HOMEMAKING DREAMS FOR THE UPCOMING WEEK

Its been such a nice weekend so far. I was off work Friday and Monday for a four day weekend. Of all the summer holidays, I like Labor Day best. It signals the end of summer and the soon to come Fall season. I love this time of year. Football season has started up, leaves will soon be turning colors and starting to fall, cooler weather is iminent and I already have a pumpkin in my yard. My Fall wreath has gone up this weekend, as well.

I have done deep cleaning in my zone for two weeks in a row and I feel so much better about my home. The first week was in the Master Bedroom and the second one was in the Living Room. Next week I will be working in the dining area, front entrance and front porch areas. As usual, they need it!

These are some of the things I hope to get accomplished:

My sewing room is at the front door:

1. Sort and organize sewing fabric, supplies, etc.
2. Detail vacuuming, dusting and floor cleaning.
3. Wash and dust light fixture.
4. Wash front glass door and side windows.
5. Check for any cobwebs

Front Porch:

1. Trim and neaten up plants
2. Sweep
3. Clean outside light fixtures
4. Get down any cobwebs or spider webs. (We have lots of spiders!:o()

Dining Area:

1. Clean light fixture over the table, including running glass globes through the diswasher.
2. Organize and declutter cabinets and drawers in the china cabinet.
3. Clean under the china cabinet, table, chairs, telephone table, and plant stand.
4. Trim and neaten up plants.
5. Clean Mini blinds.
6. Wash Glass back door and side windows.

These are my tentative menus for the week:

Sunday: Pork Chops, Fresh Okra (breaded and fried), "Grillin Beans", Corn bread.

Monday: Vegetable Soup using home grown tomatoes with a ground beef base. This is the kind of vegetable soup we always had in the lunch room in my elementary school. Keep in mind that has been 40 years ago! I remember that I picked out all the little pieces of hamburger and dipped my spoon in to the get all the juice, but never touched the vegetables. Now I love all of the soup.

With the soup, we also had our choice of sandwiches: Either pimento cheese or this other sandwich which I think was raisins and peanut butter ground up together. It was delicious. Have any of you ever heard of this or am I confused about what it actually was.

Tuesday: Barbecue chicken cooked in the crock pot. My sweetie comes home at lunch time now and he will get it out of the fridge and turn it on for me. I can't leave food cooking in the crock pot all day. Its too long and it overcooks.

Pasta Salad and green beans for sides.

Wednesday:

Sloppy Joes on wheat buns and salad

Thursday:

Hotdogs with the works and/or left overs from earlier in the week.

Friday: Still thinkin!

Have a good week!

Sausage and Baby Lima Bean Recipe

I purchased a roll of Tennessee Pride Sausage that was on sale and I had a $1.00 coupon. I decided that I would use the sausage for a night time meal, instead of just cooking sausage patties for breakfast. So I googled "Sausage Recipes" and came up with this one.

Sausage and baby lima bean recipe

(click on the above link)

I already had some frozen butterbeans in the freezer from my last big pantry/freezer stockup. And I always have canned diced tomatoes in the pantry, so I had most of the ingredients.

I omitted the carrots, celery and most of the spices. The sausage was spicy enough on its own! It would be easy to make this meal healthier by simply substituting turkey sausage for the pork sausage.

It turned out really well and will be a regular on my future menus. As long as I have butterbeans and tomatoes on hand, all I need to purchase is a roll of sausage. I will probably try the turkey sausage next time. I have cooked smoked turkey link sausage before with butterbeans and it is REALLY good!

I'm sure some of you are saying "Yuck" because you don't really like butterbeans/lima beans. Try this recipe, you might like it. Start off with a small bag of frozen lima beans to see. The canned ones are really bad!!!!!

Frugal Friday - The secret of spares

I've been reviewing the book "How to Have a 48 Hour Day", by Don Aslett this week and even though the theme of the book is time management and how to get more done in the same amount of time, you just can't get around the fact that saving time saves money.

So I thumbed through the book to find a topic to use for Frugal Friday and I chose one called "THE UNDERUSED SECRET OF SPARES". (The real secret is at the bottom of this post) :O)

A very frugal habit would be to put in place some spares or extras of things you are most likely to have a desperate need for. Think of the money you could save by not having to rush out and purchase certain items at full price or at an over priced price, not to mention the gas for the car.

I would go one step further and say that any trip to a thrift store or yard sale could be an opportunity for this. Think of all the coffee pot decanters, vacuum cleaners, etc. that these sales offer. I don't want to junk up my house that I am so diligently "trying" to declutter, but within reason having spares on hand, especially if purchased for nearly nothing, can be a real money and time saver.

Below is a list I have gleaned from the book or from my own experience!:

SPARE KEYS!!!!! (much cheaper than a locksmith) Get some today!!!!

spare cash ($5.00 in your glove compartment or cookie jar could be a life saver)
toilet paper
pacifiers
diapers
vacuum bags/belts
flashlight
makeup
stamps
gas in the tank (never let it get below 1/4 tank)
batteries
light bulbs
thread and needle
coffee pot decanter
telephone
basic tools (screwdriver, hammer,etc.)
milk/bread/staples
the makings of a meal in your pantry/freezer at all times!
pantie hose (if you wear them)
Shout or other fabric spot treatment
Engine oil
Spare tire that works

I'm sure you can think of lots of things that a frugal purchased spare of would save you money, time and emotional stress!!!

I have only ONE key to the replacement vehicle we purchased after the summer wreck I was in, so today I plan to visit the small town hardware store near me to get some made. This could save me big bucks!!!!

OH YES!!! The real secret to spares is to hide them so no one in your family uses them haphazardly. They are for emergencies only! Come on, you know you have hidden things from your family. I know I have!

For more Frugal Friday tips, please go to The Biblical Womanhood Blog.

Sew Crafty Friday - Crochet Edge Baby Blanket

I am so happy to finally have a project to show on Sew Crafty Friday!

This is a crochet edge blanket I finished a couple of weeks ago. My camera worked for about 3 minutes and this is the picture I was able to get.

The fabric is a basic flannel which I prewashed and pressed. The crochet edge is made from white crochet thread. I used a steel hook and poked the holes with it as I worked. I don't have access to a serger, so I turned under a 1/4 inch hem on the fabric and then encased that with the crocheting.

I'm working on another blanket now. It has black, gray and red dogs on it and the crochet edge is a matching red.

I also have a long weekend this weekend and am working on a baby quilt for my nephew's upcoming baby shower.

For more Sew Crafty Friday posts visit the Waiting For Him Blog.

When to Prepare? EARLY!

TIME MANAGEMENT, PART TWO

I am summarizing the book I am reading called "How to Have a 48 Hour Day", by Don Aslett. The chapter that has been the most inspiration to me is called BE EARLY.

So, When should we prepare? Early!

The author states that there's no such thing as too far ahead and that being ready in advance is sure fun and comforting.

So how do we apply this to our day to day lives?

As soon as we are aware of something looming in the future that we will have to prepare for.... start preparing. Several things come to my mind.... Christmas, Tax Time, the baby shower I promised to help with, a Sunday School Class to be taught, an annual anniversary trip, a family member's birthday, etc. These things could be a year from now, a week from now or tomorrow. Start preparing now!

This is a good idea not only for bigger things, but the day to day little things we do. For example, prepare everything you can for a meal ahead of time. This past weekend I was in a time crunch and had a few hours available on Saturday morning. I boiled chicken, cooled it and deboned it for use in Chicken Pot Pie and chicken salad to be eaten the next day. I cooked a cake, cooled it, decorated it, placed it in the cake plate and refrigerated it. I got out the bowls, baking dish, ingredients, etc. needed for the chicken pot pie and had them ready with the recipe book open to the page I needed. This way there were no surprises. If I was out of an ingredient I had time to purchase it.

These are examples the author used for preparing early:

1. When he was going on a trip, he put his suitcase out a week before and casually started putting things in it all week. When the day of departure came, he had no stress.

2. When he was a boy it was his job to feed the cows. Every night he would go ahead and get the hay out and ready, so the next morning, when it was dark and cold and he was in a hurry, all he had to do was spend 3 minutes feeding them.

3. If he had a book deadline 2 or 3 years away, he started working on it immediately a little bit at the time over time and when he reached the deadline date, voila, done!

4. His father ran a ranch 4 times bigger than his neighbors' ranches without any hired help. How? They never went to bed without knowing what they were going to be doing the next day. The tools and equipment were laid out for the next day's work. The machinery and equipment were serviced 6 months before they needed it, while the neighbors waited until the equipment was needed to get it serviced, thus having to wait in line at the service center.

What kinds of things can you prepare for early starting today?

Sweet Grandbaby is One!

My grandson is already one year old today! It can't be possible that its been that long since I wrote my blog post about his birth. My daughter has a cute post on her blog HERE that shows his picture at one week and at 52 weeks. What a change!

And since my camera isn't working, here is one of my favorite pictures from the past:

Time Management 101

If the rest of the week is as busy as Monday was.... then wow! I would describe it as floating in the edge of the ocean waiting for a wave. You can't really do too much while waiting for the next wave to come. BUT, you can see it in the distance growing in size. You know its going to hit you eventually, you just don't know exactly when. Finally it gets closer and closer and knocks you under!!!

The two time management books I bought from Amazon are turning out to be favorite reference books. I'm sure I'll be going back to them again and again. They are "How to Have a 48 Hour Day" and "Getting More Done in Less Time". The one I was most looking forward to, "Shopping For Time" never arrived. Evidently the seller had some kind of problem with it and I was refunded the purchase price. I plan to order another one soon.

If I could give an overall summary of the book "How to have a 48 hour day", it would be: Work hard and be early! I kid you not, there is an entire chapter called "BE EARLY!" The author has the best work ethic I have ever seen. I have been implementing his suggestions into my life for about a week. In fact I don't think I could have survived Monday without them! They certainly helped me to get all the things done this past weekend that I needed and wanted to do.

These are some of the topics in the chapter about being early:

1. When to prepare? EARLY!
2. Work ahead, not behind. (toss the word "later" out of your vocabulary)
3. Keep a frontlog, not a backlog.
4. What time of day is best for doing?
5. Early Eliminates Deadline Stress.
6. Waiting - Give it a Shot of Early.
7. Fixing - Do it Early
8. A whole list of things that achieve the "Magic of Early".

I hope to go into more detail on these topics and others from the book in future posts.

If I could give an overall summary of the book, "Get More Done in Less Time", it would be: "Make an organizing notebook". I have updated and nipped and tucked my notebook to the point I finally am actually using it and enjoying it! This has been a work in progress for me for several years. I'm also planning a post about what is in my notebook soon.

Have a great day and remember, BE EARLY!

Monday Musings

Good morning! I hope you are ready for the week.... aarrgghhh!

We had an extremely busy weekend.

We attended my sweetie's family reunion at the FFA camp at a lake about 40 miles from our home. It was a beautiful day, not too hot considering its August! Everyone enjoyed catching up and the food was great. It was catered by a local seafood place. We had fried shrimp, Eastern North Carolina BBQ, fried chicken, potato salad, slaw, string beans and hush puppies. yum!

My sister in law and brother in law visited us on Friday night. We really enjoyed seeing them! They were on the way to the family reunion via their RV so they just plugged in and parked in the back yard. They even brought Friday night's food for all of us. I have to say this was the easiest over night company we've ever had. (Thanks for the visit MJ and TJ!)

Sunday we celebrated sweet grandbaby's first birthday! This is one amazing child! He really enjoyed his first taste of cake and the presents. I decorated the kitchen with balloons and streamers. He loved it! The food turned out so good! Our menu was chicken pot pie, baked potato slices, string beans, pasta shells cooked in broth, sliced tomatoes, and chicken salad.

My turn to spend the night with Mama fell on Saturday night, so I cooked as much of my Sunday dinner as I could Saturday morning. I also made a cake, decorated the kitchen and wrapped gifts Saturday morning. When Mama and I got up on Sunday morning, I cooked her dinner early before going to church and upon our return, rushed home to finish everything up.

I am very pleased with the work I got done last week in the master bedroom and this week I plan to spend time deep cleaning the living room. There's some dust that is going away from here!

Hope your week starts off well and continues to be good all week!

Dare I start talking about Fall?!!!

Remember this bag! I have started using it again for Fall. I know its early, but for me its never too early to start thinking about Fall!




I have written in my planner to put out my Fall wreath on September 1st, but I think I'll do it this weekend. It has sunflowers on it, so it fits summer too! Here's a picture from last year:




All the clothing stores have what they call "transition wear" out right now. This means the clothes look "fallish" but aren't too hot to wear for the next couple of months. I already have some things in my closet that fit that description. No need to go out and buy anything, I hope!

So, I guess I'm starting my gradual transition to Fall by using this "old" bag from last year, putting out the beautiful wreath My sweetie bought me last year and choosing more fall-like clothing.

How about you? Are you ready to start the transition?

Happy Autumn!

Organizing Update

Good Morning and happy Wednesday to you!

I have made some good progress in accomplishing my "homemaking dreams" for the master bedroom so far this week. I have worked a few minutes at a time here and there, as I planned, and its going well.

I have dusted and cleaned most of the furniture in the room. I removed the curtains and a cloth bedside table cover, washed and dried them, ironed them and returned them to their places. I've taken down all pictures, dusted them front and back and the wall behind where they hang. I have one more corner to tackle.

I haven't even gotten the vacuum cleaner out yet! Any dust is falling where it wants to and believe me there is lots of it. Sometimes it looked like snow! When I get all the room dusted really well, I plan to start on the chair rail, baseboards, ceilings and the walls themselves. Oh yes, the dreaded ceiling fan needs desperate attention too.

When I get all the dust off the above items and its had a chance to settle on the floor I'll begin my attack with the vacuum. I'm going to use the crevice tool on all the edges near the wall and under one cabinet I can't move. I can move everything else to vacuum under there.

I've also been slowly working on purging all the unused, wrong size, wrong color items in my closet. I hope to have a nice box full for the crisis center near my office. I really want to build my wardrobe around the colors that look good on me and to have only a basic selection. Less is better in this area I think. I have a tendency, like most women, to buy willy, nilly, when something is on sale, etc., without realizing it doesn't look good on us or doesn't coordinate with anything we already have. Then we need to purchase more items to go with said new purchase.

By the end of the week I'll have a clean bedroom and a much more organized closet.

I also splurged this week and bought four new books from Amazon and have added a widget on the right side bar which shows these books. You can probably get them from the library for review before purchasing them. By the way, I only spent $25.00 for all four books, including shipping. I haven't figured out how to put the lowest price offered for a book on the widget. If you want to purchase one of these books, click on "used" and you will find some great deals! The ones I have received look just like new to me.

They are: "Get More Done in Less Time; Shopping For Time; Have a 48-Hour Day; and Disciplines of the Heart. So far all have arrived except "Shopping For Time" which is the one I was most looking forward to. Maybe it'll arrive today.

Wow, "Get More Done in Less Time" is so good! It has inspired me to once again work on my planner/notebook/control journal. I think this time I'll finally get it like I want it! I'm so excited to finally be organized. I hope to share the contents of my new planner soon.

I plan to use "Disciplines of the Heart" as part of my morning time with the Lord. This book is by Anne Ortlund, the author of one of my all time favorite books, "The Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman". Speaking of which, gotta go do my morning time with the Lord! I should have done that first, but I was waiting for the coffee to brew!

Have a great day!

This week's plan

This week I plan to work in the Master Bedroom when I have a few minutes, here and there, with a grand finale on Saturday during my weekly home cleaning time.

I'm not a perfectionist. Remember that old saying: "The last thing that'll happen to me on this earth is that someone will throw dirt on top of me. I'm not going to worry about a little dirt now".

I do enjoy a clean, uncluttered and organized home. I've been trying to accomplish this for years! LOL

This is my wish list for the bedroom this week. My blog is called "Homemaking Dreams", after all!

1. Dust all furniture really well, including behind and in crevices.
2. Dust and clean all pictures, etc. on the wall.
3. Dust the blades on the ceiling fan.
4. Organize the under bed containers.
5. I have dark carpet in there and the crevices of the carpet near the walls tends to get white with dust. I want to vacuum this with a crevice tool.
6. I want to move all the furniture and vacuum really well.
7. Declutter the entire room.
8. Purge my closet! I want to get rid of all but my favorite summer clothing and shoes, that actually fit and look nice on me. Some will be donated to the local crisis center and some will be thrown away.I'll be switching over to fall and winter clothes in a couple of months, so now's the time to do this.
9. Dust window sills, mini blinds and curtains.
10. Look up into corners, etc. and clean cobwebs.

I may not get all of this done, but any progress will make me happy.

I've also been thinking about menus for the week. These are some dishes I'm planning:

1. Pork, potatoes and string bean stew.

2. Lasagna and salad

3. Chicken Salad for sandwiches.

4. Chicken Rice Bake

5. Pizza Noodle Dish

Do you have any plans for the upcoming week made?

Tagged! Six Random Things About Me.

The sweet Melinda of "The Nest Egg" tagged me to list six random things about me.

So here you go!

1. I was born on George Washington's birthday 50 years ago. I have three older brothers and one older sister. I was walking by the time I was 8 months old. My Mama says I always tried to eat dirt when I was outside. She had to watch me like a hawk. This isn't good, since we had chickens in the yard in those days.
When I was growing up I loved dogs and wanted to be a veterinarian, but was severely frightened by a "mean dog" when I was 13 and never wanted to pursue that career again!

2. A funny story about my growing up years. One morning my older sister made my breakfast and had put pepper on my scrambled eggs. I started crying hysterically and saying, "The boys put boogers in my eggs!". Evidently they aggravated me a lot to make me think that. LOL (Sorry, hope you already had your breakfast!)

3. I have had three children, two of which are still living. My middle child, Josh, was born in 1984 and died in 1986. He had a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He's my Saint in heaven!

4. Pregnancy and child births: I was VERY sick with morning sickness with my first child, Lori. She was born in 1980. At that time the doctor would give you a prescription for this called Benedictine. With the medicine I was able to get through the morning sickness. With all three of my children I dilated to 2 centimeters 2 weeks before they were born. I was only in labor with my first for about 6 hours. The Dukes of Hazzard were on the tv when she was born. The most beautiful sound memory I have is the first time I heard her cry. I love to remember the sound!

With my second child, Josh, I was NOT SICK A DAY. I did have gestational diabetes and didn't gain nearly as much weight as with my first. My water broke and he was born 2 hours later. He was pronounced healthy, but the next day the doctor became worried because there was a heart murmur that normally went away within a few days. We were sent to Chapel Hill Hospital and there we learned that he had a fatal birth defect and would not live long. However, he lived 2 years! A gift from God!

I also had severe morning sickness with my third child, Jacob, but no medicine this time! My delivery was quick with him too. The doctor broke my water and he was born about 30 minutes later. He started making noise and hasn't been quiet since! Lol. I love that boy!

5. Both of my children went to public school, but if they were born now, no way would they go to public school. I would definitely home school them.

6. I'm a paralegal. I wasn't educated to be a paralegal, but have done this work for 20 years. The state of North Carolina has a program now that allows you to be certified based on on the job training. So I have a nice pretty certificate that says I'm a paralegal. Funny, I feel the same.

If you would like to reveal six things about yourself to the blogging world, please let me know. I'd love to learn more about you.


Thanks Melinda for the Tag!!!

Time Management Progress

I feel so much better today because I made some progress in getting some things done.

This is what I got done after work yesterday

1. I washed and dried 1 load of clothes
2. Made Spaghetti and Salad for supper (Thanks Clare for the salad hint!)
3. Hemmed my black pants. They are new and the hem of one leg came completely out the first day I wore them! AARRRGGHHH!!!
4. Pressed the completed flannel sheep blanket I crocheted an edge on.
5. Prepared the fabric for my next crochet edge blanket. This included trimming it to the correct size, rounding off the corners and sewing a 1/4 inch hem all around. Now I can start crocheting the edge tonight when I spend the night at Mama's. This fabric has doggies on it with red bandannas and collars. So the crochet thread I'm using is red.
6. Took a relaxing bath and was in bed by 9:00, instead of crashing in my recliner. This makes me sleep much better if I start out my sleep for the night in bed.

This morning before work I accomplished this:

1. Bible reading and devotion
2. Washed one load of clothes. I'll dry these when I get home before going over to Mama's.
3. Swished and Swiped the boys' bathroom.
4. Decluttered the top of the dryer and wiped if off.
5. Made a gallon of tea
6. Decided what was for supper
7. My hubby always empties and fills the dishwasher every morning and every night so the kitchen is usually in pretty good shape. I did sweep a little.


I've been really thinking about yesterday's list and where each item fits into God's plan for my life. If God is first and Family is second, I need to take care of my Bible reading, devotion and prayer throughout the day no matter what else gets done. Then family... I thank the Lord that I have a lot of great family! At this time in my life taking care of my Mama is very important.

I'm not going to be sewing for my Etsy Shop or making Christmas gifts unless the Lord gives me some unexpected free time! That's ok. I'm willing to give up what ever I need to for a "season". I've been trying to do it all in my own power and I just can't do it any more. So I'm only going to concentrate on my priorities. What a relief!!!

MATTHEW 11:30 FOR MY YOKE IS EASY AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT

Do You Ever Feel Overwhelmed?!!!

I do! Lately, it's been one thing after another for me.

So I've tried to sit down with my calendar and notebooks and all my organizing tools to get organized. I want to figure out what is important and what will just have to wait. I even found more books on organizing your time at the library. I've about read all my branch has on the subject! LOL

When I got out my calendar and turned to August, 08, this is what I wrote in there last January. "Work on handmade Christmas gifts". Yikes!

If I had time this is a list of all the things I need to do or want to do:

1. Spend more time reading the Bible and doing a daily devotion.
2. Sew items for my Etsy Shop
3. Sew items for Christmas
4. Make a baby quilt for my nephew's upcoming baby shower.
5. Make crochet edge baby blankets for my nephew's baby and for future gifts and possibly the Etsy Shop.
6. Work on taxes
7. Do all of Flylady's routines for my home.
8. Declutter and clean everything, including the attic, garage, all closets and cabinets.
9. Exercise every day. My doctor told me recently to walk 45 minutes a day. (!!)
10. Sew special items for on line friends. Some of you have been so kind to me and I want to do the same. I've just had a crazy summer!!
11. Cook more nutritious meals instead of the quick meals we've had to resort to lately.
12. Work in my yard. I love to work in the yard, but haven't done any this summer. My sweetie and son have been doing all of it.
13. Work on Christmas preparations ahead of time.
14. Shop with coupons. I love to coupon shop!
15. Bargain hunt. I love thrift stores, yard sales and good deals. Even if I were rich, I would still enjoy these.
16. Blog more.

I read some where that if you give something up, some how God gives it back to you. So I've got to let some of the above list go, because its humanly impossible to do it all!

I think if I do number one on the list maybe the others will fall into place. Which of these items should I give up and which should I pursue? I want to do them all!!!

Susan of With Heart and Hand by Grace has a great idea that I'm trying this week. You make a list of only THREE of your most pressing things that need to be done each day. I think this would help me not to feel so overwhelmed. I can certainly get three things done a day in addition my regular daily routine of working, etc. I usually make such a long list, I can't possibly get it all done and then I feel like a failure. If I set my sights lower I can succeed.

Have a great Wednesday!

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

My tips for today's Kitchen Tip Tuesday I learned from an older sister in law years ago and I started doing the same.

1. When frying items in oil that can be reused, such as french fries or cornbread, wait for the oil to cool. Then return it to the empty oil bottle using a funnel. It can usually be used one or two more times before being discarded. When you are through you can just throw away the oil bottle. You don't have to worry about finding a container to store the oil in and it makes things much neater in the kitchen.

2. I know you've heard this before, BUT, always fill the kitchen sink with hot sudsy water as soon as you start cooking and wash as you go! My sister in law always washed all her dishes as she was dirtying them up and hardly ever used the dishwasher as a result. Even if you still use the dishwasher, it will save time and space to wash as many as possible by hand. I always presoak anything that has dried food for a couple of minutes in some water before putting it into my clean dish water, too.

For more kitchen tips please visit Tammy's Recipes!

Heart Strings - Good Bye Faithful Friend!

SLEEPY EYE MY SWEET DAVE
FEBRUARY 20, 1993 - AUGUST 11, 2008


Good Dog!

A Slice of My Life

My camera is not working again!!! Its very hard to post what I want to post without pictures, but until I can get a new camera, so be it....

This is what is going on in my life this week.

1. I have been crocheting a scalloped edge around some flannel baby fabric I purchased. I've been trying to learn this off and on for over a year and I finally did it. This first one is my "learning project" so its not perfect, but its good enough I would give it as a gift. I have learned from my mistakes and will do better on the next ones I hope.

I am dying to show you a picture. AAAARRRRGGGHH!!! I also would love to show you pictures of similar work my grandmother did over 50 years ago. Eventually I'll show you.

Here is my best descriptive picture of the flannel blanket I'm working on. Try to imagine it in your mind's eye.

The fabric is 36 inches square made of prewashed flannel. It is blue with white sheep with black faces all over it. The crochet edging is made from white crochet thread, not yarn. It is scalloped and the finished effect looks kind of like lace.

I am happy to be working on this because it gives me something to do that doesn't involve the sewing machine too much and is portable. I do use the sewing machine to hem the edges before starting the crochet work.

Here are the two links I used to learn this new craft: HERE and HERE.


Both of these sites have a wealth of information for sewing and all kinds of crafts.

2. I received an email yesterday saying I had sold a book I listed on Half.Com months ago. I had forgotten all about it and was worried that I might not even still have the book, but it was right where I put all the books listed for sale. I think I'll probably make about $1.00 profit. LOL :o) I think in the future I won't list books that won't make at least $5.00 profit. Hey, at least I could buy a McDonalds Large Sweet Tea with that $1.00!

3. My new vehicle (well, new to me) is a good sturdy car. I jokingly call it my "old lady car". When I told one of my friends and my sweetie this, they both said, well you are! They are just joking, but I think I need to snazz it up a little with a bumper sticker or front license plate. Maybe I need to get some fuzzy dice or a flower lei to hang on the rear view mirror..... just kidding. This car drives like a dream. I do miss my old van..... but, I must move on..... Do any of you get attached to your vehicle? They do hold memories, don't they?

4. Speaking of memories, my church holds so many memories! I was sitting there this past Sunday remembering all the things in my life that took place there. I have attended the same church all of my life. There are many happy memories and many bitter sweet. Weddings, funerals and all the stuff life is made of.

5. My Grandson is now not only walking whereever he wants to go, but saying lots of words! Recently he looked at his Daddy and said "Up!" Daddy said, "You want to get up?". He said "yes". I think that's pretty good for an 11 month old. He'll be one year old in a couple of weeks and I can't believe how fast his first year has gone by. He is the sweetest thing in the world and I love him so much!

6. My son was gone for several days on a trip to the Mountains of N.C. and TN this past week. I was in charge of taking care of his goats. They don't need much care, just plenty of water and some food. They graze in their fenced off area which is about 3 acres, so they get most of their food that way. He called the day before he was to come home and jokingly asked me how many of his goats were dead. I said, "None that I know of!". Sure enough the next morning I saw that one of the goats had indeed died! We're not sure what happened, but he now has to take care of burying the goat. He still has 10 left.

7. Not to end this blog post with too much sad news, but our elderly sheltie, Dave, is not going to be around much longer. I am torn between taking him to the vet to have him put to sleep and hoping that he'll just die in his sleep. Lots of memories are tied up with him too!

8. We are having a bad heat wave here in N.C. this week, but the weekend forcast is looking much cooler. I have been trying to bring my lunch to avoid going out in the heat and also to avoid those jitters I get when driving during lunch, since that's when the wreck I had a couple of weeks ago happened. I still haven't driven down that same street since the accident.

I hope your Thursday is going well and that the prospect of the weekend is as exciting to you as it is to me!

Weekend Update

Well, it took 11 weeks, but my Mama was able to go to church with me today! It wasn't easy but we did it. Thanks to the fact I am driving a rental car due to my wreck, she was able to get in and out of my vehicle. We went armed with a walker and a walking cane. She was determined she was going up the steps like she has all of her 83 years, so we used the walking cane. It was scary for me, but she made it.

All of our scripture readings this week seemed just for us. This was one of them:

Romans 8:35, 37-39 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Not even a stroke or car wreck!)

One more step in Mama's progress this week was being able to stay by herself during the day! We are still spending the night, but when everyone is at work during the day she can stay alone and during the day on weekends. We are making sure she has plenty to eat, and checking on her regularly. She is so happy about that! She is really tired of never being alone. She was one happy camper the first day and I can totally relate. I love my alone time, especially at home.

Tomorrow I hope to get another vehicle since we settled with the insurance company for the car damage Friday. We found another vehicle that we can pay for in full with the insurance proceeds with $75.00 left over. We figure the $75.00 will buy about 1 tank of gas! My prior vehicle was a mini van, but this is a good sturdy car. My Mama will be able to get in and out of it much easier than the van and it will probably get better gas mileage.

It has been a hard summer! I am so ready for the cooler weather of Fall. What about you?

Dianne of Majestic Mountains, Rolling hills Blog gave me this award!



Thanks Dianne!