Thankful Thursday

On this Thursday, the Thursday AFTER Thanksgiving Thursday....I am THANKFUL for:



**Bloggy sisters who post DELICIOUS recipes and share yummy goodies that we can bake with love for our own families....A nest with soft warm delicious chewy cookies and wonderful smells in the kitchen says...LOVE.

Get this recipe from this baker sister's blogpost. (the cookies are AWESOME!!!)

http://frombeyondmykitchenwindow.blogspot.com/2011/11/cranberry-oatmeal-cookies.html

** **GOODWILL Thrift Stores



Discovered this sweet collector's plate last week. Love the little sheep - looks just like a cross-stitch! (.88)



**Christmas Decor gifted by Mom and Dad


they gave one of these to each of their kids.


**New Traditions with Special Meaning


a candle to light in memory of Mama at Thanksgiving (and after!)


**Childhood Crafts still done in Adulthood


used to spray pinecones, acorns and gumballs gold to make a wreath out of cardboard when we were youngsters. Pinecones from the cottage on Woodberry. :-)


**Favorite Smells that can be kept in the Home


smells like a Christmas tree!! :-) LOVE that smell!

**the Season of Advent


Jesus is the reason for the Season.

Giving Thanks today for these and MUCH more...and for YOU!

Hugs to all.

Mark Twain...and My Hero

Today is the 176th birthday of Mark Twain. What a writer, yes?

Including a few of my favorite quotes today...

We recognize that there are no trivial occurrences in life if we get the right focus on them.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.

Do something every day that you don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.

Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.


and one of my favorites....

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore..... Dream.... Discover

I believe the following with all my heart:

Somewhere between praying fervently for God's will... and wrestling with all the pros and cons circling in his head, my husband made a decision. For his family, himself, his career, our future...and truly desiring to only do the best thing.

He moved us from North Carolina to Iowa..something that was trying, and not without trepidation for him, I am sure.

I think the same thoughts that Mark Twain penned above - thrashed at Kurt's mind and heart... I literally watched him battle with it...

God gave him COURAGE and a full measure of FAITH to go for it.

If he hadn't sailed away from the safe harbor, stepped out of his comfort zone....asked all of us to do it with him...to TRUST that God was leading...he would have ALWAYS questioned..."What if"...been disappointed in not exploring the dream planted in his heart and the choice placed before him...wondering where it would have led.


Do Hard Things.

Master your Fear.


It is usually in "the times that try mens' souls" (Thomas Paine) that God is doing HIS best work!

Thankful today for this man who "threw off the bowlines"....sailed out, and did hard things...for his family. Love you babe.

Merry Monday ...Mountain Climber...Matthews Peeps, and Magazine Rack

Merry Monday to all. Your Mission:

Put that megawatt smile in gear and get ready to flash it to everyone you pass today! Sometimes the holiday season is not the brightest time of year for some people...it is the darkest... give them a lift. Kobe will demonstrate to you with his ONE-PIC-TUTORIAL ...'kay?


Good job my Cowboy Clown!

While Justin was on Thanksgiving Leave in Matthews last week, he met up with an old co-worker from BJ's and they went climbing at Crowder's Mountain. When they got to the top, Jon took this pic of my Marine and I am grateful for it. It is already printed and framed in this nest. :-) Love the view, too!


*typical Justin...dirty legged and bleeding...he never notices...guys...

Then on Sunday afternoon, my Matthews peeps had a visiting cousin take their pic for mama. *(thanks Chris!) Always grateful for new pics...makes my heart burst.


Katie looks tinier than before, and part of it, no doubt is because she is, but the other part is because she is sandwiched between two HULKS!! wow those boys are getting big...Love my kids...



She's lookin' pretty safe right about now! lol...they're just messin' with her. it's what brothers do. :-) Lovin' it because the tough Marine is smiling!!!
****and Katie reminded me about No-Shave-November...now getting to be an annual ritual amongst Jonny and his friends..AH! that's what's up with the Mountain Man beard. I forgot!!! Looking forward to December 1st!




Ending today with a "think outside the box" idea. This metal bath towel rack (Goodwill) has been stored for a couple of years. On Saturday, the light bulb popped on, and it found it's purpose! That would be on the wall by my side of the bed. I always have a stack of old magazines rising up, and have to dig and search to find the latest editions which get jumbled in the mix. (**anybody else have that problem?) NOW...I shall just hang the latest arrivals on this rack, so that they are there, when I am wanting to find them.


It's fun to think outside the box.

Hugs to all bloggy sisters visiting here today. Now - remember your mission! You don't want me to show up at your Blog Back Door tonight looking like this!!!!!


*and you KNOW I will!

Saturday Sampler...

Today is just a mishmash of entries in my ejournal...to look back on... :-)

Gideon had his 8th birthday this week. He not only got lots of extra tidbits this year, since it fell on Thanksgiving Day, but he also got his traditional cheeseburger on Friday. He was snoozing on the couch Thanksgiving afternoon and I told him I was taking his birthday pic...to please look at the camera. He obliged and gave me a wink to boot!



He's my fluffy angel. :-) What would our family be like without our dawgs?




Though Kurt was fighting off a man-cold this week, I DID venture out on Black Friday afternoon to look for a microwave!

**I'm not a woman who has the COURAGE or stamina to venture out in the WEE hours with the Die-Hard shoppers!)

Lowe's was having a big sale. Our over-the-range microwave here is 20 years old according to the manufacturer's date and we could tell! (can't exactly say I'm confident about the seal around a door of a 20 year old microwave!!) Alas... it needs to be replaced. We found one that had excellent ratings in Consumer Reports AND had big savings! Waiting on it to be shipped and delivered. Rah! I love the fact that Lowe's will deliver the new, AND take away the old appliance FOR NO CHARGE!!!



I found the Cedar Rapids library this week, and got my card!!!



I checked out my first books. In the library here, all I have to do is lay my books on a pad..no scanning, and they register on the screen. WOW! I like that.

Loved flipping through the book below put out by Country Living.



Inspiring photos






See if your library has this one. YOU will like it.

NO Surprising News Here....I tweaked again in the Living Room. The picture over the mantel got switched out for a large mirror, because of the 10 foot span of windows on the opposite side of the room. It reflects all that light and makes the room brighter. Plus I decided I wanted to put that picture in the other guest room.

And so This...


Became This.... (tweak tweak - feather feather)


which you may remember from the mirror mirror post

And the picture ended up here...This room is evolving...


I like the rope or braid look of the curtain rod I found at Habitat, but it still seemed to need something so I padiddled around some more...


Guess I needed to add some more twigs to this part of the nest...

Slowly buy surely...and you know me...it may change AGAIN...Getting everything in JUST the right place with JUST the right look is a journey and process. And when it is announced DONE...I'm sure Da Man CHEERS! (inside) He's very good about saying if something looks GOOD! A Patient, Patient Man.




And that is just a sampler post of various things happening around this nest.

By the Way....Have any of your men ever had a Man-Cold? Here's the symptoms in case you aren't sure!



Okay are you laughing yet??? :-) *this is an oldie, but just too good to not play once every flu season! My Iowa man isn't quite that bad.

****A lot of people don't understand what the EMT answers after Laura asks "What about me?..I've got a cold too" He answers..."myeh myeh myeh myeh...ever heard of Lemsip?" (probably like our Nyquil) LOL

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Hugs to all.

God bless our Courageous Military Heroes.

!!!*** UPDATE ***!!! The wings have sprouted! This PIG is ready to fly! :-)

Mom..Love and Miss You

One year ago - November 25, 2010, my mama had her homecoming. She had to leave the rest of us, but she was ready. She is now healed and whole and HOME. Wish I could see her in her new "normal", eternal life...fully free of the cancer beast. I will...one day. :-)



































Sharing a special moment: I have stayed in touch with my dear hair stylist girlfriend back in Charlotte. Her house has been on the market for 8 months and had 2 contracts fall through. She wants to get back to Florida SO badly. I call her to check in and see what's happenin'. She went through MANY things with me and helped and encouraged me. Her mother also died of brain cancer a number of years back and she helped me through my mama's end days and passing. She told me on the phone this past week that she was going out to buy a special candle to light in memory of her mama on this Thanksgiving Day, starting a new tradition. She asked me to do it with her. And I said "OF COURSE!"

I went out the next day headed to Target to find a pretty candle and stopped in at Goodwill on the way. I looked at the back shelf and saw this candle sitting there...and my heart jumped. It was the duplicate of a candle my mom had given me about 5 years ago...with angels on it. It was like new (looked like it had been burned for 30 seconds maybe, because the wick was blackened.) I KNEW in my heart that this was my special candle to light for Mom...and it was also a gift from God, because it wasn't just any candle being assigned a special meaning.



It was MOM's candle she gifted to me. She LOVED angels...and now...she sits with angels.

I am thankful this year

for God..who knows our hearts and our hurts...

for MOM, who loved me well and taught me all the right stuff...and yes,

even for Goodwill, where this gal just NEVER knows what kind of beautiful unexpected treasure she might just have bestowed upon her.

Hugs to all. Thanks for dropping by to share a precious moment in my world...xo