Musings on a Thursday...

Three years ago, Justin was in Afghanistan. Two years ago, he was on a Navy Ship patrolling the Mediterranean. Today, he is on his way out to that area again, aboard a Navy ship with the 1/2 Battalion Landing Team to once again patrol those waters and other places....ready and waiting to do whatever they are asked to do or go where they are sent. This deployment will be longer than the other two, but I hope they might be back before Christmas, if all goes well...We pray.



Today...my youngest man flies back in to the nest in Iowa! I have MISSED him... oh my.... I hope he enjoyed his time back in NC reconnecting with his friends! He stayed with Kat and Jonny while in Charlotte.



I talked to my dad there, and he said Kam looked taller and had put on weight. guess it's all those suicide runs and workouts done for basketball. And now Soccer begins...He wanted to fly back in a little early from his Spring Break trip to make it to the Soccer Game tomorrow afternoon. It will be GOOD to have him home again.


WELCOME HOME KAM!

This tree has totally surprised us by opening up with a full load of beautiful white blossoms...we think it is a type of Cherry tree. It is at the front porch and sidewalk right where I can view it from the kitchen windows...Gorgeous. What a wonderful treat.



Many surprises coming up out of the ground. The little 95 year old lady who lived here loved working in her yard...I hear...and now am beginning to see. The fruits of her labors are popping up all over.





Gideon loves to snuffle...he's like Pooh Bear and honeysuckle...




daylillies and daylillies and daylillies...oh my!


Making their debut!...these look to be "dinnerplate" sized Hostas! :-)


TALL ferns cropping up along the side of the screen porch and in front of the back fence...They look like standing sentinels guarding the flowerbeds...!

And so much more starting to show..It is literally a Surprise Delight to go out and see what else is arriving....some I don't recognize what they are...we shall see.



This coffee table metamorphosis that I recorded in a post Tuesday still lacked something...it just needed some COLOR!!!



Tuesday night,I grabbed hold of an idea as it skipped through my head, and tested it out yesterday morning. I do believe it's a keeper.



Sea Glass... POP!....Much Better...gives a Mosaic Tile look under the glass.


I like color inside of my Nest as well as outside!

That's all for today's e-journal... God bless all visitors popping into this Iowa blog.

And God bless our Military Heroes wherever they are...Stay Strong Guardians!!


We LOVE you Justin. God BLESS you!

Many Many Things Happenin'....

I feel the need to post simply to catch up in my on-line photo journal...There are many things going on and happening in our lives...

Kam, the youngest is on Spring Break, and has flown the coop to Charlotte to see old friends and visit with Kat and Jonny and Granddaddy. I am missing him muchly. Every time I open the garage door to go out, this is sitting right in front of me....taunting me that he is gone...I am sure Li'l Red is missing him too.



This could be a very long catch up post...but I am going to try and do it in bullets..soundbites...so that it won't take up my whole day...what's left of it...(this SLOW, SLOTH-SPEED computer)

Justin's battalion is already dispersing...various elements and teams have already left and others are following in waves...I believe my Marine will be leaving base tomorrow...This is a totally different deployment from the first...(*will be based on a ship - working alongside Naval sailors wherever they are called to serve)...it is likely communication will be even less than from the deserts of Afghanistan, and we will not know where they are and what they are doing if a mission is called...at least not right away...for security levels. We will do this just like before. ONE DAY AT A TIME... God is with him...all of them. We shall miss communicating with him tremendously... For a link to read...go here:

http://www.jdnews.com/articles/deployment-102089-donovan-month.html

It is Spring!...For those in the country, Spring Scent may be the horrific but familiar smell of livestock manure spread across fields as crops are readied and planted...



FOR ME??? Spring Scent is the smell of Spray Paint...After a long cold winter of Iowa temps too low to do any of that (okay...I tried it on a couple of things and froze my tush off in the garage and decided...NO MORE!!) ....I have gotten going again...



All of the projects that have been stored away - moving from Charlotte, and new things thrifted here in the Winter months...are being pulled out of the garage and basement and getting spruced up and transformed - one at a time..


This was a FB pic I posted on this project. *pink!*


Here's a full shot before...there's a story behind this...but I will stick to my "bullets"...as best as I can...My man knows I have a hard time doing that...


After - Ocean Blue Spring Scent applied... I had been looking for one of these little carts for YEARS ever since I saw one in a Mary Engelbreit magazine a long time ago..(only via thrifting...you know me!)


And here it is after a VERY simple sewing project...for now it's sole purpose will be to store the pillows that we use when we lay down on the porch sofa. Don't want to leave them there or the dogs will get hair on them....when they take their turn.


Used what I had...a single white cotton curtain panel with fringe, and a ticking valance (neither of which I am using here in this house) the ticking looked very utilitarian and simple, which is the look I wanted.

How I stitched that project is another post another day...but just to say, I found a treasure in GW that had me soooo excited, I texted Katie and told her I was doing a happy dance.


A vintage 60's Aqua Blue Singer Sewing Machine with carrying case. (love love the color ~ my camera just can't pick up it's true shade, unfortunately) (sneak peak) JUST goes with this 1961 Rambler house...
Will show-and-tell more of that when I get my sewing nook put together...

Another Painted transformation for the Porch...


This wicker chest (from Kurt's college days!!!) was too bumpy with its ridges to hold a glass, bottle or mug, and too short too hold anything but the "DECOR" this girl likes...I wasn't looking, but ran across:


this wood coffee table in Goodwill for $13.38...and grabbed it (much longer and solid surface)


fell in LOVE with the carved inset panels on either end.


Gave it a layer of blue and a layer of white, sanded and then highlighted the carved areas under the glass with a brighter blue... an aged brass handle and more details on the front side. *(another story with this table involving broken glass)....but !!sound bites, Julie!!

And I shall close my catch up entry with Gideon who just loves to pose for me (some days)He knows when the spray cans start making that shaking noise, mama is going on a crazy binge again...


There. That records a little bit of what I have been doing among other things.

My man surprised me last night by telling me that a shipment of DUPLIN wine from North Carolina was coming to Iowa, just for me...He knew I missed it. Exciting! If you have never heard of this small winery in NC, I am enclosing a link for you to get to know more about them...just because it is interesting. Their Scuppernong selection is one of my FAVORITES!!! It REALLY does take me back to my childhood memory of sitting under the grapevines feeling like I was in a rabbit burrow underground...munching on Scuppernongs!!

http://www.ourstate.com/duplin-winery/

My computer was quite co-operative today so this ended up being longer than I thought it would be, but It's on record now. And that's good for my "Reflecting Files"...whenever I go down memory lane. :-) Blogs are excellent for that purpose of searching back in the archives to remember something.

Hugs to all dropping by. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for prayers for my Justin, and his entire 1/2 Battalion as they take off again to do what they are called to do.

God Bless....

Friday Favorites...

Today...simply ~ a photo...

a Favorite now.

I am stepping away for just a little while...gonna take a break to regroup...refocus...get things straight once again. Maybe it's the Spring Fever...

Maybe I just need a getaway from the E-world...It's fantastic!!! but ....it can deter, distract, divert, distance, and I just long to get situated again. Everything in it's place and in order. :-) Priorities all lined up in a row....where they belong...none of them breaking line and getting out of place.

Hugs to all my blog sisters who are dear. Have a wonderful weekend.

MERRY Monday

"Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day." ~ Quoted in P.S. I Love You



Have a wonderful and filled-with-smiles Monday...and PEACE to you...as these precious little girls are signing.

There are many who have been hurt, devastated....facing both death in family and destruction in their homes from the recent storms...They are not smiling. Please lift a prayer to God today to comfort, provide through the hands of others, and give a measure of strength to these who are in a very hard part of the journey right now....


"The goal of prayer is the ear of God, a goal that can only be reached by patient and continued and continuous waiting upon Him, pouring out our heart to Him and permitting Him to speak to us. Only by so doing can we expect to know Him, and as we come to know Him better we shall spend more time in His presence and find that presence a constant and ever-increasing delight." (E. M. Bounds)

Prayer is our pipeline to the Lord.

It is this simple and easy access we have with our Heavenly Father to talk to Him at any time and in any place that is the most gracious and loving gift He could hand over to us.

We do not do it enough!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Phillipians 4:6

God Bless You Today! Have a MERRY Monday... Let the sun shine from your face today in that beautiful smile. It is one gift you can give away again and again and again, and never grow depleted or weary... :-)

Friday Favorites

Today for Friday Favorites, I have chosen to share my Favorite MARINE of the United States Marine Corps...



That would be my very own Justin Kyle Smith, Lance Corporal USMC. Last night he flew in to Cedar Rapids to spend one very short week with us. We look forward to time spent with him.


(Kam the Man takes blurry pics! ) :-)


the Three Guys...it has been over a year since Kurt saw Justin... and Kam and I have not seen him since August of last year. So a long awaited reunion once again, and we know it will be another long while before we get to do this once more...so we shall enjoy. :-)

From the Airport, the first order of the night was FOOD. Justin had been in airports or on airplanes since 2:00 Thursday afternoon with several delays....Almost 8 hours. TEXAS ROADHOUSE it was.



I will be popping in and out of Blogland over the next week, but if I don't get here to post regularly...



Hugs to any stopping by ~

A Cup of Cheer ~ Waiting ~ and A Sign of Spring

Nothing like a vintage dainty tea cup covered with flowers to start your day with a measure of CHEER and a healthy dose of oats for Breakfast! :-) What a pretty scoop it makes...

On to an exciting note...Care to Venture a Guess about who these three are waiting for?????







We have intentionally not spoken the name Justin in the last week, so that there would not be excited barking and running around in the house. But last night...DAD started saying..."Wanna see JUSTIN???"...and the tails started going 60 mph....and the hips started wiggling, and the barking started up...

Excitement abounds...but for the moment...*{and in case you didn't know...Dogs LIVE in the moment, it's all they know.}
So for now...quiet and patient waiting. The cacophony will begin this evening. :-)

Both two-legged and four-legged!

TWO OF THESE SPOTTED IN MY FRONT YARD THIS MORNING!!!




Hugs to all. Have a wonderful Thursday!

A Post By Gideon...

Good Morning....GIDEON here.



Today, I am writing the post before Mom gets in here! She loves me. I know that I am her favorite, but don't tell anybody...('specially the other two furpeople around here. They would get mad!)

She says that everywhere she goes, I go with her...I don't think she really likes it, since she is always trying to ROLL my pretty white fur off of her clothes. But hey...it looks good on ME!

She made us go to the #%&GROOMER*#@ this week and we HATE IT!! I did some research when she wasn't around and found this book for her...



Maybe she will want to save our hair now and do something useful with it instead of making us endure the furminator. She's always jabbering about "repurposing" stuff!

So anyway...where was I??? oh yes...my white fur...so mom loves white, but she also MUST have her color...{she calls it POPS of color} ~ whatever that means!



She can get really excited about some of the dumbest things...I get excited about bones, and chicken jerky wrapped chew sticks, and baby carrots...but mom??? she can get all happy about something like this silly little bowl. Go figure...



She says it is the perfect "pop" of blue in her room.



She seems to think it is some kind of treasure find because it is hand-made by some lady named Margaret,and she left her "mark" on the bottom of the bowl.



And mom can't believe someone let this perfect color blue container "get away"...**she acts like it is a lost dog or something...I don't get it. She found it at some place called GoodWill...if WILL is so good, I don't know why she had to take the bowl from him...she acts like she rescued it or something...Guess that's not so bad, since she rescued me from a shelter when I was a baby...

But the worst thing is, instead of choosing something AWESOME to put inside it...like Marrow Bones!!..she put these yucky peppermints in it for herself when she is sitting at her computer...doing what I am doing now!...



From where I'm sittin' - this is no great shakes...but Mom loves me and spoils me and so I'll let her have her "happy dances"...as long as she doesn't forget MY treats are out in the kitchen in her "pop of red" container!!!



Bacon-flavor filled Marrow Bones...That's what I'm talking about!!


NOW who's happy dancing?!!...

Well, I'm getting off of this computer...This is boring. I don't know why she Blogs..

So I guess mom would say "Have a great day!" ...and a Happy Tail is always wagging...you can quote me on that one, if you want. It's spelled G-I-D-E-O-N.

Oh yeah...Mom would say "Hugs", but I say...Puppy kisses!