FFF ~ Moving Forward…

Oh so much to be thankful for. It’s nice to link up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share our favorite blessings of the past week.

1. With the help of our DIL’s grandmother we were able to book this space for the rehearsal dinner for Katie and Andrew’s wedding. It really is the right place at the right price for our needs. Yippee!

2. After meeting my DIL and her grandmother at the clubhouse we came home just before the new queen mattress set was brought in by Josh and Dear. Laura and I put all the linens on the bed and then we had lunch with my sister Lana and  BIL Steve joining us. The bedroom is still in transition and once it’s complete I’ll post some before and after photos.

3. On Sunday we had a new sermon series start at church and on Tuesday our Women’s Bible Study resumed.

4. I shocked myself by taking the plunge and finally trying on Mother of the Bride dresses. I picked two dresses and 2 pairs of shoes and I’ll have the girls give me their opinions on which if any of the two I should choose.

So…do you think I should keep the dress that goes with the black shoes or the dress that goes with the silver shoes?

5. Thursday night our small group from church joined other volunteers to cook a meal and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to take downtown to a location under the interstate where meals are served Monday thru Thursday nights to anyone who shows up there. We made a taco rice dish with salads, bread and dessert to serve along with coffee, hot chocolate, water and tea. The taco rice dish stayed nice and hot for the whole duration of serving. We served at least 150 people and they were very appreciative and pleasant. Several young men looked like they could have been my sons…  It was a good time for all of us. The ministry is called The Lord’s Table.

I’m getting a late start this morning. Because we didn’t start serving food till after 8 P.M. last night I got home late and got into bed way later than usual. I was surprised when the phone woke me up at 8:23 A.M. Sheesh! The sun is shining bright with clear skies so we are in for a nice chilly day. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Black & Gold

It’s been a long time since I’ve joined in with Susan’s Tablescape Thursday. This week I have a table set ready to go for some weekend celebrations so I’m joining in.

It was fun to finally be able to use these goblets. They are a shade of green/blue that hasn’t been easy to decorate around. I bought this April Cornell tablecloth at Marshall’s in North Carolina while helping Katie get settled in her military housing. This new cloth works well with the goblets.

The black and gold dishes are from Target holiday line a few years ago. The gold goblets (which are huge) and the blue/green goblets are from Goodwill.

I’m keeping this table set for our Birthday celebrations this coming weekend. I think it is less girly than most of my scapes and our 2 birthday boys can appreciate the setting.

Honoring Our Heritage…

…and since we are on the letter H this week for Alphabe-Thursday I decided to share. Thank you Miss Jenny for keeping us on track.

It’s hard to take a photo of photos especially when they are framed under glass. This grouping of happy photos makes me smile. It was one of those gifts that came together so well. When I saw the photo of my mother and me (photo on top) I remembered I had a similar photo with our daughter Katie (middle photo). Then I remembered I had a similar photo of Dear with his mother (bottom photo). I set out to find the right frame so I could have them all together in one grouping. A family heritage gift for Katie. Hope you are all have a harbor full of  happy thoughts today. I’ll come to hover over your H posts soon…

Winter Sunshine!

I’m so enjoying some winter sunshine we are having today.

Our 2nd session of Bible Study started this morning and it was good to get back. Yesterday it was dry for a lot of the day so I got outside and did some much needed pruning. There still is a lot more pruning to accomplish but I feel good about what did get done. I had to stop when I lost the grip in my hand from cutting up all those branches.

So my siblings and I are looking into sending our parents on a cruise to Alaska. My mom let it out of the bag that she would really like to try a cruise. My dad let it out of the bag that he’d like to see glaciers. We are going back and forth on this. My parents are 88ish and will be 89ish soon. My mom has been using a walker to get around. Have any of you gone on an Alaskan cruise and what are your thoughts? I hear there are lots of mosquitoes in Alaska in the summer. Was that the case on the ship, too, when you reached Alaska? What happens at the ports? Is there good transportation to sights on land? Thank you in advance for your input.

I decided to add here that we are looking at a Charles Stanley Cruise in mid July. It would be right up my parents alley with Christian speakers and singing groups. Kind of like a Christian family camp atmosphere.

Transitions in Mosaics…

We are in transition mode around this old house. One project seems to lead to another.

Although that tower CD holder held all our CD’s it was very hard to find the right CD looking sideways and very difficult for my failing close up reading abilities to read the titles of the CD’s on the bottom of the tower. Since we have room under the hearth we decided to go with these baskets to hold the CD’s. I can pull the baskets out and easily read the titles. Before Katie moved to North Carolina she alphabetized the CD’s in the tower by artist. I kept them that way when I switched them to the baskets.

I first put them in the center together but found out that this area gets warm from the fireplace so I put them on opposite sides. I also re-arranged the floral containers. I’m happy with these changes for now.

Soon I’ll be able to show you the redecorated Guest Room #2. Dear and our son Josh picked up new mattresses on Saturday and Laura and I put the bed linens on the bed. This was the first bed set Dear and I bought ourselves way back in the 70’s. We pulled out Katie’s old metal bunk bed and replaced it with our Queen Anne 4 poster bed. Stay tuned for the whole transition in the near future.

I’m also in process of creating a tablescape. These goblets are an odd shade of green/blue and I haven’t found the right fit for them on a table until yesterday. I’ll come up with the rest of the setting for later in the week.

We had a good productive weekend. Our pastor started a new series of messages today called “Desperate Days”. Judging from today’s message we are going to learn a lot.  Hope you are all doing well.

Linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

A Year of Precious Blessings ~ Hymn

A Year of Precious Blessings

A year of precious blessings
And glorious victories won,
Of earnest work progressing,
Its onward course has run;
To Thee, O God, our refuge,
Whose goodness crowns our days,
Within Thy earthly temple,
We lift our souls in praise;
Within Thy earthly temple,
We lift our souls in praise.

Thou master of assemblies
In mighty power descend,
Behold our glad reunion,
Conduct it to the end;
Inspire our hearts with courage
And deeper love for Thee,
That all, Thy name may honor,
Where’er our field may be,
That all, Thy name may honor,
Where’er our field may be.

O Church of God’s anointed,
March on the world to win,
Lead forth thy ranks by millions
Against the hosts of sin,
Till at His throne in glory,
Where angels prostrate fall,
One hallelujah chorus
Shall crown Him Lord of all,
One hallelujah chorus
Shall crown Him Lord of all.

Words: Fanny Crosby

FFF ~ Back To It!

I’ve been away for awhile but it’s time again to get back to Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. It’s always good to look back and see the good things in your life.

1. It was good to get back to somewhat of a routine.

2. Dear and I rearranged some furniture and are enjoying a “new look”.

3. In the process of rearranging we purged some items that we don’t need and just got in the way. January is a great month to purge. Hopefully I can purge some of those holiday pounds, too.

4. We have enjoyed some wonderful sunrises.

5. Phone conversations with my daughter and daughter in law.

It’s January and for us we are still in celebration mode as both our sons were born in January. We are already looking forward to a birthday meal together. How’s January going for you?

G is for Grumpy!

It’s time for the letter G and time for me to remind myself not to be grumpy and not to grumble. Head on over to Miss Jenny’s to join in with Alphabe-Thursday.

John 6:43 ~  ”Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.

I Corinthians 10:10 ~ “And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel.”

James 5:9 ~ “Don’t grumble against each other brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door.”

I Peter 4:9 ~ “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

Maybe I’ll think ahead to next week and the letter H and be inspired by another Dwarf…Happy! Since we are still on G this week I’m going to concentrate on being grateful instead of grumpy.

The New Look…

…in our Living Room and entry area. Since I’m not showing you before photos you are just going to have to trust me that we moved some pieces around. Katie will be able to tell the difference from North Carolina!

We moved the piano next to the bookcases and under our old mirror.

The piano used to be where that library table with photographs on top is now. That antique white cabinet was not in that corner before. It used to be where this painting is in the area between the kitchen entry and Katie’s room.

As you can see our stuff is a mish mosh of styles and colors. We’ve been talking about staining this cabinet for years and always wondered why Dear’s dad antiqued it white.

We took a big heavy T.V. off this sofa table to Goodwill on Monday. Boy was it hard to get it into the car. I’m pleased to have it gone. It used to sit where the stereo equipment is now. I’m going to work on something to cover up the cords, etc. I can see that we’ll need to lower that painting a bit now that the T.V. is gone.

It would be nice if the white antique cabinet matched the secretary on the other side of the sofa.

Katie’s door is shut because that’s the room we are now working on to convert it into a second guest room. It will be after the wedding that the room will be ready because there are pieces of Katie’s furniture that she and Andrew hope to haul across the country. It is also on the master list to replace all the flooring in this old house. We are planning on wood floors in the entry, hall, and kitchen. We will re- install carpeting in the actual living room area. We’ve learned over the last several years what areas are heavy traffic and dirt areas so that’s where the wood floors will go.

Here’s our decorating downfall secret…we don’t decorate from scratch. I don’t think we’ve ever decorated a room from scratch. We’ve always had “hand me downs” that we’ve worked around. It really is a stretch to call it decorating. But it’s always been comfortable for us. Eclectic or Mama’s old stuff is another label you can put on it. For the record, I’m not complaining, I’m happy in our space. I hope you are comfortable in your space, too.

We are pleased with the changes we’ve made and feel it has really opened up the space.