Gardening Today!

I'll be gardening today, it's well over due. I have a bed out back that I planted and didn't mulched, now it has weeds galore, so I'll be pulling weeds before I can mulch. I will be visiting with you guys a little before I get started. I've had a very busy week, now maybe I can get back into the swing of things. I do want to share the few Hydrangea plants that I have that are now in bloom. I've had a really hard time with them , because it's so hot, that is except for the big one.

This is the really big one, don't ask what it's called because I don't know. I just know that it's beautiful when it flowers and it's beautiful when the flowers turn brown as well. The flowers have turned kinda pink since this photo.

This is the blue one. There a really tall bush to the right of it, I'm using it to keep this and the next one you're going to see shaded. I've had a really hard time with these two.

This is the one that I've really had a hard time with, she's a little sad and has pink flowers, a few look white but, she gets most sun and she's trying to hang in there. Well this concludes the Hydrangea tour. Short, I know, and you probably didn't get your moneys worth but, what if you'd been on the J. Peterman's Reality Bus Tour :O) Snickers anyone?

Is It Time For A Change?

These little guys are my soul inspiration for my Country Den. I was browsing in Marshall's maybe 11 years ago and there they were. I thought to myself how cute and I swooped them up and went straight to the check out. They cost 25.00 each plus tax. They are Teddy Thompkins Bears by Enesco so cute I thought they would be a lovely collection to have.

I began my quest of finding things that I already had like this chair it means so much to me personally, I recovered it to match this room. I also went to local thrift stores to find things that could have been used long time ago. I did, nothing that I would have liked to have but authenticity cost like the dickens.

The clock you see on the wall I found for 4.00 the clock did not work and my husband had to replace the clock part of it. That lovely frame above the tv, I think it was about five dollars I think it once belonged to a dresser. It was painted green, I stripped it and stained it mahogany. Other things I found just trying to set the mood.

These pic were taken around Christmas time that's why the garland is under the mantle. Some may say it's clutter but, it's a host of things that make the country look.

The plaid chair in the corner is my biggest Thrift Sore find ever, I paid only 40.00 for the chair and ottoman. The guy there had the greatest bargains but he's out of business now possibly because of his low prices. The navy leather chair I found at a local furniture store. The lamp at a yard sale.

The plaid chair has been moved from this corner now, and this area has become where I spend most of my time visiting with you.

This is how it looks now. It's not a good picture but my camera is not so good these days.

This cow I love. The little hoop he's holding is for a small flower pot. I had one in once but, he was knocked over and it broke and I've never tried to replace it.

Now I'm ready for a change, I don't know what I'm going to do with all these things that I love, maybe transfer them to the bedroom that I use for my grand kids when they come over. I'm going to check on my bears to see it they're worth anything to anyone but me. My husband wants a leather couch and club chairs. I would like to do something different with the fireplace. A fluted surround, and slate or something. Then in keeping with the colors that I like, I thought about the French Country look, but it's a small room and I think I want to keep it simple this time. What do you think?

Can't We All Just Get Along!

This morning while reading I came across this scripture and I wanted to share. It tells why people don't get along and I must say "true that". In James 4:1-3 it says, What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but you don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

This started me to thinking about a lot of things. It is true that we quarrel over things that we want, and mostly over things we want from others. We either get mad because they don't agree with us, we want them to take out the garbage when we want it taken out, they're not driving as fast as we want them to drive therefore we can't get where we want to go when we want to get there. The list can go on and on and on. We do malicious things to get what we want but, are still not satisfied. There's a song that says Gods greatest gifts are unanswered prayers, that's true because most things we ask for are not good for us, or we have an unsavory motive behind them.

Thinking of motives, I remember when I didn't have a car, I mostly took care of my errands and what have yous by bus. There were times when I did ask friends or relatives for a ride somewhere. Sometimes they didn't mind, sometimes they did but, most of the time they said they didn't mind, when they did. I can remember feeling so hurt inside, because it would be something that I really needed and when they would pick me up they would sometimes have a mad look on their face and give me the silent treatment throughout the whole ride. People don't do this, if you don't feel like doing something or don't have the time, just tell the person, I promise you they'll understand that better than the cold shoulder.

Okay back to motives, I would pray and pray to the Lord, for transportation for my family but, always at the end I would always say " If you get me a car Lord, I'm gonna pass by all of them, they better not ask me to take them anywhere, and the Lord never answered that prayer. It wasn't until I asked with a reason that was pleasing to him. I said dear Lord, I need transportation for my family, I'm having a hard time out here. I promise you that I will never treat anyone, the way that some have treated me. This won't be my car Lord, it's yours as is everything, and I will use it to your pleasure. I meant this from the bottom of my heart, and I was blessed.

I'm glad that this was brought back to my memory, it's has blessed my soul today, and re-enlightened me on how to pray. Ask always with motives pleasing to God.

One more thing since the subject started out as ~Can't We All Just Get Along~, here's a how to get along scripture. It's Philippians 2:3-4 and it says, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not to your own interests, but also to the interest of others.

Now my Pastor always says, "Be Mindful Of Others". Can I get a Amen!, a Hallelujah!, and a Thank you Jesus!


Now last week I went a little overboard on my eating, and gained two pounds. Last week I weighed in a 170.0 and this week I weighed in at 166.2. Hooray! Hooray! Now this was not done without punishment, and although you don't know what I've been through, just thank God for giving me the strenght.

An Award For Me! An Award For You!

This wonderful award, was given to me by a wonderful person. She funny and kind. She is Mrs. B, over at you guessed it, (Mrs. B's). Mrs. B has a lovely blog, she shares her beautifully family, a beautifully decorated home, trips, hometown pictures, crafts, etc. She's an American Idol Junkie, and a David Cook fan ( just one of the things we have in common). One of my favorite post of hers is called ~Yellow~ where she shared the most beautiful yellow dishes that I've ever seen (check out the last yellow thing). I still go back to look at those dishes from time to time. Thanks Mrs. B for honoring me with this beautiful award, it's so pretty and it's such an honor for me to receive this from such a lovely person as yourself.

The rules that apply to this award is as follows:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4.The award winner and one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

I choose to share this award with:

Michael's Care Page - This blog is about a wonderful little boy named Michael. Michael, 5 yrs old, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. After reading about him, I became fascinated by his bravery and his smile. Thank you Mike, you are a huge blessing to me. This award is for being the bravest, cutest, little Fireman around.

Sunflower Meadows - This is Michael's mom JoAnne, she's also very brave. She's a caring and loving person. She enjoys decorating, gardening, family, and what a wonderful family they have. She has a beautiful blog, wonderful taste, and talents.

3 Guys A Girl And A Prim Place - Kindra is a wonderful person, she's married with 2 little boys that it has been a delight reading about. She also has opened her Etsy Store its called Momma's Primitives. She hand make beautiful primitive items that are beautiful, she does special orders too. I can't wait until mine arrives to show you.

Life On Bonnie Lane - This is a wonderful blog, she shares family, shopping, gardening, she's always so thoughtful and always has encouraging words for all of us.

Monday Through Sunday - I love it here, in between the fun there is always some deep thoughts to ponder, mostly about the Lord but other things too, she keeps me in my Bible.

I wish I could go on and on but, I'll stop at the five. Thanks again to Mrs. B, you're BEAUTIFUL!

My Testimony That He Is God!

This is a picture that I just took of the beautiful sky from my back yard. I took it in honor of our mighty and awesome God. I had a different post ready for today, but just as I was about to publish it, I was compelled to give testimony of our God. He has had me tucked away in his bosom ever since April 29,1996 two days after the passing of my oldest daughter Kevina.

That evening I spoke with my daughter, she was in Talladega, Alabama visiting friends that were in school there. She told me that she would be leaving there shortly and we planned to go out to Wal-mart. Within the next hour I received a phone call from a lady who'd found my number in my daughter's cell phone. She stated that there had been in a terrible car accident and my daughter had been air lifted to Birmingham's Carraway Hospital. I tried to remain calm and optimistic, and I had a friend take me to the hospital. I went to the emergency room and told them I was the mother of the young girl that had been air lifted from Talladega. The nurse took me to a small waiting room and told me that she would get the doctor. I grabbed hold of her hand and asked her "why do I have to wait here, where is she, why can't you just take me to her or tell me how she is"? The nurse told me that she didn't make it, that she had suffered a severe head trauma. I let go of her hand and sat down. She went on to get the doctor. As I sat there I was seriously thinking okay what can I do? As I thought and thought I finally came to the realization that I could do nothing, and I literally screamed and slid to the floor crying uncontrollably. The doctor came in and explain that she was so severely injured that if she had lived she would had lived the life of a vegetable. He offered me a sedative but I decline. I did see her and had the hospital Chaplin to say a prayer for her.

After returning home a State Trooper came to house and told me the circumstances of the accident. She had been in a head on collision with a drunk, driving in an out of traffic on a two lane road trying to pass other cars until he drove head on into her car. This was during the time of the Talledega Races and some of the people thought it was fun to be drunk out of their minds, in the name of a good time. To this day the mention of these races bring back heartbreaking memories of that day.

Over the next few days the devil tauted me, he told me that my baby was alone, all by herself with no one and that I should kill myself so that I could be with her. He said there were relatives here to take care of my other kids. It actually became a thought. But my God who had already chosen me, stepped in (Glory be to God) and brought back to my remembrance a guy that I had deemed the Church Man.

Roughly about five years before her passing, I was working in Downtown Birmingham at the famous Newberry's Department Store. I used to catch the bus home from work, and one day this man that I sat next to began talking with me about the Lord and how to receive him. Something deep inside of me knew that the Lord was calling me but I wasn't ready to give up my sin, so I ran. For the couple of years to follow every time I saw the Church Man he would always tell me about the Lord, there were even times when I saw him I would miss my bus purposely to avoid him. Near the end I noticed that the Church Man's health was getting worse and worse, even to the fact that he could hardly walk but he held on to his God. (Thank you Jesus) but, I kept running.

About two years before her death I was no longer working downtown and had started to work for United Healthcare, there were times when I wondered about the Church Man and hoped that he was okay. I continued running though, and running, there was incident after incident that I knew the Lord was showing me his face and still I tried to get away. I thought I wasn't doing to bad, I had a good job and a new car, I was taking care of my kids all by myself, that I could do anything, until I was faced with the death of my child. It was then I realized that I could do nothing, I had done nothing, I was never ever going to do anything and take credit for it as long as I lived, because I have the ability to do nothing without God. I can't even blink my eyes without God. It was His grace, His goodness, and His mercy that carried me and my family.

So that next night after realizing this, and as I thought of what the Church Man had said about receiving God. I went into my room, shut the door, fell to my knees, and cried like a baby, thanking the Lord for all that he'd done in my life. Then I told him that I was so sorry for all the running and all the sin that was in my life and to forgive me that I was ready to give up everything for Him and to wash me clean in His blood.

At that moment a new calm came over me, I no longer had to worry about any of the stuff that I was so proud of doing for myself, I had found the way, the truth, and the life. It was all on Him. And as I said before I've been tucked away in His bosom ever since. Don't get me wrong I'm faced with the same triumphs and disappointments as everyone else but, it's sure is good to know that I have the Lord through them all.

Wednesday night, I found a lump in my left breast, I immediately went into prayer and sought prayer from others. My prayer was for mercy but, I had a certain peace about it, that comes only from God. My prayer was also that His will be done and I was willing to be used in anyway that would bring glorification to His name. Whether it be my life, or my death (to this world). That my life would glorify God as merciful, as a healer, and faithful to His word. I was in the doctors office on Thursday, and at the hospital on Monday for a sonogram and mammogram. The results came back and it was a cyst. All glory be to God!, His goodness and mercy endureth forever, he's faithful to his word, which is a promise to never leave us nor forsake us. All Praise And Thanks Unto His Name (Jesus) And This Is My Testimony Unto Him.


Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised; there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us nor forsake us:

That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgements, which he commanded our fathers.

And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:

That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else.
1Kings 8:56-61

SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!

OKAY I'M ASHAMED, TRULY ASHAMED BUT, "I HAD A BALL DOING IT!" Last week I weighed in at 168.2 and today I weighed in at 170.0, up almost 2 lbs. All week I've been on a non stop holiday binge. I've been eating like 90 going north, ribs, potato salad, ice cream, potato chips, cake, and all the diet food I could find. I couldn't stop myself, I never knew that food could taste so good, where have I been?. Now the sad part of it is that, I'm not done yet. My husband and I have a full weekend planned. We're going on a outing this Saturday with friends, and to the Comedy Club this Sunday evening. Already my plan is to eat something good on both trips. So I will be back on the train starting Monday. Forgive me friends I know you were pulling for me. I kept saying to myself, this is the last day I'm going to eat like this" but, I just kept going and going and going just like the energizer bunny. Next week I may have to double up on some exercising but I will make a come back and a Slam Dunk. (Maybe if I say that, I'll really hate to mess up). LOL! Stick with me, please and we'll see what happens next Friday. Deb

My Patio Floor Project

This is my screened porch area, it will probably never be what I want it to be, because we only use it unless we're grilling. I have the pit inside so we won't be bothered by flies or other insects. What I really wanted you to see is how I did the floor.

I started out with green outdoor carpet which was boring. I bought brown porch paint, I think it was oil based. I used chalk, tape, and string, to make a circle. I taped the string in the center area and tied the chalk on the other end and drew a circle, then I shortened the string each time to make each inside circle, this you'll see in the area of the round table.

For the square designs, I just drew the lines with a yard stick. The painting of all areas only took about 3 hours tops. I really like how everything turned out.

The old metal glider and chair, I really love. When my niece bought her house, the owners before her left it behind and my niece had no use for it. It was her plan to sit it out for the garbage collectors. But, "I Was Jim Dandy To The Rescue, Baby" So then I said to myself, "I wish I had a chair to go with this" but I never thought I'd find one. Then one day we went to a family function over my cousin in laws, mother's house. And guess what? She had the chair! I asked if I could buy it, she only had the one, and she said yes!. Thanks, Mrs. Charlie, I really wanted that chair! Now get this, I saw two chairs to match it in the front yard next door to Thelma, one of the ladies in the social and savings club I'm in. I haven't confronted them though, because I figure since they have two they would be missed. But, I know where they are!

Okay, back to the rug, this solid brown rectangle area goes all the way under the grill not pictured here but, there's a picture of the grill on my previous post . I can seat 12 people comfortably out here and it's feels great in the Spring but, too warm for me in the day time during the summer, even though there are two ceiling fans. I don't want to have the area closed in with air conditioning because I enjoy the fresh air.

This shows how my flower beds are coming along in the backyard, I haven't spent as much time back here as I normally would due to the fact that I'm blogging now :O} The bed right in front of the screened area, I planted elephant ears, lilies, and some others. They're not doing so good yet, I believe it's because I use a weed killer in it and didn't wait long enough before planting but they're not dead yet, so they will survive.

This is the front yard, my husband has to use a riding mower or he may pass out dead.

This is the side yard where I have the kids swing set now, not pictured. The back yard area is behind the fence.

Holiday Pictures

Here are our holiday pictures, not everyone wanted to be posted on my Blog so there are only a few. We had great food, and the kids had a ball.

Cooking Out

Right now I'm getting ready for a long day of cooking, my sister and myself have taken on the task of barbecuing for the family. We found at the Piggly Wiggly, ribs they had packaged with three ribs to a pack. We asked that each family purchase one package of three, we will cook all the ribs and wrap two for each family to take home, we would then take the third and cut it into single bones to serve at the family dinner tomorrow. Now in all we will be grilling 24 slabs of ribs. Are we crazy? Totally! Will we have fun? Totally! I hope you all will be doing something great with your families this weekend. Let's remember to include thoughts of all our soldiers that have lost their lives in their commitments to keep our country free, and to pray for the families they left behind doing so. God Bless! Deb