Fall Break: Its a Good Thing

Our stay-cation was eventful...

Full of laughter....

And very satisfying.

There were highlights: Getting a hug from the door-keeper (and complete stranger) at Sam's club; finally hanging curtains in our family room; and spending an entire week with my man.

There were low-lights: having a root canal and allergy testing that required four days without antihistamine.. which was much harder than I anticipated.

But... there were more highlights:

Spending time with friends over sushi and soup; helping a young nursing student by listening to the first sentence of her thesis statement (I sat down next to her on a couch at Barnes and Noble); rearranging three rooms in our house; sleeping in with The Mister, and of course... there was that thirty-eighth birthday thrown in there for good measure. I love me a good birthday.

I wish I could tell you each detail, but it isn't necessary. It was a good, good week...a gift in and of itself.

I woke up on my birthday singing Sandra McCracken's Grace Upon Grace, which was inspired by one of my favorite Prayer books, The Valley of Vision.

I am going to close this post with the prayer entitled Grace Active , it is the prayer of my 38th year...for I have received grace upon grace...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grace Active

LORD JESUS, GREAT HIGH PRIEST,

Thou hast opened a new and living way,
     by which a fallen creature can approach thee
     with acceptance.
Help me to contemplate
     the dignity of the Person,
     the perfectness of thy sacrifice,
     the effectiveness of thy intercession.
O what a blessedness accompanies devotion,
  when under the trials that weary me,
     the cares that corrode me,
     the fears that disturb me,
     the infirmities that oppress me,
  I can come to thee in my need
  and feel the peace beyond understanding!
The grace that restores is necessary to preserve,
  lead, guard, supply, help me.
And here thy saints encourage my hope;
  they were once poor and are now rich,
     bound and are now free,
     tried and now are victorious.
Every new duty calls for more grace than
  I now possess,
  but not more than is found in thee,
     the divine Treasury in whom all fullness dwells.
To thee I repair for grace upon grace,
  until every void made by sin be replenished
  and I am filled with all thy fullness.
May my desires be enlarged and hopes
     emboldened,
  that I may honor thee by my entire
     dependancy
  and the greatness of my expectation.
Do thou be with me, and prepare me for all
    the smiles of prosperity, and the frowns of adversity,
    the losses of substance, the death of friends,
    the days of darkness, the changes of life,
    and the last great change of all.
May I find thy grace sufficient
      for all my needs.

Fall Time Fun

There are many things I love about living in a place with four distinctive seasons.

But one of my favorite activities of the fall-time is to take my kids trick-or-treating.

Growing up my Dad would take us out on Halloween and my Mom would stay at home and pass out candy. She still enjoys being prepared for the passing out of candy.

Since I grew up in the desert, there were only a handful of times that I had to worry about being cold.

I'll never forget that year back in the late 80's when my youngest brother was a California Raisen for Halloween. His costume was a brownish-black garbage bag, some white gloves, and a pair of dark sunglasses. It was awesome!

My Dad, being an artist and quite creative, could whip up awesome costumes with things we had on hand in the house.

All that to say, The Raisin looked great, but by the end of the night he was so warm under all that plastic he was glad to take it off.

I was reminded of this two years ago when we were stationed in Almost Mexico (a phrase stolen from Stephanie J!). I took the kids out to trick-or-treat while wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

You can imagine the contrast when I experienced my first Halloween here in North Carolina. I walked in a neighborhood with real leaves crunching under my feet, the chill air blowing gently on my face. The kids were in costumes on top of many layers of clothing. But what surprised me most of all was the smell of fall in the air.

I was shocked that the air actually smelled of fall-time. I love that....

Seriously, its like the books I read when I was young...only I get to walk within the pages. Amazing.

What is you favorite part of the fall season. If fall is not your thing: what was your favorite costume as a kid?

Happy Friday!

An Open Letter to the Season of Fall

La Vida Dulce

My Little Corner of the

World Wide Web

September 1, 2009

Dear September,

Hello and welcome back!

This week for school I gave my students the task of writing a friendly letter. So, I am writing to you.

Its on this day that I am filled with hope. 

This first of days in the months that end in -er are some of my favorite days of the year. 

Yesterday, I could feel the twinges of fall beginning as the eve of your arrival danced on the breeze...the air was cooler, and, as if you have already begun to wave your wand of change, some of the leaves on the trees are preparing to turn gloriously red-ish.

Every year I am surprised by how good you smell, and last night, as I walked outside one last time to say goodbye to August and those lovely days called summer, I caught a teasing whiff of the sweet goodness you bring when you finally make the choice to stay.

Before I lived in this sweetest of southern states, I used to know your scent by an orange colored candle I would pull out from under the bathroom sink every year. 

Who knew that "Fall-Time" was a real-life smell? 

I don't need that candle anymore. I just open the windows, and fall comes in.

What else do I love about this first day of this great month (and the months to come)? 

Well, you bring the celebration of the birth of my first child, the beauty of Gods creation in the best of colors, the beginning of soup season.

And craft season. 

You bring the opportunity to start drinking more hot beverages, and eating breads that are ladled with spices. 

You bring apples with caramel.

You bring warmth, and charm, and the ability to hike without bugs.

September, you're the beginning of a great time. 

I love you so....

The CoffeeGal

Of Falling Leaves and Fire Pits

I wanted to share with you the amazing talents of The Mister. Now, among all the things that he can place behind his name, he can add master fire pit builder. Although he would tell you that isn't true, because he isn't actually finished with the pit. He has some decorative ideas that involve hauling in some rock to keep the mud down to a minimum, and some sort of rustic benches made out a huge dead tree that needs cutting down in the front yard.

Which brings me to another topic. Why do men think they can cut down a GI-NOR-MOUS tree all by themselves? Oh, but he says he is going to do it, and he's been looking for just the right chainsaw to do it with. (can you just hear that old Tool Time man-laugh? Ar! Ar! Ar!)

Anyway, that Mister of mine is a good man for making me such a fine pit. Even when he arranged that flagstone in a certain pattern that didn't appeal to my high need for symmetry and orderliness. So he let me tell him how I wanted them. It's a good thing he's got muscles. 

I also wanted to show you the pictures of the tree's in my yard. Yesterday I walked by the window and was suddenly was taken back by the fanastic-ness of the trees in my back yard. 

Y'all, the leaves are putting up a show that makes me almost want to weep and laugh all at the same time.

These pictures aren't even good. They look so much better in real life!

I had something else I wanted to tell you, but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was.

Oh well! La Vida Dulce!

Finding Normal and a Random Poll

Hey there good bloggers! And readers!

Why is it that in the middle of trying to find a new "normal" I always want to start a project?

Am I the only one who does this?

Anyway, here I am trying to establish new routine; Trying to get everything under my umbrella of responsibility done in an organized and functional matter, and I can't stop thinking about art projects!  Who needs to plan for tomorrow's school lesson, or cook dinner, or return emails or phone calls, or get the menu sorted, when I could cut and glue and sew instead?

You know the crafting bug has bit when I have time to read blogs but choose to create instead!  

So here is the project I am going to start as soon as I log off this time-consuming computer! 

Last year I saw this at Pottery Barn and thought to myself, you could make this!

I attempted to start last year, but got started too late. I actually went to the PB kids last weekend to see if they were going to sell this banner again this year, but no, they're not. It's just as well. I can whip out a La Vida knock-off and it might be more cost-effective. Although, with the way I craft, it's highly unlikely!

I just love the fall colors and the sentiment of this banner. 

Speaking of fall colors...

I need some blogger advice. 

You see, I haven't found a hair stylist in this town yet. Which is a very scary thing for me, because if you have read this blog more than twice, you know that I like good hair.

Anyway, to add insult to injury we currently have two mortgages and until we can get the AZ house rented I won't be seeing the inside of a salon for awhile. Desperate times call for desperate measures and I desperately need to do something with the gray roots popping out of my scalp. Which means (I hope you are sitting down....) that I am going to have to color my own hair.

I know, I know!

Here is the random poll:

Do you color your own hair? If you do, what is your favorite over-the-counter-color brand?

Talk to me!

Kellie vs. Coffee Table

I woke up grumpy this morning.

I worked out and felt better, but was still a tad grouchy.

I went shopping.

I spent money.

I felt better.

Sick huh?

I bought a few fall decorations for my house. (Yes Lara! The minimalist; the Clean Counter Queen bought decorations! Proud of me?)

The truth is that although the desert in the fall-time has a beauty of it's own, I am missing the colors of fall.

I decided I needed some fall color in my house.

When I got done with my shopping the kids and I were all hungry, so I just left all the orange colored leaf garlands and pumpkins and table linens sit in their bags on the counter.

We had some lunch and I wiped down the counter and decided to take a few minutes to get caught up on a blog or two.

I had just clicked over to June, when the phone rang. I hate not doing "something" while I am on the phone, so while I talked I pulled out my decoration's from their bags and started to remove price tags and get things ready.

I bought 3 fake pumpkins in various sizes. They were pretty neat because they look very real and were very cheap.

Finishing my conversation, I hung up the phone and I walked across the room to set the pumpkins on the fireplace hearth. I arranged,, and rearranged and decided that I liked them over to the right side instead of the left. I stepped back, decided it was good, turned around and ran right into the coffee table with my shin. Hard.

It has been almost two hours and there is some swelling with the exception of the indentation of where the table edge met my shin bone.

Let's just say that the words that came out of my mouth were not any where near sparklefraffle.
Actually, for the first few moments I couldn't speak because I was certain that later today I might have to get my leg cut off. Then, maybe, I could get out of running the 10 miler with my brother 16 days from now.

Which, by the way, he invited practically every cop on the force to run with us. One of whom is ACTUALLY a runner!

So, here I am writhing on the couch, holding my leg, in absolute pain. Pain a whole lot worse than childbirth with an epidural, and I am thinking that this just might be my "good reason". I mean, having to have a leg removed because you walked into your coffee table might be good enough reason NOT to run 10 miles with a bunch of police and professionals, right?

Right?

But then I start thinking how everyone would be like, "Kellie, what happened to the leg? I always thought you had two!"

And my answer would have to be, "Well I was reading blogs, and decorating, and talking on the phone, when I got into a huge fight with my coffee table and...and it took my leg."

It was several minutes before the intense pain went away. I gingerly got off the couch and walked to the fridge to find an ice pack. The ice wasn't good because the pressure on the shin was too much. As the pain went away I realized that I probably wasn't going to lose my leg.

It's just as well.

Having to tell someone that you lost your leg from running into your own coffee table wouldn't be half as gratifying as running 10 miles and dusting your own little brother in front of all his fuzz fellows.

That thought made me feel darn right good.

Gotta go! All these fall colors make me want to bake.

La Vida Dulce!