Friday, May 30, 2014

A nice day and a new friendship forged...

I had a nice day, and made a new friendship, well maybe better said an acquaintanceship became a friendship.  We had friends in common, relationships with each others families so a good bases for a true friendship.  We had known each others family members but had by passed each other, really, along the way.  We have a lot in common and many of the same beliefs and interests a good day of getting to know one another. And then of course there was the soap, we had that in common, and love of making potions and lotions and thing.  I have decided I will call her Soap Sister in Christ, long maybe, but apt. We got to make 2 batches of goats milk soap and a good french milled soap as well.  She had made a fabulous soup with a nice kick, gotta love some one that gives their food a kick. We learned a lot about each other, shared a love of soap and our Love of God.  A great day was had by all.

I missed getting to stop by Belle's and I am sorry for that. Time got away from me and I really had so little time to get the soap lessons shared.  I will be going back to teach her how to make liquid soap another day. I heard the sad news that the mysterious deaths in our town were a murder suicide committed by  some one I had known from afar most of my life.  His daughter was in my class in high-school, or rather their daughter, and I had seen him and talked to him on many an occasion.  It is so sad to think that a couple of such ages, 87 and 85, had no other options left to them.  I hope they are in glory but I don't really know one way or the other.  My prayers are with there family and friends.

I have a bunch of stuff to get done, I have been advised of an opportunity that has arisen in my life.  I am weighing the pros and cons and we will make a decision together on the viability of the choices it offers us as a family. It is really a positive in many ways but then every opportunity has it's cost so we will have to debate it's fit in our lives.  I will further explore the plausibility of it before Monday.

Well, I again pray for you, your day and your life.  May it be loving, with God in it and may it be in accordance with what God wants for you in your life here on earth.... tomorrow. 

Off to give a private soap class and then back again to lots to do...

I am off this morning to give a private soap class, not a beginner but a more advanced class.  It will be fun to explore the aspects of soap with a fellow soap lover and it will nice to strengthen a friendship with a co-soaper. I will be coming back in the early afternoon and hopefully stop at Belle's to work on photos on our re-vamped and soon to be opening up again Etsy store.  I am excited with its new look and feel.

I had a great day at the Library yesterday.  Gave out samples of my toner to my willing guinea pigs.  I got an idea on how to re-vamp the amazon site that I will be volunteering weekly to work on and that should be fun and brain stimulating.  I also got to buy a wondrous set of books in pristine condition.  It will add a great deal of knowledge to our home, well for those who take the time to read the 54 volumes.  I am excited to get them.

Tomorrow is BBFC day so have paperwork to do later, with the help of my Yogie.  I am excited to get my pantry and my family room changed around and then  get the living room changed around and the new sliding door put in.  Poppie has to make shelves in my soap closet to get all the inventory put away and because I sold more than a hundred bars of soap on Memorial day week end, Yay, St. Regis Flea Market.  I now have lots more soap to make, I love to make soap I can play with new creations.  I am the bane of some of my clients existence as I rarely make the same batch twice, it is almost impossible even if I try.  

Well I must be off on my trip it is about an hour away.  I pray that the Lord is supreme in your life, without him life is nothing and with out him eternity is lost.  I pray you are an eternal being and will live in life ever-after with your Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.  Salvation is only of Christ Jesus all other doors lead to death... tomorrow.  

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Nannie's Kiss it Better Balm and experiments in toners......

I am getting good feedback so far on my Balm of Gilead Balm though I did not really question that I would it is after all a tried and true balm that is eons, possible, old.  It really sold it's self.  I am not really at this point in my life big on inventing a lot of balms.  I have two friend, Belle and Herbalist, who make that their forte.  I have become interested in balms only because the Balm of Gilead really intrigue me and I could easily make it myself out of local herbs: but making it did peak my interest in dabbling in balm making a little.  It was a lot like making lotion bars, well sort of.  I decided that since I had dabbled a little two balms did come to me that I would actually like to make.

I have always kissed away the hurts of littles.  I started doing it when my sisters the "little girls" were little.  I am really part of a family that has three families in it.  My parents had us older kids right on top of one another, me 14 month later twins (one died at 9 hours old) Silver,  11 months later Red, 16 months later Sister, and two years later we adopted Little Brother.  My parents had the "little girls" later, 10 years Little Sister, 12 years  Drama Queen, and 14 years (almost 15) years Baby Sister.  They then adopted the "triplets" when I was 41, Thing One, Thing Two and Susie Who.  So, we are basically three different families combined into one.  I learned young that a little only really wants you to acknowledge their boboo.  I would say "I will kiss it better".  I as a mom did it as well, and now as a Nannie I use it still.  It has always worked and it has come to represent my love for the ones I give my kisses to.  In recent years we have had Herbalist and Belle's balms on hand so I have now added smearing on balm after the kiss for good measure.  Well my new venture into balm making got me to thinking.  I really like aspects from both of Belle's and Herbalist's balms but I don't use them together so I decided I would take the parts I liked from each and combine them into my own balm and what better name could I give it than Nannie's Kiss it Better Balm.  I made my first batch yesterday.  It has nice color, nice smell and is a little thicker so it doesn't melt at as low a heat as their balms.  I like the feel of it and think I have it just about right.  I am so excited to share it.  I gave my first tin to Belle she was gracious and said nice things about it, and her Little Princess used it right away on one of her cuts.  I am hoping it works out as well as I hope, and my kids and grands little love it. Number one balm made second to come soon...

I have been working on a toner, never thought of making a toner, didn't actually even know what one was until I was asked to make one by Newbie ( the new part time Librarian).  I got right on looking up what it was and how or why it works.  I did have the ingredient she had had in the one she liked as an idea to go from from the beginning.  I infused witch hazels and that took a couple weeks.  I made up the first batches with a combination of what I had learned from blogs, recipes and thoughts from Belle.  Yogie had been using one that Belle makes that she uses for several purposes in addition to what regular toner is used for.  I had her try it first, and Yogie liked it.  She said it didn't sting as much, okay so I either failed or made it more palatable to her, who knows if that is good or bad only time will tell.  I made four different formulas so we will see which is best or if any of them are, giving out samples to Newbie and Lady to test today and Yogie and Booboo already have theirs so four guinea pigs to begin with.....

I pray for you today, I pray you are saved and that you are becoming more the image of Jesus Christ every day.  I pray you are in the eternal Church of our Lord and that you are spreading his Word as you go through out your life.  I pray that some day I will meet you in eternity as we praise our Lord in life eternal together...tomorrow. 

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

I am a work in progress and the Lords continues to work on me daily.....

One of the things that I hope comes across as I write to you is that I never preplan my blogs.  Okay, to hard core bloggers I know that is a big mistake but I am not a hard core blogger and my intent is not to sell you something, physically or emotionally, my intent is to be honest to myself and let you in for the ride.  I actually rarely see you as my audience, my real audience is me, I am writing this blog as a diary and most of you have long ago figured that out.  The you I most often talk to is, me, past, present or future, and I let you all  see me doing it good or bad.  I have said before none of my kids read my blog, well maybe one here and there but none of them are interested, now, in my thoughts or words, they think they have heard it before, well maybe they have but most likely not so much.  I have said I write for them, and that is true, but not necessarily the them of now, but the me of now, and the them of the future when they may actually have some interest in who I really was, maybe only once I have gone home.  I am the me of now daily, yesterday is past and today I am a new me of now so my blog grows, changes and develops as does the inner me.  If you read a blog a year ago about an opinion I had on a subject it may or may not be the same today.  I am just trying to be as honest as I can be to me with the current information I have and how I think can change with new input. I am a work in progress and God is trying to mold me daily.  Some days he succeeds in making me a better person and some days he shakes his heads and wonders if I will ever really get it.  I do want to make one side note, I try to end every blog with a plea for all who hear the call of God to listen and respond, I know that my duty as a Christian is to take the Word of God to the lost, I will never change that aspect as that is probably the most important thing that I could do as a blogger is to take the Word of God to even just one lost soul so that they could seek God and find their salvation.  I can save no one, I can only share Gods precious word so he can save all of his lost children.

I once believed, and have even written in my blogging, that I believed that a person could loose their salvation and I now know that that is just not true. I was confused with what Grace truly was.  Salvation is not of me on any level, and that no one deserves, it so if God gives it to you he is faithful and would never take back his gift.  I was confused in thinking that a person had to be a person of works to keep salvation which is just not true.  God's salvation is a gift, period, and if a person fails, falls short, changes their mind or walks completely away, it does not effect God he is always the same and never changing so salvation once giving is a gift for eternity.  We are the failures, and the weak, not God.

I have struggled with relationships in my life and have discussed them on many a page and have come to the determination that people are doing the best they can, Sometimes their mistakes have caused pain and devastation in my life but I can not change the past, and can probably never understand the intent or even if there was an intent for maybe I was just collateral damage and the person never intended me the pain they caused.  I need to forgive and forget.  I have said before that I can forgive because the Lord asks me to, if some one asks it of me, but I can't always forget but I have come to learn that that is something that I have to do.  The forgetting is the true forgiveness and the hanging on of the pain is devastating so I need to forgive, and forget, for my soul as much as for the one who caused me pain. God forgives and forgets and I have his example to follow and am on my path to true discipleship only when I can follow his example.  I have heard those who control your anger control you, well the reality is those who control any of your emotions, thoughts or pains controls you, so don't let them; forgive, forget and get on with the freedom of knowing only God controls any and all of your being.

I know I am a work in progress and in many ways a mellower, milder more loving version of who I once was but God has a lot more work to do on me, so I am growing daily and for now I am content with that and with who I am today, I am not sure, well I know for sure I am still a broken fleshly human that has a long long way to go but I am a little farther along than I was even a year ago,  a week ago or a day ago. God is making me more like his son daily, and I stand in wonder at the work he has already accomplished..... I pray that you are saved, if not, email me and we can talk, or pick up a Bible and seek him in earnest and he will speak to you. I pray for your day, your life and you eternity....tomorrow.  

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

I am back, this was a busy week and I only had so much time to divide.....

I am sorry I don't even know when the last time I blogged was and I don't actually know what day was the last day I even got to check my blog.  I am sorry to have been gone so long but I had a super busy week and alas there are only 24 hours in any day.  I did think of you all somewhere in the back of my mind as I rushed along.  I worked at the library 3 days last week, and spent the better part of the last 4 days at the St. Regis Flea Market.  I managed to make Church to praise the Lord with 3 grands in tow.  Yesterday I topped the long week end off by going to rescue Poppie so I do send you all my sincerest apologies but say la vee I am at least back now.

I had a great time working at the Library and got to visit a little with the wondrous patron that come and go. I got to sort books and alphabetize; and to the nerd that I am it is a soothing endeavor for me so that was great.  It does bug me when a photo is crooked and a book is out of place in an alphabetized shelf so I got to do something I really like to do.  Yogie is a bit anal like that as well.  Now if a cluttered house brought that out is me the house would be the better for it.  I had a great beginning to the next few week of working regularly weekly hours subbing at the Library.

We got all of our stuff together and set up at the St. Regis Flea Market on Friday, sold on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Mokie covered for Belle and I on Sunday as we both went to our Churches.  I did have to take all of Mokie's kids to Church with me, and Bubbles chattered, and chattered and chattered some more.  Some of the time she was singing but she was really disruptive but alas she is only two.  The other members were gracious and glad she came if not glad she was so loud.  Mokie sold both of her last two puppies to two wonderful home and I may have found a breeder who has an appropriate stud to breed my little Missy to, so that was great. I got to see a lot of my friends that I don't get to see and lots of people who I had not seen in years, the Flea Market really is a gathering place of our county.  We did well at the flea market, for Mokie and I our best ever and for Belle a learning experience for her first time ever.

Belle and I found, as we were getting ready to leave, that a vendor left two sliding glass doors with a free sticker on them.  I was so excited Poppie has wanted to put a sliding glass door in the house since we bought it.  Poppie came down and got them, as we loaded them Poppie found a small crack in one of the doors but he said it was not to bad to use.  We were thinking of where we might use the second one when Son talked Poppie out of the one with a crack to use in his house so all is well and we were blessed to have them.  Poppie took the back road home.  Mokie, Belle and I finished up and were off home.  Mokie and I beat Poppie home.  He had called Son to tell him he was stranded, the lug nuts had come loose and he didn't have lug wrench, he had accidentally left it at home.   I went out to help him and as I traveled there a car got off the freeway and was following me.  It was creepy.  I got to Poppie and G-Pa was there.  G-Ma had gotten a call from Poppie and thought she was send G-Pa to save Matt.  None of us know how she would thought that, Matt who is in Billing, would have gotten stranded on Cold Creek road but who knows, she sent G-Pa to save Matt stranded in his semi on Cold creek.  I had just stopped when car following me stopped behind us.  It was Kathy, Matt's wife coming to help save Matt and she was at a loss, as well, as to why he would be stranded at Cold creek.  Soon all were on the same page but still a miss as to how Matt got into the whole thing...  All was well and we all went home. It was the end of a long week end and the car and truck were still loaded.  Son and Poppie unloaded them and the long days were at and end.

I spent part of the night beginning to rearrange so I could put all of my soap in the soap closet and make room to install the sliding glass door and get the new family room close to happening.  I plan to take the next week off of soaping, well except for the soap class I am going to teach on Friday.  I guess I am a part of soap in ways a lot of people aren't.  I pray for your day and your life, I pray that your life is in Christ Jesus and if it isn't I pray that you will take steps toward Jesus and your salvation....tomorrow. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Flea Market coming, and subbing regularly for awhile.... life always brings changes and the fun is going with the flow.

I find the more I try to figure out where I am going the more I should just step back, be patient and let the Lord lead me where he will.  Belle and I have been working on getting our Etsy store up and running.  I am actually, or I should say we are actually revamping me old store.  We didn't have to start from scratch that way, have years of being and already have reviews so we don't look like a new store, good or bad, not sure if that strategy is the best but we will see.  We have also been working at getting ready to do the St Regis Flea Market over Memorial day.  I have gotten a lot of inventory I think.  Rugs, jams, soaps, balms and a few vintage items to sell. Mokie will have goat milk lotion, and Belle will have Meadow Magic balm and other herbal remedies but I am not sure what all.  Basically the same types of items we will show case in our Etsy store.  I have a lot to do before Friday.  Poppie is building me a "soap table" it should display soap in a way I have never been able to, well that is the plan anyway.

I got a call from Head Librarian last week that she would like me to sub regularly for the rest of this month and all of next month.  Which will be a nice get away.  I will be working on some fun projects and it will be nice to spend regular time with Lady.  Poppie is also going to do the smoked pulled pork for an event they are having in June, a think for the library patrons I believe, but I could have it wrong.

The Ladies had their piano recital Sunday night, it turned out well. Preach, Pianist, Texas and the Elder States Woman from Church all came.  G-Pa came as well. They did well and were glad of the support. Poppie didn't get to go he was in to much pain.


I am glad all this is going on in my life.  I have learned that I am a great planner, but my plans always go the way God wants them to over the best laid plans, so I have learned to just take it easy and let God's plan for me unfold on his time, makes for less planning to begin with, and a surprise around each bend in the road.  You can't plan for bends so why stress your life doing so.  I pray you have a God planned filled life, no better kind.  God's will is always better than mine so I have learned to be lazy and let him show me how and where to go.  I pray for you life and your salvation.... tomorrow. 

Friday, May 16, 2014

Cubbie crashed and burned..... one sad little mite..

Last evening we were sitting and talking in the yard, the kids were playing on the small hill with their bikes.  Cubbie was coming down the small hill she was being her daredevil self and riding on her brothers bike, it has a hand brake.  Booboo and Boy were standing in the road and she didn't feel save going around them so she used that brake.  The front wheel stopped instantly and planted that bike where it was, the bike went head over tea kettle taking our little Cubbie with it.  She skidded across the hard dirt surface. She came to a stop on her little face all bleeding and a mouth full of dirt and blood.  She came up crying in pain.  All the adults began running at once.  Booboo felt it was her fault and spent the night crying and feeling guilty.  Yogie scooped her up and started trying to console her.  Son reached her first of the adult.  He said it was not as bad as it looked but then he is a boy.  Mokie thought differently.  She mopped the dirt out of her little daughters mouth, a cap was missing off of her front tooth, the blood and the dirt had become a mouth full of mud, and the tears were trails of clean in a field of dirt. The whole right side of her face was immediately swollen, a fat lip was appearing.  Mokie took her in the house washed her up was off to the ER for the second time that day, Bubble had cut her self playing earlier in the day, no stitches needed.  Mokie was sure that Cubbie would need stitches on her floor head.  The DR checked her out, wanted to do exrays but the tech advised him the Cubbie would not set for the 7 shots they would need and her crying would make them hard to get, plus her mother could not be in the room.  They decided a scan would be better. The nice CNA demonstrated to Cubbie how it would be on the table and it would go into the circle, Cubbie did good but was in a lot of pain.  NO concussion, no broken bones, no stitches needed, but pain would be more today and it was, she was given pain pills to help with the pain.  In the end the sunglasses she was wearing, which are destroyed, helped her eyes not be damaged.  Cubbie had to go to the dentist to have her teeth checked and her cap redone.  She did throw up on the way in but only because she is not hungry because of the pain pills and the pain pill make her tummy sick because she won't eat.  The Lord truly was taking care of her, she learned a lesson, well sort of, she did get on her bike and ride it to the car.  She does need to learn to use the hand brake.  Last week she was standing on her bike riding it down the drive, she isn't allow to ride with out her helmet.  She did take a spill last week rolled into three summer saults before she regained her feet.  She is a rough and tumble tomboy, I hope she makes it to 6.  NO fainting voilet in that girl.  She will never stand on the sidelines and let someone else do it for her, she is always in the thick of the fray. oh, the joy of little girls....

I pray you had a blessed day. I went to Friends of the Library meeting, took Bubbles with, she didn't get to go to the dentist in Zootown, Cubbie needed mom to herself, went to Sense of balance for spearmint. Picked up the Boy at school.  I had a blessed day, my grands are all alive and will live to see another day, hopefully with a little more smarts to go along with the wonder lust. I pray that your day is a blessing in your life, and the Lord is your life. ..... tomorrow. 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Hope on a Rope is born......

My Hope on a Rope is sort of an evolution of a concept, or product, in it's purest sense.  I made my first soaps in a sweater several years ago.  I got the idea from Twin she had made lovely felted soaps.  I loved the look and the feel of them but knew that though I had a love for roving and a want to learn to spin, which in and of its-self is story all it's own, I did not have a compunction to felt.  I was just beginning to upcycle wool, as was she at the time.  Some of my best ideas are a collaboration with many of my friends, some of which are Lady, Belle, and of course Twin.  I took Twin's idea and made my Soaps in a Sweater.  They were nice and did a lovely job of clean and exfoliating.  They however were not always convenient to store in the shower or in a soap dish.  I sort of forgot about them for awhile, though people did like them.  Not long ago Belle said to me how she missed the Sweaters in Soap I had made as she had loved hers and had been tempted to refill it.  It was kind of hard to because I had always used wools when I had made them.  Some of them had been upcycled felted wools to begin with and others had been upcycled wool yarns.  They therefore felt as they were used.  Wool plus water plus soap plus agitation equals felted wool, a good thing to scrub with but not necessarily all that reusable.  I decided to look into making them again.  I decide this time to make them more like soap on a rope.  I called them soap in a sweater on a rope, a little long winded to be sure.  One day as I was talking to Belle about our combining our lines and co-oping an Etsy store and maybe eventually a brick and mortar store, she said I should change the name of my soap on rope. She and I both have strong Christian beliefs and are trying to live for God so she knew I would be looking for ways that some of my product would exalt God's work or at least be a blessing to God.  She said I should call them Hope on a Rope and donate a dollar to something that would be a blessing for God.  I thought about it and Poppie and I talked about it.  We decided that since the Hope on a Ropes would all be made from my older lost sheep soaps, ones that were a single bar or bars that were no longer made and were just orphans from past soap batches, they were also my hardest bars because of their aging.  They would last much longer than new soap and be worth putting them in a sweater to begin with.  We decided that all of their cost should be donated, and only the cost of shipping them, if they need shipped, would not be donated.  We have decided to donate all of their in coming cost to Missions at our Church.  What better way to spread God's word to all nations than to do it through Missions.  We are really excited that that should be their purpose.  I am thinking we will ask 5 each for them, or two for 9 or 3 for 12, but if some one really wants one and can't afford it or they are to expensive they can be gifted as love gifts or can be sold for a donation.  I think that God might like that as the spirit of what we should do for our fellow man.  I have been trying to make 2 to 4 every night before I go to bed so that there is always many of them to share and for now I am trying to get all of the old soaps covered in sweaters.  I use almost all donated or thrift store finds of wool, for the most part but sometimes I use cotton or a specialty yarn that has exfoliating properties.

I have told you the story of Hope on a Rope, it's mission is to spread God's Word.  I hope that you know God's word and it is in your heart and soul.  If not you can read and hear the Word of God by opening your Bible, a friend's Bible, most hotels have them and all libraries do.  Find a Bible read and listen to the Word of God.  Faith cometh by hearing the Word of God.  Faith is the beginning of Salvation.  God gives you the faith from hearing his Word. Faith in God gives you the knowledge that you are a sinner and that with out God you are lost, asking him for forgiveness and he will forgive you.  Believe that his Son is the only way to salvation and life everlasting, it will be given to you, life eternal.  Eternal life for you could start today, yes we all face the earthly death of our body but our spirit will have eternal life as God gift of grace and salvation.  Eternal life could start for you today, oh, the wondrous love of God... tomorrow. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

There is a certain comfort in knowing who you are don't you think?

I have been a lot of things in my life. A baby, a child, a wife, a mother, a grandmother and so many many more things.  It is funny that each person you meet along your life's path see you form different point of view and in a different.  It took me half a century to embrace the fact that it really is none of my business  what any one thinks of me, and none of theirs of what I think of them.  It is only God's and my opinion of me that counts for anything in my life, I am who I am because of the things, peoples and circumstances that I have faced, failed at, over come, survived and truly excelled at.  I am the steel that God made me into, he hammered me, he polished me and he has buffed me and he is only half through with me, he is making me into the creation of his love. I have become much more in tune with who God wants me to be as I have aged.  I am a bit of a hard head, a hard sell and always seem to get to the goal but I almost always get there the hard way.  Who knew it would take the Lord so long to get me on the right track.  I am the sum total of his shaping and molding, as are we all if we but allow him to shape us.

I am much more comfortable in my own skin and daily become more so as I allow God to take the reins in my life.  I spent to many a year trying to do things my way.  Funny isn't that the generations since the '60's have embraced "doing my own thing" as their mantra. I read once that "doing your own thing" is the most primal definition of sin.  God didn't put us on this earth for our own pleasure but his.  The more we run from that the more we find ourselves more and more in the muck of a sty.  Life is something we should grow into gracefully.  There is a season for all our doings, we should become like fine wine, refined, and the dross should be rendered out of us, we are after all the creation of God and he never made anything that wasn't good in the state he created it. We as humans just had to have it our own way and mess it up and we became sin.

I do know that the older I get and the more I let God drive me the more at peace I am, the less stressed, worried, and anxious I become.  I recently read that things like worry, stress, anxiety, and all the other bad things we let ourselves get caught up in are from the devil, only the good things we let ourselves get caught up in are of God, never thought of it quite that way, and so why should I dwell on anything of the devil.  I am trying to remember to shake off all the negatives as they are surely of satan. I pray for you and that you are on a path that leads only where the Lord would want you to go.  He wants you to love him, praise him and worship him.  He wants you to accept him and receive his grace, he wants to gift you ever lasting life, he wants to shape you into one of the disciples of his son.  He is life and with out him all is lost..... tomorrow.   

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Something was missing, Tuesday again a feat in juggling.....

Sunday was a nice day at Church but it had something missing.  Our Preacher and Pianist were still ministering to the needs of their sick child.  Yes, a child is still your child at any age.  They stayed on until tomorrow with their loved ones that need them.  It did leave us with a missing part of our fabric torn from among us.  We could feel the loss of their presence.  Our ElderStatesWoman's son in law came to our rescue and spoke for the Preacher.  He normally has a jailhouse ministry and was a good speaker, with a different form than the Preacher, but he did an excellent job of bringing the Word to us this week.  We did have a bit of the blind leading the blind and some of the members stepped on one another to lead us but all in all things were done and we had a nice Mother's day potluck and got to worship and praise the Lord and that is what it was all about anyway.  We were truly blessed by being in his presence.

Today I am going to Belle's for Bible study and planning our new combined Etsy presence.  We had decided that the way to proceed with our plans to eventually have a small brick and mortar existence is to first have an online one.  We have decided to turn my Etsy store into our Etsy store as our first platform.  We have changed the name, and now have to fine tune the rest. So, I will try and get some of that done this morning. I should be able to make CAKLS, the Ladies have piano and there will be no Church later due to the absence of Preacher and Pianist.  It will be nice to have them return.

I got my tins for my lotions, still thinking if I will call them balms or salves or just stay with lotions, I am working out my thoughts on that in my mind.  They really are the same thing, but a balm implies medicine in my mind, and maybe others minds, and I am not sure I want to imply the medical aspect, and have to deal with the implications,  when lotions makes no implied promises; but if the implication is not there will it sell to the people that might want and need it, a conundrum.  Whoop, whoop, the second time in a week I got to use that fun word, in really conversation, such a fun word that gets so few opportunities to be used... okay, I digressed.

Off to work out the logistics of my day. I pray for you.  I pray for all the ones in my life and by being here you have stepped into my life. One of the things God asks of us all is to minister to the ones who our lives touch.  I pray for you salvation, it is the most important thing you will ever do in your life, nothing else even comes close and so many of us get caught up in our lives and never settle our salvation thinking there will be time later, sadly for some later never never comes.  Please don't put off you salvation.  You have a lifetime to live your life, either in Christ or not, you can serve him or not but today could be the day to make that choice and live the rest of your life in Christ and for Christ. How glorious that would be, you could be blessed by the Lord all the days of your earthly life, today you  could actually begin your eternal life, those who have salvation never really face the true death that being outside of Christ brings..... tomorrow. 

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Mother's day a day we honor our mothers.... or ours honor us. Well sometimes.

I have 5 children and three have honored that I am here on earth, and two not so much, but that is normal at this time in our lives.  I do think that the Lord asks us to honor our mothers.  I don't know that not honoring your mother is any less a sin than any other sin people have, and maybe for some it is the sin they stumble with the most.  I love all my kids and have no doubt that all of my kids love me, but as I don't always like my kids I honor that they may not always like me.  I have said before that loving has nothing to do with liking.  I know I am to love my neighbor, just like I am asked to honor my mother but I am no closer to liking my neighbor all the time as I am to liking my mother all the time.  We are human and our flesh is ever weak.  I love my mom and my kids and that is in the end all that the Lord asks of me, oh, and he wants me to love my neighbor too, I try daily to do good by the people or neighbors I come into contact with in my life.

I was thinking the other day about how God spoke the heaven and the earth into existence.  He did the same with all that we see and he saw that it was good, but isn't it wondrous to think that he molded man with his own hands and breathed life into us.  We didn't speak us into existence he actually molded us in his image and breathed that spirit of life into us. How special that act is and was.  Can you imagine that Lord scoping up the filthy soil of the earth and molding us, that filthy dirt is our flesh and why we are so much attracted to the filth of the fleshly things of this earth.  God so loved us, his creation, he loves us always the same no matter what our fleshly being does to lead us to horrible things.  Do you know that God can not even imagine that filthy things that a human can do, be or conceives of, he is so perfect that he can not even fathom our corruption but he loves us anyway.  I am a blessed being to have a God like he, love me so.

Today, I thank God for making me, loving me, allowing me to live even though I am, and never have been, worthy of his love, no, not even one day of my life was good enough or perfect enough for God.  He stilled loved me so much that he sent his one and only begotten son to come to earth and take my place on the cross and be crucified to save my worthless fleshly being. He gave his only son to die for me so that I to could love him and call him father.  He became my father through the love and death of his son.  Today I contemplate that kind of love.  I know that even though I am a mother that loves all of my children, though like me they be a flawed fleshly being that are not perfect, I can not say that I could give my child's life to save any of my other children's lives, not even my adopted children, which were the ones that God sent Jesus to earth to save.  NO, I am not capable of the love God has for his children and I am a blessed person because God loved me so, and gave for me that Son, he so loved. That is the kind of love that God gives me and wants to give to one and all that will believe that that is just what he did.  He has a gift for you today, he gives his grace, his son and his love and you but have to believe, repent and accept that wondrous love.  Today could be your day of salvation, oh, what joy that would be...tomorrow. 

Friday, May 9, 2014

Lemons part deux

I spent the day making lemon pie filling, don't worry I will be putting the eggs and cornstarch into it at the time I make it in to pies.  I got 11 quarts, that makes two pies per quart.  I decided though it only has a shelf live of 4 months that I would go ahead and make the lemon curd.  I debated several recipes and then ended up 8 timesing Ina Garten's recipe.  It meant I could use up 24 eggs and had to buy 2 pounds of unsalted butter and of course more sugar.  I ended up using 50 pounds of sugar on the two cases of lemons.  So total items for my pantry, and some to sell at the Farmer's Market, was 40 pints of concentration, 27 half pints of lemon marmalade, 11 quarts of pie filling mix, and 26 half pints of lemon curd.  I think that is a pretty good amount for 80 pounds of lemons, oh, I did gift about 10 or so lemons so I could have gotten more out of the cases but they went to a good cause.  I think I may have been quite English, marmalade and lemon curd together now I will have to  make up some scones and crumpets to use them on. Or, maybe I will gift the Mothers at church with some of the curd as it does have a short shelf life and they can enjoy it right away.  I didn't get to test any as all the jars set, a good thing, but sometimes an unsealed jar can be such a blessing.

The three grands are here to play with the next door grands and the Ladies. They have all been playing nicely in the yard.  I didn't even have to take away an electronic game from Eldest, he wanted to play.  It will be nice to spend time with them, haven't gotten to see them for some time, only here and there for a minute at school as we pass.

I pray that you had a good day, I did, I got to listen to hymns and hum as I canned. I pray that today might have been the day that you understood that some of you are lost and with out Jesus you would end up in a firey hell if you do not settle your salvation with the Lord.  I pray that some one can witness to you, or you have a Bible to read and understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I pray for you, yes you, the lost.... tomorrow. 

Busy days and one good read....

I did get to go to Belle's for Bible study on Tuesday as I had planned but then and there my plans went awry. I got called in to work.  It was a nice unplanned change to my week.  I also will be working a planned 4 days in the next couple months.  I did not get to my lemons on Wednesday but got them juiced on Thursday.  I did get to go to CAKLs, I was already there after all, though at work.  I did get to go to Book Club on Thursday, and I got to got to Short's new shop.  It has been open for awhile but I had not gotten to go so I made her up a gift before I stopped in.  I made her Dog Soap with paws to match her logo, the first batch of soap I made with dogs in mind.  It can be used on people to but I made sure that it had only essential oils that were safe for dogs skin. It does smell nice and I am sure people will like it.  Next batch I am going to put in diatomateous earth for an extra level of use as a dog soap.  It is citronella, lemon grass, peppermint and tea tree essential oils and will have the diatomeous earth, so it should be good for keeping bugs off of your dog and have nice smell.

I have lemon juice to turn into lemon pie filling today, I am going to can the liquid parts and add the eggs and cornstarch at time of use.  I think that will give me options and be convenient at the same time. I have 16 cups of juice so I should be able to make 16 quarts which would allow for two pies for every quart.  I think that is a good thing. The Newbie at the Library asked me to make her some toner and cream like some a friend of hers had made her.  She gave me a list of the ingredients that were used in her old toner so I am going to try to make her some.  I hadn't thought of making toner but it looks to be something I will enjoy exploring.  I did get a chance to double boil some of the oils I want to make into salves, balms or lotion ( I looked them up in the dictionary and they are really all the same thing, I kind of lean toward lotions as my thought of what they are, hard or creamy, so will probably call mine lotion).  I have oils on the slow cook in jars in my truck, the one that doesn't work, but I would like to have some for the Flea Market over Memorial Day so I am making a quick version.  NO, I could not bring myself to microwave, it think if you are making a natural organic products and you nuke it you have defeated the purposed so to speak, don't you??  I have a batch of lavendar, comfrey and yarrow oil awaiting me, some dandelion and some balm of Gilead, so I can't wait to make them.  I ordered flat tins to put them in that will be here on the 13th so I will get my thoughts and recipes together by then.  I think I will make some bees wax candles until them.  I usually use fragrance oils or essential oils in soap but I am thinking I will only use the essential oils or no scents in my lotions or maybe I will make one a balm... still thinking, even thought they are the same people think of them differently??

I read a great book on Wednesday morning.  I actually checked out a book from the library.  It was a new arrival.  It really intrigued me, I rarely check out books from the library as I like to reread a book and almost always forget to take them back. It was called the Prodigal God by Timothy Keller, it was fabulous.  Now I will have to find a copy to buy.  I did get it back to the Library on Thursday, since I didn't want to forget to do it.  It was wonderful.  It gave such a new revelation on the Prodigal Son parable.  It was so wondrous to see how the Lord works anew every time we reread verses we have read and reread.  The Bible is truly a lively oracle.  It is not like an other book, a living book that speaks ever new to us if we but look.  This book gave me a new way to look at a parable I have read and read since childhood.  How wondrous it is that God makes all things new in his time.  I would advise you to read it but I will not mess up the ending for you, I hate when some one messes up the ending of the book.  I just know I will never read the prodigal son in the same way I had, but then I think that was God's point of making me aware of the book in the first place. I pray the Lord is in your life, if not you need to seek him, and the lively oracles we call the Bible is where you can read and hear his Word.  Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I pray you seek God through his Word, he is awaiting to give you the most precious gift ever given.....your salvation.... tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Lemony, Lemon day, and another yet to come.....

Yesterday was a busy day.  I had two cases of lemons looking me in the face.  I had decided that since I didn't get all that many lemon concentrates from one case last year I would probably not put a lot of time into making it this year.  I thought that buying lemons when I wanted to make lemonade would be a better use of my time.  I went to the internet to seek out a couple of recipes.  I looked and looked, and looked some more but no canning lemon pie filling recipes could be found.  I then tried to find lemon curd recipes to can, as scarce as hens teeth let me tell you.  I finally found on a cite that referenced back to the national center for home canning, you are not supposed to use real lemons in it and it is only shelf stable for up to 4 months.  Not an ideal recipe to peruse, I am going to make a few, very few, and horror of horrors I am going to use real fresh lemon.  I accident came up on a different concentrate recipe than I used last year and I decided to give it a second try, and I also happened upon a lemon marmalade recipe by accident.  I spent the rest of the morning, zesting, you know scrapping the yellow off of the lemons and then juicing, one case plus one row off of the second case.  I made 40 pints of concentrate and slow cooked lemons in one of my pressure canners without the lid, I didn't have another pan big enough for 3 liters of lemons, simmering juices and the zests to add 10 lbs of sugar to.  Once the sugar was added I floated a cheese cloth of pips on it for it pectin content, letting it boil hard for 40 minutes.  I got 27 half pints of lemon marmalade, with a touch of grapefruit in it.  They really are pretty and I like it better than any orange marmalade I have ever made.  The Ladies liked it as well, and they flat out do not like orange marmalade.

Today is Tuesday, Bible study and CAKLS are on the agenda.  No Church tonight as Preacher and Pianist have flown to Texas to be with their daughter she is having a double mastectomy as she has breast cancer.  Many prayers for their traveling mercies and the good health of their daughter if it be the Lord's will.  The Ladies have piano later, they will be having a recital on the 18th of May, it will be nice to see them both perform after the fiasco at the schools concert.  I am hearing that maybe other parents were upset as well and the 5th and 6th graders may be being included in the high school concert, an alternative yes but still not the point of actually teaching a child in a timely manner.  I wonder if the students could say I didn't get the assignment done so could I play it for you on the 4th of July at my convenience..... I digress.

I will be back to lemons on Wednesday, making lemon curd, and I am going to make pie filling but leave out the cornstarch and eggs to be added at the time when the pie will be made.  I will be writing my own recipe and canning times, I know horrible aren't I....  Not like I haven't done it before.

I pray for  your day, your travels and most of all I pray for your salvation.  I know God calls to his people and gives them the faith to believe in the first place, I pray that you are called of God, you believe and accept his gift of salvation.... tomorrow.   

Monday, May 5, 2014

Yesterday was a nice day....

I said before that yesterday was a nice day, and it was.  We got to go to Church and then we got to go to dinner with Lady and Sweetie.  Today is Sweetie's birthday so we were invited to dinner last night.  We got old fashioned creamed potatoes and both fried and barbecued chicken. Sides of fresh roasted asparagus, olives, radishes and deviled eggs.  Good company, good friends sharing time and food, what could be better.  We took strawberry ice cream pie, my first attempt at my mom's it wasn't as good but it was a nice dessert any way.  Poppie was a kill joy, said it was strawberry and he didn't like strawberries, imagine that some one that will eat most of a jar of strawberry jelly in one setting but doesn't like strawberries, maybe the secret is he likes sugar flavored with strawberries.....  He has such odd likes and dislikes in food who knows, and they are ever changing, just because he likes it this week he might not next week.  Funny how eat to live people just don't find food of any kind the top of any of their lists....

Today I have to can, in some manner, two cases of lemons, maybe curd, maybe pie filling, maybe pre-pie filling and probably not concentrate, a lot of work, and I really can just buy lemons at the time I need them and make it fresh with a lot less work, or heaven forbid, the store concentrate goes on sale and makes my work seem totally invaluable.

I have lots of little stuff to do today.  You know the musts that nobody notices if you do them but most definitely notice if you don't.  I also have soap to make as well, no surprise there.   I am also reading a great David Jeremiah, which is wonderful.

I hope you have a great day, I hope that the Lord is King in you life, and if he isn't you make him so.  I pray you know the Jesus died on the cross and rose again that you might accept his gift of grace and salvation, he loves you and wants you to believe in him... tomorrow.  

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Another nice Sunday, my favorite day of the week.....

Today was a very nice day.  We got to go to Church and worship the Lord.  I am blessed to live in a country where we can still do that.  I am not sure by the way the country is going that my children and grandchildren will always get to do that but for today I praise God that we still get to.  We had a nice sermon, and that is a blessing.  I am learning more and more as I age what a blessing it is to get to worship the Lord whether it be as an assembled group. in our personal morning worships, at evening as I study or when I can just talk to others about the Lord.  I didn't know until the last few years how wondrous it would be to be able to share the love of worshiping the Lord with Poppie would be.  He was not a believer when we married and for over 30 years off and on he would go to Church with me but it was always for me and never for him.  When he had his accident, with the tree, he says that it was the beginning of his hearing the Lord actually speak to his heart, and with in a few short years he came to know that he needed the Lord in his life as I always had, and nearly three years ago he was saved.  I have come to know of late how wonderful it is to share the Lord with him.  He no longer gets upset when I talk about the Lord, he loves the Lord and seeks worshiping him and prays with us and studies with us.  I never knew how much I missed with him not being a co-believer.  I know that my most important duty in my life was to help Poppie to his salvation so that through Jesus he could be saved.  I know I have to help my children and grands as best I can to seek theirs, it is the greatest calling that is in my life and my greatest responsibility.  I was not raised in family where we had to marry some one that was saved.  I know that the Bible tells us to in the old testament, but the new testament does not address it exactly. I knew that I would like my husband to be saved but it was not a must, and I am thinking that was God's plan for me all along, he gave me Poppie and gave me the saving of his soul as one of my life missions.  I know that in the end Poppie watched me and pondered, he was in the end saved but not for me or because of me, he was saved for himself and because of God calling him.  I know that had I chose not to marry him because he was not saved would not have been the Lord's will for me so I am blessed that in God's time we both are now in a marriage where we are both children of God.  I do know that my marriage is better, my relationship with God is better because of us both being in Christ together.  I have aged and with age comes some learning, wisdom and knowledge, God plans it that way.  I know that God wanted for me a marriage in Christ and that is what I have but not maybe in the traditional time frame but definitely in God's time frame.  I am so blessed that God gave me such a wondrous man as Poppie to share my life and he gave us both salvation as the most important thing in all of our lives.  I hope you have salvation nothing else even comes close.... tomorrow. 

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Today was a Bountiful Basket Day so it was a busy day as well.....

Up bright and early and off to Bountiful Baskets, we had a nice distribution and the best volunteers ever!!  I got two cases of lemons extra and case of strawberries, more strawberry jelly I have to stay ahead of Poppie, he eats a whole pint when one is opened.  Last year I made lemonade concentrate, and lemon peels.  This year I am going to make lemon curd and lemon pie filling and probably more lemon peel and I might infuse some lemon oil for soaps and balms.

We were done with Bountiful Baskets and we all went to collect Balm of Gilead buds, they were almost to bloomed but we managed to pick some today, we went several places hoping to find trees that were behind.  I also got some at Belle's yesterday.  I got enough to infuse a gallon of oil.  I found them on the internet at 22 dollars a pounds so we blessed to find any.  We are going to try and find some juniper berries and roses and hips once they are ready.  I am really going to make  up some nice balms, lotions with infused oils and maybe even some soaps.  It was a nice get out of the house day.  We helped a friend with his chores and got 60 eggs, one double and one goose. We are blessed that some many people needed eggs, so we didn't have to eat them all....

I took some soap over to Preacher and Pianist's house as a gift for them to take to their daughter.  She has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has to have surgery.  They will be flying to Texas to be with her.  I pray for a good outcome for her and blessed travels for them if it be the Lord's will.  I am making dinner so have to go but may the Lord be in your life, may you live in his will and may your salvation be the most blessed think you have ever accepted in this life....tomorrow. 

Friday, May 2, 2014

The fabric's of our lives.......

I have been unfaithful to you all.  I have really been busy doing a lot of prep for the upcoming Flea Market.  I have, as you have been aware been making soaps, taught two soap classes and now I am rebatching up more.  Mokie is getting her lotions bottled and I have ordered cards, product labels and packaging.  I made a special soap yesterday as a gift and am having a little trouble unmolding it from the sometimes particularly tricky molds.  I am sorry to have ignored you but it has also been really nice and sunny in my neck of the woods so I am not all the remorseful... alas I am human, flesh, and flesh is sinful.  Here are some photos of the French Milled bars, I must say they are rather nice.

black coconuts scent with coffee beans


tangerine and chocolate cake scent


tangerine and strawberries and cream with hibiscus flowers in the center.

I tend to be a contemplater, and as I make soaps I have lots and lots of time to contemplate my life, tmy friends and my God.  I had recently, well with in the last year a couple of times, I have spoken to Belle about marriage, death and what that brings to the afterlife. Belle once told me that she had heard that the death of a spouse is like having half of you ripped from your soul.  I immediately saw it in my mind, I think in a pictorial sense, all I contemplate is as a movie playing in my head so to speak (but I digress).  I saw the marriage of two people as a fabric that had been woven together with warp and cross threads, a binding of the lives and souls of two people.  I have now thought and thought, and pictured repictured relationships in general on that level and idea.  We all live in lives that make us a part of a fabric with the peoples we meet in our lives.  Some they are as gauze, some like a raveled and torn sweater that never got quite made or has since fallen into tatters and no longer is what it once was, but alas we are all some form of fabric with the people in our lives in some manner.  I think a good marriage is maybe like 1200 count silk, it is fragile but very strong, it has hundreds of threads that keep it securely bound together.  It is only ripped apart with struggle, and great forces pulling it asunder.  The death of a spouse is a ripping, tearing, shattering event in our lives, the pains from it lasts a life time, never to be truly healed.  Some cloths and relationships are not as hard to rip apart and can be undone with out pain of any kind but the closest relationships are left with strings and shreds as a glaring testimony to the relationship that once was..... 

I was reading a book, and I am sorry I remember not the author, but the author was describing the scene in Gethsemane.  Jesus was weeping and in true agony as he prayed.  The author said that the sorrow was not from what he was to do for us but from the ripping apart of his spirit and the spirit of God the Father.  I again was drawn to the horror of seeing an exquisitely woven tapestry a work of art, and more, that the fabric of God the Father and Jesus the son are.  They were being ripped apart in agony and it was me, it was you and it was all of mankind pulling asunder the precious bonded fabric of our Deity, we were the cause and Both the Father and the Son were giving up something so special to gift us with the death and resurrection to save our wretched souls.  They were being torn apart of their own will, though our Lord Jesus was willingly stepping forward to be torn from his father unto the Crucifixion and death all to save such worthless dirt as we. and he, they, did it because they so love us.   Today you could accept the gift that such agony, pain and the separation from God cost Jesus our Lord.  He died, was separated from God the father, and rose to be reunited with his Father that we might live life everlasting with them, the greatest gift ever given is available for you today, believe, accept and receive.... tomorrow.