The Mud Man...

Yesterday, my middle son, Jonny, the one certified in Personal Training, traveled down to South Carolina to take part in the annual Marine Corps Mud Run. He participated with a group from Charlotte who ran in honor of a fallen Marine.


"Supporters of South Carolina Marine Corps military families held their 5.2-mile mud run for teams and individuals in Columbia on Saturday.

Participants in the event maneuver through 36 obstacles such as mud holes, walls, and trenches.

Since 1993, the Greater Columbia Marine Foundation has hosted the challenge run. In 2010, the event attracted more than 14,000 participants, so the foundation has begun holding both spring and fall mud runs.

The foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports local Marines and their families who have been wounded or killed while serving on active duty. It also supports several college scholarships named after Marines killed in the line of duty. "


Jonny truly enjoyed himself and wants to do it again. I am thrilled that he got to run it, and I believe the pictures will give testimony that he had fun..

**(photos courtesy of the Stout family. Thank You!!)


Jonny's group. He is sporting a heavy beard presently (far left)




I do NOT recognize this creature......


Muddy Muscle Man - the Hulk. (his small group high schoolers at church have dubbed him the Beast)

an e-journal entry for this mama today. Missing her peeps...the Marine is climbing on the sides of mountains in West Virginia...the daughter is busy busy working in NC.

Hugs Hugs Hugs to all of them...xoxo

God Bless your Sunday...all who drop by today.

Fall Waxes...Summer Wanes

Here at the entrance to this nest...there is a covered walk from the front door over to an entry door to the attached garage. Thus, a little front porch is created. It will be fun to see how this evolves over time. I'm seeing a narrow bench under the window box at some point. It is different having the kitchen view looking out the FRONT of the house, but I am liking it. Get to watch all the activity on our quiet street.

As Summer holds on, the impatience in the window box also tarry, giving cheerful color. I added a bright pop of sunshine yellow mum to announce Fall's arrival. Also different here - the mailman walks up to the door so no challenges getting the mail on inclement weather days. (I like that!)


I recall in a previous post this summer highlighting the hydrangeas at Woodberry Rd and hoping that Iowa could have that favorite plant of mine...NOT ONLY does it grow here, but God gave this gal a hydrangea plant formed and trimmed into a TREE over the years by some careful owner...It is right up front by the sidewalk and I can see it from the kitchen window...happy dance. There are also two rhododendron bushes in the back...MORE happy feet.

Enough for today...the last thing I would say is from the famous song recorded by Peaches and Herb...

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD....

Loving being with my man again...and yes he carried me across the threshhold as the moving van drove up. :-)

God is altogether GOOD and IN CHARGE and KNOWS ALL THINGS THAT ARE BEST.

Hugs to all my visiting bloggy sisters. Have a wonderful FALL celebration this Saturday.

God bless our military men and women everywhere, and RAH to our Marines!!!

Good to be back!

Good Morning Cedar Rapids, Iowa!

Sunshine and Chilly. God Is Good. :-)

It's a beautiful day. God still moves in mysterious and phenomenal ways to work HIS best in our lives...every day.

Go out and be a blessing to someone today who needs to be reminded of that!

Rah to the Marine Corps of the United States. God keep them all.

Garden Conservatory....at long last...

I worked outside this past weekend...as much as my body would tolerate. I came in every time, looking like I had just run through a rain shower... The Heat Index everywhere seems to be almost intolerable. BUT, I have work in the yard that HAS to get done. I WANT THAT FOR SALE SIGN IN MY YARD!!!!

End of story!!!

This past week, I have been working on a side "sanity" project that has been on the back burner for a YEAR!!! That's right. The windows for this project I have actually had for I'm guessing at least 8-10 years. A neighbor gal and I grabbed them off the curb when another neighbor changed out his windows. And they have been stored upstairs in Kurt's garage ever since. I have used 2 or 3 for indoor projects, but my dream was to use them in a small greenhouse structure that I hoped would get built. Didn't happen, and here I am moving halfway across the country. What to do with those windows!!!????

Last summer in June, I saw a post on "Maison Decor" blog and saved it. Below is a photo of her project that inspired me to copy.



And this is the rest of the story... **my story


Full View of My Garden Conservatory.

The little table I used for the base came from my paternal Grandparents' farmhouse. It was also upstairs in Kurt's workshop. The cherub statue below it was from Goodwill.



I painted it the same color as this piece on the other end of the deck. (I posted about earlier.)





This is the body of the conservatory - Four identical windows. Three are screwed together. The Front Window is the Door, and is hinged to easily change out what is displayed. Attached over the top four panes is a picture frame to better accent whatever is inside.



side view of the top. The roof is made of two smaller two paned windows screwed together with a squared dowel between the two. Kam came up with that idea. (my faithful assistant) The two smaller windows tongue and groove ends actually set down in the grooves of the tall windows...making a nice fit.



front view- There is a wrought iron scrolly piece screwed into the back window. The chandy hanging down from the middle was part of a lamp I had in the Moving Sale boxes and I took it apart and discarded the base.(gonna paint the silver part white.) The front embellishment was also in the Yard Sale boxes..-sprayed it the same color blue as the table base-allowing a little of the original black to show through.


And for now, I have this cherub pedestal that I love, supporting a pretty begonia plant. Adds a bright pop of pink to the deck.

I am posting this on Sun. afternoon, before my computer gets reworked and gets it innards blown out!..There are now multiple threat warnings popping up so I must have some virus attached. If anybody can fix it, my gal can...so hopefully I will be in working order again this coming week. I pray I will be able to comment, my feeds will update, and I will be able to search...Here's hoping! **Gonna get everything Backed up too, which I wanted to do before I totally shut down to load this beast for a long distance move.

Hope that some of you are inspired to find some old windows and build a garden conservatory!

I hope that mine will soon sit in a garden spot in Iowa, surrounded by boocoodles of flowers...

Hugs to all. Stay cool however you can. Think of our military and thanks for praying...

To my Marine, and to my beloved Man...


God Bless you !

Friday Blooming.....

I am posting short and sweet today...The blooms below were cut 11 days ago right before the Realtor was to come..... and they are still beautiful and full...no wilting...I followed the tip to cut early, lightly crush the ends of the stems with a hammer, and plunge into a vase of ice water. It REALLY works for longevity of your bouquet...The flowers give testimony.



sigh....I love Blue. I love hydrangeas. Everytime I enter my bathroom, I smile.

Dontcha Love those old blue bottles, too????

My computer is ~this close~ to getting tossed!!! I am having so many problems...

My feeds no longer work. I have tried every tip including deleting every single one and renewing the submit...no go.

My commenter ability is flaky. Some posts I can comment ( on some days) other posts I can't get a comment on at all...not even as anonymous...

my ability to search on Explorer is shot...some malicious URL has invaded the secret parts, and I am going to have the innards wiped this weekend. It is hiding...Full Scan has shown NO threats...

I don't know if it is my computer, my server, or Blogger, or.. all three ganging up against me, but right now it is a wretched time stealer attempting to do ANYthing - so if it appears I am not visiting, or I am not commenting, I'm just sayin....Hopefully my gal will get things fixed this weekend.

Closing with some previous photos of my favorite flowers...






















And even at CHRISTMASTIME...yes!...you can still be using these flowers (dried blooms) in your home feathering!!



I LOVE HYDRANGEAS!!!! With 8 bushes in the yard, I was blessed to feel free to cut as many blooms as I wanted to bring INSIDE, and still have many left to grace my yard....
Will I be able to have these favored flowers in IOWA???? Oh!!! I do hope so!!!!

Grace and Hugs and Blessings to all who may drop by this Friday...Hoping my compy gets healed this weekend...

God bless our military HEROES!!!

Keep On Keeping On....

W is for Whew!... Wow!...White... and Winds of Change

We got through our two Realtor meetings! WHEW!!!! Now it is a waiting game for the realtors to get all of the information turned in to the Relocation Company and then wait for their packages/response to come back. If the two assessments are more than 5% off, I have been told we shall have to go through it all over again with a 3rd Realtor....oh please, oh please!!!! I hope not!

Out of the two ladies, I have definitely made my choice. One came in with all of her homework done already and the other did not. She was uber- prepared to sit and talk over everything and what, when, and how the Company and SHE would work for us... (all of this AHEAD of time even though she knew I had not made my choice)...It was awesome...


**Something else maybe you didn't know about me.....**

When we were doing the walk-through/tour for her to take photos to send to the Relocation people, she stopped in the Living Room, and said "WOW...can we just stop here for a minute??? I want to look at this...". SURE! :-)



Some of my COSTUME Jewelry collection...( I emphasize the Costume part!!!!!) MUCH of it was my maternal Grandmother's and also some my mother's and some just pieces I have collected over the years as I have found it in Thrifts...

Some Favorites...


Do any of you remember seeing these Kitty pins?


Some more Feline pins...not all are vintage...


Some Canine pins...The Twin swivel head gold Terrier pin is my Favorite, but I love the Pewter blackbowed Scottie too.


Some of the Lovely bracelets..


A few of the pins..These type make up the bulk of the collection..evidently my Grandmama loved to wear these with scarves! of course she had earbobs to match! **(which I CAN NOT WEAR!! THEY PINCH THE #*@ out of your ear lobe...my mom DID wear them, but I'll stick to Pierced thank you!!! *you can convert them if you want...)

All of these pieces remind me of the bond of love I share with my Grandmother and Mother...I like to walk by and see them every day...VERY sentimental...These will be packed up by MOI!!!


Other pieces/necklaces/faux pearls I have in glass decanters here and there...again, just so that I can see them..


Evidently that gal loves this kind of stuff too, so we interrupted our tour and talked a bit.

***When she asked me later how I felt about Open House events, I said I DEFINITELY do NOT desire to have one if we don't have to...Gives me the willy-nillies to think of just any Joe, Moe, or Sally walking through my house without a realtor representative... and only my realtor sitting there...no thanks...!!!!! Not a good idea in these times...NOT Safe...She feels the same way...

I am so private anyway and just putting my house on the market and opening it up to strangers is sSsSsSsSOoOoOoOo HARD for me...but I know...MUST be done...

In clearing and cleaning out and making more "room and space" to the eye...my floor clock in the Living Room went out...



but.. I have saved the hanging clock and just sprayed the stand white and put it to use on the deck with the chandy, (as I DON'T want to get rid of it)...One day it may go back to its original state...in a new home!



It is Wednesday once again, which always sends me over to Kathleen's before I go to bed, for White Wednesday to see lots of pretty whites... I am not joining in today, but have a changeover to "white" to record/post...This bentwood cane stool got a coat of white and is out of the garage and in the Guest Room. I love cane and wicker.



This vintage little wall clock got a facelift from worn wood to a weathered blue/white look. It hangs in the back hall beside the thermostat. The small clock/thermometer attached to it was made by my dad.



I can sense the Winds of Change blowing once again...I believe the sign will be in the yard SOON! I am cleaning~cleaning~cleaning out and getting ready for a Moving Sale this Saturday. Praying for NO RAIN!!!



The Marine called and said he would be here this weekend! RAH!!!!! So HAPPY that HOME is still close enough for him to just hop on that highway and GET HERE!



Everything going on here is "bathed in prayer", and committed to the Lord's will and perfect plans for us. Praying very much for a quick sale...ALL things are POSSIBLE with God. It is a wonderful wonderful thing to talk to my hubby every night 800 miles away and to pray together...it strengthens the bond, builds Hope, and makes our Faith HANG IN THERE....What a journey....a LOOOONG time coming, but we believe and HOPE for the end to be very near...

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
Do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek His will in all you do,
and He will show you which path to take." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

To My Iowa Man:



Grateful for all those bloggy sisters who are following along, checking in from time to time, and encouraging, inspiring, praying, and cheering...You are awesome...
Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday...