Post 450 is only 5 posts away and I'm having a Giveaway!

This is my 445 post! I have decided that I will be hosting a giveaway for my 450th post, which will probably be 5 days away! I'm not going to say right now what it is, so you will just have to stay tuned. I would like to say thank you to everyone for visiting my post daily, weekly or occasionally. I really enjoy sharing my life and experiences with all of you and reading all your comments.

Stayed tuned......

Pictures from the NJ trip

I had promised pictures of the NJ trip but I only have 3! I know, I know that isn't very much but that was all I took. The leaves hadn't turned very much so there were any really pretty tree/leaf pics to take. It had also rained so much my Mom's flower garden wasn't that pretty and she wouldn't let me take any pics of that. Hopefully I'll go back for a visit in the Spring and have alot more pics then!


Here is the one and only leaf/tree picture I took. This is the park in Newton, NJ. I thought this sugar maple was really pretty. This is 2 towns over from my parents home.


Here is a Civil War Memorial in the same town, Newton, NJ. Megan was driving and we were sitting at the traffic light, so I had a great opportunity to snap this pic!


This is a picture of Megan (on the right and my oldest daughter) and Sarah (Megan's best friend). They are all dressed up for their other friends wedding. I think they both look lovely! Sarah, Megan's friend is 6 months pregnant and I think she has the "glow"!!

Well that is about it! I wish I had snapped some pics of my Dad's tractor he refurbished, but I guess that will be for the next trip home! Everyone have a great day!

Toasters

While I was in NJ John told me our toaster oven died. I really don't use the toaster oven for very much other than making toast, so I decided we just needed a 4-slice toaster. Last night after work I went to Target to buy a toaster. Well when I got there I couldn't believe how many different toasters there are-I just want to make toast!! There are 2-slice toaster, 4-slice toasters, toasters just for bagels, toasters that can accomodate bread and bagels, toasters with retractable cords, toasters that were stainless steel, toasters that are black or toasters in pretty colors like red, white, etc. I ended up buy a Hamilton Beach SmartToast 4-Slice Toaster. It can toast bread or bagels and it is stainless steel to match the appliances in my kitchen. John popped in my waffles this morning for my drive to the office and it worked great! (Every morning I have 2 wholegrain Eggo Waffles with Sugar-Free fruit spread on the way to work. This works out because I eat it like a sandwich while driving. Saves time in the a.m. since I have to leave for work at 6:50. Atleast that is one problem solved! Everyone have a great day!

I'm back from NJ!!!

I got back to NC from NJ at about 6:45 p.m. last night. We had left at 7:30 a.m.! Long trip! The girls slept almost all the way home so I did almost all the driving. I didn't mind though they needed the sleep. They had been at the wedding until really late the night before, so me driving was the better option-LOL! I had a really nice visit with my parents, my sisters and their families and 3 of my friends. I went to lunch at The Tea Hive with my Mom and one of my sisters! I love that place! They have a tea there called Vanilla Cream Spice and it is to die for! I had 2 pots of it. I didn't get much reading time in and not many pictures either, which was too bad. They had so much rain this year that the leaves didn't seem to be changing very much but they were just dropping. I thought I could get some really beautiful pictures. I will post what pictures I did take tonight. I was able to help my Dad with some things in his shop while I was there and he cut out the circles in copper that I needed to make some more earrings. He kind of made it his mission to figure out how to cut through the heavier copper and he did it! So now I've got 37 disk of copper to make earrings, necklaces or bracelets. I was a little worried about my Mom, she is having blood pressure problems. The Drs. put her on 2 patches of high blood pressure meds and I think it is too much for her. She keeps falling asleep during the day and then can't sleep at night. She is calling the Dr. today. Hopefully they will get it adjusted correctly for her.

I was so glad to see John, I had really missed him while I was gone. Hopefully the next time he can come with us. Teddy also missed me, he went bananas when I walked through the door! It is so nice to be loved by my men-LOL!!

I missed keeping in touch with all of you too! I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great day!

Last night's bookclub was wonderful!

Our book for the month of September was The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I must admit I had my ups and downs with the book. It had a very slow and winding start and then by the last quarter of the book I had trouble putting it down. The "leader" of our bookclub is Alison Woo from Charlotte Weekly, which is a Charlotte newspaper. She is great-she asks us great questions, makes you think about what you've read and just handles everything so beautifully! We had a wonderful surprise! A professor at UNC was a guest last night of our bookclub and had some wonderful things to tell us about the book. She is of spanish origin, so she was able to talk to us about Barcelona, the translation, she wrote a beautiful beautiful poem about the book and was just a lovely person! This was definitely a vanilla/chocolate book! Some people absolutely hated it and some loved it and will be reading it again!

Our reading selection for next month is The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

**NOTE: I won't be posting after today until Monday when I get back from my NJ trip! Everyone have a great week and weekend!!

Packing, packing and more packing!

I feel like I just packed a suitcase for our weekend in Virginia (which I did) and now I'm packing a suitcase for my NJ trip on Thursday morning! After this trip I won't be going anywhere for some time. I have so many things I need to take wih me to NJ-laptop, camera, cooler, books, ipod, 2 birthday gifts, 1 baby shower gift, pie plate my Mom forgot here, clothing, toiletries, copper sheet for my dad to cut into circles for more earrings, etc., etc. It's like moving all over again! I haven't been back home in over a year. I have quite a few people to see while I'm there too. My Mom has some places she wants me to go with her, my nephew wants me to go to his soccer game and I want to visit with my 2 sisters too! WHEW!! I really don't think I'll be able to do all I want to do, but I'm going to try. I'll need a vacation from my vacation! It will be good to see the Fall leaves in NJ though when I'm home! My parents live about 15 mins. from PA and NY state, so they already have had some cold weather. The sugar maples should be really pretty! I'll be taking tons of pictures while I'm there too! Jenny and Megan are excited too! Megan's friend is getting married on Saturday-they have known each other since grammar school. We will also see another one of Megan's friends and my friends daughter who is pregnant. That will be a fun time! I hope I can visit with my friend, Jean too I haven't seen her in such a long time! Jean put the kettle on for our teafest! She lives by a lake, which should be really beautiful this time of year! Well I better get a move on and make some more lists so I don't forget anything!

The weekend in Virginia was wonderful!

John and I had a really great time in Virginia! It was fun, relaxing, entertaining and just what we needed! We arrived on Friday around 4:30 and went over to Tommy Brown's Rodeo place. He has rodeos there but he also has an old saloon he created and a barn filled with carriages. Didn't get pictures of those because I thought we would go back over there but never did. The weekend just flew by! We did however, get to a cidery and sampled 4 different kinds of hard cider and 1 brandy cider. We also sampled 5 different cheeses! I bought 2 bottles of the cider to bring home. I'll break them out during the holidays! Teddy had a wonderful time swimming in the creek (looked like a small river to us). He is sleeping right now he is so tired out! It rained all day yesterday but that didn't stop us. We took a hike up the side of the hill, which ended up being about 3 miles. The tree canopy kept us pretty dry but we were a little soggy when we got back to the house. It was wonderful anyway. Then Penny, my co-workers wife and I went to the cidery and did our cider/cheese tour. Yummy! Then we headed back to the house to feed the boys the ziti I had brought. Then Penny, Gaius and their two boys headed back to Charlotte. They had a Zak Brown concert to go to for Gaius' birthday. So John and I read, napped and then had dinner together. We woke up this morning so well rested and relaxed and the sun was shining brightly! We took Teddy over to the creek/river for a swim, which he loved! Had breakfast and then read our books out on the front porch. The rocking chairs, view, company and everything was just wonderful! We headed back to Charlotte at 2:00, stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late lunch, stopped at PetSmart for a new collar for Teddy (he lost his in the river). We are caught up with the laundry and ready to chill for the night! What a fabulous weekend! Here are the pictures of the weekend-enjoy!


This is the bridge to the house we stayed in this weekend.


Here is where we stayed!


This view is from the side driveway.


The owner built a bellfry on the house, it really works too!



We were sitting on the rocking chairs on the front porch and this was our view to the horse barn.

NOW TO THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE:


This was our Master Bedroom! We took this from the huge Master Bathroom. It was wonderful!


There was a little sitting area off the Master Bedroom.


The Master Bath jacuzzi tub and bathroom itself was huge (as you can see).



This is the woodstove that was in one of the many sitting areas downstairs.


This is the fireplace and a huge antique safe built in the stone in the Great Room.


There was a bar area in the great room.

BACK OUTSIDE TO THE RIVER AND TEDDY!


See how much Teddy loved the river. He was going after a stick John had thrown to him.


This is definitely an action shot. Teddy just got out of the river and was shaking himself off-yuck!


This was inside the horse barn. What beautiful stalls these horses had. The owner doesn't keep horses there anymore, which is a shame because the barn and stalls were gorgeous!


The Creek/River in front of the house.