These Are A Few Of My Favourite...

... PUMPKIN THINGS!

ELC and I HEART PUMPKINS!  Did you know she and MSD (My Sweet Dad) actually grew their own pumpkins one year?

Aren't they adorable?

Even though it's still ninety-plus degrees here in Texas, I'm ready for all things FALL and PUMPKIN.  In particular:

1.  Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (Oh.  My.  Gosh.) and Pumpkin Spice Lattes (decaf and nonfat, please) from Starbucks.  Be still my heart.

2.  My NEW Pumpkin Scentsy Warmer (next to the latte).

3.  Tiny, little white and orange pumpkins with curly-q stems.

4.  My new LEOPARD PRINT PUMPKIN doodad from Hobby Lobby.  In the words of my dear Rachel Zoe:  I die.  I mean, seriously.  Leopard print and pumpkin?  The best combo!

And I bet you can't guess who my MOST favourite Lil' Pumpkin is?

That's right!  This girl.  My Little Leighton.  She was TWO MONTHS OLD this week.  Wow.  I truly can't believe how quickly time is flying.

(You didn't actually think I could make it an entire post without sharing a picture of her, did you?)

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Have a wonderful, pumpkin-filled weekend!

Two Yeehaws for Y'all!

Hope you were sitting down when you realized I had something to share in the form of Two Yeehaws! I know. I know. I've been very lazy about said Yeehaws. Seems like a certain Little Angel has kept my mind (and time) preoccupied. I didn't think most of you would be interested in the changing pads I like to have at my casa now. For Little Leighton's mini nursery set up in our guest room. Like TLC, I haven't had alot of time to browse the drugstore aisles or department stores for more exciting discoveries.

BUT...TLC and I both could NOT be more thrilled about these Yeehaws. In fact, this post should probably have been Two Yumhaws. I did, however, discover both these devine items on a trip to her Kroger's. I'm taking credit for them. Period. Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Spice Swirl Bread and The Laughing Cow Cinnamon Cream Spread.

So here's the calorie count on two pieces of this SCRUMPTIOUS bread and spread:

Each piece of bread has 80 calories. After toasting four pieces for me and TLC one morning last week, I only had to use one cute little package of the Cinnamon Laughing Cow between ALL FOUR SLICES. Seriously. Each little pie wedge has 45 calories. I then put a teensy bit of sugar and cinnamon on top of the Laughing Cow spread. (We both require a bit more "sweet" than maybe some of y'all might?) I then halved a medium banana, putting a few thin slices on each of the four pieces of toast.

Estimated calorie-count per slice of completed and ready-to-eat pumpkin toast? 125. I actually think that's a smidge too many. We like to err up on our calorie estimations.

When I say this was a filling and beyond delicious breakfast (assuming you love all things pumpkin as we Leightons do), I'm not exagerrating. Word of honor.

Happy Saturday Night! Here's wishing each of you a Sweet Sunday!

ta-ta for now...

Just Humour Me... Again!

What I did today:

1.  Changed Little Leighton's (very) dirty diaper in a Walgreens parking lot.
2.  Bre@stfed her in a Walmart parking lot.

Do you notice a theme?

After those two experiences, I think it's only fair that you humour me, once again, and let me inundate your computer screen with photos of my Sweet Angel.

Here we go!

I could look into those big, beautiful eyes every second of every day.

A few "outtakes" from our One Month Photo Shoot:

This isn't comfy, Mom.

Even in the name of fashion.

Seriously, Mom.

OVER IT.

Teddy Buddy Boo Bear being a most excellent "babysitter."

(Truth be told:  He's eyeing her paci.  He thinks it's a toy.)

Posing for the camera!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL week!

Varmits

I don’t believe anything should be killed for the sake of killing. Not even snakes. Or spiders or bugs. UNLESS any of those creatures feel like a threat to me or someone I love.  

Then there are Armadillos. I seriously do not get it. What their purpose is. Because since we moved to the country twelve years ago, we’ve had the yard around our home literally dug up and demolished too many times by terrorist Armadillos. You work hard to make your yard look nice—to get rid of weeds—to keep it watered during hideously hot Texas summers. Here come the Armadillos. Thrilled you’ve done it all for their enjoyment.

Back in July, My Sweet Hubby (MSH) was setting the trap for a rogue Armadillo tearing up our lawn and gardens. Said Hubby really hasn’t had, however, a lot of luck with the trap. There was the time he set it up near our front door. The night before I was having friends over for breakfast. He caught a skunk. I wasn’t amused. The smell lingered just long enough to greet all four of them as they arrived.

This time, MSH decided he’d try peanut butter as the lure. My (kind-of-expensive) Jiff Natural. Crunchy.

ELC: Where did you hear about peanut butter?

MSH: It’s just an idea I have that it'd be intrigued and go on in the trap to check it out.

ELC: Won’t it make the ants happier than the Armadillo? Won’t they get to my kind-of-expensive peanut butter before The Evil Armadillo?

MSH: No. Ants don’t come out at night.

Wwwhhhhaaaaatttttt?????????

I didn’t actually say this out loud. Thought it, though. I decided MSH must know something I didn’t. About ants. He does watch hours and hours of the National Geographic Channel. And TLC. It didn’t seem right to little ole’ not-as-smart-as-MSH me, but maybe it would work. I thought there might be new "ant" research I hadn't heard about.

(May I also interject another ELC/MSH story, at this point? About ten years ago, MSH came home from work one evening and excitedly asked me if I’d like to take an IQ test on-line. I could tell he was going to be pushy about it until I did. I knew what he was up to. I’d been married to him for 24 years. I was sure he’d done really well and wanted to show me he was mucho smarter than moi. Oh, what the heck, why not? It took about thirty minutes to complete. When I got my score, I called him into our bedroom, where our home computer was located, to share my success. He came struttin’ in—with a goofy grin on his face. He was so certain he'd beaten my score by MANY points. He looked at my results and suddenly got frustrated/confused. The grin disappeared. He asked me how I got that score. I said: “You saw me in here taking this test you coerced me into taking. How do you think I got it? Exactly what are you insinuating? That I cheated? What did you get?” Yep. We made the same score. He tried to make me take it again. Not sure where he ever got the idea I’d even consider doing that. As TLC calls him occasionally: Little Fruitcake.)

Back to The Armadillo Dilemma. The next morning—at 4:45 a.m. to be exact—he came into the bedroom and saw I was awake. He quietly and quite sheepishly said: “The ants came. You were right. That didn’t work at all.”

35 years after meeting me—34 years after marrying me—I might have convinced him I’m semi-smart/wise. Truly, and I'm sooo sincere: I trust this man with my life. I don't trust him, however, to set traps for armadillos (I've decided they deserve no more capitalizations). He's going to have to watch a few more educational shows, apparently. 

Sheesh.