Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken, Pinterest Stuff (September Bucket List), THE SPIN-OFF of I DIDN'T FALL AGAIN, BUT I'M TELLING THE STORY ABOUT THE FIRST TIME I FELL TWO YEARS AGO... Just Because, Celebrating with Bev, Labor Day Choices, A Little Extra AND A Little Teaser

Good Wednesday morning!

It's officially the second day of Autumn, so that means I am in a particularly good mood.

Join me, won't you?

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken

You will need the following:

3 to 4 boneless chicken breasts
1 bottle Kraft Sweet Honey Barbecue Sauce
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks
1 teaspoon soy sauce

1. Put chicken breasts into the crockpot.

2. Add the barbeque sauce, pineapple chunks and soy sauce.

3. Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours.

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - I served the chicken on a bed of rice (adding a couple of spoonfuls of "juice" to the rice), as well as several chunks of pineapple placed around the chicken and rice. Hawaiian rolls and a giant fruit salad finished the very simple meal.

Pinterest Stuff

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - I went through about a dozen Bucket Lists, and I found ten things that might not be the "norm" for your family. I've done a couple of these in the past...

And I plan on doing a couple more.

September Bucket List

1. Try a new-to-you pumpkin recipe.
2. Make caramel apples.
3. Have an apple bobbing competition.
4. Make your own family scarecrow using things from your closets.
5. Make a donation to a local food bank.
6. Pay for the car behind you in the Starbucks drive-thru. (Chances are there will be a "pumpkin spice" something in their order!)
7. Plant bulbs. (Something to look forward to in the Spring.)
8. Take a Family Fall Bike Ride.
9. Create your own Family Trail Mix recipe... and make it around the same time every year.
10. Make a no-sew blanket. Just Google "no-sew blankets" for several fun ideas.

RANDOMNESS #1 - Without further ado... The Spin-Off - Two weeks before I fell in the middle of the street in front of Gardendale's First Baptist Church (see September 1, 2020 re-post), I dropped a can of baked beans on my toe.

Specifically, one of the little toes on my left foot closest to the smallest piggy.

A day or two after it happened, I had a pedicure, and sure enough, my toenail was black.

My solution...

THREE coats of bright orange nail polish, and I was good to go.

Now flash forward to one week AFTER the Enormous Fall.

Three weeks had gone by since the can incident, and I was sitting in the pedicure chair once again...

But this time, I also had the scraped knee, elbows, ankle, wrists, etc., etc.

And I was sore.

Really, really sore.

I wouldn't have gone to the nail place at all except I wanted to do something fun with Roxie before she moved to Auburn.

Roxie was getting her manicure when they called me to a pedi-chair directly behind her.

When the pedicurist sat down to start, he couldn't help but notice all of my bandages.

"I can't have a normal pedicure today. No lotion. No scrubbing. No exfoliating. Just removal of old polish and addition of new polish," I told him.

He just stared at me.

"And I can't have the massage chair turned on for my relaxing pleasure," I added. "I'm pretty sure it would kill me."

Then I told him the entire story of the Enormous Fall of 2017.

When I finished, he looked down, picked up my left foot in both hands and ever-so-gently placed it on the stand. He started removing the old toenail polish, and then I remembered the black toenail.

"Oh, yes! And I dropped a can on the toe you're about to start working on. It is very black and very sore and very loose. What we're trying to do with that is just keep the black toenail, but I'll need three heavy coats of the bright orange nail polish... just like the last time I was here," I explained.

He sat back and just looked at my bandaged knees, ankles and yucky feet.

I was overcome with pity for him, and I decided to give him a way out.

"If I am just too gross to even be here, just say the word and I'll go home now."

That's when I heard a dull thud, thud, thud coming from the direction of Roxie's manicure chair. She had put her head down on the manicure table and was quietly and methodically beating her head against it.

One might have thought she had had enough of The Enchanting Belinda for one day.

It's hard to imagine, but Mike assures me it is possible.

The pedicurist didn't answer verbally, but he lowered his head and went to work.

He finished my toes and stood up. "Hot towels?" he asked.

Ahhh. Hot towels. I love the hot towels. I thought for a minute trying to figure out if the hot towels were indeed doable, and much to my pleasure, I could think of no reason they would harm me in any way, shape or form.

"Yes! Hot towels would be lovely!"

And they were.

My little black toenail fell off yesterday. It just gave up, and I don't blame it.

Not even a little bit.

I'm going to get a pedicure sometime this week, and while I am missing a toenail and I have seven big scars here and there, I don't feel as gross as I did three weeks ago.

Hey...

I might even let him turn the massage chair on HIGH because that's how good I'm feeling about my 56 year-old self right now.

That's right!

I said HIGH!

RANDOMNESS #1 - Celebrating with Bev - My sister, Beverly, and I have a little birthday tradition. I like to take her to a new-to-her restaurant and then shopping at unique shops I think she would love.

The flip-side of the tradition...

She does the same for me.

She really outdid herself this year.

Bev has moved to a more rural part of our state, and she and Tommy are loving it.

That being said, she planned my entire birthday tradition around her new locale, and it was pretty awesome.

First stop...


The Greasy Cove General Store in Gallant, Alabama.

It was rustic, quaint and a fun place to shop.

I would have been pretty content with just the one little General Store, but wait!

There was more!


Gargus Market was also a great place to browse and shop. I thought we were going to eat lunch there (since it had a place for that, too), but nope.

Just down the road was our lunch spot for the day.


And it totally fit my mood.


I'm not sure if I've ever frquented a Trading Post before, but I plan on visiting as many as I can in the foreseeable future.

The food was great, and the desserts were all homemade.

Loved it!


Something you may or may not know about me...

When in a rural area, I like to drive around and take pictures of farm animals.

On this particular day, we saw horses and cows galore, but I understand not everyone is a lover of the domesticated animal photo, so I'll just share one of those.

Also, I'm planning on showing you the birthday gift Bev gave me in the next post.

It deserves it's own spot, I think.

RANDOMNESS #2 - Labor Day Choices - We had the following choices on Labor Day...

The Zoo...

Let's Play...

Or have a Driveway Day which would include riding the bikes and/or swimming.


Let's Play won out because when I called The Zoo, I was told it hadn't hit capacity yet, but it was definitely the biggest crowd since the Pandemic started...

And people were still walking up to the gate.

When I called Let's Play, they had a total of four children and eight adults...


And when we arrived, that hadn't changed.


We played for a good 90 minutes before eating pizza for lunch and heading back for the Driveway Day activities.


It was a pretty nice Labor Day.


Pretty nice, indeed.

RANDOMNESS #3 - A Little Extra - This little lady turned six months old a few days ago, and she is crawling and scooting and rolling up a storm.


And drooling.

She's also drooling up a storm, too.



RANDOMNESS #4 - A Little Teaser - We celebrate Courtney, Roxie and Josh's birthdays ALL together in September OR October each year because their days of birth are so close together. I'll leave you with one pic and post the rest before the end of the month!

Have a fantastic Wednesday. I'll be back with some FALL stuff in just a few days.

Until then...

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

Being a parent is literally just changing the toilet paper roll and cleaning up messes that don't belong to you repeatedly until you die.

Quotable Quotes, Grandtot Catch Up, My 59th Birthday AND I DIDN'T FALL AGAIN, BUT I'M TELLING THE STORY ABOUT THE FIRST TIME I FELL TWO YEARS AGO... Just Because

Good Monday evening!

Quotable Quotes - The following quote was used in one of the devotions I told you about last week given by Donna Gaines and her daughter, Bethany. I will give you that information one more time in case you haven't been able to get to it yet.

Go to YouTube and type "Donna Gaines Choose Wisely Live Fully" in the Search Box.

There are four 25-minute devotions taught in conversation form by Donna and her daughter, Bethany. I learned something new from each one. They are all excellent, and I highly recommend you take a few minutes during the next four days to listen to each of them.

And this is the Quotable Quote! "I believe that appreciation is a holy thing--that when we look for what's best in a person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does all the time. So in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something sacred.” Fred Rogers

Makes you think, doesn't it?

RANDOMNESS #1 - Grandtot Catch Up - Summer is winding down, so I decided to share a few Summer pics that didn't make the blog before today.


Courtney, Judith, Eden and I found a new ice cream shop in Cullman this Summer called La Michoacanita Ice Cream. It's colorful and delicious...

And all homemade.

It's one of my new favorite places.


On one of her first trips to the Zoo, Little Miss ME was bright-eyed and interested.

Not mesmerized, but most definitely interested!


Eden and the 4th of July celebration went well together this year. I think she is just normally predisposed to loving holidays of all kinds.

It's in her genes!


RT learned how to relax in a tube ALMOST the same size as the pool.

I think I was born relaxed, but it takes RT a little time to decompress...

And when he does, he does it extremely well.

RANDOMNESS #2 - My 59th Birthday - I'm not sure if you caught it on CNN or Fox News, but I turned 59 this past week.

Other than being a major shock to the system, it was overall an okay event.


Since we had a Trolls' party the first part of the Summer and watched the new movie on our TV...

And Roxie and some of the other girls did the Troll Hair Thang...

I decided to have a Scooby Doo party around my birthday.

Dinner was served in light blue dog food bowls.




And Scooby Snacks (Cinnamon Graham Cracker flavored dog biscuits) were all the rage.


And just so you know, Salvatore's Spaghetti and Meatballs was our "dog food" of choice.


We ended up not watching the newest Scooby Doo movie (a little bit too old and a little bit too long for some of us), so we picked a couple of the OLD shows.

We chose two with the least scary "monsters," and Judith and RT hung in there while all of the grown-ups sang the theme song at the top of our lungs...

Because that is what old people do!


We ended the evening with a walk in the neighborhood in our pajamas.

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - No one would wait while I changed into my PJs, so I guess we all know what I'm wearing to our next event!

RANDOMNESS #3 - WHEN YOU FALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET LEAVING CHURCH BECAUSE YOU WALK UP INTO YOUR FLOWY PANTS LEG... A SAD, TRUE STORY - I bet I know what you're thinking.

Did she fall again?

No. No, she did not!

This happened over two years ago, but now my life is divided into two parts...

BF (Before the Fall) and AF (After the Fall).

In other words, the story bears repeating. (At least it does in my mind.)

You've heard the Bible verse, "Pride goeth before a fall," haven't you?

Well, if you were one of about a hundred or more people in the parking lot of Gardendale's First Baptist Church between the first and second service, I kinda supplied the visual for the verse...

If you know what I mean...

And I think you do.

Something you may or may not know about me... I am not necessarily a vain person. I mean, I have my good hair days and my bad hair days. I have outfits that look better on me than others. I try to look presentable and wear lipstick on more days than not.

I am, after all, a Southern girl born and raised, but all in all, I don't over-obsess when it comes to appearance.

In other words, I didn't think I was very prideful about my looks.

Until Sunday...

Because Sunday I wore my navy blue patterned flowy pants, my off-white silk flowy top and my big ol' navy blue and rhinestone studded necklace.

Also, my hair was exceptionally big and coiffed.

Remember when Justin Timberlake said he was "bringing sexy back?"

Well, I am single-handedly "bringing big hair back."

I am not ashamed to admit I liked the 80s. I thrived in the 80s. I miss the 80s.

When big hair comes back, I am going to start bringing back the enormous shoulder pads...

And I'm starting a petition to get Designing Women on Netflix for the next generation of Southern women to watch and learn.

All of the above being said and recorded for posterity, I may or may not have looked at myself in the full-length bathroom mirror of Gardendale's First Baptist Church second floor bathroom after Sunday School and thought to myself, "Looking good, Enchanting! Looking good!" before meeting Mikie in the hallway and heading to our seats for the first service.

Yes. I know. Very, very prideful.

Not only was it a good service, but The Chick arrived home Saturday afternoon and was sitting with us, so I was feeling especially happy and bouncy.

In hindsight, I now know I was feeling much too bouncy, because in the parking lot of the church, crossing the street to get to my car, my right toe/shoe caught in the leg of my flowy pants.

I lurched forward, but caught myself. Mistakenly thinking I had gotten my toe/shoe OUT of the flowy pants, I took another little hop/step to make up for the slight trip/stumble.

The only thing worse than tripping/stumbling in the middle of the street in the church parking lot AND catching yourself, would have to be tripping/stumbling in the middle of the street in the church parking lot AND realizing you didn't catch yourself, but instead walked up your flowy pants leg two more steps...

And then falling in front of the cars coming to and leaving church (completely stopping traffic in two lanes) on your hands and knees.

And if that wasn't enough of a humiliation (and I'm assuming it wasn't enough because it just gets worse from here), I rolled over onto my back with my hands and legs up in the air...

And I rocked back and forth very turtle-like until Mikie put his hands under my arms and HOISTED me to my feet.

There was nothing left to do except dust myself off and do the princess wave to all of the cars who were patiently waiting to park and/or leave the parking lot.

I did not limp to the car. I needed to limp, but I refused. When I see that in writing, I immediately start thinking to myself, "That was pretty prideful, too, wasn't it? Why not just admit one toe, two knees, my right wrist and elbow and the top of my left wrist were all scraped and bleeding? Not profusely bleeding you understand, but bleeding just the same."

Hmmm.

That's a question for the therapist if I've ever heard one. I'll need to write that down in my handy-dandy notebook.

There isn't much left to say except if and when I wear flowy pants again, I will probably hold them up in front (not unlike a wedding dress) while walking to and from church or up and down steps.

Also, I seriously doubt if I will ever look in the full-length bathroom mirror of Gardendale's First Baptist Church second floor bathroom ever again.

Nor will I utter, "Looking good, Enchanting! Looking good!"

Mentally or verbally.

Heavy, heavy sigh.

I will end this little tale with two final words...

LESSON LEARNED!

I hope you and yours have a very productive, blessed week. That is most definitely the plan around here.

Take care.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

I wanted to go jogging, but Psalm 28:1 says, "The wicked run when no one is chasing them."

So there's that...