More Blessings....

We are dealing with cold and wet temps here in my normally warm and sunny South. Praise the Lord not as cold as other parts of the US.  I just don't see how some of my friends up yonder survive!  BRRRRR! Still... I am keenly aware of how blessed I am when I think of others dealing with the elements.  Here are a few things that pop to mind.. picking up from the previous list of blessings...

11. Our Home.. I love it for so many reasons. We have done many things over the last 20 years to make it "ours"... there are sooo many memories attached to this place... I love the coziness of it... it is warm and welcoming... fairly neat most days and yet not sterile or magazine perfect... it has that lived in look.. it is a HOME.  But I am also thankful for it for very practical reasons.   We are warm and dry here.. with a roof over our heads.. walls and windows to keep out the wind and rain... a heater to keep us warm.. there are so many who have no home and many more who have some semblance of shelter that barely provides cover.  Our home may be a bit small for all of us at times.. it may have some issues (don't we all!)... but it is a so much more than many in our world have... and Lord willing it will one day be ours (once that mortgage is paid off!)

12. Heat... I know I mentioned the heater in #11, but I think it deserves its own place in the list this week!  It has done a great job keeping everyone and everything in the house warm.  When we moved into this house 20 years ago, the heater we had was old and our repairman said it wouldn't last long. Our house was all electric and we really wanted to convert to natural gas for the heat. We had absolutely no funds to do any of that. So I prayed for God to keep the old one going or give us the funds for a new one. He did... for about 10 years!  Each year our guy would come and service the heater and say "I just don't see how this thing is still working"... I knew. The year it died we had just received an overdue check for a job my husband had completed and it was early in winter before any real cold settled in.  The money was enough to run a gas line and put in a new heater.  Which we continue to love!

13. Clothes... warm clothes to be exact!  I would never be called fashion forward.... don't have the latest trends or "hot" designers, but I have clothes that keep me warm and dry and so do my husband and kids. Again, there are many who don't have clothing that will do that.  We have scarves, hats, gloves, coats, boots, sox etc. All those wonderful things to layer up as you head out into the Tundra. OK... not Tundra, but it seems like it to this Southern Girl! LOL!

14. Heated Mattress Pad... Hubby and I splurged one year and bought this on sale after Christmas. It was one of the best purchases we have ever made. My mom and daughter now have one on their beds. With the flip of a switch our bed gets toasty warm. No cold sheets when we slide into bed at night (until summer when I will want cold sheets!). I am not a fan of electric blankets. They are heavy to me. The heating pad generates a soft warmth that just makes me want to snuggle deeper into the covers and dream. I love it! (And I love my Hubby who flips those switches about an hour before bedtime!)

15. Soup... I am a total soup nut and I thank God for my dad and his soup making skills.. that he passed on to me. He would make these huge batches of veggie soup. No recipe. No 2 pots ever the same. He just tossed and mixed ... let it simmer all day... tasted.... added this and that... and before we knew it there was amazing hot soup to fill our bellies and warm us from the inside out. I make soup that way.. only I use my crockpots.  Cooking this soup is very freeing and creative to me.. and I love that I can almost always whip up a batch with things I have on hand here. That provides a great sense of satisfaction!

16. Lap Dogs... we have 2.. or more truthfully they have us!  Miniature Long-Haired Dachshunds... I need to say that I think Dachshunds are the best dogs ever... not best behaved, but best to have. I just adore them!  These are the first minis and first long-hairs I have ever had and I have never had more than one dog at a time.. so lots of first with these 2. I love them for many reasons and no doubt they will pop up in my Blessings post again and again.. today I love them because they are lap dogs and love to cuddle and keep me warm!  They are natural heaters which is wonderful during winter. Not so fun come summer, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

17. Lap Tops... I use my daughter's hand-me-down PC.. she has a MacBook.. so does my son... one day I will have one.  The Lap top is old and doesn't have all the neat bells and whistles BUT I can curl up on the couch with one or two of the furbabies and check emails.. facebook... read blogs.. play games... all that important stuff!  I can even watch something online like episodes of The Office. Very much a luxury convenience and I love it!

18. No Class... Ok this is really more a blessing for my son than me. He is a college freshman and has been struggling with a cold and sore throat. His profs sent him home yesterday and then classes were cancelled today due to the weather, so he has been able to get some much needed rest and is, hopefully, on the way to getting all better!

19. Books.. again, this may get listed in the Blessings post more than once as I am a huge Bibliophile.  Reading is one of the things I do best and I enjoy the most. I don't just read a book... I savor it!  Fiction provides an escape for me... a way to de-stress... I love it. And with the cold temps and dreary weather, it is just perfect reading weather (pretty much all weather is reading weather to me but dreary, cold and / or rain just seem to create a bit more perfect atmosphere).  I am thankful for books... I am a big fan of the library, used book sales and Paperback Swap.

20. Quilts.. yet another item that will be mentioned again and again. I have always loved quilts. I have some from generations past and 7 years ago I dove in and tried my hand at it.. and it worked! LOL!  I will definitely share more about the blessing of old quilts and about the creative process of quilting, but today the blessing is in the quilt itself and its ability to provide warmth and a sense of love.  Seriously... to me there is something comforting and safe about a quilt.. and that translates to love. They are the perfect addition to snuggling on the couch while reading or playing on the laptop and both the furbabies flock to my side when they see a quilt!

Think I will go grab a quilt and curl up on the couch with my little lap dogs and read a bit... sounds like a great way to spend a cold afternoon...

I'm Still Here...

I cannot believe it has been a month since I posted here!  Life has been rather full and at times crazy. But all in all good!  I have been working on a number of quilting projects lately.. you can read about them and see pix on my quilting blog.. the Quilting Belle 

Church has me a bit busy right now.  We just started our summer session of  FAITH ... an outreach program we do throughout the year.  Normally we go out on a week night, but this summer we are making our contacts on Sunday afternoons.  Great time to reach folks, but whew!  it sure is hot!

I love our church... it is far, far, far from perfect.. mainly because it is made up of human sinners just like me!  But it is one of the most caring and real groups of people I have ever known.  And we have a pastor who preaches the Word with boldness and grace.  Check out our blog:  Come to the Woods .. you will find some great messages and encouragement there.

I received the sweetest card in the mail recently from a new friend. She is a scrapbooker and loves to make cards.  Isn't this cute!?  I love pink and green! 

I have also been cooking a lot lately... for others!  Friends who have been in the hospital or had deaths in the family.  I've baked several pasta bakes and chicken spaghettis and of course, Mississippi Fudge Pies.  My hubby tweaked and experimented with a recipe years ago and came up with this amazing creation. (Just might be one of the reasons I married him!) It is now a tradition for our family to give this to friends and neighbors for Christmas, births, deaths, illness.. any occasion that warrants food.. and in the South that is pretty much anything!  They aren't the prettiest pies in the world. They puff up while baking and then fall as they cool.. but oh my the taste.. pure fudgy goodness.. especially with some whipped cream on top!  Hmmm... I have one in the freezer.. maybe I can think of an occasion here that calls for pie!

Be Blessed and Joy-filled!