The Tea Party Ladies

What a beautiful day it was today for a Tea Party.

Back a few Christmases ago my best friend gave me this wonderful book written by Debbie Macomber called "Knit Together", Discover God's Plan for your Life. Debbie writes in this book about all the things that she feels how God works through us to further His Plan. In one of her chapters she mentions about having a "Gratitude Tea Party". At this Tea Party she expresses her Gratitude to the people that are there, for helping her at different times in her life. She mentions what better way of saying Thanks then to have a Tea Party.

In this last year besides getting married, my life has gone through some very major changes and  hard times and there were some ladies and their families that helped me through them . I wanted to say Thank you to them without being overly flamboyant or demonstrative. What better way then a Tea Party. So today was the day for a Tea Party and I truly believe that God was shining on our Party today. The Sun was shining, my baking all got done on time, the ladies came and the tea was perfect.

There was no real formal agenda to this Tea Party it was only to be a Social Get together. But what transformed out of this gathering is truly a God directed Plan.

We played a couple of games that were rather different then the normal games. They were based on your knowledge of "Tussie Mussies", a Victorian item. One game was a True or False and the other was a Match Game, Flower name to the meaning of the Flower Name. From there we starting chatting about the possibility of getting together like a club. Possibly once every couple of months. As the conversation progressed we started talking about ways to help our Community through some charitable funding ideas. What a great group of ladies and brainstorming ideas from them. We closed our gathering with a Prayer requesting God's Blessing and direction in our endeavors

As our Tea Party Ladies grow and our ideas start to take formation I will Blog about them and keep you all informed.

Until we Blog again,

Linda and Roscoe

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Amazing Tuesdays

Today was an amazing day for me. I received some comments from readers today that made me feel like a very privileged person. Sometimes we go through life thinking that what we do or say won't and doesn't matter to anyone else. Lately I have realized that it is important what I do. I can be goofy and silly and that is ok too.
We only go through this life once and one chance is all that we get. It is not about how special or how great we can be but how we live it this first time and only time around.
GOD gives each and everyone of us gifts that we are to use to the best of our abilities and to His Glory. But sometimes we don't realize what those gifts are and they are lost in the shuffle of everyday life. When you feel that "warm and fuzzy feeling" within yourself, as you are doing something that makes somebody else feel better, live better or even just smile a bigger, brighter smile, realize that maybe, just maybe that might be the Gift that God has given you.
Love it and examine it. See if it happens again, the next time and know that you have found it.
To all of my new followers, Thank you ever so much for all of your wonderful comments.
If you promise to keep following me and commenting, I promise I will try to keep this Blog as interesting as I can.
The following Bible Verse feels so appropriate to me.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity,
but a spirit of power,
of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7

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Until we Blog again,
Linda and Roscoe

Is Spring Around the Corner?

It is early on a Sunday Morning and there is a feeling in the air. What is that feeling? It seems vaguely familiar. Is that Spring I hear calling on that early morning breeze? I have not seen the proverbial Robin, the usual first sign of Spring but I am hearing the Morning Doves. I love waking in the morning to their low cooing in the early morning breezes. It isn't Spring yet but it surely can't be too far behind. So to keep my early Spring desires alive and well, I went back to look at some pictures from my Garden last year. Spring is not to far away but I for one will welcome it anytime it wants to come. Come on Spring my Garden is waiting for you with Open Arms.

"but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the Glory both now and forever. Amen"

2 Peter 3:18

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Early Morning Musings

I have always been an early riser and as the years are starting to creep up on me I find it harder and harder to sleep in later. I am so afraid of missing something awesome that my God has prepared for me to see. So this morning I was up at my usual crack of dawn time of day and going through my normal morning routines. My favourite Buddy, Rosco, always wakes me with a shaking of his ears; "Mom it is time for us to get up. I need to go outside" And so my day starts. While he is out wandering around our backyard I usually put the seed into the bird feeder for my feathered friends. It has been such a mild winter this year that the only little birds that have been coming have been the Chickadees and the Sparrows.

Below I have posted a picture of a beautiful Cardinal that came all last winter. I have seen him with his mate only once this year. I am not really sure why they are not coming anymore, other then that I have changed the style of feeder that I am using.

This is a picture of my Buddy, Rosco, who thinks that he should be a truck driver.

I have been trying to get into the habit of setting up my coffee maker the night before so I only have to turn it on in the morning. Then while I am doing all these other things that I do, my coffee is brewing and I am ready to do my devotions and plan my day.

So the plan for today is to get some sewing done for my Etsy Stores. On the agenda today are Decorative Shabby Chic Style Tea Towels for Spring and Easter.

They have Easter Eggs and a Bunny on one end of them. So very, very cute. When I have a set done I will post a picture of them here for y'all to see with a link to my Etsy site. I have also been doing some hand crocheting of beautiful pinks, greens and white doilies. They will also be going up on my Cranberry Cottage52 Etsy Site.

So very very busy we are in our neck of the woods.

No wonder we get up so early in the morning. Here is a favorite phrase of mine, especially in the Summer time.

"Do Not Go Back to Sleep,

For the Morning Breeze,

Has Secrets to tell You"

The following is a verse that I always try to remember when things are getting tough and I don't know what to do? I hope it will help you to remember that God will always provide if it is His Will that you are following and Believing In.

Matthew 6:26

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value then they?"

Until my next Blog,

Linda and Roscoe

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Happy Valentine's Day to Everyone

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day today. Mine was a very quiet one spent at home on my own. Sometimes in this crazy world, days like today are very much needed by some of us. To me today would have been so much nicer had I been with my true love.

There are some women out there who are associated one way or another to a Truck Driver. You are a mother, wife, sister, daughter or girlfriend of a Truck Driver. You are probably like me and spend a fair amount of time on your own. Holidays come and no matter how much you plan to not get upset that He can't make it home you still do get upset. You try very hard not to point a finger at him and say "You promised that we would spend this day, this weekend or this week together and you weren't here" You don't mean to get upset but after so many promises and the best one "I guarantee" it is very hard not to be upset or hurt. I am a Truck Driver's Wife and I know all to well all about the above mentioned feelings. I love my Husband dearly but sometimes it is very hard to sit back and just accept these words.

I have been thinking of starting a Support Group for Women Associated to Truck Drivers. I think that it would be a great way for Women who are still "New to the Truck Drivers' World or those of us that have been around it for awhile. For those of you that don't know the anxieties that we go through each and every time our guys go out that front door please just be there for us to lean on.

Always remember if it is on your table, in your cupboard, in your driveway or on your back:

"Our Truck Drivers Brought it to you Safe and Sound"  

Here is the reason why they don't get home sometimes or why the load is a little longer in getting there.

So ladies the next time He is a little longer getting home just remember that the job he is doing is important to a lot of people besides us, their "Only Support Team". Greet them at the door with a smile, a hug and a kiss. Let them know how much you value them and the job they do. Remember each and everytime "you point a finger at them four (4) fingers are pointing back at YOU"

Lots of love to everyone but especially to my

One and Only, my Girls and my Grandkids.

I love you all.   



Two Important Men from my Past

 

 

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

 

My Pappy was a gentle farmer in a small border town in New Brunswick, Canada. He married a school teacher. Who was originally from New Brunswick but decided to become a teacher and came to Ontario. She taught in a one room classroom in a school house not too far away from Barrie, Ontario. When my Pappy and Nana decided to wed she came home to the "Old Ledge Road" to be his wife.
One of my earliest memories of Nana and Pappy are in their "old farmstyle" kitchen, which wasn't a "redo" but the necessities of the times. My Dad and his father, my Pappy, decided one Christmas we were going deer hunting. Oh I so hoped we didn't see any deer that day. I had just seen "Bambi" and I didn't want either my father or my Pappy being the bad hunter that was in that story. The only deer we seen that day was a wooden deer Pappy had made to put in my Nana's Garden. My Pappy was a tall man and had a slight lean to the side when he walked. He always wore a fedora, winter or summer, it didn't matter the weather. My Dad also wore a fedora which he eventually replaced with a baseball cap.
As Pappy got older and Nana had passed away he moved from the old Farmhouse to a mobile home next to my Aunt and Uncle's house. He used to love to bake donuts from scratch and roll them in sugar. Oh were they ever good. Another thing he used to like to do was to tease all of his grandchildren. Especially if our mothers were within earshot. One time he put sugar on his tomatoes. My mother was so upset with him. Now I put sugar in a lot of my tomato dishes because it cuts the acid and therefore easier for those of us that suffer from heartburn. He passed away the summer I turned 17.
As I started having children of my own I could see so many similarities between my father, who became my children's Pappy, and my Pappy. My Dad was also a man who worked for himself. He had a very strong entrepreneurial spirit which I believe I acquired from him. He started a Paving Business in Ontario and it is still going strong almost 53 or 54 years later. My Dad has also passed on but what a legacy he and my Pappy left for my Grandchildren, my Dad's Grandchildren and my Pappy's Great-Grandchildren.
With great respect and admiration I write these words of fond memories of two very important men from my past.
I love you Dad and Pappy.

 

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For Amie and Jennifer

Sometimes, as we become older, and the grandchildren come along, our life course tends to change directions. We become a little more focused towards the little ones in our lives and less focused on the parents of these little ones. Because our children have become parents themselves it seems we tend to think that they don't need us so much unless it is for babysitting and who could resist that. Our time to do with little angels in training that we couldn't and didn't dare do with our own babies. But sometimes I wonder as my grandchildren are growing if maybe God actually put Grandparents on this earth to help Parents with the teaching of children.

When I owned my store I would have guests come into the shop and ask about signs that would not always be "Positive" or "Inspiring" to one thing or another. I would tell the guest that I was sorry but I didn't carry such signs as I always wanted to be "Encouraging" People to do their best in all that they do and that I felt those kinds of signs were discouraging to the people that they were making fun of.  Now having said that I wonder how often we say things in jest not realizing that maybe we are doing the same thing but verbally. Like the phrase "I can spoil them because I can always send them home with their Parents". When you think back when your babies would go visit your parents and they would all come home wanting everything and couldn't understand why they couldn't have everything they asked for, didn't you wish that just once, that phrase "Why couldn't they (your parents) listen to you and not give them all that sugar just before sending them home." would have been heard by your parents.

 As I listen to my girls talking to me about their child raising questions I hope that I am able to direct them in the direction that God would have them go. I also remember that the tongue is the smallest muscle in my body but it can wield the largest damage then anything else or be as inspiring as ever. God also gave me two ears and one mouth, may I always remember to listen before I speak and only speak with the wisdom that God has given me.

To My Girls Always Remember:

I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK AGAIN, AGAIN AND AGAIN.

Market Monday

Today is the first Monday of February. Hard to believe that we are already into the second month of this new year. I titled this blog Market Monday because a group I belong to called Etsy Cottage Style starts the first Monday of every month as Market Monday.
 
 If you go over and check out the Etsy Cottage Style you will find a group of Handcrafters that are somewhat dedicated to the Cottage Style, Romantic, or Shabby Chic Style of Handcrafts. You will find some of the vendors have DIY tutorals on their individual sites. The vendors over at Etsy Cottage Style are a group of beautiful people that love to help, share and promote each other. I strongly recommend that you go over and check them out.
http://etsycottagestyle.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
You can also see some of the new items that I have added to my etsy sites..
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etsy.com/shop/CranberryCottage52