From One Friend to Another

May 25th, my mom's friend brought her this beautiful red white and blue bouquet... a sweet token of friendship.

Upcycling or Recycling Which Is It?

Some time back I saw a couple of projects made out of old sweaters, and I thought WOW. That person is so creative. I loved the sweater pillows. But I really loved the cable knit bag made from a vintage sweater.

Today I found an entire website devoted to projects made from recycled wool and cashmere. Resweater. I think I am inspired! Inspired I say!!

Upcycled or recycled I don't know the difference. I do know I'm all for reusing things and keeping them out of the land fill. Even sweaters.

Coffee on the Front Porch

As I rolled out of bed this morning I noticed something different about my world. A couple of things were different. Not bad. Just different. My digital photo frame was on and in slideshow mode. That is a good sign the power was out in the night. Oh but it was a great sign to see the frame in slideshow mode... this meant the power was back on!! But the biggest thing that was different in my world was sunshine streaming in the bedroom window. SUNSHINE!!

I made a quick cup of coffee and headed right outside to my front porch to enjoy the beauty of the morning and get a few rays of that rare commodity in my neck of the woods.

Well, this photo of my coffee mug on the front porch rail reminds me of two things I need to add to my current to-do list. I need to switch out all of the Christmas mugs and when that is done and it is a nice warm sunny day, I need to tackle the big job of painting the front porch. Our winter weather has been harsh to the old wood porch rail.

So this is something on my list of 101 things... coffee on the porch as often as I possibly can. I was thrilled to be able to start off my 1001 days in such a positive way... coffee on the front porch! ♥

It has been a beautiful day in the neighborhood! I was so very pleasantly surprised to have some sunshine on this blustery day. Yes. I said blustery. My wind chimes have been music to my ears all day long. We have big pine tree branches out in the middle of our parking area.... far far away from the big pine trees. Blustery. But in the midst of it all we have little moments of sunshine! It warms my soul...

101 Goals

I'm not sure where I first read about the 101 in 1001 days, but I came across it some time ago. I'm just now getting around to making my own list and setting a goal date. I'm going to start tomorrow February 22, 2012 and my goal finish date is November 19, 2014. That gives me 1001 days to complete my list.

I am excited! I have nearly 3 years to complete the things on my list of 101 in 1001 Days. Some of my goals are lofty for me. Not so exciting as some of the lists I read about like doing a zip line in the Congo or traveling to 7 Continents. I don't even want to leave the country! But I do want to take a couple of road trips!

I want to take a photography class. It is something I've thought about for a few years. I figure if I write it down and set a goal with a completion date, I will no doubt get it done. It's my time.

Snowed In

We are basically snowed in. The roads are icy and it continues to snow. The schools closed early today and will be closed tomorrow. We are warm, cozy, and about to snuggle in with hot chocolate and a good movie.

I was browsing through the Amazon movies earlier and found The Blind Side at a great price. I already have The Blind Side on DVD. It's a touching movie, worth watching over and over. At $3.99 it will make a great gift at a great price.

Thought I'd share. I'm off to watch my movie with my children.

Snow Day

We woke up yesterday to snow falling and a skiff of snow on the ground. It snowed all morning and it was so beautiful as everything turned winter white. It warmed up a little and most of the snow in the driveway was melted when we went to bed.

Imagine my joy when I woke up to snow this morning!

Over The River

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I am sure my childhood memories of a wonderful weekend with family has something to do with how I feel about the holiday.

Every other year, we piled into the car and headed over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house. It was actually over the wintery, snow covered mountain pass... It was picture perfect in my mind. When we arrived at Grandma's house, we were greeted with hugs and kisses from the grandparents, and at least a couple of aunts and uncles, and a housefull of cousins.

My grandparents house was not fancy, but it was filled with love. There were 2 big rooms, one was the dine-in kitchen with a wood cook stove. The other big room was the living room with the pot belly stove in the corner. She had 1 tiny bathroom, 3 bedrooms, and a big, back porch room with the old fashioned wringer washing machine, and plenty of space to hang clothes to dry in the winter.

My grandma loved to bake, and she went into over drive when she knew we were coming in for the weekend. She prepared every kind of pie you can imagine. As soon as the car was unloaded we gathered around the old fashion kitchen table for cold fried chicken, potato salad, and at least a dozen pies. Grandma's fried chicken was the best... even cold it was super yummy. My family bought Grandma a new electric stove, but she always cooked on the wood stove. I was convinced her chicken was the best because of that old wood cook stove.

When the family all came home for the holidays, the house was brimming with love, laughter, and people. Us kids slept on the floor. It was like one big slumber party with girls whispering and giggling in the living room while the boys were snoring in the kitchen.

Bright and early in the morning we would wake up to Grandma singing southern gospel in the kitchen...

Everyone pitched in to help prepare for the dinner. The table was extended with a couple of fold away tables with plywood on top and covered by a tablecloth. It was centered in the middle of the kitchen. Chairs were brought in from the storage building, so everyone could sit around the table. Grandma's every day dishes were the gold lusterware. I always thought it was such a pretty table.

Our traditional dinner was fairly basic. Roast turkey, and duck, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, salad, olives, and cranberries. We had ice tea, and the adults had coffee. Grandpa or one of my uncles offered up a prayer of Thanksgiving and then we spent a couple hours around the table visiting, and sharing stories of long ago...

I cherish my memories of simple holidays... it really was about family and giving Thanks to our Lord.