I'm thankful for...

The love of this man....

 For having daughters for best friends....

For moments like this...

For the the smiles of these three....

For a momma who brings sunshine to everyday of my life....

For a step dad who keeps us entertained and loves our family no matter what......

For a mother in law who love and cares for my girls as much as I do....

For a big brother I can look up to and count on....

For the intense way this man loves my daughter....

And the way he cares for, loves on, provides for and spiritually leads his family...

For in-laws who love my daughter as their own...

For the transformation and growth in the beautiful heart of this girl....

And for the Lord sending this young man into her life and for the way he preaches the Word crazy good...

For the Lord sending this man into Lydia's life and for the sweet way he loves her and our Monday nights spent with him.....

For visits from the oldest bestie I have in the world...

For fresh tomatoes in November from a bountiful garden that is still producing...

For this man's green thumb (and the Lord blessing the harvest)....

And for the church family the Lord has led us to and blessed us with...

For these and so many more,

I am thankful.

Stephanie :)

Life Lesson #2854

If you know me personally or been reading my blog for some time, then you know I don't tend to keep things simple. By definition,"The quality or condition of being plain or natural" is not ...well, natural for me. And of course, in my mind, this years Thanksgiving celebration was gonna be nothing short of spectacular.  I've been pinning ideas like crazy. I've seen so many amazing creative stuff from many of you fellow bloggy friends..and let me tell you, I couldn't wait for for this  Thursday to get here. I was so ready to have all the extra touches to make my home so festive and make my family feel so special. Well....then life happened. And one kidney infection later, I've been knocked down for the count.  Fever and chills for three days have kicked my butt and I have had to throw in the towel and surrender. Hence, my new plan for simplicity. It kinda was forced on me but I'm actually looking forward to it. source Yeah, I won't have those adorable edible turkey's on each place setting, and I won't be going out to my shed to pull out the box of Thanksgiving glasses and dishes. I won't be using all the fun ideas I was gonna create for Rosalyn's Tangled birthday party that we are gonna have for her while all the family is together.  Nope. None of that is gonna happen. But.... We are gonna have plenty of food to eat. We are gonna have a Tangled Party...the scaled down version.   Rosalyn will have a cute birthday cake...I just won't be making it. And most of all....I will be together with all my family... My best friend/husband, all three of my girls and their men, my three grandbabies, my momma and step-dad and my  mom-n-law and my brother.  When it all comes down to it...that's what is all about anyways... Just being together with the ones you love and who love you back. And for that....I am most thankful!

source

I pray you have a wonderful time of Thanksgiving too.

Stephanie :)

Honey's Helpful Hints...and a winner!

Today my list of Friday Favorites is a little different.

We'll call it "Honey's Helpful Hints".

First let me start by saying I am not one of those "brand name only-won't try anything else- my kinds the best- I'm gonna use this till the day I die" kinda girls. 

Nope...if its on sale or I have a coupon, I'll sell you out in a heartbeat.

Truth be known, I'm more of a store brand kinda girl.

Bottom line. Just give me the least expensive thing ya got.

BUT....I have discovered a few things lately that I must say I'll be sticking with

..... even if it costs a few extra bucks.

I thought I'd do a little "series" of Honey's Helpful Hints from time to time.

I do love discovering awesome things myself

So here is the first installment and category ...

Cleaning Products! 

(and btw... I'm not getting a thing from any of these products...I just like em and wanted to tell you in case you want to try them your self.  That's all.)

1.  Gain Fireworks!!

This stuff is amazing!  Have you tried it yet?  

My hubs has a thing about clothes smelling good...especially towels and his t-shirts.

Well this stuff delivers!  Everyone in the family noticed how good everything was smelling.

A little pricey at $6 bucks at Walmart but so worth it.  You use it with your soap powder.  Just sprinkle some of the little balls in the water before you add your clothes.

Love it!

2. Goop!

Ever heard of it?

I grew up with my mom buying it for my daddy to clean his hands.

But I use it on our clothes!  It will get out just about anything.

Seriously. Grease stains are a breeze with this.

It's cheap too and a tub lasts forever!

You find it in the automotive dept at Walmart.

Ok. Obviously, this aint a cleaning product but it's in my laundry room on my window sill where I was taking these pics and its one of my all time favorite things I own. So I thought I'd share it with you while I was in there.  It's me and my three little chicks. I've had it since the girls were little  and it always makes me smile.

(if any of you have a helpful hint for ME to take care of that dusty window blind...I'm all ears!...unless it involves me dusting! lol)

3. Cascade Complete Power Pacs

 This is my big splurge.  I'm super skeptical about how "great stuff is supposed to work" and like I told you... I always just go with whatever is the cheapest. Well I had a coupon one day and gave this stuff a whirl.  Let me tell you, IT WORKS!

I'm not real big on washing my dishes before you put them in the dishwasher...I mean, that's what a dishwasher is for right!?   I just scrape any big stuff off the plate and toss it in.....(I know, I know..shame on me)  But this stuff can handle it!  And the best part is how it cleans the glasses.

No spots or streaks. (My hubs appreciates a glass without spots)

I have even bought the cheap stuff recently wanting to save a little and we could all tell the difference!

4. Dawn Power Clean

What I love most about this stuff is that you don't need to squirt half the bottle to get a big beautiful sink full of bubbles!  And the bubbles last!  Don't ya hate when you blink your eye and all you got left is water with a little suds on top?  Yeah, me too.  Even after washing a bunch of greasy pots, you still have bubbles!  I am all about the bubbles!

And the last thing I'll leave you with is this picture....

I know it has nothing to do with cleaning supplies but I couldn't resist....

I mean, how adorable is that?!

And after all... I AM a Honey you know!

It's what us grandmas do! ;)

Do you have a favorite secret weapon you use to clean with?

I'd love to hear about!   TEll US!

Now for a winner....
Number 8!
That would be Marie!

Marie said...

yay!

i really {heart} that necklace!

and...

Kate has a beautiful heart.

November 16, 2011 7:23 AM 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well so do you Marie!  

The necklace will be arriving in your mailbox soon :)

Thanks to everyone for entering..I wish you could all get one!

For reals.

Happy Friday!

Stephanie :)

Full Circle

I love Thanksgiving.

It's one of my absolute favorite holidays.

It's filled with traditions, gratitude, food and my favorite....FAMILY!

Through the years we've celebrated Thanksgiving many different ways.

When we were in the Navy for almost 10 years, 

the majority of those we weren't able to spend with family.

But the last 10 years, we've lived a little closer and I have hosted most of them....which I love!

But last year was my favorite!

It was a major milestone for this momma.

Thanksgiving came full circle for me.

My daughter was the host in her home!

And might I add, she and my son-in-law outdid themselves.

First let me show you a picture of how many she hosted....

 Try having 18  guests for your FIRST Thanksgiving in your home.

And we didn't just eat for lunch....

No, we were all houseguest for several days... all 18 of us.

Well, let me just tell you..

She and Chris were "The Hostess with the Mostess" for sure.

They went above and beyond to make it special.

For any of y'all that are having ,as we say in Louisiana, "beau coup" (pronounced boo coo which means ALOT) of house guests this Thanksging and are wondering where you are gonna seat them all for lunch... look what my two clever and resourceful youngins did...

They transformed their garage into a something AMAZING!..

 She mixed fancy with easy..

Fancy being real tablecloths and round tables.

Easy being the gorgeous paper plates AND PLASTIC silver utensils.

Yes...those are plastic!

 This was my place setting!

 And the food was just as wonderful as all of her decorations!  

Ok...are you wondering where we all slept?

No problem for these two incredible hosts...

After all the eating was over, they cleared out all the tables and transformed the garage into what we lovingly named...

"The Village"!

(It's where all the cool people slept!)

Told you they were amazing hosts!

It was a wonderful time.  We had all the grandparents and almost all the great grandparents together!

Here are the Great Grandmas...are they not just GORGEOUS!!

And if you wonder where I get my silliness from,

well the apple don't fall far from the tree.....

  Here are two of the great grands...the one with the polka dot scarf on her head is my momma.

The other is MiMi...Chris's grandma. (She just opens her mouth and I giggle.)  I love them both.

We were playing the game of Quelf.  Fun stuff.

Of course, one of the hilights for me was having all my girls together.

I love it when that happens.

This years Thanksgiving will be at my house..

I'm a little nervous following behind these two Super Heros of Hosting.. 

It's a great thing coming full circle.

What will  you be doing this year?

I'm sure whatever it is it's gonna be a blessing.

Stephanie :)

Linking up today at Gussy Sews for this weeks theme...

Thanksgiving.

Momma Time

It's Wednesday y'all! (in case you weren't aware of that)

SO I'm linking up with the lovely Krystina and her "What I love Wednesday" link.

What I love this wednesday and whenever, is time spent with my momma.

She lives almost 6 hours away from me and we've always lived long distance from each other ever since I got married..23 years ago.

We talk EVERY day on the phone or she is tracking me down! I'm not kidding! 

And when we do get to spend time with each other, we treasure every minute.

Here's my latest trip about a month ago.

Lauren and Blake both had Fall Break so they asked if we could take a trip.

So we did!

Road trip games....

Who can lick their sucker down the fastest?...

 I was SO the winner!

Our MUST stop and shop break on the way there and on the way back at this place!

We surprised my mom and got their several hours early while she was still at work.

I'm pretty sure she was just about to say her standard...

"Whaaaat?!?"

She was quite happy with our surprise!

So what do we do with our extra hours? ...... We shop of course!

We closed this place down.  You could hear the crickets chirping when we left.

 Momma was getting a little tuckered out and found herself a seat.

One of my most favorite things about our visits....coffee time and catching up each morning.

We hit a few garage sales this trip. This was my big score....chock-a-block full of retro goodness!

Here was momma's "jackpot"... an electric meat slicer for Nick... her favorite son-n-law!!

 Blake experienced a milestone in his life while on this trip.... He bought his first suit! 

 Don't he look just smashing?!

 Lauren treated us to these!  :)

Then we threw in a little lazer tag.

Seeing those pictures of me led to the purchase of this...

And then to make it worse, after trying boots on EVERYWHERE and not finding ANY to fit my calves, I had to make my first purchase ever from this store....

(no offense to you ladies who love this store!  It was just a reality check for me)

But aren't these boots just darling?

***sidenote and update---when I got home from this trip, after coming to grips with the reality of my weight gain, I decided to do something about it.  NO crazy diets... just eating healthy and drinking plenty of water and cutting waaaay back on the sweets.
  And.......I've already lost 12 lbs and in the next size down! Yay me!!

And so has my hubs!

Blake preached at my Mom and Step-Dad's church.

He did an amazing job.  SUCH a blessing.

We took in a trolly ride.

And almost got kicked off (seriously) while we were taking these pictures.

Can we say MEAN Trolley Driver?

Loading up for the trip home..

We always go home with WAY more than we came with!!

Poor Blake!

(notice what his cup holder is! lol)

  Home sweet Home.

I arrive home to these...hand picked by my man who I missed very much.

I can't wait till the next "Momma time"!

That would be next week when she comes for Thanksgiving!!

BUT I gotta share her with my brother.  Boo.

No problem though cuz EVERYONE knows I'm the favorite!!

Have you had any "momma time" lately?

What are the things YOU like to do together?

Stephanie :)

*****Oh! I almost forgot!*****

Click {here} for my latest giveaway!

Just to say thank you :)