Saturday, February 16, 2013

Well, this has been a long and exhausting week!  I was in bed last night by 8:40!  THAT is how tired I was!  :D  I didn't actually go to sleep at that time, but you can be sure I was resting!  Jessica called me around 11 with some sad news that the husband of a sweet friend had died at work yesterday.  Praying for her and the rest of the family during this grieving time.  After that call I was back in bed and slept (was in bed) til 9 a.m.!  And I HAD to get up because my back was killing me from laying so long!

Let's see.  What have I been doing all week since I posted last on Tuesday.......

Wednesday is our day to visit Gary Mabe.  I had Tim get me up with him so I could get some grocery shopping done for the meal we would be fixing for the Parks family after Bro. Parks graduated to heaven on Sunday, Feb. 10th. 

Here's the sign we did for the week in his honor.  I guess you can tell I took the picture at night!  :D

Thursday was our trip to the thrift stores, the regular ones and we went to High Point.  We ate at Subway while we were in High Point.

Our evening plans were to go to Bro. Parks' viewing at the funeral home and then go to Olive Garden for our Valentine's meal.  So, we dressed for the funeral home and it was nice to be dressed for the meal, too!  However, by the time we got to Olive Garden around 6 there was going to be an hour and a half wait!  We didn't wait!  We went up the hill in back of Olive Garden to Chili's instead.

I told Tim I wanted to get a picture of us before he stripped out of his suit.  We don't take many photos of ourselves.  Can you tell he has lost about 25 lbs?  He says when he reaches 175#'s that we are going to DQ!  :D

So, after I changed my clothes for the evening, I started mixing my dishes together for baking for the dinner for the Parks family after the funeral on Friday.

First up, green bean casserole (less the FF onions on top).

Next, baked beans.

I decided to use my triple crocks for gravy.  I fixed chicken, brown and mushroom gravy.  Turned out to be a waste of time as not many people ate any.  But, it worked great!

Friday, I had Tim get me up with him again so I could mix up the rest of my food and begin cooking.  I decided to cook the corn in the crockpot.  I added maybe a cup of water.  At one point I was afraid it was not cooking quickly enough, so I cranked the heat up to the high position, which was a mistake because some of the corn burned.  But, most of the corn was eaten!

This is the cheesy potato casserole recipe that I got from Jessica.  A man and his wife from WV told me it was the best potato casserole they had ever tasted!  That made me happy!  :D  It was very good, even if I did cook it a bit too long and the chips on top got pretty dark!  This picture is the before picture.  :D

I also fixed two 10 lb spiral honey glazed hams.  I also picked up 50 pieces of chicken from KFC.  Ilene and her friend baked 4 meat loaves.  The church paid for the meat, bread and beverages.

I think there are 4 tables in each row, plus a round table in the very back.  Plus, we set up tables in the 4 class rooms.  We were expecting ALOT of people to show up as Bro. Parks had a LONG ministry!

Here's the dessert table.

Here's the meat table.

Here's the vegetable and salad and beverage table.

And, here's the people.  Mrs. Parks sitting at the center bottom of the photo.  Not NEAR enough people to eat all the food we had fixed!

So, what did we do with all the left over food?  What wasn't taken home by our people was sent to a women's shelter by one of the Parks girls.  So, I guess it wasn't wasted and contributed to a good cause.


Today we cleaned the church and I have been washing all of the table cloths and runners and dish towels, dish rags and pot holders from our dinner, plus the usual laundry!  That will be going on for several hours still!  Then I can take my headache to bed!  :D

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Yesterday (Monday, February 11), I spent most of the day working and rearranging my computer/craft room.  I've got toooooooooooo much stuff for this little room!  So, I'm trying to par it DOWN.....WAY down!  :D  The task at hand is going through the TONS of scrapbooking magazines I have saved over the years and determining if I really need to keep on keeping them!  I've been tearing out what I want and throwing the rest away!  Just toooooooooooooo much stuff!

I did take some time to finish an art journal spread I was working on, so here that is:

Lots of layers of paints and stencils, embossing powder (causing the resist effect on the white flowers in the corners) and washi tape AND the final touch.....Aria's (Lynne Anzelc) butterfly from her Country Road Elements found at Scrap Art Studio here:  http://www.scrapartstudio.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=127_130&products_id=1446

The song lyrics kind of washed out with the light.  It reads:

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses.
And the voice I hear falling on my ear -
The Son of God discloses.
And He walks with me and He talks with me.
And He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Please remember the Parks family in your prayers.  Bro. Ernest Parks, former pastor of our church, who turned 91 this past Wednesday, graduated to Heaven early this evening at around 6:15 p.m.  He and his wife are still on the church membership, as well as 2 of their daughters.  He pastored our church for 40+ years, I believe.  A dear and faithful man of God, he will be missed!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Well, I managed to do diddly squat today, except make the bed, do a craft with Kara on Skype, fix a BIG pot of veggie soup for supper, wash supper dishes and do an art journal page and some digital pages.

This is our month to clean the church, so that will happen tomorrow, along with laundry and cleaning the bathrooms and the other regular stuff.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  I may or may not be back on the blog.

This is another page I got the inspiration for from the Family Christian book store we went to on Thursday.  The brown background is a couple different colors of brown sprayed on and then rubbed out.  The vine is a stencil.  The red "flower" is made from the last bit of the celery stalk after I cut some up in the veggie soup.  I saved it and will try to use it again.  It didn't show up too well on this page.  The verse is from Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Here's some digital pages I have done in the last couple of days.

OK, I think I'll attempt to do some knitting before bed, if I can stay awake!  :D

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Today's thrifting gave us quite a few bargains! 

These are canvases, size 22"x28" and 24"x30".  Got them for $1 each!  WOOHOO!  THAT is a great bargain!!

Was also able to find a few baby bedding items for Cheryl and Nat.  1 receiving blanket for $0.29, 2 for $0.69 ea, crib sheet for $1.99 and a beautiful crocheted baby blanket for $2.99!  Why make it if you can buy it already made for such a low price is what I say!  :D

Other items we found were some brand new Hanes undies for Kara, $3 for 6 pair and a Brain Quest game for her for $0.99.  I also found 3 craft organizer containers for a little bit of nothing and it seems Tim found something, but I don't remember what.  So, there you have it!  Bargains in the bag!  :D  LOVE our thrifting days on days like today!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

I wanted to share something else from the baby shower we had on Sunday.....the card I made for the occasion.  I wanted to make something that she could frame if she wanted to, so that is why it is 6" square. 

Here's some close-up shots of some of the detail.  This first one actually needs to be rotated 90* clockwise as it is the upper right hand corner.

 This, too, needs to be rotated 90* clockwise as it is the bottom left hand corner.

 Got this one right, anyway!  :D

 And, lastly for today, another art journal spread.  I absolutely HATE my handwriting, so I think I will stick to stencils or printing it and rubbing it on like I did a couple of days ago.  Anyway............

Tomorrow is thrifting!  And, I'll be looking for baby items for our 8th grandchild that is due 8/8/13!  WOOHOO!  I'm so excited!  Here is her (I'm praying for a girl  :) first photo.  Pray for Cheryl, Nathanael's wife, who has been very sick, but did get some medicine to help (hopefully) today.  And pray the Lord watches over her and the baby til SHE comes!  :D  JK!  You KNOW I'll be happy with whatever the Lord sees fit to give them!  But, we need another girl to even out the grandbaby count of 4 boys and 3 girls!  :D

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

This year is just zipping by!  I know it is only February, but where did January disappear to?  Seems like yesterday that it was Christmas! 

Well, let me catch you up a bit from my last post, which may have been last Wednesday when Tim couldn't talk and the evening services at church were cancelled.  That was the night of the tornadoes and storms, too.

So, Thursday we did our regular thrifting, yes, we did!  Even though Tim could not preach, he really didn't feel badly.  But, for whatever reason, when he gets a cold (which he hasn't had for a LONG time) it goes straight to his throat and he usually loses his voice!  Anyway, I have avoided getting it, knock on wood, LOL!  How?  I refused to kiss him!  :D

Here's my BARGAIN of the day from our day of thrifting on the 31st of January.  Take a guess at how much I paid for this normally $31 Willow Tree carving............Guesses, anyone?

Sunday, we had dinner on the grounds of the church and then gave the gifts to the young couple who are expecting the 21st of this month.  So, I worked on decorating the fellowship hall on Friday and Saturday.  I wanted to fix punch.  You can't have a shower without punch, right?  Well, I googled and found this absolutely, deliciously CUTE punch at All Recipes dot com.  The duckies floating in the bowl of blue was a hit!  Here's the ingredients for you to keep in mind for a future shower:
1 pkg blueberry (mixed berry) Kool-ade
1 c. sugar
2 liter of lemon-lime beverage
64 oz white cranberry juice, which I couldn't find, so I used white grape juice
8 scoops of vanilla ice cream

 Here's the cute baby carriage cake one of the ladies of the church made.  She also made the yellow mint candies you see on top of the cake.  Jase will be the baby's name.  I thought maybe it was short for Jason or something, but, nope!  That will be his name, Jase Michael!  NICE ring to it!

This is just a teaser for you.....a SMORES!  :D

 And, this is my latest art journal page that I finished today.  You have probably heard this acronym before:
G - God's
R - Riches
A - at
C - Christ's
E - Espense
Where would any of us be without the GRACE of GOD?

BTW, if you guessed $1 for the Willow Tree statue, you were correct!  :D