Human Slinky

What's gonna happen, Mom?

~*~

This summer I had a hankerin' for a baked potato but didn't want to turn my oven on for an hour to bake one during the heat wave, so I went to Wendy's Restaurant and got it for a $1.00 on their value menu. Of course, when my children are with me, they ask for something too. On this trip, they got kids meals and instead of a toy, they received a audio book on CD. They both groaned in unison but I squealed with delight! I shared with them how fun an audio book could be! It's like hearing a bedtime story! Like children, even adults enjoy being read to! They didn't take the bait.

I love audio books but rarely buy them because they are soooooo expensive! Years ago when I traveled on the train, I would buy discount audio books on cassette and listen to them on my way to and from work because unless I had a seat to sit in, I couldn't read standing up - gave me a headache!

Anyway, about a week later on the way to school (after a sleep deprived and cross morning) I put one of their audio books on in the car. It's a 15 minute drive to school and to my surprise, when we arrived in the parking lot, my kids groaned again! But this time, it was because they were enjoying the story being read to them! When I parked the car, my son asked, "What's gonna happen, Mom?" I replied that we would pick up the story where we left off when I picked them up in the evening. "YEAH!!!!"

And so began their summer love of audio books! I recently won a blog giveaway of a Regency Era type book and there was a special little gift inside of a audio sampling CD of 6 different other regency era type audio books. The kids and I liked that one even more because the readers were trained in theatre and their brittish smooth, velvet-like voices made the listening experience even more enjoyable as the characters changed from chapter to chapter.

We've exhausted our tiny audio library now and the kids are on the look out for more when we are shopping but most are out of our budget range. However, last night I won an ebay auction of the unabridged audio cassette (9 in all) version of Jane Austen's Persuasion. The winning price.... . 99 CENTS! My kids have seen the movie already probably 25 times, so they will easily be able to follow along with the audio version. In the morning, I put a DVD on to listen/watch while I get ready for work at my vanity table.

Nothing can replace the look, feel, smell and experience of a hardcover book, but sometimes it's nice to enjoy an audio book!

~*~

Indian Summer Picnic!

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Muse-Swing is hosting our Indian Summer Picnic today, so pop over and you'll see everyone who is participating in todays festivities! ENJOY!

What is Indian Summer anyway?

~ according to Wikipedia:
… a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before winter. This time can be in late October or early November (Northern hemisphere)/late April or early May (Southern hemisphere), usually sometime after the first frost. It can persist for just a few days or weeks.

To me... it's beautiful!

It's also a bit nippy outside, so here is a beautiful quilt to cozy in!

A little fragrance to set the mood!

And of course a little something to nibble on..

Indian Summer Salad

INGREDIENTS
3 carrots
a small bunch of radishes
2 Squash (slender in size)
half a small red onion
small handful mint leaves, roughly torn

FOR THE DRESSING
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp olive oil

Have a great day everyone!

~*~

Remember your first best friend....

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I have the best boss, she ALWAYS has a bowl filled with chocolates in her office. The other day I picked up this Dove piece and the message was... "Remember your first best friend..."

Oooooooooh the memories! Her name was Lucille... she lived nearby so we'd easily walk to eachother's homes and ride our bikes, play with Barbies, board games, etc. Oh the fun! We moved a few years later and I've never seen/heard from her again. :(

Do you remember your first best friend?

*~*

Lipstick~ I'm an Original

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My Man took the camera last week while he was fishing so I haven't been able to post my usual fun but I found this instead! If you click on the picture it will enlarge for easier reading. I found it on the Internet and printed it out to put in my purse for the next gathering with the girls as it should be a fun topic of conversation! What does your lipstick say about you?

*~*

And the award goes to...

~
The other day...... I was given the BFF Gold Card award from Lavinia and now I am pleased to present it to the following bloggers based on the Blogging Friends Forever Rules:

1. Maximum five people allowed. 2. No more than four have to be dedicated followers of your blog. 3. One has to be someone new, or recently new to your blog, or live in another part of the world. 4. You must link back to whoever gave you the 'Blogging Friends Forever' award.


1. In The Garden with Miss Jean I suspect there is probably a large age span between us but in blogland there are no age limits among blog friends. Her interests are my interests and she's just fun to spend the day with!

2. Bygone Beauty The day I visited her blog and it was about Royal Tea scones, I was knew it was going to be a favorite!

3. Muse Swings Her blog name is perfect in that you never know what the theme of the day will be. This writer is a well of talent (and sense of humor!) we have barely tapped into!


Enjoy!
*~*

Remember

Most tend to think immediately of the World Trade Center towers today but not me... I remember United Airlines Flight 93. The black box recordings revealed that crew and passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning.

According to the transcript of Flight 93's recorder, one of the hijackers gave the order to roll the plane once it became obvious that they would lose control of the plane to the passengers. Soon afterward, the aircraft crashed into a field near Shanksville in Pennsylvania.

When you read the transcripts of the recordings, you can't help but smile at the bravery.

*~*

Award!

*~*

I would like to thank Lavinia at Birdbathchronicles for giving me this award! THANK YOU!! This is a Bloggy Friendship Gold Credit Card! People are so creative, I'm going to have to create a award of my own someday... and of course it will be Cha Cha themed! I have been visiting Lavinia's blog for awhile now and I'm never disappointed in her posts! They are well thought out and her sweet spirit shines through! Lavinia volunteers in her free time to the care and maintenance of 5 birdbaths in her neighborhood and she shares the beautiful photo's of her labor of love with all of the world to see. God has given her a wonderful earthly job of tending to his creation, so you can only imagine the eternal plans He has for her as well! Thanks Lavinia, you made my day!

Now I am to pass the award along to a fellow blogger... (still thinking, still deciding.....)

*~*

Autumn is here!

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It was officially Fall/Autumn when my two favorite magazines arrived! Now it's time to decorate my home!

Because my friends blessed my birthday last year, it now takes me more than 5 minutes to decorate my house! I've got lots of goodies now!

Even my kids have little somthing to decorate!

This is the picture on the cover of the Victorian Trading Company... I want to be there enjoying a cup of coffee on the patio too!

I also love to cook and bake more during the Fall/Winter seasons!

Here are some more decorations I'd love to have!

Places I'd like to visit...

How have you decorated your home for fall?

~*~

Labor Day Fun

~ Labor Day Fun ~

With all the excitement of school starting and our recent trips to the hospital, I forgot to post our picnic during Labor Day Weekend! We traveled to a nice little park tucked away from all the city life. The kids love it for all the fun things to do, I love it because it's clean and they have bathrooms!

First order of business was choosing our shady picnic table and then securing a spot on the dock for fishing!

The kids didn't have to wait long to get a critter! Lots of Crawdads!

As the sun moved over us, so did the kids to a shady spot under the trees to try fishing for Catfish! The kids were so successful they had a little fan club to cheer them on!

We enjoyed a special surprise when the local high school band arrived to promote their fundraising efforts to perform in the 2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

The kids were ready to take a break from fishing, so we went on the Carousel!

 

Along our train ride, we see Auntie enjoying a quiet moment to read her book! Hi Auntie!

Perfect opportunity to make a memory! Say Cheese!

Auntie, will you play with me? SURE, let's go!

One more ride on the train before the park closes!





Glad I didn't see this before hand, but after closer inspection of this photo we see that most of the gauges were labeled NON~OP!

Well the kids are worn-out tired after a great picnic day! Time to head for home and get in a bathtub filled with bubbles to disenfect! ha ha

~*~