Pink Saturday

Ahhh, camera, why can't I master you? You are such a tiny little thing. You look so sweet and innocent. You don't have that many buttons. But, I push just one of your buttons and it opens up a world of decisions that I must make...formats...filters...pixels...ARG! I am not good at decision making. Why didn't I just stick to my old point-and-shoot?

Oh, here comes my little friend, Autumn. I love seeing Autumn's sweet face in my Children's Church class on Sunday mornings. Today she is a pink fairy. What's that Autumn? You want your picture made in front of the pretty pink flowers? Okay, let's try this aggravating camera again.



Oh yes! Autumn, just because of you I will keep trying to master this machine. I will stick to my photography classes and practice...practice...practice. Even if I only get one good picture out of every 1000 I take, at least I'll have that one good picture.




Again, I send my congratulations to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. Beverly, the wonderful founder and hostess of Pink Saturday is featured in the summer issue of Artful Blogging! I am so thrilled for her! I have ordered my copy and can't wait to get it! Happy Pink Saturday to one and all!!!

Dear Mr. Winter,

You have worked hard this year. You really outdid yourself...you and your little elfin friends, Jack Frost and Suzy Snowflake. You have now gone into overtime, but we are not going to pay you for it anymore. We refuse to keep making the nights cozy for you, even if you are still sending us sleeptime temps in the thirties. I am pulling the cozy blankets off our bed, washing them up, and giving them a line dry. Then I am packing them away until you awake from your hibernation in the fall. You will get a chilly reception if you visit again tonight.



Oh, when I get to the end of my clothesline I see why you are still here . You were just waiting on these plants to bloom so that you could enjoy just a few more carefree days during Blackberry Winter. They are all bloomed out, so you can enjoy your rest now. You have more than earned it this year. Good night.

P.S. Don't forget to take Jack and Suzy with you.

I have a plan!

We woke up to a windy, drizzly, cool morning. It's more like Rainy Valley than it is Pleasant Valley today. Neil braved the cool air and crawled out of bed to turn off our paddle fan. It's one of those pull-up-the-covers-and-stay-in-bed kind of mornings. Even Maggie agrees with us on that point.



But, Neil has to go to work and I can't go back to sleep, so we start our day. After seeing Neil off to work and having my breakfast and coffee I check to see what the weather man has in store for us this week. It may be rainy today but there are promises of sunny skies and mild temps the rest of the week. I had a decision to make...should I be lazy like the weather or should I try to get something done? I then get into my Pollyanna frame of mind and come up with a plan. "Make hay while the sun shines," or more like, "Do chores when it's rainy outside then you can play when the sun comes out." I didn't have to think this one out too long. I suddenly had a burst of energy when motivated by promises of play days to come.

I don my most colorful and happiest of aprons and pull out the vacuum cleaner.




With that chore finished I retrieve my broom, mop, and mop bucket and get the kitchen and baths swept and then mopped. My plan is going great and I'm thrilled to get so much done without interruptions. But then...RING...RING...RING...!!!



A friend called to chat for a little while. I think I really must suffer somewhat with ADD. Now I've lost my cleaning motivation. But I look at the clock...



... and it's Read-aloud time! Yes, Taylor is 18 years old, and we still enjoy read-aloud time together. This is one of the things that I will miss most about homeschooling after he graduates next month. My three children and I have shared so many pleasant hours with books during our 16 years of homeschooling. There aren't many classics we haven't read with a few contemporary books thrown in for fun. I fix a cup of my favorite tea to enjoy during the read. It's funny, I love my hot tea very sweet with real cream, but I want my coffee unsweetened and black. Oh my, I'm off track again...



...the phone rings again. Neil calls to see how my day is going. He's so proud of all my morning accomplishments when I brag to him about how much I've gotten done already.

It's lunch time now... I check out the frig...hmmmm... left-over potato dumplings, an apple, and a glass of cold milk. Yum! (I won't mention the two little Hershey's Nuggets I had as a follow-up.) It's hard to think of the next meal as I finish eating this one but I have a photography class tonight so supper has to be ready early. I'm thinking Chicken Pot Pie. I pull out a favorite recipe. Let's see, I have already put a couple of chicken breasts in the crock pot. I don't have the cream of potato soup called for. I'm wondering if I can make my own? Think I'll try. I've also got to make up pie crusts for the filling to be poured into. Okay, Sherry, just remember, if you get all your chores done today, you can play tomorrow. Yes...yes...yes...I'm motivated to get going again!

Pink Saturday

I love Spring! I love those precious early morning moments between sleep and wakefulness. Bird song is drifting through the open windows, and along with it comes the soft clucking of the chickens and the crowing of our rooster. The sounds speak to me, "God's in His heaven and all's right with your world." I lay there a while just drinking in the peacefulness of the moment and thanking God for the gift of a beautiful new day. But I don't lay there long...I can't wait to get my day moving.

After enjoying my favorite breakfast of buttered toast and freshly brewed coffee, I throw a load of laundry in the washer. I sometimes do a load on days like this just so I can hang it out on the line. Every time I spy it out of my kitchen window it says "home" to me. I come back inside and open up windows and doors allowing the scent of freshly blooming honeysuckles to waft through the house. The breeze stirs the lace curtains at the windows, and all of a sudden I hear a loud "BANG!" Oh no, it's our bedroom door again, it just can't seem to stay open with the breeze circulating through the house. But I find a remedy for that. I round up an old upholstery sample book someone gave me and select a good thick (pink and yellow) fabric from which I make a doorstop that will hold the door open no matter how strong the wind gets.




After a day of chores and daydreaming, I look forward to Neil coming home from work. I'm peeking out through the screen door as his truck is coming up our long driveway. He smiles and waves at me even before he opens his truck door. I love homecomings. He gets a chance to rest a little, while I put the finishing touches on our simple meal. I call our boys into the kitchen for supper where we all prepare our plates and glasses of iced tea to take out on the front porch. We sit in the rockers and porch swing enjoying the meal and the slow, easy talk. We reconnect. We're comfortable with each other. This is home.

After a few chores, Neil and I take a very enjoyable stroll up our country road. Neighbors call to us as we walk by. We know all our neighbors and they know us. We stop by to chat with Robert, the neighbor with the green thumb. He's out working in his garden this evening. He's always a step ahead of us with his garden work, but that's okay, he's also very willing to share his vast knowledge of vegetable gardening with us. Another neighbor is out tending to his horses. We stop by and swap fishing stories with him awhile. Then we take our time walking back home. Sitting out on the front porch again, I notice the lightning bugs have made their spring appearance. That brings back lots of childhood memories for me...catching a jar full and bringing them in for a nightlight...making a cigarette by putting one of their lights on the end of a stick...gross I know, but that's what we sometimes did.

Yes, Spring is a wonderful, happy season for me, and our community is certainly living up to its name ~ Pleasant Valley. I hope you are enjoying the season in your neck-of-the-woods. I would love for you to leave me a comment this week telling me where your neck-of-the-woods is.

Here are a couple of places you might want to visit. First of all, Beverly's blog, where you can enjoy visiting the other members of the Pink Saturday Club, and here's a link to instructions for the pyramid doorstop. (I filled mine with rice instead of sand and I didn't use interfacing because my fabric was thick.)

Hope you have a terrifically Happy Pink Saturday!

I really meant to get some work done...

I had a conversation with myself when I first woke up this morning. It went something like this,"Okay, Sherry, you've got a lot of things ~read work~ to do today. That means no goofing off in front of the computer catching up with favorite blogs, no lingering over your coffee, in short, this is a business day for you. Empty the dishwasher, dust the furniture, then go to your To-Do list and check off several things from it today."

I had very good intentions. My sweet hubby would be so proud of me when he came home today and saw all my accomplishments. But then...I looked out my patio door. And, what did I see? The beginnings of a beautiful...no, a PERFECT day! The perfect day to try out my slowly-developing photography skills. So I slipped on my soft pink fleece jacket, picked up my camera and went out into the crisp, cool morning to enjoy the sunshine. And the next thing I knew, it was lunch time!


Oh but it's THE perfect day to sit out in my sun-dappled back yard...




...and enjoy a lovely lunch of egg salad sandwich, fresh crisp carrot sticks with ranch dressing dip, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookies made with love by my youngest son, and a cold, refreshing glass of whole ~ not skim ~ milk...



...the perfect day to enjoy a completely "fluffy" book.




So, which voice do you think I listened to? You guessed it. I have had a perfect morning! A morning that I have captured in pictures just for me. A morning that has renewed my spirit. Yes, I still have dusty furniture and we will be having left-overs for supper, but my husband will come home to a happy, relaxed wife. A wife that appreciates the fact that her precious husband goes daily to a demanding job so that she can stay home and fulfill her childhood dream of being a wife and mother. He doesn't care if the furniture is a little dusty, or if he has to eat left-overs, just as long as he sees a smiling wife waiting on him at the door when he comes home after a long day at work. Yes, I needed this day. My whole family needed me to have this day. This day has put the smile back on my face. In fact, I may even be glowing just a little.

Pink Saturday

Every girl needs her own peaceful haven ...



...a place in which to lay her head, forget her problems, and dream her fairy tale dreams...





... a place where she can cuddle up with the things she enjoys...





...where she can feel the peacefulness of her surroundings...






... a place where she can renew her spirit...



Yes, every girl needs her peaceful haven...I thank you for visiting mine today. Please come back again soon, you're always welcome.

Hope you can visit the other Pink Saturday participants at How Sweet the Sound for a glimpse of their pink corners of the world.

Pink Saturday

My cozy little dining room is all decked out in her pink Spring finery. My tea set is on the table...



My (crocheted) treats are prepared ...





But my guests are hiding in the corner.



Ah, there they are, all tucked in amid the pink fluff.



Won't you join us for tea on this beautiful Pink Saturday? You also have an open invitation to join all the other Pink Saturday participants at How Sweet the Sound.

Pink (and Yellow) Saturday

May you be blessed on this most sacred of holidays.






HE IS RISEN!


This blog is a participant in Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.