Welcome Spring!

It is a bit cool today, but still the "feel of Spring" is definitely in the air and in the color of the landscape. I told you that I would be posting pictures very soon, so think today is the day that I will do that. I've been outside snapping photos of God's beautiful work and want to share some of those with you.

I mentioned how sweet hubby and I had placed our gazing balls in the landscape last Sunday afternoon. I think the one called "Mystic" is especially pretty.

Here are just a couple of random shots from our landscape......




The pansies are enjoying
Spring too!




The azaleas are
almost in full bloom.

Rhett and Rosco were enjoying this beautiful spring day as well. They spend most of their time chasing squirrels up the trees. So much fun to watch!

It has taken me way longer than it should to post these pictures, but perhaps I will get faster the more I do it. I sure hope so! If not, there will not be many pictures posted on my blog. :) As with anything, once you get it figured out, it usually goes much quicker. We'll hope that is the case because I do love posting pictures.

A most happy week to all of you!

A Fabulous Friday

Today is Tommy's "Social Security" birthday, in other words, he is 62 today. He probably would not appreciate my "annoucning" that, but he'll likely never know it. :) So, it's our little secret. Alright! I should have cooked his favorite meal for him, but instead, we went to the local Mexican Restaurant that we both enjoy and celebrated his birthday there. We will have a "family celebration" next week-end.

A friend and I went to the Spring Market in Monroe today. It's always fun to see what the various vendors have to offer and to see and chat with friends.

Things are really moving along with the updating process. One of you asked me what I was doing in the updating. I'm having the two upstairs bedrooms painted, new window treatments made and new bedding. We are having an entertainment/gun cabinet built for the upstairs game room and making the other side of the landing area a "sleeping room." I put twin beds there and think it will be something that grandchildren might enjoy in a few years. I changed out the window treatment in those areas as well. The kitchen got a new drape for the French door. The foyer and hallway are getting new wallpaper. We have new den furniture ordered and will take the present couch and club chair upstairs and put it in the game room. Our bedroom is being painted and getting new bedding and window treatments and our bath is getting new wallpaper. Our bedroom has had a gallery of family pictures on the wall for 32 years. That's long enough! I took all of them down, took the pictures out of the frames, stored the pictures (so the kids could throw them away one day :)) and took the frames to the consignment shop. While we have so enjoyed the gallery, it was time for something else to be hung on our walls. Not sure what that will be just yet, but I'm sure I'll find something. We're putting gas logs in the fireplace and a new front porch light fixture. Think that's the majority of what we are doing. I will post pictures when we get finished.

The gals will be back Monday to hang the new wallpaper and the painters will begin the painting Monday. I am hopeful that the next time an updating project is done here that it will be the next owners doing it, NOT me. :)

Our gorgeous spring days have been replaced with dreary, drizzly weather the past couple of days and tomorrow is predicted to be quite cool. Hopefully this will be our last "cool snap." I'm ready for spring, all the time!

In closing I want to mention something out of my devotional yesterday morning. It was about "passion." Passion for Christ, reminding us of the importance of serving Him passionately, following Him passionately, and loving Him passionately. I have been reflecting on that and found that I am lacking. As I come into this Easter season, may I be found growing in my passion for Him.

Blessings galore to each of you!!!

Wednesday Snippets

The folks that have been reading my blog have been so sweet with their compliments and words of encouragement. I appreciate those of you that find my blog interesting and I will do my best not to disappoint you. :) I will always try to have something worth reading.

I have a most favorite blog that I have posted on my blog, but in case you have not noticed it, I will mention it to you. It is My Charming Kids at www.mycharmingkids.blogspot.com Bridget shared the site with me and if you ever want to be inspired, go and check it out. The gal that does the blog refers to herself as McMomma and is a mother of four small children. Her youngest, 4 months old, is very critically ill at this time with a heart condition. She is blogging this very tough journey and it is so inspiring and such a testimony to what a great God we serve and how He provides for our every need and gives us what we need to make it through every circumstance.

I am an American Idol fan and am so excited that there are two really awesome christian guys in the Top 10 this year, Chris Allen and Danny Gokey. How great if one of them could walk away with the title and show the American people what a "real" American Idol should be. My idea of an American Idol and the general population's idea, well, think it's two different things. I will be voting for Chris and Danny!

I'm looking across the room at Rhett and Rosco laying in their beds and wondering what in the world came over to me to allow such. I love these two dogs and swore I would NEVER have dogs inside my house. Well, we should NEVER say NEVER. Now, let me make it real clear, they only have permission to come in the door and go straight to their beds. They DO NOT have "free run" of our house and I feel fairly confident they will NOT! :) But, sweet hubby and I do enjoy them sharing our nights with us.

I have said a lot about things being normal lately and wondering when they would return to normal. Not sure what normal is, but think it's when things are going pretty smoothly. Well, things have been normal feeling the past few days and I am so thankful for that.

I will begin very shortly having more colorful blogs by inserting pictures. I have to keep your interest so you will continue reading my blog. Smile! Smile! So, keep reading!

Thought: We should never settle for less than God's best for our lives!

A Great Start to a New Week

Mondays are always my day to get my week lined out, and I usually stay close to home. If my Monday goes well, usually my whole week goes better. Just another sign of my organized nature, likely to a fault. :)

I met with the gal that is going to hang my wallpaper as a part of my "updating project." We got the paper ordered and she will come the first of next week to "take down the old, and put up the new." Things continue to move along slow but sure.

Dad and I enjoyed coffee and a "sweet treat" this afternoon. This is something I've always enjoyed sharing with Dad and Mom since they moved nearby 9 years ago. Now, it's something that I continue to enjoy with Dad. I've always thought that it was so neat that no matter what was going on in their day, they stopped between 1:30 and 2:00PM and enjoyed a cup of coffee and something sweet to eat. I try to be a part of that "habit" 2-3 times a week. We'd all be better off if we had a part of our day that we set aside to just "be."

I do begin my day by "being" and enjoying a freshly brewed cup of coffee with my Heavenly Father. I read a daily devotion and then spend time in communion with Him. The days that I miss are never the same and I long for that sweet communion with Him the rest of the day.

I have managed to blog for 3 straight days, but don't know that I will blog everyday. I have no plans in that area other than blogging when I feel the desire, if that's everyday, or a few times a week.

May all of you reading this entry have a Happy Week!

A Beautiful Lord's Day

First, let me address something that I stated in yesterday's blog and after I read it a couple of times, I thought it might have not come across as I intended it to. I'm talking about when I stated that "I see it, I like it, I get it." Please know that all of that is hinging on whether or not it meets my budget requirements for this project. So, now that we have that straight, we shall move on........

Secondly, my #1 daughter read my blog and was quite complimentary of it, but did say that I sure did like to use quotation marks. And, she is correct, so I will try to refrain from using them as much as I really want to. I really do like the "little fellas." :)

It has been an absolutely gorgeous Lord's Day and even if I had not attended church, my soul would have been blessed just by observing God's Masterpiece in all of the nature and landscape surrounding me. Sweet hubby and I did some outside projects for a while and enjoyed soaking in all of this beautiful day and watching Rhett and Rosco (our dogs) frolic and play. How anyone could not believe in God is beyond my wildest imagination. Do they think that all of creation just happened?

One of the projects that hubby and I worked on today was putting up our new gazing balls in the flower beds. We usually just have silver ones and this year we got two silver and two called mystic (they are multi-colored). We enjoy seeing the sun reflect off of them and think they make a nice addition to our landscape. We've always bought the inexpensive ones and the glaze would come off by summer's end, so this year we bought ones made of stainless steel and hopefully they will be more weather proof. Now, why I think anyone would be interested in that is beyond me, but perhaps it will motivate you to add a gazing ball to your landscape. :)

Must scoot, I hear some clothes in the dryer calling my name. A most blessed and happy week to all of you "blog readers."

My New Adventure............

Yes, blogging is a "new adventure" for me. I have always enjoyed reading blogs from others, but just recently decided that it was something I might enjoy doing too. My Mom always told me that I needed to journal and I never heeded her advise, but always thought it was a great idea. Blogging seems to be a form of journaling, but perhaps not quite as personal. After all, I certainly would not put some of my hearts deepest thoughts on a blog for the world to read. But, I would likely journal those thoughts and my children would have the joy of reading it one day when I had gone on to be with the Lord. Oh! well, enough of that...........they will just have to be content with my "blogging entries." :)

I am currently involved in an "updating" project here at our house and it can be all consuming at times. In the past month I have picked out fabric, paint and wallpaper for the projects and lined out folks to help me "make it happen." I am a very quick "decision maker" and that serves me well at times like this. I see it, I like it, I get it! It's just that simple. I do not "labor" over it and am usually very happy with my choices in the end. It will likely be another 4-6 weeks before this project is finished and I am having to be very patient as I wait for it to all come together. I really wanted it "done yesterday." :)

This "updating project" has really been very theraputic for me and helped me to deal with all that life has dealt me in recent months. The main thing being the death of my Mom. There's just no one in your life like your Mom and there has been such a void in my life since she has been gone. Moms are the only people in the world that are truly interested in every area of your life and I miss that terribly. And, I think of my dear Dad everyday and how lonely he is and the huge adjustment her death has been for him. I think most of us probably do not think much about the time when we will no longer have our parents, I know I didn't. My Dad is the only parent that Tommy and I have left and I'm so grateful to still have him and hopefully he will be with us many more years. Mom would have loved sharing in my "updating project" and I miss not having her help me with suggestions. She was always so good at thinking of things that I would not have ever considered in a project such as this.

It is a gorgeous spring day and it's the time of year that I love most! Hopefully I will be a "faithful blogger" and you will get so excited about reading my new entries. :)