In-between holidays

Hello everyone, and thank you all for visiting me and leaving your sweet comments. I trust by now that Thanksgiving has left you and your family full and that all of your dishes has been cleaned and put away!{: Even though the weather is getting colder, it is still quite warm. The trees are still hanging on to their leaves. Not much is growing outside, but I have so much to do. I have flower beds to clean out and grounds to break up for next year's gardens. The ducks have moved into the hen house with the chickens and now I have a mess to clean. The pond will get it's last cleaning for ( I hope) the winter. I need to get more shelves into the green house and my embroidery is piling up! And before I know it, Christmas will be here! Everyone have a wonderful week!

A Very Blessed Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Lord, so often times, as any other day

When we sit down to our meal and pray

We hurry along and make fast the blessing

Thanks, amen. Now please pass the dressing

We're slaves to the olfactory overload

We must rush our prayer before the food gets cold

But Lord, I'd like to take a few minute more

To really give thanks to what I'm thankful for

For my family, my health, a nice soft bed

My friends, my freedom, a roof over my head

I'm thankful right now to be surrounded by those

Whose lives touch me more than they'll ever possibly know

Thankful Lord, that You've blessed me beyond measure

Thankful that in my heart lives life's greatest treasure

That You, dear Jesus, reside in that place

And I'm ever so grateful for Your unending grace

So please, heavenly Father, bless this food You've provided

And bless each and every person invited Amen!
--Scott Wesemann

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, my blogging friends. May your day be filled with happiness and blessings, Kathleen

Many Reasons Why The Chicken Crossed The Road

SARAH PALIN: Before it got to the other side, I shot the chicken, cleaned and dressed it, and had chicken burgers for lunch.
BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!
JOHN MC CAIN: My friends that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isnʼt about me.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We donʼt really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
DICK CHENEY: Whereʼs my gun?
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE: I invented the chicken.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chickenʼs intentions. I am not for it now and will remain against it.
AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken doesnʼt realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid heʼs acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, Iʼm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed access to the other side of the road.
NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because heʼs guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmerʼs Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed Iʼve not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.
GRANDPA: In my day we didnʼt ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isnʼt that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken 2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never crash or need to be rebooted.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

A Real Person, A Real Award

Today I got a note from Lanny over at It's the Dirt bloghttp://itsthedirt.blogspot.com/, for this award, thank you, Lanny, you are so sweet. Go visit her. She has quite a few wonderful things to write about and worthwhile things that she believes in. I am to pass this along to 7 other
bloggers, and it is so hard to leave anyone out. For this award, I wanted to give to Paula at Fraker Farm http://frakerfarm.blogspot.com/ She has the cutest chickens ever, and has just made some pretty pumpkins, however, someone already gave it to her{: For Julie at Gingerbread Pumpkin http://gingerbread-pumpkin.blogspot.com/ ,she has some wonderful recipes and stories to tell, for Ginny at Gingerbreads House http://gingerbreadshouse.blogspot.com/, she also has some good home cookin' and knows how to weave beautiful things on her loom, for Nancy at Southern Blessings, http://southernblessings.blogspot.com who has the cutest little boys and writes about family life, for Grammy of 13 at livinglifeafter65 http://livinglifeafter65.blogspot.com/ who writes such wonderful stories, you could stay there all day to read, for Katy at The Country Blossom http://countryblossom.blogspot.com/ who's love for family and the Lord, just fills your heart and soul, and for Lindasue at living in Buhl-a-land http://buhlaland.blogspot.com/ who connects her everyday living with beautiful pictures and something to go along with them from The Good Book. All of these wonderful people have touched my life since I came to "blog land". Go visit them and I am sure you will be blessed. As you can see from my side bar, there are many more wonderful blogging friends that I will soon be handing awards out to. Thanks again Lanny, for visiting me. blessings, Kathleen

The Greening Up Greenhouse

The fall days are growing shorter and nights are getting much colder. The outside flower beds and plants are showing their need for a long winter's nap. The only work to do outside is to clean up beds and garden spaces and dream of new planting in the spring.

Inside of the greenhouse, however, life is green and crisp with blooms everywhere. The rose moss, shamrock, and purse lane plants are thriving. I have pine tree sprouts as well as baby airplane plants and dew plant.
The Geraniums are enjoying their sunny window.

I had several Aloe Vera plants given to me by an aunt who recently moved. I have never worked with this plant before. The pots had several plants crammed together that had sprouted from the mother plant. To my surprise, the larger Aloe Vera is about to bloom. I did not realize that they did this and am anxious to see what color will burst forward.

I transplanted all of the plants to their own container, and now I have 24 Aloe Vera plants! I may try to sell some, give some away, and just decorate my large porches. I also have about as many airplane plants, also from a mother plant from my Aunt. I am about to plant lettuce and flower seed just to see how well they will do in the greenhouse during the winter. I do not have a heater, although I know I should get one. With the constant sunshine and mild winter days, I am hoping I might get by without one. I know I have so much to learn when it comes to handling a greenhouse. I learn best by trial and error. Wish all of you lived close, I would be giving you lots of plants! {:

Something we all need

The picture below is one of my favorites, and is what I will become when I get very old,....actually, I just might already be this.{: The following recipe is not one I have written myself, but something I received by email. It is so good, I just had to share it. I hope it gives you much peace.

A Great Recipe for a Peace Filled Life...

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning, complete the following statement, "My purpose is to _________ today. I am thankful for ________."

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is made in plants.

5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds, & walnuts.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts, or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: " In five years, will this matter?"

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. GOD heals everything- but you have to ask Him.

20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch!!

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed, complete the following statements:"I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished_________."

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings. You'll be smiling before you know it.

Harvest Time and Perennial "beer" Punch

The cold nights are making the pumpkin and gourd vines die out,

so I picked the remaining pumpkins and gourds to decorate with.

Just had to have some inside!

Some on my grandmother's ladderback chair on the porch.

Some to greet visitors as they walk up.

And we always have back door guests more than front door guests. So I had to have more to pretty up this plain porch.

A few days ago, I commented on Julie's post, go visit her at Gingerbread Pumpkinhttp://gingerbread-pumpkin.blogspot.com/ about being embarrassed to go buy beer for a "garden tonic" for my flowers. It never fails that I see someone from church as I am buying a beer! I don't drink,... honest! I have Jerry Baker's book of Garden Secrets, and he uses beer for quite a lot of things. From flower bed booster, compost booster to all purpose yard fertilizer. I told Julie, I need to take my book to the store to prove to who ever that it is for the YARD and not for me! But I don't think they would believe me{: lol. So Julie, here is the recipe...

Perennial Punch

jump start your flowerbeds by overspraying them with this one-two, powerful punch.

1 can of beer

1 cup of liquid dish soap

1 cup of antiseptic mouthwash

1/2 cup regular cola(not diet)

1/4 tsp instant tea granules

Mix all ingredients together in a large bucket. Then pour into your 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, and apply 100 square feet of planting area. Let the soil sit for two days, and then you can plant.

So now...... here is my proof!! It really does seem to do well.