Tuesday 19 February 2013

The Simple Woman's Day Book


FOR TODAY, February 19th, 2013...

Outside My Window...

The sky is still quite dark and it's very quiet.I am up a bit earlier this morning as we are off to do a Service Project for the church today.

I am thinking...
The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.
~Henry Miller

I try to always be cognizant of everything around me and to find beauty in all things and in all people, and to see the potential and wonder all around me.   Life is so much better when looked at through the perspective of someone who is seeing/believing/knowing for the first time.  That is when the real magic happens.

I am thankful for...

Today.   Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow might never come.   Let me always be thankful for . . . today.

From the kitchen... 
I need to bake a cake today I think.   Somehow elevensies is always much better when cake is involved.
 
I am wearing...  

The blue nightie with white polka dots Todd gave me for Christmas and my slippers.   It's becoming fuzzy now, it is worn so much and I love the fuzziness of it.  It's not an annoying fuzzy but a much loved fuzzy.   It's fleece and there is nothing like a much beloved fleece anything for comfort don't you think??
 
I am creating...  

 photo copyright-1_zpsc5a1fbff.jpg

Remember these cupcake toppers I made last week???  Well yesterday I did this:

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It's a Cupcake Wrapper to go with the Cupcake Toppers.   Written on it is a little Easter verse which says, "See the land, her Easter keeping.  Rises as Her maker rose.  Seeds so long in darkness sleeping, burst at last from Winter Snows."   I thought it was very fitting.   I plan on selling them all together as a PDF download.   I have to make two more wrappers.

Source: etsy.com via Marie on Pinterest

Now here is something quite practical.   Reusable swifter dusting thingies made from fleece.   Its getting very difficult to find the refils for mine so I think I will make some of these.  Much better for the environment too because you can use them again and again!


Love, Love, LOVE the trim on the edge of this afghan!   Loving the Afghan too!  You just can't beat a good old fashioned Granny square afghan!


Isn't this a fab idea???  Pajama Eaters!    A place for the kiddies to store their jimjams!   I may make some of these for the grandsons this year for Christmas!   I used to have an old blue pajama dog that my jammies were stored in during the daytime.   I had forgotten about that til just now.    My heart is filled with fuzzy blue memories now.  I love it when that happens!

I am going... 
We have a service project today and our Relief Society activity on Thursday evening.  Other than that there is not a lot on.   Maybe we will take ourselves to a film on Wednesday . . . for Orange two for one Wednesdays.   That would be nice.

I am reading...


In The Company of Angels, by David Farland. I am totally  in love with this book.
 This is a novel based on the true life story of the Willie Handcart expedition of 1856.  This was a group of Mormon Pioneers, having gone to American from the British Isles and a few other European Countries, who then make their way across America pulling handcarts to Zion in Utah.  They encountered many obstacles along the way and all suffered, and many of them perished.  It is a moving story, told through the eyes of three historical characters: James Willie, the handcart company’s captain, Eliza Gadd, the agnostic wife of a faithful British convert and a mother with several children, and Baline Mortensen, a Danish child, sent ahead to America by parents who feared persecutors in Denmark might target her.  I am reading it on my Kindle and Todd is reading a copy he got from our library.   We are BOTH enjoying it very much.   He's a brilliant writer!



Lucky Man, by Michael J Fox
A funny, highly personal, gorgeously written account of what it's like to be a 30-year-old man who is told he has an 80-year-old's disease. 

"Life is great. Sometimes, though, you just have to put up with a little more crap." --Michael J. Fox 

 
In September 1998, Michael J. Fox stunned the world by announcing he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease -- a degenerative neurological condition. In fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. The worldwide response was staggering. Fortunately, he had accepted the diagnosis and by the time the public started grieving for him, he had stopped grieving for himself. Now, with the same passion, humor, and energy that Fox has invested in his dozens of performances over the last 18 years, he tells the story of his life, his career, and his campaign to find a cure for Parkinson's. 


I am a great fan of autobiographies.
  
I am hoping...
I am hoping that I cope all right with the service project today.   Sometimes my arthritis lets me down.   It's not something I am really looking forward to doing, but you got to do what you got to do and I will enter into it with a spirit of thanksgiving.   The Saviour said that all that we do for others is the same as doing it for Him.  We must be His hands here on earth. 

I am hearing... 
Ordinary morning sounds.   My play list, Mitzie snoring . . . the clock ticking.  My fingers clicking on the keys.  Nothing changes . . .

Around the house...




 I am a big fan of French Country styling and the romantic atmosphere it brings.  I just love the looks of this chandelier in the bedroom.   We have something similar although it is not as grande.   Ours is a simple pineapple shape, in clear crystal look.   It's nice.   I am loving the throw at the end of this bed too.  Ohh lala!










I love furniture which looks somewhat distressed.   We have an old coffee table here in our lounge that I would love to do this with when the weather turns nicer.   I wonder if Todd will let me.


I think this is absolutely gorgeous, don't you?   It's distressed, but also stenciled!   Simply fabulous!


One of my favourite things . . .  


Source: bing.com via Linda on Pinterest

I am awfully fond of Amish anything.  I find their culture and ways fascinating.   I have quite a few Amish Cookbooks and I have done some art of little Amish girls with Scriptures on them.  It is a fascination I share with my sister.    I don't think I could be Amish however . . . I would miss buttons and deodorant, and makeup!

Something new about me ...
I have claustrophobia.  I cannot stand being in a small space that is closed up.  It strikes panic into my heart and I feel as if I am going to suffocate.   I know I am not alone in this.

One of my guilty pleasures ...


I have an ACUTE fondness for Turkish Delight!  Especially if it is covered in milk chocolate, but I'll take it any way I can get it.  

Pet Peeves...    




The British Government.  A group of well too do toffs for the most part, who have no idea of how hard ordinary people have to struggle to just get by.  Most of them, if not all of them own their own homes, and a lot even own two homes, which they are given expense accounts to help maintain, etc.   Yesterday they were talking about the new bedroom tax on the telly.  The Government is planning on penalizing people who have more bedrooms in their house than they need.  We have three, but having said that we are just lucky to have a house to live in.  Many do not.   I don't think this plan of the Government is fair if they are not offering people a suitable alternative to the home they are already living in, and the chance to move.   We are in private rental because we could not get a council house.   There is a shortage of housing.   I think it is very unfair to penalize people for something which they can't control.  I think someone should take it to the European Commission of Human Rights, but then again the type of people this affects are not people who can afford lawyers either!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...


“What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"
~Dr Robert Schuller

I love that I am a dreamer and a risk taker. I was always told you have nothing to fear but fear itself.  If I had stopped myself from doing things and going places if I was afraid  of change, or discovery, or failure . . . I would not have lived half of the life I have lived.   (I just love this picture of these two spaniels!   They remind me if Mitzie, especially the one in the back!)

As a closing thought I would like to leave you with this:

God himself, sir, does not propose to judge a man until the end of his days.
~Samuel Johnson

And there you have it . . . my day book for this week. Don't forget to hop on over to the Simple Woman to check out the other day book entries! (Or better yet, do a simple day book entry yourself! It's not that hard and I am betting you would enjoy it!  

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Cooking in The English Kitchen today . . . Grandpa's Mac & Cheese.   Comforting  and tasty fare for a lovely and simple weeknight supper!

Hope your Tuesday is a good one!

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