Happy Homemaker Monday {on Sunday night}

It's a new week already and I'm gearing up for busy! But first...some Happy Homemaker thoughts!

The weather...

The weather here is stinkin' hot. Stinkin'. That is all.

Right now I am...

Jamie has just gotten the four littles to bed and the olders are spending time on their own various pursuits. He has some studying to do so I'm considering whether I want to visit blogs or finish a book. 

Thinking...

I'm super excited for the Teach Them Diligently convention next weekend. I've been wanting to go to one for years and it's coming to our area! Yay!

On my reading pile...

I've just finished reading Tracie Peterson's Treasured Grace for a book review. I'm not normally a romance novel sort of girl but I picked this one up because it's an Oregon Trail story set at Whitman Mission near where I grew up in Eastern Oregon.

Something fun to share...

Yesterday was my first author event at our local library. I had a blast meeting new authors and several of my friends stopped by to support me. Jamie brought all the kids over too! That was SUCH a blessing! I even sold some books!

On the menu for this week...

Leftover supreme! Thursday is grocery day so we'll be eating up whatever's in the fridge. I gave our second fridge to a family in need so now we've got to eat up those leftovers before I can make anything new---storage space is limited!

On my to do list...

Packing. Our landlord is selling his home so we've got to find a new place to live. I'll be busy packing the first part of the week and then will take a break to enjoy the homeschool convention at the end of the week.

Looking around the house...

I need more boxes. Ha!

From the camera...

One of my favorite weekends in recent history was last weekend when Lynzie and I went to Joplin to attend a ladies conference. The conference was nice but the really great part was meeting our blogging friends, the Lanes!

On my prayer list...

We need direction about this move and some other personal things. It seems God is giving us several options and leaving the choice up to us. I think it would be easier if he'd just shut all the doors but one. Ha!

Linking with:

Happy Homemaker Monday

The Art of Homemaking

Motivate Me Monday 

Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 

Living Proverbs 31

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 

A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 

Making Your Home Sing Monday

Amaze Me Monday
Soul Survival linkup

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life

Show & Tell

The Scoop @Stone Gable
Roses of Inspiration @ The Enchanting Rose

In Which Lynzie and I Visit SW Missouri and Meet Some Online Friends to Boot!

Last weekend, Lynzie and I took a little road trip up to Joplin, Missouri to attend a women's conference I heard about last year. We had a few adventures along the way and even met a few online friends in person for the first time!

The conference didn't start until 7:00 Friday night but Lynzie and I were on the road by 3:00. We had some time to kill so we drove up the road a bit to Carthage, MO---a town we visited last year and wanted to see more of. I was especially interested in taking Lynzie to see this Alice In Wonderland sculpture that I'd read about on another blog.

Carthage's downtown features several of these lovely sculptures by the late artist, Bill Snow. Read more about him and his work here.

The usually-costumed Lynzie was decked out in Steampunk garb so we took a couple artsy photos around town. Here she is looking toward the courthouse---having just stepped off a magical path...

 There were several cute shops on the square but we only had time to stop in one. Lynzie chose Oldies & Oddities Mall---an excellent choice featuring lots of vintage photos and jewelry, among other neat things.

After our little shop stop, we headed to Joplin to make sure we could find the church before dark. Up the street a bit was a lovely family style restaurant called Sami's. We both ordered chicken fried steak. It was awesome---almost as awesome as mine!

Just before dark, we found some abandoned tracks and took a few more fun photos.

Finally, it was time to head to the church where we were planning to meet up with my blogging friend, Laura from Harvest Lane Cottage, and her two daughters. Lynzie became instant friends with Emily and Amy and Laura and I hit it off immediately! 

The night was fun and encouraging!

The next morning, we headed back to Joplin for the Saturday session. First, we stopped in for an early breakfast at Bella Vista's Duffer's Cafe. We're always the youngest in there by a couple generations---but it's a great place to eat!

After our inspiring day in Joplin, we headed home to find big, fat snowflakes just over the Arkansas border! It ended up sticking for a whole 18 hours---first snow in two years for Bella Vista!

The Homemaking Party: Pemberley Pinked!

Tabley House, Cheshire, England

Welcome to the Homemaking Party! I'm glad you stopped by!

Wow, this has been a great week full of lots of exciting blessings. (Read more about that here) but TODAY I want to share my newest exciting thing. This week I launched my new Etsy shop completely devoted to PINK! Introducing.... Pemberley Pinked!

I've had a lot of fun scouting the area for fun pink things for my shop. Here are just a few treasures you'll find...

Victorian calling cards abound on Etsy, I know...but can anyone say they are in possession of Mr. Wickham's calling card??? That's right! I've found Mr. George Wickham's calling card, along with those belonging to a couple other family members. If you're a Pride and Prejudice fan, you've got to add this villainous-yet-swoonworthy character's card to your collection!

Here's a beautifully pink 1953 copy of The Enchanted Cup by Dorothy James Roberts. It's a lovely retelling of the story of Tristan and Isolde and would look gorgeous in your vintage book collection.

I found this super cute towel just in time for Easter! Gorgeous vintage days of the week tea towel features a festive, bow-tied, green-eyed bunny and "Wednesday" spelled out in red work. Large, wonderful kitchen towel made like they don't make them anymore!

The best part of the past week? I got to meet my sweet friend, Mrs. Laura Lane from Harvest Lane Cottage, in person---yes I did!!! Read all about that here!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you're having a blessed week!