Kitchen Update

The kitchen cabinets are done~and what a vast improvement over the blue/white formica cabinets.  I love the color of the wood ~ Greg, James and Will did a great job hanging them.  Greg is going to paint the wall behind the top cabinets and we are going to display some of our salt and pepper shaker collection and other small items up there.  There is probably 6 inches between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling.  The new countertops will come next week and then we will do the backsplash and windowframe/sill. And there is the floor to consider ~ we've changed our mind several times about what to use, but I think we have decided on a wide plank ceramic tile. There is one cabinet left to install and its been ordered.  Its a narrow 9" cabinet that will go between the fridge and the corner cabinets.  A perfect spot to stand up all of our serving trays.

New over the sink light we found on clearance!

Yay!  Organization!

Spice cabinet!

waiting for the countertop!

Thankful for ~
finished cabinets
Amy's help with filling the cabinets
handyman husband & sons
deals
the almost finished project
finding space for everything

More Summer Fun Ideas

Here are some more fun ideas ~

*Vacation Bible School (VBS) ~ music, bible lessons, crafts, snacks ~ a kids paradise...and if your kids are too old to participate, they can volunteer to help.
*Craft Days at Home Depot and Lowes
*Shopping trip to Dollar Tree ~ let the kids earn money doing extra chores and spend it at the dollar store ~ lots of cool stuff in there that's good quality
*Park days ~ take a picnic ~ find one with swings, slides, things to climb on ~ run out some of that summer time energy
*Art days ~ paper, glue, crayons, markers, etc....lots of fun there.  Make birthday cards to send to grandparents or gift tags for parties the kiddies are invited to.
*Pick a topic to learn about and go all out ~ dinosaurs, cars, a period in history, fashion, plants, lizards....whatever.  You can find tons of resources online for this ~ pictures, word search puzzles, scrapbooking ideas etc. 
*Go to a "Pick Your Own" patch ~ strawberries, blueberries etc.  Then come home and make yummy treats with your produce.
*Service Days ~ find ways to serve others and teach your children about giving of themselves, their time and talents
*Give Back to the Community ~ is it ok to give your local policemen, firemen, etc. treats?  Can you bake cakes and take them to the stations with a thank you note for protecting your home and community? 
*Take a class ~ sometimes ballet & gymnastics offer a summer fun class schedule for your child to try out.  Or Karate, tennis, sports camp, sewing, crochet, etc.
*Reading program ~ does your local library or book store offer a summer reading program ~ sign up and read!  Some even offer prizes at the end.  And this is usually FREE!
*Have a summer party ~ for no reason ~ in your backyard, at the park, etc.  All the families could bring food to share.
*Beach ~ do you live near one?  Collect shells, watch the tides, swim, make a sand castle, walk

Have some rainy days activities on hand ~

Games ~ monopoly, Yahtzee, dominoes, phase 10, Uno, etc.
Art supplies
plenty of books
Special snacks to pull out for movie days

I am sure there are loads of ideas I haven't thought of ~ use your imaginations, ask the kids ~ you don't have to think of everything alone.  I feel certain that if you get on Pinterest and type in summer activites you will have many more ideas than days to fill.

Enjoy Summer

This week marks the beginning of summer vacation for many schools in the south ~  enjoy this time with your children!  They will be off and working before you know it (I know!).

Instead of dreading the long, lazy, hazy, dog days of summer ~ embrace them and have fun!

Here are some things my kids loved ~ 

*hours at the pool ~ take a picnic lunch or dinner & lots of drinks and sunscreen
*tv afternoons ~ watch classics like Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons or old Disney movies
*Learn something new & fun ~ cake decorating, scrapbooking, sewing, fishing, tennis, etc.
*Read ~ there are loads of books of all interests available
*Fun Foods ~ cook something new, teach your kids to cook, have breakfast for dinner or my kids personal favorite ~ ice cream for dinner night!  They still love it.  And 1 or 2 ice cream dinners for the summer will be long remembered and talked about.  We still do this one.
*Vacation ~ find side trips along the way, play games, hunt shells, eat shrimp (yum), drive through the mountains, go to a state park,  enjoy the journey, collect brochures of places you go and make a scrapbook together
*Staycation ~ catch lightning bugs, grill out, have a bonfire, find a place to swim (pool, lake, etc), sleep late, stay up late, write a letter, watch a movie together, find free or inexpensive sites locally to visit

Celebrate Christmas in July ~ movies, crafts, make ornaments etc.  Do the things you don't have time for in December.  I even did a turkey dinner one July, with all the fixings...everyone loved it!

Make up new traditions ~
*Celebrate a winter birthday with a pool party or running through a sprinkler
*Make up your own holidays ~ popsicle day, coloring day, pick flowers day, watch the clouds day, decorate cookies or cupcakes day, take a meal to a friend day, play with your food day, play doh day, etc. 
*And if togetherness gets too confining....take a nap, rest, or time out day ~ everyone needs those occasionally.

One thing my kids learned early on not to say....I'm bored.  That statements gets you chores, like vacuuming the house, cleaning the toilet, cleaning fridge shelves, etc.  One of my children came into the kitchen and started I'm....going to find something to do.  She had learned not to say bored!

And yes, life still happens ~ houses get messy cause you are home all day, dishes pile up, etc.  Set a timer and everyone work like crazy for 30 minutes ~ then have a reward....popcorn, popsicles, etc.  You can get a lot accomplished in 30 minutes if everyone pitches in.  Even a little one can pick up toys, or carry small things to other rooms, or help "wash" dishes.

Have fun.
Enjoy your time together.
Make memories.

It may not seem like it now ~ but these days will quickly pass.

Happy Summer! 

Thankful for ~
the time spent with my children
the ability to stay home with them
the break in the school routine & schedule
long days of summer

Sin

We all have varying concepts of sin.  Everyone has different ratings of sin ~ as in, this one is worse than that one.  The country seems "hell bent" on excusing various sins, making excuses for them, and catering to them....much to the opposition of a majority of folks. 

If you commit a sin (definition ~ if the Bible calls it a sin....its still a sin), and it affects only you ~ that's between you and the Lord.  If your sin affects others, its a different story.  If you expect everyone to accept your sin, you are asking for too much.  If you are demanding that your sin is not only accepted but legal and are demanding rights to have special exceptions then you are stepping way over the line.  If you are threatening to sue folks over not catering to your sins and demanding that laws need to be changed to give you the privileges to act however you want, wherever you want, whenever you want, however you feel on a certain day, you've reached immorality.

We will all be held accountable for our actions.  The good Lord did not make mistakes when he created each one of us.  He made us in His own image. 

I think we need prayer and Bible back in the schools.  Students of all ages need to learn what morality is and what is right & wrong (no gray areas).  Parents need to tell their kids to grow up and behave.  What used to be an embarrassing topic (pick any topic) is now in the open and we are expected to embrace it and cater to it.  That's just Hogwash.  Everyone needs to behave and keep their sins to themselves instead of parading them around and demanding special privileges. 

And yes, if you were born a guy...go to the mens bathroom (picture of the guy in pants), if you were born a gal....go to the ladies bathroom (picture of the lady in a skirt/dress).  Same for dressing rooms. 

Stepping off the soapbox now!

Thankful for ~
parents who taught me right from wrong
parents who didn't let me get away with everything
friends & neighbors with the same moral values
a strong Christian foundation based on Truth

Farming

We've been planting our garden plots and praying for an abundant harvest.  Our plants/seeds include tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, Brussel sprouts, corn ~ lots of corn, green beans ~ bush and pole, carrots, onions, watermelon, potatoes and more I have probably forgotten. Oh, we planted cantaloupe too and some critter ate all our plants.

The back field is the corn field (mostly).  Greg's had a lot of fun plowing on his tractor and we've got many rows of corn coming up.  I don't know what we will do with all the corn....the chickens will get some of it.  And I should have an abundance of corn stalks to decorate in the fall with. 

We've surrounded our green bean patch with a chicken wire fence and so far we've kept all the plants.  Something kept eating them last year in the lower field.  That patch is moved up to the middle, closer to the house.  Yesterday, James took our old shutters and nailed them together into tepee shape and I planted pole beans around them.  I also filled in the bush bean rows that had gaps with more seeds. 

The grandsons have a love/dislike relationship with the tractor.  Robert (almost 4) loves to ride with his PaPa on the tractor and will grudgingly give up his seat for his brother.  Thomas (2) rides because he has to do what his brother does, but I don't think he is real enthusiastic about it.  Aiden (20 months) will sit there for a picture but he doesn't want to ride and would prefer his PaPa to get down from the tractor also.  Alvin (8 months) doesn't care.  I have fun taking pictures of the boys and their PaPa on the tractor ~ and Greg loves to take them on rides.

PaPa and Robert

PaPa and Aiden

I am very please with my heirloom tomato plants growing from seeds.  They seem to be quite sturdy plants and will be planted in the garden soon ~ they are still residing in pots on my picnic table in the back yard.  They will be awesome on sandwiches, burgers, or just sliced for eating.  The regular tomatoes I am going to use for salsa.

Pole bean supports inside chicken wire fence

Corn ~ lots of corn

Heirloom tomato plants

non heirloom tomatoes and on the far left is squash

Thankful for ~

beautiful green plants

the promise of harvest

the abundance of our blessings

land to plant our gardens

the tractor & tractor PaPa

4 little guys who love to play on the farm

(ok, honestly so far Alvin likes to play in the sunroom, but he is getting there!)

In other inside news ~ the kitchen is progressing and the rest of my cabinets came in this week.  We are picking them up tonight!  Wood cabinets beat blue/white formica cabinets ~ hands down!  Here is a sneak peek!

Isn't is gorgeous?  The cooktop has been added to the "hole"

Gregs pool table is covered in all the cabinet stuff

Finished Gift

Well over a year ago, I started a cross stitch picture for Greg.  I would work on it when he was at work when time permitted.  Then we put our house on the market, Greg retired, and we moved to Georgia.  Since he was at home July - mid November, i never could work on it.  When he started working here, I pulled it back out and started syitching again but only had a small section done by Christmas.  I went ahead and gave him an unfinished peice....mainly so I could work on it at night when we watch tv.  I finished it last Friday!

I found this pattern in a cross stitch magazine that a friend gave me.  It was nice to have a pattern that reflected his tool/woodworking interests.

Thankful for-
Free patterns
Time to stitch
Homemade gifts
Completed projects

Onesie Quilt

Got this onesie quilt idea from a friend in Mississippi

Jennifer saved me all of Aiden's 1st year onesies

This bitty buddy got a onesie quilt for Christmas

When I got the box of onesies from Jennifer, there were 70+ onesies in there!  Sizes from newborn to 12 to 18 months.  The graphics on Newborn onesies are pretty small so I decided to cut a square out of each onesie and sew it to a 9" piece of 100% cotton fabric.  The backing is 9" mint green flannel squares and the batting is 7" squares of Warm & Natural batting.  There are tons of directions for rag quilts and onesie quilts on Pinterest.  Since some of the graphics were small, some squares have 2 or 3 onesie squares.  I machine embroidered his name and birthdate on one square.  I was thrilled with the results and his mommy was too!  Confession ~ it was very hard to cut the first onesie, I guess this since this was my grandsons babyhood I was cutting up.  But after about square 6 or 8....it got a lot easier.  The pictures were taken Saturday ~ this little buddy is on the move constantly and sitting still for a picture with MaMa is not a priority!  He can however be bribed with taking selfies on my cell phone! 

Katie is saving me onesies from her boys and she will get one quilt with a combo of onesies from the 3 boys ~ mainly because I didn't think of doing this till #3 was on the way! 

Thankful for ~
gifts that count
4 little buddies
remembering their babyhood
watching 4 personalities develop
sweet hugs, kisses, and cuddles from all

Amaryllis part 2

#3 is about to open!

beautiful third bloom

#4 opened on Mothers Day!

The Lords creative work!

Thankful for ~

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Flowers of all shapes, sizes and colors

Springtime

Warm weather

Rain for the garden & flowers

Time to enjoy the Lords creativity

Amaryllis

#1 bloom getting ready to open

 The lady we bought the house from had flower pots all over the yard.  Most contained weedy looking treasures.  But 3 pots contained amaryllis bulbs.  This one plant has 4 buds on it, the first one has opened all the way and the second one is almost open.  Many of the flower pots were the cheap plastic ones that you buy plants in & a great many of them were split, or the bottoms had fallen out ~ they went to the trash.  The terra cotta pots and the nice plastic ones we saved and are using.  They left a lot of pots in the basement, so we've had to go through them as well.  The dirt from the pots either got dumped into potty planter or dumped in the garden right before it got tilled up.  I love the springtime!

#1 Saturday morning

#1 Saturday afternoon

huge bloom ~ about the size of a dessert plate

#2 bud is opening

#2 bud this morning

Thankful for ~
the Lords Creativity & vivid colors
found pots with treasures in them
rain for the garden
tomato plants that are thriving