Mardi Gras Fun

We're gearing up for Mardi Gras season here in Shreveport and it is really a fun time of year. Thos who are "social butterfly's" endulge in Merrymaking to the inth degree by attending Balls and eating and drinking and dancing. They belong to Krewes which are just organizations and they plan the next years parade theme a year in advance and get together throughout the year working on their individual floats and purchasing their "throws" which consist of brightly colored beads, doblooms, cups and other memoribilia for the year which they will throw to the crowds during the parade. They make appearances all during the Mardi Gras Season to places like children's hospitals, schools and such and in turn donate much money to different charities as their causes for the year. In the past 23 years Mardi Gras has grown leaps and bounds here in the ArkLaTex and can easily rival our New Orleans and Mobile sisters if not in size, certainly in heart. Many come from neighboring cities and states to view and be a part of the parades and this generates much welcomed funding in our area. Think of it has one huge tail gate party as the people who are not actually involved in it... support it. So we gather our kith and kin and we assemble our bar-b-q- pits, lawn chairs, ice chests, food and we dress in our beloved Purple, Green and Gold and we arrive early and stay late to party and see what they have for us this year. Arms outstretched to catch the beads and other trinkets we're ready. "Throw me something, Mister".



The Story of Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras came to New Orleans through its French heritage in 1699. Early explorers celebrated this French Holiday on the banks of the Mississippi River. Throughout the years, Orleanians have added to the celebration by establishing krewes (organizations) which host parades and balls. Carnival quickly became an exciting holiday for both children and adults.
Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" and of course is celebrated on that day of the week. The date can fall between February 3 and March 9 depending on the Lunar calendar, used by the Catholic Church to determine the date of Easter. Mardi Gras is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.

Our family is excitedly preparing for the first Big Parade which will be from the Krewe of Centaur and it is this Saturday so be watching for photos next week as our family "let's the good times roll" cajun style (lassez le bon temps rouller) and Ill show you how it's done in the ArkLaTex.

A Spot of Tea ... Mate?

Brittish ... American...or somewhere else over the Rainbow

Who doesn't love a spot of tea?

My Oh so Sweet pressie arrived yesterday and Yep it is the Giveaway I won from Barb over at DOGMOM DIVA and I was over the moon happy about this lovely little gift of Tea Goodness. Thank You Barb, I am double surprised as I rarely ever, ever win a Giveaway! And for it to come from YOU is extra Special. This ain't your grannies tea and tea pot either!

and now if you will excuse me, It's Tea Time at my house!

Have a glorious day mates

Be still my soul

Today is a day in which I just feel the need to be quiet and be still.

To listen.

"O God, you are my God,
and I long for you.
My whole being desires you;
like a dry, worn-out, and
waterless land,
my soul is thirsty for you.
Let me see you in the sanctuary;
let me see how mighty and
glorious you are.
Your constant love is better than
life itself,
and so I will praise you.
I will give you thanks as long as I
live;
I will raise my hands to you in
prayer.
My soul will feast and be satisfied
and I will sing glad songs of
praise to you.

As I lie in bed, I remember you;
all night long I think of you
because you have always been
my help.
In the shadow of your wings I sing
for joy.
I cling to you,
and your hand keeps me safe.
PSALMS 63: 1-8

Are there just times when you feel so vulnerable and for no known reason. I am so grateful we have a Father who we can feel vulnerable with and know we're safe. There have been times in my life when I've been lonely, sad and vulnerable and felt I could open my soul and expose my wounds only to find that I was not safe. Not safe at all. We will never be taken advantage of, or lied to, or be deceived by Our Father.

Please go over to Spiritual Sundays to link up with others on this Glorious day the Lord has made!

It's Only Proper

The last and best thing I can do for my parents.

My Grandfather died in 1981 and was cremated. My Mother had his ashes.

My Father died in 1986 and was cremated. My Mother had his ashes.

My Mother died in 1988 and was cremated. My Brother had all of their ashes.
My Brother has now agreed to give the cremains to me.

My Son Jake was killed in 2010 and was buried in a little country cemetery about 90 miles south of here. He has a beautiful little resting place with a handsome monument. We put beautiful flowers in the vase for holidays and special days. His gravesite is visited. All his family will eventually be laid to rest near him.

Even his Grandmother, his Grandfather and his Great Grandfather, because I now have all of the ashes. The cremains.

My daughter Lori and I went yesterday and ordered headstones for the three of them. They will be ready in a couple of months or sooner. We will then give all three of them a respectful burial near Jake. We can have a place to visit them and take flowers. To pray and to remember. They will be identified by who they were.

It is the Proper thing to do.

My soul will soon be at Peace. Thank you Sweet Jesus.


"We may have a hundred children and live a long time, but no matter how long we live, if we do not get our share of happiness and do not receive a decent burial, then I say that a baby born dead is better off".
ECCLESIASTES 6:3

And the Winner is..............

On World One Heart ..... The biggest and bestest blog party in the World has just ended. This is the 5th year that our super Hostess with the Mostess Lisa has hosted this magnificent and dynamic event and she says sadly that this is also her last!

What fun we had entering draws for snazzy, glitzy, cutesy, adorable, ooak gifts and most of all what a Blessing for us to meet so many new bloggers. Some we will likely never again cross paths with and some will be regulars to our blog and we to theirs and then again with some the Magic happened and we met new Sisters we will be connected to a long time and some even for life. Thank you Lisa.

Fanfare


So it is time to announce the two Winners of my two giveaways. There was not a first and second place winner. Just a First name drawn and then the Second. I had a Total of...entries and the names were drawn the "old fashioned" way. As the entries came in they were assigned a number from 1 to 189 and I then made little numbered slips and drew from a can and completely at random.


The First name is.......................#5 Jill and she is from.....................Whimsey CreationsI will be sending her the..................Book by Michael de Meng.


And the Second name I drew is ...................#49 Leila and she is from...............My Artsy Creations.
She will receive the..........Box of Jewelry. So both of you be watching your mailboxes in the next week.

Congratulations and it was a pure pleasure to meet you both.

Thank you Sister

Sweet Valentine from PEA at Pea's Corner
Stop in at Pea's blog and say Hi and Happy Valentine's Day. She's a real sweetpea!

VALENTINE'S SWAP DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!

Parsley (click on name) always hosts a good swap and Valentine's Day was no exception. Thank you Parsley! Hop on over to her blog and visit all the participants and if you're new to Parsley's blog, You'll meet a new and sweet friend!

Our rules were to not go over $10.00 in gifts and that is not easy. Well of course I could have gone to the Dollar Tree and bought Ten Bucks worth of well.....you know. But we all filled out a little Questionaire with our likes and favorites and to find something that we thought our partner would really like was not easy. Oh and we were also supposed to put in at least ONE Handmade Pressie. My partner was Amy over at Mrs. Rooster and it was fun shopping for her and I made a new friend!

The other sweet new friend I met had my name and she is Sherry from Blessings From Our Nest and she wowed me with a box full of Valentine Love.

I was swooning over this box crammed full of delights!

She begins with a lovely card introducing herself and she is someone I feel that I will be friends with for life. I adore the little vintage cookie cutter.


Next was this little linen sachet filled with the most wonderful scents from her backyard! How did she know I'm partial to Lavender. I learned after the death of my son that it stands for healing and he had also given me a Lavender candle for Mother's Day before he died. I love this little gift most of all.

And of course where would I be today were it not for my Faith. This will go in my bedroom with all the kids pictures.

And as for my collections. Since I've given everything away even remotely having to do with arts and crafts I only collect Socks. Aren't these cuties.


A Hand-did from Sherry and isn't it beautiful. The sheet music is special for many reasons, but one reason is I can remember singing this particular hymn as a child when my father was choir director at our church. This will find it's home on my bedroom wall too for all year long.


A sweet Potholder made by Sherry which will NEVER touch an iron skillet I swear!

And Voila, what is Valentine's Day without Chocolate. My Faves...

Thank You Sherry for your thoughtfulness and love. I adore everything.

I'LL HAVE MINE PINK, THANK YOU

How do you like your STEAK?

Like this? ummmmmm I think this looks like MEDIUM


Or like this?.................BURNT I'D say


Or like this?...............RARE.

Yep I like it like that. No BLOOD running all over the plate, but yes PINK in the middle. On second thought maybe this is MEDIUM RARE.

However you like yours, it seems like a good STEAK, a BAKED POTATO, a nice SALAD, a small slice of CHEESECAKE with STRAWBERRIES of course is just the right thing for a Valentine's Day Date.

And a sweet bouquet of these too!


Happy PINK SATURDAY and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY too! Now be sure to run over and visit Miss Beverly and see who's happy in the PINK today!

Love you bunches,

THOSE WHO ARE NOT GUILTY

Good Cold Friday Morning Everyone! Brrrrr. from the south...

Are there any of you sisters old enough to remember a little game we played as children called GOSSIP? Heck I don't know it may have been called something else but you sat in a circle and the person who was "IT" wispered to the girl sitting on her right or left a short fact and that girl repeated the fact to the girl on the other side of her and on and on it went until it reached the last girl who was supposed to say the sentence out loud and then the first girl who started the whole thing said what she REALLY said, and it was a hoot because by the time it reached the origin it had changed drastically.

Well I think this scenario is played all over the world by "big folks" in many ways. For one thing I believe there are many, many innocent people behind bars because of this little "game". Put there in the day before DNA when the "facts" were contingent on what someone first said.


I'm really so intrigued by DNA and think it has and will continue to have the largest impact on society of all times. How many men and women claiming to be innocent are waiting to have their DNA tested from the crime scene of decades past. I suppose they must first be granted a request for a new trial. The list must be staggering and their fates most likely dependant on public defenders who cannot act entirely on their own.


How many will grow old and die in prison for crimes they did not commit. How many mothers and fathers will die before they see their children exonerated. How many children will grow up, grow away from and never believe in the innocence of the truly innocent because their minds have been warped.

Oh what to do. I feel so helpless and know in my heart of hearts I can do nothing. But oh how it saddens me to think of this. On the other hand in generations to come, there should theoretically be no "innocent" people imprisoned because of DNA. The prosecutors will get it right the first time.

GOSSIP...Careful it comes with a heafty price.

Today I am linking up with Over 40 Bloggers and the relevance to my post I suppose is that I pray I will never grow too old to care. Go by Java's blog at Never Growing Old and visit some other participants.

SIMPLE PLEASURE...Just Hearing His Voice

When the phone rings at Seven AM, it could be no one but HIM. My SIMPLE PLEASURE this morning is running to grab the phone and hearing his voice tell me that he made it to work alright. He knows I am thinking of him, praying for his safety on the ice slick roads and he barely makes it into his office before letting me know I have nothing to worry about. No matter how many times I hear his voice on the phone I always smile while talking to him. NOW I can begin my day.

Today I'm linking up with Dayle at Simple Pleasures so be sure to click on her link

HERE

and go visit some other blogger gals who will share with us their Simple Pleasure this Thursday!


Here he is.............the BEST part of ME!

MY FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL

I simply LOVED my first day at Tutoring.
I felt safe.
I felt appreciated.

The children were happy and glad to see the tutors.
They were polite.
They were sweet.
They were eager to learn.

My little boy's name is LAVOREA. He is 9 years old and is adorable.
I told him he could call me Miss Mollye or Mrs. Self.
He said "I'd like to call you, Mrs. Self".

We studied Language Arts and on Thursdays we will study Math.
He said he likes Math more, but boy oh boy is he smart.
Honestly I don't quite understand why he is needing extra help but so far he is
confident, and reads well; sounding out the word when he is not sure.

If yesterday is any indication of this little boy's aptitude then when April rolls around and it is time for the LEAP Test, Lavore will leap completely over the moon.

I adore my little boy already! My little Lavorea.
Oh why oh why did I not do this years ago. This is soooooooo me!

WHAT AN AWESOME OPPORTUNITY!

Or..........Am I Smarter Than A 4th Grader. teehee
Actually yes and no. I am smarter in that I am older but I have a feeling I will learn much from this 4th Grader!


There are two things in life I never wanted to be. A Nurse and a Teacher. There I said it. I cannot stand to be around blood and injuries and I never thought I had the level of patience for teaching. But the one thing I've come to believe through the lessons of life is that the one constant thing in life is CHANGE. And here it is ..... MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have signed up with Volunteers of America to TUTOR a 4th Grade Student for his/her LEAP Test in April.

To say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement. I'm excited. I'm a wee bit nervous. And most of all I feel a huge amount of AWE.

I mean this is a VOLUNTEER position. No money. No perks. No reimbursement. No acknowledgement of any sort. Just an awesome opportunity of perhaps halping a child go forward. How amazing is that.



I will be helping my student with Language Arts and Math. This is an elementary school in a bad area of the city with extremely underpriviledged students. Under achievers. Children who desparately need someone who cares enough to get involved with them in any positive way. I honestly had not thought of it in this way until yesterday when my daughter Shari who is a Pediatric Nurse remarked of what an opportunity I was given to be able to help change a young life. Since signing up for this last December I had simply thought of it as another thing to do to fill some of my time.

So with this new way of thinking, it has given me a new direction. I will pray that I am able to in some way be patient, be kind, be a good listener, but most of all be a person that the child feels he/she can trust and somehow be able to make this a fun experience for both of us. I'll meet my little student this afternoon and we will meet twice a week for the next two months. I'll sure be keeping you posted on this experience. After all, I too am a student. God is my tutor...how can I go wrong?

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

PACKERS.....VS.....STEELERS

Whatcha say?

As for me and my house this year.................We're going for

THE FOOD...............AND THE COMMERCIALS! YAY

FUN KNOWS NO AGE

Who's having more FUN?...BIG or LITTLE kids!

I woke this morning to a mere 21 degrees temp and this "feel good" photo in the Shreveport Times showing Shreveport firefighters using their backboard to pull neighborhood children down the powdered sugar coated hill in front of the station.

I've been trying to convince hubby Mike whom I referred to on my other blog as Punkin Darlin to get bundled up and grab some trash bags and head on out back to our pasture where there is a pretty good slope before you reach the barb wire fencing for a little sledding fun.

To which he incrediously looks at me as if I have a horn growing out of my forehead and says "sliding down THAT hill before you get to the "bob wire"? Upon which I sheepishly reply "welllllll yes". And he shakes his head before saying something about how he would answer to all the people he works with when they ask what happened to his face and how many stitches he got. I then offer up the suggestion that we could hold something in front of our faces before we hit the wire. Again THAT look. You know the one to which he reminds me that I am 67 years old and that he is almost 57 years old (I know it should be reversed!) and he finally has the last word. N-O.

I'm left with my thoughts. Of another day and the sheer delight and excitement of trash bags and hills. Maybe in my next life I will live near a fire station on a hill!

Enjoy your day and stay warm and stay safe. Love you all



Glitter Graphics

TRAGIC FIRE

Oh Sisters and Brothers we live in a MEAN WORLD. Yesterday while I was surfing the blogs participating in One World One Heart I came across a blog called Seven Under Footand I'm always drawn to a curious name so I clicked on and to my surprise it was the blog of a MAN, which I think is great but I just don't know too many bloggers who are guys. This man's name is Sean and he offered a little pink Sachet as his "door prize". Uh excuse me.....but I'm just sayin' I was really intrigued at this point so I read on.

His daughter Melissa came home from work a few nights ago and found her home completely burned to the ground. Her children were staying with their grandmother Thank God so no person was home. However, she did lose both of her cats. This family is left with absolutely nothing but the shirts on their backs.



Melanie is also a blogger and had planned to participate in the OWOH event but of course her door prize burned in the fire so her sweet step-mother, Bonnie offered the little Sachet as Melanie's door prize. Bonnie has two blogs. One is Southern Style which you can find HERE.

Sean, Melanie's father sent these pictures for me to post for you and I thought it would be a terrific idea for Melanie to recieve a CARD SHOWER. Let's get together for a sister blogger and shower her with well wishes of love and support. If anyone wishes to and is able to do anything more I'm sure they would appreciate anything. Her Daddy thought she would be overjoyed at receiving lots of cards. At the very least and absolutely the most powerful thing anyone can do and everyone can do is lift Melanie and her children up to the Lord and pray for them.

The Address:
MELANIE HENKELMAN
c/o Bonnie Coleman
6424 Sycamore Street
Milton, FL 32570

Let's show some LOVE. God Bless You All. I love you dearly you know

"Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for awhile because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed. IPeter 1: 6,7

BUT...WHERE WILL THEY GO

Llouisiana...the deep south. It is way below freezing and there are those on our streets who have no place to go. Emergency shelters are popping up.



Will she make it to one? Will her stiffened fingers be able to carry her belongings. She won't leave them you know. Will her arthritic joints hold up for the long walk to the nearest one? Where oh where is it. Someone said it is right around the corner. Oh my it is sooooo cold. Oh if only someone would give me a ride. Oh no silly don't even think that. No one will stop for me. We all know that.


And him. He sleeps. He's tired. He's more than tired. Perhaps he's given up. Is he sick? Is he a drunk...a low life? Perhaps he's dangerous. Walk quickly and don't get too close.


Just a boy. Well yes I'm sure he is grown. But someone's son, some woman's brother. Do they know where he is? Do they care? What is his story? What led him here? Perhaps they have given up on him. Perhaps he has also given up. On life. On amounting to anything. Does anyone care?


Yes God, I do admit. I've thrown away socks far better that these. A shame. My shame. My goal for tomorrow is that one less person will be wearing socks like these in my town.



His name is "Tommy". Let us pray.



How can I sleep tonight? How can I enjoy the warmth in my home. What can I do? We can't help everyone but we can help someone.


"At night they sleep with nothing to cover them.
nothing to keep them from the cold.

They are drenched by the rain that falls on the mountains, and they huddle beside the rocks for shelter."JOB 24: 7,8