The Baptism

On a river bank by a gently flowing river, a group gathers. They watch as the newly saved makes their way into the cold waters. They wait with hands clasped and tears streaming as another soul takes a dip into the cool waters on a summer day. A quick down and up and it is over.

But it's not really over. It is just beginning. That one moment in time when your life is totally changed. That one moment in time when you are truly one with your God. You rise up out of the water. You feel the Holy Spirit descend upon you and you know what Isaiah 43:1 means when it says:

....“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

Wait a minute, let's think about this...

Last night, I was sitting at the living room desk that hubby uses and was recalling my blog of earlier that day. I was tossing around the idea of switching desks but couldn't figure out how to broach the subject. What we call "his" desk was bought for me when we built our log home about 18 years ago. It is from the Bombay Company and I was beyond thrilled with it.

By the time I started my own business four years ago, hubby had gotten into computers and my desk became our desk. Now he does his work there and pays the bills there. Since the room that became my home office was small and used for many purposes, I had to purchase a smaller desk for it.

Now that we've moved and my office is its own room, I want a bigger desk. Well, really it is more than want. I need a bigger desk. So last night, I'm sitting at hubby's desk in the tv room, checking my emails. I nonchalantly say "I wish I my desk was this big." I knew what I was doing the moment the words left my mouth.

You have to know my hubby. I am so spoiled that it isn't funny. He never refuses me anything and I try to not take advantage of that fact, but sometimes a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. His immediate response was, "We can swap if you want and we put this one in your office."

Well, give me a Staples easy button because "That was easy!" I simply said "We'll see" and finished checking my email, trying to hide my excitement.

Well, I woke up this morning and realized I can be such a moron sometimes. Remember my whole plan is to get a NEW desk. A real office type, management style desk. One with lots of drawers and lots of desk top space for an organizer. The ones that are 30 x 60.

So I got out my trusty tape measure. My desk is 20 x 48. Hubby's desk is only 26 x 54. I would be gaining 6" in both directions. Whoop-tee-doo. I'm rethinking the whole switch thing.

I know if I switch and then decide to get a bigger one later on, it's not going to go over very well. So I think I will keep things the way they are and sit a sales goal for the desk I really want. I'm never going to be happy in my office until I do.



Just move it in and move on...

When we moved into our new place back in October, my main goal was to get everything from the old place into some place in the new place.

We worked like maniacs to get it all put up, put out or put away. I was beyond thrilled with the results, until.........

Yes, I have finally figured out how to use that site and even have 18 friends following or pinning with me. But the down side????

I now want to redo soooo much of my home. But money wise, I'm going to have to wait. There is so much more we need before I can start any major redecorating. But I have a thought. That always scares my hubby when I start thinking because it usually means he gets some kind of chore out of the deal.

I have three rooms that I'm not really happy with now that I've been living here a few months. The major one is my office. It is such a hodge podge of collectibles. Tea sets, clowns, knick knacks, pictures, books, etc. It is feeling cluttered and the walls are closing in on me. I have valances on the windows that I don't like and the sun beats in on me starting every day around 1:00 giving me a headache and burning me up...even with the blinds closed.

My dear friend Sherrie gave me a beautiful pair of blue lined drapes for the windows. They are gorgeous. That was it. Now I'm in the mood to redo my office. I collect Emmett Kelly clowns and every time I mention packing them up, hubby reminds me of the sentimental value of them. Okay, I know I am sentimental about them, but can't I be sentimental while they are in a box in the closet?

These are just a few of them on one of the shelves. See what I mean? CLUTTERED. Oh my, I just had a thought. Hmmm, it involves my antique secretary hutch and my bedroom decor. I may be onto an idea here. I will ponder and let you know more about this later.

So I think this weekend after my Thirty One party, I will box up and pack away some of the items in the office/craft room so I can begin redecorating and reorganizing.

As you recall, I am looking for a bigger desk. Well it dawned on me this morning, that the desk my hubby uses looks bigger than my desk in my office. Hmmm? Do you think I can talk him into trading? Considering he will have to be the one to move it. I'll have to think that through.

Anyway, I'm going to start "shopping" my house to see what might work better somewhere else and make me happier with everything.

I'll be sure to take some before and after pictures for you as thing progress. Hope everybody has a great weekend. 

I love catalogs...

I love opening my mail box and finding new catalogs full of items guaranteed to tease and tempt me. Yesterday, I went to the mail box and found this waiting for me.

Ooh! I was so excited. I love these type of catalogs. I had never seen or heard of this company so I was even more excited to get back in the house and take a gander. The first thing that caught my eye was this little note on the front.

Seriously? Basically it said to me "Here, we want to introduce you to the wonderful stuff we have for you to buy. But if you don't buy right now, we aren't wasting our time or money sending you any more catalogs." Somebody needs to talk to their marketing department. Anyway, I did spend some time browsing the catalog and saw some pretty neat items in it.

How cute would these be in my kitchen. Remember my post about cookbooks. I would love to put some of my paperback one stacked in the bottom one and fill the tops one with my assortment of cloth napkins. The chicken wire theme would go with all my roosters. I am really really loving these. Especially since they have lids.

What a cute idea. A candle holder used to hold a clay pot of flowers. I am going to have to remember this one.

These are a great idea for my front porch swing when I get it fixed up this spring.

It is hard to believe these are artificial. I can see them resting on a little table on the porch or back deck. Or in the middle of the kitchen table.

What a fun tea set. I love the red and white. My sister needs this for her kitchen.

I just did my other blog this morning about organizing my office. I wonder if this would hold file frames so I could convert it into a filing cabinet.

I am in love with these. How precious would those be in my room with the beach theme. Since that is technically the "kids" room, these would make a wonderful toy box.

I have a million ideas for this one. One of my faves is to put it over my craft table and put all my yarns in it so I can see the colors real easy when I pick new projects to do.

Since I have more than one company, I have tons of stackable trays on my desk and table in my office. I'm thinking this would be neat to hang beside my desk and get rid of all the cheap ugly plastic trays.

 

Another potential cabinet that might hold file frames.

Taxing my brain to see where I could use this. I love it. Wondering if it would be good for the new TV when we get it?

Well, that's my wish list. I would say that I will end up buying at least one of these items. So it seems the "last catalog" ploy is not such a bad marketing idea after all.

It's here and we have a new giveaway....

The new Thirty One catalog is now online. You can view it by visiting

www.mythirtyone.com/brendakeefer

I am very excited about the special this month, for every $31 you spend, you can get 31% off any item in the catalog. Most retailers take a discount off your least expensive item. Not Thirty One, your discount comes off any item you choose. And you get it for every $31 you spend.

They are also bringing back some favorites in patterns that were discontinued. They will be available for a limited time. Leave me a comment if you want me to email you the PDF. Here are a couple of my favorite patterns that they are bring back on a few items.

  

Visit www.bees31gifts.blogspot.com to learn about our February giveaway.



Last chance to win a Thermal Tote

Today is going to be an exciting day. We will be announcing the winner of the Thirty One Thermal Lunch Tote over at Bee's 31 Gifts. The winner will be announced sometime after noon. If you haven't signed up to win, pop on over to Bee's 31 Gifts and become a follower for one entry and leave a comment over there for a second entry. You will receive your choice of any one of the following thermal totes if you are chosen as the winner.

In addition, visit back here later today for the announcement of our February giveaway and a link to the new spring catalog for Thirty One.

 

Ten things for Tuesday....

Today's Top 10 of Things I'm loving....

1. Loreal One-Sweep Eye Shadow. This product is amazing. It has great staying power and the variety of shades blend to give your eyes a unique look. It is so lightweight that you can't even tell you have it on.



2. Pure Ice Nail Polish. The variety of shades is amazing. I have it in pinks, silvers, whites, golds, lilacs, mint green, blue, lavendar, gray, and the list goes on. I love the way it shimmers and shines. One coat is enough to look like you spent hours in the salon.

3. The perfect white shoe. Every year around this time, I start to hunt for white shoes for Easter. I love heels with an ankle strap and lots of little straps. I fell in love with this pair. To me, it is the PERFECT Easter shoe. So I went to the website to see what else they had to offer. When I saw categories like "Goth" and "Exotic" and "Stripper" I decided maybe this wasn't the best site to find my new church shoes at. But I do love these.

4. I love this cute dress for spring and summer. Trying to decide if it would be a cute Easter dress or not. If I decide I like it, it would be adorable with strappy white sandals.

5. Our anniversary is in March and I would like to have an Anniversary Band. I've been looking at them and know about what I'd like to have. I found one I liked, but it had a $5900 price tag! I'm thinking that is a little A LOT out of my budget. Now this one is exactly what I'm looking for and at a very affordable price.

6.  These white shoes are more my style. The lower heel is a lot easier to walk in. They would be so cute with the little dress above.

7. My daughter is a Coach purse fanatic. She has some really cute ones and I'm starting to love them. Living just 15 minutes from the Coach Outlet and with the discount coupons we get from them, it is easy to pick up a new Coach purse with a Retail Price of $200 - $300 for just $30 or $40 if you time it right. That being the case, I think I need to start watching the store for this white purse for spring. I love it.

8. If you followed my blog last spring, you will recall that our swing cushions got beat up pretty bad in a hail storm. They were ripped and torn that they were not repairable. We were able to flip them over but the back side wasn't as tufted and comfy as the front. Now that we have moved and have a front porch, we figured we'd buy replacement cushions. I was shocked to learn that replacement cushions cost more than I paid for the original swing brand new. So we are going to just replace the whole swing. I'm trying to decide between an old fashioned wood swing or wicker. I am really loving this look.

9. And since we want a new table and chair set for the other end of the porch, I thought this would go good with it.

10. I am getting obsessed with these little floral candles. I love anything with flowers on it, but lately I have been noticing a lot of these little votives. I have three in my living room. But I really am loving the ones I just found yesterday on the internet.

Can you tell I have spring on my mind?

Today, I am hooking up over at the Tuesday Train

And I'm also joining up with several other blog hops at Quick Tattletales Tuesday Blog Hop