“Instant” Oatmeal

Ingredients: Quick cooking Quaker Oats, brown sugar, raisins, cinnamon.

Optional: nuts, dried apples, dried cranberries, shredded coconut . . .

Mix together in plastic container and you’ve got oatmeal to go!

When you’re ready for breakfast, fill a coffee mug 1/2 full of the oatmeal mix. Add water to cover, then microwave for about 45 seconds on “hi.” So easy! So QUICK! So good for you!

So much better and so much less expensive than this:

Like I used to say to my kids, "Be good, don't fight!, eat breakfast!

Love, Kathi

Why is it SO hard to get a good photo of this dog!?

   

Perhaps it’s because Nugget just won’t be still.  Unless he has his “stegasaurus.” 

Hobby Lobby Sale!

I went to Hobby Lobby for the first time yesterday.  Good thing it’s not close to me!  I had a 25% off coupon, but today there’s a 40% off coupon!  This is one place I really need to stay away from!  There’s a Michael’s Art and Craft store not too far from me.  Need to stay out of there too!  I have enough '”stuff” here already to open my own store!

Hallelujah! Jesus Loves You!

History, mythology, and art are filled with stories and images that speak of the beauty and majesty of the elegant white flowers. One of the most famous Biblical references is in the Sermon on the Mount, when Christ said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Often called the "White-Robed Apostles Of Hope," lilies are said to have been found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ's agony. At Easter time, Churches bank their altars and surround their crosses with masses of Easter Lilies, to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and hope of life everlasting.

The pure white lily has long been associated with womanhood, too. In early paintings, the Angel Gabriel is pictured extending a branch of pure white lilies to the Virgin Mary, announcing that she is to be the mother of the Christ Child. In other paintings, saints are pictured bringing vases full of white lilies to Mary and the infant Jesus. Tradition has it that when Eve left the Garden of Eden she shed real tears of repentance, and from those remorseful tears sprung up lilies. The spiritual principle held here is that true repentance is the beginning of beauty.

A mark of purity and grace throughout the ages, the regal white lily is a fitting symbol of the greater meaning of Easter. Gracing millions of homes and churches, the flowers embody joy, hope and life. Whether given as a gift or enjoyed in your own home, the Easter lily serves as a beautiful reminder that Easter is a time for rejoicing and celebrating.

I found this beautiful discussion this morning online. Click on the word “lilies" for the link. The photo is from Flicker.

Hope you have a wonderful Easter Day, filled with hope and the promise of the Resurrection.

Blessings, Kathi

Ribbons and Windows

Here’s the king-sized bed skirt I found on craigslist!  The little flowers are RED. I’m going to pick it up this afternoon.  For $7 (yep, that’s seven dollars!)  I think it will be the perfect thing to dress up the white sheets I’m going to use to make drapes for my living room!  Now I’m looking for some ribbon trim to finish them off.

 

I love grosgrain ribbon!  Look at all of the pretty colors!

This ribbon is just adorable!  Not the right colors for my curtains, but I love it!  I’ll probably use either red or green grosgrain instead…  Does anyone know if grosgrain ribbon is colorfast?

 

Too plain.

This is more like it!  Love the little ties at the top!

Or maybe something like this?

This is pretty too.

 

From www.landofnod.com

Aren’t these just the cutest rods?  I bought some cheap rods with leaves on the ends.  I think they need little birds like this!?  They are gold too.  Looks like there might be more spray painting going on here again!

Hope you have a blessed Easter weekend.

Love,  Kathi

Coloring My World

I’ve been so busy these past few days I haven’t taken time to post. I have been following my favorite blogs and have enjoyed reading how everyone is sprucing up their nests for spring.

I’m recovering from a day of spray painting on Saturday. I wish I had taken “before” pictures and I should have worn a mask! I’m sure my neighbors thought I was crazy out there in the driveway with my two huge drop cloths and 8+ cans of spray paint!

I'm not sure how to do the linky thing but please check out the "Spring Fling" below to see all of the wonderful ideas from our blogging friends!

http://www.thedecoratingvoice.org/2009/03/it-decorating-spring-fling.html

I painted my dining room chairs RED, two little step stools and a child’s chair BLUE. Then I gathered up my “new” birdcage and stand, two frames that will soon be inspiration boards, a cute little shelf, a duck, some pretty rose curtain hangers, a wooden napkin holder, a smaller birdcage and huge mirror frame and sprayed them all WHITE!

I also painted a little table GREEN. I found it at a garage sale and looks just like one from Maine Cottage! It will look so pretty with one of the glass knobs I’ve collected on its little drawer!

While I’m waiting for the paint to cure and deciding where to display all of my thrifty stuff, I’m thinking about painting my bedroom furniture too! Should I go with a sage or light olive green? Maybe white would be better? If I paint it green, then I’ll have to paint the walls. What color should they be? White or a pale blue?

Maine Cottage Inspiration

Decisions decisions. Thankfully, there are enough colors in the rainbow for everything! Hope you have a beautiful and colorful week!

Blessings, Kathi

What's For Dinner?

For me, dinner was a drive through this evening. Too lazy to cook and too hungry to wait. Was I really that hungry? Did I really need to eat junk, or eat anything at all, for that matter?

There are many people, maybe right next door to you, who had nothing for dinner tonight. Perhaps they've lost their job, have no money and can't go out and get anything to eat? Maybe they go to sleep hungry and wonder where their next meal will come from? There are children who's parents can't afford to buy food and depend on the schools to feed their kids. This isn't something that happens only in inner cities. It happens in our own neighborhoods.

Thankfully, there is a way we can help. Tomorrow is a day set aside to remember those less fortunate than ourselves. Tomorrow is April Food Day!




Right here in Alabama the statistics are enlightening. AL Food insecurity rate 12.1 % Population 4,627,851 Poverty rate 14.5 % Child poverty rate 22.5 % Unemployment rate 7.8 %.

I'm sure they are comparable in other parts of the country too. The child poverty rate is what alarms me. So many poor and so many hungry children. They especially need our help.

I had a hot fudge sundae for dessert tonight. I'll have coffee in the morning and oatmeal for breakfast. I'm thankful for what God is providing for me. I pray that you too are grateful.

If you are able to share and able to give, please go to http://feedingamerica.org/ to make a donation. Just $1 will buy 7 meals or 10 lbs of food for someone who really needs it.

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in daily need of food, and one of you say to him, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled" and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?"

James 2:15

This is a photo I took from the Vulcan right here in downtown Birmingham. Sometimes it's hard to see the people in need, but they are there. So tomorrow, before you say "April Fools" to someone, say "today is April Food Day, will you help?"

Blessings, Kathi

http://aprilfoodday.blogspot.com/

William Morris

I was chatting with my daughter yesterday about cleaning and decorating.  She recently cleared off her bookshelves and only put back things that were blue or green.  She mentioned my Easter decorations.  I told her that I had enough for my house and hers’ too!

She declined my offer, saying that she likes her tables and shelves clear of clutter and prefers them empty.  I guess she is doing her own kind of “nesting.”  She likes plain white bedding, smooth tables and simple neutral furniture. 

Mom, on the other hand, loves details!Collections, found treasures and family heirlooms.  I like color too.  Lots of color!  My daughter’s living room is painted white with dark wood trim.  She likes that.  I would have gone in there and painted up a storm!

I think we each have our own way of making our houses our “home.”  I love this quote by William Morris:

My daughter and I have been doing this.  You should too.

Blessings,  Kathi

Testing Windows Live Writer

 

Well, I rounded the corners of this photo, cool.  What should I try next?  Add a tag?

Technorati Tags: ironing,mess,my space,room

 

 

 

Insert a map?  I’m really here but wish I was here!

Wish I was HERE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not really sure what I’m doing, but so far it looks like fun!?  I’ve got to figure out how to move photos around!  That’s been my biggest complaint with Blogger.  I deleted the word verification on my blog so feel free to come on over and comment!

Thanks Rhoda, for the inspiration again!  Hope you have wonderful time at the beach!  ANY DAY at the BEACH is a GREAT DAY!

Childhood Memories

I've been working in my office/craft room today.

I've been moving furniture in and out, cleaning,rearranging and listening to my Playlist while I worked.


I was going full speed ahead until I sat down to organize a little pile of books.
I found "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson, copyright 1919 by J.B. Lippincot Company. The illustrations are so beautiful!

I also found "The Tale of Master Meadow Mouse" by Arthur Scott Bailey, copyright 1921 by Grosset & Dunlap, and "Mrs. Wiggs Of The Cabbage Patch" by Alice Caldwell Hegan, copyright 1901 by The Century Company, and many others. I'm so thankful that my mother kept these for me and any future grandchildren I may have!

My mother and grandmother read to me a lot when I was a child. These books are some of my favorites. They are very old and very worn. I'm so thankful to have found them again today.

As I sat on the floor and carefully turned the pages I was carried away to a beautiful place. A place where I sailed boats of leaves down the stream behind our house. Where I sat my little gray stuffed kitty on the tree swing. I wasn't allowed to have a cat when I was growing up. I have two kitties now.

I remembered my pretty yellow bedroom with white priscilla curtains that floated in the breeze, all of my treasures tucked away in secret hiding places. My watercolors, crayons, plain white paper and colored construction paper, scissors and glue. I have these things beside me now for whenever I feel creative.

Not much of my childhood was happy or peaceful but just picking these books up and reading them again brought back the child within. I think I'd like to stay here for a while. . .

Blessings,
Kathi