Feminine Friday

I wanted to show you my new purse, or as some would call it a handbag. I love a nice purse, but they are hard to find in a price range I am willing to pay. I found a great looking one in a store owned by a friend from church. But it was $40 and I don't have that kind of money to use on a purse right now. I found another one I liked at Target, but it was a bit big for me, and then my Mom bought it for herself....

I make this complicated sometimes as I don't want a big purse, but I can't have it be too small either, and I wanted a RED one! Finally, my friend B. told me about a sale at the Liz Claiborne outlet near us. I went and they had one in RED and it was only, are you ready? $14.99! For a designer handbag! The most important thing is that it is cute and it is the right size and I like it!

Want to see it?
Have a happy Feminine Friday!

Some Photos Of The Dining Room

Here are a few shots of my parents dining room with the primer on the walls. See my sweet helper?

It was such an improvement that my mom really liked it with just the primer!

This is a poor quality photo. It was evening, and I needed to take the photo without the flash - with it the walls were orangy or there would be a lovely yellow blob in the middle of the walls...We will get some great shots with all the furniture put back and things on the walls, and I will be sure to show them. It really is stunning.

Here is a sweet photo of my little helpers' freckles. Love them...and him.

Have You Seen This?

Becky has a great post today. A nurse friend of ours from church has been telling us about this man Louie Giglio on YouTube. He has a message entitled Laminin. You have to watch it! It is awesome.

You can see it here.

I'm Still Here

We had such a great time on Monday! We went to lunch at a restaurant called "Saladworks". It is a restaurant that is unusual for Pennsylvania. Growing up in California, there were dozens of restaurants that had mainly salads or at least big salad bars. Here it is very different, a big salad bar is mostly non-existent. It was good, and reasonably priced.

We went to Lititz, which is a charming little town. The only problem was is that it started to rain! We still managed to poke through several stores, but it was not so much fun to walk down the mainstreet with an umbrella - up for a few minutes, close, enter store with wet, drippy umbrella.....

The girls wanted to do some real Christmas shopping, as did my mom, so they started talking Target, and one of my girls mentioned checking out Goodwill for some bargain coat shopping. I remembered a Goodwill store that seemed to get alot of name brands so off we went. Emily found a great pair of brand new brown boots for $1.50! Lindsay found a backpack that will replace her worn out outdoor use backpack. They were both very pleased! I found a book that I have read but want my girls to read "Boy Meets Girl", by Joshua Harris. It cost me a whopping $1.97!

Then on to Target. Grandma got several Christmas gifts for the little ones - who were at home with Grandpa. I found cute "Lightning McQueen" socks, and " 'Mater" socks for Kyle in the dollar section. I also found adorable tights for Sarah and Rachel. With the weather we have been having, they need them!

We ended the shopping with stopping by the outlet mall and going to the Liz Claiborne store. My friend found a great purse there for $14.99! So I had to check it out! Guess what? I too found a great red purse for the same price! I am so pleased! I will post a photo on Friday in my Feminine Friday post!

In other news....

Rachel and Kyle have given me their colds...Kyle seemed to be getting better until last night. I really wanted to go paint at my mom's but I think we may need to lay low today.

Speaking of painting, yesterday I put a second coat on the ceiling and then taped off the walls. Tim arrived and helped me cut in the primer and then I rolled two coats of the primer on the walls. Now all I need to do is put the "Cut Ruby" on the wall. If I don't do it today, I will need to wait until Saturday.

Decisions, decisions....I will give my husband a call and see what he suggests. It's
another cold and windy day - stay warm - drink something hot - read a good book - knit. I think you can tell which way I am leaning.

A Fun Day Ahead

I know I should be using today to work on my parents dining room, or to do school with the kids, but I am not going to!

Today, my mom and I are taking our annual "Kick off the Holiday Season", shopping trip! Woo Hoo! This event is open to anyone in the family, age 13 or older, so Lindsay and Emily will be coming along with us. This is a coveted trip and the girls can't wait until they turn 13 to be able to go.

I am making alot of gifts this year, but I wouldn't miss this day out shopping and having lunch for anything! We have so much fun, and Lindsay and Emily have been working so hard, between school and work, that it will be a nice treat for them.

Tomorrow I will be back at the dining room - surprisingly I woke up feeling fine yesterday! So after today I will be refreshed and ready to go.

Have a wonderful day -

Ok, I Am Really Tired!

Today, I went back to my parents house to continue work on their dining room - I started last Wednesday by beginning to remove wallpaper.

When they purchased the home 10 years ago, the dining room, which is huge and has lovely wood floors and crown moulding and great wainscoting, was in need of some work. To put it more accurately, the wainscoting was in need of some work. The previous owners had painted it pepto pink! Oh yes, truly the color of the tummy remedy of my childhood.

We think they were trying to match the pink flower in the wallpaper, but it wasn't that color so, who knows? They are the ones who put in the lovely mouldings, so we couldn't figure out the reasoning, only that we must immediately paint it white!!!!! Which we did!

Back to my work on the dining room - the wallboard was not properly prepared for wallpaper so this has made for a more tedious job. I hate prep work myself, but PLEASE if you are going to use wallpaper, do yourself and people who may own your home after you, a giant favor and prep your walls!

I have no idea if you are still with me or not- thank you to those of you who are!

Today I finished getting the wallpaper off, spackled and sanded, then painted the ceiling and crown moulding and the wainscot. My arms are tired, my wrist hurts and I am going to feel sore tomorrow. I can't wait though to get the paint on the walls! They are going to use Valspar's "Cut Ruby" the same color as my bathroom.

It is going to look stunning! I definitely will show you pictures when it is all done!

I got home tonight around 9:30 and put a turkey in the oven to slow roast overnight. I also made stuffing. Lindsay made sweet potato casserole. We will enjoy all that yumminess after church tomorrow!

Now I must go tuck in the little ones, get a shower and go to bed.

Good night everyone - Sweet Dreams!

Cool Day At The Fire Company

My dad is the president of a local volunteer fire company. Every year they put on a great safety program for our homeschool co-op. This year they had a Life Flight Helicopter come!

Everyone was able to get up close and see what it was like inside. The crew were so personable and answered the kids many questions.

Here is a look at the Fire Company crew and the Life Flight crew with most of the kids and moms who were there.

Thanks Dad and all the Kinzer Fire Company! What will you do next year to top this?

High Flying Boy

One thing Tim loves to do with our kids is to toss them really high into the air! The kids love it to, but Grandma doesn't! All of our kids have gotten really sad when they realize they are now too big to be tossed! It is a special thing with them and Daddy.

The other night it was a great night for flying.....

Ready....Set...

FLY!

Sorry Grandma!

Tea For Two, Er, Fifteen

I must say I am a blessed woman. My daughters helped me so much yesterday - I always end up with last minute things I want to do...they prepared all the food and helped clean. I will show you one of my last minute projects soon, I need to take some pictures of it. Something that absolutely needed to be done, was to cut my Morning Glory down. Our frost from the night before killed it, and it made the arch look like you were entering a haunted house rather than a cottage prepared for a lovely tea!

This wreath was waiting by the front door to welcome my dear friends to our home....
It was dark when they all arrived but I took these in the daylight...
When it was dark there was candle light, to light their way up the walk...
This is a huge clump of those daisy like mums. Some are yellow and some are light pink...
A lone dark pink one stands out from the crowd...
In the dark a lighted arch to show the way... My lighted pumpkins to show our address....

While I was showing someone around our cottage, Becky and my lovely family cleaned up. I am so spoiled!
Thank you ladies for coming and for a lovely evening....

Tea Tonight!

Tonight is my annual Tea for the dear moms in our homeschool co-op. I love to have them come to my house - the girls and I do our best to get it looking it's best. I want to bless them - to have them come and feel pampered. Many are not used to it, nor are they used to using tea cups, cloth napkins, glass and china plates...but they enjoy it.

I wonder if they will use one of these cups...

Will they take milk or sugar?
These lovely cups are just waiting for the blessing of being of service...
I pray that our evening will be a blessing and that our conversation will be sweet and glorifying to God.

Now I need to run, there is schoolwork, dusting and a trip to the grocery store to accomplish before this evening!

A Peaceful Day

Today was one of those delightful days; sunny, chilly and full of home work. I made homemade chicken soup with alphabet pasta and cornbread - my littles just loved it! The joy of that meal, exclaiming over the letters was so fun. Added to that fun was that Grandma and Grandpa came over and spent the afternoon with us, after checking out a flea market.

Believe it or not the little girls were at loose ends for awhile today so I had them carve pumpkins. They have never done that by themselves before. I showed them how and they did great! We are using these two pumpkins to show our address for a tea I am having on Monday.



It was slimy work - see that funny face!

You can tell what Rachel is thinking...
The inside of one of their pumpkins
Here is the pulp and the seeds...
We saved many seeds to toast - and then this evening tasted them - yummy! It was the first time we toasted the seeds and ate them.
The sky was so gloriously blue today, this picture can't even quite capture it.

Here is a picture of some of the wood stacked and prepared for the cold weather ahead - we use our woodstove to help heat the house...
This is our horse Sandi - Rachel spent time with her today - she was ornery though, she tried to nip me!

Tim used the day to do maintenance on my van. He went in to work this evening for some overtime...

Here he is getting ready to come out from under the van. He is such a wonderful man, who works hard at work and at home...he shows us his love in so many tangible ways. We are so blessed.
I spent time clearing out my back flowerbeds, preparing them for sleep over the autumn and winter....tonight is going to be below freezing overnight. Here are my daisy-like mums...I have some out front as well as these in the galvanized tub by the back door.
Rachel took this photo of a small tree whose leaves have been changing...With the older girls at work all day, I have no photos of them but I will end this post with a photo of my styling little man....
Check out the cowboy boots, sweatpants, polar fleece jacket and pink girlie sunglasses. When he saw this photo he said "Mom! There's my green shovel!" Boys...you gotta love them! I sure do love mine.

I pray that you will have a peaceful day tomorrow and enjoy the blessings all around us. So much to be grateful and thankful for....Sweet Dreams!

A Perfect Blend of Friendship!

For some reason Blogger won't allow me to put spaces into this post - sorry!

Miss Paula gave me this sweet award! There are some questions that come with it, so here goes:

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood? I have two friends from my childhood that I stay in touch with; Sandi and Lisa. We don't talk often but it is sweet to keep up with them and their families. My sister in law Paula and I have been friends since I was in high school, and just like everything worthwhile we have worked at our friendship over the years and she is one of my dearest friends, a real sister! I also have a dear friend I have known for 19 years, her name is Jane. We live in different states now, but whenever we get to be together it is a joy! This is a friendship that picks up where we left off and her husband Rick is okay too! :)

2. What do you value most about your friends? I love my friends because we have a bond in Christ - so even when we don't see eye to eye on everything that is ok, because in Christ we are one!

3. Are your friends your sounding boards? Several of them are!

4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends? Talking! Drinking tea, going to Longwood Gardens! Sharing church life together!

Now I am going to pass this along to some new sweet friends and family:

Lady Jane,

Melissa, of Elijah's Adventures

Alicia, of Renewed In Him

Becky, of Hospitality Lane

Kelly, of Cozy Comforts

Karen, of Blue Barn Bulletin

And Tracy, of Unless The Lord.

Ladies, pass this award along to those who are your "Perfect Blend of Friendship!"

Tagged

I have been tagged by a new blogging friend Cheryl, to post 6 random things about myself. hmmmm......

Well here goes:

1. I am the middle child, and only girl in my family, and the shortest!

2. I was total British Royal Family fanatic and could tell you many random facts about them. I don't really follow them anymore, but do still have an interest, not just the obsession I used to have.

3. I am a third generation Californian, which is rare! Although I now live in Pennsylvania.

4. I grew up with another girl named Deanna and she married a Tim also.

5. My husband married me for my car! hee hee I used to drive a early '70s Camaro, which we sold when our second child was on the way! We bought this used Buick that was enormous and people nicknamed "the tuna barge." It had a trunk the size of my sons' bedroom. I still miss that car... THE CAMARO - NOT THE TUNA BARGE!

6. My dear friend Jane says that I have a "trivial mind." I can remember things about people and events and movies and t.v. shows etc...that others don't care to remember.

Well, I hope those are random enough.

I tag:

Melissa

Sharon

Kelly

Becky

Crystal

Alicia

Have fun girls!

Behemoth.com

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Vision Forum, but I wanted to let you know that they have launched a new website, behemoth.com. You can buy family friendly videos, music, audio messages etc, and download them directly to your computer. You then can upload them to your iPod or mp3 or watch them on your computer or put them on a disk.

Everyday they have free audio messages or stories like Jonathan Park, which is a series in the styling of Adventures in Odyssey, but about the family of a creation scientist who join together with others to build a creation science museum and get involved in adventures that prove creation not evolution. We listened to one episode and when it was done my kids wanted to hear more! That is the kind of media I want them to want more of!

So far I have only taken advantage of the free downloads, but I plan to make a few purchases soon!

What Is Home?

What is Home?

"A roof to keep out the rain? Four walls to keep out the wind? Floors to keep out the cold? Yes, but home is more than that.

It is the laugh of a baby, the song of a mother, the strength of a father, warmth of loving hearts, lights from happy eyes, kindness, loyalty, comradeship. Home is first school and first church for young ones, where they learn what is right, what is good, and what is kind, where they go for comfort when they are hurt or sick; where joy is shared and sorrow eased; where fathers and mothers are respected and loved, where children are wanted; where the simplest food is good enough for kings because it is earned; where money is not as important as loving-kindness; where even the tea kettle sings from happiness.

That is home. God bless it!"

Anonymous

A Blessing

My friend Kelly shared this blessing on her blog last week. I thought it was very good and a neat reminder to women of all the ways they serve the Lord - through hospitality, making meals, wiping tears, working alongside their husbands.

Blessing of the Hands

Lord, bless these hands as they serve,

Please give them strength from reserves.

Bless these hands that open doors,

Help them welcome rich or poor.

Bless these hands that pick up the phone,

Calling the lost or those alone.

Bless these hands that prepare food,

Reach out, and pray in gratitude.

Lord, bless the hands that help our teens along the way,

And those who teach our little ones to pray.

In every task these hands are used,

Lead then in faithful service to you.

Amen

Viewing The Moon

poster from http://www.allposters.com/

Last night we had a time of fellowship at Becky's house. It is always a great time, people playing wii and air hockey downstairs, laughing and sharing going on in the livingroom, a game of Stratego on the deck, where Lindsay beat Jonathan and then her dad!

We have been having really beautiful weather and last evening it was cool but clear and the moon was almost full. Becky's son Mikey has a telescope and he pulled it out so we could have a look at the moon.

It is gorgeous! I had not seen the moon through a telescope for many years, so this was a treat.

I am always left in awe of our amazing Creator God, and am reminded of how finite I am and how infinite He is!

If you get a chance to look at anything in space through a telescope -do it. Many planetariums or universities that have telescopes usually offer free nights that you can look through the telescopes. It is not to be missed!

Thanks Mikey!