do you smell fire?

cause I happen to have met a firefighter today that could have taken care of that!

Firefighter Ben to the rescue!

Grammy and Grandpa found a firefighter too!

also got to meet Curious George

He got lots of candy and showed us his candy dance!

and J and celebrated with homemade pizza

no pumpkin shape this year...dough was to sticky!

Happy Happy Eat LOTS of candy 

and Halloween

you make beautiful things

Such a great song!

If you have not heard it before I recommend googling and listening

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of  the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

Over the last week or so... either on a walk, drive, run, or whatnot I have really enjoyed seeing a lot of beautiful things in nature.  The trees and the skies have been amazing.

Thankful for THESE beautiful things

enjoy my armature iphone photos :) 

Hope you enjoy this beautiful sunny fall day

joke was on me

so I sold another Ebay item!!

This time I did the shipping correctly and actually covered my costs

Last time I totally lost out on shipping and made about 0.80 on the deal! OPPSS!!

got rid of it

you live and you learn

Still two items to go

so yes the joke was on me

Lets continue the joking

with Classic Joke Tuesday

Why do basketball players eat donuts??
They love dunkin

Why do elephants get kicked out of the pool????
They kept dropping their trunks

Where do you learn to make ice cream?

Sundae school

There you have it...laugh on.  Laugh on.  

Charley brown pumpkin

but happy as a lark about it!

Spent a fall afternoon Siestemas Orchard

First a hayride

it was a little chilly

found my charley brown pumpkin

not yet carved, but will be

and went back and had a FRESH super delicious donut

just one each this time around :) 

fun fun fun fall day!

you are the taffy

to my laffy

Alger Heights 5K Halloween Run

5th year in a row

This year....Laffy Taffy, Jokes and all

and the actual candy to bribe the judges for the costume award

unfortunately it did not work :( but that will not hold us back next year 

until next year!!

Christmas is two months

away.  What made me even think about this?

not the snow that is coming because lets be honest.  I DISLIKE.  Strongly dislike. 100% dislike!

can you tell.

But the book I am reading

Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequest

[who I get to hear live next week at Mars hill, super exited!]

I love her books

I love this quote

really made me think, so I thought I would share

A serious Kari Post:

The chapter is called

 Present over perfect 

It is regarding Christmas in this context.

When things are too crazy, the only voices I hear are the voices of fear and shame.  I stop being able to hear the voice of God, the voice of rest, the voice of hope and healing and restoration, the voice that gives new life to the dry old hones.  And instead I hear that old song I've hear all my life: You're not good enough. Your're not good enough.  But that voice is a lie.  and its a terrible guide.  When I listen it, I burn the candle at both ends and try to light the middle while I'm at it.  The voice of God invites us to full, whole living-to rest, to abundance, to enough. TO SAY NO. To say no more.  To say I'm going to choose to live wholly and completely in the present, even though this ragged, run-down person I am right now is so far from perfect. 

My prayer is that we'll find ourselves drawn closer and closer to the heart of the story, the beautiful, beating heart of it all, that the chaos around us and within us will recede, and the most important things will be clear and lovely at the every turn.  I pray that we'll understand the transforming demonstration of the belief that you are so much more than what you do.  I pray that we'll live with intention, hope and love in this wild season and in every season, and that the God who loves us will bring new life to our worn-out hearts this year and every year, that we'll live, truly and deeply, in the present, instead of waiting, waiting, waiting for perfect. 

I think this can be applied to more than just the Christmas season.  

In the busyness, the routine, the daily/weekly activities of life

The reminder that we are so much more than we we do.

makes me step back and breath and think

yes I love to be busy, but I do think there is time to slow down

Just something to think on :)

rent a car madness

or just a five days vacation with no plan

loved our time away

had a lot of relaxing, naps, reading, sunning and randomness

We went into this vacation with nothing really planned

Just two nights at a hotel in West Palm

and two nights in Key Largo

from there we were FREE

so this is what we came up with: picture version

Day one at night in Singer Island [Thanks to KP for the tip!]

First sighting of the beach

toes in the ocean

Yummy dinner with this man

After dinner relaxing

Day two exploring Palm beach

and again. Bliss.  another beautiful beach. never gets old

and shopping

bah not here. purely window shopping :) 

Tiffany. Escada. Parada

with the cars parked being Bentley. Mercedes. BMW. Volvo. and list goes on 

Our zoom zoom Mazda was out of place

Then we drove around and saw 50 million dollar homes for sale

so much fun to see

Ever good vacation needs a stop at a walmart 

Day three drive down to Key Largo

about 2.5 hours away

arrived at the Hampton aka great breakfast

First stop the pool and sun

Later that afternoon we headed to John Pennekamp State park to explore

found a few walking trails

Then a little sunset watching

and dinner out at the Tower of Pizza.  Delicious! [good recommendation by the parents!]

 Day 4 Started with a drive down the Keys...all the way to Marathon

Loved this sign: Catch you later.

Must have said it 20 times in the car

A stop at the bass pro shop

someone continue to work and sight see at the same time 

back to the beach for more reading and sun

Then off to our snorkeling adventure 

Here are our versions of snorkeling

J in the water

K on the boat

I did go about 15 minutes and then the fish were to too close and I had had enough

[Made it longer than I thought I would.  Did I mention I do not like animals and fish are animals haha]

and we wrapped up our night at Mrs. Macs

again recommended by the parents

and again delicious!

and random pictures to add in of animals we discovered

Iguanas EVERYWHERE around our hotel

Huge!  6 at a time at one point

and two manatees right off our beach

mommy and baby

and there you have it

our first anniversary vacation is a wrap

super fun time away and not super excited to be back away from the 90 degree to the possible snow, but that is life :) 

my very first

real 'junk/stuff/treasures from my childhood' sale on Ebay today!

Pink Paris plate, 2 mugs and a cup

listed for $8

shipping $9

hoping to make profit

granted if shipping is more than 9, which i suspect it may be wellll then at least I have one less thing to move ;-) three more snowman to go! 

the 7314 cont

Update time

seeing progress daily 

here you go via pictures

Garage door and front door installed

Garage door and Japaneses Maple tree moved

Garage drywalled

and the whole main floor has dry wall

this is the living and dining

Kitchen

Master bedroom

and bath

mudroom and 1/2 bath leading to the basement

one of the basement bedrooms

and the rest of the basement waiting for its drywall hopefully tomorrow

continuing to take shape, actually see the rooms with the walls on

keep it rolling as always :)