Making a House a Home

"They will go away to eternal punishment, but
the righteous to eternal life." Matthew 25:46

There is an essential difference between the death of the
godly--and the death of the ungodly. Death comes to the
ungodly man--as a penal infliction; but to the righteous--
as a summons to his Father's palace! To the sinner--it is
an execution; to the saint--it is an undressing from his
sins and infirmities! Death to the wicked is the King of
terrors. Death to the saint is the end of terrors--the
commencement of glory!

-Charles Spurgeon

Today for Show & Tell Friday, I would like to share my baby spoon!! Yep, that's the exact same spoon that my mother used to feed me when I was a baby. She kept it all these years and gave it to me when we were expecting Elizabeth. I was so excited when she gave it to me and couldn't wait for it to become Elizabeth's baby spoon, too!!!



While she was already 10 months old when we brought her home, I did get a few months use out of it.

Thank you, Mom, for saving the spoon!!! It's a treasure (and not far from an antique, either!! HAHAHA!!!!).

Today at Kelli's blog, There's No Place Like Home, she is hosting (or should that be "hostessing"???) Show & Tell Friday. Be sure and head over there for more fun!!!

I was asked to make some cookies for a bake sale where the proceeds go to Relay for Life. So Miss E and I spent the morning making some chocolate chip cookies.




I'm pretty sure that she didn't mind helping. What do you think?



And y'all know that I LOOOOOOOVE cookies!! However, cookie dough is quite another story. Cookies are good, yes, but cookie dough is SUPER GOOD!! Anyone in agreement with me??

I LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOVE cookies!! It is just so much fun to bake them, eat them and share them!!

This cookie's inspiration came from a recipe in Nancy Baggett's The All-American Cookie Book. She shared just a vanilla cookie, but I decided that lemon sugar cookies were just the thing I needed to take to a bridal shower this past Saturday. They were yummy.

Oh, and let me add, this was, by far, the BEST and EASIEST sugar cookie dough I have EVER worked with!

Happy baking!!




Lemon Sugar Cookies

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
Generous pinch of salt
1 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
zest of 1 lemon

In a large bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder and set aside. In another large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed and beat together butter and sugar until well blended and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and then salt, vanilla and lemon zest. Gradually beat in flour mixture to form a smooth dough.

Divide dough in half. Place each portion between large sheets of wax paper. Roll out each portion 1/8 inch thick; check the underside of the dough and smooth out any wrinkles that form. Stack the rolled portions (paper still attached) on large baking sheet and refrigerate 30 minutes or freeze 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. *

Working with one portion of dough at a time (leave the remaining dough chilling), gently pulled away top and bottom of wax paper. Using cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes and carefully place on cookie sheets. (Hint: My dough was so chilled that the dough stuck to the inside of the cookie cutter. I just tapped it out above the cookie sheet and it fell onto the cookie sheet in place.) Reroll any dough scraps and chill again.

Bake cookies at 375 degrees for 8 to 11 minutes. Check half way through baking to see if you need to rotate your cookies for even doneness. Also, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR OVEN!!!! All ovens bake differently. Pay attention to your cookies so that they do not burn.

After removing from oven, let cookies rest on cookie sheet for 1 to 2 minutes and then carefully remove from cookie sheets and place on cooling racks. Cool completely before using lemon glaze.


Lemon Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Stir together. You may need to add a few drops of water to get this to drizzling consistency. Then drizzle cookies with glaze, let set and then enjoy!!!


* Ms. Baggett suggests greasing cookie sheets before baking, but I found that unnecessary. You may feel more comfortable doing that, however.

Just a little THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for me when I asked for help in not drinking Diet Coke anymore. As of today, I haven't had or even wanted a Diet Coke in 6 MONTHS!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!

This family definitely needs our prayers! Please lift them up to the Lord!!! They are currently in China to bring Susannah home and she is very ill and in the hospital. You can read about them at their blog called "Room for at least One More".

Never forget.

For YEARS, I have read the comic strip For Better or For Worse. Sadly, as I read the strip on Saturday, it ended with a note from the cartoonist, Lynn Johnston, saying "This concludes my story...with grateful thanks to everyone who has made this all possible".

IT'S OVER?????? It just CAN'T be over!!! With these thoughts running rampant in my head, I did what anyone in my situation would do. I googled it.

There it was on the For Better of For Worse website. A letter from Lynn sharing why this comic strip is ending. I must admit, after reading her letter, it made sense to me. The strip has gotten complicated and busy over the years and she wants to simplify it. I understand.

So, thank you Mrs. Johnston, for all the wonderful years of really enjoying the Patterson family! I started reading it back when they had Farley the dog. I was just a child then, but Farley is my maiden name and that's what first got my attention. I will always wonder how much longer does Grandpa live? Does April become a veterinarian? Do Elizabeth and Anthony truly have a happily ever after?? But, since you won't be answering these, Mrs. Johnston, I will assume that everything turns out just like it would in a perfect world.

I do look forward to the new direction you will be taking. But I must admit, I sure will miss the way things were.

Oh dear me. I have something to confess. I mopped the kitchen yesterday. Wait, let me rephrase that. I FINALLY mopped the kitchen yesterday. It's been about a month (no, I am not joking) since I last mopped.

I know, I know. What in the WORLD am I thinking? I'm thinking how much I do NOT like mopping lately! HAHAHA! Of course, now that it's done and the floors are all shiny, it seems like it was not such a hard thing after all!!! Oh, and the house smelled GLORIOUS when I was finished because I love to use Mrs. Meyer's products.


So what have YOU been putting off? What job in your home have you put off and put off? Start it today!! Perhaps it isn't as big and bad as you had feared it would be!!!

I am a Southern girl. And being a Southern girl, there are certain "rules" to live by. Not rules that, if broken, will lead you to trouble. No, nothing like that. Rules that, well, set you apart as a Southern girl.

Let's talk about the rule for shoes- white shoes in particular. I don't mean white tennis shoes. No, no, no. I mean white dress shoes. Even white sandals. There is a rule that Southern girls go by that says you are NOT to wear white shoes after Labor Day. And you can NOT wear them again until Easter Sunday.

Wait. Hold on a minute... Some Southern girls say that you aren't allowed to wear white dress shoes or white sandals until Memorial Day. But, well, I'm not one of those girls. I hold strictly to the "Not before Easter Sunday and not after Labor Day" rules. My mother taught me this. It's just part of being a Southern girl.

So, today, though I normally do not post on Sundays, I am posting a farewell to our white shoes of summer.

So long white sandals.

Farewell white patent leather with a cute little buckle strap.

I bid you each adieu until Easter Sunday 2009.

A few years ago, while reading FlyLady's website, I discovered her directions on how to get your sink in top shape. Sure, she says to shine your sink every day, but what if your sink isn't so clean to begin with?

Here are Flylady's directions on how to get your sink in order.

Shiny Sink 101

Dear Friends,

I want you to smile from ear to ear when you gaze upon your shiny sink.

I have heard every excuse in the world. Even old sinks can look new again with a little elbow grease.

Here is how you do it:

BE SURE AND RINSE WELL BETWEEN EACH STEP OF THE WAY!

1.) Take all the dishes out of the sink.

2.) Run some very hot water into the sink. Fill to the rim. Only do one side at a time. Then, pour a cup of household bleach into the hot water. Let it sit for 1 hour. Now, pull the plug with a pair of tongs. If you don't have tongs, then scoop some of the water out of the sink into the other sink and use your hand to pull the plug (wear gloves and don't get the bleach-water on your clothes).

3.) Rinse your sink well.

4.) Use some cleanser (Comet, Ajax, or Baking Soda) and scrub your sink. Ensure you rinse ALL of the cleanser from the sink.

5.) Take a sharp edge and clean around the rim of the sink, just like you would clean dirt out from under your fingernails.

6.) Clean around the faucets too. You may need an old toothbrush or dental floss.

7.) Now, get out your window cleaner, I use Windex, and give it a good shine.

8.) If you still don't like the way it looks, then you could try some car wax. Just know in your heart that you have cleaned it very well now and it doesn't have to be perfect. Our perfectionism is what got us in this situation in the first place.

9.) Every time you run water in your sink, take your clean dishtowel and dry it out (I lay out a clean one, every night with my before bedtime routine). Before you know it, you will be doing this everytime you leave your kitchen. The rest of the family will too. No more water spots. You will have a clean and shiny sink.

10.) Don't have a fit if someone doesn't take as much pride in your sink as you do. It is very easy to fix. You have already done the hard part. You will never have to go through this process again. Daily maintenance will keep it looking this way all the time. Nasty hurtful word are not as easy to repair. Just be sure and tell your family what you are trying to do. They will think you have gone crazy.

11.) If you don't have a dishwasher, don't worry. A dishwasher is just a dirty dish disposal. Clean out a place under your sink and put a dishpan in there. Teach your family, that instead of putting their dirty dishes and glasses in the sink, place them into the dish pan. Get into the habit of putting your dishes away as soon as they have been washed and are dry. No more leaving the dish drying rack on the counter or in the sink. Put it away under the sink when you have finished. If your old one is nasty, you may want to soak it in the sink full of bleach water at the same time you soak the sink or go buy a new set.

12.) To insure that your family remembers this, put a note in the sink. It will get their attention and remind them where to put the dishes. Be patient! They have never been taught either. It is going to take some practice.


Now if you have a stainless steel sink, I recommend all of the above directions with one extra instruction added: after you soak your sink, rinse well, and use SOS pads to scrub it. This will buff the finish. It will look like new.

If you still can't get it to shine after the Windex, put a light coat of lemon oil or olive oil on it. I mean just a tiny bit on a cloth and rub it. This will make you smile. Some people have had very good results from Bar Keepers Friend.

Go Shine Your Sink!
FlyLady

So ladies, I would like to challenge each of you to SHINE YOUR SINK this weekend!!! Get it in tip top shape and keep it there!! Since I've been trying to keep my dish drainer empty, I really want my sink to sparkle right next to it!

Have a happy weekend, y'all!

Oh yum!! I made these this past weekend and, boy, were they a huge hit!! I found the recipe over at Mrs. Dole's blog, Beneath Beams of Cedar.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 C shortening
1/2 C butter
1 1/4 C peanut butter
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1C flour
2 C oatmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream together shortening and butter. Add sugars, vanilla, peanut butter and eggs, blending well. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop in small balls on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375* for 7-9 minutes.

Note: These were very soft after coming out of the oven, so be sure and let them cool a minute or two on the cookie sheet before moving them to a cooling rack.

We desire for Elizabeth to grow up to be a godly woman and to seek the Lord in all things. We also desire to teach her to have a heart for her home and the people He places in it. Lately, GirlTalk has had several posts on training daughters. Lovely and encouraging posts, I must say!! Here's a snippet:

This morning Steve read me a prayer from Psalm 144:12 that I plan to make my own for Tori (and Jack, of course): “May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for a structure of a palace.”

What a beautiful prayer to shape our hopes and dreams for our daughters—that they may be like “corner pillars cut for a structure of a palace.” It’s a striking image of a woman’s role as fleshed out in Proverbs 31 and Titus 2. This verse pictures young women “both occupying a secure position in the building and at the same time giving stability to the building in which they are themselves secure—the position of the wife and mother in a well-ordered society” (The New Bible Commentary). Or, more simply, as “the supports and the ornaments of domestic life” (John Pye Smith)...

Other GirlTalk posts about this subject:
- Mom's Example in the Home
- A Daughter's Heart for the Home
- Home Time
- Homemaking 101
- For Better or For Worse

I've decided to start a new homemaking habit. A new nighttime, habit, actually.

I cannot stand going to bed with dirty dishes in my sink. Now, I must be honest here and tell you that sometimes I do leave dishes in the sink overnight, but that does not change that I still DETEST waking up to dirty dishes in the morning!!!

The new habit I want to start is not only making sure all the dishes are washed, but also making sure they are all washed, dried and put away each night before I go to bed! I usually will wash them and set them in the dish drainer to dry and the next morning they will be put away. I will awake to not only an empty, clean sink, but an empty dish drainer as well! So starting Tuesday night, I implemented my new habit and, so far, so good!!

Have you started any new habits in your home lately? Please share, if so!!

I absolutely LOVE this song. More importantly, I LOVE the one that Fernando Ortega sings about!! I hope you enjoy hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ!!



Come and see, look on this mystery
The Lord of the Universe, nailed to a tree
Christ our God, spilling His Holy blood
Bowing in anguish, His sacred head

Sing to Jesus, Lord of our shame
Lord of our sinful hearts.
He is our great Redeemer.
Sing to Jesus, Honor His name.
Sing of His faithfulness, pouring His life out unto death

Come you weary and He will give you rest
Come you who mourn, lay on His breast
Christ who died, risen in Paradise
Giver of mercy, Giver of Life

Sing to Jesus His is the throne
Now and forever,
He is the King of Heaven.
Sing to Jesus, we are His own.
Now and forever sing for the love our God has shown.

Sing to Jesus, Lord of our shame
Lord of our sinful hearts.
He is our great Redeemer.
Sing to Jesus, Honor His name.

Sing to Jesus His is the throne
Now and forever,
He is the King of Heaven.
Sing to Jesus, we are His own.
Now and forever sing for the love our God has shown.

I recently received this email from a reader. I find it SO very encouraging!!

Dear Mrs. U,

I wanted to share a real life story about how our actions and attitudes as women REALLY do affect the men around us. If we act like ladies, men will usually respond as gentlemen.

My friend and I went to see a play at the famous Fox Theater in Atlanta. As we approached the ticket booth, my friend realized that she had forgotten something in her car. So she returned to her car to get the item and started back up the sidewalk toward the theater. There was a side entry door that is used by staff and castmembers, and as she was approaching, she could see that there were 6-8 male theater employees standing along the sidewalk. She realized that her only option was to walk straight through the men - some on her right and some on her left - so she proceeded towards them. She glanced up at them as she was passing through, nodded her head, and out of her mouth came, "Excuse me, gentlemen!!!" She said that they had THE most shocked expressions on their faces. They then stood up straight, nodded back, smiled, and said, "Ma'am!" (my guess is that they responded in their deepest, manliest voices ;)).

As she was telling me what had happened I was blown away and told her what a PERFECT thing to say! By treating them like gentlemen and EXPECTING them to BEHAVE like gentlemen, they stepped up to the plate and WERE gentlemen!! I was so proud of her and I've mentioned it several times since. She says, "Yes, I guess the Lord just gave me those words because I felt quite uncomfortable and wouldn't have known WHAT to say."

What a great example of how acting like a lady calls men to act like gentlemen!! And they respond in like when they are treated like gentlemen! It really can start with us! I hope my friend inspires your readers like she did me!!!

Mrs. Thornton

So, ladies, what do you think? Have any of you been in a similar situation? If so, I would love to hear what happened!!

Okay, so it's been a bit since I've been posting here. For some reason, the summer seems so busy, but for the life of me, I can NOT tell you what we've been busy with!! LOL!!!

So, I thought I would share what is on my mind today.




I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO READY FOR FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyone else with me?

With the temperatures here being up in the 100s each day, I LONG for the cooler days of autumn. Sure, I know they are just around the corner and I am kind of wishing my life away, but hot weather and I do NOT mix well. Fall! Fall! Do not tarry! Bring your much longed for cooler temperatures our way!!!

I just discovered a fun new Friday post!! It's called Feminine Friday and it's hosted by The Barefood Mama.

Kelly asked participants to share what femininity means to them. What fun!!

Today I would like to share my new tea cup. Isn't she just lovely!!



This tea cup is feminine to me because of all the pretty flowers on the tea cup. It's a dainty little cup, too. One that I definitely cannot picture a man drinking out of. :)

I look forward to sharing other tea cups as I collect more. I also look forward to sharing these tea cups (and tea time) with Elizabeth as she gets older.

Please take time to visit Kelly and her blog, The Barefood Mama.

We had a busy week last week. Our church had vacation Bible school. I know that the children have a lot of fun, but the adults sure are worn out when it's over!!

Last year was Elizabeth's first year at VBS, but she was too young to really pay attention. This year, though, she had a blast!! She's still too young to be in a class, so she and I walked around and got to sit in the music class with all the different ages and also go to crafts where they let her make a lot of fun and adorable things!!! I think her favorite things during the week were coloring and learning motions to go with the songs!! :)

The week before that, our family went blueberry picking. OH BOY that was FUN!!!! It was an incredibly hot day, but it was wonderful to pick the blueberries off the bush and put them in our baskets. Okay, yes, I'll admit it. We DID eat quite a few, but we brought home a lot, too!!





One of Elizabeth's friends moved away two weeks ago. Their family is in the military and her husband was stationed in another state, so away they drove. I know Elizabeth didn't understand the whole idea of moving, but it still made me sad that one of her friends left.



So, that's what we've been doing lately. I'm sure the rest of the summer will fly by just like the first part of it. :)

With July 4th only 2 days away, I thought it would be interesting to share this portion from a US Citizenship test. Sadly, I will admit that I only got 70% correct!!! Boy, have I got some studying to do!!!!

If any of y'all take the test, let me know how you scored. I'll bet there are plenty of you that will get 100!!! :)