely, calm mornings to make plans for such a greatly anticipated event.  I have to plan every single thing out in regards to the cooking.  I even draw an oven and pots and pans with notes and times. (Just a little anal:) ) I have a time planner that has 15 minute increments. Tomorrow starts the cooking. I think I've got everything well planned out, so it should go smoothly. The green moss circles are for my table decor.  I have an idea in my head, I hope it will come off.  I did a trial place setting and thought it looked kind of cute, very woodsy. I also have some magnolia leaves that I need to fashion into a wreath.  I forgot to put that on my 15 minute timed increment planner, oops!  I hope your plans are coming together and you're enjoying the preparations! Thanks for stopping by!

LINE CREEK NATURE PRESERVE

I know I keep saying this, but honestly, this has just been the prettiest fall. I'm always trying to think of small things we can do as a family. When your children are grown you'll grab at whatever you can, know what I  mean?! Tonight I thought maybe a trip to a little nature preserve that's close by would be fun and I was right!  It was a beautiful evening. A bit on the cool side and about an hour before dark.  I was a bit disappointed that the drought has reduced the amount of water flowing through the creek. As a matter of fact, there was hardly any flowing going on.  But it was still beautiful and peaceful. I've been here before when the rushing water was strong and frothy.  Hopefully we'll have those days again.  It won't be long before all of this is gone and the silvery days of winter take over.  That's okay, I love winter too!

I'm joining Mosaic Monday at Little Red House and Outdoor Wednesday at  A Southern Daydreamer. I hope you're having a great Monday, thanks so much for stopping by!

LEAVES ARE COOL

A little wreath making has been the goings-on around here lately.  I really love this leaf wreath, though it was a bit more involved than the just-string-them-on-a-wire leaf wreath I made the other day.  But what a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning. A bit on the cool side, so I had on my coat, but I was also drinking a cold cola, so it must not have been too cold! I made the base for the wreath out of honeysuckle vine. Just a few wraps was all I needed. I also found some muscadine vine and made a base for another project.  I delighted in the antics of some playful little birds, and of course the squirrels were here and there, running through the trees. I could hear a Red Tailed Hawk, but never saw him.  Our autumn has been so dry that the trees are still holding on to their leaves . The very best time to be outside is in the late afternoon, just before the sun starts going down. Everything glows and peace and contentment fill my heart.  

  I'm joining the fun at Mosaic Monday at The Little Red House and A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you've had a lovely day!

FAVORITE THING SATURDAY

I thought I would join up with Favorite Thing Saturday over at Mockingbird Hill Cottage today.  It's always fun to bring out the things that you love and write a bit about them.  Today I am sharing my embroidery samplers.  They are mostly done on linen or aida. I do have a few done on muslin.  It's fun to use the even weave fabrics because it's so much easier to get even spacing.  I never have even spacing on my actual projects, no matter how hard I try. Sometimes I use waste canvas, 

but often I'm too impatient to go to the trouble of,

 A. Finding the waste canvas in all my supplies, or...

B.Taking the time to measure, cut and then sew on said waste canvas.

I work on these usually when I'm sitting in the hospital with either my Dad or my husband. The red one was all done during my husband's knee replacement surgery and recovery.  You can get a lot done sitting in a hospital.  And it's so great because you don't need much. Just some thread, needle and piece of fabric. Row, after row, after row....

Below is the first sampler I did. The stitching area is 8 inches.  I later decided I would rather use 4 inches  because of the quicker results, and also, I didn't want to use up a lot of thread. I still like it though, especially the little area middle-left, that looks like seaweed.  I'm going to use that someday on something that counts!

Thanks for dropping by today.  If you would like to see other favorite things, please hop over to Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

TOTALLY TUESDAY

First

Then.....

Followed by...

While....

It all equals a wonderful, beautiful, fabulous day! Hope you've had one too!  (Can't wait to see if the moss heart fills in and does well). Thanks for stopping by!

AUTUMN WOODS

Our trees are beginning their peak time. Today was especially pretty because the sky was cloudy and the trees glowed against the gray sky. I got my daffodils planted today! Hurray! I had to prepare a new bed because I read that they don't always do well in a perennial bed that has to be watered. I bought a cheap little bag of top soil to add to the area because there isn't much good soil there.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well composted the soil was, and I only paid $1.00 for it!   I prepped the little bed and thought after they bloom I would just throw some annual seeds over the bed for some summer color.  I finally got the rest of my tulips, but I don't have them planted yet. I'm off work Tuesday, so hopefully I can get them in the ground then.  Oh goodness, I am just so excited about next Spring!

All this hard work was rewarded with a delicious meal of chili and corn muffins. What a fabulous weekend I've had! I crafted (look for an upcoming post!), planted, cooked and generally just had a bang-up weekend! Now I'm all ready for the week ahead! Bring it on!!

AUTUMN FUN

It was such a beautiful evening. While I was out collecting the leaves to make the little lopsided wreath I noticed the soft, low light against the autumn trees. Honestly, the leaves seemed to glow in that light. It's just a lovely time to be outside.  I collected leaves and strung them on thin wire. I just stacked them, one upon another, until I thought I had enough.  It really takes a lot of leaves! I was running out of light and I wanted to try to photograph the wreath so I probably stopped even though the wreath could have used more leaves.  Still, I think it's pretty. I'm not even sure you can tell what it is, but because I know what I was doing I can see the form:) Maybe I'll play around with it tomorrow and add more leaves.  It's going to be a fabulous weekend, with warmth and sunshine. Perfect for playing outside with bulbs and moss and leaves and pansies and all manner of fall-ish delights! I hope you have a fun weekend lined up. Thanks for stopping by!