My Son

I am so proud of my son. He joined the Boy Scouts and is a Tiger Cub!

What a cutie he is.

He is so excited about all of the adventures he is about to have, and all of the awards that come with it. The Tigers earn "belt loops". They get one every time they try their best to do an activity. It is so cute...Stephen has already earned his fishing belt loop and believe me...he wears it with pride!
Last night we had a meeting and he learned the proper way to respectfully dispose of the American Flag.

It was educational for me also. I had never witnessed this process before. If you ever get a chance it is very interesting to watch.

A few of my favorite NON-Blogging sites

I wasn't sure what to do today. I have some things to post, but the pictures are at home on my camera and not on a computer yet....yes I am a bit of a procrastinator. So I thought I would share some web sites I like to visit, that have nothing to do with blogging.

1) http://www.slickdeals.net/
This site has awesome deals that others post. There is also a section called "freebies". I have gotten so many free magazine subscriptions through this site!!! Gotta love the word "free".

2) http://www.picasaweb.com/
I upload a lot of photos to this site. Good storage and compatibility with other programs

3) http://www.picnik.com/
This is a very fun site to edit photos. Many, many of the options are free. This is what I use...even if you decide to pay for it it is only 24.95 a year for premium services.

4) http://www.allrecipes.com/
These recipes are rated on a 1-5 star scale. I have made many, many recipes from this web site. All of them I have made are rated 4 or 5 stars. Not a single one of them has been bad yet!!]


I do have more favs but these are the ones I go to over and over without fail. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

My Very First Award!!!!!!!

OK...I am so tickled pink!!!!!!!! I got my very first blog award! Thank you Halle!!! OK check out this Chicks blog here. It is a very cute blog that I enjoy very much.

Annnnnnnnyyyyyyyway....here is my award:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE (happy squeal)

Now it is my job to pass this onto 6 other blogs...drum roll please...............in no particular order....

1. Or So She Said...a fav of mine

2. The Craft Monkey..very cute crafty ideas

3. Suzy Bloomers...beautiful pictures

4. My Vintage Blamkie...Amy is so sweet and her blog is awesome

5. A Sentimental Journey...very pretty and creative blog

and last... but certainly not least,

6. WVU Chick...great, funny, and from WV!

So ladies...here is your award (take time to bask in the glow!)

As part of receiving the award there is a fun survey. After taking it, pass it onto the recipients you choose.

Here are the rules for the Over the Top Award:

1. You Can Only Use One Word in your survey answers!

2. Pass this along to 6 of your favorite bloggers!

3. Alert them that you have given them this award!!!

4. Have fun!

Here is my survey:

1. Where is your cell phone? - Purse

2. Your hair? - Short

3. Your mother? - Babysitting

4. Your father?- Deceased

5. Your favorite food?- Italian

6. Your dream last night?- naughty

7. Your favorite drink?- Sweet-Tea

8. Your dream/goal?- Wealthy

9. What room are you in? Living

10. Your hobby? - Blogging

11. Your fear? - Snakes

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? - Happy

13. Where were you last night? - Conference

14. Something that you aren't’t? - Cruel

15. Muffins? - Blueberry

16. Wish list item? - Money

17. Where did you grow up? - WV

18. Last thing you did? - travel

19. What are you wearing? - Clothes

20. Your TV? - Grays

21. Your pets? - Dogs

22. Friends? - sweet

23. Your life? - Content

24. Your mood? - happy

25. Missing someone? - yes

26. Vehicle? - Outlander

27. Something you’re not wearing? - Bra

28. Your favorite store? - ACMoore

29. Your favorite color? - Red

30. When was the last time you laughed? - Today

31. Last time you cried? - Today

32. Your best friend? Husband

33. One place that I go to over and over? Work

34. One person who emails me regularly? Mom

35. Favorite place to eat? Home

Home Improvement

After seeing all of the absolutely wonderful fix-ups and repairs so many bloggers have done, I have been inspired to do some of my own:

So we made a outdoor stove and grill area...

....made some new shelves for our frigerator...

...got the mail box in working order...

...and finally fixed the pesky step we have been tripping over.

OK....close your mouths...hehehe. These are pictures from http://www.thereifixedit.com/!

I thought we could use a little humor today. Have a great Thursday!!

Mission Baskets

Thanks to everyone for their prayers this week! My father-in-law did well yesterday and is recovering as expected. When he went to surgery they thought he needed 4 grafts to his heart. He ended up with 6! Please continue to pray for his recovery. I am sure he is quit sore this morning.

I think I have mentioned one of the mission events our church participates in called C.O.M.E (celebration of mission events). This year we made two baskets for the silent auction. It is always fun to collect the items and get them gathered up into a basket.

Basket number 1...

...and basket number 2

quick one today

Friendship

Anyone with a heart full of friendship has a hard time finding enemies.

I really liked this saying and it fits today very well for me. I have realized how many caring people there are out there. My Father-in-law is in surgery having open heart surgery right now. I have received so many well wishes and prayers for him it is overwhelming. I want to thank everyone that is praying for him. Prayer makes all the difference in the world! God Bless each of you today and every day.

Patio

We recently were invited to a covered dish picnic. The host had a beautiful 2 tier patio with such pretty lights, a waterfall and birdhouses. I loved their patio so much I wanted to share it with you:

Notice that there is actually a bird nest in this house?

Love this stepping stone...Good ole' West Virginia!

The waterfall starts toward the top of the hill by the storage house. The owners did this work by themselves!

As evening approached, the lights came on and a fire was started in the fireplace. It was so relaxing and pretty.

The last picture was taken standing on the lower level looking up. This is my dream for my back yard...LOVE IT!!

Window

I wasn't sure what I was going to post today, if anything. My father-in-law just found out he has to have quadruple bypass surgery Tuesday. We were all surprised by this. So before I start talking about my project, I would like to ask for prayers for him during this time. God is good and we are putting our trust in him.

OK...enough of the seriousness! Today I was inspired by Heidi of at The Craft Monkey. Check out her blog on her kitchen window calender...very neat idea! My first (and only so far) window I did was a primitive patriotic theme. I have always loved these old windows decorated...so here is mine...

...and here it is in my living room...before the painting of the walls.

Probably no post tomorrow...we will be traveling to see my father-in-law...please keep us in your prayers.

My Birthday

Today is my birthday! I thought I would celebrate it with all of you and share some birthday cake.

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. I am going to enjoy the trip!!

With the weather cooling off, I realize I miss doing needle point. Looking for cute pictures, sayings, and designs is fun. I just started doing this in 2007.

This was my very first pillow. I still have it and always keep it out somewhere in my home. I since have completed about 4 other pillows...but "simplify" holds a special place in my heart.

The "friends" pillow I made for some very special friends. This is the only pillow I have ever made and gave away. I still smile when I see a picture of it.

"Live Well" is a pillow that reminds me of winter, hot cocoa, and blankets. It was so cold while I was working on it. I always had a hot drink and a blanket on my legs while working.

My Monday

My day started at 4AM today with a little pat, pat, pat on my back. I open my eyes (begrudgingly) and there stands my little boy with tears in his eyes. "Mommy, I don't feel good". So I am up out of the bed before he finishes the sentence, going into Mommy, nurse mode. He had a fever of 101 and threw up immediately after taking his Tylenol. After settling into our bed, he did go back to sleep. Poor little guy. So today he is not as warm, 99.1 last check, but he is laying around today (this is NOT what my little guy does).

I took advantage of being home today to dress a shelf that separates our living room and kitchen. This is the area before....

...this is the shelf after, with a few of my favorite things. Now, next I need to get some things on the walls.

Then I decided to make some zucchini bread before I had to throw another zucchini out! So I gathered all of my supplies....

...got it all mixed up...

..poured it into the pans....

..and an hour later...yummy hot zucchini bread!

Now I need to get busy in my craft room. We put EVERYTHING into it when we were remodeling the living/dining rooms. I will post the before and after pictures one day.

Bathroom redo

Today I am going to take you on a tour of our small bathroom. This was one of our first redos. For some reason I did not take any before pictures...I know...what was I thinking? This is the sign on the door. I loved it when I saw it. It is iron and is very heavy and primitive looking.

This picture is from me standing in the tub and looking out into the hall. Don't ya love the wall color? Ken (my husband) picked it out and we both love it.

So, really no explanation needed for this one...tis the throne. Check out the little basket on the wall above it. This is where I keep the wash clothes. The toilet paper holder I picked up on and Amish shopping trip.

Across from the potty is where I keep the towels, on top an old crock in a basket. Of course there is a little magazine selection...even my little man likes to read in there. Notice the wainscoting along the wall...it was actually flooring that we got for sale cheap because the store was closing it out. There wasn't enough to actually do a floor, so it became our wall.

My cabinets are one of my favorite things in the bath. This is the only room I have ever decorated and actually liked it. Now if I could continue this one through out the rest of the house I'd be happy.

And finally the shower curtain. Believe it or not this was the hardest thing to pick out. We looked at so many curtains before choosing this one. The only other one I really, really liked, was in the Amish Country and it was 75.00. I could not bring myself to pay that much for a shower curtain, even though it was beautiful...still...

So that is my little bath. Hope you enjoyed the tour. Let me hear what you think...my feelings won't be hurt if you don't care for it.

Thought of the Day

Filled With Treasures

All human beings have a place inside which is filled with treasures; be still and you will find it.