Christmas doings and happy to see the end...

Goodness, y'all, I don't know where time goes.  We have been busy, around here, though.  Christmas time always seems to keep us that way.  Between the decorating, shopping, cooking, Christmas happenings at church, as well as all the normal routine stuff, I often feel as if I meeting myself coming!  Y'all ever hear the old folks say that?  Well, I guess I am an old folk now because I say it all the time!  Thought I would pop in and post a few pictures.

I made my "Elementary Soup" one Sunday and decided to have the kids and grandbabies over to take pictures.  My son and DIL couldn't be here so we had substitutes!  HeHe!  That'll teach 'em!

Our granddaughter was the angel in our church Christmas program.  She did such a good job!

I have to say, I will be happy to see 2016 come to an end.  It has been a great year but also a difficult year.  So many highs and lows but I am thankful that we made it through.  I will be back after New Year's to look back on them all.  Until then...

My Mister and I wish you Grace, Peace, and Love.

Hello December...what did you do with Fall?

Goodness sakes, can you believe it is December?  Where in the world did this year go?  December seems to have thrust us into the throes of winter...just as I knew it would.  Seems we didn't have a Fall but went directly from summer to winter in one fell swoop!  I suppose that's how it is when you live in the middle of the country.  Oh well, I'll just grab another sweater and rock on!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  My kids and their kids were here and we all ate way too much!  Normal behavior for us!  HeHe!  After we ate, the Littles "decorated" our tree.  That is something they look forward to and if truth be told, the only reason we still put up a tree!

Well, I started this post sometime last week and as would be quite normal for me, I got sidetracked and never finished it.  I guess I will try to finish now!

So anyhow, I thought I would show you a bit of my decorating, around the house.  Just let me say that I had big plans to decorate every room but I burned myself out and only got the living room and kitchen semi done.  Our rooms are so small, in this old house, that I don't do a lot, anyways.

I must say, right here, I got sidetracked again!  LoL... A.D.D. is kicking my tail, lately!  On to a bit more of the decorating.

The Redbird is my favorite bird so I decided to decorate this little primitive tree, with a whole flock of them.  I don't know what happened to the bow I had on the basket but it's still cute.  Have you ever heard, "When  a cardinal appears, an angel is near"?  I must have a lot of angels because my yard is always full of those beautiful red birds!

Most of my decorating is in the kitchen.  Remember, back last winter, we remodeled our "Brown Overwhelm" kitchen.  My favorite color for any kitchen is white so this year I decorated in a Scandinavian theme, in honor of my new found bloodline! 

This is my sweet little kitchen tree in an old rusted out bucket.  I made the salt dough ornaments that are hanging on it.  The straw angel is one that the Mister brought to me several years ago.  I think he either found it at a garage sale or somebody's left over decorations.  I love it.  Then I just scattered a few pine cones and silver ornaments and boxes around the bottom.

The top of the refrigerator got a bit of decorating with another rusted out bucket full of poinsettias, an oil lantern, the blackboard and a basket of checkers!  Simple stuff!

I think my favorite thing is the open faced cabinets.  It normally looks like this but I added the greenery, a tiny little tree, a bowl of pecans from my pecan trees, and a block of wood.  Of course I made the salt dough ornament garland and wrapped the cabinet doors with burlap and a bit of pine sprigs.  Again very simple but I love it!

Of course, my "Happy Window" got fancied up, too.  Aren't those white deer just adorable?  I had them as a center piece on the table but quickly decided to put them out of reach because I know my granddaughter would fall in love with them and want to play with them.  They are porcelain so I was afraid she might drop them.  I like them better in the window, anyhow.  Do you see that light fixture?  That is an old water can for chickens that is wired to the original light fixture.

There is also a wooden nativity sitting on another wood block that I dug out of the mud!  The candles are in baby food jars filled with small pebbles and wrapped with twine.  I have never seen a nativity like this.  

Very unusual and beautiful.  I added the star on top because it just felt right.  Do you do that?  Decorate a certain way because it feels right?  

So anyway, that is my little bit of decorating.  I may or may not do a little more but at this point I am almost ready to pack it all up for another year!  OCD starts kicking in and I have to get everything back in it's rightful place!  LoL  Me and my quirks!

 I hope you are enjoying the season.  Be blessed!

Grace & Peace,
Pam

Fall has finally found us, for good, I think!  Actually, the last few days, it has felt like winter!  Temps well below freezing at night and highs in the 40's and 50's, during the day!  Such is life in Oklahoma!  And the winds!  Lord, honey, I thought for sure we were going to blow away!  The leaves are still clinging to the trees but they are definitely falling more rapidly, than last week, but that's how we roll around here...From summer to dead, with a shift in the wind!
 

Isn't this tree beautiful?  It's in my neighbor's yard and while it is pretty, it doesn't seem to be as colorful as previous years.  Probably because we've been so dry.  I took a walk around the place and found some really pretty things to take pictures of.

Like these weeds!  Some see weeds, I see beauty!

The last bloom until late spring, for my Queen Anne climbing roses.  She is a bit lighter in color, this time of year, but come blooming season, she will be the color of all the little dark pink freckles. 

This is whats left of the Copper Moon roses.  I love this little bush because even after the blooms are long gone, it still shows out!

My sweet smelling tea roses are pretty much gone, for now, but this one bloom seemed extra sweet.  Apparently the ladybug thought so, too.

My little boy, Jasper, is wearing his camo!  HeHe!  When I got the pictures off my camera, I didn't even realize he was in this picture until I put my glasses on.  I couldn't figure out why I had taken a picture of the ground!  He's a little rascal but I love him.

I got to go shopping and out to lunch with two of my favorite people.  I love this gal (my daughter) and this little man!  He is getting so big and grown up.  He's quite the little ham and he was showing off big, for all the other customers!  He makes me laugh!

Well, that is just about all I have for now.  It's the little things that I get the most joy out of!
I'm sure I won't post again until after Thanksgiving so just in case, y'all have a blessed Thanksgiving and be sure to thank God for even the little things.

Grace and Peace,
Pam

Fall Decor, Dough, Cheesecloth, and This Old House...

You know, I really don't know why I keep this blog.  I never have anything to write about...or at least nothing that would be anything somebody would want to read about, anyway.  Sometimes, I think I will close it but then I think about all those people, who used to have wonderful blogs but have long since, disappeared from the blog o'sphere.  I always wonder what happened to them.  I miss those blogs.  I don't want anyone to think that I've just vanished, not that anyone would notice, so I keep on posting on occasion.  I always say I am going to do better at posting but we live such a calm, mundane life, so I really have little to share most days.  Anyhow, I am seriously going to make an effort to write more often.

So, have you started decorating for Christmas?  I know so many that have but I like to take it one holiday at a time so I can enjoy each one in it's own glory!  Besides, fall and Thanksgiving are my favorite times of the year!  This is in my kitchen. 
 

 I love everything about this vignette.  The sign, the little tree in a bushel basket, the flowers in an old bucket, the vine...just everything.  You can't really tell but there are crows on the tree.  I got them a couple of years ago from the dollar store and I've used them for everything!  The crow is a close second as my favorite bird.  The red bird is my favorite!

I will admit to being excited about decorating for Christmas, though.  I don't know why.  Usually I get anxious about everything not being in it's normal place.  I have to move furniture in order to put up the tree and everything kind of gets shifted around and that generally drives me insane.  I think some of my excitement has to do with the fact that we will only have a small four-foot tree this year, so I won't have to move around much.  See, with the grandson now crawling, climbing, and pulling himself up, we will put the small tree up on a table where he can't reach it.  Or at least I hope he can't get to it!  Never underestimate a 10 month old!

I've rediscovered salt dough ornaments!  I made these just to see if they were still fun!  Yes!  Yes, they are!  I will be making more dough so my granddaughter can make ornaments for her little tree and their large family tree.  I'm going to make more and maybe sell a few.  Who knows...somebody may actually like them as much as I do!  

So, how do you like my cheap curtains?  I think they look pretty good for a couple of $2.97 pieces of cheesecloth and some tea stain!  I'm thinking more of my windows need these!

Well, finally, we are having some fall temps.  Actually, for me, they border on being too much like winter temps.  We keep going back and forth, from fall to summer and back again.  Until it gets cooler and stays that way, I will be freezing to death every time the temps dip below 60*.  I'm not so sure it is me as much as it is this old house.  About half is concrete and concrete holds the temps, whether hot or cold.  That half is always cold even if the heater is running.  On the other hand it heats up too well when I have the oven on.  Ahhh...the charm of a 110 year old house.

Grace & Peace,
Pam

Cleaning house and still too hot...

I am one of those odd ducks who can't clean unless everything is out of the way.  I always push everything against the wall on one side of the room while I clean the other, and then everything is moved to the clean side while I clean the other!  What should take about 30 minutes, ends up taking all day and maybe some of the next.

All the small stuff gets piled on the couch or in chairs.  Unfortunately, we have small rooms but fortunately, we do have long hallways, so more stuff gets pushed into the second hall.

I even had to put some stuff into the grandson's room, for awhile.  That room will get it's own cleaning day but for now it is nice to be able to push stuff in there.  Probably tomorrow, I will tackle his room and our bedroom.

Then, there is the kitchen.  Our seven foot farm table is the catch all, in here, on cleaning day.  Chairs are stacked on top, as well as clean laundry, cleaning supplies, and miscellaneous junk!  I simply can not clean the floors with stuff in the way!  Are you like that or am I the only one?

Well, here it is November 1st and I had the air conditioner running full blast!  I've just about decided we will not have much of a fall, but go straight into winter sometime later this month or early December.  *sigh*  I love a good fall season.  Love being able to have the windows and doors open so I can smell the leaves burning, or hear the wildlife getting ready for winter.  I'm kind of bummed but on the bright side, we are still able to go kayaking so I'll take that and wait patiently for a nice fall day...I hope I don't have to wait long, though!

Grace & Peace,
Pam

Regarding My Question...

This morning, on Facebook, I asked the question, "With Halloween less than a week away, why, as "Christians", do we celebrate pagan holidays (Halloween, Christmas, Easter), but not the Holy days of the Bible?". 

I got a couple of answers ranging from getting a day off from work to American tradition.  I also received comments regarding my listing Christmas and Easter as pagan holidays and I'm sure I will get more, here.  

Let's take a look at origins, traditions, and what the Bible says about it all, shall we?

ORIGIN OF CHRISTMAS

     According to the Encyclopedia Britannica -

"During the later periods of Roman history, sun worship gained in importance and ultimately led to what has been called a 'solar monotheism.' Nearly all the gods of the period were possessed of Solar qualities, and both Christ and Mithra acquired the traits of solar deities. The feast of Sol Invictus (open unconquered Sun) on December 25th was celebrated with great joy, and eventually this date was taken over by the Christians as Christmas, the birthday of Christ."

Did you catch that?  Anything seem wrong with this, to you?

The Christians were apparently trying to get more converts so they tried to make the Messiah more like the idols found in sun worship---all under the guise of making Him more attractive to pagans. They even brought various elements of the December 25th "feast of the unconquered sun" into their worship by saying that December 25th was actually the Messiah's birthday. This is the origin of Christmas and this is why we have various pagan-rooted traditions accompanying this holiday.

So...who converted who?  Aren't we suppose to be set apart from the world?


When Paul was writing to the Ephesians, a group of believers who were surrounded by idol worship, he said:

Ephesians 5:11 - And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

So we shouldn't be trying to copy idolatrous feasts. Rather, we should be exposing them for the fraud and lie that they are. One of the last things our Savior would ever want is to "acquire the traits of solar deities" and believers should not be imitating pagans.

So...Just when was Jesus born?
.
The scriptures do not supply us with an exact date of birth.  We know the date of His death is on Passover. Scripture does tell us the time of many other important events in biblical history such as the founding of the temple (first day of the biblical year), the timing of the Exodus from Egypt, the date that the flood began and many other events. But the date of the Messiah's birth?  Scripture is silent. 

What about Easter?  We won't spend much time on this but let's check out the beginning.


Origin of Easter
 
The origin of Easter dates back to ancient times, not long after the flood, Nimrod, a grandson of Noah, had turned from following his grandfather's God and had become a tyrannical ruler. According to the biblical record, as king, Nimrod created Babel, Ninevah, Asshur, Calla and other cities, all known for lifestyles that promoted unspeakable evil and perversion. When Nimrod died, his wife, Queen Semiramis, deified him as the Sun-god, or Life Giver. Later he would become known as Baal, and those who followed the religion Semiramis created in his name would be called Baal worshipers. They became associated with idolatry, demon worship, human sacrifice and other practices regarded as evil.

The origin of Easter involves the birth of Semiramis' illegitimate son, Tammuz. Somehow, Semiramis convinced the people that Tammuz was actually Nimrod reborn. Since people had been looking for the promised savior since the beginning of mankind, they were persuaded by Semiramis to believe that Tammuz was that savior, even that he had been supernaturally conceived. Before long, in addition to worshiping Tammuz (or Nimrod reborn), the people also worshiped Semiramis herself as the goddess of fertility. In other cultures, she has been called Ishtar, Ashtur and yes, Easter.   

So...Once again, we seem to be paying homage to and trying to mix the things of demons with the things of God.

With all of that being said, I am not condemning anyone for celebrating Christmas or any other holiday.  We celebrate them in our home, as well.  We taught our children and are teaching our grandchildren about why we celebrate them as the birth and resurrection of Jesus.  But shouldn't we put more emphasis on the Biblical Holy Days such as Pass Over, The Feast of Tabernacles, The Day of Pentecost, and so many others.  I like this paper written by 11 year old Tessa.  Here is just a short excerpt but I hope you will take the time to read the entire article. Why I Celebrate God's Biblical Holy Days Instead of Holidays

The reason we don’t keep Christmas is because the Bible doesn’t tell us to. It tells the story of Jesus’ birth, but not as a Holy Day. It doesn’t even tell us what day He was born. Dec. 25 is a day called the winter solstice. Most of the traditions of Christmas come from people called pagans who lived before Christ was born and worshiped idols. Later, during the Roman Empire , Christians started keeping these traditions in Jesus’ name and today everyone thinks that’s OK.

But the Bible says we shouldn’t take away or add to God’s laws. And we are not supposed to reject God’s Commandments so that we can keep man’s traditions, even if they seem fun. So that’s why my family doesn’t celebrate Christmas.

So...Back to my original question.  What saddens me the most is that nobody, not one person, answered the entire question.  Not really even part of the question.  One person did give me an honest answer, though, which made me think that most people celebrate these holidays for these reasons more than a Biblical reason.  His answer?
  

American tradition, kids enjoy them, brings families together, work gives you the day off, ect.

I know we will all go on celebrating the holidays as we have been but shouldn't we give some thought to the fact that Jesus celebrated the Holy Days?  

So...can anyone answer my question?

With Halloween less than a week away, why, as "Christians", do we celebrate pagan holidays (Halloween, Christmas, Easter), but not the Holy days of the Bible?

Grace & Peace,
Pam 




 

Grandbabies and the lack of Fall...

I promise I haven't been slacking!  We had our grandbabies while my daughter and son-in-love were vacationing in Colorado, last week.  ALL. NINE. DAYS.    I love my grandchildren but let's face it, I am old!  HeHe!  PawPaw and I are draggin' booty, now, to put it nicely!  It's been awhile since I took care of an 8 month old AND a 6 year old!  

So, has anyone seen Fall?  It is apparently lost again!  It has been incredibly warm, lately.  Shoot, I may even have to turn the A/C on again.  There aren't many signs of Fall, outside, either!  I did spot a few, though.

The leaves on the rose bushes are beginning to turn red.

And this is all that's left of the pepper patch.

The bushes in "The Enchanted Forest" (my granddaughter named the circle of trees), are getting their fall berries.

And I have started filling the bird feeders.  All sure signs that Fall will eventually come, but for the most part, we still look like summer around here.

The lilacs seem to be putting on new buds.

And the weeds are still blooming.

Still more green than fall colors.

LuLuBelle says she wishes Fall would hurry up so these nasty flying insects will disappear.  She hates them!

Nemo, however, wants it to stay this way forever but I wish it would get cooler.  The warm days and cool nights are great but I have to ask...

is Fall taking so long!

Grace & Peace,
Pam

I love having a candle burning on a cool Fall day.  I don't know why but it just makes me smile.  I burn them other times but on a cool Fall day, there is something that says "Home", to me.  So anyways...
How the heck are you???  

Our weather is typical for Oklahoma, this time of year.  One day you will need a jacket and the next day, you will be wishing that nudity was in style!  I'm not kidding!  Yesterday, I thought I was going to die from the heat and today, a cold front came in and I'm reaching for the jacket and long pants!  Ugh!  It's supposed to be even worse next week.  By Sunday, we will be near 90*, again!  That poor A/C isn't done, for the year, just yet!

I finished the afghan for my granddaughter.  I hope she will like it come Christmas!  I also finished a scarf for my son-in-law, and started a blanket for the grandson.  I need to get working on some things for my husband before it get real cold.  He works outside for the most part and will need all sorts of hats, scarves, and the like.  I haven't made one thing for myself but that's ok.  I made enough scarves, cowls, arm warmers, ear warmers, and hats, last year.  I didn't even get to wear most of them because the winter was so warm.  

Can you even believe it is the middle of October, already???!!!  Where the heck did this year go?  I don't think I will ever get used to time going by so fast.  Every new month, I am surprised that it is actually that month!  *Shaking my head*  Times just flies, doesn't it?

With the cooler temps, this morning, I decided to do some baking.  I mixed up a batch of zucchini, raisin, walnut bread, to put in the freezer for the winter months when there isn't any zucchini available.  This was the first pan.

For the second pan, I decided to add a bit of cocoa powder.  This is the first time I've done that and I can't think of any reason why I never did it before.  It's just enough chocolate flavor to satisfy my craving.  I have a couple of more batches to make and then it's on to pumpkin bread.

I bet you are wondering why I used bundt pans to make bread.  Well, funny story...not really funny, but you know.  I got the batter all mixed up and went to pull out the loaf pans but couldn't find them.  I dug in every cabinet, in the food pantry, in the laundry room cabinet where I keep extra stuff, even in my storage trailer, but couldn't find them in either place.  So, what does one do?  You use something else!  Got the batter in the bundt pans, put them in the oven, and turned around and saw this...

Oh yeah!  I wanted to get new loaf pans so I had my husband use the old ones for this project.  DuH!  I never did replace them so I guess that is on my list of things I need!  Apparently, not only is time slipping away, but my brain is going with it!  *sheesh*

Y'all have a blessed Fall day!

Grace & Peace,
Pam

Happy Fall and just a putterin' along...

HAPPY FALL, Y'ALL!!!!  

Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in this little cabin?  I tell you, I would never grow tired of exploring those woods or sitting on that porch!  My family would be hard pressed to get me to  ever even go to the grocery store!  Can't you just imagine the smells in the air?  Fallen leaves all around?  Oh, it would be heaven on Earth!

Guess I better stop dreaming and come back to reality!  HeHe!  Our weather has been fantastic this week!  Much cooler temps...so much so that I had to pull out a light jacket for the morning hours.  It won't be long before the leaves start changing and fires will be lit in the fire pit.  Weiner roasts and playing outside after dark!   The granddaughter loves doing that.  We have to wait until it gets cooler or the mosquitoes will carry us off, so this time of year is our favorite.

My "Happy Window" is all dressed up for the season.  I don't decorate like I once did but this window gets gussied up to pretty things up just a bit.  I see my Mister left the mower out and that bird feeder needs some attention.

Just a simple wreath is all this door needs.  I had bid plans to decorate the front porch but so far I haven't done a thing except spruce up the paint on the swing...and finally removed the dead plants.  I'm not sure why those plants died but they sat there forever.  I'm sure passersby thought we had moved or something.  Ha!  

I've been working on a few Christmas gifts for the grands.  This is the beginning of the afghan for my granddaughter.  I'm not totally sure I like it.  Do you think it needs another color?  Either way, she will love it.

We've been enjoying the granddaughter's soccer games.  Last weekend, we went to her game and I stepped in a grass covered hole - actually it was a grass covered ditch -- and sprained my ankle.  Yep, graceful old me.  I will find the only hole in a 20 acre field...every. dang. time.  Everybody else can walk the same path I do and it will be me that finds that hole - or ditch in this case.  Only me!  

After a few days of babying my ankle, I got out yesterday and picked up sticks for a project that I hope will keep my granddaughter busy, tomorrow.  I didn't know if I was going to find enough because our new puppy, Jasper, loves chewing on sticks and has just about hauled them all off to his secret puppy place.  He's such a funny dog.

He tends to get into trouble a lot.  Especially when he chases my chickens!  That's why he is looking so sad.  He had to sit in "time out" aka "be put on the chain", because he was having a big time chasing the guineas.  He's gotten better but he still has to go to time out a lot!  LoL

Been spending a whole bunch of time with this handsome feller, too!  He is now sitting and crawling.  Doesn't seem as if he should be old enough for that.  He has two teeth and has decided to try standing up.  Slow down, little man!

Well, smells like my baked sweet potato is done.  That's another reason I love fall!  Baked sweet potatoes with lots of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon!  Yummmmmm!

Grace & Peace,
Pam

Stop Pinning and Just When I Think...

Y'all, I think I have a problem!  I see so many things, on Pinterest, that I either want to make or do, but I never get around to the making and doing part!  UGH!  It is driving me nuts!  I say, every morning, "I am NOT going to turn on that dang computer until I get something done!".  Yeah right!  I get my morning chores done and then sit down for just a minute and before I realize it, I am pinning away!  Do you have this problem?  Did you have this problem?  How in the world do you "Stop Pinning & Start Making"???

On Saturday, my Mister and I, took the granddaughter to the "Black Buggy Day" over in Chouteau.  I always enjoy seeing all the Amish folk in their plain but pretty attire.  If I had my way, women would still dress like that but alas, I do not always get my way!  Ha!  The granddaughter
kept complimenting the ladies on their dresses, especially the ones who wore blue (her fav color) and their "hats".  They were gracious enough to simply tell her thank you even though they are not supposed to try and be "pretty".  Doing so is seen as vanity and pride which is against God.  Try and explain that to a six year old who is used to complimenting women on their clothing, hair, jewelry, etc.  Her mama is a hair stylist, her other grandma owns a boutique with all kinds of beautiful clothes and her great aunt makes jewelry!  I just wasn't even going to try to teach her that the Amish girls aren't like us, in that way.  That is a lesson for another time but she had a blast at the festival and that's what matters at six years old.

Just when I think summer is almost over, we get slammed with more hot weather!  We've been enjoying low 90* days and cooler nights but, the weatherman said, the upcoming week is supposed to be back up into the high 90's with the heat index into the 105* - 110* range!  Perfect!  Not!  I have several things I need to get done outside but I'm sure I will stay inside for the better part of the week.  I'm sure ready to open the windows and doors, again!  I'm not really going to complain, though, because before I know what happened, it will be winter and I will be hauling warm water, out to the animals, two or three times a day!  

Well, I think it is time for me to finish this last set of boot cuffs and then hit the hay!

Grace & Peace,
Pam