Spot On Resolutions For 2010

I know, I know....New years' resolutions, but I am a sucker for them and once in every year or two I have actually realized the completion of New Year resolutions, I just make sure they do not include diets or extreme physical fitness. So here are my resolutions for 2010~ I Thessalonians 4:11 "And make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you so that you may behave properly to outsiders and not be in any need." AND Ecclesiastes 5:18 "Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labors in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward." Oh, I have also resolved to organize, catalog, and put into albums the many photographs I have taken over the last few blogging years, and not follow my family and grandchildren ALL the time with my camera.( just a lot of the time) Thank-you for reading my blog, I love your many comments and so many of you have been inspirational to me and your prayers have truly upheld me and my family. I cannot adequately express how much this has meant to me and my family~Happy New Year, 2010 here we come ready or not!

When The Moon Hits Your Eye....

Look~ The moon is resting in the branches of our tree! You know , when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie "That's Amore'...."

Our dear friend James knows all about getting smacked in the eye by the moon, or should we say " amore' ". Congratulations James. We saw this handsome young man brought home from the hospital as a newborn baby, we watched him grow up and are so very happy to see him and meet his future wife..." When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool, that's amore' " ..... Laura! As Laura's future brother-in-law Randy says " everybody loves Laura", and yes, we do! " When the world seem to shine like you've had too much wine , that's amore' ".....

" When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie ~ that's amore' "..... Congratulations James & Laura !

Pretty Please With Black and White Spots?

I had the best of intentions, really.

I have admired this beautiful little kitten at Lanny's* for awhile, and secretly, well, not so secretly coveted her and her sister.

We were at Lanny's earlier and this little kitty has grown even prettier and more friendly, and she was very friendly to start off with.

She is so friendly I had trouble taking her picture because she kept trying to attach herself to me, all the time purring and snuggling up to me. She shows NO fear, toward anything new, or to dogs, or other cats...a trait not shared by the other 3 cats living here. As friendly and bold as Miss Marple ( one of my 3 cats) is toward myself and my husband, as fearless a vermin killer as she is, if you were to visit my home you would NOT know she lives here. Nor would you know we have 2 other cats. They would disappear and if they ever catch a glimpse of you catching a glimpse of them they are gone in a flash and blur of fur! Because I have fallen in love with this little miss kitty I brought her home with the intention of giving her to a friend tomorrow, however, tonight as I was doing a little cleaning up, writing "thank-you's" and just enjoying being home, this little kitty was snuggling up to me and purring. And then there is this , over the last few weeks at least 4, count them, FOUR people have asked me where they can get a kitten and I have sung the praises of the beauty and friendliness of this kitten and her litter mates, and all 4 said they would call Lanny's and NONE did. Surely this is a sign I should adopt this precious little kitten , don't you think? Please say "yes' ! Then tell my kind and long-suffering husband I really DO need this little bundle of spots. Besides, how can we not bring into our family another spotted pet? We already have black and white spotted ducks, black and white spotted sheep, black and white barred chickens. Seems the most natural thing to do is add this little black and white spotted kitten to our family, please?

~Merry Christmas

Last year I received this lovely surprise in the mail from Miss Sandy over at Quill Cottage*. She is a true artist, especially when it comes to mixed-media and I believe she excels especially when her artistic talents blend with her words and faith , culminating in so many little beautiful items to delight my eyes and heart. I set this ornament aside last year because I knew I wanted to do something special with it..... And look, I received another exquisite surprise in the mail from Miss Sandy! My photography does not begin to show the little details in either ornament to their best. Now I have 2 little beauties and a lot of imagination myself , plus a lot of ideas but the free time to create..and I mean begin working on something, and have time to look at it from all sides for a while...time to spread out a work place and re-arrange and pull things apart, well, I haven't had that kind of time for awhile.( click on pictures to enlarge) The last 2 days we had our daughters' 2 daughters spend the night and day with us. Our granddaughter KN loves nothing more than to be left alone with large quantities of paper, cardboard, glue, glitter, scissors and colors,pencils, etc. So after the dining room table became her workshop I decided to follow suit and begin working on some of my own ideas . KN and I can really make a big mess of arts and crafts supplies , and we did. This is just the beginning of this idea. You can see the bird collage from Miss Sandy in the background. I love whites on white and do not want to clutter this little scene up. I have more things to add to this but haven't decided on just the right ones and for now am very happy with the quietness of this display. "The foxes found rest, and the birds in their nest in the shade of the forest tree; but Thy couch was the sod. O Thou Son of God, in the deserts of Galilee..." Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne "He giveth snow like wool; He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out His Word and melteth them, He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow." Psalm 147:16-18 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God..and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. " John 1: 1,2,14

Merry Christmas to you and in the midst of your holiday celebrating , and every day, remember He is, was, and always will be Jesus, Son of God, Savior, Messiah, Immanuel, our Hope and Joy, the Word made flesh!

The Baby That Changed The World

In all the busy-ness of this time of year it is so easy to forget why we have set aside this time for celebration. I know our family tries to remember it is for celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. He was most likely not born in December , and so many more aspects of the commonly told 'Christmas story' are a bit different than scripture tells us, but one thing is sure. Jesus was born of a virgin and is the Son of God. He was raised by His earthly father, Joseph, and His mother Mary. He was crucified and arose from the the grave to be with His Father, as a Mediator and Savior for us all, we need only ask Him for salvation. It is so simple and yet so hard....because we need to admit we are in need of repentance and salvation, and that is a hard thing for so many of us. We so want to earn salvation OUR way, and in OUR time, in OUR conditions. Yet, He is merciful and righteous and sometimes we are able to forestall the inevitable and given time to slowly realize He was, is, and will eternally be God, Savior, our Redeemer, the Prince of Peace, Immanuel.... "...for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior , who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign unto you; you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2: 11,12

Root Beer Taste Test, Foamy Delight!

Well it is almost Christmas! Are you ready? We determined we would have more time for what is important this year and although we are still busier than we had forseen, we have been enjoying some pretty important people, our grandchildren! (above is part of a winter vignette on the kitchen bar that separates the kitchen from our living room) We had the great blessing to be able to have our oldest grandchild , C.T. spend the night with us. Now that he is getting older there are other things he likes to do, and we still want him to enjoy his time with us. One of C.T.'s favorite things is root beer! C.T. received a root beer making kit last year for Christmas and he made root beer, has learned a lot about it along the way and he has saved his very last bottle of home made root beer for New Year's Eve. Since C.T. now has his own blog with permission and complete and total supervision from his parents, he just might share with us how the last bottle of root beer tasted. ( Please?) Together C.T. and I decided he and his Poppa, who also loves root beer, should do a taste test. We bought 4 different brands of root beer. Because both C.T. and Poppa also love a good root beer float we decided the reward after the taste test should be root beer floats. We assembled the 4 bottles of root beer, and 2 glasses for each bottle, along with the mugs, straws and long spoons necessary for the root beer floats.

Poppa and C.T.'s comments went just so:

• 4th.~ Barq's: as soon as the bottle was opened and poured both said it smelled like orange soda. C.T. said "it doesn't taste like root beer, and he began laughing so hard it was hard to understand him as he said "this is the worst tasting one!" Poppa began laughing too, they both could not get over how awful it was, and kept laughing for quite awhile. Actually, today, hours after the taste test C.T. was still amused by how terrible it was. Both C.T. and Poppa think maybe somebody at the Coca Cola bottling plant forgot to clean the orange soda machine before they changed it to root beer. So there, they are giving Barq's the benefit of the doubt, because who in the world would make such awful root beer on purpose?
• 3rd.~Parker's :Both said it had an aftertaste,was not too sweet, did not have enough vanilla or caramel taste. C.T. also commented it "was not too spicy". It had very little foam.
• 2nd: This was a surprise to me, I worked at A & W as a car-hop in the late 60's and early 70's and remember people loving A & W so much they only bought this root beer. They would bring their gallon jugs to be re-filled with this premium root beer.I expected this to be the winner, hands down. In the esteemed opinion of two very important men in my life, A & W is very, very good...Poppa said it has the best old fashioned root beer taste, good vanilla and caramel taste, but #1 is
• 1st:Mug ! Yes, Mug Root beer. They said Mug has the very best smell, most foam, was darker, and just plain better. So although my picture of the two of them doing a thumbs up in front of A & W, ( guess subconsciously I could not wrap my mind around it not being the best) Mug wins!

Poppa and our oldest Grandchild, and #1Grandson celebrated root beer in the very best way they can think of, as root beer floats. Of course there is nothing better in the very best root beer than the very best ice cream, Tillamook French Vanilla ice cream!

Do they look happy or what?

"Behold, the Virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means "God with us." And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus." Matthew 1:25

Just In Case Poppa Really Is Santa....

I was talking with this little granddaughter on the phone the other day and she said, " Grandma, I want to tell you what I want for Christmas just in case Poppa really is Santa." Now why would she think her Poppa is Santa? Doris:" would you please tell her that you're not really Santa Clause, that there actually is no such person?" Kris Kringle:" Well. I hate to disagree with you , but not only is there such a person but here I am to prove it." from 'Miracle On 34th Street'

Sweet Sunday Evening

This is the Christmas centerpiece for our dining room table. There are 4 simple vignettes on this Lazy Susan, and you can view each one by turning it. Each scene is of Santa and his elves or with his reindeer. The candle sheds a nice warm light in the evening when we have on only the tree lights , as we sit by the fire together in the evening. I made them pose for this picture, they looked so nice.Our daughter and her husband had a Christmas party to attend this past Sunday and we were able to babysit their 4 children for them....oh my, what would we ever do with 4 grandchildren here for the evening?

Poppa had a very attentive grandson here. Little J wanted to be with Poppa all night!

Poppa and his two grandsons , CT and Little J look out the window with excitement at the falling snow, CT hoped there would be a lot of snow. Poppa, who has to drive a long way to work was hoping there would NOT be much snow! Little J was more interested in our ducks waddling around in the falling snowflakes in front of the window .

The children and I worked on a project they can give as Christmas gifts. Shhh~ Don't let their mom see or hear about this just yet!It's a surprise.

After a less than nutritious dinner with lots of Oslo Kringle ( a dessert) we pulled out the queen size hide-a-bed in the living room, put lots of pillows and blankets out, stoked up the wood stove in front of it and put on a Hallmark Christmas movie I had recorded for them to watch with us. I popped a lot of popcorn and poured a lot of cranberry juice for them. After they got done bouncing around on the bed they finally settled down for a movie, and the youngest two also got a lot of cuddling and snuggling with Grandma and Poppa . ( in the picture above Little J is sitting on his big brother who was not feeling well and could probably have done without all the bouncing around)

My sheep shelf, decorated for Christmas. This shelf is where i keep the many miniature sheep I have collected. I also have many more on my Christmas tree. You might note I do not have any of my wee little sheep on this shelf, and that is because Miss Marple steals them and if she does not tear them to shreds, she hides them. So the Wee Little Sheep I do display are behind glass cupboard doors. Sheep and shepherds are the best Christmas decorations I think, Jesus, the Lamb of God came to redeem us, His sheep. We are the sheep of His pasture~

What a busy and blessed Sunday for us! I needed Monday to rest up after Sunday though, I think Grandchildren keep me young because I take such long naps after they go home!

Immanuel~

"I could not decide between these two versions of 'Oh Come, Oh Come Immanuel' so decided to post both. I hope this blesses you today as we look forward to Christmas, a time many all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ who was and is the promised Messiah, "Wonderful Counselor,Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace" Is. 9 :6 ,Savior, the Son of God, Immanuel!

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign ; Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call Him Immanuel, which translated means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23

Happy, Happy Birthday Sistah!

It's my sister's birthday and she, sister Joni and I all got together here for lunch and a good time!We had chicken roasted with herbs, onions, carrots, and red potatoes from our garden, coleslaw, broccoli.., and lately served biscuits. My sisters did not know I could leap off my seat at the table so fast ! We were almost done with lunch and Joni said, "didn't you have biscuits in the oven?" Oh my, I did, and they were STILL in the oven baking away. I rescued them and they weren't burnt...that's as much as I have to say about them. Silly me. ( above: Karen is holding a special birthday goblet given to her from Sister Joni. )

We posed together for pictures, and our thoughts were for our 4th and baby sister who lives in New York and was unable to be with us. Joni on the left, Karen on the right.

I am the oldest sister~shortest, AND oldest.

My sister Karen brought me a gift for HER birthday lunch. She made me this quilt and it is perfect in our bedroom, what is even better about the quilt is that she made it out of fabrics that have special memories attached.

Here is the backing laid over the front. I love everything about this quilt, most special of all that she made it for me and made it with colors and fabric she knows I love.

We had a birthday toast "to sisters!" and included a glass of champagne for our sister Tricia.

"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter , and sharing of pleasures." Kahlil Gibran Thank-you sisters for this friendship, a true blessing not taken for granted!

Spot of Perspective

This is a musical snow globe I placed near the miniature log cabin our children made years ago. The log cabin is a year round fixture in our home, but I do like to add seasonal touches to it. I am almost done decorating , now that I have put away all the stuff that I had out for the last bazaar and kind of organized the craft room again( a perpetual project). Oh, and let's not forget the continual hauling of pitchers and watering cans of hot water out to the livestock and poultry because the temps are way below freezing around here!Do you know what hard work that is? I am just thankful we have running water and a hot water heater to provide this modern miracle...so I reflect on that when I am tempted to grumble about hauling so much water outside in single digit temperatures....and you need to know ...ducks require, use,and waste huge amounts of water! This year I am determined to keep the decorating simple. We have a vast miniature village, but since we are not hosting any big events this month we decided to edit our traditional decorating. No lights outlining the outside of our home, just wreaths and greens on the porch. Inside I put out a few miniature village houses and vignettes, the ones I like the best. I decided I really do appreciate the traditional Scandinavian colors of various hues of blue and white with wood, natural greens, and accents of red. My eyes rest when I view clean lines and cool colors and my mind seems able to focus more on what's important while taking in with joy very simple things. Above is our buffet with the big platter we serve all kinds of good food on, and by the lamps are two vignettes that hold meaning for us. I left room on the buffet for FOOD! You might notice the tree is not decorated yet, that is for tonight. Every year I reflect on how much I like the tree with just lights...no decorations at all. I toy with the idea of leaving the tree this way but I know we cannot resist adding the many decorations we have collected over the years and I will be happy to add them. But for this past evening my husband and I enjoyed the tree as it is here..a quiet evening together , watching a T.V. show we enjoyed , while 4 of our dogs and the 3 cats slept by the fire. A nice night.

The village church on the buffet.

Singing round the Christmas tree on the buffet.

I found this quote from the December 23, 1894 New York Tribune : "The modern expansion of the custom of giving Christmas presents has done more than anything else to rob Christmas of it's traditional joyousness... Most people are nowadays so fagged out, physically and emotionally , by the time Christmas Day arrives that they are in no condition to enjoy it...as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is eaten, the great question of buying Christmas presents begins to take the terrifying shape it has come to assume in recent years." There really is nothing new under the sun, is there?

"But Godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content." I Timothy 6:6-8

Tribute To Lakewood Police Officers

Four flag-draped caskets containing the earthly remains of four police officers senselessly gunned down in a local coffee shop where they had met over coffee to begin their day's work, serving our community.

There really aren't adequate words, are there?

Four police officers , 3 men and 1 woman who had families. They each were of outstanding moral character and contributed much to their families and community in many, many ways..now dead. For what reason were they killed...because they wore police uniforms.

The Tacoma Dome was a sea of police officers from pretty much every state, and Canada. Thousands of men and women who serve on police forces united to pay tribute to 4 officers slain senselessly.

The service started late because the line of police and emergency vehicles from all over our state and many surrounding states was 20 miles long. Before they began the trip from Lakewood to the Tacoma dome they were parked 30 cars wide by 1/4 mile long and it took over 4 hours for them all to get to their destination, the Tacoma Dome, for the Memorial service.

People stood silently alongside the entire route, some holding flags, some holding their hands to their hearts, some saluting.

Lakewood is a community that also shows honor and appreciation for the many men and women in our military. Lakewood is surrounded by Ft. Lewis Army and McChord Air Force. Our area has lost many men and women during the war in Iraq and Afghanistan too. It seems to me we have lost too many men and women of valor these past few years, and senseless evil seems to rear it's ugly head way too often. What is left behind is the legacy a fallen member of the services ( armed , police, emergency) that shows very often the character that attracted them to their chosen path in life in the first place. The noble idea of service to our communities and our country. Where would any of us be without such men and women? Praise God for them! As you can tell, I took these pictures from my T.V. as I watched this service most of the day. Our local television broadcasted this without any commercial interruptions and often you could tell by the reporter's voices that they were crying. Our state lost another officer just last month in Seattle where he was gunned down in his squad car while writing up reports. As I listened to the families and friends of these officers I was struck by how their character ( and their families character ) and their contribution for the better to so many, contrasted the character of the killer and his family...the killer's family KNEW he was going to do this and aided and abetted him before and after the murders. The killer's family and friends all have children, some of them too must have been aware of some aspects of this intent because the killer discussed his plans over THANKSGIVING meal. I find this chilling...what will those children become?