Friday Favorites

Today in honor of the upcoming fall season I'll be doing my favorite

tv series.

You may find my two all time favorite shows odd because
they couldn't be more opposite.

19 Kids and Counting
which has to be the sweetest family ever
I love everything about this show.

I'm a little embarrased to say but my other all time favorite is

The Walking Dead

Yes, I am that wife/mother/grandmother who really loves this show.

Just don't tell anyone.

Some of my other favorites are:

  Hell on Wheels

the lead character is in the picture below

enough said

the two below are my favorite comedies right now
and so glad the fall season is about to start

Of course I love my Downtown Abbey (who doesn't)  which will not begin until January.

And Game of Thrones

which I never even heard of until a few months ago and 

once I began watching, we watched straight through all of the previous seasons

in one month.

The next season does not begin until Spring of 2015.  

I can't wait.  If you live under a rock (like I apparently do)

and you've never watched this series before, do yourself a favor

and catch up before next spring.  

My favorite drink of the season is
Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frap light

 Mocha Frap lights are my favorite splurge treat.

Believe it or not I never tried the Pumpkin Spice before.

I know,  where have I been.

There was a special last night and I decided to give it a try and it was delicious.

and as far as I can tell, you can't tell the difference between the regular and the light

all you miss are the extra calories

And...............

definitely NOT on my Friday Favorite list

This is what Mike found on our hedges surrounding our pool deck

Now I know its a black snake and it's "friendly" but

I am so glad I wasn't the one who walked up on him.

It's looks like a him to me anyway.

I don't think you can tell by the picture but it was at least six feet long.

The joys of living in Florida.

Well I'm off to Michaels and Target for a quick stop and then off to pick up dinner.

Have a blessed day.

first dyi project of the "season"

Around here "my house specifically" the beginning of September

marks the start of the holiday "season" for me.

I put up my fall decorations trying to will the autumn weather in

here in sunny, hot Orlando.  

Our family is blessed with many birthdays, activities and celebrations

during this time of year and it goes so fast that I want to squeeze  

every minute I can out of it.

So......

I decorate, craft, plan parties, family dinners and menu's, schedule trips,

organize anniversary vacation, go to grandkids games, exercise more,

spend  days or evenings at the parks (Epcot, Disney, Sea World),

begin my Christmas shopping.  Yeah, I said it.

Christmas shopping!!!

I've been spending the last few weeks visiting the blog world and pinterest to see

what new and different ideas are out there.  Fun!

I've made my first craft that I plan to use from now all the way through

the season.

my gray wreath

I love, love, love wreaths.  

I  use them in lots of different areas in our home.

This past January I made a Anthropologie knock off (because who can actually pay

$200.00 dollars for a wreath) white snowball wreath.

In honor of my grandmothers, both named Grace, I call it Grace's snowball wreath.

It reminds me of my grandmother's "snowball" bush (white hydrangea) that she had on her farm.

I love this one so much I keep it up year round.   I will decorate with a different

bow or add a few ornaments to it for a specific holiday or party.

I made a red and white one for our Happy Birthday America party using the same type

of yarn.  Instructions on how I make them are here.  I will say I'm not liking the multi-color 

as much as the solid so I may turn this into  "all red" for next year.

Since I have a small mercury glass collection that I like to display

and have recently added a silver mercury glass pumpkin to it,  I knew I wanted a gray

wreath for the autumn and Christmas season.  

 I used a different yarn on this wreath.  The previous ones were made of

thick single strand cobblestone yarn giving a more structured snowball effect in the 

individual pom poms.  For this wreath I wanted it more fluid but I still really like

the thicker yarns.  I found a perfect gray three strand wound yarn that would 

still have the thickness I wanted but less structured.

I love the way it turned out and can't wait to begin decorating.  Which I'm about to do now.

I really enjoy making these wreaths, albeit very time comsuming.

I'm even thinking about opening an Esty shop and possibly selling them.  

I'm still at the thinking stage though.

Okay, I'll be signing off now because there are summer decorations to put away because

autumn is calling my name.

See you soon.

Links

Today I'm linking with Kara from Creations by Kara

Back to School Celebrations

Today I'm linking up with

Grandma's Briefs on life's second act

One of the great blessings as a grandparent is having the time and energy to

plan little celebrations for special occasions that I simply didn't have when my kids

grew up.  One of my biggest regrets......
I'm so impressed with Mom's now.

"Back to School" is one of those reasons to have a little fun.

Monster University 

Last year my theme was Monster University 

Back to School Monster University Party

This was the year Dylan began Pre-K

and since he's a Little Monster I thought having a monster university party

on our "Nana Time" would be fun.  

Idea came from Dixie Delights blog.

She is one of my absolute favorites.  Go to the link and see the spectacular

party she put on for her littles.

To make our treat I just bought a box of rice crispy treats,

molded it into a circle, dipped it in melting chocolate in the 

colors we wanted and put the candy on the top.

Easy and delicious.

Dr. Suess

... think and wonder
wonder and think...
                                          Dr. Suess

This year I choose Dr. Suess.
 I thought that was a great theme for a

little guy beginning Kindergarten.

You have brains in your head
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose
                                                               Dr. Suess

All four of my grandbabies who will be beginning a new school year.

We will have  Pre-K, Kindergarten, Second Grade and Senior Year students this year.  

I already had all the tableware on hand.

Our menu was simple and inexpensive.

A homemade "ABC" pizza

Lemonade

and bakery cupcakes with a few turquoise candy coated chocolates thrown on top

Big sister stopped by to join in the the dinner celebration.  Thanks Tay.
You made Dylan very happy.  We had a little swim to let some of our "energy" out.  

then in our pj's for a "Dr. Suess" movie, of course
after the movie it was story time with our new kindergarten books

Breakfast was a quick ABC pancake breakfast.

And of course we always end with a lazer gun war with Poppy.

It's really a lot of fun planning our little celebrations.  My hope is to make

some memories and for my grandkids to know they are loved and special to me.

As you can see it doesn't take much to put these little parties together.

Don't let a small budget stop you.  I had most everything on hand.

Here's a breakdown.

Decorations:

Red dessert plates:   I got on clearance at Walmart for 50 cents a while back.

Red and white paper straws: I had on hand but were purchased on clearance at Target 

a while back for less than a dollar.

 White melamine plates and aqua mason jars:   I already owned but were originally

purchased from Target.

Dr. Suess pictures and banner:  I purchased two folders at Target for $1.00 each and 

cut to fit in frames I already had.  The banner was made out of a Dr. Suess flash

card set that I purchased at Target Dollar spot for $1.00.

Balloons I had on hand but you can usually buy a bag at Target for $1.50.

(random thought but I think I might go to Target alot...)

Chalkboard I had on hand but it was originally purchased at Michael's for $1.00.

I just painted the wood red with paint I already had.

I purchased the two books at Barnes and Nobles.  Both books totalled less than $7.00.

Food:

Pizza dough, sauce, cheese and lemonade I already had on hand.

Cupcakes and pepperoni were  $6.50.

The  pancakes were actually pre-made frozen pancakes that I alway have and used

abc/123 cookie cutters to make shapes.

So as you can see I was able to put this little celebration together for less than 

$20.00.  I call that a deal.  

So what, you ask, do you do if your grandkids are older or don't live in your area

(which is a very sad situation for a grandmother to find herself in ..... but I digress)

I made up little back to school fun boxes and shipped to my Illinois grands

and for my sweet Taylor who will be a senior, a back to school shopping trip was in order.

It doesn't have to be extravagant to let them know how special they are to you.

The more that you read,
The more things you will know.

The more that you learn,
The more places you will go.

                  Dr. Suess