Thoughts/Tips on Mopping Part 1

I don't dress like this when I mop.

In fact I don't even own heels anymore!

There was a time that I truly despised mopping my floors. For 

a short while we lived in a beautiful home.  I loved everything about the house except the floors!  The huge entry, den, huge kitchen, laundry and a powder room were all white tile.  

I labored over that floor . . .  

It/I wasn't pretty.  

I was grumpy.   I was annoyed every time I started the task. 

Back in the day this is the way you mopped . . . 

   Actually  I used a mop for most of the house only doing it on my poor little knees in the kitchen/laundry room because it was always so dirty.  2 dogs and a cat track in a bunch of dirt. 

And so as I grumbled one day I did something different.

Source

I actually prayed that I would enjoy mopping.  I prayed while I mopped.  I thanked God for the beautiful house that he had given us.  

I didn't realize it until many, many years later.  Actually I realized it only a few short weeks ago. 

 I like to mop

I clean houses now.  It's a good thing I like to mop. It's a better thing that God listens and answers prayers!

 Having the right and proper tools is a big plus.   Tomorrow I'll be sharing with you the mopping system(s) that I prefer.  

Linking with a few favorite parties including . . . 

Show and Share Party

 Inspire Me Tuesdays

The Scoop

Tuesdays with a Twist

Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's  

 Ducks in a Row Wonderful Wednesdays Blog Hop  

WowUs Wednesday

Fall Into Fall Party

Party in Your PJ's

DreamCreate Inspire Link

 Dagmar's HomeLinky Party 

 Waste NotWednesday 
The Homemaking Party

And

over here

Frugal Pink Spring Mantle

Spring is in the air and it's time to restage the mantle. 
This year I've chosen Pink . . . 
                                              
I began with a simple willow wreath that I bought at Dollar Tree.
Then I took a piece of foam board and covered it with pink fabric.
Because my ceiling is really tall I felt like I needed something to give my display some height.  
The simple wreath is covered with some beaded metal garland that came from Pottery Barn back in the day.

Next I added candles.  They started out white.  I simply covered them with pink paper then added the faux pearls to jazz them up. 
I realized I needed to pull more green in so I added ribbon to 2 of them. 
The little bunny is from 1997.  I love him.  I've collected bunny's for years.  This little guy was digging in the dirt.   Notice his dirty foot.

I love the new green moss covered bunny.  My darling daughter and grandson gave him to me the other day.  He was the inspiration to add the green. 
Which turned out really good because I had planned to use this 
pitcher to fill with tulips . . . 

My original plan was to paint the pitcher white.  But I don't have much budget and I still need to add flowers. 

My mantle isn't totally complete.  I need to add the rest of the bunny's.  And I need to get some tulips. 

 I'll also change the wreath a little.  I just taped it to the board.  It stayed up long enough for these photos.  While I was downloading I heard a crash!   And I knew what it was.  

Oh I almost forgot one more pic I wanted to share . . . 

I wanted you to see the paper lanterns.  I bought them at Dollar Tree too.  At the time I only had a few bucks.  I wish I had bought more I went back this year at Valentines and they didn't have any.  I haven't been in the last week or so.  I hope they get some more! I love them.  

So that's part one.  And here are a few mosaics I made while I was playing with PicMonkey.  BTW they are running a sale I think I'll upgrade!


And another layout . . . 
           

I do want to do something different with the lamp.  At Valentines 
I simply covered it with some lace.  I was kind of thinking about making yo's yo's and covering it.  

What do you think?  Any ideas?

So that's part 1 of my Thrifty Pink Mantle.  And now I'm putting my slippers back on and grabbing some lunch! 
                                                 

                          Have a good weekend
Come by and join me for . . . 

Link posts about your hometown or favorite town!

Linking this pink post with Pink Saturday, Mosaic Monday, Make It Pretty Monday, Create With Me Monday, The Art of Homemaking, Titus Tuesday , Creative Muster Wednesday Party, Wonderful Wednesday, Wake Up Wednesday  Share Your Cup on Thursday

Tweekin' The Cottage

A Mini Cottage tour . . .
Our home is loosely described as a cottage.  It's not but I like to pretend it is something like this . . .
                             
                                                    New Tracks B&B in Kyle,Texas
In reality this is our home . . .
                         
We live in an apartment.  And it is tiny and stone.  Today I decided I would call it
a cottage and invite you in on a mini tour . . .


Last week I shared a mini tour of my kitchen and counters.  You can read that post here.  I am always
tweekin' everything.  Partly because I love changing things around.  Partly because its a challenge to fit in
everything I want to enjoy.

We have a living/dining/kitchen kind of great room or open floor plan.  In the dining room area we have the mantle that The Cowboy bought me last year for my birthday.  I have wanted one for years and years.
                         
I tweeked it a little for July 4th.  Click here to see the post.   Today I wanted to share a few elements that I have displayed on the mantle . . .
The current mantle theme celebrates our son . . .
                   
A photo displays a 2nd place ribbon he won at our church's Rodeo.  Our church had a rodeo before Cowboy church became popular . . .
               
Just below the photo are the boots he was wearing . . .


Some how they are the only pair that I ended up with.  Dirty and scuffed as they are they are cherished.
Also displayed are a pair of his spurs.  These aren't as old as the boots . . .

They are displayed next to a vintage ceramic piece.  It was cheap '50s but I love it.  It is sitting on a stand
that our son made when he was about 18.  It's old rusted horse shoes from his horse that he welded together.
                      
A shot of a couple of trophies from Horse Shows.  The silver one was originally cheap black plastic.
The spiral part was gold.  I asked The Cowboy to spray paint it silver.  I think it still needs work.
I want to get the paint of the tag.  It was originally brass.

And lastly a photo of our sons horse . . .                                                            
                     
 Another cherished item.  My daughter had taken some photos of our grandson with "Pal".  This is the last photo we have of him.

I have something new sitting beside the mantle.  For now.  At least until I 'tweek' again . . .

                      
My newest dumpster find.  A really tall plant stand.  It's pretty heavy wood.  Of course I plan to paint it.

And one more shot.  Remember this is a mini tour . . .
                      
  The Cowboy came home with this treasure a couple of weeks ago.  $20.00 at a resale store!
  Oh I forgot to mention the mantle was $30.00. He found it on Craigslist.
  He was so proud.  He has a cigar humidor that it matches perfectly.  Same brass and all!

  I especially like the shelf.  Perfect for a book.
                                    
  On top I just displayed a few antlers on a hide . . .
                           
So that's it for the mini tour.  Even though its a tiny cottage.  There is a lot to show you.   Come back net week another installment of the Mini Cottage tour.

BTW I am always tweekin' so there's always something to see.

Linking with Amaze Me Monday
 Linking with Tweek It Tuesday
 Linking with Titus Tuesday
 Linking with Show and Share
 Linking with Tuesday At Home
 Linking with Inspire Me Tuesday      
 Linking with Enchanting Rose




                                                             Happy Trails
                        
                                              Source    
           

I Was The Wife of a Deer Hunter part 1

Yes before it was popular my house no my gameroom was filled with dead things . . .
 and mine weren't the Faux ones.  Yes Bambi
graced our walls.  At least one room that Cowboy was allowed to decorate in his style.   And actually he did a fairly decent job.  Now don't get me wrong he didn't have complete free rein.  Actually he was only allowed to hang a few trophies.  I mean hello... I think you'll agree men just don't have it in them to decorate completely alone . . .


I mean seriously look at how they dress. And what is up with that chair? 


And I mean look at the conveniences they are willing to leave behind for a few hours of sheer happiness.  Seriously my Cowboy would get giddy when it was deer season. 

I never really begrudged him the whole experience.  Mainly because when he really got into hunting after we were married it didn't hinder any of my own activities. 

Givin' the Cowboy some credit he didn't hunt (after we were married) until we were in a position financially that we could afford it easily. 

So finances didn't enter into it.  He would leave and spend a few days in the woods and come back happy.  I would spend those few days . . .

. . .shopping and eating out or sewing. 

And he would come home on Sunday night all happy and giddy and stinky.  But the stinky didn't last long.  Let me warn you friends . . . showering isn't part of the hunting experience. 

But when they come home . . .


                                                         Found on Google Images (link didn't work)
You could leave this suggestion.
  
I really didn't realize it at the time.  And it really wasn't until he had to sell his trophies a few months ago that I really, really began to realize the significance in this small little sacrfice that I made.  The sacrifice of allowing  him to go hunting.  Allowing him to decorate the game room.   And cooking his kill. 

Little did I know at the time it spoke Love  him. 

You may be struggling with the idea of your man going off on a hunting trip.  But I promise you even if he doesn't show it he will feel loved. 

So if your man is planning on going off into the woods.  Take a few tips from the Wife of a Deer Hunter . . .

Tip 1. . . Smile and kiss him goodbye
Tip 2. . . Make your own plans.  If there isn't a budget for a lot think of fun things you can do that don't take a lot of cash. 
Tip 3. . . Call and visit your mom.  She'll love it.
Tip 4. . . Paint the bedroom red!

and last but the most important tip . . .
                                    Cook his kill
Linking with . . .
Jess-The Art of Homemaking, Katherine--Make It Monday, Nan--Make My Home Sing,
Much Ado Monday, Inspiration Monday, Kathy--Titus Tuesday , Inspire Me Tuesday ,
Be Inspired Tuesday,


 

Titus Tuesday--T.V. or No T.V.

Today I am joining Darlene for Titus Tuesday a fun linky party about encouraging each other as Godly women.   As the scripture commands the older women are to teach the younger women.  To encourage.
Today I want to be open and honest.  And encourage you. 

A few posts ago when we were all writing about the New Year one of the things I said was that I was so glad for 2012 to start.  I was more than happy to put 2011 behind me.  It was a rough year for us for many reasons.

One of them being the lack of this. 

We spent from February to June with absolutely no t.v.  And, very little inter-net.  Giving up the t.v. as you can imagine was pretty difficult.  I really missed Home and Garden network and the Food Channel. 

But not having the inter-net was even harder.  Just for a moment girlfriend sit and think what it would be like to not be able to visit your friends blogs.  Or to write on yours.  Now that I have your attention let's switch gears and go back to the t.v. (We'll talk about the inter-net another day)

You see the reason that we didn't have any t.v. was we flat didn't have the money for cable.  Where we were living at the time cable was the only option.  And then thankfully in June we moved.  And we got t.v. again.

Still without cable.  This is what the picture looked like until we were able in July to buy an antenna or something so we could at least get local channels.

You may not think so but actually it really didn't bother me all that much because I am a reader.  I read alot.
I love to review books.  I love to read books from the library.  So, no t.v. really wasn't as much a burden to me it was Cowboy.

Once we got the antenna thingy we were able to get local channels.  Cowboy was happy when he could watch football last fall.  And we could get CW33.  Which was o.k. with me because I started watching
Hart Of Dixie and Ringer.  At least for a few weeks until I realized that those two hours needed to be spent sewing I had a quilt that had to be finished by Christmas.  BTW I didn't start watching those shows again.  I realized that in those 2 hours that I could do a lot of sewing.

Besides local channels we do have a couple of other channels.  One which has come to be my favorite.  And the real reason for this post. 

You see even before we didn't have t.v. we never really watched network t.v. we mostly watched Food Channel and Home and Garden.  And we would watch movies.  Usually rented.   We both just really are not into the themes of most sitcoms.  And all the adult cartoons are just trashy.  I don't know any other way to describe them.  The only other thing really left to watch is NCIS and although I would watch those types of shows Cowboy isn't into them.  And even those shows have language and contain adult very adult themes and scenes. 

T.V. isn't like it was when I was a kid or a teenager or actually a young adult.    Back in the day it was shows like . . .

Adam 12

And

And others like Leave It To Beaver and McHales Navy.  I love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke.  I remember

back in the day when a couple rarely even kissed.  And they slept in twin beds.  When mom's like June Cleaver stayed at home and wore pearls and dresses. 

I was glad when we got the antenna thingy and we found this channel

They show all the old shows.  All the shows that are wholesome and don't have words bleeped out.   All the shows that I wouldn't worry about my children hearing a bad word or seeing something that they shouldn't. 

I know that there are at least a couple of different camps when it comes to t.v. I know that some of you ladies don't even have t.v.'s in your house.  And honestly if it was up to me I would not have a t.v.

But I have to admit to you ladies it isn't necessarily because of the violence or language or adult content necessarily.  For me I just have other things to do. 

I realized when we didn't have t.v. that I could spend more time sewing or reading.  Or even cleaning.   I realized that if I didn't watch Ringer or X Factor (and it was hard to quit) that I could spend that hour reading my Bible.  Which is something that I have challenged myself to do much more of this year. 

Dear friends today I am challenging you to think about.  To ponder.  And to pray about what t.v. means to you and your family.  If your a young mother I want to challenge you to think about the amount of t.v. your children watch.  And, the content of what they do watch. 

And, I would love to hear from you.  I would love  for you to comment or email me. (slegan@yahoo.com) 

I want to pray for you and your family.  I know that many of us maybe are very careful about what we watch.  And we're careful about what the children watch. 

And, if you have already made the decision to not watch Ringer tonight (I think it's tonight. LOL) well why not just spend a few more minutes on the computer and go and check out the other Titus Tuesday posts I know you'll be encouraged.    Click here to go to the linky.  See you there!

Reading On the Journey . . .

Titus Tuesday Errands with Happy Children

What to do today?  I don't know about you but rarely do I have to ask myself that question; because I usually have a million things to
do!  I bet you do too! 

I have never been a list maker. 

 At least I thought I wasn't . . . LOL. But I realized I am.  I just never actually wrote down a list. But I always seemed to have a plan in mind of what I/we (me and kids) would need to accomplish during the week.  And during the day. 

I realize belatedly I/we might have accomplished alot more had I actually written down what I/we needed to do. 

Today I want to encourage you to make a list.  I know for us as a family knowing what we needed to do each day helped alot!   Whether your list looks like this . . .

Or your more of an old fashioned girl . . .

A daily or weekly list encouraged us to keep on track.  I realized that for my family it not only helped us to get things accomplished but it really helped our family get along.  My kids knew everyday when we left for school what 'the plan' for the afternoon after schoolwas.  Having 'a plan' really made after school errands much easier for us.  I think it had a lot to do with that the kids knew what was expected each afternoon.  So instead of sitting in school all day making plans to play with neighbor kids, or play nintendo or a million other kid things right after school.  They knew that their plans would happen once we were home after a couple of stops. Basically they would get in the car expecting to stop at the cleaners or at the store.  And they would have a happy attitude about it.  Once we learned this it made our drives much quieter.  No whinning or crying about running errands. 

One thing that I didn't do that my daughter does with her 3 year old is . . .

. . . making a list together.  This is a new habit for her.  And probably comes from our habit of  planning our days.



When I saw her making a list with my grandson I couldn't help but think of this verse.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he/she will not turn from it.  Proverbs 22:6

Give it a try; include your child/children in making plans for the day or for the afternoon after school.  I would love to hear from you if you try this.  Let me know if it makes your after school errands happier times. 

Oh and BTW here's what my list looks like these days . . .

I am planning to Read the Bible through this year.  Wanna join me?

Click on the Read On 2012 on my sidebar.

Joining Darlene for Titus Tuesday. Click here.

Mosaic Monday(on Tuesday)Titus Tuesday . . Establish the work . . .

Welcome to Titus 2Days

I began this post yesterday to include the following mosaic but I wasn't able to load the above photo.
I wanted to repost only the above photo today and link to Titus Tuesday but our inter-net connection had other ideas.  LOL

Today I wanted to tell a little about the pumpkin carving party that my daughter hosted a couple of weeks ago.  And a little about where she is right now. 

I have mentioned my Thankfulness many times on Thursday for various things concerning her.   And I am very Thankful that God has heard our prayers.  I am thankful he has brought her through a rough time and that she is on the way to being whole again. 

For the past 6 years she has been in an emotionally abusive relationship.  It was not physical only because the abuser knew how to control his anger and not actually ever hit her.  (Walls were o.k. to hit . . . this I only found out about a couple of weeks ago)  Last May after many, many prayers God gave her the strength to leave the marriage.  She is now living with a Godly couple that are our age and have a huge house and lots of room for her and our grandson.  This is a little hard for me especially because what mother wouldn't want their lost and hurting child with them?  But I know God is in control and he has her right where she needs to be. 

In August she celebrated a year of employment at a local Children's home where she teaches horse back riding.  This is significant in her story for many reasons.  One year ago she did not have a support network. And her husband was pushing her to take another corporate job. Her first step toward 'survival' she took the job at the Children's home.

At that time she had no one to turn to but her father and I.  But, because of the brainwashing that comes with an abusive relationship we are the last person(s) that she will turn to.  She was isolated from friends and other family members.  But, she began to develope friendships with Godly women by teaching their children how to ride. These friendships developed.  She developed a friendship with her supervisor also and when she finally left the marriage her supervisor went to the Director of the children's home and they took up a love offering for her.  God supplied her needs.  Another family had a car that they could sell to her.

The last few months have been difficult.  The phone calls and emails from her husband are constant.  The  topics go from 'I miss you..." to " Your a bad person because..."  It is a roller coaster of emotions. 

But even though all this she is going on in her life she has begun to turn a corner and she is reaching out to others.

She is in church every week.  And goes to a ladies Bible Study every Monday morning.  Last Saturday her church had baby dedication.  When she learned about it they said that the 'cut off' was 3 years old.  Our grandson is 3 1/2.  She was talking to the Children's director and started to cry and said "I wasn't allowed." 
She told him a little about her situation and of course they said we could do the dedication. 

So Saturday  she walked up on stage and dedicated him to the Lord.  Praise God she was 'allowed'!

And, she is serving others.  A few weeks ago she hosted the Pumpkin carving party.  She invited a couple of preschooler friends and some teenagers that she is acquainted with at the children's home.  The three teenagers were at the dedication.  Two are teenage boys living at the home.  They have been there 8 years.  They are great 'jungle gyms' for our grandson.  They throw him around like he is a football and run and chase him.  They play super hero's and football and soccer together.  They ride horses together.   They go bowling and ice skating. 

As our daughter opens her heart to others.  As she serves God by giving these kids a little fun she is Blessed.  And she grows.  And God restores her and ever so slowly she is becoming whole.  

I shared this post for a couple of reasons.  During this holiday season you might have a family that is whole and intact.  You might be planning a Thanksgiving dinner with all your loved ones.  You might be out shopping and making plans for Christmas.  You might be decorating your tree or trees! 

Or you might have loved ones that are in situations that keep them away from you.  A child in the military or living in another state.

Do you have a child in an abusive relationship? 

I don't have any answers. 

Because there have been many days that I have had to just 'give up' in a way and just turn it over to God and force myself not think and worry about them. 

But I do know that God wants us to love each other. I do know that stepping out of our comfort zone and doing something kind for someone else is what God wants us to do. 

It might be something as simple as hosting a Pumpkin Carving party.  Since it is a little late for that now . . . How about a coffee or tea for a friend,  or maybe a cookie exchange.  Or maybe you could just invite a mom over and have a play date with the kids. 

Maybe you have older kids and you know a couple with kids that left for college this year.  Or away and won't be home for the holidays.  Or a senior adult who will be alone for the holidays. 

If you think about it the ideas and endless!  I hope that this holiday season you have a wonderfully Blessed time.  I hope and pray that your family will be together.  And I hope and pray that you can be a Blessing to someone else. 

Father God thank you for our families.  Thank you for the holidays and the time we will share with our loved ones.  Father I ask you to give us the opportunity to share our faith with someone else just by gently loving them or by doing an act of kindness. 

linking with Mosaic Monday (click Here) and Titues Tuesday (click Here)

Establishing The Work Of Our Hands Along The Journey,