This and Maybe That

Crafty!

I've always wanted to be crafty, but I kinda have to force myself to do it. I like the thought but when it comes down to it I really don't do anything. Of course now I am trying to learn to quilt and I half way enjoy that but I don't know if I really want to craft or not.

For one thing, crafting gets expensive. Picking out fabrics for a quilt, buying the fabric or a sheet for the back and then paying to have it quilted adds up.

I always want to make things I see on Pinterest but seems to add up to lots of money when I count the cost.

My oldest daughter, Lynn is a good crafter. She quilts a little, crochets a lot, makes beautiful afgans, and has started making sock monkeys. She really enjoys it I think.

Well, this fall we got crafty, and made some things for a craft fair the seniors had for a fundraiser. My second daughter, Alicia has a son who is a senior this year so we felt like we needed to contribute. Felt like we needed to contribute and plus if he didn't come up with vendors there would be a hefty fine. blaahhh.

So Alicia and I decided to make a few things. My granddaughter Danielle had sent me a picture of snowmen made out of sections of tree branches and I decided to do that.

Picture on the top is what they looked like half way through the process. I thought they turned out cute.

I also made several sets of those little blocks that spell out words on both sides. Mine said "Always be Thankful" on one side and "Merry Christmas" on the other side.

I was going to make some cute little signs also but ran out of time. I did get just one made. I didn't get a picture of it but it was painted red and said in white lettering, "Don't get your tinsel in a Tangle"...very cute and it was one of the first things that sold.

Alicia made some oil candles in pint jars, filled with red berries, pine cones and cinnamon sticks. They turned out very pretty. She also made several wreaths that were really nice.

Daughter Julie made a Dr. Seuss Christmas tree out of scrap lumber. I wish I had a picture of it. It was very very cute and sold fast.

We wanted Lynn to bring some of her sock monkeys over but she didn't have time to get them ready because she has been working two jobs for months now. Someday we will all get together and do a craft fair.

We sold quite a lot of our crafts so I felt like it was a success. I really enjoyed it too but I am going to have to quit my procrastinating ways and also develop some organizational skills if I do much of that!

Beautiful City of Gold

Heard the Gary Waldrep Band sing this at Starvy Creek this past summer. The guy that played the mandolin sang it and absolutely tore it up! He had such a powerful voice and while I use the word "annointed" very carefully, I will use it here. He sang it in their first set and when they came back for the second set they said they had so many requests from people to sing it again that they DID sing it again. I was absolutely taken with this song. It was stuck in my head for a good 2 months, the words running through my mind again and again.

Beautiful City of Gold (I wanna hear the Gary Waldrep Band sing it! Again and again)

Well there a city that looks o'er the valley of death

And it's glory has never been told

Where the lamb is the light, in the midst of the night...

in that beautiful city of gold

chorus:

Oh where the sun never sets

and the leaves, they never fade

and the righteous forever will shine like the stars

in that beautiful city of gold...

There will be no more sorrow, pain, sickness or death

and the saints, they will never grow old...

oh how I long for that city, where there never comes a night

In that beautiful city of gold...

chorus:

Oh where the sun never setsG

and the leaves, they never fade

and the righteous forever will shine like the stars

in that beautiful city of gold...

repeat 2^nd verse:

There will be no more sorrow, pain, sickness or death

and the saints, they will never grow old...

oh how I long for that city, where there never comes a night

In that beautiful city of gold...

chorus:

Oh where the sun never sets

and the leaves, they never fade

and the righteous forever will shine like the stars

in that beautiful city of gold...

Danielle and Jared's Quilt

Okay, I have made two quilts in my lifetime. I made a quilt out of old jeans several years ago. I sewed it up on the machine. Jeans on the front, jeans on the back. Heavy. David calls it a lead blanket. okay. It does not look fancy, or pretty or precise. I just wanted a quilt to throw on the ground to sit on that could take it. Boy, it does.

Then, around six years ago I got an urge to make a hand pieced, hand quilted quilt. Why? I don't know. I don't even like to sew. I just wanted to have something that I had actually made with my own hands. I took 3-4 years to make this quilt. I picked out several different fabrics, then would change my mind. I was scared as the dickens to start cutting pieces out, but I did start finally. Just squares, just squares, that was all I could handle. I hand sewed the top. Looked pretty good. A few puckers and a very few corners that didn't quite match up but know what? I didn't care. Got it put together and was going to try to hand quilt it, but wanted it faster to put in the "guest" bedroom, so I just tacked it. I can always go back and quilt it later, huh?

Now, I asked Danielle if she wanted me to make a quilt for her as she is getting married in December. Of course she did. So I have procrastinated for a year. Now I have almost all the fabric I want and will try to start putting it together. Nothing fancy, of course. The one I made was all big, plain squares. This one will either be a jelly roll quilt or a log cabin pattern. Right now I am leaning towards the log cabin. It looks so pretty.

So, this will be my 3rd quilt. Who knows, I may decide I like sewing and do one for each grandkid, but please I won't be holding my breath.

Songs I LOVE LOVE LOVE !!!

SONGS I LOVE -LOVE -LOVE -LOVE -LOVE…(no certain order except the first one is MY FAVORITE) I note the people/groups I like the best to hear sing each song, but I like them sung by anybody also...will always be my latest post on my blog.

By the Mark---Dailey and Vincent

I Believe---Dailey and Vincent (with Jimmy Fortune)

On the Banks of the Promised Land---Karen Peck and New River

The Holy Hills of Heaven---Vestal Goodman or anybody

Rock of Ages---Vestal Goodman or anybody

O’ Come, Angel Band---Ralph Stanley

I'll Meet You In the Morning---Appalachian Express (I love the way they sing it)

Someday---Blue Highway or anybody

Revelation---Third Day

Living in the Kingdom of God---Dailey and Vincent

Farther Along---Johnny Cash or The Peasall Sisters or anybody

I Am Made Worthy---Primitive Quartet

Gone Away---Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

Just as the Sun Went Down---James King

Beautiful City of Gold---Yvonne St. Germaine

I've Never Been This Homesick Before---anybody

Peace In The Valley---Red Foley or anybody

Gone Home---Ricky Skaggs or anybody

Heaven's Jubilee---anybody

You've Got to Keep Walking—Paul Williams and Victory Trio

When I Get Home---Newfound Road

Look For Me---Tanya Goodman Sykes

Where We'll Never Grow Old---Church Sisters or the Sprinkle Family or anybody

The Right Side---Flatt Lonesome

Didn't He Shine---Primitive Quartet

There's a Light Guiding Me---Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, or anybody

Revival---Third Day

(Lord, It's) Just Another Hill---Easter Brothers

On Heaven's Bright Shore---Alison Krauss

When I've Traveled My Last Mile---Dailey and Vincent or anybody

Other songs I love:

Cumberland River---by Dailey and Vincent (makes me wanna dance)

Music of the Mountains---by Dailey and Vincent

Roses in the Snow---Emmylou Harris

Life Goes On...and on...and on...

I have found in my few years on earth that there is really really nothing new under the sun. When you think you have discovered something or invented something new, usually you will find that other people have known about it all along.

This gives me a kind of comfort. That may sound weird or silly or something and I don't really know why it affects me that way, but it does.

One time when I was mowing the cemetery, I was reading the gravestones as I was passing them. Born in 1841...died in 1845...born in 1904...died in 1979...born in 1933...died in 1933...on and on and on...people had lived and died and were buried here in the cemetery, most of them had been gone longer than I had been alive. Some died young, some died old, and lots had died the same day or were maybe stillborn, but they all existed in this world, for their time.

The ones that lived long lives were probably a lot like everyone now. They grew up, most married and had families, I don't know their stories but they surely did have stories.

The ones that died young didn't really have a lot of time to make many stories, but they had lives and somebody loved them and missed them when they died.

It made me feel really small. Small in the bigger scheme of life. I felt like a pinpoint in the universe. All these people, lived and died here in this place, and so many many billions more all over the world.

Then, it made me feel big. I was living my life, same as every one of those people had lived theirs. Oh yes, I was doing different things, my things, but basically the same. Growing, having a family with all the same joys and heartaches that they had lived.

Then I thought of all my children, grandchildren, great grands, on and on, through time, as long as time will last, living their lives as they will, as I have lived mine.

Yes, it gave me comfort to know that time goes on, life goes on, with different people, here and in different places, in different ways. We are here for just a moment.

Ecclesiastes 3

Blessings...Many

Such blessings in my life. So many I couldn't possible list them all but here are the few that are the most important to me.

I have the love of God. Without that nothing else would really matter. He loved me from the moment I was conceived, I believe that with all my heart. He loved me when I didn't love Him. He loved me when I was my worst person I could be. He has blessed me so much and so often I can't even begin to list all the ways He has been good to me. I don't deserve it. Thank God that is not the way it works. He just asks that I accept the wonderful gift of salvation He has given and live my life for Him. Such a simple plan, don't know why it took me so long to understand it.

I have a wonderful family. Start with my husband. Bob is my best friend. I have lived and loved most of my life with him and can't imagine life without him. He was 18 and I was 15 when we got married. He had already been helping take care of his family, ever since he was 5 and his dad got sick with brain cancer. It is in every fiber of his being to take care of his family. He has always taken care of me and our children and now his grandchildren and he does a great job of that too, even if he wants to "fix" everything for everybody. It's a blessing, it's a curse. LOL

My four wonderful kids. Lynn, Alicia, David and Julie. Each one so different from the others and a blessing, each in their own ways. I love them all. I am not going to describe their personalities because that is something I just want to know to myself. Personalities change through the years also, and what I might write here might not be accurate in a week, a month or whenever.

My sons-in laws and daughter-in-law. Jason, Scott and Amy. They are my kids. I feel that is a special blessing from God that my kids are sharing their lives with people who could have been born into our family because they "fit" in our family so well. I thank God for these kids of mine.

My grandchildren. Kyle, Jessi, Danielle, Courtney, Hayden, Garrett, Emmett, Makenna, Avery and Caiden. What can I say? PURE LOVE. I love all these kids soooo much, it makes my eyes tear up and my chest hurt I love them so much. They are my everything.

Autumn Feelings

The leaves are falling, and so am I,

They swirl and tumble and blow.

My mind says they're pretty,

Orange, yellow and red,

My heart says they're dead, you know.

The flowers have frozen, all dead and black,

Where once they were colored and bright,

Now they hang lifeless

From the pots where they bloomed,

It saddens me to see their plight.

The sky is covered by clouds, so thick

No sun or blue skies can be seen.

The gloom covers me,

Like a thick wooly blanket,

With no space for my soul in between.

COMMITMENT

It is so hard for me to commit my thoughts. It is hard for me to commit to anything. I write a post in my blog and end up erasing it. I don't really know why. Am I afraid of somebody knowing my thoughts too much? Am I afraid of looking stupid with my thoughts?

I know my if my family has heard it once they have heard it a hundred times, when I say, "I cannot commit to anything. The only thing I have ever committed to is Bob Case and Jesus." And my family, I am committed to them all the way. Don't know why I am that way, but I just am. I can't commit to lunch or shopping with a girlfriend, can't fully commit to a job, can't commit to doing anything for anybody, except my family. My family is the most important thing in the world to me and I don't care what anybody else thinks I should do or not do, they come first with me.

I am also fully committed to Jesus Christ. He died upon a cross for me, paid for my sins with His blood, and I will never go back to the way I was before I committed my life to Him. I made the decision to turn my life over to Him several years ago and have tried to live for Him ever since. I regret living so long without Him in my life but you can never go back and get a do-over, you can just go forward. Sometimes I think I am the worst Christian ever, but God doesn't require me to be the best Christian ever, just to believe, accept and live my life for Him. That I can do.

Sometimes Time Flies, Sometimes Time Grinds

Time is grinding away and I am between the grinders. I feel like I am trying to run but just standing there with my legs going around in circles like an old cartoon and me not going anywhere.

Am I having a mid-life crisis finally, at the age of fifty-nine? 59... Maybe. Maybe not.

Maybe I'm just stressed out. Woohoo, yeah, I know, everybody is stressed out. Everyone doesn't handle it the same way.

Late Summer Growings

Hmm....August is just about gone. I won't miss the heat this year. Anybody that knows me well knows that I NEVER say that. I have always been all about summer, but these past two summers I have not liked the extreme hot weather. Hot enough to swim, OK, but not to burn my feet when I walk barefoot on the porch!

My flowers are looking very pretty this summer. I think I have finally found the secret of a prettier flower garden...water them! OK, OK, I knew to water the flowers, but I have been a very inconsistent, haphazard waterer (is that a word?) in the past. Maybe I would, or maybe it would rain. I know morning is better, but I like evenings better. Don't water in the middle of the day? Oh I just might. This year I have made myself get out there, in the mornings, and water. My plants look so much better! I used some old lengths of a cut tree that had holes in it for some super cute planters for my pink vincas. I think they are cute anyway, and that's all that matters to me...

I can't take the credit for the change, it belongs to the lady I bought my purple petunias from, at the greenhouse at Kissee Mills Jct. I went into her greenhouse and there were the prettiest purple petunias with white borders. I wanted those petunias but mine always got scraggly and dwindled away to nothing. She asked me if I pinched them? Yes, I always pinched the stems back like you are supposed to do. She asked me if I watered them every day? Well, at least two or three times a week. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. She asked me if I fed them every week, with something like Miracle Grow? Well.....no. Maybe once or twice a summer. Another head shake and eye roll. She told me that I needed to feed them about once a week and they would be beautiful. Okay, I say, I will try it. I have done very well this summer and they are beautiful. Maybe not Master Gardener status, but so much better than summers past.

I bought some pale yellow petunias at Lowes, on clearance, and they looked rather pitiful, but boy, they were cheap! A dollar for a large pot. I brought them home, re-potted them and they grew out long and scraggly. I took the scissors to them and cut off all the stems and left just a few stems and leaves on the plants. It has taken three weeks of daily watering and weekly feeding but they have grown back out, sturdy and strong and blooming their pretty yellow blooms.

I got some impatiens from another nursery in Ozark that I love to go to. It was in the middle of July when I stopped in there. There is a method to my madness. Usually my flowers look pretty pitiful and almost die through July and August, then come back in September and October and look pretty good. So, I thought, just buy the flowers in July, when they are half price or even cheaper and then they will look good for the fall. Now that I know the secret of watering and feeding, I will buy earlier in the season in the future. I am saying all of this with tongue in cheek, I did know the importance of watering and feeding all along, but life sometimes gets in the way of what you know you should be doing...

I planted three pots full of impatiens and they are starting to spill over the sides of the pots. Pretty, pretty, pretty. I love impatiens! At the same time I purchased a sweet potato vine (on clearance, of course) and a dinner plate hibiscus, also on sale, half price. The sweet potato vine has grown well but some little bug loves it and the leaves are full of tiny holes. I trimmed the hibiscus back and still haven't planted it because it has been so hot and because I don't know where to put it!

I have a big bed of bright pink/magenta vincas right beside my front porch. Note to self. Always buy vincas for the bed beside the front porch. They have grown to about a foot tall and full of beautiful, bright blooms. Alicia got me several of these for Mother's Day, and I got a few more to fill in. The front of the house gets soooo hot in the summer. Vinca can take the heat and they are a perfect choice for that location.

Alicia also got me some bright pink petunias (I guess she forgot I couldn't do petunias) and I put them in one of my planters. Six plants and one survived. I did water and feed them, they just didn't grow. After one or two of the plants died, I bought a container of purple verbena at Walmart and planted in the container with the petunias. It has grown like blue blazes but is just now starting to bloom. I love verbena also, of course.

A few years ago Alicia got me a coral colored tropical hibiscus plant. It is beautiful but I have to move it inside for the winter because it is not cold hardy in this growing zone. Last year it only had two or three blooms on it while it was outside, but when I brought it in for the winter it covered itself with blooms for a good two or three weeks.

That brings up another problem. I think my yard is a "micro-climate". A hot one. When the tag on the plant says full sun and I sit it in front of the house in full sun, it fries the plant. I have to put it in partial shade for it to do well.

I'm learning, slowly but surely. Hope I can figure it out enough to have a pretty flower or two before my time on earth is over.

Ob la di, ob la da, life goes on....