The Big Trip.

And I'm still recovering... :) We left August 11 to take my sister to Bible school. We left her there. What were we thinking?? :) She is having a blast and (hopefully) doing a little bit of studying as well.  ;) I thought I would share a bit of our trip here with you! (Beware... pictures galore in this post!)

Packed and ready to go! Loaded to the gills!! 

Road Trip!

Dad and Angie discover "Planking"

Supper at Lambert's - Quite the experience!! 

 

(I tried to catch a roll... I missed. but Angie "caught" an awesome picture of my miss.) :)

Fun in the Lambert's photobooth!

We went through Cairo, IL - it's almost a ghost town (although it does have a beautiful library!) :) It was so sad to see this beautiful church as just an empty shell!

Inside:

Finally, Friday night we arrived at my aunt and uncle's home where they had a fresh pot of homemade hot tamales on the stove (family recipe) YUM!!

Playing Cornhole for the first time!

 

(I need practice!!) :) 

A country walk:

Church along the way:

A long walk makes you hungry, right? More hot tamales!!

 

(Suddenly I'm craving hot tamales for some reason...)  :)

Knitting cousins! :) 

Headed into the big city to get Angie to college! 

Unloading in the room...

And that's all I'm sharing for now! To see the finished room, come back on Friday!! :) (It's Finished Object Friday!!) heehee!

A little here, a little there...

As I've been going through my day at home recently, I've been trying to see our home through "fresh" eyes. Trying to catch on to the little things that I can change (without spending $$) to help spruce things up and help make more sense decorative-wise. :)

Last week I started looking around my kitchen. (I've been wanting to spruce up the kitchen for a while.) I took a second look at these plates here:

 

And decided they would look much better over my pantry! (More in proportion to the space.)

Yes, I like that much better!!

When you live in a place and see it every day, sometimes you don't notice the obvious. Taking pictures of your home helps you notice different things that you might like to change (like the stacks of clutter that have been there so long you don't even see them anymore. Oh. That's just me?) ;)  Case in point:

Yes. We've lived here over five years and I just last week noticed that the light over my sink is off center! wow. :)

What I would really like above my sink is a pendant lamp! Maybe one like this:

Source: homedepot.com via Charity on Pinterest

Hopefully soon my kitchen will get a little remodel! Maybe then I'll get a new light! :)

Sunday Blessing

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Refrain:
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain.

from I Need Thee Every Hour
by Annie S. Hawks



It's been a while since I did a Sunday Blessing. I hope you enjoy and each have a blessed Sunday! The flower is from a cotton plant, first time I've seen one close up. :)

Finished Object Friday: A "Prayer Sandwich"

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to teach our Kid's Club kids about the Lord's Prayer. We have been focusing on prayer in Sunday School and teaching them more how to pray.

I got the idea for a prayer sandwich from this children's lesson, and I went from there. I thought why use a piece of bread and index cards when I could make the whole thing interactive. After thinking a bit about what I could use to make a sandwich, I settled on felt. Each "layer" stands for a different part of the prayer. Here's a summary of the lesson:

(Praise) Our Father, which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.

(Yield) Thy Kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth,

As it is in heaven.

(Trust)Give us this day our daily bread.

(Forgive)And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive them that trespass against us.

(Goodness)And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

(Praise)For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

They loved this lesson! They were so excited that they got to each make their own "Prayer Sandwich." 

So, how about you? I can't wait to see what you have been crafting! If you are new to FOF, check out the "welcome" post here. 

 

In my kitchen...

...next to my refridgerator with lots of cute pictures, I have a closet:

in my (newly re-organized) closet I have a mop (because now that it is organized, I have ROOM for my mop!) :)

 

I posted a while back (a couple of years!) about getting a Swiffer. Then I shared the cover I made for it. Unfortunately, I've hardly used my Swiffer. I didn't particularly like the cleaner you have to use with it. So when I saw a magazine(?) advertisement for the new Freedom mop, I was intrigued. I thought I would love using my own cleaner (Mrs. Meyers, anyone?) on my floors. So when I found it for a good price, I bought it:

The good news is, besides being able to use and refill the cleaner, the pad that it comes with is washable. The BETTER news is that the cover I made for my Swiffer fits this just as well!

And because I like the smell of the cleaner (and the actual cleaner!)... and because it is now very handy... I find myself reaching for the Freedom quite often.

What new handy tools have you found around the house? Anyone else tried this mop yet?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PS- None of these companies even know I exists, except for the fact that I am only one of many consumers who bought their product. I didn't even get my rebate into Libman on time. This is not a paid advertisement, just a "public/housewife service announcement!" :)

the end.

My Sister Graduated

 A couple of weeks ago, I shared some cupcake pictures. Now I want to share a bit more of Angie's graduation - specifically, her reception. Angie homeschooled for most of her life, so she was the only graduate in her graduation! This was a really special time for her (and all of us too!) but more practically, the planning all fell on our shoulders. Everything came together beautifully, though! whew! :)

We didn't do much decorating at the church, but we had a blast at the reception!! Angie loves bright colors and we went wild with them! :)

The quilt is special - it is a double wedding ring quilt made for my mom by her "adopted" grandparents. (You know... that special older couple that becomes just like family!) :) Some of the fabrics are probably over 100 years old! And aren't the colors perfect? Oh, and maybe you recognize the chair too!

The cake and cupcakes!

The fondant flowers kindof "wilted" a bit onto the cupcake. I think it looks a little better - more natural - and not quite so crisp.

The graduate!

Family picture:

It hardly seems possible that my baby sister is old enough to be out of high school and headed to college! Maybe some of you older siblings understand. I am 10 years older than Angie (almost to the day!) and I had a big part in caring for her as she grew up.

 

I have been "second" mom a lot - and still am! So I kindof feel a little parental "pride" for her!

We are all so proud of her accomplishments! We are proud of what she has overcome - the Lord has blessed her physically and she is in Remicade remission from Crohn's disease! She is a beautiful young lady who loves God with all her heart!

 

Love you, Fred!! ;)

Finished Object Friday

I love knitting baby things! For one thing, baby things are tiny and so fast to knit. (oops. Now my secret is out!) :) But really, I think it's special for little ones to have something created especially for them.

So when my friend Brittany found out she was having a boy, I started brainstorming - with a little input from her.   (Crazy me forgot to take any pictures of the finished hats....Thank you, Brittany, for sending the pictures!) :)

The blue hat was the first one I made. As you can see, it is just a tad bit big! This was one of my inspiration patterns. It turned out pretty cute otherwise, and I think he will be able to wear it this winter. (Or NEXT winter... *ahem*) But my guage was off and the brim isn't very stretchy - maybe it's just the wrong yarn.I love the pom-poms, though! I bought some pom-pom makers and had a blast making these!

When the first hat didn't turn out quite as good as I wished (and a little too big...) I thought I would make another smaller hat that he could wear now. So I thought. Hmm... yeah. Not so much. I loved this pattern and it was super quick to make. (I'll be using it again!) I love the little knot on top! It did work well with the yarn, I'm just not sure why my baby hats keep turning out so big! Oh. well. :)  (You knitters out there, any ideas on how I can knit an infant hat that actually fits?? If you are on Ravelry, both hats are on my project page.)

Oh, dear! It looks like Weston is missing his Auntie Chari really bad!!

Either that, or he's really hungry. again...

I couldn't resist sharing this one! ;)

Now it's your turn!! What have you all been up to? Link to your project below, and be sure to visit other linkers! :)  To find out what FOF is all about, read about it here. :) 

A Little Shopping

So it's August already. I'm not usually one to complain too much about the weather (after all, what can we do about it?).... but this is going on 40 days of over 100 degrees. I know, you people are thinking, "She lives in Texas. Doesn't she know it's supposed to be HOT in Texas?" ;)  But actually, here in East Texas, we usually don't reach 100 until mid-August, and some years we might have just a day or two of that hot. But this year?

Well, enough about the weather, except to say, I am so absolutely thankful we have air conditioning!

Last week, I shared a unique table that I had purchased. I am planning on redoing the table when I have time. (Believe me, I have been crazy busy the last few weeks!) ;) I have bought supplies, but now I'm just waiting on the time! That trip was so much fun. We weren't planning on antiquing that day... actually headed to a local lake for some cool water time. But this place looked so interesting, we dropped in for a look-see.



I wish I had taken a picture of the outside of the building. It was an old train depot and half was converted into an antique store. Although it was all open air, it was a cloudy day, and not super unbearable in there... I thought you all might enjoy a look around with me! (First, let me say all these photos were taken on my phone, so aren't of the purest quality... please enjoy anyway...) :)

I'm not sure why, but I've been wanting an antique coffee grinder for quite a while. They aren't quite in my budget though!

(and I love the detail on the table behind it!) 

Loved this lamp!


Ok, you know I have a thing for chairs right? Look at the detail on this rocker!!


Can anyone tell me what this chair was used for? I can't figure it out. There were a couple of them. See the hook on the side and the slot in the back? And the top is really wide...


I thought this recipe box was great! Love the shelves to display recipe cards!


Love, love, love this tray!!! (But for that price -$69.00 - I let them keep it!) :)



Since I (obviously) couldn't afford to take home what I admired, I just took a few pictures instead! :) Not everything was overpriced. In fact, compared to many antique shops, some of these prices were rather cheap. So of all the fun things that "got away," at least I have some fun pictures to look at! I hope you enjoyed our little shopping trip! :)