Vacation Bible School

I am very busy this week doing the crafts for our Upward Bound Vacation Bible School........so not hanging out at the blog as much.... These people I call family still want meals, and clean clothes, and such!!
Have a great week with an Upward Bound attitude!! :)

So what memories do YOU have of VBS? What was your favorite part? We have an awesome team set up this year at our church making our week happen! See you soon!

How do you hang plates/platters on the wall????

We all love the look of plates hung on the wall, right???? But how do YOU hang them.....use those wire hangers that are so hard to get just right, and hurt like the dickens if they little springy thing ever pops off and gets your fingers!! OW!!! And forget about using them on an oddly shaped plate!!

Well, I just wanted to be sure everyone knows about this product.......I found mine at Hobby Lobby, but here is a website that might just help you. It's a disc plate hanger, and it comes with adhesive on the back to attach to the plate or platter you want to hang.....

Website: http://www.dischangers.com/

What you do is you wet the disc and let it get kind of tacky, then place it on the back of the plate or platter......make sure the disc is placed so that the plate will hang right side up or straight once the disc is adhered.....
Just an FYI for your decorating inspiration for today!!!

Several asked in the comments how long this would last, was it safe, etc? Someone mentioned having had a plate hanging for about four years with one of these. I've used mine about a year and it's still going strong.......haven't heard ANY mention or word of them failing. They are glued on pretty solidly by the time you stick the whole disc on......FYI.

please PRAY for Stellan

Ya'll, Stellan needs our prayer again....continually, or as often as you possibly can. You can go HERE to read about it. You can imagine the angst his mamma and daddy must feel. They need us to pray. Thanks to everyone who feels led to do so.

This is probably my favorite verse in the Bible. I cling to it often, I use it to encourage often, I take strength in knowing God is MY God. Enjoy your day!!!

She can't help being so cute ya'll.....

even if she IS a flip-flop chewer upper!!!!!

Generosity......

My little giveaway is today......I have drawn the winner, and I have picked out a couple of small items that I hope will bless this lady. She IS the epitomy of generosity and a sweet, kind heart. If you have never been to her blog, she would indeed "welcome" you to visit her. She is talented beyond your imagination, and is so generous and willing to share her talent by showing how she does things, showing us how to do things, and often blogs with nuggets of wisdom that are so inspiring! Today's winner is randomly generated number #24,
Susie from Bienvenue!!!
Here's what I'll be sending her.........this little trio will blend perfectly in Susie's decor, the new "swedishing" she has been doing. These are the Petite Bud Vases, a trio of delight. I hope she will enjoy them. I am also including a candle that will be perfect for fall, in all its spicey deliciousness. And I'll throw in a catalog and a trio of cookbooks that may inspire Susie to try something new!!! Congrats Susie, and thanks for sharing your life with all of us through your blog!!!! I am so pleased to "know" you! Please send me via email your mailing address so I can send along your giveaway, ok?





These are fun, earthly things that inspire us to live daily in a way that may bless our families. But just this morning, I was visiting the Nester, and she wrote of a family that is fighting for the life of their small daughter, Kate. In the spirit of generosity, would you please pray for Kate and her family? The youtube video of the family will give you more specifics, but they are asking people all over the world to pray that God would work in this situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ese3zYZ

We don't know if God will heal little Kate, but we know that HE CAN if He so chooses. Thanks for doing that today. And hug those who mean something to you today because we just never know what will happen in a short moment. We are but a vapor as we pass through this life....so enjoy the moments you are given and extend generosity to someone in your life, would you? It sure makes our journey on this earth a much, more pleasant one, doesn't it?

Thanks so, so much for all your encouragement to keep blogging. Don't we all from time to time wonder why we are driven to blog, to come regularly to this community and share whatever we are led to share???? Well, you all give me inspiration regularly to do so. You all are such good friends that I may never meet, but I am ever so thankful to each of you.

A little something to enjoy....

Grab your cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy this look see. Imagine yourself walking thru a convention hall, divided into gorgeous room settings, with tables sprinkled throughout, bookcases featuring great bookshelf decorating ideas, and gorgeous products used in ways you wouldn't expect. This was the Southern Living at HOME product showcase!!!

http://suzannesslahomepics09.shutterfly.com/

Other things that made this convention so fabulous......they brought Anita Refroe to the stage for us to enjoy....if you've not seen her perform MomSense (sung to the William Tell Overture) as well as perform in various hilarious videos regarding women's issues....she was very funny and we enjoyed seeing her. Also performing for us were the Kilgore Rangerettes as well as the Cactus Cuties......Oh they were adorable!!! You can check them out at www.cactuscuties.com. So very talented!
The Gaylord Texas is a fabulous hotel and the food was really good for convention food, too! All in all it was a delightful time!

A few more pics.....

I am working today on getting all my pics into a Shutterfly Album that I will share with you all....but until I get that all set up, I thought I'd inspire you with a few more pics of gorge-e-ocity.....lol......I think you will agree.
A few more pics of the Product Showcase at the Southern Living at HOME Convention!

for the Lily P. lovers!!! :)











Love the purple door, don't you???
Oh and don't forget to go and enter the giveaway here!!!!

Home sweet home....

Isn't it always so nice to get back home, especially after a road trip? I'm glad to be home again, although our trip was a huge success, and so much fun. The icing on the cake was that I got to meet the parents of the boys my son will room with this year.....such nice families!
My son enjoyed his break from work and school visiting his roommates and having boy fun. They are big into Ultimate Frisbee and can play for hours!

I enjoyed immensely my time at the Southern Living at HOME convention and I cannot wait to share all the pictures with you! OH MY......each year, it seems they outdo the last one in regard to the Product Showcase. They take a huge ballroom and turn it into a SLaH-Palooza....as my friend Holly would say. ( She had a babypalooza just last week while waiting for the birth of her second son. If you haven't visited her blog, you will enjoy a feast for the eyes at Holly Mathis Interiors. I hope to get to drive up and see baby Henry sometime soon.)
Anyway, back to the SLaHomepalooza!!! Such inspiration, such GORGEOUS products and great ideas.
I have to say the one product I am most proud to introduce (I can say forty five times, that this is my favorite product, but this is really top of the charts for me) is our Signature Portrait Line being introduced this fall. A SLaHOME customer can have an oil portrait made of a favorite photo of a family, child, house, pet, etc. We will sell them as wrapped canvases OR a framed portrait. And best of all, a hostess of a party can still use her hostess benefits on it.....so she could possibly get it for FREE or half priced!! Also included in the price is a desktop photo and a photo card. I am so excited to introduce this option! (You can click on any pic to enlarge and see it better.)

Now, I know some of you are expecting a giveaway from last week's celebration of my 200th post; why are there only 23 comments???? Surely you have told a friend or two???? I'd love to see more people enter that giveaway...so would you please go tell a friend to comment on that post???? I was just thinking of making it a bigger prize in relation to the number of people who want to enter the giveaway....so won't you please get me some more comments on that post???? Your chances of winning something BIG are at stake here....I'll do the drawing on Friday this week.

And to finish for today, to start off the SLaHOME palooza, I'll share just a few photos of the SLaHOME conference Product Showcase (remember to click to enlarge!....stay tuned for more to

come and go tell some friends to enter the giveaway!!!!

road trip.....

I'm headed to Dallas for the Southern Living at HOME convention. My son and I are taking a road trip--he to see college roommates and I to attend the SLaHOME convention...I'll be in and out over the weekend, but will be back with great pics of SLaHOME products. Keep signing up for the giveaway.......back on this post....
See ya.

A celebration!!!!!!

Gee, two hundred posts slipped right by, and now I'm not only on post 204........I'm a month away from a one year birthday for my blog.......yep, a blogaversary......It's hard to believe.
Now, I won't bore you with 200 items about myself, but I bet I could...bore you, that is!!!
What I will tell you is that it is highly likely that I have met 200 of the nicest folks thru blogging. I have shared insights, inspirations and incidences with many of you and so many of us have said "Hey, I think she really "gets" what I'm talking about"....in regard to a post, a comment, an encouraging word. We've made some of the nicest friends we've never really MET, and maybe never will. But it's a fabulous community right? Where else can one find decorating ideas, craft ideas, recipe ideas, mothering advice, diet advice and support, prayer support, moments of inspiration to move us on to motivation to get somethings done!!!


And what brings more comments than anything??? Yep, a giveaway.........I have regular readers, and about 20 of you regularly comment. I'd love to see THAT number increase just because it's fun to hear what others have to say. Come on now, don't be shy or think that I wouldn't want to hear what you have to say, because I do!

So I AM INDEED planning a giveaway...........I am at the moment trying to decide just what it will be......I am thinking it's going to be a Southern Living at HOME item.......hmmm, which one will it be???? Got any ideas of what you'd love it to be???? Leave me an idea in the comments and I'll see what I can come up with.

I'll be headed to Dallas later this week for the exciting SLaHOME convention......I cannot wait to make new friends, see the new catalog, the new products, the new announcements they will let us in on......they always save the good announcements for when we are all together.....gets so very exciting!!!
And they take a huge ballroom and show off all the new products by designing rooms of fabulous ideas, table settings that are oh so worthy of being in Tablescape Thursday....(hey maybe I'll use one of those and join in, since I never have it together enough to do so.....heehee...)

So back to the giveaway.....what's a good 200th post/blogaverary celebration Prize????? What would YOU like to see the Prize Patrol knock on your door to hand you???? :) Don't be shy......gimme some inspiration!!! :)

Suzanne

A Tuesday tell a little (Blog Hop!!!)

***I am joining up with Blog Hop today, hoping to meet some new bloggers and introduce myself to some new bloggers. Isn't the blog world worlds of fun????? Let's see...three things you don't know about me........

1. I'm five foot two inches.......yep, kinda short. But I think it's okay. Like the bumper sticker says, I'm not short, I'm fun size! :)

2. I am just a little claustrophobic.....okay a lot claustrophobic. I don't like small spaces. What about you?

3. I love school supplies!! I love to walk the aisles in August and look at all the pretty new supplies before they are ransacked for the preparation of a new school year. I love to go to the office supply store and look at all the binders, papers, pens, etc......just for fun.

So what about you? Wanna join in the Blog Hop and tell us a few things about you?????***

What IS IT with our favorite mags????

Just last year, or was it earlier this year, that several of our most favorite magazines closed their doors, and no longer are in publication????
So today I am even more sad than I was about Cottage Living or a few of the others....(well, maybe, but hey I LOVE magazines!)because I learned that the BH&G publishers are no longer going to publish Creative HOME magazine.....I redid SO MANY ROOMS mentally because of this publication!! I really did enjoy it. And they would take one room of a reader each month and re-do it for them.....did THAT put them out of business??? I hardly think so.....nonetheless, I am sad that it's now going to become ReadyMade or something of the sort. I will miss Creative HOME so much.......
GOOD THING I've got my blogs to read......all the good mags seem to be sliding away.

What shall we seek????

It was a very, very happy mail day......

Do you love going to the mailbox? I do........and there is always an optimism that something great will be there! Does it happen very often? Well, truthfully, I don't view bills as something great, nor do I view a mailbox full of junk mail something great either. I do, however, see notes from friends a happy surprise. In our world of fast paced communications and quickly sent emails, a hand-written note is a treasure these days. As is a package! Something I ordered? Well, I do look forward to finding that in the mail or on the doorstep. But in a completely DIFFERENT category is an unexpected package, a parcel with your name on it and a return address that you don't expect to see in your mailbox too very often. Well, that is what I found yesterday!! Such a happy mail day for me, because you see, my husband brought home the mail and in it was a large manila envelope addressed to me. From a dear friend that I've only met in real life once!!! But she is a DEAR friend. One I've known via the internet for several years now. She has the heart of a dear sister, a saint in whom I have much in common. She is a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a teacher, and a friend in whom I find much in common, and also in whom I admire greatly. And she is so thoughtful. Recently, she and her family planned a vacation to St. Simon's Island, a destination that is on my "bucket" list. I really want to go there someday. I've heard how gorgeous it is, how quaint it is, but have yet to see it for myself. Afterward, she wrote a fabulous review of her vacation and the things they so enjoyed doing.....I lived it vicariously through her and her review. Well, what came in the mail yesterday and just where am I going with this story you might ask????? Well, my dear friend sent me a cookbook from the island and included the most precious sentiment. She knew (knows) of my longing to go there, as well as my love of cookbooks, I might add!! She sent me the most beautiful cookbook from St. Simons Island, Christ Church, Frederica Cookbook......Well, just look!
Throughout the cookbook, there are descriptions of each of the stained glass windows in Christ Church.........and there are prayers at the bottoms of many pages, too. From the front to the back, it is full of gorgeous photos, expressions of faith, and fabulous recipes!!!

What a treasure, and one I will cherish over the years. I will place her handwritten note in the front of the book so that I will always remember what a special surprise it was from a special friend. And I will look forward to trying out many of the yummy recipes found within its pages.....thanks so much, my friend!!! I love it, and I love you!

I hope you'll dance....

For some reason I woke up with this song in my head....do you do that? I have no idea why I was thinking about dancing. But I WAS thinking about people being dealt a blow, a trial to endure, a hard course to row through. And I thought that I had hopes that even when we go thru the hard times, that I hope we will find joy and be able to dance thru them, if you will. And I thought about friends who have true reason to want to dance, and thought that I hope they are taking the time to do so. I hope that the storms of life aren't able to eclipse your happiness. So here are the words to the song made famous be Le Anne Womack.....and a pic to bring a smile to your face. Thanks to those of you who commented even when I had NO POST yet......a little technical difficulty....it's nice being liked for nothing!! :) What REALLY happened was I tried to learn how to embed a youtube video of the song on my blog, and then I had to leave for an appt...but I didn't realize I had posted my NO POST.....haha...leave it to me to show off my techno-deficiencies!!! thanks for stopping by.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed,

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder
Where those years have gone.

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance..

Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone

****Edited to add that my 200th post is coming up!!! I cannot believe that, and I am trying to decide what to do to celebrate......I think I have an idea.......stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some new bling.....

My sisters in law gave me a gift card (for my birthday back in March) to a Brighton store. Since I have to drive into town, I just hadn't gotten around to going to spend it, until today. I decided before I went that I would spend it on a watch. One with a LARGE face...my eyes don't see as well as I used to! So boy, did I have fun looking at the eye candy in that store. Oh my goodness!!!


I was good and stuck to my goal, however....and this is what I got!! It's fairly inconsistent with my character....I tend to stick with the practical, the thing that goes with most everything I have, fairly tailored kind of accessories. But today, I bought a watch that has butterflies on it!!! They "float" around in between the crystal and a piece of glass.

I am going to enjoy wearing this!! Here it is...the Varna watch!while there, I "turned in" a bracelet that had broken so that they would fix it. I don't even think they are going to charge me for the repair! If they do, it won't be much. They told me they will replace your watch battery for a couple of dollars! wow, they seem to have fabulous customer service!!! And you can make a Wish List to share with others of what you'd like to have....hmmm.....

Have a wonderful day, resting up from your celebrations! What do YOU do to seek Him with your whole heart?? Take care.

This is not my porch but it sure is inspiring! It inspires me to do a little bit of red, white and bluing tomorrow.....better late than never, right? I've been a little tied up the last couple of days doing other things.
We are having a few friends over on Saturday evening, so I'll spend tomorrow preparing for the small party. We are fortunate that we have a fireworks display in our area if we want to go attend that also. We will be doing some grilling, which hubby will supervise. We are planning to grill a brisket, some sausage and some chicken. I'll do the sides, which will definitely include watermelon, some corn, potato salad and some veggies and dip. I'll probably do a strawberry trifle and a friend is also bringing a dessert. What a way to celebrate, right? I hope your celebrating is fun and enjoyable. With the friends coming over, we may end up playing games as well. One friend has actually been on Jeopardy before!! No trivia games or I'm sure to lose! :)
Have a fabulous weekend celebrating our nation's Independence!

Working today.....

There is a HUGE sale going on at Southern Living at HOME!! For more details go to my website, www.southernlivingathome.com/sjathome or contact me directly. I figured out how to post the sale flyer here, so take a look!!!!Let me know if there is something you'd like to order and I'll tell you how.

Have a terrific day!!!