BIRDS! The necklace!“Solid Silver Swooping Gulls” (via Bbel).
I just realized it was “shoo-in” and not “shoe-in”
“Some sources incorrectly spell the term as shoe-in, suggesting a different horse racing or foot racing origin. In fact, the correctly spelled shoo-in comes from the verb to shoo, meaning to steer or manipulate something in a specific direction. A skilled jockey could shoo his horse around other competitors on the track and win the race handily. Running a more experienced or powerful horse against an inexperienced field almost always guaranteed a “shoo-in,” and those in the know would place bets accordingly.”
(via)
this is so lovely i could cry.Smile Worthy Wednesday: I saw a chalkboard tray on etsy a few weeks ago and said “I can make those!” Thanks to the awesome generosity of blog reader Mary and a quick trip to my local goodwill, I found 5 silver trays for my project. A couple of coats of chalkboard paint, gorilla glue and a picture hanger on the back each one and VOILA! instant wall art for Everly’s room.
When she’s older, these will be perfect for drawing little cakes on for pretend “tea party” foods.
Patrick and I went to an apple orchard on Saturday with two friends. It was a perfect fall day.
I convinced Pat that we needed 1/2 a bushel of apples. Really, there is no reason on God’s good earth that we needed that many apples. But the place was so cute! Super low key, no crazy kids running around or crying. In fact, there was only one other small group of apple pickers that day.

So we got our apples. Lots of them. Also, my mother had brought me canning supplies earlier in the year. I don’t know who I think I am or what era we happen to be living in, but I had gotten it in my head that I wanted to attempt to preserve.
With the apples and the canning supplies, tonight, I attempted to make and can applesauce tonight.
The apple peeling went pretty well. And I have one of those fancy apple cutters, which was very helpful. 
The mixing of the apples, etc in the large pot was easy, too. I was skeptical that it would turn into applesauce, but, after only 30 minutes, it was pretty applesaucy.
Then it came time to put them in the jars. I was pretty nervous about the whole botulism thing so I watched a couple of online tutorials.
Right now the jars are cooling on the table. I”m not sure if all the lids have “popped” but we shall see in the morning.
If not, and even if so, I have quite a bit of applesauce over here if you would like some.