Can Ya? Could Ya? Would Ya?

Ok, here’s another unique/unusual post for ya.  I’m wondering if I could solicit your help on something.


On October 29th my Mom is going to be 90 years old!!!  Can you believe it???  No one thinks she looks 90!!!  In fact, in 2005 – when she was 85 years old she had open heart surgery.  When she was returned to her room, these are the things we heard from the nurses (now keep in mind – she was STILL hooked up to all the tubes and machines!!):

-  Are you SURE she is 85?  There is NO way she is that old!

-  What does she use on her skin?  We’ve never seen someone that old with such beautiful skin!  (BTW – that was one of the first questions they asked her.  What does she use?  Dove!!  Hahaha!  She should be in a commercial!!) (Almost anyone that meets mom believes that she is in her 70s.) 

Mom’s only concern at that time was getting better and getting back home to take care of Dad who was in the midst of his “long good-bye”.  They had been married for 64 years, and Dad, as always, was Mom’s number one priority.  The final 4 years of their marriage were especially difficult on her as she devoted herself to his care.  

Last year Dad went home to be with the Lord, and after almost 69 years together, Mom was on her own.  She has done really well.  She moved out of the retirement cottage they had shared, into a beautiful apartment in the same facility, and has gotten involved in many activities around the Village.  It’s funny that at 90 years old, she is more active now than she has been in years.  She loves going to the coffee shop every day to meet with all her friends, and every evening they meet for dinner in the dining room.  If you were to go to the grocery store with her you would be hard put to keep up with her.  She loves to go “gallivanting” with us, and keeps up just fine!!  There are four of us girls, and, to be quite frank, Mom is in better health than all of us!!

Mom is TRULY my best friend.  We talk almost every day  She is the first person (after my husband of course) that I want to go to when I have problems and just need to talk. 

So what in the world does this have to do with YOU or this blog???  Welllllllll, as I said, Mom’s birthday is on the 29th of this month.  We have quite a day planned out for her (all a BIG SURPRISE of course).  We plan to start the day with the delivery of flowers – at 9:00 am – then we will do something every 90 minutes throughout the day.  Some of the things are simple – such as a heart-shaped box with 90 Hershey “Hugs and Kisses”.  At one point we are going to give her a box filled with cards and notes.  Today I got to thinking that it would be REALLY COOL if we could give her 90 cards from old friends or perfect strangers.  How awesome would that be to receive e-mail messages or cards from all over the country – most of them from people you don’t even know???  I know it would mean so much to her!

This is where YOU come in!!!!  Can ya? Could ya? Would ya? be willing to be one of those old friends or perfect strangers?  Would you be willing to send her an e-mail message... or even a card (via ME) to put in the box for her?  I can’t tell you how excited we would be to present her with such a unique gift. 

If you want to participate, could you please send an e-mail message to me?  (If you want to participate with a card, just let me know and I will reply with my address so I can collect them all for her special day.)  Those messages should be sent to:  DScott585@woh.rr.com.  Mom’s name is Carolyn Farnsworth, so those notes can be addressed to her.  If you don't mind, can you please include what state or part of the country you are from, I think that will make it even more interesting.  (I've already had one from Canada, and one from Germany... how cool is that???!!!!)

As I said, I know this is an unusual request, but hopefully it will be a lot of fun to participate in something that will bring joy to someone who has been such a source of joy to others for 90 years!!! 

REMEMBER… 90 notes/cards from 90 people. 
You want to be one of those people???

DScott585@woh.rr.com

Blessings to you all!!!!

UPDATE 10/16/10:

A few people have already jumped on the bandwagon by sending me e-mail messages to pass on to Mom.  The first one to repond was Mel from Junkin' Junky.  In fact, she even took it one step further by posting a little note and link back to me on her own blog.  That was SO sweet of her to think of doing that.  (BTW - she has an great Blog, so please go check her out... Junkin' Junky)  If you would like to do the same thing (in order for me to ultimately get 90 responses), that would be awesome! (I should have thought of this request sooner!!!)  I'm designing some pretty paper to print the messages on for her.  WAHOO... I'm even having people participate by having their kids make cards for Mom... she is going to LOVE this!!!!!

SO FAR WE HAVE:  6 0  Messages for Mom

Mandy over at "Sugar Bee-Craft Edition" and Sherry at "Southern Girl Creations" are being kind enough to let me post this information on their sites.  Please go check them out!

 

FINAL UPDATE

WE DID IT!!!!!!! I now have OVER 90 messages/cards for Mom!! Thank you to everyone who responded to my request. Special thanks to Sherry (Southern Girl Creations) who went out of her way to help reach that goal!! (She took cards into work and had people sign them AND also had co-workers send me e-mail messages.)


THANKS AGAIN! Be sure to check back for pictures and an update on Mom's special day!!

It's MY Blog...

Yep, it's my blog, so I figure I can depart from my usual postings and talk about whatever I want to - something that is so close to my heart.

As many of you have experienced, being a Grandma is one of the greatest joys every.  There is such a difference between having your own children, and then having grandchildren.  You can't really understand it until you actually BECOME a grandparent.  Yep, you can love 'em, feed 'em all the sugar you want, then send 'em home to let their parents deal with 'em!!  LOL  Anyway, this little buddy has been, and always will be the delight of this Grandma's heart...

This is my Grandson, Noah...

 Who wouldn't love a little face like this?

 This is my daughter and Noah.

Noah with Mommy and Daddy.

Grandpa and Noah... 

Great Grandma (or "GG") Grandma, and Noah.

(Can you believe GG is going to be 90 the end of this month !!!???)

Uncle Jason and Noah.  I think the admiration is mutual... they adore each other! 

What a little show-off! 

AND goofy!!! 

Isn't he just the cutest little boy ever!!!!?? 

Well, it's not going to be long and Noah will have to share the spotlight...

 



because he's going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!!!

W A H O O !!!!!

Yep!  In April we will become grandparents to our second grandchild.  Just as we did when Angela was pregnant with Noah, we are praying daily for this little one.  We pray for an uneventful pregnancy, and that he/she will be healthy and happy.  We thank the Lord for blessing Matt and Angela, and our entire family, with the promise of this little one, and can't wait until we are able to hold him or her in our arms. 

CONGRATULATIONS MATT & ANGELA

(The countdown begins!!)



I'VE BEEN FEATURED!!

I am so excited to tell you that my "Paris Inspired Entry" blog posting has been featured!!!!!  And what better place to be featured for a "Paris Inspiration" than by "Le Chateau des fleurs by Frenchy"????


 As a fairly new blogger, still trying to learn the "ins and outs" of blogging, linking up parties, waiting for new "followers", and getting thrilled when someone leaves a new comment, it means a LOT to have someone like your project enough to feature you.  So a BIG  "Thank You Frenchy"  for seeing something of value in my post and sharing it with all your followers!!

UPDATE:  OH MY GOODNESS... Is this my lucky day or what???  I had no more than published this post when I received an e-mail from "LambAround" thanking me for linking up to "Not "Baaad" Sundays with LambAround ".  She then told me to stop by her blog again because she had left me "a little surprise".  Guess what... she featured my Paris Inspired Entry as well.  WAHOO!!!!  Thanks for featuring me... I get to display another button!!  :-)

Oh oh… That was NOT good!!!!

After a long, hard day at work, I came home and decided to take on the task of painting some furniture that has been calling my name.  The weather was perfect – something we will not see for much longer.  The days are getting shorter, and soon it will be to cold to paint, so I figured I better take advantage of a good day when I had it.  Sooooo, hubs helped me cart out several pieces of furniture to my beloved “painting booth”.  You remember the “painting booth”… right!!???

It’s been a while since I’ve been out there... a lot of leaves have fallen and there have been a few storms, but it was pretty much still intact.  I realized that it was a stroke of genius to have my netting roof.  It has not only been catching the leaves all this time, but it kept the leaves from falling on my projects as I was painting today.  Yep!  I’m pretty darn smart!

 

So here are some of the things I painted today…

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Two end tables, and one coffee table.  All were being painted black.  Oh baby… they were looking great!!!  Yes, that’s the Hubs helping me.  He’s being pretty helpful with all these projects.  He helps with set up, carries out the stuff I’m painting, and even likes to grab the paint gun from me occasionally.  Ok, so the “carrying” part is where the “oh, oh” comes in.  Like I said, the pieces were looking GREAT!  Nice smooth paint job with great coverage… couldn’t wait for the day they would be finished and put in my family room.

Welllllll, it was getting late, dusk was setting in, and before long the dew would begin to cover everything outside, so Hubs and I decided that we best get our butts in motion and move our freshly painted (yes, they were dry to the touch) items back into the house.  Perhaps the one negative thing about having the paint booth back in the woods is that it’s not always easy to move the piece back to the house.  That was the case today.  Oh my, that coffee table was a lot heavier than I thought it was!!!!  However, we set about the task of carrying it into the house… getting a firm grip on the table we carefully proceeded across the back yard, up the hill, and around the side of the house.  Whew… this thing was getting heavier by the minute second.  Let’s stop and rest just a moment.  Ohhhhh, my aching back!!  Ok, enough of the resting, let’s get this baby into the house.  We picked it up… although I didn’t seem to have quite as good of a grip on it this time.  As we proceeded around to the front of the house (in order to go in the front door) it started to wobble just a little.  Then…

“ooooooooh nooooooooo…

that was NOT good!!!!”

Yep, you guessed it… we dropped it!!!!  No, not on the legs, and no, not in the grass.  The whole thing flipped over – on to it’s top, right on top of our stone edging. 

Well, it wasn’t going to help to cry, so we just picked it up (wait, let me rephrase that… HUBS picked it up) and carried it into the house.  I mean at this point, he wasn’t really going to mess up the paint job was he!!!???  The nice, smooth paint job now looks like this…

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So what’s the solution?  Well, something I was trying to decide anyway… make a cushion to go on top of the table and make it into an ottoman instead.  So I guess my project is just a little farther from being done than I thought.  Have to go find some foam and fabric, gather all my supplies, and turn this baby into a lovely ottoman.  Sometimes projects don’t turn out quite the way we originally plan, but every good DIY blogger can turn those lemons into lemonade.  Can’t wait to show you the final project – when I get the time to do it that is!!!

"Devotions From Dad" (Message #11 – Prayerless Disciples)

If you have not previously read the reason for these postings, please go here so you can start at the beginning.

MESSAGE #11

Delivered on Aug 22, 1943 at Centerline Baptist Church

PRAYERLESS DISCIPLES

Matthew 26:36-46

INTRODUCTION:
We have been trying to place before you during the last three weeks the value and power of prayer. We have looked at the pattern of prevailing prayer. Last week we saw the power of agonizing prayer. There is no basis for doubt in prayer – God has said it, and that should settle it. Prayer answers should be as positive as life itself. Last week we saw a praying, powerful church. Now we shall look at sleeping, prayerless, disciples. The scene is the garden of Gethsemane. The time: The evening before the crucifixion. The events leading up to this setting were stupendous. They had just come from the upper room where the Lord had instituted the Lord’s supper. There he had again warned them of the coming persecution and his death. As he had handed them the cup he had said, “This is my blood which is shed for you.” Then he had taken the bread and said, “This is my body which is broken for you.” Then, “As oft as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup, ye do show forth my death until I come.” Then he led them out into the night and into the garden and there he confessed his agony and said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” That tremendous events were to take place was certain. To the very Son of God himself they were so tremendous that he must spend time in prayer to the Father, but the poor, stumbling, failing disciples, slept. In these prayerless disciples we see three lessons and I pray that they might be so impressed upon you that you will never forget them.

I.  IT IS THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE

Praying is one of the hardest things to do. You’ll find that you can find time for everything else but prayer. Prayer takes time, energy, and pains. The greatest men of the world have been men who lived a great prayer life. Not just spending a few minutes each day in prayer, but spending hours upon hours until God heard and answered. Such prayer as this carries with it the greatest blessings that God can bestow upon man.

The lack of prayer and also lack of power can be attributed to laziness on your part and following the path of least resistance. It is not that you don’t want the power and blessings and results that go with prayer; but it is simply that you don’t want to pay the price. So with these disciples… their spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. As a Christian you want to see this church grow, you want to see souls saved, you want unsaved husbands saved, but alas the weakness of the flesh is too great and so you stay away from prayer meetings; neither do you spend time at home. The day of fasting and prayer that has been called is not expected to be a day of ease. It will mean you will have to forsake your dinner and the pangs of pain may creep into your stomach. The knees are going to ache from being on the hard floor so much. The joints of the legs are going to stiffen. But to those who dare to come out and claim the promises of God, there will be the greatest blessings of God upon you. Oh, I know you can take the path of least resistance and make all kinds of excuses as to why you can’t be here. Perhaps some relatives are coming over – but you’ve known about this for a month and you could ask them to come the following Sunday. Sure the children need to have something to eat, but you can to home and get them something and then hasten back. Before anything can be accomplished for Christ, it must be proceeded in prayer. Before Christ entered upon His ministry He spent forty days in fasting and prayer in the wilderness. Before He chose His twelve disciples, we read, “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” When Saul and Barnabas were separated unto the task that God had for them they did so in prayer. (Acts 13:3) One of the marks of a Christian is that they pray. (Acts 9:11) May it not be said of you that “The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.” Determine by the grace and for the glory of God that you will overcome the weak flesh.

II.  IT IS THE PATH OF LURKING TEMPTATIONS

Prayer will keep you from temptations. “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.” Many Christians are failing in their Christian life and are constantly falling into sin because they do not take everything to God in prayer. “Casting all your cares upon Him for He careth for you.”

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.

Oh the pity of it all; instead of victors, victims. Look at these same disciples just a short time afterward (Matt. 26:56, and Peter 26:58). Peter and all of the disciples could have escaped this shameful recording if they had spent the hours in prayer that Christ did. (Luke 22:32)

III.  IT IS THE PATH OF LOST OPPORTUNITY

“Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” Beloved, are you guilty of betraying Jesus Christ? Are you giving Him over into the hands of sinners. Someone has said that, “The devil trembles when he sees the weakest child of God on his knees.” This is not a time of sleeping, but a time of labor. Work for the night is coming when man works no more. Redeeming the time for the days are evil. Sleep on now: Those unsaved husbands have gone to an eternal hell. Sleep on now: Those boys and girls who you could have led to Christ are in the devil’s hands. That church which could have been such a great power in the community, all lost. Those disciples would have given anything in the days to follow if they had only spent that time in prayer instead of sleep. AH, BUT SLEEP ON NOW, the opportunity is lost. These disciples learned their lesson, but at a great cost – may YOU profit by it. Acts 1:14.

SLEEP ON NOW

Sleep on now

The day of conflict is o’re,

Sleep on now

Your safe on eternities shore.

Sleep on now

Your hour on earth is done

Sleep on now

There’s a task left – that was never begun.

Sleep on now

But there’s a soul crying out in hell:

“God curse the sleeper

That pretended to be

A child of thine, but

Never prayed for me.

He could have warned me

Of this awful place

He could have pleaded

And sought Thy face,

But prayer seemed such a waste of time

He lived his life; I lived mine.

And now; O now it is to late,

My heart is only filled with hate

For one who had so much to do

He couldn’t spare the time

To pray for me to you.

Sleep on now! Sleep on.”

By Kenneth G. Farnsworth

August 21, 1943

I'VE BEEN FEATURED!!!!!

I am BEYOND excited right now!!!!  (Oh baby, I'm gonna have a hard time sleeping tonight!!!)  As I previously told you, I just recently redid my blog (all by myself mind you!!!).  The graphics that I used came from "Jaguar Woman".  I have used her graphics for a number of years now, but this is my first try at creating a blog background using these graphics.  Once I completed my new blog I sent her a quick note to let her know how I had used the graphics and invited her to check it out.  Well she immediately responded by telling me how much she loved it and said she wanted to feature it in her "Customer Showcase" as well as putting my info in her monthly newsletter.  Well, today her monthly newsletter was released, and WAHOO... THERE I AM!!!!!!    This is what she had to say...

I've got another customer to show off in my Customer Showcase:  Debbie Scott, of "I-Do-Designs" . Debbie artfully used one of my products to design her blog, where she advertises her own clever and creative real-world designs for custom gifts and home decor.  Please visit my Customer Showcase to read about her creative business and see how she used Jaguarwoman graphics to design her blog/website.

I would LOVE for you to go to her website to not only see what she had to say about me, but to check out her unbelievable graphics as well!!!!  http://www.jaguarwoman.com/jagcustomer.html  

I've been featured on: 

Paris Inspired Entry

I am SO excited to F-I-N-A-L-L-Y be able to start sharing some DIY and redecorating projects with you! Seems like it’s been “all work” and “no play” up to this point.

This first project is one that I have had in my head for months. Do you have projects like that? You get a really good deal on something, and dream about ways you can use it? Well MONTHS ago I picked up these beauties at a Boy Scout sale close to our home.  I saw ONE of these windows out of the crate and asked the gentleman there how much it was.  He pointed to the crate and said “how about $5?”  I said, “for the whole crate???”  He said, “sure, does that seem fair?”  Well, fair for who??????  It certainly was “fair” for me, but I think they lost out on the deal!!!  I could hardly whip out $5 fast enough.  There were FOUR windows in the crate!!!  That means each window was only $1.25 each!!!  WAHOO!!!  My only regret is that I didn’t buy the other crate!!!!  (The picture of the windows in the crate looks a little weird because it was raining and the paper between was wet.)  Once I got the windows out to start working with them I figured out why someone had donated them.  Evidently the seal was broken and moisture had gotten between the panes of glass, leaving them a little foggy.  Obviously I wouldn’t want them “installed” in my home, but I knew they would be just fine for my purposes.
Sooooooo, after much thought about how I wanted to use them, I came up with the following project.  This is the window itself.  I decided that I was going to use three windows together and knew I wanted to put a frame around them.  I went to Lowes and selected some molding that would work as a frame.  I painted the wood then had my hubby cut them to the correct sizes.  I then gathered all my supplies.  My staple gun, clamps, and my favorite glue “E-6000”.  (I know a lot of people love Gorilla glue, but I have found that this works best for me.) 

 

 

I put a dab of glue on the corner, then secured the corner with a couple of staples. I then placed a clamp on each corner to hold it in place until the glue was completely dry. (I left it to dry for 24 hours.)

 

 

 

The next day I ran a bead of glue around the edge of the window and clamped the completed frame to the window.  Again, I let it dry for 24 hours.  Here’s the frame, and then the frame around the window.  Already looking better!

I felt that the frame needed to have an aged look to it, so I proceeded to lightly distress it and then used my Ralph Lauren glaze over it.  

  

Now for the fun part!!!!  I wanted it to appear that you were looking through the windows at one scene.  I started searching for just the right picture for the area.  I had determined that I was going to use these windows above the ledge in my entry, along with my antique bicycle.  I searched for a picture I could use and came across a painting of a scene in Paris.  The picture is actually entitled "Post office building, Paris, France, 1886"  PERFECT!!!!!!

This is where my graphic design experience comes into play… I enlarged the photo to a size that would stretch across all three windows, printed out the pieces on 12 x 18 card stock, trimmed the paper, and then taped everything together.  It took 4 sheets for each window. (Here are the four pieces for one window.)  I repeated this process for each window until I had the entire scene completed.  Oh baby… I was getting excited!!!!! 

 

   

 Only ONE little problem… I had not quite figured out how to hang these things. They were very heavy, and there was not very much wood on the edge of the windows, so we had to come up with a different solution. The solution was to use two small “L” brackets and screw them together (like this)…

Before we screwed them together we measured the space, determined placement, put mollies in the wall, and secured one side of the “L” bracket to the wall.  Once it was screwed in the other “L” bracket was attached with a small screw and nut.  It provided the perfect “holder” for the window. 

Now for the BIG REVEAL… are you ready??

I added my 1896 bicycle (that was restored by my dear hubby... I used to ride in parades in full costume), an antique picnic basked, my Victorian hat, a pair of antique binoculars, a pedestal with an arrangement that I already had, and a basket of greenery.  Oh, and while we're talking about the hubs… do you see that small ledge?  Poor guy had to stand out on the ledge and do all the installation of those windows.  Needless to say, I was glad when he was safely back on the other side of the banister.  Don’t you just LOVE the antique picture with the scene from Paris?  I think it’s PERFECT with the antique bike.  I'm not "loving" the greenery on top of the windows - still need to fix that, but I wanted to cover up the brackets holding the windows.  Here’s several other views, including a couple of views from downstairs looking up. 

 

 

 

 

 

One idea that I have for the windows is to change out the picture with the different seasons.  Wouldn’t it look beautiful to have a winter scene, or a spring garden behind the window.  I can’t say that hubby is very enthusiastic about that idea, but maybe by the time I want to change it out he will have forgotten what a pain it was to hang those things!!!!  LOL!!!!

Little bit added on here.  I just came across some pictures last night.  I decided that as long as I was highlighting my bike, I might as well include a few pictures of me and my family in my costume.  We used to ride in parades years ago... it's been a while since we've done that.

This first picture is of me in my costume along with my restored bicycle.  My Mom made this beautiful costume from an actual antique pattern.  Let me just say, that the cream-colored outfit, along with my cream-colored bicycle was quite eye-catching!!!

This is a picture of the hat that I wear. It was an antique hat to begin with, but my Mom took it and made it into a real thing of beauty!  Guess you can see where I get all my "crafting" ability can't you!!!!???!!! 

 The pictures just don't do this outfit justice!  The collar and slim portion of the sleeves, along with the buttons, are all covered with lace.

 This is my hubby and son in costume too.  My hubby rides a large high-wheel bicycle, and at that time my son rode a small high wheel. 

Golly Miss Molly - those were the days!!!

I'm linking up to:

                  

    

 

I’m really anxious to hear what you think about this project, so be sure to leave me a comment - I LOVE reading every single one!!!