Tuesday, March 31, 2015

A Simple Girl's Take on This Week!

It was in the fall of 1999 that I gave my heart to Jesus. I was a young person, the last of my teen years. Having been raised in the church from birth I'd gone to the alter many times.  But those prayers never lasted. However, a desire to live a life like I had watched lived out in other believers was planted into my heart. You see Christianity when it is lived everyday is the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven.  And I found myself wanting it. At 19 I opened the door to my heart so Jesus could begin the process of beautifying my heart. Since that time I've learned a lot, one is the truth of this song.
The more I trust Him, the more I love Him
Nothing good for me He'll deny
The longer I know Him, the better I can show Him
I couldn't stop now if I tried

It gets sweeter as the days go by
It gets sweeter as the moments fly
His love is richer, deeper, fuller, sweeter
Sweeter, sweeter, sweeter as the days go by

Oh, the moment He saved my His good grace He gave me
He place His love down deep in my heart
There's great joy in knowing with Him I am going
And never more from Him to depart

It gets sweeter as the days go by
It gets sweeter as the moments fly
His love is richer, deeper, fuller, sweeter
Sweeter, sweeter, sweeter as the days go by

It gets sweeter as the days go by
It gets sweeter as the moments fly
His love is richer, deeper, fuller, sweeter
Sweeter, sweeter, sweeter as the days go by

Sweeter, sweeter, sweeter as the days go by

This week is Holy Week for the Christian. If it wasn't for this week in history we would still be offering animal sacrifices year after year. It was a week that was packed full of an enormous amount of emotion. One day Jesus rode in Jerusalem being herald Hosanna!! What a happy day. He went on to clean up the Temple of its debauchery. About mid week He ate the Last Supper with His disciples knowing all the while that one of them was an enemy. (Next time you are in a tense situation and feel all alone allow this scenario to penetrate your brain) I believe with all my heart that Friday was constantly on Jesus mind. Otherwise, he would have never felt the need for the quietness of the garden. No doubt the weight of the world was already on his shoulders as He sought for a place to pray. The intensity was such that he pleaded with his disciples to help him pray. But they proved to be of no help. The battle was His and His alone. The excitement and happiness of the past Sunday had long vanished as our Lord knelt on a grassy floor and bowed his head on a rock. The intensity of everything He went through in the garden we will never know or comprehend. "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me..."

Most of us all know the story well. You could even tell it better than I'm writing it. We all know what took place on Friday. We all know that the very same people that cried Hosanna earlier in the week went on to shout "crucify him". Gone was the crowd that were beside themselves with excitement. Gone was the desire to place the kingly crown upon His head and clothe Him in royal garments. Gone was the desire to place Him upon the throne of David. Gone was the idea of Him being their Messiah. Gone!!

All we see now is an angry mob shouting absurdities. The kingly crown became a crown of thorns.  The royal garments were replaced with shame and nakedness. No throne awaited Him, instead an old, rugged cross. Their Messiah became a criminal who was beaten with a leather strap. A strap that contained 3 prongs on the end that gouged and shredded His flesh with every whip. There would not be a colt or great white horse for Him to ride upon traveling to Golgotha's Him. Rather the journey is traveled by a broken down man laden with the cross. No palm branches pave the way. The path is dusty and long. Flanked on all sides by cruelty and hate. We watch as He stumbles to the top, falling every now and then because the weight is too heavy. Blood from the thorns runs down over his face like sweat. The torn flesh on his back is no doubt being baked from the hot, desert sun. Upon reaching the top the heavy beam falls from his shoulder with a loud clatter and with extreme exhaustion the world's Messiah crawls onto it and lays Himself down. Roman soldiers pull His arms from their sockets as they lay them across each beam and pound spikes into His hands. It's not with gentle ease that they handle this man of Galilee. Haughty hatred is behind every blow of the hammer. Their sinful hearts are filled with glee as they pick the large cross up from the rough, rocky ground and slam it into a hole dug for the purpose of hanging criminals. 

It became the darkest day in the history of mankind as the King or Kings and Lord of Lords hung suspended between Heaven and Hell. The moment was so great that even His Father had to turn his face. Fear gripped the world at that moment as the sun went black and the earth shook with a force. From His lips came the inevitable words "It is finished". The battle for our souls was won with those final words. 

We also know that the story does not end there. We know that Sunday came!!

When we grasp what Christ did for us and when we have a personal encounter with Jesus Christ then will we see that God is Good All the Time. 

He is coming again friends! And when He does it won't be as a babe in a manger. He won't come riding on a lowly colt. He is going to come on a cloud, robed in white, heralded by the trumpet of an Angel.  He won't be coming to save lost man. He's coming to claim those who have been redeemed, His church. 

Have you been redeemed? You can be! Let this Holy week be the time.
  

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Blogging? What's That?!

Somewhere between today's post and the last time I posted (yeah, pretty profound there I know) blogging hasn't really ac-cured to me.  I guess you could say I've been in hibernation mode.  There's only so many pictures of snow one can take. You see one you've seen them all.  There's nothing to look at folks, so might as well shut the camera down until the world once again becomes filled with color.

Today was beautiful, sunny (and as long as you stayed in the sun with a heavy winter coat on it felt warm) and a conversation I had on the phone with dear Mr. Z reminded me that maybe, just maybe I might find something. So I took the camera from it's resting place and took a stroll to see what I could find.  At this point in the game, one must get up close and personal with nature to actually see that Spring is indeed coming.

Upon close observation of our sidewalk flowerbed tulips were discovered. Along with the paws of my short, four-legged sidekick :)

Whatcha doing my dearest human friend? May I be of assistance? Here, let me walk in front of your camera and stick my nose into the lens.
No! I shall not cooperate. I have no interest in that gadget taking my picture. 

A quick trip to the vacant house next door revealed oodles and oodles of crocus pushing their way up. So they will fill the whole hillside in colorful array.

Farther along the sidewalk flower bed revealed that Plantus Unknownus has oodles of shoots. Looks like it will produce a bumper crop. That's the beauty of a flower bed that is aging. Everything gets bigger and bigger.

A VERY close-up study of my personal cottage/shade garden learned me that some more Plantus Unknownus is sprouting quite heavily.  Actually, I'm pretty sure they are Day-lilies :) LOL

Our old fashioned Lily's are doing quite a number to kick winter into next year.
Using picmonkey I made the old fashioned Lily's look vintage and quite frankly I think it looks tons better then modern. Ha! Just call me old!

But there you have it folk. Not a lot, but to my delight I learned that things are shaping up around here :)  That makes me HAPPY!! Every time I have to go into Walmart I reward myself but taking a stroll through the entire lawn and garden section. I inhale deeply the aroma of potting soil, pesticides, fertilizer, and what all else makes up that earthy smell.  I soak in the sight of plant bulbs, seeds, containers,  watering cans, and outdoor furniture. Katie and I find ourselves testing them out to make sure they are suitable to sit and lay on :)  

I don't know if I've ever posted a picture of this part of the house. But this is the back door. The door that everyone uses expect the mailman, pizza man, ups man, and all other mans. 
A few days ago I stashed the winter away and put up everyday. And to be honest, I like it so much it may never ever again see winter stuff.  Of course some flowers will be added as the season allows. There's ALWAYS room for flowers. I'm thinking of doing potted ferns on these steps. This is tucked in far enough that it is more of a shady area.  

Anybody know how to get English Ivy junk off the side of my house give me a holler. Word to the wise - Never ever grow that stuff unless you love it so much that you never plan to get rid of it. Because it leaves an ugly mess. We didn't plant the mess, it came with the house.  It's kinda, sorta neat stuff but it's very invasive. Takes over everything. It was even burrowing it's way into the basement.

Well that's the end!  Who knows when I'll be back. But until then spring on!!



Wednesday, January 14, 2015

I Want to Post, What do I Post? Kind of Post!

As I was taking down the Christmas trees, I got struck with the declutter, pitch-it bug. It's a disease I get at least once, twice, three times a year. :)
I mean after all, what better time to go through ones Christmas decor, especially Christmas tree decor that hasn't been used in a decade. No since in stopping with Christmas. Might as well work my way through the whole house. Look out Mr. Z and kids!! They shutter when I'm "sick". They go into protection mode with all their stuff.  "You can't get rid of that! MOM, are you going to give our toys away again?!" It's a traumatic moment. I've learned that I do some of this stuff undercover. Wait till they are at school/work and use black garbage bags. They will never know :) 

I try to make $$ with the things I'm pretty confident will sale fast. I don't hang onto anything else. Cause when I clean and declutter I want it gone YESTERDAY :) There are group pages on Facebook where you can list your stuff. They are Buy-Sell-Trade pages. There are several of these pages for my area. I sold the above horse the day I listed it. An easy $5.00! Don't waste your time with craigslist. Just an FYI :)

One of the things that can make my family shutter is not only do I pitch, I rearrange the entire room. After all, one can't clean thoroughly unless they move all the furniture and clean where they had been sitting. And there is no way I'm going to do all that work just to put the stuff back in the same spot. That's boring! My over-active imagination says "lets see what we can do with this and this and this..." you get the idea.
Last week the master bedroom was the target for my January cleaning fest. I wasn't sure how I'd like it but hey, I can always have the fun of changing it back another day :)

This week it has been the little Miss's room. Not much rearranging in here except to rearrange it into a bag and out the door. 
Today I had to take a break at my house while I went and cleaned at the farm. I never want to come home and clean after I've been there. 
But tomorrow is another day :) My worst nightmare is down the hall and across from the kid's/guest bathroom. I'm dragging my feet with that room (horror face). I'll get there, however, the attic and basement have more appeal :)

So that's been my life lately. Next week it will be counting thousands of Boxtop labels, literally. 

Until next time, have a good night and stay warm!!




Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Winter Scenes Around Blueberry Lane

Snowflakes
by: Emily Dickinson

I counted till they danced so
Their slippers leaped the town
And then I took a pencil
To note the rebels down.
And then they grew so jolly
I did resign the prig.
And ten of my once stately ten toes
Are marshalled for a jig!

Hello All!!
Since I haven't posted all year :) I figured I better get a move on. Haven't really had much to say. But then again, things have been a bit busy with the holidays. Going here and there, people coming, and then the back to school rush. Yesterday after supper I entered
into slow-down, lets take life easy mode. It's the 'me' mode. I hate all the rush. I feel like I never get anything accomplished except frazzled nerves.

This morning we woke up to a white world. I must admit, if it has to be cold and winter, snow might as well cover the brown drab. Don't mistake! I much prefer flowers blooming in my gardens...
After picking up the kids from school I took down the outside Christmas lights. Since I was already dressed for the elements I walked around and took a few snaps so I'd have something to blog about :) So here you have it, a few wintery scenes around Blueberry Lane.

My garden, peacefully sleeping. It might be winter but that doesn't stop me from dreaming and exploring Pinterest for ideas for this spot :)

The fire-pit's wood pile that needs staking.

If you look close enough you will see the ladder stand I shot my deer from. 
The view from up there is great.

It really is beautiful!

But this is my preferred method when looking at the snow :)
From inside, near the fire. Ah, yes! This is more like it :)

I got this amazing "toy" for Christmas. It is a cutting machine. Now I can make my own stencils, I'll never have to cut out letters for the bulletin board ever again, and any vinyl decals I want.
This was my first project. Letters for January's bulletin board. Wow! What a breeze. I've already designed a coffee stencil but haven't cut it yet. Can't wait to see how it works :) My mind has been going full speed thinking of all I can do with this machine. I'm sure you will be seeing lots of projects being blogged about :)

This is how I used my cut out letters.

Well that's it for this round. Have a good night, stay safe and warm.
Your's Truly :)








Thursday, December 18, 2014

Vintage Junkin - My Favorite Past-time!

Hop on in my vintage grocery buggy and join me as I stroll through one of my favorite stores.
By the way, who remembers these buggies?  My brothers and I used to ride on the bottom. It made grocery shopping a much more enjoyable experience.

The store is Mr. Darby's Emporium in North Lima, OH.  If you like vintage/antiques you will love this place.  They have over 90 vendors inside an old department store.  Give yourself plenty of time because it's no place for rushing.

I got a feeling the other day that this place would be festive with all the vintage Christmas stuff sitting around and I just had to go for a stroll.  I'm glad I did cause I found 8 little treasures that I'll show you later :)

Lots of red and white filling the entrance. Love the Coca Cola cooler. That would be fun sitting on my porch keeping our pop icy cold.
Check out that red telephone (drool)

Before I go much farther, maybe you should know that if you don't like "junk" then don't bore yourself with this blog post :) Cause its quite lengthy.
Back to the fun at hand. These shabby lamp shades have been here quite awhile. They are fun to look at in this setting but not sure I'd want it for myself - they'd probably hurt the eyes.
Check out all the milk glass!! I especially like the small knobby cup tucked in the back and the iron stone pitcher in the top. Pretty Pretty!


Over here is a box of kitchen goodies. I'm especially fond of the hand mixers. 


This is a beautiful piece of furniture. I love antique furniture - the vast majority is a quality that far surpasses the press-board junk of today.

Some of you just got hit with a good dose of deja vu LOL

Neat gift tags. I especially like the jar ones.

Don't ask me why but I love these buck saws. And the wash boards. My one son shakes his head at me and asks "what would you do with that stuff".  He doesn't understand his mother's love for old things.  He's pretty sure I come from the pioneer days.

Every porch needs at least one rocker to sit in and sip southern sweet tea. And that giant, metal water can is amazing.

Not all the furniture pieces are antique. Lots of primitive pieces in this store and they are so much fun to look at and get ideas.  I like this one for it's punched tin.

A couple pieces of yellow ware tucked in the corner. These vintage dishes are sure to bring sunshine to any hutch/table.

The name is Anne - Anne Shirley :)
Some hats from the Victorian era - wish we still dressed that feminine. 

What??  I thought I was in Ohio :) To think I could have sold mine!! (tsk tsk)

Here's another new piece. I love the chicken wire and this would make a really cute pantry in a country kitchen.  Too bad I don't have enough room or I might try to twist Mr. Z's arm to build me one :)

One of the things I've started collecting is salt glazed pottery. It started with my mom giving me a couple pieces. I fell in love and Mr. Z and I have fun buying them at yard sales.  I especially like this one with the heart. So country!

Anyone looking to start a printing business :) :)

I love the little, glass knobs on this end table.  They match the door knobs in my house.

This pump organ makes me think of Mary Ingalls.  Out there on the Dakota Territory. 

No doubt these steamer trunks have a story to tell. What ocean vessels did they sail on or what railroad did they travel.

No thanks! I think I'll pass! No wait, the last I knew I was a mom. I do need this. LOL

A wooden and worn Coca Cola crate - YES please!

Hmm, I wonder what I could do with this old ceiling tile. Ideas ideas... :)

This spice rack journeys me back to Greene County Pennsylvania.  Back when white geese with little blue ribbons tied around their necks was the latest style.  Mom had these in her kitchen :)

These my friends, are the 8 little treasures I found. Kool-ade cups.  All of us kids had one of these back in the early 80s. Chocolate milk always tasted best from this cup :)
Can you believe it? Those little sweeties jumped off the shelf and right into my basket :) Got in my van and came home with me :)

Smile!

Are you looking for Anne Sloan's chalk paint?  This is the only local place I know of. I noticed this vendor's booth has grown. That's exciting!

I don't care how shiny, sparkly new doll houses are now a-days. They don't hold a candle to the quality of a vintage house.  I bought a modern one this summer at a yard sale. It was a tall, 2 story house with a elevator and only spent $5.00.  Let me tell you, I should have saved my $5.00.  

Take a close look at the original price sticker. Do you recognize that old department store? Hills Department Store.  They were the store before Wal-mart took over the monopoly board. Not sure the date of this Ken but he's definitely from my childhood :)

Last but not least, a piece of sunshine for your living room :)

It has been fun sharing just a smidgen of my favorite shop. If you ever get the chance, stop in and stroll down yesterday's lane. (This is not a paid post)

Good night all!!
















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