My Rug Story

I love watching decorating shows. I'm always looking for ideas on how to arrange things and make things more comfortable in my home. My favorite shows are the ones that redecorate with stuff people already have - no-cost decorating! Then there's one where the budget is $500 and one where the budget is $1000...for one room. With $500, I could do several rooms and with $1000, I'm fairly certain I could decorate my entire house!

One way a lot of these decorators stretch their dollars is to go second-hand. I see them quite often put down an area rug that they've found at garage sales or thrift stores for not a lot of money. I always wonder why can't I ever find those rugs??
Until last week......

Under a clothing rack in Goodwill, I found a gem. A large-sized area rug in wonderful condition. I unrolled and rerolled (like a scroll) to find out where the damage was and to my surprise found none. The best part?? The rug was a grand total of $7.50!!!!! That's right...I said Seven dollars and Fifty cents!!!!!!!
Want to see it??????My little dog, Jack decided to get in on the picture too!
Thanks for sharing my excitement today!!

I don't know about you but I feel inundated on every side by bad news! The economical, political, and global forcasts are not encouraging. If I let it, all this bad news and the pessimistic outlooks could really do a number on me.

This morning, this verse keeps going through my head:

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."

Psalm 20:7 (ESV)

This is where my hope lies....in the Name of the Lord my God.

Apples

My parents have an apple tree in their back yard, and this year, it is fully loaded with apples.

Today, some of those apples found their way into my kitchen and became applesauce and an apple pie. It smelled so good and fall-like!! And they tasted just as good!!

On a side note, I am cautiously optimistic that all our plumbing problems are finally solved! We ended up having to stay at my parent's on Saturday night. By Sunday, we were back in business! We've had a long run at plumbing issues and hopefully we're at the end of them!!

A Breath of Fresh Air

With the on-set of Fall, I seem to get a renewed sense of energy. It's like a breath of fresh air after the hot, dry, muggy air of summer. It's a time to give my house another good cleaning; to sweep out all the corners and clear out stuff that's gotten piled up under other stuff! It's also a time to get the yard, the house and our wardrobes ready for the long, cold months of winter that will be here before we know it.

This past week, it seems as if God has done a sort of "Fall Cleaning" within me. He's had to sweep out some corners and take me to task on some things that needed some attention. It's been a reflective, convicting week and one that I'm glad God has taken me through. I'm so thankful He cares enough about me to prepare me for the journey that lies ahead of me.

God has been doing some amazing things in my life, my home and in my church. I wish I could go into more detail. But, all you have to do is to keep an eye out for the brilliant colors of fall to catch a very small glimpse of his amazing greatness.

As I sit and write this post today, I am reminded of one of my favorite songs we always sang at our Thanksgiving services when I was a kid.

"Great Is Thy Faithfulness"

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Sigh of Relief

Plumbing is fixed!! It wasn't the big repair they originally thought...the big repair that was going to dig up half my yard! Turns out it was just one incredibly long clogged pipe! As I write this post tonight, all the dishes are done, laundry is done...closets and drawers are full of fresh, clean clothes and the beds are all made up with fresh sheets. It's a great feeling!

Fall is in the air here in KC. After the heavy rain this weekend, things have dramatically cooled off. It's heavenly and refreshing. I've had the windows open and my house smells like the crisp, cool, clean air of Autumn. This sense of fall makes me want to go bake a pumpkin pie!!!!!!

Quite A Crazy Weekend!

Amy drove home this past weekend in the middle of heavy rain forcasts. She had just pulled off the exit, hit some oil mixed with water and rear-ended another car. (This was her first fender-bender!) After getting through all that goes along with fender-benders, she met Cliff up at the local Wal-Mart just as a tornado touched down just a few miles away. They shut the store down and they were there for 45 minutes until the all-clear was given!! This is still only Friday evening!!

Saturday, the kitchen sink and toilet decided to back up. Our plumber seems to think we have a collapsed pipe in our main line. Meanwhile, Cliff needs to take Amy's car up to a body shop and at the same time, I'm trying to prepare a dinner to share with my parents for Emily's birthday celebration. ARRGH!!!!!!!! Too much all going on at the same time!! We finally got everything done and Cliff & Amy walked in just as we said the prayer for dinner. Emily got some very nice gifts...the sweetest of which came from her brother who, after starting a new job, had some money of his own and chose gifts he knew she'd love.

Sunday, Cliff had to run around trying to get Amy's headlight fixed up enough for her to drive back to school. He had to do all this before church because right after church he had to referee two football games. As soon as church was out, Cliff & Jacob headed off to work as the girls and I headed to lunch with my parents. We then came home where Amy loaded up another car full of stuff during which our two dogs ran off! Those dumb dogs haven't run off for over a year!! Why this weekend?? We finally found them almost a mile down the road after 20 minutes of driving around the neighborhood!!!!! Amy took off and got back to school without anymore excitement. Cliff came in from his games, changed clothes and headed back to church for a meeting. Emily went over to my mom's for the evening. Jacob was still at work. I stayed home....alone...and breathed a very big sigh of relief!! And then headed upstairs and started cleaning up Emily's new room. It was very therapeutic!!

After all that, I have to say that comparatively, I really have no problems. There is a girl in our church who was 6 1/2 months pregnant. She started having trouble breathing and upon examination, found a mass on her uterus. Meanwhile the baby wasn't due until Nov. but they had to go ahead and deliver him about 2 weeks or so ago. He's doing very well. She, however, is not. The mass turned out to be cancerous and was the size of a basketball. During the surgery, they found it had spread and as recently as last week, they are thinking it is also in her colon. Please remember this girl as well as her family in your prayers. In addition to the baby, she also has 2 young children. God is a God of miracles and our prayers are not in vain.

Show & Tell Friday

A friend of ours inherited his dad's house. His intention was to fix it up and sell it. As they grew closer to the sell date, he asked if I'd like this china cabinet in exchange for Cliff doing some carpet work for them. At first I thought "no" because frankly I had no idea where I'd put it. After looking at it a little more closely, I thought it might be just the perfect size for my kitchen.

I got it on Monday and it was very dirty. I cleaned it up as best I can (I need to get some more Murphey's Oil Soap) and clean it up some more. I wanted it to be open, so we removed the doors and this is what we were left with. Can I tell you how much I love this little hutch??

Thanks for visiting my show & tell today. For more or to list your own, head on over to Kelli's at No Place Like Home.