We went…we saw…we shopped…we laughed…we cried…we had a ball!
Oh, but it was such a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect! Really…just perfect. Just a little cool, not hot, breeze blowing…perfect. We 3 always have such fun together and this time was no exception.
We pulled out around 4 and headed up toward Atlanta. No major stops along the way. We were too anxious to be there. Found our motel…….but they were NOT expecting us! Can you imagine? I made reservations…and got a confirmation (so I thought). But, obviously I didn’t…because they had never heard of our merry band of travelers. But, the Lord knew all about it, and had made sure there was a room available for us just like we had ordered! And, so we unpacked the car, and made it inside, and crashed.
Friday morn- slept a little late, but got to moving quickly when we woke. Atlanta is a big place and we had major places to be! Grabbed some cheese crackers and granola and drinks and headed to the car. First stop, Michaels, where much silliness ensued. Now, we do have a Michaels that we can shop at home, BUT, Shirl had a bazaar at her church coming up and she had to make something to sell. She thought wreaths would do just fine, so she set about buying supplies to make 4 wreaths. Not that we had room in the car for 4 big wreaths…but that has never stopped us before!
As you can see…good looking men were following us everywhere! We finished there, and made our way on to Home Goods, Hobby Lobby, Jo Ann. Now to cover these 4 stores…row by row…front to back, takes some time. So, it was beginning to get a little late. Our dear Shirl had chosen Thursday morning before she came to Dothan as the best time to have major dental work done. Her mouth was full of ulcers and she had bitten her tongue, and she was in pain. So, we found a drug store, and got her some meds. She and Tina and I were starving because we had only had cheese crackers and a little pkg of granola ALL DAY! But, dear Shirl said she had to have something soft. Tina and I watched the Cheesecake Factory disappear from view, as we looked for a place to find something ‘soft’. And, we ended up at IHOP! Blueberry pancakes for supper! Not a bad second choice. Tina managed to get some meds onto the ulcers in Shirl’s mouth.
Then she got to feeling so good, that she even ordered a desert crepe after her meal! Back to the motel, where she and Tina got set to make wreaths! They worked hard and long…pausing occasionally for me to put my 2 cents worth in from the couch!
Bet you’d like to hang this one on your door! They did a great job, with only a little coaching from me. Of course, I taught them all they know about making wreaths! 🙂 JK!
I’d better stop here and finish up tomorrow. Here are a few more pics from Friday………note who’s sitting in my buggy!!!!!
No. No, that sign is not about me.
Beautifully wrapped gifts we brought from home to share with each other! I’ll finish up the story tomorrow!
“God has given us these times of joy!” Nehemiah 12:43
This week-end is time for fun and frolic. My friends, Shirl and Tina and I are hitting the road………….
We have our bags packed………………….
Just a few necessities…………..
We’re planning for this……
and a little of this……..OK…..more than a little……BUT, in better places, too……….
and we are going prepared in case some of this comes along…..I’m just saying…..
Now I don’t like to brag, but Tina and Shirl and myself were inducted into The Super,Smart,Savvy Shopper Club quite a few years ago. So, we know how to do it. And, we plan to put our talents to work. No. No you can’t…you could never keep up. Heck!!! sometimes I can’t keep up. So, I sit and rest a spell, and they oh, so kindly come back by to retrieve me.
However, if it gets to be too much we have a plan…….
OR…..
The only problem we will have is finding restrooms for Shirl. She drinks coffee all day and it has to be recycled. But there are never enough womens rest rooms. So…this idea is for her!
Clever, huh? (this is not my original idea)
Must rest now……big days a head! I’ll see you on Sunday…unless I try to blog at night…which I’m thinking looks pretty doubtful…….
Good ‘Ole Pop Tarts. They have been around for over 50 years, and still sell about 2 billion a year! I haven’t thought that much about them…other than picking up a box of 12 Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon for Alex at the grocery store each week. I used to buy quite a few when my boys were younger and still at home. Let’s see…Frosted Strawberry with sprinkles….Plain Blueberry, and Brown Sugar Cinnamon…Frosted. Those were always on my list! And, not just for breakfast…they ate lots of them for an after school snack. I figured, they must be healthy…they have fruit in them!!! 🙂
Pop Tarts are really not very exciting or worthy of much excitement. But in the last few weeks, they have been in the news several times.
1. The LA Times (LA…Los Angeles, not Lower Alabama) reports that W*lM*rt shipped huge quantities to Florida during a recent hurricane. Could you imagine Frosted Strawberry Pop Tarts being the food you’d go to in a weather catastrophe? I would at least have thought it would be the chocolate or brown sugar cinnamon! But, the people in Florida were sending out an SOS for more Pop Tarts!
2…..W*lM*rt had statistical data to prove the necessity of these deliveries. Enough data to warrant sending their 18 wheelers full of the pink treat right into the eye of the storm! If you should have the occasion to stockpile supplies, would you choose canned meat and vegetables…powdered milk…or Strawberry Pop Tarts?
3…..Not really the most nutritious snack….calories…219…83 from fat………. carbohydrates-32 g……..sugar-13 g……….BUT…NO cholesterol!!!
4…..Introduced in 1964 with 4 flavors, currently there are 28 flavors on the shelves while
22 flavors have been discontinued. There are some flavors that are available only in other countries. And, they even make Whole Grain Pop Tarts! Who knew?
5………The US Military air dropped 2.4 million boxes in Afghanistan during the invasion there.
6……And should you visit NYC, you can now visit the newest store in Times Square…….Pop Tart World! You can try new flavors, or their Pop Tart Sushi !?!, Make up boxes with the contents to your liking, and, of course…you can own a Pop Tart World T-Shirt!
Picture from NY Times
I know that it is only right that I ‘fess up to my Pop Tart consumption. For years I liked Plain Blueberry, warm from the toaster, with butter on top. Then, I tried the chocolate ones…because, CHOCOLATE ? it would have to be delicious. But, it wasn’t…I think they used some kind of faux chocolate. Bad idea ! Now, I will occasionally eat one…well two…of the Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon. I classify them as ‘breakfast candy’. And, a little candy is good for the soul.
And, LOOK ! Just in time for that holiday that happens at the end of October…which I do not particularly care for, I’m just saying…..CHOC- O-LANTERN POP TARTS!
From the Pop Tarts web site, the yummy description…….
Choc-o-Lantern Chocolate Fudge
Chocolatey deliciousness all dressed up for Halloween – chocolate crust, fudgy filling, orange icing, and bat- and ghost-shaped sprinkles.
I know. Those of you who know me well are thinking,”Why in the world would SHE be talking about clutter? She doesn’t know how to deal with it herself?” And, it’s true. you could say that I am a failure in this area but, I don’t really feel like a failure…I keep things that I need, and I keep things that I may need, and I keep things that I’ll never need, but it makes me feel good to know it’s there…just in case I do. I have been wrong before. If your mind doesn’t work like mine…you probably can not understand this. If you can throw away things without batting an eye…then I know you think I’m a sad, sad girl. Even though I can live easily with clutter, I must go on to say that in the past few years I have gotten much better at letting go …but sometimes I still find myself keeping what I shouldn’t. That and Don would not let me move to The Creek House with him if I brought everything with me! HOWEVER…even though I do have this ‘pack rat’ mentality, at times…let me tell you what I did get right!
If you are a mom of a child in school…especially preschool and the early grades…you are most likely overwhelmed by the amount of ‘take home’ papers that come to your house each week. I remember those times. I remember, too, that my boys wanted every.single.one. of those masterpieces to go on the fridge …and stay there for the next year! And, because buying refrigerator magnets was cheap and quick to buy as souvenirs when we travelled, we had magnets out the wazoo! There were plenty of magnets for whatever artist was showing that week on the Owens’ Family Fridge!
Really, we could have covered the whole refrigerator with just magnets! And, I tried to carve out just a little corner of space to use for Dr. appt or dental reminders. How unfair of me. Artwork, field trip reminders, homework to be redone, parts to learn from school…….and from church a Noah’s Ark from Sunday morning’s lesson, and a Daniel in the Lion’s Den from the Sunday night lesson, and a lovely song to memorize the words to from choir on Wednesday nights. All this x 3!! Oh! and the list of things to bring to Missions to be sent off to the missionaries in darkest Africa. Toothpaste and toothbrushes and lotion and shampoo…you know the things they need to live a better life in the jungle. Oh, I’m just kidding. I take missions very seriously.
Fortunately, some of the choicest items would spill over to Grandma’s or Granny and Pop’s house to brighten up their kitchen! I must be honest…I love children’s artwork. I love the colors and the ideas behind their works. I do not, however, like coloring pages of any kind. And, I do not like for every child in the class to make a red flower with a green stem and 1 leaf on the right and 1 leaf on the left and a blue sky above. This shows no creativity…only the ability to follow directions. Which is, I agree, a most valuable lesson to be learned, but it contributes nothing to the inner artist that every child has inside. I have worked with young children in some capacity for 30 or more years and never used pre printed pages. But, I know everyone does not feel the same way I do about that subject. These are just my views. And, through the years, we had coloring books in our house. But, in a teaching capacity, I would always choose clean, white paper.
So. What to do with that plethora of paper? First of all, some of it accidentally fell on the floor and got swept into the trash. But, I bought some of those cardboard boxes you get at the office supply stores, and folded them together and gave one to each boy. This is where we would put the papers he wanted to keep. I also let each of them use the doors to their rooms as their own personal show off space. At the end of the year, we would go through the boxes and keep only the art that really meant something to them. The rest got trashed.
As I got older I came upon other good ideas of things to do with the artwork.
One idea, if your child wants to keep quite a bit, is to take it to a color copier and reduce all the pages down to a 4X6 size. Then, buy one of those inexpensive photo albums from the Dollar Store and put all the pictures in his own album. Then he can sit and show it to everyone who ever comes to your house to visit. Or take it to school and show it off to the envy of all his friends.
You can take any artwork and copy it on a regular copy machine or even you printer with your computer. Take it to a window and use a transfer pen to go over the lines your child has drawn…you are drawing on the back…which is why you need to be at the window. ..so you can see the lines through the paper. Then you can take that picture and put it on fabric of any kind. You will heat set it with an iron. Canvas bags, muslin to make into pillows, pillowcases, t-shirts, etc. You can buy the transfer pens at any craft store.
It will be in black and white. But then, using washable markers, your child can have the fun of coloring his work again. Wash it and the color comes out…to be colored again. Or use permanent markers if this is a one time fun time. Use permanent markers at your own risk. They will not come out…of clothes, carpet, or any type of fabric. One year, while teaching Sunday School, I had the children draw me a picture of their Mom. I then transferred each child’s pic on to a canvas tote bag. I and the other teachers sat close by while they colored these with permanent markers. We wrapped them and gave them to their Moms for Mother’s Day. They loved it! We did the same thing on another year with plastic plates! We purchased an easel for the plate to be displayed on. Another hit!
There are several other things you can do, as well. Shrink the work down very small and use it to make a magnet—for the fridge, of course!!!! You can buy magnets of any size in the craft store. Most of these come with a sticky back to adhere the picture. Hang a line low enough that he can hang his own work with clothespins. Or hang several frames in his room and have a rotating gallery of favorite work!
And, old artwork makes delightful wrapping paper! Grandparents love it especially!
I hope this gives you some ideas to tame that slew of art work. And, just one more word…if you will permit. OK…2 words. #1. I encourage you to give your child or grandchild plain white paper and crayons for drawing. Let the artwork be totally his. Coloring what someone else has drawn is just that-coloring what someone else has drawn! Not much creativity there. See? if he draws the lines…he doesn’t have to stay in the lines of another’s work. Maybe he thinks the bug should be bigger, or the car should be taller! FOSTER CREATIVITY ! #2. A child knows exactly what he has drawn. And, you should know what it is, too—in his mind. So if you ask him, “What is that?”…he can not understand why you do not know. I mean, you ARE the Mommy or Grandmother, and you’re supposed to know everything! A much gentler way of finding out what those ‘oh, so strange’ markings are all over the paper is to say, “Tell me about your picture.” Oh, how that will open up a wonderful dialogue between the two of you. He loves to talk about what he drew. And, no one will ever have to know that you didn’t have a clue!
I am a Christian woman who has survived many years on the planet. God has blessed me with a wonderful family: husband, 3 sons, a dear DIL, and a precious grandson. I also have dear friends to keep me inspired. I am an artist of sorts and am finding my way through the great blessing of retirement. I recently retired after 20 years as a music teacher. Life is good!
My Boys
"All your sons will be taught by the Lord; and great will be their peace." Isaiah 54:13
Read their stories... Adam Alex Ian
Hello, my name is Everly. I am a blogger living in New York. This is my blog, where I post about interior design and decoration. Never miss out on new stuff.
Hello, my name is Everly. I am a blogger living in New York. This is my blog, where I post about interior design and decoration. Never miss out on new stuff.