Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas from me to you. 

Thank you all so much for your wonderful blogs.  I am a steady visitor and I just love being able to visit.  You are all so inspirational.     

I am planning on taking up writing again.  I think the new year will be perfect for new beginnings.

Steve is not doing well.  Each day with him is a blessing.  Rough, but still a blessing.

I wish you all a very wonderful and magical Christmas and may the New Year bring new blessings.

Now, caretaker to one more!

Am I bit touched?  To take on another person?

Yes and no!

I have added myself!  I will now take care of ME! I was to the point I didn't even bother to put on my face in the morning.

Wonderful, super cute clothes, just sat in the closet.  I had my daily jeans and T-shirt. After all it's not like I am going anyplace.

Today it all changes.   Today, I start taking care of me.

Today, I make monogramed napkins.  For ME!

Today, I make special coffee, just for me!

Today, I welcome me

 Excuse me, I must take myself for a walk.

Seeing beauty

Fall is pretty.   I am working on making peace with it.   Fall, welcomes winter,   and that is not my season.

Summer, is my time to shine!  Summer is the play on the water

Goodbye Summer

Hello fall

Once I stopped, thinking of what might be and

Started looking at what is.   I see a new beauty.  Well, new to me.

I am sure some have always spotted the beauty

When you open your eyes and your heart

Beauty is all around.   In this crazy world, take the time each day to find that beauty.

God is saying "I am here, I am with you"

My high school Bible

 I had some pretty big (to me) problems arise. I  was so used to having Hubby, make most of the decisions,  because,  well,  I wanted it that way.

Not, that we didn't discus what we should do.   We always made the big decisions together.

Well, that sure back fired!  I am now left, with making all the decisions and tending to his care.

Thank God, for God. 

I was tossing most of the night, over some decisions.  Pretty big ones.

Then a voice said "remember what Mary wrote in your bible"

Those words, have meant do much to me through the years. 

I calm my mind.  Remember Mary and know, if I put my trust where it belongs, then everything will be alright.

Somethings will just fall into place.

It's not all bad

I do have good news and good things to share.

My first good news is:  

Having the opportunity to  review a new book.  

Homespun Devotions was written by Cheryl E. Smith the owner of the blog 

Biblical Minimalism: An Exciting Announcement!

Every page, every chapter of this book, has held answers to my questions.  

Cheryl writes, as if you were sitting in the same room and she was sharing her experiences of how God is moving in her life.  

Such a good reminder to me, at this time of my life, that God is indeed, in control.

I pray

God, give me the strength, the knowledge and the grace, to carry on.   As the days pass, Steve gets a little weaker, or forgets even more.

One of our daughters, lives three hours away.   That amounts to a six hour round trip. She comes to visit her dad, and he doesn't know who she is.  I know this just breaks her heart. We do the best we can, to tell him and usually it isn't very long and he say's "Oh yes". 

Now, I don't know if that means he really knows, or if he is still covering up the fact that he has no idea.   Sometimes she brings the boys with her, and then he wants me to write out their names.

Tastes and likes have all changed and that is just this past week.  Keeping up with groceries and having the right food,  has become an unwelcome chore.  I am leaning to cook a dish, have it rejected, then I put it in the freezer.  Our freezer is full by the way.

Who know, next week, it might be a favorite.   

The mess on my dresser, held a pink box.  That box came from my sister. That little pink box, holds my angels.

This sums it up!

My life on a dresser.  When I woke this morning and looked at this dressed for the hundredth time, I thought yup!  that's me. 

A mess, a total mess.  It represents all my good intentions.  I really do intend to clean it. I intend to go one step further and stage it.

All those beautiful blogs I visit, showing me just how wonderful life is. Neat and clean an so pretty and peaceful,  all organized.  Oh yes, they assure me, that I too, can all this beauty in my own home.

It's not about stuff, it's about life.  My life is the dresser. A real train wreck!

Going crafty

 With the smoke so thick in the air, it is not a good idea to be outside. 

The flowers get some water and that's about it for time outside.

So, I thought I would do a little crafting.

I like the little fabric pumpkins, so,  here is what I came up with so far.

I am getting all sorts of ideas for fall decorating, although it still seems to early for fall.

Then some towels for gifts

Some bowl cozies

That takes up my inside week!

Problem is, it looks like the smoke isn't going anywhere

for awhile! 

Summer and Fire

We have been so hot and dry.  

some days the temperatures were triple digits.  We are used to hot dry summers, just not that hot.

It kept climbing, climbing until it passed 110.

The worst  Fire broke out.

In the worst of all areas for a fire, 

the sunny slope area is residential,

homes of family and friends were being threatened. 

The homes in this area were saved, thanks to heavy duty fire fighters.

The plane would skim across the river, picking up water

and deliver it to the fire area.

A before and after.

We remain, in red flag warnings.

Dating Ball Jars

Dating Ball Jars, is fun.  I think we have all seen those green ball jars.  Oh the stories those jars could tell.

They, have become so popular to collect, they are now doing reproductions. so how do you know it your jar is truly old? 

Are mine old? how old are they?

after reading this chart, they are indeed old.

The old glass also contains bubbles as the art of making glass was not perfected.

You can spot the imperfections

Also notice the shape of the jars

If you look on the bottom of the jar, you will find a number

this tells where it was made, in case there was trouble 

with the glass, they knew where to look.

This one has a three

so now, you know a little about those jars, that are fun to collect.

My collection, will stay at 2, after all I am downsizing. It really is a collection I could get 'into'

Having a heat wave

High for today  105

That is on the low side, we are predicted  to  reach 116 by Tuesday.  So it is a good time to think about doing some fun machine embroidery.  Alright, a small confession, I still intimidated by that machine. 

what brought all this about to me is:  My grandmother left these:

If you do not know, they are napkin rings.  The two on the ends are plain, but the others have an inscription on them.  They were a gift, probably Christmas, to my Dad, and his sisters, from their grandma.

Each one is inscribed, with Grandma to and the name. 

This made sure that each child, had their own napkin for that week.  Laundry was done once a week, and you kept the same napkin for that week.

So how does that bring about machine embroidery? 

I want to embroider some napkins with

The gathering basket design by JUJU

I just think, that the napkin rings, should be used and what better way to honor those rings and make them special, then to have embroidered napkins.

Tiny Garden

My garden space, is so tiny and I am so thankful to have what I have.  

It is one of the larger spaces.  

So take a tiny walk about with me.

A butterfly even approved.

Love this color

Surprise

I guess even squirrels forget where they leave their stash.

My supertunia vista bubblegum are taking over I wasn't to sure how many to plant so I planted three plants, we will see how big they grow.

Anything sweeter the honeysuckle?  I love this, it covers one ugly area.

The hollyhock, self planted and while I was deciding if it should stay,  it did this.
   

I will save a few more for later.

TA-DA Almost

Well, I tried.  One of my favorite blogs to follow is Everyday Living.  Pam is such a beautiful person and has so much talent for decorating, gardening and all thing beautiful.

I love her flowers arrangements and table decor.  I can't help but wonder why I missed out on that talent.

Then this happened!  Pam posted something I thought I could copy.  I almost succeeded.

First, I will show you my version.

It is flowers in a jar.  I had the jar, I had the flowers so----

 

I messed up, but I learned.  I should have and could have changed the table cloth.

Learning, is what it all about, right??? 

Now, my next one will be better.  

Here is Pam's

Everyday Living 

The day my world changed

Was in February of 2018, we had just finished a run to Wal-Mart and were getting ready to head out and do some thrift store shopping.  We had plans to make a little bbq spot in our tiny backyard space.

We were making a new walk, our son Rod,  has just put in new stair for us.  So, I was on the hunt for backyard treasures when:

I head a horrible sound from the kitchen, and I ran to see what was happening.  Steve was clutching his chest and beginning to fall.  I grabbed him, and at least tried to soften the fall.

He had a stoke!

Ambulance, was called . My son somehow made it from work, even beating the ambulance,  then many days of confusion.  flying him to Seattle and more confusion and it all became a blur.

I learned a new word and live with that word and that word is aphasia.  There are different levels, and some have just one part of aphasia.  Steve, has both receptive meaning what he hears is scrambled.  He just hears you making sounds, that are not forming into words.  At the same time he has expressive, the words coming from him are scrambled. So I have no clue what he is saying.  Over the years, he has been able to speak a few words but, mainly our life revolves around a white board.

Steve, can get the drift of what you are trying to say, if he reads it. He does not write, he can not make letters,  I am pretty good at guessing.

So, I am coming to grips with my new world.  I do have a very short fuse, but even that is getting better.  I am getting back to my sewing and playing in the garden.

It is still paradise, you give your whole life to Christ, not just part of it but all of it.

I did the unthinkable

I can't believe I did that!   I have developed such a short fuse, that one tiny little thing just sent me over the edge.

I think this past year has been hard on a lot of us, but when you are already pretty much a shut in, getting even more isolated sure doesn't help.  Add to that pile on's. Steve, hurt himself, nothing serious, just a pulled muscle, but you would think, the worst had happened, suddenly he developed a limp.  the pulled muscle is in his arm, so I am not sure how it caused a limp.  Add  to that it also changed his voice.  I can't understand him as it is, but the pulled muscle brought on a tiny little whiny voice.

I kept hanging on.  I really thought I was doing pretty good until===

I went to the computer to order some Mexican food Steve wanted.  He thought he could hold a fork, holding a coffee cup was out of the question, but, a fork would  be okay.  As I  put in my order,  with a company I have used for over a year,  it suddenly would not accept my card and asked for another one.  I put in another one, nope!! not good enough.  Now, it wanted me to changed my address.  How would they deliver my food if I changed my address??  What do I change it to? 

                                            Any reasonable person would stop right there.  Call the company, right?  you would calmly ask what was happening. Nope, not me! I lost it, after trying over and over to make it take my card.  Again, why would you do that?

I went straight to Facebook and expressed my frustration. After this, I will never condemn people that do that.  It is temporary insanity, at least I hope it is temporary. 

I have gone back and cleaned up my mess, but as I was once told. If I came to your house and threw garbage all over your floor, even if I cleaned it all up, I still have left a bad impression and I fear I have left a bad impression. I hope the rest of the story will be a good one.  I can say it was brought on by isolating  myself from the world,  but we all know, there was no excuse for bad behavior.

I love the plains

Among other favorite places, the plains are one of my favorite places.  I have many friends, that say it is just a bunch of nothing.   Miles of nothing, I guess they are not looking.

For one. a lot of my food comes from the plains.

Wheat fields are so beautiful, to think a farmer has plowed these fields, seeded and harvested.  Just gives a new meaning to a loaf of bread.

At the fair I always head right to the booth that belongs to the wheat framers wives. They have a cinnamon bun, made from a secret recipe, only the upper wives know this recipe. I always get enough to take home.

Night brings a whole new meaning to sunset.