Happy Halloween.

My mom made Halloween cards for everyone in the family. I thought I'd share ours.

Have a spooky fun day!

Pottery and Junie B.

N. has a lot of pottery waiting to be fired at the shop, but this one was finished and ready to take home.

It's a Jack-o-Lantern napkin holder!

He made it without any help and is so proud of it. When we got home he promptly removed our usual napkin holder and put his on the table.

While we're still on the topic of N.'s artwork, I thought I'd share his latest school project. Along with a book report, they had to make a character using a melon or pumpkin.

I would like to present Junie B. Jones!

She is saying the first line to each book: "My name is Junie B. Jones. The B. stands for Beatrice. I just like B. and that's all."

A hat.

N. and I have been taking walks each evening. It's been pretty chilly, so one night I pulled an old hat out to wear. When N. saw me he literally fell down laughing. During the entire walk he kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye and trying not to laugh. It was pretty bad.

So I bought a new hat. And it even has beads on it.

This has N.'s stamp of approval.

Today I'm making a big pot of chili. We have friends coming over for game night. Hopefully someone will bring Apples to Apples.

N. has his last pottery class tomorrow. I'm hoping to have photos of his latest pieces to show you next time.

Until then...

Pumpkin Pie Spice and everything nice.

From the looks of the forecast, cooler fall weather is finally here to stay. I've been in the mood for pumpkin spice lattes, but they can get rather expensive. I found this alternative, which is very good. I just wish I had some pumpkin pie (without the crust as I mentioned in my last post) to go with it.

Hope your Wednesday is off to a very nice start!

A fun challenge.

I saw this on the Every Little Thing blog and it looked like fun. Incidentally, the book I'm using is one I'm reading because I saw it on her blog. The actual nearest book to me was a telephone book, but that would never do.

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open the book to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions.
• Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Excerpt from Little, Big by John Crowley

Yet still before him his shadow lay amid the shadows of leaves. He shook his newspaper and changed the way his legs were crossed. Enjoy, enjoy.

Among many other and odder beliefs, his father-in-law was sure that a man
can't think or feel clearly if he can see his own shadow. (He thought also that
looking at oneself in the mirror immediately before retiring to bed caused bad,
or at least troubling, dreams.)

I'd love to read your quotes if you decide to play along!

This reminds me that AJ tagged me for the 7 random facts meme. I've done this before, but this seems like a good time to try to drum up 7 fresh facts to share with you.

• One of my favorite things is the smell of freshly cut grass.
• At Thanksgiving I make a pumpkin pie without pie crust for Mark, N., and I because we're not big pie crust fans.
• I do not really like frosting. I usually take it off and give it to my mom or N.
• Today I called the cable company to see if they would discount my bill and they took off a whopping $10.
• Once when I was a kid the librarian wouldn't let me check out a book without my mom's approval. The book? Forever by Judy Blume. My mom let me check it out.
• I don't like candy corn, but will sometimes eat it at this time of the year, all the while wondering why I'm eating it when I don't like it.
• I have plans to do something with this frame. I'll be sure to show you when I do.

Pottery.

N. has been taking a pottery class and has been doing very well.

Here is his very first piece. He actually painted it once before this, but was given the wrong paint, so it had to be soaked and removed. He was pretty upset, but then decided having a second chance to paint it wasn't such a bad thing. The blue circles on the let of the piece are air bubbles for the fish to breathe. We still have to decide where to hang it. It needs a special place.

His first bowls thrown on the wheel.

He had some trouble getting this one off of the wheel, so it has a hole in the bottom that you can just make out in the photo below.

I don't know if my very first three pottery pieces would look this good.

It's been fun watching him be so excited about these classes.

Etsy Favorite: Simone Walsh

When I first started my obsession with Etsy, Simone Walsh's shop was one of my favorites to visit. It still is. Her skills with a jeweler's saw are amazing. I loved her work from afar until she launched her newest Victorian-inspired line. Love.

As soon as I saw this frame pendant I had to have it. The contrast between the darkened silver chain and brighter silver pendant is very nice. So pretty. Can I say it again? Love.

More favorites from her shop...

Her friendly e-mails and speedy service made the purchase that much more enjoyable. Simone has an interesting blog as well where she shares what she is working on and sometimes shares some photos of Australia, where she lives.

I'm off to spend the day with a friend. Enjoy your Sunday!

Allowance.

This morning N asked me for some money for the school store, where they sell little trinkets and things. He's had his eye on something there. I gave him $2. Then he asked if he could please, please, please get an ice cream bar at lunch. I gave him another dollar.

He sat quietly for a moment and then asked if it was okay to use the ice cream money at the school store...or, did he have to get ice cream. This made me laugh. I think he pulled the old bait and switch on me! I told him he could use it however he wanted. I'm not going to force him to get ice cream.

Birthday gifts: pottery from my friend Andrea and necklace from my friend Jenn.

So this made me wonder about allowance. Do parents still give allowances? At what age do you start? How much do you give? I remember being excited about my 50 cent allowance, but times have changed.

What are your thoughts on allowance?

The red post.

Another birthday post. I know my birthday's long over, but I have to share with you the red purse my mom made for me.

With red toile on the inside. And one dollar for luck.

Adorable. It's from an Amy Butler pattern, though I do not know which one. I think it's this one.

My mom also makes cards. She's very talented.

The glitter isn't showing up as well as I'd like. It's quite sparkly.

Mark and N gave me some red, red roses.

Sweet!

Etsy Favorite: Istanbul Designs

For my birthday gift from Mark and N, I received this initial pendant from Istanbul Designs. I really like the Art Nouveau look of it. Alicia is very nice and has some wonderful designs in her shop. Photos in this post are from Istanbul Designs.

I also have this poppy necklace. Poppies are one of my favorite flowers, if not the favorite. The edges are a little bit ruffled, which gives it more dimension.

A few more items I like from her shop...

I hope your week is off to a good start!

Of snowplows and birthdays.

Yesterday was a nice day, if a little bit chilly. We took advantage of the nice weather by being outside most of the day.

We did a lot of reading outside. N is convinced dragons are real after we bought Dragonology for him. He dug out his stuffed animal dragons and poured over this book most of the day.

Our neighborhood received a visit from the snowplows yesterday. The mailboxes were not put in properly and they are going around checking them and talking to residents. They also let kids climb into the snowplows.

N was thrilled that the driver offered him a ride up and down the street. He was allowed to honk the horn and push buttons to make the back of the truck go up and down.

My birthday today has been very nice! N gave me a card that he made. It said, "Dear Mommy, I love you so so much. Love, N." Makes my heart melt.

Since I'm not a big fan of cake, this year I decided to make what I wanted: apple crisp!

Mark and N took me to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants.

Tomorrow I'll share an Etsy shop (where one of my birthday gifts came from) with you. I have other birthday goodies to share this week, too!

Thanks for all your very nice birthday wishes. It made my birthday even better!

Bookmarks and a birthday.

N and I are both feeling good these days. Our surgeries are behind us and we're focusing on doing some fun things.

One evening last week I asked my mom to come over and do a craft project with us. We made watercolor bookmarks similar to those I'd seen on the Lost Button Studio blog. It was so much fun to compare our results, laugh, and be crafty.

N made turtle and stoplight bookmarks.

My mom was colorful and experimented with shapes.

I was in a flowery mood. After my first one using a crayon, I decided to forego the crayons and play around with letting the watercolors bleed into one another. I made some others that didn't turn out so well. I'm afraid I cannot show you those.

This one is my favorite one! I didn't even notice him making a flower bookmark for me.

Which bookmark is your favorite?

It's an exciting weekend because tomorrow is my birthday! Yay! I love birthdays. I've been looking forward to this one; it symbolizes a new beginning for me. No one told me having surgery could be so emotional. I think everything happens for a reason and I've learned a lot about myself this year, although I'm now ready to put the year behind me.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Polka dots.

I don't know what I'm going to make with these, but I love them.

Hello, October.

October is my favorite month of the year - and not just because it's my birthday month. I love all the pumpkins, changing colors of the leaves, and looking forward to the upcoming holidays.

I should have a photo of a pumpkin or something fall related to put in this post, but I don't. So, instead I'll introduce you to a friend that came to visit for a few days. Meet Tamiye the snapping turtle.

I didn't realize we had snapping turtles around here until last year, when we were driving on a road in our subdivision and saw one with a shell that was at least a foot in diameter.

Tamiye was found in a neighbor's strawberry patch. They noticed their strawberries were being eaten by something, looked around in the patch, and found 10 baby snapping turtles! N did a great job taking care of his friend for a few days.

My mom is on her way over for crafts and dinner. We're going to make bookmarks with N. For dinner, we'll have spaghetti. I made the sauce this morning and it's been simmering all day.

Nothing like some homemade comfort food to get October off to a great start.