Decorating the Guest Room

My wonderful sister came over last week and helped me wallpaper our spare room. We moved into this house years ago and every time we had guests I was embarrassed of our guest room. The previous owners used it as a little boys room and it had grey, brown and beige stripped wallpaper on the top and a cream, grey and brown plaid on the bottom with horse head border in between with blue valances on the windows. It was actually very charming as a boy's room but not suited to an adult guest room and honestly I found the horse heads a bit creepy!I wish now that I had taken a before picture to show you, but I do have pictures of the way it looks now. I am thrilled and can't wait to have company! It is pretty and grown up. I do love for things to be pretty and that could be because I am out numbered here - even the cat is a boy!

The very best part about the redecorating is that the wallpaper was given to me several years ago and I just found the border at a second hand store for 50 cents a roll and it matches like I bought it all together! There was one small glitch in things and that is that we ran out of the top wall paper with just a 2 foot by three foot patch to go....Since the wallpaper was given to me so long ago I had no idea how to get more. I tried several places and no one had anything that matched on hand at one store they told they may be able to order something for $30 a single roll and it should be here in a few WEEKS. I said no thank you and ended up at another store where they had a small remnant which is almost a perfect match and I paid $1.50 for it. So my entire room cost $3.00 and I still have a roll of border left over. The valances I had saved from my son's room when he had a change in there. The quilt was from our room, my Mum made the needlepoint picture and the other flowered ones I had collected to go in this room one day from second hand stores - I am just so pleased with the low cost and how pretty it is!

Here are a few pictures...





Blessings,
Liisa

Church Picnic

What could be more fun than a church picnic? A church picnic held at a beautiful historic site!

Yesterday our church had it's annual picnic. What fun we had. We were invited to hold it at the former home of the founder of a nearby town. We had our service there as well. It rained early on in the day so we had the service and lunch in an outbuilding which was so cute. For lunch we enjoyed shepherd's pie which we made from leftovers from our banquet last month and froze. I had wondered how shepherd's pie would freeze but it was just fine! Everyone then brought a cold side dish or dessert to go with it. I brought a noodle salad which I made with rotini noodles, mayonnaise, tuna, chopped hard boiled eggs, diced green pepper, onion, pepper and paprika. I usually like to lay slices of egg on top of the salad and then sprinkle on the paprika as it looks pretty that way but my eggs were fresh from the farm and they do not peel well so it was best to chop them and stir them into the salad. I also brought some slices of watermelon. Watermelons have been on sale around here lately so I bought a big one and we have really been enjoying it here the last couple of days. When I serve watermelon I like to chop it into cubes as it makes for less drips and mess to eat it that way but for a picnic it has to be sliced! Is there anything better than icy cold watermelon on a hot day?


By the time the meal was over the sun was out and the games commenced! The children took part in several games, tug of war, a scavenger hunt, memory games etc. etc. They had so much fun. Some of the adults were able to tour the house. It is so beautiful and has such incredible history. My friend and I just loved the kitchen with it's huge fireplace for cooking. I also saw a reflector oven for the first time - a very cool little invention that was placed near the fire and used for baking. The basement was a little creepy as it still had a part of the jail cell that was built in down there since the owner was a magistrate and often had people locked up down there until they could be transported to the jail. The floor though was all brick which I thought was pretty neat - I have never seen that before. The whole house and the grounds were just so lovely - how I wish I had brought my camera!

It was a wonderful day of worship, fun and fellowship - God is good!


Blessings,
Liisa

Snowbirds

Last evening I was especially happy to head to a nearby town and watch the Snowbirds perform. They are so talented, it is thrilling to watch them fly.

To spite a little rain as we drove there it was a beautiful evening. The show was at the water front so we picked a spot out on some very large rocks to sit and watch. It couldn't have been better as we were right at the center. They flew right over us several times. It brought back so many memories for me. We have seen them several times when we lived in a small town south of here and they had an annual air show. My son was just a little boy then and he loved it almost as much as my hubby!

I went with my sister and her children since unfortunately my hubby had to work. We were worried our boys wouldn't make it home in time to come either as they were out all day working for a friend of ours who is a farmer picking rocks, but we prayed for them to make it and they did - just barely.

I packed us a supper we ate on route and it was just such a fun evening. It was a little sad too as I realized that time is growing short having my son home with us. He is already 17 and time goes by far too quickly. Last night I could have sworn it was just yesterday he was the little boy on his Daddy's shoulders yelling "Look at the planes Mommy!" ~sniff~ Happy memories.




Blessings,
Liisa

Just Because....

Everybody loves a chubby cat!


This is my baby Timothy. Very chubby but so cute!

Blessings,
Liisa

Works For Me Wednesday - Stitch in Time

What has worked for me this week is to do my mending when I iron. When I am ironing I see little tears, missing buttons etc. It saves me alot of time and trouble later on to have my sewing basket and buttons right there so when I see something in need of repair I can do it right then and be done with it.

A stitch in time saves nine!

For more ideas please visit Rocks in my Dryer.

Blessings,
Liisa

You really can find anything on the internet! I couldn't believe there was a definition for "a stitch in time saves nine".

Here it is....

Idiom Definition
Meaning:
A stitch in time saves nine means that if a job needs doing it is better to do it now, because it will only get worse, like a hole in clothes that requires stitching.

Answered Prayers

I am praising God for answering prayers even more abundantly than I could have hoped! I was facing a summer without work at a time when it is uncertain if my hubby will be on strike this summer. I had said when I found out that I would pray about it and trust God because I know that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. However I kept worrying and planning and generally not doing what I said. I kept trying to work things out in my own power. I realized what I was doing when one of my favorite pastors was a guest speaker at church a week ago and asked the congregation if we REALLY trusted God. I had to admit that I hadn't been. Right then I gave all my concerns and worries to the Lord and left them there trusting Him fully. The next day the Mommy of my two newest monkeys came and asked if I could watch them for two weeks in July and two days a week in August. I was praising the Lord for this added income! Today - one week later she came back and said that she now needs me for the entire summer except for the one week we were hoping to go up north! Isn't God just so very good? He knows what we need before we even ask and we just need to trust in Him and He will provide for those who love Him.

Matthew 6:25-34

Do Not Worry
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Blessings,
Liisa

Weekend Blessings

This past weekend was just wonderful! It actually started on Friday morning when I found two pretty and very long valances at the second hand store. They were very well made and so lovely, I just couldn't pass them up. I have had just sheers on our livingroom and diningroom windows for quite sometime and they just really needed something to make them look finished. I couldn't afford to buy anything new and hadn't found anything second hand as our livingroom and dining room run into each other and I wanted all the window treatments to match. That meant I needed to find one really wide window treatment that matched three smaller ones....not an easy task.
Until Friday! The smaller of the two valances fit our big livingroom window perfectly and I couldn't believe it when I measured it in the store but the biiger valances was exactly the perfect width to make three valances for the remaining three windows! I spent sometime that afternoon doing a bit of cutting and sewing and by supper time we had pretty new windows treatments! I just love the way they look. My hubby even likes them to spite the fact he says they are quite flowery ~smile~ The very best part though was that they only cost $2. God is so good! I find if I am patient then I will come across exactly what I need for a price I can afford.

Sorry that was quite a ramble about valances but I was just so happy about it! Here is a piture of one in the diningroom. Notice Timothy in the window? That is one of his favorite squirrel watching spots!




Saturday my sister and my friend Nancy and I went to several Mennonite farms in our area and picked up eggs and cabbage at one, a pie at another and best of all strawberries at another! I had been told they would be late this year and still had a couple of weeks to go but they were there and are wonderful! They taste like summer!



I really enjoy going to these farms and chatting with the ladies there. They are so sweet and friendly. They really inspire me as well. My goodness they are so hardworking and their homes, yards and gardens really reflect that. So perfectly clean and tidy....even there gardens are in precise rows and weed free. It is always a peaceful time driving in the country admiring the tidy farms and beautiful scenery and visiting along the way. We also went into a nearby town and had lunch and did some shopping and my sister posted some flyers for an upcoming concert she is presenting to raise funds for Blood Water Mission. For more on that please visit her site Cellar Events She has a real heart to help others.

Then my weekend was topped off by a fantstic sermon on end times at church and a leisurely afternoon spent reading a Beverly Lewis book I borrowed from a friend and hadn't read yet (I just love her books and had thought I read them all so it was a nice surprise!)and watching an old movie on tv.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Blessings,
Liisa