A LITTLE BIT OF SWEET CHRISTMAS

There are no Christmas decorations up here. In fact, the fall things are still on display. One reason they have not been put away is that I can't get the spare closet door to slide open to get the totes. Another reason there is no Christmas displayed is that it is too difficult to bring all the totes in from the garage storage room while using the walker. And finally, I haven't been able to stir up much interest in doing either one. I pushed myself to get my annual Christmas letter written and printed along with the address labels. I had to go buy more cards since the ones I had left from last year are behind the closet door that won't open. I got the last of the cards mailed yesterday. 

Earlier this month I finally ordered some round pillow forms to finish the pillow that matches the afghan I shared earlier here .

And here is the pillow.

front

back

Can you tell the difference? This is all made in one piece and the pillow form is inserted before the last rows are done. Both the afghan and the pillow are done in a manner that I have never done before so it was interesting.

Now I am in the process of making a matching set to donate to the annual church auction. I have a little over 6 weeks to finish them so you know how I will be spending most of my time until then.

We are getting some very light snow today and predictions say 1-2", and it is supposed to stay cold so we might get a white Christmas yet. The snow always makes the Christmas lights so much prettier.

With that I will just add --

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU.

GRAY OR GREY?

Grey or Gray??

Have you ever been puzzled which way to spell that color - gray or grey? Every time I wrote the word I was undecided as I see it both ways. We have greyhound for one. And now I can't think of other words with either spelling.

I finally decided I needed to google it. It seems gray is the American way of spelling and grey is the British way to spell it. Isn't that interesting?

Can you remember learning how to spell it in school? That is too long ago for me to remember. I wonder if the teacher accepted either spelling in a test.

Now that I know what the deal is, I will just spell it either way and not think about it again. Maybe you will notice how it is spelled in your reading now. Let me know what you find.

GLUTEN FREE APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL BARS

This is another new recipe I tried that was a big hit during the birthday party weekend. I made these so my daughter with a wheat allergy could eat these while the rest of us had the Grands cinnamon rolls. Delicious! These are very handy to have in the freezer for a quick breakfast anytime, or for a snack, but I made double and there were none left to freeze.

I found this recipe on the blog 'Iowa Girl Eats' here . She also has other versions of this oatmeal bar on her blog.

This calls for oat flour or put some of the oatmeal in a blender or food processor and that is what I did and that worked out very well, so there is no need to buy the expensive oat flour, providing you can find it in the store. I did not. I also used quick oats rather than old fashioned and that worked well too. Again, no pictures due to the busy weekend so you can check those out on the Iowa Girl Eats blog.

Notice that there is no refined sugar in these bars.

APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL BARS (gluten free)

2-1/2 cups certified gluten-free old fashioned oats, divided
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk, any kind
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons no-sugar-added applesauce
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (I used regular vegetable oil rather than buy coconut oil)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees then spray an 8x8" baking pan with
nonstick spray and set aside.
2. Add 1 cup oats to a food processor or blender then process until
oats have turned into flour (alternatively you could use a scant cup
oat flour.) Add flour to a large bowl with remaining 1-1/2 cups old
fashioned oats, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt then stir with a
fork to combine and set aside.
3. In another bowl, add milk, applesauce, maple syrup, coconut oil,
egg, and vanilla then whisk to combine. Pour into dry ingredients
then stir until just combined. Fold in grated apples then pour batter
into prepared baking pan.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and
the center has set. Cool before slicing into bars then store in the
refrigerator, or individually wrap bars in saran wrap and freeze.

This is a keeper for me and I will certainly make them again. In fact, I think I better make some today.

Enjoy!

EASY CARAMEL CREAM CHEESE APPLE DIP

This caramel cream cheese apple dip was a huge success on the weekend of my birthday party. It is so easy and quick to make and I know you will love it, too. Be sure to have plenty of apples on hand! It looks pretty in a clear glass dish for serving. This is a nice dip to add to holiday events so you may want to keep this handy to make soon.

I found this recipe at Living Well, Spending Less here . With the busy weekend I did not get pictures, but you can see some pictures at the link above.


EASY CARAMEL CREAM CHEESE APPLE DIP

• 2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 14 oz jar caramel sauce
• 2-3 Heath candy bars, crushed (or use Heath toffee chips)
• Serve With: Granny Smith apples, sliced
• 
  
• INSTRUCTIONS
• Combine cream cheese and 1/2 of the caramel sauce in mixing bowl; beat until well-blended. Then mix in 1/2 cup of toffee chips to mixture.
• Spoon cream cheese mixture into pretty serving dish.
• Cover cream cheese with remaining caramel.
• Sprinkle caramel with toffee chips.
• Serve immediately with sliced granny smith apples.
• Preparation time: 5-7 minutes
• Number of servings (yield): 12

YUMMMM

There is a very popular drive-in in this area and everyone loves their loose meat sandwiches. Some may call these Maid-Rites. They are not tomato based like Sloppy Joes.

My son got hold of a recipe that is very close to what the drive-in has, and his sister-in-law made a big crockpot full for supper here at home after the birthday open house.

Here is the recipe.

I am  not a fan of horseradish but I could not taste it. It does add to the final taste. This is a large amount that could be cut in half, but why not make the whole thing and freeze in manageable portions. Enjoy!

MY LIFE IN PICTURES

These are the picture collages my daughter put together.

Bottom row, second from left is me with Grandmother in California at age 4.

 Here are two pictures of me with my dad.

 Dad did not like to have his picture taken, so these are precious.

And finally, a few pictures with my husband.

BUTTON BUTTON

 Last week my kids hosted an open house for my 75th birthday. They used a theme of sewing and buttons since I have always done a lot of sewing and needlework. I am sure they remember me sitting at the sewing machine a lot, and sitting in my chair in front of the TV at night knitting or crocheting some project for all their lives.

It may be a little hard to tell  in this picture but these mints look like buttons. My oldest daughter made them from the old standby recipe of cream cheese and powdered sugar and made the holes in the buttons with the prongs of a sweet corn holder. I had to ask her how she did it as I noticed the holes were so evenly spaced on every mint. She used a small lid to make the little button mints. She says she got ideas from Pinterest.

 The circles on the cake represent buttons as well. And notice the spool of thread with a needle at the end of the thread in the center.

 Here I am, testing the frosting and it was yummy cream cheese frosting. (I didn't really stick my finger in the frosting😃) The cake and frosting were yummilicious.

This is the photo table my family set up. You can see several of the sewing notions, and that huge basket of yarn that my son gave me later! He specified that the yarn be used for making hats and mittens for mission, which I did for several years.

 My younger daughter made the photo collages and put in transparent frames, then put a variety of buttons and papers with sewing/button themes at the top corners.

Every time she came here she went through all the old photo albums and took pictures with her phone camera of the pictures she wanted. Then each collage is made up by my age or period in my life. She did an amazing job of arranging to fit the pictures together and have them turn out so evenly. I will post about those later.

This is the box for cards my oldest daughter came up with, and the invitation is center front.

The party was a lot of fun as I saw some long time friends from high school and family friends that I had not seen for a long time. There were also a lot of church friends who stopped in as well. I have not been able to get to church for a long time so it was wonderful to see them too.

The whole weekend was very busy with all three of my kids and their spouses, and three of my five grandkids, with one grand son-in-law. All stayed overnight except for my son and his wife so it was a houseful! There were 5 people sleeping on the floor with air mattresses that they brought along. Just the 13 year old twins that had to sleep on the floor without mattresses. I would have never been able to do this at my former house.

That was Saturday night. Sunday morning I got up and put 2 pans of Grands cinnamon rolls in the oven for a quick breakfast before church. They were a huge hit and so easy.

Check back for more of the events.

FLYING RADIOS

Well, actually a Radio Flyer wagon. An antique. It is the one I had as a child so it has to be more than 70 years old. I had planned to paint it years ago but never got it done (procrastination again). When I moved I really had no place to store it and knew I would never paint it, so offered it to my kids.

My son wanted it and took it back to Virginia with him. This is what he and his wife did with it this summer. I know the wagon is much happier there than it was in my garage collecting junk, dust and spider webs.

FALLING AWAY

 We did not have a very pretty fall this year. It seems like it took longer for the trees to turn colors and then, suddenly, they were almost all pretty colors. But that didn't last long as we got some very strong winds a day or two later, and it wasn't just one day of wind but several during that week. And now most of the trees are almost naked. The picture above was taken 3 years ago when we did have a beautiful fall. It is my favorite time of year, but today it is feeling more like winter with blustery winds, overcast, gray skies and temp in low 30's. It seems fall has fallen away. I am so not ready for winter so I hope we get many nice days in November before the snow and bitter cold arrive.

I could have titled this post " Procrastinating Again" as that is what I have been doing the last couple of days. I really need to be doing some cleaning and organizing for company coming, starting Friday evening. My family has planned an open house for my 75th birthday this coming Sunday afternoon and I will have up to 8 extra people sleeping here Saturday night, and several more will be at the house on Sunday evening, after the open house, which is at the church. My son is providing supper but asked me to make a big bowl of potato salad as they love my salad.

I also have to plan a few other meals for the rest of the weekend. I plan to make pork carnitas and cole slaw for Saturday evening, along with all the extras. I can do the carnitas in the crock pot a few days before and freeze, and the cole slaw is an easy and quick salad. And then there are a couple breakfasts that will be kept very simple with cold cereal on hand and will bake some Grands cinnamon rolls. I am not going to make my own since I really don't have time nor the energy to get those made ahead. Besides, they are best fresh from the oven. One of my daughters has a wheat allergy and I found a recipe for apple cinnamon oatmeal breakfast bars that sound really good and they can be made ahead. So now I need to get to the grocery store to get everything I need.

I had planned to go to the store today as I had an eye exam at 11 in the same town I  get groceries. But since the weather is so crappy, and I tweaked my right knee when I was leaving the house, I was more than ready to go straight home and rest a bit. I grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald's drive-thru on the way home so lunch is done too. I rarely procrastinate when it comes to eating. 😤

 I could bore you with the long list of things I need to get done, so forget that. I wish I could forget that! With a houseful of people coming to stay, one bathroom could be a problem. At least it is about 3 times larger than what I had before, there can be at least 2 people doing hair and makeup at the same time. And some people will be sleeping on air mattress or sleeping bags on the floor so I guess the younger ones will have to call dibs for their floor space. Two can sleep on the floor in my room, one or two on the floor and one in the spare bed in the spare room, There is room for two on the kitchen floor and one or two in the dining area if the table is moved out a ways.  I would never have been able to do this if I had not moved here so I am well blessed.

I am going to ask some good friends from many years ago to come to the house after the open house and so will have to find extra seating as well. I have 6 dining chairs, 3 on sofa, leather chair and another upholstered chair in living room, one or two small people on ottoman, my rolling stool and the computer chair. If we need more seats I have 4 plastic patio chairs, a folding lawn chair, and even the wheel chair my daughter found to use at her daughter's wedding a couple years ago. It is 'stored' in the back of my van. I am not sure where we will be able to put all those chairs! And if I get desperate for more, there is the shower chair and the floor. But it will all work out and we will have fun. It is just too bad my birthday comes during cold weather and we could be outside, or at least in the garage, but I didn't have any say about when to be born.

Even though my family is taking care of everything for the open house, there is still a lot to be done by me. I am looking forward to seeing all my friends and family and am very thankful that I am still here at 75. My dad died at age 60 and Mom died at age 62. It is hard for me to believe I am that old as  it doesn't feel that old, even though my body is complaining in several places.

It is high time I stop procrastinating and get to work.

LET'S GET PHYSICAL

That is what I should do since I am so out of shape. But I am talking about the annual physical and I recently had mine, mostly for a med check as it is time to get my prescriptions renewed.

I have been having more problems with my back. I have arthritis in the lower back, around the waistline and lower that has bothered me for many years. It is the kind that makes it hard to stand or walk for more than a few minutes at a time. Recently something new popped up and turns out to be sciatica, making it hard to sit or lay without some pain.

I did bring it up to my doctor and she ordered x-rays of the back. She really wants to do an MRI but in order for Medicare to pay for it we have to jump through their hoops. One is x-rays, and that is done. Then it is physical therapy, so I am doing that now. I just finished my second week of that. It has helped some, but it won't make things disappear. Some days I get along quite well, and other days I can barely make it out of bed to get to bathroom. I have even brought the cane back in the house and have to use it sometimes. Not all the time, thankfully, but some days it is really needed and I don't want to take a chance of falling.

X-rays show some disc degeneration and a little stenosis, and if I understand stenosis correctly, that means bone is starting to form in the spinal nerve canal and that isn't good.

It was also time for a bone density scan as it had been a few years since that was done. The doctor said that is still good so am not concerned about that. I do eat a lot of yogurt, cheese, some ice cream and milk on cereal when I have it. Then I looked at the radiologist report and that said the numbers have gone down since the last scan, but still in normal range and the chance of a broken bone is still very low. I would guess the lower numbers are just normal aging process, and tells me I am no spring chicken anymore. Like I didn't already know that!

One other thing that I had been concerned about was my thyroid numbers. The TSH number was slightly below normal 6 months ago but the doctor was not concerned about it and said she would retest in 6 months. She may not have been concerned but I was. I knew I did not feel like I should, and my numbers have always been higher and that is why I was on synthroid. So now, 6 months later, the number had gone down even lower! She finally agreed and lowered my dose of synthroid. I have noticed a little difference already even though I haven't been on the new dose very long. It does make me wonder why the thyroid is now producing more hormone after 25 years of steady lowering.

I have had insomnia for quite some time and some nights barely get any sleep, and then end up taking a long nap during the day and that is not very productive. My energy level has always been low and that made it worse. So I agreed to take a new med, which I really didn't want to do. She suggested taking an old antidepressant that hardly anyone prescribes as an antidepressant anymore, but only prescribe it for sleeping since that is a side effect of the drug. It does seem to be helping. I don't always sleep well but seem to sleep longer once I finally get to sleep, and have not had to take a nap during the day. I also have a little more energy. So I think we have made some progress there.

Everything else looks good. Blood pressure was great and cholesterol was super good. Can you believe that I eat lots of butter? I have decided to stop eating artificial foods like margarine. I haven't completely stopped all artificial food but am working at eliminating when I behave myself.

Now, if I could only leave the sugar alone. The monster has a hold on me again and that is not good and the scale shows it. I am glad the medical community finally admits that sugar is addictive. They didn't have to tell me that as I already knew it.

Speaking of food, I see that it is time to think about what I am going to eat for supper, so it is time for me to get out of here. See you all later.

NEVER TO OLD TO LEARN

A person is never too old to learn and this summer was a learning experience for me: butterflies.

Yes, one more post on the Painted Ladies. This is the last one, I promise.

These pictures are the last ones I took before the butterflies were gone, and I was not going to post them. And then I heard something on the news.

At Denver a huge blip showed up on the radar and it was moving against the wind. It turned out to be migrating Painted Lady butterflies and it was 70 MILES across! Yes, 70 miles, not feet or yards. I saw a picture of the radar and those butterflies covered a whole county in Colorado.

It turns out that there was an extra large number of these butterflies this year. I had seen them all over and people in other areas commented on them as well. I don't remember noticing them before this year, and I am closing in on my 75th birthday.

This got me curious about these butterflies so did a little searching. I found that they migrate just like the Monarchs. Thistle is the plant they prefer, and maybe that is why they liked my plant since it is purple too. I don't know if they see color like we do, as I know some animals, insects and birds don't see colors. But my plant is the only one of mine that they fed on here. I did see them on many other kinds of plant in other areas, so assume because there were so many, they had to feed wherever they could find food, even if it wasn't what they preferred. But that is just a guess. There are a lot of thistles in this area, although farmers spray to keep them out of their crops.

Not only are the butterflies gone, but these flowers are drying up and getting ready for winter. They have turned a very dark purple and getting smaller. I just hope they won't be covered in snow for a long time. I am not looking forward to winter coming but it is getting close. We have had a lot more rain than usual already this month and some say that means we will get more than usual amount of snow. We shall see.

All the rain has delayed soybean harvest and the farmers are itching to get in the fields. This fall has not been very pretty so far. Some trees are getting bare already but the pretty colors are hard to find. The leaves are either still green or already gone. In an older post I showed several pretty pictures of all the fall colors and porch displays but I have seen nothing that is nice enough for a picture. How sad.

WHAT'S A MURGATROYD?

I received this in an email recently so I can't take credit for it, and I have no idea who the author is. I found it interesting and so very true. Language keeps evolving. I don't care much for some of the phrases  the younger people say, like cray-cray, bae, and as I discussed in another post - yahyahyah. I know there are more but my mind is blank at the moment. Enjoy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                         
                            Would you believe my spell checker did not recognize the word “murgatroyd?”
                           
                            Lost Words from our childhood:  Words gone as fast as the buggy whip!  Sad; really!
                           
                            The other day a not so elderly (70ish) lady said something to her son about driving a jalopy and he looked at her quizzically and said "What the heck is a jalopy?”   Oh, oh a new phrase!  He had never heard of the word jalopy!!
                            She knew she was old but not that old.
                           
                            Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after you read this and chuckle.
                           
                            About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology.  These phrases included  "Don't touch that dial, Carbon copy, You sound like a broken record" and "Hung out to dry."
                           
                            Back in the olden days we had a lot of moxie.  We'd put on our best bib and tucker to straighten up and fly right.  Heavens to Betsy!  Gee whillikers!  Jumping Jehoshaphat!

                            Holy moley! We were in like Flynn (before Michael Thomas “Mike” Flynn of course!) and living the life of Riley, and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill.  Not for all the tea in China!
                           
                            Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when's the last time anything was swell?  Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys, the D.A. and of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers.  Oh, my aching back.  Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore.
                           
                            We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, well I'll be a monkey's uncle, or this is a fine kettle of fish, we discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed common as rain, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues, our pens and now our keyboards.
                            Poof, go the words of our youth, the words we've left behind.  We blink, and they're gone.  Where have all those phrases gone?
                           
                            Long gone:  Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee high to a grasshopper.  Well, Fiddlesticks!  Going like sixty.  I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels.
                            It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff!  If only we could dial an Operator for assistance?
                           
                            We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeable times.  For a child, each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age.  We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist, and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory.  It's one of the greatest advantages of aging.
                           
                            Unless you live in Oregon or Massachusetts, you probably don’t know what a gas station attendant does.  Don’t bother looking for the janitor in a school or a stewardess on an airplane either, they’ve been replaced by maintenance engineers and flight attendants.  Stewardesses used to serve meals and drinks on flights, after the ‘No Smoking’ light was turned off.  Oh my gosh, people smoked cigarettes on airplanes???
                           
                            Secretaries have been replaced by administrative assistants, nurses have become health care providers and mechanics have become automotive technicians.  Most people under 30 years of age today would be just as confused by the sight of a clutch in a car, as they would be by seeing a typewriter on a desk, not to mention listening to a record player.
                            It’s a changing world for sure.  See ya later, alligator!  After while crocodile!
                           
                            Yep, In a short time we will be no more!!

"DISH" IT OUT

This pretty little amber dish is one that my mother always used to serve pickles in. Home canned, of course! I always loved her bread and butter pickles.

I put the pencil in the picture to give a better idea what the size of the dish is. I had a hard time trying to get a picture to show the raised design all over the dish.

As far as I can see, this dish is still in perfect shape. I think it must be at least 75 years old, and maybe older, since I remember it always being there.  I wish I had a nice china cabinet to show off what old dishes I have. It isn't very many, but I also have quite a bit of crystal dishes, vases, and candle holders that I have received as gifts over the years. I don't make an effort to collect anything so my collections aren't big, but most have a memory attached to them.

MORE AND MORE BUTTERFLIES

Yes, there are more butterflies on the bush today. There are also many more honeybees, but so far I have only seen one bumblebee. I don't like to get around bumblebees as they can sting more than once, where honeybees are once and done. However, bumblebees are prettier.

Today the butterflies were opening their wings in a different direction and I could see them from the top to get a better look at their design, and they are definitely Painted Ladies. I am afraid the butterflies don't show up as well in the pictures as they did looking out the window. I have looked up many birds to identify them, but this is the first time I tried identifying butterflies.

I think this will be the end of the butterfly posts unless the bush becomes totally covered with them.

MORE BUTTERFLIES

On Labor Day I looked out my window at the butterfly bush and noticed several more butterflies than the day before, so here are a few more pictures. I did some research to find out what kind these are. They are Painted Lady! I think that is the prettiest name of all that I looked at. I'm not sure if you can see them very well, but I tried.

FAITH FRIDAY THOUGHTS

I made changes on this blog's "Faith" page today. As I was listing the links on the page I found it interesting to see what I wrote in the past, and what caught my attention at the time I wrote. Sometimes I am amazed at myself on the things I said. I can only say that I must have been directed by the Spirit in finding the things I did, and the thoughts I had when I wrote them. I am often enlightened with things I read, and by posting them here, I hope you are enlightened too.

BUTTERFLIES

I just discovered that I have a butterfly bush right outside my window! I don't have a tree by a window like I did at the other house so have not been able to watch the birds and I miss that.

The flowers have just started to open and the butterflies, honeybees and a bumblebee or two showed up.
I am not too happy to have the bees right next to the front door, but it is nice that I can sit in my chair and watch them come and go. I have seen up to 8 of the orange and black butterflies at one time. There are a couple of much smaller yellow butterflies, too. The bees are constantly coming and going, so far only one or two of each at a time.

The quality of the pictures isn't so great since I took them from inside the house, through the fine mesh screen and I haven't installed the photo editing software on this laptop. I found out I can download the pictures directly from the camera to the computer without the software, but have not found a way to edit without the software as yet. I thought if I opened the door to take a picture the butterflies would leave.

I have not taken the time to find out what kind of plant this is. Do you know?

The complex owners had 3 flowering perennial plants in front of each unit, each one different. When they had to reseed the lawn after having rain wash it out a few times last summer, a lot of the grass seed ended up in the flower bed, so they had to spray weed/grass killer in the area in early summer this year. I think one of the plants got a little of the spray, or had some winter kill as it has not done very well this summer. I see the flowers at the other units are fine. I hope they replace it if it does not do well next spring. Plus they have not removed the dead grass so it doesn't look very nice out there, but at least the flowers are  blooming and making it look a little better.

FAITH FRIDAY -- ITS THAT TIME AGAIN

It is time to start working on Bible study for our Friday morning class. We always take the summer off because of vacation schedules, and because we really do need a break.

We will start again some time after Labor Day weekend so it is time for this 'teacher' to get the first lesson ready. I have worked on it for two afternoons this week and still don't have the first lesson finished.

We have been doing a study of the book of Daniel, and finished chapter 6 before our break. Chapter 7 starts to be more difficult to understand because of all the prophetic visions that are in 'code'. Say some prayers for me!

In chapter 6 we find the story of Daniel in the lion's den. This may be familiar to many of you from Sunday School lessons. Recently I ran across a short devotion about this, written by Jennifer Benson Schuldt. At the bottom of the page she writes:

FAITHFULNESS TO GOD INSPIRES OTHERS.

May Daniel's faithfulness inspire you when you feel like you are dealing with the 'lions' in your life.

LIVING WITH LIONS

Read Daniel 6:19-28.

When I visited a museum in Chicago, I saw one of the original Striding Lions of Babylon. It was a large mural-type image of a winged lion with a ferocious expression. Symbolizing Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love and war, the lion was an example of 120 similar lions that would have lined a Babylonian pathway during the years of 605-562 BC.

Historians say that after the Babylonians defeated Jerusalem, the Hebrew captives would have seen these lions during their time in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. Historians also say it's likely that some of the Israelites would have believed Ishtar had defeated the God of Israel.

Daniel, one of the Hebrew captives, did not share the doubts that might have troubled some of his fellow Israelites. His view of God and his commitment to God stayed steady. He prayed three times a day -- with his windows open -- even when he knew it would mean entering a den of lions. After God rescued Daniel from the hungry animals, King Darius said, "[Daniel's God] is the living God and he endures forever. . . He rescues and he saves"  (Dan. 6:26-27). Daniel's faithfulness allowed him to influence Babylonian leaders.

Staying faithful to God despite pressure and discouragement can inspire other people to give Him glory.

It seems what you see in these pictures are the ones found in Babylon, and were seen by everyone that passed by, including Daniel. I had not heard about these before reading this devotion, so I did a search to find a picture. There is more information about them online if you would like to do a search.

CALM THE STORM

When I get around to reading other blogs I will read Living Well/Spending Less by Ruth Soukup. She recently posted something that gave me pause to think. She credits the following to Timber Hawkeye.

You can't calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.

She also added this statement. "Sometimes the only thing we can change is ourselves." You have most likely heard this one many times and it is so true. I do think we can sometimes change others by changing ourselves. What do you think? But the changing of ourselves is the objective, not changing someone else.

Upon reading the statement that you can't calm the storm again, I was reminded of the storm while Jesus and his disciples were on a boat. Only Jesus can calm the storm. So give over to Jesus any storms you may have in your life.

AWESOME

Earlier this week I had another post-op eye check. Still great news! My vision is still 20/20 in both eyes and the eye pressures are down to 10. It used to always be around 16 even with using eye drops every night, and even after having the glaucoma procedure. My doctor is very happy and said so several times. Maybe I am her star patient? I know I am well pleased so far. Time will tell how long the vision will stay this way but I am sure going to enjoy it while I can.

I worked a little bit on genealogy again this week. It has been at least 2 years since I did much with it and notes I had scribbled never did get organized. Whenever I found some information I would scribble on small pieces of paper that piled up. Using Word I started a folder for genealogy and have made pages for each person and add the notes to the right person as I go through them. That should give me a better picture of these people's lives, and I will have the information handy when I need it instead of searching through all the scribbled (sometimes unreadable) notes. Unfortunately, when I started working on genealogy I did not record where I found the information. I have since learned it is very important to do that. I think most of the genealogy websites will often have pictures of the original documents and I have downloaded those and printed them to put in the family binders. I have found that even documents don't always have the correct information for several reasons. I hope my kids and grandkids appreciate all the information on their ancestors some day. I would still like to find more information of the ancestors in Germany before the first one in the family immigrated to America. Unfortunately, many records were destroyed during and after the wars.

We are getting some very heavy rain as I write this. We really need it, too. I know some areas of the country have had way too much rain this year, but in my little corner of the world we have come up short in the rain department. I know farmers will be smiling wide today. Crops were beginning to show stress from lack of water.

PET PEEVES

No, not this kind of pet. 

My pet peeves have changed over the years, maybe because I have more patience now that I am older. I do have a few currently, however.

I hear so many people, especially celebrities being interviewed on TV. If you do this, please do not be offended. When I hear someone say, 'yahyahyah' when answering a question or replying to what someone else has said, it grates on me like fingers on a blackboard! One 'yah' is enough. In fact, in interviews I would rather hear 'yes'. I do say yah a lot myself because I am lazy, and it is so common. But only one at a time! My husband would tell me there is no such word as yah as he did not seem to like it when I said it. But. . . . in German, Dutch and Norwegian languages, and maybe more, yah or jah is the correct word for yes. He was Dutch and spoke some Dutch, so I don't know why he didn't like to hear it from me. I guess that was his pet peeve.

When my youngest daughter was here the last time, I heard her say yahyahyah severel times as well and I did call her on it in a joking manner, and I told her the reason it bothers me. Of course she said she does that to show her excitement about something. Is this the verbal use of more than one explanation mark? It seems so!!!! 😀

More language that bothers me and I hear from my older daughter is 'and whatnot'. Also grating to my ears. It seems to be used quite often by a lot of people, including celebrities.

One more. I heard the current Bachelorette say this so often during the show and she is not the only one with this habit either. Saying 'I mean' in every other phrase, even when not explaining anything previously stated, is such a bad habit.

Do these phrases bother anyone else?

Do young people even know what fingers on a blackboard means? It seems blackboards have gone out of style in schools. Now they use whiteboards and markers and they all use laptops for everything. One advantage of no blackboards and chalk is that the erasers don't have to be banged together to get rid of the chalk dust. When I was in grade school it was a privilege to be chosen to take the erasers outside to clean them at the end of the school day.

I am also peeved with drivers that pass me in no-pass zones, even when I am going the speed limit, actually 5 mph over speed limit as most people do since they won't issue tickets for that. They are not only risking having a head-on collision, but that will involve me as well. I do not appreciate being put in danger of my life or limb because of their stupidity and lack of patience! People often also pass me just before they make a right turn off the highway, making me brake and take the cruise control off. And if they don't turn off I will pull up right behind them at the next stop sign or stop light. So we both got to the same point at the same time and passing me did not accomplish anything other than irritate me.

I think I am done ranting for today. Thanks for letting me get this off of my chest.

ATTEMPTS

I am still very slowly trying to get some arranging done in this apartment. Looking things over I came up with this one. The wood box, crystal bowl, doll and lamp were already on the chest, but the box was closed and the bowl empty. The wood box was a rummage sale find years ago. It looks like it might have been homemade.

As I was rutting around in a drawer of a different chest I ran across several doilies I had made over the years and totally forgot about. Two went on top of the headboard, and decided another one would look nice displayed as I did here.

Then I opened the drawer just below the top of this chest and saw the white pillow I had made. It could be used for a wedding ring pillow but that was not the original intent when I made it. I learned how to make these pillows in a class, but they were made with calico prints, which are really nice too. I just happened to have some of this satin in a fabric drawer, as well as the wide lace, so my mind started working and came up with this pillow.

The little beanie bear had been on a small shelf of the hutch top dresser for a long time. I thought it fit in the box too. The rag mop doll in the bowl was also on the dresser and thought she needed a new home. Those rag mop dolls were really popular a long time ago and crafters would make them from the larger real rag mops, but I never got into that. This one was also a gift.

The little standing doll with the straw hat is one I made. It is a room deodorizer cover. I can't think of the brand. Is it Renuzit? The doll is glued to the top of the container and just need to replace the bottom when the gel is used up. Right now she is sitting empty as I forget to buy a replacement.

I bought the lamp shade at a rummage sale. Someone had made it and it has designs cut into it the red layer of paper. There is white paper under the red.

I am not quite satisfied with the arrangement yet, but need to think about it some more, or find something else that is still in the closet.

TURNING A LEMON INTO LEMONADE

 This is the result of a tense day that I blogged about on May 4, 2017, title "A Tense Day" if you would like to go back and read it.

The tense day was the day my apartment had a safety inspection that is done once a year. My bed is in front of the only window in the bedroom as that is the only way we could make it all fit. The headboard was too high as at least one window in each bedroom can't be blocked by any furniture, 

 

and this bookcase headboard is too high.

The hallway is the only place I had room to put it. I thought I might have to sell it but decided it works well in the hall! Thankfully the hall is very wide and there was just enough room between the doors to put it.

The doors on the front, below the book shelf, drop down. I have always stored my extra sheets and blankets there, and now I can keep them there and not try to find another space for them. The same for the books. I don't have room on my other book shelves for more books so this works out well, too.

The framed pictures on the wall are my mom's baptism and confirmation certificates. They really made them BIG and elaborate in the early 1900's! The black box, which I featured in this blog here works nice here along with the doilies I ran across in a drawer that I had forgotten I had. The white ceramic is a tea light holder and has small holes in the design so the light comes through.

This may not be the prettiest arrangement. It came about in an odd way. A couple of years ago I was decluttering a closet that had craft supplies, including things needed for floral arranging along with leftover flowers from other projects that were just thrown into a big box with other stuff, or in plastic shopping bags. Very disorganized, to say the least! As I picked out the flowers I started putting them in the vase that was handy, just sticking them in without thinking about an arrangement. It was just a good place to hold them while I was sorting everything. When I got done, this is what it looked like and I decided it looked pretty good so just left it. And here it is to this day. And because I had to remove the headboard from the bed, I now have a place to display it again.

Now I have to decide what to put on the same shelf as the books. I need to dig around in the packed spare closet and see what might work, or take something that is displayed somewhere else and not working there.

Anyway, a big problem turned out making a very dull hallway look much nicer, I think. A rather tasty lemonade.