Come On, Irene...

Okay, so it was Ilene in the song, you get the idea.

Friday was the perfect late summer day. Warm, but not humid, sunny, breezy, 80 degrees. Then Irene's arms carried clouds and rain on Saturday. On Sunday, she unleashed some strong wind gusts and about 10 minutes worth of rain, resulting in two days without power and three without internet. All in all, I'd say we fared very well and consider ourselves very fortunate.

 It's now August 31, the last day of August. Though summer will continue into September, the elementary-schooler in me still considers September 1 to be the start of Autumn. Tomorrow I'll hear the yellow school bus picking children up and carting them off to school. When the breeze blows through the kitchen I'll swear I can almost smell freshly sharpened Ticonderoga pencils.

 God, I'm glad to be a homeschool Mama.

Dog Days of Summer

 Did you know we get the term "dog dogs" from Sirius, the "dog star," once thought to be responsible for hot weather? Or so says Wikipedia.
 The weather is actually very cool for our neck of the woods right now. I don't think the temperature got past 75 today. (sighs) Autumn is on its way.
 I love Autumn, I really do. It's just that once Autumn flies by (and it always flies by) it gets cold. And after Christmas, days after the start of winter, I don't like cold weather. Not one bit.
 Anyway, gripe gripe, whine whine. It's still August. :-)

 How is it already August 19? I am not ready for summer to be over. My baby is turning four on Sunday. Four years old. Already. I spent a week in the hospital when she was born. When we finally got to go home, we enjoyed the last few days of August and before we knew it it was September. Luckily, here in our state we have Indian Summers which sometimes last until the very end of October.

 I am still clinging to summer. Still clinging to the beach, lemonade, afternoons by the pool, cook outs, shorts, air conditioning, and all that coastal summer stuff.

A Very Fancy (Nancy) Birthday Party

 My baby girl is turning four! Though her birthday isn't until next weekend, we had her party yesterday....

I embellished an cheap-o cardboard cupcake tower from A.C Moore with some ribbon, scrapbook paper and a feather boa. (And yes, the cupcakes are home-made. Frosting recipe to follow.)

I used my Cricut to cut out letters and rectangles, then laminated them to make them sturdy. After they were laminated and cut out, I punch holes in each one and tied them together with some satin ribbon.

I made six mason jar lantern/centerpieces, (which would have looked so much cooler outside) once again using my Cricut. I just cut scroll-y, chandelier-y shapes out on pink vinyl, applied the cut-out to the jar, and added some flair with rhinestones.

And now for the frosting recipe. I found this on the crisco website, I think. Anyway, it's 

1 cup of butter (I like to use salted)

1 cup of vegetable shortening (crisco)

Mix for AT LEAST 20 MINUTES! This is a MUST. Do not skip this step.

Beat in 1-2 Tsp of vanilla

Add 7-8 cups of of powdered sugar

If the frosting is too thick, slooooowly add a tiny bit of milk at a time to thin it out.

My computer is acting up again ... so we'll just have to wait for more pictures. :-)

Beautiful

 I live a beautiful life. It's not perfect or extraordinary, but blessed. I am surrounded by beauty.

The beauty of green, ripening tomatoes in my garden,

of the orange bugs eating my zucchini leaves (sigh),

of rainy days turned sunny, or in this case, rain in the midst of a sunny day,

or curled up morning glories.

And of course, my two favorite people. <3

A New Obsession

Hello my name is Heather and I am addicted to outdoor lighting and Mason jars. Even more so if the two are combined. (sighs) There is no end to the possibilities, and Pinterest is only feeding this obsession. Pictures to follow.