Grief vs. Celebration

I thank God daily for the inner strength He has given me as I deal daily with the loss of my sweetheart. Allen was a wonderful husband and I miss him every moment of the day. 

People deal with grief in many ways. I have had to dig deep within to find the strength I need to go on. Do I grieve? Oh, yes I do. I have moments when it literally brings me to my knees and I cry till I don't think I will ever stop. But it is then that I turn to God, take a deep breath, and move on. 

But I have noticed something these past few weeks. I have changed the way I think about him being gone. When the grief hits, instead of crying over my loss, I try to put a positive spin on the memory and rejoice in the fact that I have so many memories. I celebrate the love we had and the moments that meant so much whether they were big or small.

A perfect example is in music. When I listen to a country love song, I have learned to not think of what I have lost. Instead, I take the lyrics and apply them to a wonderful memory that makes me think of our love and think..."Oh that was so us!" Then I can happily sing along and celebrate our love instead of grieving for my loss. 

Does that sound sad? It shouldn't be. He loved me so much and he made sure I always knew that he did. So instead of him leaving me grief stricken, it is more like he left me with enough love to carry on the rest of my lifetime.

When you lose a loved one, the world considers you single. I am sorry but I am not single. I am still very married to my husband. I still love him with every beat of my heart. I still wear my wedding ring on my left finger. I will not become single. I loved being married to him and in my heart I always will be. So rules and regulations may dictate that I mark the single box on a form, but forever and always I will be in my mind, married.

It's Saturday....

First, I want to share a little excitement for my Pyrex lovers. Look what I got! I put a few items in my trade group and said I was looking for the turquoise mixing bowl in any size. In my area, this turquoise is hard to find and hard to get anybody to trade once they do get them. 

Imaging my surprise when the aunt of my friend Stevie posted that she had one she would trade me for my barbed wire divided dish. And she brought it to my house that very night and we swapped out. This baby is in mint condition. I am so happy. It's the 403 which is the perfect size for making cookies, cakes, frosting. So this weekend I am going to break it in by making a white cake (Duncan Hines) with my homemade chocolate icing. 

I am loving the new blue tons of funds wallet. I've been carrying it all week with my zip top organizing utility tote to work every day. 

I got my product cards in and a few samples of some of the new Jewell by Thirty-One purse swatches. I am in love with the yellow. I need to find something in that pattern to earn for my upcoming open house.

I picked up Alexis after work yesterday to spend the weekend with me. We playing a great game of Life last night. We had a blast. I think she wants to learn to play Mille Bourns tonight.

We have a busy day planned. Starting off by heading to McKay's this morning to exchange some books. These are just my two bags of books to cash in. She has two in my car that are even fuller and heavier than my bags. Her bags were so heavy we agreed it didn't make sense to carry them in last night. I think we will have to take hers in and drop them at the drop off then go back and get mine. Out of all four bags, they are all too heavy for her to carry. We got a good laugh out of it when we realized I have four bags to carry.

On a happy note, I have been looking everywhere for my little Letters of London mini-wallet. It is perfect for when I just need my license and some cash to run to the store. It has been missing about two month. But when I went to get back for my books, I found it neatly tucked in the front pocket of my tote.

After McKay's we are going to the big launch part for Kelsey's new CD. 

We have a full day planned. 

My rambling thoughts for Thursday....

A couple of years ago, hubby and I were at the beach when it was a Harvest moon. We watched the entire rise of the moon. It was awesome.

I am finally getting motivated to write my book I have said I wanted to write for years. I wrote a little one about 42 pages about 10 or more years ago. This is a photo that was on the back cover. It is our yard and the view of our old country road.

I saw this post and it made me shudder. I guess this is what you get when a dog lover marries a Pyrex collector. But oh, I cannot see me doing this with my beautiful Pyrex.

Thought this was just a cute post.

I found this on an old post. I need to find the directions for it. It's too cute.

I would love to find this little hob nail milk glass piece. I have never seen it before. Isn't it a beauty.

I got this card at a yard sale for just $2 or $3 a couple of years ago. I still haven't done anything with it. It has taken me this long to finally decide on a color. I am going to go with yellow. Question for you refinishers....spray paint of brush paint?

And last but not least....Not the first time I saw this and I'm sure it won't be the last....but it makes me laugh every time. 

And I have a question. Do any of you see your followers number fluctuate. I have lost 9 followers in the last two weeks. I just found it strange. I lost seven of them overnight last week. Then another one two days ago and one yesterday. This hasn't happened before and I thought it was strange. It's no big deal because my page views have continually climbing. I hat the highest page views ever on my blog one day this week. But it just makes me wonder why all of a sudden like that. Am I getting boring? Have I done or written something offensive? Who knows. Just curious if anybody else ever had that happen. 

Some things I tried....

I try things I see on the internet that are great failures and things that actually work. Here are a few of my success stories. 

I have always heard you can clean a microwave easy with lemon juice. Well, I had a spaghetti re-heat explosion. I didn't realize how bad it was because I was heading out somewhere and forgot to clean up the mess in there first. So a few days later, I realized it was all over the ceiling of the microwave. I looked up the instructions to give it a try and OH MY GOODNESS it was the easiest clean up ever and my microwave looks brand new inside. Here are the instructions from Life Hacker.

Another thing I've heard I use all the time now. It is the original blue Dawn detergent for just about anything you can imagine. I use it constantly for hard to remove stains. I have found the best way to remove most hard to remove stains (chocolate, blood, grease, etc.) from clothing is to spray with Peroxide, then squeeze in some blue Dawn and I add some spray for the Dollar Tree called Totally Awesome Stain Remover. I rub it in gently to the stain and 99% of the time it comes right out. When Allen fell and hit his ribs on the tub, the wound bled for over a week at night. This concoction got all the stain out of my tan sheets. I swear by it. 

Have you ever went to write on a dry erase board only to realize you used a Sharpie? Have you ever left something written on one so long that when you wiped it off you could still faintly read the words. Well, never fear Germ X is here. That's right, regular Germ X (or most hand sanitizers) can remove Sharpie marks or long standing marks off a dry erase board and make it like new.

Do you know what the best thing to use for immediate spills on most furniture is? Baby wipes. Yes, that's right. They are soft and gentle yet the formula in there will even remove stains on some furniture. I do advise you to test in a hidden spot first though. Some micro suedes it almost bleaches the spot, but it has worked perfectly on my couch.

And what about when you buy that beautiful new glass vase or dish and there is that horrible sticky residue after you remove the price sticker. Simply use a nail polish remover pad. Press it against the residue for a few seconds then simply rub back and forth gently till it is all gone. Wash thoroughly and rinse clean.

Well there are some of my favorite things I have tried that I can vouch will work.

Way to go Kelsey Cate!

I've shared with you many times about a young girl, Kelsey Cate, that I go to church with who is working on a musical career.

I've watched her grow up in church. Watched as she developed that beautiful voice to singing for the Lord. I watched her dedication to work hard and strive to reach her dreams, always giving God the glory. 

She is in her first year of college and has her first album being released soon. This weekend, my granddaughters, my daughter and I get to attend the launch party for her album and I can't wait. 

All of this has been exciting to watch as she has been reaching for the sky and climbing mountains to achieve her goal. 

But nothing has been as exciting as tuning into a local radio station yesterday and hearing her song, Destination, on the radio. 

And she still finds time on her weekends home from school to sing in our church choir and do an occasional solo. She is very focused and centered. And if you talk to her for long, you will find that she always gives God the glory for her blessings.

Does it sound like I'm bragging? Heck, yes I am!  Super, super proud of my young friend. Don't hesitate to call your local country station and ask them to play her single.

A Pinterest idea refined to my tastes...

I love getting ideas on Pinterest and turning it into something that fits my taste and style. I saw this and like it, but I really thought it needed a more country look. But I did like the premise.

My first thought was that I could do something with the salt and pepper shakers my daughter got me for Christmas. 

So over the past two weeks I started gathering things. I liked the idea of flowers, but I really didn't want solid pink since my kitchen is multi-colored. I found these for 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby so I got them for $4.98 for the bunch.

I have a vintage McCoy pitcher from the 1960's. My cousin Patty and I had bought it for our Mamaw. When she passed away, Patty made sure it got to me. So I try to use it in my kitchen with flowers whenever I can. 

I thought the flowers looked pretty good in the pitcher. 

On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby, I found this tray in some of their new spring products. It was 50% off so I got it for $9.99. Love how it looks weathered and old.

I did like the red and cream dishcloth idea in the Pinterest pic. I found this for $2.99 at Hobby Lobby as well.

Picked up some romantic looking material. 

Cut it into a heart shape and used hot glue to create a little pillow with some fiber fill inside. I hot glued a little button for an extra touch. 

I love the nesting chicken salt dips and had one with a little blue color splattered in it. I thought that would add a little contrast of color as well. 

 So I put together my arrangement based on the Pinterest idea and I must say for my taste, this is absolutely perfect. I keep going in the kitchen just to look at it. I am going for this country farmhouse theme and I think this fits right in.

What do you think?

Sunday Songs

 And this one will make you smile. Vestal Goodman and Johnny Cook do an old fashioned face-off on these high notes. I read somewhere that when somebody asked Johnny Cook how he learned to sing so high he replied "When I was young, my grandmother would make me practice singing by laying in the kitchen floor with a 5 pound bag of flour on my chest." 

Snow day...

I love a snow day when it is a Saturday and I'm not expected to be anywhere and I'm having to work from home for my job. Behind the Bradford pears in my yard is actually a well traveled back road in my town. As you can see, nobody has been on it yet and it is 9:00. The snow is still coming down steady.

 I was able to make it to the store last night before this all started. So I have the oven heating to make a white cake with homemade chocolate frosting. I also stopped by my mail box. I got not 1, not 2, but THREE boxes from my recent Pyrex trade frenzy. I don't know what the coffee cups are or if they are vintage. The lady thinks they are Hazel Atlas but I'm not so sure. But I didn't care. I just liked them because of the red checks.

I had a little yellow bowl with fake eggs in it. I don't know if there is a set of all yellows in Pyrex or not, but I put my two yellows together and am very happy with the display.

I have this set of Colonial Mist mixing bowls (Colonial Mist and Town and Country are my two favorite patterns). Most of the mixing bowls sets come with 4 bowls (I only have 3 so far). They alternate, color with white and white with color. However, the Colonial Mist pattern is one of the very few if not the only one who actually had TWO sets. This mixture set and one where all four bowls were the blue with the white flowers. I have been looking for over four years for that middle blue bowl because I just fell in love with that set when I discovered it existed.

I was thrilled to get this trade. Isn't this gorgeous! Now to just find the big 404 size in this blue with white and the set will be complete.

I have my kitchen table covered this morning with my notebooks, calendars, catalogs and planners for my Thirty-One business. Spring catalog kicks off on the 1st of February and I want this to be my best season ever. I got my Add on Kit Thursday to jump start February. I am in love with the new bold spring & summer colors. Can't wait to get the season rolling.

Well, if you got snow today wherever you are, stay in...stay safe...and stay warm. 

Friday Foto Friends

I'm hooking up today with Breathing in Grace for some Friday Foto Friends. 

You all know my love of Pyrex. One of the oldest and favorite sets I own is the Primary Colors. They are old with scratches and fading and have lost some of their shine. But I didn't collect them because of the beauty, I collected this set because of the memories. 

Growing up, Mom purchased this set when it came out in the 50's. There are so many memories attached to each one. My sister has the same set and she too remembers each ones use. Now I am sure Mom used them all the time and that she used them for more things that what we remember. But our fondest is memory of the big yellow bowl was the fact that she used this every time she made homemade peanut butter cookies. She would mix the dough and let it refrigerate for 3 hours. Then we would help roll it into balls and squish it down with forks. When I married Allen, he came with a yellow Pyrex bowl and that is the one I still have. We had it for 30 years before I even started collecting Pyrex. And yes, many times it has been used for Mom's peanut butter cookie recipe.

The next one was the green bowl. It is funny, but neither of us can really remember much about the green bowl other than she would serve food in it on the table for Sunday dinners. Probably mashed potatoes or corn or green beans. I had a hard time finding this piece when I started collecting and it was the last one to my set. I was so excited that I don't remember where it came from. Of the remaining pieces of my set, my niece Amy found one for me. A friend from West Virginia found one for me. And I found the other one at an antique store for $8.00. I think I found the green, Amy the red and my friend the blue. But I'm not sure. The important thing is that I cherish each one because of the memories of my childhood.

Mom's red bowl was my favorite. It's primary function was a very important part of my life....to make chocolate icing for cakes. I still use my red one for that to this day. And it is Mom's recipe, which belonged to my grandmother. So there are a lot of memories tied up in the old red bowl. The best part was getting to lick the beaters and the bowl when the icing was finished. I have to admit that I still lick the beaters and bowls. Somethings are hard to outgrow. This one gets a lot of use and you can tell by the loss of color that the previous owner used it a lot as well.

And the last one brings back memories of Daddy as well as Mommy. This was the cornbread bowl. My daddy loved his cornbread. He loved to break it up in buttermilk for a nighttime snack...which to me was totally gross. I don't eat cornbread OR buttermilk. But Mom always used this blue bowl to make him homemade cornbread and she always made it in her medium size iron skillet.

So even though my set is not pristine or in mint condition, I think you will understand why it is among one of the favorites I own. 

Ms. Debbie at Breathing in Grace actually shared a set of these with me on Facebook last night and that is what inspired me to show my beauties off on Friday Foto Friends. Jump over to Breathing in Grace and share some of your photos today.