Weekend wrap up

It has been a busy week to say the least. I have had 7 days off and have to go back today. But then Tuesday & Wednesday will be my day off so I'm not going to complain about working Monday. Our Christmas was taken down at work this week while we were during dark days so it's back to the main Dixie show starting Jan 13th and I can see my buffalo again.

Over the weekend, I worked really hard on getting my craft room organized. Starting with the closet. I put on my bags/totes and purses on the closet rack. Most of them are hung up using the round curtain hooks, but when I used all those, I had to go to hangers. But I like them a lot better on the shower curtain hooks.

Each one of my containers is labeled using blackboard duct tape and chalk. I am addicted to the tape. It actually has a peel off back so you can cut to size, peel and stick.  

As you can see, I've already started a container for my annual yard sale this year because I kept finding things I kept in the move that I decided I wish I hadn't kept.

I redid the 3 piece book shelf unit. It's not completely how I want it yet, but I did it using containers I already have so I'm not going to replace them. I actually like the pink with the black and white.

The top shelf on this one needs fixed up a little more.

The middle unit has another shelf I can put in it, but I have to buy a replacement clip to hold it in place. We had taken it out when we had a TV in this unit and I can only find 3 of the 4 clips to hold the shelf in.

I moved my teapots and tea sets all over the house and some of them stayed in here on top of the book shelves. I love my book shelves. I have had them about 24 years now and they have held up very well.

I was so happy to have everything done and my desk moved in front of the window. It was nice sitting at my desk and watching the snow fall whenever I did anything on the computer. The lace curtains and the snow outside the window makes it look like my camera went crazy on the wall behind the desk.

My next day off, I'm firing up the sewing machine and learning how to use it. It's been awhile and this one is fancier than any I ever had. My sister gave it to me and I haven't been brave enough to try it out yet.

I still need to clean out the drawers in the little chest. They have a hodge podge of just about anything that I didn't know where else to put it. It's long over due for a good cleaning and tossing.

At the end of it all, I made myself a little pin cushion for the sewing area.

It has been a fantastic 7 days. If this was anything to go by, 2017 is going to be an awesome year.

Jesus Wept

A re-post from one I wrote on January 2, 2011. I thought it was worth repeating.

Jesus wept - John 11:35

Two powerful words with a profound meaning. Jesus was sent for when Lazarus died. Everyone was mourning his death. Many bible scholars have studied the various meanings of this verse. On the surface, it appears Jesus was weeping for the loss of a dear friend. Other views believe He was weeping for other reasons. Jesus already knew that when Lazarus died, He would raise him from the dead. 

He had spent considerable time with these people. They knew of His many miracles; they witnessed his greatness. Yet they still did not have faith that He could help Lazarus since he had already passed away. Many believe that is why He wept. Not for Lazarus, but for the fact that the very people who were closest to Him still didn't get it. 

Jesus saves. It's that simple. He performs miracle after miracle in our lives. Yet, how many times do we try to do things ourselves because we do not have enough faith to ask for His help. 

If we look back in our lives, how many times have we suffered in silence simply because we did not have a strong enough belief that Jesus can still perform miracles today or felt that we were undeserving of His goodness? How many times have we sat in the stillness of the midnight with our hearts and minds heavy laden? How many times have we struggled in deep despair needlessly? All we had to do was call upon the name of Jesus.

If someone were to write a book about what we have gone through in our lifetime, would there be any moments when our loving Saviour was looking down upon us that someone would simply have to write "Jesus wept."

Do not keep your troubles from Him. He already knows what you are going through. He will carry the load for you if you just ask him to. Take your burdens to the foot of the cross and leave them their. He wants to help if we only let Him. Please don't be the reason that Jesus wept.

Saturday Morning

We got our snow we wanted. It's not a whole lot, but it's beautiful. Other parts of the county got more than we did in Kodak. But I am so happy to be snowed in on a day I already had off. View from my back door. 

View from my front door. Neighbor was able to get out but he spun and sputtered all morning trying to get back in.

Going to be hanging out in my p.j.'s and fuzzy socks all day.

I did make a quick run into town yesterday to pick up somethings. I am going to a end-of-year party for work next week and needed some jewelry to go with my black sweater that has some sparkle to it. I wanted a long chain with a sparkly/fake diamond look. I love costume jewelry because I buy it cheap and don't feel guilty if I only wear it every so often. I hate spending a lot of money on jewelry. I have some hoop earrings with rhinestones in them so I found this necklace and bracelet, which is exactly what I was look for. Less than $10 for the whole set. 

Knowing I may be snowbound a day or two and knowing I was almost done organizing my craft room and could actually get some crafting done, I picked up a few things. Stay tuned for the finished product.

What caused me to make the trek into town was the fact my new phone was in. So I went and picked it up and got it all programmed. I am in love with it. It has a great camera, which was one thing I wanted in a new phone. It has a lot of features my old phone doesn't have and I made a really good choice. My daughter and I had Motorola's before and we absolutely loved them. So I went back to that instead of Samsung.

Well, I hope to get a lot accomplished today. Have a great day!

Friday Foto Friends

The past few weeks I've missed out on Friday Foto Friends because I was so slammed I scheduled my posts days in advance. I've missed visiting with everyone on Friday. Today's focus is going to be on the big snow storms raging across the country. I have a friend in New York who posted this on Facebook. She is visiting family for a couple of weeks. Here is her car. Somewhere. under all that snow. She's snuggled in and staying warm.

A friend of a friends posted this today. She said it is what they have gotten so far in Jackson, TN and it is heading our way.

I was going to do a Walmart run this morning but it started snowing pretty heavy so I just went to the grocery store instead (closer to home) because it was coming down pretty fast and furious and looked like an all-dayer. I'm back from the store and working some more on my craft room and this is what we got so far. 

Yep, that's right. They missed again. Our winter forecast is full of might've could've should've and maybe's. Someone posted this on FB yesterday and I do believe this sums up an East Tennessee Winter Storm weather report very good.

Have a fantastic Friday and stay safe if you are lucky enough to get any of the snow. I still have three days left on my winter vacation and when I went to the store, I got stuff for veggie soup and beef stew as well as meatloaf and baked beans. I also stocked up on Reese cups, ice cream and Junior Mints. So I'm in good shape. Bring on the snow. 

New Room Day...

I sat today aside to be THE DAY that I organize the craft room. And what is the first memory that pops up on Facebook this morning?

My craft supplies right now is a little bit of yarn, some scraps of material and some glue products (guns, bottles, etc.) along with assorted buttons. Everything else was stuff I have purchased over the years to have on hand for Children's Church. With our new program, I won't be needing those items any more so I'm clearing out to make room for fabric and items needed for applique. I want to start doing some applique. It is so fun and so relaxing.

I also want to do appliques on items that I can sew and make into something.

I also want to do some Mason jar crafts.

I need to make a Walmart run. A friend of mine found these baskets for $1.98 each at Walmart. I'm going to head over there tomorrow and try to pick some up. They would be perfect to hold craft supplies.

I will keep you posted on what I end up doing. 

Placemat crafts

Years ago my mom, my sister and I went through a stage of making placemat totes. They were adorable and so super simple and super fun. I may try my hand at making them again. There are so many pretty placemats out there. Here are some I found on Pinterest. This first set is made from Dollar Tree placements and the accessory is a pot  holder.

  

Lots of ideas. 

A great day...

I'm really enjoying my stay-cation this week off work. Two of my grandchildren are spending a couple of days with me. Yesterday, we had an awesome day. Started out by going to Magic Quest. It is a fun place. We all got wands and we go around the premises collecting whatever is on the Quest we choose and by the time our time ran out, we had all received the rating of a Magi. When we go back, we can pick up where we left off and work on slaying the dragon and becoming Master Magi's.

We also did lasers, putt-putt and mirror maze. Note to self, someone who gets claustrophobic sometimes should not do a mirror maze where you only guides are 12 and 6 years old. We had a blast, it was hysterical. But a little freaky at the same time. Mirror mazes are  not for the faint of heart. But it was a fun place to be. The kids wanted a picture of the little mushroom house out front.

Afterwards, we stopped at Wendy's which always involves Frosty's. One of our weaknesses.

Last night was pizza night so I sat out the fixin's (as we say in the south). And we each made our own how we wanted them.

I think they had as much fun making them as we did eating them.

Colby did pepperoni with just a little sausage and ham. He wanted me to be sure and say that his pepperoni was shaped in a smiley face.

Alexis loaded hers with pepperoni, sausage, ham and bacon. Not to mention tons of cheese. She said she likes her cheese on the bottom but then when she put the toppings on decided she wanted cheese on the top as well. 

I stuck with my standard of lots of sausage. I told the kids pigs were probably squealing everywhere in terror at the amount of pork we went through last night.

We did the TV tray in the living room thing so we could watch Air Buddies and then Shopkin's Chef Club movies.

Today, we are heading out to the movies and watching SING. I am so excited. Colby says we are going to set up top where we can set in the recliners. Alexis said I could recline back and watch the movie. I said if I recline back I'll probably fall asleep. I'll be happy to sit in the recliner but thing I better remain in the upright position.