Wednesday Hodgepodge

Well, Spring Break is over and Joyce had so much excitement during her Spring Break and I was quite certain that our questions this week would be all "wedding related" since she is going to be planning one in the months ahead.  But, perhaps she is saving those for another week. ~smile~  But, here we go with this week's questions.........

  1. April 22nd is Earth Day. Are you inspired by nature? In what way? I can't imagine someone not being inspired by nature.  I can look out my windows right now and see the most gorgeous dogwoods, azalea's, green leaves on the trees and green grass. I love it and it is a daily reminder of just what a great and mighty God we serve.  I don't go on nature walks and I don't necessarily get "up close and personal" with nature, but it still inspires me.  I'm most inspired in the spring and fall.  Now, I'm married to a man that would rather be "up close and personal" with nature than eat when he is hungry. ~no joke~

  2. Down to earth, four corners of the earth, move heaven and earth, not have an earthly chance, or salt of the earth...which earthly idiom have you most recently encountered? Explain.
I was talking with Hubby the other night about some folks we had not seen in a while and I referred to them as "salt of the earth."  Of course, that was a supreme compliment because I don't think folks can get much better than that. ~worthy and very good~
 
3. Share one piece of advice you might give a newly engaged couple.
Remember that marriage is a "delicate balance between two people" and keeping that balance takes work and never stop at keeping that balance where it needs to be for your marriage to be the best it can be. 

4. When did you last engage someone to perform a job, task, service, home repair, or improvement? On a scale of 1-10 (ten being the best) how would you rate their work and/or your satisfaction with the job or service provided?
In March I did something stupid on my desktop computer and contracted a most malicious virus.  I was pretty sure that it had destroyed my 18 month old computer.  I called my "computer guru" and in about 4 days he had it up and running.  I would give him a 10 for sure!  He is the calmest man and so reassuring to me since he knows that I tend to panic when something goes wrong with either my desktop or laptop.~big smile~ 
 
5. When did you last find yourself engaged in small talk? Are you awkward or an expert or somewhere in between?
I was at a funeral visitation and it seems that you see folks that you never see except at a time such as this and a whole lot of small talk takes place.  I would rate myself somewhere above average as I feel like I'm pretty good conversationalist be it small talk or deep conversation.  Two things my Dad has always taught me in regards to conversation is: (1) don't make it all about you and (2) God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.  I think I've done fairly well with #1 but just in recent years have I really tried to work on #2 and do more listening.  It's amazing what you can learn! And, my very favorite type of conversation is one on one with some depth.

6.  What was the last historic place you visited?
Tommy and I went to Savannah, Georgia almost two years ago and while we had a good time, it was not near as much fun as Charleston, S.C.  We so enjoyed the history of Charleston and I would go back in a heartbeat!

  7. The world would be a better place if we just followed the
Golden Rule. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here. 
I subscribe to a couple of email devotionals and one of them from yesterday was so powerful.  It was talking about the greatest legacy that we as parents can leave our children is the prayers we pray for them.  The author stated:



Prayer is our highest privilege as a parent. There is nothing we can do that will have a higher return on investment. In fact, the dividends are more than generational. They are eternal. Prayer turns ordinary parents into prophets who shape the destinies of their children, grandchildren and every generation that follows.

I can well remember my youngest brother standing at the bedside of our Mother, who was drawing her last breath, and saying, "Mom, who is going to pray for me everyday now that you are gone?"  
Could there be a higher compliment?  I think not! 
I have prayed for my son and daughter since they were born, then when they married, I began praying for their spouses.  Well, that's not true, I began praying for their "to be spouses" years and years before they married and when they married, I began praying for them as their spouse.  And, when the Grans came along, I added them to my prayers.  But, I have never thought about these prayers being the greatest legacy that I could leave them. ~soul stirring stuff~
 
 

An Easter recap.......

The Monday after Easter, how can that be?  It seems it was just January 1st a few days ago.  Not sure if it's an "age thing" or if time truly is flying by.

We had a good Easter celebration...........

Hanna Beth dyed more Easter eggs with her Mom on Friday.  Her Mom spread out a huge beach towel in the front yard and Hanna Beth worked away painting and decorating eggs.  I thought it was a cleaver idea to do it outside.  It was a beautiful afternoon and I stopped by for a few minutes to watch "the artist at work."

I always fix the Grans a basket and this year I did not use a traditional basket.  Hanna Beth loves Minnie Mouse and I found this basket/box and filled it for her.  The basket on the left is the one she uses to hunt the eggs with at our house.  I have a pink one and a blue one and they stay here for the Grans to use.  Clancy got his basket via the mail this year.  

We had our family Easter celebration on Saturday afternoon.  Our menu consisted of grilled pork tenders, potato casserole, green bean casserole, congealed salad, rolls and lemon ice box cake.  Even if I do say so, it was scrumptious! 

Daddy even enjoyed the fun and continues to feel very good.  Doesn't he look like a "star" in this picture?  He's a mess!

The Easter bunny had dropped by and hid eggs in our backyard for Hanna Beth and she had a good time finding them.  She was extra excited when she figured out that he had left money in the "prize eggs."  It's so much fun viewing through the eyes of a child!

 One of Hubby's iris' was in full bloom for our celebration.  I don't know that I've ever seen one any more beautiful.

We had a wonderful service of worship at church yesterday morning.  Our choir did a cantata that told the Easter story beautifully and I do believe stirred the souls of all who were there.  

It was a beautiful Easter from beginning to end.  And, it looks as though  Spring has fully arrived!  Hip! Hip! Hooray!!!

HELLO Monday!

Linking up with Lisa for Hello Monday..........

 

Hello Easter egg dying fun.......

 I got so excited the other week when I found these plastic eggs that you can actually dye.  They look exactly like real eggs, except you do not have to boil them nor do you have to worry about them breaking. And, they are only $1.97 a dozen!  Sounds really good doesn't it?

Well, Friday night I got everything out so that the Princess could dye the eggs.  I followed the instructions, got all the little egg cups fixed up with the coloring tabs, vinegar and water and we were all set.  Well, guess what a hollow eggs does?  It floats!  It does not sink to the bottom of the little cup.  Hummm.......so decided we were going to have to hold those blessed eggs "down under" until they reached the desired richness of color.  Trouble is, they never reached a richness of color.  They were just pale and pitiful looking. ~or so I thought~  So, I grabbed some food coloring out of the cabinet and began dropping that in the mixture and we finally got a little better results but still not what I was looking for.  But, Hanna Beth had a great time and that was all that mattered!  But, those eggs were just not all they were"cracked up" to be. ~smile~ 

Hello Texas..........

Taken in 2011

Hear ye! Hear ye!  Our daughter and family will be relocating to the Mt. Pleasant, Texas area the first week of June.  Yep! you read that right!  The GPS says that it is exactly 3 1/2 hours from us.  Right now they are in Dodge City, Kansas which is 13 1/2 hours from us.  So, you know we are beside ourselves with excitement.  Our SIL has been promoted with the USDA to this area.  We have never known what it would be like to have them this close and it's so nice to know that if they need us or we need them, we can easily get to each other.  And, there are so many neat towns and cities near Mt. Pleasant and Bridget and I look forward to checking them all out.  We are so thankful that the Lord saw fit to bring this to pass. 

Hello cross............

 It's the week before Easter and hopefully our hearts and minds will be pondering all that Easter means to us as Christians and how differently our lives would be had it not been for the cross.

Friday Fragments

I haven't "fragged" in a while and thought I'd join in today as Mrs. 4444 is celebrating her 300th FF on May 9th.  Goodness, that's a whole lot of fragments isn't it. 

1. Daddy has done better the past 3 weeks than he has done since he was diagnosed with Guillian Barre Syndrome in June, 2011.  He has not mentioned having any pain, he has been content and actually seems to be enjoying life.  This is such an answer to pray because he has just been waiting to die and complained about pain and,over all, very disgruntled.  It brings me so much joy to see this change and I hope and pray that it will last until the day the Lord calls him home.

2. My sweet An attended her first Jr. Sr. Banquet this past weekend and I have no doubt she was the most stunning young lady there.  Her dress was exquisite!  She attended by herself and that was her choice.  She was asked by young men but just did not want a date.  She is 17 years old and as of yet, she has not had a date.  I am quite certain that one day that will change and I can promise you that whoever the guy is that ends up with her one day will be a mighty lucky young man.  She is "all that and a bag of chips." ~grin~  Her Dad and Mom are absolutely two of the hardest working individuals that I have ever met.  They own the nail salon that I've gone to the past 15 years and I claim them as my own.

3.  They say that April showers bring May flowers.  Well, after the rain we had last weekend we should have flowers in every corner and crevice for sure!  As you can see from the pictures we had way more than showers this past weekend.  It was somewhere around 5 inches within a couple of days.  Yes, that is our house you see!

4. Speaking of flowers..........there is evidence of Spring throughout our neighborhood.  The Dogwoods are in full bloom and the azalea's  are beginning to show their faces.  It's always extra beautiful when the Dogwoods and Azalea's are in bloom at the same time.  I'm hoping they both will be in full array for Easter.  It will certainly make for some pretty pictures!

5. My DIL saw this sign at a shop not long ago and snapped a picture of it for me.  She knew it described me to a "T."  And, it likely describes most all Grandmothers. ~big smile~

 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Another Wednesday, another Hodgepodge and that means a whole bunch of various answers.  If you want to enjoy more, just click on the HP button above and read away!

1. April showers bring May flowers, or so the saying goes. When did you last 'shower' attention on someone or have attention 'showered' on you? Did you love it, or did all that attention make you squirm?
Okay, I'm thinking that my showering attention on someone else happened last.  Back in Feb. I pulled together a quick Sunday lunch at a local club for a rather "new" friend of mine because it was her birthday.  She and her husband, in the past year, have moved back to our area to retire.  I thought it would be a way to say, "welcome home" and she truly was thrilled with the lunch and did feel very "showered" with attention on her special day.

I have certainly had my share of "showering" and it always makes me feel very loved.

2. Share a favorite 'spring break' memory. Not talking about just the 'college spring break' thing, but any favorite spring break memory you'd like to share. Keep it family friendly please!
Well, most of my Spring Break memories are from when our children were in school, not when I was in school. I don't ever even remember Spring Breaks when I was in school. ~humm~  But, we pretty much always took vacations of some sort when the children had Spring Break.  We went to Disney World, to see my parents in Virginia, and to the beach a couple of times.  They were all lots and lots of fun and if I had to do it over, I'd enjoy those times even more. They're over much to quickly.

3. It's National Pecan Month...are you a fan? If so, what's your favorite dish that calls for pecans?
Oh, yes, I'm a huge fan!!!  The first thing that came to my mind was Plantation Pound Cake. It is so good it will "make you slap your Pappy."  It not only has oodles of pecans but coconut too.  You can find the recipe here.

4.  'Put all your eggs in one basket', 'egg on your face', 'rotten egg', 'walk on eggshells', or 'a good egg'...which egg-spression could most recently be applied to your own life?
Well, I've spent way too much time thinking on this one, and still haven't thought of an answer.  So, guess I'll move on to #5.
 
5.  In my experience___________________________________.

a person with common sense is often more ahead of "the game" than the intelligent person, without common sense. ~just sayin~

6. What's a  favorite song with the word rain in its title or lyrics?
Rhythm of the Rain by The Cascades.  I'm not sure they ever had another hit,but this one was a big hit and I still love to hear it.

7. What does the word hope mean to you?
Expecting or desiring something to happen.  I cannot imagine living life without hope.

8.  Insert your own random thought here. 
I use the time that I walk on the treadmill each morning to watch movies on my IPad through Netflix.  I just finished watching The Shunning and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is based on the book by Beverly Lewis and was a Hallmark Movie.  There is a sequel to it, The Confession and I plan to start that tomorrow.  It is the story of an Amish girl that finds out she was not born Amish but adopted by an Amish family.  Such an interesting story and had me in tears when it ended.  If you are looking for a good movie, I highly recommend it.  It makes my walking time so, so much more enjoyable!

A Spring Event, Southern Sytle

If you have been reading my blog for very long, you know that I love to blog about Southern events and how we Southern ladies know how to "throw an affair."  It matters not where it is held, we can "make it happen."  This past Thursday evening was another evidence of that.

 I was chairman of the annual ladies Spring Event, at our church,  this year and I had a team of ladies heading up the various aspects of the event.  They are ladies that when they tell you they will do something, they do it.  That's my kind of person!  So, while it was a lot of work, it was much easier done working along side these great ladies.

First off was the table scapes and what better way to welcome Spring than bunnies, all kinds of bunnies!  The tables were just beautiful!

The entrance was lovely as well and made all the ladies feel welcomed as they came in.

One of the men's Sunday School classes worked in the kitchen and served the meal.  The meal was catered but just serving 125 folks is no easy feat and they did it like they knew what they were doing.  Hubby was one of the trusty servers! And, they did all the clean up afterwards. ~can I get some applause~ They don't come any finer than this group of men!

This gal, Sherry Peveto was our guest speaker for the evening.  Sherry has such a wonderful life story. The Lord laid His hand on her from the beginning of her life and continues to use her life story to shine His light into the lives of other women and give them hope. She has just the right amount of seriousness and humor to keep you anxiously awaiting her next words.

It is just amazing  how smoothly an event goes when everyone with an assignment comes through.  These ladies went over and above the "call of duty."

I was privileged to have my Daughter in Love share the evening with me, and

a dear sweet friend that I don't get to see nearly often enough, and

my cute and sassy hair stylist, Amanda.

I would have to say it was truly a night of fun and laughter, good food and inspiration.  What more could one ask for and all for only $10 a ticket! ~smile~

Happy new week!!!!

Lea's Daybook - Friday, April 4th

I'm linking up with Peggy over at The Simple Woman's Daybook.  It's such a neat way to share one's day and I always enjoy doing a daybook. 
 
Outside my window...it is still too dark.  My goodness, I arise between 5:15-5:30 and it is still dark for over an hour longer.  I like to raise the shades and see the sun, but it is a bit delayed.  I don't like it, but not a thing I can do about it. ~shucks~

I am thinking...that I probably could extend my morning get up time until the sun is showing it's face, but.......... I am such an early morning person and I feel so productive in the early hours and I've been getting up early for so long, doubtful I'm going to change.

I am thankful...to see definite signs of Spring around here. I don't think I've ever been as anxious for Spring as I was this year. I'm a Spring and Fall girl and I endure Summer and Winter. ~laugh~

In the kitchen...not too much going on in there this week.  Now, Monday night I did "outdo" myself.  I fixed grilled pork tenders, blackeyed peas, squash and potatoes for our dinner.  Hubby was quite pleased. ~grin~

I am wearing...well, I'm wearing white today for the first time this year.  From what I understand it's just fine to wear white anytime now.  It use to be that you would never want to be seen in white until after Easter and until Labor Day and then NO white.  But, today I'm sportin' white capris and a black top. ~I'll just make up my own fashion rules~ smile!

I am creating...I've not been very creative lately.

I am going...to go do a little browsing today.  Hubby might say I'm going shopping.  But, I'll likely do more browsing than anything.  I just haven't been "to town" in a while and feel the need to "get my fix." I plan to meander through TJ Maxx and Tuesday Morning as I browse.

I am wondering...if the ladies that attended our annual Spring Event last night enjoyed it as much as I did.  It is something that our church's Women's Ministry does each year. We serve dinner and then have an inspirational speaker.  This years was TOPS!  And, I do not say that because I was in charge, but rather because we worked together as a team and it came off without a hitch and our speaker great! It's not often you can say this, but she could have certainly spoken longer but guess she wanted to leave us wanting more and she certainly did. ~sigh~

I am reading...True Spirituality by Chip Ingram. I'm in a small group that is studying this book and it is one of the best books of it's kind that I've ever read.  A profound statement from this week's lesson was:  We are never more like Jesus than when we treat people in a way they do not deserve. Wow, can you imagine what a different world we'd have if we all lived by this.

I am hoping...that several folks I know going through terminal illnesses, grief and such will feel a strong sense  God's sustaining love and comfort as they walk through these dark valleys.

I am looking forward to...the weeks and months ahead.  We have some exciting things coming down the pike.  And, eventually you will know about them. ~such a tease~ sorry!

I am pondering...why the young man that hit the woman (she was in a car) yesterday in front of Hubby's office fled the scene.  I witnessed the whole thing and I'm here to tell you it scared me so badly.  He tore out through my husband's parking lot going about 90mph.  And, the poor lady he hit was left in a daze.  Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt but it certainly rattled me.

A favorite quote for today...I love, love this quote by Robert Frost:
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”

And, there have been times that I have wished it would just stop for a day or two, but I have no doubt that the Lord has some mighty good reasons for allowing it to just go on.  We'd likely never survive if it didn't.

One of my favorite things...think I may have said this before, but it's that first cup of coffee in the morning fresh from my Keurig. Then, me and my coffee spend time with the Lord and for me, there's no better way to start my day.

A few plans for the rest of the week....hummm......not exactly sure, but Hubby and I have not seen God's Not Dead and that is on our list and that may happen this weekend.  Surely the crowds have slimmed down some and we won't have a hard time getting a ticket.

A picture worth sharing.........

Wedding Day, April 8, 1950

April 8th would be my parent's 64th wedding anniversary but they only got to spend 58 years together here on earth.  I think they were such a good looking couple. ~sweet memories~