Friday's Faves...Walnut Shell "Give Thanks" Garland

Happy November 1st!!!

  I know I'm technically posting this on Halloween, but this is my Friday's Favs post 

so Friday will be, (or is as the case may be), November 1st.

I'm not a big Halloween party gal, so I'm already happily focused on Thanksgiving.

Last week I made a walnut shell garland, and with Thanksgiving in mind, hung my glitter Give Thanks letters, (that I bought last year at Walmart), from it.

I love it!

I can even keep it up through Christmas and just exchange the letters for my glitter N O E L.

I first saw a walnut garland here.

(Click over there. Her fall mantel is adorable!)

I just had to try my hand at making my own version of a walnut shell garland,

but being the cheapskate that I am frugal, I wanted to be able to use the nuts while saving the shells intact.

So using the edge of a knife in the crack, I pounded gently with a rubber mallet, and with only a few casualties, the nuts opened perfectly in half.

I then sandwiched twine in between the shell halves and hot glued the two shell halves back together.

(Be sure you are matching the right "mates" together.

I opened a nut, got out the nut meat, and glued it to the twine before opening the next walnut so I wouldn't get my halves mixed up with each other!)

I chose to leave about an inch of space between the nuts so I could hang letters from the garland.

I think a seven foot garland took me about an hour to make.

I'm thinking a walnut shell garland would look adorable strung on a Christmas tree as well!

Well, it's almost Friday, friends!

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and 

a BLESSED weekend!

                  

                                                      

                              

              Also linking to Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday

Fall Front Porch...

In the past I may have done a bit more to "fall-ify" my front porch.

Of course, there also may have been times I didn't "fall-ify" it at all!

But this year,  I think it's just right...

not too much,

not too little...

just some mums filling a large vintage crock

and a pumpkin, that had the cutest curlicue stem when I bought it,

but it rolled around in the trunk of the car on the way home from the market

and it's stem broke off.

(FYI, hot glue does not work on a fresh pumpkin stem.)

The large crock used to belong to my daddy.

I'm not sure I've seen one this large before or since.

It's hard to believe November begins this weekend.

October has gone by at lightning speed.

I'm not much at Halloween celebrating other than enjoying the grandkids in their costumes,

 but I love Thanksgiving!

(And yay, for setting the clocks back Saturday night and gaining an hour of sleep instead of losing one!)

Enjoy and savor these last few days of October, friends.

(I saw the first Christmas commercial on tv last night!)

still following,

  

              

Things of earth...

(quote above is from the hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by Helen H. Lemmel, 

photo is textured with Kim Klassen's quest)

I'm a stuff kind of gal.

I love my stuff!

I love to putter, to create, to decorate, to rearrange all of my stuff.

BUT...

A couple of times a year I go through the things in the storage closet under our stairs,

the stuff in the garage,

the cupboards,

the closets

and get rid of the things I no longer need or want.

More often than not, these are things that I used to love.

This weekend I did some of that type of purging,

and now the trunk of my car is full of things to give away.

It wasn't very many months ago that I did the same thing,

and again, ended up with the trunk of my car full.

The blue and cream pottery I used to collect, 

a collection of snowmen,

odds and ends,

bits and bobs of stuff,

stuff that I used to love,

stuff that I spent money on.

And now, I'm just tired of it,

so off it goes,

so I can get new stuff,

new stuff to love.

Nothing causes you to face the reality of the meaninglessness of stuff more than death.

For one thing, no one takes their stuff with them when they die.

And for another thing, the reality is that there's a whole lot of your stuff, my stuff,

 that our children and grandchildren just won't want.

Case in point, my father-in-law passed away a number of years ago

and my mother-in-law is in an assisted living home.

She has Alzheimer's.

She doesn't even remember her children and grandchildren very well,

much less her stuff.

And boy, did she have stuff!

She had every greeting card ever given to her.

She had old Sunday School curriculum,

craft projects and supplies.

She had china and tea cups and crystal and linens.

She had stuff, lots and lots of stuff.

Do you know how much of that stuff went into a dumpster when she had to move out of her home?

Then the rest of the stuff went into a storage unit, where monthly rental fees were used to house her stuff...stuff she no longer even remembered.

Her children and grandchildren decided to clear the storage unit out,

to finally deal with all of her stuff.

The teacup in the picture above is one of a few teacups we chose to keep,

some of her crystal goblets,

and her hope chest,

The rest of her stuff will be given to the Goodwill.

The reality of it is, we spend the precious moments, hours, days, weeks, months, years

of our life accumulating stuff that no one really wants.

But the memory verses she taught her son,

the crafts she did with her granddaughters,

the camping trips with her grandsons,

the family dinners that she served on that beautiful china,

the cups of tea shared in those pretty china cups,

the relationships,

those are the things no one can throw in a dumpster.

Those are the eternal things...

what we invest in our relationships with other people,

what we invest in our relationship with God,

what we do for God's kingdom...

this is the stuff that truly satisfies,

the stuff that will last forever,

the stuff you can take with you when you die.

still following,

     

A lifestyle of thanksgiving...

October is zooming by.

November starts next weekend, (and we will "fall back" an hour).

The holidays are approaching at lightning speed.

I don't have any idea why time seems to go faster the older I get, but it does!

In November i usually challenge my facebook friends to post something as their facebook status that they are thankful for each day of the month, in honor of Thanksgiving.

It's better, though, if thanksgiving becomes our lifestyle.

In fact, it's life changing!

Try it!

********************

In 2012 I followed the prompts in Ann Voskamp's Joy Dare in counting my thanks.

In 2013 I'm going back to the way I did it in the beginning,

just noticing and recording the many extraordinary blessings in my ordinary life.

And so I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little black journal.

(and capturing some of them via my camera or iPhone)

#3916-#3939

10-21-13-

-the last of last year's canned peaches with granola and yogurt

-this unbelievable run of gorgeous weather

-homemade split pea soup for dinner

10-22-13-

-morning run

-pumpkins and mums

-an evening Starbucks run, just because

10-23-13-

-candles

-chai tea

-running around our local fitness trail

-making a walnut garland

-a nice evening home together

10-24-13-

-our two youngest grand babies over

-an autumn walk with them

-the way our Thursday night prayer and worship always blesses me

10-25-13-

-great slow morning on our Friday date day

-God provision to save money from our budget to get a good head start on Christmas shopping 

and His blessing to find lots of good deals

-a yummy date day dinner

-my first cup of hot chocolate this season

10-26-13-

-the peace of starting the day with coffee and devotions

-rearranging, cleaning and purging around the house

-being given some of my mom-in-law's tea cups

10-27-13-

-early morning texts from the Hubs, (who goes to the church very early on Sundays), 

saying he loves me and asking me if I'm up yet,

 (I think he has a secret fear of me just not showing up someday because I get these texts every Sunday!)

-singing these words, "I know that I can trust You...I lean not on my own understanding, my life is in the hands of the Maker of Heaven"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2b7lCZ2Kpo&feature=youtu.be

-resting, trusting

Gratefully yours,

Deuteronomy 26:11...

The Hubs went in late to the church office on Thursday, 

(he's there 'til after 9pm on Thursdays anyway).

He went and picked up the two youngest granddaughters and brought them home 

where I had a breakfast of waffles and sausages and fruit waiting.

After breakfast we took a lovely autumn walk together.

Just that one morning alone gave me a multitude of reasons to rejoice...

but really,

 everyday,

 even on the difficult ones, 

He gives me many reasons to rejoice.

still following,

Friday's Faves...Cozy Candlelight at a discount

The day may be gray and gloomy, 

(although we've had quite a run of beautiful weather here in Portland, Oregon),

the floors may need mopped,

the paint on the walls or woodwork may need a touch up,

but light a candle or two or three

and all of those things seem to fade away.

But candles can be pricey,

so what's a girl to do?

Figure out which brands and scents you love,

then shop the discount stores!

Ross, TJMaxx, Marshall's and Homegoods are where I find great candle bargains.

The candle in the photos above is by Laura Ashley and purchased at Homegoods.

I notice that the Laura Ashley candles are softly scented, 

which I find important since overpoweringly scented candles give me a headache!

This jar candle is a Yankee Candle bought at Ross for $8.

Beats the original price of $24 doesn't it?

This is another Laura Ashley candle.

This one was purchased at Ross.

Did you know Mrs. Meyer's, famous for their cleaning products, makes candles?

On occasion I've found them at Marshall's, 

but they also go on sale after the holidays at the Mrs. Meyer's website.  

The first weekend of November we'll be setting our clocks back an hour.

The evenings will be darker earlier.

I say that's a good reason to go buy some candles!

It's almost Friday, friends!

Hope you have a 

HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and 

a BLESSED weekend!

                  

                                                      

                              

              Also linking to Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday