Category Archives: Meme

Friday’s Feast #13 ~

Appetizer
When was the last time you received a surprise in the mail, and what was it?

 I  got a late Christmas gift in the mail of the new ESV Literary Study Bible.

Soup
If you could have a summer and/or winter home, where would you want it to be?

Interesting question because my hubby and I without any master planning on our own part do have two homes right now. We have our family home that we love to spend definite seasons in Washington State and now surprise to us we have a lovely little condo in Southern California because “Dear’s” job is located here right now.  We have seasons whenever we want in the great Northwest and summer most every day in our condo in Southern California.  The hard thing is being divided and paying two mortgages. We are waiting and trusting on the Lord to make us content wherever we are until the day we are finally in the best place…heaven!

Salad
Pick one: pineapple, orange, banana, apple, cherry.

Oh my this is hard. I love all these fruits. I love them all together. But I’m suppose to choose one so I’ll choose the versatile banana that is available all year long for about the same price!

Main Course
Describe the nicest piece of clothing that you own.

Whoa! I don’t own many fine pieces of clothing. These days I prefer to shop second hand and I hate to spend full price for anything. I have some nice pieces of clothing (great labels) that I have bought at Goodwill. The most versatile nice practical piece of clothing that I own right now that I did not buy at Goodwill is a great Gortex raincoat that keeps me dry in the great Northwest rain or the Great Britain rain! I bought that coat at REI!

Dessert
If you could forget one whole day from your life, which day would you choose to wipe from your memory?

Wow just one? There are so many from my junior high days. Then there are those from High school. Ugh those early days of dating. Yuck all those mistakes in early marriage and early parenthood. Sorry there is not one day that stands out from all the rest. Thanks be to God that He has mercy on me and that I can leave these days/mistakes behind and move forward in mercy and grace!

For more Friday Feast participants click here.

Thankful Thursday ~ A New Beginning!

Lamentations 3: 21-25 ~

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”

I am thankful for a new year, each new day that the Lord extends his love and mercy to me and my loved ones.

I am thankful that He is the faithful one and nothing that I do changes who He is.

I am thankful that He continues to teach me through His Holy Spirit.

I am thankful that He gives me the desire to continue to seek Him and wait for him.

I pray that we all grow in His wisdom and grace this New Year.

For more Thankful Thursday posts head over to Lynn’s who I am thankful to for hosting again!

Fun Monday ~ The Story of Your Home and Road…

We live in a neighborhood in Washington State northeast of the city of Seattle. We are surrounded by new homes. Our home is the original home that was here by itself surrounded by trees and fields. It was part of  a nursery. The owners of this home finally sold all the property around it to a developer who built many homes on small parcels. There used to be a dirt road access to our home from the main busy road. New roads were built when the neighborhood was developed and access to our home is more convoluted.

 

We moved into this house in 1998.

These 4 photos are the road that comes to the back side of our house and then the drive you have to come up to get to the front side of our home.  You could say we are the “sticks out like a sore thumb” house in the neighborhood. One of the major attractions we had to this old house was the detached garage/shop/barn. We have lots of  extra junk and cars (projects and hobbies) that fit in this extra space nicely. Our chain link fence is another thing that is different than all the new wooden fences in the neighborhood!

We’ve made several improvements to this old house but are now reconsidering what we want to do. We have put new siding on 1/3 of the home so the front and one side of the home are different than the back of the house.

This is the front of our house that you can’t see from the street. You can see the new siding we’ve added here. We are now seriously considering the idea of demolishing the house and rebuilding on this property. We have some heating challenges because of how old the house is and the way things were added on over the years. We also have very uneven floors and some flooding issues when we get big storms. We can only make a wild guess as to when the original part of the house was built. We tend to think it was in the ’60’s. But it wouldn’t surprise us if the original little section of the house that’s been added on to over the years is a lot older than that. The last addition that there are county records on shows the ’70’s.

I decided to add this photo taken from the inside of my house looking out my stairwell window. A pretty view of my neighbor’s Maple tree in the late fall (all her leaves land in my yard!) 🙂

Head over to Kitten’s homeschool on Monday to see more Fun Monday participants.

Christmas Tree Treasures ~ 2007

Welcome to Christmas Tree Treasures hosted by Morning Glory at her blog Seeds From My Garden.

This angel is our Christmas tree topper that we’ve used for several years now.

 

We put the lights on the tree first, then come the red glass ornaments (a few dozen) When they are all placed we add all of our one of a kind that we’ve collected over the years. This was last years tree. This years is not up yet! We plan to get a shorter fatter one this year…

 

This was our very first ornament that was given to us as a Wedding Gift. We were married December 6, 1974.

 

The top three ornaments in this collage are the first ornaments for each of our children. 1979 was Josh’s , 1981 was Dan’s and 1986 was Katie’s. The second row in the middle was a very primitive baby Jesus in a 1/2 walnut shell that one of my kids made and I’m sorry to say I don’t know which one.  The camel and Winnie the Pooh are from Josh’s baby stash. The little girls on the bottom right are from Dear’s mother and are a lot older than most of our other ornaments.

These are the handmade ornaments my 3 kids made that make me smile whenever I see them. Katie made the angel, Josh made the star and Dan made the reindeer below.

These photo ornaments are all from the same year.  Josh with the baseball theme, Katie with the Angel theme, and Dan with the Soccer theme.

This is one of my favorite wooden ornaments.

I’m a huge Beatrix Potter fan and I was thrilled to find these Christmas ornaments. Hunca Munca and the Amiable Guinea Pig.

I added this Russian ornament to the tree last year.

My Christmas tree skirt is usually a Christmas tablecloth that I drape around the trunk of the tree.

Thank you Morning Glory for hosting Christmas Tree Treasures. To see more click here.

I’ve also linked to Katabug who is hosting Fun Monday Show me your  Christmas Ornaments version.

Friday’s Feast ~ #12

Appetizer
What was the last game you purchased?

Mexican Train Dominoes ~ We have had many a roaring game around the kitchen table with this great game in Seattle, Orange County, and Dallas Texas. Fun times with friends and cousins and aunts and uncles.

Soup
Name something in which you don’t believe.

I have never believed in Santa Claus. There were years I wished there was a Santa Claus. We do incorporate a fun version of Santa in our festivities and always say that Santa filled the stockings wink wink…

Salad
If you could choose a celebrity to be your boss, who would you pick?

I would choose Ina Garten from Barefoot Contessa to be my boss. Then maybe I could learn some great cooking skills from her and maybe even be at a meal she prepares for her employees…

Main Course
What was a lesson you had to learn the hard way?

That it’s not a good idea to get all worked up at your kids sporting events. I wish I could take back some of the things I said and some of the things I made a fool of myself over…

 

Dessert
Describe your idea of the perfect relaxation room.

Oh it would be a room with bookcases filled with good books, overstuffed chairs with ottomans to sit in and a wonderful fireplace or gas stove with the stereo softly playing my favorite cd’s.

For more Friday Feasts click here.

Photo Hunters ~ RED ~ Oxnard Santa

This is a huge Santa on a street that runs right along the 101 Freeway in Oxnard, California. I’ve seen it for years but was never tempted to stop by until now because I’m blogging and because the Photo Hunters challenge this week is RED! This Santa is behind a locked wrought iron fence and is maintained by local corporate businesses. There’s a large sign with all the corporate sponsors and you can see the shadow of the fence that it is behind in my collage below. There are cut-outs on the fence of reindeer and a S and a C which you’ll see in the collage below, also.

Fellow Photo Hunters! WordPress is sending my comments straight to Spam for some reason. I’ve commented on all your blogs but my comments do not appear. WordPress is working on the problem for me right now. Update: Yippee wordpress solved the problem!

I’m shamelessly recyling this post for Thursday Photo Challenge where the theme is red also. For more Thursday photo challenge click here.

To see more Photo Hunters click here.

 

Friday Feast #11 ~

Appetizer
What is your favorite carnival/amusement park ride?

I really enjoy several rides at Disneyland. My favorites are Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean…

Soup
How do you react in uncomfortable social situations?

I generally try to ease the situation, change the subject. If I can leave the room I will. It depends on what kind of uncomfortable it is. If it too uncomfortable I would flee the situation…

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy discussing deep, philosophical topics?

Oh probably a 5 and that depends on whether the discussion is heated or just an exchange of thoughts…

I do not like mean debates.

Main Course
Did you get a flu shot this year? If not, do you plan to?

No I did not, never have, and I won’t be getting one this year. Maybe next year….

Dessert
Approximately how many hours per week do you spend watching television?

I watch Survivor, Amazing Race, Bones, Numbers and Project Runway so ….5 hours. Oops then there’s Seahawks football and any Soccer game that’s televised at the right time so add 5 more hours. Up to 10 hours!

For more Friday Feasts click here.

Thursday Thirteen #11 ~ Moisiisms

 

Moisi and Nadia (my parents)

My parents aren’t fluent in English. They immigrated to the U.S. in the late 40’s from Iran where they escaped to from Russia. Here are some of the things they say that we get a kick out of…

1. Cellkular Phone~ for Cellular Phone

2. Razorblades ~ for Rollerblades “Lana had bad accident with razorblades”

3. Fire Hydrogen ~ for Fire Hydrant “The fireman is outside checking hydrogens”

4. Pie Alamo ~ for Pie A la Mode

5. Crackpots ~ for Crockpots  “Michelle got 3 Crackpots for wedding”

6. Mackadonian Macaronis ~ for Macadamia Nut Macaroons

7. They lived till they died.

8. He cussing us out!

9. Ah you ben drinkin? ~ for Have you been drinking?

10. Prayzz da Lowrd! ~ for Praise the Lord!

11. Whoorey! ~ for hurry.

12. Grills ~ for girls.

13. Shoezy ~ for shoes.

For more Thursday Thirteen click here.