Welcome!


Welcome! I am glad you are here. Join me with a cup of your favorite beverage and see what is going on in my life and what is on my mind. I would love to have you join my site and you can do that on the left side where it says 'followers'. And please leave a comment! Thanks for visiting.

Monday, June 30, 2014

HOLIDAY PORCH DREAM




I can dream, can't I? I would love to make my porch look like this!

The pallet flag would be an easy thing to make. It would be quick too. I think the slowest things would first be to find a pallet, and then to let the paint dry. 

I am not sure how I would display it since the only corner I have similar to this is on the front porch, but that red swing hangs there, taking up most of the room on that small porch. But if there were room, the swing and the pallet flag would compliment each other, don't you think?

I just think this display is lovely, and maybe someday. . . . . .

I can dream, can't I?

STUDY HALL

This is the high school study hall I was in all four years of high school. This picture was taken in 1923. My mother used this room! She graduated in 1927 so this is just before she was there. At least she is not in this picture. Her younger brothers and sister also attended this school. It was built in 1903 and used until 1985. I graduated in 1961. It has since been torn down.

The desks are the same, and organized exactly the same, including the blackboards along the wall on the left.

Freshmen always sat in the row closest to the doors (left side here). Sophomores sat in the next row, juniors in the third, and the seniors in the last row on the right. Our little library was in the front of the room, on the right side. That is where I saw my first Good Housekeeping magazine and fell in love with it. I have been a continuous subscriber ever since!

We did not have lockers to keep books and stuff in. The only lockers were in the sports team dressing rooms. (I think, since I did not play sports) All our text books and notebooks, pencils, pens and ink, erasers, glue/paste were kept on the small shelf under the desk top. They didn't hold much. Our coats and jackets hung on hooks all along the wall outside the study hall, the wall behind the blackboards.

Oh, does this bring back memories! It seems odd, but when I was going to school, I never pictured my mother going there so many years ahead of me! After all these years it is finally dawning on me that my mother, aunt and uncles, all tread the same hallways and many stairs that I did many years later.


Friday, June 27, 2014

FAITH FRIDAY

Some time ago I opened my Bible and it opened to  Isaiah 42. As I read, it really spoke to me. Here is the Scripture and my thoughts on it will follow.

Israel Blind and Deaf
18“Hear, you deaf;
look, you blind, and see!
19Who is blind but my servant,
and deaf like the messenger I send?
Who is blind like the one in covenant with me,
blind like the servant of the Lord?
20You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;
your ears are open, but you do not listen.”
21It pleased the Lord
for the sake of his righteousness
to make his law great and glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in pits
or hidden away in prisons.
They have become plunder,
with no one to rescue them;
they have been made loot,
with no one to say, “Send them back.”
23Which of you will listen to this
or pay close attention in time to come?
24Who handed Jacob over to become loot,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord,
against whom we have sinned?
For they would not follow his ways;
they did not obey his law.
25So he poured out on them his burning anger,
the violence of war.
It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;
it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

This is God speaking to the Israelites. But as I read it I was thinking that we Christians today are no different than the Israelites were then. We have been just as deaf and blind to what God has shown us and to what He tells us in His Word. We, as Christians, are not listening to what He is telling us today, nor seeing what God is doing today. Why?: 
Many believe that God isn't speaking to us anymore, because we have not received anything new from Him. He doesn't need to tell us anything new! He has already told us all we need to know to be a part of His family - the Royal Family. Do you ever think of yourself as royalty? If you believe in Jesus, then you are a member of the royal family. God tells us in His Word that we are but it is hard for us in America to understand that concept. I picture it this way - look at the royal family of England. They have the queen at the top. There is no one any higher than her. Then there are princes, princesses, dukes and duchesses, nobles, viscounts, and other titles. Do they all rule? No. But they are part of the royal family, either by bloodline or marry into it. When the Bible says we will rule with Christ, He is still at the top and He has the last word. But we each have our position as part of the ruling family, and we each have our job to do.
Going back to Isaiah 42, This is a warning to us. Pay attention! Listen! Hear what God is telling you, and obey Him when He tells you what He wants you to do or not do. How do you know what He is saying? Read Jesus' words in the New Testament, and the words of the Apostles in their letters to churches. It will say very plainly how we are to live as Christians. What's that you say? "But I can't do it all, I will fail." Yes, you CAN do it. God and the Holy Spirit have given you the ability to do it. Yes, you will fail at times, but God gives us His grace to move on and try again. God just asks that we tell Him we know we made a mistake and that we are sorry and will try not to do it again, and mean it.
Read what Isaiah continues to say here. Those that did not listen came upon some really hard times. God had warned them but they didn't listen,. Our lives can be better if we just listen to Him. Will there be some tough things to go through, even though we do our best to obey? Yes. But God will not leave us.
There is good news next week!

Thursday, June 26, 2014

SPRING CLEANING



This is me doing spring cleaning when I was younger. I wish I could do it like that today, but it just isn't going to happen.

Since I can't do steps, a step-stool or ladder is out of the question. So while my daughter was here I had her take down all the curtains, and they got washed and dried. (oooh, they were dusty)Then I could sit and iron them while my daughter was doing some other cleaning in another part of the house. Once ironed, she put them back up.

Now, back in the day when I was able to get around, those windows and woodwork would have been washed before the curtains went up! But that didn't happen this time. I really wanted my daughter to wash the windows outside while I did the inside. She really had the easier part. But she hates washing windows and did not want to do them. By the time we got the other stuff done, the last day she was here it was hot and humid outside and we were both tired. So the windows are still dirty. I am hoping to at least get the insides done soon as I am really tired of looking out such dirty windows. Maybe, if I take one window a day, and push myself a bit, I can get most of them done.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

DECLUTTER - DAYS 10-15

I have to combine all the declutter days of last week. I can tell you that most of the work of decluttering was done on Day 11 (June 17 since weekends are not counted). That is the day my daughter was here to help me clean the garage, among other things.

I wish I had remembered to take before and after pictures, as well as all the stuff I got rid of. There were so many items that I am sure there more than enough for the 5 items each day for last week, plus every day this week!

I will try to remember some of the things and list here.

Donate --

  • metal folding table -good for camping as well as extra table for crafts, eating, etc.
  • wood plant stand
  • 100' garden hose on reel in hose box
  • Tupperware cake keeper
  • several planters and pots
  • several macrame plant hangers (boot box full)
  • cute can cooler that looks like a drum, still in original box
  • old electric roaster - still works but really heavy and not so pretty anymore. (haven't used in 20 years)
  • small metal plant stand that holds 3 plants (went to daughter)
  • folding lawn chair
Recycle --
  • 8-10 plastic ice cream pails and lids
  • paper shopping bag full of various plastic containers that I had kept to use for food storage - but can't see a need for them, plus always get more that food comes in
  • 3 cat litter jugs
  • several empty cardboard boxes (originally saved in case item needed to be sent back, or larger ones saved to put donated items in)
  • I know there were more things but can't think what
Throw away --
  • old, broken litter box w/cover
  • bag of dirty rags
  • 4 spark plugs that were in the garage when I moved here
  • and my mind has gone blank - I do know that there are 3 full garbage cans waiting to go out to the curb this week
  • lots of dirt, dust, dead leaves, dead bugs -- either swept up or blown out with a leaf blower.
One thing I noticed a couple days later that it even smells cleaner in there, although we did not wash anything. Now the back of my van is so full of stuff to take to Goodwill that I have no room to put the garbage to take to the curb! 

Since the weather forecast says we won't get rain tomorrow (Monday, June 23), I think I will make the effort to drive to Sioux City and drop all that stuff off at Goodwill. I will have to pay attention to flooding, though, as we could get another inch or two of rain tonight. And it rained during the night last night and I don't know how much we got. Maybe I should get a couple of oars or paddles in case we start floating. Sioux City is where the Big Sioux River meets the Missouri River and there has already been some flooding along the Sioux there, but that should not be a problem getting to Goodwill. I hope.

I might add, that of all those craft supplies I decluttered earlier, my granddaughter only got the stamping supplies and small set of artist brushes. She had fun with that while she was here too. She is the artist in the family right now. The rest of the craft things will be going along to Goodwill.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

DECLUTTER - DAY ?


Before life got in the way, as I stated in a previous post, I did get another day of decluttering in, and the result is in the picture here.



The reason I put a question mark in the title is that I don't know what number of the declutter days this actually was. I see the date on the picture as June 12, so that must mean it was probably Day 9. If you count each catalog and each newspaper section (not pages, but that would run up my numbers, wouldn't it!), then I think this qualifies for 5 items per day for the previous days. I finally went through the grocery bag full of newspapers that I always think I must do before getting rid of them. I HAVE to make sure I don't miss anything! Now all those things have been put in the recycle tub and are gone, gone, gone! Now I need to read the newspapers that are beginning to fill the basket again. Hopefully I will get to them this week. It is a GOOD thing that I do not get a daily paper! I just get the weekly shoppers, one weekly community paper, and a friend saves our town's weekly paper for me. She only brings them once a month or every two months, so they tend to pile up until I get time to read them.

Monday, June 23, 2014

SUM . . .SUM. . . SUMMERTIME


Summertime is here. . . FINALLY!

It seems like we waited a long, long time for warmer weather. I think this is a good time to do a re-run, since that is about all there is on television in the summer, right? This summertime pie is one of my absolute favorites, both to make and to eat, and it is always a big hit. Enjoy!


WHAT'S COOKING


(picture not mine but looks very much like my recipe)

BANANA SUMMERTIME PIE

Crust:
Combine 1 1/4 cups fine graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts and 5 tablespoons butter, melted.
Press into bottom and sides of 9" pie plate and chill for 1 hour.

Filling:
Slice 2 medium bananas into shell. Blend 1 cup commercial sour cream, 1 cup milk and 1 package vanilla instant pudding mix according to direction on pudding box. Pour over bananas and chill.

When I take this to a picnic or pot luck people can't get enough of it. It tastes a little like cheesecake and that makes it so good, and the walnuts in the crust is a treat. I think it would also be good with pecans. Another quick and easy recipe and no baking involved. I found this in a newspaper back in the 1960's and has been a favorite ever since. I have made it many, many times.


Thursday, June 19, 2014

STORMY AND BUSY

I didn't intend to be missing for so long, and now am wishing I had gotten several blog posts written and scheduled for publishing, but life happens, doesn't it.

I have not kept up with the decluttering schedule that my group is doing for this month, but I did get a whole lot of decluttering done in the garage this week, with the help of my daughter and grandkids. I am guessing that the things being donated, and put out for recycling, and those tossed in the garbage are almost equal. My daughter also took a few things home - not many as she doesn't need the clutter either. She brought her leaf blower and blew out all the dirt and dead bugs from the garage so it looks so nice out there. It doesn't look like an attached, semi-finished garage would look like, but it is a whole lot better. I can't even begin to could how many things have been removed from the premises.

My daughter also got all my curtains down and I got them washed and ironed, and she put them back up. She helped with several other things and I am so thankful for all the help. I know her vacation days were work and not fun, but sometimes it just has to be done. There will come a day when she won't have to think about doing my work anymore.

Besides me kids and grandkids being here 3 days this week, we also had severe storms, tornadoes and very heavy rains several days in a row. Therefore, my computer was disconnected to keep it from being damaged by lightning. We did lose power for 1 1/2 hours one afternoon, because of power lines down on two different streets in town. They must have gone down at the same time. That day was so dark that it looked more like 9:30 pm than late afternoon. So there was nothing to do but go to bed. There was no tv, no computer, no light for reading, no stove or microwave to cook. So after about 1/2 hour without power I just laid on the bed and took a nap until the power came back on.

In spite of the bad weather, my son, daughter and I had a very nice visit, and then got all that work done that is difficult for me to do. I hope to get back to a more regular schedule with blogging again next week.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

DECLUTTER - DAYS 3,4, AND 5

After my good start last week, I didn't get much more done. I was exhausted. I was so tired and sleepy every day, partly because I was not sleeping well at night, but not sure what else caused it. I was, and am not, sick. I think it was Wednesday last week that I did manage to take down several small boxes of craft things that I have not touched in years, other than to move the boxes from the old house to this one, and to put them on the  laundry closet shelf. As you will see in the pictures, I am getting rid of more than 5 things, so I think that, even though I didn't get around to going through the boxes until yesterday (Monday), it qualifies for days 3, 4, and 5 last week.

I think I should have taken a picture of the boxes stacked on the kitchen chair next to the table, which sat there from Wednesday until yesterday! By then I was so sick of having them in the way, that I knew I had to do something with them immediately.

So here we go --

 Quilling papers and tools, plus some pieces I had done many years ago. And at the bottom right are directions for making quill jewelry and a bag of jewelry backings and chains for necklaces, rings and earrings.
A closeup of some of the pieces I made. They were meant to be necklace pendants and matching earrings, but I never got any of them mounted. They could be used for other things as well - on greeting cards if you make your own, for one thing. I have seen some very beautiful things done with quilling, but I know I won't be doing it again. If I haven't touched it in over 10 years . . . . . .

Small wooden heart shaped box, bag of small wooden hearts, various colors of glitter, including almost full container of stardust glitter, 3 homemade wooden spool knitters. One still even has thread on it! Package of good, new artist paint brushes, a couple of stencil brushes and the red handle brush says fabric paint brush. I have no clue what I was going to do with that brush when I bought it. And a package of white chenille stems. There is a round piece of glass that I think might be a jar lid, but I don't think it fits any of my antique jars. I will check before I do get rid of it, but I have to wait until my daughter is here to get the jars down from on top of the cupboards.

Aah, the PEACE item. That is an after Christmas 75% off impulse buy. I thought I would set it on the window sill, but it doesn't fit my window sills. Plus the back is flat and plain white with 2 holes in it, meant to be hung on the wall, which I do not want to do. It could decorate the top of the entertainment center or piano but the green doesn't go with my other Christmas decorations, and I decided I really don't care much for it. And the two doilies. They would be pretty attached to the tops of round pillows, but I know I will never get around to doing that. Again, haven't done anything with them in the last 10+ years. . . . .

This is about place mat size, so I assume that I was going to use it as part of a table decoration centerpiece, probably for Easter/spring. But it has been in the box 10+ years as well, and I don't see myself using it in the future. I know I crocheted it, but I have made lots and lots of things, and can make one again if I decide I want something like this later.

Stamping supplies. You can tell that I never really got into it much. I think my granddaughters will enjoy them. If not, they will be donated also.

Now to the throwaways and recycles. I think I might have mentioned that last week I sorted my coupons and tossed the outdated ones. But I didn't get the pictures taken so they were still on the table. Two cat food boxes, pocket hose container, cool whip and yogurt containers to be recycled.

And last, the large box from an online order from Walmart that came last week, plus the shipping pillows that were inside. The pillows I will deflate and toss after I check to see if they are recyclable. I put all the culled craft stuff in the box, waiting for my daughter and grandkids to come next weekend. I might keep that box, once empty again, in the garage in case I want to use it for other declutter items to be donated. Otherwise it will go to recycling.

I have not counted the items, but they are more than 5 x 3 days, don't you think?

This week's declutter goals are to choose one room and work on it at least 15 minutes a day. That will be the laundry/back entry again since I have a long way to go in there. The project for the week is digital decluttering, such as organizing photos and cleaning out folders on the computer. I did some of that last week so have a head start on that. I already organized the photos so that I can find them quicker. And I have been working on deleting several hundred old emails already. But still have several hundred to go through yet. Some have TNT recipes from friends, or craft ideas, and household hints that I want to keep, so they go in separate folders so I don't have to wade through a thousand emails to find them again. Yes, I hoard email. LOL Part of the problem is that I don't take enough time to read them when they arrive - super procrastination. I should just do a mass delete without reading them when they are a couple years old, but I just can't bring myself to do that until I at least glance at them to make sure there are no recipes, etc. Recipes are another thing I hoard, but at least digital ones don't take up physical space! And they can be much easier to find back if I have them organized.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

FAITH AND PRAYER

About two years ago my sister-in-law shared a prayer she wrote based on the Lord's Prayer, which is found in Matthew 6:9-13. She had recently done a study on that prayer, and then wrote this prayer thinking of what it means to our lives today. She used related scriptures and her own words. I asked her if she minded if I put it here on my blog and shared with all of you, and she agreed to that. So here it is. We both hope you will be blessed by it.



Prayer patterned after The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father who art in heaven…You are OUR Father.  You are our Source of Life.    You are our provider and you love us deeply with an everlasting love.  You see from heaven and know our every need.  You hear from heaven and are attentive to our prayers. Yet you live in us as well through your Holy Spirit.

O Father, hallowed be your name…You are the Great I Am.  You are everything that we need.  Your name is awesome and majestic in all the earth.  We worship you.  We praise your name.   We pray that all peoples on earth may recognize your holiness and greatness.

May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  We would pray that you may rule in our hearts and that our lives may more and more be patterned after that of Your Son, Jesus, so that others may see our good works and give glory to your name.    Oh Father, we seek to do your will each day.  Make us more loving, giving, and serving.  May we be more concerned with the needs of others than we are with our own needs.

We look to you to give us this day our daily bread.   Father, we recognize that you are the Source of every good and perfect gift and you provide for our daily needs.  Help us not to be focused on our wants.     Make us mindful daily that Jesus is the Bread of Life and that you have provided for our spiritual needs as well as our physical needs.  You are our Shepherd…You lead us in green pastures.

And Father, please forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  This is hard.   We want to be forgiven, but have such a hard time forgiving those who have wronged us.  Help us to be merciful just as you have shown us mercy.

Lead us in the paths of righteousness for your name’s sake.  Keep us focused on you and your will, so that we may not be led astray.  Please protect us from all evil.

We praise you for who you are.  You are our King and you reign with Power and Glory forever!   Amen!




Wednesday, June 4, 2014

DECLUTTER CHALLENGE- DAY 2

Tuesday, June 3

I didn't think I was going to get anything done today. I woke up tired after the big day yesterday, plus it was a dark, overcast day that tends to make me tired as well.

Before I even took a sip of coffee I called my niece who cuts my hair. I have been long overdue for a haircut, and she was able to schedule me for 1:00 pm. I had 2" of hair cut off all around, so can I say I decluttered my hair? It feels so much better and will be easier to take care of for the summer.

By the time I got home again it was just starting to rain a bit, so I got home just in time. There were severe weather watches out so I was prepared for a storm. We did get close to an inch of rain throughout late afternoon and evening, but just a little bit of thunder and lightning two or three times. No wind or hail, but there was plenty of all that about 60 miles south of here, from Sioux City to Omaha and beyond. I am very thankful for the rain, and that we did not get any severe weather.

Since it was a sleepy day anyway, I sat in my chair and watched some tv, and then decided to look through the few newspapers in the basket by my chair so that I could put them in the recycles.

So here is what I decluttered today ~~


An empty ice cream pail, yogurt container and cat food box, plus several newspaper sections. If you count each section as one item I got rid of far more than 5 items! I have been saving those square ice cream pails as they make nice containers for the freezer. I like to put balls of cookie dough in them. I first freeze the balls on a cookie sheet and then put the frozen balls in these containers, and I can take out as many as I want and bake them without having to thaw out a lump of dough. But I think I have more than enough of them saved. I like the square ones as they fit better in a freezer, taking up less space than the round ones.

DECLUTTER CHALLENGE


I am a little tardy in getting these posts written but I still want to share, so I need to get caught up.

On June 1 a fellow group member suggested our group do a declutter challenge for the month of June. She suggested decluttering 5 items each day, plus work on an unfinished project. Since I have been trying to work at decluttering in a haphazard way, I thought this was a good idea. So that night, before going to bed, I avowed to start the morning out right, and not touch the computer until I got some work done.

Monday, June 2

I started out well, and made some progress most of the day. While I was heating my cup of water for morning coffee, I filled the kitchen sink and put dishes in to soak. I didn't have a lot of them like I usually do, so it didn't take long to get those done after I had my coffee and bowl of cereal. I even dried and put away right away. Now, I should have formed this habit decades ago, but I have stated before that I am one of the world's great procrastinators, especially when it comes to work. ;o)

My back entry/laundry room area was still a total disaster since the water heater started leaking. So that was my focus for decluttering and straightening up. As I worked putting things away, I also threw in a load of laundry since I was already in the room, and the laundry sorter cart was still in there.

Here is what I decluttered ~~



 I had taken this black sweatshirt out of the closet the week before, but it hung on the door knob for several days. It is in good shape except for those pink spots. This was a pullover sweatshirt that I cut down the middle front, used bonding tape to make small hems, and then bonded a floral print fabric to fronts and back. That was a popular thing many years ago. Then I used fabric puffy paints to outline the roses, leaves and other areas. It was quite pretty. But I had used the wrong fusion stuff - using lightweight instead of heavyweight, so after several washings the edges started to come loose. I tried gluing them down but that just did not work well. After wearing it around home for awhile, I decided to just tear off the rest of the fabric so that I could still wear it. But as you can see, there are still pieces left, and there is some of the bonding residue left on the back. It just does not look very good in spite of being in good shape otherwise. It went into the donation box. Maybe someone else will try to do something with it, like figure out a cute way to cover all the bad stuff up, but I have no desire to try it.


 This is an old rug that looks good on the top yet, but it had foam rubber backing that had disintegrated. I had used it by the back door anyway, but then Felix decided it was there to pee on! No matter how often I washed it and sprayed it with pet deodorizer, he would pee on it. I put a plastic garbage bag under it for awhile but got tired of constantly washing and spraying. Plus that blue did nothing for the mottled orange/rust carpet it laid on! I have no other place in the house to use it, so it actually went in the garbage. I had gotten my money's worth of use out of it long ago.

 I counted these as 2 of the 5 items. These are popcorn tins with Christmas designs on blue background. A couple years ago I got the inspiration to paint them with sand textured paint to make them look more like planters, and use them to store all the plastic shopping bags that one accumulates. I had a spot in the kitchen for them as that is where I unload groceries. That worked for awhile - until I took the blue desk out of the kitchen and replaced it with a tall console table. That console table is longer than the desk, but not as deep, so it fit perfectly in the spot, but did not leave room for these tins. I put them in another space but they were really too big for that spot, and I kept knocking into them, and they became a nuisance. Donation. I will check with my daughter first to see if she has a use for them, otherwise Goodwill, here we come.

Here are the last items. An empty humidifier box and a plastic hanger that came with some clothes I bought. It is a sturdy one, so I kept using it. But when I cleaned out the bedroom closet I found several empty good hangers, so there is no need to keep this one. I had decluttered several other hangers that I never use and had collected dust on them! So this one is added to that group. I had been using the box to store the humidifier in during the summer. But it actually takes up more room than just the humidifier itself. I found a good place to store that now, so no need for the box. It was getting a little dilapidated anyway. So that will go out with the recycles.

So that is actually 6 items decluttered, and the laundry/back entry is looking much better. It isn't finished yet, but at least I can now walk through without weaving through the small path between the 'stuff'.

After I got all that stuff out of the house, I washed off the vinyl flooring remnant my son got down from the garage rafters, laid it on the floor where the litter boxes sit, after I vacuumed the area well. So that is a project finished.