Some morning cheer....

We have been snowed in since Monday and I am so ready to get back out into the real world. But not when it is 5° and the feels like is -4°. But alas, I must venture back to the office this morning. I will admit the snow has been pretty, but I have been fascinated with the icicles. All though I am not sure how this will affect my poor apple tree. She is hanging heavy and I am worried about a few of the limbs.

Yesterday around 5:00 the sun was shining in such a way that it looked like the trees had Christmas tinsel on them. It was really pretty.

The way the sun hit this one tree just made it beautiful. Of course, I was going around the house singing from the Frozen song all day...."My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around. And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast. I'm never going back; the past is in the past! Let it go, let it go." My singing may not amount to much but the tree sure was beautiful.

We had some good meals and I ate out of my Pyrex pie plate for several meals. My favorite was the twice baked potato-bacon-cheese casserole with scrambled eggs and bacon. Yummy.

I had the leftover bacon with biscuits and peanut butter with a side dish of homemade apple butter for lunch the next day.

Last night we had smoked sausage fixed in homemade baked beans with some fried potatoes and mac & cheese. It was so good. Hubby had a side of onion but I didn't.

I felt the need for spring so I decided to redo my blog template. Doesn't the header just put you in a springy state of mind. I wanted a pic to put on the side bar of the grandkids. I found this one from December 2010. I cannot believe how much they have changed in 4 short years. 

Garret especially. He turns 16 in a few weeks and I for one believe he is a very handsome young man. But my heart misses that little boy who would let me rock him when he stayed all night. Even when he was 2, I would get him on my lap and we would rock for over an hour just watching TV until he got sleepy and ready for bed.

Alexis (10), Caleb (11), Shelby (6) and Colby (4) are just growing up at warp speed as well. Oh, how I wish I could keep them little. But at the same time, they are all so much fun that I wouldn't change a moment of being with them....no matter what age they get.

We usually get one cold spell every year about this time and after that, it gets on the upswing for spring (even though the cold comes back from time to time). I am hoping this was our last major winter storm. I am so ready for daffodils.

Have a great day. Stay safe and warm.

Yucky snow....

Yucky snow. Woke up to another bad weather day today. So I decided to do some pinning for Easter projects. These little wreaths looks so cute and so super easy. 

Instead of an Easter basket, make this home made little bunny bag.

Now this is a cute idea. It would be fun to do this with my church kids.

Super simple and super cute. You could use whatever paper you wanted.

Awww, love the little chickadee wreath.

This isn't necessarily Easter, but it is a cute idea for showers, parties or weddings. 

I am definitely going to do this.

I love this. I would leave it out year round. Not just for Easter.

Another Mosaic idea for my kids at church. Except instead of the heart from Valentine's they can do an egg.

I have seen these before and still want to make one. 

Well, there you have it. My top 10 wish list for what I want to make for Easter.

Weekend Wrap Up

I trust that everyone hit by the recent winter storms is staying safe and warm. We had a transformer blow in my neighborhood Monday around 5:00 p.m. I reported it and told them about hearing the booms at the end of my street. They were there in 20 minutes and we were back on by 7:30 p.m. We have one of the best electric departments around. 

I enjoyed a relaxing three day weekend. Saturday we did some thrift store shopping before the bad weather set in on Sunday. Here are some of the awesome finds I came home with. One of the places we went was Real Deal Warehouse and everything was 50% off the marked price. If it was in the Valentine's department you got 50% off the 50% off price so it ended up at 75% off. 

I got this beautiful Amore sign for $1.13 and the two roses for 25¢ each.

At Diane's Thift Store in Pigeon Forge, I got this Pyrex plate for $1.99. I have an oval one and a bowl to match it already. Trying to collect a service for 2 of all the pieces.

My phone camera settings got changed so my pics aren't all they great. Need to take it to AT & T and have them show me what I did. Anyway, I love this little set of nesting boxes that were just $1.00.

This was also just a $1.00 and I thought it would be a cute holder for glue sticks or scissors on my craft desk.

And it can be turned around at Easter to add to my Easter decor.

This is a tiny cup that has a picture of a French vineyard on it. I just fell in love with it and it was just 50¢. It is very detailed. Wish I could have got a better picture.

And this little glass bell was just too irresistible to pass up for just 50¢. 

This was just 25¢. I will probably put it on my home office desk as a pencil holder. 

But for the 3 day weekend I filled it with my crocheted heart. 

Hubby and I don't do much for Valentine's. I got his a heart shaped box of Kit Kats and he went to Gatlinburg and bought me a pound of my favorite orange creams. 

They are to die for. I have to ration how many I eat at a time because they are super rich. 

We had a horrible ice storm come through yesterday and snow on top of that. Fortunately, I have a job where I can work from home if I need to. That's exactly what I did today. Our hill was solid ice and nobody could get up or down. So I called the girls and guys and we all just worked from home today. It's nice getting to hang out in comfy sweats and fuzzy house shoes while I work. 

Things that caught my eye

Pinned a few new items on Pinterest recently that caught my idea. Some are things I could do and some are just things I liked. These candles are cute This caught my eye because I actually have a heart punch and the little flower punch. And I have some ink and red dotted paper. I may have to try my hand at this later today.

They used the little strawberry to make cards. How cute and simple is this.

With St. Patrick's Day coming up, this would be cute for my Children's Church craft project. Super simple to cut out and glue together.

And check out the cute little gift jar. I don't care for the big ribbon, but what I did like was the fact that this is simply a coffee filter that they used a scrapbook punch to do the edges. I would never have thought of that.

I think this would be a cute Mother's Day idea. We could put artificial flowers in a tin can and then pull fabric up around the can and tie it with a ribbon. I have an empty can from supper last night that I may try this with to see how it works.

Another thing I saw that was cute was to take a muffin tin and use food coloring and water in each cup. You dip coffee filters in them either one color or several to make it multi-color. Then you let them dry and make flowers out of the coffee filters. 

How cute is this for a beach room? You could do it in any type of closed container, not just a lantern. I saw one somewhere that did it in a big apothecary jar. May have to do this for my beach bathroom.

Now to just make note of all these great ideas somewhere so I don't forget them. 

Sunday Song

Happy Valentine's Day

God hath not promised 

Skies always blue 

Flower-strewn pathways 

All our lives through. 

God hath not promised 

Sun without rain 

Joy without sorrow 

Peace without pain. 

But God hath promised

Strength for the day 

Rest for the labor 

Light for the way; 

Grace for the trials 

Help from above 

Unfailing sympathy 

Undying love. 

By: Annie Johnson Flint

May you have a very happy and blessed Valentine's Day and may you be able to spend it with someone you love.

Fun Things

It is my turn for Children's Church crafts this week and even though it is the day after Valentine's Day, I think we will have a little celebration. After the music and story, we do crafts. For our craft, the kids will color or draw whatever they want on a paper plate and then tape a craft stick to the back of them. 

While they do that, my teen helpers will be rolling some popcorn cones from scrapbook paper and I'll bring some pre-popped popcorn from home so they can fill them. 

A friend of mine folded me some coffee filters and I will put a little piece of paper around them to make cookie holders. 

We will cut out and print these hearts to go on the straws of the juice pouches.

After the snack, we will let them play balloon badminton.

It should be a fun day.