Win a Kitchen Aid Mixer!

What a beauty!

I've always wanted to own a KitchenAid mixer.  Do you have one?  If I had one, I'm pretty sure that I would proudly let it sit out on my counter-top all the time.

If you'd like a chance to win one, head on over to The Reluctant Entertainer.  Today, in celebration of RE being featured in USA Today's new publication "Your Life: Guide to Women's Health", KitchenAid is giving away a 7-quart Stand Mixer. If you win, you can choose from red, black, or silver.  This product is brand new, so the winner will be one of the first to own it.

This bad boy is KitchenAid's best performing stand mixer.  It's Q-U-I-E-T, has a professional-style attachment power hub, and the largest capacity residential bowl-lift available.  That means it can tackle 8½ lbs of mashed potatoes, 8½ loaves of bread, and 14 dozen cookies.  (Wow, this model might need a counter-top all it's own!)  It also has dishwasher safe accessories, by the way.  That's important to me, how about you?

Sandy(RE) has all of the details available on her blog today.  Just click her button, below. You'll need to leave a comment (answering a specific question), and Sandy has listed additional ways that you can enter to win as well.

Contest Ends this Friday at midnight, September 23, 2011. 

Sentimental Swing-set

Today, the old swing-set is coming down.  Our kids (13 and 17) don't use it anymore. Basically, it's just become an obstacle to mow around.  We've been talking about it here and there, so today was not a big surprise to our kids (who can be sentimental about the darnedest things).  I looked out one moment, and my sweet hubby was up on a ladder working on those rusted bolts.  A few moments later, he was at the door asking if I knew that our son had carved his name in the swing-set.  No.  I didn't know.

I started to follow him out to where the swing-set once stood, and said, "I should probably grab the camera?" He gave me a thumbs up, and I ran back to the house.  When I got outside, this is what I found:

"The end of an era!" I said to my hubby.  We have entered the iAge.  I really miss the swinging days.  Those days were so much simpler.

Shortly after we moved to this home, we put in a new mailbox.  We took the old box (which was just a box on a post), and mounted it at the top of the slide platform.  The kids used to leave surprises in it for one another.  I can remember a few bed-times when we had to run out to the swing-set mailbox to retrieve favorite toys.

When the kids were little, we had one of the two slides in the neighborhood, and ours was the sturdy one -- so neighborhood kids gravitated over to our yard.  I only had to look out the kitchen window to know where they all were.

Today, the swing-set is down -- well, most of it.  The slide and the slide platform are still standing.  That'll be a project for another day.  The ladder is down and in the woodpile, though, so nobody will be using that slide.

Oh, and the carving... can you see it?  Neither my husband nor I knew it was there.  Our daughter remembered right away.  She was there when our son carved it "a long time ago." We wondered why she hadn't had him carve hers as well.  "The 'S,' she said.  "He couldn't figure out how to carve a good S."

I'm linking up with Cha Cha at Heartfelt Home

for Sentimental Sundays.

What are you sentimental about today?

Taste and See

What are three things you're thankful for?

I'm thankful for:
1. The certainty of knowing where I will spend eternity.

2. A surprise visit with a cousin who is passing through town.

3. The song "Blessings" by Laura Story.  It makes me think,

and brings me to tears every time.

Flowers on Saturday

This morning, I enjoyed a stop at the Garden Center

-- just to snap some pictures of beautiful flowers.

Because who doesn't enjoy...flowers on Saturday? 

Inspiration for Fall

I drove by JoAnn Fabrics today, and couldn't resist stopping in to see if I could find any interesting clearance items to inspire me.  I'm happy to say that I found a few things.

Remember when I did THIS post for spring?  IN FEBRUARY?!?  I was only-a-little-bit-in-a-hurry to usher winter out the door!!!

Now, here we are mid-September, and well, we wouldn't want to plan AHEAD for fall or anything, would we?

Whatever. (grins sheepishly)
I've already discussed me dragging my feet into fall HERE.

Okay, enough.  Aren't you dying to see what I found today?  Well, first let's just get it out in the open.  This girl has a weakness for pottery.  (There are those of you who are nodding your heads because you know about my BOWL fettish.  I've not blogged about that yet. Some day.)  But, anyways -- pottery in general is a good thing -- and it doesn't have to be anything expensive for me to appreciate it.  So... I found this little goody:

Are you seeing that red clearance sticker?  Cha-ching.  And actually, the plate/bowl is not "little" as I said - it's 9.5" across.  I'm loving the worn areas that make it look like it has a history.  I also found some Pumpkin Spice Potpourri for 50% off. It's pretty cool with seed pods & such.  I think it'll look great in the bowl, don't you?

And last but not least -- something that I'm going to tuck away for Christmas decor (and also $2.97 on clearance).  This sweet red crock.  It's a deeper color than the picture shows, and about 5.25" tall x 6"across.  I'm thinking it might look good loaded up with candy canes (which we eat like they're going out of style) during the Christmas season.  But more on that much later.

In the meantime,
out with the old:

and in with the new!

Like this: 

 or maybe this:

 Okay, c'mon fall.  I'm ready.

I'm linking up with Melissa

over at The Inspired Room 

for the Fall Nesting Party.

Come join the fun!

I'm also linking up with Linda.

She's having a "Fall Frenzy" Link Party

over at Craftaholics Anonymous.