Sunny and Mr. Wind

Sunny had been out of town, but yesterday he decided to make an appearance. Everyone was so glad to see him. People started venturing out of their homes. Snow could be seen melting off the roof tops and patios. You could feel the warmth on your face as you looked up to the sky. People went shopping. They worked in their yards. They washed the salt off their cars. It was totally an awesome day.

Just when we were feeling good about the day, guess who blew back into town?

That's right that old wind bag, Mr. Wind. Did he return as a gentle breeze softly kissing our face? Did he bring the warm air from the ocean? No he came back like a blast of cold arctic air. One whisper of air from his lips was enough to cut right through you. But we kept on enjoying our day with Sunny. We suffered through the chill Mr. Wind cast upon the day.

We have always heard the saying "Into every life a little rain must fall." We knew Little Miss Icy Rain was coming to visit tonight.

So we braved Mr. Wind to make sure we got plenty of time with Sunny. Once Little Miss Icy Rain heads this way, we know it's back to the "Woe is me" winter blues. So I hope you each enjoyed your time with Sunny and here's a little thought of spring to help you through the winter week to come.

Happy Sunday!

Craft Craze

When working on crafts or visiting craft stores, do you ever find yourself overwhelmed? Sometimes I feel like the little birdy in this picture. He looks like he is thinking "Uh oh, what do I do now?" Well, that's my sentiment exactly.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I decided I wanted to get back into my crafting. I had let it slide for almost a year and I was really missing it. I decided I wanted to do some of the primitive stitching but had gotten down low on my stock of assorted fat quarters. I made a trip to Jo-Ann's. Bought some material, some Wunder Under, needles and thread. Then I headed to Walmart and bought a sweatshirt and some bread cloth napkins. A skein of yarn caught my eye, so I added that to the cart as well.

Once I was ready to start crafting, I thought to myself "I need a couple of new coasters for the living room." I make these with plastic canvas and yarn. So I went to http://www.freepatterns.com/ and found some cute coaster patterns and decided to "whip up" a couple. In two days time, I had six new coasters. Which led me to a desire to do a box. My sister wanted one for her bedroom so I bought some more yarn in her colors. I started it last night. Here's part of the top of her box.

When I was looking for pattern ideas, I found the cutest little pattern for something simple that can be made into an ornament, refrigerator magnet, whatever. I decided to make him for a dear friend of mine. He's not complete yet, but this is a project I'm going to finish up tonight.

My major weakness in crafting is yarn. So yesterday, when I went to AC Moore to get some more plastic canvas, I just HAD to go through the yarn. I love variegated yarns and found a couple I couldn't resist.

I want to make a little basket and birdhouse for my living room. My colors are Burgundy, green and deep country blue. I was having a hard time finding a blue I liked, but I found this one at AC Moore and it is exactly the color of the blue flowers in my furniture. So I had to get that as well.

This weekend I'm going to cut out and iron on the designs for the sweatshirt and bread clothes that got me started a couple of weeks ago. I have a tendency to get side tracked when it comes to yarn. But I'll get it all completed. There is nothing to me as relaxing sitting on the couch watching TV with hubby while I craft.

A good laugh....

I see people posting funny pictures on their blogs all the time, just so we can all get a good laugh. They run the gamut from cute cartoons to strange animal behaviour. But it occurred to me last night that if you need a good laugh, drag out some old pictures of yourself.

I have been wearing my hair reasonably short for many years. Once it gets down on my neck and covers my ears, I usually get a trim. Well, I recently decided that even though I was 54, it didn't mean I couldn't let my hair grow some. So I got out the old picture box and started going through to see if there were any of my hair-do's that I liked "way back when". Let me tell you, it was a complete exercise in futility. I did not accomplish what I set out to do, but I did get some good laughs out of the process. I thought I would share some of my past hair-DON'TS with you so you could get a good laugh as well.

First, I thought I would show you a recent picture so you can see what my normal hair is like nowadays. I have excess natural curl and body so it is always easy to style no matter how I cut it. A quick shampoo, add some gel and Poof! I'm ready to roll. So here is a recent one where I actually liked how my hair looked.....

Then to amuse you, I thought I would travel back to the 8th grade in 1970. Oh My GOSH!! Can anybody say Nerd Alert!! This just cracked me up. I weighed all of 75 pounds back then and was a little bean pole. I hadn't made it to my full height at that time (which is now all of 5'0" tall) But this just cracked me up and I cannot believe I am making it available to the public!

Since I am contemplating the whole long hair thing again, I thought it would be good to go back to my 80's & 90's when I was doing the young mom long hair image. WARNING: THE PICTURES YOU ABOUT TO VIEW HAVE SOME REALLY BIG HAIR!

First off, if you going to get a good laugh at the hair then the glasses will just add to your giggles. We had went over the mountains to spend a weekend in Cherokee. Check out the fringe on the shirt. I loved that shirt.

As I got a little older, the hair got a little bigger. Lots of curls going on this day. All natural.

I must share a little story before you scroll to the next one. My daughter was in high school and taking a cosmetology class. She had to give a perm. She was petrified. Since I had long hair anyway and needed a trim and being the wonderful devoted mother that I am, I let her talk me into using me as a guinea pig for her first perm. Now I must admit it sounded a little strange to perm naturally curly hair, but we were going to just do a body perm to add a little control to the curls. The result....Major Big Hair!

Does that not crack you up! It's as wide as it is tall. I weigh 92 pounds then and I think 15 pounds of it was hair. And what about the glasses!!! Huge! I was so tiny and petite that I must have thought I needed to have big hair and big glasses just so you could find me in a crowd. The bad part is I actually LIKED it back then. And, guess what, the perm lasted one full year!  Well, now that I have totally humiliated myself, feel free to get a good chuckle at my expense. If your friends can't laugh at you, who can. Hope you have a great day.

My God

His mercy endures forever; his grace has set me free.

His love flows like a river as it washes over me.

His peace comes down from heaven. With joy my heart sings.

As I go into His presense riding on angel wings. 

My faith is never ending; my cares on Him I cast.

I don't worry o'er the future; I don't dwell upon the past.

I know that He is with me with every step I trod.

I'll always be His chosen; He'll always be my God.

Copyright Brenda Keefer 1999

I wrote this during some rough times in my life but the words are as true today as they were when I wrote them. Pride is not always a good thing. But there are times when being proud is called for. And one of those times is when you can stand up and smile and without a shadow of a doubt proclaim that the great I AM is MY GOD.

He is mine and I am His. No matter what that will not change. The world can beat us down and trample us. Friends can cut us to the core with ill-chosen words. But when push comes to shove, He will always be My God and will always be there for me. 

A lesson in faith....

As many of you know, faith is my "signature" word. I am a very strong believer in faith. It is the foundation of my existance. My faith in God and everything He can do for me is extremely strong.

I was thinking about faith the other day and trying to come up with a good example of unstoppable, unshakable, undeniable faith that would really get across the point of what faith is.

Now we all know that Hebrews 11:1 tells us "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." But so many people still don't get it. They may say they have faith, but they allow doubt to enter in. They will say they believe God will answer their prayers, yet they struggle daily trying to make a situation work instead of waiting on the will of God.

Faith must be firm. You cannot allow doubts to creep in. You have to not only believe, but KNOW that God will provide a way. It is the calm acceptance that you have given it to the Lord and He will follow through. You place it in His hands, then walk away knowing it is taken care of.

As I was thinking of faith this morning, I realized that a common house cat is the best example of faith. Having been a cat-mom for 17 years to K.C (it stood for Kitty Cat)., I have seen many examples of faith through her sweet eyes.

When we picked her out at the pound, barely 6 weeks old, all the other kittens were playing and bouncing around. Scratching and clawing for attention. K.C. sat humbly in the back corner of the cage; cowering and unloved. It was apparent that she was afraid. Then it happened. Those sweet little eyes looked in mine and they were filled with such hope that I just knew I had to take her home with me.

That precious little kitten stuck to me like glue. We had such a special bond that she did not share with anybody else. Every night, she would watch my moves as I bathed, ate supper, cleaned up and got ready to settle in for the night. The minute I would relax on the couch, she would jump immediately on my lap and settle in and sleep until bedtime.

She never once doubted that she was welcome there. She never once hesitated or acted reserved. She knew I loved her and knew that my arms were always open for her.

How many times have troubles burdened you down and you felt like you had nowhere to turn. It is sad that we cannot all have a cat-like faith. God's arms are always open; His lap is always available to us. Yet, we do not take that leap to trust Him enough to go to Him for our needs.

K.C. had utter faith in me. She new she could always come to me. She knew I protected her. She knew I would always provide a warm home; a safe haven. Her every need was taken care of. She always had food and water and never did without anything. I would sit and hold her and snuggle with her, rubbing her head. Even in the end, when her kidneys started to fail, she exhibited strong faith. Her eyes would look at me and I could tell she was in pain and it was like she was asking me to fix it. After her last vet visit, when he told me there was nothing they could do for her, she still trusted me to make a decision on what was best for her. When I took her back to the vet so they could put her to sleep, I knew in her last moments that she still had faith that I was taking care of her. She never took well to strangers and never had anything to do with men. Yet, when I placed her in the vets arms to leave her, she snuggled in his arms and looked at me and purred as if she was letting me know one last time that I knew what was best and she had faith that I was doing what was needed.

We could all take lessons from cats. They know their master and they don't worry about anything. They have 100% faith that we will come through for them. In her 17 years of live, that precious, sweet cat showed me what true faith and trust was. We need to develop that mindset with God. We need to walk into His open arms and let Him handle things. Once we give it over to Him, we need to know, with faith believing, that He will provide a way.

The products of our lives.....

Accept no substitutes. Do you have certain products that you feel that way about? Certain items that you would not even consider trying another brand? I do. Most of these are brands I grew up with and cannot shake the feeling that they are a  "must have" when I buy that item.

When I was growing up, we always had Quaker Oats. It came with little cups and saucers in it as a freebie.

Then there was the time when you could get a free wash cloth, face towel or bath towel in your detergent. Sometimes it was Oxydol, sometimes it was Fab. Breeze offered a free dish towel.

I also remember that we always had to use Scott Tissue for the toilet paper because it was the only brand that did not clog septic tanks.

It was always Zest soap because we had well water and it was hard. Zest was the only thing that would lather in hard water.

Our shampoo was all Prell concentrate in the squeezable tube.

And Daddy was an Aqua Velvet man. I still love that smell.

I find myself defining the products of our lives. There are certain items that hubby and I live by the "Accept no substitutes" rule. Here are some of the things I just HAVE to have by brand.

Miracle Whip is the only salad dressing I use.

Choosy mother's still choose Jif

My catsup (or country folks ketchup) is always Hunts

Zesta saltines, all others pale in comparison

I'll use assorted lotions, but I ALWAYS have a tube of Jergen's lotion somewhere in the house. I love the cherry almond fragrance.

Hershey's cocoa.

Parkay Margarine.

These are all my products of choice that I can't live without "that brand". I would love to hear from my readers. What products or brands are you "married to". What do you find you won't even consider giving up or trying another brand? Inquiring minds want to know.

Coasters

There are so many craft mediums out there that utilize yarn. Crochet, knitting, macrame. But I have found I do not have the patience to stick with any of those. I love to knit, but get bored after 15 minutes or so. I tried my hand at crochet but never could figure out how to turn around and go to the next row. Macrame just never appealed to me.

But I have an addition to yarn. I could stand for hours in a yarn store. So many brands, types, styles and colors to choose from. About 10 years ago, a friend of mine turned me on to Plastic Canvas. I fell in love. Tissue boxes, baskets, boxes with lids, etc. Many, many things to make ... and they can all be made with yarn. So I became addicted from that point forward. Finally, here was something I could do that was easy, speedy and most of all gave me an outlet for all the yarn I kept purchasing in the hopes I would use it some day.

One thing I love to make is coasters. They take about an hour each and can be used everywhere. I decided to do a few yesterday and thought I would post some of the results.

First, I gathered up my materials. These are just a few of the yarns I used and one that I'm using on the current project that is not completed yet.

I have a lot of coaster patterns, but this is my favorite one because of the pattern and the ability to use multiple colors in it:

This is the same pattern, just different colors used.

I love multi-colored yarns and have one with purples and greens that I just love and could not find anything to make in it. So I tried the same pattern using the multi-colored yarn. I think this is my favorite one so far:

I decided to try a different pattern and use some of my yarn I bought at the beach. Here's the result:

I like this pattern really well. I'm not that fond of it in the varigated yarn, but it will work

I think this one is now my favorite, along with the purple one.

That's it so far. Here are some boxes I've made over the years that I really liked.