Christmas Fun...

(If this post makes no sense, its because I'm watching the VT bowl game while typing!!)

We had a super time celebrating Christmas with the Taylors in Mississippi last week. We left Wednesday morning and headed down. We got there within 30 minutes of everyone else. We really stayed in most of the time we were there, except to go to church on Christmas eve and out to see lights on Saturday night. As usual, Jeff and Abby played pretty hard. Instead of "Uncle Jeff" she called him "my Jeff" the whole time. We also ate lots of good food! The Taylors do fondue on Christmas eve and then they fried a turkey Christmas day. And it's not a holiday without a bunch of yummy pies made by Jeff's dad.

Christmas morning was a blur, but fun. Lots of presents!!! And Abby is now at an age that she can really have fun with it. She got quite a bit of fun stuff. Aunt Becky bought her fingerpaint!! I was kind enough to get the Crayola stuff that only shows up on Crayola paper though! We also introduced her to chalk & chalkboards! A little messy, but cleans up well.

The aftermath...

On Saturday night we drove a little over an hour to Mobile to see the lights at Bellingrath Gardens. We just thought there would be a few lights on some of the trees... not even close! It took us almost two hours to walk through and see everything. It was amazing! Cold, but amazing!

Sunday morning after breakfast we loaded up and headed back. The seven and a half hour trip actually went pretty quick. It was fun to spent that time with everyone.

Things Are Rolling!

We have been working really hard to have the new business up and running by January 1st and I think we'll make it! We still have insurance to get and a way to process credit cards, but that's it! Well, that's not it-- but its all we have to do before we can get cleaning. After that we have web design, advertising, etc.

So pray for us as we begin this journey! I'll still be working full time at my day job. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep working my four day schedule so I can have a day to help Jeff with bookkeeping and scheduling.

In addition to the blog, folks can follow us on Twitter too! www.twitter.com/taylorsolutions

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas this year! We're heading to Mississippi to spend Christmas with the Taylors. I'm sure we'll have lots more pictures to post when we get back. We always do when we get to hang out with Abby for a few days!

A Great Thanksgiving!

Jeff and I spent Thanksgiving in Florida this year with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. Typically when we go to FL, we take it pretty easy. This year we were out and about quite a bit. We left Nashville on Wednesday late afternoon and drove to Macon, GA where I scored an $89 hotel room on Priceline.com for $45! We got to Jacksonville around noon on Thursday. We threw Grandmom & Granddad in the car with the food they made and headed to the Smiths for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner!!! After dinner we went to the movies (a Smith tradition) and saw "Old Dogs".

Friday we got up and headed for the Jacksonville Zoo. It was fun, but pretty chilly for FL. Although it was probably in the 50's, we saw a few people in winter coats. I had to borrow one of Jessi's sweatshirts.

After the zoo, the boys went to the park to play disc golf. I tagged along to take pictures!

We also got to see Josh & Jenn's townhouse that they did a fabulous job fixing up!

Saturday we went to a huge craft fair at the convention center and came home to watch the Hokies kick UVA's butt!

We were sad to leave Sunday, but plan to go back in the spring!

It was great to see everyone!

There's Been A Murder!

Last night I went to my first Murder Mystery Dinner party! I was quite nervous, as we were all "actors" at the party and had detailed instructions to follow. But it was a lot of fun! The scenario was that we were all at a bachelorette party at a day spa (hence us all wearing our bathrobes). During the party, there was a murder and we had to solve it. I played "Carina," the bride's cousin, who was also asked to be her wedding photographer (even though I was an artist, painter, by trade). Part of my role last night was to snap pictures, so here are a few!

The crime scene!

Detective Straight filling us in on what happened!

The bride's mother and soon to be dead maid of honor.

Our lovely host Kimberly who worked really hard to get this all together... and then I sold a secret about her character "Blair" for $100. A game is a game!

"Justine" the day spa owner!

We had a lot of fun playing our characters. There were prizes for those who solved the case, the person who made the most money, the person that acted their part out the best, and the best costume. I qualified for none of those.

New Blog

We filed our paperwork with the state to start our business (more on that later) and we went with a different name than we originally thought we would. So the organizing blog I started now has a new web address! So delete the Taylor Total Home blog links you have and use this one instead.

www.taylorhomesolutions.blogspot.com

Hopefully more blog posts coming soon about the business, the murder mystery dinner I'm going to tonight, and our Thanksgiving trip to Jacksonville next week!

Halloween in Birmingham

We headed to Birmingham this weekend to see all the Taylors! We got there on Friday and the playing and squealing began... from Abby AND Jeff! As usual, they played pretty hard and he did his job as an uncle getting her completely wound up before bed each evening!

This was Abby's first year to try trick-or-treating. She made a beautiful fairy! She did well going to just 3 or 4 houses on their street. But she LOVED giving candy out! Every time the doorbell rang, she was on her feet running to the door saying "More kids!"

She was not too happy when it was time for us to leave on Sunday... neither were we. We'll be able to play again at Christmas!

Craft Supply Swap

Last Saturday I hosted a Craft Supply Swap! I wanted to get rid of some things in my craft closet and get some inspiration for Christmas presents, so I thought it was a good idea. Four people showed up with fabric, beads, scrapbook paper, and other fun stuff. I also had everyone bring a snack to share so we can make an occasion of it! And because I like fall, I decorated the tables in my autumn best!

Everyone left with new items and new ideas... for free! The fun part was sharing our interests and what projects we were working on. I can't say that I'm totally prepared for Christmas present ideas, but the wheels are turning!

Spicy Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cake

This is one of my favorite fall recipes! Not only is it yummy, but it makes the house smell terrific as it bakes! And it starts with a boxed cake mix! I made it today for my craft supply swap (more about that later!).


SPICY PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHUNK CAKE

Ingedients
1 pkg (2 layer) spice cake mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
6 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Prepare cake mix as directed on package, reducing water to 1/2 cup and increasing oil to 1/2 cup. I listed 3 eggs in the ingredients, but use how ever many eggs your spice cake mix calls for.
- Add the cream cheese, the pumpkin, cinnamon, and ginger
- Beat on medium speed until well blended
- Stir in chopped chocolate
- Pour into greased 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube plan
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, cool for 10 minutes

You can top with a cream cheese icing or cool whip!

Enjoy!!

Beth Moore Weekend

I spent Friday & Saturday with girls from church at the Beth Moore event in Memphis. There were 13,300 women at the FedEx Forum for the event!


The worship and message were great and the fellowship even better. Below is a picture of us at lunch on the way home. It doesn't really look like it, but it was COLD and all I had packed were flip flops! My toes were FREEZING!

Another Blog for You to Read

This week I started another blog... funny, right? Since I can't really keep up with this one!?

I've started a blog on home organization tips, projects, and products. I'm hoping it will eventually turn into an actual business.

This week I started with the pantry re-do I did this weekend, including before and after pictures. I ought to practice what I preach, right?

www.taylortotalhome.blogspot.com

Check back often as I hope to do Tuesdays Tips and some product reviews in addition to documenting my projects while I gain some experience.

I'm willing to help some friends get organized in exchange for before and after pictures while I'm getting started! Just let me know if you are interested!

End of Summer Harvest

Sorry to be MIA for a while! Our garden has been quite fruitful this summer! The pictures below are what we brought in the house just TODAY! From left to right, there are green bell peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, and that huge pile of leaves... BASIL!! I'll be taking quite a few bell peppers to work tomorrow to share. I think we're going to make some more pesto this week and try to dry the basil in the oven.

We also dug up our potatoes today! Jeff planted them in the spring and their flowers just started to die off (which is the signal they are ready). They are a lot smaller than we thought they'd be. I'm going to figure out how to blanch and freeze them.

We have had probably over one hundred jalapenos this summer, easily! I've frozen most of them, but we made some yummy jalapeno poppers a couple times. I also got up enough courage to make hot pepper jelly and can it this weekend! We tried some today and, I think for a first attempt, it turned out well!

We've also made salsa, spaghetti sauce, and stuffed peppers with our home-grown vegetables. We've frozen the spaghetti sauce, but now that I am more comfortable canning, I'll do more of that next year.

Today we cleaned out part of the garden to get ready to put in the fall garden. We'll put in most of what we planted in the spring again.

My "Cure for the Common Life"

I'm part of a girls Bible study group that meets every Thursday! I love the fellowship and conversations that group provides. We just finished reading Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado. In order to get back to my "sweet spot" and do something I enjoy doing, I decided to put my insecurities behind me and sell some of my wares! So today I set up my Etsy site:

http://beadingbecky.etsy.com/

Right now I'm mainly selling some beads that I want to get rid of in order to get more (prettier!) beads. There are a few bracelets, too. Since I have Fridays off for now, I'm hoping to spend more time making things and learning more about the beading and sewing.

And this is totally NOT a sales pitch! I'd prefer to sell to strangers! Friends, family, and blog readers get things free!

Jennifer & Ben's Wedding

This was weekend #3 of 4 for travel... needless to say, glad I'll be home this weekend. That said, it was still a fun weekend. I traveled with Kelly to Atlanta for our cousin Jennifer's wedding. Jeff was stuck at home working. Actually, the wedding was in McDonough, Georgia at the Hazelhurst House. It was beautiful, of course!

Practicing!

Despite a little rain in the beginning, the wedding was sweet. I think they were trying to compete with Jeff and I on the fastest wedding ceremony, but we are still in the lead. Probably because they had 9 bridesmaids and 9 groomsman!

Mom & Dad at the reception.

Cousin Josh... his wedding was last summer! And in this picture, I'm on my tip-toes and he's practically sitting just to get the two of us in the picture. Hard to believe we're related!

Kelly & I at the reception.

Good to see the extended family at weddings now that we really don't get together at Christmas anymore. Now someone has to get married next summer!

Girls Weekend 2009

As many of you know, I have three terrific friends from college who I get together with at least once a year... Elizabeth (in Atlanta), Becky B (in DC), and Missy (in Blacksburg). I love and adore that time we spend together! Last weekend marked eight years of trips! This year we went to Elizabeth's house in Atlanta for the weekend.

We started the weekend at Ikea and PF Changs on Friday! Saturday was pretty typical for us... we stayed in our pajamas until about 3pm at which time we finally decided to go to the pool. I think I was the only one who showered that day. We played Nerts a lot, which is our tradition each time we are all together. It is also tradition for Becky B to kick our butts! I think she should go pro! Casey, Elizabeth's husband, was wonderfully patient having that many girls in his house at once.

A lot has changed in eight years! Here's a picture from our first vacation to Pompano Beach, FL (picture taken in Miami) in 2001 and a picture of us last weekend. The extra girl is Elizabeth's daughter, Caroline.

Next year we are headed to DC to see Becky B's new townhouse! We've never been to DC for a vacation before because it is close to the rest of our parents... we knew we couldn't just go to DC, but would have to plan time to see family too. It's time.

My goal in the next year is to figure out how to best document all of our trips! We made a list of all of them, so that's a good start!

Visting the Taylors in Birmingham!

This weekend we went to Birmingham for Jeff's sister Laura's birthday. Jeff's parents drove up from Mississippi, so we got to see the whole family... including niece Abby! Abby LOVES her Uncle "Jesh"! They had fun, but I'm not sure who was more tired when it was all said and done. She does say "Becky" now, unlike when we last saw her in February!

Abby & Uncle Jeff reading...

Abby & Uncle Jeff watching TV...

Abby haning out with Uncle Jeff before bed...

Saturday afternoon, Jeff, Mark and their dad assembled the canopy for Mark & Donna's deck. They worked hard! They were so sweaty that when one of them would come in, Abby would say "They got wet."

We ate well this weekend, too! Mexican for Laura's birthday Friday night and then Mark grilled ribs Saturday night! And to top it off Bananas Foster last night too!!

(After making this post initially, I realized I didn't portray the weekend very accurately! I had all these sweet pictures of Abby & Jeff doing quiet things. The reality was that was the only time they were still enough to take a picture! Most of the time he was swinging her by her ankles and tossing her onto the couch while she squealed and said "AGAIN"! Uncle Jeff was climbed all over this weekend... and he loved it as much as she did! That's really how they bonded!)

Next weekend... girl's weekend in Atlanta!! Stay tuned!

For a Good Laugh...

Here is video of my television debut this month. I appeared on Plus Side Nashville on Channel 5+. It airs several times through the month of July. I think I'll stick to radio.

Update on Ian

Today the Anna & Jason shared with everyone that they are expecting baby #2 in January. They are trusting in God's timing with the new baby and are excited. Ian will make an awesome big brother.

Unfortunately, Ian's MRI today showed that in the 4 weeks since his brain surgery his tumor has grown back and "is big". They've scheduled another brain surgery for Wednesday unless he shows symptoms of more cranial pressure. Then they will move the surgery up. Chemo will start 7 days after surgery. Obviously it's pretty aggressive, so time is of the essence.

Please add little Ian to your prayer lists. They need all they can get!

Pray for Ian

As a lot of you know, our friends Anna and Jason recently found out their 18 month old son, Ian, had a brain tumor. Last week they got the pathology results back that proved it was a rare aggressive form of cancer. Today they decided to get treatment for him at St. Jude's. They have to be there tomorrow morning at 10am.

Please keep our sweet friends in your prayers. While his brain surgery is thought to have removed all of the tumor, Ian faces 7-8 months of intense chemotherapy. In the meantime, he continues to be one of the friendliest, funniest, happiest kids I've met.

Here's the website if you are interested in reading about little Ian.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ianconnermiller

Game Night

Our Sunday School class had game night last weekend at the Keebles house! We played some games outside until dark.

Cody, Jeff, and Jeff playing cornhole... never heard of it until about two years ago. It's a bean bag toss for grown-ups! But people around here are pretty serious about it.

Once it was dark, we went inside to play Rock Band on the Wii. I think Daniel is singing Thriller!

As you can see, I didn't show off my inner Rocker, but instead sat in a rocker holding baby Hunter while his mom played. Apparently I was pretty boring because he was out cold and we were sitting next to the speakers!

Reading about Hokie Bird...

My sister-in-law emailed me this picture this morning and I thought I would share! It's Abby reading the Baby Hokie's First Football Game book that we got her (I think before she was born!). I think she's preparing for the upcoming football season and the VT/Alabama game (her mom when to Alabama!).

Can you guess where I was?

If you guessed the Williamson County Landfill, you are correct! I got to take a tour of it on Friday as part of the Environmental Leaders class I took earlier in the spring. It's a really neat place! I was warned of rattlesnakes before I went, but didn't see or hear any while I was there. When you drive up you have no idea its a landfill. They don't take household waste, so its not stinky like you'd think. They do some pretty incredible things there that are sustainable and earth-friendly. In fact, I think he said they've had 24 different countries come to see what they do. The people from China stayed a week to study the place.

Below is a pile of ground up houses.

Lewis, who runs the place is a genious! He knows trash and had some pretty eye-opening stats to share. Did you know that Williamson County produces 2x the national average of waste?

Just one of the fun things I get to do at work!

In garden news, the plants are going nuts. We've been able to eat some broccoli and some lettuce. We may have some cauliflower and snow peas ready by the end of this week. Here's an updated picture at the request of Heather! And for the record, that's only about 1/3 of the garden!

April Showers Bring May Flooding...

We've had quite a bit of rain so far this month! So far the garden is liking it! This picture was taken of the cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli on April 25th...

Ten days and four inches of rain later...

We had a CRAZY thunderstorm this morning and got close to another inch of rain. The 5.08" is total since May 1st.

The sun is out now, but they say more storms are on the way. Fortunately, none like the tornado-filled ones we had in April!