making pie...

I'm not a cake person. I don't like to eat cake. It just doesn't taste good to me. I'm okay with cookies and I love brownies. Pie, however, doesn't usually tempt me. Now, pecan pie is always good, but other than that, there are few pies that I can't pass up. Until now.

Miss Pottenger introduced me to chess pie not so long ago. It's like pecan pie but not quite so sweet and you can use walnuts rather than pecans. I love it. When I first made one, I had some extra filling and extra dough, not to mention a mini pie pan, so I made a little one.

It was scrumptious.

And I can't wait to make another one...

spun gold...

On Saturday, Carin, Vicky and I drove up to Cripple Creek. Fall here in Colorado means the aspen leaves turn from green to gold. I love to go out and see them--the sight is breathtaking. Here's a few of my favorite shots from this year...




Rumplestiltskin eat your heart out!

saturday snapshot...

Here's the second in my Saturday Snapshot...

This was taken at the Denver Aquarium when Carin and I took the Myers kids. These were just beautiful and I was intrigued. Let me know what you think!

welcome Taytum Marie!

A few days ago I told you about my friend Deb, who was waiting to deliver her second daughter. Well, yesterday afternoon around 3:00 she went to the hospital. And sometime around 6, Taytum Marie made her grand entrance.

I went to see her today and Taytum is adorable. Just over 6 pounds, dark hair and the longest toes I've ever seen on a newborn. But talking doesn't do much--here's the photos! (I didn't take many because Trey, her proud daddy, handed her over to me shortly after we got there--and I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to hold the bundle of cuteness!)

Here's me with Taytum...


And her proud daddy...

Shelly showing Taytum off to Will and Kayla...

And the cute girl all by herself...

(I didn't take any pictures of Deb because women who have just given birth shouldn't have cameras stuck in their faces. Not to mention that between Shelly and I, we held Taytum almost the whole time.)

when I'm in the market...

Some days, I just want to move. I'm not too picky--just somewhere with more space, less people, thicker walls. I was looking through Carin's pictures recently and found the perfect home for me...Think the owners are willing to sell?

I thought not.

(I'll have to check with Carin, but this is some house in England. She visited there recently. Must be great to work for the government!)

reading my way through '08...

Remember way back in January? I know, it's been a long while, but try. I announced I was going to attempt to read 100 books in 2008. Well, it is September and the year has made the turn towards the end. So far, I've finished 80 books. That's 5 more books than I read in 2007! And this year, the books have been a bit longer and a bit harder (not all of them, but last year, I did read a few that were hardly considered books).

So far, I'm happy to say I've discovered a new author that I love. Her name is N.M. Kelby and she has four books out. I've read three of them, In the Company of Angels, Whale Season and Murder at the Bad Girl's Bar and Grill. Kelby is quirky and fun. Check her out! Here's her very happy picture from GoodReads.com (where she is a friend of mine!)

saturday snapshot...

Okay, I've decided to do something fun. Every Saturday, I'm going to post a picture I've taken. Just something random or fun. Maybe next year I'll even do Project 365 (where you take a picture every day of the year, which I suppose this year should have been called Project 366, but no one on the naming committee was paying close attention to the calendar!).

Anywho, here is your first Saturday Snapshot!

This is a picture of the first African sunset I ever saw. Taken from my hotel room in Joburg, South Africa. It was rather lovely, don't you think?

crawling...

Several of you know that back in May I applied for a job as a department assistant. While I didn't get that job (because, I was told, I was over qualified and would be tired of it in a month), I did strike the fancy of the VP I interviewed with. He had a job he wanted to create and he thought I'd be perfect for it.

It's now September (breathe...I know, you are asking yourself how it got to be September already, I totally understand!) and I'm still in waiting for this new position. But there is good news on the horizon. The position was approved by the board and now the job description just needs to be written and approved by HR.

So I don't have a start date yet, but within a few weeks, hopefully I will. Keep praying (if you've been praying with me--I SO appreciate it!) or start praying that things will continue to work out. I'm really excited about this position and the way it will use my skills and talents!

shadows on the wall...

I took this picture a few weeks back as an experiment. And when I was showing some friends my pictures from camping, they all liked this one. It befuddled them; they had no idea what it was. So I'm sharing this photo with you, for your enjoyment and amusement.

It's a picture of the curtains in my room and the lovely shadows of the tree just outside. And no, it isn't on black and white film--the curtains are just white and the shadows are just dark!

coming soon...

I just spent the evening with my friend Deb and her daughter, Mayce. Deb is pregnant and ready to have a baby any day now. She went to the doctor's this morning and wasn't feeling so great so instead of babysitting Mayce, I just went to hang out. We did some fun pampering--hand scrub and lotion, foot lotion and soft socks. After that, we went for a walk.

Baby Girl isn't any closer to showing her face, but Deb and I had a good time hanging out. Guess it's time to go work on the blanket so when baby gets here, she'll be kept warm.

communication issues...

Last night, dad and I went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. He wasn't feeling great, so we got a booth and then I asked him what he wanted so I could go order. He said, "Eight nuggets, lemonade and make the fry big." So I repeated, "An eight nugget combo with lemonade and the fry made large." He nodded and I went to order.

And I got him the eight nugget combo with lemonade (medium) and fries (large). So I bring the drinks back to the table and he looks at it. "That's not a large drink, is it?" I blink. "You didn't ask for a large drink," I said.

He shrugs and I go to get the food try. Once sitting, we start in on dinner and he eats his fries first. Then he opens his nuggets. He looks at me and says, "eight is the big pack?".

My somewhat snippy reply was, "No. The twelve pack is the big one. The eight pack is what you asked for."

Somehow, he just didn't get out what he really wanted last night. Next time, he can come up and order with me!

remember...

Because if we forget the things that have happened, we will allow them to repeat--

everything except...

The kitchen table.

I've amassed a lot of belongings over the years. I have a bed, a poof chair, two popasan chairs, bookcases, dressers, side tables, televisions, lamps. But the one thing I DON'T have is a kitchen table. I've wanted my own kitchen table for a long time. I've come close to getting one a few times. Yet the table still eludes me.

Somehow, the table has become sort of a marker to me. I think when I finally get one, it will signify something major in my life.

Or it could just be a kitchen table.

pictures from heaven...

Okay, so we go camping every year up near Yellowstone. This year we tried a new spot and it was lovely. Here are some pictures...


We saw some great sunsets...
And here is my tent--I was right on the river so I was lulled to sleep every night!We went up to the Crandle one day, here is dad fishing and a shot of the river--
I was obsessed with taking pictures of berries and other small objects this trip...


I was fascinated with this tree...

Here's a close-up of the moss...

Hope you enjoyed those bits of heaven!

improvements...

Okay- so I'm not much for understanding web code, but I've figured out enough to help clean up this blog--I'm still tweaking, but let me know what you think of the new look. I took both the pictures I used--the title pic being from Peru and the other being clouds in Namibia.