Nostalgia

 : a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition

NOSTALGIA

Oh my! My cousin just sent me a forward about Woolworths!

I wondered who to send this to - who would actually remember eating at a Woolworth's.


Isn't it fun just to receive an e-mail that doesn't make you crazy but just brings back good memories?
 
 
Well, I'm definitely one of those! I immediately wrote him and told him (his momma and my Grandma Vivien were sisters) that I have such fond and happy memories of going with Grandma to Woolworths as a little girl.  Gma had red hair and so do I and I'm sure I looked like her little Mini-Me marching in right behind her.
 

This is a store that looked very similar to the one we went to.

 

 She would put me at the counter

 
and order me a milkshake and then proceed to get her "goodies". Imagine back then being able to leave and shop a few feet away and not have your child abducted.  Oh the joy I felt watching them make that milkshake. The stainless steel cup, the machine that mixed it, and then it was poured in a tall chilled glass cup with a tall spoon and a straw. 

 
 Before I knew it Gma would be back to collect me and we would go check out and off we would go. I couldn't wait to visit her again so we could have our special time at Woolworths!
 

AHHHHHHH sweet memories....

Just Another Day!

Today is my birthday...my 51st birthday! I'm not one to get too hung up on the numbers...what can you really do about it anyway! AND who really cares!
Now when my class asks how old I am and I tell them, they say with gusto, exclamation marks, and utter shock...."WOW! That is really old!" And I generally reply, "Yes it is, now sit and get ready for Math." And life goes on.

Last year was an awesome birthday, my hubby and I were in Turks and Caicos and on my 50th, we took scuba diving lessons and went on 2 dives. Then we went out for a beautiful dinner at a French restaurant where they sang to me and brought me a cake. I also met a woman from Russia who was celebrating her 50th as well. My hubby was a little embarrassed as I barged over to her table and introduced myself!  HA!

Well, anyway, that was a great one...a memorable one.  And today is wonderful too.  All 3 of my baby girls are home.  My son in law is here. But my baby boy (24) is missing.  He is hard at work running his race horses in Iowa.  But I think he will be home tomorrow.  Tonight we went out to eat for my birthday and then home to watch Z's races tonight on the computer.  Do I gamble? No. Do I bet? No.  Do I enjoy watching him? YES!

So my BIRTHDAY message is to embrace EVERY day.  Even those birth DAYS.  Every day is a blessing! Some bring pure joy and happiness and others bring trial and tribulations. But this too shall pass!

I was surprised with such wonderful things today. My sis in law JamJar for the birthday towel! She bought that for me on our June trip to Estes Park and I made her save it until Sept.  I had honestly forgot about it until she mailed it to me! It was a surprise that made me squeal. My girls got me beautiful things.  They each know my tastes and likes.  I really appreciate their thoughtfulness.

Auntie J gave me this cute towel.

Thank you for all my goodies!

My Jan and Marcia

Momma and her girls

Ha-wee Beth and Mom eating yummy Mexican food

Mom and Dad

 DQ ice cream cake!!

 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 1

Thank you God for this beautiful happy day.  I'm so grateful for my family and my momma and for all my blessings that you continue to shower me with every day.  My heart is filled with gratitude.  Thank you for another day that recognizes celebrating another year. May I live each day for you and let your light shine so that someday I will reach that place you have prepared. In Jesus name, Amen.

Partners!!

In my classroom we do alot of cooperative learning!  We do alot of "partnering". Some days it works...some days....well we still give it a  try!  Experts say "children learn better that way!" Well, sometimes I would love those "EXPERTS" to come in my room for 7 hours a day/5 days a week to see "How's It Working For Ya?"  (By the way...that's one of my favorite quotes....got that one from Dr. Phil!  Use it quite often!)  So one of the things I do is give them "partner names" to determine who reads/who talks /who writes/who sharpens the pencil/who passes out the papers/etc. Oh yes, even the most seemingly UN important thing has to be decided many times by Rock/Paper/Scissors or a Partner name! HA! 

 This week we are the Salts or Peppers!

Peanut butters or Jellys next week maybe! 

Ketchup or Mustard

Bacon or Eggs

Cookies or Milk

Batman or Robin

Well anyway, it helps keep chaos organized in a classroom most days!  But that got me to thinking about my partnership I have with my husband! We are great partners and most days we do team up pretty good like Batman and Robin the Dynamic Duo/Caped Crusaders. Some days maybe a little of Batman and Joker but not often! :0) Honestly, I'm better, I'm stronger, I'm kinder, I'm more determined, I'm a better Christian because of him.

Then I also thought of how I have a partner 100 percent of the time....24/7...always there....never leaves me!  Yep...Jesus Christ!  Now that's a partnership!  There are times when I let my partner down or I drift away or sometimes I neglect and forget to talk to him....but HE never does that to me.  He is always there when I beg forgiveness and get my focus back.   He never leaves me!

And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28.20
 
So....I'm compiling a list of "Partners"! Who do you see you and your hubby as?

Are you:
 
June and Ward Cleaver
Carol and Mike Brady
George and Martha Washington
George and Laura Bush
Rhett and Scarlett
Ken and Barbie
Sonny and Cher
Lancelot and Guenivere
Mickey and Minnie

Oh, please be creative...don't limit yourself to this list!!!
 

I haven't asked my husband that question!  Maybe I don't want to know!  We'll just keep plodding on through life together....one "crime" at a time!

 

Prairie Flower Farm Apron!!

I had to show my latest "therapy" project! I did it watching a football game one night!  A few weeks ago I bought a $2.99 white apron.  I decided I'd put Prairie Flower Farm Linda's adorable pattern "Lilly and her Chicks" on it! Don't look close....I'm sure there are boo boos!! I will think of sweet Linda everytime I put it on! But I'll probably stitch it on a tea towel as well.  So THANK YOU Linda for the cute cute pattern!! I can't wait for the Winter Thyme Block Pattern!! :0)

What a beautiful weather weekend in our area!! OOOHHHH I think I want this year round!  I talked to a friend in the grocery store and we were saying how we dread the cold frosty icy winter coming our way. The weeks where you hole up and never get much Vitamin D. We couldn't figure out WHY we stay in Kansas if we dread it so much! HA! But Fall is lovely right now!
So I have been putting up the Fall goodies around the house.  I'm loving reading what all my blog friends do to SAVOR Fall.

Bought this tin tub for Lacey's wedding programs cheap at one of my favorite stores in our town ... NICE AS NEW...adorable stuff!!

Working on getting my mantle done

Found this chair again at my little shop....Cheap!

Strategic move on my part....EVERYONE in my family (not me!) likes to dump their shoes right by the staircase in the kitchen, or right inside the front door, or all over the floor in just about any room. (Big pet peeve of mine....shoes everywhere....bigger pet peeve.....they can't even put them side by side neatly! ARGHHHHHHH!)  It looks like a mess all the time! Soooooooo....Momma cured that! I put a chair there!  It's WORKING! 

Working on FALL outdoors too!!

How about you? Any pics to inspire me and make me oohhhh and aaahhh?

It was a great Lord's Day!! My brother in law spoke today on Matthew 6.

19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Verse 34 is one of Haley and I's favorite....we figure we have enough on our plate today!! Forget tomorrow!!

My other brother in law led songs that were so praiseful to God.
What a glorious way to start the week!!

God is Good!

 

Word of the week at our house: Contentment!

Oh Sweet SATURDAYS...

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 20:8

Ever wondered WHO created the NAMES of the days of the week.  God created ALL things and he spoke of the Sabbath, but the actually names Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.....hummmmm.  


Here's a little article I found on Google....

....but what about those days? Talk about weird words ... and wonderful theories. Here's a fascinating little conversation filler for you:

"The Latin names of the Planets were simple translations of the Greek names, which in turn were translations of the Babylonian names, which go back to the Sumerians.
"The Germanic version of the Latin day names has some correspondences and some differences. In English, the 1st, 2nd, and 7th days are still named after the Sun, Moon, and Saturn, respectively. The 6th day, Friday, looks like the name (Fria or Freya) of a Germanic love goddess, which would correspond to Venus (fri-, as in "friend," is a cognate of philein, "to love," in Greek), though the day is also said to be named after the goddess Frigg, who is also a goddess of love, and of the hearth (which would be Vesta rather than Venus in Rome). The 5th day, Thursday, named after Jupiter, who is a thunder god in Latin, is named after a Germanic thunder god, well known as "Thor" in Norse mythology. Tuesday is named after Tiw, a god of law, but also said to be a god of war, which would match up to Mars. Wednesday is named after the king of the gods, who was Wotan in ancient German and Odin in Norse mythology. This has no obvious correspondence to Mercury, though Odin as a god of wisdom might suggest the role of Mercury in association with learning, and in Late Antiquity with esoteric knowledge.


"The curious thing about the Latin names, clearly using the planets, is that the ancient order of the planets, rising from the Earth to the Fixed Stars, can be read off by starting with Monday and jumping every other day for two weeks: Monday (Moon), Wednesday (Mercury), Friday (Venus), Sunday (Sun), Tuesday (Mars), Thursday (Jupiter), and Saturday (Saturn). One is left with the impression that the names were assigned in a kind of code, so that the Sun would come first in the week, but then the true order of the planets could be read off nevertheless. Saturn comes both at the end of the week and at the end of planets. The day that many people consider to the the 1st day of the week, Monday, is the first planet and does begin the sequence of planets. http://www.friesian.com/week.htm "
... Doo-doo, doo-doo ... (that's meant to be 'Twilight Zone' music) Spooky, eh? If you missed the origins of the week days, here they are again:


Monday - Monandaeg or Moonday. The moon was worshipped as the wife of the sun, among other things ("daeg" means day).


Tuesday - Tiwsday or Tiwesdaeg. Tyr, god of war


Wednesday - Wodensday or Wodnesdaeg. Norse god Odin, or Wodin. Tyr's father


Thursday - Thorsday or Thunresdaeg. Thor, Norse god of Thunder


Friday - Frigsday or Frigedaeg. Norse goddess Freya. Wife of Odin, mother of Thor. Named a day after her lest she be jealous and work evil upon them


Saturday - Seternesday or Saterdaeg. Norse god Seterne; also the Roman god Saturn who presided over the sowing of the seed. His festival was Saturnalia, December 17. Because of the wildness of the revels during the festival the name has come to mean a time of wild revelry and tumult.


Sunday - Sunnandaeg, from "sunnan" meaning sun. It is regarded as a name surviving from ancient sun worship. As the Resurrection of Christ occurred on the first day of the week the early Christians began to assemble for worship on that day instead of on the Jewish Sabbath, which is Saturday.

I actually appreciate Saturdays VERY MUCH ! I cherish the Lord's Day but those Saturdays that have nothing on the calendar are awesome! Today I think is one of those. The sun is shining and the temperatures are mild. There is a slight chance of rain later but I love the rains. So of course on the agenda is laundry/dishes/cleaning/vacuming/dusting...all those musts. Grocery shopped last night!  But then there is also that list that I make all week long of  " TO DO" s.  I'm a list person and although it never ends, it does feel good to get some things crossed off. I've had my coffee and a cinnamon roll this morning and now it's time to get cracking. My list is calling me!

Thankful Thursday!

Today I am "thankful" for the opportunity that my school district and the YMCA in our community provides for 3rd graders...and particularly MY 15 - 3rd graders.  They get to have a few swimming lessons free of charge.  We go during the middle of the day for an hour and on those days I will say it is very hard to get them to concentrate much on 'Readin  'Writin  and 'Rithmatic!!! But we try! They are so excited and all smiles and bouncing off the walls. It is really funny to sit back and watch actually.  A lot of them have NEVER swam in a pool/lake/pond etc. so they are... let's say... PETRIFIED! Others are like little fish in the water that seldom come up for air.  I'm so grateful that they have the opportunity to "learn" a little bit about safety in the water and how to do the strokes and hopefully be able to take care of themself in any water situation. I tease them and tell them they have now had their "bath for the week!" I also tell them how LUCKY they are to get to do this!! I go into the "When I was 3rd grade...." stories and they just stare at me like I'm out of the prehistoric days. Yes, yes....times really change!  

*To protect privacy, I didn't share any close up pictures of the kiddos.

Another Awesome Giveaway!!

I don't have TIME to blog!! I'm having too much fun looking at and announcing EVERYONE else's great Giveaways!! :0) Dani has a great blog to check out! Click here!

Here is my fall giveaway, at least what I've gotten together so far..I will be adding a few more things tomorrow....

4 little cookbooks...two Gooseberry Patch books, and two Taste of Home books, Christmas Cookies and Candies (yum) and Party Foods

PLUS

these 3 Peace, Hope and Believe tags...as I said, I'll throw in a few other goodies tomorrow......
I don't want to make it too hard to enter....just leave a comment for one entry...if you don't have a blog, leave something where I can reach you if you win......if you mention this giveaway on your blog, make a note of that and you'll get a second entry...I will draw a name on the 30th......

Here is the additional item that will be given away.......
two Christmas ornament tags (which will be a surprise....hint, think snow) and this candle mat....

Garden of Daisies Giveaway

Jump on over to Garden of Daisies and check out this WONDERFUL Giveaway!! Love all the green!! I just love her blog!!

Hi friends! I want to say THANK YOU for following my blog! I appreciate the time you take out of your busy lives to read my posts and leave comments. I have enjoyed getting to know you over these past months. You really mean a lot to me.

A Day For Prayer!

September 11, 2001

This is a day Americans pull together.

But everyday should be.

This is a day Americans will always remember. And everyday we do.

This is a day to pray.  And everyday we do... "pray without ceasing" 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Every day is a day to praise God and know that he IS God.

Psalm 46:10  Be still and know that I am God.

Country Girl at Home Giveaway !

FALL GIVEAWAY!!!

Tammy at Country Girl at Home is having the cutest giveaway!  Such adorable and awesome Fall stuff!! I just love it! Go over and see her and check out her blog!  She is such a sweet Christian momma and wife!

Fall is in the Air!

Open those windows and let that autumn breeze in! Isn't sleeping with the windows open the best? (Well, maybe not if you have allergies!) Our household is pretty lucky with allergies not affecting us too badly so I'm always trying to get the windows open and get the AC off! The other night I didn't get much sleep with listening to the coyotes howl in the timber, a cat fight, dogs barking in the distance, the wooden wind chimes blowing in the breeze on the deck, etc.  I had forgotten the "night sounds" since all summer the house has been "closed up".  The smell of fresh air blowing in from OUTSIDE is the best! But then there are those wonderful smells INSIDE too! Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin coffee beans to grind, and CoffeeMate Pumpkin Spice Creamer!!! I'm getting on a pumpkin kick, can you tell? And how about  the candles!!! Oh my! Anything fall/autumn scented wins my heart! I got a great Yankee Candle flyer in the mail today to ooh and aah over!

And a great new candle I found at Bath and Body was the new LEAVES scent!

Even a Fall rain is wonderful!  I'm not talking a horrendous house shaking storm, just a gentle pitter- patter rain to soothe a body to sleep!  

God has given us so many simple daily blessings to just enjoy every day! Can you only imagine what HEAVEN will be like!! 

Ephesians 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Prairie Flower Farm Giveaway

Jump on over and see Linda for a fun giveaway she is hosting!! She is such a sweet lady and you will love her AND her blog!

Surprise!!!!!!!!! A Celebrating Home Party!
I am home for two days...........Yea!!!!!!!!!

Prairie Flower Farm is going to have a party this week. I need some fun in my life!

Football MANIA~

To me, today signals the start of football season! YIKES! 

Don't get me wrong...I love football! Our family loves football. My husband has played 5th grade football all the way through college football for the KU Jayhawks...

and then as if that wasn't enough of the pigskin life, he has been a head coach for Junior High and High School for 22 years. He coached our son as quarterback for 4 years and that was his biggest thrill. He "RETIRED" from it in 2005 and this year sprung it on the fam that he is going to get back into it! So we are now back in the mode of Friday night football games, Saturday football on TV or going to a college game (Yea! K-State Wilcats (daughters/son in law college!),

Sunday football (Yea! KC Chiefs!)

and then of course Monday night football! 

We have also added Texas Longhorns to our list of teams to watch (Haley's beau Cody is a HUGE fan! They are on the priority list today!)

 I'm NOT knowledgeable about all the stats and rankings of all the college and pro teams. But I do enjoy watching! It's just part of the FALL season!  I have had to let go of the sweet taste of summer! There is just a change in the air outside that signals Fall has arrived.  It's crisp and clean!  The smells are wonderful, the colors are lovely, and the weather is refreshing!

Today we are all enjoying the day! A Walmart run, projects to do, mowing to do, and maybe some cooking and baking on the agenda to go along with those football games on TV!!

And the best part of this weekend for me~~~~~ LABOR DAY!! A day off! YES! 

How about your family?  Does football play a part in your fall?  And who will you be cheering for?

Have a great weekend and enjoy!!