up on the roof

Anyone else sing the blog title in their heads just now?

No?

Just me then?

Back to the subject at hand which happens to be the roof. If you've been hangin' round these parts for over a year, you know that hubs likes to decorate our roof in an unconventional sort of way.

With words.

Spelled with lights.

The first year, it was this:

which lead our neighbors to wonder if we were in some sort of cult.

We're not. This is pure shenaniganisms. Yes that's a word.

Last year, the roof attracted so much attention, our house appeared on two popular websites and friends of ours that frequent those websites called and texted to let us know our rooftop had reached celebrity status. Last year's roof looked like this:

Again, I assure you there is no hidden meaning behind this. We love Christmas. The halls are decked, the carols are blaring from the stereo, and there's peppermint creamer in the fridge. This is hubs at his finest. Well, he's pretty darn fine in a tux, but you know what I mean.

Moving on.

This year, hubs masterpiece is sportin' a hashtag.

Because he's modern and whatnot.

Oliver's first observation was this:

"That's not how you spell it."

Well no, it's not.

"Then why is it like that?"

Your daddy is being silly.

"Oh. Ok."

Do you have any idea how many times I've had to say, "Your daddy is just being silly"? If I had a nickel for each time, I could buy like a thousand pumpkin spice lattes, mmkay?

So, in conclusion, the writing is once again on the roof.

It's pure shenanigans.

There is no cult.

I like pumpkin spice lattes.

p.s. If you'd like to take a gander at the INSIDE decor from last year, click HERE. The decor from this year so far is laughable at best. I'm a bit behind, not to be confused with I HAVE a big behind.

Flashback Friday- a tribute to Dad

Happy Friday, friends! I've been a bit MIA from the blog this week while enjoying the sunshine and whatnot with my kiddos. Swimming, chalkin' up the driveway, swinging, and water gun fighting were all on the itenerary this week. The water gun fight was even impromptu, which is the best kind, and all 5 Mathews were drenched before a truce was called. We're soaking up every second of our summer, but today is Friday, and you know what that means...

Since Sunday marked a special holiday that honors our Dads, today's Flashback Friday is all about my Dad. To the father who's always called himself my #1 fan, here are some of my fave shots of the two of us. And a couple with that other sibling of mine... ;o)

***
My very first Easter.
I'm pretty sure my thoughts at the moment were, "I'm gonna lay here all still and pretend to sleep, but when they leave the room I'm totally eating that bunny".

Love the Converse shirt, Dad.
And the stache.



 Pretty sure mum had just told us to look directly into the sun and smile.



 First beach trip as a fam of 4.
Here's proof that E got more than just her daddy's genes.
Nice legs, Dad.

 One of my all-time fave things to do when I was 5/6.
As you can see, I'm contributing a WHOLE lot.
Once again, nice legs Dad.

 Sixth grade trip to Washington, D.C.
We paid a visit to the FBI, but as you can clearly see, the real crime is what's happening above my neck.

 First Oscar party in 1997.
Thanks mum and dad for letting me turn your house into an awards show slash banquet hall. And for loving the Oscars because I love the Oscars. And thanks, Dad, for holding a fake Oscar and taking a picture with me. Also...thanks for letting me get contacts. Good GRAVY, thanks for that.

I must also give a shout-out to my baby daddy, because the kiddos and I...well we loves him a lot.

Thanks for being such a fine baby daddy, hubs.

I'm extremely blessed to have these two men in my life, as well as the sweetest Grandaddy and Father-in-law on the planet.

God is so good.

Happy weekend to ya!

winner winner chicken dinner and a mower with flair

Happy Monday!! I hope you all had a lovely weekend celebrating the Dad's/husbands/Father figures in your life! We were able to celebrate with both of our families yesterday and it was truly and blessing!

First things first... I plugged the number of comments from the giveaway post into random.org, and....

drumroll please......

the winner of the D's Stitches giveaway is.....

comment #3- Laurie

Congrats to you, Laurie! There's an e-mail coming your way with details on how to contact Danielle! And for the rest of you, remember Danielle's shop,
 D's Stitches, for all of your monogram and applique needs! T-shirts, onesies, bloomers, towels....check out her shop HERE if you haven't yet!

Before I sign off for today, I have to share a little project that I found hubs a'workin on last night.

It all started when he asked for some masking tape.
I asked, "why?".
He said, "I just need it".

And that, my friends, is all it took.
I finished packaging the order I was working on, and went in search of shenanigans. This time, they came in the form of this:

and this:

and eventually produced this:

 

That's right. He needed tape so he could create lightning and arrows and whatnot on his mower. A 'custom job', if you will. I'll say this for it, it's got flair. Don't think I've ever seen lightning down the side of a mower before.

If any of you are interested in his services, feel free to contact me and I'll send him over. Masking tape in hand.

Flashback Friday- a tribute to hubs

In honor of the hubs birthday, and the fact that he's stepping a little unwillingly through the door marked, "late twenties, enter here", let's take a look back at a few moments from his pre-twenties, shall we?

Ahhh...baby Clay.

A little TOO much of baby Clay, hence the cute lil' sticker.

Sweet little cheeks.

All 4 of them.

A wee bit older now and he's already mastered the Blue Steel while simultaneously digging something from the recesses of his ear.

Just plop a couple of pigtails on '1986 Easter Clay' and call him Mary Martin.

Am I right or am I right?

Oh the socks...

and the precious bow tie...

and the Peter Pan collar...

and the interior of the castle he seems to be standing in...

Why hello pre-pubescent Clay.

Love the knock-off Tevas.

And color-blocked Umbros.

And braces.

And thick, muscular legs.

Yummy.

And since I currently have no other pictures of adolescent Clay, let's skip ahead a few years...

Ah.

Much better.

Dashing, isn't he?

And hubs isn't lookin' too bad either.

Love the coveralls.

Again, yummy.

And because I feel that far too few people on the earth were witness to hubs afro days,

I give you...

Afro Clay.

Is there any wonder why I pounced on that?

I know, right?

Tan and toned, with a head FULL of hair and a fabulous decorator to boot.

I mean, just look at those beautifully styled shelves.

And that necklace.

And the way he holds that hair dryer.

Sheesh, how'd I get so lucky?

Happy birthday week to you, hubs.

And if it makes you feel better,

you don't look a day over 27.

Swear it.

Happy Birthday to Hubs

I'd like to announce to the internets and to the world that my hubs is officially in his late twenties. As in, he's turning 28 today, and let's face it- he's been holding on to those quasi-mid-twenties for too long. But 28? No longer mid, my friends, but most definitely late. I point this out only because it's giving him anguish and also because I kissed my late twenties buh-bye quite a while ago. That's right folks. Just call me Courtney Cox and slap me down in Cougar Town, cause that's where I reside. And now, a tribute to hubs via pictures + words:

Happy Birthday to my hubs-

 who not only cuts O's hair, but also cleans up afterwards-

who constantly provides nutritious snacks for our kiddos-

who always smiles when I take our picture-

who is an incredibly sexy baby daddy-

who's always up for a good costume party, 

who teaches our children to aim for the sky-

who works hard for our family-

who is handy around the house-

who is a most awesome swing pusher-

and who is always willing to create a little fun in an otherwise normal day.

Thank you, hubs. For all of these and more.

We love you lots and lots and lots.

And welcome to your late twenties.

Again.



The halls are minimally decked

That's right.

minimal.

I'm taking a somewhat minimal approach to my Christmas decor this year.

I haven't even unpacked a single red/green Christmas tub.

no.not.one.

So why the minimalist approach?

Well, I'll tell ya-

I think it's the tree.

You see, I've never had a real one before, and it's just so pretty that I didn't want to load it up with all of the hulabaloo I used last year on the faux.

Does that make sense?

I'm really just enjoying the lovliness of it, and my desire to keep the tree decor minimal has spread to the rest of my house as well. There's still plenty of Christmas cheer spread about, just in smaller doses, and until this rain subsides and I get some decent pictures of it all, I'm throwing a few iphone pics up to give you a sneak peek at what's happenings at the Mathews.

I totally threw another book page project in the mix. Last week's post can now be titled, "5 reasons to tear up a thrift store book".

The hubs, not wanting to be outdone, took it upon himself to put a lil' decor in the man cave. I discovered him 'decorating' after hearing the staple gun.

yes.

staple gun.

sheesh.

He also took to the roof with his staple gun. Stay tuned to see what it says this year...

p.s. Here's a reminder of what it looked like last year

**I'll be back soon with a full decor post. Until then, I'll be working on a few last minute projects before heading out to this year's Dickens Downtown. I'd love to see all of you locals there! Let's all pray this rain goes away before tonight!**



This and That and last call for giveaway entries

Happy Thursday friends!

I've got a bit of randomness to share today, but first-

a quick reminder that today is the last day to enter the current giveaway for a $30 credit in my etsy shop. Just go to THIS post and leave a comment telling me something you're grateful for.

That's it!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Now,

for a bit of random...

***

Yesterday began just as any other day.

Rushing around, getting ready for school, making coffee, signing papers, grabbing backpacks and jackets, and then a mad dash out the door-

all the while, urging my 'likes-to-take-his-sweet-precious-time' son to move a little faster please.

I did a little extra rushing yesterday so that we'd have time to stop by Target to pick up something I needed for school, and as we raced out the door to the car while I'm once again urging Oliver to move a little faster,

I heard him scream just as I opened my car door.

"A snake, Mommy! A real one!"

(gulp)

He's on the opposite side of the car from me and since I can't see him, I yell for him to get away from it. I take a few steps away from my car door and walk towards the front so that I can see the doors on the opposite side, and sure enough- there it is. I honestly don't know how O didn't step right on it. I guess if he had, indeed, been moving faster like I'd asked him to, he would have stepped right on top of it. Sheesh am I glad he kept his own pace this time. And sheesh am I glad we were ready to leave super early since I now had time to jog across the street to ask my neighbor if he wouldn't mind bludgeoning said reptile to death.

Turns out he didn't mind a bit.

I, of course, snapped a picture of it, but since I'd like to spare my friend Mel from having to look at that and since I really don't have any desire to see it again either, I'm not going to post it. Let's put it this way though, that sucker wasn't teeny. Not HUGE, but definitely not teeny.

***

I picked up a fabulous new shade of nail polish at Target a few days ago and since I was inspired by all of those 'hold the bottle of nail polish while you show off your nails' pictures on Pinterest, this is MY Pinterest-esque pic-

Please overlook the fact that I don't have model-like hands or nails.

Just focus on the pretty blingy polish.

It's 'The Next CEO' by Nicole for OPI.

Did you know Target carried OPI?

As if they needed more cool points....

***

Have I mentioned lately that my kiddos own as many costumes as they do regular clothes? And have I also mentioned that MM thinks O's Jengo Fett helmet is the coolest thing since pop-tarts?

***

Made some new flowers tonight-

meet "Tweed".

Isn't she lovely?

Gawgeous shades of blue and gray and brown.

Love.

Also whipped up a headband.

***

Just in case you wondered...

Yes, the hubs is thoroughly enjoying our new chalkboard.

Yes, his eyes get all squinty when he's being silly.

Yes, this pic was taken yesterday so you'll have to adjust the number.

***

If you're local, there are a couple of events coming up that I want to make you aware of. Northport Church of God is having a craft fair/bazaar THIS SATURDAY from 8:00-3:00 and yours truly will have a booth. I've been working my booty off every night (except for Monday...) cutting and sewing and embossing and I'm hoping to take twice as many goods as I took to the last one. I'll also have a booth this year at Dickens Downtown, which will be held in Downtown Northport Tuesday night, December 6.

Mark your calendars.

I'll share more about Dickens in another post for those of you who are wondering what the flip it is. Just wanted to go ahead and throw those dates out there while I was thinking about it. I also made 6 new styles of pennant banners and another style of Christmas stockings that I'll share with you as soon as I have decent photos.

***

I think that's all I've got for now friends.

I truly hope that you're having a terrific Thursday, which might be feeling a bit like Friday if you're off work tomorrow for Veteran's Day.

If that's the case,

Happy quasi-Friday to ya!

weekend recap and a new shop item

Hello friends, and happy Monday to ya!

I hope you all had a fabulously mahvelous weekend.

Mine got off to a little bit of a slow start as I was

incredibly, insanely, overwhelmingly tired from the happenings of the week.

Do any of you experience that?

Monday starts off well enough, but if you go to bed the SLIGHTEST bit late, you're in trouble. There's no catching up on Tuesday, for Tuesday has an agenda of its own, and Wednesday? Fuh-get about it. No catching up then, and Thursday and Friday?

They just laugh at you.

"What? You think WE'RE about to give you a break? Cut you some slack? Not only are we NOT going to give you the rest you so desperately need, we're gonna take away even more of your sleepy time/sanity."

That Friday is a booger. Since Saturday is the ONE day of the week that doesn't have an early call, Friday is all like, "Stay up late with me! Drink coffee all night long and read those magazines that you've been piling up because Monday through Thursday don't give you time for such nonsense. I'll give you all the time you WANT for your Elle Decor and Traditional Home and Lucky and InStyle. ALL the TIME YOU WANT."

(Sometimes I just want to punch Friday in the face and go to bed at 6:00pm)

Sorry.

I digress.

As I was saying...

My boys were both up early, the older one went to church to help build a pavilion (more on that in a sec) and the younger one was ready to fly spaceships in a galaxy far, far away. After a bowl of oatmeal of course.

Since our church is running a distribution center now, it was decided that a permanent pavilion-type structure should be built in the parking lot. And for those of you wondering why my church would need a structure in the parking lot with a roof, THIS post will explain why. The needs of the community around my church are still great and so many are still volunteering their time and donating their goods to make sure those needs are met. On Saturday, my hubs was one of several men who made 8 wooden posts sunk into the ground go from this:

to this:

to this:

and if I'm remembering correctly, all that's left to do is to finish out the roof with shingles. Once that's done, the pavilion will serve as a permanent structure under which tables can be set up for the distribution of goods, as well as the occasional meal. Awesomeness.

While hubs was busy with the hammer and nails, I was able to check a whole slew of things of the ole' to-do list. Yes, I totally just said slew.

I fed the girlies breakfast, cleaned out their closet, listed some much-too-small-for-MM clothes on the facebook garage sale, cleaned out the fridge, fed all 3 kiddos lunch, washed the dishes, put the girlies down for a nap, cut some fabric,and took the quickest shower EVAH because the girlies didn't even nap an entire hour. (boo)

I was thankful for enough time, however, to cut these out:

Yes, I do feel like I owe a bit of an apology to Halloween and Thanksgiving for putting my thoughts on Christmas so early, but I jotted "Houndstooth stocking" on a piece of paper at school this week and simply had to make one. I used the same pattern I made for my burlap stockings last year and I'm tickled pink with how they turned out.

Yup.

Pink.

They'll be listed in the shop as soon as I have etsy-worthy photos of them.

And speaking of Houndstooth and Crimson and Roll Tide and whatnot...

these babies, as well as the solid crimson and the houndstooth/crimson hybrid flowers, are totally for sale at Alabama Express on the strip (as well as 3 other locations in town). So, for all you locals, you can totally see and purchase my flowers at an actual store. I mean, they'll be hanging in there. On the wall and stuff. And you can buy them. Did you hear me, internet? My stuff is available at a brick and mortar other than my house.

Thanks go to David for thinking they were cool enough to sell in his shop.

And speaking of my friend David....

he ran lights and sound for Tuscaloosa Children's Theatre's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie this week.

The hubs and I were able to see the show Saturday night and it. was. fab.

Kudos to their director, Drew, and to Rosie and Nick who were absolutely superb as Millie & Jimmy. The entire cast and crew should be extremely proud of their production. Also, kudos to Callie and Tim for their phenomenal cameos. Did you hear that Callie and Tim?

That's a total shout-out.

And now, here's a few more things you might need to know, or might care to know, or might not give a rat's tooty about:

1. I'm currently cooking supper.

In my crock-pot.

This is huge for me since I really don't cook.

(It's in my bio)

Thanks go to Judy for giving me that chili recipe on a blue index card a couple of years ago. It's the only thing I make that hubs will eat.

2. I'm taking the kiddos trick-or-treating on sorority row tonight.

Any of you ever done this?

Taken your kiddos to sorority houses to trick-or-trick?

Most of the fams at my church do it every year-

not quite sure why I've never gone before.

Oh yeah, I was probably in rehearsal for something.

Anywho, I'm pumped.

Should be a good time.

I'll report back tomorrow.

3. Did I hear that Kristen Chenoweth was going to be on DWTS tonight?

Can anyone confirm?

I heart her.

4. All Missoni for Target items that happen to still be in Target stores are now 30% off.

Did you hear that internet?

30% OFF.

Run, don't walk.

5. And is there anything funnier than a babe in a curly gray wig eating a pop-tart?

I think not.



Tea Time

For as long as I can remember, there's been a ladies tea party at my church, complete with fine table linens,

china,

delectable teas,

scrumptious food,

and hats galore.

We were all set to don our hats once again back in April of this year,

but just as the saying goes,

"We make plans and God laughs",

our tea party was gone with the wind, just like most of our church building.

As most of you know,

the wonderful people of Open Door, another church in our city,

have graciously opened their literal doors to us which has allowed us to continue worshipping together as a church family.

On Saturday of last week, the ladies of Alberta Baptist and Open Door Baptist came together for a ladies tea party/luncheon and a wonderful time of fellowship. Our two congregations are for the most part, strangers, since we go straight into our worship service at 9:00 while their Sunday School classes are in session, and then basically swap places. Although we are occupying the same building at the same time, we're never in the same spaces, so it was lovely to share a table and get to know a few members of their church family a little better. Their pastor's wife spoke and did an amazing job of sharing the word with us. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the day-

tea pots served as centerpieces on each table

yes, I take pictures of my food when I'm super excited about it

Melanie and Hayden

2 are serious, 2 are not...

4 are quasi-serious...

(that one's for you, Jerry)

And, since no day is complete without some sort of shenanigans from my hubs,

I leave you with this:

Happy Tuesday to ya!