An Evening at the Fair

Friday evening we took the boys to the South Carolina State Fair - we had so much fun together and Wesley and I even got to ride an elephant! Judah got scared at the last minute.
We didn't get there until after dark so I didn't take many pictures of the boys, but here they are enjoying some food:

I had packed some "fair like" food for them that I'd picked up at the grocery store the day before - it saved a TON of money and they were quite content eating their treats when surrounded by all the goodies sold at the fair.

The Midway was HUGE - there were three Ferris wheels and you couldn't see all three of them from the same spot. We didn't put the boys on any rides, but they loved walking through and looking at them all.
The lights against the black sky looked so cool:

Creative Ways to Use Cinnamon Sticks

Five things to do with cinnamon sticks:

Two weeks ago I discovered 6 oz bags of food-grade cinnamon sticks at the Dollar Tree. From the quick search I did online I think that is a pretty cheap price for cinnamon.
I bought three bags and have been having fun incorporating them into fall decor for our home.

1. I tied a small group of them together and added some fall leaves. It's currently on our mantle, but I think it would look charming to make lots of these up and place at each place setting for a dinner party or to use on top of a gift wrapped in brown paper.

2. I placed several sticks in a glass jar and set it on my kitchen window sill. So simple and pretty.

3. By default we exclusively use a French Press for our coffee - our second coffee maker in five years died a couple months ago! I have been using about a third of a stick of cinnamon in each pot of coffee that I make. I simply place the cinnamon stick on top of the ground coffee and then add the water and it adds a deliciously subtle cinnamon flavor. This would work just as well with a regular coffee maker.

4. I glued cinnamon sticks - cut in various heights - around a brown candle. I attempted to use double sided tape first as I am all for the quick and easy... but I discovered white glue IS the quick and easy way!! I added a little bit of fall flair around the candle to give it a bit more class.
The candle was also bought at the Dollar Tree.

5. This is my favorite way to use cinnamon - place it in a pot of water and let it simmer all.day.long. I have done it with orange peels (as seen in the above image) but I prefer using just the cinnamon stick as I just turn it off in the evening and start the simmering again the next day. (With simmering fruit you need to clean it all up at the end of the evening. )
Simmering cinnamon sticks smell amazing - the first day I did it Paul was super excited to see what I had cooked that smelled that good! I have been simmering cinnamon sticks almost non stop since buying these and my house has never smelt so good!!

What are your creative ways for using cinnamon sticks?
And have you found anywhere with a cheaper price?

Fall Gourd Decor

I didn't take a "before" picture of my gourd, so this is more a "during" and "after" photo example.

There is a gourd farm around here that Paul, the boys and I went to last fall. This was the grand-daddy of the gourds I bought and it's been sitting in the garage waiting for inspiration to strike!

A month or so ago the idea struck - monogram it and stick it on the porch by the front door.

I started out by painting the whole thing white. Then I duck taped off an "M" and painted it with the free paint Glidden sent out several months ago.

It's now sitting on our front porch on the spray painted chair.

Hot Chocolate

It's the time of year for hot drinks. I just wish we had cute mugs to drink out of. We own Army mugs, Anthrax Kills mugs, massive 4 cup mugs ... I am a good wife and haven't broken any of the ugly mugs. Yet. I am just waiting for the day I can buy cute mugs. Till then I drink my hot drinks out of Paul's bachelor day mugs. The drinks still taste good. Like this rich, delicious Hot Chocolate.