Peas Be Kind! Spread Hap-pea-ness!

 I've been really enjoying my twist on Teesha Moore's Zetti-dolls. My photo portrait has been run through a Photo Booth App and printed out in black and white. I think it makes the whole thing pop! And then I'm recycling the paper labels from food packaging and other small paper ephemera and then finding sayings that match the dresses. One of my new friends at YouTube, "Twisted Art Designs" suggested that I add in flourishes, which I have done here, along with pretty transparent butterfly wings that I purchased at the Dollar Tree as stickers and cut in half to glue to Dolly's shoulder blades. You can't tell it in the photo, but they have glitter on them and they really shine. If you want to see my other zetti-dolls, click here for album. 

The next best thing about October's Positivity Journal video is that I participated in a Swap and Glue challenge and created an art journal page with what I was sent. I need to learn to cut out the long pauses and out-of-frame shots, but it's a process video, so went with what I had taped. My other new friend on YouTube named "Possum Patty from Pencil-vania" has been coaching me. She said at first it really feels strange to be talking to nobody, but after awhile, you get used to it. 😃 The other problem I have and have always had, I think I've mentioned it before here, is being able to think quickly under pressure. Need a script in the ole noggin' before I tape. 

Well, here's my text for my October section of my Positivity Journal. En-JOY! (Oh, and by the way, I have a new JOY video up too!)

QUOTES/SAYINGS/WORDS:

Ball Regular

Happy People Shine Brighter

Hello Fall! 

JOY

Love

Making Memories

Peace

Peas Be Kind! Spread Hap-pea-ness!  

Radiate Positivity (found large sticker at Dollar Tree)

"STAR - 

S (describe the Situation);

T (target the ideal solution-what has to change?); 

A (Action: What steps have to happen to make the change?); 

R (how to measure and monitor the results)." ~ Marsha Baker. 

Texas Toast

"You Pick Pumpkins 50 cents! 

"Why don't you start with a few nice pictures of yourself holding up a journal or something at chest level as an intro. Smile! That's all people want to see! When you gain confidence...do the same with live...keep it short...keep smiling...people will love that!" ~ Possum Patty of Pencil-vania.

SCRIPTURES:

Psalm 39:3 = my heart grew hot with me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue. 

Psalm 48:9 = With your temple, O God, we meditated on your unfailing love.

Psalm 77: 3 = I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated and my spirit grew faint.

Psalm 77: 6= I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditates and my spirit asks; 

GOOD MEMORIES:

Every Friday was my Oklahoma Grandma's hair-do day. She and grandpa would get up early and head into town after breakfast and morning chores were done. She would visit the hairdresser and get her hair gussied up, then they would go to the El Rancho restaurant in town to buy lunch. Sometimes they would stop to visit her brother and his family for a couple of hours or go pick up groceries or whatever they needed in town. I got to go shopping with them several times, so I pretty much knew the routine. Then they would head home which was about 18-20 miles from town.

Grandma loved flowers and had them planted in her yard around the house. She especially liked irises. 

Went with my Oklahoma Grandpa and cousin to a circus once in Amarillo, Texas. It was a LONG drive and mostly what I remember was the parade of the performers and animals at the beginning of the show. It was the Barnum and Bailey Circus. 

MY FAVORITE POEM ARE LYRICS AGAIN THIS MONTH:

My Favorite Things

Sung by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music

Written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers. 

YouTube. 

Hello Fall!

Been busy prepping my kitchen for possible dietary changes and had a endoscopy and cataract surgery, so I'm a little behind on my positivity journal flip-throughs. You know, the old saying about the more you RUSH, the behinder you get? Yep, that's me! 🤓

So don't have much written down in my written diary, however, we did go to the zoo in September. My husband's company picnic was at the zoo this year. Last year it was canceled due to Covid restrictions and the years before that it was at a picnic shelter near our local lake. I told hubby, if I was going, I wanted to see if they had a scooter we could rent. I walked in with my rollator and just inside the gate, there was a little building where they rented out strollers and scooters and they kept my rollator until I returned their scooter. Not only was lunch good, but we were able to get to a part of the zoo we had never been able to travel to because of the walking distance. I just scooted that scooter around and got to see the African elephant exhibits and lots of other animals including a happy hippo! It was such as blessing and here's me on my scooter! Mrs. HOT WHEELS! 🤓 

My friend Connie made me something special in September and brought it over with love -- she upcycled one of her granny's chopping boards and decoupaged it with the word JOY! You can see it in the video on my pictorial diary page. 

QUOTES/SAYINGS:

"By reading the scriptures, I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet." (Thomas Merton).

Front Cover Card = Friend Blessings come in countless ways, through caring smiles on cloudy days, in hopeful prayers that see us through...

From my Garden with Love. 

Homemade with Love.

"It was one of those sumptuous days when the world is full of autumn muskiness and tangy. Crisp perfection: vivid blue sky, deep green fields, leaves in a thousand luminous hues. It is a truly astounding sight when every tree in a landscape become individual, when each winding back highway and plump hillside is suddenly and infinitely splashed with every sharp shade that nature can bestow -- flaming scarlet, lustrous gold, throbbing vermilion, fiery orange." (Bill Bryson)

It's not easy being Green! - Kermit the Frog.

"Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and the weak-kneed who know they don't have it all together, and who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace." (Brennan Manning). 

Sometimes in the winds of change, we find our true direction! 

"There is a beautiful thing which is wonderful, to look like a woman, not a green bean." (Laetitia Casta).

Psst! I'm so enjoying creating my Dolly's. Here's an album of my Dolly's on Flickr.  I love pairing the quote with what she's wearing (besides my face!). 

SCRIPTURE:

Genesis 24:63 = He went out to the field one evening to meditate...

Joshua 1:8 = Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Psalm 1:2 = but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 

Colossians 1:6 (Grace Card scripture) = All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 

Revelation 1: 5 = and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. 

GOOD MEMORIES:

After our son was born, we called all the grandparents and great-grandparents by their title and first name. All of them were still alive then, except one (my Kansas grandfather had passed in 1977). But our son soon dubbed one great-grandpa with his own special name -- "grandpa with the tractor!" That grandpa had a red Farmall tractor.  

When our son was small, less than a year old, he was scooching along the floor by the time he was 5 months old. He sat up by himself at a doctor's visit at four, which pretty much amazed the doctor and I. We were visiting my Oklahoma grandmother and we told him to not get in her dog's face, but some kids just have to learn in the school of hard knocks and he did it anyway. Yep, the dog bit him on the nose and we heard him say "dumb dog." Those were his very first words! 

When he was a little older, of kindergarten age, we used to call him "sonny boy" or "punkin" as a term of endearment. One day he came home from school and told me that he wanted to be called "sweetheart," so to please him (giving his father the heads up when he got home from work that day), we tried our best to call him sweetheart. A few days went by and then he announced he wanted his old names back! 🤓

BUTTONS! I was inspired by Melanie Sullivan of YouTube. She sewed some buttons into her "Wreck this Journal" book. 

And my Poetry this month is actually Kermit's song, It's Not Easy Being Green! by Joe Raposo. 1970. 

Where Did Summer Go?

Most of August found me "spring cleaning" the kitchen in preparation for a procedure I was to have in September, so the month whizzed by and one day I suddenly realized it was September and I hadn't done anything in my positivity journal, so I've been playing catch-up for both months. 

However, despite getting ready for the procedure, such as getting rid of all the dirt and plastic in the kitchen and converting over to stainless steel and glassware, the doctor stopped at a certain spot inside when he found something unexpected and backed out quickly for he did not want to disturb it, so I didn't get the test I wanted. That won't happen until December when I have a repeat of the same to make sure everything is healed before proceeding. Then I had a cataract removed in my left eye and two stents put in to help my eye drain. I have pigmentary glaucoma, a rare form of glaucoma. This is me - click here.  When's the last time you have had your eyes checked? Don't let glaucoma (or cataracts) steal your eyesight! 

We took our 12th trash bag of plastic stuff to donate to Red Racks thrift store in the month of September. 

Our pastor also decided on a theme of GRACE to preach about in the next school year and he asked me to create coloring sheets to coordinate with his sermons. I created a short video to explain what to do with the coloring scripture index cards that I was making.  

SCRIPTURES:

Genesis 24:63 = He went out to the field one evening to meditate...

Joshua 1:8 = Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 

Psalm 1:2 = but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 

Proverbs 17:22 = A merry heart does good like a medicine.

Ephesians 3:18 = may have power together with all the Lord's people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. 

Ephesians 5:2 = and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Colossians 1:6 = All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 

1 Timothy 1:14 = The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Jude 1:21 = Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Revelations 1:5 = and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. 

QUOTES and SAYINGS!

"Believe you can do it!" (Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting TV-PBS artist) 

Be someone's sunshine when their skies are grey. 

"By reading the scriptures, I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The who world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet." (Thomas Merton)

Choose happy!

Farm Fresh

Friend Blessings come in countless ways, through caring smiles on cloudy days, in hopeful prayers that see us through...

From my garden with love. 

Grown with Love. 

Hello Fall! 

Homemade with Love. 

"It was one of those sumptuous days when the world is full of autumn muskiness and tangy crisp perfection: vivid blue sky, deep green fields, leaves in a thousand luminous hues. It is a truly astounding sight when every tree is a landscape becomes individual, when each winding back highway and plump hillside is suddenly and infinitely splashed with every sharp shade that nature can bestow - flaming scarlet, lustrous gold, throbbing vermilion, fiery orange." (Bill Bryson). 

"Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and the weak-kneed who know they don't have it all together, and who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace." (Brennan Manning). 

Jesus loves me from my head to-ma-toes! See Dolly on Flickr. 

JOY -- (My friend Connie made a sign for me. She made it from her granny's old cutting board.). 

Meditate = to think deeply or to pray; to focus one's mind for a period of time on God and what he has done for me; count my blessings, for instance!  

Moo! 

"One of the ways out of bitterness is through the use of gentle, self-effacing humor." (Rev. Dr. Ed Hird)  Self-effacing humor is a strong, confident person who can make fun of themselves. 

Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction. 

Tea for two, me for you. 

Tomatoes 10 cents each

"Walk towards the sunshine, and the shadows will fall behind you." (on one of Mary Engelbreit's notepads).

You warm my heart. 

GOOD MEMORIES:

My first memory involves my Kansas grandmother and I. She and I were in her bedroom and she pointed up to a picture on her wall. She told me that was Jesus. Later I said my first word, Gee-gee (Jesus). Mom said she knew it was a word because I was pointing up at a picture of Jesus on the wall with my pudgy little finger while she was changing me. I'm forever grateful that Grandma introduced me to Gee-gee!

One of my blessings was being able to live with my buddy Oklahoma Grandmother the last year of her life. One of the sweetest memories I have of her is the duet that she sang with our son after her stroke. They sang "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know" together. 

My first Bible was given to me for Christmas by my Kansas grandmother. It was the King James Version and its cover was white leather with my name inscribed in gold in the lower right hand side. It was beautiful! 

Our son was semi-crawling by the time he was five months old. We went down to visit my Oklahoma grandparents and we told him not to get in grandma's dog Casey's face, but he did it anyway. Yep, you guessed it - the dog bit his nose. The boy's very first words were: "Dum dog!"

When our son was of kindergarten age, we used to call him "sonny boy" or "Punkin" as a term of endearment. One day , he came home from school and announced that he wanted to be called "sweetheart" instead of "punkin." So giving my husband the heads up when he got home that day, we did our best to please him. A few days later, our son said he wanted his old name back. He missed it! 🥰

After our son was born, we called all the grandparents and great-grandparents by their grandma or pa title, plus their first names, for all of them were still alive at that time. Our son had a special name though for one of his paternal great-grandpa's and everyone knew who he was talking about when he said "the grandpa with a tractor," cause that grandpa had a big red Farmall tractor. 

PRAYER CARD: Rev. Eric Forgrave, A Journey of Grace YouTube Sermon Playlist

POETRY PAGE:

August's poem is actually lyrics. It's called "I've Got My Foot on the Rock" by Mike Payne. My cousin Terrill White sings it here on YouTube. 

Be a Rainbow in Someone's Cloudy Skies!

 

YAY! July VIDEO DONE!

INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES:

How Not To Take Things Personally. YouTube. 

A Gluten-Free Food List from Frito-Lay. 

Coping with Shame. 

DIARY: 

July began with a bang and hot weather. Quite a few things around here are needing repair or perhaps I should say, are in the process of getting repaired (maintained). Like the cars, for instance, and my computer crashed and all my files with it. And follow-ups and tests with the medical establishment. Like for instance, the two JOY videos I was collecting for! (P.S. God provided more! PTL!) So my husband's brother-in-law rebuilt my system (Thank you, John!). Hubby purchased a couple of pairs of Mary Engelbreit leggings for me and they finally came in the MAIL! (If you decide to purchase a pair, a little tip, they run small, so buy a bigger size than you think you will need). Hubby and I went to the Brass Armadillo Flea Market to do a little shopping. I was looking for a metal kitchen scale that weighs pounds and several other things. Found one for $20.00 in white!!! Now that's my kind of bargain. Hubby has always wanted a glass butter churn -- alas, no deals there. I'm on the hunt also for metal kitchen funnels, but didn't find any that trip either (however found some later!). I took my rollator -- it was my mini shopping cart and "park bench" for it was wonderful for taking mini-sitting breaks while waiting for David to finish looking through bins. We spent several hours there and only got through half of the huge store. Hope to go back and finish the other half soon.  And we've been able to eat some from our garden. I made a taco salad and added in fresh lettuce from one of our tubs! It was good and sweet!  

And sad news too -- Dr. Grace Ketterman, the doctor who diagnosed us with ADD, prayed for us and so kindly gave advice to us out of her store of wisdom, passed away earlier this month. I've mentioned her before in a post or two and I believe God led us to her in time of great need after I prayed and fasted one Friday and then within two weeks, my prayers were answered for a Christian doctor to help us. After our experience in our son's previous school system in Kansas, I wasn't quite ready to hand the reins of my son's mind and heart to more school officials here.  I have two of her precious books, signed in agape Christian love. 

I'm also "spring cleaning" my kitchen. I keep my kitchen generally neat and tidy, but it's been a while since I have done a deep clean and stirred up enough dust to make me wheezy. When's the last time you counted how much plastic is in your kitchen? I continue to be amazed and I recently took my 10th bag of stuff to be donated to one of our local thrift stores with another one not far behind. We're replacing the plastic with stainless steel and glass items that we use on a continual basis and not replacing those items that we haven't used in a while. I've been diagnosed with lactose and fructose malabsorption and will be having a endoscopy in September. 

SCRIPTURES:

Ezekiel 1:28 = Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. 

Romans 8:35 = Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 

Romans 8:39 = Neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Corinthians 13:14 = May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Galatians 2:20 = I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

QUOTES:

"Be a rainbow in the clouds." ~ Maya Angelou

"Some days you just want to send the devil the fly and say, 'Not today, Satan! You ain't gonna steal my JOY, for the Lord Almighty is for me! He is the source of all my JOY!'" (~ Stephanie Ackerman). 

"The Good News: Instead of looking at life's challenges as hardships, look at them as opportunities!" (Martha Sorren, Kelsey Hurwitz, Women's Day Magazine). 

GOOD MEMORIES:

When I turned sixteen, my Kansas grandmother gave me a complete set of white china banded in gold. That was the beginning of my hope chest. My Oklahoma grandmother embroidered and crocheted edging on several pillowslips, crocheted doilies and gave me an afghan she had crocheted for me to put in it as well.

When hubby and I became engaged, his grandmother who lived in Henley, Missouri, crocheted a large white lacy tablecloth to go under my china set. It was a true labor of love on her part for I have no idea how long it took her to make it. 

My Oklahoma grandmother, knowing my love of vintage things, told me there was a old iron double-sized bed frame down in an empty house on land they farmed and if I wanted it for our first bed together to go get it. So my hubby-to-be and I dragged it out of the house and took it home with us. We had it sand-blasted and then we repainted it.  It was our bed for many years.

My in-laws-to-be purchased the mattress and box springs for that iron bed. My mother-in-law also crocheted doilies for our first home, a duplex, and hosted our wedding rehearsal dinner. She later made us a quilt for our bed. 

PRAYERS and PRAISES

One of my prayers this month was a friend poem, for I had nothing in mind. Two days later, God provided. My friend, Carolyn sent this poem to me and told me a story about it. Apparently, she had helped a friend she discovered was living in his car and when he got on his feet, he found a plaque with this poem in it and gave it to Carolyn and her hubby in gratitude for their gracious help. 

Friendship is a Matter of Time

By Amanda Bradley.

Friendship is really a matter of time...

The time that it takes to be kind, 

The time that it takes just to listen and talk, 

To help someone find peace of mind.

Friendship is really a matter of time...

The time that it takes you to do

A thoughtful and generous favor that wasn't expected of you,

The time that it takes just to answer a call

To let someone know that you are there.

Friendship is really a matter of time...

The time that you take when you care. 

Dearly Loved

 I'm Dearly Loved. 

A Short Video. 

INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES: 

A God-thing: 40 Inspirational Bible Verses to Give You Hope in Tough Times. By Martha Sorren, Kelsey Hurwitz. Woman's Day. 

Dyan Reaveley's Facebook Quotes. 

Quotes about Friendship by Maya Angelou. 

CARD DIVIDER: Purchased from the Dollar Tree. "Home Sweet Home. Furnish it with FRIENDSHIP, decorate it with LAUGHTER, warm it with LOVE." 

DIARY HIGH-LITES: 

June began HOT! The neighbors behind us moved to a retirement village several miles away. (Didn't know his last name was Allen. I have Allen's in my family tree.) Hubby had emergency surgery to remove a kidney stone that was blocking traffic. Son took us all out to eat BBQ for Father's Day.  Dress that hubby ordered for me for Mother's Day finally came in the mail. Took another bag of clutter to the thrift store. My girlfriend at church, Princess Sister, gave us a bag of shredded paper to fill up half of the galvanized tubs that I converted to large planters (Linda Vater's Bucket Brigade on YouTube). In turn, she got a bag of lettuce that I thinned out. She said she enjoyed it so much. We also have 3 tomatoes growing, one turning red. Hubby smacked his lips when he spied it -- one of his summer favorite sandwiches is tomato slices, lettuce on Miracle Whip, and bacon on toast. 

SCRIPTURES:

Psalm 56:9b = "By this I will know that God is for me."

Isaiah 62:12 = They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Long Deserted. 

John 15:9,11 = As the Father has loved me so have I loved you. Now remain in my love... I have told you this so that my JOY may be in you and that your JOY may be complete.

Romans 12:18,21 = If it is possible as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone...Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

1 Corinthians 13:13 = And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

Ephesians 5:1-2 = Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

QUOTES:

"Always remember, a friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are." (~ Laura Childs, Eggs in a Casket.)

Come sit on the Porch with me. The drinks are cold and the Friendship's Free. 

"Every experience God gives us, every person he puts into our lives is preparation for a future that only He can see." (~ Corrie ten Boom.)

Gardening. 

Home is where the Herd is. 

JOY journaling page. (Dollar Tree stencil; two thrift store flowers) 

Seasoned with Love. 

Zetti Paper Doll Art Journal Page: "I'm not Bossy: I've Got Leadership Skills." Paired with a California Farms Evaporated Filled Milk can label. (Has a USA flag, cow, barn and windmill image on front). It will be posted to Flickr.  Therapist said she was glad that I'm adding a little humor into my positivity journal when I told her that my hubby got a big kick out of it. He shared it with his family on Memorial Day! You know, if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! 😆

GOOD MEMORIES:

My Kansas grandmother had a tall glass ginger jar with a lid on it. It was full of dried rose petals and smelled spicy like cloves. It sat on the dresser in her guest bedroom. I always wanted a jar of memories too.

I asked my Kansas grandmother for a pair of grandpa's blue jean overalls when he passed away. I decorated the bib and pockets with embroidered flowers. I felt close to grandpa when I wore them. 

We went to church with my grandparents when we visited. Kansas grandparents attended the Pleasant Prairie Church of God and my Oklahoma grandparents attended the Elkhart Church of God. We enjoyed meeting cousins and old friends there. 

I shared with my pastor several weeks ago a story my grandmother told me about putting a light in the window at night out of the prairie. She said that light could be seen for miles out on the dark flat prairies of Kansas and Oklahoma and said it was a beacon to a cold weary traveler and welcomed them to shelter. She said back in those days, farmers looked out for their neighbors and helped them when they could.  My pastor used the illustration in a sermon recently -- click here -- to listen to his sermon. 

SMILE! Art Journal page of a cute smiling apple that came from a McDonald's Happy Meal box. I couldn't resist cutting it down and adding it to my journal. 🥰

PRAYER LIST: Help me to discern truth from lies in this world. Thank you, Jesus, for the creative ideas that you send my way. May those that need Jesus find my blog and/or YouTube videos. I'm not perfect, but I can perhaps influence someone to follow Jesus too or help meet a need for comfort and positivity. In Jesus name, Amen! 

POEM: Actually lyrics from a Beatles song. 

TEA: The last of my collection of tea envelopes in purple. 

IN MY LIFE. By John Winston Lennon and Paul James McCartney. 

Blooming With Grace!

My May Container Garden -- Following Linda Vater's (YouTube) Bucket Brigade.  

I have cucumbers, a tomato, lettuce and kale growing. 

Introduction to Joyful, by Ingrid Fetell Lee. Look her up on YouTube. She appears on many videos. Dr. Grace Ketterman, a psychiatrist I've mentioned before, said there is truth that color brings you joy, for there has been studies on it.

Here's another one that gives you food for thought. At least it did for me. Design hack: 10 joy-inducing aesthetics you should know | Ingrid Fetell Lee. 

And her website. 

CARD:

Friends Like Us Can Always Find Fun. Or Trouble. 

CARTOON:

We are more than Besties. She's my accomplice and I'm her alibi.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary this month! Hubbin took me to my favorite tea room to eat for lunch. I tried a new herbal tea flavor. It was so yummy! It's Raspberry Rose by Republic of Tea. 

Do you carrot all for me?

My heart beets for you,

With your turnip nose,

And your radish nose.

You are a peach,

If we cantaloupe,

Lettuce marry—

Weed make a swell pear.

AUTOGRAPH VERSES!

A MOMENT OF DELIGHT and JOY!

I took a photo of a Mama Goose waddling her way down our street with five goslings in tow. We have a small lake at the end of our road, however, I have no idea where she came from, but they were so cute and they stopped traffic. 

 GOOD MEMORIES:

My Kansas grandmother had bookshelves full of books in her living room. Most of them resided around the corners of her picture window that faced the dirt road out in front. I loved to read her missionary books. She used to make pretty wedding cakes for many of the young couples getting married in their country neighborhood and she saved that money to contribute to missions that the Church of God supported. My grandparents shopped most often in Satanta, Garden City, Liberal, and sometimes in Dodge City, Kansas, however, a lot of their dry goods came from catalogs that came in the mail or what we called wish books. I remember looking through some of them. Grandpa and later grandma kept them on a TV tray stand next to their lazy boy chair in the living room.

My Oklahoma grandparents had a wonderful postcard collection that they kept in a big shoebox upstairs in a closet in their old two story home. I loved looking through it  when they lived there. Many of the postcards were from extended family members that sent Christmas postcard greetings, vacation "wish you were here" notes, and some were postcards they had collected from gift shops while on vacation as little mementoes of their trips. Sadly, they discovered the whole collection was stolen from the old house just after they moved into their new house while they were shopping in town to pick up groceries. The closest town was 18 miles away, so the thief had plenty of time to get in, look round and take what he/she wanted. The new house was a next door neighbor to the old house on the farm. It wasn't long after that, that the old house was sold and trucked to town. In that part of the country, wood is scarce to come by for building and expensive to ship in, so houses are often lifted from their foundations and taken to a new site. I loved that old house with all the interesting nooks and crannies to explore.

My maternal and paternal first cousins' parents built their homes on my grandparents' farms. Two of my uncles decided to remain on the farm and help my grandparents farm their land, so when we went to visit, there was always two extra playmates around. I was the oldest of four, so they took equal delight in having somebody to play with also. We made the one way, 8 hour pilgrimage drive twice a year -- during summer and Christmas school vacations. 

One day, the youngest maternal cousin and I were bored and looking for something to do. She suggested that we go gather some of the rotten goose eggs from the farm pond and throw them into the farm trash dump to see what they would do. We got them and there -- I was standing behind her when suddenly she banged two of the eggs together hard and they exploded in her face. I got bits of rotten egg slime in my hair. The stench almost made her sick on the spot and we ran for our respective houses. It took us almost all afternoon of constant washing to get the smell off us. PU! 👃😝 

POEM:

Tutti-Frutti Lovesong,

by Mary Grace Dembeck.

You are my darling CUMQUAT,

Oh, you're my PEACHy pie,

I think you are the BERRIES,

The APPLE of my eye.

Don't make me MELON-choly,

Please be my HONEY DEW,

'Cause oh, my sweet PAPAYA,

I'm BANANAS over you!

I would be oh, so GRAPEful

If you'd just say you care,

For it takes two to MANGO,

And we're a PEACHy PEAR.

Oh, ORANGE you a little

COCONUTS for me too?

Please say you'll be mon CHERRY,

I'm so GUAVA over you.

QUOTES:

Create the life you yearn for.

"Family traditions mark time in a happy way and give a sense of both anticipation and continuity. Research shows that traditions, routines, and rituals boost physical and emotional health. And they're fun." (~ Gretchin Rubin). 

In the cookies of life, friends are the chocolate chips! 

Wherever life plants you, bloom with grace. 

SCRIPTURES:

Deuteronomy 7:6, 8a = For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession... it was because the Lord loved you. 

Psalm 61:5 = You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. 

Lamentations 3:22-23 = Because of the Lord's great LOVE we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are NEW every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

Romans 15:13 = May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY & PEACE as you trust in Him. 

2 Corinthians 6:16 = We are the temple of the living God.

Philippians 1:3-6 = I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with JOY because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

I've updated my old Flickr page! Here's my JOY playlist on YouTube. 

Video here. 

Good Friends!

I'm following Linda Vater's Bucket Brigade Planting Challenge on YouTube. Here's my April tubs. So be sure to follow along. One of the stipulations was to use food plants in them, so in the left one I've planted lettuce. And in the other one, I planted kale. On the other side of the sidewalk, we bought a tomato and planted it in a large plastic pot that I found at a thrift store and my hubby spray painted the pot to look like granite. I have another galvanized metal tub (Home Depot) that I want to set next to that pot and plant with cucumbers, but got to go get some more cinder blocks to stack it on. A girlfriend at church was looking for a paper recycler to take her shredded paper and I spoke up and said I will take it! It's under the dirt to take up space and will eventually compost down. In the smaller brown pot, I planted tulips that I had in the frig all winter. They came up and look so pretty. 

YAY! I completed:

YouTube's Crafter's Academy "Create Great Content" Workshop. 

I'm reading:

When to Walk Away by Gary Thomas. 

GOOD MEMORIES:

I remember my Kansas grandfather standing in his living room in front of the piano and just swinging his arms back and forth while he twisted the trunk of his body. Funny what you remember. He liked to do that I guess. He was a farmer and wore blue overalls most of the week except for Sunday. Sunday he wore a nice dress shirt and tie with his Sunday suit. 

He once told me to drive his pickup for him (stick shift) while he threw out hay for the cattle from the back. Then he sat down on the tailgate, just in case, he said, so if I accidently ran into something,  he could jump if he needed to. I didn't wreck it - I did good! 

My Oklahoma grandfather was a gentle man. He made pets of all his critters and I never saw him hit anyone until one day when we were climbing over the fence in his barn that separated the animal part from the garage part of the barn where he parked his pick-up. I began to climb over and my brother, impatient, pushed me as I began to swing my leg over. I lost my grip and did a face plant on the gravely dirt below. Grandpa immediately picked up my brother, gave him a good squat on the behind with his size 16 ring hand and told him that he wasn't to treat girls like that. My brother ran to mom to tattle on grandpa, crying all the way from the barn to the house and mom said to him, "If Grandpa swatted you, he must have had a good reason, so don't come crying to me." Yay! Grandpa, 1 point, Brother, none! 😁 I was always so grateful for Grandpa sticking up for me and teaching my bro some manners! 

This same set of grandparents came up to help my mom with all us children when we passed around the chickenpox one winter when we were of elementary school age. Grandma was in charge of the calamine lotion and she got to dot the itches away with the pink stuff. And boy, did the poxes itch! I also had a birthday during that time. What a way to spend a birthday! At least it was memorable!

INSERT: When I was ten, I became a friend of Jesus. It was as easy as ABC! 

A = First I had to Admit that I wasn't perfect.

B = Second, I had to Believe in Jesus.

C = Third, I Confessed my faults to Jesus - the little white lie I knew was wrong, the fight I had with my sisters, the homework I didn't do,...

I still wasn't perfect, but my heart was washed clean!

I was baptized soon after, read my Bible from cover to cover and continued to attend a Bible believing church with my family.

Jesus and me became best buds because I knew, in my heart, he loved me!

SAYINGS & QUOTES: 

Card - Good friends provide each other with comfort, support, and a feeling of well-being.

Farm Fresh Sticker. 

Art Journaling Page: "I am a BBW - Big, Beautiful Woman!" 

Planted with Love, Garden notes.  (see above)

Text Encouragement Card - May you - Be Happy, Be Safe, Be Well, Have comfort, have strength, have courage, have peace, have joy. May you be blessed Today and Everyday. Good Morning! 

Text Encouragement Card - In a World Full of Roses, Be a Sunflower!

The smile on your face is the light in the window that tells people that you are home. 

"When Satan huffs and puffs and tries to blow out the flame of your joy, you have an endless supply of kindling in the Word of God." (John Piper).

"Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck. It's what you're put here on earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling." (Vincent Van Gogh). 

SCRIPTURES:

Exodus 33:14 = "The Lord replied, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." 

Isaiah 40:11 = "He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." 

Matthew 22:37-39 = Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the 1st and greatest commandment. And the 2nd is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."

Philippians 1:3-4 = I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy" 

1 John 3:1 = How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.

POSITIVE WORDS: Love, Friends 

POEM:

The Friend Who Just Stands By.
By a Williams, either Bertye Young Williams or William Carlos Williams. (I've seen both names attached to this poem.)

When trouble comes your soul to try,
You love the friend who just "stands by."

Perhaps there's nothing he can do --

The thing is strictly up to you;

For there are troubles all your own,

And paths the soul must tread alone;

Times when love cannot smooth the road

Nor friendship lift the heavy load,

But just to know you have a friend

Who will "stand by" until the end,

Whose sympathy through all endures,

Whose warm handclasp is always yours --

It helps, some way, to pull you through, 

Although there's nothing he can do.

And so with fervent heart you cry,

"God Bless the Friend Who Just Stands By!" 

Cheep Smiling! -- Welcome to the Coop!

DIARIES:

Hubs had a birthday this month. 

I LOVE mason jars! 

Sent cards to my girlfriends! Found some sunflower cards at the Dollar Tree and since sunflowers are my favorite flower -- they make me happy with their sunny look -- I just had to get them and send them to each to say thank you for your friendship. 

Hubby is working on the floors of my kitchen cabinets. Filling in cracks and laying down linoleum tiles on the shelves. So nice looking! Saw the idea on Pinterest and thought what a nifty idea. Hubby is working on the third cabinet now, waiting for the crack filler to set up. I went out and purchased a small Rubbermaid tub to put my pot lids into. Measured the door opening to make sure to get one that would slide in and out easily and then I weeded the ones that I no longer use. Sure looks nice! I was getting tired of the mess under there with the old galvanized wire basket that I had been using. 

But I didn't get rid of the wire basket, for I saw an idea for it on YouTube. It's now sitting on our porch metal bistro table with a galvanized watering can and a citronella candle in a galvanized bucket inside.  Looks good! 

The flowers began blooming this month. Yay! I am so ready for spring, one of my favorite seasons of the year. I've noted daffodils, red bud trees, tulip trees, dandelions, and wild hyacinths are blooming in my journal! 

I also got a new C-pap machine. I'm so thankful for it as I was struggling during Covid with my old machine drying me out like the Sierra desert. The water tank on my new one is twice the size of the old one. And it has a heated hose -- no more cold nose and neck! The mask has foam around the rim instead of silicone. And no more bucket washing! I dump the water out of the tank and use a wet wipe to clean the mask and swish soapy water in the hose once a month and I'm outta there. 

Finally got to visit a Resource Center I had learned about some time ago called ScrapsKC. I was in gently used craft supply heaven! 😁

 

GOOD MEMORIES:

When we went out to visit our Oklahoma grandparents during the summer, grandma's youngest brother nicknamed "Babe," would come out to visit for the afternoon from town eighteen miles away. Sometimes he would bring our second cousins with him and that meant more playmates! Our first cousins lived on the same farm as our grandparents and they and my three siblings found all kinds of things to do on the farm, like go feed Grandpa's geese down at the pond in front of the barn or go play in the barn or in the old wooden granary buildings that were no longer used for that purpose (Grandpa had round metal Quonset huts that were more critter proof than the ones that we liked to play in). We also liked to play in an old cement car port next to the well-house that my Uncle used to drive his car up on two wooden beams cemented into the walls of the port to work on the motor. Us kids would make up "stew" in old 5 gallon metal paint cans with bits of leaves and water. I expect it rotted down into a smelly mess after we left it. I had never seen a stretch of land such as my grandparents had that was good for catching toads as theirs was. They were everywhere and big un's too. Although, if you were able to catch one, they had a nasty habit of watering your legs and shoes down if you squeezed too hard. smile! Sometimes we'd go gather eggs from the hen house for grandma or play with the new spring kittens or sometimes Grandpa would go fetch a Shetland pony from the barn corral or out in the pasture and we would get to ride. Sometimes all of us kids would pile into Grandpa's pick-up in the back; mom, grandma and grandpa in front and bumpety-bump, go rabbit-hunting out in one of Grandpa's pastures.

 INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES:

My Pastor Sings and Plays the Guitar! Click here and here  and here. YouTube. 

I uploaded another JOY video! And compiled all three into a playlist on YouTube.  

QUOTES and SAYINGS: 

All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today. 

Cheep Smiling! (art journal page)

"How do you get strong? You start believing in yourself, and believing what God says about you. That you are precious. That you are loved and lovable. That you do have value and worth. . . I pray that you will find your true worth." (~ Lori Frisch, author of "Out of the Fire & Into the Light.") 

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (washi tape strip)

NO STINKIN' THINKIN'! 

"The most powerful weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. Train your mind to see the good in this day." (Anonymous)

"When God was handing out looks, I thought he said books and I told him to give me a funny one." ~ Minnie Pearl.  (art journal page) 

SCRIPTURES:

Psalm 103:8, 11 = The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. .. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear (respect) him. 

Jeremiah 29:13 = You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 

Romans 8:38-39 = For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Ephesians 3:17, 18 = I pray, that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

SONG:

That's What Friends Are For. By Carole Bayer Sager & Burt Bacharach. Sung by Dionne Warwick. YouTube. 

TEA: 

I added a poem to the page before the tea envelopes like I did last month. This time it is a cinquain in a format I learned in my English class in high school. Apparently, according to the internet, cinquains have different formats, but generally they have five or six lines like mine.

tea

hot water

steep plant parts

many flavor blends of

white, green, black, and herbal

Yum!

~DJR~

I have green envelopes this month. Nope, none with shamrocks on the front though. 

and a Sunflower insert! Like I said previously, I LOVE Sunflowers and SONflowers! smile! 

May you have a wonderful Spring Season! And God bless. He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!