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Just *Some* Things That Make Me Smile….| In Photos

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smiley Me.

I’m always taking random photos, that I love to have because they made me smile. But they wouldn’t necessarily make a whole post.  So I thought I’d try putting them in bunches sometimes, and doing a post now and then, about some of these little things that make me smile. Then I may happen to throw in a couple of others too, that were not random photos, but do indeed make me smile anyway.

Just a photo-happy little post.

So here are just some things, that make me smile……

birthday-pancake This beautiful pancake my husband and kiddos surprised me with on the morning of my birthday, even though they knew I would never eat it in a million years.  They made it anyway, because ‘number breakfasts’ are a tradition in our home on birthdays, and they can’t let the tradition go, even on my day.  I’m not big on eating much in the morning. That is chocolate frosting they worked with there, by the way. (In the morning?).

This pancake masterpiece sat in the fridge for about…well, the million years.

And then Michael ate it.  Really.

I know.
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0021 ….How happy my kids are, whenever they can spend time with their Papa.

Or maybe it’s, ….how happy my father is, whenever he can spend time with his grandkids.

Basically, it works both ways.

And it all makes me smile, because I love them all, and I love to see them all happy.

Anytime. All of the time.
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003 When I can just watch them play…..

tea-and-rosary-time …..or focus on our faith, together……

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….over apple-cinnamon tea, and banana bread.
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kitchen-aid-mixer My Kitchen Aid Mixer.  And it’s Sender. <3  You just had to have known that was coming.

And oh yes…..we’ve used it lots already.  You’ll be seeing!
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How silly my boy gets.  Every day. He’s a clown, for sure.
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0082 My new/used lens. We fit like a hand in a glove, Baby.

Or is it hand and a glove?

Well, you know what I mean.

We belong together.
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My God-Daughter. Ohhhh the smiles she has caused on my face.  Her expressions of love for me have made me cry, 100 times over.  Can you even get over the freckles?  When I see her, I try to kiss every one. She’s so precious to me.
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homeschooled-siblings Our Autumn family hikes.   The crispness in the air, the crunching of leaves under our feet, appreciating the beauty all around us, that confusing scent in the air (….Old leaves? Or dog poo nearby?….lol)….and just chatting, laughing, and being together, going nowhere in particular.

These are just *some* of the things that make me smile.
I encourage you to ponder the things that make you smile, too. And if you can, take photos of those things! They’ll make you re-smile in later years, when you find them.

Thanks for the visit today, Friends.

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There was more than a smile, in THIS box! | A Kitchen Aid Mixer

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The other day, I got the surprise-of-my-life.  The kind that left me in a daze for the rest of the day.  And into the next day.  OK, seriously……I’m still kind of in a daze about it.  I don’t even know where to start with this little story!  I feel speechless, and yet, you and I both know this post will probably end up ridiculously long, once the words start flowing.

<Deep breathe.>  So, many of you know I had a birthday last Sunday.  My birthday to me is really no big deal, and never has been.  But my family always makes me feel special, and we always spend any of our birthdays together all day, doing something fun or enjoyable.  We did that, and they were all so sweet.  I had a beautiful day with them.

Well, my best girl friend, Teri, sends me a message titled ‘SAD’ on Saturday.  Which got my attention right away, because frankly, if you knew what I was like with her…..well, I just don’t like her sad.  Or mad.  Or sick.  Or upset. Or just anything BAD. lol.  So seeing SAD just made me so…..SAD!! And worried.  So the message said she had something shipped for my birthday, but it looked like it wasn’t going to get to me until the 5th.  This upset her. Now, I wasn’t expecting her (or anyone else for that matter) to send a thing for my birthday.  I mean, I’m the type that is genuinely touched when I get a card in the mail (I am awful about sending cards out, so that may be why too.  I’m always like….”Awww! That was so nice!) I don’t even expect people to send me cards!  But o.k., she sent a package…… she’s the boss. (And she is, Folks.  And believe it or not, I’m ok with that!  Which is just…weird for me. )  So….over the weekend and on Monday, she was sending me little messages that the package she had shipped was in PA, because she was watching the tracking.  Then another update that it was in CT,  seemingly stuck in CT….oh, moving again….and finally on Tuesday she lets me know it is ‘Out for delivery!’.  Her excitement was building mine (and the kids!) – she’s always so cute about this kind of stuff.

I can tell you exactly how I was feeling on Tuesday, because I posted it in my status on Facebook, and I’ll cut and paste it right here:

“It’s nice to know there is a “package out for delivery”, with my name on it, that is not client stuff from my photo lab! Imagine that! I feel the love already. I don’t even have to open it, to feel so….thought of, and special, to someone special to me. (But you know I will tear into it the second it gets here!!)”

So, I was excited…..and really just could not imagine what she sent.  She’s always sending stuff anyway. Especially for the kids.  Packages from Teri are not unusual around here. (But they sure never get old!).  So….the kids were waiting as much as I was.  But we had lots to do that day, too.  Running out to the store was one of them.  So the kids and I all get into our car, I started it up, ask if everyone is buckled, they say yes, I put it in reverse and turn around to start backing out…..and doesn’t the FedEx truck pull up behind me and block the drive-way.  (Like I was going to leave now anyway, right?)  So we all unbuckle, and pile out again, and we’re waiting for the guy to come out of the truck.He comes out with this big huge box on his shoulder!  I didn’t have any expectations of the box size at all…..never even thought of it….but the way he had it up on his shoulder carrying it, I said to him…..“Oh my gosh.  That’s big!  Is it heavy?”  He was smiling a friendly smile, and very naturally said, “Nooo, it’s not heavy at all.”  So he brought it up to the door and Michael opened the door and took it I guess.  I think I was talking to the kids and telling them, “Let’s all go back in for a minute.”  So we did.

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So by this time, I am like, “What in the heck”, and I pulled out that right chair at the table, because it was in my way to reach. I wanted to slide the box closer to me,  so I grabbed it with my right hand to push it to me, and it didn’t move!  It WAS heavy!  Sneaky FedEx guy.  Now I am really curious.  I mean……rocks are heavy. Right?  So I find the edge of the tape and rip it off the box, and there is a wrapped present in there, that Michael lifted out and put on the table.  I’m thinking, “For me? Really?”

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I read the little tag, and I start unwrapping.  Little did I know this was a moment in my life about to happen, that I would never forget. I pull of the paper, and this is the first thing I see.  At the sight of these little photos on the side of the box, my brain just turns into a mass of a tornado of thoughts, and my heart starts beating 1,000 miles and hour.  The little photos I see, put me on a thought track that really start ‘messing with me’, as the saying goes.  I start to think….”Oh my gosh, …..is it?…..there’s no way….”……

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…..and than I pull off the paper……and I start YELLING! …..”NO WAY!!”  “NO WAY!!”  “SERIOUSLY??!!!”  “NOOOO WAAAYY!! OH MY GOSH!!”…..

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…..and I am seriously just FLIPPING OUT!!  Michael, all the while, is mumbling, “WOWWWW….This is so awesome.”  And the kids are like….”Cool!!  You wanted that Mama!!”.


 Oh, you all have no idea.  I have wanted a Kitchen Aid Mixer for years!!  Very, very badly. Hey….you all probably have one.  I would not doubt if the rest of the world did.  We’re pretty simple Folks, who don’t have the best of everything, and we’re alright with that!  But…. I have pined after a Kitchen Aid Mixer. It would make our kitchen activities so much faster, and easier. And enjoyable.  I have dreamed about one.  I have tried over, and over, and over…..to win one at Pioneer Woman!  And every time we go to Kohl’s Department Store, I stop in front of them to look at them, and touch them, and indulge in a momentary daydream in my kitchen.  And then kids always draw me back to reality, from my dream, with their little voices, saying, “MAMA!!!  You stop and look at these every tiiiiime we come here!”   And I say, “I know, Guys.  But someday…..someday, I’m going to have one of these.”  But you know, I’m not sure even I believed me. It’s just hard to buy things for myself.   Stuff like this.  Such a thing is really not on our affordable list.  Not that it was ever impossible.  There are parts of our seasons where Michael and I do pretty well with our businesses.  But by then, there are bills to catch up on, and clothes the kids need, and, you know.  It just wouldn’t feel….responsible.  Michael reminds me of this, when I’ve been on the edge of giving in. When after all…..we could keep mixing everything by hand.  Right?


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So here we all are, in our sun room, in the same room as a Kitchen Aid Mixer of our very own!!  And I am a crying, blubbering mess.  And I cannot stop saying, “NO WAY!! I can’t believe this!!”  Over and over.  It really felt like….I was dreaming.  I was not prepared….at all.  I was fumbling all over the place, trying to find Teri’s phone number, and the phone….I ended up leaving her a mess of a message. And then carried on ranting.  I was in such a fog.  I was trying to get it together, because we still had to go out shopping, and I had to drive!!

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We did leave to go do what we needed to……but I talked about what just happened, the whole time.  {A} especially was aware, that I was in another world.  I kept saying out loud, without even realizing I said it out loud, “I can’t believe it…”.  And I was thinking stuff like, “When I woke up this morning, I had no idea I was going to get a Kitchen Aid Mixer today!”  And, “This is just one of those things, where when I wake up tomorrow morning, it’ll be the very first thing I think of.  And I’ll wonder if it was all just a dream.” Call me silly and dramatic, but nothing could even….get me over this.  I’m still not over it.  I can’t wait to use it, for a 1,00 things!  ALL of us will love having this mixer.  Because Michael makes lots of bread, and pizza dough, and {A} bakes a lot too. And I make all kinds of things, and the kids help.  To not have to mix by hand anymore?  To make double batches more manageable?  And to just watch it, and hear this baby hum   I’m telling you….sheer excitement around here!!

Later, when I got home, I updated my Facebook:

Remember in my last status I was all excited because there was a package for me on the way? I was SO excited, I mentioned I hardly cared what was in it, I just felt so loved to be thought of. Well I care what was in it now!! Package was delivered, and I *CANNOT BELIEVE* what was in it!! ♥ I’ve got the bestest girlfriend in-the-world! ♥ I knew that before. I really did. But I have just been in a daze since Fed Ex left. I’ll be bloggin’ this one, so stay tuned!! I cannot believe it. Oh…I already said that. OMG!!!

 

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In all honesty though, I don’t know why I am THAT surprised.  I mean….it’s from Teri!  Of course.  This is not the first dream of mine, she has made come true, People. But she still continues to shock the heck out of me.  She’s been like my own little personal wish-granter.  I refer to her sometimes as our Guardian Blog Angel, and with dang good reason.  Because she does watch it’s back, and fixes stuff, and helped build this whole place from the ground up, with me. It’s our blog in my eyes.  But she’s so much more to me, than what she has done for me.   We are like….6 states away from each other, at all times.  But we never really are…..you know what I mean?  I have cried more with this girl, and laughed more with this girl, and harder than I have ever in my life.  She’s my Home Girl. My side-kick. My partner in…..er, well never mind that part. But she’s all that, and a case of chips.

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<Please allow me to keep showing photos of my Kitchen Aid Mixer, while I ramble on. ‘MY’ Kitchen Aid Mixer….that is fun to say. Wow!  I have a Kitchen Aid Mixer!!  I just can’t believe it…..”>  Anyway……Teri, she’s just been a God-send.  I seriously have wondered, a million times since I met her, “Where did she come from?  She can’t even be for real. She’s like….an angel or something. Don’t you think, Michael?”  It’s not about what she does or gives, so much.  But more specifically, where it comes from. Her HEART is just so beautiful. She is unbelievably thoughtful, and generous, and so unselfish.  She has given me 100’s of hours working on this blog, for nothing. Days of her time.  Hours of frustration, at times. This blog would not be, as is, without her.  I could go on about her forever.  I have.  It’s hard for me not to.

The kids call her ‘Aunt TT’.  That is what her own, real nieces and nephews call her. (They are her initials before marriage.) She is so good to them.  She sends them stuff sometimes, and she has played word games with them on the computer through instant messaging  She has really made quite an impression on them, being 6 states away. They talk about her all of the time.   I was just telling her….at dinner time when we are all around the table (or even after I get up, because my family takes forever to eat!), the conversation always comes around to her.  Actually, her whole family, means a lot to our whole family.  We’ve come to care about each other like that.

The mixer is really mostly for me, but she knows and has said that it’s really for our whole family.  Because she knows we cook and bake a lot together. (And we surely will even more, now!)

She’s a riot too.   You American Idol fans will get a real kick out of this.  This is the instructions that came with the gift:

Ok, LLR… well the package is there now… So first of all stop blubbering LOL… HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!

I know that you are not the only one that will enjoy this gift so it’s really for the whole family… but mostly for you 😉 I almost bought you a red one but I figured that if you ever painted your walls you would want something neutral. I know a moment of weakness… red would have been wild. But I went with a conservative choice.
I wonder what you’ll make first… surprise me!
Michael… you know what to do with that hook thing, right? Yes, you can put it in your sleeve and act like a pirate if you like, but I was thinking something more along the lines of making bread dough… but hey, whatever floats your boat, er, ship.

{A}… you know what to do with the other thingies… get to it! I’m imagining more president cookies. Oh hey, here’s a challenge… see if you can fit Tippecanoe on a cookie. First though, you have to do some investigation into why my 2nd grade P.E. teacher gave me that as a nickname. (hint: it’s not my only nickname.) Pixel can supervise.

Ok you three munchkins… listen up… you have very important jobs. I’ve given this some serious thought and we are going to old school American Idol with this and you are the judges. Anytime they use this contraption to make something to eat, you 3 get to judge the food.

{JM}: you are going to be Randy. So your opinions get to include a lot of the following:
Yo dawg!
Wha-what?! Dude! Way to start off the night!
Good looking out!
See, here’s what I love about this meal…
I’m a fan!
You’re in it to win it!
This is a cooking competition so for me, for you it was just ok for me… for you.
You blew it out of the box!
You’ve got mad skills!
I wasn’t feeling it toward the end of the meal.
It was a little pitchy.
You can boo and argue with {S} if you disagree with him.
{O}: you get to be Paula. So basically you get to LOVE everything anyone cooks. You can dance wildly around the kitchen while they are cooking. You can blather on incoherently after each meal to the point of tears. Oh and don’t forget to compliment the cook on how well his/her apron looks on them. Just gush over them and then tell them you plan to be the first guest at their restaurant when it opens up. And feel free to also argue with {S} after he gives his opinion.

{S}: You have it sort of easy. You get to be Simon. Fetch a quarter and flip it after each meal.
Heads: the meal was Brilliant! Well done!
Tails: Total Rubbish. Sorry.

So that should do it 🙂
Enjoy it. I sure hope you don’t already have one (eek!) Please tell me if you do and I’ll figure something else out.
Again happy birthday girl! OXOXOXOX

Ok now…..just a few more photos!  I’m almost done…..really!  I know you all know what it looks like, but you haven’t seen one in MY house.  OH the Vittles posts to come!!

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This where she will rest, when we are not working her like a horse.  Oh…..you know I am over the edge, when I start giving something a gender. lol.  I suspect she won’t sit here much.  OH!!  Look what we see in the photo in the background!  My Pioneer Woman Cookbook!  I truly do love Pioneer Woman. Regardless.
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“HELLOOOOO REE!!   All set with that Kitchen Aid Mixer!  I’ve got one now!!  Thanks anyway!!”
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I don’t believe I’ll get over having one of these.   And I don’t believe I will ever stop knowing how blessed I am, that I have a friend like Teri.  She’s more like a sister. I seriously love the girl, and I tell her so.  Again….not because of all she has done, or given me, but because of who she is.  Because of her heart.  Because there is a connection between us that leaves no room to doubt, that that is the gift, in and of itself.   This heart knows, when God puts people in my life.
I can never repay her…..for her presence in my life.  She’d never let me anyway. She always blows off my sentiments, but I know she takes them in.  Because I need to tell her, all of the time, about my over-flowing gratitude.  ‘Mush’, as she calls it.   She lets me, and I love her for that too.  I love her for a million reasons, and she never expects anything from me at all. Though I try.

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I do think we’ll be sending her and her family a good load of  Christmas cookies.  ; )
Wow. Happy Birthday to me.  And XOXOXOXOXO to you, Teri (and family!)

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