My Favourite Things . . .

 

 

A few of the things in life that make my heart go pitty pat. Maybe they will do the same thing for yours. ♥♥♥   

 

Rom Coms.  Romantic Comedy films. I love them. Todd, not so much. He calls them chick flicks, although he will watch them if I really want to watch them. He is not a television Dictator like some people I know.  

 

Cheddar and Caramel Popcorn. Oh. My.  Goodness. Where has this been all my life. I picked up a bag the other day when we went to Costco, and I am in love. 

  

Vintage Magazine Covers.  The illustrations on them are so sweet and innocent.  

  

Vintage Baking Leaflets. Especially Christmas Baking ones.  I own quite a few that I have collected and saved through the years. 

 Costco Rotisserie Chicken.  They are cheap, plump and delicious. When I want one I just send Todd.  He can go in and come out with just a chicken, unlike myself. 

 

Maple Leaf Creme Cookies.  I miss them . . . 

  

Green jello  . . .  I miss that too, along with instant pudding mix . . . 

They don't do pudding here.  They do custard, end of. 

 

This is my favourite shampoo. I love the way it smells and the way the smell stays on your hair until you wash it again.  

 

This is my favourite soap and the only one I use. 

  

This is my favourite toilet paper and the only one I buy, and yes, always in white.  Never quilted. That is a waste of money. You get less paper on a roll when you buy quilted. 

 

This is my favourite kind of paper towel.  They are sturdy and you get a lot of sheets on a roll. It lasts twice as long because you don't need as many sheets to get the job done.  

  

This is our vacuum cleaner aand out of all the vacuums we have had. Its my favourite.  Bagless. Swivel head.  Self propelled.  It does a great job on carpet and on floors. 

 

This is the toothpaste I use. Its my favourite. 

  

This is one of my favourite music cd's.  We picked it up at the National Trust several years ago and it has three music discs in it with a variety of lovely songs to listen to. Its all instrumentals. You can listen to one of the songs here. Lark Ascending.  Its all beautiful. 

 

The log fire tv screen.  You can find that on YouTube.  I like it in the Winter months.  Its nice. 10 hours of crackling logs and flickering flames.  Very cosy. 

 

Mittens.  I prefer them over gloves.  

  

Hood Scarfs.  Because they aren't hats. 

 

Egg salad sandwiches, but I can only eat my mothers, my sisters or mine.  I can't eat anyone elses.  I probably couldn't eat the ones in this picture.  My mom's are perfect and my sister and I make them exactly like she does.  Without huge chunks of egg in them.  Just the right seasoning, and not too much filling.  Yes, I am really pedantic about my egg sandwiches. I bet my sister is the same. 

 

The sound of my mother's voice . . . I am looking forward to calling her this afternoon.  

 

Cursive writing.  I think it will be a shame if it is lost  . . . 

And those are my favourite things for this week.  What are some of yours?

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

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

Life is an echo,

What you send out, comes back.

What you sow, you reap.

What you give, you get.

What see in others, exists in you.

Do not judge, so you will not be judged.

Radiate and give love,

so love will come back to you.

~unknown   •。★★ 。* 。

 

 

 

In the kitchen today  . . .  Muffin Tin Tomato Tarts.  Deliciously simple to make!

Have a fabulous Thursday!  Don't forget!

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And I do too! 

 

 

What I know for sure . . .

 

Life is full of ups and downs, wins and losses, sweet and sour, dark and light. You don't get to be my age without having learned a few truths. This is some of what I know for sure  . . .

 

Life is hard.  Its not meant to be easy, but what I know for sure is this.  IT IS WORTH ALL THE PAIN AND THE STRUGGLE.  Morning always follows night.  There is light at the end of every tunnel. 

 We are living in a world where Suicide is at epidemic proportions.  I do not want to demean people's feelings. I know how real they are and how very painful. I have been there.  I have been in that place where I did not want to be here for one more minute, where I couldn't see any hope, when the struggle didn't seem worth it . . . I have been to the bottom.  I have felt totally and utterly alone.  I have felt unloved and unwanted and worthless.

I have felt like the choice to stay was the cowardly one to make.

But at the age of 63, I am grateful I was a coward,

and that I chose to stay.

 

All of those kids who called me names when I was at school, who made my days utter misery, who made me feel like a piece of garbage . . .  they have not mattered in a very long time.  The struggle made me stronger, more compassionate, more caring.  I learnt to never treat another human being that way that I was treated.  I have learnt that it was more about them and their weaknesses than it ever was about me.  I have learnt that I never was garbage and never will be. 

All those things I thought I had failed at?  I learned that sometimes the greatest lessons come in failing. That even our failures have great worth and that sometimes the greatest growth comes in our "Failures," and that really, there is no such thing as failure.  Failure only comes in life when you decide to give up. Failure is in not trying. 

 

I learned that we are never, ever . . .  truly alone, no matter how alone we might feel at any given time. There is always someone who will listen.  But they can't listen unless we let them know that we need to be heard, that we are hurting, that we are at the bottom of what seems like a very deep hole.  We need to learn to reach out to the helping hand, the listening ear, the caring heart, no matter how much of a struggle it might feel like in doing so.  Those words "Nobody cares" are the lies of the great deceiver.  Someone always cares, and they are waiting for us to open up to them, to share, to unburden ourselves, to listen, and yes . . .  to help.  One of life's great universal truths it that there is ALWAYS someone who cares, about you  and about how you are feeling. You. Are. Never. Alone.  Just be brave enough to reach out.  Just take every speck of courage you have in your soul and reach out. To your family if that is possible. To your Pastor. To your teachers. To your family Doctor. To your friends. To strangers.  If you will reach out, I promise you someone will grab your hand and hold on and try to help you to reach that safe place, that maybe you can't see right now, but that I can promise you is there.  You are NOT alone, no matter how alone you might feel.

 

 Just keep moving forward, never giving up, hoping and believing that there will be an end to the way you are feeling right now, the light at the end of the tunnel, and end to the darkness and it doesn't come by giving up.  It comes from moving forward, from taking even just the tiniest glimmer of hope and holding onto it. Please, please, please oh please don't think that this, right now, is all that there is in this life for you, or all that life holds for you.  Just have the courage to hang on and work your way through whatever it is that is dragging you down.  Courage is not in giving up and lying down. THAT is the cowards way . . .  Courage truly is that quiet voice at the end of the day that says . . .  I will try again tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow and however many tomorrows it takes.

Because YOU truly IS loved, and I know for a fact

that the bad times are not forever.  Just have the courage to hang on

for a little while longer and to reach out your hand.

I promise you someone will grab it.

You will get through this.

The way you are feeling right now.  It matters.

YOU matter.

Give life and the people around you the time

to prove it to you. 

 

I have learned that the pain that others cause me, says much more about them than it does about me, and I accept that.  That doesn't mean that things don't still hurt. There are some things in my life that will always hurt.  But I can live with them, even if I don't  understand them now. I have faith that I will one day.  There is help out there to help you find that faith also.  Where there is faith there is always hope, and where there is hope, there is a tomorrow, and it can be much brighter than you can imagine.  It doesn't mean that I still don't fall or fail or have days when I feel worthless, or even unloved. When I feel those things, I reach out and help always comes . . .  I pray, I believe, I hope.

 

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.Success if not final, failure is not fatal,

it is the courage to continue that counts.

~Winston Churchill •。★★ 。* 。 

 

In the kitchen today  . . .  Boiled Dinner.  One of my favourite things.  

I wish for each of you a lovely Wednesday.  Be positive and don't forget!

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And I do too!

The Simple Woman's Daybook . . .

 

FOR TODAY, September 25, 2018

Outside my window ...

I am watching the sun rise.  I have missed that during the summer months as the sun gets up far too early then. Also looks to be a dry day, so I might actually get out and do a bit of shopping today. We will see. 

I am thinking ...

Got to see my toe yesterday and it looks fine.  The toenail is just a tiny bit narrower than it was before. It appears to be healing very well, in fact they have discharged me and sent me home with a shedload of bandages to do my own bandage changes from now on. They showed me how to do it. I should be able to resume normal shoe wearing in about 3 weeks time.  Yay! 

In the kitchen ...

 

Quick & Easy Chicken Parmigiana for Two. This is really tasty and comes with tiny roasted potatoes. 

On my "To Cook" list ... 

 

Bumpy Cake by King Arthur Flour.  This looks like a great chocolate cake! 

Good to know ... 

 

My Life From Home.  Putting together a household/housekeeping binder. I like this idea.   

I am creating ...

 

Ravelry. Remember these?  I used to knit them for my kids and myself years and years ago.  I think I will knit some this winter for us.  

 

Caught on a Whim. Crochet Mitten Garland.  

 

Crochet Christmas Lights, Jean Herman on Ravelry.  

 

Being Genevieve.  Carseat Canopy. I love this.  

Creativities.  Self fastening flower scarf. 

 

Inklebores, except it is in Spanish.  I can just get Ariana to translate for me.

Oh my goodness ... 

  

That darned Maple Cake I baked last week.  Its just too good for my own good.  

I am reading ... 

The Book of Air and Shadows, by Michael Gruber 

A clever, pacey thriller set around the search for a lost Shakespearean play. Tap-tapping the keys and out come the words on this little screen, and who will read them I hardly know. I could be dead by the time anyone actually gets to read them, as dead as, say, Tolstoy. Or Shakespeare. Does it matter, when you read, if the person who wrote still lives?

These are the words of Jake Mishkin, whose seemingly innocent job as an intellectual property lawyer has put him at the centre of a deadly conspiracy and hunt to find a priceless treasure connected to William Shakespeare. As he awaits a killer-or killers-unknown, Jake writes an account of the events that led to this deadly endgame, a frantic chase that began when a fire in an antiquarian bookstore revealed the hiding place of letters containing a shocking secret, concealed for four hundred years. In a frantic race from New York to England and Switzerland, Jake finds himself matching wits with a shadowy figure who seems to anticipate his every move.

 What at first seems like a thrilling puzzle waiting to be deciphered soon turns into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, where no one – not family, not friends, not lovers – is to be trusted. Moving between twenty-first-century America and seventeenth-century England, ‘The Book of Air and Shadows’is a modern thriller that brilliantly re-creates William Shakespeare's life at the turn of the seventeenth century and combines an ingenious and intricately layered plot with a devastating portrait of a contemporary man on the brink of self-discovery . . . or self-destruction.

Only just started it, but it had good reviews and so far is a cracking good read.

Looking Forward to ...
There is a pot luck lunch at the chapel today, not sure if I will go or not, but I am kind of wanting to. Also General Conference is coming up in just a few weeks time.  I love LOVE General Conference!

Dreaming about ... 

  

Antique French Tulle Swags  . . .   

Ireland  . . .  The Quiet Man  . . .

 

Wish I could  . . .  except in black  . . . 

  

This too . . .  I love this  . . . even at my thinnest I always felt fat . . . I wonder why that is . . . I'd love to be that fat now  . . . 

 

Stained glass leaves . . .   

Something to watch . . .  

 

We watched this last night and it was really, really, really good. Plus it had Brian Dennehy in it.  I love Brian Dennehy.

Makes me smile ... 

  

I love this photo of my son. He sent it to me yesterday as we were chatting. He was mushroom hunting in the woods.  I think he is a really handsome man.  I know I am a bit biased.  I love him.

A Quote for the day ... 

(¯`v´¯)
  `*.¸.*´Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ¸. •´¸.•~♥♥♥~•. ~ ღϠ₡ღ¸. ✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ.
              ( ¸. ❀⁀ ⋱‿✿“` * .¸.* ✻ღϠ₡ ღ¸.✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ..  

The path of modern pioneers is not easy.

Burdens carried in the heart can be

just as heavy as those pulled in a handcart.

~Dallin H Oaks  ~ ღϠ₡ღ¸. ✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ.   

Corners of my kingdom ... 

 

Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire, also known as Old Moreton Hall, is a moated half-timbered manor house. The earliest parts of the house were built for the prosperous Cheshire landowner William Moreton in about 1504–08, and the remainder was constructed in stages by successive generations of the family until about 1610.   

And that's my daybook for this week!



  ⋱ ⋮ ⋰
⋯ ◯ ⋯ Take time to enjoy the small *´¯`.¸¸.☆
  ⋰ ⋮ ⋱ blessings in life.*´¯`.¸¸.☆ 



✿¸.•*¨`*•..✿✿¸.•*¨`*•..✿ ✿¸.•*¨`*•..¸✿ ✿¸.•*¨`*•..¸✿ ✿¸.• ╬♥═╬╬═♥=╬╬═♥╬╬═♥╬╬═♥=╬╬♥═╬♥╬╬═♥╬╬═♥=╬╬♥
░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░ 

Have a beautiful day!  Don't forget!  

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And I do too!