Fall Fun

Good news!  Fall is finally here!  That is evident by the fact that I wore shorts and a t-shirt to the grocery store the other day...wait, what?  Well anyhow.  Even if the temperatures are similar to late Spring, I'm claiming Fall.  It's my favorite.  The leaves are starting to change to my favorite colors and hopefully soon it will be jacket-wearing weather.  "They" say we're supposed to have a cold winter.  We'll see.  I can only pray for snow like we had 2 years ago.

So Pinterest.  Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.  That site that cons you into planning nurseries for your unborn children that aren't even a speck in your future.  Yep.  That site where anyone and everyone can post links to their "favorite" weight loss plans.  Oh, and my favorite recently is... that site where over-achieving crafty ladies post links to their blogs about un-achievable crafts for normal people.  I've fallin for quite a few finds on Pinterest.  Some are quite helpful, like the link I found on how to decorate your mantle.  I was really struggling with that one, I even would lose sleep at night about my mantle... not.  But now it's beautiful thanks to Pinterest.  Yep.  I didn't know there was such a void in my life.  For decorating and crafts.  My most recent failed craft was trying to make a wreath out of dried corn husks.  I can't even describe to you how disappointing that was.

This is my most recent successful Pinterest craft.  I actually love the way it turned out and it was super easy.  And it only took 3 and a half hours!  Oy.  This was due to the yarn.  That darn yarn!  You see, the entire wreath is wrapped in "we'll call the color gold".  Yeah, don't do that again.  Just sayin'.  One might be able to make a wreath completely of handmade felt flowers in less time.

C'est la vie!  Happy Fall, everyone!

Different levels of confusion... ombré!

Is the Ombré Hair Trend Over?
According to those on Pinterest, it's not.  According to Cosmo it is.  I've gotta say that I'm leaning towards the wisdom of Cosmo on this one.  If you click on the link above, they claim that February 2011 was the most recent appearance of ombré hair in the 4 celebrity examples.

I've gotta be honest, I didn't even know this was a "thing" until I signed up on Pinterest.  Then I started seeing salons posting pictures and I was downright confused.  It's funny how celebrities can start such odd trends and then they slowly move their way through the different parts of the country.  What happened to being embarrassed of having dark roots?  So confused.

Then you've got the nails... I'll be honest.  In a marked moment of laziness I now have ombré nails.

I got a fantastic mani/pedi last weekend for a party.  The beautiful red chipped on a couple of my nails, I don't have that shade of purdy red, and didn't have the time to remove it all so I covered the evidence with a lighter shade.  It's kind of a fun fix, but I'm removing it as soon as I have the energy. I feel like that's enough "ombré" to last me quite a while.

I'm also dying my hair as soon as I wake up tomorrow morning.  :)

Meat Pays.

We were privileged to attend a tail gating party yesterday that included a chili cook-off.  In this case we voted with money...and some voted early and often.  :)  All proceeds benefited the Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission or REMM.

This is the winner.  Clearly.  You see those big hunks of MEAT?  They're in there.

Chili photo by Paul McEntire via Instagram.

A little intro:  I love vegetarians, some of my favorite people are vegetarians.  And I know that you are not angry people.  Usually my favorite people aren't the angry type.

But we met one yesterday that proved to be the opposite, and the only cause we could come up with was that she hasn't had enough meat in her life.  When a vegetarian contender of a chili contest (in Oklahoma) gets angry because they didn't win...well it's quite entertaining. We were questioned on when the last time we had a decent source of Vitamin A was.  Do you know?  (We happened to have a healthy dose in 2 of our last 3 meals just so you know.)  There were also avocados accompanying the veggie chili, which apparently was the root cause of why the cook couldn't afford to vote with more cash.  :)  Did I forget to mention that this particular contender was a college student?   

So a little further research was done and it turns out the top 3 sources of Vitamin A are as follows:
#1.  MEAT, most specifically liver, but we'll stop there.
#2.  Chili Peppers
#3.  Sweet Potatoes 

There ya have it.  In the defense of Vitamin A...Meat really does pay!

P.S.  If this is not funny to you, I'm sorry.  I meant no harm, just fun commentary.  :)

Life.

"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life.  In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed.  And why would I think that you don't?  Because you don't want any tax money to go there.  That's not pro-life.  That's pro-birth.  We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."

-Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun.  

Indeed, Sister Joan, indeed.  

Where has she been?

Running.  I've been running since September and the blister on the toe of my right foot can verify that for you.  Don't worry, I won't post a picture of it. 

More posts coming soon!  I promise!

The Co-Op.

We recently joined a local food co-op.  Every week we get an email with a list of different bags of food to choose from.  There's usually a meat bag, a produce bag, and a breakfast bag.  When you get the email you either opt in or opt out for that week.

A few weeks ago we got a bag of meat.  This week we got a bag of produce.  And a couple of nights ago we had our first fully organic meal from the co-op.

Umm... YUM YUM!!!  That there is grilled steak, mashed sweet potatoes, and steamed sweet peas.  

Love it when a meal comes together like that!  Now what the heck do you do with bok choy?!

The Visitors.

Over Labor Day weekend we had some visitors come to town.

This is Lance.  Lance is Cody's English Bulldog.  Cody is Shane's brother.  Bulldogs used to gross me out.  

 

Until I met Lance.  

Lance made himself right at home.

Right.  At.  Home.

Brownie wasn't really a fan, but he let Lance nap near him towards the end of the visit.