Merry (early) Christmas To Us! (And some Christmas decorations!)

 I started whining mentioning to my husband how I'd love to do a DIY faux fireplace.
In the 21 years we've been married, we've never had a fireplace in any of the homes we've lived in.  I was telling him about all of the cool faux fireplaces on Pinterest that I had seen and how we could create something really unique and fun.  I've always wanted a mantel to decorate for all of the seasons and holidays.  I knew a "real" fireplace was out of the question, as it would cost a lot to install a gas one, so I thought "faux" was the next best thing.  We could light lots of candles and make it lots of fun.  Well...dear hubby says, "Why don't we look for an electric one instead?"  Well I never even considered that!  We looked around...and although electric fireplaces HAVE come a long way...we were still really wanting that "real flame".  Soooo...
We got a "gel fuel" fireplace!  It uses small cans of gel fuel and you get that real flame!
Yay!

 It is so awesome.  I love the ambiance it gives the room.  So cozy!
We already decorated for Christmas and I'm loving the warmth the fireplace adds to the room!

 I FINALLY got my mantel to decorate!
I set out a crystal bowl and put some marbleized glass Christmas bulbs in it.  Then I set out my "HOPE" plaque that my momma made for me.  A little reindeer votive holder.  My "JOY" milk bottles.  A glass vase of candy canes.  And I also added my brand new cashmere winter mittens that I got last year for my birthday!

 We decorated for Christmas early this year.
Normally, I say, "The tree does NOT go up before Thanksgiving!  We have to give Thanksgiving its do time!"
Well, with Thanksgiving falling so late this year, and as much work as it is to put out all of the decor, I caved and we decorated early so we could enjoy it for longer.

I put up two trees again this year.  One in the living room and one in the family room.
The one above is the living room tree. 

Knick-knacks on our end tables...

 My momma made me the JOY bottles and the HOPE plaque.

 My snowmen...

 The tree in the family room...

 Momma made me the JOY plaque too...

 Mom and dad made the "For unto us a child is born" tree...they're such DIYers!

 More table decor...

 Coffee table...

 Living room...

 Kitchen...

 Patio...

 Entryway...

Half wall between upper and lower levels...

That's just "a little" taste of it all.  I have stuff everywhere...every room of the house.

Even the bathrooms get decorated.

Do you decorate every room of your house?
Do you set up more than one tree?
What are your favorite decorating traditions?
I hope you all have a wonderful time preparing for the upcoming holiday season!

Will try to post more during this joyous season!

Merry Christmas!

SNOWvember...

I  know I already shared our snowy SNOWvember (November) picture with you.

Here's a fun little video I took out our window early in the month.

Enjoy!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

 This isn't the way it's supposed to be.
It's November for goodness sake.
"I don't remember having this much snow and these bitter temperatures before Thanksgiving in...FOREVER!" my husband cries!
This "IS" typical Michigan winter weather...
But not "NOVEMBER" weather.

These pictures don't really do justice to the "damage"...as this was pretty early on.

We first got about 8 inches, then another 6 or 7...

They say another "dumping" is coming tonight or tomorrow.

Possibly 4-7 inches more.

I have to say, I do enjoy it when I don't have to go anywhere (I work from home)...

But when I "have" to go out...to the store, to church, to the boys' schools, events...

It's pretty uninviting.

I don't see well at night to drive, much less in whiteout conditions.

I guess my only complaint is that when the snow starts so early, we don't get to enjoy fall, my favorite season, near long enough.  It makes our already long winters, even longer.
But it is what it is, right?
We are healthy, stocked up on supplies, and our snowblower is working hard!
We're all in this together, right?  Bring it!

This and that...early October happenings...

 We are just plugging right along.  Life seems to just move more swiftly along the older you get.

We are so blessed.  One of our more recent blessings has been the addition to our family of sweet Katarina Blue...our part Russian Blue kitty.

 For those that follow my blog, you probably remember that our former fur-baby Oreo always slept in this little box-bed that Nate made seven years ago.  Sweet Oreo slept in that bed for the full seven years he was with us.

 When he passed on, the box went to the basement.  However, when we adopted Katarina, Nate brought the box back up.  I really didn't think she'd go into it.  But look where sweet Katarina is sleeping!

 Yep!  Nate is thrilled that she has reclaimed the box-bed!  Sweet girl.

 This kitty-girl has brought so much joy to us.  Our home was so empty after sweet Oreo passed.  And now it's filled with kitty love (and kitty fur) again.  I snapped this picture as she was climbing on me and I called her name and as she looked at me, she must've blinked as the flash went off.  Isn't it adorable?!?!

 Most of you know I decorate custom cookies.  And not much makes me more happy then new cutters!  My momma scored these vintage cutters for me and brought them up to me today.  What a great surprise!

 I haven't posted any hair updates like I had been.  It's been 14 (very long) months since I started growing out my pixie.  Here is a side-by-side of where I was 14 months ago...and where I am today.  I think it could have been a little longer, except I had a few scissor-happy gals who trimmed it a couple times.  But we're getting there.  It's progress!

 I've been working on a big cookie order for some special people.

For those who don't follow my blog, check out my Sweet Ivy Confections blog:

http://sweetivyconfections.blogspot.com/

Or look me up on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Ivy-Confections/247776648584544

I'm also on Twitter:

@Sweet_Ivy_Conf

And Instagram:

sweetivyconfections

 These are just a few sneak peaks of what I've been doing.

I can't share the full pictures yet because the folks who are getting the cookies, don't know they're getting the cookies!

 Today, my mom, sister, and I went thrifting.

It...is...a...thrill.

We go crazy thrifting.  It's like finding treasure.  We have a lot of great thrift stores around here.

I ended up with:

5 sweaters

2 dresses

2 blouses

3 scarves

1 headband

1 necklace

1 make-up bag

1 pair of shoes

1 coffee cup

2 vintage coffee mugs

2 vintage cookbooks

1 vintage ice cream scoop

ALL THIS...FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF...are you ready for this?

Drum-roll...
Less than $30.00!!!

Can you believe it?

Neither can I!!!

 Here we are making our, "Can you believe how much stuff we bought?" faces.

LOL!

 Our haul in the trunk...

 Our, "Our husbands are going to freak out" looks.

LOL!

 Selfie!

Or is it a "groupie"?

Hehehe!

 Well, now that my hair's finally growing...I can finally get it in rollers!

Yay!

I was able to fit it in my hot rollers today.

It was SO NICE to rock a different look!

I love curls!

 ...and a few edits for fun...

Well, I think that's about it for now.

Between working full time, going to school full time, baking, and keeping up with the family...I don't blog as much as I used to.  I do try to fit in at least a few a month though.

I hope this finds all of you happy and healthy!

Have a blessed autumn!

A new baby in the family...

 No...it's not what you think.

I'm not pregnant.

No...we didn't adopt...

Well, we didn't adopt a "real/human" baby.

 We did however adopt a sweet 3 year old kitty from the shelter and from the looks of it, she's already a perfect fit to our family and friends.

 Katarina came to the shelter as a stray and had kittens while there.

 All of her sweet kittens were adopted out.

And then this past week, her "crate mate"/friend was also adopted, leaving this sweet girl all alone!

 Katarina is part Russian Blue and has a Tiger stripe tail.

 She is sweet and affectionate...but even at 3 years old...still has the spunk and playfulness of a kitten!  The boys are in love with her!

 She seems to have adapted to our home/family quite well.

On day 1 she was already eating, drinking, using her litter box, and exploring.

She doesn't seem to have any bad habits, as of yet.

So far, we've been able to trust her pretty well.

 On our end, we need to work on playing with her and tiring her out more before bedtime, LOL.

She seems to want to get up and play each morning around 4:00 a.m.

 When I play with her around 11:00 p.m. she seems to settle in nicely for a good night's sleep...so I need to make that my goal.

 She kind of likes to get her days and nights mixed up like a baby...napping all day and staying up at night.  I keep telling my boys they need to play more, snuggle less, haha!

 When the boys are home...

 You can pretty much always find Katarina on top of one of them snuggling!

This photo cracked me up.  Jamie keeps his Bible on this shelf and she jumped on top of it...so...I've entitled it, "Standing on the Word"...hehe!

We are so happy with our new addition.

If you are ever looking to add a fur-baby to your family...be it a cat or a dog, look no further than your local human society or rescue shelter.  There are so many pets looking and waiting for their "fur-ever" home/family.

We love you Katarina!

First Day of School...a little late ;)

After we got back from our Island trip...Nate started back to school the following Tuesday.

Most moms take a picture before the kids leave that morning, but I'm too unorganized (and barely awake) at that point.  So Nate let me snap one when he got home.

He started 8th grade this year and is doing great!

I can't believe Evan is in college now.

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't take his picture, but hey...

Kids don't really let you take their picture on their first day of college, do they?

He probably would have obliged if I'd have asked, but honestly, the first day of college isn't quite the same as elementary, middle, or high school.

They're coming and going, different classes at different times, different days.

He's adjusted really well and loves all the food options on campus, LOL!

So proud of both of the boys.  They're both doing so well this year!

Blink...and we were gone! (One last Mackinac Island visit before fall)

 We took one last trip up to our favorite destination (Mackinac Island) before fall.

Evan had already started his college classes but was on Labor Day break.

Nate didn't start middle school until after Labor Day, so we took advantage of what most consider a 'long weekend'...except when you travel to Mackinac, a 'long weekend' is gone in the blink of an eye!  We enjoyed our time, but it literally felt like we were already leaving right after we got there.  We spent our first night in Mackinaw City and grabbed some pizza at Mancino's.  The boys played in the lake (too cold for me!) and then swam in the hotel pool.
Of course we had to stop for some Mickey's ice cream after dinner too!  Best value ever!  Those things are huge!

It rained at some point each day we were there.  But we were prepared.  We brought jackets, rain ponchos, and umbrellas and we hiked, tromped, and roamed the Island despite the rain!  We didn't let getting a little wet stop our fun!

Between the rain and the humidity, my hair was atrocious.  By day 2, I gave up and threw some gel in it and scrunched it and let the natural wave take over.  Here we are hiking our way over to Sugar Loaf.

Selfie Saturday at Sugarloaf!

I never tire of looking at the way the trees grow and fall in the forest on the Island.

The "Is It You" rock from "Somewhere In Time" and a freighter passing by...

Dinner at the Round Island Bar & Grille.

Coke doesn't make a "Melody"...so just call me "Liz"...hehe!

We had a great time, but like I said, it was such a short trip, we were literally gone before we knew it!  We hardly had time to catch our breath, we buzzed around to get so much done in our short trip!  Well, now it's back to school...back to work.  Time to settle in for the long winter!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful summer!