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two more gifts done.......
I over-stuffed their little robot arms on purpose, I know that with use they'll get bendy fairly quickly!
Everywhere I go I see people using the Kindle or the Nook........but I'm not ready to give up actual books. I love the feel of them, the smell of them. I love everything about them. I love to swap them, to put them on my shelf and pull them down to reread later...
Besides, if I didn't have an actual book, I wouldn't need to make these:
I can't resist a pretty bookmark....especially one that has been handmade.
Happy Thanksgiving! 
This week's challenge at ironcraft was to make something for the table...as in the Thanksgiving or other holiday table.
I combined that with Dean's dessert of the month. He had wanted me to make some dumplings he saw in a Williams-Sonoma catalog. So...I got the recipe and made them:
They are called Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Dumplings and are wonderful! If you want to try them out yourself, here is the link to the recipe. We all thought they were a bit too salty so I'm am cutting the salt in half when I make them for Christmas dinner....but oh my gosh they are good..especially with the whipped cream and caramel sauce on top!
I made this happy little acorn for this month's toy society drop
and then Kaela dropped it at a Starbuck's newspaper rack while we waiting for our drinks.
We pretended to drop our receipt and Kaela hung it while I blocked everyone's view...such fun doing nice things together.
Our neighborhood backs up to a golf course and this tree is in the middle of one of the greens.
Every day I pass it on my way out of the neighborhood. Every evening I pass it on my way back in....and I always take a moment to look at it.
To most people, this tree is is not pretty. The branches grow unevenly and sparsely. There seems to be more moss that actual tree.
But there is just something about it that I love. Some mornings, the fog wraps around the base of the trunk. Other mornings, the frost glistens on the moss and ground.
Even in the faintest of breezes, the Spanish moss waves.
And in the evening, right after dusk, it can look really creepy. It would be a great Halloween tree!I keep thinking that I'll get out of my car, walk up and take a decent picture of it but I never do.I look forward to actually doing just that one day but until then, this will have to do...taken by my daughter hanging out the window while I was rolling by.
At the beginning of October, a friend of mine lost her husband. He was a friend of ours too and we were stunned. He was so young and left behind a wife and 2 very young boys.....it was all just so sudden.
That Sunday, the sermon was "Being Thankful."When our pastor started speaking, I had to leave.
I basically crashed into a woman as the two of us tried to walk into the bathroom at the same time....both while crying.We exchanged stories and stood out in the hall for a few minutes just talking. When we were finished crying and wiping tears, we hugged and said goodbye.
When I went back in to listen to the sermon I was so glad I was composed.
Our pastor was talking about how hard the economy had hit people he knew and how the suicide rate was sky rocketing everywhere and was alarmingly high in our own parish.
Then he talked about a recent remembrance event held at our church for people who had lost children.
At the event, the guest speaker was a local pastor who had recently lost his 3 year old grandson. He spoke of how hard it is not to question God. He chose instead to be thankful for the 3 wonderful years he got to spend with his grandson.
Our pastor continued on, adding details and spinning his sermon while everyone sat listening.
I've never heard such a quiet sanctuary...in the end, his message was simple:
Whether you believe in God or not, life is fragile, we do not know what the future holds. We need to be more thankful, and not take so much for granted.
Back then I decided I would write a thankful post daily during November...but in the end, I just decided to be more thankful each day and to show it. 
I hope you all have a wonderful November.....and remember to be thankful for even the little things!
Dean and Matt decided that "Crackhead Santa" and "Pipe Smoking Rudy" were beyond saving.
We suffered just one casualty...but it was a vintage ornament from my parent's tree....really made me sad. I'm not even going to throw it away...maybe I can do "something" with it????
asleep!
