Good Bye 2020 and Hello 2021

 So again - I have a few minutes but really not the time to type out a real post, but I wanted to come on here and let you know that starting Sabbath I should have posts ready to put up. It is a dreary, cold, and rainy day today. The perfect weather to stay inside and get stuff done. This is a blessing to me because this week has been so busy and the week is not even over yet.

We have a family get together tomorrow. My Mother in law decided that at her age there is never a guarantee that she will be around next year and wants to see her family and have a get together. So that will be tomorrow. Then on Sabbath - it is my husbands birthday so we will be celebrating him. We have 2 more family members birthdays coming up in a couple of weeks.

Things should slow down just a bit for at least a couple of weeks. Especially since my MIL had her last therapy appointment this week. YAY! I was so happy to see that trip come to an end. God blessed us and helped it be a mostly positive experience, but I am still very happy NOT to have to go to that hospital for a while now. 

Hope you all are doing well and have a blessed and healthy New Year! May God bless each of you in a special way in the upcoming year and draw you closer to him.  :O) 

Edited to say - that I was able to find a few minutes to get a few posts put up. Not really my bigger posts but at least now I should be more regular with posts. :O) 

 I have not forgotten about my blog, in fact I have already written up about 5 or 6 posts in a spiral. I just have not had a chance to get them typed up here. I have been much more busy this week than I had anticipated. I ended up taking care of our 5 year old grandson on Monday and Tuesday and he can be a handful. But thankfully I was able to get quite a bit of work out in the yard done- work that I had not planned on doing this week but he loves to play outside so this was one of the best ways to keep him busy. I can't wait to get on here and get back to blogging, but sadly today I have to make what I hope is the last trip to the downtown hospital for a long time! 

I hope you all are doing well. I will start posting as soon as I can! :O) 

Merry Christmas

 Just dropping by to say Merry Christmas! Hoping you have all had a very Merry Christmas. Our day has been a quiet one - since we don't get to have our Christmas till tomorrow evening - so that all of our kids and grandkids can be here. 

You all may find this very hard to believe but I actually have a good list of things I want to write about and share with you all. 2020 has been a challenging year and I have not been in a very Christmasy mood this year and am just ready for a new year. It probably helps because I am down to just 1 more trip to the downtown hospital with my MIL. That has been challenging and it has eaten into my time to get things done. Anyway so with a new year coming up it has inspired me with a good list of posts. I am learning that I have to write down my ideas - because I will totally forget about the ideas once I have a chance to sit down at the computer. It is very frustrating to have a few minutes and not think of anything worth while to share. But I am some great ideas and I can't wait to be able to get the posts written up and posted. So please don't give up on me - I promise to have some great posts coming up. 

Focus is on Jesus

 “ The redeemed now begin to sing a song of praise that echoes and re-echos through heaven: “Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.” Salvation to our God?! Aren’t they making a big mistake? No, it’s God’s salvation at stake here. It’s His reputation being put on the line. And apparently that’s one of the primary reasons that everyone who has ever lived is in that final audience.

The redeemed have seen the power and awfulness of Satan, and they realize, as never before, that no power but Christ’s could have made them conquerors. In all that shining throng, no one ascribes salvation to themselves; not one believes they prevailed through their own power or goodness. And no one talks of what they’ve done or suffered....... The entire focus is on Jesus and salvation to our God and to the Lamb.”

This book has not disappointed- it has been excellent just like every other book I have read by Morris Vendon. “ The Last Trolley Out” p.206

Sabbath Praises

Good Morning! I hope you all are doing well! So today I wanted to share one of my favorite Christmas songs. And I wanted to ask the question, what is your favorite Christmas song? 

Making Do

Something I have been learning to do more and more, especially this year, is to make do with what I have. No need to run to the store to buy more things when you can figure out a way to use things you already have on hand. 

These clips were purchased for my quilt design board. We had made it with felt back ground but I ended up having some of our cats climb up it and so we knew we had to do something different. And we thought these clips would work with how we designed it but regular clothes pins were much easier to use. So these have just sat there accumulating dust until last week end. 

About 4 months ago I had ordered these reusable cotton rounds 

Photo - borrowed from Amazon - where I purchased these rounds. 

Directions say that it is important NOT to use fabric softner when washing these. So I have been hand washing them to make sure that they continue to work like they should. But I have had a hard time figuring out how to dry them. But this last week end I started thinking that I could use a hanger to dry them and I had thought about using clothes pins but thought they might be too big. 
Then I remembered these great clips! 

And sure enough they would perfectly for this job! Now I can dry them easily! 

I have been pretty happy with these great cotton rounds. They have worked pretty well. 

It really makes me happy when I am able to figure out how to make do with what I already have. It is a great way to save money. 

What ways have you been able to make do with what you already have with projects you are doing? I would love to hear about it! :O)  

 

Overwhelmed with Loving Gratitude

I may have shared these quotes before but as I was scrolling through my Facebook memories I come across some great quotes that I have shared there and I don't know if I have shared them here or not. So I will just be sharing some along the way. This blessed me the first time I read it and it blessed me this time as well. I hope it blesses you as well. :O) 

 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven

 and the first earth had passed away.....” Revelation 21:1

The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. There’s no eternally-burning hell to keep before the ransom the fearful consequences of sin. Only one reminder of sin will remain forever. Jesus will always bear the marks of his crucifixion. The scars on His wounded head, on His side, and on His hands and feet are the only traces of the cruel work at sin. Does that mean we’ll see those scars forever? Apparently yes. And each time we do, we’ll be overwhelmed with loving gratitude. “

“The  Last Trolley Out” p.215

Money Saving, plus an Answer to Prayer

For a couple of weeks Aldi's was running great sales on raspberries or blackberries! I, of course had to make up some fruit jam with them. I had already made one batch of blackberry jam and then ended up in the town with an Aldi's and couldn't pass up the opportunity to pick up enough blackberries to make up another batch of jam. The next morning I got busy trying to get the jam made before I needed to take my MIL to a therapy appt that afternoon. I was halfway through and realized that I had used my last pack of Sure Jell the last time I made Jam. Well I went and looked in my canning supplies container and I found a package of Certo. A very sweet lady had given me some canning jars and had 1 pack of Certo left over and so she gave it to me. Little did she know that she was going to be an answer to a prayer way before I was able to even pray it. I already had the fruit in the pan smushing them.  And I live about 20 minutes away from any store that sells Sure Jell - plus half the time the store has it and half the time they don't. Anyway I did not have time to run to the store. So it truly was an answer to prayer to have that one pack of Certo. I was able to finish out my jam using the Certo. It is used a little bit differently than the Sure Jell packs of powder but I read through the directions and adapted it to my recipe and got the batch done. It truly was an answer to prayer! 

A few days later when I went to Walmart I went to the canning section. I almost always check out the canning section of the store when I get to to the store. It is so hard to find supplies so I look every time I get a chance. Anyway I found the double pack of Sure Jell and they were running $4.44, making it  $2.22 per package. 

I noticed that there was some other Sure Jell things so I kept looking to see what else there was. And I discovered a value pack of Sure Jell! The Value Pack has 6 packages and it is only $11.84, making it a tiny bit over $1.97 each package. 

 A savings of $1.48. Every little bit helps. Plus canning supplies have been hard to come by so when you find a value pack that saves you money - it is probably a pretty good deal! 

I am SO grateful to God for answering my prayer before I even knew the need. He is such a good, good Father and He cares about even little details of our lives, like having the supplies you need to finish making jam. What a blessing!! 

This and That of This Week

 I just wanted to check in and say hello! This week will be a busy one for me.

 I have 2 therapy appointments to take my Mother in Law to this week. Driving to downtown of a large city nearby - about a 30-40 minutes away depending on traffic. Parking in a parking garage. Parking in a parking garage is not my favorite thing to do. It doesn't help that they are doing a lot of construction in the area around the hospital.

 One day this week I will have to be at my son's house at 5 am- and this time I will need to have had my shower and be already for the day since I will be watching the boys that day so my son can sleep- since he works the night shift. It will be a long day for sure and I will have to wake up pretty early. I can see that it will be a great evening for a nice Hallmark Christmas movie and early to bed. 

I have a hair cut this week and this will be the first visit since the lady who cuts my hair has moved to a new location. It will be interesting to see the new place. Thankfully she is a bit closer to me now. 

Friday our oldest son will get her daughter for the first part of Christmas vacation. It will be nice for him to have her. It will be nice to get to see her more. I will need to make up Sugar cookies this week because my husband and I bought some 3 packs of icing bottles for each family and have dehydrated some marshmallows  and added some hot cocoa for each family to have a nice little activities with the kids. Of making and decorating cookies and having hot cocoa- each family have been making hot cocoa bombs - so they can use the cocoa and marshmallows in their bombs. I would love to try a bomb but don't want to go to all the trouble to make them. 

Well those are the highlights of the week, 

Best Deal X2

So today's best deal are cookbooks! I was SO thrilled to find these great cookbooks. The Eat To Live Cookbook by Dr Joel Furhman. I have actually wanted this cookbook for quite some time. He has an Eat To Live book that has a few recipes in the back but I wanted to check out the cookbook - and thankfully I found it. It is a hard cover and I paid $2.00 for it. 

 And this The Total Vegetarian Cookbook looks like it will be an excellent cookbook! I have already gone through the cookbook and have sticky notes pinpointing the main recipes that I want to try soon. There are quite a few of them! I love great cookbooks. This one was $1.50! I think they were both great deals!! 

Have you found any great deals lately? I would love to hear about it! :O)  

Sabbath Praises

Good Sabbath Morning to you! I hope you all have a great day and a nice week end! Be sure and come back tomorrow I do have a best deal post. See you then. :O) 

My Own Little Cottage Double...

 I have been so very lucky to find blackberries and raspberries on sale for about a dollar a pound. And I knew that was just the time that I needed to get busy making some jam. I was so very happy with how it turned out. It was a great consistency. 

Have you seen these little cottage doubles at the store? 

I have loved these for quite some time - long ago they were about 80 cents a container and I still thought that was kind of high. And then the price went up, like most everything has and has been running about $1.06 or so. It ended up being a treat that I would buy just ever so often, but once I made my own preserves/jam and the consistency was so nice - I knew it would work to make my own little cottage doubles. 

Yummy! What a great way to save money. I am able to buy the lowfat cottage cheese and add my own jam to it! Just one more great way to save money and still enjoy the delicious little treats of life.  

Surprise...I have been busy, Have you been?

 I know I keep saying this but I do intend to get back to having regular posts. I might have to do just every other day or just several times a week until I can get to more regular posting. Things have been busy. A year ago we had one granddaughter and now we basically have 4. And having more means more activates and babysitting and such. Along with that my Mother in law has been in therapy for Lymphedema. and that has required at least 2 -and then sometimes 3 appt a week when she had an extra appointment here and there. 

There has been great sales at Aldi's on Raspberries and Blackberries and I have made up a couple of batches of blackberry and raspberry preserves. Did you know that jelly is when just the juice of the fruit is used and preserves or jam are when the whole fruit is used? I didn't know this until 2015 when my husband and I made our first batch of jam/preserves. I have been very happy with my raspberry and blackberry jam! And I figured out a great treat and a way to save money at the same time. I will be sharing about this -tomorrow so come back by. 

Well I hope that you all are dealing with life good and staying well. :O) 

Hello :O)

 I am so sorry that I have been missing in action lately. So much going on around here. And trying to get things done. Husband spent some time in the hospital. Something cool was built and more canning has been done. Hopefully I will be able to update you soon and get some great posts up. Today I am online getting some business taken care of and planning to meet a friend at a Italian Restaurant for lunch or I would at least get one posted today.  

Hope you all are doing good.