God's Word for Today

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Project 365 ~ Week 43

Sunday, October 21

A new sermon series started this week. We are all encouraged to wear these bracelets. Confession time: I hate having something tight around my wrist. In theory I know these are supposed to be a reminder of God’s devotion to me and my devotion to him, however in reality it makes my wrist sweat and it is very annoying because it fits so tightly on my wrist. I am not sure what the solution is but right now the bracelet is sitting on my coffee table.

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Monday, October 22

Another confession: This project has been sitting in my knitting basket for so long I can’t even remember when I started it. I finally forced myself to finish it. I have been so focused on other things (pottery) that I have had little time, or desire, to devote to crocheting or knitting. I have been trying to spend a few minuets each evening as we are sitting watching television to working my Prayer Shawl projects.

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I do love the addition of this little silver cross. I attached it to one of the tassels. It is not really noticeable on fist glance but I think it will be a sweet little surprise to someone when they find it nestled on the tassel.

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Tuesday, October 23

Now that the weather is a bit cooler I decided it was time to crank up the espresso machine and have an afternoon latte. It was good. I am out of practice so this one in not as foamy as I like it!

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No pictures on Wednesday, October 24,

I was busy at the studio working on more clay so no pictures on Thursday, October 25

Friday, October 26

The Girlchild has been complaining of late of having trouble seeing the board in school as well as road signs while driving, no a good thing when you are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. So it was off to get the eyes checked. As suspected she has a slight problem with long distance so she's now sporting these cute new glasses.

We stopped on the way home from picking them up and had a Chick-Fil-A picnic outside. It was a great evening to sit outside and enjoy the perfect weather.

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After we picked up her new specks she also need a few other supplies for a school project. Poster board and a few art supplies. Well I was right there in the art supply isle when I found this uncontrollable force compel me down the isle to the crayon section. In reality Muffinhead really doesn't not need any more crayons, I have a HUGE container of them. This post if full on confessions this week: I just wanted them. We were running out of paper though so it kind of equals out a bit I think, well maybe not….

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Saturday, October 27

This is my only finished piece this week to show y’all. I started out making two of these piecework boxes and one survived. I love the way the glaze turned out on this one!

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Well that is my week y’all. For more P365 y’all head over to Sara’s and link up!

I know I said I was going to try and get some fall color this week. Well there just has not been that much fall color until the past few days. I am hopefully this week I can get a few good shots. Keep your fingers crossed.

Blessings

R

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Project 365 ~ Week 42

I kept it kind of simple thins week. With all the activity of the sale this past weekend not to mention all the work we did leading up to the sale I needed a small break and a rest.

So here is my week!

No pictures on Sunday, October 14

Monday, October 15

I HATE to sew, but I am glad that I have a working knowledge of how to sew. I also love Skoots1mom as my Girlchild has benefitted from many many bags of clothing that her girl no longer could wear. This is the renovations of a previously long dress that the girlchild had been turning her nose up at for some time. It was, in her defense a bit too large so it required a good bit of taking in down the side and of course we shorted to just above the knee. This is now her new orchestra concert dress. Best of all I only had to invest a few short minutes of my time to get it up and running and there was no outlay of cash involved!

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Tuesday, October 16

After I spent all that time getting all the crud off my flat top griddle, it now looks amazing. However it still needs a bit of seasoning to get it back to optimum condition. The good thing is that the more often you use the quicker it will get back to good and seasoned! These pancakes turned out really good.

What's the only thing that can get me to whip up a batch of pancakes on a Tuesday morning.

Grandma: “What do you want for breakfast this morning?”

Muffinhead: “Pancakes, Grandma!”

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What a hardship, it may be a bit strange but I like a fried egg on top of my pancake. It adds a bit of savory to the sweet. It really is a good combination!

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Wednesday, October 17

Now that fall is in full swing it is time to get my bread pans out and dust them off!

This is my first batch of Raisin Cinnamon Swirl bread!

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Thursday, October 18

It turned out really good, if I do say so myself!

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Friday, October 19

The other little thing I enjoy about the fall is the addition of a cup of hot tea on occasion. As you can also see I am making good use of my new cups and spoon rests too!

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Muffinhead was intrigued with my hot tea, so what was a Grandma to do. I have been saving this tea set for about a billion years. The Girlchild and I used to use it as well. I got it down out of the cupboard and dusted it off and we had our very first tea party! Muffinhead takes her tea with lots of milk and sugar!

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Saturday, October 20

It was rime to pick the Swiss Chard. I sautéed’ up some bacon, onion and garlic and then tossed in the greens. They were super yummy! I will be planting these again!

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Well that was my week.

For more P365 y’all head over to Sara’s and link up!

We have been having some spectacular fall weather around these part. I am in hopes of getting some fall foliage pictures this coming week.

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

Blessings

R

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread Fresh out of the Oven….Nuff Said

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Wednesday Hodgepodge

I'm joining Joyce From this Side of the Pond for the Wednesday Hodgepodge today!

She is inching ever so close to the centennial version; this is week #98!

1. Noah Webster was born this week back in 1758....besides the online version, do you own a dictionary? 

Do you ever use the hardback copy or is your hunt for a definition strictly online these days?

I own several dictionaries, one was gift from a dear friend. We had a habit of picking a “Word of the Day” and each day we would randomly open the dictionary and then all try to incorporate that word into our conversation each day. The person who was able to use the word the most was the winner. I do still from time to time use my hardback dictionary but more times than not I will yield to the conveyance of the internet. It really is way simpler.

Edit: I worked up this post yesterday, however I was visiting my FB page this morning and happen upon one of my blogging pals Sassy Granny. She is one of the most well spoken individual I have had the privilege of reading. She has a command of language that is just amazing. Her word for the day…..

Obfuscate, somehow I think this word maybe relevant for the morning after the presidential debate!

2.  Should public schools ban Halloween celebrations?  What about other holiday celebrations currently under fire? 

In a perfect world we would all have balance and have things in proper perspective. One of my hot buttons is Halloween. If there was such a thing as a parental do over I would go back in time and make the decision to opt out of the celebration of Halloween. Thankfully the girlchild is of an age where she no longer feels pulled to celebrate this holiday. I don't have a problem with schools celebrating Halloween, however I do think that they do have responsibility to put parameters on what will be done such as costume requirement. Bottom line, I think Fall festivals are great fun, the celebration of Halloween has been pushed far beyond the original intent, which is very typical of how the worldly influence impact almost everything. It has been a very slow and disturbing process. What breaks my heart the most? How about seeing a sweet tiny baby dressed up in a bright red devil costume and everyone remarking “Oh how cute!” Really? That makes me very sad and disturbers my spirit a whole lot, not to mention how God must feel to see that darker evil side glorified and celebrated. It’s the world in all it glory! For me I choose not to play!


3.  What's your favorite 'dog' movie? 

My all time favorite dog movie is “Hooch” with Tom Hanks. I love that movie and I never tire of watching it!


4.  When were you last somewhere you'd describe as 'too quiet'?

It doesn't happen often, for the most part I am not a nervous or overly excitable person. However there are times when the Hub’s is out of town and I am in the house all by myself. Sometimes it gets too quiet. Giving the house the once over before I climb into bed is a reassurance that all the doors are securely locked and all the windows are tightly shut before bed. Sometime I will turn on the television and drift off to sleep.


5.  Are you a neat cook or a messy cook?  In other words do you clean as you go or make a big mess and then deal with it later?

I confess, I am a clean as you go girl. One because I get to overwhelmed with the idea of having to clean up a HUGE mess, and secondly it just seems easier to me to clean as I go. Why make the process of cooking more difficult by making a huge mess and turning what for me is a fun thing into a big headache!


6.  Did you hear about Felix Baumgartner, the skydiver who broke the sound barrier via parachute?  Was your first thought  COOL! or was your first thought CRAZY!  Are you adventurous?

I have never understood the need people have to push the envelope. I can enjoy gazing up and a majestic mountain range, however never once has the thought “I need to go climb that!” rambled through my mind! However I do have a small sense of adventure when approaching something new. Learning something new, going to a new place or just venturing out to see what happens. I am not a thrill seeker but I am defiantly open to experiencing new things.


7.  What's not a word but should be?

I enjoy those wonderful words that come from a combination of two different words. Fantabulous, ginormous or superlicious to name just a few!


8.  My answer to question #4 got me to thinking.

I think the reason being “too quiet” was for most in my mind is that in fact the Hub’s is out of town on business right now. It does make for quiet evenings. The Girlchile puts great value on her sleep and is in bed by 9:30 most evening. Having to get up at 5:15 am to achieve teenage perfection before leaving for school requires time and preparation. This means that most night I have the house and the remote all to myself. One of the things I do enjoy when I have the house all to myself is making things as simple as I can. I pack the frig with frozen pizza’s, chicken pot pies or anything I can just heat and eat. I get my shower right after dinner and then curl up with my nice warm purple robe and either find a really good movie or just relax with my Kindle and enjoy the down time! It is sort of like a mini vacation. I used to feel really guilty about enjoying my time off knowing that the hubs was off  working but after six years of his occasional business trip I no longer struggle with such issues any more. When he is out of town I will load the Netflix queue up with multiple chick flicks and then hunker down and have a good old fashion film festive with popcorn and a coke float! So what do you do with the unexpected bit of time off?

 

Blessings

R

Monday, October 15, 2012

Y’all…sometime I have to wonder about myself…

I promised I would share about my funny! Well here it is!

In my last P365 post I shared about a canning demonstration that Skoots1mom and I went to. If you are a regular here then you know I enjoy my time in the kitchen and I especially get a sense of connection to my Grandmother when I am canning my jam’s and jellies.

However you want to know my take away for the whole experience….what did I learn?

I was watching the woman do her demonstration. It was an epiphany of humiliation!

Several years ago for my birthday Skoots1mom gave me a “Thing and a Thing” as I have affectionately referred to them since she gave them to me.

You can click here to read the post about it!

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Their official culinary terms are a jar lifter and funnel!

But I digress.

So there I am sitting in the room raptly watching the woman give us all the necessary details about the art of pressure canning when she reaches over and picked up “The Thing” and proceed to lift up one of the jars up to put in into the pot of steaming water.

I leaned over and whispered to Skoots “I have just realized I have been doing it wrong all these years!”

It was a revelation y’all!

And all for the bargain price of a dollar.

My mom’s idea of cooking as to open a box of hamburger helper, and by the time I was old enough to really appreciate learning from my grandmother she was simply not able to work side by side in the kitchen so it has been a process of learning on my own.

I just had to laugh at myself.

I had been using my jar lifer upside down for over four years and never even knew it.

My way….                                         The right way…

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Y’all it was worth the dollar!

Sometime ya just have to laugh especially at yourself!

Blessings

R

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Project 365 ~ Week 41

Wow it was a really full week for me! As you can tell by my very late posting of this weeks P365. I have just now returned from the last day of our pottery sale. For my very first one to participate in I feel I did very well. I sold almost 3/4 of the stuff I had produces for the sale. I came home with one small box of items that did not sell.

I am a bit tired but very excited to have discovered this new creative outlet. The two other studio mates and I have been discussing what our next venue will be. We are exploring doing a FB page, but our biggest dilemma is what to call our page. We are pondering upon the perfect title!

But I digress.

I will just forge ahead with my week.

Sunday, October 7

One of the Hub’s favorite things is a big ol’ pot of beans. I tossed a ham bone in and plugged the crock pot in before we left for church Sunday morning. By the end of the day we were in bean and ham bone heaven. There just isn't anything more satisfying in my book than a nice warm bowl of pinto bones and rice with a few big chunks of tender ham tossed in for good measure. It was a perfect way to end a wonderful fall Sunday!

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No pictures on Monday, October 8 or Tuesday, October 9

I was diligently preparing for the upcoming sale!

Wednesday, October 10

I think I have made a critical error. Muffinhead found the jar of Jiffy brand Nutella in the pantry. Now on the mornings that she is at my house all she wants for breakfast is “chocolate peanut butter” toast as she calls it! Grandmas are allowed to let there grandbabies have chocolate peanut butter for breakfast right?????

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Later that afternoon Skoots1mom and I had plans to attend a canning seminar put on by the local extension service. It was a very nice class and I learned a lot. I am eager to try my hand a pressure canning just as soon as I get my hands on a pressure canner!

I also have a funny to share about the experience but that will have to wait for a later post!

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Thursday, October 11

Thursday was a kiln unloading day for us. The Kiln Fairies were in a good mood, as all the pieces that emerged from the fire were very nice!

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After many week this communions set if finally finished. I was very happy how it turned out!

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I really like these coffee mugs, so much so that I had to bring one of them home to live in my house.

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I was so excited that I couldn't wait until morning. I had to brew up a pot of decaf to give my newest cup a go!

Friday, October 12

Muffinhead spent the night and she and Auntie Girlchild had a princess theme going on!

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Saturday, October 13

This is just one of the table we had set up for the sale on Saturday morning!

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I was happy with how these hand painted trays I did turned out. Sadly it will be next summer before I can do any more as these represented the very last Rose of Sharon blooms I had in my backyard. I pressed them into the clay and then rolled them to get the veining from the flowers and the leaves into the clay. Then they are fired off and the flowers and leaves burn away and leave the imprint of petals and leaves behind. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how these turned out.

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Here is my carved box. I am almost kind of glad that this one did not sell so I could bring it home with me.

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Well that was my week. I am vey glad that all the activity heading up to the sale is over with, but I am also very pleased with the success we had. I love it when a plan come together don’t y’all!

Well that’s it for my week. For more P365 y’all head over to Sara’s and link up.

Blessings

R

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Project 365 ~ Week 40:

Hey There Y’all!

Here is my week.

Sunday, September 30

Sometime I can be a bit of a night owl. The curse of the fluctuating hormones. I found myself unable to sleep Saturday evening so I thought maybe a nice warm shower would help. Just call me graceful! I have a bathroom rug just outside my shower so normally I can maneuver myself from the shower to the closet with out incident. However the evil bathroom fairies chose to manipulate the bathroom space time continuum and I placed one foot down on the bathroom rug and with the other I stepped off onto the floor. WHAM! The next thing I knew there I was in a heap of wet towel and 52 year old limbs splayed out on my bathroom floor. Now remember that it’s after midnight, the Hub's is soundly snoring in the bed and I am laying on the bathroom floor…visions of the commercial “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” are running through my head. I am surprised the loud thumb didn't wake the hubs from his sleep but he managed to slumber though the occasion. Well I laid there for a few second collecting my thoughts and then I slowly began to make my way into a standing position. I got myself dried off and put my PJ’s on when I noticed not only had I thoroughly embarrassed myself but there was blood involved as well. I had managed to cut a few fingers in the process of trying to brace myself for impact.

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Did we have any Band-Aids'….that would be NO! So there I am standing in my kitchen at 12:30 AM rummaging (while bleeding) through the contents of my small medicine chest trying to assemble all the necessary ingredients to make a home made band aide. Thankfully it was my left hand so I was not hindered by trying to awkwardly cut and bandage with my left hand. I eased into bed a few minute later all with a bruised ego, bruised backside and bandaged fingers.

It was a while before I actually fell asleep, so much for a relaxing warm shower! Yea for me!

Monday, October 1

It was a pottery day for me. However with bandaged fingers I was only able to do some hand building. However I do have a finished piece to show y’all. I love the way this small bowl turned out.

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However, appearances can be a bit deceiving. It may look good on the outside but turn it over and you get a nice big fat CRACK!

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Live and learn and move on! It a nice little bowl as long as you don't turn it over!

no pictures on Tuesday, October 2

Wednesday, October 3

This is me hanging out the third floor window at church trying to get a good picture of the sunset.

Oh well I tried at least!

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Thursday, October 4

My first batch of homemade bread of the season. Baking is such a ht or miss kind of thing. I am still struggling with the texture and consistency in my baking. One batch will be wonderful and then then next no so much. This turned out OK, it was a bit on the dense side, good flavor but not the light tender bread we had in San Francisco! I am going to keep trying until I get it right!

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Friday, October 5

It’s that time again. My blossom yield this past spring was non-existent. That is a sure sight that it is time to thin the bed, and my bed was in desperate need of thinning. The bulbs were so dug in and matted layer on top of layer, it’s no wonder they had stopped blooming.

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Now the fun part begins! Prying them apart and then getting them back in the ground. The good part is that I have lots of spaces around the landscape that need filling in.

Saturday, October 6

We met up with Skoots1mom and family at the town square for the what they call Rock’n Rib Festival. They have had it for several years now, but this is the first year that I have gone. The Hub’s saw it advertised and thought it sounded like fun. They had live music, lots of crafting vendors, inflatable for the kids, face painting, and games and more food that you can shake a stick at.

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I don’t know how many vendors were selling ribs, it was a contest  as well so they were all vying for first place. With all the rib deliciousness going on what did I mange to take a picture of?

The Girlchild's funnel cake and the bread pudding I got a sample of.

The ribs were goods, there were a few really good ones and then one of my selections was a not so much!

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As we heading back home on Saturday evening I was about to pop we had sample so many ribs.

The weather was perfect, good friends, fellowship and good food! It was a score!

Well that was my week.

Y’all head over to Sara’s and link up for more P365 fun!

Blessings

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