Working hard and thinking hard here!!

*

Happy Tuesday Lovlies,

*

Hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday!

*

I have been working all morning on guess what???

Remember that dinnerware we looked for ages to find

(above photo) that I got for Anniversary & Christmas.

*

Well,  I finally got a chance to unpack those babies

today,  and you know what I heard the bowl say

to the cup, " Oh my heavens,  I did not think we

were ever gonna get out of that dark, depressing,

 uncomfortable box and finally be used for what

we were created to do."

*

I just continued to unpack them and pretended

not to hear.  As I unpacked the a plate I heard the

plate say, " She is unpacking me first, after all,  I am

 the most important of the set,  after all I serve

 the main dish or entree.

*

Then the cup said," yea, right!  I am the most important,

 because people can not go without liquids, even if they

are hot, and they could drink water from me if they wanted.

*

 Then the bowl piped up and said in desperation " yes,

 but I serve salad and soup,  and we all know that vegetables

 are the most  important thing for their health".

*

Feeling a bit jealous and vulnerable the salad/dessert

plate said well, " I have 4 purposes so I must truly

be the most important of all,  because I can

serve salad, appetizers,  bread and best

and most fun of all desserts! And we all know

how much humans lovvvvvvve desserts!"

*

The bowl then said,  "you know what, this is getting

us no where,  we are all different,  and we all have

different uses and personalities,  but really, I don't see

where what I do, is any better than what you do,

it is just different".

*

 The cup then, chimed in, and said

 "I think he is right,  we  do need to learn to appreciate

 our differences and the different purposes, talents,  and

personalities that we were given by our creator".

*

Then the plate said " I see what he means, and I am

 embarrassed I ever started this foolish talk.

 I think we should do our best to work together to set

 a lovely table and to serve  this family with all we have.

 Working together we will bring much

joy to this family, and much joy to our creator."

*

"Wow", said the salad/dessert plate, "you are

so right, I kind of got carried away too, but I

really think that our creator would  want us to appreciate

our differences and  work together just like she said ,

because, after all, he poured a lot of love, thought and

 work into creating us."

"You know what,  I think our creator thinks we are all

 pretty special and important,  what do you think???"

said, the bowl.

*

As I was putting them away,  I heard them all agree,

and they lived happily

Ever After!!

*

Well Friends.................that is not exactly the way

I thought that story was gonna go,  because as I

was unpacking the dishes I got another analogy

from it,  but when I started writing, this is what

came.  Maybe I will tell you the other story

tomorrow, if I don't lose it overnight!! lol

*

I am happy to say my dishes are all put away

but I did want to show you the beautiful

glasses my Dee bought me for Christmas.

I just love them!

*

*

They are scalloped around the bottom.  Believe it or not

we found these at Target.  I just love the shape of them too.

*

*

I love the beading down the side as well.  I was

thinking I wanted some colored glasses at first,

but these are just so perfect for the dishes.

*

*

These weren't destined for the china hutch because I keep

my china that we got as a wedding present from Jim's

parents in there,  but I just cleared a spot to try and

get a nice shot of the glasses,  but I don't know.........

they look pretty nice in there,  so now I am back

to thinking again.....................

Oh My,  here we go again!! lol

888888888888888888888888888888888888

*

Last but certainly not least, is the Bestowal

of the "Sunshine Award" on my well

thought out friends!!

*

*

Now............You might want to shoot me,  but I

decided not to do them all today because I wanted to

 write something nice about each one,  then that way, when

 they come over to cut and paste their "Blog Award Button"

they can copy and paste that as well, into there

blog post rather than have it  in their

comments section.

*

I chose according to when they and  their blog

 came into my life,  because some of them I have

 known for a long time,  but they weren't blogging then!!

*

Anyway, my first one is

Becky over at Holiday in the Sun

http://holidayinthesun-becky.blogspot.com

*

I know, I know,  you are an award free

blog,  but I just can't leave you out.  You

aren't under any obligation to do anything

but receive it.  Becky's blog is just a delight,

 just like her!!

She brings and spreads joy to everyone

she knows,  and she is such an encouragement

 to me personally, and I know an encouragement

to everyone who reads her blog.

 We have been friends for years, in fact, I

really don't know how many years we have

known each other,  do you???  It has been

a long time tho!!

Becky tries to always have a great perspective

on life and to see the bright side of things,

and she encourages us to spread love and

joy wherever we go!!

Cudos my friend,  you are truly a ray

of Sunshine in my life.

She  also encouraged me to start

a blog and after hearing a lot

about hers I decided to go for it!

.Keep up the good work and hope

to see you blogging more in the

New year!!

My # 2 pick

Is Linnea from over at Neabear

http://neabear.blogspot.com

I met Linnea thru Becky.  She came by

to welcome me to to blogland and just kept

coming.  Linnea is a sweetheart and has

given me many good blogging tips that

were so helpful, and she was my first follower

 I did not know. So she is very special to me!

  She has a fun blog

with lots of pretty pictures especially

flowers which I love and she also

has a craft blog as well.  If you go

to the one above you can find your

way over to the craft blog as well.

Linnea,  thanks so much for your

 friendship,  help, and

support.  I have missed you

as of late!  Congrats to you!!

*

My #3 Pick

is

Bonnie over at one designing woman

http://bonsblogbydesign.blogspot.com

*

Bonnie I met thru Becky as well,  she came

over to welcome me,   and has stayed

with me too.  She and I have discovered we

have so much in common,  we both love

decorating and pretty things,

  we think alike, we have some similiar life

 experiences, we both agree that keeping

a thankful heart is a key to joy!

Bonnie is full of joy and thankfulness

and bring lots of joy to her readers

as well.  She is also very witty and

many times when I am reading her

blog,  I will just be sitting there dying

laughing and have to read it to hubby.

Thanks for the fun and encouraging

spirit that you bring to my world.

You are a true sister!!

Good going, and keep it up!

*

My  #4 pick

is

Heather over at family forever

http://mrstuxtattoo.blogspot.com

*

I don't really know how Heather came to

meet me.  If you remember Heather let me

know??  It might have been from Becky

as well.  At any rate,  Heather has been

with me almost as long as Bonnie.

Heather came on board about the time

my son was getting ready for his Appalachian

Trail adventure and she was so interested

in it all,  which so made it fun for me.

Heather's blog is fun and interesting and

she shares a lot about her escapades with

her darling lil girl Ella,  who is such a cutie.

Heather's blog shows forth so much love

of family and friends, and her commitment

to that lifestyle.  Wonderful job you are

doing Heather. Persevere on!!

*

Well folks since this blog is a mile long

now, think I had better quit there and

I will give you some more tomorrow.

*

Congratulations to you All!

This has been so much fun for me

giving you guys the awards.

It is amazing the bond I feel with

each of you!

*

Also,  don't forget to cut and paste

the Award button to your blog,

and what I said about you as well,

if you desire!

*

See you tomorrow friends,

Love and Blessings,

Nellie

*

Happy Monday Sweet Friends,

*

I hope this Monday find you well rested

and refreshed after your weekend.

*

Did you get some time with family and/or friends??

Did you have any fun??  Did you have any good food??

Did you get to do something that nurtured your soul??

*

I sure hope so!!  These are the things of which

life is made and that makes life good!

*

I had something very nice and very unexpected

happen to me this weekend.

*

I have seen it occassionally as I have blogged

but usually it is on blogs where there are a ton

of followers or they have sponsers!

of which I have neither!!

*

I was graciously awarded the "Sunshine Award"

Thanks to Wanda Lee over @ The Plumed Pen,

or Silken Purse.

*

  Wanda is a fun blogger friend from

Canada,  and she does the most Wonderful

and Beautiful watercolor paintings.  I really love

them! She is a very talented lady.

You should go over and visit her,  but I do think

she is gonna be taking a bloggy break so she

can rest and paint,  but check it out anyway

go to http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/ or

http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/

In fact her header picture is one of her paintings.

Gorgeous I might add!

*

Thank you from the bottom of my heart

Wanda.  I am truly honored and thrilled,

both at the same time. Thank you for

thinking of me.

*

 From what I understand the Sunshine Award

 is presented to a blogger for their

 positiveness and creativity.

*

I am even more thrilled by the reason.

It is my goal to be a positve, uplifting and

encouraging person to those I come in

contact with,  so this was quite a nice

affirmation.  For that I thank you too

Wanda, it is always a wonderful thing

to get encouragement and affirmation.

*

Anyway I will proudly display my

Sunshine Award button.

*

*

Then I am told I am to pick 12 other bloggers

of which I am to pass on this Sweet Encouraging

Award!  So I am in the process of thinking and

choosing,  so come back tomorrow and I will

tell you who they are! 

*

This is the part I am not sure I like...........

cause I feel everyone does a neat job on their

blogs,  and some have special bents and some

have special goals,  and some are just purely

for fun,  and some are about food, and some

are about decorating,  but they are all unique

in their own right,  and Wonderful.

*

I am truly amazed  and encouraged almost daily

by the creativity I see evoked from so many dear

ladies.  Your are all amazing and I really love

what you are doing!! and so enjoy your blogs

and your friendship thru comments and

written communications,  it is just like having

pen pals thru letter writing really.

When I was a kid I always had mail

cause I had a ton of pen pals,  but this

is even better cause you get to see pics

of families, homes, creations and more.

  So it is hard to pick!!

*

Well, better get moving,  my sheets are

about to come out of the dryer,  so I

can change our bed linens!

Nothing like nice clean sheets on your

bed,  another one of those things I

just love love love!

*

Now tell me............ when you were a kid

did you ever jump under the sheets when

your mom was making up the bed!

You know she is flipping the sheets to

spread it over the bed and you jump

in and the sheets softly settle on you!

*

I have such fond memories of that!

And it felt so... so... so... can't find the

word,  accept.......... COZY maybe!!

*

I just know I loved the way it made

me feel!!

*

Hope you have had a good Monday

*

And have a fun evening,

*

Blessings,

Nellie

*

Happy Trails to you................

*

yea, that's right...we are back to the Appalachian

Trail pics, Isn't that lil pinecone cute!

*

Well,  It is that Glorious Day of the Week,

My favorite,  Sunday!!

*

Looking forward to it as I am writing this

on Sat. evening late.  It is way warmer than it

is suppose to be tonight, so think we might be in for

an 80 degree day tomorrow possibly.

*

I am happy to report the central part of my house

is all back together and vacuumed to boot!

Don't you just love when your house is all clean.

Oh,  I just love love love it.

*

So that means I can move on to other things,

like unpacking my new dishes I got for Christmas

and redecorating the computer room,  and maybe

a little thrift store shopping if need be.  I keep

hearing about all these great finds on blogs and

I an dying to go. Oh, of course,  I have done it

before but it has just been a long long time.

*

Funny how you get out of the habit of doing

certain things and later you wonder why or

how did that happen,  why did I ever stop

that or when???

Wierd huh!!

*

Does that happen to you too???

or am I just wierd!!

Don't answer that!! lol

*

Hope all is well with you and yours.

I will leave you with scripture

from Psalm 84:11-12

+

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the lord bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold

from those whose walk is blameless.

+

O Lord Almighty,

blessed is the man who trusts in you.

+

I pray you have a really wonderful Sunday

trusting the Lord today and everyday,

for He is worthy of all our trust!

*

Happy Trails to you.........

until   we   meet   again!

P.S.  I think I hear rain!!  Well, may be cooler than I thought!

Nite Nite dear folks.

Hugs, Nellie

Walk right in, Sit right down, baby let your mind roll on...........

*

Evenin' Sweet Friends,

*

Hey there, Come on in..........

So glad to see you,

*

Why don't you sit down and stay awhile...........

*

How about a nice bowl of

Chicken n' dumplings for din din.

*

*

It will warm you up reallllllll good

Go on ................take a closer look!!

*

*

I promise you it is really good,  even if I do say so myself.

*

So glad to have you drop over like this for a nice visit

and chat,  it's been a lil while...............

*

So how did your Friday go???

*

Bet you are happy the weekend is finally here.

*

Hope you don't think that was mean to show you

that chicken and Dumplings........

After all it is Foodie Friday,  I just didn't even think

about  participating with Mr. Linky anywhere.

So decided to try it out on You!!  Lucky You!!

Right???

*

My day was working on my living room and getting

 it back together and she is finally done,  just got to vaccum yet.

*

Everything else is vacuumed,  well most everything...

but the kitchen,  see the crumbs on the floor,  looks

terrible doesn't it!!

*

I know, I know it is next on my agenda,  right

after the living room,  then the central part of

the house will look great!  Finally!!!

Thank the Lord!!

*

Sure hope your day went well,  and your weekend

goes even better.  Make sure you get some rest

and relaxation this weekend.

*

Thanks again so much for coming by,

enjoy hearing from you!

*

You are special to me,

so come again soon!

*

Let me give you a nice big hug now!

See ya soon, Nellie

Welcome to Thankful Thursday - January 14, 2010

(This was a pic I took of our mantle ( I told you about earlier in the week)

 that I put an affect on and wanted to make into a pic to frame)

*

Welcome to Thankful Thursday

Sweet Friends,

*

It has been a nice day here,  actually got up to 70 degress

today,  and was sunny and beautiful, but about and hour

and a half ago,  it got cloudy and it is already back to 60

degrees and it is only 5 P.M.

*

Because the sun was shining in the windows

I was able to open them for awhile and open

the garage door for a few mins. to let in some warm air.

It warmed things up very fast, could not believe how

much it warmed the garage in less than 10 mins.  took

the chill right out of the air.  So I decided to finish doing

the laundry since it was bearable to go out there.

*

Am still trying to get my house redecorated,  I finally

finished the dining room,  and am partially done with

the living room.  Then I will have to redo the computer

room as I am taking stuff out of here for the other

rooms.  I love to rotate my accessories and get a

whole new look for free!!  Then I will have to get

some creative ideas for the computer room.

*

Just took my Roosters out of there,  but think they

may go in the kitchen for spring this year!

That will be fun for a change,  they have never

been there yet!

*

Well, on with Thankful Thursday....................

*

#1

I am thankful today

for several unspoken prayer requests that got really

quick answers that we were thrilled about!!

#2

I am thankful today

for the warmer weather,  that sun felt pretty good

I have to admit!!

#3

I am thankful today

for my daughter and what a good friend she has

become as she has grown up.

#4

I am thankful today

that my friend, Becky is doing so well after her

appendectomy surgery last weekend.

God has really brought such quick healing

to her body.

#5

I am thankful today

because (I think I forgot to tell you about this)

when we got called back to the Drs. office about

my husbands stress test,  we really didn't even

need to go,  it was nothing we didn't already

know about,  and the news was really good news,

his heart functions are good and nothing has changed

since the last stress test.  I think the Dr. just was

 wanting to make sure that the EKG said the same

thing it did the day of the stress test,  and that was

it showed no sign of where he had the heart attack

4 yrs. ago,  and he had also said that just never

happens.  We got the call to come back right

after I posted the good news a few weeks ago

on Thankful Thursday.  We sort of felt it was

the enemy trying to play with us!!

Now I would say yep, that was it!!

*

#6

I am thankful today

for God's encouragement to us as believers.

He allowed us to find out some things that another

person who does not even know us had said  that

was very positive,  and we know that it was because

of what his son must have said to him about us.

Now that is neat!!

#7

I am thankful today

for a new recipe that came to me because I

wanted a dessert for last night but didn't want

to go to the store, so I said what can I do Lord,

and these ingredients came to my mind,  I believe it was

 the Lord, cause, it was really good too!

*

It is very simple!!Get a can of apple pie filling,

dump it in a casserole dish,

*

Get a box of Post Selects

Great Grains "Cruncy Pecans"

whole grain cereal,

Dump some on top,  not the whole

box tho, unless you like it that way,

but enough to cover all the apples.

*

Then I added some extra chopped pecans,

threw it in the oven,  well, put it in the oven !!  lol

. @ 350 degrees for 30 mins.  or until

it browns really nicely.  Top with frozen vanilla

yogurt or ice cream.  Which ever you prefer.

and I just thought of this and will have to try

it tonight,  but I am sure it will be good,

drizzle some caramel on it!!

Yum Yum Yummy!!

*

#8

I am thankful today

that Scott just got home from work early,

this is pretty early for him,  so that is nice!!

especially since he has to work on Saturday

this week.

*

#9

I am thankful that we heard from an old

and dear friend that we have not seen or heard

 from in about 4 years.  A Nice Surprise!!

#10

That I recieved a belated Christmas gift on

Tuesday, and for the sweet thoughtfulness

of it,  and for what a blessing it was,

 and for how much I have enjoyed the

different contents.  We have been simmering

this delicious smelling potpourri  all day,

and it has been wonderful,  and I have

been eating choc. covered pretzels with

lil sprinkles, and displaying beautiful

christmas ornaments in my china hutch.

Have to make some of the coffee tonight

to go with my apple cobbler.  lol

It was such a great fun for me!!

And you know I am all about fun!!  lol

#11

I am thankful today

for a blogger named Linny (at a place called Simplicity),

and her hubby DW and their sweet family.

What a tremendous testimony for Jesus these folks

are,  and what trials and testings they have been thru

yet they just keep pressing on for Jesus and giving

him all the glory!  They are such an encouragment.

*

Thanks so much for stopping by

*

Hope this has been a good day for you

and hope this post reminds you of things

you are thankful for.............

*

We live in America.............so there is always

something to be thankful for cause we are

better off than most of the world.

*

Always a good thought to ponder in these

crazy times.  Also, don't forget to pray for those

 folks in Haiti hit by that horrible earthquake.

*

Now there is something to be thankful for,

that we haven't been hit by a earthquake!

Praise His name.

*

Blessings and Hugs,

Nellie

3D Floral design picture

*

Afternoon Sweet Friends,

*

So how is your day going???  Fast like mine!! lol

*

Can't believe it is after 4 already, where did the

day go!!  Found this snowman in my pic file last

nite and thought it was cute and that I had better use

 it before the cold weather goes away.

*

I am in the process of making Chicken and Dumplings.

Yum Yum!  Trying to get all my cold weather food in

before it gets warm again.  I really don't like to eat stews

and soups that much when it is hot,  takes the fun out of

it for me,  I eat it to warm me up,  and one thing I do not

want is to be warmed up in warmer weather!! lol

*

Remember I told you I was working on something

and if it turned out I would show you.  Well,  it

turned out pretty good actually.

*

*

Notice that this pic has a lot of pink roses in it.

Well, I have always thought it was too bad I couldn't

find a way to change the color of them, when I am

using my Winter and fall colors,  so usually I just

make it blend it by adding things on the mantle that

do the trick.  The roses on the mantle really are the

same color but for some reason the camera made

them look different.

*

*

Looks a lil better here,  anyway,  I took pics of

roses and printed them and cut them out and

affixed them to the glass and this was the result.

*

*

That wasn't a very good pic,  so I took some more this

evening.  Seems like they come out better at night cause

there is less glare I guess.

*

*

It was a creative challenge...........and I was

happy with the results.  The roses were actually

exactly the same color but the first pic doesn't

look like it,  and we took some others and they

looked pink,  go figure!

 I just love a creative challenge tho,  I find them

exciting and fun and makes me do a lot of

creative thinking!!  Love when I can figure out

a way to do something,  like the old saying,

Where there is a will,  there is a way.

That's my motto!!

*

 And  then we decided to

enjoy our fireplace tonight cause it is suppose

to warm up soon!

*

I will believe it when I see it,  ya know what

I mean!!  lol

*

Well, it is 11:30 and I just finally got around

to finishing, cause we had to exercise as well,

 so will talk with you tomorrow folks.

*

Have a lovely day tomorrow,

*

Big Warm Hugs Coming Your Way!

Nellie