Just Me Checking In

Pretty.  : )

As I sit and look out my window, it is warm and sunny.  This past weekend brought much-needed rains (we could have had just a little more) that is helping to green things up a bit.  Today throughout my day as I was keeping busy and thinking, I once again wrote some of my Homemaker's Thoughts down to share with you.

*The first thing I was thinking was actually while I was putting my makeup on for the day and I wanted to encourage you to "keep up appearances."  I know that sometimes that saying is used in not so good a way, but I don't mean it that way.  What I mean is that at a time like this, I feel we need to keep our appearances up - clean skin, clean hair, putting makeup on, dressing well.......I believe in doing so we feel better in the midst of not feeling good about what's going on around us.  The way we treat ourselves when no one can see us says a lot about us.  Yes, this time we're going through makes us anxious, sad, depressed, but just getting ready as if you were going to work or someplace else important will help with those feelings.  

*Next, keeping busy.  This has helped me tremendously.  I've mentioned before that a couple of weeks ago were really bad for me and then I had a day last week, and the difference was in keeping busy.  I know that, when depressed, we don't even have the motivation or energy to do anything - I really do understand that.  So, with all of this said, give yourself permission to feel sad and do what you need to do.  For me sometimes it's just sitting or standing with a cup of coffee in my hands and look out the door or window and just not think.  I know some people get a little weird when you mention how much nature can help in how you feel - like we're forgetting the Creator of the creation!  Not me.  I KNOW who created all the things that I'm looking out at and I'm very thankful for it.

*Getting creative.  What I'm hoping is that now that we're all home, each of us will try our hand at something creative.  Something that maybe you've always wanted the time to do.  Getting "lost" in being creative is such a help for us mentally and emotionally.  And "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again."  Don't expect perfection, just let it be a help to you right now.

*Do something that brings you comfort.  We all have our comfort things - for me it's having a pot of coffee on to fill the house with a wonderful aroma, it's having a book to pick up and read when I'm tired of the doing, it's a craft to work on while watching the same favorite DVD for the 100th time, and then working on the housework brings comfort as well (again, I'm a big believer that how we treat our homes says a lot about us - it shouldn't be clean and organized just when company comes over - it should be for you and your family too).  So, think of all the things that would comfort you right now.

One of my favorite things to do in the Spring is to write down all the different birds that are in our yard - here is a short list:

Redwing blackbirds

Finches

Juncos

Robins

Cardinals

Chickadees

Mourning doves

And they all bring their own special songs with them - it has been a beautiful day so having windows open was such a treat as they all fly from tree to tree and then to the feeders and then to the ground - what an incredible gift they are.  They bring a sense of normal right now.  (Not to mention the funny squirrels and a cute little chipmunk).  : )

Well, supper is almost ready so I will leave for now.  I hope this has brought just a tiny little bit of encouragement to you because I know that I SO appreciate encouragement from you!  God bless you and thank you for dropping by.

Keeping The Home Fires Burning

Our "fireside hearth" right now.

As I look out the window now, it is windy, cloudy, chilly, rainy.   What it looks like on the outside kind of coincides with how we're pretty much feeling these days.  I think no matter how much we all want to keep our chins up and try to stay positive, having this worldwide epidemic over us like the dark clouds over us now brings an edge of sadness.

Our backyard right now.

Yesterday, while beautiful on the outside (a warm, bright, sunny day) I felt more like the rainy day that we're experiencing now.  I was so down.  Even sitting in the sunshine didn't help.  It just all felt so heavy.   Nothing is changing for the good.   A "this too shall pass" doesn't even seem to do it for me sometimes - and yesterday was that day.

Fortunately, today is a new day and keeping busy with positive things does seem to help.  We're called to keep the home fires burning as much as we possibly can.  I have the lights on in all the rooms and keeping the house quiet today to hear the raindrops on the windows and being in the kitchen to work with food that will have to sustain for ...............?  We turned the backyard lights on and the front porch light is already on for those who pass by.  Our neighbors have theirs on too.  I found my 4th of July flags and lined the front of our sidewalk with them that leads up to the house.  Finding ways to encourage each other and help each other (albeit from a distance) is important right now.

So far (because I'm hoping to get back into the kitchen to do more) this is what I've accomplished:

*cooked brown and long-grain rice for the freezer

*made our oatmeal packets for ease of preparation in the mornings

*made pizza seasoning mixes - something so easy (and yummy) as to make homemade crust, mix the seasoning with a can of tomato sauce, and add shredded cheese and bake till melty - simplicity at it's best

*made pancake mixes for ease of preparation - we eat pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper so having these around is a good thing - I also make pancake syrup so, again, very easy

*I bought onions this week but still had a few left so I cut up the few and sliced a few and bagged them all up for the freezer - a time saver when cooking to have the onions cut up

This afternoon I'm hoping to:

*make 3 different cookie doughs for the freezer - I'm finding I like just making the dough instead of actually baking the cookies and then freezing them because it's such a treat to take some dough out and bake the cookies on the spot so we can eat them warm from the oven : )

*make a cornbread mix to go with soup nights

*make a couple of cake mixes for the pantry for ease of preparation when the "need" for a cake might come up  ; )

I'm pretty sure that's about all I can do today.  I was doing a little Depression Era Cooking reading and it was saying that having dessert at mealtime was extremely important - it made them feel less deprived.  That's why you will find butterless, milkless, flourless, recipes around from that time.  And I agree with that.  Dessert seems extravagant so that's why I want to make the cookie doughs, and cake mixes, and I even bought some heavy whipping cream to make our homemade ice cream while we're going through this.  Just to hear a "mmmm............." is worth it.  : )

I'm definitely learning some lessons from being told to stay home:

*even though I'm an introvert, I need my dose of people time - or, maybe I should say that I don't like to be told when I can have that people time!

*I thought I was pretty thorough in my prayers, but have been convicted that I don't even think about praying for doctors, nurses, the medical community, emergency services, police, etc. that are putting their lives on the line right now.  I'm learning to pray now!

*I need diversions - I can't hear about what's going on all the time.  My husband gets impatient with me because his way of processing all of this is to talk about it.  Not me.  I don't need to hear all the details to know that this is serious - just having to be at home and not go out, I KNOW what I need to know about this.  So diversions are - reading, sewing, crafting, watching my favorite DVD's, cooking, cleaning..........

*this puts a whole new emphasis on gratitude and thankfulness for all we have.

*trying to remember all the things to not complain about once all of this is over.

And, I'm sure I will continue to add to this list.  But we seem to have short memories don't we?  When the going gets tough, we don't think we'll ever go back to grumbling and complaining - that we'll always be thankful and grateful............then things get back to normal and are good again, and we tend to fall back into the same grumbling and complaining.  I hope that doesn't happen this time.  

The next George Eliot book I'm reading - "The Mill on the Floss" - enjoying it!

Well, I think that's it for today.  Better get back into the kitchen and finish up.  : )  I hope all of you stay put, stay safe, stay healthy.  Thank you for dropping by - I appreciate you!!!!!!  God bless.

Cute little bunny.  : )

A Hodgepodge of Thoughts

And yet, another past photo of the beautiful north shore - can you feel the warmth?

Well.......as this post is titled.......this will be quite the hodgepodge of thoughts from the past week.  This is the first time in a very long time that the whole world is experiencing the same thing and there are myriads of emotions right now.  Last week was my week of sadness about it all.  It's the unknown, it's the worry and fear, it's the aloneness - I think that THIS is the wonderful thing about all of us no matter where in the world we're from - we ALL experience the same kinds of feelings.  That's why it's SO important to stay in contact with someone via e-mails or other social media, letters/cards, phone calls, etc.  We all have the need to know that we're not alone in our feelings and "getting together" with others helps alleviate some of that.

I think you know me by now in that I believe with all my heart is that our greatest need is God and what I'm seeing and hearing about around the world is that this crisis we're going through right now is leading people to Christ!  And THAT deserves a HUGE praise and thanksgiving!!!!!!  My friend told me about the video showing Brazilians opening their windows and singing "Because He Lives, I Can Face Tomorrow" - how wonderful is THAT!!!!!!  I played it over and over again.  Please keep singing!

As I keep saying - one of my favorite pastors is Alistair Begg and someone asked him how he gets through crisis situations and he said to read hymnals!  Now, I really like the contemporary Christian music and listen to it often, but there really is something about the old hymns that reads like poetry.  I tried it and found one that I wanted to share with you (the words anyway):

GREAT KING OF NATIONS, HEAR OUR PRAYER

Great King of nations, hear our prayer while at Thy feet we fall

And humbly with united cry to Thee for mercy call.

The guilt is ours, but grace is Thine; oh, turn us not away,

But hear us from Thy lofty throne and help us when we pray.

Our fathers' sins were manifold, and ours no less we own;

Yet wondrously from age to age Thy goodness hath been shown.

When dangers, like a stormy sea, beset our country round,

To Thee we looked, to Thee we cried, and help in Thee was found.

With one consent we meekly bow beneath Thy chas-t'ning hand

And, pouring forth confession meet, mourn with our mourning land.

With pitying eye behold our need as thus we lift our prayer;

Correct us with Thy judgments, Lord, then let Thy mercy spare.  Amen.

Seriously.  This is definitely what our daily prayer should look like and sound like!!!!  We HAVE to remember that God is Holy and that what havoc we create on His world will come to judgement - but He IS merciful and hears our cries but we have to humbly come before Him and ask.  Enough of getting God out of our public square.  Enough of getting God out of our schools.  Enough of doing whatever we want without Him.  Let's be bold and courageous for Christ.  : )

I know that you know about our Blessing Jar that we set up in our dining room at the first of the year - I was thinking that if you haven't set yours up yet that while we are all home it might be a good time to do it!  : )  I think we have the tendency to think of all the bad stuff and fears and worries, but now is a great time to think of ALL the blessings.  This would be a great lesson for the kids.  Some blessings might look like:

*being able to face time friends and family

*still having nice hot showers in the morning

*God's provision of food and clothes and shelter

*having time to read and work on some projects around the house

*talking on the phone with loved ones

*having time to reach out to others with letters and cards

*

*

*

*what are you thankful for?

One way that I'm "coping" with all of this is to keep the lights on especially on cloudy days.  I know we'll literally pay for it in our bill, but I'm a person who needs light and this definitely helps in how I feel.  In the evening we turn our string of yard lights on in the back to brighten up the night - I know a lot of people on our block are turning their front porch lights on early to show some kind of solidarity and unity which looks really nice.

The other thing I'm trying to do is stream "happy" classical music throughout the house.  There is something about it that helps me to get my work done with some motivation.  : )  Last week was NOT a good week for me - all of this just kind of hit me and fear and worry crept in, so the Lord is definitely helping me this week.

The last thing I did was to put up all my Easter/Spring decorations.  I decorated the front porch a little and inside with a few cheery things.  I know that this Easter will be SO very different and strange in knowing that we won't be going to church (only viewing on-line) and we won't be gathering with family, but I needed the Spring decorations up to give some kind of normal.  I have a ham in the freezer and have thought through what I'll be making - even though it's just the two of us.  What we will have to do is "sit down together" with our son and his wife through face time and just REALLY be grateful for THAT!!!!!!

I'm looking at those canned goods on our shelves and yesterday looked on-line for recipes on what to make from them so that they taste better.  I have never liked canned vegetables - I just can't open a can, plop it in a pan to warm them up and eat them.  Ick.  : (  I am grateful for them of course but I needed some recipes to use them in another way.  I found some so I'll let you know how it goes.  : )   If you have any ideas, PLEASE let me know!!!!!

I also found "recipes" for homemade Vick's rub and homemade sanitizing wipes that I want to make today.  Again, I'll let you know how they turned out.  One update on the homemade shampoo that I posted about a while ago - I found I cannot use it on a daily basis - there is just too much build up.  But I do still like it, so I use it probably once or twice a week instead.

Well, like I said this was certainly a variety of things but hopefully it was a help in some way.   Let's keep encouraging each other through this very strange time and use the time well for our own sake and the sake of others.  Focus on the Lord first, keep in touch with others, take care of yourselves.  

God bless you and I'll try to write things down as they come to me and hopefully "see" you on Saturday!!!  Thank you for taking the time to visit - I do appreciate it.

Little basket of eggs by the front door

an Easter tree on the dining room table

a little floral arrangement in an old sugar bowl

our "Happy Easter" blocks on a shelf

another little arrangement in an old teacup.

I didn't take a photo of the porch yet but maybe by Saturday's post.  Not much, but something.  : )

Bye!!!!!! 

A Quiet Saturday Morning

More pretty flowers.  : )

Well.........how are all of you doing?  I think for me, the first time I wake up in the morning is the hardest.  Hard because I know that nothing has changed.  Still can't go anywhere.  Still can't see anyone.  It's just......hard.

But this morning in my prayer time and Bible study, the Lord brought something to mind.  If you've read anything about what the pioneers went through coming out west and settling in territories where you didn't see another human being for miles and miles and miles....leaving your family and friends behind and didn't know whether or not you'd see them again.....building a house in the middle of nowhere and living through the long, lonely winters on the prairie, with nothing or very little.....well, we don't have any of that!

We need to stop and think - we live with people all around us (yes, there is the social distancing right now, but still we have people around us).  In our homes we have radios, television, smart phones, computers...........the ability to watch what we want to watch, call people we know, e-mail each other, have "face time" on our computers.  We all have cars and can get in them and just drive around if we feel the need to get out.  If we get snowed in we have snowblowers and shovels and the city we live in will come and dig us out.  We have our hobbies, we have magazines and books to read.  We have food and can wash our clothes with ease.  Again I come back to the word - perspective.  We are a generation that has been SO used to having things our way that we just can't stand it when we're a little inconvenienced.  It's almost as if the Corona virus is not the issue anymore.  It's the lack of freedom.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic right now and going a little stir-crazy but I HAVE to get myself back to the point of thinking of how much we have in the midst of all of this!  What I'm hoping is that everyone (including myself) will learn:

*that we have SO much!!!!!

*that we won't be caught again without enough toilet paper  : )

*that we will constantly build our pantries and never again wait until there is a crisis situation

*that our families and friends are VERY important to us

*how little we really need to survive

*how not to take things (or people) for granted

*that we will take care of ourselves - be clean, be organized

*to be prepared

*

*

*

*what have you learned?

If we can just keep that pioneer family in our heads and compare us, and all that we have, to them who had literally nothing, we can do this!!!  : )

I prayed through Psalm 9 this morning and here are my notes:

*Pray for protection

*Pray for victory

*Pray for justice

*Pray for mercy

*Pray for refuge

*Pray for constant help

*Pray to be lifted up

*Pray for hope

*Pray for trust

Pretty timely, right?  : )  God bless you, your family, your day. 

Dealing With The Changes

Raise your hand if you can't wait for this!  Blue sky, open water, green grass, leaves on the trees, and flowers blooming.  

Well, what we are going through right now seems to be constantly changing so my Sunday post of encouraging ideas seems a bit discouraging at this point.  Of course, not all of it is discouraging - but it's the getting together that isn't working right now, is it?

I had made plans to get together last night with our son and "daughter" but because of the social distancing we are all to put into practice we cancelled our St. Patrick's Day (evening).  I get it.  I understand.  And we plan on doing our part in all of this, but it doesn't mean that I like it.  I don't.  

I had mentioned today that after this is over I hope I will always be grateful for the freedom of moving around to wherever I want to go and whenever I want to go.  I love my home and I love being at home, but I also want others IN my home.  I know I'm not the only one feeling this way about now and unfortunately it's just the beginning.  But I go back to my post on Sunday and look at all the things that I CAN do and just get to work.

I've been spending time in the kitchen lately making more mixes and baking bread.  Yesterday I still made my Cabbage Soup, Irish Soda Bread, and Mint Brownies for our Irish meal and took a good portion of it over to our son and his wife.  So that felt good.  So very strange to just hand over a bag of food and promptly leave.  I told them that when it comes time where it's okay to hug each other again, they'll have to give me plenty of time because I'm missing a lot of hugs these days!!!!!  : )

I think there can be some positive things that can come from all of this.  I wrote some questions down for myself to think about and wanted to share them with you too:

*What do I take for granted that I am finding out about right now amidst this difficult time?

*What did we spend too much time and money on before that seems SO insignificant now?

*What did we think was REALLY important before, only to find out that none of it was REALLY important other than our faith, our health, our family, our friends?

*What do we fear most about all of this?  

Answering these questions helps me to put things into perspective.  Like my husband said the other day - if we have to go through a time of quarantine how nice it is to have a comfortable and cozy home, food on the shelves, clothes to wear, telephone and e-mails to keep in contact with those we care about........THAT'S perspective.  : )

This morning during prayer time and Bible study I came across multiple pages in my notebook taken during a difficult time in my life.  What I did during that time was read through the Book of Psalms only every day I took just one Psalm and wrote down all the things I was to pray about in regards to the words.  For instance:

*In Psalm 1 it speaks of blessing, delight, prosperity, and watchfulness.  So my notebook page looked like:

1.  Pray for blessing

2.  Pray for delight

3.  Pray for prosperity

4.  Pray for watchfulness

Psalm 2 looked like:

1.  Pray for wisdom

2.  Pray to serve the Lord with fear

3.  Pray to rejoice with trembling

4.  Pray to take refuge in Jesus and be blessed

Psalm 3 looked like:

1.  Pray for deliverance

2.  Pray for God to be a shield

3.  Pray that God would bestow His glory on me and be the lifter of my head

4.  Pray for answers

5.  Pray that the Lord would sustain me

6.  Pray to be without fear

7.  Pray for protection against the enemies

8.  Pray for blessing

And I know you get what I mean.  I'm so happy that I found these pages again, because I'm going to begin praying the Psalms during this difficult time.  The Psalms have been a help to so many during so much that I think it's appropriate once again.  I hope you can give this a try in your own Bible reading.  (I was amazed at how Psalm 3 was so timely for what we are going through right now - anyone who thinks that Bible is outdated and not relevant, has NEVER read the Bible!!!!!!)

Well, I think that is it for today - time to get to the kitchen and try to make those leftovers taste like they aren't leftovers.  LOL  God bless you and thank you for taking the time to drop by because I SO appreciate it when you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  : ) 

Brand New Saturday

Our new kitchen calendar this year is all about chickens - this is the one for March.  : )

Another week is gone and a new weekend has come.  I hope you can look back and see some kind of progress that you made within your homes.  I don't know about you, but I can always think that I should have done more rather than being okay with what I actually did get done.  For me, there never seems to be enough time in the day (or energy) to get it all done.

On Thursday, since it was such a cold, gray, blustery day, I took the day "off" and satisfied my creative side by getting into my tiny craft area and just worked on some paper projects.  I went through some things again and narrowing everything down.  It was just what I needed.  : )

So, now, for today I once again throughout the week wrote a few things down as I thought about them to share with you.  Not a lot, but maybe something will be helpful to you as well - maybe some encouragement, maybe some ideas you'd like to try, a couple of new (to me) recipes.................

*I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen now that I try to cook everything from scratch and I really do know that I need to be better organized in this area because of what I said before about that when the weather becomes beautiful and we want to be outdoors more often I won't be able to do it all.  Something's gotta give and I don't want it to be the health and nutrition area of our lives.  So, yesterday I wrote down (again) the things I need to begin doing now as far as setting a day aside to just do a cooking marathon and get things into the freezer for the upcoming months.  I did this last year and it helped a lot.  Things such as:

-cooking batches of rice and putting them into freezer bags for easy meals

-cook bacon, sausage, and hamburger ahead of time and put them into freezer bags to just pull out when needed

-make hamburger patties and sausage patties for ease - just pull them out and plop them on the grill

-make muffins, cookies, and quick breads to freeze for that "little something" to add to the meals

-make mini-meatloaves to thaw and reheat or use in sandwiches

-of course, making pasta casseroles that freeze beautifully and are ready to pull out and bake

These are just a few things that I want to get working on.  I love to be organized in this area because it allows us time to do other things rather than quitting work an hour or two early just to get into the kitchen and do all the prep work and cooking.  Having said that, there ARE days where I really enjoy going into the kitchen and taking my time in the whole cooking process, but I also need to be prepared for when I DON'T feel that way!!!!  : )

*A while back I had mentioned that I don't cook anything new until the leftovers are all eaten up and that still is true (yesterday, as a matter of fact, was one of those days).  But I thought to take that a step further and say that we should treat the food in our homes, right now, as if it will be the last food we will see and use in a while.  While heating up leftovers, an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" came to mind.  In that episode the whole family, in their covered wagon, was coming back home after being away for several days and they were caught in a late snowstorm and had to take shelter in an old abandoned cabin.  Pa immediately asked Ma how much food they had left from their journey and she listed everything they had - a little stew, some bread, and a couple of other items.  Pa instinctively knew that this storm was going to last longer than they had provisions for so he set out to find a deer.  I won't go through the whole story, but it shows us that situations can arise where we won't be able to just go to the store when we feel like it and what we have left in our fridge, freezer, and pantry shelves will have to hold us until we can get out.  

So, it may not seem like a big deal to save every bit of leftovers but, in fact, it is!  What if those bits of leftovers are all we will have for a while?  It's a daunting thought.  I think those of us who live right down the street from all kinds of grocery stores don't think that we would ever come to that kind of a problem.  I mean now we have grocery delivery to our doors if we choose to do that.  But there is still the problem of emergencies - it's the emergency situations that we need to plan for.  It's great if nothing like that ever happens, but ...................

*When paying the bills this week (and I think I'm one of the very few who still gets paper bills and actually writes checks instead of the automatic withdrawal) I was thinking about how, at Christmas, I tried to write "Merry Christmas" on the back of the envelopes.  Well, the thought came back to me this week that I could write "Have a good day" on the back of the envelopes.  So that's what I'm doing as a way to maybe brighten someone's day.  Keeping that Christmas spirit through the year with just little things along the way may just be what someone needs.  What can you think of to do for someone today or this weekend or next week?  : )

*I showed you my flower press a while back.  On Thursday, while crafting, I came across some flower petals that I pressed last year so I made a SIMPLE card from them and wanted to show you -

nothing extraordinary, but just a fun and simple project - there are a LOT of petals left so I'll have to come up with another type of design!  : )

*I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I'm trying to get back to decorating the bulletin board that hangs in our hallway.  Trying to decorate it for each month with all the things that go on in that particular month (March - clocks ahead, St. Patrick's Day, 1st Day of Spring).  It's a fun project that we used to do as a family while home-schooling and after that was done, I just kind of let it go and filled the bulletin board with photos instead.  So, I'm getting back to it again (just me which is sad but that's the way it goes - I can't ask my now-adult son if he'd like to come over to decorate the bulletin board with me!  LOL).  It is something that we can all enjoy though when we're together - just another "little something" to keep the house and home fun.  : )  Maybe you can give it a try?  Especially if you still have children (or grandchildren) around?

*I have a couple of recipes that I'd like to share again.  The first is:

NO-CHURN RASPBERRY RIPPLE ICE CREAM (sorry, no photos - I can't seem to get used to having my camera with me all the time and I don't have a fancy-pants phone!)

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (I used frozen)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine the raspberries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil - simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes stirring until the raspberries have broken down and mixture has thickened.  Push the mixture through a sieve and discard seeds and pulp.  Allow this to cool.

Whip the heavy cream till almost stiff and then add the condensed milk and vanilla and continue to whip until stiff peaks.  Pour half of this into a pan and then dollop some of that raspberry goodness on top - swirl with a knife and then pour the last of the ice cream mixture on top and dollop again with leftover raspberry mixture and swirl again.

Cover with plastic wrap and then foil and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight.  Oh my.  This is SO good!!!!!!  Another no-churn ice cream to add to my recipe box.  Hope you can try it.  : )

CHEDDAR, CHICKEN AND RANCH QUESADILLAS

Package of ranch dressing mix (or make your own)

8 oz. package of cream cheese

Flour tortillas

Shredded cheddar

Cooked, chopped chicken

Cooked bacon

Chopped chives

Mix ranch dressing with cream cheese and spread on 4 flour tortillas.  Sprinkle with cheese, add chopped chicken, bacon, and chives and top with more cheese and top with another tortilla.  Bake in 350-degree oven till melty.  Cut into wedges and serve with extra Ranch dressing or BBQ sauce.  Tortilla chips and salsa along fruit finish this meal beautifully.  

this was a winner in our house - everyone really liked them and I hope you do too!!!!  : )

Well, I started this when there was just a glimmer of light in the eastern sky.  Now the sun is up and from what our forecast says, it's going to be a gorgeous weekend - in the 50's today, in the 60's tomorrow!!!!  That's amazing for around here.  So I bid you goodbye for now and I hope and pray that all of you can enjoy your day.  God bless and thank you for taking the time to drop by for a visit - I really do appreciate it.  

just showing off the Easter cactus again - it never fails to amaze me.  : )