It's not over... yet

Christmas was wonderful, finally having a little one to share it with again! This was Avery's first Christmas and even though it was very new to him, we all had a great time. We are now looking forward to next Christmas!!! Our Christmas celebrations are not over yet. I'll be packing up the dogs and heading to eastern NC today. My family will get together at my parents' house tomorrow evening for a good old fashioned eastern NC fish stew! Yum Yum!

Avery worked on his big cookie that grandma made for him. He made a nice mess, so I can hardly wait to see what he does with his first birthday cake in two more months. :o)

He's a big big boy now... growing up so quickly!

Santa was good to him and I think he just might like this thing called Christmas! We will definitely try it again next year. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Fun Dish Towels

I've always heard that you are supposed to give someone a gift that you would like to have yourself. So, I've embroidered a few cute dish towels to give away as Christmas gifts this year. I love these chickens! I'm having a hard time letting this one go!

The little cats were fun. I added the fabric and ric rac trim to dress them up a bit. My goal for next year: make myself some of these cuties!

From Sweet Pea

Merry Christmas from Sweet Pea! I bought Christmas outfits for my dogs last year when they were marked down for clearance. I had been looking forward to putting them on the dogs all year. Sweet Pea was the most photogenic, but as you can tell, she wasn't thrilled about me trying to turn her into a reindeer! Ho Ho Ho!

Christmas Cactus

A friend from work gave me a few pieces of her Christmas cactus some time last year. She told me she didn't know what color she had given me, because she had several colors she had pulled from. So, I stuck it in a pot and basically forgot about it.... watering it from time to time. Well, here it is... I've never seen one with such a peachy color and I've never had one bloom this close to Christmas! Thank God for the simple pleasures that make us smile.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I have so much to thank God for this year. I think the best blessing for me this year is this little guy! He is sitting in the rocking chair that belonged to his daddy when he was this small. It was given to his daddy on his first Christmas.... from his great grandmother. Now Avery has the chair from his great great grandmother.

He knew exactly what to do when I placed him in the chair. He grabbed those handles and started rocking the chair like a wild man.

Then he decided to pet the pig. ha ha Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings on me! They just keep getting better and better!

Happy Dinosaur... Happy Grandma!

I'm back! And l want to show you the happy little dinosaur that came to see us Saturday morning. Avery is now (almost) 9 months old and is so much fun!!! I love this baby so much!

Random:

*My husband's friend won the bet. I quit my full time job already. I think some people are made to work full time, others are not. I'm not. Period.

*I'm working two days a week again at the nursing home. My hip hurts this morning after working last night, but I LOVE BEING HOME!

*I'm working on an embroidery project with several more I want to complete before Christmas. Busy, busy, busy!

**Life is good** and **Jesus loves me***

Patriotic Pretty

Check out this neglected barn on the edge of our new little town in NC. This little town boasts that it has the biggest fireworks display in the area on July 4th. I find it hard to believe when I see the size of this town (a.k.a. community, crossroads, hole in the wall, speck on the map,etc). I'll be looking forward to next July 4th, just to see if they are honest! I love this barn!

Rolling Pins

So, how do collections "evolve"? I never started out to collect rolling pins, it just .... happened. I found this little wine rack at a thrift store this weekend and thought it would be perfect for phase one of the collection. :o) Below is another view of the rolling pins. I think I like them. :o)

What do you collect?

What 'ya doing?

Well, a looong time ago, I posted here to show you two new patterns. I finally got around to starting the laundry bag over the weekend. I am having so much fun with it, as I find embroidery to be so relaxing. It's easy to do while I watch t.v. at night and really goes pretty quickly.

The truth of the matter is: if I never buy another project to do, in my entire life, I have enough to keep me busy until I die. (and I'm assuming I will live a long time) I am such a sucker for buying something new to do, without even starting previous projects that I was so excited about when I purchased them. Especially if I find something at a bargain price! Does anyone else have this problem? I'm trying to stop doing this. The best thing to do is stay out of the stores, but that is impossible. I keep telling myself that it is okay... that I could have a much worse (and more expensive) habit... and this is okay. So... think I'll run to Hobby Lobby today. I might find something good. ;)

Sunday with "the girls"

If you attend my Sunday School class, you received an invitation to my house last Sunday for pizza and pedicures. I had 12 girls in my class this past Sunday (record number so far) and 9 of them came home with me and Mrs. April. I did the foot washes and massages. (my back and hip paid for it on Monday!)

Mrs. April and Mrs. Ashley did all the nail painting and all the fancy work!

It was a really good time! The girls are so much fun! If you look carefully, you will see two men in the picture.... my husband on the bottom right.... my son's leg on the bottom left. They couldn't take too much of the "girl party" and retreated to a bedroom to watch tv all afternoon! Wimps! If you didn't make it to the party, I hope you will visit my classroom soon, so that you can receive an invitation to the next party!

**I've started a new part time job with pediatric patients. Today I was with an adorable five year old who gave ME a manicure. You should see my pretty red painted nails... painted all the way to my first knuckle. Children are so precious! :o)

Sunday What???

We had a wonderful Sunday yesterday. My Sunday School class had TEN girls (which filled our classroom)! I am excited to see the Lord working in our church. Then, this little guy and his mom came over for lunch. After lunch, we decided it was nap time. You can tell by Avery's expression above, that he thought that was funny!

He sat, propped up on his Papa, watching tv, watching the dogs, and looking at me every now and then, like "are you serious? you really want to nap?"

He was too busy smiling and being a "big boy"... "no nap for me" says Avery.

After awhile, he gave it up, and Grandma was able to get him to sleep. (this is an impressive statement, as this baby really, really FIGHTS sleep!) He and Grandma were able to nap on the couch "together" for about an hour.... oh, I love Sunday afternoons! How was your Sunday?

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July to you all! I'll be working, but I hope the rest of you have a great time with all your fun plans and activities. I am hoping this will be my last weekend to work, EVER, as I'm changing my job schedule again. New things in the works.... praying it all works out. Isn't my grandbaby growing up??? He is absolutely precious and I'm in LOVE! Have a great weekend!

Hot summer day!

It's hot in NC and this is what two poor country girls do to stay cool! I have decided not to go to tanning beds anymore, but I have not vowed not to tan at all..... so we are tanning, just a little. So my dear daughter and I bought kiddie pools and this is how we tan. It's pretty silly looking, but we sure have had some good "mother daughter bonding" while sitting in these pools together. So refreshing!

My garden is outside this little gate. Just a short walk down the hill to get to the garden. As I walked toward the garden, I saw something RED in the distance....

Oh yes! Yummy German Johnson tomatoes... almost ripe... almost ready for a fresh, home grown tomato sandwich. There is nothing like the taste of a fresh home grown tomato... maybe in a day or two????

These sunflowers are planted in the edge of our vegetable garden. They were planted for the birds and for our viewing pleasure. I love sunflowers, always have, but I love them even more since I met a new friend from Kansas. I rarely see a pretty sunflower now, without thinking of her! Hello, Trish!

I would love to visit Kansas one day and see the miles and miles of sunflower fields when the flowers are blooming. I'm sure it is just breath taking! I wonder if the people from Kansas take this gorgeous view for granted, just like I used to take the ocean for granted, when I lived there. Oh, I would love to live closer to the ocean again... just to enjoy its beauty.... I would paint my cottage blue and plant sunflowers all around. LOL Do sunflowers even grow near the ocean???

Patriotic Porch

I did a little decorating for July 4th this past week. I don't think I've ever used "red" on my porch before, but really like how it shows up. Red just may be my "new" color. I got the idea for the wreath from a Country Sampler Magazine. I had an old nylon flag that I used to hang on my wooden flag pole. It didn't look good enough to hang any longer, so I decided to use it to make my wreath. I bought cheap bows from Dollar General to complete it with.... reworked them the best I could, so they wouldn't be so flat. I hate flat bows!!! (click on pic. to enlarge)

The red flowers in the fern are $1 red carnations, also from Dollar General. I am going to look for a small flag to use in the fern today, as well as possibly changing out the doormat... it needs to be red or blue. I really wish I had a white farm house.... I would love to have a "bright" front porch to decorate. Maybe one day....

Easy Butterflies

Today I want to share with you the easiest craft, ever! It's a lot of fun and makes the cutest little butterflies. I actually saw one of the these in a patient's room at the nursing home. The patient told me his granddaughter had made it for him. Upon further inspection, I realized it was a painted coffee filter and a pipe cleaner. How easy is that??? and cheap, too! So my daughter and I got busy last night, making some for our Sunday School class bulletin board.

The supplies are easy and very inexpensive. Coffee filters, pipe cleaners, (on sale... half price at Hobby Lobby this week), and paint.

I'm sure our little girls in Sunday school would love to make these, so maybe we'll put this out as a future project at one of our "get togethers". Just thought I would share, since so many of you have kids home for the summer, who are probably "bored" already. :o)

Sour Cream Dishes

I've been getting some great deals on sour cream lately, now that I'm playing the "grocery game". But what does one do with so much sour cream? Well, I made a whole meal around this fattening stuff, and boy, was it good!
My friend, Mike, used to bring cucumbers into the office covered in sour cream and fresh dill. When Debbie J. at Homemaking Dreams blogged about her fresh basil, I immediately went outside to pick some fresh dill. I planted my dill from seeds this year and this is the first time I've ever grown any... boy, was it yummy chopped up in the cucumber salad. (let your cukes sit in salt for awhile before you mix the sour cream and dill together) We had cucumber salad left over, and my daughter made some awesome greek pitas with the leftovers. Cubed chicken breasts, lettuce, and chopped up cukes from the salad, all stuffed inside pita bread (left over from the Noah's Ark sandwiches mentioned in a recent post). YUMMY!

Next I mixed together this squash casserole from fresh home grown squash. I don't really follow a recipe, but use squash, onion, stuffing mix, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup. Love this stuff!

And believe it or not, I made the biscuits!! And yes, I used sour cream in my biscuit recipe. I found this recipe in a recent thrift store cookbook find. I've used the recipe several times, and so far, it's been a winner everytime. They are so easy to make and I'll be glad to share the recipe if anyone wants it. I didn't put any sour cream on the ham, but the ham sure did round out this meal. So easy, so quick, and so inexpensive!!

It's BIBLE TIME!

I've been missing in action, but having FUN for the past week or so. My daughter and I spent most of last week decorating our classroom for this week's Neighborhood Bible Time. (similar to Vacation Bible School) She and I are teaching two classes each night... lots of work... lots of fun! My daughter designed the hut, as it goes along with her missionary story about Mary, a missionary in Africa. The kids have really enjoyed sitting inside the hut for this activity.

One night we studied King David and Mephibosheth and ended with a cupcake feast in Mephibosheth's honor. Each cupcake had a "king's ring" as decoration. Even the boys enjoyed licking the frosting off their rings and wearing their "king's rings".

We made Noah's Ark sandwiches from pita bread, peanut butter, jelly, and animal crackers. It all looked pretty "gross" to me, but most of the kids ate every bite of theirs.

And of course, we studied Zaccheus and how God turned his life around. Can you see him hiding in the tree? This is our 6th grade group. It has been a fun week, but this ol' girl is tired! One more night and then Friday is awards night... woo hoo... then it's back to work at the nursing home! I hope you guys are having a great summer!

My week.. this and that...

It's been a busy week at my house, but I didn't have to work at the nursing home this week, so it was a "good" busy! Below, from my garden, is the first harvest of the season. The birds and I have to share the cherries, but I got enough for a couple of cobblers this year. I made one cherry cobbler earlier in the week already... yum. Here's the veggies once I washed them up.... can you tell what we are having for supper tonight? I have vidalia onions in the fridge to cook with my squash... and of course, bacon drippings! The cherries are pitted and covered with sugar. I will make another cherry cobbler for dessert. Cubed steak and gravy, creamed potatoes will complete the meal. Hubby is coming home tonight... we get to cook big when he is home! :o)

I picked up this little Holly Hobby to embroider on Monday. This is as far as I got, as the week got busy and I never got back around to finishing her. This was actually a vintage crewel kit that I purchased sometime back, with all the nice "70's" colors of thread. I decided to make her and her friend (can you see the other one?) in redwork.

My daughter and I are teaching 3rd and 6th graders in our Neighborhood Bible Time this year. We went to our first meeting last night and received our materials and basic training. We have now got to get busy decorating our classroom! I worked a little in my flower beds this week; planted some lantana......and killed my first TWO snakes! Yes, two in one day. They were babies, but they were snakes.... about a foot long and as big around as my pinkie finger. I felt kind of sad after I killed them, but I didn't want to share my flower beds with them. :o( The picture below shows what I've really been doing all week.......

My three dogs, plus my niece's dog, Charlie. Charlie is the cute red dachshund with his head tilted in the photo. They have had fun playing all week, but I think my dogs are a little bit jealous. Charlie "demands" all the attention and won't let me out of his sight. My dogs have had to adjust to less attention this week, but I'll make it up to them next week..... I promise!

Hello

Hello Everyone! It's been almost two weeks since I've blogged. I have blogging ideas but never seem to get around to blogging. Just look at our little Avery and how much he has grown! He is almost four months old and we think he is trying to cut a tooth already. Lots of slobber, hand chewing, and irritability. (at least his mom and dad see the irritability... all I see is CUTE) I heard him laugh out loud at his daddy Wednesday night for the first time. He is quick with a smile, but the laugh was something extra precious! I've been busy in the yard, mowing, working in our vegetable garden, and transplanting sunflowers. I planted sunflowers from seeds in three different areas this year. The only ones that sprouted were in the edge of our garden, so I thinned those out and moved a few around the yard. I put three at the edge of my yard, just between our house and the neighbor's house. I hope to surprise them with their own sunflower display. They have two little grandsons that I think will enjoy the surprise. I moved a few along our fence where we already have bird feeders. I think the birds will appreciate them and I know I will enjoy seeing them from the porch. I think everyone is super busy right now, as I've seen several of my favorite bloggers taking blogging breaks. And I notice that people aren't posting as regularly as usual. I miss everybody, but completely understand we are all so busy. Even though I don't always comment, I try to read your blogs everyday! I hope everyone is having a great spring (almost summer)! :o)

Solitude...contentment

Reflecting today... it's has been a little over a year since I gave up my full time management job to work part time. At times I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision, but I am at a happy place right now, and know that this change was the best thing for me. I have wasted a lot of my free days, but am starting to get a grip on things and am trying to spend my time more wisely. One of the best things is my alone time with God. He still speaks! I love listening for His still small voice. I love talking to Him. I think God has shown me so much in just the past few months and it is wonderful to have the time to listen. Working full time kept me so stressed, that even my "off work" time was spent thinking about work. Not anymore... not as much anyway. My days are now consumed with happy thoughts, pleasant activites, meaningful reading, and much prayer. I am so thankful that God provides and that He has allowed me to slow down.... to feel His presence... and rest in Him. God is so good.

Hornets Nest

How many of us are "lucky" enough to say we've had one of these hanging from the eaves of our house? When we were selling our home in western NC, we had a friend who was mowing our grass and looking after the home while we were away. I remember he called one time to tell us of a huge hornet's nest that had been built under our front porch bench. I never got a chance to see that one. However, at our current home, I noticed this baseball size protrusion by my front door last week. This was within a day or two of seeing a 4-5 foot black snake on my front steps!!!! I had to wait for hubby to come home to take this down, so I enjoyed watching the hornets at work for about a week. Hubby took a water hose and sprayed it down... I would have never had the nerve to do that! If you click on the pic. you will see a close up of this miracle of nature. I just wish they hadn't chosen to build it on my house. :o(

Fresh Flowers

I picked a few peonies and a purple iris to put on my kitchen table last week. Before that, I had displayed some daffodils from my front yard. I am so thankful to the lady we bought the house from, for allowing me to have fresh flowers inside my house. She and her husband worked very hard to plant all the pretty flowers that I now enjoy yearly. It feels like such a luxury, but anyone can have them, with a little planning and a little bit of a green thumb. I planted a few zinnia seeds this year and am praying they will grow! I hope to have colorful fresh zinnias on the table by the end of summer. Such a simple luxury... take time to enjoy the simple things... they are the best!

My Weekend

These beautiful daughters of mine attended the ladies banquet with me at our church on Saturday. We had a lovely time and, of course, the highlight for me was having Avery along. Isn't he growing so fast???

My girls came over again on Sunday and I had the pleasure of holding my little Avery for a long time during the afternoon. My children and their families bring so much joy to our lives. I am so thankful that God gave them to us!

Simple Life

I took the country tour on my way to Asheboro yesterday for my hair appointment. I love taking the scenic route and getting off the busy roads, to see where people "really" live. I've posted on this cart before, but yesterday was the first time I've seen it by the road this year. The person had bouquets of irises tied together for $3 a bunch. It's all self service and payment is on an honor system. Their house sits off the road behind a big pond and looks so quiet and peaceful. I always enjoy seeing their flower cart and like to imagine that they are truly enjoying the "simple life". 'Tis a gift to be simple...