Open pantry

Doesn't this look organized? I even have room for more...which is a big switch from this AM. I could not find anything in here.
I like to keep a well stocked pantry, so I do what I can to keep it full of canned goods. Just in case we have the storm where we cannot get out. We have had some pretty big snows, but since we live in town we get our street plowed once in awhile. As for the driveway...dear hubby gets that honor. He is good about it and works up quite a sweat in the process.
Well, the pantry is just one of many things I am working on organizing this month. It feels pretty good.
Okay, my pasta is done cookin' so I must go and eat some dinner...yeah, I found the noodles to cook. Yes!

The Pantry

Here is the pantry I mentioned in last post, but you will be reading this first, so it will seem backwards. Anyhooo, the pantry in not in the kitchen, sadly, it is in the office. But hey it keeps me walkin' back and forth from one end of the house to the other when I am cookin.' Goodness knows I can use the exercise! If I ever get to design my own home...I will have an old fashioned butler's pantry. But for now this one works quite well.

Exodus Study

My Bible, study notes, coffee, water, pens, now I am set!
I survived my ladies weekly study yesterday. Normally it would not be an issue, but I had to fill in for a lady in our church who is considered a Bible Great! NO small task...but she asked me and I said okay. Anyone who knows me well, knows I have taught craft classes for years. This I can do in my sleep, or blindfolded with my hands tied behind my back. But teaching a group of ladies a chapter in Exodus I never before attempted. But much to my surpirse it went great. I think the ladies enjoyed it. We even went way over time. They were all troopers for coming out in the weather we have been having...snow and more snow. But I am glad it is behind me.

I am taking the month of February to get caught up on some stuff around my Home Sweet Home. I started off today with cleaning out my pantry. Since I now have a garage I moved some of the things I don't use often out there...this freed up room for-of all things-FOOD. So now you can see at a glance what is there is to eat. Love that. Previously I got frustrated when I had to dig through cans to find that can of green bean I know I had left.

I shall take a pic of it and post, me thinks!

Here is my Monday Job

Here I am in the Thrift Shop were I do volunteer work. I price and merchandise the craft supplies. This is right down my alley, since I love to craft and have some knowledge about most craft supplies. You cannot really see the craft area very well in this pic, but I have a pretty good area to work on. It is fun and gives me an opportunity to do something for My Lord Jesus...my first love!

Diamond Dust

This snow has a glimmer to it, so it appears to be diamond dust. I was immediately stuck with it's beauty when I went outside to see this last Sunday afternoon. I am not sure you can see the sparkle in this photo, may just look like fluff. We are having record snows here and it is lovely. A bit of a challenge for a few to get around, but we have 4WD as do most folks here, so we are have done fine.
I finally have my laptop back. It has been on the blitz for about 11 days. So back to blogging.

And Brennah & Zach

This side of the photo holder has my two younger children, Brennah & Zach. These pics are about 5 years old.

Ornate Photo Holder, Sarah & Tyler

This photo holder was found on one of our trips to Florida. It looked so very Victorian to me,
so I brought it home. One on side you can see two pics, which are my two oldest, Sarh & Tyler.

Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me

I picked up this darling print at the flea market/gun show (I did not go into the gun show part) about ten days ago. I saw it fell in love with it. The lady wanted more than I wanted to pay. So I walked around for a bit, then came, offered her less and she took it. Not sure where it will go in the house, but it will go somewhere. The coloring is so soft and lovely to look at. If you enlarge it you will see what I mean.

Little Red Shoes

Aren't these so sweet? I picked them up somewhere along the line in the past. But thought they would look cute with the old Valentines I laid around the living room.

Ironing-A Favorite Domestic Duty

This is my own hand ironing one of my blouses yesterday. I usually let the ironing pile up (well, I actually hang them up in laundry area)and do it all at once. My husband wears button up cotton shirts and sometimes they need ironing. Now, I do enjoy ironing for the most part, but there are times when I need to iron, yet I let other things take a priority over it. So I have gotten better about how I pick out the shirts I buy for him, searching for the permanent press. This way when he needs a shirt I never have to think, "Oh, do I need to iron for him before he can leave for work?" Since I do the laundry reguraly there are always clean permanent press shirts in the closet. He is hard on them with the type of work he does, which is home improvements. We deal with dry wall mud, paint, tears, oil stains, etc. So when the stores come out in the spring with those plaid, short-sleeved, permanent press shirts in a variety of colors, I buy several. He likes short sleeves even in the winter, so he can move freely, wearing a henly underneath for warmth.
Anyhow, it was not easy to shoot the picture above, as the button on my camera is on the right hand side, which is my ironing hand, making it was hard to reach over to push the button without getting my left hand in front of the lens. But I did it. I realize this is not a great inspiring photo...but part of my reason for keeping this blog was to document my own life for future generations. So there you have it. BTW, the shirt I am ironing in the photo is a favorite. It has tucks down the front and looks old fashioned to me. If it was more doable I would wear old fashioned clothes everyday. Maybe I will brooch this topic on another day.

Frozen Birdies!

These poor birds sat happily on the edge of my back porch for a long time. They got a major melt down on them and are now frozen to the wood ledge they sit on.

Sideview of Valentine Memory Box

From this view you can see the bottom of the heart with it's scallop. The red cones were some after Christmas bargains (Walmart) and I think they are great for Valentines as well. You can click on the photo to see it better. Oh, the heart box was found at the $1 Tree last year. But they are around and usually pretty easy to find if you want to make this project. You will see this again when I post pics of the fireplace decorated for Valentines. I have a few more things to add to my vignette there...so it is unfinished.

Valentine Memory Box

Last year I got my friends together to make these Valentine Boxes. I had this one left and did not get it decorated. So today I cut the scalloped cardstock shapes for top and bottom, covered them with antique sheet music, added an old photo (copy) of my great grandmother, Dinky was her name, and some Victorian scrap. I made this double rosette using vintage crepe paper. Then the finishing touch was to add the red glass glitter. Since it has the old photo on it I decided it should be a memory box. See next post for side view.

To Pretty

Here it is with the base painted black. I put this Nicole Sayre doll ornament inside and she will keep watch on my living room for awhile. I love to take junky or average things and turn them into a treasure....yes this is a trash to treasure project. What cha' think? Give me some feed back.

From Ugly

This pear shaped glass cloche had some orange flowers in it, on an orange base. I started to paint the base black and then thought I should get a shot of it as a before, so you can see it is partially black on the back side. The next post shows it when I got it painted.

Snow Bikes

These two old bikes are a part of our landscaping in the back yard. I usually put them under the porch for the winter, but for some reason we did not do that this year. So they are getting a dowsing of snow. One of these bikes is my husband's official "Highway Patrol Bike." We tease about getting on it to patrol the neighborhood. I am sure this bike was a very cool thing to a young boy about 40 or 50 years ago.

Neptune & Little Snowman

My daughter made this little snowman in the yard and brought it up to the back porch. He proudly sits on an old chair. The 'buttons' are chocolate chips, the 'nose' is an almond, pine needles are the arms. This is her dog, Neptune, he is not sure what to think of this little guy, but he did find joy in a chcolate chip that had fallen on the porch and scarfed it up.
I had been saying it is sad that our grandchildren are not around to build a snowman as we had in the past. So I guess Brennah felt sorry for us and made this little guy. The snow is piling up and making it a bit more difficult to get around, but I do so appreciate God's beauty and will not complain. I do need to get a different pair of boots, though. Mine are leather and they have to be laced up...they are a big pain when I get ready to go anywhere. I had another pair, but can't seem to find them. I think they were a tad tight on my feet so I gave them away.
Thank you Jesus, for the beauty you surround us with.

Silver Hearts

I found this lovely necklace at out church thrift shop a few weeks ago. It is pretty heavy and not made of plastic as so many things are today. I really got it to do craft projects with, but now I don't think I have the *heart* to take it apart. I may even wear it when we get a little closer to Valentines Day. It is sitting on my old table in my studio.
I will be posting more Valentine photos over the next few weeks. And probably some snowy scenes from the local area as well. We are getting 'dumped on' big time as they say in this neck of the woods. The snow so beautiful...I do enjoy it.

Sparkly Snowflakes

Scored these two sparkly snowflakes at the after Christmas sale at Mel's in Spokane. The glitter is the large sized stuff and really sparkles. Pretty, huh?

Beautiful Boxes

I found these great boxes at the $1 Store after Christmas. They came in a package of three for a $1, but were half off because of the after Christmas sale. So I got six boxes for a &1. I liked the colors of them in the store, but when I got them home and opened them I loved the colors. So I decided to use them for storing paper and ephemera in on some shelves in my studio.