Celebrating Our Mother's 75 years

My sisters and sister-in-laws planned a special overnight birthday celebration for our mother. She entered her 75th year in February, but this was the date chosen to take her away overnight. We left Friday morning and returned home on Saturday evening. She did not know all that was planned. This is a rare occurance for us, but we sure did have so much fun together.

One of our servers at a restaurant was from Bosnia. Her warm, caring spirit, and great sense of humor added fun memories to our evening. For lunch she ordered grilled cheese and tomato soup...imagine that. A combo she served us so often when we were little. Five hungry children to feed dinner to each evening, and this was always one of the most requested meals. It is good to see that even 75 year old ladies order this childhood favorite.


Another creatively done birthday treat served to her at the breakfast table in the dining room of the hotel where we stayed. Sharing time together with all of these dear women in my family, was a real blessing. One word to best describe our time together would be" laughter". Some of the best story tellers ever!! I don't think my mother will ever forget her 75th birthday.

A Surprise 50th Birthday Party

She truly is a young looking, kind, caring, and lots of fun, 50 year old. Today we celebrated her. The red hat was the only thing that gave it away. Our dear friend of many years was totally surprised and we were happy that we were able to pull it off. The red hat is one given to her by another friend who had to wear it at her party. A "pass around red hat". Who will get it next?

We decided to have a box luncheon. White toddler size shoe boxes were used. Faux flowers from the Dollar store and ribbon from Tuesday Morning store were put together into a small bouquet and hot glued onto each box. The pretty little tags were purchased from the Dollar General store, stamped with "Happy Birthday" and sprinkled with a bit of glitter. Inside each one we had pink paper filler. Just for your information, I found boxes of 20 adorable little tags at the Dollar General. They had recently received them and I was excited to find them. They were so attractively created, as were the packages of note cards that were included in the same display.

With plain white boxes, the choices of colors and embellishments are endless.

We filled each box with a turkey and cheese wrap from Costco, a bag of Herr's Potato Chips(my very favorite!!!), a small plastic package of baby carrots and ranch dip from the grocery store, my sister-in-law's famous molasses cookies and the birthday girl's favorite candy(peanut M&Ms).


This is a quick and easy method of having a party. Everyone contributed the individual foods, so all that was necessary was to pack each box right before the surprise. These packed boxes would be fun to use for a big picnic also. They stack nicely in a big cooler.

At the one end of this table was my neice and her precious twin daughters. They must have felt special to receive so much attention.

The birthday girl's favorite dessert is cheesecake, which is what my sister-in-lawdid to create this masterpiece. She took and doctored up an original cheesecake with a layer of lemon yogurt, fresh strawberries and blueberries on top. What an exquisited looking birthday cake!! Wait until you see the next picture...the inside of this beauty.

A memorable day for a group of friends to celebrate one dear "50" year old lady.

Contagious Joy

From the book, "Contagious Joy" by Patsy Clairmont. " I believe the key to celebration is a grateful heart, which means we search daily for reasons to stand up and shout, "Let's party!" Here is a gratitude jump-start list;

~Bumping into an old friend ~Raindrops on petals ~A child's giggle ~A yummy book ~Meaningful conversation...

~ Shared laughter ~Sweet dreams ~Soft pillows ~Starlit nights...

Now join in and extend the list to include all the marvelous reasons you have to be upbeat and confetti-ready. Celebrate, girlfriend! Celebrate!"

It occurred to me last evening as I read this in a book, that I find myself, at times, missing this aspect of life..."Joy". Life is hard, responsibilities can be overwhelming, and" time" seems to be at a premium. But children can teach us many lessons, and celebrating life and each other, are some of those lessons. For them, parties happen often, sometimes just being together is party to them. I watch my grandchildren celebrate. They celebrate with bubbles and a wand...they get excited when they get to play with other children...or when they are allowed to jump off the sofa onto the cushions on the floor. I think we as adults can learn from them to take time for each other, to celebrate things that happen, and to share that joy with those who may desperately need it. What is on your gratitude list today? Stop and think...then celebrate! ~ photos from many years ago

Old Buttons and Enamelware

This jar sits on a shelf in my kitchen. It is filled with my mother and grandma's buttons from years gone by. Both of my grandmas and my mother spent many hours sitting at the sewing machine, producing the clothing for their big families. My mother's sewing machine has not been touched for the last few years, and the old buttons that at one time were her treasures, are now my treasures.

I found this old white enamelware tray at the flea market, last summer. I do not know why I purchased it, although maybe it was because it reminded me of the one my grandma had, years ago. It already had two sets of double holes drilled in the top of it. I decided to make it into a magnet board for a gift. I cut the thread loops off of the back of the old buttons and the brads off of the colored buttons(a product of K&Company) from Michaels, and hot glued the two different sizes of magnets to the back of each one. You can purchase many different sizes and shapes of magnets at any craft store. With a hot glue gun, decorative magnets are so easily created.

I looped ribbon through the top two holes and tied them in bows. I glued old blue heart buttons over the other two holes and one on the bottom.

I chose a few decorative papers to use as an illustration, although one can use this for whatever(photos, chore lists, important dates...) A quick, easy, inexpensive gift for someone in your life who enjoys the memories of days gone by.

A Few Easter Memories

Why are these eggs everywhere? The colors are pretty!

Just in case...he is going to have two Easter baskets for the hunt.

Curiousity got the best of him.

What is in those bright, shiny, plastic eggs? Gold fish crackers, animal crackers, mini chocolate chip cookies, and a few other kinds of crackers...sorry, no candy this year.

For the youngest one...a soft cuddly bunny.

"The Miracles of Easter"

"The Miracles of Easter" by Helen Steiner Rice

The sleeping earth awakens, the robins start to sing,

The flowers open wide their eyes to tell us that it is Spring.

The bleakness of the winter is melted by the sun,



The tree that looked so stark and dead becomes a living one.

These miracles at Easter, wrought with divine perfection,




Are the blessed reassurance of our Savior's resurrection.

"Because He lives, we can face tomorrow..." Wishing each of you, my dear blogging friends, a very special, relaxed, and meaningful Easter!

My Visit to "Tansy Meadows"

I happened to be in a part of our county that I do not often get to visit in. Driving through this gorgeous farmland, I came to a home of a friend that I had not seen for a long time. Her daughters and my daughters attended the same school for many years. I heard that she opened a gift shop at the barn behind her home. I had flashbacks of this lady and her very artistic skills with flowers and plantings. I pulled into the driveway carefully trying to avoid hitting all of the cats that were lazily enjoying the afternoon sun. I saw my old friend walking out to her shop and realized how much I had missed seeing her the last few years. The funky purple planter filled with flowers and sitting by the side of the road, was a warm welcome for anyone passing by, to stop in and pay a visit.

The name of her shop is "Tansy Meadows", just in case you happen to live anywhere near this part of the world.

The plantings in this pot(which she made from concrete), were so beautifully placed and the colors looked so nice together. There were five pots in a row, and she said they were already spoken for. I totally understood why. She said she makes lots of these concrete pots with holes in the bottom for drainage. They can withstand all kinds of weather.

Here she had pansies planted in the seat of an old wooden chair that she had painted purple.
She told me that she likes to paint garden pieces wild and fun colors.

This is the view from the driveway of the shop. She later took me into her kitchen and this amazing view is what she sees from her large kitchen window. I think I would spend the day washing dishes, if I had this view.



Lots of old canning jars graced the shelves of her quaint, old barn gift shop. If jars could talk, what a story they would tell.

Another old wooden chair with pansies planted in the seat, and a bow tied to the top of the chair.

One of the many cats just relaxing in the warmth of the afternoon sun.



I remarked about this piece up on the wall of the shop. She said, "oh, that is an old wooden frame that one of the school mothers gave her, many years ago." This is what she chose to do with the frame...how very clever.

An old wooden box filled with fresh herbs and plants, and an old stone bunny. What a creative mind she has in using all shades of green and many different textures.


Here are some more of the concrete pots she created and planted with colorful flowers. She had only planted the flowers a little while ago, so you can imagine how pretty they will look weeks from now. An enjoyable break in my busy day. Time with an old friend and the privilege of seeing once again the God-given talent she has utilized in this little gift shop out in the middle of the farmland. Our short time together was a blessing, and I've thought about it often as I continued on in my day's duties.