A Little Pregnancy Update

In case you're new to my blog, I'm not pregnant...my daughter is! Gotta clear that up right away! As some of you may recall, my daughter has boy/girl twins that turned 10 on May 21st. A few days after that, they announced they were pregnant with baby #3.   To say I was shocked would be an understatement but once the shock wore off, I quickly got busy helping her plan and doing a lot little shopping for the new baby.    Right now my dining room is the holding area for all things baby....furniture, clothes, pictures, etc. until they get the room ready for the baby.

In August she had a gender reveal party where we found out we'll have another grandson! We are so excited to meet him!

 It's a Boy!

 I really wanted to document her pregnancy so she would have something to look back on but as usual, with all I've had going on this past summer with my mom's situation, it's been hard to do that. While I do see my daughter on a regular basis (going by her office a couple of times a week) I just haven't taken the time to take photos, etc.

Here she is at 10 weeks

And of course Taylor wanted in on the action (she's going to be such a good little helper)

(10 weeks)

So we had all our children and grandchildren here for lunch on Sunday and I took a couple of pictures of her now at 26 weeks.

 And, once again, Taylor wanted to strike the same pose as before.....

 Shannon and her family are leaving this week for Disney World and when they get back, we are going to start getting the nursery ready.    The nursery is the old play room and they have had a time getting it cleaned out.   There is some furniture in there that will have to go into storage and some toy donations but I can't wait to help her make this room come together.

I can't believe October is just around the corner....of course that means Thanksgiving and Christmas won't be far behind either!   

Have a great week!

My One and Only Fall Decor!

I have been amazed at some of the fall tours I've seen this week in some very talented blogger's homes. I wish I could say it inspired me to get my "fall on" but truth is, I don't have time this year.

I love those three tiered stands and was so happy to find one at Hobby Lobby back during the summer at 1/2 off! One of the reasons I like those stands is because you can decorate them so many ways for the seasons and they are easy to remove from the table when it's time to eat.

 

I bought a package of mini gourds and pumpkins and added them in the stand with some other things that I was already using.

 

 

 

 

And there you have it....guess that's why I don't get asked to be featured on a blog tour!   All kidding aside, I do have plans to do a little more decorating in the den and if I get that done, I'll share that too.

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Having Your Cake and Eating It Too, II!

Strange title I know...I put the "II" since this is a repost 2nd time around. Since I seem to be totally consumed with caring for my mom and getting the paperwork & documents together in preparation for filing for Medicaid, and as stated many other times lately, I don't have time to decorate or finish projects. Instead of just totally ignoring my blog, I may have to do a little reposting from time to time.

This is one of the easiest and best cake recipes I've ever had. One of my friends gave this to me when I was on Weight Watchers and it is soooo good you'd never think it wasn't bad for you. I'm making this tonight...we may just have cake for supper!

Easy Pineapple-Orange Cream Cake

• 1 (15 1/4 oz) can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges in light syrup, drained
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 1/2 cup fat free mayonnaise
• Cooking spray 
• 1 (12 oz) container fate free whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (1 oz) package sugar-free vanilla instant pudding mix

1.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.   Drain pineapple, reserving juice, set pineapple aside
3.   Combine reserved pineapple juice, cake mix, mandarin oranges, egg substitute and mayo in a large bowl.   Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended.   Pour batter into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray
4.   Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.   Cool in wire rack.
5.   Combine drained pineapple, whipped topping and vanilla pudding mix in a medium bowl, beat at low speed just until blended.    Spread pineapple mixture evenly over top of cake.   Cover and store cake in refrigerator.  

I think this came out to be about 4 points per serving.  

It feels like fall today!   When I was at mama's nursing home this morning we sat out on the covered porch and it was soooo nice.   Hope it's cooling down in your "neck of the woods"!

Oh, and remember that pillow project I share with ya'll?  Here's a little reminder....

Epic fail so far!   My sewing machine is not working properly so for now this project is on hold...hope I can get the problem with my machine fixed soon so I can finish this and share soon!
 

Early Signs of Fall - Posts From The Past

Looks like everyone is ready for fall but it's still so sticky hot here we'll be into October before it even begins to cool off. I'm starting to make preparations for putting out some fall things but until I do here's a few pictures from years past.

These are from different years (I believe 2009-2013) so it's kind of a mix of things I've done over the last few years.   Hope you enjoy them!

I couldn't find any "baby boo" pumpkins so I bought mine at Dollar Tree and spray painted them white!   I think I'll go over them with some brown-ish stain and/or watered down paint to take off some of the shine.

Here's a collage I made of things inside and outside the house.

Inspired by Nell Hill's, I made my own "DIY stamped linen napkins" (they reverse to a bird's nest)

I found this cute little tureen at a flea market years ago and think I paid something like $8.00 for it!   It's perfect for the two of us and I serve my chicken tortilla soup out of it...wonderful for a cool fall night.

Kitchen table vignette last year....I topped a chippy black urn with a candle ring and placed a spray painted faux pumpkin on top....this is easy to move off the table when it's time to eat

A few years ago I decided to spray paint a pumpkin turquoise and it has been one of my favorite things I ever did....kinda different but I love how it turned out

You can see some of the orange peeking thru the turquoise but I don't mind

Here are my DIY curtains I made with sheets and drop cloths....easy and oh-so pretty!

The same year I did the turquoise pumpkin, I also spray painted some white...I put some moss around the neck of the stem to make it look more realistic

I made this "Fall" burlap banner a couple of years ago

I added a faux garland from Hobby Lobby and some white Christmas lights....I love how this turned out and it can stay out from early fall until time to decorate for Christmas.

I don't plan to buy anything new this year (I have tons of things up in the attic too) but I am making some pillows for our front porch.     I've been wanting to make these for a while so I finally did this year.

Here's what I've done so far....just a little peek!   I'll be sharing these next week (hopefully)!

Hope you all have a great week!