Pray for Tuesday

**UPDATE--Sweet Tuesday died on January 30th. She is healed now in heaven and in the arms of Jesus. Please pray for her family.

I found this on the SITS site and wanted to pass it on. Prayers for Harper have been amazing and she is doing so well. Tuesday is a twin with cancer who has been sent home from the hospital to be with her family. Click on the link on the side to go to her site and flood them with prayers please. I know there are so many in need of prayers. The children get to me, especially since our baby son died 8 years ago. Prayer changes things--don't be afraid to pray for miraculous healing, but also for peace and strength for the family. Thanks--and don't forget to hold those dear to a little closer and longer.

Red Chair

I'm a day behind, sorry! Oh yes, one of my blogging resolutions was to not feel guilty about not posting, so it is okay I am a day late. I had fun painting this chair. I've had it for awhile, I think I picked it up at a garage sale. It looked like it could have been old, but had been repaired and is cracked a little across the top so I am sure if I was on the Antique Road Show that would not have told me that I had ruined a priceless, 18th century heirloom (please tell me I didn't Ü). Anyways, I guessed I chose red because of the approaching Valentine's Day and I did the black over the white for something different.
Before:

Primed:

White pattern done free hand before sanding (hint, when sanding red, you have to wipe it clean very well so it won't turn things pink. And yes, I was painting in the middle of my living room. Good things my kids weren't home to see me!):


Final chair with stain over the red:

Daughter wanted to say hi, the chair was still sticky so she couldn't sit in it (see her cute jeans she painted).

The Furniture Whisperer and a Give Away

I received this great award from Jen at Sanctuary Arts. This means so much to me as her transformations are amazing! Whispering to furniture is a lot less tragic than whispering to horses. Speaking of transformations, I hope to show you one later tonight, or tomorrow, so stayed tuned. Also Jen is having a great give-away on her blog so hop on over there and enter to win!

I pass this great award on to Screaming Meme. Look at what she has done to make a saloon bar. Or check out this great redo of a hutch. And don't forget to check out her 2008 posts for some wonderful tutorials on faux finishes.

Thank you for the words of support and encouragement for my son and us. This drama too shall pass, thankfully, and it passes easier with God's help and your support!

PS--I have this set to show links in red, but they only show up if you run your mouse over them. So be sure to link on over to Jen and Meme!

Sunday Verses

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you;
he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV

It's been a trying weekend. And without going into details, let's just say teenage son made some bad choices and got caught, thankfully. I always pray that God will reveal what my children are doing. He is fine, extremely remorseful, and we are fine. When hubby called and told me, my heart sank (honestly, right into my bowels!). I went to my knees with my bible. I prayed several different verses for us, and this was one of them.

Parenting sure teaches you a lot about how God feels about us, his children. I was very disappointed, but also proud that my son did fess up right away, apparently one of the few students who did. I am sure that is how God feels when we confess to him. I also hurt so badly for my son and wanted him to know how much he was loved, even though we were upset. It was very important to me that he understood how deeply I loved him, no matter what. Just imagine how much more our Father in heaven loves us with his perfect love. Please know, whether you are a believer or not, you are loved completely by God, no matter what. Happy Sunday!

Awesome Junk (Food!)

Junk of a different kind. This is a little more fattening than thrift store junk, but it smells better too! This is a yummy recipe for caramel corn that my family loves!

1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light Karo syrup
1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 bags of light microwave popcorn

Pop up 2 bags of light popcorn (light so it is not as buttery).

Bring butter, sugar and syrup to a boil. Boil, while stirring for 3-4 minutes.


Remove from heat and add sweetened milk, stir and pour over popcorn and mix thoroughly.

I was going to put it in a prettier bowl for the pictures, but hey, this is us, ugly tupperware and all Ü. Try some this weekend!

Awards

I have been blessed in the past week week to receive some awards for some of my favorite bloggers. Isn't the blogging community sweet and wonderful and supportive! High school should be more like the blogging community.


I received the lemonade award from Cindy at Tinta's Treasures and from Snowman Hill. These girls are creative with the junk and thrifty decorating. Check them out please!

What this award is about...

Bloggers who show great attitude and gratitude.

What you have to do...

Upon receiving The Lemonade Award, you also pass it on to other bloggers who you think show great attitude and gratitude.

Here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 5 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

I pass this award onto these bloggers:
The Artful Life
Polka Dot and Picket Fences
Primitives-Life-Art
Thrift Shop Romantic
Tomboy Around Town

I also received this cool award from WhisperWood Cottage. She manages to find some of the coolest junk--stuff I never see around these parts!
"

What the Award is About...

"This Blog invests and believes the Proximity- nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming...these kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self- aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!"

I pass this award onto:
Primtiques and Poetry
The Joy Of
Sanctuary Arts at Home
The Graves House
Kari and Kijsa




I was also tagged ( I loved tag as a kid--freeze tag and cartoon tag were my favorites!) by A Southern Rose (this name conjures up the most wonderful southern images).

Here are the rules... Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Write 7 random things about yourself. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and link to them. Let each person know that you tagged them. Here goes...

1. Not sure if I shared this one before--I can't stand to sleep with socks on, even in the dead of winter, and I sleep with my feet sticking out of the covers. I say that I have to "breathe" through my feet.

2. I like to clean the oven and even though I have a self cleaning oven, I do it with easy-off. It is gratifying to see the results and doesn't smoke up the house.

3. I like peanut butter and pickles sandwiches on wheat bread-mmm.

4. I hated tomatoes until I craved them during my first pregnancy--now I love them.

5. I crave chocolate like crazy once a month (yes, during PMS), and it is not in my head like some male GYN would like to suggest!

6. I was a synchronized swimmer as a child. I was also on the swim team, but I only did that because they got to eat dry jello before a race and I wanted to eat dry jello powder too!

7. My husband and I got "pretend" married on our first date at the forester's ball at the University of Montana. I still have the fake wedding certificate and the plastic rings we received

I tag Margo! (I know she has already received some of the above awards--so she gets the tag!).

There is also a tag going around to post your 4th picture in your 4th file. Here is mine--it is a furniture redo, a picnic bench painted with wildflowers. I tag all of you for the picture tag--it is fun, show us what you got!
Happy end of the week--enjoy!

Home

Home--hopefully that word invokes a warm feeling in your heart and a smile on your face. I love being home and can be quite the homebody, especially in the winter months. I suppose that is one reason decorating and changing and fixing up my home is so enjoyable to me--I just love the home.

I have called a tiny married student housing apartment home, a 3000 square foot basement home (we were caretakers for an older lady), several strange and somewhat questionable apartments home, a 35 year old pink house (which we painted 4 days after moving in), and 2 new houses home. It's really not the size or the layout that matters, but the love and the family inside. I, of course, do "things" to make a place feel homey--personal pictures, yummy smelling candles, warm fuzzy blankets, using my favorite found objects. But, no matter where I live, love and attitude and a willingness to make a place our own makes a dwelling a home. Share with us--what do you do to make a house a home?

I used the glass candle trays I showed in my thrifting post to make this home hanging. I found this great cookbook, that was falling apart, for 25 cents at a garage sale. It was in pieces and the paper is very brittle, but someone had the good sense to keep it. The original owner kept all kinds of notes in it, newspaper articles and several hand-written recipes. She dated when she made certain recipes. The dates start in 1940, right before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and date all the way through 1959. Notice the high protein menus from way back then!



I use the original pages when I make stuff with it--it is just too fragile to keep around for too long, and I like using originals. I cute the HOME letters out on my Cricket, but you could use letter stickers too. I hot glued the ribbon and burlap ribbon to the back.

Sunday Verses

It is clear to us friends,
That God not only loves you very much
but also has put his hand on you for something special.

1 Thessalonians 1:4 in the Message

Adventures in Thrifting

I finally got to hit the thrift stores. I wasn't disappointed. Here are some things I found--
The vintage decanters sell well. The little glass votive holders I will use for a project I have in mind, as well as the pulley thingy.

I love this hearts game with a 1914 copyright.


And this Topper Comic book from 1961--check out the graphics. Have a great weekend, we are heading out for a bball tourney, but will be back Sunday with a new verse.

A Few Quick Projects

I made these quick projects awhile ago, but I can't find that I ever shared them, so here you go. They really are easy ones and are made with easy to find junk. The first one is simple candle sconces ( I guess that are sconces--not sure of the official definition of sconce) made from some cutting boards I found at the thrift store. I painted them up, drilled holes for the wire and wired the bottles on. I used glass rocks in them and would be great for real candles, or those little flickering battery operated tealight ones.


The other project is made from wooden recipe boxes which are always at the thrift store. I popped the lids off, painted them and screwed them into an old board. They are great catch-alls for spices, or could be used in an office for office "stuff".