Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter-in-law

Today, I want to wish my daughter-in-law, Jamie, a very happy birthday. I could not have gotten a better daughter-in-law if I had special ordered her. She is not only a wonderful wife and mother, but she is a very caring person. She always lends an ear when I need somebody to talk to. She knows my little idiosyncrasies...and loves me in spite of them. God really blessed us the day my son took her to be his wife.

She has a quirky sense of humor and a dry wit that just endears us to her even more because our whole family is that way. But I know that no matter what the circumstances, if I need her, she will always be there for me. She and my son have blessed us with three beautiful grandchildren. They each have little bits and pieces of each of their parents in them.

Jamie, I hope you have a very happy birthday and many more. I love you.





Craft Corner

My sister and Mom love to do folk art applique stitchery on homespun towels. They have made some beautiful towels over the years. I have made a few items myself, but usually end up giving them away. My sister sent me some photos of her three latest projects and I thought I would share them with you today. Every time her or my mother make something new, I want to rush out and get stuff to make something myself. I have plenty of material, Wonder Under, and thread on hand. I just need to find some towels. I have a lot of patterns, but you can also find printable patterns on the internet. Here are Rachel's latest creations.

Here is her pumpkin she had made for October. I love the way she embellishes it with buttons. I am a button fanatic. I buy them "just in case" I need them for a project.

Her Thanksgiving Turkey turned out very well. One of the fun things about folk art stitchery is the chance to mix and match patterns, colors and textures for the perfect look. There is no right or wrong. You just do what you like.

But my absolue favorite is the snowman. I think she may just have to send me a copy of this pattern. I love him. I bought some new placemats and a bowl for the dining room table for Christmas and there are snowmen on it. I would love to do a towel in colors to compliment my snowmen.



That's it for now. If she gets anything new done or if I get brave enough to try one. I'll post more picks.

Can't wait any longer.....

I can't hold back any longer. I know we still need to get through Thanksgiving, but this is the time of year leading up to the birth of our Saviour, the new born King. We should rejoice and lay claim to the fact that Jesus was born. Who is to determine what "day" should start the celebration. Who is to say when we should begin to rejoice. Luke 1:14 tells us "And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth."

So who can say when we should begin the Christmas celebration. This is a time of great joy. Should we not celebrate Christmas every day. Should we not be thankful every day. Why should we take one day a year to give thanks and why should we pick a certain time period that says it is or is not appropriate to begin celebrating Christmas.

Yes, I agree that it has become more and more commercialized each year and I agree that the commercialization begins earlier every year. But again, I believe that we should not have a time frame for when it is appropriate to celebrate that Christ was born.

So for me, I will begin my celebration today. I will praise His name and give thanks that He gave all for me. I think it pleases Him when we rejoice and celebrate his birth. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I hope you enjoy it...



I received an award!

 

High Heels, boots and binkies passed along Tell Me About Yourself Award and I am deeply honored. If you haven't visited her blog, please do. Thank you.

 

Here are the rules for receiving this award:

I must tell 7 things about myself

I must pass it on to 15 other bloggers

Here are the 7 things about me....

1. I am a Christian and proud of it. Faith is one of the most important things in my life.

2. I have five of the most beautiful grandchildren in the world. They mean the world to me.

3. I love the holidays. I get so excited this time of year I am like a big kid.

4. I have a Pollyanna attitude and try not to let the little things in life steal my joy. Which is a good thing since my home office computer tore up Thursday and my car went whacko on Friday and is in the shop.

5. I love to bake. I could make cakes and cookies all day long. I just wish I had a little elf to go behind me and clean up the mess. I don't enjoy that part as well. But I try to clean as I go so there is not much left to do when I'm done.

6.  I love to read. I love romance novels especially. My favorites are Debbie Macomber, Jayne Ann Krentz, Barbara Delinsky, Katherine Stone and some of the older stuff by Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts. I also love romance books with Christmas themes this time of year.

7. I am spoiled. I have been married to a wonderful man for 30 years who lets me take about an hour bubble bath where I soak and read my book while he cooks supper. Seriously, I think he just does that because I get in the way in HIS kitchen.

Now I gladly pass the award on to 15 fabulous blogs that I read daily

1. Visits with Mary

2. Rise Above Your Limits


3. A Spoonful of Everything


4. Coastal Charm


5. The House on the Corner


6. Day by Day with Beth Marie


7. Everyday Ruralty


8. Everything Sewing


9. Finding Blessings in Everyday Life


10. From This Side of the Pond


11. Love the Decor


12. Dancing Again


13. McCormick Madness


14. Mrs. Rooster

15.  Blessings Squared

41 years ago today.....

Forty-one years ago today in the small town of Huntington, WV disaster hit when the plane carrying the Marshall University football team and supporters crashed at the Tri-State Airport killing everyone on board. The movie We are Marshall! played a great tribute to those who were lost and those who were left behind to carry on.

For more on the story, please visit my other blog at Piggy Wiggy's Place.

We ARE Marshall and we will never forget.



I'm getting in the Christmas mood....



With Thanksgiving approaching and Christmas just around the corner, I'm starting to get in the mood. I'm scouring through my craft patterns and materials to come up with ideas for something to make for a new Christmas decoration.

I have started my Christmas list and have been going through Black Friday Ads to find the perfect item for each one on my list. I'm a little amazed this year. My hubby is one of the hardest people to buy for because he just likes simple things and is not big on hobbies. He doesn't go out much except to the store and work so clothing is not a big issue and he is so easy on his clothes they seem to last forever. But the amazing thing this year is that I have 6 ideas for him, which is very rare!

The grandkids are never a problem. They each have their own favorites when it comes to toys so they are easy to buy for. I'm working on ideas for the grown-ups in the family right now. I have a few thoughts, but I also "spy" and eavesdrop on Thanksgiving while they look at the Black Friday ads. They may think I'm busy in the kitchen, but my ears are tuned in for clues.

My Black Friday partner, my daughter, will be working on Black Friday this year so I'm going to have to adjust my routine. I normally hit local stores around 5:00 a.m. until about 8:00. Then I pick her and the kids up and we head to a neighboring city where we can hit Target, Kohl's, Toys R Us and the mall.

Now so many places are opening at 10:00 p.m. or midnight on Thanksgiving, I'm not sure what my new game plan will be this year. I think I will go my normal early morning and just head straight to the neighboring town and skip the local stores. But who knows, I guess it will depend on what I need to buy and where I need to buy it.

I fortunately will not be getting any electronics or rare items this year so I shouldn't miss out on any deals by waiting until morning to head out. Ten o'clock at night is for sleeping in my world, not for shopping.

Of course, not everyone gets into the thrill of Black Friday and I accept that. But it's what I enjoy.

Welcome to my world....

Do you ever have weeks where you just wonder what in the world is going on?



A couple of weeks ago, my check transmission light came on in my car. Then it went off and the car wouldn't go in reverse. It was in the evening and I couldn't get my car guy. I called him the next morning and they picked it up, kept it for several days and couldn't find a single thing wrong with it. So I went and got it back and have been driving it without a problem. It was raining hard and I was going up a steep hill when it came on so they think "my driving" may have caused it to slip for a second or have a little "hiccup" as it caught up with the hill.



Thursday, my Internet would not connect on my home office computer. I tried everything. It has been acting a little flaky for days, but all my virus scans were fine and all my cookies and spy ware is deleted daily. I defrag weekly so I wasn't sure what was going on. I even plugged it directly to the modem and took it off wireless and still no Internet.  I finally took it to the computer doctor for him to figure out what was going on.

Friday, I went to go to the store. I started the car and let it warm up. When I went to back up, it made an awful clunky chunky metallic noise like something was about to fall out. Then the check transmission AND the check engine lights came on. I waited awhile and started it again and now the check engine light is on and it flashes the words Check Engine then Check Transmission, but the check transmission light isn't on. So it's back to the car guy for another once over. Thank the Lord I bought a 5 year warranty and I've only had it about 6 months.

Yesterday afternoon, I called the computer guru for an update since they had hoped to have the computer ready yesterday afternoon. Turns out that despite all my firewalls and virus protection, I have gotten a bug of some kind. It is randomly deleting large sections of files that are required to run a computer. He has identified over 30 missing system files (so far) that are mandatory for a computer to run. Bottom line is he is trying to replace the files and find the virus, but he needs access to the Internet to fix some of the problems and without having those problems fixed he can't access the Internet. There is talk of having to reinstall my original disks. I keep disks forever so you would think that would be no problem. Well, thanks to the recent move, I can't recall where I put the disks so I'll be doing detective work today.

Now, you might wonder how in the world I am holding up with all this going on. Amazingly enough, I am not stressed. I am not in a panic. I did have the foresight to back up my documents and my Outlook before I took it to him in case things get lost. There are some of my older files that I didn't get backed up (lack of DVD's) but he doesn't think he will lose my documents, but Outlook is iffy. But that is the one thing that I do keep backed up so I should be okay.

Through this all, two of my favorite bible verses keep running through my head:

Psalm 46:10 - Be still and know that I am God...

Isaiah 30:15 -  ...in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:

Have a blessed day.