bringing home the bacon . . .

My son-in-law, Jason, really did bring home the bacon yesterday, quite literally.

Bacon Roses.

Aren't these fun?!? It was their second anniversary yesterday, and my darling daughter made these bacon rosettes and had them delivered to Jason at work. She got the idea from here, and pinned it to her "Yum Yums" board on pinterest, to save for the appropriate occasion.

Needless to say, Jason -- who's fond of saying, "Everything's better with bacon," -- has now added anniversaries to the list of things that are, indeed, better with bacon (which is evidently a sentiment shared by many men). And he was the envy of his baconless co-workers.

Modern romance -- gotta love it!

:)

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surprise!

The trip Todd & I took to the post office box yesterday netted only one thing.

A box.

And it wasn't even the box we were expecting of Keurig coffee k-cups.

It was BETTER (in my estimation, anyway)!

In it was . . .

FABRIC!

I'd entered this giveaway on Nancy's Silly Stitching blog on June 14th (my anniversary). On the 20th, I got a lovely e-mail from her saying I'D WON! She gave me pick of the fabric and said she'd get it in the mail to me. Which she must have done pronto, because I have it already!

But the surprise?!? It wasn't just the two lovely fabrics above, it was a whole BOX of goodies! See for yourself . . .

The two pieces of yardage, which are great (I'm thinking I'd like to use the floral as a whole cloth top for a runner, and quilt the flowers), plus four fun fat quarters and a Mary Englebreight journal and sticky notes, plus a lovely handcrafted note from Nancy herself! I was so tickled. You ought to check out Nancy's blog for yourself!

I celebrated by cutting some wildflowers and making a sweet little arrangement to tide me over.

My July 4th arrangement is ready to take the stage, but I have to get the table topper done first!

And, speaking of giveaways, Vicki B Quilts is giving away a Baby Go cutter! Head on over to her blog and enter before July 3, by clicking HERE!

Happy Sunday!

:)

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what a great day!

It really was a great, wonderful day. It started when the chain saw crew got here this morning and took out all the downed trees that were blocking the road and trails! Yay! There were three different crews up here -- it was really impressive.

I left the camp around 10:30 and met my Jocelyn at Huntsville Sew & Vac. She wants to learn to sew and start crafting on the sewing machine! Do you know how much that pleases this mom?!? I'd taken my old Kenmore machine in to have it worked on, and it was ready to be picked up. We looked at embroidery machines while we were in there. There were two that I really paid attention to -- one was a Brother and one was a Janome. I'm really, really considering if I want to go there or not!

From there, we headed over to Patches & Stitches for a quick stop into the guild's library. I wanted to pick up a book on postcards. Guess what I found?

Yay! I've got a month to go through it and see if there's anything that appeals to me. Joc was so sweet -- she told me that she thought the two I'd already done were really cute -- why did I need a book? Love that girl! While we were there, we both picked up a fat quarter. She picked up a sweet little floral print by Moda.

From Patches we headed to lunch. I took her to Po' Boys. It's a Cajun style restaurant that's pretty good. She'd never been there before, but I knew she'd been in a seafood mood so I figured this would be a good place for us. I got a shrimp basket and she got a catfish basket, and we shared. :)

From the restaurant, we headed to ... HOBBY LOBBY! I do *love* that place. We were both interested in some stems. I wanted to do a floral arrangement for the 4th and I'd been wanting some sunflowers for an August/September arrangement. Joc helped me pick out my offerings, and these are what I came home and put together:

This will look very pretty sitting on a red, white and blue table runner!

I love this! We used the mason jar, brown bow and pebbles for the flower vases for James & Kim's rehearsal dinner centers. I handed out most, but I saved one because I'd liked the look. Yep, this one makes me smile.

From Hobby Lobby (have I mentioned how much I like that store?), Joc and I headed our separate ways. I hit the post office before getting home. Score!! It was a great mail day! I had two letters and a PACKAGE! Can you say snail mail love? One of the letters was from my darling niece, Ali, who's away at camp this month. The other was from Joc's sweet sister-in-law, who's on mission in Pigeon Forge for the summer. And the package I couldn't quite figure out. I was expecting two things, but this didn't fit my expectations of either. But the initials fit . . . my dear blogging and facebook friend, Paula. I'd seen a darling table runner she'd finished, and when I complimented it, she offered to send me the pattern. But that sure wouldn't have needed a box . . .

Look! She sent me fabric to make it with! And it's oranges! And such a sweet note. I'm so totally touched!
Look at these gorgeous colors . . . aren't they fun???

I can see my sunflower arrangement sitting on these colors. Yes!

And then to wrap it all up, I got an invitation for breakfast on Saturday from my darling hubby. He's so sweet and romantic! He sent me an event invitation via facebook. It was so wonderful!

Yup -- it was a GREAT day!

:)

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pluggin' along & happy mail . . .

Today I've been working away at trying to finish up the ministry's summer newsletter. Todd wanted to go to a bigger, more professional look, so I literally started from scratch! Here's a snapshot of the cover page . . .

I'm really pleased with how it looks. We're actually going to print and mail all our copies this time around, but next quarter we'll e-mail it in a pdf format to everyone on our mailing list we've got an e-mail for. Nonetheless, I truly feel like I've spent the day plodding along at the computer.

I think this fellow knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Me: Mr. Turtle, do you know what I'm talking about?

Turtle: Move lady, you're blocking my path!

I got out of his way -- he had a 'look' about him. ;)

I had a happy in today's mail. My Spring Flowers block of the quarter from Honeybee Fabrics. She's got some gorgeous quilt kits going right now. Definitely worth checking out!

I love that as part of my kit, I receive this WHOLE magazine! It's filled with beautiful, beautiful quilts. There's one in there this month that's a crazy quilt of butterflies! How awesome is that?!?

This is the block for this quarter -- The Bearded Iris.

Isn't it gorgeous? Isn't it intimidating looking?!?! LOL! I will not be able to start working on these blocks on a day like today, when I've been staring at the computer screen for so long!

And look at these beautiful fabrics . . .

This is going to be an exquisite block in an exquisite quilt!

For now, I've got my own spring flowers going.

On my own summery table runner!

Happy, happy; joy, joy!

:)

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happy anniversary, baby . . .

June 14, 1996

It's hard to believe that it's been fifteen years since we tied the knot.
Fifteen glorious, wonderful years.

I wouldn't have wanted to share them with anyone else.

And after fifteen years, still he can surprise me . . .

Knowing flowers wouldn't deliver all the way out to Camp MACOBA,
he had these delivered to our daughter's house, where we
were leading Community Groups tonight.
It didn't even occur to me that he might think of such a thing.

I am blessed and blessed! Here's to the next fifteen!

:)

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Happy Mother's Day!

Just in time for Mother's Day, one of my favorite flowers bloomed ...

I so love peonies! They smell marvelous and open up into such glorious, full pinkness! They definitely make me SMILE!

Speaking of smiles, here's another of my favorites . . .

This is Sawyer enjoying his first Jell-O Easter egg! He made pretty quick work of it! (And it made pretty quick work of his Easter outfit, too. Ooops!)

From my darling Jocelyn, I got an early Mother's Day present . . .

That's sweet Everett's actual little hand print, etched into a silver charm, and his name engraved on the back side. Isn't it darling? This is a gift I'll treasure for all my years. This will be a tough day for my darling girl. My heart still aches for her. We count the days until she can hold him in her arms again in Heaven!

Todd and I trekked out for a bit yesterday afternoon. Spring is out in full force at the Camp!

I'm not sure what this flower is -- but there were lots of blooms on it, and it sure is pretty!

There's one last peony bloom on the plant. I think I'll take this one to Kim. These are her all-time favorite flowers ever!

The meadow was full of daisies and something else that was yellow, bright and sunny (and probably responsible for my terrible sinus troubles)! It really was a lovely day.

Our destination was down the Beech Bottom Trail to the Secret Creek. I love this spot. I think it's the perfect place for a picnic lunch and a long, lazy afternoon.

Truly idyllic. I captured just a short clip of the creek, flowing strong, to share . . .

Did you hear the crickets chirping in the background? How blessed I am!

Happy Mother's Day!!

:)

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