ice bucket

I've been wanting an ice bucket to use in our new house, but haven't wanted to pay for one. It is on the "list" of things we want to get eventually...just not one of the top priorities. I was browsing around the Goodwill thrift store recently, and found this lovely thing for 99 cents. I wasn't crazy about the colors. For less than a dollar, though, I thought it would serve the purpose just fine.

When I got it home, I thought I'd try to cover it with something. The bucket has an inside removable layer, so I hot-glued some fabric around it. I like this much better!

It still looks a little funny inside, but overall, I was really happy with the result!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we celebrated with lots of family at my brother & sister-in-law's house. We had so much food and family fun.

The girls were silly, as usual... I like this picture, with my sweet grandma in the background:

Keith was considering a career in farming...on his first John Deere tractor...

Grace is taking piano lessons - fascinating for the other kids...

and I couldn't resist taking a picture of all these wonderful desserts! we had two kinds of cheese cake, a couple of chocolate pies, a couple of pumpkin pies, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin mousse, a jello/whipped cream dessert, and a coconut cream pie... I had a terrible time deciding which ones to eat!

dino stuff

For Christmas this year, I made my nephew a dinosaur scarf and hat. so fun. I can't wait to see him wear these!

sweater hat

one of my co-workers was throwing out this old sweater the other day, so i grabbed it...and made myself a hat out of it. i really like this hat! and it is warm! i've been wearing it around the house this weekend...my husband likes to make fun of me for that... :-)

a quick get-away

We went back to the Hocking Hills for an overnight get-away. I took a long weekend off work and we went back to Thunder Ridge cabins. We took 2 pretty long, hilly hikes (I'm feeling it in my legs a little still!) - the rim trail at Conkles Hollow and another long up-hill trail at Clear Creek park. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather or more beautiful scenery for our time!

hats and scarves

This year is going to be a home-made Christmas. I've been working on things and looking for ideas for several weeks and today I finished hats and scarves for 2 of my nieces. Thanks to some amazing creative bloggers, I found a great tutorial for a hat....

and then another tutorial for a scarf...

and then I added some of my own embellishments...flowers and butterflies and buttons...

I thought it turned out pretty cute :-)

birthday silliness

My dad and my sister share a birthday (a few years apart, of course) on November 9. This year, mom & dad came to columbus to celebrate with everyone. I didn't get any pictures of the birthday people, just of the kids being their silly selves (well, mostly Caroline... and Ben in his fireman hat).