~ Take heart!~

New year, and new thought, or theme, or words to live by... whatever you want to call it.....

    ~ For me, the word of my new year, or phrase of my new year is "Take Heart"

*image from Pinterest

Inspired by the following scripture:

 John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

What a wonderful and encouraging message!

 We have no need to worry or fret because our Savior and Redeemer overcame this world!

This is the year to focus on encouragement, keep on keeping on, service, a cheerful heart, a smile, a kind deed, etc.

We have been doing a whole house re~fresh. It started with the painting. We gave every wall a fresh coat of paint. Our color choice: Polar Bear, by Behr paint.

The color that was on the walls already was a soft beige color, but as we began painting, it became obvious that the soft beige color was absorbing so much light in our home, and lightening up the walls made such a huge improvement!

The above picture is the 'Before" picture...

 During: What a major difference in the color. 

We also added beadboard wainscot to the entryway.

After: 

So much more light floods through the entryway now, and everything feels so light and fresh.

With the beige walls, carpet, tile, etc.. in addition to our home having a Dutch hip roof, not all the light filtered into our home. 

Now it does!! 

We are constantly thinking that one of us left a light on.. .*smile*. 

It sure feels happy and bright now.

We really went all out, including getting new carpets.

We were going to wait a few years but decided that with all the new paint that new carpet was needed as well.

 Our previous carpet was original to the build of this house thirteen years ago and had become dingy and worn, as carpeting does. 

No matter how often I shampooed the carpet, it just never was nice a clean.

After riping up the old carpet, we found literal piles of dirt on the subfloor. I think it was from when the house was constructed, and no one thought to vacuum before the carpets were installed.....go figure!

  We also bought a new sectional.

Some friends asked for our previous living room furniture, so it worked out nicely.

We took all of the old carpeting and padding out ourselves, as the installers wanted quite a pretty penny to remove the old carpeting and padding. In some of the rooms, we had carpet coving, and so when we removed it, and after the new carpets were installed, we put in new baseboards.

One of my favorite re~fresher projects was this hoop and doilie wall. I had seen this idea and loved the sweetness of the look. Hand crocheted doilies aren't really a thing anymore, but they are so pretty, and of course, anything like doilies takes a great deal of time and the workmanship is beautiful.

For about a year now, I've been collecting various doilies with this project in mind. An acquaintance of ours had quite a few doilies her mother-in-law had made, and I was able to buy them for a good price.

I scoured the thrift stores for old wooden embroidery hoops, including a hand quilting hoop as one of the doilies was quite large.

Yep... I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. 

I still have one very, very large doilies that I need to scout out a large hand quilting hoop for.

        Next on the list... finishing the master bathroom, in addition to installing a barn door between the master bedroom and bathroom.

Lastly, I'll leave close with some nice everyday things...

Pomegranates. Once every few weeks, a man comes to town and brings produce from California. Pomegranates, oranges, avocados, etc. 

We bought one bag of poms from him and ended up with cups and cups of juicy and delicious pomegranate seeds. I froze most of them so that they wouldn't go bad.

Winter sunsets. With the cold temperatures at night, it's hard for me to remember to step outside and take a picture of the sunrise or sunset, but when I remember I am always amazed at the beauty of nature.

Homemade beeswax candles, scented with lemon cookie fragrance. 

Ocean sunset. From our kids' vacation in Florida.

 

~ New year... new opportunities! ~

 Hello friends,
Can you believe how quickly the new year is approaching?
Never in all my years, can I remember a year that has gone by as quickly as this past year.
Maybe it's getting older..... I've often heard that as we age, time goes by faster.
Hmmmm.... it's something to consider ....
I have big plans for the coming year.

 In years past I've tentativly made 'New Years' plans, or resolutions, whatever term you want to use.
But, last year I put 8 strips of paper rolled up in a tiny little bottle.
Eight resolutions for the new year.
A few days ago, I took the cork out of that tiny little bottle and I read over my goals for this past year.
Happily, I accomplished each of my eight goals!
Maybe there was a little genie magic in that little bottle!
 What ever it was, having that little bottle filled with those slips of paper was just the reminder and just the motivation that I needed to work on my goals this last year.
Guess what? Tommorrow night, I'm going to write down some new goals for the coming year on little strips of paper and put those little written reminders in my teeny little bottle.
  Just a little reminder in the coming year of the things I want to work on.

 Also, I took a few minutes and downloaded some pictures off of my little camera:
* Deer in the meadow. They are still digging through the snow and munching on a few of the pumpkins left over from Halloween.

 *Pictures snapped on the way back home from Santa Fe.
In the Monument Valley area of Utah.
Gorgeous red rocks.

 * Near Moab Utah.
Love the turquoise color of these rocks.

*Hole in the rock.
Gosh... we should have stopped.
I saw a sign here advertising  ~ Camel Rides.
Oh well.... maybe next time.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!!
Hope that this one is the best New Year yet.

~Reasons to smile today...
~The days are getting longer now, and that means more sunshine each day!  Perfect for a girl like me that is 'solar powered'!
~ Having my sweet husband home for a few weeks. Nothing better than spending time with my best friend and sweetheart!
~Buying paint and trim... getting an office and the family room re~painted and decorated. Love the fresh clean feel of a newly painted space :)

~ Little Miracles ~

New Year ~ 2015
Chalk full of possibilities.

Little miracles... sometimes daily.

Two nights ago, a sweet friend of ours passed away.
Leaving behind a wife, children and grandchildren.

Little miracles in his life happened~~ almost daily.
 His birthday was on the First on January...  on New Years day.
He passed away on the second of January.
If not for a small miracle of an extra weeks worth of antibiotics sent with his other prescriptions, he would have surely passed away before his birthday.

The antibiotics were supposed to be discontinued.. but the VA made a mistake, and sent the extra weeks worth of antibiotics with his order.
His sweet wife told me that she prayed so hard for more antibiotics. To help keep the infections in his lungs and blood from taking over.
His hospice nurse was told by the VA to go ahead, and give him one more week of the IV medications.
A small miracle .. that more than likely preserved his life for a bit longer. One last Christmas, and one last birthday.
As it was, all of his children were able to be there with him to celebrate his last birthday.  His little grandson was able to be there and kiss his cheek, and tell him 'goodbye'.
His sweet wife was able to help him say goodbye and pass away.

Just 2 months ago, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and from that moment on, until the night that he passed away, we witnessed little miracles in his life.
Tender mercies.

His testimony of our Savior had died down, and with each small miracle the flames of his testimony were fanned, and his testimony grew brighter, and brighter.
His children witnessed his renewed testimony.

It is my hope that in this new year, to look for those "little miracles".
 The little tender mercies that make life sweeter.
In sad times.... in this sad time of saying "goodbye".... continue to recognize the little miracles that make our lives sweeter.

Project Happiness

Happy New Year !!

It's wonderful to begin a shiny, brand new day, a new month,

 and a new year!

 

I have so many wishes and hopes for this new year.

I hope it's 'my year to shine'.

I say the same thing every year, and some years there are a few more downs, than ups.

A few more valleys than hills.

Never the less..... I try to stay positive.

I'm always so very grateful for all my many blessings.

 

There are many things that I'd like to accomplish in this new year.

My number one goal is to work on my "Project Happiness".

 

To work on finding that happy feeling, each day.

To work on finding ways to serve...... because service makes me happy.

 

I'm still striving to always have that "Attitude of Gratitude", and add in a huge dose of happiness.

 

My hope for each of us, is that this year is filled with much happiness.

 

 

Happy thought: "For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness"

                                                                                                    -Ralph Waldo Emerson