Magic moments.

Winters around these parts can get long and rather depressing at times,

but there's something magical about the first snowfall of the year.....

especially when viewed through the eyes of a child.

Free Holiday Mouse pattern by Barbara Prime available on Ravelry.

Our two city mice spent almost a week with us while their parents vacationed, and
as luck would have it, we received our first dusting of snow during their stay!

Before they braved the weather, I shared a tradition with Maggie and Mack that I carried on
 with our own girls when they were small.  They were serenaded by Christmas music
 during lunch while we watched the beauty of the snow falling outside.

  I don't rush the season in any other way, but year after year my Christmas cd's
 are dusted off and played on a regular basis as soon as we have snow covering the ground.
  Even the drive to work is a whole lot merrier when I've got Bing along for the ride.

 After lunch they were each given an Oreo for Frosty's eyes, but
one little elf felt the need to take a bite out of hers first.

What big eyes you have Frosty!  And I guess there is no
"right" way to insert his carrot nose.

Snow day.  :o)

Meanwhile, over in Beaverville (my pet name for their home in the country)
Finley and Willie are busy decorating the oh-so-sweet homemade dollhouse we
found for Finley's 4th birthday.  If they're anything like their DeeDee, they'll
be entertained for many years with the wonder of life in miniature.

I managed to snap a few photos while they napped,

but once they were up, my camera was set aside for snuggle time.

  Unfortunately
the birthday girl was sick during her party, but she soldiered on and hopefully
she'll enjoy some quiet play time with little bro today.  Sending hugs and kisses your way, Finley!

If you look closely, you'll see that whoever made this house even added

rubber doorstops to the handrails.  Don't you love the doorknobs?

A big smile for her invitation photo taken in their woods
with a deer friend.

I haven't had a chance to do much around the house these past few weeks,
but I did carve out enough time to make about 10 yards of fabric twine.
You can find an excellent tutorial to make some for yourself over at My Poppet.

It can be used for all sorts of things, like embellishing gifts,
Christmas tree garland, string bikini, tying kitchen cabinet doors shut, etc.,
 but I machine-stitched mine into an oval shape to make.....

a sweet little braided rug for the dollhouse!  It took all 10 yards
of twine to make this 9 1/2 inch rug.
Tutorial for rug making can also be found here at My Poppet.

The rug warms up the very pink floors of the dollhouse.
*Note: I bought a lead paint testing kit and the dollhouse tested negative.
You can find the testing kits at Lowe's.

And lastly, my mother turned 75 years young last Sunday.
(I hope I'm as young as her when I hit that milestone birthday!)
She had plenty of help blowing out her candles from 4 of her 5 little elves.

One little elf woke up with the stomach flu the next day.
I think we all know how this story ends.  :o)
The gift that keeps on giving......

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your magic moments while they last!
Vickie

Four balloons tied to the mailbox.

*I'm joining the party at:
Cozy Little House  Tweak it Tuesday

Everybody loves a nut.

While most of you are gearing up for Halloween, we just celebrated
 an early Thanksgiving/Oktoberfest with my extended family. 

  Holidays that aren't celebrated on the holiday have become the new tradition in our family.
  It's all about family gathering together, so to me, the day (or month)
we are able to do it doesn't really matter.

Normally, I think of the weeks between Thanksgiving and

Christmas as the Eating Season.  Goodies are served up everywhere,

from the workplace to the places we shop.  Food galore!
To top it off, I found out we're hosting the real deal on Thanksgiving Day with
our immediate family, so double  oink oink.
If you think about it, we've extended our Eating Season by a whole month!!!

Since I'm a utilitarian cook at best, I've been whipping up some simple
 low calorie treats to fill our candy dishes.

Knitted acorns.

They are knit with fingering weight yarn and size 1 needles
and you can find the free pattern at Pea Soup blog.
(I bought the glittery yarn at Michaels.)

I have absolutely no self-control so it's impossible for me to
 walk by a candy dish without grabbing a piece.....or 6,
(I couldn't possibly have eaten 4 bags of candy corn, could I?!!! )

so this is my wooly solution to avoid all that sugar.

Popping one of these in your mouth would be about as tasty
as eating a cotton roll at the dentist's office.  Gag.

Pictured below are felted acorns, but if I knit one acorn a day for a month or so......

source
I'd have enough to make this cute garland!


The colors can be changed out to make Christmas ornaments, too.

Wouldn't they look festive tied on a package?

I knit the acorns below last winter with worsted weight yarn to try out

the pattern, but I like the smaller acorns better.  Why?

I used a boucle yarn for the cap and to me it looks

a bit like Mrs. Acorn is wearing a really bad wig or an ugly hat.

Oh, well.  I only knit 4 of them.

I needed to step away from my unruly curtains for a few weeks, and this
is one of the projects I've been working on.  So....have the synthetic curtains
grown on me yet.  To be honest, no.  They are looking more and more
like this year's Halloween costume!  Maybe if I leave the windows open
they'll be sucked out by the wind.  As in Gone With the Wind.  hehe

I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here.
Nuttin' I do works out the first time around!

Thanks for stopping by and

Happy Thanksgiving, Halloween, Oktoberfest,

or whatever holiday you're celebrating!

Vickie

Everybody loves a nut......

the whole world loves a weirdo.

(Does anybody remember that song by Johnny Cash?  And why
didn't I think of it when I was trying to come up with a name for my blog 4 years ago?!)

This nut is joining the party at:
Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Savvy Southern Style Wow us Wednesday
Mod Vintage Life Mod Mix Monday
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs.Olson Share Your Cup Thursday
Thoughts from Alice Sundays at Home