25 Shutterfly Christmas Cards -winners announced!

Update by Rhonda
I apologize for being so pokey about announcing the winners of this contest.  I thought Nina was picking and notifying the winners and she thought I was .

the winners are Cindy, Dawn and Emily.
thank you to all who read about and entered this contest.
Shutterfly really is one of my favorite online companies.



Hi Everyone!  This is Nina, Rhonda's AMAZING and AWESOME daughter (hee hee, Momma told me I could write whatever I wanted!) here.  I am so excited to tell you about one of my favorite online companies - Shutterfly.

I first found Shutterfly in 2007 when I was planning my wedding.  I didn't want a "normal" guestbook for my wedding, I wanted something that everyone could write a message in, so I made a Shutterfly Photo Book out of our engagement pictures.  I made sure to leave plenty of white space around the edges of the pages so everyone would have plenty of room to write.  I also wrote the story of how John and I began dating and the proposal story in the beginning of the book, so we would always remember the "funny little things" that have happened.

BUT! I'm really here to tell you about their Holiday Cards!  I have used Shutterfly for my holiday cards for the past 2-3 years and I have always been thrilled with the results. They have so many different designs to chose from.  Every time I look at their cards, I find new favorites!  I'm so indecisive that I usually order several different designs.  We haven't had our pictures taken for our cards yet, so I'm using some pictures we took on our beach vacation this summer.

Here are a few of my favorites this year:

Newsworthy Wishes

I am always on the search for "Religious" Christmas cards without them being cheesy or old fashioned.  I really like the new designs Shutterfly has this year.  They still convey the message, but they are also fun and modern.

We Are Blessed

Mighty God

They also have a large variety of items on their Stationary Page.  They have Invitations for Christmas Parties, Address Labels, Gift Tags and even Thank you cards if you are feeling extra ambitious! 

Now for the fun part!! Shutterfly will give 3 of you a code for 25 free Holiday Cards!  Yay!  Here's how to enter (Please leave a separate comment for each entry you complete):

1 Entry - Leave a comment telling me your favorite holiday tradition (can be a current tradition, on you had growing up, or a neat one that you've heard from someone else).

1 Entry - Blog about this Giveaway on your blog

I will choose three lucky winners on Saturday, October 29.

P.S. if you like hearing from me, let my Momma know and maybe she'll have me back to share again! :)

Disclaimer: Shutterfly provided us with 50 free holiday cards and free shipping (along with the 3 codes that I am giving away).  But all opinions/thoughts/random musings are all mine.  

this contest is over and closed  

talking a little about family and state

cowgirl in pink

cowgirl in orange and black

We live in a college town and our football team is doing especially good this season,  

they are undefeated and currently ranked 3rd in the polls.  

I am sure they are so successful because of how cute little Elizabeth roots for them.  

Son Bobby was here today too.
He rightly calls himself a grillmaster as he enjoys cooking outside.
He grilled a trayful of chicken breasts dipped in Head Country barbecue sauce for our lunch.
That chicken was delicious and I am happy we have leftovers too.  

Candy Corn Doilies for Fall

While Gavin napped yesterday,  I did a little fall updating.
I put the green polka-dot sheers back on the front window -I found them several years ago at a thrift store for $1 :)
and the yard sale green tablecloth replaced the red and white checked summer cloth.  

Aren't these doilies wonderful?
My mom, The Queen of Crochet, made them several years ago 

I think they look like candy corn.
Have you all seen the candy corn crafts that are the rage this year?
I searched for candy corn on Pinterest and found 80848 pins for candy corn!

Mom was way ahead of the times when she crocheted these.  

A few weeks ago, I saw on Elizabeth's blog, that she had some pretty colored glass up in a window very similar to the window over our front door.  
I put my grandmothers glass paperweights up in ours and they really look pretty when their is bright light coming through.  

oops - looks like I need to add clean dead bugs off windows to my to-do list!

I sewed up this new handbag for me this week.
The bird fabric was a preprinted apron panel,  also found at a thrift store.
I used a free internet pattern that I have used before
Artsy Craftsy Babe's Pleated Tote

it is an oldie but goodie pattern,  very easy to sew up and does not require a huge amount of fabric.

Jeff's got a  cold but has gone to work anyway.  

Both grandbabies are here today. 

 I've got some sirloin cubes thawing to make beef stew in the crock pot for supper. 

 And son Jimmy is coming over this evening so I can hem the pants of a new suit he just got.

What are you doing today?

Doing it all ????

We have neighbors that have the most beautiful well-manicured lawn I have ever seen,  They spend lots of time mowing it just a certain way and redoing the flower beds.  They do most of the work themselves but they also have professionals come to trim the trees and  do the feeding-weeding-and bug-killing spraying.

Our lawn turned brown this past summer from the heat and drought but our neighbors have a had a beautiful golf course quality lawn year round.

They are very nice people, busy with work, their son, golf, redoing a classic car and lots of yardwork.   

So what do my busy neighbors have to do with this cute picture of my granddaughter in a 1999-ish diaper?

Elizabeth in a retro diaper from neighbor Marcus

Well,  Mrs. Neighbor stopped me last month when I was out walking with my grandchildren.  She  had a package of diapers for us,  she sheepishly explained that their only son, who is 6 feet tall and 14 years old,  found the diapers in his bathroom cabinet.  They were his diapers but obviously he has has not needed them in at least 11 years. The diapers have been stashed away in a cabinet all this time.
I am glad she shared the diapers with us,  even if she was a little embarrassed about still having them.

I  have organized cabinets and a brown yard, while my neighbor may spend less time on her cabinets and has a green yard.    I don't think either of us is right or wrong,  we are just doing what works for us.

The moral of this little story- other people/bloggers may look like they have everything just perfect but really,  nobody can do everything.  Don't put other people who seem to be perfect on pedestals and don't look down on others or yourself when things are less than perfect.

Do what you can,  let other people do what they can and lets just enjoy others and ourselves as we all do the best we can -and not stressing about stuff that does not matter.

3rd & 4th batches of no-knead dough

3rd batch of no-knead 14 day dough
made into 6 buns

On the dough's 13th day,  I shaped half of what was left into 6 sandwich buns.  We had sloppy joes for supper that night,  It was very nice to already have the dough made on a busy day.
They rose up almost as good as fresh dough.
However,  we were not crazy about this batch either.  They are certainly edible but the crust, especially the part that bakes on the stoneware, is just not good.  It is chewy in an unpleasant way.

Since we were not thrilled with any of the first 3 baking attempts,  I threw out the 4th batch.

In the future,  I will try this no-knead method again.  I plan to use a different recipe though, maybe one that includes at least a little sweetener and fat.

Have any of you had any more success with this method than I did?