I stalk a lot of blogs.

And I've always wondered why... some of you... refer to your spouse and children as "Mr {insert blog name here}" or "Thing 1, 2, 3...".


What's up with that?!?!

Are ya'll concerned about your privacy?  Uhm, you are putting yourselves out there on the internets. Sometimes on a daily basis.   Posting pictures of yourselves, family and your home. You do realize this, right??

Maybe I'm completely oblivious. 

Fill me in so I can understand.

It keeps me up at night.

XO

Howdy friends.

Sorry, I'm late with this.  Not been a great night at our house and I needed to breathe a little bit.

First, when I got home... my adorable chippy window had come crashing to the floor, taking out my mason jar/hose clamp holder that Drew had made for me.  Took it out and broke it into 3 pieces.  I suppose it could have been worse.  My chippy window only lost a little chippiness.  It didn't break.

I was desperate.  So, I re-attached the pieces to the wall:


So, I'm a loser.

Then, another picture had come down and my super brittle boxwood wreath had come down.  WTF??  Was there some kind of earthquake??  I dunno.  But, the window was a definite fail.
It's nice and secured tonight.  :-(

Alrighty - let's get to the features. Seems like most are food related this week.  I must be hungry!


Mandy at Mandy's Money made these to die for Blow Pop Martini's.  My mouth is watering just looking at them! 


Linda at With a Blast {she was my lucky 200th reader!!} shared this so yummy Coconut bread with cream cheese frosting.  Oh Mah Gah!


Alyssa at What's Cooking, love?  shared these delicious looking chicken crescent bundles.  I'm seriously making these.






So, let's move onto this weeks party!

Remember, there are some rules:

Wow.  Is it hot... or what?!?!  It's close to 100 and WINDY here!  I've never liked the wind.  And with the events of the past few days, I like it even less.

Only 128 days until Halloween!!  OMG that is an eternity away!

I'm excited to say, I did a little project.  :-)

I signed up for the Bloggy Olympics - Paint category.







I was looking around the house on Sunday, wondering what the heck I was going to do a paint post about.  Then I looked at these beauties that have been leaning against the end of my kitchen cabinets for at least 6 months.  Just waiting for me to paint them and make them useful again.



These are 2, small, unused cabinet doors from my used to be buffet now entertainment center. 

I thought they would be cute painted and hung on the wall to hang stuff on. 

I took the old hardware off, painted the centers with chalkboard paint then painted the rest {along with the raised fru fru's} Mourning Dove grey. 

A couple days before the big fire, I purchased a cute, old, chippy window with the glass intact. 
Purchased some vinyl tree limbs with birdies and added them.  I also got some of those nifty chalk pens to use on my chalkboards.  So much easier to write with!  I've always had issues using chalk.  Kinda makes my skin crawl.  Ya know?? 

So, the kitchen looks a little different, but I'm loving the change:





Only as I was hanging the doors did I realize that they aren't quite the same size.  Hm.  Oh well. 

Hi guys! 

Happy Sunday!

Yes, it's happy.

We are home. 

We have our home to come back to thanks to these folks:


         They slept on the streets and on our lawns to protect our homes.  God bless them!!


Now, we all feel like we have colds.  Super sore throats, coughing... but we are home and safe!

I'm beyond thankful to the firefighters that protected our community!  THANK YOU!!! 
My community is amazing.  Everyone helping everyone.  Strangers opening their homes to others and PETS!  So many people and businesses stepped up to donate food, comfort and shelter for displaced people and pets.  Not one single life or structure was lost.   It's amazing to me after what we saw when we left in a hurry Friday morning.

I'm grateful, also, for my crock pot today.  Since we all feel pretty crummy, it was nice to be able to throw this recipe in the crock pot, rest and sleep all day and still have a yummy supper tonight.

We are really tired of fast food and sandwiches.  :-P

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3/4 cup honey
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 (20 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained with juice reserved

 Just throw everything (except pineapple chunks) into the crock pot.  Put the lid on, turn the heat on low and just forget about it for 6-8 hours. 

Cook up some plain white rice. Shred the chicken. Then throw in the pineapple pieces and let them warm through.  Serve over rice!  If it's too saucy (mine never is) you can add some cornstarch mixed with a little water to thicken it up.  This is so easy and very tasty!

Hi.

What are you guys doing today?

We are spending the day/night in 2 lovely executive suites at Holiday Inn Express. 

This is why:



All the Card's and the furry Card's are all safe and comfortable. 

It started yesterday on the other side of the mountain. 

Last night, it looked like this:



This morning:




As we were leaving:



Overnight they did a great job knocking it back.

Then the wind kicked up again.

It's 100 degrees and windy as hell.  This thing is moving fast.

Scary stuff!  They say it wont be contained for a couple days. 

We're safe and sound. 

Please pray for our neighbors and all the firefighters.

It's going to be

a

very

long

summer.

XOXO

Well heya friends!!

I'm beyond excited.

Look over on your left... it's ok...  I will wait.




I hit 200 GFC friends today.  I refuse to type followers {wait...} because none of us are followers.  We are friends!  For me, this is huge!  I know.  Some of y'all have gazillions of readers so, 200 seems like small beans.  But, for me... this is AMAZING!!  I'm SO honored some of you hang out... and you keep coming back!  My cup runeth over... XOXO

So, is it like a million degrees where you live?!?!?  It's been SO hot here this week!!!   It's only June for crying out loud!  I'm not a huge fan of summer.  I really, really dislike the heat. It zaps all my creative mojo.  I feel like doing... nothing.

Except sitting around sipping an ice coffee.

Is it Fall yet???

Enough whining... 

So, now onto this weeks party!!






Alrighty spritey... let's get this party started!!

Dear Friday,

What took you so long?!?!

XOXO,

Me.

Heya!!  Happy weekend babies!!

What you got planned?  I know lots of you are going to Haven.  I will miss you and I hope you have a BLAST!!

I will be home.  Hopefully working on the loft project.  I think I will really get on Drew's nerves about the stairs... so he will give in to ripping up the carpet on the stairs.  I'm bad... bad to the bone.  Wish me luck!

Haven't done a happiness list for awhile.

I hate harping back to Kita and her illness, but honestly, for the past 3-4 years our lives revolved around her and taking care of her.  My greatest fear, was losing her.  It consumed me. 

We've lost pets in the past.  It's always devastating.  Those illnesses came on so quickly and were not treatable.  That's always such a horrible shock.  But, thanks to some amazing friends and veterinarians, we learned that Kita's illness was certainly treatable, and we were going to give it our best shot, damnit.  So, now that chapter in our lives is over.  The anxiety is starting to ease a bit.  I'm not having to constantly remind myself that life is good and to see the little things and the little blessings.  Things are getting better.  Don't get me wrong.  I would give anything to have her back in good health... anything.  Sometimes God has to tell us "No, not this time."

But, I do think these lists are vital.  So, even though they may be fewer and further between, I'm going to continue with them.  I hope you guys get a little kick out of them too.  :-)

I adore him.

XOXO

Ok, alright... if you're getting sick of seeing this project... just don't tell me.

Our house looks so different from this time last year, I'm amazed.  And in a good way!

I like it.  Lots.

So, I showed you the B&B I did over the weekend and how I jazzed up the area by moving tables and chotshkies around.  Shared my thoughts on painting the inside of the front door Wythe Blue.  A couple lovely people {Anne & Shasta} said "OH YES!!  And make it BOTH doors"... well then, okie dokie!!

Tonight, it looks like this:



Wythe Blue has got to be the most delicious, luscious shade of blue/green I've ever seen.  It's just so... purty!

I picked up 4 of these at Ikea: