Then the Leaves Fall

The man and I were remarking the other day how odd it was that all of the leaves were still on the trees this late in the year. 24 hours later, all of the leaves, in unison, decided to fall. Our back yard went from green to this in under 30 minutes.

I love the way the trees just 'know' when to shed their leaves and one tree sends the secret signal to the rest and it's game on. It's a conspiracy to leaf rakers everywhere, but a beautiful sight to watch the leaves lazily making their way from treetop to ground. It's been 3-4 days since I took this picture and it's even more covered now, but it's rained a bit, so it's not as inviting anymore.

I've been remiss at posting this last week. I hope everyone had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving as we did. The broccoli didn't head up large enough to eat, but I did pick a bowl and a half of peas that we used for shelling and as appetizers. More carrots were picked and set out as well. It was funny to watch people eat the orange ones first then hesitantly moved to the white and purple, but the only one enthusiastic about them was the boy. Some family members ventured to the white carrots, but more kept eyeballing them and asking what was 'wrong' with them. ;)

I also had enough sweet potatoes left to make the sweet potato dish, only to find out the man and I are the only ones who eat them, but they sure were good!

Instead of a pumpkin pie, I tried a friend's recipe for a pumpkin 'cake.' It darkened up after I took it out of the oven and was very sweet, but obscenely good. I think next time I'll leave out some of the powdered sugar in the filling mix, but we'll certainly make it again.

Keychains for a Cause is trucking right along and we'll hopefully pick up some steam with the Christmas holiday coming around. This is a custom order I had for a women's group. I got an email asking if I could do their group's colors (yellow with white stars). Sure! No problem.

We also got two more collegiate ribbons in - Duke and The University of Maryland. Go Terps!

When it comes time to fill those stockings, don't forget us!

The morning comes early. Especially when your girl decides to sleep in your bed and talks in her sleep and spends the whole night patting your head and calling you a "good dog." I suppose it's better than "big-fat momma" which she called me all day Thursday. Sweet fall gardening dreams.

All Good Things...

Are the peas at their end? They completely fell over in the wind we had two nights ago. They're a jumbled mess even though they've been strung up for support.
However....they're still full of peas. I think I'll let them go through Thanksgiving. I bet I'll be able to get some for a little side dish or pre dinner snack and I'll be a happy gal. I'll go through and pick around Tuesday or Wednesday, I think, so they don't get too large and starchy.
Last year I didn't have hardly anything from the garden to put on the table, but this year I've got sweet potatoes that I'll marble with regular potatoes for a dish, peas, carrots and rosemary to season the turkey with. I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

I posted yesterday on the Keychains for a Cause page that I had a customer ask if my dislike of the Florida Gators was greater than my love for Relay for Life. My first instinct was, "Heck yeah!" but she was right. Relay won over and these got made last night:
I was thrilled today when my new University of Georgia ribbon came in. After having to wear a gas mask and gloves to make the FLA keychains last night, this was a relief. ;) I like the two UGA designs I already have, but this one is my favorite.

Also in the order was my Mississippi State ribbon, so I was able to finish a custom order.

So there you have it, sports fans. Keep us in mind for Christmas gifts!

Broccoli Abounds and Name That NFL Team!

Now that it's cooled off during the day, the broccoli is starting to look really nice. The big one second from the left is actually starting to show a little bit of a head. There's nothing like home grown broccoli. Its sweetness can't be beat. I'd say it's second to home grown tomatoes in terms of the taste being superior to that of store bought. Then again, so are the peas, the carrots, the squash, the garlic....maybe it's all just better. I need more boxes. ;)

Today I got an email asking for custom orders for keychains depicting a certain NFL team's colors, but only if I got it right. I made a mock up and I'm putting the test to you:

Which NFL team does this keychain represent? I wrote on the Keychains for a Cause page that the first two people who email keychainsforacause@gmail.com would win one of the collegiate keychains we offer (EG....I got in Auburn! Even though you throw punches like girls.) It's open to any of you who come by here as well. It's game time! Let me know if you think I can propose this to the customer.

The morning comes early....and so is the night being that the kids don't understand daylight savings time and start asking to go to bed at 6:00. What? I'm not going to fill them in. ;)

O Garden, How Have I Forsaken Thee

I've been so busy with the keychains and the end of the semester that I've nearly forgotten there is a garden out back which is good and bad at the same time. It's good because I'm not tempted to pull every carrot out there and therefore just may have some still in the ground for Thanksgiving use and the peas are filling out nicely; as you can see, even though strung up for support, they're almost pulling down the trellis!
I ripped out the peppers and beans today and here's what I got off of the pepper plants and pea vines.

The decision is made. I won't bother with peas in the spring and only do a few carrots since they do soooooo much better in the fall and I'm not overly eager to pull them to make room for the summer veggies. The broccoli outside is just starting to show a head. I wonder if they'll grow large enough by Thanksgiving to use and cabbage worms or not, I'm thinking of finding out if those cabbages are salvageable. You can serve cabbage for Thanksgiving, right?

I was going to make a zucchini pie from the zucchini in the freezer, sweet mashed potatoes from the ones from the garden, carrots and peas as appetizers and if I can work the cabbage in there this will be one fantastic garden holiday!

The girl is becoming quite the fashionista. She's entered the "I'm getting dressed myself with blatant disregard for the seasons or original intended function of the clothing stage. She was adamant this is what she was going to wear on this 45 degree day:

And yes...those "shorts" aren't shorts at all, but a shirt she's thrown on upside down. Oh, and that tattoo is one she's had since Halloween. She holds it out of the bathtub so she doesn't get it wet, but some mean, soapy hand always manages to grab it and dunk it before we get out of the tub. I'm about to break out the baby oil when she goes to bed to get that sucker off.

This Saturday I took out a booth for Keychains for a Cause at another elementary school fall festival and did better than the first one I did, so that makes me very happy! The large youth group order is finished, packed up and ready to ship, although I forgot to take a picture before I packed it up.

Here is a few that I made for someone. Thank goodness there's some red and black to bust up all of that yellow. ;)

My collegiate ribbon is in although not listed on the website. Email keychainsforacause@gmail.com with inquiries.

The morning comes early....even when the kids play outside for five hours and fall asleep dead tired, they STILL wake up early. Is nothing sacred!?

Not Much Gardening Going on Around Here....

In the garden, things are pretty much either dead, waiting to die or biding their time before they produce like the broccoli, onions, garlic and carrots. There were, however, a few surprises. I thought the recent three days of frost in a row would have gotten all of the green beans left, but it only nailed a few and I picked a whole bowl on Sunday which was pleasantly unexpected. Right now, I'm just twiddling my thumbs and waiting for the mood to strike me to clean up the dead and dying vines.

Right now, what's keeping me busy is making keychains! We got that order in for just under 60 keychains for a church youth group so I've been sewing like a crazy tonight. I've gotten 15 done today so depending on the amount of other orders we receive this week, I should get them done in time to ship out Monday. *sigh* it's the first time I haven't shipped out within 24 hours, but I think it's understandable in this case. Here's the ones I did tonight:

And here's what I found when I came downstairs Sunday night. They were like three peas in a pod!

It was very cute.

Hopefully the broccoli will sprout heads soon and we can get back to gardening! The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

A Sale and Advertising That Can't Be Beat!!

We hit the Wally World today to do some grocery and clothes shopping since the girl and boy both decided to grow without consulting anyone. We also happened upon a 90% off Halloween sale that was STUFFED with costumes in the boy and girl's sizes. The boy got a ninja and Darth Vader costume for a whopping total of $3.50 and the girl a girl Robin costume and a Yoda which went perfect with the Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker that the boy actually was for Halloween for just about the same amount.

Here's my point....all football season this girl's been singing this song of hers she's entitled "Georgia Bulldogs to the Rescue." The refrain is simple, yet pleasing:

Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia Bulldogs
If you need help call
Georgia Bulldogs to the rescue!

It doesn't deviate from the course...ever..not even in her fifty billionth recitation.
So here I am playing at my sewing machine and making up some UGA keychains with real, official ribbon I found (GA Tech, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, USC and Illinois coming soon), and I hear her singing the song with the jingling of a keychain in the background.

So, here she is in her Robin costume glory singing our new, completely unsolicited Keychains for a Cause theme song. However, she's sideways and even though I save it rotated, it won't transfer here as such, so try not to crick your neck.

So, here they are....the two new Georgia Bulldog keychains to the rescue!

The Fall Festival is Over...

...and I am sunburned!

It was fridged cold with the wind whipping and highs in the low 50's if that, but my booth faced right to the sun and I've now got the fancy raccoon eyes to go with my sunburn. This being my first fall festival, I really didn't know what to expect. I suppose I wound up doing better than I thought, but not as good as I would have wished, if that makes sense. I only sold three off of the table, but I got a few special orders and handed out a lot of business cards, so hopefully those people will come back. Most seemed very excited about using them as teacher's gifts, stocking stuffers or gifts for those people who you always want to give gifts to, but usually wind up spending far more than you'd like to.

This here is one of the orders I took today. I'd never made one up with the leopard print or green polkadots before, and I really like the way they turned out.

Will I do another festival? I don't know. The woman at the fancy watch and jewlery booth next to me said she was surprised that she didn't sell a single watch since she usually sells a lot, but it was just too cold and people weren't in the mood to loiter and shop.

There's another fall festival next week at which I've been invited to share a booth, and I may just do it, but at the same time I'll keep my fingers crossed that some of the people that took the cards will pop on over and order some as well.

Anyway, thanks for humoring me. The morning comes early, or actually a little later tomorrow for those of you without children who act as human alarm clocks regardless of what the digital clock says. Sweet dreams, my friends. Sweet dreams.