Something That We Do

Love is something that we do!

10.31.2010

Happy Halloween!

Hey y'all... Belle here, again!  Mom took me trick or treating tonight with our friends.  We had so much fun!  I'm a little hoarse sounding from all my barking, but so many kids kissed me on the nose, I think it was worth it.  Here are a few before shots from when we were just getting ready to go.  You ready to see what I dressed up as?  I sure was cute.....See?????

I made sure mom got a picture of me from every angle.  Dad took some for me too!  Here's me and momma!  
She loves me....
And I love her.  *Hugs*
These are our friends we went trick or treating with... Forrest on the left as an archaeologist (Mom says that's someone who gets to dig for a living instead of for fun...what?)  Alana and Loni are in the middle, and the ninja on the right is my brother Austin.  But I didn't like his costume.  It kinda scared me.
Anyways, that was my halloween!  What was yours like?  I'm gonna go get my belly rubbed now.

Night folks!
~Belle

10.30.2010

Belle, here!

Hey friends!
Belle here.  Guess where I'm going Sunday!

You're never gonna believe it.

TRICK OR TREATIN', Y'ALL!!!

If I come to your door, I get to look all cute in my amazing costume, and you will feed me.  Greatest thing ever.

Get those biscuits ready, folks...I'm a comin'!

And the best part?  I don't have to go potty for you, I don't have to sit for you, I don't even have to roll over for you.  I just get a treat by bein' lil ole me.......cute.  

Just wait till you see my costume.  Mom and Dad are going trick or treating with me, Austin, and his friends Alana and Glenn, and maybe even Forrest.  It's gonna be so much fun.  

I'll make sure mom uploads some pictures. 

Oh she's calling me, gotta run!  

Bye!  Woof!

10.29.2010

Pumpkin cake!

Happy Friday before Halloween!

Have some cake!

Spice cake with cream cheese frosting, yum!


I made this little pumpkin by making two miniature (7 inch) bundt cakes.  I chose spice cake because it always tasted festive to me.  And, we all know what frosting goes best with spice cake.  The stem is made from a miniature ice cream cone.

I love miniature things, have I mentioned that before?

I'm gonna go scarf down my cake.
Enjoy your cake!

10.22.2010

First Fondant

I made this earlier this year for my grandfather's birthday.

I'm just now getting around to sharing it.  It was just my first fondant cake, so don't mind the mess-ups!

It was a chocolate cake with raspberry jam inside, as well as coconut spread.  Yum!

10.21.2010

Beware....

Before you come to my home, there's something you should know.  

Belle gets so excited when she sees friends, she truly believes that this friend is here to visit her.  Forget her mom and dad, this friend is obviously here to see the bouncing white fluff ball that she becomes.  Why would someone visit her parents anyway?  Sheesh. 

She shows her appreciation by jumping about 4 feet high (for real), and licking.

  Lots and lots of licking.  

I don't mind it because I know she's telling me she loves me when she does it to me, but I try to keep in mind that our company just may feel otherwise.  So, I try to keep her from licking them to death.  

Then, I stumbled upon a doormat in a magazine, and I said, "We have to have this!"  I didn't care for what the door mat looked like, so I looked it up online and found a fantastic little store that makes signs. 

Funny thing is, I didn't even realize the joke in it until I said it aloud.  I simply thought it described Belle.  Now, I just think it's funny.  Ok, ok.... you ready to see the sign?  Here it is:

This photo, as well as several other fabulous creations, are from 


10.19.2010

He's baaaaack.....

Carl arrived home safely from his trip to California... and as you can see, I wasn't the only one glad to have him back home.
Yep, we love him.

10.14.2010

A little ahead of myself...

In my last post, I addressed the subject of Christmas treats for our neighbors.  Hello, Lindsey.  It's October. I'm glad I have my plans for my neighbors' treats already, but I've got to focus!  It's not all year that I can make pumpkin shaped desserts, or make desserts that are meant to look scary and Halloweenish!  I've gotta get it together!  Let the projects begin!

Last Sunday, my small group at church got some of my Brownie Bites.  I mixed everything for the brownies, then poured the batter into a squeeze bottle.  I then dug out my miniature cupcake pan that I've NEVER used before and lined it with miniature cupcake wrappers.  They were pretty cute, I must say.  I then squeezed all of the batter into each little section in the tin, and baked it for a little bit.  I watched the brownies carefully, and once they appeared done, I took them out.  As cute as they were, they just needed a little something else.  

Something to dress them up.

Something that says, "Hi October, glad you're here!"

And tastes good too, of course.

This is what I came up with.

You like?


They're little pumpkins!  Aren't they cute?  The orange frosting is cream cheese frosting, and the green stem is one lone sprinkle.  I thought they turned out kinda cute.  ;-)  What Halloween treats are you making this year?

10.13.2010

Christmas goodies!

Hi friends!  Sorry I've been away, yet again.  I've been exploring some new projects I want to get into.  Because projects are almost always expensive, I haven't started any...yet.  I plan to start a few soon, though.  I have all the materials for a Christmas project, but you'll have to wait to see that!  Here's what I can tell you about it though.

  • Every Christmas, Carl and I want to spread some Christmas cheer.
  • Normally, Carl and I go from door to door in our cul de sac and street (about 15 houses) and deliver 5 chocolate chip cookies or 5 brownies to every family. 
  • And we wish them a Merry Christmas.
  • And we try to get to know them a little bit. 
  • The treats are normally wrapped in cellophane, with a red ribbon tied around them.
  • The families always appreciate our little visit and merry wishes.
  • I always walk away with my head down, feeling it just wasn't good enough.
  • 5 Cookies per house, I mean...c'mon.  5?  
  • This year will be better.
  • And it doesn't involve cookies, or brownies.
  • But each family will receive a little tin of home-made goodies.  
  • That's all I can tell you now.

10.08.2010

A Zombie Story

Remember this basket of vegetables, and how I told you we had a funny incident with them last year?
Allow me to explain.

Last year around this time, Austin had a sleepover at a friend's house.  Carl picked him up (about 3 PM) and as usual, he came home utterly exhausted (you know, since there's no sleeping at a sleepover).  Being the 10 year old boy that he was, video games were on his brain.  He told us he wanted to play some, so he was going to do his chores so he could then spend part of the afternoon glued to the tube.  Carl and I hadn't spent quality time together in a while, so we were all for it.  Austin went off, starting on his chores, and Carl and I slipped out the backdoor to enjoy some quiet time with one another.

We laid back in our lawn chairs, enjoying the birds chirping and each other's company.  About an hour and a half later, both of our tummies were growling so we decided we'd go make dinner together.  It was unusual that we hadn't heard from Austin in this amount of time, but we thought he must've gotten distracted playing in his room while doing his chores.

So, we pulled ourselves out of our comfy lawn chairs, and headed for the backdoor.  Realizing our backdoor was locked, we headed over to our door that connects from the patio to our bedroom.  Somehow, that locked behind us when we came outside.  Good thing Austin's in the house so he can let us in.
We started knocking on the door, and after no answer for about five minutes, I told Carl I'd walk around the house and check if the garage was open.
It was not.

I continued my walk around, peeking in every window to try to spot Austin.  I couldn't find him in any of the rooms. I decided to stand at the front door and ring the doorbell.  We didn't know why Austin wasn't answering the backdoor, but whatever the reason was, we knew he'd be sure to hear the doorbell, and come running to answer it like he always does. 

Carl continued knocking on the backdoor, and I continued making my way around the house.  I peered through the front windows, still unable to see the boy.  But, I could clearly hear Carl through the house, banging on the backdoor to get in.  I pressed the doorbell button repeatedly, and finally, Austin appeared.  He rose from the couch, which was RIGHT BY THE BACKDOOR (but facing away so we couldn't see him)...and he was in a haze to say the least.  He had fallen asleep on the couch.....but not like the catnap kind where you hear everything around you.  He fell into a deep sleep.  Really deep sleep.  I was watching through the front window as Carl was motioning to Austin to open the door.  What did Austin do?

Well, he picked up the basket of vegetables from the coffee table and carried them to the backdoor.  He stood there, just staring at Carl, in a very confused state.  Carl kept motioning, and speaking through the glass door, telling Austin to unlock it.  Austin just could not comprehend this in his foggy daze.  Still holding the basket of veggies, he turned and saw me at the front window.  He gave me the weirdest look, like he didn't know who I was or why I was looking at him.  Then, Carl banged against the sliding glass door as hard as he could and startled Austin.  Austin became somewhat more aware of his surroundings.  He turned, and started to try to unlock the door, and completely let go of the basket (like he thought he put it on a table)!  Instead of opening the door, he bent down and started picking up the veggies and putting them back in the basket, one by one.  This went on for another fifteen minutes or so, and he finally opened the door.  We asked him what was going on, if he was okay, and he just stared at us, seemingly unable to talk.  

While we were questioning him, he cocked his head to the side, rubbed his eyes and turned around and walked away!  Walking away when someone is talking to you is not something that typically happens in our household, so we realized Austin was not himself. 

We followed him down the hall, where apparently his subconscious told him to go.  He entered his room, closed his blinds, crawled into his bed, and covered himself up.

And there he stayed till 9am the next day.  

There you have it.  The story of Zombie Austin and and the basket of veggies.  


10.06.2010

Fall Decor

Yesterday was my day off of school so I spent the Tuesday doing what I always do on Tuesdays.  Housework.  But, this Tuesday was special.  It was the first available day that I had so I could pull out all of my Fall decorations!  Yay!  There was a show I was watching over a year ago and one of the characters were talking about how much she loves Halloween...but not because of the candy or trick-or-treating.  She loved going door to door only so she could see inside people's homes!  While it sounds a bit creepy, I have to admit that I actually enjoy peeking into people's homes too!  Don't get me wrong here, I'm no peeping tom.  But when a fellow blogger opens up her home to show us around, I just think it's so neat!  I like looking at the lighting in their home, their little knick-knacks they have around, the color of their walls.....  To be fair, I'll show you a few rooms in our house too.  For now, you'll only see the rooms with our Fall decor.
Well?  Come on in!  Kick your shoes off, and stay a while!
Welcome to our living room.  Here on the table is a little pumpkin glass.  Isn't it cute?
Behind you, you'll see this beautiful orange glow.  This will be leaving after Halloween since it's more Halloween-y than Autumn-ish.  But we'll enjoy it while it's here.
Here, walk with me through the dining room into the kitchen and I'll show you the other side of the house.
My lovie brought me these flowers last week when I was stressed about a bunch of tests.  He's so sweet.  I stuck them in a Fall container and they're sitting right above my sink so I can enjoy them while I wash dishes.
Here's our kitchen table with our Autumn placemats and a little centerpiece that has scented cedar chips inside.  Mmmm, apple spice.
In our family room, we have this funny little basket of Fall vegetables.  I guess they aren't that funny, but they remind me of a little "incident" we had last year with them.  I'll have to fill you in on that later!
Here are some Halloween lights that I put up around our window that overlooks our pool and patio.  The weather was so beautiful last night, we ate outside.  There are the boys eagerly waiting for me to join them so we can eat!  Notice our windows are open as well.  Nothing like a Fall breeze blowing through the house.  Aaah.  (The center window's blinds are down because of the stained glass in the window.  It occasionally falls down and the blinds have always caught it.  I'm a bit too nervous to raise the blinds in case the suction holding the stained glass decides to let go!)

I'm gonna go fix us some vanilla carmel tea, which you'll absolutely love.  I'm so happy you stopped by!  Come join me on the patio.  We'll sip our tea and listen to the owl as dusk creeps in.   Oh, how I love this time of year!

10.05.2010

Welcome back, October!

Dear October,

I am so glad you have finally come to visit!  I have thought about you since last October when you just weren't yourself, and I even began to worry that you just wouldn't return.  But alas, you have.  And how I've missed you.

Two years ago, I remember walking around with you and enjoying your crisp air.  All of the trees were starting to lose their leaves, and even though they made a huge mess in my yard, it was a-o-k with me.  Because you were here!  You made it so beautiful outside.

Last year, when you finally came to visit, you just weren't yourself.  I'm not sure what was going on, but looking back I think you and January might have been having a fight over who's the better guest.  Between you and me, October, you are.  January tends to drag on for far too long, and she's so cold!  You're a better guest because you don't suffocate me when you come to visit, you let me do my own thing while also getting to spend some time with you.  But January?  Well.....I hate to say it...but, she stays around for far too long.  And, not that it's her fault, but she also makes December leave our home far too quickly!

Anyway October, enough bad mouthing January.  I'm sure some people just love having her over.  But my point is this, I'm so so glad you're back.  I'm so glad I get to sleep in flannel pants and long sleeve shirts again.  I'm so glad that I get slightly chilly when I take our Belle outside in the evenings.  I'm so glad I can walk around school and arrive sweatless to class.  And, I'm so glad that you bring so many beautiful colors with you when you travel.  You're awesome, October.  I'm going to go light all of my pumpkin spice candles now.

One of your fans,
Lindsey

10.01.2010

Childhood World

So, this experience with Buddy has made me reflect back on when I was a child, and my plans for my life.  (This will all make sense in a few minutes, I promise.)  

You see, I had it all planned out.  In my mind, at least.  Didn't know what I'd do for a living, where I'd live, or anything practical really.  But... here's what I did know.

I just knew I'd have a house at the end of an extremely long (at least a 2 minute drive) driveway that had Japanese Cherry Blossom trees lining it.  The Japanese Cherry Blossom trees, in this fantasy world of mine, were always blooming.  Always.  

And I had a huge yard (that never needed to be mowed).  I had rolling hills in my backyard, and a swimming pool.  The yard was always green, and it was fenced in.  Why did I dream of a big, green, fenced in yard?  Keep reading.

We had dogs.  Lots of dogs.  Don't want your dog?  Drop him or her off here.  We'll take 'em all.  Oddly enough, no cats were around.  Have I mentioned they are a bit too finicky for me?  But, while we were a catless home, we did have chickens.  And goats.  Perhaps that's why the yard never needed to be mowed.   

This was only a little part of my childhood fantasy but what made me realize all of these things was this. Buddy is still at the vet's office.  He's still just hanging out in the back, waiting for someone to call and say they've been desperately looking for him.  But, it hasn't happened yet.  I've been checking Craigslist and newspapers every day, and while there are a lot of female dogs missing, I don't see any male dogs meeting Buddy's description.  While trying to figure out what to do with Buddy since I only have a week to find him a home or he becomes my responsibility, I thought, "If only I lived in my future house already, he could roam around out there all day."  I stopped in my tracks realizing that I was still holding on to this fantasy home of mine.  And, it revolved around dogs.  I guess that just shows how much of an animal lover I've always been.  

And then, I stumbled across this video and I decided I'd look into owning a porcupine.  Then, I said it aloud and thought WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING?!! A PORCUPINE??  Really.  It was also then that I realized I don't live in that dream world and owning a porcupine would make absolutely no sense whatsover.  But, humor me.  Watch this video and tell me you don't want one too.

What really catches me off guard here is how I never doubted I'd live in a home like this, and I always thought of it as a place I'd live as an adult.  And now, here I am.  I'm an adult.  And apparently my subconscious has been planning to live in this beautiful place still.  Who knows, maybe one day it'll happen.

So, there you have it folks.  My childhood dream world, out on paper.