Happy New Year

Praying that the New Year will bring an abundance of God's grace and blessing in your life. May He draw us closer to Himself and may we respond with humbleness and gratitude.

Through Rain, Snow, Hail and Customers Still In Their Pajamas

We live out in the country a bit and as many country folks, our driveway is a little longer than usual. Not terribly long, only about ½ mile long. It keeps us away from the traffic noise, is nice for taking walks and causes a lot more work for my husband in the winter. Our mailbox is of course, down at the main road. Because I don’t really like to shop, I fairly regularly purchase products online. Some are delivered by UPS and some come in the mail. My mom told me long ago that if I wanted to receive “happy mail” I would need to generate it myself. So, that is what I do…generate a little happiness for myself in the form of scrapbooking supplies, books of all kinds, and an occasional Philosophy product.

I have a very sweet mailman that, bless his heart, drives up our driveway to deliver my happiness. He isn’t required to do this. He could leave the little pink slip in my mailbox forcing me to get in my car and drive into town to pick up my package. But for some reason he is kind and has gone far above his duty for several years. Nothing so unusual about this except that he comes in the morning and inevitably I am still in my “casual wear” without makeup, my teeth not brushed and my hair sticking up. The worst part is that I am usually braless!! So I grab a coat or jacket and put on whatever shoes that are available and head out to his car. I have told him on several occasions that I do in fact get dressed and comb my hair daily but he always looks at me like, sure lady whatever you say!


So, the other day he is delivering a package and I am not only dressed in real clothing but because we are just about to leave I have not only makeup on but lipstick, shoes that match my outfit and, I am wearing a bra!! So I proudly head outside, no need for a jacket or a bag over my head and retrieve my package. I thank him as usual but as I turn around I suddenly have the need to announce that I am dressed. I turn around and yell, “WAIT, I’m dressed!” Which, momentarily seemed awkward, but he just smiled and said, very appropriately, “you look nice, you must be going somewhere?” Okay, I wasn’t eliciting a compliment I just really wanted him to know that I wasn’t some kind of lazy good for nothing housewife that sat around watching TV eating bon bon’s. I do other stuff too.

About a week later I look out the kitchen window and there he is with another happiness package and, crap, I’m not dressed. So, once again I throw on a jacket, put on a pair of shoes and head out to his car embarrassed but pretending like I don’t care. He takes one look at me and says, “back to normal huh?” I quietly say “yeah” and head back into the house to watch TV.

Christmas Celebration

We celebrated Christmas with most of our kids {Amber and Garrett could not be with us} at the Clark House in Hayden Lake Idaho. This is our new tradition, starting last year. The house is rich in history and the owner, who is a great storyteller, is glad to share all of the information he has gathered over the years. The house, in it's heyday, was the summer vacation destination for the rich and famous of the Spokane area. And actually, aristocratcs from all over the world vacationed there at one time or another.

This is the second floor landing.

We stayed the night on this floor in one of the 10 rooms with a fireplace and private bath.

We were served a fabulous breakfast the next morning in front

of these windows looking out over the lake.

We have been fortunate both years to dine in this private dining room. A mural of the house during all four seasons is hand-painted on the walls.

The arrangement on the mantel was spectacular!

My family plus Amanda's boyfriend Cody and Aunt Robin.

Cute!

Auntie Amanda giving kisses.

Favorites

These are our favorite Christmas cookies. The recipe comes from my mom and is good either frosted or unfrosted.

Candy Cane Christmas Cookies

2/3 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 tbls molasses

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbls pumpkin pie spice

Mix butter,sugars and molasses. Add egg. Add flour, salt, baking powder and spice. Mix until well blended. Cook on greased cookie sheet for 11 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool.  Frost with pink peppermint frosting and dip into crushed candy canes. {I always double the recipe!}

Christmas At My House

My New BFF {she just doesn't know it yet}

Edie is my new BFF. She doesn't know it yet but I think we are going to be good friends. I know that I am sounding a bit like a stalker but I have to get to know the person whose mind dreams up this kitchen.......

paints this armoire....

and does this amazing makeover on her daughter's bedroom.

Yep, we're going to be great friends!

Pumpkin Rolling Contest

Learning how to do a photo collage has been on my to-do list for months. With the help of Teresa over at bloomingonbainbridge and Picnik I have created my very first one. If I had known how easy it would be I would have done this long ago. Oh well, I can mark it off my list, finally (although I'm sure I have much more to learn, like sizing).  Teresa has such beautiful collages on her blog and all I had to do was ask and she kindly gave me the lowdown on collage making. Okay, so you probably couldn't care less about my photo education progress but I am thrilled! I probably won't be able to sleep tonight :)

I grew a bumper crop of pumpkins this year and as always, there comes a time when I need to get rid of them. I don't look forward to hauling them to the hill near our back yard, even if I'm using the wheelbarrow. This year though I had a brilliant idea! On Thanksgiving Day I told the kids who had gathered at our house for dinner to grab a pumpkin and head over to the hill. They each wrote their name on their pumpkin and then rolled them down the hill. Whoever's pumpkin got to the bottom first was the winner. The kids all thought it was a great idea. Not one of them asked if their was a prize for the winner which I thought was sweet. I got rid of the pumpkins with very little effort and the deer were happy that I finally let them have a feast.

THANKS AGAIN TERESA!

Vintage Noelle

We happen to live near a cute old school that has been turned into a community center. Many of the people living in our area have relatives that attended the school many, many years ago. The school is heated with wood heat (boy did that bring back memories), has a boy and girl indoor-outdoor bathroom and the kitchen faucet is of the pump handle variety....really.. Amanda and I thought it was a great place to have a little Christmas show. We loved the cool blue walls with all the Christmas red. Thanks to all our friends who came out last Friday and supported us.

Peanut's Amazing Adventure

 This is the amazing and true story about a girl and her beloved stuffed blue elephant named Peanut.

This is a photo of my dear friend Claire, myself, and of course, Peanut. I met Claire at our new church about 13 years ago when she was just learning to walk. She aquired Peanut when she was 2 years old and he has been her steady friend ever since.

Claire and her family and Peanut moved away from Spokane several years ago but we keep in touch and Claire and Peanut come and stay with us once a year or so. We always look forward to her visit. Claire is not only beautiful but sweet as candy!

Claire has always taken Peanut with her wherever she goes. He has been on many adventures to Disneyland and Sea World and has even been to Germany. But nothing can compare to his latest adventure!

While Claire is in school each day Peanut waits patiently in the family car for her to return for him. One day, a couple of weeks ago, Peanut accidently fell out of the car and into the high school parking lot where Claire's sister Allie goes to school. No one noticed poor Peanut as they drove off!  That same night Claire woke at midnight in a panic looking for Peanut but he was no where to be found.  After much searching the next day and many phone calls to the school and elsewhere, Claire's mom, Julie, placed an ad in their local paper.

Claire was devestated. She and Peanut have been together for 12 years. She loves Peanut so much that she wants him to be the ,"something blue" at her wedding. Peanut was out there somewhere, afraid and all alone.

About a week after the ad was placed, a man named Don called Claire's home and had some amazing information about Peanut. Don had been working at the high school on the lighting for the play, The King and I. He came out to his car one night and found a stuffed blue elephant sitting on the front of his car. He wasn't sure why it was there but put it in his back window hoping that the person who lost it might see it. So, Peanut rode around with Don for about a week. Don then decided to head to Canada to visit some friends. Peanut went with him. The day before Don was to come home, his car slid on a patch of ice and ended up in a lake. Don managed to get out of the car uninjured but the car sank with all of it's contents. Peanut was now at the bottom of a very cold lake! When Don managed to get back home, a friend had clipped out the add about the lost blue elephant for him. Believing that the elephant that had been riding around with him was indeed Peanut he called his friend in Canada and asked if she would go down to the wrecking yard and see if she could rescue Peanut. The friend agreed and found Peanut wedged under a seat and covered in mud. She took him home, washed him on the gentle cycle and fluffed him up. Peanut had been saved! Don called Claire's mom and told her the unbelievable story and said that his friend would bring Peanut home on Saturday. Peanut is now safe at home with Claire thanks to a few great people that took the time to care. There really are great people out there and a God who cares about every detail of our lives!  You can read the entire story with more details in the Wenatchee World.

Progress

I'm making progress in the powder room. I have almost all four walls covered in patches but not glued down. I tried the gluing as you go method but that didn't work if you wanted to change your mind, which of course I did. So I am taping them up and rearranging until I like what I see and then the glue comes out. This bathroom is hard to photograph because it is so small. Love the tape dispenser and roll of toilet paper in this shot!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy 30th birthday today to my first born daughter Amber! May your 30's bring you much happiness, joy and reward for all your hard work. You mean the world to me.....have a great day!

Washington State Bar swearing in ceremony, November 5th 2009.

Gratefulness

I've been feeling very unbloggy lately. Not, antibloggy just a bit uninterested and I think I know why. A few weeks back our Pastor talked about gratefulness, or the lack of gratefulness actually, and it has really stirred me up. Now, I would not consider myself an ungrateful person. Being thankful is important to me. But lately God has been exposing the depth of my gratefulness and I am finding it to be shallow at best. A small puddle of gratefulness instead of a deep sea.

On a regular basis I thank God for my family and friends of course. I thank him for my home, my car, my cat, and for food and clothing. The regular stuff. I often am grateful and thank Him for a warm bed, my pillow, my chiropractor, a full refrigerator, a full gas tank, hot water. More regular stuff. Or is it? To many people in the world, these are not regular at all! Luxuries, wishes, things only dreamt of.

My husband came home from a breakfast meeting with a friend yesterday and posed this question to me....what if, tomorrow you woke up and had only the things that you thanked God for today. What would you have? Would I be able to smile, talk? Would the sky be blue? Would my husband love me? Would I have a relationship with the Lord?

Gratefulness is not something we can tack on to the end of our list of Christian virtues. It is vital. We cannot worship God without being thankful. It's just not possible. In her book, Choosing Gratitude, Nancy Leigh DeMoss says, "We must choose gratitude, first and foremost because it is the only fitting response to a good and gracious God who has delivered us from our guilt and shame."

It's never too late to become a more grateful person. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of practice. If you would like to be part of a group of people that are each listing one thousand things that they are grateful for click on Ann Voskamp's button below {thanks Sara}.

When thou hast thanked thy God

For every blessing sent,

What time will then remain

For murmurs or lament?

R.C. Trench

Inspiration!

Here is a shot of my perfectly dull powder room! For the life of me I haven't been able to get inspired with the look I want for this little, seldom used room until now! It has wonderful potential...beadboard wainscotting, a lovely chandelier that I purchased at Ballard Design and a unique mirror. It just needs a bit of pep, some energy!

When I saw this wall over at Sara's Art House I knew that I had finally found my inspiration. There is finally hope for this poor little bathroom.

I had planned on just picking out random scrapbook paper from my large stash but was so excited to find this pack from K&Company at Michaels.  I knew I wanted a black damask pattern but wasn't sure what other colors I wanted to include. This color combination along with the different patterns is just what I had in mind.  The only other ingredient to accomplish this project is time!