Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

This And That


Today is Tuesday and that means my Mom is coming for the day.  Dad drops her off on his way to bowling and they often stay for dinner.  Today it will just be she, Kyle and I because the girls are picking up their friends soon, going shopping, getting lunch out and then will be doing a sleepover at my parents house.  This is to celebrate Rachel's birthday which was last Tuesday.  They do the sleepovers there because Camp Geezer** has a swimming pool and a BIG screen tv!  **Camp Geezer is what we call my parents house.

Speaking of girls - 

Sarah asked me to cut bangs for her - 



She looks so different!  We are all loving this hair cut on her!

Here is a recent photo of her 

The chicks are all doing well.  We've not had anymore hatch, but the cochin is still broody so we'll see if we get anymore.



We've been enjoying our own and local strawberries!  These are nothing like grocery store strawberries.  They are smaller, but full of deep red color and great flavor!  

I've been enjoying playing with the Waterlogue app.  Here are some of my peonies



Since we are on summer break from school, I want to get several projects done - my bathroom vanity and the kitchen cabinets, too.
I was very happy with how the bathroom vanity turned out. You can read about that here.



My main homemaking mentor was Emilie Barnes.  She taught me (through her books) to love my home, to make it as beautiful as I could on a budget, to make it a warm and inviting place.  I even used this philosophy during missions training. (Read about that here)  One of the things that Emilie talked about was making chores more appealing and a way to do that was by burning candles next to your kitchen sink, so while you washed dishes in the evening, you could have a beautiful, soothing atmosphere.  I do this and I also put flowers on the back of the sink to give us something beautiful to look at while we clean up.  I love to have fresh flowers in the house, but even if I don't have any money to buy some or flowers growing in the garden to cut, I have used greens, and even Dandelions!  It really makes me happy to see them tucked in the midst of a messy kitchen, and reminds me that all will be restored to order and prettiness, when we are done!

I'm continuing to pray for our dear friend Vee.  She appreciates all the prayers.  I know the days ahead will be hard as she comes to terms with her great loss.  She keeps saying, "God is good, all the time" and she is trusting in Him.

That's all I have for today!  Thanks for reading and I'd love it if you'd leave a comment!

6 comments:

  1. Lovely post. I always am so inspired by your intentionality about family, and loving and including others in your home and in your everyday living. How fortunate to still enjoy Tuesdays with your Mother.

    ReplyDelete
  2. HI Deanna. Thanks so much for visiting my new blog and for liking it enough to include on your sidebar faves. That really means a lot. I am also "following" you.

    Your daughter is so cute...it's amazing how the loss of bangs completely changes her appearance. My daughter (now 26) wears bangs now (to the side), but she didn't wear them hardly at all up until about age 20. There was a brief 15-month period when she was a pre-schooler that she did, though, an one time when I was trimming them up, they got shorter and shorter, because I was trying to even out my crooked cutting. It's quite funny to look at a picture of her from that time and see her bangs about 1 inch down her forehead.

    Oh, I, too, love Emilie Barnes. I love her tea books and her household books. Her one book, "Welcome Home," I decided to gift to my daughter as part of her wedding shower last year. As she embarks on making her own house a home, I wanted to provide her the writing of the woman who inspired me.

    Blessings,
    Patti @ Embracing Home

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bangs are a big change and she looks cute with them! enjoy your time off from school.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Deanna. I love this post. The app looks like a great find...those peonies look like a real watercolour! I love what Emilie Barnes says about loving our homes, and your thoughts are very close to mine on that topic. A lovely read. Thankyou. Mimi xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Enjoyed having a little chat with you this morning...I do love a chatty post! Sarah looks so cute with her new bangs! Love seeing the fresh flowers in your house.

    I think many of our hearts are with Vee these days...continuing to pray...

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's been awhile since I have heard anyone mention Emilie Barnes. She was an inspiration to me as a young wife and mother (and still is)! Many years ago she was a guest speaker at our church in Louisville, Kentucky, and I, along with several hundred other women, was able to attend and she was so encouraging!

    I have a few of her books and just recently looked at one of them again. Like you mentioned, it makes such a difference to have a nice smelling candle or beautiful flowers in your home. She has so many good ideas.

    I really enjoy your blog and notice your sidebar says that you hope we find encouragement, friendship and hospitality while here. Let me say that I do.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to Creekside Cottage - a place of Hospitality, Friendship and Encouragement!

Things I Like

  Brenda from It's A Beautiful Life blog did a post with this title and I enjoyed her list so I thought I'd do something similar. He...