Thank you...

Thank you for popping over and reading my blog. The other night I took the time to read my entire blog, all 74 posts. I think I have relaxed a bit since I started. I didn't have a clue what a post or comment was when I clicked on Blogspot that first time.

I thought “Heaven help me” when I saw the template and layout windows on Blogspot. I still pause before I click that orange “publish” button. Butterflies gather in my stomach, but now, I can honestly say, I like those butterflies. It feels exciting.

I began blogging on march 25^th, 2013.

I didn't know a thing about blogs. 

I had happened upon a blog by Linda Chapman. Her blog, Linda's Life Journal,at

http://lindaslifejournal-artlady1948.blogspot.com/

was my first inspiration. Her positive attitude and her daily posts about her life reminded me of my early years in 4-H Club writing to pen pals all over the country. I would write my deepest thoughts, seal them in an envelope and mail them to my friends. Then I would run to our mailbox each day hoping their hand written letters back to me would be inside.

I soon discovered “It's All About Purple...” and got to know a lady by the name of Debbie.

http://itsallaboutpurple-debbie.blogspot.com/

She shared her love for photography and her home state of New Jersey. I knew nothing about New Jersey, except for the show “Housewives of New Jersey”. That show does not do New Jersey any justice. We started exchanging comments and I felt we had connected. We had similar characteristics, similar organizing habits, and became blogging friends.

If I don't read Linda or Debbie's blog posts often, I feel concerned and miss my dose of friendship. I care about them. Iwant them to be happy and share their everyday lives with me.

My reading list has grown as you can see in my side bar. I love the “Mad Snapper”.

http://snapperone.blogspot.com/

Her posts about buying her new car kept me in stitches. I can relate to her sense of humor and enjoy her photography. I would not know about Pizap if she hadn't shared it with me. Thank you.

And of course, I could not end this post without a word about Diana over at Nana Diana Takes a Break.

http://thenanadiana.blogspot.com/

Her life is a ball, her use of the English Language is hilarious. She has helped me so much with her support and encouragement, and blog knowledge. Diana, you have been a wonderful blogging friend. I would still be stuck here by myself if you hadn't shared your blogging expertise.

Tete over at “Beyond the Garden Gate” has also become a friend. Her photos are just beautiful! 

http://tete-beyondthegardengate.blogspot.com/

Her blog is a joy to read and at the top of my Reading List. Thank you Tete for coming by to say Hello and visit with me.

I could go on and on as I have over 50 blogs on my favorites bar. Everyone of them has been a joy, an inspiration and just pure fun to get to know. I have learned so much about myself along this journey into Blog Land. And I couldn't have done it with such joy and ease had it not been for my blog friends.

Thank you!

Have a great

Thanksgiving!

Pet Peeve Tuesday - Grocery Shopping With Thehubs

Well, it's cold outside and it is time to do that Thanksgiving Day Feast SHOPPING! We drove 60 miles today to shop at a particular store for our family feast.

You see, we only have a few grocery stores in our area. The tornado in 2011 took out our Dillons, so we are left with Price Cutter, Aldi's, Food for Less and of course several Walmarts. But if we drive to Bella Vista near the Arkansas Border, we can buy things not available here.

Bella Vista is near the Walmart Corporate Headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Bella Vista is a very small town and many Walmart Executives live there and they and their families shop at this Walmart. It's shelves are always fully stocked, it has a great selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, and assorted cheeses and breads. It is still a Walmart, but it is nothing like our local Walmart Stores. All of the carts go full speed with no crooked wheels, the vegetables are fresh, there is no trash on the parking lot, even the aisles seem wider and are never empty or unorganized.

Thehubs

"loves" 

to grocery shop.

He gets his own cart and I get mine and we meet near the checkout when we are finished. I always pick up the shampoo, laundry soap, toilet paper, and the baking supplies. This is how our conversation went today:

Me: Babe, I told you I don't want anymore Rice Krispie Treats. I can't eat anymore, I'm sick of Rice Krispie Treats, please don't buy me anymore.

Him: Well, you will eat them sometime, they last forever.

Me: Another jar of mustard, did you look in the pantry? There were at least 4 jars of mustard in there yesterday.

Him: No, we don't have (note raised voice) a pantry in Bella Vista, Arkansas. We can always use another jar of mustard. It lasts forever.

Me: More green beans, really? I don't have anymore space for green beans, I just stuffed 20 cans under our bed!

Him: They were on sale for 50 cents a can, that's a bargain! We can always take some to the kids house, they will eat them. They last forever.

Me: Oh no... not another roll of aluminum foil! I had to put the last roll under our bed, we may have to give foil to our friends for Christmas!

Him: It keeps going up in price, by this time next year, you will be glad we have some stocked up. And, it lasts forever.

I love him.

He carries in my groceries.

I will find room for more green beans,

more mustard and more aluminum foil.

And I will sneak some of them into our kids pantry...

next to the last batch he bought for them...

the last time we went to the grocery store.

It's Tuesday, time for some more of my favorite Pet Peeves.

Pet Peeve #1:

Dear Mr. Sargento, please mark the end of the wrapper on your pepperjack cheese sticks and nip the corner that I am supposed to open. I am old and your security wrappers must be designed by the C.I.A. Yelling at your cheesesticks at 1 o'clock in the morning should not be necessary in order to eat one.

Pet Peeve #2:

Why is it when you open a new bag of those delicious Lays Potato Chips it smells just AWFUL! We like to eat potato chips in bed, late at night, with milk. Thehubs hops into bed and opens a new bag and I accuse him of... farting. Is the word farting okay in Blog Land?

Pet Peeve 3#:

Why does bacon cost more per pound than a pork loin? I now budget for bacon like I do steak. Really $7.99 a pound? We live in the country, we have pigs in our neighborhood and I know for a fact, pigs do not live a luxurious life, and neither do pig farmers. I've decided I want my own pig and I will name him Warren Buffet and he will be delicious.

Ahhhh.......

It is very cold here in Southwest Missouri.

“Emmer Lou” our chocolate labrador is sound asleep in the garage in her favorite chair, and “Tater Pie”, our female feline is asleep on her blanket. The “Man I love” also known as “Thehubs” is also sound asleep, under the electric blanket. All is calm...

I am wide AWAKE!

Not because I want to be, I would rather be asleep! But sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do. Do you ever just want to be alone? Do you ever just want to hear NOTHING? Just silence? Quiet? Calm. Peaceful isn't it. 

Ahhhh.......

I am still feeling so blessed. If you read my last post, I was quite teary, emotional, and overcome with gratitude. To help a young couple maneuver the tedious details of making the biggest investment of their life is a blessing. They have such joy in their heart, it spreads into others and multiplies. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me and prayed with me to have our work pickup and bless others. 

We did get our Christmas Decorations out of the attic and into the garage. I plan to sort them and donate much of it to a local thrift shop run by an organization for abused women. I have so much, too much, all collected over the years and it is time to downsize.  I just don't have the time and don't want to take the time, to clean it, place it and then re-pack it. 

Our daughter has been diagnosed with Factor 5, a genetic disease that causes blood clots and her body has been fighting blood clots in both legs and now her lungs. She will be having surgery and I ask that you keep her in your prayers.  

Spread love everywhere you go.

Let no one ever come to you

without leaving happier.

Mother Teresa

Sweet Dreams!

Feeling blessed...

"It has been quite a year for us. I am still trying to get use to working from 10am till 10pm and having little social life... ugh... but when you pray to God for your work to pick up and for others to benefit from it... prayers can be answered and remarkable people can become friends. Tonight a miracle happened right in front of us. God is blessing us in so many ways, I am just feeling so grateful,

tears are flowing.

Never give up on your prayers

and open your heart to receive them!"

Tonight, I posted this as my status on facebook. We have been working from 10am till 10pm. Some days earlier and some days later. I have friends who have given up on me having them to our home for dinner and family who are missing us hosting those big family gatherings. A close friend tonight posted this:

It broke my heart.

These past couple of years our life has been a constant state of reaction. Our business is real estate. It is our livelihood, it is how we pay our bills, it is how we financially exist.

As you all know, the economy fell hard, and so did the real estate business. We saw our income lose a zero, then another zero. We saw friends and colleagues suffer greatly losing their homes, their business, and a few lost their marriages. People suffered, but we continued to survive. We adjusted our work and expenses to the market. We dug deep, worked hard and long hours, and changed our business to accommodate today's modern technology.

At times, I got so sick of stinky abandoned houses

in suffering neighborhoods

where happy families once lived

feeling safe and secure. 

I listened as widows lost their homes after losing their husbands, and all I could do was offer a hug and a prayer. I cried as children left their pets behind and moved into apartments with no outdoor space to run and play. At the same time, I was feeling blessed, blessed to still be working and paying our bills. I even felt numb after a while, then ashamed of myself for feeling that way.

But this past week, we have been blessed with my prayers being answered. Not once, not twice, but three times. Oh, how I have prayed that we would be blessed with work and that our work would bless others. Time and time again, I have closed my eyes, standing in an abandoned home, and prayed to God to bless us, to revive my attitude toward the human race and all of the harm that has been done to families during this recession.

I am grateful to the point of tears. I have hope again and I continue to pray that we will be blessed with work and that our work will bless others. I may ask God for one more blessing...

Dear Lord above,

I pray that you will bless my family with work so that we may be able to pay our bills. I pray that our work will bless others. I also pray that we will be blessed with a long vacation, to Florida. Thank you. 

Amen.

Christmas Movies...

It is that time of year. We sit up late at night and watch Christmas movies, first one and then another. Thehubs loves them and so do I. We snuggle under the blanket wearing our matching Christmas pajamas, drinking hot cocoa with sugarplums dancing in our heads. 

Not really, I will have a decaff coffee with Baileys, he will have a cold beer while eating cheese sticks, and we will be wearing our worn out but comfy pajamas that absolutely no one else will ever see (if I can help it).

Last night we watched “A very Merry Mix-up” on the Lifetime Movie Network. It was about a young woman who owns an antique shop in the city who is traveling to spend Christmas with her fiancee's family. 

A series of bad luck at the airport results in a name mix-up and she ends up staying with a family by the same name, just not the family of her fiancee.

She enjoys a traditional family holiday, decorating the Christmas tree, baking cookies, and feeling a part of this family. Only to find out it is not her fiancee's family.

She finds true love, lives happily ever after and continues the family traditions she cherishes and enjoys. One big happy family, one happy ending, one good movie.

If only the holidays could be planned like a movie, complete with a beautifully decorated home that has been in the family for generations, everyone is healthy, everyone has time off work to bake cookies, shop, and wrap presents. 

Oh and an unlimited budget and a large pantry so you can feed the entire town and never have to fight the crowds at the grocery store. 

I can only dream... ahhh... doesn't it feel good to dream about the perfect Christmas?

Well, our family is more like the movie

“National Lampoons Christmas Vacation”. 

Thehubs will put up a million lights and he will work on them until midnight every night. My turkey may blow up, and the cat may cause a fire and burn down our Christmas Tree. The dog may turn the table over and hopefully the S.W.A.T. Team will not come flying through the windows.

But I can guarantee

it will have a happy ending... 

just like in the movies.

She is you...

You have a voice, and that voice is you.

So trust her. Love her. Respect her. Listen to her. 

Because...

She is your soul and she is wise.

She has walked your same path, experienced your sadness, and been there through your most difficult times.

She celebrated your happiness and coached you through life’s challenges.

She listens to all your prayers.

She cried with you the moment your child took her first breath.

She held on as you tried the limits of fate and survived.

She guided you as you made difficult decisions and dealt with the consequences.

She has kept your deepest secrets and loved you anyway.

She laid beside you as you begged God to take you and end the pain.

She held you as you crawled out of blinding hopelessness and back to the light and life.

She will be with you always until your last breath.

She is loyal, intelligent, and cares deeply.

She is fun to be with.

She is you.

Jackie Collins

2013

My friend Barbra...

My dear friend, Barbra, recently posted the following to her timeline on Facebook. She is that person who has a sweet soul, who shows up with flowers after you have prayed to God for a ray of sunshine to come your way. She celebrates her walk with our Lord in everything she says and does. She lives her life as a testament to His teachings and she calls me her Sister in Christ. 

Thank you Barbra for writing this. It is a keeper and I keep it close by.

I think the hardest trial

I have ever faced in this life is

a lack of harmony with people. 

Friends, neighbors, and acquaintances who ignore, respond, turn away, or drop you because you are not like them, don't serve God like them, or sin different than they do. People who use their religion as a cloak for "judgment" and condemnation that in some cases, never, never goes away no matter what you do. Who take the words you put on paper, or through a text or a phone call, and turn it around to make it something harmful that was never intended to be that way at all.

Please remember that as humans,

that my bad is just different than your bad. 

My sins are forgiven just as much as yours, that we are a part of something God created, and that He is all knowing, all loving, and requires of us that we be like that too. How much do our differences of opinion really matter? How much will they matter in a million years? If we hang onto those differences and use them against each other, what have we gained? A closer walk with God? Peace? Harmony? The ability to love more?

I "will" hurt others at times, for Dog Gone it, it is in my nature. When I do, please be quick to forgive me and get on with life. I will forget to write, or call, or text you back. If I do, be patient with me, for I am getting older, and my forgetter is getting stronger all the time. I do have bad days when I don't put God first, and I take it out on you. Please don't hold a grudge, for tomorrow we will need me when you do the same to someone else. It is not my heart to harm anyone, no matter who they are. Let's work together, play together, love each other more and above all, remind each other that God is what it is about, not us. 

Just saying....  God Bless each one of you!

I did it with scrapbook paper!

Visit my kitchen!

I had been a little bored with my kitchen the past year. I finally found some new canisters at a flea market in Conway, Arkansas that gave me some inspiration. They were much like the ones I fell in love with at Pier One but could only visit, not own, because of the price! Then one week later I found a smaller set at a flea market in Pittsburg, Kansas! I needed some color in the kitchen and those inexpensive treasures gave me the boost I needed to try some new projects.

I had gotten the same desire for some color a few years ago and made a ridiculously BAD color choice. I fell in love with a swatch of purple at the paint store, I mean really, really fell in love. So I asked thehubs to paint the kitchen this gorgeous purple color and the first couple of strokes he made to the wall, I knew it was a mistake. But I lived with it, hoping it would grow on me, for a year. It didn't. I hated it. So a few months ago, he repainted it a yellowy beige. Then I just felt like it needed some color, a bit of pizzazz, or some bling somewhere. So I thought I would share my latest project with blogland! Hope you like it!

This is before!

This is the busiest wall in my kitchen. My entire kitchen is open and can be seen from the living room, the office and the dining room. As you can see the white tile, beige countertops and beige walls are a bit boring.

Now I will show you

my "after" photos.

------------------------------------------------

My first attempt!

I used black and white scrapbook paper with pretty swirls.

 My second attempt I used a maroon paisley scrapbook paper.

The idea started years ago when I adhered wallpaper cuttings with spray adhesive (repositional Easy-Tack from Hobby Lobby) directly onto the tile and it lasted for 7 years.  A store owner gave me a free book of wallpaper samples. I cut out some long stemmed lillies and various other flowers. I then sprayed them with the Easy-Tack and layered them, one on top of the other, on each tile. It looked like a three dimensional flower garden. I loved it!

Here is how I did it!

The only supplies you will need are

a straight ruler, a pencil, and scissors.

This time I used scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby 

three sheets at 59 cents at 50% off - $0.89

Clear Contact Paper from Dollar Tree - $1.00

Easy Tack Repositionable Adhesive Spray also from Hobby Lobby - $7.99

Note: the Rubber Cement - I used this the first try as I was out of the Easy-Tack. The Easy-Tack is much better. It is worth the $7.99 and the can will last you for years. The roll of clear contact paper will also last you for many projects.

The only tools you will need are

a straight ruler, pencil,and scissors.

Measure your tiles and draw a grid

on the back of the scrapbook paper.

Then I positioned the grid face down onto the tacky side of the clear contact paper. This makes the paper easy to wipe down and keeps the paper from spotting from splatters on the stove after it is adhered. Now cut them out.

Then I sprayed the back sides of the paper with the adhesive. I used a newspaper to put under the paper when I sprayed the adhesive to protect the counter. Now, I could stick them to the tiles.

My last and final attempt is my favorite,

a black and white harlequin scrapbook paper.

Hope you like it!

Sharing over at

Click here to go to No Minimalist here!

or 

here is the address: http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/2014/01/open-house-blog-party-winner.html

Sherry over at:

No Minimalist Here Blog

and also on

Megin over at VMG206

http://www.vmg206.com/2014/01/diy-sunday-showcase-link-party-and.html

Sniff, sniff, cough, cough...

We came home after helping Kdaughter get settled into her new home bringing a couch and a large picture with us. Kdaughter didn't want them anymore and our living room had been looking tired lately. We pulled the truck and trailer into our lane (thehubs loves to pull his trailer on long trips) and started backing it in when our cousins/neighbors came right over and offered to help us switch out couch for couch. It was quick and easy and it looks so good in the living room.

Kdaughter and her husband had been staying in a lease house after their transfer while they got acquainted with their new neighborhoods and then found the perfect house. It is a large house with two sets of stairs that do not like me and I don't like them. I hope we can make friends after I build up some muscle and the unpacking is finished. Those up and downs, and up and downs, and up and downs finally got to me. I got tired. My knees started screaming STOP and we had to come home.

Well you know how it is. We get a new couch so it is time to paint, get new lamps and sconces. I found two lamps online at Kirklands, used my coupon and saved a bunch. They have burlap shades, a first for me, so I may try adding a ribbon or something to bling them up a bit. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Then I got hit by a nasty head cold and spent the rest of the week in my recliner trying to breathe. I enjoyed reading all my blogger friends posts and made a comment or two but had no energy for anything else. Thank you Puffs with Lotion, Sinutab and Vicks. You got me through this, you are truly miracle products in my book. 

I hope to get my sense of humor back soon. I think it is just too tired and afraid to surface until the coughing and blowing comes to an end.

But it is Tuesday so time for

a couple more of my... PET PEEVES!

#1: People in line at Wally World who do not cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze therefor spraying me with germs. Sniff, sniff, cough, cough...

#2: Women who leave wet driblets on the toilet seats and toilet paper droppings on the floor in the restroom at Wally World. Puh...leeze???

#3: Farmers who find the fall season a good time to spread chicken manure on their fields making my drive home from Wally World stinky. I just can't hold my breath that long. 

Thanks for stopping by!