What a weekend....

Good Tuesday morning to you! Hope you had a nice weekend! I spent Friday and Saturday working the Randolph Mercantile holiday preview open house! The store was packed! With holiday goodies and people!

 If you need some inspiration or motivation....or both, to get into the holiday mood, this is the place to be! Over the next few weeks, I will be sneaking in a day or two each week to begin the decorating at my house.  I know it's early....I usually don't start it until after Thanksgiving but circumstances being what they are this year, I will need to start early to get it done in time to host our church womens Christmas party on December 1st! (and we all know that will be here before we know it!)

While blog-hopping the other day  (sorry I don't remember which blog), I came across a recipe for pumpkin muffins...so I made some up and took them with me to the mercantile the other morning. Not only simple, but SO good!

Pumpkin Muffins

All you need is:   1 box spice cake mix and 1 can pumpkin.  Mix these together until thoroughly combined....DO NOT add anything else.....dry mix only and pumpkin....that's it. Spoon into muffin pans....I used the large muffin tins....bake at 350 until done.  I don't even remember the time but if you use the regular size, bake according to the time on the cake mix box.  You can frost with cream cheese frosting or not....good both ways! Enjoy!

Well, off to get ready for my work day! Enjoy your day!

Tuesday Ramblin'...

I hope everyone had a ~fun & SpOokY~Halloween~weekend! 

Our Halloween was spent on the motorcycle for the annual

Trustee's Cycle Shop Toy Run. 

What an awesome ride!  Over 300 motorcycles....

Canned food items and new toys were also collected to benefit those less fortunate during this holiday season.

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On Saturday, I popped out by Randolph Mercantile and snapped a few pics....here's a little something to entice you for the upcoming.....

HOLIDAY PREVIEW OPEN HOUSE

November 5 - 6 - 7

A little sampling of Black Crow Candles...

Snowmen of all shapes and sizes....

Gingerbread galore....and SO much more!

Hope to see you there.....have a wonderful day!

Meet Sally.....

She's a rescue from my mother/father-in-laws garage. She just showed up there! And since we brought her home, another one has shown up in their garage but no one has been able to get hold of it.  We're guessin' that someone just dumped them off at the railroad tracks.

It took a couple of days but she has finally warmed up to us.  She stays outside with Belle....it took a little while for Belle to warm up to her but they're okay now!  And I hope that Belle teaches her her mousin' skills!

She's still not too sure about Lucy! I can't believe she actually let Lucy get that close to her without havin' a hissin' fit! 

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So how goes it in your world? Been a busy week for me but caught a little break this afternoon!  I'm gradually getting some work caught up and hope to move on to some fun work in my "free" time here pretty soon! Mercantile open house is just a few weeks away and all I have to take in are a few leftovers from last year! Yikes!

Hope you all are enjoying these beautiful fall days......We really need to go cut some wood and get this fireplace ready!  Anyone wanna come join the party?

Have a GREAT Friday!

Good Morning.....

WOW! Where does the time go?  Seems like I ask myself that question every other day! October 8th already....we will turn around and it will be Halloween....Thanksgiving.....CHRISTMAS!  Adults told me when I was younger not to rush time because it would pass by quickly enough the older one gets! They weren't kidding!

So where have I been? to of not of posted in so long.  LIFE!  It happens.  I've been working more outside the home and once I get home I'm still busy getting things caught up around the house or too tired to do much of anything.  I've had an overload of sewing come in and been trying to get that caught up.  We did manage to take our little mini-vacation to Fayetteville, AR for the Bikes Blues & BBQ rally last weekend! I'll post more on that another day.  

Finally made progress with the bathroom.....still working on a couple things and it will get there eventually, but this is what it looks like for now....

You see I have not added the H-D border (still undecided about that) and I've not gone over-the-top with the H-D things....I wanted to keep it simple with just a few accents.  They're not in this photo, but there are pictures hanging of us on the three Harley's we've had over the past several years. 

I spray painted the hinges on the cabinet and closet doors and changed all door pulls and doorknobs.  Lighting changed out, cupboard painted, carpet ripped out and replaced with tile.  I painted the baseboard heater black (still there because we still use it when we are burning the fireplace).

Maybe this weekend I'll get around to painting that last piece of baseboard trim to be put on and get the chain I want to use for the curtain tie-backs.

Well I'd better get on with my day....I'm lookin' at a day at the sewing machine, finishing a flowergirl dress and altering the mother-of-the-bride dress for a wedding next weekend!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Where have I been?

Hello All!  Yeah, I'm still here.....I've not fallen off the face of the earth.  I have tried to do a little keeping up through Facebook over the past few weeks. Since my last post, besides working, I've spent most of my days at the hospital with John's mom.  She had a regular doctors appointment on the 19th which led them to admit her for some tests.  A CT scan of her stomach came back with a tumor the size of a basketball and not for certain where it was coming from. She was then transferred to another hospital where they decided it was coming from an ovary and finally in for surgery on the 23rd.  She got to come home on the 28th and starting to recover but it's still a long road ahead.  For as upsetting as what this has all been, I'm also thankful that they finally found out what has been making her sick all this time.  Prior to this, she had been in the hospital twice since the first of April.  Oh, the best part? As with all tumors, they must be sent off for biopsy and this one came back NO cancer.  Thank God! And many thanks to those who follow my FB and were prayer warriors for her!  Never underestimate the power of prayer!

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The bathroom has been on hold waiting for the finishing touches...curtains, which I need to drop the hem in, pictures on the wall, still undecided if that H-D border is even going to go up now.  My sewing room looks like a disaster struck. Until I go pick up John later today, I think I actually get to spend the day at home and I think I will spend it on cleaning and doing a little catching up around the house. 

We had a beautiful day here yesterday.  I turned off the a/c and opened up the windows.  It got so cool in the evening though, that I had to close them all before going to bed.  One more cup of coffee then I think I'll open those windows again, turn on some good music and get busy cleaning! 

Hope you all have a GREAT Labor Day weekend!!

Weekend Ramblin'...

Hello world! Hope you all had a great weekend!  Mine started bright and early last Thursday.  My sisters, Denni & Marsha, & I, took a little road trip to the little town of Forsyth, MO to visit our great-aunt Ruby.  We surprised her for her 95th birthday!  And she sure was surprised!  It was so good to see her and spend time with her.  95! WOW!  I love hearing the stories.....And can you even imagine all the changes she has seen and been a part of in that time?  

We also got to spend some time with cousins, Sarah, Jimmy & Rachel

and when visiting, you are usually challenged to a game of dominoes....which she usually wins!

Before taking her over to Branson for a little shopping, we stopped at
Forsyth Flower Cottage & Tea Room for lunch! Cute little shop and the food was excellent!

And of course you can't be  in Forsyth on a Friday night and not jog on over to Taneyville for catfish Friday at their little restraunt! Oh my! I don't usually order fish out but this is one place I just gotta!  YUM!

Saturday, Jimmy and Jane (cousin & his wife) came over for a little visiting before Marsha, Denni & I went over to The Landing in Branson for a little shopping.  A little more visiting when we got back, then Denni & I gathered our things and headed for home.  Marsha is staying for a few more days.

I'd actually intended on driving through to get home around dark or just after...HA! We found a couple of antique malls that were still open so of course we had to stop!  I managed to find a few treasures!  Most will be repurposed, though, and taken to the Mercantile.  I will post pics as I work on them.

I hope to plan another trip down soon or at least stop by on our way to or from Fayetteville in a few weeks.

Have a great day!!!

Progress...

As my friend, Katt, pointed out in a comment on my previous post, it's been awhile since I posted! I don't know where the past two and a half weeks have gone! Time flies when you're having.....fun? Seriously?

As you can see, my bathroom redo is coming along.  Sllooowwwwyyyy.  I have a little touch up painting on the walls to do (hopefully before I head out the door this morning).  We still have the floor to put down and replace the baseboard trim...my wonderful brother-in-law, Michael, will be helping me with that (ok, he will probably end up doing that while I'm gone this weekend) So when I get home, I can put on the finishing touches and we will have our bathroom back in total working order!!!

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We finally started getting some tomatoes from the garden and a couple of cucumbers.   I'm anxiously awaiting the canteloupe and watermelon!  After this years success, or lack of, I don't think I will be putting in a garden next year.  Just not a good gardening year for me... either too much rain or too little time.  I don't garden to can or freeze or for "dirt therapy" to relieve stress, I just want some fresh veggies.  For no more than what I actually use these days, I can get that at the farmer's market and  I'll continue my therapy with needle & thread!

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I hope you all are having a great week and have a wonderful weekend.  I'm going with two of my sisters to see our great-aunt Ruby who will be turning 95 tomorrow!