windowsill

“The voyage of a lifetime starts at the windowsill.”

~Khang Kijarro Nguyen

~

Recently, as I was going through my photo files, I found quite a few windowsill shots.

I didn't realize I had so many of them so I decided to include them in a post.

So often I'll walk into the kitchen and find the late afternoon sun filtering through the petals

of whatever happens to be in the vessels (or the vessels themselves) that's sitting on the sill...

...and creating such a lovely still-life display that I have to stop whatever I'm doing
and go grab my camera.

Sometimes, depending on the time of day, the scene is more of a silhouette...


...and sometimes it's just fun.

~
As you can see, my windowsills are quite shallow.
You can be sure that the farmhouse will have nice deep ones. 😉

AT MY WINDOWSILL

Early in the morning,

When all is still,

I sit and wait

At my windowsill,

And watch the sun

Come over the hill,

To paint the sky

With beauty and skill.

~Linda B. Ross



Most of the photos I came across were taken of my own kitchen windowsill 
but I found a couple from other places as well.

Remember our beloved cabin in Virginia?
These colored bottles always made me smile as I caught the sun sifting through them.
When we moved out, I gave the blue ones away to Adam and Carrie.

Now I get to enjoy them sitting in their windowsill when we come visit them.

It's always fun to change things up for the seasons.
Anyone else ready for fall?

"Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are window through which you must see the world."
~George Bernard Shaw

BOUQUET

Today, while I was busy at my tasks

She came to me, and proudly held to view
The flowers she had gathered, with the words
"See Mommy! I have picked them all for you."

I smiled with high delight, and gathered close
The limp grey weeds, the wilted dandelion...
And placed them all in water, in a vase
Upon the window sill to catch the shine!

I often think, Lord, this must be Your task
With prayers and deeds we bring to You each night,
How poor and small they are, they fall so short!
And yet, how beautiful within Your sight.

To understand our aims, unworthy deeds ...
And bless the "flowers" shining through the weeds!

~Charmain Blattner

"Give me a window and I'll stare out it."  

~Alan Rickman

So tell me...what's in your windowsill?


Sharing at:
Amaze Me Monday

One Room at a Time (Sweet Jesus)

My plan was to start in January.

Well, January has come and will be gone in a couple of days.

Have I started yet?

That would be a big fat NO.

~

Every room in our house needs some attention in one way or another.

We replaced the floors less than a year ago and closets were cleaned out...

...and remember that bedroom redo from last spring?



But that is just a drop in the bucket, my friends.

And since we all are aware of how the months fly by,

the spring will be here before I blink twice.

There is so much to do before our home is market-ready.

~

I get overwhelmed thinking about all I have to do as a whole...

...sorting, purging and getting rid of the organized (organized?) clutter.

So I have decided I need to do this one room at a time.

And by that I mean not only the de-cluttering, etc., but repairing nail holes,

touching up walls and painting the new primed doors and woodwork, etc., etc.
One. Room. At. A. Time.
~

 So the other day I was when I was feeling particularly lazy and disinterested,

That still, small voice in my head reminded me, "Just do one room at a time, Debby."

And then that old gospel song from the 70's infiltrated my brain...

"One day at a time, sweet Jesus, that's all I'm asking from you,

Just give me the strength to do everyday what I have to do...."

You probably remember how the rest of the song goes.
~
Once the song started playing in my head, I couldn't make it stop
so I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity and take it a step further.
I decided to take a few creative liberties with the song...no offense to anyone...
...and I'm not trying to make fun of this beautiful song or it's message.
So here it is...

One room at a time, dear Debby, that's all that you have to do,
You'll muster the strength to do everything that you need to do.
January's near gone, dear Debby and spring will be here real soon.
So get off your tail, let progress prevail,
One room at a time.

I really do need Jesus to help me with this.
I'm feeling a little emotional these days and unmotivated to get my act together...
...dragging my feet, I guess you could say.
I'm thinking that subconsciously I'm still in a bit of denial when it's all said and done.
Twenty-five plus years is a long time...lots of memories under this roof.


Remember how excited I was when I finally got my front porch?





Don't get me wrong...I am getting excited about our move to Tennessee.
But a part of me is also a little ambivalent...having a hard time letting go.
And a maybe just a tad apprehensive...
...but I've just got to suck it up and get motivated, y'all!
~

"Yesterday's gone, sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine.
Lord help me today, show me the way,

one day (and one room) at a time."

 

Let's Decorate the Hodgepodge

Thanksgiving has come and gone...can you even believe it?

I hope everyone had a great one!

I don't know about you, but I'm still stuffed. 

And here I am planning the meal for our early Christmas gathering, less than two weeks away.

I have already decided that a variety of appetizers will be the meal.

~

The fall decorations have made their way back into the garage and in the next few days,

Jim will bring in the Christmas tree (my skinny little fake one) and numerous tubs.

I will have the house to myself this weekend so I can make as much of a mess as I want to!

I get a little misty thinking about the possibility of decking these halls for the last time.

Of course, we are not sure exactly what God has in store...
...but hey, it's all good!

So we're here for Joyce's Hodgepodge...

...where she asks the questions and we answer them on our blogs.
Let's get on with the questions, shall we?
~

1.  What's something blogging has taught you about yourself?

I guess when I first heard of blogging, I found it rather silly...I wasn't really sure what the purpose was. Then I started reading one, then another and another. And then I got this wild hair and started one myself...how crazy is that? Before long I began to feel connections to the author's hearts and personalities...many seemed as though we were kindred spirits, so to speak. Never did I imagine that such wonderful online friendships could be formed...and I have been amazed that you don't have to meet someone face to face to really care about them. My blogging sisters have truly enriched my life. 

2.  Leftovers...are you in the 'reheat and eat' camp or the 'put them in the fridge until they spoil and then toss them' camp? What's your favorite thing to have leftover? What can you not abide as a leftover?

I believe I touched on this in my last hodgepodge post. You can pretty much find me in the "reheat and eat" camp, not only because I really enjoy most leftovers but I'm not into wasting perfectly good food. My favorite thing to reheat and eat could possibly be chili or soups in general...they seem to get better every time. There is very little that I 'could not abide' as a leftover but green salads and some fruit salads don't seem to do well in the fridge for long. And this just may gag some of you but sometimes you just may find me eating cold pizza...right out of the fridge... for breakfast. 

3. 'Me time'...your thoughts?

I think we all need some "me time" in order to be who God created us to be...and whatever that looks like will be different for each one of us.

4. When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with?

Decorating ideas and/or help setting up for an event at church, or maybe putting together an insert or flyer pertaining to said event...and on the home front, mending or alterations of some sort. One instance that stands out is when I was asked to help Adam hang his bear rug on the two-story high wall of their former home. It began with drawing a diagram of the wall and planning the placement of the bear. He attached the anchors to the wall in all of the right places while I hand-stitched heavy duty D-rings onto each paw, the head and other strategic places. The real fun came when he climbed an 18 foot extension ladder as I held up part of the weight of this thing that seemed to weigh a ton...BUT, we got it up there! I don't know if my fingers hurt more after sewing on all of those D-rings or the time when I helped him sew up the skin on one of his own taxidermy projects. Yes, I've done that too. 😉

5. If your childhood had a smell what would it be? Tell us why.

There are many smells that remind me of my childhood home and some of them are seasonal. In the warmer seasons the one smell that I can never forget is the aroma of freshly washed sheets that hung on the clothesline to dry. They will never escape my memory...just as the smell of cedar awakening the senses on that first cool autumn evening as a thick, cozy quilt was brought out of the cedar chest and placed on my bed. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I must confess that I wrote most of these answers 'under the influence'. Not really, but I do still feel a bit swimmy-headed. I am writing this post after having a medical procedure earlier today (Tuesday) so I am home from work. Praise the Lord that there is no more stent in my common bile duct and hopefully, no more will be needed in the future. God is good! I will make sure to proof-read (again) in the morning before I hit the publish button. So what's my excuse for all of my other typos?

Have fun decorating!

(If the spacing looks all wacky on this post,

it's because blogger must be having issues and not letting me edit it them correctly.

It's driving me crazy...like a picture hanging on the wall that's crooked.)

Hugs!

New "Under-standing" and Happy Valentine's Day

Many times at the beginning of a new year,

we find ourselves saying this..."out with the old and in with the new".

Our home was built in 1985 and the original carpet was still underfoot...
...if you do the math, that's 32 years, y'all!

It has certainly served it's purpose and then some but it was time to say buh-bye...

...W-A-Y past time!

~
It is a little surreal when I look around but I am thrilled with them...what a difference!
And somehow, it has increased the square footage...it looks so much bigger inside.
My fur babies were totally disoriented at first but they seem to be getting used to the change.
As I write this, Jim has yet to see the new flooring since this was his weekend to work...
...yes, I planned it that way.
It's always best to remove as many humans (and dogs) as possible at times such as this.
This is where Oscar and Tasha spent the better part of Friday.

Friday it barely made it out of the 40's but by sharing each other's body heat,

they seemed to stay toasty on the front porch in their crate covered in a thick quilt.
So I took today off to finish getting the place back together and still have much to do.
Here's a peek of what's been happening in my world.





Amidst all of the chaos, there was actually a moment when I felt kind of homeless.
I was stuck in a corner with no real place to go except outside but it was so windy and cold.
I tried to imagine what really being homeless might be like.
Of course I knew that this upheaval was only a temporary situation but still, it made me think.
Maybe it was just a fluke when I made my way to the kitchen sink for some water...



...and saw this beautiful dove perched atop the feeder.
Peace, be still...
Fluke? I choose to think not :)

Oscar, checking things out.

So...that was my weekend!
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day already...can you believe it?
And as I was going through closets preparing for the new floors,
I came across this at a most appropriate time...

...my Adam made this for me in ceramics class many years ago.

It used to play "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" but the electronic music box doesn't work anymore.
That's alright, it's still adorable, don't you think?

And one last thing...

Someone posted this on my Facebook page which I thought was so cute.

Of course it would have better if the wiener had been a brown one :)

♥Happy Valentine's Day!♥

Sharing at...

Mosaic Monday

This Hodgpodge Will Floor You

Hey everyone...

It's HUMP DAY and time for HODGEPODGE...

...where Joyce asks the questions and we answer them on our blogs.

It's been a busy couple of weeks and in the words of my dearly departed mother,
my house "looks like it's been hit by a cyclone".
Does anyone use that term anymore?
Oh well, more about that later...here are this week's questions.

~*~*~*~*~*~

1. What's the last thing you did that someone else thought was super? 

Maybe it was the chicken noodle soup that I made over the weekend. Do you think the words "really good" might translate into super...or soup-er??

 2. The last thing you ate that tasted superb? 

Even though the soup was pretty darn good, I wouldn't describe it as superb...but the meal that we ate after church this past Sunday was. We went to the Longhorn Steakhouse and I ordered the Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Maple Roasted Spaghetti Squash.... Oh. My. Goodness.  Jim had a steak and said it was one of the best he's ever had. It had been years and years since we'd eaten there but we had a gift card ...so glad we did! They give you a whole split breast and I ate the other half for my dinner on Monday with broccoli :) Do you have Longhorn Steakhouses in your area?

3. Supersensitive, superstitious, superwoman, superambitious, supercilious, supervisor, superficial...pick a super word from the list and tell us how it relates to your life in some way recently or currently. 

I will say superambitious AND superwoman...and this is why my house looks like a cyclone hit it...I have been getting the house ready for new flooring...throughout. This means that EVERY closet has been purged and emptied of it's contents, EVERYTHING has been removed from the hutch and corner cabinet and among other things, EVERY nook and cranny has been dusted so the installers don't see all of my dirt! It will be bad enough when they start pulling up that 30+ year old carpet...I can only imagine what they might find. There is still much to do...all electronics, including TVs and/or anything else that is breakable must be moved off the furniture, etc., etc. They will be here Friday morning but we do have to live here until then. So for the past two weekends, Superwoman has showed up to do her thing...and she was only ambitious because she had to be! Here's just a hint of what she's been up to...

...and she'll be returning this weekend as she goes behind them, getting everything back in place. She's already exhausted just thinking about...BUT...it will be way more fun! Another post for another day.

 4. Do you love easily? If you're comfortable doing so, explain why you think that is. 

Wow...this isn't easy to admit...but not always. Not like I should. Not like I want to. Not like I need to. I'm so glad God is not finished with me yet.

5. Valentine's Day lands on a Tuesday this year. Will you mark the day in some way? If you're celebrating with a dinner out somewhere will it be on Tuesday or will you celebrate over the weekend? 

By the time Valentine's Day gets here, I will probably feel like I got run over by a Mac truck. Jim is never off on Tuesdays (he stays at the group home when he's working) so no chance of going out or doing anything special. The flowers he got me last weekend are still looking quite beautiful. 

I am taking Monday off to get the house back in order but will be back to work on Tuesday. When I get home, I just may eat my dinner off of my shiny new floors. Needless to say, they will never be clean enough to eat off of again...never. I might even share a bite or two with Oscar and Tasha :)

6. What's something you are loving right now? 

The thought of having new floors :)

 

 7.  Write a three word (or less) phrase you'd like to see on a Valentine candy heart.

God loves YOU!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I'm between overwhelmed and excited right now...but it's gonna be SO worth it! And you just don't know how glad I will be to get rid of this ugly green kitchen floor.

If I don't get back to Blogland before next Tuesday,

I want to wish everyone 

Happy Valentine's Day!

♥♥♥