My Day----- Leaving FB.........

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...

It looks like winter again. Temp is 40 degrees, wind is blowing. Low last night was 32. Had to cover my Peonies!!  They have buds the size of quarters........I have both plants covered with trash cans...... Last year I lost my bloom to a late freeze..... Not this year........

I am thinking..

that I need to put my life in some sort of order.  I have all the time in the world and I need to learn how to manage my time. It is the first time in my life that I have been in this place and now I need to learn to not waste my time. I have a LOT of hobbies, really more than I should have so need to learn how to spend time with that and spend time on other things.  Summer is right around the corner and I need to accomplish something before that pool opens!!!!!!!!!!!!  hahaha!  Where is the time going anyway. How did it get to be nearly April. What did I do in Jan and Feb and March?

I am thankful for...

My health. I have run across a couple of blogs this week that I just needed to leave. I found my self crying as I read stories of catastrophic illness striking younger women and bring such chaos in their finances and their family.  I read one the other day and I just had to close it and cry..... Praying for the Father God to give us a cure for breast cancer...... I know HE will if we ask and keep on asking....

From the learning rooms..

Life brings change and with that change we grow if we allow the Lord to revel to our hearts the lessons to be learned. I have fought that over my life and missed the lesson. As I grow older, I am eager to learn.

From the kitchen...

Not much going on there. I am more into the raw than ever before and learning each day how if "fix" up something to eat.  I have found that making out a menu for the week works real well.  I know this, that I have eaten more fruit and vegetables in the past few months than I have in my entire life.  I have fresh juice every morning, carrot, apple, pineapple, and touch of lemon. It is wonderful. Throughout the day I drink green smoothies. I get all my protein and essential vitamins and minerals there. You wold not believe how good they can be. Hand full of spinach, banana, few strawberries, some Chia seed and filtered water. I experiment all the time and I have not found anything that is not wonderful.

I am wearing...

 Well, I guess I must say that I have gone back to my winter wear. Sweats and sweatshirts and woolly socks.  I had pretty much put them all away, but seems that winter is trying it's best to reappear. Lets hope that this week is the last of it.

I am creating...

a web site!!!!!!!!!!  I have FINALLY  got my web site finished and I am now in the process of putting items up on the web. It is not launched yet but it is Sew Very Prim and it will have primitive graphics converted into embroidery files and those files for sale. I tell you that I have started this about 3 years ago but just have not been able to find the time to get it finished. Now, with the time I find I have I have finally finished the web site. Now I am not a whiz at web design but my husband bought me Dreamweaver 4 and it is whiz bang. I am a hands on person and not a book person so I learn by doing and not reading first. Not sure if that is the best way but it works for me. Now I do not know much about it but I can build a simple web site I will let you all know when it goes on line. Maybe next week. I still have to learn how to get a PayPal button working and how to figure out how the customer can download the file after payment........... Whew.....  My brain is tired! 

I am going...

 to Springdale in three weeks to have a double root canal!!!  OUCH!  Seems I have a bad tooth under my bridge and also the tooth right next to the bridge. Well it has to be a specialist that can go through the bridge to do the root canal. My dentist referred me to a specialist in OKC and after talking to them the cost was going to be   $ 2899.00!!!! OMG..........  to make a long story short.... My oldest son in Arkansas is in the dental sales business and he knows Dr's all over this part of the US. He takes them out to dinner, he sees them on a weekly basis with his sales job......sooooooo I called him and he came through like a champ....  He got me a professional discount and off to Arkansas I go in a few weeks. They will do the exam and then both the root canals and for less money to justify going that far.  I wish that the Lord had given us three sets of teeth. It sure would have been nice.  

I am reading...

 Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burop. It is an amazing book and a short read. If you have not read it or heard about it then you owe it to yourself to pick it up or download it on your Kendall. (I am reading it on my husbands Kendall) It is heaven as told by a 4 years old boy that died for a short time. Out of the mouth of babes.

I am hoping...

 That all the things that that little 4 year old boy tells us of heaven is in actual fact real.  It gives me GREAT hope and hope is what keeps us singing.

I am hearing...

the TV tuned to Fox News. We listen every night. I just cannot imagine why in the world we are in Lybia. What do you think? Should we have gone in and got involved in a Civil war? I just do not know, I feel so bad for those beautiful women and children but are we really wanting to be in another conflict?  What say you?

Around the house...

Not much, lot of work outside before it turned cold again. In the house I am cleaning out closets and have taken all of the things from Mom and Dad's house to a family member in Tulsa. I still have a closet full of things to take pictures of and put on Etsy and all of Mothers jewelry to go through. I have put that off for a while.  Other than that, lots of plans to paint and other things inside this summer but now.... just talk.

One of my favorite things...

 Working in my back yard. There is nothing better for lifting the soul. Right now I am looking out the back patio and cannot wait till the weather once again warms up....... I have plans for a HUGE shade garden.... I need to be out there getting my hands dirty........  God made dirt to grow things in .........  Dirt is of God.......

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Not much...  Dennis was off this afternoon and he is off tomorrow. This is the week that we do the McCalls Special Olympics each year. I have been printing their shirts for 8 years now. We start in January with designing the shirt and after some back and forth and changing the design, we agree on one the first of March and then I go into high gear.  This year royal blue shirts with a front and back design in white. They ordered 269 shirt so that is print on the front an  print on the back. That is 540 designs to be put on the shirts.......  Dennis always takes a day and half off to help. We did 100 this afternoon and will finish them tomorrow by around 2 or so.  It is a good job and it always comes when we need it most. This year it will pay for my two root canals.  I am thankful for Gods provision.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing..

A blank canvas for my shade garden. This is the south end of the back yard and it is 100% in the shade. I am thinking hydrangeas, azaleas and lots of other pretties to beautify my back yard.  What you think?

Lots of hostas around the bird bath I think. Then look to the left of the bird bath along the fence. I am thinking a row of Cannes yellow, and in front of that a row of Spiderworts which are beautiful purple color and then in front of that yellow iris.  What ya think? 

If you would like to join us in the simple Women's Day Book go over to Peggy's and join us. 

Oh yes, I love blogging and my blogging buddies. I am going to cut back on FB and come here more......  I miss you ALL!!! 

On My Sidebar.........

Take a minute and click on the button to the right of my post and read about Misha.  I have been friends with Janera  for several years now here in the blog.  I think many of you know her.  What a blessing she is and what a blessing she is going to be to one little boy that lives in an orphanage in the Ukraine.

I do not usually do this but in my heart I know it is something that we all can do. $1, $2, $3, etc. Whatever we can give. She is also having an auction of items later in the summer, I know that there are those of you out there that are so crafty.  Think about sending her something to put in the auction. I am.

Can you imagine the blessing it WILL be when she posts a picture of Misha at home with her? Can you imagine the joy that it will bring to our hearts, that we were a part of something much bigger than ourselves..........  

The economy is in the tank, I know that , but the Father God is not and neither are HIS people. Pray about it, go over to her blog and read and then be obedient to the Lord.

Feel free to take the picture from my sidebar and post it on your blog. The link http://www.mygardenhat.blogspot.com/

I have posted a few lines from her blog : 

Misha is real. He would have been real whether or not we ever met him. But we did meet him, and now here we are, one family among the many who have heard God's whispering in their ears to go, to reach out, to bring home a child and to love him unconditionally.

We never imagined it would be we. Yet, here we are. We're stepping into rough waves, trying to keep our eyes on the Father, trying as hard as we can to believe that we can walk to Him on water.

I try not to think about our little boy where he is tonight, in his orphanage in Ukraine. I try not to remember what I know to be true: that he probably went to bed hungry, that no one tucked him in and played a little game of "Who loves you?" with his giggling self, that he doesn't have his beloved Spongebob blanket, because he left it here, asking us to keep it until he can return. The big boys would take it, he tells us in a mixture of sign language, Russian, and near-English. I try not to wonder if he is cold, if he is wearing his new glasses, if he was able to keep his toys that we sent back with him, if he gets to drink as much milk as he wants, like he did here in our kitchen. I try not to go back to my folder of photos, where I've saved pictures of him in his orphanage, in our home, in the car on the way back to the airport.

Spring

Spring Brings New Life

Jesus is Spring

ROCKS AND DIRT!

This is the 4th year for the pool. Hard to imagine that it has been that long.  We were so busy with other obligations that we have not been able to do much with the landscaping around the pool. It is dirt and grass. 

Well,

you know what happens when it the wind blows or you have to mow or weed eat? Yeap, dirt and grass in the pool. So now we are doing a temporary fix until we can afford to put a deck around it. (Maybe next summer)  

So

My sweet husband is off on spring break this week so this is what we are doing.............

 
 Hard to believe that we are having to mow first.  It has been many years since we were mowing in March.
If you look , you will see the fence to the right and behind Dennis. He will build a fence from the corner of the house toward the east and then turn about half way across and go back to the back of the fence. That will cover up the pump and the heater. That will look nice. 

This is the south side of the pool. We will dig down 4 inches and 4 foot across and then line with landscape timber and then pour rock. We want to build a deck but that will need to wait till we save up a few bucks.

Now this is the east side of the pool and it has quite a hill on that side. We will cover that with large flat rock and I need to find some type of pretty ground cover that will kill our any weeds or grass. Any suggestions?
Sometime this fall, that old shed is going to be dozed down and next spring a new shed for me. One thing at a time please.

Now I am the official digger upper and shovel it into the wheel barrow. I am using muscles that have been forgotten about all winter. This is going to hurt in the morning.

Now comes the rock. Lots of rock. The truck was just too big when it got here and very heavy, so we were fearful of him drivng across the yard to get next to the pool due to the fact that all our water lines are there. So, I have a BIG pile of rocks right in front of my house..........!
Better safe than sorry.

 

My poor husband, I cannot help with this. I cannot shovel rock. Now all that rock has to go to the back of the house, in through the gate and around the pool.
This is going to take some time.

To be continued!

ADDED FOOTNOTE...........

  My grandparents were born in Ireland. His dad ( my grandfather) was born on St. Patrick's day in Dublin. You do not get much more Irish than that!  Happy St Patrick's Day dad. 
I have a great heritage.   

I Had A Happy Birthday! And I Cried

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Cannot believe that it has been so long since I posted on my blog.

Time does fly....

Monday was my birthday...  We were finished with the house.  I went over there mid day and just went in and sat and stayed a spell.

I knew that it would be the last time that the little house would be empty and that there would be others living there and I would not be going in again for a long time.  I guess that is a good thing.  I just sat and listened to the quiet. Memories flooded my soul and even now my heart hurts.
.

Dennis did such a good job

with the little house. He put down the carpet and he finished the shower and tiled it! He is as handy as a pocket on a shirt.

This is living room looking into the kitchen and back bedroom. We left the little table with the two chairs and if they want to use it fine and if not we will take it out. 

This is from the kitchen looking into the living room and toward the front bedroom and front bath. The front door is just to the right. When Mom and Dad moved in we put up all new lights and ceiling fans.

This is the new shower. He did just a wonderful job. He tore out the tub and put down the floor and tiled the walls and installed all the plumbing and handles and knobs.  Not too shabby for a first time ..........  I should have bought a navy blue shower curtain but oh well.

Living room looking toward the front door that goes out on the deck.

I get up a lot at night,

I have trouble sleeping sometimes, and when I do get up I go out in my shop and work. My north window of my shop looks right over to the little house. Dad used to tell me that when he would get up at night and see the light on he would feel safe and get great comfort out of knowing we were there. After that I started leaving the shop light on all night.
I got up the other night and looked out the north window and left the light off and just worked in the dark.  Silly, I  know but they say time heals, and there has not yet been enough time. 

The deck. That is Mom's little flower garden just beyond the deck. She loved loved loved her flowers. I got that from her. My older brother and myself are the only ones in the family with a green thumb and a love for the dirt.....  We got that from her and from Dad. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have taken the bench from the house and put it on my back porch. Not able to see someone else siting there. BUT I did leave two chairs one in each corner for them. After sitting a spell inside I sat a spell outside, and I cried. Just too much for me even now.  Just too much. 

I am moving the garden 

from in front of the little house, moving the flowers to my back yard into one big flower garden this year. I am putting up blinds on the north window of my shop, there are going to be nights that I want to work and need to turn the light on.
Things change and time goes and memories that bring tears will one day bring a smile. I look forward to that day. 

 I think Mom and Dad would enjoy knowing that their little house now has two very nice people living there. I too am thankful that the Lord answered our prayers and brought us the perfect  renters. But I would trade all that I have to see these two little faces sitting on that porch just for one day.

NOW ON TO HAPPY TIMES WITH MY FAMILY

 

Birthdays are  wonderful when you consider the alternative.

Cards and flowers who could ask for anything more!  It is hard to see them but the roses are lavender and they  match the card that my sweet bought me.

Beautiful! 

I was treated to dinner out with my sweet husband and my wonderful son and and and BOTH of my wonderful brothers. What a treat! I do not remember the last time we were all together except for the two services for Mom and Dad.   We went to a really nice Italian Restaurant and the food was wonderful but the company was beautiful blessing.

My son got me a butt load 

of garden tools that I NEEDED  so bad . New rakes and new limb cutters and new hoe and gloves. Now that might not seem to be the perfect gift to you but for this gal it was WONDERFUL!     

My sweet brother Larry  and his crazy wife Marty got me smell good stuff which I can always use and the other brother PE and wife Alpha picked up the ticket for my dinner.

My sweet sweet husband

got me a bike and we are headed to Tulsa this weekend to pick it up!   I do not remember the last time I rode a bike. There is plenty of places to ride out here in the country and we are looking forward to getting some exercise and fresh air. (He is buying him a new one also)

Sooooooooooooo  you see

I had the most wonderful bitter sweet day this past Monday.......... 

Life is good .........

God is faithful and HE has given me the gift of the love of my family and the hope of tomorrow..........  

Love you gals!