A peak into my personal life...

When I was in high school I LOVED Billy Corgan (of the Smashing Pumpkins)- it was an unnatural love- almost an obsession. Like my friends and I would bake a cake and celebrate his birthday (yes, on March 17- Saint Patrick's Day). We loved his big ole bald basketball head. See here:



Not the best looking man, I know..... but we loved him all the same.

Recently, I have heard through the grapevine (and all those trash magazines that I read) that he is dating none other than the serial dater Jessica Simpson. See here:



Yes we are talking about the girl, who, I quote said:

“Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish? I know it's tuna, but it says 'Chicken by the Sea.'”

“On my first day of Jr. High I was in Geography class, and the teacher asked us if anybody knew the names of the continents. And I was so excited. I was like, Damnit! It's my first day of 7th grade, I'm in jr high and i know this answer. So i raised my hand I was the first one and I said A-E-I-O-U!”

I'm sure that there are many others, but I can't quite think of them right now.

So, back to the point of all of this- my little heart is broken.... How, seriously, HOW is he dating her? What happened to being attracted to a girl with brains, intelligence? I'm hoping that this is all just a publicity hoax and that it will end soon. That way I can still dream that Mr. Billy Corgan will show up on my front door and whisk me away while singing 1979 to me. :)

It's been such a long time.....

And I truly apologize for that!

Between organizing the family Christmas, family visitors, and work it's been absolutely insane around here.

I've spent way too much time on Etsy browsing all the beautiful things that people have been making.

Here's a few of my newest favorites:



So simple and beautiful over at Tortillagirl. She has so many fantastic things in her shop. It's so hard for me to spend all of my money there!



And my new favorite shop! Dollyknits. How could you not love a bright red knit tie? I think that this will definitely be bought for my husband. He'll be the envy of all of his nerdy friends! :)

Things I am missing right now

Okay, so it's winter. It's December... and moving to Georgia is weird. I mean, there is NO snow. I have yet to see one single caroler on my step.... and I doubt that I will.

So, here are the things I desperately miss about living in the good ole midwest:
1. Snow- even though it gets the bottoms of my pants all wet (and boy do I hate that!)
2. Driving on ice- dangerous, but fun.
3. Calling in to work because the snow plow pushed snow all around my car and there's no way that I'm going to be out in that cold shoveling snow. No way!
4. Angry shoppers that are freezing.
5. My family- we're all alone here in GA. Boooo!
6. Going to chop down your own Christmas tree. They just don't do that here. Weird, huh?

I think that's all I have for now.

a little late on this one

But I'm offering free shipping in my handbag shop until Monday the 30th! What a great deal! You don't even have to put in a discount code since all the shipping is already reduced.



On sale for $14

There's also loads of wallets on sale and a few handbags! I hardly ever do free shipping so this is your chance folks!! :)

check it out

In the midst of this "Black Friday" madness I completely forgot to mention my friend's etsy shop DragonflyeDesigns. If you're looking for some fantastic jewelry, this is the place to go!



She's been designing for about ten years and loves to base her art on beaches and her travels. AND she's giving everyone a great deal- during checkout all you have to do is write "Discount Blog" and get 25% off AND free shipping- what a deal!!!!

the coolest tees around

I love cool etsy finds- and I love tee shirts (especially ones without sleeves!)



Check out Jalousie's new etsy shop- even cooler- she's in France!!!

sheesh!

It's that time of year when I go into baking mode- cookies, cake, pie, you name it! There's just nothing like the smell of walking into someone's home and smelling the scent of something in the oven- especially chocolate.

Today's yummy surprise for my husband is cupcakes! With sprinkles!!! Nothing fancy, just regular old boxed mix (with some super secret extra ingredients) and a TON of icing!!



YUM!

and the winner is!!!.....

I was so excited to do this giveaway, and even more thrilled when so many people entered it! I wish that every single one of you could have won (impossible, I know)....

But here it is.... the winner is:



(that says andrew's reclaimed just in case you can't read my horrible handwriting...)

So congrats!! I'll be sending this out as soon as I can get your address!!

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Christmas is fast approaching (as Layla reminded me this morning that there are only 39 days until Christmas!).... and since I'm finished shopping for my family, I'm starting to think about what I want.



Isn't this adorable??? A cupcake cookie jar from fruitflypie. This I definitely need to stash all my yummy cookies in!! I hope my husband got the hint the other day when I kept mentioning it!!!



Even though I don't have a house phone, I think that this is absolutely wonderful... and might even motivate me to hook up a house line so I can use it! Everything in calloohcallay's shop is fantastic!



I have been drooling (quite literally) over morelle's beautiful handbags for at least a year now. I think it's about time I throw some money at her and get one of these!

Sugary cinnamon goodness!

I've honestly been trying to post up this recipe for a week now- but every time I make these darn cookies they are instantly eaten and I cannot take pictures. So, this time around, I waited for my husband to go to work and my kids to be in school (or asleep) and I made them! And I took pictures of them! And right now.... I'm eating them!!

My favorite cookies of all time: Snickerdoodles!



So here we go! Ingredients list:

3 c sifted flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
.25 tsp salt
.25 tsp cinnamon
1 c unsalted butter (room temp)
2 c sugar
2 eggs (room temp)
2.5 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbs sugar and .5 tsp cinnamon mixed together to roll the cookies in



In a small bowl, stir together the 3 tbs sugar and .5 tsp cinnamon and set aside.

To make the cookie dough, stir together the dry ingredients.

In a bowl, cream the butter. Add the sugar and continue to mix, then add the eggs, and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Chill dough 1 hour if it's sticky or difficult to handle. (Really, you're going to want to throw in in the fridge for an hour- trust me on this!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll balls of dough about the size of a walnut then roll them in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Place on an un-greased sheet pan 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 9-10 minutes until puffed up and the surface is slightly cracked. Let cool on the sheet pan a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.


My dad made these all the time for us kids when we were little- they always remind me of snow and Christmas- and they're great with hot chocolate!!!

Next up is going to be sugar cookies with ganache!

the big giveaway!

I've been wanting to do a giveaway for quite some time, but really had no idea how to go about doing it without a blog. So here we go! I have a blog, so here's the giveaway! Hooray!!

I had already decided to give this to a lucky winner:



but felt that maybe ya'll would love even MORE free stuff (because who doesn't love free stuff???)

So I thought that I would throw in this:



So, the total giveaway is a wallet from my handbag shop (SOH), a bar of pumpkin soap, and pumpkin spice latte shea butter from my soap shop (c&Bco). And who knows, I might even throw in some little extras!!!

Now, all you have to do is officially follow my blog AND post a comment on this blog about your favorite item in either of my shops. On Friday the 20th I'll throw everybody's name into a hat (yeah, I know.... old school) and draw a name and post the winner on Friday night! I'm super excited about this- Oh! And tomorrow I'll post up my favorite cookie recipe for fall!!!

(please remember to follow my blog AND post a comment in order for your name to be in that hat!!!)

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I have caught an awful bug from my little ones, so I haven't been feeling too well. I so desperately wanted to post one of my favorite cookie recipes last week, but before I could take any pictures, they were gone! So once I'm feeling a bit better I'll share that with you.

Over the weekend I made my sister a baby quilt (don't be too harsh! I'm really not a quilter and this is my first one!) and some matching burp cloths and washcloths for the new baby! I was not-so-secretly happy that this one is finally a girl!!! Hence, all the pink!



As my husband is at work, I'm left to take my own pictures..... I'll probably have new ones posted as soon as he gets home!!

Things I am loving right now

With fall here in Georgia (and it finally feeling like fall) it makes me want to sit out on the porch, wrap up in a quilt drink coffee or tea and read a good book.

Here are some little treasures that I think would be perfect for a quiet evening:



I'm just dying to get this over at SecretMe



Dainty is the only word to describe how you feel when drinking out of these adorable Fire King cups! I just want to buy everything in JaditeKate's shop!

I also wanted to thank Miss Amy for directing so many kind folks over to my blog!! Thank you all for the warm welcomes!!!

good eats

If you know me, you'd laugh at the thought of me in the kitchen cooking dinner. I mean, I can barely make spaghetti! But when my friend Amy over at PonderandStitch showed me this recipe I knew that I had to try it! Cheddar Chicken and Pasta.... YUM!



It didn't take any time at all to make AND my husband loved it (and he won't touch anything that I cook these days!)! After dinner we all had to go out in the living room to lie down on the couch because we ate so much. My husband promptly fell into a cheddar chicken coma and fell asleep. :) I made a double batch, thankfully, so there will be leftovers for tonight.

Get the recipe here

Seriously, Amy, you HAVE to try this!!!

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Now, I know that Halloween is long over, but I just had to post a few pictures of my little monsters!

These are from last year- Layla, my oldest (then 5 years old) was Dorothy. You wouldn't believe the amount of times we had to watch The Wizard of Oz!!! And poor Matilda (then just 16 months old) got to be the cowardly lion. She was not pleased.




I had a heck of a time sewing Layla's costume.... I never do very well following other people's patterns, and I have to admit that I swore at my sewing machine more than I should have. (I may have even hit it once or twice.)

This year was much more pleasant. I was a bit disappointed when Layla said that she wanted (gasp!!) a store bought costume... but at least I wasn't in tears 3 days before Halloween trying to put together a costume. Since Matilda wants to be JUST LIKE Layla, they dressed exactly the same. Fairies.... I thought Halloween was supposed to be scary. Hmmmmm. Anyhow, we got a lot of "AWWWWW's" along the way. Mattie just ate that up!



Sadly, I did not get to dress up (again) this year. I was really hoping on Little Red Riding Hood.... maybe next year!

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Imagine the horror I felt last summer as I pulled up to my favorite yarn store (and ONLY yarn store in town) and it was no longer there! How, yarn store, how could you not let me know that you were closing? Where will I be able to get super soft organic undyed yarn now? HOW could you do this to me??? Sigh. I'm one of those people that actually has to touch and feel and, well, molest yarn before I buy it. I didn't know what I was going to do. I mean, I only had so much yarn..... I knew that I would somehow have to ration it (and that would be near impossible with fall coming up).

UNTIL...

I put my faith in etsy sellers. Which, frankly, was very hard to do with my yarn problem. Over the last couple of months I have found the most amazing yarn!!



Organic undyed cotton yarn from Myrtille at SpinSpanSpun

and



70% Merino wool and 30% Silk handspun by my dear from Laci over at EllyYarn

This next one I bought 6 or so months back, and I truly love it in a way that is completely unnatural. But I'm okay with that!



I LOVE art yarn. I usually pair it with another yarn, always to get amazing results. Thank you so much twirlgirlfibers over at etsy!

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It was a great mail week last week. And it's continuing into this week! I never really notice how much I spend on etsy until the mail arrives. Last week I went on quite the bender and ordered a lot of pretty fabric, buttons, and other little things to organize with..... among other things!



Although organizing all my thread was probably the most exciting thing to happen the other day (quite sad!).....



I can't wait to photograph my new little etsy treasures to share with you! Be on the lookout!!!