Home Is Where My Heart Is

Mixed bag of blatherings and emotions

The Old Fashioned Parlor

Long ago,  "the parlor" was a place where the family would gather after a busy day of hard work..... a place where families would gather to sing a song around the piano as mother or sister played a tune.... a place where the family would sit and listen to the radio for hours of enjoyment......

Does your home have such a place?

In our old 110 yr old farmhouse we have such a room...... we have tried to recreate some of that "old fashioned" wholesomeness that just can't be found in the modern homes of today.... our parlor serves many purposes in our family. It is the place where I meet the Lord each morning.... as the sun streams in thru the windows in the morning... it is the place I gather my children together for prayer, for worship, and for our daily bible readings...... it is the place we play games, sing songs, and it is the place where I sit at the end of the day to read aloud to my children..........

There's the piano where my beautiful daughter hannah often sits for hours and plays, while we sing and lift our voices......we even have an old fashioned radio that we enjoy....... it plays CD's too...

Then there's the comfort of sitting and enjoying each other's company......I guess I could have gone with a more "modern" decor.... but I oh so wanted to "recreate" yesteryear.......lace curtains don the windows..... doiles on the couches....... a crocheted afghan to place on cold knees......we draped the walls with an old fashioned wallpaper similiar to the one the walls originally had......

It's wonderful to see the house a glow from a distance..... the lamps turned on to elude a shining warmth emanating from the front room that houses our "parlor"......

My 15 yr old son and I were in the city last week and he noticed that the houses all appeared so dark......so few were lit at dusk........ he mentioned to me how much he loved driving up to our old farmhouse to see the whole house lit up....... I reminded him that many families have both mom & dad working, so no one is home to "turn on the lights" sort of speak......

I hope that as home keepers we  may never doubt the work we do in our homes to keep the "lights on" in our homes and hearts......... to make room in our busy lives for time to gather to share, to sing..... to pray, to worship........ to listen , to laugh and to "be" together as families, surrounded by our loved ones.

As my children grow & mature, they now share with me how very important this role is in their lives...... how much comfort they take that there is a place called "home" that they know will always have the lights on ,  waiting for them with open arms....

This is the essense of being a home keeper......

May God bless each of you as you keep your home fires bright & burning!

~ gloria ~

my misery

First Snow of the Season...

The children are all excited.... they are busily putting on hats, gloves and boots to head outside to enjoy the first soft snow of the season.....it's really a "wet" snow right now, but it's supposed to get colder as the evening comes and we should have some snow on the ground by morning. What a wonderful way to begin the CHRISTmas season!

I hope you are all enjoying a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!

Praising Him!

gloria

ps. I have changed my blog template to reflect the changing of the season.......

Black Friday Observations

I ate leftovers for breakfast!

Everything went OK yesterday, the turkey was a hit. I saw on one of the shows on the Food Network, they put a sliced orange and a sliced lemon in the cavity of the turkey to help it stay juicy. Well it worked! I also used some cajun injector for seasoning the inside of the meat, that too adds so much flavor. So it was a hit, thank you God, lol.

I, as usual, made too much food. I sent some home with my daughter, fed some inlaws, twice, ate supper, fed strangers that stopped by to say hello, and STILL had tons of food left.  The strangers were only strangers to me, my dh knew these men from work. Grinding keeps going on 24/7 here, there are no holidays as for as the mill bosses are concerned. Things keep running. So there were truck and tractor drivers that were stopping by the house to say hello, and I felt bad and fed them.  My husband did put his foot down on not giving away the coconut cake tho, lol.

So what do you do  with all the cornbread dressing you have left, you eat some of it for breakfast.........and lunch.............and supper. If there is any left by the end of the day, I may have to give some it the cats. LOL

I will be heading out later to face the crowds at Wal-mart, ONLY because I need a new toilet seat and some packing tape. Otherwise, I wouldn't face the crowds. I'm not one for all this shopping madness. Besides, I looked threw all the sales papers, and there wasn't anything that I wanted, lol.

Have a good day, and be safe if your out in the craziness.

how to cut a [free] turkey

From our family to yours...

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving!

"Over the river and through the woods
Trot fast my dapple gray.
Spring over the ground
Like a hunting hound
On this Thanksgiving Day, Hey!
Over the river and through the woods
Now Grandmother's face I spy.
Hurrah for the fun,
Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie."
- English folksong

In just an hour or so, we'll pack up our baskets of goodies and indeed be heading "through the woods" to Grandmother's house. Of course, it's now my sister's house, but it still brings those wonderful memories of gatherings and meals that Gram prepared for us. We have much to be thankful for, as always. Thank you for your visits, your sweet comments, friendship and prayers. I count you among my blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving !

I wanted to stop in this mornin and tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving !!!!

We have alot to be thankful for today, I hope that everyone has a blessed day filled with love and the company of family and friends. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Blessings

Linda

A little bit of this and a little bit of that............