Ouch.

Ugh.

Poof. My entire, ready to publish post, just disappeared. Got to love that.

It's been an expensive week.

I was dicing potatoes. The cutting board was wet and the potatoes slippery. In less than the blink of an eye, the potato slipped and I sliced my finger instead of the potato. Blood gushed, the room spun, and I leaned over the sink, terrified and unsure if I could stomach what I would see.

T was at work. All three little ones were home with me.

I kept my finger under running water for a few minutes. MW called the neighbor. Not home.

As soon as she hung up, the phone rang. I was, once again, utterly convinced of the tenderness of God. It was T, calling to see if I needed him to pick anything up on his way home from work.

We talked. I told him I was keeping pressure on it, but if I let up, it was still bleeding pretty good.

Long story short and many phone calls later...my dear friend, Mrs. Nurse, and her daughter came over and took care of the children until T came home. Before they arrived, MW propped my feet up on the coffee table, and covered them with the ironed linen towels from the guest bathroom. Little man climbed up on our bathroom counter and "washed my hair in de sink." Whatever.

I was to keep pressure on my finger until our friend Dr. Eyes (he's an eye doctor) showed up with a left over tube of derma-bond (it was new to me...like super glue for skin) to glue my finger back together. T came home and Mrs. Nurse handed a peaceful MC over to him. Baby immediately began screaming and continued screaming until Dr. and Mrs. Eyes and their children arrived, only minutes later, at which time Mrs. Eyes took MC from T and had her settled in seconds. Meanwhile, the children lined up in the kitchen to watch. I turned my head away while Dr. Eyes put on his super spectacles and tucked the "flesh" back in and glued it all together.

All in all it took him about five minutes. I had to keep my finger dry for five days. And...I have a new found respect for people with one hand. Wow. I mean, WOW.

At the time, I thought I had no feeling in my finger due to the glue...it's been over five days now. Still, no feeling. I hear that's pretty common. I'm just thankful Dr. Eyes could make the repairs and I got to avoid stitches. And I'm super thankful for our friends!

A few days later I put on a pot of water to boil. The children got in a knock down drag out requiring parental involvement. Thinking I'd be gone a few minutes I left the water on the stove. I came back down to a strange smell...and flecks of fire in the pot with the non stick surface bubbling. Lovely. Almost eight years of cooking in that pan and I'd never done anything like that.

A few days after that I went "thrifting" with a friend. But first, I need to tell you that "old faithful," the stroller we've used for the last five and a half years, has finally given it up. The back wheel was literally about to come off. Between gifts and a bit of our own saving, we'd just purchased a new stroller. That. I. LOVE!!! I've never done anything baby not neutral (you know, being practical and all). Until this. I bought a raspberry pink stroller.

So anyway, we went thrifting. I broke out the stroller on our first stop. We prepared to leave. I loaded the kids, hopped in the car, put her in reverse...CRUNCH. That sinking feeling. She was bent up a bit, had a hole in the seat and a big cut on the handle...but I'd make lemonade out of this lemony situation. I'd just sew up a little seat cover and glue the handle back together. I'd bite my tongue. I would have a good attitude. (And I'm thankful for the accountability of my friend. Short of her presence, I'm certain a few unpleasantries would've escaped my lips...ok, a lot of not nice things.)

I told T.

He was so gracious and kind.

He got home, took one look, and said, "I think we just need to get you a new one."

He had me stand behind it. It's pretty warped.

I insisted I'd be ok with it. I'd make it work. So what if you have to force it to close...I'd make it work.

He told me it might "pull" a bit.

I put MC in and it became immediately apparent I'd need both hands and a strong arm to push her in a straight line.

For now, she's resting in a closet. The stroller, that is. I guess we'll add "stroller" in our budget come January.

For now, I'm thankful MC is content in the baby bjorn...and I'm super thankful for a husband who is so kind and gracious, who looked me in the eyes with a smile on his face and tenderness in his voice and told me he was happy to save for another.

Sunday night we went to a service of thanks at church. There was an open mic time for members to share what they're thankful for...before I knew what was happening, MW and little man were high tailing it for the front of the sanctuary. That would be the same five year old and two year old who, earlier that day, had made their own list of things they were thankful for. "Boogers to pick" made the top five. I was SO NERVOUS about what they'd say. Like, cold sweat nervous.

MW reached the front and took the mic, but little man ran past her and climbed the steps up onto the "stage." Y'all, I thought he was going for the pulpit...turns out he just wanted to speak from the top step. MW went first and said, "I'm thankful for my dog and my mama and my brother whose name is T3." Then little man took the mic and said, "I'm pankpul per my mama." And then they ran down that aisle, back to our pew...

Precious. Pure preciousness.

Happy Thanksgiving!

These Days...

Yesterday morning by 10:30 the little ones were in the tub playing. Contained playing. It's a beautiful thing!

Meet Chief Wannasuckmythumb.

And baby...

oh baby.

I love seeing that gold band on that strong hand cupping our tiny baby girl. Sweet and so attractive. Makes me thankful.

That hair...

Recently, we've spent a lot of time in the kitchen...

A pinch here, a heap there...a good mess all in all...

Our recent favorite...caramel popcorn.

Make that blue caramel popcorn. (It's supposed to be blue...kinda turned out greenish.) I know, maybe not so appetizing, but when MW spotted the food coloring in the spice cabinet, she begged, and I obliged. (Katie and A and Mom - does this remind you of anything?) As a child, every time we made Rice Krispy Treats, my Dad would inhale the entire batch. Leaving NONE for us. However, if we died them blue or green, he wouldn't touch them. We made a lot of green Rice Krispy Treats.

It was pretty good and quite easy. Mama sent me the recipe from one of her good friends.

Caramel Popcorn- Betsy C.

6-8 quarts popcorn popped (I bought plain kernels and popped 'em in oil on the stove top)

2 c brown sugar

1 c margarine (I used butter)

1 t salt

½ c white Karo syrup

1 t vanilla

½ t baking soda

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place popcorn in large, buttered bowl. Boil sugar, margarine, salt, Karo, and vanilla for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add baking soda. Pour over popcorn and mix well. Place on cookie sheet. Bake 250 for one hour, stirring after 30 minutes. Remove. While warm place on waxed paper til cool, Store rightly covered.

T and I made these "lick your plate" good Kentucky Derby Pies...

Tuesday afternoon we had a friend come play. So fun!

All three were painting quietly...engrossed in their art...

make that "body art."

In case you can't tell, they're painting "wolf claws" on their hands.

Painting was followed by a hot chocolate tea party.

And because T had to work late, a pajama supper in front of a movie.

This is why I have VERY FEW pictures of my precious MW's face. I have begged and pleaded, to no avail.

I leave you with a photo of "peanut butter bars." Yesterday's left over oatmeal yielded me two 9x13s of these. This was a first time recipe for me. Unfortunately, I now know that I am the only one in my family who will eat them. Did you catch that? TWO 9x13s. That is a lot of peanut butter bars.

In other news, being the glamorous and talented chef that I am, I made pumpkin biscotti. Isn't that sophisticated? Unfortunately, no amount of soaking in coffee yields 'em bite-able. First I under-cooked them, then to compensate I over-cooked them. I am not a fan of throwing food away, however, I don't think in their current concrete state they exactly qualify as food. I plan to try my hand at these babies again.

Hope you have a wonderful day.

The Artist & The Cowboy

She's been taking art lessons.

Yesterday she brought home this masterpiece.

I love it. Today I hung it in our breakfast room.

And then there's the wild cowboy...

He snuck out of bed shortly after 6 am.

He scaled the pantry shelves and lassoed himself a brand new bottle of chocolate syrup and broke the seal...

And drank it. Straight. From. The. Bottle.

From the uber talented artist and the wild, wild cowboy:

"Happy Weekend!"

Festival

'Round these parts, each fall brings a rather large festival. Most of the locals go nuts for it. T and I, being transplants, aren't quite as crazy about it. There's everything from livestock to roller coasters and ferris wheels, not to mention all manner of fried things on a stick.

We'd talked about going, but weren't set on it. It's rather expensive and quite frankly, I cringe at the thought of spending that much money on something like that.

It also tends to attract some pretty scary people.

However, after a friend begged us to go with her and her children, we decided to bite the bullet and do it.

(my fav pic of the night.)

BUT, we hadn't budgeted for it. And we did NOT want to re-figure our spending for October/November to factor in that added cost. (We're Dave Ramsey freaks.)

Sooo...I didn't go to the grocery store last week.

Yep. You got it.

We didn't buy any groceries last week.

We saved the money and spent it on going to the festival.

And we survived.

Quite well, I might add.

We even had a little bit of $ left over!

We were very creative with the meals and we cleaned out the freezer.

I rationed milk from the week before and it lasted until Saturday. Little man shed a few tears over this, but I think getting to have his own Dr. Pepper more than made up for it. (That was a first!)

And it was really fun going to the festival and knowing we weren't going to have to cut back in another area.

We told the kids we'd treat them to two rides each, but if they wanted to ride a third, they'd have to earn the money by doing some specified chores, or "jobs."

They wanted that third ride and did their jobs and earned it.

We made it by the petting zoo. The kids cracked me up!

Reaching in and petting...

feeding and giggling...

and even grabbing the hairs of that goat's chiney chin chin. (That's a boy for ya!)

MW picked the swings. Unfortunately, I don't think that's a happy face. She was glad to put her feet back on the ground.

We saw a small circus where the animals danced and did all sorts of neat things and the kids got to ride an elephant. (T rode, too...just in case Little Man freaked out. He didn't.)

And I wish, wish, wish I had a picture of Little Man feeding the elephant. The trainer gave each child a slice of carrot. First Little Man took a bite of his, but soon enough realized it wasn't for him. The elephant came by and literally engulfed each child's hand in the tip of her trunk. Little man looked a bit scared when she took his. Once she let go of his hand, he lowered it, eyeballed his thumb, wiped it on his pants, and popped it right back in his mouth.

Little bit did great. She's so content in my arms. I love that.

Play

Our neighbor's yard guys were in full swing this morning.

Gave me a little peace and quiet.

He was...shall I say...ENTHRALLED!?

And that was followed by a little time with the transformers (at least I think that's what they are). "Deese bad guys are fightin'."

And then, I loaded up baby and turned my back to gather a few items...

hee hee!

A certain someone taught her little bro sight words. According to her, he knows them ALL.

Here's how she taught him.

She'd flash a card and say: "Say three."

And usually, he would say whatever she told him to say.

She is convinced she's taught them all to him and that he is a genius and will be attending kindergarten in a few days.

And as long as she tells him what word to say when the card is flashed, he definitely knows them.

But after a long afternoon of school with sister as the teacher, the little man had had ENOUGH.

Sister couldn't understand why.

And was a bit down. (ok, she kind of had a little melt down. I told her to go to the "teacher's lounge" for a break. She insisted that she could not stop because "Mrs. C NEVER stops."

Shortly thereafter, little man washed his hands in the toilet. To his credit, he did use soap.

I however, bypassed the soap and poured straight rubbing alcohol on those tiny hands. He does, after all, suck his thumb. And then I explained exactly what would happen should he play in the potty any more. (Yesterday a pair of undies went in the toilet, in addition to the lucky charms in the sink.)

Did I mention that after all of that, he put big sister's nightgown in the potty? Ugh!

As I was pulling dinner out of the oven (and I hope it looks good in that pic and not gross...it was WONDERFUL!!! PAN LICKING GOOD!!! LITERALLY!!!! Came from Sweet Nest. I made a few changes...added some thyme, roasted at 425º, and chose to add carrots and potatoes...MMMMMmmmm!) Ok, so, as I was pulling dinner out of the oven, MW came running into the kitchen and said, "I announce to you the boy girl!"

They thought they were SOooo funny. All boy (thank goodness!), he grabbed the fly swatter and used it as a weapon (and picked his nose). (Btw, I did laugh, and then told MW, "no more dressing him like a girl.")

Random tip: We're almost finished with that little project...this afternoon I put the last coat on the trim and just lack touching up. However, being in an older home, the bulk of our trim has years worth of paint layers on it and the edges are less than crisp. It can be downright frustrating trying to get a straight edge. Solution? Recently I've discovered the beauty of fooling the eye by taping off an eighth of an inch or so below the actual bottom of the crown/top of the base. It gives a beautiful, clean, crisp line. (If you care about that sort of thing.)