Tag Archive | crafting

Welcome Home Nana and Baba!

October 10-13

Our final day before welcoming home Nana and Baba was a bit uneventful. We had a house to clean… kids to sort out… laundry to do… and hot chocolate to drink! What a treat for our family and we have a HUGE tub of the powder mix (Swiss Miss). Mini marshmallows on  top… of course!101_4768

We ended our evening with a random chocolate chip cookie recipe that Ken did most of with some kid help. We made sure to leave enough for the returning grandparents to munch on that evening of course! They got home later that evening after the junior league was well asleep… tanned, well rested and with a boatload of pictures!101_4769

On the Friday after there were presents to see… amazing puzzle boxes for all.101_4770

And time with Nana and Baba.101_4771

With fall firmly in our sights we set the kids to work raking leaves… there are A LOT in this area. People really love their trees. It is one of the things Ken missed the most in Alberta… the green. While not as much as South Carolina where my dad now lives, Minnesota has a lovely verdant quality to it and then fall is a riot of colour and leaves!101_4772

101_4775The house is full again… and I think we are well pleased.

Time to check the garden

Time to check the garden

101_4777And then on Saturday it got a little more full with the addition of cousins!101_4778

101_4779And homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner… one of Nana’s specialties.101_4782

We ended our weekend with Sunday school… can’t miss a week can we? The kids are all loving it, though as of yet we are just sending Ken and the 4 school age and leaving Echo and myself here at home. I figure closer to Christmas we will go onto church but right now we are STILL fighting potty training… and all that fun stuff.

Before we said good bye to the cousins (who had school on Monday of course) there was time to pull out the crafting bucket (Gabbi’s new favourite activity).101_4786

Tea party

Tea party

And played outside in the playset, which looks AMAZING in the leaves!101_4787

Yup our welcome back went VERY well!101_4784

Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel… A Book Review

This Trash to Treasure Crafting Mystery by Rose Pressey is the first in a new series. Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel focuses on Raelynn Pendleton. A recent divorcee she is attempting to fit in in a small town full of seemingly small minds for the most part. Being divorced is definitely not seen with favour. Raelynn lives in a boarding house with one small room and works at the local equivalent of a grocery store. When she unexpectedly inherits a Victorian home with the death of a regular customer and somewhat friend. With a little TLC and some trash to treasure make overs (instructions included in the story!) she is well on her way to a home and a business… a hotel!

How else can a girl with little to no experience make a living and still manage to support such a large and potentially beautiful home? (be it ever so dated… for now). With a murder in the backyard, a cranky neighbour, a town against her and a hot sheriff in her sights, Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel has Raelynn hopping! There is romance, a cozy mystery and instructions on how you too can create treasures out of trash. Definitely a fun first in a series.

But here’s the minor criticisms… I do have to admit I would have loved a bit more storyline with the sheriff. I was confused about how at one point she met him WITH her ex but at another he says he lost her TO her ex BUT there is enough going on to keep my interest. Definitely not a town I would personally want to visit or live in when you figure in how instantly the town turned against anyone new… or remotely new for that matter.

The main character is off in fantasy world every time the sheriff walks in the room (which was not frequently enough for my liking within the storyline and relationship progression). The flavour of the author is there but this is definitely not my favourite first in a series of hers. So if you can’t quite get into this one do try her other books! Her author site is right HERE. Good luck!