Love to Decorate: One Wreath ~ Three Ways

I found this great wreath at Hobby Lobby at the end of August. I was instantly drawn to it's sparkly simplicity. 

For the two fall wreaths, I used a cream and grey chevron burlap ribbon for the hanger with a natural burlap bow.  

The first occasion that I needed to decorate for was a gender reveal party. I found some sweet, little boy and girl silhouettes on Pinterest and added them to red and teal burlap ribbon. Then I made the "boy or girl" pennant sign and strung it across the middle. 

Once the reveal party was over, it was time for a fall wreath. I really tend to be a "less is more" kind of girl, so I just wrapped a felt leaf garland around the wreath. 

Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is over, it is time for a Christmas wreath. I decided to change the cream, gray and natural hanger ribbon for some gold glitter chevron burlap ribbon. Then I wrapped a red berry garland around the wreath and "voila", all ready to welcome guests for the Christmas holidays!

So there you have it, one wreath, three ways. It is still to be decided if there will be new life for this wreath in the new year. Who knows what will greet guests at our home in 2016. 

Homemade Cornbread

At my house, the way to make sure a meal is a winner is to serve it up with some good, old fashioned, homemade cornbread, just the way Mammaw used to make.  This is the savory cornbread recipe, not a sweet one.  And bonus, it is gluten-free, so the celiac sufferers in our family can eat it, too!  We have cornbread with stew, jambalaya, soup, and lots more.

I am NOT a fan of cooking, so trust me when I tell you this is easy, almost as easy as opening up a box of Jiffy and whipping it up, but SO much better!  Only 6 ingredients  and an iron skillet needed.

1 cup Buttermilk
1 Egg
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1 cup Corn Meal

(I like to save used baking powder cans to keep salt and soda in, because it makes it so much easier to measure out.  And it keeps my cabinet more organized!)

 

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.  Then place your iron skillet on the stove on medium-high with the bottom covered in corn oil.  Let this heat up while mixing the batter.

I am all for using the least amount of dishes/bowls/etc. when I cook, to cut down on clean-up time.  So, I use my quart sized measuring cup to mix the cornbread batter.  First, measure out the cup of buttermilk.  Then add the egg and beat in well.  Next, I stir in the baking powder, salt and soda.  Last, stir in the cornmeal.

By this time, the oil in your iron skillet should be sizzling and your oven heated up.  Pour the batter into the iron skillet.  The hot oil is what gives you the crispy bottom on the cornbread.  Take the skillet off of the stove and place into the oven to bake for 22 minutes.

Serve hot from the oven; good plain, even better with butter!  YUM!

And don't forget, DO NOT wash your iron skillet with soap!

ALL Lives Matter

 

 

ALL LIVES MATTER

 



This is something that has been on my mind for a while now, and I want to follow Paul's words given by the Holy Spirit to the Corinthians and preserved for us today in the Bible.

 

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 says, "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.

Let all that you do be done with love."

 

I want to be brave and stand for LIFE, but I want to do so in a way that is kind and considerate.  This is a big struggle for me.  I never want to avoid God's Truth, but I also don't want to cause anyone to reject His Word because of my presentation.  This means that often, I end up saying nothing, which is not helpful to anyone.  I want to be "speaking the truth in love" as in Ephesians 4:15.

 

A few months ago, driving trough town with my mom, we saw a sign that said "Back the Blue".  We commented on how it is nice that people want to support our law enforcement.  My mom said she thought that it was good to use that phrase instead of the "Blue Lives Matter" phrase.  We agreed that using the "Blue Lives Matter" slogan is being divisive.  It is not just showing support for one group, but choosing to antagonize another group who are using the slogan "Black Lives Matter".  She then said that she wished we could stop having all of these separate groups and just have one big "ALL LIVES MATTER" campaign.  I loved that idea, but didn't really think about it again until last week when I read Benjamin Watson's book, Under Our Skin.

 

Here is an excerpt from page 118:

"Life.  I am in favor of it.  Yes I am pro-life.  And yes, I mean that in its usual sense - that the unborn fetus is a life to be protected.  But I mean that in a different and larger way as well.

If we are in favor of the unborn life within, should we not also be in favor of the lives of people on the streets, in homes, in churches, and in our neighborhoods?  In other neighborhoods?  In the hood?  If we are pro-life, should we not embrace young black lives as much as young white lives, and vice versa?  If we are pro-life, should we not be about protecting life whether it is a fetus or a six-year-old or a teenager..."

 

I wish, no I PRAY that this country would protect all lives!  Especially those lives of precious, tiny, unborn babies who can in no way protect themselves and who are made in the image of God!

 



 

The only way to spread the message that ALL LIVES MATTER is to start telling it to all those around us.  If everyone who believes this would take a stand, I believe that we could make a real difference.  This summer, I came across the Stand for LIFE website.  Their slogan is "Choosing Life, One Story At A Time".

Here is their Mission Statement, from their website:

#StandforLIFE is a Christian non-profit platform that exists to unite those who believe in choosing life through social media story-telling. Our goals are to redirect the conversation of abortion into one of grace and inspire others to transform their convictions into service.

The Stand for LIFE organization has a "LIFE filter" that allows users to show in a graphic way that we support LIFE on our social media pages.  I love it!

 

 

While Benjamin Watson's book is not about ending abortion in America, it does cause readers to stop and think about how we should be valuing ALL lives.  He also sells shirts that have a very positive message:

TRUTH > trend

The trend in this country over the past 50 years has led to millions of babies being killed every year.  We need to tell people the TRUTH about this!  God's Word is TRUTH and we need to spread this message.

Psalm 119:160 says "The entirety of Your word is truth,

And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever."

 

Happy Garage

When I was growing up, my parents always had a neat and clean two-car garage, where they parked BOTH vehicles.  They never made a big deal out of this, but being the organization-lover that I am, I noticed.  I also noticed when we would pass by houses with two-car garages packed full of stuff;  so full that only one car could park, or even no room for cars.  I always wondered why "those people" had so much stuff and couldn't clean it out to park their cars.

Well.....I married one of "those people"!  Here he is hard at work on one of his many projects, (probably something for ME). 
 

 

 

 

 

Where else is he supposed to work, he has no shop.

 

He does try to keep me happy by neatly stacking things to the side between projects, so that I can always park in the garage.  And he even built a wall full of shelves to please my need to organize.  Here is a picture of my "Pinspiration":

 

But he said that he was not "pinterested" in that, so here is what I got. 

 

 

To help me have a happy place in the garage, my sweet husband built a special nook for me.  I just painted it and finished organizing some of the kids shoes and soccer things.  I like to think of it as a sort of mud-room space in the garage.  I now feel so happy when I park in the garage and see this!



 

 

Every garage needs a happy place!

 

 

 



My Secret Garden

Our house has a funny little fenced area along the side of the garage up to the master bathroom window.  For years, I have wanted to do something to make this area look pretty. After all, I do have to see it out of the bathroom window EVERY day!   I finally drew up a plan to show my husband and the plan did not involve him having to do much work.  His favorite kind of plan!  Usually my ideas of what "we" need to do involve A LOT of work on his part.

 

 

First, I had to clean out all of the weeds that had taken over the side-yard.  This took quite a bit of sweat, elbow grease, raking the dirt to get it more level, and some help from my adorable little helpers.  Next, a trip to Lowe's with my favorite handy-man!  Getting the stones to border my flower beds was one of the small jobs that I needed some husband help with; he's the one who drives the pick-up after all.  I used a tape measure to measure exactly where I needed to outline the flower beds, using my nifty little graph drawing, and had another helper to set the stones.

 



After setting the stones, I used eight bags of potting soil to fill the beds.  Then I was ready for my plants.  One bed has a Lavender plant, flanked by two Mexican Heather plants. Another has two Rosemary plants.  In the three remaining beds, I planted two each of Peppermint, Marjoram and Spearmint plants.

 

At this point, I had run out of the money that I saved for my project, so I had to wait a couple of months to add the rocks to the path.  During this time, we received an unusual amount of rainfall.  The Marjoram and Spearmint have really thrived, but the rest of the plants were not as happy with all of the rain.  Rosemary, especially, does not need to be so wet! 

 

 

I had one more job that I had to have my husband and his truck help with;  getting a half-yard of river rock to line my pathway.  We were finally able to finish my "Secret Garden" this past weekend.  I added a Basil plant and a Parsley plant to a couple of pots that had previously been home to the last of my Pansies.  It finally got too hot for the Pansies to survive.



I am so happy with how this project turned out and it was exciting to finish a project with very little help from my husband!

Most Thoughtful Husband Ever

Yes, I know many may disagree, and I hope you do.  Every married woman ought to feel that her husband is the best, sweetest, most thoughtful husband ever!  But today, I am going to award that honor to my husband.

To back up to the beginning, I NEVER pay full price for purses.  I like to find "like new" or "new with tags" deals on EBAY.  I recently was searching for a new bag for an upcoming trip and found the PERFECT bag on EBAY.  However, when I decided to actually push the Buy It Now button, it was sold.  To make matters worse, as usual, I picked something that could not be found anywhere else.  I told my sad tale to my husband and went on with life.

The next day, to my surprise, husband says, "I found your bag on Craigslist in San Francisco." 

WHAT?!?!?!?  How did he even know what bag I was talking about?  Come to find out, he looked at my EBAY search history, found the bag on Craigslist and made a deal with the owner to ship it to me.

So, I have awarded my husband the Most Thoughtful Husband Ever award!

Love To Decorate ~ Lamp Shades

I love lamps and cool lamp shades.  I like for all of my lamps to "match" the room that they are in, but I DO NOT want to have all matching lamps, like the sets that you can purchase of like lamps in varying sizes.  While there are times that I will have matching lamps, such as on either end of a sofa table, a buffet or a mantle, for the most part I like to have an eclectic set of lamps.

 

I recently found a lamp base at a resale shop that I really liked.  It is black and was the right height for the table that I wanted to use, but it came with no lamp shade.  I looked all over for something that I really liked and found nothing. 

 

Finally,  I found shade in a size and shape that I liked in a natural fabric and I decided to decorate it myself.  I used a black Sharpie marker and wrote part of 1 Corinthians 13, the passage about Love.

 

1 Corinthians 13 New King James Version (NKJV)

 

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.

⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

 



 

 

 

I am very happy with the way the lamp turned out!  I was able to write all that I wanted to on the lamp shade with no mistakes.  I'm not sure what I would have done if I messed up!  I just went very slowly and kept double checking my work.

 

Here is a picture of the other lamps in my living room.  There are two of the small turquoise lamps above the fireplace, on either side of the shelves.

 

 

 

So, the next time you are looking for "the perfect lamp", remember that you can decorate a shade any way that you want with nothing more than a Sharpie!