A Simple Country Mouse

You know its fall and I love fall. But you probably know how much I also love, love, love Christmas. Gamer and I managed to get all our Christmas shopping done for everyone except each other last week. And I even managed to get most of it wrapped already! We decided to do all of our shopping for Clay's shower, Sam's birthday, and Christmas all in one swing. I'm so excited it's done early. One big project that I won't have to try to tackle just after the baby is born. I just have to get stocking stuffers, and presents for Gamer. Sam and I are going to tackle Christmas shopping for Gamer this evening while he is having dinner with a friend. I'm actually really excited. Sam and I are going to have a mommy/daughter date! IHOP for dinner, and shopping at the mall. While I'm not a huge shopper, I do love Christmas shopping. There's something fun about getting gifts for people that you know they are going to love. While I can't divulge what I got as that w...

In today's post we shall be discussing how to fix a grouchy mommy. I shall lay out things in everything in several steps. 1. Make coffee, or hot apple cider complete with mandarin oranges, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a big warm mug. 2. Make a nice meal. A favorite of hers is always a win. If you don't have the ingredients for the favorite, make the second favorite. 3. Bring chocolate. Always bring chocolate. If you want to survive mommy being grouchy you will always bring chocolate. I cannot say this enough. In just about every form chocolate will solve nearly every problem for moms. Well, right after coffee. 4. If you have done coffee, food, and chocolate, then a good movie with cuddling is a good option. Chick flicks, rom-coms, or a good action flick should do the trick. If mommy is more of a reader, get her favorite book, or just a good book in general. Romance is often preferred when reading. 5. Draw a hot bath. This would be a good time to light some nice smelling...

If you've been reading this blog for the last few years you'll know that in my book there is no season quite like fall. And I'll continue saying that every year. I love fall. The colors changing, the weather cooling, the hot soups boiling, the apple cider, and of course the pumpkin spice lattes. It also means all my cozy sweaters come out, and I begin to decorate for all the warm colors of fall. The reds, and yellows, and oranges. And of course you can't forget all the little critters scurrying around doing their best to gather the last bit of food for winter before hibernating or migrating. Right now outside my window a flock of robins are playing and eating getting ready for their journey south. The colors of the trees are beginning their change, and the grasses are turning brown. The days are getting shorter, and of course the rains are setting in. Here at Hidden Forest the fall setting in means we have to start setting up for winter and even more so, setting up the...

Well, I survived yesterday, and am much less scattered today. A solid night's sleep helped for sure. Now it's onto my giant to do list for the week. While I have some of it done already, I've a long way to go before it's completed on Friday. And I seem to be continually adding to it. Do you ever feel like your to do list is a mile long, and just as you get around the first bend you realize it's now two miles long? Yeah, those are my kind of to do lists. There's always something more to be done. Though often it seems like there's not enough time to get it all done in one swing. I've learned to write out a to do list for the whole week rather than try to tackle everything in one day like I once did. It makes the load a little lighter and allows me to really focus on getting things done the way I actually want them done. It's better than rushing through, and feeling like I didn't get it done right. For example, there was once a day and age where I ...

You ever get hit with news that shocks you? It can be good, bad, or indifferent. It always takes a moment or two to really process it in your head. Sometimes it takes more than just a moment. You wind up in shock wandering around confused for a while. That's where I am today. Late last night I found out through my husband that a family friend and pillar of the community had suddenly passed away due to leukemia. I had no idea she was even sick, and suddenly a woman who has just always been there in the small town where I'm from is just...gone. My brain hasn't been able to even begin to process that. Please allow me to explain a little about her.  Forgive my somewhat scattered thoughts. Dorcus was a woman in one of the small churches I grew up in. She was always kind, and had a smile for the little girl who was a bit of a hellion. She loved kids. All kids. She started a little shop in town that I remember being there forever before it burned down on Christmas eve one year. ...

Well, this has most certainly been a very interesting week. What started as a should be normal week with a few exciting highlights turned into a week of none stop crazy. Sunday, for all intents and purposes, was fairly calm and relaxed minus the cake incident. Monday was much the same. Until Monday evening...when the week took a turn for the interesting. I knew that I had an early appointment with the doc on Tuesday morning and wouldn't you know it, we discovered that the car's tabs were very much expired. Like June expired. Oops. Thankfully we hadn't been pulled over for it, but still, it's not something I like. So of course I go to bed having completed some of the to do list for the week, but now knowing I was going to be adding to it. Waking up every two hours almost on the dot to go pee was exhausting. Occasionally my phone won't ring on time for it's alarm. And by that I mean, it doesn't go off at all. Thus making me paranoid that I was going to over s...