COLIN FIRTH: JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED




Here it is - the day after Christmas - and I have a horrible head cold, with the accompanying headache, pressure, runny nose and sneezing.

There is nothing to do except:

1) Consume copious amounts of homemade chicken noodle soup made with very strong chicken broth. The chicken stewed for 30 hours, pulling the minerals from the bones, resulting in therapeutic broth!

2) Fritos to accompany the soup

3) A Clementine, or two

4) Hot tea

5) Young Living's Essential Oils: R.C. and Breathe Again. Contact me for more information.

and the most important of all Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in Arts & Entertainment's Pride and Prejudice!

I'm certain I shall quickly recover. . .

How are you spending the day after Christmas?

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ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS: JOY


Merry Christmas!

I have two favorite Christmas Carols. . .

One is written by Dolly Parton and performed by her and Kenny Rogers,

The other is is written and performed by Selah,

I hope your day is filled with made-just-for-you miracles!

Vera

ALL IS CALM


. . . all is bright

MEMORY BOARD/SUNFLOWER SWAP + PRAIRIE DRESS

I have rearranged the Nature Room one more time because I just LOVE this memory board made from one of my all-time favorite fabrics & a picture frame I picked up from a thrift store years ago.














I'm almost through decorating this gentle place we call home & had not found the perfect place for it, SO the sunflower picture that WAS here is now on the porch, & here is my memory board. Hopefully I'm through with this little corner of the room!

Sunflower pic now over the little table.
There are many reason I haven't been blogging regularly. . . . but the most enjoyable distraction I've had is sewing this Prairie dress & pinafore for my youngest grand daughter. Oh I had sew much fun!

Photo by Simon Smith - Editing by me, Vera Smith
Doesn't she have the most delicate hands? I just love this shot of her that my son took with his camera phone!

This is going to be a very busy week for me, so I'm not making any promises that I'll be blogging. . . . I so very much admire those of you who are faithful to do so! Have a great, great week!




FOR TODAY - SUNDAY - DECEMBER 4, 2011

Outside My Window. . .the sun is coming up and it is raining. We are in a flash flood watch until 4 PM. It's been many, many months since we've gotten that warning.

I Am Thinking. . .that we need to leave earlier than usual for church today. We attend about 30 miles away and take a 2-lane road most of the way. A 2-lane road with no shoulders and the posted speed is 70mph. It's especially unsafe today.

I Am Grateful. . . that I got to attend the local production of The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever with my daughter, her hubby, their crew and my other (unofficially adopted)children, Tim & Christiy.

Anyway - year after year we read "TGCPE" and sometimes rent the DVD as it just isn't Christmas without some rendition of The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever!

In The Kitchen
. . . is not much going on! Breakfast will be light. Very light. Probably a protein shake and banana and other fruit. I guess we need to go shopping, which is one of my least favorite things to do and especially this time of year.

I Am Going. . .to come home from church and shopping and edit photos. I had two photo shoots this past week and need to get them edited and ready!

I Am Reading . . . the blogs that I follow. I am especially enjoying the ones by Swedish and Norwegian authors. I really like their way of decorating, especially for Christmas-time.

I Am Hoping . . .to get much accomplished today.

I Am Hearing . . .the EdenPure heater humming. The little cabin doesn't have central heat. I'm not at all certain it has any insulation! I guess I should add that I'm grateful for the EdenPure heaters!

I'm also hearing the rain on the metal roof, which is truly one of the loveliest sounds there is!

Around The House
. . .are signs of the Christmas Season.

And fragrant, blooming paperwhites.

I Am Wearing. . . a pink gown.

I Am Thinking
. . . that I need to get ready for church. We leave in about an hour.

I Am Wondering . . . if my husband will volunteer to do the shopping himself. He doesn't mind grocery shopping, while I detest it. Especially on a December Sunday. Especially at WalMart. I don't mind the little Mexican grocery or the health food store. . . but I can't handle WM!

One Of My Favorite Things. . . well, I've already mentioned it: the sound of rain on a metal roof.

About Today's Photos. . .



This is our "big" tree.
Remember, we live in a little home and there is no room for a bigger tree,
unless we put it on the porch,
which we may do someday.
But not this year.


Week two of Advent.

I am using my husband's cousin's Advent Devotional, found here.


Across from the tree.
The quote is especially meaningful to me.
The Paperwhites smell wonderful.
Although my husband think they smell
like ham.
And my daughter think they stink!
What do they know!



Not enough tree to hang all the ornaments.
They are displayed in other ways
around the house.
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Linking up to the Simple Woman's Daybook

ONE OF THESE THINGS

Well, here it is December and I've barely started decorating for Christmas. Even though my heart's desire is to keep it simple, I'm finding it difficult to scale back. My heart says, "not so much. . . keep it simple. . . you don't have to use all that you have." It seems to me that it should be easy. But over 42 years of marriage has resulted in a lot of stuff; 10 Rubbermaid totes to be exact!

In an effort to scale back and weed out some things, I've looked over my Pinterest Christmas Board to determine what I'm drawn to, which is lots of white and neutral colors; lots of candles, both skinny & chunky; wreaths in windows and scrawny little Charlie Brown Christmas trees. Over and over again that's what I've pinned to my {beautiful} Christmas board. Everything is so simple, beautiful and serene. Beautiful, simple and serene.

In some small part I've accomplished that in the dining room. For the most part it reflects beauty, simplicity and serenity. Here's the top of the china cabinet. Simple, beautiful and serene.


No, it doesn't look like the photos on my Pinterest board, but it does have some of the same emotional elements: serenity, beauty, simplicity.

Included in other areas of the dining room are more nativities, and lots of paperwhites, and some garland and boughs, although no wreaths in there. I'll be sure to post photos of those areas later on. But for now you'll have to trust me that even though I may not have all the physical elements of my Pinterest board, I do have lots of the emotional elements.

While going through all the decorations {did I mention there are ten huge Rubbermaid totes?} I came across the many nativities we've collected through the years. One little set has a missing Joseph. He's completely gone - I can't find him anywhere. And the shepherd has lost his head. It too is missing in action! But since I like the little set I decided I should just improvise.

I apologize for the poor photo quality. . . but the natural lighting in that bathroom is non-existent.



I readily admit there is nothing on my Pinterest Board that looks like this. Not. At. All. But I like it and I think I know why. Like I've already said,my Christmas Board includes lots of photos with lots of white/neutral colors and there's nothing whiter than Jack! My board has lots of simple elements and is there anything simpler than a round ball with a goofy smile pasted on it? Hmmm? And serenity: well, just take a close look at Mary - have your ever seen a more serene face? I doubt it! And if Mary can be so serene with that Jack Shepherd near her baby Jesus. . . well I guess I've accomplished what my heart has been desiring all along: beauty (for this little Mary is simply beautiful), simplicity and serenity. PLUS - a bit of humor for everyone to enjoy because this little scene is right behind the toilet! LOL



Good night. . .
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PS - I must admit that this reminds me of that Sesame Street Song, One of These Things.

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Do you remember it?