Red, white and BLUE

This is my lil' fella! He was home with me most of his 1st week of school. He did go back to school today..but very reluctantly. This was last week with his new blue towel about to take his red, white and blue meds to get him better. It is hard to see them suffer. I had just announced on my blog and to my family that we are gonna bar all illness out of our home this Fall and before I could clean up the last of the summer and clorox everything and change bedding...we got hit hard. I think we all gotta watch out for the "bugs" this season.

Ya'll wash your hands, their hands and disinfect often. Prayers help too!!

Have a fabulous week and happy blue monday. I have really enjoyed plugging in every week to Sally's Blue Monday. see the button at top of my blog for more fun.

Sunday a.m. perspective

OK, gang...this was our 1st week of school!!

We didn't have a strong start but I still trust that it'll be a fabulous year anyways. Our 7th grader almost got rushed to the hospital with 105.7 fever!! He asked me to annoint him with my hyssop oil and asked for his devotional so he could pour his precious heart out to the Lord for healing. Also, he just handed me money to put in the offering plate for him. WOW!! that's a biggie. As soon as my grandma's and Facebook buddies started praying for him his temperature went down 4 solid points to a safer 101 and we didn't have to go to the hospital.Lil' fella came home early from the 1st day and didn't make it back until Friday when we felt that his fever had been down for 24 hrs. He was a bit miserable with headache and fever and cough.

As you can see I nursed them back to their feet on the couch. You know what...usually I'd let this get me down and I'd be mad and saying, "why me...why us?" to the Lord. This time, I annointed them with hyssop oil...sang praise music around them, played praise music around them, danced around them to the Lord, prayed blessings and promises over them. I rebuked the illness and claimed that these precious boys belong to the Lord and are sacred unto him alone. We made it thru and I trust this next week will be better. PTL!

Pray without ceasing

Cluck'n and Crow'n

Well peeps, here is just 1 of the like 200+ entires in the rooster parade! Just for fun I put in 2 shots of the chickens we found in the backyard of the B&B we stayed at in Onancock, VA on the Eastern Shore this summer. The hostess cracked us up with a story about 1 of the hens that would lay eggs anywhere but the coop. She even squats in front of guests and leaves them an egg..we didn't get one. ;-D Aren't they pretty...I want some. I live in a deed restricted area...shucks. Hostess even painted one of the rooms the light green of the eggs. I want to run a B&B some day.
I've already seen some posts and love the vintage stuff and some of the ones where the feathers are like 3d...struttin' all over the homes. "Turn my swag on...turn it up, up, up...yeah" Ok, yes...I have a pre-teen, 7th grader in the house and hear this Soulja Boy song.Here is the curtain that was found during Spring break recently. We went camping in Rusk, TX to ride the railroad between Rusk and Palestine. We drove to nearby towns and antiqued. In Nacogdoches...Rooster love hit me hard. This curtain was what I needed for my kitchen windows. It was $50. Sounds like a lot but I KNOW some precious woman paid a small fortune to have it custom made. The shop owner almost didn't let go of it to sell it to me.

I've got my own parade in the breakfast room window. It goes all the way across 2 windows.

My dear friend gave me this piece when I got sick a few years ago. It came out of her mama's shop in Longview, TX. It's all chippy and aged...love it.

Here is the WS napkin ring set I got on their sale table. There is a Rooster, Lamb, Pig, and Cow.

OK, this placemat and napkin set came from Roses. All these years we've been going to B&B the Eastern Shore from the NC farm I thought it was a grocery. It is a huge discount store. These 4 mats were $1 each and the napkin/kitchen towels were 50 cents each...score. I may give it to my friend at StMichael'sWife she has done over her dining room and struts roosters.

The same girlfriend that gave me the statuette gave me this canvas yrs. ago. This is the vignette above the bkfst hutch.

Ok... Some of these creatures are cluckn' not so much crow'n.

love to ya!

Red cookbook

I know...all of ya'll are relishing the last moments of Summer...or dreamin' about putting your Autumn displays out. Me, I just bought a RED Christmas Cookbook. It seems to be the 2008 Southern Living edition that they want me to buy for $30 starting any minute now I'll start getting mail about it for 2009. I found it this weekend when baseball wonder was warming up for his tournament play. Isn't she pretty? They also had right next to her the So. Lvg Christmas season book that had decor and meal planning for 2008 . I looked thru both and made my choice.

this gorgeous chocolate cake page with reindeer reminds me of a post I saw recently where one of us dish lovers showed an Easter/Spring table and she had a Lindt bunny in the bowl for each guest...bunny love! I'll be looking for those deer in the special Christmas candy section at Wal-Mart this year and surprise the guys at dinner one night.

This red beauty has Winter Waldorf salad in it...great idea. Can you imagine getting that set in front of you at a Winter gathering? Cinnamon stick and all.

We have a Trick or Treat block party every year in my driveway and my next door neighbor makes chili and we all love it. I would love to look at this page and plan a fall block party or hubbys work group over for chili because we have trickled off the TorT night. I also hope to have oldest' friends over to watch some UT football games, so I may do that???

Sold for a bargain!! Happy Rednesday gang...I'm off to get lil' fella ready to go see Dr. I got a call from the nurse at his school yesterday 30 minutes before bell rang...can I come get him...he's got FEVER. Not only that....sore throat...cough...headache. Oh My...1st day!

Well, go check out all the fuss at the other blogs. xox!

Udderly country tablescape

Hey gang! This is fun. I'm tying in to Thursday parties which I should have set this post up to do in the 1st place. Please join these hostesses for inspiration by clicking the top 2 buttons of my blog. We've got Vintage Thingy Thursday and Tablescape Thursday Please forgive the repeatMy beloved hubby bought for me 10 yrs ago a cow tea set...teapot, creamer and sugar. I just can't part with it because he got it while he was at a work conference. He had left me and our oldest at the farm when oldest was 1 and drove up to Washington and brought it back to me. I've learned to treasure anything my Engineer ever takes the time to buy me. This was a Prayer breakfast I set up so we could pray for our boys before the 1st day of school.

I surrounded us by our heritage. His parents are cotton and pig farmers so that is why the farm surrounding. The vintage milk bottles were given to me by MIL yrs ago and I love them. 1 says Suffok, VA which is area hubby was born. 1 says milk 3 cents...not $3, Got Milk. :0D I used Princess House crystal goblets my mom gave me recently and has such pretty details you can't see here. I made strawberries and blueberry muffins and sausage and eggs. Usually we don't make all of this fuss but the table moooooved me.

I have recently found a cute set of 4 farm animal rings clearanced from WilliamsSonoma so I pulled out the cow and pig to wrap up the Ross dress4 less napkins (really kitchen towels, 1.99 for 4). It looks really cute with everything and I will only use them for napkins. Most of the tableware came out of the breakfast table hutch you can always see in the background.

The creamer holds a little boquet that hubby and oldest son bought at the grocery. I think he makes a point to try to remember to get the boys to do this for me. Just a few bucks and it makes me feel special and teaches them to love and give into someone else's life and likes. They are always so proud when they come in with the flowers and present them to me. I got out our plain cream dishes and set them on the black and white ticking mats to tie into the white dish party and laid out white underneath to drive it home. Both came from Ross or Marshalls. I can't wait to get my antique table back out of the garage and into my dining room so I can have more fun playing with my dishes and feeding my crew. Ya'll will love my dining room when it is set up again. We've changed some room purposes and the flooring and it is on the backburner of my list now that it is a glorified storage mess. But dish love is getting me revved up to do it.

Birds eye views are my favorite and I giggle at the child like wonder that we all enjoy these things and sharing with each other. Ya'll have truly helped me refine who I am and why I'm here and what's important just by being you. I love it that we encourage one another to bloom and grow and flourish right there where we are in the wide world. I just love meeting people from all over the globe and all over our country. Really, I never knew so many people loved the stuff I love..did ya'll?

My hubby and kids got a kick out of this fuss. If it were not for you they'd be lucky for me to even help them get a bowl of cereal and I wouldn't have thought to pray with hubby before school got going for our children. Thanks for helping me make my best intentions reality (esp. you...Smiling Sally).

I got a call from the school nurse on the very 1st day of school and had to take lil' bit in with fever, sore throat, cough, headace. Good thing we prayed...the strepp test came back negative. No fevers, flu viruses or anything is gonna be welcome around here this school year. xox!

Bluebonnet Monday

Happy Blue Monday. This is a blast from the past. Me and my boys in the Bluebonnets this Spring in Brenham, TX. It is tradition to drive out into the country in the Spring and ditch dive for pictures. This is literally in a ditch on the side of Hwy 290. Bluebonnets are the Texas State flower. Have a Happy day! Join Sally by hitting the blue monday post button at the top of my blog to see what other unique entrie there may be. xox!

Spiritual Sunday

I'm joining in to Spiritual Sunday today and you can press the button at the top of my blog to go see other entries or join in the fun.

We just got back from a trip to hubby's parent's farm. They live nestled smack dab in the middle of 1,o00 acres. It has about 300 acres of woods surrounding it's outskirts and 700 acres of crop lands. It is always an amazing experience to be there on the property. I feel God's presence when we are there! You are literally a mile in from the mailbox and roadway surrounded by nature and agriculture. We can view storms from a few towns over.

I could not believe I got this shot the moment the lightning struck.

Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth. --2 Samuel 22:13

He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. --Job 36:32

Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are'? --Job 38:35

Zinnias are soooo beautiful! Every single one is different and amazing and brilliant.

I stand out at their garden just trying to snap the hummingbirds and yellow finches that light onto the corn stalks and sunflowers...they are quick! My MIL has not even noticed them because they run off before she starts picking her harvest. She also can't stand the heat of mid-day.

They have grape vines that were here before 1980. Scriptures and psalms and stanzas of hymns dance thru my mind and heart as I look and smell and taste the bounty of their land.

The birds of the air ...sing among the branches. Psalm 104:12

Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. Gen 9:20

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." --John 15:5

It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a splendid vine. --Ezekiel 17:8

"...And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. --Genesis 1:30

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? --Matthew 6:26

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. --1 Chron 29:11

Blessings and Joy and Peace and Hope and Love to ya'll!!

TGI Friday!

Hello ya'll! We had just gotten in from 2 weeks away from lil fella's best buddy next door and she wanted to eat with us and I didn't have enough so she came back for dessert and I made us banana splits with the bananas all cut up and strawberries too...I let them pick thru the sprinkles and we all chose chocolate sauce too...1 for the hard worker, of course. :D

Thrift Store Thursday

Good morning girlies! My dear friend (who will soon have her own blog) and I went huntin' down a local resale shop yesterday. We each found a piece of clothing. I got this dress for $5, it doesn't look like much but it is really cute on. Here we are at our "been there and done that" shop. A dear lady was walking out and I begged her to take our picture. So much for our face shot. :0)

While in North Carolina last week I snagged these 2 items, the yellow egg vase for my beloved Meadow rose dishes/easter scaping for $2 and the little birdie for a nest scape for .75.

While in Gulf Shores family crisis Thrift store I saw this for $5. Bad quality photo but my moma loves Cherished Teddies and will love this Boo gift. These are usually $15-20. Uhhh, Mom...if you see this act surprised when I present it to you.

And lastly, this for $5. This is the deep red almost burgandy color I'm trying to put dashes of to tie into my accent kitchen wall and kitchen curtain. Why do I love urns sooooo much?

Ya'll, I have been wanting to join Holly at Homebody for Thrifty Thursday for a month. I've had her button on my desktop just waiting for me to add to my blog. Holly, you get great deals and I love those bird tea lights too, found 1 while in N.C. Dollar Tree. If I did it right you can go to her button at the top of my blog to join in the fun.

love and blessings, denisemarie...bloom girlies!

N.C. Red beauties

Hey gang...this is a Rednesday post!! I looked thru the 300ish pictures I took on our journey to the North Carolina farm of in-laws and saw some red LOVE. These jars are Heaven!! MIL calls it Mock Strawberry Jelly because they are made from her Fig bushes and strawberry jello packets...genius.

This is dear husbands Mama and those hands were made for G'ma love from the kitchen and garden!! She is making 2 at a time strawberry pies because our oldest loves them. She made 5 of them during the 1 1/2 weeks we were there. She adds jello glaze over them and cool whip top.

I just noticed her Red igloo in the corner. :-) Before I can even get out of bed she's already been to the garden and back carrying buckets from G'mas garden. I ate fresh tomatoes 2 or 3 at a time chopped up for every meal!

Here's a pic of their tomato plants next to the butter beans. I had to take the shot when I saw some ready to pick peeking at me. They still plant a huge garden every year and jar and eat all winter off of the harvest of it but it is hard work. I'd choose the life but don't think I'd ever aspire to work as hard as she does...she never stops.

Even more jars of Mock strawberry jelly out of figs...she never stops. Don't tell her about all these pics she'd never let me back in the kitchen or garden. :-)

Love...DeniseMarie...Bloom where you are planted, baby!!

3 or more...thrifty buys

I am joining in Three or more Tuesday and Thrifty Tuesday today. I just got back from a road trip to North Carolina. I must say, I missed blogging while gone!! 2 weeks is a long time girls. My hubby said, "there, there...dear...aren't you glad to be back home." when he saw me at the computer the 1st a.m. home. :0) OMG, I've been so drooling over some of ya'lls finds and prices. Here in Houston you don't hear of some of the awesome bargains I see ya'll snaggin'. The Lord smiled on me this day...50 cents a box for old fashioned ornaments for my silver tree!!!

In mint condition just like the ones my mother-in-law gave me a few years ago. She still has more in her attic but won't give them up just yet.

This is the 1st ones I saw...5 little perfect condition red ones.

And, finally...coming home thru Alabama in Gulf Shores they have several thrift shops. I think I got this at the Salvation Army for $1.99, it it blown glass. Boy, do I love breakables and usually find them when the car is already stuffed to the gills and there is hardly a chance to get it home in perfect order.

Happy Hunting. The buttons are over to the top of my blog to see more or join in the fun.

Well, Happy blue Monday! We just got back from the homestead of my hubby in North Carolina. While there we had all 5 grandkids plant rose bushes for G'ma. We also hung 2 flag poles for her so she can fly her flags proudly...she chose the red, white and blue for the rose bed. Good thing G'ma tolerates some clutter...with 7 extra bodies comes some shoes mess. But, boy was she happy it was so...

Trying to set up a slipn'slide like the 1 we have here at home so the kids will have something to do in the terrible heat. It was like 98 degrees. Yes, that is the amazing plantation home that in- laws took 10 years to restore and always has maintenance issues.

The gang, including our dog Jack who would love to live at the farm and chase the cats, groundhogs, skunks, snakes, bunnies...He disappears into the cotton field and we can hear the echo of his bark all over the farm when he's cornered something good. He came back in one evening with a scratch to his nozzle and cut on his ear...I doctored up the wounds and chuckled.

Love to you all and happy dog-days of dwindling summer fun!!