pizza nite

I'm thinking this is becoming an annual fundraiser.

The price to attend went up this year and the number of attendees did as well.

If they went home anywhere close to as stuffed as I did ...

I'd sign up next year too!

Nathan made his pizza oven.

I've added one to my wish list. Right behind sliding barn doors.

The fire was burning when we arrived to work.

Pizza dough for over 100 pizzas was bagged and waiting to be worked.

I know Mandy (the hostess) had been a bit stressed out.

Uhm. I wonder why?!!

The tables were decorated ...

Order sheets for the pizza of each individuals liking waited to be filled out to order.

And the boys got put to work.

Dough duty was happening outside while vegie chopping, and all that good stuff, was

going on in the kitchen.

No photos there. My hands were occupied with knives.

Nathan ... the pizza master.

I think this is a good indicator of what happens in this home and on this patio!

They're a lucky family.

The guests arrived.

They visited.

They ate. And they ate. And they ate.

While the men worked to serve up some mighty fine fare.

Gotta love even the order slips that float down the line!

 

Not only did I have to try multiple kinds of pizza, artichoke dip and yummy salad.

Then I had to sample desserts, following singing around bonfires.

One. After. Another.

Desserts that is.

If they'll welcome me on the committee putting this on again next year ... I'm in!

So much fun to do and, to be honest, I think I've spent today still in a food coma.

finding smiles

it has been delightful!

If I'm absent for a while, it usually means that I'm a wee bit busy spinning circles.

In the past several weeks, we finished getting everything ready for the craft sale.
He might pretend to grumble once in a while, but he really is the biggest help ever that hubby of mine. It is amazing how fast you can go from an empty tent to a full one with a few willing hands.

It really was a lot of fun. Lots of visiting to do with shoppers coming in and goods flying out the door.

At times, tho', I have to say that I felt my age. I'm not 20, 30 or even 40 anymore!

A financial success and an excuse to keep on being creative. 

And ... I'm on to crafting for the next one!

We also had an opportunity to meet our newest little love who turned 2 months old while he was visiting. 

Don't you just love that little belly of his?

Hair that loves to stand up when freshly bathed. A little man that just tells stories and chats up a storm! I know that my children will have to do what is best for their lives and families, just as we did. But ... I would love to have him closer to us so I can watch this little charmer grow.

Check out those eyelashes!

Now go take a peak at your own in the mirror. Do they reach nearly to the curve of your nose?

Such a good little munchkin.

I was so worried that he would catch the flu while they were here. The big bad ugly flu has made itself know around these parts and is running rampant. Anna, Wylon & Wyatt all tested positive for influenza A. Yuck. The problem was that this new little guy was getting loved up left and right.

They made it back to NoDak without sickness, safe and sound.

Very thankful.

Worker bees raising funds

We started our Sunday morning bright and early with a fundraiser breakfast at church. Served 300+ folks some mighty fine fare and earned a few bucks to fund our first fall market craft and bake sale. 

My guest room is no longer habitable but it will be on Wednesday evening. Last little things to get done for this upcoming weekends craft tent sale. 

Including finding some good chalk today to get these boards finished. 

It has been so much fun! Gives me an excuse to live in a crafting coma. Otherwise .. where on earth would I put it all?!

I restrained myself

It is Monday morning once again and I'm parked in the parking lot at work. My clock says 5:48. I haven't quite figured out how to schedule posts from my phone so found this one lurking from last week and am sharing even if it is late!

I am sick. 

Too many days of burning candles at both ends finally caught up with me. 

I really, deep in my hearty heart, wanted to join in the cleaning at church this morning. But .. I didn't think I could handle bending over without my head exploding. Ach!

The bottle are lined up on the counter. Vitamin C .. echinacea ... and I am shoveling them in. I have to be fully functioning by Monday 4 a.m.  At least functioning to the level of normal at that time of day. 

In the meantime, it is Saturday evening and I took a nap (shivering and shaking under my blanket) this evening which means I am now up and painting. 

Yup. Go figure. 

I almost hit the Pinterest button

but managed to restrain myself. 

Because I still have these sitting on my table this evening. 

waiting to be stitched closed. 

I should probably finish those before I find something else to do. 

In really bright news .. my guest room is almost ready for a guest 2 weeks from yesterday. You don't know what a feat that has been!

I always thought my kids got their undiagnosed (read that mom diagnosed) ADD from their dad. 

I may have been wrong. 

Incidentally ... I feel great!

nearly had me some heart failure

I got my very first iPhone a few years back.
I harassed Jari and Fred about their phones and how much time they spent on them.
And then they harassed me equally.

I do hit facebook on my phone.
I occasionally hit Instagram but I really don't know how that works.
The map has only steered me wrong once.
Email is usually read on my handheld device and even occasionally sent.
I'm very bad at two way relationships on snapchat .. I don't send but I love to receive.
GroupMe is one of my all time favorites. I love seeing videos of my grandcharmers doing fun things.
I use the Bible and the Hymnal on my phone.
Pinterest. Oh. Yeah. But you knew that.
The camera, camera rolls and albums are big.
The notes are endless and occasionally I sit down to clean them up a bit.
Life has become so busy that my phone calendars can't contain it all anymore.

Seriously. It is amazing how much this little tiny thing will hold.

Blogger has an icon on my phone. Just not on the front page.
Google Drive with oodles of photos.
eMemories with family videos that are stored in the cloud but accessed on my phone.
Podcasts that I only listen to when I don't have a book to listen to.

And yesterday my favorite icon wouldn't work and I nearly didn't know what I was going to do.
Almost as bad as the power being out and not being able to brew a cup of coffee.
That realization is enough to make a person realize they have a problem.

My favorite. My most used ever app on my phone is

I listen to hoards of books by a wide range of authors.
I have the nicest little Bluetooth necklace thing that Jari bought for me.
It is probably my favorite piece of "jewelry".
I very rarely purchase books.
I have never purchased a book for download.
I like the kind I can get on OverDrive.
Free library books.
I download them for 2 weeks and then they go away.
In the space of 2 weeks .. I might actually listen to ... well, a lot of them.
I find new authors and go through everything they have.
While the public library system may not have the latest available ... it has enough for me.

Yesterday morning my traveling companion wouldn't work so I had to listen to news on my way to work.
And an old podcast on my way home when I had enough of politics within about 5 minutes.
I actually had to delete the app, reload the app and then download my current book again.

I am good to go.

Now if I can figure out where I was when the app quit working ... I'm good for the drive today!

Still at it ...

My goal this weekend was to move the wood stuff out of the house.

But first it had to all be finished.

That meant a little more paint, stain on some things, poly on others.

Hooks and hangers on everything that needed them.

And my totally unrealistic goal was to have it all done Friday.

Why wouldn't a person be nuts?

What fun is it to always live in the land of reality?!

My hooks and hangers came in the mail while my work week was still underway.

I do love my Fridays off.

Although a lovely relaxing massage or pedicure might be really nice,

I rather prefer to spend my day playing with this stuff.

I think my all time favorite thing is to take a piece of junk, use it to practice and have it end up being my favorite.

It has happened more than once or twice.

The hooks in the above photo were on sale at Hobby Lobby this week.
50% off is the only way to buy anything over there.
The black coat hooks in the photo above the above one .. whew! are from dlawless hardware.
The prices over there gave me great giggles and smiles.
Drawer pulls attached upside down make great chalk holders.
That unphotographed one might just be another favorite of mine.

I have a few more things stacked up in that unnavigable spare bedroom of mine.
It became more habitable as I moved things outside. At least I managed that!

In the meantime, I'm often up at 6 a.m. on my days off browsing the internet for more ideas.
Or, I have an idea for something, but am not sure how to accomplish it.
A few thousand keystrokes later I find it.
It is like hunting a treasure.
Seriously makes me nearly giddy.

In the meantime, I have a path (and I mean a path!) through the middle of our one car garage for Jari to walk through. I'm really hopeful that he doesn't need anything from behind, under or on top of my precariously stacked treasures ... until March.

Recently he offered to share his garage with me. We don't even have one yet. He keeps wanting a shop the size of Texas ... I'm thinking it needs to be the size of Alaska.

'Cuz I have issues.