Announcing 30 Days of Thankfulness Challenge

My very sweet friend Rachel, the girl who can always make me smile, the one who inspires me with her continuous attitude of gratitude, is hosting a challenge called "Thirty Days of Thankfulness"!

I thought it was a brilliant idea. So I'm joining! Every day in November I'm going to be posting about something that I'm thankful for.

If you'd like to join in the fun, (and I promise you, it's going to be fun!) head over to the challenge post to read more about it. :)

See you tomorrow on Day 1!

Leaf-ing ;)

Hey Ya'll! I'm going on a weekend trip up to North Georgia and leaving tomorrow, and I'll be unplugged for the weekend. :D I'll miss everybody's posts... I'm going to have to catch up when I get back! :)

I'm hoping to find a few little treasures to take home in the quaint little tourist shops, and come home with shots of the fall colors that should be farther ahead up there than our woods down here. :)

In the meantime, here's what I've seen roundabouts lately...

(and if you steal my photos without asking, be warned, I will hunt. you. down. Grr. So don't do it.) ;) I did not have time to edit these or add a watermark, so don't anybody take them, please!

Love the oranges and yellows together with that hint of red... (this tree has since turned candy-apple sports car red.)  Must take more pics soon!

 The rope around the base of the tree in this pic is one end of the clothesline. :D Yes, sometimes we hang our laundry on the line just for the fun of it. :D

 The sky has been so brightly blue lately! I think it's due to the clear Autumn atmosphere. :D

In the next few shots, I was playing with the view of the setting sun through the leaves, and trying for a hint of bokeh whenever possible. :D

Yum. Yum. Love the colors in the above shot... (and this is unedited!!)

Have a great weekend, everybody! I'll see you when we get back. :D

Of Giveaways, and Gray Slippers, and Great Ideas...

Top o' the mornin' to ye! :)

Well, don't know about you, but it's gotten pretty chilly in my neck of the woods! Whew! Time to unpack my winter clothes... and put away some of my beloved t-shirts and capris and bermuda shorts! There's just something nostalgic about finding soft, cozy sweaters and becoming acquainted with the other half of your wardrobe all over again... :D

And I'm trying not to dread those mid-winter months when I just get so tired of wearing knee socks and long johns... sigh! ;) But spring always comes again. A cheery thought. :)

For now, though, it's still Autumn, and the many oak trees around my log home are dropping a bountiful harvest for squirrel and interior decorator alike! :D I picked up some acorns just for the fun of it, and was wondering what to actually 'do' with them, when I found this stellar idea:

See? See the jar at the bottom of the picture? It's filled with acorns and tiny pinecones! How CUTE! We have some old mason jars just like that! *bingo*. :D I just LOVE the amazing interior decor photos on this blog, it's so creative and artsy it  almost makes me want to do handsprings...

And then for something I've been working on:

(this is not my main crochet project, just something I tried in between working on that) :) I found this slipper pattern and thought "Oh! I want to make those!" So I tried it... I made myself a little slipper in shades of gray, and even crocheted a little flower to go on top... I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, but I thought I'd tell you about it anyway. It looks just like these... (only cuter.) ;)

The pattern for these sweet slippers can be purchased on Etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/62872279/crochet-slipper-pattern-oma-house?ref=em

That's where I bought it! :D

And it was only $5. I mean, come on, that's a pretty great deal! :D 

And how cute is this branch decorated with little crocheted leaves! An adorable way to use up your leftover yarn bits! :D The free pattern for this project and several other charming ideas can be found here: http://easymakesmehappy.blogspot.com/2010/03/page-under-construction-crochet.html
I want to try making one of these in burnt oranges, crisp reds, and golden yellows... :D


And lastly, a giveaway for a cute Sense and Sensibility e-Pattern for a "Tea Gown" can be found HERE.

Very pretty, don't you think?

Have a lovely week!

Random Odds & Ends

Hi Blog readers!

I felt like writing you a note tonight, and this is it! :D

First item of interest in my list of things to impart/confess/relate: TOMORROW is the day when we will be going to the End of Ultimate Frisbee Season Party! First, we meet at the T family's home for a dinner of delicious chicken from (where else?) Chick-Fil-A. Then we'll head over to the field and play frisbee like wild things (I've been exercising and getting in shape all week, so Bring It ON!) :D I'll let you know how the game goes. :)

Second item of interest:
My facebook account is no more. My family and I decided that FB wasn't something we wanted to be involved in, but we gave it our best shot and I'm glad we at least looked into the possibility. I enjoyed a brief glimpse into the lives of some friends I hadn't heard from since I was a little kid. I will definitely miss the closer contact I had with the lovely girls of like mind from the Meditations of His Love blog, but I still have several other ways to keep in touch with them. Some of the stuff I saw on Facebook was, to be candid, disturbing. It's like an alternate world, facebook... and people feel emboldened to post all sorts of foolish, ill-judged things that ordinarily they would not say in real life. Not to mention how much TIME I was wasting on there! :D So, for several reasons, I will not miss you, Facebook.

Third item of interest:
I have some super blog posts planned for you! One is about burned bread, (trust me, you'll love it) one will be stuffed with pictures I snapped of the pretty fall leaves changing their hues outside my home, and one will showcase photos of an intricate crochet project that has been occupying me for some time. :)

I've also got plans for some way awesome blog backgrounds for you, and will be releasing some in the very near future!

So, till then, I am, yours truly,

The Dangers of Mr. Darcy

That must be one of my most intriguing blog post titles. :D I'm sure you're curious about what could possibly be dangerous about Mr. Darcy, the most popular hero of all the popular Jane Austen novels.

First things first! :)

Mr. Darcy, when we first meet him in the book... or in either of the two newest movie adaptations... is proud. With rather good reason... he comes from one of the oldest families in England and owns "half of Derbyshire". He's incredibly wealthy.

He's also handsome. And tall. With an inscrutable air of mystery about him.




And then he meets this girl... Elizabeth Bennett.

She's witty, and captivating, and beautiful. Three things that we all like to imagine ourselves to be. 

Mr. Darcy's heart is softened. He falls head over well-shod heels in love with this girl, Lizzy, who comes from a rather ordinary background. Just observe the look of tender adoration in his eyes in the picture above!

They eventually marry, and live happily forever after.

So what's wrong with that? What could possibly be so terrible about a wholesome story like this?

Nothing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this story. I actually enjoy it very much myself and own both a copy of the book and 2 different "Pride and Prejudice"movies.

 Herein lies the danger, my sweet friends:

One word - Obsession.

I've done it too! Before you start to think that I'm pointing fingers, let me say I am as guilty of imagining how wonderful it would be like to marry a man like Mr. Darcy as the next girl. :D

What is wrong with this whole situation is.... when we young ladies begin to absorb ourselves in imaginary worlds of fantasizing about now-perfect heroes, we lose sight of reality. (Now-perfect being even better than perfect, because he has learned his lesson and now will never fail us again) And therefore, when reality smacks us in the face as we blindly run into it while in some daydream about tall, dark, and handsome (RICH) men, we quickly grow discontent.

Girls, real guys are not like Mr. Darcy.

Real guys are not rich. They do not live in perfect mansions with millions of dollars in the bank and servants at their beck and call to banish every miniscule need. Most guys are not wealthy. The style of life which you would be accustomed to would not include your own maids.

This means... you have to do the cooking. And cleaning. And laundry. And when blessed with the incredible joy of children, diaper-changing, feeding, bathing, and all the many tasks that come with raising another little human. It's hard! There's a lot of work to be done! We won't be ladies of leisure if we marry "real" guys.

Real guys are not always "Cuuuuute!" or "Dreamy" or whatever word you wish to describe male perfection. Some of them are, yeah. The models and actors in all the movies and magazines are. But they have a team of makeup artists. And photo-editors that airbrush out all the blemishes and pump up the muscles.

Real guys are just that... real. They have faults. They have flaws. But guess what? So do we! Do any of us girls look like Elizabeth Bennett 24-7, all the time? Maybe some of us look 'as good' as her, when we're all dressed up with our makeup on. But we're not perfect. We have flaws and problems.

Real guys might have a crooked nose. Or a mole on their face. Or they might not be what one could call "handsome" at all. But you know what? If you marry a godly, sweet guy who treats you well and happens to have crooked teeth instead of the stuck-up, unchristian jerk with bulging muscles, you'll end up happier in the long run.

So ladies, don't measure the guys in your life against Mr. Darcy. Don't get  caught up in fantasizing and daydreaming about characters in your romance novels, and don't expect the real men to act like fictional products of imagination.

Okay! Sermonette over. Now let's go watch a period drama... :D

A Man that Chose God

What do you do when there's a huge fork in the road? You can't keep going straight, it's impossible. You have to turn to the right or to the left. You have to make a choice.

I just wrote a blog post over at Meditations of His Love that I think you should go read. Please come back and tell me what you thought of it! :) I am always eager to hear your comments.

And DO NOT WORRY, my dear, sweet readers, just because I happened to get a facebook page does NOT mean I will stop blogging here. On the contrary! I will be blogging just as much as I ever have. So never fear, I'll still be here! :)

What are you all planning to do this weekend? I'd love to hear about it. We are hoping to have an Ultimate Frisbee game near our house, for a change, instead of driving an hour away this week. :)