Ten ways to make Life Lovely..

Hello everyone.. 

Tonight I am posting the lesson from our last Keepers of the Home Meeting.. 

It was called.. 

Ten Ways to Make Life Lovely.. 

1.. Begin and end each day with God.. 

Psalms 92:2

It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening,

When you do this it is kind of like having a soft cushion to fall back on when things don't go right in your day.. 

He provides you with strength that is needed.. 

Psalms 91:14

He shall call on me and I will answer Him.. 

Such a blessing to go through life knowing that God is as close as the mention of His Name.. 

Your home will be blessed when He comes first.. 

2..Love your family. 

Plan, pray and play with them.. 

Nurture and care for them..

Make plans for them.. 

Enjoy each stage of their lives.. 

Let them know that they are loved and how important they are to you... And always find time to pray with them but also to play with them..

Let them know that their parents love each other and them and that God is the centre of their home.. 

3..Have a decently cleaned home.. 

If you are a less then your best then try to improve.. 

Organize, clean and decorate.. 

Make it a pleasant haven for your family.. 

If you are a clean freak then lighten up a bit and make sure that your family is comfortable and allowed to live in their home..

(spotlessly, of course, smile. )

4..Have wonderful meals.. 

No matter who cooks them.. 

Plan for them and let everyone get involved with the preps.. 

Making your own meals saves money and is much healthier..

Eat fresh foods.. 

Serve late meals on weekends so everyone can be included.. 

Share the tasks and teach your children to prepare meals and set the table, fill the glasses and fold the napkins.. 

Have fun.. Laugh and enjoy your dear ones.. 

During the week.. 

Make a big effort for the whole family to sit around the table for at least one meal a day and chat with each other.. 

Family and Food go together.. 

Say the blessing.. 

5..Take wonderful care of your bed...

There is something so lovely as a nice crisp fresh bed.. 

Change it regularly.. 

Hang out sheets and blankets when you can.. 

Save up money and try to buy beautiful bedding on sale.. 

Consider a cozy duvet and try to buy one.. 

Make some of this freshner for your sheets.. 

I called it Between the Sheets and used to sell it in my shop.. 

You can find the recipe..HERE

Be sure your children's beds are lovely and clean, too.. 

This is a memory that they will not forget.. 

smile.. 

6..Have a list of self-satisfying projects to do.. 

Just whatever you love to do.. 

If you are not creative then do what turns your crank.. 

Clean closets, drawers and such.. Organize some things.. 

Do a study on herbs.. 

Learn a new language..

Study back to basics living and figure out how to live off the grid. 

Volunteer.. 

Make jam..

Just don't give over to depression.. 

Keep your mind occupied by being creative in your own way... 

7..Entertain.. 

Do it in your way.. 

Go large or go home.. 

No .. just kidding.. 

Give a tea party or just coffee for two.. 

Make a dinner for several friends or have a supper club.. 

This is something that is good for your heart.. 

It fills you with satisfaction when you have so many happy people about who are your friends.. Set the table, put out the food and enjoy yourselves .. Your children benefit from your efforts, too..

They learn that friends are important and put these memories away in their hearts.. 

8.. Take care of yourself.. 

Eat healthy, lots of activities, take your vitamins, and drink lots of water.. 

Indulge yourself with creams and such that you love.. 

Take long candlelit baths and curl up and read a book or whatever you do to relax..

Have special scents for your home as well as yourself..  

Maybe one of your projects could be to make a special little spot just for you.. 

A lovely chair, a pile of books and a cozy throw.. 

Make it your place to pray and meet the Lord there .. 

9..Keep a Journal..

So many kinds of journals... 

Daily, prayer, gratitude, recipe, decor, garden or photos.. 

When our first grandson was born I bought a special journal to record whatever about this precious gift we were being given.. 

His name is Jared and it became my Jared Journal.. 

He is 18 now.. 

How the years have flown.. 

Someday I may show it to him.. smile.. 

10.. Have a thankful heart.. 

The Lord loves a thankful heart and I pray that I have one.. 

Every day I am blessed and want to be thankful.. 

for the blessings of yesterday, today and tomorrow.. 

And so dear hearts this is all for today.. 

I hope this will bless you in some way.. 

We all have our strengths and weaknesses... 

Our highs and lows .. 

The only thing we can depend on is our Lord.. 

He makes our life lovely.. 

I need to put some of these things in effect in my own home and life .. 

Which ones spoke to you the most? 

I want to entertain more.. 

Keep my house cleaner.. 

Take better care of myself.. 

Make sure God is always foremost in my life and home.. 

And I need to be more thankful.. 

I am grateful you dropped by and I love hearing from you.. 

Hope you had a great day.. 

We went to church for two blessed services this morning, went out to dinner with some dear friends and then had a sweet visit from our son and his family... 

Now, I finish my day by chatting with you.. 

Life is good and I am blessed. 

Hugs.. 

PS..thanks for liking my FB page ... ox

Linked to HOMEMAKING MONDAYS..

and 

STEPHANIE AT THE ENCHANTING ROSE..

and

Wise Woman Link up...

and

Home Sweet Home..

Meanwhile in Canada,,,

Hello... my friends.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth this evening.. 

We are really having some Winter here in Eastern Canada.. 

Lots of snow.. 

We actually broke a long standing record for snowfall in one storm this week.. 

Terry left yesterday morning after the storm to help our youngest son who has a snow removal business.. 

He says it is hard to get around the city (Moncton)  and St. John has declared a state of emergency.. 

This says a lot since we Canadians are very used to lots of snow.. 

I guess that there was such a huge amount at once that the streets are only one way.. 

I expect they have it mostly cleared by now but tonight they are forcasting that we are getting another 35 cm... 

Fourth storm this week.. 

Only in Canada, eh?  

  Meanwhile...

Soup is on.. Surprise... surprise.. smile. 

This is the easiest soup ever.. 

Just chop up some squash, carrots, leeks, celery and onions.. 

Simmer away in some chicken broth and then add salt and pepper to taste.. 

Use your stick blender to blend and voila.. 

Delicious soup in half an hour.. 

Oh yes and I made a loaf of the no knead bread.. 

The recipe is found HERE..

The pic is above .. 

I just made one loaf and forgot to add the rosemary.. 

Just so you can imagine how much snow we have.. 

Here is hubby snow blowing the front walkway.. 

Our daughter sent me a pic of a wee bit of snow on one of her decks... 

Just cozy, eh?  

She is getting a bit claustrophobic, I think... smile.. 

I spent a bit of time this week redoing our mantel...  

I will share a bit more with you in another post.. 

I think I have it just about right.. 

Then I am cleaning and redoing our bedroom... 

We have a water bed which I love dearly..  grin.. 

No nicer place to be on a stormy night then here.. 

A heated bed and cozy flannel wrapped duvet.. 

Pretty comfy... right?

Oh yes and the window open a bit at least.. 

I worked on my bed runner today.. 

I had not forgotten it but it is a bit more work then I anticipated.. 

It is now all sewn together.. 

I need to line it but finally figured that out later today.. 

Hopefully, I can finish it tomorrow... 

Anyway, I know I seem a bit consumed with the weather tonight.. Sorry.. 

I had to add this.. 

 Canadians figure we may as well laugh as cry.. 

So we make fun of ourselves.. grin.. 

Hope you are having a great week and that all is right in your corner of the world.. 

These storms are nothing compared to all that is going on in the world.. 

We need to pray for our world.. 

Thanks for visiting, dear hearts and we will try and have a chat later.. 

Welcome to the new followers of the blog and thank you to you sweet girls who liked my Face Book page.. 

So glad to have you all.. 

I think that I should have a little give away when we reach the 500 followers mark.. 

What do you think? 

Would you like some Canadian coffee, perhaps.. 

Take care, everyone and God bless.. 

Keepers of the Home Meeting ...

Hello everyone.. 

Just a little update on our Keepers of the Home meeting.. 

We all met on Friday night for a change and the girls seem to like the evening meetings better so perhaps we will change it up a bit.. 

We all arrived around 6:30 and sorry to say I messed up the coffee.. grin.. 

But all is well that ends well.. 

One of the Keeper's husbands brought us some wonderful Tim Horton's ... 

Then we had a little lesson.. 

It was called Ten Ways To Make Life Lovely.. 

A dear friend came and taught us how to make an infinity scarf on our arms.. 

Yes....and in only 30 minutes.. 

I think it took us a bit longer... 

Or some of us .. grin.. 

This dear girl helped me but I was sure she was going to give me a skite on the side of my head as I was a bit thick and could not seem to grasp it... 

At first.. 

Then it clicked in and I managed to finish mine.. smile. 

This is a picture that Carmen sent me this morning to show me what she made with her scarf.. 

Now is that fair? 

Just to be so smart at everything.. grin.. 

And last but not least... 

This one turned out lovely as you can see.. 

I think she has a natural talent for knitting.. 

You can watch this on YouTube to see how it is done.. 

Here..

Then Carmen taught us a lesson on herbs and made us some tea that is very good for you.. 

She also brought along some samples and notes for each of us to take home.. 

It was on Yarrow and Plaintain.. 

So interesting.. 

Thank you so much Lynn and Carmen.. 

We all appreciated it so much.. 

When we were finished we had a lovely lunch that everyone contributed to and it was delicious as always.. 

This is the recipe I used for the sandwiches ... 

Easy Sandwich Pinwheels

Author: www.dailydishrecipes.com

Serves: 50 Pinwheels

Ingredients

• 5 10″ flour tortillas
• 8 ounces of cream cheese
• 4 Tablespoons of chopped green onions
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 Tablespoon of fresh parsley, chopped
• a pinch of Sea salt, to taste
• 10 slices of deli ham
• 10 slices of deli turkey
• lettuce

Instructions

For Cream Cheese Spread:

1. Cut the cream cheese into cubes and put it into a bowl (I used my stand mixer). Add the green onions, minced garlic, parsley and sea salt. Blend for about 3 minutes, or until entire mixture is combined and blended.
2. Spoon mixture into a sealed container and refrigerate for an hour. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks in a tightly sealed container.

When ready to serve:

1. Lay flour tortillas on a flat surface. Spread the cream cheese mixture across the entire flour tortilla.
2. Layer the deli meats on top of each other completely covering the flour tortilla.
3. Layer the lettuce on top – use enough lettuce to completely cover the deli meat.
4. Roll up each flour tortilla.
5. Use toothpicks to secure the tortilla. Depending on how thick you want them, will determine how many toothpicks you use. I was able to slice 10 pinwheels so I used 10 toothpicks. If you are able to slice 10 per tortilla you will wind up with 50 pinwheels at the end.
6. Enjoy!

Read more: http://dailydishrecipes.com/easy-sandwich-pinwheels/#ixzz3QdgRPibm

Thank you all for stopping by and hope you are having a good Monday.. 

Take care and God bless.. 

Linked up with Stephanie over at THE ENCHANTING ROSE...

Just imagine...

Good Evening everyone.. 

Today has been a beautiful but cold day here in Eastern Canada.. 

We had church this morning and then after a rather late lunch I persuaded hubby to take me for a little drive.. 

I thought that the dear girls down under might like to get cooled off.. grin.. 

I just want you to close your eyes and imagine you have on all of your woolies, a scarf around your neck and a nice hot cup of our Canadian coffee beside you in the cup tray.. 

Oh and your boots are lined and heat is pouring from the truck heater.. ok? 

Ready? 

Now open your eyes.. smile..  

Let's go for a wee drive in rural New Brunswick.. 

We live out in the country about half an hour from a city so our drives are mostly the rural type.. 

Now.. 

Remember that today is a very blowy sort of day.. 

As you can see.. 

Snow is blowing across the roadways but only in wide open areas.. 

This is my favorite view in our neighborhood.. 

Just a mile or so from our house.. 

It is lovely summer or winter.. 

Terry had to clean out the driveway first so we are quite late in starting out and the sun is going down.. 

These are rather rural and not the main roads but lovely country.. 

See all the drifts?  

Yesterday's storm brought light and fluffy snow and with the wind today there is plenty of drifting snow... 

Lots of horse farms in this area.. 

They love to get out and get a breath of fresh air.. 

Their coats are so heavy this time of year and they will be put back in their warm barn by evening.. 

It must be a bit of marsh here with all of the cat tails growing . All gone to seed now, though, of course.. 

So many open fields in this area.. 

Several huge farms and these are their fields.. 

It is nice and cozy in the truck though and the roads are not bad.. 

We have good tires.. smile.. 

Kind of a lonely time of day, I think.. 

Since my Dad died I always think of him at supper time and get lonesome.. 

All of my growing up years he arrived home about this time of day.. 

Some day though we will all sit together at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.. 

Such peace knowing that he loved the Lord and we will meet again one day.. 

A lovely old church.. 

The lights are on.. smile.. 

The sun is almost set... 

A lovely sky line in my opinion although many would prefer a line of buildings.. 

What do you prefer? 

Terry could not resist at least one old wood road.. 

It is all ploughed out and the machines were all cleaned off ready for work early in the morning.. 

A short cut back to our house.. 

A long and winding road and every one's yard lights are lit.. 

And here we are...

Home sweet Home.. 

not a great pic.. sorry.. 

A beautiful hot Asian Chicken Noodle Soup.. 

And some apple pie ... 

So glad I froze a bunch of pies last Fall.. 

Well, dear hearts .. 

Thanks so much for dropping by and I hope you enjoyed this country drive.. 

Coming back into the house the wind was roaring around the corners and as I tightened the scarf around my neck I was so thankful that we have a warm home to come back to.

Thank you, dear Lord..

Looking forward to hearing from you all.. 

Which was your favorite pic?  

xo 

Simple Storm Pleasures...

Hello everyone.. 

Well, we weathered the storm.. smile.. 

It was a big one, too but like all storms they do come to an end and usually the next day you wonder what all the excitement was about.. 

If all of our children were home and under our roof and Terry didn't work too far away then I would love a good storm.. 

I actually still do most times but our sons and son-in-law had to travel in it so I was glad when they were all home safe and sound.. 

When I went to bed last night and knew all of our children were home and little problems were looked after, I just laid there and thanked the Lord.. 

He answers prayers in so many situations every week, eh? 

So thankful to know the One who rules the storm.. 

Storm days seem to be kind of laid back here with just the two of us.. 

I made a big pot of soup and puttered around and did not accomplish too much, I am afraid.. 

Love having the fire going...

Please don't mind my messy hearth... 

I was trying to burn up all the greenery that I missed when I did the Christmas clean up.. smile.. 

I was visiting my Mom last week for a while.. 

The poor dear has the cold that is going around and didn't feel too good.. So, I went in and made her some chicken soup.. 

While I was there she gave me a lovely box of goodies.. 

Old doilies galore and vintage fabrics and an old Indian basket.. 

Sitting in front of the fire and going through the box was just a simple storm pleasure... smile.. 

There are enough blocks already cut out in it to make a small quilt, I think.. 

They smelled of the ages.. 

Do you know what I mean? 

I love stuff like that although heavens knows I don't need any more doilies or fabric but I just could not resist.. grin

Are you ladies like that? 

You know you don't need it but come on it was vintage.. 

Right??

This was the scene out of the family room window early on before the storm really got going.. 

The dear wee birds were feeding but when I went to take the pic they were gone.. 

I wonder where they stay, exactly, when the wind is howling like it was.. 

My friend, Pam did not like the wind but I must say it still was not too much for me.. 

I slept like a log both nights.. 

Mom also gave me this.. 

A beautiful old but tattered quilt.. 

Do you know the name of the pattern? 

I am not a quilter but a collector of quilts and do not care in what condition they are in.. 

I love them.. 

Terry made over an old wardrobe for me into a quilt cupboard and it is full.. 

Some of the quilts are kind of priceless in the fact that my dear Mother-in-Law made them or my Great Aunt Emily owned them..

There are a lot, though that are just old and tattered but were loved even before I picked them up..

I like making things with old quilts and my Mom attends an auction most weeks and gets me one every once in awhile for just a couple of dollars.. 

Pillows, table runners, lamp cloths, bags, and I even a Christmas tree skirt can be made from an old quilt.. 

Do you have any ideas to reuse them ? 

 I would love to hear from you.. 

Here is a little recipe for a ham glaze that we had for supper.. 

Maple Mustard Glaze for Ham

1/4 cup of maple syrup

1 T. apple cider vinegar

1 T. Dijon Mustard.. 

Whisk together and brush over ham or slices..

Then just cook your ham..  

We really enjoy this.. 

When we buy a ham on sale I usually cut off a few ham steaks before I end up roasting the rest a few days later.. 

Then I freeze the bone and a bit of the meat for some kind of soup in a week or two..

Don't want to get tired of it all at once.. smile.. 

I know a lot of the readers of the blog are from New England according to my stats and I was wondering how you did on your storm day... 

Did you lose your power? 

I was so glad that we didn't... 

We would be fine but I love having the power on. 

Also, a wee reminder for the Keepers of the Home ladies.. 

We are having a meeting this Friday night at 6:30 pm in the fellowship hall at the church.. 

A dear friend is going to teach us to knit a scarf in an hour on our arm.. 

No needles.. 

I can't wait to see how they turn out.. 

Also, Carmen who is from Romania is giving us a little info on herbs and such.. 

Oh.. 

And coffee.. Lots of coffee and something to go with it.. grin

If you are interested in attending and you can get to Salisbury please email me at houseofhenry@hotmail.com.. 

I will give you all of the details.. 

Looking forward to another meeting after all of the Christmas rush.. 

Thank you all for stopping by and I love your little notes you leave me.. 

Also, welcome to the new followers.. So glad to have you and to you have liked the Face Book page another sweet thank you.. 

Praying that God will bless your lives this week with love, joy and peace.. 

Take care of your sweet families and we will chat again soon.. 

Hugs.. 

Linking up with JES at HOMEMAKING MONDAYS..

AND featured there, too..