Perfect Afternoon

I am having hard time getting started on all the decorating when our weather is still so warm! Who wants to go up to the attic and hunt down ornaments,wreaths, and tangled lights?

My mind is thinking southern style iced tea with a twist of a ripe valley lemon

sitting in the porch enjoying, yet another piece of that delicious pecan pie,watching the hummingbirds sip the nectar off the fire-bush, and watching the wind blow this flag makes a perfect afternoon!

Thanksgiving Tablescape & Prayer

On this Thanksgiving Day, I take the opportunity to thank God for all the wonderful blessings he has bestowed upon us, I give him thanks for his overflowing generosity to my family, friends and me. I am thankful for the countless things he provides for us on a daily basis!
Thank you Lord for everything that you allow to cross my path and for the decisions that you allow me to make and the lessons that come from these decisions. Thank you Lord for always being with me, guiding me and listening to my prayers answered or unanswered.
For these, and all the countless blessings though out the year, I give you thanks, eternal loving God through Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

House love..

Anyone who knows me well, will tell you that I LOVE homes! All kinds small, big, old, new, and anything in between! Anytime we are driving and I notice a remodel or a nice curb appeal I make my husband Romeo slow down or turn around just so that I can take a good look. I, especially love times when I am driving by at night and the home owners happen to have a their drapes open and a cozy lamp on.  I love taking a peek inside don't you?

I have a small collection of pictures I have taken over some years of houses that wowed me.. this is one of them.   We have driven by this house many times just to see how the remodeling is coming along.. I wonder where all that brick is going? Isn't this just gorgeous?

I love this cute charming house! I love how clean & well taken care of this home is. Look at the wooden door just adorable!!

This beauty in La Feria, TX is located down an old country road..I love how they combined the paint colors! I wish I could have taken a better picture of this property because it had so many trees up front..all this home needs is a porch swing!

I love this house because it reminds me of my aunt Rosa's Escalon's home in Weslaco.  I remember her home looking just like this fresh cut grass and plenty of room for us kids to play. I love the manicured lawn,and the size of the lot. This is Ranch living at its finest!! I can totally see myself living here and sipping some iced tea on a hot summer day..

I just love the long winding drive-way in this home, the trees, the green grass, and the white framed windows..this house is on a huge lot!..I sound like a Realtor don't I?...I bet they have big parties here!..

Now this is curb appeal! If I could I would park my car on the curb and just sit and stare! It takes a while for you to take it all in...Landscaping is everything! It dramatically changes the appearance of your home.  This home is located in Harlingen, TX.

And I could go on and on...

Bird watching 101

Two week-ends ago, we woke up to a nice cool front and decided to go for a bike ride at Bentsen State Park. As we were leaving we noticed many professional, out of town, bird watchers with fancy cameras that had lenses a mile long we decided to stick around and see what they were taking pictures of.

Very quietly I may add... (I quickly learned that is the first rule in bird watching)

I also learned - you have to have a good pair of binoculars something I don't have.

Always remember to keep your camera steady and ready to snap all while trying to focus...

Try not to get too excited when you see a Cardinal and disturb the peace..

Patience always helps!


And if you have a GOOD EYE...

You might just spot an Owl..                       See it?

I loved taking pictures of all the birds! Aren't they neat?... I think I discovered a new hobby...oh boy..

Trey at the "pawk"

This past week I got the chance to take my nephew Trey to the "pawk" as he says it.

"Atti take me to the pawk" he kept asking me over and over!

So, off we went!

And OH BOY!!

He kept going

And going

Like the energizer bunny..

Then, he noticed ducks and water and he wanted to look for rocks to throw at the water..

And he did for about half an hour trying to hit the two turtles.. That's a boy for you!

Velvet Pumpkin's

When I first saw these Velvet Pumpkins a few years ago I fell in love! I looked all over for them in Hobby Lobby and stores where I thought, I could find them..I never found them.. I went on- line and found a few sites where they sold them, but they were so expensive one small pumpkin was being sold for around $36.00 I thought that was ridiculous so I gave up and forgot about them.

                                                            Until this year..

When I walked into Ross for my weekly walk around there they were underneath a shelf, in a basket next to some dish towels and perfumes.. of all places! and for a whopping price of $2.99 I grabbed them all!

I love the deep rich colors don't you?... The only thing is... If you look closely you can see the white tag on the stem I don't know why they would place their price tag and glue it underneath the stem? I tried cutting as much as I could maybe I should try using some pliers, but for $2.99 I'll live with it...

Welcome Fall...

If its one thing I've learned this past week it's that I am not as crafty as I thought I was, and never start any project when PMSing... This craft here gave me tears and burns literally!! I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to make an Indian corn wreath?.. I saw a magazine that had a beautiful wreath with Indian corn and I thought I can do that.. Yeah right!! I worked on this wreath one day for about 8 hours on and off I got so frustrated that I almost trashed it...

This is what I wanted to do originally, but my corn could never make a perfect circle I ripped the corn like 20 times...no joke!! Then I finally completed the circle, but the wreath was now like 50 pounds or so it seemed and when I put the wreath on the door the corn would come off...ugh! That along with me PMSing had me in tears..
When my mom came to visit she mentioned my sister needed a wreath, so I took it off and gave it to her to take to her..

After giving it to her I started thinking.... It would of been so simple if I had just trimmed the corn to about 4 inches to fit around the straw wreath DUH?

NEXT YEAR!

I am blaming this one on my PMS... you just can't think clearly...

Juicing Day 6

After watching Fat sick and nearly dead on Netflix about a two men who lost a gazillion pounds just on juice fasting I got so motivated I went out and bought

This...I did my research and this was one of, if not the best in the market. It was a little pricey, but it is so worth it.. And oh boy does this baby have power!!.. It comes with 2 pitchers one to catch the pulp and the other to hold juice, but I use a small plastic bag where the pulp pitcher goes for easy clean up. I can stick a cucumber down the shoot and instantly I mean instantly it disappears into juice. Talk about power...

I have been on this juice fast 6 days NOTHING but fruit and vegetable juice and I mean NOTHING BUT THAT!.. At first, I went out and bought all sorts of exotic fruits vegetables and learned quickly that not only would I loose weight I would also go broke on this fast... so I broke it down to two basic recipes and started buying only Carrots, Apples, Cucumbers, Kale, and Spinach.. So far...my favorite juice is Carrot and Apple so yummy!! The rest of the veggies I use for another juice called Green Juice.

The truth is, it really is hard in the beginning I got headaches, and felt weird not eating but after a few days it became easier and easier. It is recommended that this fast last only 10 to 15 days...we shall see.

The benefits of juice fasting:

• increased energy
• reduced cravings for junk food
• improvement in chronic conditions
• clearer mental focus
• weight loss
• sleep improvement
• clear skin

Wires...

I HATE THEM!!
Chances are, I still have that old cell phone charger from 1999 no joke!! I think this is a man thing? Wires for cell phones, for connecting things, for old video games, for this for that. It's all the same to me. Found a box of wires in my cabinets and it just irked me... I decided to organize and get rid of cell phone charger's and wires once and for all.. I feel like a hoarder when I keep things lying around the house we have no use for..

Old video game wires and games he no longer uses are headed to the attic..really wish I could just toss them in the trash, give them away, or have them mysteriously disappear..

I am keeping these two connectors for Christmas trees in this drawer that is it nothing else!

This is what started this all! I came to sit on my couch and noticed these wires from the side of the cabinet. I wonder what he was trying to connect? I jumped off and ...

tucked it nicely behind the cabinet.

Out of mind out of sight!!

Fall is in the air..

Can you feel it?... cooler mornings and cooler nights... It's subtle, but I definitely feel it.. What a relief it is from this summer's torching 100 plus temperatures and hardly any rain. It seemed, as though my grass could never get enough water and every time the water bill arrived, I would cringe at just the sight of it. So happy those HOT sticky day's are behind us now...

It's been raining almost every day this week Thank God and, so I decided I would start some early fall planting..

Planted some impatience in the shade.

These Autumn sage bushes were a whopping $2.00 a pop. I couldn't resist.

I planted them around the trees... I can't wait till they get bushy!!

 I hope Fall is in the air in your neck of the woods..

How clever..

Saw this on Pinterest the other day!!

New lace down pillow..

I am loving my new lace lumbar pillows!!! I bought two for each couch over the summer, and have not had a chance to post them up until right now..

here is a closer look at the pretty lace!

the gold shimmers through the lace perfectly..

They are down filled, so they are super soft to cuddle up with...when I am NOT wearing any make-up of course! ( I have to remember that though)