Project Smile #2 (Part 2) with Linky. Please share your smiles!

This is Project Smile. And I'm on a crusade to find smiles. Please join me.

We all have wonderful things in our lives everyday. Things that typically are overlooked and often forgotten when negative thoughts creep in and set up shop.

To combat this I'm focusing on the smiles. And I'm amazed as I look back over my month how many smiles I've found.

There were so many I broke it up into two chunks. This post is the conclusion of my October smiles.

If you missed the first part of this month's smiles, you can find them here.

You can also check out the FIRST EVER Project Smile that launched Sept 30th here. Or why Project Smile was born here.

We are excited about Halloween here. Take a stroll down memory lane and see our Halloweens past. We do themes. And the big reveal for this year will be coming soon, so stay tuned.

Thanks to all the entries last month. They were all fabulous. Creative. Beautiful. Not one alike. I was especially inspired by Melisssa at Frugal Creativity and Natalie at Mommy of a Monster. They both shared a smile for every day of the month. I'm always up for a challenge, so I decided to share my daily smiles via photos.

It's been a full month and I'm thankful for this task that reminds me to look for the smiles. They are indeed plentiful.

What are you smiling about?

If you want to join us, just grab the button below and linkup. It is a bloghop, so feel free to snag the linky as well. It will be open for one week, closing Saturday, Nov 6th at 11:59 PM. I know life is busy this week, so no rush. And if you don't want to write a post, just share your smiles in the comment box below. Or to yourself. The important thing is that you smile.

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Project Smile #2 (Part 1)

I must be quite candid. Life is definitely less than perfect. Between hub's new schedule leaving me a single mother for a while, the continuing short sale saga, all consuming soccer, aging bodily injuries, nightmarish parent conferences unveiling my new challenges ahead, and just normal life junk... it's a wonder I sleep at all. Then today I awoke to a disease ridden family, trying my patience at every turn. Sure didn't see that one coming. I'm one step away from cracking...

So, yes. Not perfect. However I am thankful for this challenge that keeps me focused on the smiles. They say laughter is the best medicine... and when you want to cry sometimes you have to smile. Tonight over dinner there was gut rolling, tears streaming- thank you for the release- kind of laughter. Not sure what was even said, but boy did that feel great. And in spite of this day that feels wrong on every level and just won't end, I'm ok. And I've even managed a couple smiles.

Due to the length of this Project Smile this month I decided to break it up into 2 chunks. So, if you aren't ready yet don't fret. There is still time. I will have the linky up Oct 31st and it will stay active for one week.

I do hope that you have been finding a few smiles in spite of all the hiccups and heartaches that you may encounter along the way.

For those of you who may have just happened upon my blog and have no idea what I'm talking about, you can read more about Project Smile here, here, or here. Basically, there are no rules. Just document the things that make you smile. I have a linky available the last day of every month (that runs for a week) where you can share your smiles with us.

Here is my Part 1 of Project Smile for October (1st-19th).


Oh, and by the way. Just in case you were curious if it was the puking kids or just the Lish madness that gets my creative juices flowing, you can read about it over at Parenting By Dummies today. Dumb Mom is a jill of all trades. She goes by Dumb Mom, but is anything but. She just recently was handed the Wordless Wednesday torch and has made a seamless transition. She is a professional photographer, writer for a review blog, mom of some adorable boys, candid, and funny to boot. I was stoked when she asked little old me to write a blurb on her blog. And about none other than creative juices. Ha! Irony is the first word that comes to mind.

I'll be posting Project Smile Part 2 (Oct 20th-31st) on the 31st of the month. Stay tuned for the continuation to see how this month comes to a close.

Hope you are having a lovely week free of sickness and stress. And if so, could you send a few healthy vibes my way? Thanks a million. As always, nice of you to stop by.

Not So Wordless Wednesday Linky Party: A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Boy have things changed over the last decade. Thank the Lord. Those hairstyles and glasses are painful to look at. Whatever was I thinking?

Some photos actually had to be scanned. Others were put on cd from the negatives. Let's see if you can tell which year I switched to a digital camera or my SLR...

2001 Panda Bear and Fisherman


2002 Legos


2003 Lions


2004 Chicken and Cow


2005 Bride and Groom


2006 Witch and Skeleton


2007 Princess and Knight


2008 Darth Vader and Princess Leia


2009 Pirates


One of these days they'll hate me for some of these costume choices, but I figure it might come in handy. Not that I would ever stoop to blackmail or anything of the like. (Wink, wink.)

I'm doing my best to convince Little Man to do one more year. He's at that age. You know, "too cool to dress up, but not too cool for the candy". If he agrees, can you guess what they will be?

Hint: You may or may not have seen a photo of them catching one of these this year. And it's NOT a frog.

I had some trouble with the thumbnail linky last week, so I'm opting for both this time around. Old and new school. You decide. I try to get to all of the linkups, but I admit after about 120 I generally run out of time. So, I thank you for your continued support even when I don't make it your way. Please know that I'm doing my best. Happy "Not So" Wordless Wednesday!!

Let's get this party started. Add your link below and then head over to some of my other bloggy friends... Kristi at Live and Love Out Loud, Amanda at Parenting For Dummies, and Susan & Janice at 5 minutes for mom.

Psst... It's Kristi's birthday today over at Live and Love Out Loud. Make sure to stop by and wish her a good one.

Tasty Tuesdays Bloghop: Kid Friendly Cheesy Potato Soup

It's time. Finally. The temps have dropped just a little. Enough that it feels like soup weather. I'm stoked. No promises that I'll feel the same come a week from now when the temps keep dropping, but for now I'm enjoying it.

This is a fav here for many reasons. The kids LOVE it. So much that Pokey asked for it as her birthday dinner in August. Plus it comes from the Betty Crocker kid's cookbook and doesn't get any easier. The kids could manage this one and love to help me. No chopping required unless you do the celery (which we don't). We typically will stop and pick up some bread bowls from Panera. If you don't have a Panera near you, I'm sure you can find them elsewhere. They certainly aren't necessary, but sure add to the yumminess factor. This is what's for dinner tonight.


You can right click and save recipe card as an image and then print on cardstock or photo paper. Enjoy.



You should definitely give it a go. It took me less than 30 minutes from start to finish (which is less than the suggested amounts).

Over the last month or so you have shared so many yummy soup/stew recipes so I'd like to highlight a few of yours today.

1. Beef Barley and Mushroom Soup from Apples to Zuchinni (with printer friendly recipe)

2. 10 Can Chili from Around My Family Table

3. Italian Cheese Tortellini Soup from Sabby in Suburbia (with printer friendly recipe)

4. White Chili from Our Happy Home (with printer friendly recipe)

5. Black Bean Soup from Singing with Birds

6. Sausage Cauliflower Soup from Easy To Be Gluten Free

7. Chicken and Dumpling Soup from Mommy Cooks

8. Taco Stew from Loving My Life

9. Indian Summer Turkey Chili from Typical Suburban Family (with cute recipe card)

10. Pea Souper from The KitchenMaid

11. Lamb Ragout from Cocina Diary

12. Butternut Squash and Apple Soup from Frugal Creativity

13. Grandma's Beef Stew from Yesterday on Tuesday

14. Clam Chowder from Recipes of A Cheapskate

Hopefully one of these will strike your fancy, but if you are in need of more inspiration check out the Tasty Tuesdays archives.

I also wanted to mention that if I didn't make it to your link up in the last couple weeks, I apologize. Life has been nuts. I do LOVE all of the recipes. I look forward to Tasty Tuesdays every week and am always bookmarking favs and referring back to past posts often.

If you enjoy writing down new recipes, here's a link to some free recipe card downloads from How Does She. I especially love the Brown Paper Bag Recipe Cards from Crafting A Green World. Very cute AND environmentally friendly. (It's a start. It's definitely an area I could work on.)

If you would like me to stop by, please leave a comment with the name of your recipe and link if possible.

Thanks so much for participating! If you have one to share this week grab the button and link up.

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16 Must See Gutless Pumpkin Solutions

This is my Friday Finds- Pumpkin Edition.

We do the pumpkin farm annually. I look forward to it. Traditions are the spice of life. But I must confess I HATE diggin out guts. Plus you have to put it off til last minute to prevent the mold before the big day. We normally find a day first part of October, but due to soccer conflicts, work schedules, and other unforseen obstacles we have yet to get our pumpkins.

If you LOVE all the slimey, gooey guts, then this might not be for you. In my search for less messy solutions this is what I dug up.



The best part is the majority of these are great for the entire season, not just Halloween. And if you aren't carving them open chances are they'll last a bit longer. I prefer to decorate for longer than a week if possible.

The following section is broken up into categories and all links coincide with pics from left to right.

STACKED
We have done the pumpkin stack for the last 4-5 years. Love it. It's so fun to pick out the perfect ones at the pumpkin patch. Last year we found these gnarley wart-like ones that were perfect for our base. You can be as creative as you want to be. We put them on either side of the front door. They would also be nice in a stand.



A Beautiful Mess
Martha Stewart
Country Living

STENCILED
Fairly easy and what a beautiful transformation.



Mom Designer
Ladies' Home Journal
Better Homes and Garden

PAINTED
Whether you like fun, modern, elegant, or just want something more unique- this is the perfect solution.



Striped Pumpkins from All You
Modern Pumpkins from Curbly
Silver Pumpkins from Remodelaholic
Cobweb or Woodgrain Pumpkins from Country Living
Hand Drawn Pumpins from Project Wedding
Chalkboard Pumpkins from Indie Fixx

DECOUPAGED, NAILED, & GLUED
This is for all you crafty people out there. But I have to say I love the nail idea!! What an easy way to make a dramatic effect in any pattern.



Decoupage from My Military Mansion
Decorative Nails from Let's Entertain
Ribbon from Handmade Parade

ETCHED
If you are up for a challenge, this might be for you. Definitely a prize in the end.



Vermicelli Curlicue Pumpkin, Cinderella Pumpkin Flower, and Leaf Pattern from Country Living

Happy Autumn!

Golden Nuggets.

You know...

The things that come and then go so quickly that if you blink you might miss them.

Those rare moments of pure, perfect bliss. It appears that all the stars in the universe are perfectly aligned and life just can't get any better.

Knowing that if you died at that very moment- you would have a smile on your face.

The moments you'd like to bottle up and save for a rainy day...

Well, today I had one of those golden nugget moments. I had just gotten done with my run. I stretched a bit and then rested under a maple tree.



Looking up into that blue sky through the bright, glistening, sun kissed leaves.



A slight breeze. Leaves falling all around. The smell of fall in the air.





So much beauty to take in.



An unplanned, perfect moment that made me smile from the inside out.



A golden nugget.

Wordless Wednesday Linky Party: Weekend in Wisconsin

I always have tons of questions about my photos on Wordless Wednesdays. So, in case you were wondering today I used Photoshop Elements 7. I resized my photos and dragged them into this free-style collage. Easy peasy and fun for our corn maze pics.

But in case you missed it, I was over at Kludgy Mom yesterday talking about all things photography for part of her Back to School Back to Blogging Challenge (B2S/B2B). Tons of great tips and links- free photo editing programs, techniques to enhance your photos, watermarking, and more. If you would like to spice up your photos or enhance your blog make sure to stop over and check it out.

I'm happy to see ya here. Let's get this WW party started. Add your link below and then head over to some of my other bloggy friends... Kristi at Live and Love Out Loud, Amanda at Parenting For Dummies, and Susan & Janice at 5 minutes for mom.

Tasty Tuesdays Bloghop: My Lemony Snicket Halloween Edition

It's been a Lemony Snicket kinda week here... you know, "a series of unfortunate events". Baking flops. Soccer injustices. And nightmarish skin reactions. We were in Wisconsin for 3 days and although I had grandiose plans for this week, I'm sorry to report there will be nothing grand from me here.

You, however, never disappoint. And the internet is chock-full of thousands upon thousands of fab Halloween ideas. So, I thought I'd condense it and share my favs. Peruse. Bookmark for later.

If you don't celebrate Halloween, I hope you will find something here that strikes your fancy. I'm confident that my friend Simoney from New Zealand (@ Great Fun for Kids) will. She is the queen of themed parties.

So, without further ado... here is a hand picked selection of favs from blogs around the web. Enjoy.

1. Crashing Witch Cupcakes from The Celebration Shoppe *

2. Mummy Suckers from How Does She

3. Monster Eyeball Cupcakes from Ain't She Crazy

4. Green Monster Treats from The Food Network

5. Boo Babies from My Wooden Spoon *

6. Chocolate Ghost Cakes from Southern Living

7. Monster Cupcakes from Wisdom of the Moon

8. Cauldron Cupcakes from Mega Crafty

9. Spider Cookies from Fun On A Dime

10. Witch Cupcakes from Parents

11. Witch Finger Cookies from Mulberry Girl's Recipes

12. Owl Cupcakes from Ezra Poundcake *

13. Peanutty Paw Print Cookies from Simple and Delicious *

14. Witches' Broomsticks from Simple and Delicious

15. Spiderweb Cookies from Epicurious

16. Jack O Lantern Cupcakes from Rosie on Flickr

And as if that wasn't enough, here's more from some of my new favorite blogs.

*The ones starred above have other great ideas and Halloween inspiration.

Plus, you should stop by...

Hostess with the Mostess (HWTM). Several fun Halloween treat ideas.
Blonde Designs is a fresh blog with tons of great ideas. Their Halloween treats come from Martha Stewart.

And of course there is TONS more inspiration from the big names. Click to get complete Halloween lists.

Epicurious (see spiderweb cookies above)

Taste of Home. I love the meringue bones.

Betty Crocker. Tons of great ones. I like the spooky spider cookies or the cobweb cookies best.

Pillsbury

Kraft Foods

Better Homes and Gardens

Family Fun. The Scrumptios Skeletons look fun.

Bakerella. I did these cupcakes last year. It ties in well with the lemony snickets theme, as I was unable to find the black rope licorice and ended up having to cut regular licorice in sixths lengthwise for 50 cupcakes (for a grand total of 300 legs). I call them my tarantulas. You can read more about them here.

Family. Check out their Jack Skellington Cupcakes.

And we can't forget good old Martha. The Halloween Whoopie Pies in this month's edition look rather tasty. Blonde Designs above also showcase some of their Martha favs.

And I haven't forgotten about the big reveal. Remember last week's Grape-Lemonade Ghost Ice Pops attempt (from none other than Martha)? Well...

The directions said to give it 3 hours to 1 week (quite the gap??). I gave it 3 days and it STILL wasn't done. Hmm... and this is how they looked.

The left one was by far the best and the stick is crooked. The right one is good if you didn't know it was supposed to have pupils. You might notice the one on top that we are calling a hat. And the other is still a mystery. I can't help but wonder how many hundreds of tries it took to get their perfect popsicles. So, a bit of a flop. Martha is back to my crap list. Why oh why must she tempt me with such fun ideas?

Have you had any recent flops? Come on, fess up. And what are your favorite blogs/websites for holiday recipes?

As always, Happy Tuesday!! Grab the button and link up.

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P.S. Totally unrelated to food, you can also find me at Kludgy Mom talking about all things photography today. Stop by and pick up some great photo tips.

Wordless Wednesday Linky Party: Snapshots of Happiness

It's not too late to join my Project Smile Campaign. Just start collecting your smiles and then join us Oct 31st thru Nov 6th right here at a beautiful mess. You can click here to see examples from September. There are no rules. No guidelines. However you want to do it. Nothing big. Nothing earth shattering. Just sweet, simple smiley moments-- documented and treasured. Here's a cute button to grab.



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I hope you remembered to smile today.

Thanks for stopping by! Let's get this WW party started. Add your link below and then head over to some of my other bloggy friends... Kristi at Live and Love Out Loud, Amanda at Parenting For Dummies, and Susan & Janice at 5 minutes for mom.