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.