Tumultuous is the new normal

Tumultuous is the best word to describe our lives. I keep waiting for normal, but it continues to elude us, leaving me to ponder whether tumultuous in our normal. The key is finding God's peace in the midst of the turmoil. Hanging onto peace and joy in the midst of the trial that begins before the last one is quite over. Just when I think things have settled down to a nice little roar, the next wave hits. But through it all, we must learn to not lose sight of Him and the peace He grants in the midst of the storm.

I think about the disciples on the boat and the storm raging around them. Jesus was right in the middle of it all, but they were still frazzled, until they sought Him out. Jesus is in the middle of my life also, but He brings me no peace in the storm until I seek Him. Sometimes I think the mere fact that He's in my boat will bring the peace I seek, but no, it's not until I go looking for Him, seeking after Him, that the peace and strength come. I pray for you, peace in the midst of whatever you are going through today and that Jesus would be in your boat!

God Bless,

Colleen

Little House, Little Housework?

The other day I came upon this picture on Pinterest:

The caption the pinner had added was: Little House, Little Housework. That pin has been on my mind as I've struggled to get our little living space back in order after the past tumultous couple of months we've had. A lot of people are under the impression that the less space you have, the less work you have to do. I find it to be quite the contrary.

In a smaller living environment you must be diligent about cleaning and organizing. You muse be diligent about getting rid of stuff. We used to live in an almost 3,000 square foot house and now are in approximately 600 sq ft. While a large space will accomodate some clutter and mess with little impact, a small space will not. What would be a little clutter in a large home or apartment, becomes an episode of hoarders in a small space. It takes a mere day or two of neglect and your space looks like surely you are the survivor of some horrible natural tragedy. Otherwise known as the good old adage, "It looks like a tornado went through here!" That was a favorite saying of my grandmother's and trust me, the rooms she was speaking of couldn't hold a candle to the mess you find in a small space that has been neglected for a couple of days.

So, before you go wishing for a Little House, Little Housework, type of life, be forewarned. There is a LOT of work involved in keeping a little house livable. There are no days off. There's no putting off laundry because you have something more fun to do, or you're not feeling well. You don't dare leave the dishes undone, because your sink only holds the contents of one meal comfortably. Everything else spills out all over the counter, which is only about 2 sq ft of space, so now you have nowhere to prepare your next meal. In a regular size sink you can leave the dishes go for the entire day and not have a mess to look at. But in a small space by the time lunch is over you can't find the faucet to turn the water on. Think you can just go shopping and bring home your wonderful new haul with no consequences? Think again. My closet is not large enough to accomodate one third of my old wardrobe, and forget it if you think you're going to be Imelda Marcose in a small home. I have one pair of cowboy boots, one pair of sneakers, and two pairs of sandals, and they are constantly in the way. Are you the type that likes to stock up on groceries? Forget about it! My pantry is now contained under my tiny sink. And don't even get me started on the miscellaneous stuff that a family tends to accumulate.

All that being said however, if you are great at organizing, cleaning and have the mentality of some of my children, which is "less is more", a small space may be just the place for you! My oldest daughter could easily live a tiny space and have no problem whatsoever! She has a gift for organization and can walk into a room and have it sparkling like a television commercial in less than half an hour, no matter what she starts with! My sons could do it easily, they would happily live with their Bible, one pair of pants and a t-shirt if I let them. So, I have to assume the problem is me and the rest of our family. But even a few things can create a mess in a small space. And it happens in a hurry too!

Still and all, living in a small place can be a blessing. Just have realistic expectations. I guess you could say, Caviat Emptor, Let the buyer beware.

No matter the size of your living space, I hope it is a blessed space that you enjoy.

Have a Blessed Day!

Colleen

Photo Credit:
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

Linking to:
Time Warp Wife:

http://time-warp-wife.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-build-long-lasting-yoke-and.html

Life Can Change in the Blink of an Eye

It's been 9 weeks since my mother in law first got sick. So much has happened in so little time. It was Valentine's Day when we got the phone call that they had to take her to urgent care and less than a month later she was gone. It has been a crazy time in our lives. So much has happened it feels like forever, yet in reality it's been just over 2 months. Through it all I have seen God's grace and mercy run deep in our lives. I am so thankful for His strength, grace, patience and love. I am so thankful for the strength, grace and love He has poured out through me. It's funny to me that no matter how many times you experience God's amazing Grace, it is always surprising again. It has been a difficult roller coaster of emotions, but through it all God has been at my side keeping me going. Tomorrow we leave for a couple of week and then will come back to stay again. Right now our schedule it to stay here two weeks and then go back to our home resort for two weeks and back again. I am having pangs as I think about leaving him alone, but I know he needs this time and I have to trust God with him. It's funny, as I find myself in the position of feeling about him much the same as I feel about my kids.

I hope all is well for all of you and I hope to get on more regularly to post.

The Waiting Game

So, I've been missing from the web for a bit while we play the waiting game. My mother-in-law was rushed to urgent care awhile back suffering from severe dehydration. Two days later she was in the ER with constant vomiting and severe abdominal pain. It turns out she had a blockage in her small intestine which was the cause of the dehydration. The next day she underwent surgery to clear the blockage and after surgery she was unable to breathe on her own. She has been on a ventilator ever since. She is 83 years old.


I sit here now in the waiting room of the CCCU waiting til after shift change so we can see her again. We wait to hear how her pneumonia is doing. We wait to hear if her blood pressure is regulated. We wait to see if today will be the day she can breathe on her own again. We wait to hear if her white blood count is down, if her blood gases are good, if her fever is under control. Waiting is the toughest part of life. As we wait, we sit with another family who wait for their wife, mother, sister, daughter to heal from an aneurysm, she was rushed into the hospital the same day as my mother-in-law. We all sit and wait. We talk a little, pray a little, try to offer comfort to one another, encouragement to one another. We laugh together, try not to cry in front of each other, sharing our lives in this strange way. Strangers sharing this experience of waiting. We ache with each other, for each other, pray with each other, for each other. We sit in the room together, yet separate, together, yet alone. And we wait. And hope.


Blessings,
Colleen

Busy Bees

Wow, what a week it's been! We have been busily working on decluttering and organizing. It was our oldest grandson's birthday and we got to spend a fun time celebrating with him! And we have started teaching line dancing classes. We also got to spend some time with our other grandsons and our oldest daughter, their mom. And the biggest change of all is working to revamp the way we eat. Learning to eat not just healthier but more naturally. Valentine's Day party. Getting ready for our line dance rally in three weeks. Learning new dances, teaching old ones. I have pictures to come and updates to follow, but for now, I must sleep because we teach early in the morning. Well, early for us. Have a wonderful Thursday! I look forward to catching up with my blogs I haven't had time to sit and read for days!


Blessings,
Colleen

Tea Time Wishes

I have been thoroughly enjoying looking through blogs and pictures, and taking in all the beautiful eye candy. I love the elegance of tea. Of teapots and china, roses and finger sandwiches, linens and lace. I tend to be a rather high strung person so I can always use a little of the elegance and calm that comes with tea.

I thought I'd devote a little time today to some of the tea things on my wishlist. Like this beautiful Royal Albert Old Country Roses Teapot:

And this lovely Royal Albert Old Country Roses Coffee Service Set

These beautiful Royal Albert Tea Cups

And one of my favorite tea time items, this gorgeous Royal Albert Tidbit Tray

I have loved this pattern for years so imagine my delight when I showed up to a dear friend's home for the first tea time together and found the table set with my beloved Royal Albert Old Country Rose. She has two complete sets as she raised a large family. It was such a lovely surprise and now each time we have tea together that is the cup I choose and I enjoy getting the chance to sip my tea from it while we have a lovely visit.

The other couple of items on my wish list are this cute little Johnson Brothers Summer Chintz Teapot and Sugar & Creamer Set to go with my tea cups and tidbit tray

So, these are the things on my wish list. But we all know that the most important things aren't really things. The most important things I enjoy during my tea time is the opportunity to sit and visit with loved ones. A time to savor tea, goodies, and conversation. A time to build memories, strengthen bonds. I am thankful for all the beautiful tea things I have, but the thing I am most thankful for are the people who gather around and take the time to enjoy them with me.

One of my fondest memories of tea time with my youngest daughter was when we hosted a table at our church women's tea. We used some of my grandmother's tea things, some of my mother-in-law's china, and some of our china. It was a delightful time with treasured tea settings from three generations of our family. And for me, that is what tea time is really about. It's about building family.

But don't get discouraged if you have no tea items to serve, go ahead and make yourself and your loved ones a tea party anyway. Right now all our china and tea things are packed away in storage, but we still make our little tea parties. We set out our sandwiches and sit together, each with our favorite tea and enjoy each other's company. So, whether you have fancy china, or paper plates, take some time to sit down for a cup of tea and a moment or two of relaxation.

My tea time wish for you is that you have the peace, the elegance, the flavor, and the beauty, of all that is tea in your life! May your cup runneth over.

Today I am linking up with the following parties:

Tea Time Tuesday: http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/


Tuesday Cuppa Tea: http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/

Tea Cup Tuesday: http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

Artful Affirmations: http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/

A Delightsome Life: http://www.blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/

Table Top Tuesday: http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Tea Party Tuesday: http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/

Tea time blessings!  

Organization Quest

Oy Vey! We continue on our seemingly never ending quest to organize and make this space livable and enjoyable.

Our biggest problem is that when we moved into the trailer I was completely incapacitated and had to rely on others to do all the packing and moving. What happened is that so much unnecessary stuff got put into the trailer and so much necessary stuff got put into storage. I won't complain because I was blessed to have my family and a couple of wonderful friends who were willing to work very hard to pack everything and move it. It was a true nightmare and they were such a blessing and definitely did their very best. But there was no way for any of us to know what did and didn't need to be brought along and what could be put into storage.

The other problem is that when we started on this adventure we only planned on doing this for two or three months while I recovered from our accident and we had to be close to my physical therapy. We moved into the trailer in July of 2010 and when winter hit that year we realized that all we had was summer clothes! It seems that monthly we realize how ill prepared we were for this adventure. Now, nineteen months later, and many trips to and from storage, we have just got a crazy hodge podge of stuff everywhere. Things are crazily chaotic, especially since right in the middle of trying to organize, everyone decided to get sick. sigh.

I, however, was determined that nothing would sideline my on my quest for organization! My mission took me to Wal Mart where I bought a bunch of plastic bins to organize our storage areas. We got home and began organizing and putting things into bins, only to find that I have a serious problem estimating size! The bins were way too big for the space! So, back to Wal Mart we went to buy new bins, I proudly came home with my new bins, only to find out I had bought the EXACT same size bins!! So, tonight back to Wal Mart I traveled to return all the too big bins and replace them with the bins I thought would be too small that first trip. As we approached the bins I thought I saw the perfect size, yes, you guessed it, I was looking at the SAME bins for the third time! Thankfully I had memorized the size of the wrong bins so I was saved the embarassment of buying the wrong size for the third time! I am now the proud owner of several smaller bins.

I also picked up a wooden picture frame to turn into a wall art project, only to find when I got home that the frame appears to be too big for the space I wanted to put it in. My brilliant son has decided that my inability to grasp the reality of size is to be blamed on the movies and tv shows I watched as a child. Case in point, Mary Poppins with her bag that held mesmerizing items impossible to fit into such a small satchel. I would love to blame my whole, inability to come to terms with the size of our space, on the trailer, but truth be told, I have suffered this problem for years. Many times as we were shopping my kids would kindly remind me, "Mom, you remember we have a small car right?" What would prompt such a statement you ask? Well, confession time, more than once I have had to call a friend with a truck to please come to my rescue after purchasing something that couldn't possibly fit into our compact car! Like the time I bought a huge above ground pool, only to get out to the car and remember we had said small compact car. Thankfully a friend was able to come to our rescue.

Here are our two youngest with two of their friends enjoying the pool, so it all turned out well. But when we were standing in the parking lot of Sam's Club trying to figure out how to get it home the whole family surely thought I'd lost my marbles.

There were the bikes I bought, the combination, pool/air hockey/ ping pong table, the mounds of groceries my kids have had to ride home with piled on their laps. And the infamous trip to the garden center where our two youngest kids and our oldest grandson rode home looking like they'd been lost in a jungle. I will try to find the picture of that trip to post. If you can just imagine three little kids with assorted plants piled on top of them. You could hardly even see them back there. 

Here are the pictures of the kids buried under my new garden treasures. In full disclosure I should point out that the trunk was also full and we came home with stuff on the roof as well.

And we'll never forget the time I got a free artificial ficus tree that I had been longing for, and the kids and I had to wait at the shopping center while my husband drove the ficus tree home because we couldn't fit the tree in the car with all of us in it.

And then there is my problem with the refrigerator. Yes, I have the same problem with facing the reality of the size of our fridge and freezer. My kids joke every time we come home from the store about whose turn it is to play Tetris. (The video game where you try to fit falling blocks with assorted shapes into one another so there are no gaps) While we are at the store they remind me often of the fact that we have a very small space to put all the food I am busily gathering into our cart, and I, without fail, kindly respond that yes I remember thank you very much. And then we get home and I am once again faced with the reality that I am impaired in this area! Before you suggest that I try measuring, let me assure you that I do measure. And I have all my measurements neatly logged into my little notebook that I seem to forget every time I head to the store. Perhaps I will have to put the measurements online somewhere so when I get to the store and realize once again that I have forgotten my notebook, I can just look them up. In the meantime, my quest continues.
Hopefully I will soon have pictures of our beautifully organized space to post. But for now, all I have is a huge daunting task ahead of me. Wish me luck!

Be Blessed!

My Fun Finds & French Onion Soup Recipe

Last week I wrote about a few of the new decorating deals I found. As a single income family luxury is not a word normally in our vocabulary. But I have found that when I have a desire that goes along with our vision for our home and family, and I leave it to Him, God often provides just what I want. So, with that in mind, here are my new home decor finds, just in time for Valentine's Day!

 I have been wanting one of these heart mugs for quite awhile, but at a normal price of about 10.00 each, I have not had one. Until now. Recently on a trip to one of our favorite thrift stores I found my longed for red, heart shaped mug for a delicious price of .58! Yes, you read that correctly. .58. Of course I couldn't pass it up, and I have been enjoying my tea in it daily. I don't know about you, but when I get a new tea cup or mug I love to drink from it. Soon enough I will go back to rotating between my others. Depending on mood of course!

Here is the beautiful little ramekin I found, although it's not so little, it is a nice hearty size for a bowl of soup. These usually retail for 4.00 so I was very happy to find it, brand new, still in the box with the label on, for only 2.00, with it's plastic lid! My husband will certainly enjoy his french onion soup in this cute little rami.

Here is the stoneware pie plate! I love it so much!! It also was brand new with the label still firmly attached. Normal retail for this little find, 9.99. My price: 3.00! They had two and I wish I had bought the other one, but with both space and budget stretched tight I guess I did the right thing. I just can't help but think of baking two different pies in their matching red pans though!

So, obviously the steal of this story is my heart mug! But I do love all three beautiful red new additions to our home. Perhaps next time I will share the pictures along with something in the pans.

Here is the recipe I use for my husband's fave French Onion Soup which I have adapted from many different recipes I've found.. It is super easy. The longest part is carmelizing the onions.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Butter
2 lb Yellow Onions, sliced approx 1/2" wide (I normally use about 4 onions)
2 Quarts Beef Stock
1/8 tsp Thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste
8 Ounces Gruyere Cheese (or your favorite cheese)
4 Slices of a Nice Yummy Bread

Directions:

Melt butter in either a heavy bottom pot, or a nice deep cast iron pan, over medium-low heat, add sliced onions and sprinkle a couple of pinches of salt to help them sweat out the moisture. Cook the onions over medium-low heat stirring very often until they brown. We like them carmelized. When the onions are nice and caramely, add the beef stock, the sprig of thyme, a little salt and pepper, turn down heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

While the soup is simmering toast your slices of bread. (I like to butter them, sprinkle a little parmesan on them and put them under the broiler for a few seconds, but it's just as yummy with plain toasted bread)

Pour the soup into indivdual crocks, put toasted bread on top of soup and sprinkle cheese on top. Place crocks on a cookie sheet to catch any spillover and put them under the broiler until the cheese melts.

(note: you can leave out the salt if you need to, the soup is plenty yummy without it and I often don't use it, but most all recipes call for it.)

I hope you enjoy this as much as my hubby does.

Be blessed!

Family Movie Night

My daughter and I were recently talking about family movie night and today the phrase movie night keeps popping up in my life, so I thought I'd write a little post about it. We didn't have a home theater, or even a big screen tv, but we enjoyed some great and memorable family movie nights. When our older kids were younger we could take them to the drive-in for a special treat, but by the time our younger ones came along drive-ins were pretty much a thing of the past. The price of movies was so prohibitive that we started doing family movie nights.


We would gather together our popcorn, our favorite candies and drinks and bring our pillows and blankets into the family room and pop in a movie, or two, and enjoy. Then we'd all fall asleep and spend the night in the family room. Great memories! If you've never done a family movie night I highly recommend it!


Blessings!

Virtual Tea Party

Today, in honor of the last day of Hot Tea Month, I am hosting a virtual tea party. I hope you'll join us. Pour yourself a cup of your favorite tea (or coffee) and find a little delicious treat or tea sandwich and take a few moments to relax and enjoy.

We have enjoyed the tradition of sitting down to a nice little tea party for at least 14 years or so. Sometimes we do very fancy, and sometimes we do very simple. But the one constant is the time we spend together sitting and sipping.

I have shared a couple of other posts this month about our tea traditions and some of our collection of teapots and cups and other assorted pieces, and also a couple of our traditional sandwich recipes. Here is another recipe that came about quite by accident. A friend and I were putting on a tea party for another friend's birthday and we weren't sure when we finished making the sandwiched if we had enough for everyone. So we put our thinking caps on and began to brainstorm with what we had and came upon a delicious Cashew Cream Cheese Sandwich on Cinnamon Raisin Bread. It was absolutely delicious! We simply mixed some cashews into some cream chees and spread it on some raisin bread and viola! Everyone loved them!

There are a lot of ways to make your tea time special. A simple floral arrangement, special tea cups, special menu, whatever it is, no matter how simple or elaborate, the time you take is what is important. The time and the tradition.

There are also quite a few edible flowers that can be incorporated whether you choose to eat them or not. Two of my favorites are roses and pansies. They help make your presentation beautiful and can be eaten as well.

However you choose to enjoy your tea, I hope you have enjoyed our virtual tea party here.


I am also linking up to these other tea party blogs:

Tea Time Tuesday: http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/
Tuesday Cuppa Tea: http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/

Artful Affirmations: http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/
A Delightsome Life: http://www.blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Table Top Tuesday: http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/
Tea Party Tuesday: http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/


Be blessed!Tea Cup Tuesday: http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

Procrastination

You know the trouble with computers? They have too many gadgets to amuse me and keep me from focusing on the task at hand. Am I the only one who needs a little break and sneaks away from the task at hand to go play a quick game? Pop in on FB to see what everyone is doing?

Meanwhile time just fritters away. Oh Lord, help me to have better self control, teach me to number my days. Going to grab a quick cup of tea and try to get focused so I can come back and work on today's real post.

Blessings!

Swap Meets, Redecorating and Moving Day

Well, since I've been working to try to get my life back after our accident, I am excited to try to begin crafting again and also to decorate our little trailer home. When we bought the trailer a year and a half ago it was brand new and I couldn't bear the thought of putting any holes anywhere or doing anything that would mar the beautiful newness. Of course spending months in bed also leaves no time, energy or motivation to do any decorating. When you don't have enough strength to take a shower, it's a little difficult to think about decorating your living space.

Well, as time has passed it has become depressing to live in a place that has no personal touches, no personality, it just isn't home. So, I am now on a journey to make it home. To that end I went and did a little shopping the past few days. I love to try to buy used; thrift stores, yard sales, swap meets, ebay, etc... So, the other day I decided to get up early to take my husband to work so I could visit my favorite swap meet. But I decided at the last minute to go to a swap meet I had been trying to get to for years but somehow kept showing up on the wrong days. I was rather discouraged when I showed up a little before 7 am to a swap meet that is supposed to start at 5, only to find very few vendors and most of them just getting started with their setup. I contemplated cutting my losses (the .50 entry fee) and heading to my regular place. But I decided to wait it out.

A little after seven I decided to start walking around a little and my patience paid off! First find was a miniature cabinet that definitely needs a good cleaning and a paint job, but I am hoping to find a home for it in my bedroom when it's done. Cost: $3.00! Yippee!

My favorite color is red and I am trying to not only collect red things, but to replace things I already have with red. (I am looking forward to purhasing a red crockpot in the near future!) So, I was very tempted when I saw a beautiful red pie pan for only $3.00! It was one of those beautiful stoneware pans with decorative edges that I have had my eye on for a long time. But I haven't done any real baking since we've been in the trailer. For two reasons, first because of the aforementioned physical limitations, but lately because there just isn't room. So, I decided to pass on the pie pan. I wandered around a little more. Found some cute Hello Kitty nail decals for my daughter, a few little red pieces of tupperware and then headed back to my car to call it a day. As I got to my car I started to think about that beautiful red pie plate. I tried to reason with myself, "Colleen, how often do you make pies anymore?" But then I thought, I could use it for other things, fudge, casseroles, cakes. Hmmm, it's pretty small for casseroles. I went back and forth about it all the way back to the car and then I realized, if I leave without this pie pan that I know costs at least $15 in the store I will regret it! So, I wandered around the maze and found my way back to the vendor and bought not only my beautiful new $3.00 red stoneware pie pan, but also a nice little $2.00 red stoneware mini casserole pan! My husband was excited when he saw that and asked, "so is that my new french onion soup crock?" Yes Honey. But now my conundrum, they had two of the pie pans, and I only bought one, should I go back and get the other one? Because as soon as I got home I regretted not getting them both! Hmmm.

After the swap meet I stopped off at Michael's Craft Store and picked up a few little items for Valentine's Day. My most exciting find was a little red heart wreath that is meant to be a Valentine decoration, but since red is my decor color it will work all year long. It was only $2.99 and I had a 40% off coupon so you just can't beat that!

Today we finally made it out to the Camping World store to buy the shower curtain rod we have been wanting for months! It is a rod that curves out to give you more space in the shower. I can't wait for that to get put up. I also found the exact rack I have been wanting to help organize our plate cupboard. It is a three tier rack that will make life much easier. 

Next up was a trip to Wal Mart where I finally found a bathroom rug in a color I wanted. My husband loves purple so I try to make our bedroom and bathroom purple for him. I found a beautiful purple bath mat and my goal is to do some shabby chic purple, pink, and white in there. Also, the big hurrah, finally found the spring rods I need to make our kids their bunk curtains! I have been wanting to do that since we got the trailer, but as we know, have not been up to it. We did not find the material for them. I want them to find something they love, not just settle for anything. So it will be a few days at least before we can continue with that project, but we do have the most important part, rods that fit! I also finally got some wall decor that I have been wanting for awhile. Unfortunately one is a wallpaper border I've had my eye on, but the space for it is not big enough. Oh well. I picked up some hardware I needed to be able to hang things on the wall. All in all, I am set to work on some decorating! We also recently pulled one of my fabric bins out of storage so my daughter and I are excited about getting to do some crafting, decorating, and possibly some baking.  

I will post pictures as soon as possible. It is very late and tomorrow is moving day. As full time RVers we move every couple of weeks. Tomorrow is moving day, which is a long and tiring day. And after moving we still have to go grocery shopping and buy some new sneakers for my daughter and I.

Have a blessed day!

Tea Sandwiches

One of our favorite things about tea parties are the delicious finger sandwiches! We have our traditional favorites and I thought I'd share some recipes with you. We cut each type of sanswich into a different shape and of course we remove the crusts! Which can then either be fed to birds or snacked on while you are making them.

Choice of bread is one of those personal taste issues. We normally use white bread for our cucmber and egg salad sandwiches and wheat for our chicken and tuna sandwiches. But you can experiment with your favorite breads.

Mine and our daughter's favorite tea sandwich is the traditionl Cucumber Sandwich. I learned how to make them from a friend who also introduced me to high tea many years ago and they are absolutely delicious! We always cut our cucumber sandwiches into squares.

CUCUMBER SANDWICHES:

Ingredients:
bread
cucumbers
cream cheese
butter (you can use either salted or unsalted, it's your preference)
salt

Wash your cucumbers. You can peel them completely or partly, it's up to you. An important step to making a delicious cucumber sandwich is to slice the cucmbers, lay them on a paper towel or tea towel and sprinkle salt on them, cover them with another towel and let them sit for about 10 minutes. This will draw the excess water out of the cucumbers allowing them to last throughout your party without becoming soggy.
Next spread cream cheese on one slice of bread and real butter on the other slice of bread. It is a good idea to let your cream cheese and butter sit out for a little bit to soften, I also cream them some with a fork to make them easier to spread. Lay your cucumbers on either slice and put your sandwich together. Cut off your crusts and cut your sandwiches into square quarters. In my opinion and experience, a square is the perfect shape for cucumber sandwiches.

 

Another family favorite is Egg Salad sandwiches. We make a very simple egg salad as we don't like vinegars or relish in our egg or potato salads. Our shape for our egg salad sandwiches is a rectangle.

EGG SALAD SANDWICHES:

Ingredients:

Bread
18 Hard Boiled Eggs
1 Cup Mayonnaise
2 tsp Mustard
1-2 Cloves of crushed Garlic (Optional)
Salt
Black Pepper

Mix the mayonnaise, mustard, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Mash the eggs. We mash our eggs using a potato masher and then add our mayonnaise, mixture. All measurements are approximate because I just mix to taste. The garlic is optional, we love it, but not everyone does. If you don't, just omit it.

Well, these are our two favorites. I will add more as time permits.

Blessings!

A Heart for Motherhood

Oh, Mothers of young children, I bow before you in reverence. Your work is most holy. You are fashioning the destinies of immortal souls. The powers folded up in the little ones that you hushed to sleep in your bosoms last night, are powers that shall exist forever. You are preparing them for their immortal destiny and influence. Be faithful. Take up your sacred burden reverently. Be sure that your life is sweet and clean.--JR Miller

I love this quote! There is truly nothing in the world more important than being a parent. It is the best vocation there could ever be. The world tells us that it isn't important. The world tells us to ship our beloved children off to daycare to be raised by an overworked, underpaid caretaker who is also trying to raise twenty or thirty other innocent young children. There is no time for them to be cherished, to be molded, to be discipled. I urge you to say NO and make a way to stay home and raise, cherish and disciple your own little blessings. It is one of the few things you will do in life that will last for all eternity.

Be Blessed!

Hot Tea Month

January is hot tea month!

One of the things I miss most about our lifestyle right now, is my inability to host tea parties. I love to host tea parties! So, I thought I'd indulge in a little virtual tea party right here.

There is something so inspiring about a beautiful tea setting. It is simply beautiful, elegant and inspiring. Tea brings about the feeling that one should lounge and savor. Tea is not about hurrying. It is about savoring. About taking time to enjoy each other. Time to relax, sit, sip and savor. When you think of tea you don't think about running, chaos, noise. Tea inspires calm thoughts. Maybe that's one of the things I love most about it.

I absolutely adore teapots! I am not sure how many I have. More than some might think is necessary, but less than any true tea devotee should have I would think. I have elegant teapots, whimsical teapots, country themed teapots, holiday teapots. Many of my teapots were gifts from wonderful friends and so I treasure them even more dearly! This is also the blessing of tea parties, they are meant to be shared. Friends are meant to be treasured over a nice cup of tea and scones.

My most prized teapot isn't really a teapot at all. It's a coffee pot. It was my grandmother's china set that she gave to me just before she passed away. Oh how I loved to eat off the good china! So we serve tea out of it and we love and cherish every sip because it reminds us of her love. The pattern is Johnson Brothers Enchanted Garden. It is missing a few pieces that had broken over the years and originally I thought I would replace them, but then I thought those wouldn't be from her, so what's the point? So I never did. Part of the love affair with tea parties is the tradition of it all. You feel connected and like you are a part of some grand tradition.

My affection for Johnson Brothers however, led me to some other patterns and purchases, like the one above. That is Summer Chintz and I not only have a few tea cups and saucers, but this is also the pattern of perhaps my most extravagant purchase ever! I'll get to that in a moment. I also have two or three other Johnson Brother patterns in my collection. A white swirl and a pink house teapot and cookie jar. Well, I had a pink house cookie jar, it got broken in the move to the townhouse. I have also learned to let go through my love of beautiful tea things. I have learned that things are just things. Things are not meant to be permanent. People are meant to be permanent. I treasure my loved ones much more than any thing I could own, so I use them and if one breaks, no biggie. Clean it up and move on to the next one. I wasn't always like that. I used to love things. I used to mourn the loss of the things I loved. But now I love my things, but they are meant to be enjoyed and shared and one day either they will leave me or I will leave them. My loved ones will, hopefully, if I have anything to say about it, be there in heaven with me!

I have quite a collection of different tea cups. I actually have very few sets. The only complete set I own is the set from my grandmother. All the rest are odds and ends I've picked up here and there. So, my teapots and tea cups don't ever match, but that's ok. That's part of the charm of tea. it is eclectic. It can be just as easily elegant or whimsical with a full matching set, or with an assortment of mismatched items. You can try to pull together a certain color scheme if you like, but I love to set out my assorted tea cups and allow my friends to choose the one they like best. It's part of the fun and charm of tea parties, imo.

And then there is the tidbit tray. Did you just ask me what a tidbit tray is? That's okay, I never knew before my fascination with tea began either. It is a tray to serve tidbits on. No, seriously. There are many different styles of tidbit trays. My favorite is the tiered tray. I only two of these because they are difficult to store. But I do have plans for more, if we ever have room that is. Which leads me to the reveal of my most extravagant purchase ever...

My Summer Chintz Tidbit tray! I will not reveal how much I paid for it, only my husband and God know that! But when I bought it they didn't exist! I found it and the price was more than I would normally ever pay, but I loved it! I searched and searched for another one. All over the web I traveled in my search, only to find they didn't seem to exist! Not even the manufacturer had ever heard of them. So, with my husband's blessing, I bought it. And I haave never regretted it! I absolutely love it!! I do believe mine was handmade because the ones I see now do not look like mine, don't have the same hardware, and mine actually has a bowl on top (this is a picture of one I found online) which I cannot find anywhere.

And lastly, for this post at least, is the beautiful serva-snak dishes. These were my first find and I fell madly and completely in love with them! I have since gathered others, but none as beautiful as these fan ones. These are delightful because they have a little rimmed section of the plate for your cup. So, you can put your food and drink on your plate and mingle! These are wonderful if you don't have enough room for a sit down tea. Let everyone meander around and visit. Now, wandering the room is not the same kind of tea party as a sit down, so please don't give up the sit down variety! But it can be fun if you want to have a large group and think you can't do a tea party because there isn't room to sit. These trays can also be used at a sit down tea party. But our lives are so rushed already that the whole point of a tea party is to take the time to sit and refresh. And the point of sharing a tea party with friends is to sit and really visit! So, be mindful of the atmosphere you want to create when planning your party. But don't stress about it! Tea parties are meant to be fun!

Well, hopefully you are feeling inspired to enjoy a cup of hot tea to celebrate hot tea month. Perhaps throw in a scone or cucumber sandwich and really enjoy! I will be back soon with some recipes and other musings on tea parties.

Until then....

Be Blessed!

Our Journey to Full Time RVing

I thought I'd explain a little of where we are today and then I will go back to catch up on how we got here. lol

I will flesh things out as they come up. But for now, I felt stuck, like I couldn't move on because I hadn't done all the writing I had intended when I started this blog. Because there was a huge gap in our journey that kept me from moving forward, a large valley between the old and the new that I somehow couldn't get over. So, this post is meant to be the bridge that gets me from the past, to the present so I can move forward. Hope you enjoy the abridged (no pun intended) story of our journey.

We are full time RVers now. We made the transition, wow that is such a nice word, we didn't transition at all! We made the leap to full time about 18 months ago. Just after our car accident. We had always thought this was something we wanted to do. It was my grandparent's dream, although they didn't get to live it. And my husband's parents lived this life for 16+ years.

Sixteen years ago we had planned to take our homeschooling family on the road in an RV, but life got in the way and plans got sidelined. Five years ago we moved from our large, approximately 2500 sq ft home into a fairly small townhouse. It was small but it had a lot of things on my wish list. A built in pool, actually two, in our complex, an attached two car garage, three bathrooms, a dishwasher. Our landlady was a dream and we couldn't have asked for better neighbors. That's where we were when I started this blog. But shortly thereafter life got in the way again!

I had to have surgery and would not be able to climb stairs for at least 2 months following the surgery. Well, that was going to be very difficult living in a two story townhouse with no shower on the first floor. We laughed a little about setting up a kiddie pool in the garage where I could hose myself off for a couple of months. But seriously we needed to look at finding somewhere I could recuperate. We found a great house just a mile up the road from us! A nice big 4 bedroom, 3 bath home on half an acre of agricultural property. Now, I should say that for the past 16 years my heart has been torn. Part of me wants to travel and the other part wants to settle down and live off the land. Basically if I'm not going to be doing one, I'd like to be doing the other.

So, here at last was the place we could put one of those dreams into motion! We had raised chickens for years before moving into the townhouse so I wasted no time finding us some chickens again! I love raising chickens! We love the fresh eggs. I love the sound of the cackling that sounds like laughter to me. We found a nice little family of 5 Rhode Island Red Hens and a Rhode Island Red Rooster. Here they are:

I also hurried up and got us two goats, Mama Goat and Papa Goat. What an adventure that was, but I will leave that for another day. Here are Mama and Papa Goat.

Mama is the dark brown doe standing, and Papa is the cream colored buck laying down.

I had my surgery and we prepared to settle into our little farm as soon as I had recovered. Our daughter set about learning how to be a horse owner since that has always been her dream and I had already decided that the last two years of high school for her would focus heavily on that.

And then, there it is, my glider sitting gracefully under the beautiful weeping willow tree where I dreamed of days spent sipping tea and relaxing with my Bible.

However, once again, life had other plans for us! First I had to have another surgery just three months after the first. I hadn't fully gotten on my feet from the first one, and here I was having another. Then, before we could even unpack we had to move again. Good-bye to our beautiful little farm. But the good news is we were moving to a bigger house on a bigger lot where we could have our goats, our chickens and add horses! Sounds like a little bit of heaven right? Um, well not so fast.

First off, the new place was in the desert, in a place I had vowed I would never live! Second, the house was a fixer upper, definitely on my NO list when we had first moved. But life has a way of taking us places we never thought we'd go. So, off we went on a new adventure.

Again, I will leave those adventures for another time. We had added two horses and a dog to the family, and Mama and Papa Goat blessed us with two new kids. Well three but one didn't survive.

Here is Samantha's first horse Tinkerbell:

Then we added Princess, a Welch Corgie Mix puppy a little less than a year old:

Then came Danny Boy, a rescue Arabian about 25 years old, he is such a lover!

And finally came the baby goats, Angel and her brother Buddy! We knew Mama Goat was expecting and had her penned in her little nesting area, but we woke up one morning to find new surprises waiting for us!

They were seriously two of the cutest little things I'd ever seen in my life! We just couldn't get enough of them!

But once more, before we could settle in and unpack, life had another twist in store for us. Things were not going well at our new farm. I won't go into details, but it was not the situation we had bargained for when we rented the property.

Then in a whirlwind came the decision that we could no longer stay where we were so we set about finding another place but before we could, we were in a major car accident and our lives were turned upside down!

We made the decision to move into the RV for the remainder of the summer while I was undergoing intense physical therapy and then decide on a new place after I was better. We didn't anticipate that it was going to take months, and months and three surgical procedures before I got to the place where I would be released from Physical Therapy. Or that once I was released there was no getting me back on my feet. After spending 7 months in bed in constant excruciating pain, I was so weak I could barely stand, let along do any kind of rehab on my own. But on my own I was. So I spent another 5 months in bed, too weak to do much else. Barely able to stand long enough to shower, let alone do any kind of exercise.

So, there in a nutshell is how we ended up here. :-) During many of those moves we were without internet connection and for the past 18 months we have had no interenet and no computer. I am using our son's laptop now to try to get things going.

So, now that we've made the leap to living our "dream", there are days I am sure this is our dream. And there are days I'm certain we've found our way into another nightmare! lol But we made this decision to do this as we seek God about where He wants us and what He wants us to do, so, we continue to seek where God wants us, and what He wants us to do, and we stay nice and cozy in our little trailer while we do it. :-)

I hope you've enjoyed catching up on our little journey. Now we can move forward!

Be Blessed!

Finding Me Again

For the past couple of weeks I have been ravenously scouring the pages of pinterest, pinspire and google images. It started a little before Christmas, I was feeling discouraged and frankly depressed about the fact that we had no Christmas tree or decorations again this year. I felt a longing for beauty, for tradition. I felt empty.


Yes I know, Christmas is NOT about the tree, decorations, or gifts, it's about Jesus' birthday. I know it, plenty of people have reminded me of this fact the past couple of years as they chastised me for struggling with the lack of these things. This year after trying to talk to a friend or two I realized it was pointless so I didn't talk to anyone about it. Did NOT feel like being chastised again for my lack of focus on the "important". And here's what I realized. Who said I was not focusing on the true meaning of Christmas? Who says I can't have both? I noticed that all the "friends" who kept telling me that those things weren't important, weren't skipping them in their homes. None of them refused to put up a tree and decorations because, "that's not what's really important". None of them bypassed buying gifts for their family because, "that's not what's really important". I noticed none of them forwent their traditional Christmas dinner because, "that's not what's really important". So, as I fell further into depression over the lack of "those things that aren't important" I realized that I have been missing things that are beautiful to me.


So, I turned to Google Images and began to look up tea pots, tea cups, victorian images, Christmas images. I began to feel a little less empty. Then I remembered a friend talking about Pinterest so I decided to check it out. Aha! I had hit the motherlode!! Hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of beautiful things! Inspiring Quotes! Interesting New Recipes! I am starting to feel alive again!


Reflecting I'm realizing that in the past months, I have lost everything that makes me, well me. I have not had any of my belongings around me. I have not been able to craft, to decorate, to do much cooking, not been able to entertain, to host tea parties, karaoke parties, Christmas parties. Not been able to serve others. Celebrate special occasions. I not only lost the use of my body in that accident, I lost me. So, now I am on a mission to change that! Since I am still limited in my physical abilities, I am enjoying perusing the beauty that is Pinterest. But, I am also working on doing what I can do. Gathered a few craft supplies to work on. Dreaming up some decorating ideas. Cooking a little more. Slowly coming back to life after months of a kind of suspended animation. Hello world, I'm on my way back!


Be Blessed!