Perfection or Happiness and a few fall touches.

I sit here at my computer with heavy heart; and insecurity in my pointer finger.  Should I push the publish button on this post?

Do I share what I had planned to share today?

or do I share what is in my heart?

Today.  I have to be real and share both.

I had planned to share some of what I have been doing for fall around here.

Last night, I went to bed questioning if I would do that.

I lay there thinking once again about, “Why I blog, and what my blog portrays about me?”

Today I am going to be real with you; I have to get this off my chest before I can move forward with a fall decorating post.

I want you all to understand why I blog, why I love blogging, and what my purpose is.

I blog for 3 specific reasons:

1. First and foremost; I blog for myself. I learn more about who I am by writing and rereading what I have wrote then any hobby I have ever had.

2.  I blog for my family.  I started so our family far away could see what we were doing.  Now, I do it so my kids can have a history of our family, and what we did; in my words.

3. I blog to make friends, to learn from great women, and to hopefully inspire others with what I have learned.

I DO NOT BLOG FOR ANY OTHER REASON.

The purpose of this blog is not to make you believe that I am perfect, or that I live in a perfect world.

Just so you understand why I am on my soap box about this I must share a comment that was left on my blog last night.

The comment said, “It must be exhausting being so perfect.”

The commenter left the comment, and then decided to delete it.  Little did she know that I receive emails about all comments and that can’t be deleted.  Maybe she felt like she just had to say it; and then realized it might sound hurtful.  Which it did.

It made me wonder if that is the image that I am portraying on this blog.

Am I making you think I am perfect?

Believe me when I say that is not my plan at all.

Let me tell you what I believe about perfection.

I believe there is only one way I am ever going to be perfect.  That is through my Savior.  It is through him and his redeeming love that I can be perfect.  I know that in this life, I can never ever be perfect.

I believe that my quest to be happy, may be perceived as a quest to be perfect, and for that I am sorry.  I am sorry if you have perceived my happiness this way. 

Do I want to be perfect?

Yes, I do.  I want to be perfected through my Savior; some day.

For now; I want happiness.

…and that is why I do what I do and share what I love here on my blog.

I decorate my house because it makes me happy during the process and it makes me happy to live in a space whose beauty I helped create. 

I don’t decorate my house because I want our home to look perfect; it never can because we live in it.

I exercise because it does my brain good, and I find happiness in pushing my body. 

I don’t exercise because I want the perfect body.

I plan parties for my kids because it makes them happy; and that in turn makes me happy.

I don’t plan parties that are perfect.  They are far from perfect.

I blog to share what I love.

I don’t blog to make you think I am perfect.

In fact; I blog with the intent that you know that I am real.

I am a real person who makes real mistakes.

Like yesterday when I went to the gym and totally forgot that my daughter had dance.  It broke her heart to find out I forgot about her dance class.  That in turn broke my heart… mom guilt.

…or when I was teaching 15-eight and nine year old girls how to make bread yesterday; and totally forgot where my son told me he was going to play during the process.  Then spent 15 minutes calling neighbors to find out where he had gone. 

YES!! That made me look like the crazy neighbor and mom.

So.. my purpose in this is that you know that I am real.  I make small and large mistakes.

I hope you know that what I share here is more about my happiness; and never about perfection.

Perfection is between you and God.

What I work on within my inner self, who I am striving to become, and the sins I must repent for on a daily basis; are more about striving for perfection. 

…and that kind of perfection really is more between me and my Savior.

It’s not between me and the blogging world.

Nothing I share here can be or ever will be perfect.

So if at anytime you don’t like the content of this blog, that would be a good time to find a blog whose content suits you.  I can only share what brings me happiness, because that is who I am.

On that note:

Fall bring me more happiness than any other time.

Here is how I enjoy that in my happy home:

I think that fall decorating on the outside of the home is the best place to start.

Any one can decorate for fall, by just buying pumpkins, mums and cabbages.

In my case; buying a grundle of pumpkins, mums and cabbages.

I bought so many small pumpkins for indoor decorating, that I decided to paint some of them.

I didn’t want the orange to take away from some of the calm colors of my home.

Painting pumpkins was so fun.  An enjoyable afternoon for sure.

Every cute pumpkin needs your kids initials on them.

I got creative and added some peacock feathers to my fall décor.

 

I feel like peacock feathers and fall pumpkins look great together.

I also finally got around to making my table a runner.

I decided to make a  table runner that is layers stacked one on top of the other.  That way it is so easy to change for the seasons.  It is also a good way to keep your base color the same.  I chose a gray burlap for that.

I kept the fireplace simple; by adding a few painted pumpkins.

Just so you realize all these painted pumpkins are real.

My family has to hold me back when we drive by pumpkin farms.  I really like pumpkins.  They are just so cute.

Pumpkins are part of the reason I love fall.

If you came for a visit this time of year, you would leave my home with this sweet little message about Autumn.

Which is probably so true now that I live in the most northern part of Utah; and it snowed in the mountains here yesterday.

Once again, I thank you for being here.

I thank you for reading my blog.

I thank you for adding to my happiness.

A fun November craft

I have had fun making a few things with felt this week.  I recently followed this tutorial and made these felt pinecones.

 

I love them.  They look so cute in this gold bowl on my coffee table.

I decided that I wanted a few acorns to go in with them.  So I came up with a way to make acorns.  They are so simple and look adorbs with the pinecones.

I used the small egg shaped Styrofoam balls that came in the same bag that I used to make the pinecones. I love when I don’t have to buy anything to create something.  It is nice to make something out of things you have on hand.

What you need:

small egg shaped Styrofoam balls

golden felt

brown felt

a glue gun

Start by cutting a large circle out of you gold felt.  Put your egg smaller side down on top in the center of the felt.

Run a bead of glue down the four sides of the egg.   Then push the felt up against the glue so it looks like this:

Then take the felt that is not glued and put a bead of glue inside the pocket it made. Squeeze the pocket together so it looks like this:

Now take your scissors, and cut right up next to your egg.  Cutting the overhanging felt that you glued together.

 

Cut all four sides.

 

This will leave you with a nice acorn bottom with four pretty seams.

Now cut a smaller brown circle for your top.

Glue it on the center top of your acorn.

Then continue to glue it around the sides make a few pleats.

Now your acorn has a top.

Next, cut a small rectangle out of your brown felt.

Run a bead of glue down the center leaving the bottom free of glue.

Roll up the felt to make a stem leaving the bottom open like a half circle.

You will put the glue in this half circle part to give you a base to glue to your acorn top.

Wah-Lah!  Now you have a felt acorn.

Add them to a pretty bowl with your felt pinecones, and you have a cheap autumn detail.

Autumn

I love this time of year. 

I also love the word Autumn.  I like it so much, I could even name a daughter Autumn.  …but that book is closed.  No more beautiful daughters to name Autumn.  Instead, I will just enjoy the season and saying “welcome” to my favorite time of year.

Some of the Autumn happenings around here:

Autumn mantel:

Autumn details:

I just love these itty bitty pumpkins you can buy. I love them so much I want to buy more and more, but my budget doesn’t allow that.

Autumn food:

Sweet Chili and Homemade Bread. (recipe located at the bottom of this post)

I have enjoyed being in my kitchen again.  After our long drawn out move, it is nice to be back.  I think I am cooking more than I have in a long time.  I am proud to say that I have a meal ready for my family most nights.  Jonathan is consistently home around the same time now, and never takes call.  It makes meal planning so. much. easier.  YEAH!!!

I have realized how important family meal time is.  I knew that, I am just reminded of it every time we sit down together.  I am thankful for my family all gathered round.

…and so we must have an Autumn table:

…and more Autumn food:

Ginger Snaps: (recipe also located at the bottom of this post)

and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup

and last but not least Autumn decisions:

After a lot of thought, I have come to a very difficult decision.  I am going to take a break from my photography business for a while.  I have had moments during our whole transition without sessions looming over me to be edited.  It is in these times that I feel the peace.  I think these moments helped with bringing back ME.  Although I love it, and I have a passion for it; I have decided that I am going to love it for me for a while.  I am going to love taking pictures of my kids.  I am going to love capturing the moments in our home.  I am going to take this year to learn and grow some in my photography for myself.  At the end of one year, I will take a step back, revaluate and decide where I am going from there.  I love the creative outlet that photography allows me, I just can’t afford to take anymore time from my kids.  Thank you to everyone who has supported me on my photography journey.  It has been a wonderful learning and growing experience for me.  I hope that when my kids are bigger that I can return to it with a more dedicated effort.

I recently finished posting my last 3 photo sessions that I haven’t shared with you yet.  If you would like to check them out, click on the picture to take you to each post found on my photography blog.

The Posey Family: my last photo session in AR

London: A great photo session of my niece in UT.  You should see the beautiful cherry orchards in these shots.

And this is my last session done here in PA of my sweet friend Kenna, her family, and their new addition.

I am thankful for this time of year.  I just love it.  I found this quote and it describes exactly how I feel.

Ok, now that I have overloaded you with all that we have had going on, here are those recipes if you are interested:

Sweet Chili

This recipe was given to me by my friend Krysta.  It is a family favorite this time of year.

1# ground beef

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 t. salt

1 t. black pepper

1 t. cumin

1 t. dried oregano

1 28oz. can diced tomatoes

1 20oz. can tomato sauce

1 16oz. can kidney beans(drained and rinsed) (I usually use 2)

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 can water

2 C. macaroni

Sour cream and shredded cheese

Brown beef, onion and garlic for ten minutes.  Drain and add spices.  Cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.  add tomatoes, sauce and one can of water.  Add beans and brown sugar.  Boil and then simmer for 30-35 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  Add cooked macaroni.  Top with cheese and sour cream.

My changes:  I cook the ground beef with all seasonings just like the recipe says.  Then I add it all to the crockpot minus the noodles.  I let cook until one hour before we are ready to eat.  I add 1 cup of water and a couple handfuls of noodles.  The noodles cook in the crockpot in the hour.

Gingersnaps

Pumpkin Pancakes with apple Cider Syrup:

Beat 2 eggs, and stir in ¾ C. pumpkin then add:

2 T. sugar

½ t each: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger bk soda, and salt

1 ½ t. bk powder

¼ oil

1 ½ C. flour(can use whole wheat)

Stir in 1 ½ cups milk

Cook on griddle

I like to dump a few chocolate chips on each pancake.

Syrup:

Mix in saucepan:

1 C. sugar

2 T. corn startch

Add:

2 C. apple cider or juice

2 T lemon juice

Boil for one minute and serve over pancakes.

on this particular day, I used this syrup instead:

Buttermilk Syrup:

1 C. sugar

1/2 C. buttermilk

1 cube butter

Boil and remove from heat.

Add:

1/2 t. soda

1 t. vanilla

Stir together.  It will get bubbly.

Not healthy in the least, but oh so divine.