My GN

Aaaaaah, and I am back...still full from an evening of fabulous food, even more fabulous friends, and LOTS of laughter and SURPRISES!! (That I can't really talk about yet...soon though....I think)

As I mentioned yesterday, I was going out to eat with my "GN" (Girl's Night girls) to celebrate my sister's birthday. This is something we do for each girl every year and it is always above and beyond what the birthday girl could hope for! (Maybe that sounds like I am patting myself on the back there....I mean, everyone always seems happy!) Since I have never really explained my GN group on here, let me tell you about them!

GN is a group of girl's that my older sister went to school with that began getting together for dinner on Thursday evenings many years ago. They were all friends and their husbands were all friends so it was a good chance for the guys to hang out somewhere and the girls to get together. Now, it was several years later that I joined this group of girls and it was one of the best things that ever happened to my life. At the time, I was 20 years old and had gone through a yucky break up with my serious boyfriend at the time and was a bit down in the dumps. My sister invited me to tag along with her to go hang out with her girls and the rest is history. We still get together almost every Thursday (I say almost because as the years have gone by and we have all had children, sometimes one or two of us has something else going on) and this group of girls has become the very best friends I could have ever asked for. There is no project too large or small (in our eyes at least) and I wish I had a nickle for every time someone has said "Girl's night can do it!". Every year we hold a Sweet Swap and an Ornament Exchange along with the aforementioned birthday celebration for each girl...and the occasional bridal (all done with those now!) or baby shower along the way! Without the girl's permission, I won't go tooooo in depth on here yet but once I run it by them, I will tell you more and share some of our "projects" along the way! From a four wall mural for a baby nursery to the most recent project of two full size quilt tops in 2 "working" days, we have done a little bit of everything!

Stay tuned...more to come from these lovely ladies!

Guys...

This post is going to be all over the place but, to be really honest, that's how my brain is feeling right now so I am just going to go with it! Feel free to leave now....or to get a good cup of coffee and read away!

First off, allergies/end of summer head cold.....dude....go...go now...Finny and I are so through with you..k thanks

Second off.....one word....Bonefish!! I am so, so, so very excited to eat there this evening! Even MORE excited that I will be eating there to celebrate my sister's birthday (birthweek, if you will) with my girl's night girls (or GN as I like to call them....oh wait..have I not told you about these girls?? whew...post to follow)!! Dear aforementioned sickness, Please allow me to taste my yummy ahi tuna. That would be greaaaaaaaat. Love, Lo.---Special note about Bonefish....husband and I ate there for the first time the night we got engaged....little did I know, my STUNNING engagement ring was in his blazer pocket at that time! (oh wait...have I not told you our engagement story? well, geeeeez louise, what do I even talk about on here?? post to follow...). We ate there again in May of this year to celebrate our "1 year engagement/2 year dating" anniversary...we love celebrating anniversaries :) and I love husband for loving to celebrate them with me.

Third off.....well, I don't really have a "third off" because it sounds like I have some other posts to get to work on! Although, maybe not right now.....I have a date with my little one and a group of FABULOUS women <3

Momma McCarty

Here lately, we have really been looking at our budgeting, lifestyle, spending vs saving, waste, etc. Not necessarily in a "Go Green" save the planet kind of way, although, we do love Earth and would like it to continue to be nice for Son then his sons then their sons, etc but, in an old fashioned homemaking sort of way...what would you call that? thriftiness? being frugal? self sustainable? who the heck really knows what to call it but what I mean is this.....less waste, less spending, more saving, less junk (do not confuse the word "junk" for "treasures" because they are NOT the same thing!!), etc. I think it stems from several different things and here are a few small examples of them:

*this momma got sick of throwing out a week's worth of leftovers every trash day...it was like lighting twenty dollar bills on fire every week, and child, that's just silly

*trying to keep a 3 year old (SHOCK-yes, sweet baby is almost three *snifffffff*) out of what you are doing so you can scrub and clean the house with "stinky chemicals" was making me crazy...there had to be a better, more affordable way to clean without putting him at risk of asphyxiation...and honestly, that baby boy loves to help me clean...loves it and I think it is good for him to learn at a young age to clean up after himself a bit, etc

*the need to save more....there have been a few recent life events that have dwindles our emergency fund down to well, none, and if you know me, you know that sends me into a PANIC...P A N I C. because just like that, life happens and you gotta be a little bit prepared for it! oh, and, son needs to go to college someday too...

*I have always been someone who got a great sense of pride in something homemade ...mostly that has been in the kitchen but as I have gotten older and after I became a momma, I started thinking a little bit more about just everything in general...what am I really feeding him? what is really on that surface he is touching now? what kind of person do I want him to grow up to be and how can I lead him there by living that way myself?

So, we are going to be living a little bit more of an old-fashioned lifestyle. A few quotes I have come across lately that have stuck with me are these:

"Make do and mend"

example: Last weekend while son and I were home with the ol' pink eye, I tackled a stack of repairs (missing buttons, etc and also, made my first article of clothing....normally, if a shirt got a hole or something, husband would just get rid of it and go buy something else. Now, while I will never ask him not to buy something for himself (new clothes, etc), I will try my best to keep him lookin' sharp with what is already in his closet ;) and also, I have been learning to revamp clothes I already have to get some different/more wear out of them.

"Eat it up, Use it up, wear it out, or go without"

example: no more buying an ingredient for one meal use and then throwing it out two weeks later when it is a science experiment in my fridge. Multi purpose items from now on....let's get creative! :)

an old favorite of mine "Happiness is homemade"

etc...

So, please join me as I continue my cooking adventures (and some mess ups! but, by golly, I WILL master bread baking....I cannot for the life of me get down how to make homemade bread, etc with yeast...but I will!! it's a challenge to myself), sewing adventures, cleaning tricks and tips, etc. 

Photo Life-Weekend Recap

A few snaps from last weekend:

Headed on a very mini family road trip to Eureka Springs!

oh, hi, husband!

wait...um, what? 

Dear Eureka Springs, This is not at all what I had in mind to see when I visited you for the "Art Walk" Sincerely, Me

This is George. He was a weekend guest at our casa. More on him later on........maybe

This is turtle. He was also a weekend guest at our casa. Huh?

So, there you have it! My weekend!

Mommy's Day

What Mother's Day was for me....

Art projects

Flowers

Playing Candy Land

My baby grew this for me at school...so proud!!! (for those of you that know me, the only thing I have ever successfully grown has been my sweet baby and my pants size..however, this little gem has STAYED ALIVE since Friday....3 days and counting.....)

Living coloring book...

ta-daa!!

God bless this sweet baby....the very best Mother's Day "gift" ever <3

(See those flowers on there shelf there? Husband got them for me...I need to throw them out because they are wilted...but I don't want to...not yet, at least)

For Realz?

Oh, Google Chrome, you so funny...hahahah 

Moments from Mommyland..

In no particular order, here are a few things I have learned in the past 2 and 1/2 years:

1) Unless you want an audience, showers are best taken before 7 am or during naptime

2) OxiClean Laundry Stain Remover Spray is the best stain remover I have ever used and no, I did not get paid to say that....(although I would gladly be paid in product...Hello, OxiClean? Can you hear me?)

3) Always double check that the wet diaper you asked your son to put in the trash actually made it to the trash....and not, say, the laundry basket like the one I discovered while starting a load of laundry on my lunch hour today....(thank goodness, it was only wet..while I am brave in handing out "chores", I am not dumb or the term "dirty laundry" might have had a whole new definition....)

4) I should have named my son Hansel for the never ending trail of chex, pretzel crumbs, etc that are always magically appearing around my house.

5) The writers of Wall-E must have named "MO" short for "mommy" because I am constantly trailing behind my son cleaning...see above

6) Cuddles are always a little tighter in the middle of the night when he has a bad dream

7) Ain't no shame in my game, I will, without second thought, bite a grape in half, remove the seeds and hand it to my son to eat in the middle of the Chick-Fil-A patio....my apologies to anyone sitting around us.

8) Telling you child that under eye concealer is to cover up your "tired" will result in any time you say you are sleepy, he will ask you if you need your make up...

9) Asking your son to put his plate in the sink after dinner is a great "chore"....do NOT forget to remove the fork and spoon from your plate unless you want to find it down in your garbage disposal...

10) There is absolutely no greater love than that of a child. <3