A Productive day

  Today I spent some time in my sewing room.  Some of you know that it has been a very long time since I have been in that room to do any type of crafting, but a friend of mine had shared about some embroideries she was working on and the bug bit me.  I started getting some things prepared for stitching and I managed to get some hand stitching done.  I can't show you what I have made with that yet as it is going to a friend who reads my blog.  :)
   I am planning to visit with my granddaughters soon and thought "I haven't made anything in so long", so I was looking through my patterns and found a matching adult/child apron pattern.  I decided I would look through my stash and see what I could come up with.  This is the finished product and I hope she will enjoy using it when she plays with her little kitchen set or when she helps her Momma do some baking.

I also took a picture of the rose bush that is in full bloom outside my dining room window.  It also just happens to be under our bedroom window. I can look out every morning and enjoy the beautiful sight.  Of course I always have to clip a few to bring in for the table.  This is the most fragrant rose I have ever smelled.

That's all for now.
Until next time!

Thrift shop goodies

So ds and I head out to the thrift store in search of a used vhs player for my dad.
Of course there are always other things to look at while there.
We were fortunate to find a player and hoping it works for a while.
I also found a sweet little vase that I thought would look pretty with daffodils or tulips in it.
What do you think?

We are having a beautiful day here today.  The temps are in the mid 60's and by Sunday our high will be in the 70's.  I am most definitely looking forward to that.    Wishing you all an enjoyable Spring day!

Until next time may God bless you and keep you.                                                                                  

                                          

My flowers are blooming

       I didn't realize how much I enjoyed sunshine until we didn't have any for awhile.
So to take advantage of the sun and the cool breeze we are having I put a load of wash in to hang out later.  Hopefully I will have the sun long enough to get a few loads on the line.

    I took a couple of pictures of my flowers blooming inside and outside.
The daffodils seem to have taken over this little spot just on the edge of the woods.  It just so happens that they are growing where we buried our beloved Ruby, our first Boston terror.  ;-)  But we loved every bit of her terror and now we talk about the stories she brought into our lives.  It has been a long time since she passed but we keep her alive still in our memories of her.
I was happy to see all these flowers covering her.

My violets have finally come into bloom. These were once one and they split into two so I re-potted them. But the smaller of the two doesn't seem to be doing well.  I don't know if I will be able to save it but at least it has a couple of blooms on it.   The glass bottles were a gift from my son on my birthday this year.  I had planned to fill them with bath salts but they look nice on the widow sill so I will           probably just leave them there.                                                                                                      

          I have enjoyed our little visit so until next time may God bless you and keep you.

Spring things

I just love Spring.  This season and Autumn are my favorites I think. Not too hot, not too cold.
And I love all the colors that come with these two seasons.
 Today I thought I share a little of my Spring decor.  I love that I can decorate my Mom's hutch. The fact that it was her's means a lot to me.

I can remember where it was in our house when I was growing up and it just seems like a dear old friend.

Of course Spring puts me on the path to ridding the house of the dust and cobwebs that try to hide from me when I do my cleaning during the winter months. But in the Spring the windows can be opened to let in the clean, fresh air.  I suffer from allergies so my two favorite season do hinder a bit.
So this morning I decided to bring some of the pretties from outside in to brighten things up.

My daughter gave me the table cover embroidered with violets for my birthday a couple of months ago.
And of course I have to have something with ladybugs on it!  :)

I hope you have enjoyed my little visit today.  It is a quick one I know but today is a busy for me here.

Thanks for stopping by and until next time,have a great day!

The winner of my Spring giveaway

The winner of the Spring Fling Giveaway is......

Mary Beth @ smallcityscenes.  

I'll be emailing you for your address Mary Beth.   Hope you enjoy your package of Spring!

Decided after getting Mary Beth's things together to do a second drawing for another package.
The winner of that one is Nancy Jo.    I will be emailing you both.

Thank you to everyone else who joined in the fun, I wish I could send each of you something to celebrate the new season.    

Until next time!

Spring Giveaway

My poor, poor blog has been so neglected of late.   I always aim to do better but life gets in the way and I seem to fall short.

To celebrate Spring which seems to be so long in coming to my house, I am going to have a Spring Fling giveaway.  This will be a quick one and end on the 17th so I can get the package out to the winner by the 1st day of Spring on the 20th!

 To give you a hint as to what will be included in the package. If you like to read or to do hand embroidery then you won't be disappointed! I have also added a few other things to brighten up your Spring.  

If you'd like to be included just leave me a comment and I will put your name in the hat.

Hope you all are enjoying the warmer weather soon!

Until next time!

Moving on

   I am not so faithful to this blog as I had once hoped I would be.
But, being my blog I guess it is my decision how often to write or not.

   Priorities, these are the things we put in a special order in our lives.  My priorities have changed considerably over the past year or so.

When I was young my priorities included  my husband and my children and my household.
As I get older, there is something I don't like about that word,  my priorities have changed.
My children have grown, I got a job and then left said job in the name of priorities.  For this season of life my priorities are different now.  I have grandchildren now but they are not as far up the list as I'd like them.

I have been thinking a lot about the things I want to do but don't.  I need to use the technology I have to further my priorities instead of letting it be a priority.  I need to get back to doing the things I love and spending time with those I want to make a priority in my life.  I am learning all along the way and I am grateful for the journey.  I am thankful for the things God is using in my journey to teach me what I need and don't need in my life.

As I have had opportunity to spend time with my sister over the past year while she was battling cancer, I learned so much about myself. I hope I can take that knowledge and use it to become the woman God wants me to be.  

I hope to make blogging a priority somewhere along the line but I won't promise anything.

Until next time!

My oh My!

Well, I guess it is clear that I am not a very faithful blogger.  Would love to do better but just can't seem to make it a priority.  For you faithful few who follow me I will try to do better.

 Thought I'd share some photos I have of my fall decorations around the house.  The hutch belonged to my mother and I have decided I will decorate it for each season.  The little black chair on the right was her high chair.  :)

 This second one is a bit blurry. I guess my hand was a bit shaky.

Until next time!

Loving Springtime

Well, I see by the date of my last post over a month has past since I have been here.
But life has been busy and so have I.

 I went on a little trip over Mother's day to attend my youngest granddaughter, Emily's, dedication.  I loved spending time with her and her big sister and their parents too of course.   ;)

My sweetheart took me shopping for some plants to spruce up our flower garden.   We purchased a peony, a bleeding heart and a new rose bush.  I also found a fuschia  for hanging.    I had bought some impatiens and geraniums the day before to brighten up the front porch.
Love the effect of all the pretties.

I have been cleaning and de cluttering for some time now to prepare for my dad to come stay with us.  I am looking forward to having him here.  It has helped me to get motivated to get things pared down.  I started quite some time ago but this has helped to get me jump started again.  LOL!

Have a nice beef stew on the stove for supper.  Starting to smell very good in here!

Until next time.....

Time flies

Oh, I cannot believe it has been almost a year since I posted anything on here.
Life has been happening.  We have lost a family member, my mother, and added one, Emily Rachel, our newest granddaughter.   It has definitely been a different kind of year for me.  Has seemed so busy.

We are in process of getting an additional room put onto our house. My dad will be moving in to live with us.  I am excited to have him here.  Have never really had the chance to spend a lot of time with him.  He brings with him two doggies which will make life interesting since we have one too!  They all get along well so there should be no problems there.

I have been working on a design for my home office/library/sewing/guest room.. Trying to find a place for everything and getting rid of the things that just don't fit.

I have spent some time away from home,a month actually, helping my dad prepare to move and just spending time with my sister.

Spring has finally arrived here and I am very grateful for the warmer weather. Everything is blooming, daffodils and the magnolia tree are in full swing. I saw some buds on the tulips this morning.  Time to get the summer furniture out and clean it up.  :)   Looking forward to some days of enjoying the front porch view!

Take care.
Until next time!

Another giveaway

Good morning all!  So I have another giveaway that I am sharing with you today. Kellie is have a Summer Reading giveaway with lots of nice goodies! So go check it out you could be the lucky winner.  You'll find the giveaway here.  http://kelliefalconer.blogspot.com/2012/06/giveaway-summer-reading-event-basket.html
Enjoy reading the rest of her blog, I did.  :)

Blogging

I have been reading quite a few different blogs lately and I have been so blessed by the ministry that these women have in reaching out to others through this medium.  I have the opportunity to meet those of like minds and kindred spirits a little more each time I visit their blogs.  I have quite a few I follow and can't keep up with all on a daily basis but I try to visit each one each week.  It is so wonderful to know that God is using women to build one another up to meet the challenges of the places He has called them to.  May we continue to be faithful in encouraging and helping each other on the path.

I am off to my part time job, sometimes only 1 day a week but I don't mind as I can spend the other days working in and around my home.  
Praying you all have a blessed day!

Just wanted to let you all know about a wonderful giveaway going on over at
Faithfulness Farm .   I just started reading her blog and I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I am.
So pop on over and see what it is all about!
God bless.

Wedding anniversary

J and I just celebrated our anniversary the 8th of May.  He was thinking about what we could do to commemorate the occasion and thought it would be nice to get a quilt done in the wedding ring pattern.
So we took a day trip to Lancaster to an Amish place we have frequented in the past.  The fellow had made us a Hoosier cabinet some years back.   We looked at the quilts in this pattern that she had available but we didn't really care for the colors.  She brought out one that she had been working on but wasn't quite finished and J loved it!  It has the perfect colors for the room.  So.......

She finished it up and sent it to us and we received it on our anniversary day!
Hope you all have a wonderful day enjoying God's goodness and His many blessings.

Gratefulness

 God is so good!    I am learning how to be grateful and how to trust fully in God.  I am not sure whether we ever learn to trust him fully before we leave this earth.  We (I ) always like to have a hand in what is going to happen and it is hard for me to let go and give things totally over to him.  But he loves me, yes even me, and I desire to give all to him. Whether or not that happens depends on if I am willing to get out of his way and let him do the work. 
I have made some changes recently and they will only continue to be changes if I don't take them back and do it my way.  It is a daily struggle but Lord willing, I will be changed.

Blessings to each of you today.

Woefully Lacking

I can't believe how long I have  neglected my blog. 
The new year has been so busy. January was full of sadness as two friends passed away.
February has been busy with birthdays, we have 5 in our family in this month, and an upcoming wedding this weekend.  J took me out to dinner on Valentine's day.  It was wonderful to spend some special time together.

I am hoping to get some hand stitching done this week.

Hope this finds you all enjoying a wonderful week.
God bless.

Thanksgiving or The Giving of Thanks

I see from my last post date it has been almost a month since I last posted.  I guess I didn't have much to share.


I have been thinking a lot about our Thanksgiving.  I believe I need to put more into my thanks part.  There are many things I am thankful for on any given day.  There are days I am thankful to be able to get up and move around.  I don't usually remember and stop and give thanks for that unless I have been unable to do it for some reason. Then I think, "When I get over this, I will be a lot more thankful"  and for a time I am but then it seems to go by the wayside.   This happens with many things in my life.  It is not that I  always need to sound the words but I do need to show forth a heart of gratitude in my everyday walk with the Lord.  I need to say Thank you to those who stop and open a door for me, etc. That is only common courtesy and in the day we live in a rare thing to be said to someone.  I think it is important to let people know we are grateful for their acts of kindness and use the words.  Outside the home as well as in our homes.

I am thankful for a nice home to be able to clean.  :)  Today I have been puttering around here and there cleaning little "hot spots" in my house. You know the ones don't you?  Maybe not, but I have numerous areas that I tend to let go and they seem to grow clutter.  When I start working at them it seems the more I get cleaned up the more I want to get cleaned up.  For me working in small increments of time seems to work well.  Then I don't look at things like one massive job and give up before I get started.

I hope you will share with me what you are up to today. 
God bless,
Denise

Having so much fun flinging!

I have rather enjoyed my decluttering job. I have been passing a lot of the sewing things along to my dd. She will put it to good use.  I intend to finish the sorting of smallish things in 15 minute increments that way I don't feel stuck in that room all day. 
Heading out to the post office and then back to do some straightening and cleaning.

Have started working on my Christmas things. Wrapping and all.  Like to get them out of the way so I can get other things done and my house clean so I can enjoy the Holidays.

Hope you all have a blessed day!

On to day 2 :)

Today I am continuing to get this room finished up.  I sent away 3 big bags and a box of things.  I have found that one can only do so much and it is more wasteful to keep the things I am just hanging onto than to give them to someone who will put them to good use.  I feel much better already.  So, this will be short but I need to get back at it! 
Have a great day everyone.

God bless.

Clearing the Clutter

Today is the day I am going to stop being a procrastinator.  I am going to claim back a room in this house that is long overdue.  I will taking Flylady's advice and doing some flinging today.  :)  

There is a room I like to call the sewing room but is also known as Tori's room, when it is clean and usable.  It has not been so for some time.  There are many of those I will save this because I will make something with it someday.  I don't know what makes me a saver in this age of everything being at our fingertips.  I don't mean going out and spending a fortune on something but there are many nice things to be had even at the thrift stores here.   It is not like if I find myself in need of something that I cannot check to see if I can find it there.  So why this need to not get rid of things.  Is it a gene carried over.  Maybe.  But I think it is time to let go.  I think more clearly and am more productive when I have "less" to worry about.

On another note, I don't believe it is very pleasing to the Lord to see how much time I spend going through the same stuff trying to get organized. He is a God of order and if I purpose to make my life a life of order then there are things that must go.  Just as he removes obstacles in my life I must remove things that are obstacles to my being able to do my job more efficiently.  I cannot get done the things I should nor do I enjoy creating things in that sewing area when it is such a mess. 
So, today is the day.

What are your plans for today?