New Year's Blessings for Friends and Family

HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR ! !

I hope this year that you have a life filled with peace and contentment, laughter and joy, love and solitude. I hope you get all that you could ever hope for.

I hope that you will be happy, and that you will prosper at whatever you do, and that your children will experience the same. I hope that you will be in good health, and if you're ailing, that your health will be restored.

I wish your life to be free of serious incident, and that you find provision for whatever your needs may be.

I wish you friends that offer you laughter in your life, and a place to turn for strength when you are in need.

I hope that you will seek out the good in every situation in your life. I hope you will find a way to see the positive in all matters.

I hope you will understand and accept God's will and direction in your life when you think things aren't going your way.

I hope that you will not have to struggle for any reason, but if you do, I hope that you will realize that it is temporary and will not let it get you down.

I hope that you set new goals for yourself, and achieve them.

And most of all, I hope that we can all be better than we were last year. I hope we can all have the opportunity to help others. I hope that we can look at the world a bit differently, and make a difference wherever possible.

May you have someone in your life that you love so much it makes you laugh and cry at the time, and may you be that person in someone else's life.

I hope that you are the person that someone else wants to be like.


I hope that you live your life with purpose.

Wishing you a year of new blessings for 2011.

With Ultimate Sincerity from me to you, Polly

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I am so thankful for all of the friends I have made this year through my blog.
I have been blessed with many great new prayer warriors in my life, and wonderful new sincere friendships, and people who make me laugh so hard I cry. I wouldn't trade you all for anything or anybody.

THANK YOU for enriching my life, and allowing ME to be a part of yours.

 I look forward to a fantastic new year of blogging together!

I'm Linking this with The Lettered Cottage's A Few of My Favorites: Blog Posts 2010

(cuz I posted the same wishes for you on New Years Day of 2010 - :))

 

My Christmas Mantle

As many of you know, I moved this year to be closer to my family. 1300 miles closer to be exact.

This is the first year we've lived close enough to family to be able to host a holiday at our house for my side of the family. Sooo, we're having Christmas at our house this year! Woohoo!

I love Christmas!

I think I've told you that a time or two. :)

Anyway, I've been rushing around trying to get the house ready. Every year, when we aren't traveling and I do actually decorate, I tend to do Christmas on the formal side.

This year, I've decided to get back to my country roots, and do an outdoor scene on my mantle.

It's taking some getting used to, but I think it's growing on me.

I'll show you a few pics I've taken along the way.

You'll only see my mantle right now because, well, because that's the only thing I have done so far.

And yes, I DO know it's the 21st! (oh lord help me!)

I'll fill you in on my decor when I'm done, but for now, I'll tell you that the tree branches and pine cones you see came from the very first live Christmas tree we planted in our yard when I was a kid. That was in 1975. I remember my mom and dad planting it that year. It was a big deal for us kids. 

Yes mother, I loaded my car with your yard scraps when I left the other day. :)

There are more memories attached to the mantle, and I'll share those with you in my next post.
(I've already tweaked the bottom part of the mantle after I took these pictures.)
The pictures make it look kind of skimpy, but I assure you that it is quite cozy in person.

I believe I'm actually starting to get in the holiday mood. Tonight I'll be cranking up the Christmas music, popping a bottle of wine, and decorating the tree while hubby sits on the couch and reminisces with me over Christmas' past.
I think that's the part of Christmas I love the most!

Do You Feel It? It's Christmastime!

Merry almost Christmas!

~~ I LOVE CHRISTMAS ~~

Not the shopping, not the gifts, not the crowds, not the family demands,

but the FEELING that Christmas brings.

A Few of the Things I Love about Christmastime:

~ I love the settling in of heightened emotions ~

~ The increased awareness of others life situations, both good and bad ~

~ The heart tug to do something for someone else without them knowing ~

~ The need to see a miracle or make one happen in someone else's life ~

~ The choir singing Christmas songs at church ~

~ The early morning Christmas service at church where there's nothing but candlelight lighting a path to the end of the aisleway where there stands a large, lonely cross holding a crown of thorns, draped in a robust purple cloth ~

~  The song Oh Holy Night, particularly, sung by David Phelps ~
(be prepared to cry your heart out)

~ I love that people start to recognize and acknowledge the presence of angels, miracles, and Jesus ~

~ Standing in the window at mom's with a mug of hot chocolate, looking out at the woods waiting for deer to appear ~

~ Cardinals sitting on the branches of holly bushes ~

(has a very special meaning to my family)

~ Decorating the Christmas Tree. Pulling out each ornament and remembering when it was added to our collection, and the memory attached to it. A lot of crying happens while I decorate our tree. ~

~ Seeing my mother's tree for the first time each year ~
(It's always full of memories)

~ Talking with my mom or my husband over coffee in the early hours of Christmas morning about our loved ones that have passed away ~ 

~ Sitting on the porch watching and listening to the birds sing ~

~ Gathering with family in the kitchen to make Christmas dinner ~

~ ........and mama's Japanese Fruit Pie! ~

Oh, I just love so many things about Christmas!

So tell me, what do you love about Christmas?

Rememberance

It's Memorial Day Weekend.................

As you go about celebrating with family, attending picnics, barbeques, and parades, having fun at the lake, or taking the extra couple of days to get caught up on things around the house, please remember the reason for the holiday...........

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wars that have changed people to the deepest part of their core...

The mothers who will never hold their children again.

The fathers, brothers, and sisters who grieve that same loss...

The husbands and wives who are raising children alone because their spouses committed to give their lives for our freedom - and did...

The soldiers, both men and women, who have literally lost their arms and legs to war, to try and make life better for someone other than themselves...

The soldiers who see the faces of dead comrades each time they close their eyes.

The soldiers who suffer in the elements and go without food and sleep for days on end to protect those around them.

The families and friends whose lives have been forever altered because their loved ones layed down their lives to help give freedom where there wasn't any.

The veterans who are now homeless because their participation in a war has taken their senility, removing their ability to function in society.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please acknowledge these men and women who serve in the military because they want to create a better world for you and me to live in. Try to understand the commitment tied to those uniforms when you see them and let the people wearing them know how much they are appreciated.

(I once heard a kid tell a soldier that he wanted a costume like his to wear for Halloween. The soldier replied, "Son, this isn't a costume, this is a responsibilty." The kid said. "Then I want a responsibility."  Oh, how little they understand....... ) The soldier just smiled and rubbed the little guy's head, "Maybe someday kid, maybe someday.")

I'm remembering my own dad today who served in The Korean War. Although he didn't lose his life to that war, he was greatly impacted by his service to it.

We all love and miss you so very much!

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This is a prescheduled post. I hope it works this time.

Video from Youtube.

Happy Mother's Day

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day.

I was able to spend the entire weekend with my mom.
That's huge, considering I haven't been able to see her on Mother's Day for 12 years!
For that reason alone, its good to be back home.
I'm such a mama's girl.

 

So how about you - how did you spend your day?

Happy Easter

Happy Easter !

No matter how you choose to celebrate, I hope you have great Easter.

Me? I will be sending up prayers of thanksgiving that I have a risen saviour who has demonstrated more grace with me than any one person should be allowed.

I can't help but think of all the people I love who have passed on, and how they are at the ultimate feast today celebrating the resurrection of Christ, with Christ. I cannot even begin to imagine the magnitude of the celebration. As a lover of the Lord, I look forward to that time when I can see Him face to face.

May you all remember why we have this holiday and acknowledge it as such.

And for those of you with little ones running around the yard trying to find the ever elusive Golden Egg, please post pictures on your blog so we can all share in the fun!

What does Easter mean to you?

How do you celebrate?

Any great traditions you'd like to share?

My New Year's Blessing for You

We're busy packing and getting ready to travel back and forth from Colorado to Kentucky twice in the next two weeks, so I won't be able to be with you all very much during that time. That's over 5200 hard road miles. Yikes.

I will be visiting your blogs as much as I am able, but if you don't see me there, please understand. I'll catch up with you when I get settled in my new home.

I want to thank all of you who have visited my blog, and continued to help me grow this little dream of mine. I can't believe the amount of support one gets here in blogland, and I am truly thankful for each of you. I've learned so many tips from the creativity that is abundant in this little world of ours, and I've learned how to do so many new things, and made many new friends. I hope I have been able to be the inspiration to you that you have been to me.

That being said, here is my New Year's wish for all of my new friends out there in blogland..

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HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ! !

I hope this year that you have a life filled with peace and contentment, laughter and joy, love and solitude. I hope you get all that you could ever hope for.

I hope that you will be happy, and that you will prosper at whatever you do, and that your children will experience the same. I hope that you will be in good health, and if you're ailing, that your health will be restored.

I wish your life to be free of serious incident, and that you find provision for whatever your needs may be.

I wish you friends that offer you laughter in your life, and a place to turn for strength when you are in need.

I hope that you will seek out the good in every situation in your life. I hope you will find a way to see the positive in all matters.

I hope that you will not have to struggle for any reason, but if you do, I hope that you will realize that it is temporary and will not let it get you down.

I hope that you set new goals for yourself, and achieve them.

And most of all, I hope that we can all be better than we were last year. I hope we can all have the opportunity to help others. I hope that we can look at the world a bit differently, and make a difference wherever possible.

May you have someone in your life that you love so much it makes you laugh and cry at the time, and may you be that person in someone else's life.

I wish that you are the person that someone else wants to be like.

Wishing you a year of new blessings for 2010.

With Ultimate Sincerity from me to you, Polly

Pimp My Pumpkin!

Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. I love creative pumpkin dressing. And, since I have no time to prepare anything other than a smiley face, pre-lit, standard run-of-the-mill plastic pumpkin, I have to envy everyone else's creativity this year. My own perky plastic pumpkin may not even GET lit this year if I can't find time to track down an extention cord to drag across the porch. I live in a busy, busy world right now.

I did however, make the time to throw out a box of decor that I ran across in the garage while searching for something else. Granted, there was only 9 items in the box and took all of 5 mintues to scatter on the porch. Enough of an effort to keep the neighbor boys from asking me where my Halloween decorations are when they show up at my door this year, but not so much that the association will feel compelled to enter me in the "best Halloween decorations" contest that is vainly and blatantly posted on a big sign in your yard when you win. I can actually picture them standing in front of my house wondering why I even bothered.

Oh well, nuff said about that. Let's honor some folks who do care about their pumpkins. I went on an image search across Bing and found a few worth mentioning.
Edited to add: I listed the link that Bing associated with these pictures. I did not visit the individual sites, so the link below the pic does not take you directly to the post showing that particular picture.

Every pumpkin deserves a little bling, right?

From http://www.graciousliving.blogspot.com/

So simple, yet so cute.

(There's a white border around this pic, so it's a bit further down.)

From http://www.gardenfun.com/

This is from someone who must really care about what the neighbors think.

Love this idea!

From Good House Keeping

My Kind of Decorating. Throw on some masks and call them done!

Cute!

Sorry, can't remember where this came from, but I'm guessing it's Country Living.

How absolutely darling are these? If I had woods on my property, I'd put these all through them.

http://www.thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

Talk about two birds with one stone........Halloween and Thanksgiving all at once. These made me giggle for some reason.

http://www.windandweather.com/

(I think the turkey attire is a kit you can purchase. Didn't dig into it far enough to be sure.)

How beautiful is this? Next year I'll have this on my table.

From http://www.hillcountryheaven.blogspot.com/

Simple elegance. In case you're like me, and it takes you a few minutes to figure this out, I'll save you time and tell you that it's a carriage. I kept wondering why the big pumpkin wasn't setting level on the table, and then it hit me.............duh, it's sitting on those other pumpkins. You're probaly a bit more perceptive than I am tonight and figured that one out as soon as you looked at it.

From http://www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com/

How easy is this? Can't you see a heap of small pumpkins stacked in the middle of the table with different designs on them? Throw a few upholstery tacks on these and you're good to go.

From http://www.ihiredamberelizabeth.blogspot.com/

And I truly love this. Super-duper-uber simple. Pull out that melon-baller and create your own masterpiece in no time flat.

From http://www.thedecodetective.blogspot.com/

Another creative idea while you've got that mellon-baller out!

Country Living............I think.

Now, off the pumpkins and on to some other brainstorm ideas.

Can't get this pic any bigger, but thought it was neat enough to post.

http://www.partyamerica.com/

Love, Love, Love this. How do do this on my carpeted stairs?!

All of those people who make vinyl decals should start making these, don't you think?

I'm guessing I found this on Country Living again.

Clever idea.

Ummm, Country Living...................maybe...........

And last, but not least.........

From Good Housekeeping

Have some Halloween decor of your own? Link it in your comment so we can all see!