Good News Friday

 Well, it's been a week, hasn't it? So many things are happening, and it seems like the deep state is winning.

This week the DOJ said it was legal for states and businesses to mandate masks and lockdowns. However, the DOJ does not make laws. The DOJ is supposed to enforce laws.

I see the Speaker of the House acting like she can dictate anything concerning the house. We are starting to see the GOP push back and that is a good thing.

I saw video yesterday of four US Representatives go to tour a prison/jail where January 6 people are being held. They were told they were trespassing! Then they were locked out! These January 6th people have not been charged with insurrection, most with simply trespassing yet they are being held, some in solitary confinement, until their trials! Did you know this? This is against the law, they have a right to a speedy trial!

We all need to be contacting our US Representatives and Senators about this, and about many things. It lets them know we are awake and paying attention! I know that it has affected one of our Senators because of the way he is voting these days!

People like you and me are waking up to the tyranny that the deep state is trying to bring to us. They are standing against it at local school board meetings, at their places of employment. This is not just US citizens. People around the world are standing against what their governments are trying to do.

When I was a kid our family were Democrats. Over the years my parents saw them headed in a direction that was not in line with the Constitution. We also have become aware of many Republicans who are not in line with the Constitution. The Dems party now are communists, and so are many Republicans.

So where is the good news?

People are awake, some leaders are pushing back finally against tyranny. The audits are spreading to many states, but be prepared for a battle royal. The deep state does not want the truth to come out.

I firmly believe that this is a spiritual battle so we must pray! Don't give in to the belief that their is nothing we can do! Stand my friends! 

Mini Frittatas

 

source

I'm always looking for an easy way to provide a good breakfast to my early risers, who have to head out the door for work before I get up in the mornings.

I've had this recipe saved on my THM - Breakfasts Pinterest board for some time now and decided to make them last evening.

There are lots of variations of this recipe and I used just ham and cheese, but these were easy to make.

You can find the recipe {here.} They will keep in the fridge for 3 days according to the recipe, but they will not last that long here at my house! Next time I'll make a double batch!

I'd love to hear any go to recipes you have for easy, healthy breakfasts!

Work Day

Kyle and I are heading to my parents house today to load up a small dumpster! My house is messy from family summer activities like grands spending the night, and swimming, but who cares? We are living life!

I'll try to get photos today, but we are in the non glamourous stage of getting a house ready to sell. It feels as if we've been at this forever, but its just been a few weeks, and not full time activity. The house should be on the market after August 10th.

It's funny, but my parents house has been in our lives nearly as long as the house I grew up in. It will be missed, as we've had a lot of good times in that house. 

 

Weekend

 This weekend we spent celebrating these two kids. Married in 1959 they celebrated their 62nd anniversary yesterday. Just 17 and 20 when they married.

We invited some friends to surprise them on Friday night at our family gathering. That was fun, and we ate finger foods and some dessert.

I bought a small arrangement of what looked like nice flowers at the store, but when I opened them up at home, they were not very nice. I sent Kyle out to clip some "yellow flowers, and pink and white hydrangea."

He did a great job clipping and I added them to this pitcher that held the store bought flowers. It made for a lovely centerpiece.

Saturday, we had an issue with our radiator on my van, so while the day went differently than Tim had planned, it all got done. His plan was to install the new capacitor for the ceiling fan in the guest room, and mow at our older friends home, and then go mow at my parents house. He and Kyle do this every week. They did these things, though the fan was not repaired, a new one is on the way. 

They picked up the new radiator for my van on the way home from my parents house, and got it installed. (they had already removed the bad one) They took a swim, too.

Yesterday, we had church. My parents, as my dad said, "Had a day just like our old normal ones." They went to church and out to lunch with their friends! Then they came here for the afternoon. Games were played then, some swimming. My parents went home earlier than they normally do, Rachel and Wes left with Lindsay's dog. (they are housing and animal sitting for Lindsay and Joseph this weekend) 

We asked and received permission for the older grand girls to sleep over, which they hadn't done for a while.  Tim and I were awake for a bit with Klaire who was coughing due to sinus drainage. Some eucalyptus oil on the bottom of her feet and an extra pillow to prop her up and she settled down quickly again. She always sleeps with us in our big bed!

They next few weeks will be busy with my parents house. We have a small dumpster coming tomorrow, to clear out the attic and garage, next week the carpet cleaners are coming, then the realtors will do another walk through, the photographer will come and the house will be on the market! 

We continue to be busy here, too.  We are grateful for this home, and the land we have. 

Friends, I hope your weekend was a good one. 

Good News Friday

 

There is so much going on right now. Audits, lawsuits, gatherings.

This one is interesting.

Parents are still getting involved in their local school board meetings and PTA meetings. They are realizing that they have the power to decide what their children learn.

Forensic Audits are still happening and more are on the way. A state legislator in Texas has filed to do one in that great state.

As these things go there is forward momentum and some steps backward. Those on the left know what they did and do not want it to come out into the light. It will come out though.

I've been thinking about these words from Sally Clarkson that my sweet friend Sherry post on Instagram this week and I shared it too, because I thought is was so good.

This is why I share good news with you. This is my way of fighting against the darkness of the world. I don't want to be filled with fear, I want to keep my eyes on the Lord, and to keep celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, family, good friends, events.

I hope you are filled with joy this weekend. I hope that in the midst of hard things you will reach out to God and call on him. He longs to help you. 

I am glad we are friends!

Home Keeping: Clearing Out Closets

 I've mentioned before how we all have things in our homes, simply because we have room for them. This means we don't have to decide whether the items are things we love and want to have in our homes.

Some items are sentimental; like these pillow cases. The Thomas the Tank Engine one was Kyles' and I made it for him when he was a toddler. He is going to be 16 in less than two weeks. This pillow case is sentimental because I made it for him. I didn't want to get rid of it, but I found a good solution. My grandsons love Thomas and so it is going to them! Win!

These Peanuts pillow cases have been mine since I was in high school I think. Very thin but so cute if you love the Peanuts characters. None of my grands really know the Peanuts characters, and none of my kids enjoyed Charlie Brown and the gang like I did. Sniff. I've decided to keep these for now.

I bought large space bags and have put lots of seasonal bedding, like flannel sheets in them and a few King Size coverlets. I'll be able to store them downstairs, which would have been a good plan even if we weren't preparing for my parents to move in. 

I feel like I've put off dealing with many of these closets for way too long, and feel as if I am gaining some margin in my belongings.

I have three basic categories for dealing with items:

Keep

Donate/Give Away

Trash

This has helped me deal with old sheets, frames, decor items, paper. I have sorted all my hanging clothes, almost done with my dresser, I'm going to go through my fabric stash today and give it to the wives of Wes and Rachel's Amish co-workers.

I'm going to clear the closet in the bedroom my dad will be using. It has sports equipment and rollerblades in it. Kamryn has some clothes in that closet, too. 

It feels good to be getting a good handle on what is in my house! I've been working at different areas in our home, mostly storage spaces, the last few years and getting these areas done is giving me peace of mind.

We are moving completely out of our master suite so my parents can have their own things in that space. Talking to a contractor friend, we maybe looking at 6 months to a year before anyone is available to build, so we want them to be as comfortable as possible and to have privacy, too.

I need to find a good way to store my hat collection that allows access but keeps them protected, and not just piled up on my shelf. I need to go through my shoes, and see what I really wear, what I want to keep even if I don't wear them often, and which ones can go!

All of this sorting and clearing is good. I hate clutter, and while not a minimalist my any means, I like tidy spaces. 

It's been challenging but its all good.

Enjoying The Bounty Of My Cottage Garden

 

I have a lot of pink hydrangea at the moment too, and I have zinnias, larkspur, some roses, echinacea (coneflower), and hollyhocks also growing in the garden.

Did I mention some kind of grass has started to grow? A few other things need to be pulled as well. 

Sigh. 

We'll get to it one of these days, but for now we are sorting through clothes, books, fabric, and all the other things you accumulate, because we'll be moving out of our bedroom into a smaller bedroom, until the addition can be built.

My parents realtor thinks that once their house is listed it will likely be sold in a week. Isn't this market crazy? This is why they are selling before building.

The summer is racing by. We usually start our school year the first week of August, but I'm not sure we'll be doing that this year. We might start closer to the end of August which is when the local schools start. 

Thank you for praying for our friends. We are going to the visitation this evening. 

Weekend

 

Our weekend was lowkey, and it ended with sad news.

Friday, as I said in my post, we met with the realtors. We are excited about getting the house listed. In the evening, we had family night with almost everyone, the local grands and their parents were not here. 

With just adults in the pool, there was a lot of Marco Polo and tipping people off their floats! (grin)

We moved indoors to play games later. I'm glad for these times together.

Saturday, we got a slow start but Tim painted the guest bedroom (my dad will sleep there until the addition is built), and I started decluttering my closet. Kyle painted the bedroom door, carried things downstairs (we're moving several bookcases downstairs for now) and generally helped out. I made a curried chicken salad for dinner. We were all pretty tired.

Yesterday, my parents came for lunch after church, and we had Kamryn and Klaire with us. Kyle and Kam went swimming, while Klaire rested. We chatted with my parents about details for selling their house, then my mom and I were looking at the master suite, which is where she'll sleep and they'll have a sitting room space when they move in. Tim later took both girls for a swim.

We talked about where my mom wants to put her bed, and how to arrange certain things. We have the plans pretty well figured out for their addition, but we have to find a builder. Tim is going to do the general contracting on this project.

Last evening, I texted my friend who is married to an Amishman, and asked how he was doing. She had come by here on Wednesday to talk on her way to the hospital to see him. He had been having some confusion and we were praying that God would clear that up so he could come home.

He did come home and that is where he breathed his last breath yesterday. Katie told me this about his passing, "It was beautiful and peaceful and sacred. Unexpected, but blessed."

I'm sad for our friends. Together they had two daughters in their early 20's, two late teen boys, and two young boys ages 5 and 6. They are grieving deeply. Please pray for Ruthie and Rhoda, Morris and Virgil, and Emanuel and Andrew.

Thank you friends.

Good News Friday

 

Well, I am late today! Sorry about that. We had an early meeting with the realtor team that is going to list my parents house, and then I had to get groceries.

So most of the good news I have is easy to find from non MSM sources. I've heard the fact checkers are out in force saying there is no voter fraud. Hmmm. 

I was accused this week of being a liar and a racist so For The Record - I do not have cable or any kind of regular tv. All of our news sources are found online. I see clips from some CNN interviews, or MSNBC, or Fox but we do not watch these channels, and most of the clips of interviews I don't even watch.

I heard a good explanation of the difference between a re-count and an audit.

You have 10 apples. Your friend counts and says, "Yep, you have 10 apples." Another friend audits your apples and finds that 3 are plastic apples, 2 are glass apples, 1 is an apple Christmas ornament, and 4 are edible apples. 

An audit is a deeper look than a re-count.

So we got a bit of information, but certainly not all of the information from Maricopa County's audit. Lots of troubling things there.

The left is trying to frame the conversation to say that the audits lead to fraud and that they are dangerous. Hmmm.

An audit will show the truth of an election so if an election has been fair and straightforward the audit will show that. If there has been duplication of ballots or other fraud it will show that. So if someone is fighting hard against an audit it says to me that they are trying to hide something. 

Here is a graphic someone made to share with others.

This is the information they've released so far from Arizona. The ballots without serial numbers are illegal in Arizona. All ballots in AZ are supposed to have serial numbers so that they cannot be duplicated.

Georgia's election is being looked at also, and they are finding lots of problems. It seems as if Georgia will end up being worse than Arizona. Pennsylvania just started a forensic audit, and one of the counties they are auditing is Philadelphia county which includes the city of Brotherly Love. There has been fraud there for years. Everyone knows and nothing is done about it. The audit will reveal a lot. It will be eye opening for many people.

Be encouraged my friends. Many things that have been done in darkness for years, are coming into the light. This is a very good thing, even though its hard.

Home Keeping: What I'm Doing Wednesday

 So, I don't know if it's a thing but it sounded catchy in my head. I thought I'd just talk about what I am going to be doing today.

Mostly I am going to do some things to strengthen my spirit. I'm currently carrying some emotional cares, and walking alongside some friends in prayer and I need to take time to make sure I'm not getting spiritually depleted.

I'm going to read, pray, listen to some good music.

I need to work on sorting through my bookcases, and preparing the basement to be painted. Sarah will be moving her bedroom downstairs when my parents sell their house. The basement is a beautiful shade of red, but we are going to lighten it up before she moves down. She heads back to school in 10 weeks.

I am going to make this keto Snickerdoodle cookie recipe. {here}

I have an idea for rearranging the furniture in Kyle's room, that will allow a chair to fit in his room. It only involves moving his desk, so I think we'll get to this project today.

Then I think we'll all probably take a swim this evening.

What will you be doing on this fine Wednesday?

Getting Ready To Sell A House

View from my parents living room window!

 We met with the realtor yesterday and she was very helpful in the process of selling my parents home. I was encouraged that there is nothing major that needs to be done to the house. The main things are decluttering, and taking personal things down.

She also had good tips for how to get ready for photos to be taken for  the listing, such as taking curtains down, taking the dining room tablecloth off, moving the furniture a bit to show the big rooms. 

While she is working on comps, we will be packing up the items they do not need to use now, and also items for donation.

We all have items that we keep in our homes because we have room for them. They are the same way, and we'll be going through everything from books and movies to clothes and shoes.

It's an emotional time for them, big changes in many ways, but they know it's good and will end up being such a blessing. We have so much to do in the next few weeks. I am headed there today with Kyle. He's my muscle.

I have a few prayer requests, as I know some of you are prayer warriors.

1. The emotional load I'll be carrying with helping my parents with their emotional loads.

2. Our Amish friend Emanuel has cancer and has not been doing well recently. Please pray for him. He is a believer and knows that his life is in God's hands, but pray for their family and especially their little boys age 6 and 5.

Thanks friends!

Weekend

 

We started our weekend by using the pool! Tim, Kyle, and I had a lovely early evening swim.

Then Saturday evening, Nate and Kay brought the girls to swim. Grandpa swung the babies for a while so Dad and Mom could swim.

Watson was looking cute yesterday, so I took a quite photo of him. Sometimes it's hard to capture his features since his nose and lips are black, too. 

Sunday was this delightful young woman's birthday! The lighting was not great in the house in early evening, so I had to brighten the photo. Can't believe she has one year left in her teens.

 

We delight in her heart for Jesus, her love for coffee and her friends, her passion for life. We are thankful to be her parents.

I have a few prayer requests. 

1. We could use some work for our business. Inspections have slowed due to the hot housing market. More buyers than homes available, so buyers are waving inspections.

2. The good thing about the housing market being good for sellers, is that my parents are going to sell their house! We're meeting with a realtor today. There may be a few things to do before it goes on the market, but hopefully it'll be on soon and they'll get a great offer! Please pray for emotions as this is quite an upheaval for my parents, but it's time, and they know that. They'd just like to be past this part of the journey.

On another topic: If you're on Twitter a 35 post tweet by @martyrmade has laid out the problem people are having with the election and other obvious corruption. It's gotten a lot of traction now as people have shared it. Tucker Carlson did a segment on it and President Trump mentioned it, I hear, in his CPAC speech. It's easy and interesting reading.

Have you seen the Cuban people in the streets protesting? Legacy media trying to say it's a cov*d protest. It's not. They are carrying American flags. Despite the lefts desire to teach that America is a terrible place, it is still where people from oppressive countries want to be, have you noticed that?

I hope your weekend was great. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus, as we go about this week, and trust him with our worries and concerns. 

Good News Friday

 

Today's good news is items I have found around the internet.

The big news from this week is the class action law suit being brought by DJT and thousands of others who had their first amendment rights of free speech taken away from them by being deplatformed on differing social media platforms.

For myself I have had stories on Instagram censored and blocked. The powers that be in the dem party and the ceo's of big tech don't like people sharing anything other than the narrative they want people to believe.

They have to work harder now too, because people are not watching the legacy media anymore, and few are watching the cable shows. They don't like that with a bit of research regular people can find out the truth on their own.

This lawsuit is going to have wide ranging consequences due to the discovery phase of the case. Big Tech is going to have to provide information they don't want to provide, and the plaintiffs in the case will have a lot of areas they are sharing due to the various reasons that they were deplatformed.  The vir*s, vaxxines, child s*x trafficking's, human trafficking of adults, p*rn, the el*cti*n.

I think it's going to reveal so much.

Also this week the judge in the Ghislaine Maxwell case has ordered that all her documents related to the Clint*n's and their foundation be released.

While there are so many areas that the left are trying to overstep the constitution in, we also see many people waking up and standing up against it. 

You can see one dad from Pennsylvania speak out at their local school board meeting and stand for the Constitutional right to free speech. Link {here.}

We have Governors who are being to speak out against people going door to door to ask about whether citizens have been vaxxed. {here}

I'm seeing a rise in people being proud to be Americans. You can see fans at an Islander's hockey game {here.}

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Cottage Garden In July

 Today I have mostly videos for you of my cottage garden. I'm showing you weeds and all. I'm also showing you some surprises to me, seeds I sowed that I thought did not come up, but they did. Real life gardening. (its hard for me to weed, due to back issues and I hate to ask for help)

I also cut a few everblooming hydrangea. These pinks are the ones that were bluish when I received it as a gift. My soil Ph is very alkaline, so I am going to add a soil acidifier that I bought at my local nursery. I really want blue hydrangea again!

Clink the {link} to see it on Amazon.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my messy garden. I really do think that the mulch had weed seeds in it as this is the second batch of weeds we've had to deal with since laying down a thick layer of mulch.

Creekside Cottage: Addition Plans

 As I mentioned recently, we are planning an addition to our home. The addition is for my parents and it will be a two bedroom in law quarter, or as our Amish neighbors would say, "It's a dawdi haus." It will also include a new kitchen space for our home and a garage.

So, where it says current kitchen - that opening is our kitchen door. 

This door will be removed, and it will be an opening to the new kitchen. 

This is an old photo but I wanted to show you the rest of the kitchen wall that the door is on. 

That wall where the stove is will become a half wall. All of this kitchen will go away because of the new kitchen space. We will be putting a larger window in where this window is over the sink and with all the cupboards out we will move our dining area into this space.

That means that we can expand our living area out into the current dining area. It's going to mean more room for everyone when the family or guests are here.

Now as you can see here on the design plan that there is a pocket door from the new kitchen that leads into my parents new living room.

This way the kitchen is equally shared, but as they've said, they are ready to not cook. However, there will be times they want to heat up stuff or make coffee, or work together to prepare a Thanksgiving meal.

The bedrooms are exactly the same size, but the one in the back has an extra window. The bathroom will have a walk in shower and a seat. They will also have a stackable washer and dryer in the bathroom.

Their living room has three windows and a sliding door that will lead out to a new deck. 

We will be splitting the cost of the garage and kitchen with them, and they will be paying for their living space. Right now the housing market is hot, so we are planning to get them moved into our house asap. They have a realtor coming to talk comps and to help them get their house on the market. The reason for this is because, we don't know how long it will take to get a builder - they are pretty busy - and we want to get them the best price possible for their home. Also, since they own their home outright, they will have money for the addition and shouldn't need a loan.

It will take some adjustments, but they will have our master suite plus the guest room so they will each have a bedroom and a shared sitting room space, their own bathroom, and there is room even for them to have a coffee station and a small fridge for evening snacks and ice cream! 

Tim and I will move to Sarah's bedroom, which is the original master bedroom for the house, and she will move down to the basement. She is only here until September then she will be mostly at school until the Spring and we hope before her school year is over, the addition will be done, and she can have her bedroom back!

We are beginning the process of decluttering, moving furniture around, getting rid of stuff we don't need anymore, and my parents are doing the same. 

We all know there will be adjustments, and emotional times. It's a big life step. But we are all committed to it. My dad said Sunday evening as they were leaving, "I'm looking forward to when going home is just walking down a hallway."

Weekend

 I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, but especially those of you who are Americans! What a fabulous Independence Day! Our family gathered and we had a really good time.

We had lots of good food, the grands ran around outside, some of us played Quirkle. Then it got dark and we went outside and enjoyed fireworks.

It's dark around 9:00 here so when we were done with the fireworks, the party broke up and everyone went home.

Do you know why we celebrate with fireworks as a nation? After voting to declare independence on July 2nd, the founders signed the Official copy of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. On July 3rd, John Adams wrote in a letter to his wife Abigail the following - 

"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."

Here is our celebration in a few photos and a video.

It wasn't hot enough for swimming, so no one did that. But it is all ready to go, and it's looking like a hot week ahead so I think we'll get some use out of it soon!

Here are a few good things I found on Instagram yesterday.

Back tomorrow with some talk about upcoming changes to our household, and getting the plans finalized for the addition for my parents.

Good News Friday

 My usual source for Good News is taking some time offline right now, but I did find this good news from the week of June 20th that I never shared.

This week saw an article from Politico regarding the Vice Presidents' office.  Here is a bit of the article - 

When Vice President Kamala Harris finally made the decision to visit the Mexico border last week, people inside her own office were blindsided by the news.

For days, aides and outside allies had been calling and texting with each other about the political fallout that a potential trip would entail. But when it became known that she was going to El Paso, it left many scrambling, including officials who were responsible for making travel arrangements and others outside the VP’s office charged with crafting the messaging across the administration

  You can read more{here.}

This is not good news in my mind. If the people running our country are in disarray that is bad for all of us. 

The Supreme Court has been handing down some surprising rulings. Most of them have been positive and that surprises me. It is good news however.

Remember what our Declaration of Independence said, 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"

We rights because of our Creator gave them to us, not our government, and that our government gets its power from our consent. They don't rule over us, they work for us! We employ them.

Most of them have forgotten that and truthfully many of us have forgotten that as well!

I hope you have a wonderful Independence Day. We are cooler now, and are supposed to get rain this weekend. Hopefully it'll clear in time to do some fireworks!