Blessings

During a random car ride into town the other day, Darbee asked me, "Mommy, what is a blessing?"  She clarified that she didn't mean the blessing you say when we eat, but rather a blessing like we talk about in church.  Hmmm...I had to sit a gather my thoughts and words for a minute and be careful how I explained it to her.  I explained that a blessing is something good that happens to you. Something that makes you happy. Something that you want to thank Jesus for.  She took that explanation and was fine with it.  Whew!  Sometimes her questions can get really deep for a five year old mind and really make me think so I was glad when that was the end of the conversation for right now.  

BUT....that conversation left me thinking.  I have been doing a lot of that lately.  

I know I have been blessed beyond measure in my life but do I really appreciate those blessings or do I just really take them for granted?  I would say both.  I am so thankful for the blessings God has given to me and those I love but with day to day life, it is easy to be thankful and forget about that blessing in a short time. 

I found a great idea on Pinterest of course to help me keep track with those blessings and remember them for some time to come.  

A "Blessings" jar.

Here are a few I found on Pinterest.

And here is mine:

The idea for the jar is to write down a blessing whenever you want.  You can write down something each night or just as they happen.  It's up to you.  I am choosing to write down my blessings as they happen.  

It's simple.  I am writing the date and the blessing.  Fold it up and drop it in the jar.  

The idea is to do this for the entire year.  At the end of the year on New Year's Eve, open up the jar as a family and read your blessings from the year.  How fun and what a neat way to remember all God has done for you. 

Darbee is so excited about our jar too.  She has told me several times to write down something and put it in.  The day I got the jar, she said, "Mommy, I have a blessing.  Today at school during work time, I gave Alyse some of my noodles.  I shared mine with her."  

What a sweet little blessing.  She helped out a friend.  No blessing is too big or too small to be written down.  

So what about you?  Would you like to create a blessings jar?  Do you already have one?  

I have a few blessings to share with you.

I had to have a few tests done on my heart after finding out I have high blood pressure and a high pulse rate.  Thankfully, everything came back fine.  Praise the Lord!  

Darbee Rae and I were talking the other day and she said, "Mommy, today at school on the way to the playroom, I prayed quietly that I would get a tricycle."  How precious.  This made my heart so happy.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I hope you all are having a good day!

I am linking up with Tammy over at Country Girl at Home.

Until next time....

Sunporch Chat

Good morning friends!  It's another cold morning here.  Grab yourself your favorite morning cup and come with me over to Tammy's sunporch for a chat.  I was thrilled when she contacted me about being a guest on her sunporch and couldn't wait to try her chocolate chip brownies.  (SMILE)

So...come on over and chat with us.  

You can find her blog here.

Until next time.....

Something to warm you up....

Good evening friends. I hope all of you have had a good day. What is the weather like where you are? I know so many of you had snow already while some of us have been experiencing warm weather and dreary rainy days. It has been so dark and rainy here for the past four days! Blah. HOWEVER...we are supposed to get a huge blast of cold air during the day tomorrow and possibly get to see a few flakes. For those of you who see snow all of the time, don't laugh. Us folks here in the south get real excited at just the mention of the "s" word. Darbee Rae is in high hopes of seeing some. Not expected to see much if any accumulation though.
When cold weather is here, I am a huge fan of soup. I am also in love with my crockpot. I had one but asked for another one for Christmas. My mom and dad gave me a pretty black and white one. What an easy way to cook a meal. One dish in one crockpot and a side in the other. Hehe.
I am also in love with Pinterest. Aren't we all? I found a recipe for crockpot potato soup. The ingredients made it sound delicious. I knew a dreary, rainy night like tonight would be a perfect night for it.
I thought I would share the recipe with all of you. You can't get any easier and it was absolutely delicious!
EASY CROCKPOT POTATO SOUP
1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns {I used Ore Ida}
3 14oz. cans of chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1 pkg. cream cheese {don’t use fat free. It WON’T melt!!!}
In a crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese. Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat. About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted. Serve with cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, green onions, or whatever else you think would be good!!




You can find the recipe here.
http://pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com/search/label/soups
I hope you enjoy!
Until next time......
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Don't Laugh!

Good evening friends.  It's been a rather dreary day here.  I haven't got a lot done.  Been lazy!  I can't seem to get too motivated.  

I have started a new project.  When my mom, Darbee Rae and I went on a girls trip to Pigeon Forge, we both bought punch needle kits.  Mama has completed several.  Me-just haven't got around to it.  I decided to pull it out the other night and start my kit.  

You can't laugh if I show you.  Remember, I am new to this. Ha!

I've only got two rows done, however I am excited to finish it!  Guess when it is done it will be a good excuse for a girls trip huh?  I will need another kit huh?  (SMILE)

I do have a little excuse for getting nothing much done today.  

Let me tell you about my situation yesterday.

First, let me tell you about her school.

Her school is beside a bank which has always made me a bit nervous, but they are very secure.  All of the doors at the school stay locked and a passcode must be used to get in.  Once the children are in, they never leave inside.  There is an enclosed bridge that connects the two buildings.  I love that.  The only time they go outside is for the playground and they are inside a fence then. 

Now to yesterday.

I was sitting in car rider line for pick up and was looking around.  There were two men in the parking lot.  They were in front of where cars pull into the teller lines.  One walked over towards the ATM and the other walked over near a parked car right beside the car rider line.  He sort of propped himself up onto a car that obviously wasn't his.  He was very fidgety and looking around a lot.  He kept an eye on the man that walked over to the ATM. I seriously thought they might be about to rob the bank or the ATM.  The one near the ATM disappeared.  I have no idea where he went.  The one near the car rider line positioned himself facing the school where they were loading kids in the cars.  He would stare at the car line and then back up to where the kids were being loaded.  He didn't miss a move.  He stared constantly.  It made me VERY nervous.  I am not passing judgement on anyone, don't get me wrong. BUT.  1. Why was he standing there when the bank was open?

2.  He was not dressed nicely and had on heavy boots and a toboggan. Another reason to look suspicious. 3. Why would you stand and never break your gaze on a school's car rider line?

Do you see why I had a reason to be nervous?  I was a basket case last night.  I sent a text to her teacher making her aware of it and never heard nothing back.  She is usually really good about writing you back.  Usually almost immediately.  I debated on even taking her to school today.  I guess I was over reacting but who wouldn't now days?  Hubby told me to go ahead and take her but to drive back thru there several times during the day.  Luckily, we live only about 2 miles from the school. 

Well...to make matters worse...or maybe better.....when I pulled into car rider line this morning, there was a police sitting in the parking lot across the street from the school facing the school and watching. That made me feel a little better but then at the same time, a little worse.  Maybe there was something up.

Needless to say, I accomplished NOTHING while she was in school.  When I picked her up, I was so relieved she was home, I just sat and did nothing.  

I am not ready for this.  I prayed and prayed and prayed for her and the safety of the school.  I know that is really all I can do, but it's so hard not to still worry.  She is my baby.  

Thanks for listening. I know many of you have school aged children or someone in your family involved in a school setting that you worry about and I am not the only one.  

I hope all of you have had a great day.

Until next time...

100th post a year later....

Good evening friends!  

It's hubby's on call week/weekend, so he has been at work all day.  Darbee Rae and I spent the day at Nana's.  What a better way to spend the day huh?  Darbee had fun rambling in the attic with Papa and finding some treasures.  Nana and I caught up on the latest gossip and just enjoyed being together.

I realized when I started this post, it is post number 100!  Wahooo!!!  I also realized I have now had this blog for 1 year!  I can't believe how many good friends I have made thru this blog and how much each I look forward to visiting with all of you each day.  I am lucky to have met at least one of my followers and would love to have the chance to meet each and every one of you!  You are all such kind hearted and thoughtful souls.  Thank you for being a follower and sticking with me. I think that calls for a celebration huh?  Who wants to party with me?

Well..we might not have a big party, but I am joining in on the bandwagon with fellow bloggers and hosting the 2013 Creative Pay It Forward.

I have seen and shared this on Facebook and now thought it would be fun to do on my blog and what a better time than now to celebrate the anniversary of such good friends following my ramblings each post.  

This is meant to be fun.  The first 5 people to comment on this post saying they would like to join in on the "Pay It Forward 2013" will receive a gift from me sometime during this year.  It could be something cool I find and think you will like or something homemade.  That's the fun of it.  It is a surprise.  I will contact the first 5 and ask for your shipping info. 

The rules are simple:

1.  You must offer the same on your blog.  You must do a post and follow through throughout the year.

2.  This is only open to USA and Canadian bloggers.  

3.  Remember to leave a comment on THIS post saying you would like to participate in the "Creative Pay It Forward."

4.  After I have contacted you for your shipping info., you must do a post offering it on your blog.

That's it!  Have fun!

Getting things back in order

Good evening friends. I hope all of you have had a good day and your new year is off to a great start.  I finally got all of my Christmas decor down and put away and now starts the hard part...getting everything back together.  My house is a wreck.  Is your that way when you take down your holiday decor?  After Christmas each year once everything is put away, I always want to change something.  Rearrange, redo, etc.  This year was no different.  I got busy this morning moving furniture and trying to get things back in order.
I leave up a small tree year round.  I did get it decorated with snowmen.  Now, I just need some of you to send some of your snow down to Georgia!

Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we will see snow this year.

I also worked a bit in my craft room.  This room is a challenge.  It is an extra room in our house that opens up to the screened in porch.  This room has served as a den/t.v. room, a computer room and now is being transformed into a craft room.  I am struggling with this room  I moved a work table in there today and made a few changes that I will share with you soon.

I also covered up this storage shelf.

Someone gave my dad a big bag of material/vintage dresses the other day.  In it were these vintage curtains.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but they are a grey color with deep red and yellow flowers on them.  I loved them for some reason.  Brought them home and they fit my shelf nearly perfect!  

The colors blended in perfect with the room.  Love how my unorganized mess is covered up.  I promise to get it organized soon, but for now I am glad it is covered!  SMILE.

Darbee and I went roaming in T.J. Maxx tonight and look at what we found.

I want one for my new craft room! 

Each section was labeled...to do....to file and I can't remember the last one!  Ha....sorry!

They were at least 3 ft. tall.  and only $29!  Wow!  I fell in love with these.

It's been a pretty productive day here though I am nowhere near done.  It will take a while.

I hope you have had a good day and done something to make you smile.

Until next time.....