My Favourite Things . . .

 

 

These are some of the things in life that I enjoy and which make me happy, inspire me, or put a smile on my face. Maybe some of them are yours too.  Lets share! 

 

Jim Jams Hazelnut Chocolate Spread. For when you just gotta have some. It has 83% less sugar than the regular one (without saying its name) and it is just as tasty in my books. Once in a blue moon I like it spread on my sugar free Maria biscuits. Todd can sit there munching on his Tunnocks Marshmallow tea cakes, and I have a few Maria's spread with Jim Jams and everybody's happy!

  

I love LOVE Grey's Anatomy. (Thank you Prime!) I never got to watch it when it first started, so I am way behind on the seasons (just on season 2 now) but I just love this show. I love the characters and everything about it.  I am not a Doctor or a Nurse and so I can watch it without being bugged by anything that might bug a real Doctor or Nurse.  Ariana says she can't stand it because there are no nurses and it looks like the Surgeons are doing all the work and we all know that Nurses do most of the work.  Doesn't matter to me.  Not a nurse, so don't care, lol.   

 

Lavender. I adore Lavender. When I was a girl I loved Yardley's Lavender perfume. I still do although I don't wear it.  I like my bedroom to smell like Lavender though. One day I am going to visit the Lavender fields here in the UK and witness their beauty for myself.

   

(source) 

Thatched Cottages.  I love thatched cottages.  I would love to have a thatched cottage. They look so romantic and shakespeare - ee. with the climbing roses and beams . . . they just are so charming. 

 

Men in Kilts. 

  

Let me amend that  . . .  ahem . . .  certain  men in  kilts. I guess not all kilts are created equal. lol.

 

Cuckoo Clocks.  I prefer the ones which are all carved in wood, rather than the colourful ones. When we were in Germany we saw some amazing ones.  We visited the World's largest Cuckoo Clock and we bought a Cuckoo Clock, ourselves, which sadly no longer works. It played music every hour on the hour with a different tune each hour. The novelty does wear off, and most of the time the music was turned off, but it still hangs on our wall because it is pretty to look at. It is a battery operated one because they are cheaper, but in retrospect we should have bought a geared one. 

 

I may be alone here, but I always liked Goofy.  In face I preferred him over Mickey.  Goofy seemed more human.  I never could quite figure out what he was, a dog or a man?  Whatever, I liked him.  

  

Tea Pots, my favourite being the good old fashioned Brown Betty.  I have one in my doll house, but sadly not in real life.  I like to look at fancy tea pots and there are some really unusual ones out there, but when it comes to having one, I prefer simple.  I think the Brown Betty is perfection in a tea pot.  

 

Dark Chocolate and Ginger.  Flavour perfection. 

  

The Waltons. Still watch it. Still love it.  So does Todd.  When I was a girl I wanted a house full of kids like the Waltons.  I had five.which was two short.  Would have loved to have ten. So would have Todd. 

 

Pizza. I love the stuff.  I first tasted pizza when I was in high school, and they were making and selling pizza at Winter Carnival.  It was love at first bite.  Then my highschool boyfriend introduced us to Kraft Pizza mix.  Woa!  A pizza you could make at home, quick and easy! Show me where to sign up!  They don't do that type of thing over here.  I did buy a boxed pizza dough mix once, but it was YUCKKY!  Tasted too much like baking soda or something.  Now I make them from scratch because (as much as Todd dislikes pizza) sometimes you just got to have a pizza, and I like homemade from scratch best of all.  

 

Truth and Honesty.  We live in a world sugar coated with lies. It is hard to find the truth sometimes and there is not a lot of honesty about.  We read blogs and look at instagram, and we see only what people want us to see.  A lot of it highly edited, colourized and distorted.  Its not real and it can cause people to feel like they are always falling short, creating envy and covetedness. I really want realism.  I think you can show people the reality and they can still enjoy seeing it.  There was one particular blog in particular that I used to visit all the time. They posted food and decorating tips, etc.  Then I noticed that all the photos were looking really too brightly coloured, and it was turning into a travel blog rather than a food and decorating blog.  I noticed it most when they went to places I had gone, and I saw that the colours were all totally distorted.  I felt cheated and lied to.  We are being lied to all the time.  Packaging and contents get smaller, prices stay the same  . . . politicians talk out of both sides of their mouth.  Models are airbrushed beyond believability.  13 year olds selling wrinkle creams.  I present things pretty much as you see them. I do edit a bit, cutting down the size of the photos and cutting away some of the background, but I don't change colours, or erase things. I might be more popular if I did, but I don't.  I pride myself on reality, truth and honesty. Even down to my profile picture.  

This is still my all-time favourite tea cosy, from Jane Brocket's book, The Gentle Art of Knitting. 

 

I think this might be the first abstract work of art that I have fallen in love with. Cosy 2 by Hennie van Lande.  She is a Dutch painter. I am usually not that into abstract, but my sister has me looking at it now with different eyes.  I like this, I really do.  I have a long ways to go though before I actually fall in love with abstract art. 

 

Window Seats.  Have always wanted to have a bay window with a window seat, so I could sit in there and watch the world walk by. 

 

And those are my favourite things for this week.

A thought to carry with you  . . .  

 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.The relationship within yourself

sets the tone for every other

relationship you have.

~Jane Travis  •。★★ 。* 。

Spiritual Enlightenment

 

BOOK OF  MORMON CORNER

Today's Reading - Mosiah 24:1-15 

Question -  What have you learnt from the reading today? What do you think the people learned from having their burdens made light, rather than taken away?  

 

Thoughts - This talk is such a good one for today - President Monson - 'I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee'. In it he includes this poem:

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow. 

Why would God take away all these opportunities for growth, when that is his purpose for us?  I am grateful for His mercy in strengthening, comforting and blessing us, His children, throughout our times of burden. I am greatful for the Lord's words, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and that are heavy laden, and i will give you rest."  I know that this is true.  I know that real rest is to be only found in Him. 

 

Tomorrow's Reading  (Day 127) - Mosiah 24:16-25:14 

Question - Why do you think we need to give thanks? How can we lift our voices to praise God?

 

  

In The English Kitchen today . . .  Ham & Mac Bake.  Simple and delicious.

Have a great Thursday!  Don't forget!

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And I do too!