No Winter Lasts Forever…

…No spring fails to appear.

Our last door wreath had seen better days so we picked this one on our last trip to HomeGoods in Spokane.

Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday we were able to spend time outside clearing some dead growth in several of our planters. We got a very good start but aren’t finished, yet. It was encouraging to see signs of Spring growth in those planters.

Columbines

Daffodils

Rhubarb

 

I changed up my plate hanger with these dishes, Dreamtown Made in England by Johnson Brothers. I have 4 dinner plates. They were a thrift store find.

Soon I’ll be pulling out the Easter bin and changing things up again with lots of Spring accents.

Are you seeing signs of Spring in your corner of the world?

Choices Hodgepodge

It’s Wednesday so that means the Hodgepodge is here with new questions to answer. Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for keeping our brains challenged!

1. Where do you get your news these days? 

We follow more conservative voices. I limit my news intake since they prove themselves to be misleading so much of the time. I get so tired of all the opinions and talk show formats instead of your good ole news like; there was a flood today in such and such city or it’s real hot in Texas today. During this war I get information from our missionary associations that are in the midst helping like FEBC, SGA, and others who are there.

2. It’s National Crab Day…do you like crab meat? What makes you crabby? 

A good Crab Cake is a treat.

Stone faced liars make me crabby.

3. Does freedom mean more choices?

From the Oxford dictionary;

the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

Another definition is; the state of not being in prison. 🙂

So…if we all have freedom there are going to be a lot of choices.

Have you ever felt there were too many choices? Elaborate. 

Some restaurants have way too many choices making it very hard to choose. Then you wonder…can they really do 40 different dishes well?

Seriously though, choices are important in life. We will all live with the choices we make and their consequences.

I’m with Joshua on this one…

Joshua 24:14-15 (ESV)

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

4. Barbara Millicent Roberts was introduced to the world on March 9, 1959…that’s Barbie to most of us. Did you have Barbies as a kid, or did you let your own children play with Barbies?

Madame Alexander Dolls are more my style and it was one of her dolls I bought our daughter for her 1st birthday.

I was 8 years old when Barbie was born. I never owned a Barbie. I can only remember having one doll when I was little. It was small rubber headed one. Nice and chunky and nothing like a Barbie. I was not a big fan or pro Barbie but our daughter had a collection of them. I did not appreciate how hard they were to dress and undress. Oye! Our daughter was gifted a special edition Russian Barbie from her Uncle and Aunt one Christmas. That doll disappeared from our home a few years later when we had a Russian traditional dance troupe visit for a meal. Hmmm…

I still have some of our daughter’s Barbie collection in a bin that I pull out for Grand nieces or other little girls to enjoy when visiting.

What well known Barbara (living or not) would you most like to meet? 

We did know a real life Barbie (named Barbie) that could stand in for Barbie and model those outfits and afford them!

Truth be told I’m not interested in meeting any ‘well known’ Barbara.

5. What are three things you value most in another person? 

A person of integrity who is faithful, honest and dependable.

Someone who is generous with their time, talents and money.

A person who I can belly laugh with. Not a fan of grouches.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of Barbie, I didn’t walk away from this one that was in our local Goodwill store for under $12.00 back in June of 2017. If our granddaughter is ever interested in Barbies, I’ll give this one to her. If not interested I’ll have to offer it up for sale. It wasn’t Barbie that drew my interest. I’m a huge fan of Beatrix Potter and her collection of Tales!

The sticker price on the bottom of the box is $44.00.

The Sisters At it Again!

It’s been a very long while since my sister Lana G.! and I have ventured out together to a Goodwill sale. Last week when she mentioned it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday (which means a day off for some workers and a big sale at Goodwill) and we should go to Goodwill together I agreed.

We put on our serious shopping colors or should I say non-color and headed to the Bellevue Goodwill bright and early. We weren’t the only ones with this idea and shopping carts were at a minimum. I wish I would have taken a photo of the cart we shared. It was overflowing!

Here’s just some of my stash. I also bought several dress shirts for Dear to try on. He kept about 10 of them. Another great find were a nice pair of Naturalizer shoes that didn’t look like they’d ever been worn for $7.00. I’m enjoying wearing them. Those very high heeled Steve Madden shoes are for our daughter Katie to try when she comes to visit. They are fancy dancy and were just $4.00 after the 40% discount that was offered on this day. When I brought home those 6 lavender goblets I found 4 more in my cupboard so I now have 10.

I’m thinking I would be asking for disaster if I tried to wear these…

It is our tradition that the person who spends the most on these shopping sprees has to buy the other person lunch. This was the very first time that I was the winner and I had to buy lunch. The photo at the top of the post is of Lana and me from her I-Pad. We were just about to enjoy our lunch at Essential Baking Company inside the University Bookstore in Bellevue. We had a very good time laughing at ourselves!

Hope your last week of January is starting out well.

Teacup-a-Story ~ Week One

 

March 16 – March 22
Teacup-a-Story ~
Share a picture of your favorite teacup and saucer; describe it and tell it’s history (or make up a story about it’s past). Why is it meaningful to you? This would be a good place to share about the details of your teacup collection if you have one.

 

~

These cups are each special to me for different reasons. The first one was made in Russia. My heritage is Russian and I was happy to find this cup and saucer at Goodwill on one of my shopping trips there. I really enjoy blues in dishes so that’s another reason I like it.
~
The second photo is a tea-cup from the tea set that I bought as a souvenir when I was in England in 1973. I really enjoyed the shape of the Royal Albert china. After we were married we traveled to Canada and were able to add to my original tea set with a dinner service for 12. Besides blue and white I find pink and green very pleasing to my eyes.
~
This next tea cup and saucer are from my MIL’s stash. Her brother gave her a set of dishes in this pattern as a wedding gift. I love the flowers and the history that goes with this sweet cup.
~
The last cup is from a set of dishes that I saw in a model home that we walked through before we bought our home in Ventura, California in 1984. When we moved in to our home the housing development had a model home furniture and accessories sale and I bought the service for 4 for $25.00. I was a happy camper. The pattern is English Chippendale/Johnson Bros./ England.

I never collected tea-cups but I inherited and bought them here and there when one caught my eye. You can visit LaTeaDah and see more Tea-cups with a story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Show & Tell Friday ~ Lincoln’s Devotional

 I found this book at Goodwill this week.

The newly-found book of daily Scriptural messages and inspirational verse in which Abraham Lincoln signed his name – a book he used and cherished, revealing a faith you can share. This copy was copyrighted in 1957.

The devotional portion of this volume contains the entire text of “The Believer’s Daily Treasure; or , Texts of Scripture Arranged for Every Day in the Year,” published in 1852 by the Religious Tract Society of London, England. The material is reprinted as it appears in the copy of the book which Abraham Lincoln owned, and therefore contains the several inconsistencies and typographical errors found in the original edition.

This is a bit blurry

This plate of Lincoln and his Log Cabin was given to us by Dear’s grandmother Nettie. It is from Wayne City, Illinois.

I’m including the July 13th entry from the devotional with no corrections…

13

Communion with God 

 a Source of Joy

There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou has put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. Psalm iv. 6, 7.

Lord, what is life? if spent with thee,
In humble praise and prayer,
How long or short my life may be
I feel no anxious care:
though life depart, my joys shall last,
When life and all its joys are past.

For more Show & Tell Friday click on over to Kelli’s at There’s No Place Like Home

All the photos from this post are being held hostage by Photobucket as of July 2017.