Hello Again!

I have a terrible habit of disappearing! Well this post is going to be long so pull up a chair, get you some hot chocolate or coffee, and grab a couple of the chocolate chips cookies that I made today, and get comfy.

We have spent almost ever spare minute this fall out on the lake. The trees are so pretty reflecting in the water.

Yngwie has been very busy with his Senior year in high school. I didn't realize how much went into applying to colleges, SAT'S, ACT's, etc... We have had senior photos (that I need to upload), we have gone to several meetings at school explaining tuition (ouch!) etc. This past weekend we headed east to Williamsburg, VA to visit The College of William and Mary.

The college is just beautiful! It was founded in 1693 and is the second oldest college in the country. This is Wrenn Hall that was built in 1693. Unfortunately, it was drizzling rain, breezy and about 40 degrees outside and the tour was two hours long, mostly outdoors. While Yngwie liked the curriculum and the campus, he didn't exactly like the location. What I thought would be really cool, to be in Colonial Williamsburg's backyard, is really what we didn't like about it. The traffic is maddening! There is no parking, tourists are every where! On campus and off. Colonial Williamsburg is truly, just over the fence! Also, to get from SW VA to Williamsburg you have to either go through Richmond, the state capital, or bypass it and get caught up in the traffic heading to Washington DC. And it's 4 1/2 hours from home. So, while he is still leaving it open as a maybe, we will be looking at other colleges. Next on our list is University of Virginia in Charlottesville. That is only 2 hours from home and Momma likes that!

After our tour of the school, we visited several of the shops right outside of the school. I was freezing and chilled to the bone so we decided to eat at the Trellis Restaurant. Let me say if you are ever in Williamsburg, you really need to eat at the Trellis! It was so good! After 5 cups of coffee, I was finally warm enough to enjoy my meal.

For dessert we had the restaurants signature dessert....Death by chocolate! Oh my heavens!!! Words cannot even begin to tell how delicious this was!!! I wasn't able to eat even 1/4 of mine. DH and Yngwie got through about 1/2, but they kindly boxed up the rest and we dined on it the rest of the weekend. I forgot to take a photo of our dessert, but here is a photo I found online: Can you believe that!!!! Absolutely delicious!

Saturday morning I saw an ad in the paper for an estate sale that sounded pretty good and since we were going to Lowes anyway, we swung by. It really wasn't much of a sale but I got his beautiful deviled egg dish. I love teal glassware, it looks so lovely with the light from the window shining through.

Of course I had to put it to use and made deviled eggs today!!

I promised last month to show some more of my Halloween decorations and finally made some pictures today.

For those of you who read my blog, you know that in my kitchen I have a bookcase/whatnot case that I call my "Happy Shelves". I decorate them for every season and Halloween is one of my very favorites!

I really don't think I can squeeze one more item in here!

The two Kelly dolls are new for this year.

The glittered silver skulls are a Dollar Tree find this year. I bought my sisters Mary Moo's at her yard sale and you can spot one of the little fellows over on the left.

I also have put up my Halloween tree:

I got it last year at Michaels and it is PURPLE GLITTERED!!! You really can't improve on that in my opinion! Purple and glitter!!!

My dear friend Nancy from "more than enough" sent me this beautiful fairy lady that for some reason I keep calling a witch. She is not a witch!! She just have a hat that reminds me of a witch, so I hung her on my tree. However, she is going to stay out all year, because I really like her!

I picked up these adorable Peanuts figures at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago, and I know there isn't anything remotely "Halloweeny" about them, they are under the tree too! There is no rhyme or reason to some of the things I use to decorate under my tree. You might also spot one owl salt shaker, a turkey, and a little squirrel.

Other than that, we have been busy doing this:

Why oh why did I ever tell Yngwie he could have an aquarium?? We had an old one up in the attic and he drug that down and set it up and put a few fish in it. Then his friend told him that his grandma had a bigger tank that she wanted to get rid of, (I wonder why!) and that he could have it. So now we have this monstrosity in the den! He has a loche (that came with the tank!!), a few sharks, a pacu (not the biting kind), some tetra and some bright yellow fish. This thing has so much maintenance! Fortunately, he has taken care of it since he has had it and the fish are kind of fun to watch.

So, have I bored you to tears yet??? I'm not promising I will post more often, but hopefully since we aren't out on the lake so much, I will get around to it more often!

Blessings

Linda