Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

 
Happy Thanksgiving, friends and family!
 
I'll be baking a pumpkin pie early tomorrow morning and then Micah, Adam, Audrey and Hazel (and little baby Gumdrop who will hitchhike along in Micah's tummy) will join me for the evening meal. They're going to Adam's grandma's house for lunch. It will be a relaxing evening of visiting and playing cards.
 
Right now I'm going to watch some more Hallmark Christmas movies and maybe do some reading. I have half a mind to get out the Christmas ornaments. No tree this year, just lots of little groupings here and there.
 
Enjoy your Thanksgiving, everyone, as we count our many blessings!
 
Shalom!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Test driving the deodorant! ;)

I mixed up my natural deodorant yesterday. The instructions said that this could be done without melting the coconut oil. What I got was a mealy mixture reminiscent of pie dough before you add the water. Crumbly and dry. Not deodorant-like. My solution...

It worked like a charm! I left the dry, crumbly mixture on the heat register; went away and did a few things and when I returned the coconut oil had melted. I stirred the mixture and poured it into...


It's now hardened and I can just rub some onto my fingers and apply. I haven't noticed any irritation. Only time will tell if it really works. I certainly like the idea of using something like this that is so natural. The recipe is 4 Tbsp of baking soda, 4 Tbsp of corn starch (or arrowroot), and 6 Tbsp of coconut oil. Pom Pom suggested adding essential oils, which the recipe does actually suggest, but since I have fairly sensitive skin I didn't want to take any chances with irritation. :)

Now to find a cute little jar to keep it in! All of my glass jars were too deep. Here's to healthy underarms! :)

Goodnight and shalom to all.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Natural deodorant...a topic whose time has come...

Really. I switched to Tom's of Maine deodorant quite a while ago, wanting to eliminate the absorption of aluminum into my system. For some reason I read all of the ingredients in his deodorant today and found among them sunflower seed oil. My chiropractor had pointed out that sunflower seeds were something that my body didn't like. I'm not ordinarily a sunflower eater, so I wasn't too concerned about it. But after seeing this in my deodorant I'm wondering if I can do better than to use this. So, I'm checking out natural deodorant recipes. (A heckuvalot cheaper than old Tom's too, I bet.)

Photo from the Wellness Mama blog.
If you're interested in putting less bad stuff on your skin, check out the Wellness Mama blog and give this a try! :)

Don't forget to check out my previous post today for some gorgeous Christmas music!

Hallelujah...

My daughter shared this video on Facebook and it blessed my socks off. Hope you enjoy it!



Then someone posted this version of "Mary Did You Know". I almost didn't listen to it because I love Mark Lowry's rendition so much, I was afraid that these folks would "mess with it". I'm so glad I listened to it. This is AWESOME!

Hoping the real Spirit of Christmas is filling your heart with good things! :) Shalom...

Monday, November 17, 2014

Yucky stuff and Christmas cards...

This is a week of getting through some yucky tasting treatments prescribed by my chiropractor. I've just completed day three of taking these...

 
 
Five times a day I have to take some of these in various combinations. The goal is to clean parasites out of my intestines and prepare me for a gallbladder flush this coming weekend. But these taste SO bad, I hope I can make it! After 7 days of taking these supplements I have a weekend of taking some other pills, drinking lemon juice and then olive oil. Over Saturday night the cleansing process works, and who knows what all happens Sunday morning! My doctor says that my gallbladder isn't processing fats as it should, which may be contributing to my "foggy brain" (as I put it). Our brain feeds on fat, so that makes sense. Prayers appreciated so I have no ill effects. (I'm a little queasy at the moment, though I haven't been most of the time.)
 
Do you like my Christmas cards? I saw these at the store and had to get them!
 
 
And, lastly, a frosty picture of the old log house next door where we used to live. It will always represent home to me because it's where we raised our kids for so many years. It was very rustic, but we had a lot of good memories there.
 
It's bedtime (or a little past!) so I'll say good-night for now! Shalom to all! :)

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

More cuteness!

I'll be 58 years old in about 5 minutes! (What am I doing up at this hour?) Well, I fell asleep in my recliner at about 7:30 and woke up about 10:30. My son, Josh, saw me make a comment on Facebook, so he knew I was up and around and he called to wish me an early happy birthday! The best gift! I also received a little package from him and wife Jess today containing a book and drawings from Nathan and Starry. The kids had posted some cute photos recently, so I thought I'd share! :)

I love Nathan and Starry's choice of Halloween costumes!


Here they're enjoying the last of the warm weather at the park. They live in Kentucky. These old- school teeter totters are a rare breed these days! (When I commented on this my son replied with, "We were at a special park from the 50s with no safety considerations. Even a merry go round where children can reach through the spinning bars and grab the not spinning center for an exhilarating broken arm.") Yikes! I see he's cautiously supervising.

 
 Nathan is becoming a little man. :)

This is a recent photo of my son Jordan, who lives in Texas. Notice how both of my boys are enjoying beardedness, lol. I think it's just a phase. ;)
I suppose I should get to bed. After that long nap I'm not sure I can sleep! It's a good thing tomorrow is a day off.

Shalom and God bless all!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Eccentricity...

I'm wondering how I measure up against other folks who live alone. (How self-involved can you get?!?)

Do other lone people talk to themselves?

I'm convinced that most do. In fact, I've overheard more than one person doing this at work in the midst of people.

But, do they talk to themselves in an English accent? (Assuming they aren't English...) Guilty. Of course, I have just listened to the latest installment of Michael Nobbs' podcast, One Thing Today. I am an Anglophile and will watch a movie just to hear that accent (and the other atmospherics of an English movie). As a child growing up, my siblings and I would lapse into an English or Spanish accent when trying to be funny, so I think it's partly an outgrowth of that. (I may have passed that weird trait on to my kids.)

Do they laugh at their own inner thoughts? I just did.

If they don't do either of the above, do they just sit around with a blank look on their face?

If so, I prefer my way of doing things, lol!
I prefer to think that talking to oneself is perfectly natural. There are so many types of talk...
...and when there's nobody else around to talk to, you don't want your vocal chords to grow flaccid, right? I was amazed at the images that came up when I Googled "talking to yourself images". Some folks are just downright nasty! Many implying that prayer is equivalent to talking to yourself. Well, I guess the world is full of all types.

I've always thought of eccentricity as a positive thing. Who wants to be just like the rest of the herd?
I'm thinking that most of us bloggers fit into this category. Our minds race and wander ceaselessly with vivid images and labyrinthine thoughts. It would be impossible to put those thoughts down on paper. One could never keep up; though a word processor helps!



I've just ordered a book for my Kindle called "New Slow City" by William Powers. I watched an interview with him and he looks like a nice young fellow. I have a bad habit of mentioning books before I've read them, and sometimes wish I hadn't! This is for a Slow Reading Group (I think it's called) at the Sustainably Creative website, which is run by the aforementioned Michael Nobbs. The idea is to slowly read the book together and discuss it. The book has to do, generally, with living more simply and slowing down our hectic pace. William has also written a couple of other books that sound interesting, so I've added them to my "someday" list.

It's the first day of deer hunting season, so I may go and visit my daughter and grands since they'll be sitting home awaiting news of her hubby's hunting progress. I apologize for this blog full of Google images. It's kind of tacky, but just something I was thinking about. And maybe I'm actually talking to some other people instead of just myself! Either way, it's interesting. :)

I'll end with an original photo taken yesterday. Would you call these clouds mare's tails?


Love and shalom to all!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Owl ATC's

I'm thinking these may be the last ATC's for a while, but I wanted to post them just for the record.




I'd like to escape the tiny format of ATC's and try some bigger pieces. I haven't been doing as much art lately. Mostly working on my reading stacks! But winter is a good time to do some painting.

If I'm smart I'll get to bed soon, but since House Hunters International is on, the chances are slim! :) Hope you're having a great day!

Shalom, friends!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Is it any wonder that I'm sipping a cup of hot tea and watching my second Hallmark Christmas movie tonight? I drove home in wet, sloppy snow, tromped through the snow some more to feed the kittens and then made myself some dinner and settled down to watch Christmas movies. It just feels right! I hope it's not too slippery on my way to work tomorrow. :0

I'm finally beginning this little project. I'm painting two frames. I think I'll add some pink to them and maybe some stickers and then top it off with Mod Podge.


They're to frame these two pretty pictures I got from Pom Pom! They'll look nice on my granddaughters' wall, which is painted pink!
 I threw some stale bread out my back door the other day to see if anyone was interested. One of the usual suspects took the bait. I watched this guy (or was it one of his friends?) fly away with a big piece. Of course, some of it fell back to earth. Oh well. Someone will find it. :)
 The gobblers are getting bigger.
Well, back to my movies. Hope you're all having a cozy evening!

Shalom, to all!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Minnesota friendly Halloween costumes...

Come what may (weather-wise) these little Minnesotans are ready for fun!

Audrey the butterfly and Hazel the ladybug.
Just had to share the cuteness! Shalom!