Week End

I'm still shaking my head over this...two - ten inches of snow and we hadn't even had a frost yet! But no one can deny how beautiful it was! This morning is very frosty and there was a lot of snow melt yesterday. A lot of folks were or still are without electricity and/or Internet/phone service...we had both all the time.

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Our worship service was moving and powerful yesterday. Two young ladies in their early twenties had spent three months in the slums of Cambodia working with children in an orphanage. Yesterday they shared their story through power point and their own personal journey. Their passion to BE Jesus to these innocent children who often end up in child slavery was a call to the rest of us to BE Jesus wherever we are!

Several years ago, our church started a kid's club, which morphed into Life Club, using the Teen Challenge facility.Teen Challenge was impressed with the results and offered to work with them so the teens have a place to go to instead of the streets. There was special prayer for those who give their time to this work.

We surrounded a young married couple with a laying on of hands and prayer, who will be spending four months in Uganda in an orphanage of sixty children, ages birth to six years. Their heart cry is also to reach the community via the hospitals, where the good care is not given as it is here. I was blessed in listening to their passion for 'lost' children. 

I, too, want to BE Jesus wherever I am!

October 29

I like snow - that is, I like it in bits and pieces...TINY bits and pieces. Preferably as in a 'White Christmas.' Or in the middle of winter. But October?! Let me also be quick to tell you, I'm not a whiner about weather! It feels like I'd be railing against God if I would - but October?! Any-hoo, here's a few pictures of what's happening outside! :)

Remember this beauty from yesterday's post?

 Snow haze.

 Until next year!

 Old Glory and lavender.

 Amazing color!

 Jalapeno peppers I was too lazy to harvest.

 Long-blooming zinnia.

 Neighbor's burning bush shrubs.

 Stone, wood and glass. It speaks to me!

  Pumpkins peek out from under the snow.

Truth spoken here!

Snow? BAH - HUMBUG!

These are a re-bloom for this clematis...the secret? Cut it back eight to ten inches the end of July and not later than the beginning of August. It grew like a weed and is simply beautiful! I hate to say this, BUT...SH-H-H, IT'S SUPPOSED TO SNOW TOMORROW! UP TO FIVE, FIVE INCHES!! BAH-HUMBUG!!! I see this beautiful white flower and will focus on that, not the snow.

Pearl of Serenity Cove - I did not get your email address for the giveaway and hope your next try will work!

Blue Jars For Christmas

I love the oh-so-versatile blue jars that can be used all year round in various ways, from empty to stuffed with what ever takes one's fancy. Top of the list favorite way to use mine is this way in the Christmas season...

Yes, I know it's a little early...but then it gives you a heads up to do it for yourself! :) 

It's quick, easy and inexpensive!

Rinse the jar with water, shaking out the excess water.

Hold it tilted in one hand and turning it while pouring regular table salt
with the other to coat the whole inside. 

Let dry, place a small votive with a tealight just inside the top and it's finished.

If this is not disturbed, it will last many years. I used kosher salt but I think table salt is prettier and the kosher salt tends to drop off easier as it's a heavier salt.

Edited: I was asked what kind of votive cup I used. These votives are often seen in thrift shops, yard sales or the GW. Good luck in finding some! :) BTW, Christmas is only two months away!

A few more ideas...

Want to stretch your greens? Check out the post!

Link parties:

Well-Made Wednesday Beyond the Picket Fence Creative Things Thursday
Common Ground Funky JunkFarmhouse, Time Travel Thursday Thursday Transformation,
Friday's Unfolded





I was featured!
Well Made Wednesday

Friday's Unfolded

Give Away Winner!

One of the sad parts of a give away is choosing only one of you, both long time followers and new friends! Thank you for your lovely comments and response to this give away...but there will be more give aways in the future in new milestones!

I'm delighted to give a $25.00 gift certificate from Lowe's to Pearl @ Serenity Cove!

Pearl, please send me your address VIA email at fleurcottage@ymail.com and this will be in your mailbox  for you!

Week End

We spent the week end at our cabin in Clearfield County, PA with my siblings. It was two days of eating, playing games, talking, napping, eating, playing games, talking, napping...get the drift? Oh yes, late hours was in there, too! A week end of good memories!

I got the book, The Confession, at the library last week and took it along...

 I could hardly put it down! It took all of two days to read it - I was by myself for one of those days - it's written in such a way that it keeps pulling you into the next chapter.

It's GOOD! 

Because I forgot my camera for the week end (SIGH!), I'll post several pics from the back yard.

I will miss these but it really is time to clean up the flower beds for winter!

There's still time to sign up for the $25.00 Lowe's gift card giveaway, open till midnight tonite!

Autumn Feel (and a giveaway!)

After the rains rumbled through here on Friday, the winds came, ushering the sun in with it and now it feels like autumn - cooler temps, beautiful foliage, the smell and rustle of fallen leaves, puffy white clouds and blue skies. Oh, I do like autumn!

These beauties started themselves from last year's seed and have been blooming all summer long.



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This will happen in my kitchen before Christmas...

I. CANNOT. WAIT!

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Webster's definition of sacrifice:

'...the act of giving up; destroying; permitting injury to;

or foregoing something valued for the sake of something having a more pressing claim.'

How sacrifice ties in with servanthood!

 Easy? Absolutely not!

This was our Sunday School class discussion - I was blessed!

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And this again...

Thank you for your lovely comments on the headboard and a welcome to the new followers - I love meeting you all VIA blogland! The number of followers has passed the two hundred mark, so I'm having a $25.00 gift certificate from Lowe's as a giveaway. 

Here's how...

Leave a comment.

Being a follower or becoming one is an extra chance.

You MUST comment twice for both to count!
This will be open for one week until October 24.

(If you want to comment and have no blog, clicking on annoymous will allow you to do that!)

New Headboard Details

THANK YOU for your comments on our new headboard - I was 'wowed!' I love doing projects like this at minimal cost and The Hunt is almost as fun as the actuality! This dream began when I came across The Old Painted Cottage blog (sorry, I wasn't able to do a link), showed it to Hubs who gave a manly 'nice' and began The Hunt for a fireplace mantle.

I found the mantle shelf at a yard sale in the raw.

We bought two 8x10 pine boards and trim at HD for the 'legs,' penciling a pattern and using liquid nails to fasten the trim to the boards. 

I wanted to use these tins for the back but only had four of them. Sigh! - the were a perfect fit.

Instead, I used beadboard left over from another project. The garage is one of my CREATIVE PLACES.

I glued the wooden scrollwork on but couldn't forget my dream of the dainty roses found  HERE.

So...I got my hammer, screwdriver and sander out and removed it - it wasn't easy! But I wanted it to look decades old so the dents didn't matter.

They come like this and are easy to glue and paint on.

Happiness! I kind of slapped the paint on as I wanted it to look like it was painted many times.

Completed!

How was it I didn't notice the pillows weren't centered? Oh well, minor detail! :) The bedspread came from Target but the fabric flowers were added - if interested how it was done, you can read about it HERE.
Now on to the next project - it will involve wallpaper.

Link Parties click on side bar:
Time Travel Thursday
French Country Cottage
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence
Transformation Thursday
The Shabby Nest
The Vintage Farmhouse
LaurieAnna's Farmhouse
Primitive and Proper
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Featured at Social Salutations

Friday Night Fun

Friday evening the local grandkids were here for our third annual campfire evening. Our grands are growing up fast...two of them are a head taller than I am and several reaching my shoulders (sigh!). But I love seeing them play together well in spite of the age difference of sixteen to two years old.

Campfire crew.

Football tackle.

 The girls pose... 

and T joins in - this picture makes me smile...the intent look and dirty face! :)

Perfect fire for marshmellows!

New Bedroom Headboard

Oh, the joys fun of change! When we downsized and moved here, I had my whites and creams, a totally new way of decorating for me. We had this beautiful cherry bedroom suite with a four poster bed and I really liked it. The bedroom is eleven by eleven feet in size and the four poster took up a lot of floor and 'air' space. I lived with and loved this look for seven years.

But it was time to freshen this room! The next look lasted all of ten months. Just when I finished it I came across The Old Painted Cottage (sorry but I couldn't get a link) with a GAW-GE-OUS! fire place mantle as a headboard for their bed...check her out, she's got a beautiful blog!

I went on a hunt for a mantle. Priced a few at an antique shop but wasn't willing to pay several hundred dollars, so I waited. Sure enough, I found a mantle shelf at a yard sale for $25.00 and decided to make the 'legs.' I'll give the details in another post. This is the finished results.

The mirror was from a yard sale and hung outdoors for two summers - long enough to get this shabby look. The books were a freebie from DIL B - I simply tore the covers off and the faux hydrangea were a GW buy.

The clock face is heavy cardboard from a clock that no longer worked and the wooden pillars found at a lovely shop that is no longer in business.

I finished the new look with wallpaper on this wall only. I'm very pleased with the results and look forward to decorating this mantle for the holiday season.

Link parties:

Miss Mustard Seed

Perfectly Imperfect

Feathered Nest Friday

Frugal Friday