A Foundation of Faith

A deep and abiding faith in God is the true foundation of life. It is my absolute most favorite word and instills such hope and joy in my life. Through darkest valleys and deepest fears, my faith in God has been unshakable. 

I have this little book called Learning the Word: A Made Easy Handbook on Studying the Bible by Mark Waters. It's an awesome little book. On the subject of faith he has a quote that I just love. 

"When we have an atom of faith in our hearts, we can see God's face, gentle, serene, and approving." - John Calvin

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Israel, Rahab, Paul, Peter and many, many more have illustrated to us time and time again the importance of faith in our Lord. 

Faith can move mountains, it can calm roaring waters, it can provide a path through the darkest midnight. 

Our faith should be the one constant in our life. The unshakable foundation, the one straight path that will lead us to the rewards our loving God provides for us. 

Faith should be the very foundation of our existence. 

Yard sales, Pinterest, and the one that got away

Because of Hubby's work schedule now, his days off are Thursday and Friday. I've been planning my week around that so we can both take Friday off together. Yesterday was an awesome day.

It started off with a few local yard sales. I picked up some cute things. 

Like this little basket for Christmas. I am either going to use it for Christmas Cards we receive or to put Christmas napkins in. 

Love this clock. It's not old, but it gives the illusion of an antique clock. I needed a clock in my office and just couldn't find one I like....'til now.

I didn't find any Pyrex, but I did find this oval vegetable bowl from Glasbake in their blueberry pattern. I really like the pattern. I paid $1.00 for it, but saw it online for $12 and $20 so I guess I got a good deal. 

This was just too cute to pass up. It's a miniature cookbook in a wire basket. 

And I knew right where I wanted to sit it. 

You remember I am on the hunt for recipe boxes. That is my newest collectible item. I wanted a wooden one. Well I found one. They had painted it red, but I really liked it. It's a lot like the brown one Mom had when we were growing up. 

Total spend at yard sales today....$4.25. Not a bad day. 

As we were driving by a storage unit, we saw someone having a yard sale. When we stopped, it was my neighbors, Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus. I picked out these three books and Santa wouldn't take my money. So I took him a bag of cherry sweet 100 tomatoes when I got home as a thank you. Going to try a recipe for crunchy cranberry muffins. I'll share it when I do. 

After the yard sales, we headed to the new Publix Market and the new Kroger Market in Knoxville. Since I left my phone in the car, I didn't get any pictures. But just let me say two things. Publix Market? WOW! Kroger Market? Not so much. The Kroger was nice and they do have a super duper houseware department, but nothing else much different from a regular Kroger. But Publix? I will have to return with my camera one day to do it justice, but I could spend all day in the cheese, deli, bakery, produce area. Unbelievable. 

We journeyed from there to AC Moore. I have started collecting items for my Pinterest challenges I plan to make for fall. My pledge is to complete one project per weekend. I need ribbon or material for this project still and some kind of fall button. I'm going to Joanne's and Walmart today to find what I need. 

The one that got away....

Well, actually I let two things slip by me yesterday, despite hubby telling me to get them. The first was a roll of ribbon at AC Moore. I really liked it and I thought it was exactly what I wanted for another Pinterest project. But I wasn't real sure and the price was $3.99 (yes, I am cheap when it comes to my crafts). And I knew Walmart ribbon was cheaper so I didn't get it. When I got home and was looking at my Pinterest challenge folder, I realized that it was EXACTLY the ribbon I wanted for this project. I may go back to AC Moore and get it today. I am so mad for leaving it there. 

Well, off to see what today might bring. 

I have rubbed off on my niece.....

My niece Amy called me yesterday. She had decided to pop in to a local antique mall. While walking around it, she spotted the red Pyrex bowl to the primary colors set. Being a wonderful niece who loves her aunt very much, she called me to see if I wanted it. Uh...YES! She said you could tell it was used, but still in great shape. So she bought it for me. She lives in another state and her mom is visiting me this fall so as bad as I want it, I would rather wait a month or so than risk it being shipped. but at least I know it is mine, all mine and I will have it soon. 

The inside is in perfect condition. And since I plan to use it, I am thrilled with the shape it is in. 

Then she called me back later and said I had rubbed off on her. (She must be reading my blogs too much) because she stopped at a yard sale. Now, Amy loves a bargain and she doesn't mind scouring antique stores, but I don't believe she has been to a yard sale in five years. So this was a major statement coming from her. And how did she fair?

Five straw wreaths still in their wrappings, a lovely glass vase, a white Fire King oval casserole and a brown Pyrex casserole. Her total cost? $2.75. I have taught the child well. 

She has some Pinterest plans for the wreaths and vase. She is also working on another Pinterest project and expects to finish it in the next day or so. I know that will show up on my blog as well. 

Thanks, Amy, for my bowl and for giving me a blogging topic for today. One good thing about featuring you in my blog, your Mom will get busy to get me some more stuff of hers for another blog.

I love when you can depend on family to provide you with blogging topics.  

WARNING! I have been reorganizing again

I don't know if I have ADD, if I am obsessive compulsive, if I'm hyperactive or if I just plain get bored with things staying the same. Whatever my problem is, I am redoing the kitchen as far as moving things from one shelf to another. My Pyrex is in two different places and one is hard to get to so I forget what I have and never get to enjoy looking at it. I just have a few pieces, but I still want them to be accessible. Here is what I have done.

The Baker's Rack (Before) While we have a lot of cabinet space, we don't have much drawer space. So we use the wooden antique cigar box for our silverware. But the Baker's Rack is at the end of the kitchen where it turns to the utility room and it was inconvenient. And I just didn't like the look of it sitting there. I do like having two of my Pyrex bowls on the top, but would like more of them here. 

So I moved things around and like it better. (After)

Now my main Pyrex pieces I use are sitting here where we can grab them. The extra wooden spoons in the crock look cute on the little "dresser". I keep recipes in the drawers. It is the ones that are hand written on notebook paper or printed from magazines. I need to eventually put them on recipe cards. 

The second shelf is my cookbooks and the two recipe card boxes I have. One is for desserts and one is for "real" food such as barbecue, chicken recipes, breads, etc. The basket is nothing but dessert cook books. If you look close, I'm sure you will see a Hershey's theme going on. 

The top has some of my other Pyrex. The bowl inside the yellow bowl is an old Homer Laughlin bowl that an antique dealer traded me for some items years ago. And in the middle is my new Early American Pyrex piece I got this weekend. And beside that is my Pyrex Bar Code promotional piece a friend gave me.

Now we move on to the other rack. Here are the middle shelf and bottom shelf. (Before)

Here is the middle shelf (after)

And the bottom shelf (after). It still needs some work, but it is the one shelf you barely see as it is in the back corner by the table.

Top shelf (before)

Top shelf (after). I love my blue stuff all being on one shelf. The lamp has got to go. I just need to find a replacement before I move it. I want something in a brown or copper wrought iron look. I still need a lid for the juice pitcher and for the casserole dish. Why I never find things with their lids is beyond me. 

Next came one of the kitchen counter that holds our snack bowls. You will see it used to have the recipe basket of dessert books and the yellow Pyrex bowl. 

I moved the silverware box over here and one of the little Pyrex bowls. I like it better.

I have moved and changed the tops of these cabinets so many times that it isn't funny. I just couldn't figure out what to put up there. (Before)

So, I went shopping the house and closets for baskets that weren't being used for anything. And this is the end result. Still not sure if I like it, but it is way better than the stuff I had stuck up there. (After)

The fridge and the little shelf over it.  (before)

The after isn't any better. This is the only place I could display the cake taker the because of the diameter of the tray. Still not sure if I want to keep it or sell it. Maybe I'll just wait and see if I find someone who is looking for one. The shelf is pathetic still. It could be arranged nicer if the cake taker wasn't in the way. I just sat some extra items on the shelf for now that I didn't know what to do with. I'll have to work on that later. I did all this after supper last night. By the time I got to this little shelf, I was exhausted and my mind didn't know what to put where. 

Hubby is off today and he has actually agreed to take me to some yard sales. We used to go to them all the time and he loved it. But he normally works on Thursday's and Friday's until recently. So we are going to hit a few sales today and tomorrow. 

On a final note....

In April 2011, I introduced you to one of my dear friends and faithful followers, Ms. Norma. She was celebrating her 8th anniversary of her Lung Transplant. Click the link to follow her story. She is now into her 9th year of a transplant that she was told might, at the best, give her an extra 5 years of life. God has performed miracle after miracle for Ms. Norma. She has had some complications earlier this year and is making regular trips to Vanderbilt for procedures and monitoring. This past trip resulted in the finding of a hole in her native lung. They are hoping it will close without having to do surgery. They can hope, but I will pray. A much better success rate with prayer than with hoping. Please say a prayer for Ms. Norma that God will pull her through this as He has so many times before. She is a strong Christian and her faith knows no bounds. 

It's going to be a rough day....

Not a good start to my morning. I woke up at 6:17 after having a wonderful, restful night. It is rare that I don't wake up during the night so I was so glad to have slept through the night. 

I sat down about 6:30 to start my day and decided to update my blog look. It did not go well. I switched to another free template site that I don't normally use and it made my blog go wacky and I could not get it to go back to my original one. I ended up with my flower look that I had yesterday, but it had some of the attributes from the one I was trying to switch to and I could not get rid of them. Then it switched and put a winter background that I used two years ago. It was a mess. I finally just switched to a standard blog template from blogger. I will give it a few day, run some virus scans, clean my cookies and temp files and then try to install using the blog template service I normally use. 

Anyway, I apologize if you stopped by during that mess and got confused on what season I thought it was. Hopefully my blog is not broke anymore. So, on to my post for the day....

I am not sure how your weather is, but we are experience some fall like mornings and fall like evenings, though we are still enjoying summer in the daytime, just not quite as much humidity as what we have had this year. So it has been pleasant. But it is making my mind turn to thoughts of fall. It won't be long and the leaves will begin to change and fall decorations will start showing up in the homes and businesses around town.

I (of course) have been checking on Pinterest for some new ideas for fall. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

I could make this. It doesn't look too complicated. You can find the leaf pattern and a link to the directions at Martha Stewart.

This looks like it would be so easy. I am going to do one with fall material and paint the legs orange and set it on the front porch with a little planter or pumpkin on it. I think that would be cute. I may also make one for the back deck only buy a small vinyl tablecloth in fall pattern and cut it to size so it won't matter if it gets wet. I'll use some type of paint on the legs that is outdoor paint. 

The blog site that this came from no longer exists so I couldn't find directions, but it looks easy enough. They are adorable. 

And this is probably one of the easiest pumpkins ever. Even I could make these and I don't have a lot of talent. 

Now I know without a shadow of a doubt that I could accomplish this. You could do candy corn for October and the popcorn kernels for Thanksgiving. I love this. It would be pretty on a tray for a centerpiece for fall.

This gives me tons of ideas. You could also put a pumpkin or candy corn button instead of a sea shell. You could also cut a strip of fall material and hot glue around candle then tie with the raffia. Tons of thoughts on this. 

I am on idea overload. Guess I need to make a trip to Hobby Lobby. 

Just a wee little bit behind...

My sister, Rachel, and I have been collecting the Pyrex nesting bowls in the primary colors. We started off with me being in the lead since I owned the yellow one. It came with my hubby when I married him.  He laughingly asked me the other day if I stayed with him for the past 31 years so I wouldn't lose the yellow Pyrex bowl. Thanks to him and his bowl, I had my set started before Sis.

But before long she had collected the yellow as well along with the one other, which I think was the green. Since she had the most pieces, we were trying to find her the ones to complete her set first. Both of us have been looking for over a year and we didn't want to pay the high prices of E-bay and most of the antique store had them in sets and they were expensive and the sets couldn't be broken down. It has become a personal project of Rachel's to finish this set and she has told everybody she knows to keep their eyes open for the remaining two bowls, red and blue, that she needed.

Well, Saturday my sister was at her camper for the weekend. Her phone rings and it is Mom. Mom precedes to tell her that the lady next door is having a yard sale and when Mom walked over their, she saw the blue and red primary Pyrex bowls so she bought them. She paid $2 for one of them and $1 for the other one. Needless to say, Rachel is beyond thrilled and I am so happy for her. Now we can all start looking for me the three I need so I can have the set as well. Rachel sent me a picture of her set and check out how gorgeous it looks. Aren't they beautiful?

She told Mom to go back and get any other Pyrex they had so Mom found her this as well. 

On another note, I got a text from Rachel's daughter, my niece, Amy yesterday. She is the craft expert in the family. She always has some neat project she is working on. She has already started on her Christmas crafts. She saw an idea on Pinterest and made this for Christmas. Don't you just love it?

Mom was telling me that she made a Christmas picture frame tray the other day. But I have to wait until somebody goes by there to get a picture and text me since Mom doesn't do texting. Her inspiration was an idea I saw on Pinterest. She has completed her project and used candy cane material for the "picture" and is making a candy cane candle to set on it along with a candy dish of Starlight peppermints for Christmas. Can't wait to get pictures. 

 

My Pyrex find and some I passed by

I did some shopping on Saturday and found a few good bargains. I have a Pyrex casserole dish and have been wanting the rack that it sets in. But I figured it was a long shot finding one much less finding one that fit. This was at a local thrift store for .25 cents so I thought it was worth taking a chance on.

And it was a perfect fit for my snowflake casserole Pyrex. I just need to find a lit now. 

At a local antique store, I found this Pyrex Early American divided oval veggie dish. It was $6.50, which is more than I usually pay, but for a unique pattern AND at an antique store, I snatched it up at that price. 

You may recall last spring I went to an estate sale and found a glass like one I had a set of years ago. It was my favorite glass ever and I was heart broken when the last one got cracked. I was going to buy the one at the estate sale but the man over it decided he had too many nostalgic memories of it and wouldn't sell it to me. I found this in an obscure corner in the antique store so I grabbed it. They only had one, but that's okay because hubby wasn't as fond of them as I was. I can mark this off my wish list now. 

That was all I bought, but I did see some other items that I debated over. I find it funny that the minute I decided I wanted the Hamilton Beach mixing bowl, I found one on Craig's List but didn't buy it because with shipping it was $15 - $18. Well, the first booth I went in at the antique store had one in it. It was $14.00. Then the next booth had one for $12.00. Since I am seeing them everywhere now and the price keeps getting lower, I am going to hold out before I get one. It's not like I have to have it right now.

This was a Pyrex dish that I had never seen before. It is Golden Honeysuckle oblong 4 quart casserole dish. It was huge. I should have bought it. They were asking $12.00, but you just don't see something like this everyday. 

I can't remember if this was Pyrex or Fireking or maybe even Glasbake. I didn't think to check the bottom and I can't find the pattern anywhere. Has anyone ever seen this pattern?

They had a lot of Corelle and Pyrex, but what I would love to have is the utility stand it is on. Mom had one for years and years when we were growing up. I'm just not sure how it would have held up to restoration.

I would also have liked this old step stool but wouldn't have anywhere to put it.

I liked this juice pitcher, but not for $12.50

They had so much Pyrex, I need to go back again soon.  

On E-bay last week, I saw where someone had a rare pattern Cinderella starter set still in the original box. The minute they put it up for auction they had one bid of $150.00. My eyes about popped out of my head when I went to see what it sold for.....$355.00. I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams paying that. As much as I love Pyrex, I quiver at the thought of paying over $10.00 for any of it. You just never know what this stuff is going to be worth to somebody.