Made in the Image of the Creator

"The Cross tells us that no matter what others think of us, or what our society thinks of us, we are of infinite value to the Creator of the universe"

This quote comes from my Sabbath School quarterly - here is a link so you can check it out. This Quarterly is entitled "Jesus Wept: The Bible and Human Emotions." The last lesson was about self-esteem. That is the lesson that I got the above quote from and the one below as well.

I have struggled with my self-esteem quite a bit through my life. I have allowed the world's view on what makes me important have too big of an impact on who I am. And it was such a blessing to have this lesson and study it and to realize that the list of things that God values are SO much different than what the world's list is. In fact they are in opposition to one another many times. As I was thinking about this lesson, I thought you know what - it is OK that I don't measure up to the world's standards - because it is not the world that I want to be like - it is God. The one who Created me in His image.

"And considering how fleeting and transitory and contingent society and its values are, in the end how much should the view of others and of society as a whole really matter to us anyway?"

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" Philippians 1:6

This and That Friday

Last Sunday, my husband and I got gas for $2.93 - I was not very happy about having to pay that since just days before it had been $2.89 - not that much better but lower. Well yesterday I heard that the price for gas in the same town had jumped to $3.21. That is so depressing to me. And then the economist wonder why so many people are having a hard time..? Hello!? We budget for gas and then when the price is double that and continues to rise it is hard to change your budget to match.


Just a week or two ago I heard a segment on the news talking about more people planning on going on vacation this year - well I think that just changed - more staycations will be going on with gas prices as high as they are.

Oh a little funny - well not really but the last time that the gas prices were going towards the $3.00 mark my MIL was getting worried because our old gas pumps did not allow for that - it only went to $2.00 a gallon - well $2.99 of course!

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So earlier in the week I shared how we were going to have to burn a pile of branches and such in order to bring in a load of dirt to fill the pool space for a garden. Well yesterday my husband was starting to look into how much it was going to cost us to do it all and ended up finding out that our county is under a burn ban for a few months unless we get a good rain. So there went that plan - we could not wait that long to get moving on our plans - it would be past planting time.
So Plan B - we looked around the back yard and picked another spot. I think it will end up being a good spot and maybe once the burn ban is lifted we can move forward with getting that spot ready and then we could have 2 good sized gardens or just move over to the spot we wanted. We will see.

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Oh and one more thing - this week I found a great addition for my sewing room.

I had wanted more plants in our house. Well our problem is that my cats like to eat plants. I have a couple of plants that they don't eat and those are in the kitchen window. But this plant was another story - as soon as I put it on the table I had a cat up there sniffing around and then a second cat and not too long before I had a 3rd on up there - no I am not the cat lady but I do love cats and have 5 of them!

I have not decided if this is where I want the plant to say. I love it there but then it covers the really pretty hardware on the curtains at the top so I may end up moving it to the living room - or just buy another one for the living room. Plants are great - they help keep a lot of oxygen in your home - which is pretty important!

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And I can not end this post without sharing the deal I got this week. While I was out running errands earlier this week - I found this adorable Little Tyke picnic table at Goodwill:
I need to clean it up, but for $6.00 - I could not pass it up. And it even folds down!! I am sure that our grandchildren will get a lot of use out of it!!

I hope you all have a great week-end!!:o)

Legitimate Needs

We all have needs - need for love, security, acceptance, and many more. Sometimes we learn at a young age that we have to depend on our selves because there is no one else to depend on. And this is where we get into trouble - because we find ways to fill those needs - what ever will work. And because we live in a sinful world we try so many ways like with food, sex, drugs, alcohol, and the list goes on. All of these are illegitimate ways of filling the needs in our lives. But many times it takes us years and years to figure that out. But Oh the Freedom that comes when we turn our dependence from these things and turn it to God. God is the ONLY person/thing that can fill that void in our lives. Yes - I said ONLY thing. Inside of each of us is a void that ONLY God can fill - we were created that way.

This is something that I have struggled with. I have a problem with emotional eating. And lately it has started to creep back up. That is why I am writing this post. I need the reminder and felt that maybe if I needed the reminder maybe someone else would as well.

That spot that only God can fill - can not be filled with other things no matter how hard we try.

We have legitimate needs, let's not try to fulfill them with illegitimate ways. Let's turn to the one who created us - who loves us most to fill those needs. I hope you all have a great day! :o)

Redecorating the Sewing

About a year and a half ago, our oldest son moved out. After getting everything out of his old room - we decided to make it into our sewing room. Things fell right into place as we already had some cabinets and a counter top that had no real home. So we put them on one wall and we had some track lighting we were not using so my husband installed those right over the cabinets so we would have a lot of great light in that area of the room. I have loved this feature.

Well after we have moved into this house we wanted to let the boys make their rooms - more their rooms. So we had them pick out comforter sets and let them pick out a border that would match. Well my oldest son did not like very many of the choices and so he ended up with a comforter set about Coke. And so of course got a border that was Coke as well. I found some fabric and made him some curtains for his room.

This top shelf in the room had Coke stuff all the way across it. These are the things that I kept- The bottle of Coke was a 25th year anniversary 0f Walmart - which is where we met and the same time period that we were working there. And I just could not let go of the vintage looking tin and the can - well it is a much older can because of how it was made - we don't know for sure when it was from - maybe we will find out sometime.

Anyway this past week-end JoAnn's Fabric had a 50% off their home decor fabrics so we went to check stuff out. And we found some great fabric for new curtains for the sewing room. And they also had a 40% off sale on the hardware. And when I saw this hardware - I was instantly in love with it!!
So yesterday I worked on making these curtains and my husband put the hardware up. And we were both very pleased with the results.

We also bought some spray stuff that we will use to take the border down with. Don't know if we will find another border to put up or not. Only if we find a border that is as pretty as these curtains. I love the fact that this fabric is like a burgundy but also looks black half the time - depending on how you look at it.

We also got fabric for my husband to reupholster the chairs with in that room a well - to match the color of the curtains.

We also bought some fabric and the hardware to make curtains for our bathroom. It feels good to be creative and to get projects done. Hope you all have a great day!! :o)

My 30's Quilt Blocks..to..Quilt

While I was going through my post - editing things - I came across this post. I don't know how I missed it but I don't think it ever got posted so - even though I have already shown the finished quilt, I thought it might be fun to post it.

So these are the blocks from Block of the Month that I participate in at a Quilt Shop in my area.
I will be making block number 11 this month. In October - I will start my new year at Block of the Month. Our choices this coming year are - Fall colors and Red, White and Blue(not particularly patriotic) and brights.

Sorry - the coloring in this photo to the left is not good.

I have not made a quilt using 30's fabrics before so this is all new to me. They were not like my favorites to begin with, but they sure are growing on me though.

For any of you that may be interested in quilting. See if you can find a quilting store in your area. If you have one - check and see if they offer a Block of the Month or maybe some classes. It is really a fun hobby to get into.

I like to sew and used to try to make clothes for myself. But it was so hard to make something that would fit - I am not like a common size and build that they make patterns for. Anyway so quilting is so much easier to me than sewing clothes. And you get a beautiful quilt or wall hanging when you are done.

If you do not have a quilting store in your area that offers classes - there are a lot of really good videos on quilting and that would be a good investment. I will see if I can do a post of supplies that would be great to have - to start quilting. That may be helpful to some of you .

Well I hope you have enjoyed the blocks. It is a lot of fun and enjoyment!

So here is a photo of the finished project.

Have a wonderful day! :O)

What I Have Been Up To...

Good Morning everyone! The past 2 days I have spent some of my free time editing my blog. I really hated to do so, but if you had seen the content of the blog that I did - you would totally understand.

I had always thought that basically those that made it to my blog would come here from a blog that I enjoyed going to - and if so they would be the kind of people I would not mind sharing my personal information with, but for some reason - and I have not figured it out yet - there are people that have blog lists or websites in general that have blogs listed on them for no rhyme or reason. Anyway I will still try to be as transparent as I can - as long as I can keep my family and myself safe.

It was a blessing reading through some of my old blogs. I was really encouraged and inspired by it. So maybe all of this happened for a reason.

The past week we have been having some really pretty weather. I was able to get my rose bushes in the back yard pruned and the flower bed weeded. And I have been working on weeding out my garden boxes. My husband and I have been talking about and looking into what we will need to do to get our garden area ready.

I don't know if you can tell from this photo but it is where we had a 24 foot round swimming pool and so it is anywhere from 12 - 20 inches deep. And right now has a lot of stuff in it that needs to be burned. This photo does not do the area justice at all. So now we are waiting for a day that there is not much wind and somewhat rainy.

So as you can tell in the photo that the sun is shining - it is a chilly 39 degrees out there though. It has not been getting that cold at night lately, but yesterday afternoon when I went on a walk it was like about 74 degrees but I felt the cold air coming through. And it did not take long at all for the temps to fall.

So I will be doing some research on things that we will want to plant. Making lists of seeds and such that we will need. I sure hope we can pull everything together and be able to have a good garden soon. It will cost some money - to get dirt hauled in - but it will be a good investment.

We are going to have to buy a rototiller also and a few other handy garden tools. I am praying that God will work it out.

I hope you all have a great day. :o)

Rethinking Things

Today I have been reminded that you have to be careful while on your computer. I was typing some very innocent things in the google images to see if maybe more of my photos were floating around and I was very disturbed with what I saw.
And as I was looking at where traffic was coming from to my blog - I was disturbed by one of the links. I mean seriously - people that go to that site will NOT be interested in what I have to share. It really makes me second think what I want to share on here. When I first began - I wanted to be open share my heart - hoping that by doing so that I could help others that may be going through the same things that I have been going through. And I still want to be open and be truly who I am but I am going to need to pray about how I am going to go about it.
I would really appreciate hearing what others of you on here think about all of this. :o)