Counting Blessings

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

I absolutely love this time of year!

There are so many little things that make Thanksgiving 

SOoo  Wonderful to me.

I have always loved watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

There is soooo much  Magic in the air as the Larger than life

Floats dance overhead

all the way down the Streets of New York City.

I Love the Warmth that comes from

Families Gathering Together.

 

The Huge Hubbub over  a meal...

That is just good ol'   .....

Chubby fun!

But I especially Love.....

the way Everyone takes time to stop and

count their many Blessings...

Sharing thoughts of Gratitude for all

we are bestowed!

....and as strange as it may seem...

this year i have sooo much to be thankful

for;

a wonderful hardworking husband, Loving happy children,

Amazing friends and Family that show us the way ,

A Brother that gave His life for you and for me,

making it possible to be forgiven our sins and

live in His presence again someday.

I am thankful for the Truth and Light of the Gospel

of Jesus Christ and the peace that comes from Living

right!

I feel very blessed to have a roof over my head and

food in my belly,   the health and energy to easily complete

all that is required of me eachday.

I know that i am blessed by a Father in Heaven who

loves me and wants me to be happy.

i know He calms me, His child,  when he cannot

calm my storms.

i know he wants me to learn and grow and become the

best snarly headed lil' woman i can be!

I could go on and on and on....

but i'll save some for you.

What are you especially grateful for this year?

Jinxing Yourself

Do you believe in the old

tradition of

"knocking on wood"

You know....like when you say,

"i haven't got a ticket in a long time"..

and then someone says...

"knock on wood"

Cuz they don't want you to Jinx yourself.

If not, then how do you explain it when

you've said that and get pulled over and get a ticket

two hours later?

Is it just "ironic"

Is it a coinidence?

Is it a self fullfilling prophecy?

I've always wondered what exactly makes that happen.

When i was little i would picture something in my head ..

and then later that day...i would see it happening.

I thought maybe i was a little psychic.

I am pretty strange so ...hmmmm.

Just last night my sis in law, Marti

came over and had a bad migraine.

I said  to her....

"i've only ever had migraines after Kie's Birth

from the spinal fluid blowout"

Not 3 hours later....a Huge migraine came on.

It hasnt gone away yet...almost 24 hours later.

so it wasn't just my imagination.

All i know is that i am keeping my mouth shut.

No more   "never" or "always".....

It just isn't worth the HEADACHE....

literally!

What is your take on "Jinxing yourself" ?

Do you buy into it?

If i had to Sit in a corner....

it would be this one!.......

next to this rug and box combo......

ooohhhh  and i just love this lil' vignette i put together on my kitch table.

i may live in a basement......

but it is gonna be one good lookin basement when i am finished!

xoxo  shell

FULLY INTENTIONAL CABIN FEVER

We here @ the Hawker household are on a bit of a tight budget

until the next payday....which is unfortunately ....

10

whole

days

away.

(sighhhhhhhhhh)

So we have put ourselves on a bit of

self induced....

House Arrest.

When i made the decision not to spend another dime

until next payday....

I pictured i would be home baking cookies

and sewing and singing to the children as we bond together

in our cozy lil'  candle lit burrow of a home.

( Burrow.....that is a very fine name for a basement apartment ,  don't you think!?)

Any who...

There are no Candles....

No homemade cookies...

.....I haven't the slightest    when it comes to homemade cookies....

wouldn't even know where to begin.....  Perhaps with some flour and water...

Maybe?????

I have been singing...but i am always singing at home so

pretty much the children just tune me out.

There is one dress hem that needs to be stictched up .....

but,

 i. don't. sew.

I did however buy that

Mighty Mend-it  glue

as

seen

on

t.v.

I always fall for that junk.

I feel bad for them... like, what if noone is calling.

The guy who invented it will feel stupid...so i should call and order it and

act really excited to have found this amazing product...

You know ...so they can pass that info on to the inventor...

so as to lift his spirits since there are no people ordering his

sewing glue...which is probably just clear Elmers glue....

So maybe i will mend that hem....

but it is not at all how i pictured it...

Our happy lil' home stay...

is more like...

Self induced cabin fever.

did i mention we are only beginning day 2 ?

(sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

desperate times call for desperate measures....

What do you do when you don't want to spend money?

xoxo  shell

Our family game turned into a pirate soiree....

Even bailey dog feels trapped

yOU AiNT NEvER SEEN anyTHInG liKE IT.

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vINTAGE rOSARY

oLD TATTERed BOOKs

AND

vINTAGE LiNENs

These are the items up for winning!

She is a lover of French treasures and a dang good Flea Market shopper!

http://brocantess.blogspot.com/

xoxo  shell

Wonderland

DO   you remember the Magic of new fallen snow when

you were a Child?

The treasure that lay on the ground sparkling in the sunlight.

The way it seemed a frozen treat  had fallen from Heaven,

Winter's Fruit.

Snow ball fights 

Igloo Forts

Snow plow Tunnels

Icecicles 

and perhaps best of all....

Mom's Hot coaco with tiny marshmallows

dancing inside.

....and don't forget the cozy blanky wrapped around you

as you curled up on the sofa.

I  wish i could get that back!

I wish i could see that snowy wonderland again.

Although, i do so enjoy greeting my own

little ones as they saunder in to the warm house,

cold red cheeks and snow flakes resting on there eyelashes.

It is...... pure Magic i tell ya,

that first good snow fall.

 

Just for today.... 

Don't think about scraping the windshield or

shoveling the walk.....

Just enjoy God's Magic.

Vintage Lace, Tarnished treasures and Guns!

You know that i am a lover of all things fluffy, Frilly,vintage and cottage-ish.....

But then there is this other side of me.....

I am also sort of a Tom Boy at heart.

I use to ice fish with my dad and I dream of hunting with my hubby someday.
( decked  out in pink camo of course)

I love fishing at lakes...
(well i like watching hubby fish while i relax)

Yah- there is this tom boy-ish, scrappy, doesn't mind gettin dirty, chick inside of me that pops her head out once n a while.

So when my sister, Becca, suggested hittin up a shootin range for
our monthly G.N.O. ( we misleadingly call Bonko Night).....

I was Like....

Yah Bro,
lets do this!
(that's how my tom boy side of me talks)   :)

So the girls and I decided to do this month up with a bang.

More like a    Bang! Bang! Bang!

me and my 45

becca and her 357 revolver

molly and a 9 mm

Keri was also sporting a 9 mm

We were some Shell Shucking Mamas!

I love my Bonko Girls...

We don't actually play Bonko...

But we do challenge eachother to participate in activities we otherwise would never have considered on our own.

I bet this is a vignette that they don't usually come across at the shootin' range...

So bottom line is ......

I am hard to figure out.

I'm like America....

all mixed up.

;)  hee hee

Oh i love me some Bonko

 

xoxo shell

Rambler

We  have settled into Our new Lil' nest.

And as basement apartments go.....this one is top notch!

We are gonna do just fine here.

Yah.... i know it's not the palace we just moved out of....

but we are so blessed  to have somewhere to go.

It would seem that we are "falling from grace"....

Or plumeting from our previous comfort zone....

but this is a pretty cushiony fall!

It's hard only on the pride.

The kids are happy as can be.

Their toys are here.  There is a great big yard to play in and

Mommy and Daddy love them and they get their bedtime stories

and family prayers ....for them life just goes on.

It's a simple world for them.

I'm learning from them these days.

OOOOOH.....and i got a new camera!

It was worth the wait!

It can do all kinds of tricks!

Enjoy some of the  pic's i've taken of the our new nest!

We have a way to go still but we are gettin there!

.......and we are happy..... together.

DID I MENTiOn.....

IT'S A RAMBLER STYLE BASEMENT?

(L.O.L.)

((as if their were a non-rambler type basement....))

YOU ONLY HAVE TO VACCUUM ONE LEVEL AND THE WHOLE THING IS VACCUUMED!

TA-DAH!

treasures from the antique show in Walla Walla, Wa.

the kids kitchen is in my kitchen and they feel so big!

I switched the goods on the table up..

LOTS better!

Bailey is happy here too!

I can write on the touch screen camera!!!!  super fun!!!!

Bloom where you're planted!

shell

Enjoying the Good Stuff

After getting my Hair done....(yes, 9 nine hours after arriving in Utah i was already off to the

salon) ((  In my previous post.....when i said "salon here i come"   I was for real!))

So after getting my hair done.....

(((And feeling a bazillion times better about aging i might add)))

I headed home to get the Kiddos dressed in their decadent lil' Halloween

apparel.

We jammed out to Flying Purple People Eater and Monster Mash

while readying ourselves for the evenings festivities!

 **remember i decided to have me a great Holiday in spite of my less than optimal reality**

hee hee

The Party started at 4 pm at My sister Becca's house.

Homemade pizza was on the menu! 

Thanks to becca and S.I.L.- Marti  YUM YUM!

The men stayed behind on the couches watching the ute's game to let the big dinner  embed itself in their fat deposits as

us girls enjoyed a workout taking the munchkids out to Trick or Treat!

Is it really pathetic that one of my fav. things about going door to door is....

peeping into strangers homes to check out their decor?

We went to a house that should absolutely be on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens!

and i made sure i told her so!

She is my new neighbor so maybe if youre good girls i will take some pics

(at least the outside) for you to see!

The moms had a lil' too much sugar and we started dancing down streets to keep warm.

Good times Marti,  Good times!  :)

I hope you had a great Halloween and got to spend it with the ones you Love!

Here are some of the Vignettes going on at my sis's house

this Halloween,   Enjoy!

xoxo  shell

FOR SALE

Now that we have access to the internet agian....

(after one whole entire week  ;)

....I have a lot to blog about to get us current.

Let's see...there was the 10 hour drive home from Washington last Friday

...we wanted to make it home in time for Halloween.

We were sure that Trick or Treating with Family and Friends was all the "treat"  we needed!

The ride home was great.  Kids were very cooperative.

So there ended up being significantly less spankings on the side of the road than

origionally planned for!  (  we have never actually pulled over and spanked a child.)

(We have however threatened it a number of times.)

Kenzie was sure we were just going in circles.  Each time we would see a Comfort Inn

sign,  she would announce..."see!  i told you we were going the wrong way!"

I don't remember not trusting my parents to navigate me around.

and they weren't even equipt with a Global Positioning Satellite (gps) like we are now a day.

Kie was great until Bountiful and then she repeated " All Done "  over and over again.             

I didnt mind though.....she was just stating out loud what we were all thinking.

ALL DONE WITH THIS CAR RIDE!

...Arriving "Home"......

We gleefully jumped out of the car and darted for the door of our house

eager to be in familiar surroundings.

This homecoming was bittersweet!

We all ran around extatic to be in each room of the house if only for a few seconds a peice.

Kade kept yelling "It's so clean!!!!!"

Kie just dug right in and played in her own room...happy for space and toys!

Kenzie was just glowing as she ran to her bed ...happy there were no crumbs in it!

See, when you live in a hotel room....the beds double as sofas and desks....and kitchen tables .

I was just adoring my decorations and the warm welcoming layout.

and of course....THE ROOM between myself and the next human.

Matt was content as could be.  He immediately began making dinner

on the stove

YES.....at 11 o' clock at night.

Corn on the cob...per kenzie's request for "real food,  healthy food".

It seemed as if the joy would live on forever.

For me though,  it quickly faded away.

In a sense we were "home" .

It was the place we dwelt in and loved in and grew in and learned in for the

past 3 years.

It was full of our belongings.

But it had a FOR SALE sign in the front yard.

and it wasnt the kind of  "for sale" that announced that the family within would soon be moving on to bigger and better things.

No sir.

It was screaming at me  "YOU DONT BELONG HERE ANYMORE"

and it was right.

The plan was to move out all the necessities in the morning light and transplant them

to My In-laws basement.  Where we would reside  temporarily for the next couple of years as we

searched for our place in the world.

Oh how quickly things have changed.

Oh to be back where we were 2 years ago.

To somehow do it all differently.

Preventing this that we face now.

I started down a very non-productive road of  torture....thinking and analyzing...

It paralyzed me and i retreated to my room and buried myself under my blankets

I didnt move until morning.

I needed a good night sleep.

I awoke and quickly threw on My Halloween Cheer!

I made a decision.

I  would enjoy this favorite Holiday of mine!