Palm Sunday

Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isaiah 40:3

Creating Bunny Napkins For Your Easter Table

I love this idea because I think it adds so much charm to an Easter table. I think it looks so sweet on top of my Spring dishes! Instructions can be found here.

Kitchen Bunny

Today I set aside some time to make kitchen bunnies! We will be going out of town for Easter and I wanted to have a few little "goodies" to bring my hostess. This is a darling little bunny, functional as well as inexpensive!

Purchase a pretty dishtowel and two dishcloths (I got mine at the Dollar store)

Lay dishtowel print side down.

Fold in thirds lengthwise.

Fold in thirds again and then set aside.

Take one of the dishcloths and starting at one corner roll to the middle. Roll the opposite corner to meet it. This will be the ears.

Fold the top part of the dishtowel down about 1/3 of the way. Take the washcloth "ears" and laythem inside the fold.

Grab the ears and pull up tightly. Tie with a piece of ribbon as close to the dishtowel as you can. Make a bow.

Tie another bow under the bulge you made with the ears. This makes the head. Take the second dishcloth and roll it up just like you did the first. These will be the arms.

Slide the "arms" between the back and front of the dishtowel up to the "neck."

Tie a bow under the arms. This makes the waist.

See post below to finish making bunny.

Bring the "hands" to the front and tie the "wrists" with another bow.

Now it's time to make your poem to go along with the kitchen bunny. I used an index card that I put some stickers on and punched a hole in. I will tie it on the bunny with a pretty ribbon. In case you can't read my writing the card says:

Kitchen Bunny

I am your kitchen bunny
When you tire of me
Untie my bows and you will see
That I'm as handy as can be!

To finish her off I added a small flower and a kitchen utensil. The skies the limit with this. You could let her be holding a recipe card with a favorite recipe and then along with the bunny give the item on the recipe card, you could put in a cute little basket for her to hold, etc. . . I hope you will enjoy making these and giving them as gifts! BTW, I had to laugh when I saw the picture because the way the center of the sunflower is on her face I think she looks a little like a cyclops;)

Mid-Week Fun!

After just having gone through a long winter I think it is time to start celebrating! How many times do we "wait" to do the "fun" things in life? Most of the time it seems like the "extra special" fun things are done on the weekend, BUT this does NOT have to be the case! How about spicing up life with a little mid-week fun! Instead of waiting for Saturday to come I decided to have a outdoor cookout on Wednesday! It was such a enjoyable and relaxing time, no fuss, much laughter, and some good memories.

Of course, no cookout is complete without some deviled eggs! These are the first of the season and boy, were they yummy! Uh, oh, I went a little too crazy with the paprika, but they still tasted delicious!

We also had some pasta salad to go along with our baked beans and hamburgers.

The absolute best part was the strawberry shortcake! I wish I could share some with you;)

Buster and Bailey had fun, too! After all their playing and running around they decided to take a little "cat nap" and enjoyed the last few wonderful rays of sunshine.

To end this most wonderful day we were treated to a beautiful sunset. As most of you know I had decided I wanted to "name" my porch. I call it Willow View and this picture shows you exactly why. Isn't the sun shining through the Willow Tree pretty?

So, what are you waiting for? See what kind of mid-week fun you can come up with! I promise, you will be so glad you did!

A Home That Says "Welcome"

As I was looking around my home today I noticed I had a lot of signs and pictures that convey the sentiment of "welcome." The slate below is found above our front door.





Here is our front yard sign that is made of slate. It also beckons you to "come on in, you're always welcome here."



This tea stained sampler is a favorite of mine. It can be found on the entry table of our home. It reads, "WELCOME, May our Home never be too small to hold all of our friends."



And finally, this sign can be found on our back porch. It reads, "Where friends meet, hearts warm."

Now, all this got me to thinking. (Y'all know me, I just can't help it;) By all "outward appearances" my home appears to be a most "welcoming" place to others. It conveys the message of "open doors" and "open hearts." But what I asked myself is, "what good are all these outward appearances of "welcome" when in reality it is not always practiced in my home? OUCH! Talk about being convicted.

I wanted to share with you a wonderful book I have been reading. It's title is, "A Life That Says Welcome," and it is by author Karen Ehman. Boy, after reading her book I knew that MOST ANY of my excuses for not practicing hospitality were just NOT going to "cut" it! Uh, oh! The gift of hospitality is one that I am to give freely, wholeheartedly, and lovingly to others. Going one step further, I have to admit that it is much easier to entertain friends and family than it is to entertain acquaintances or even strangers, but that is what we are asked to do. We need to get it out of our heads that everything has to be PERFECT before we will invite anybody over. If we are waiting for PERFECT, then we have a mighty, mighty long wait, don't we? Over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some ideas that you can incorporate into sharing hospitality and opening your home to others. In the meantime, I have just one thing I would ask you to do. Pray about who the Lord would have you to invite into your home. Who is it that he wants to come to your home so that when they reach your front door the sign not only says welcome, but so does your heart!

I am so happy and proud to announce that my baby sister, Sarah, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy today! Joseph Matthew entered this world at 12:05p.m. and we are all rejoicing! God is so

good!

I'll be there soon, Joseph~ I can't wait to hold you in my arms!

One Perfect Blossom

While waiting to hear about news of the baby I was puttering about in the kitchen. While looking out my kitchen window I spotted something on one of our bushes in the distance. Everything in our yard was given to us by my dear Grammy and Grandaddy. Her yard was always the most beautiful in the neighborhood and she was always sharing flowers, bushes, and trees with family, friends, and neighbors! Every single Sunday she would go out in her backyard and gather up whatever was blooming and arrange in one of her many vases. She would hop in her car and bring these bouquets to residents of the nearby nursing home. Everyone loved her because she was so full of life, always willing to lend a helping hand and always there to give a smile and an encouraging word. She also made bouquets from her yard and took them to her church every Saturday where she would place them in the entrance foyer for all who entered to enjoy. Around town my Grammy was known as the "plant lady," and for good reason!

As much as she hoped and would have liked, I did not have a green thumb like she did. Most of the stuff is our yard is pretty pitiful looking and we were even talking about taking it all out and just doing grass. Now, back to the story! As I peered out the window I realized that what I was seeing was something on the Camellia bush that she had given us. Now mind you, this Carmellia bush has NEVER bloomed in the many years we have had it so I was most surprised. I put on my shoes and went out to investigate further. What I saw literally took my breath away. Sitting upon that bush was the most PERFECT blossom you would ever want to see! As I gazed upon it's beauty tears of joy welled up into my eyes and a song of thanksgiving was upon my lips. I gently cut the blossom off and brought it in the house. There was no doubt in my mind as to which vase I should put it in. I got Grammy's little blue vase out from the cupboard and lovingly put the blossom in. That beautiful blossom to me represented a celebration of new life as well as the celebration of lives past. We are all enter twined and connected, generation after generation. Coincidence? I think not! Grammy might not be with us in the physical sense but her legacy of love lives on and the celebration of life is represented in that ONE PERFECT BLOSSOM.

Laundry Day
Monday is laundry day around our Home Place. As I have said in the past I try to make simple household chores as pleasant as possible and I have found just the way to do that on laundry day! When I wash our bed sheets I like to take the pillowcases and iron them! Yep, you heard me right, iron them!! Why? I just love the feel of a crisply ironed pillow case against my face at night and to take it one step further I iron it using Mrs. Meyers Ironing Spray in the Lavender scent. Oh my, talk about a heavenly smell! Another good thing is that Mrs. Meyers products are so natural that I can feel good about using it for my family. To me, there is nothing more wonderful than slipping into bed at night with nice clean sheets and the lavender scented pillow case to give me sweet dreams;) I also love to use the ironing spray on my hankies, other linens, even some of my delicate clothing. If you are interested in finding Mrs. Meyers products you can go to her website at www.mrsmeyers.com. If you type in your zip code it will show you places in your area that carry Mrs. Meyer's products or you can order directly from the site. You pay a little bit more but to me it is worth it! ** Mr. P wants you to know that he DOES NOT LIKE lavender scented pillowcases and so I'm the only one that gets the scented pillowcase! I wonder why? LOL;)

Spring Beauty Abounds!


Daffodils~ my favorite flower!

A picture of our Bradford Pear in all it's glory! So, so pretty!

A sweet pot of pansies graces our back steps. Can you spy the little bunny "peeking" out?

"Uh Oh"
Y'all, I attempted to change my blog over from the St. Patrick's Day theme to a Spring theme. Unfortunately, in the process I ended up losing a LOT of my stuff and it will take me FOREVER to get it back like it was before. Can you hear the "boo hooing?" See, I told y'all I just knew how to do email;) Anway, it will be quite awhile before things get back to "normal" around here so please excuse the "dust." I guess I'm just lucky I still have a computer to use because I was seriously ready to "toss" it out the window after all this. GRRR! I keep trying to remind myself that patience is a virtue!

Treasured Old Friends


Books, oh, how I love them! What are my very favorite books? Books from my childhood, of course! What fond memories I have of bedtime when my dear Mama would come to tuck me in and we would have special "story" time. Not only did I love the stories, I loved the time spent with her even more, I think. The books transported me to far away lands and magical places. With the flip of a page I could be a part of a magnificent adventure without every having to leave my room! My favorite books of all were the Raggedy Ann and Andy books. My Mama would read one chapter a night and oh, how I looked forward to the next one! I was sure that one day I would meet up with the "camel with the wrinkled knees!" I also loved poetry and my favorite poetry book was A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. As my Mama would read I would close my eyes and I could feel the wind through my hair as I was pumping along on my beautiful swing or I would play hide and seek with my shadow. The Swing and My Shadow were my favorites and to this day I can recite them word for word. As you can see by the picture my book (1929, it was my Mamas) has been very well loved. Books and the love for reading is a gift you can give a child that will literally last a lifetime! Not only do they give you a lifetime of wonderful memories, the books can also be some of your most treasured old friends!


I just love the sweet illustrations~

This and That!



I forgot to show you the picture of the sweet Easter banner I purchased from Lesley at Small Meadow Press. I just love the beautiful simplicity of her designs. You probably will have to enlarge the picture to see.


All I can say is, YUM! Cherry Cream Cheese Pie is the first dessert I learned to make as a young girl. It is so easy to do and tastes absolutely delicious~ it has always been a family favorite around here!

Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

1 graham cracker crust

1 can cherry pie filling

1 block cream cheese

1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream together softened cream cheese, eagle brand milk, lemon juice and vanilla. Pour into pie shell and refrigerate. When pie is "set" pour cherry pie filling on top~ that's it!

Finally, here is the newest addition to our back porch! When we purchased it I had visions of me lounging around with a book in one hand and lemonade in the other. I plan on doing a little of that this weekend, if Bailey decides to share;) Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Much love,

Susan P.

Making Easter Eggs With Old Ties!
Okay, y'all, I was on Miss Martha's site and I watched a video showing one of the neatest and most unusual ways to decorate Easter eggs that I had ever seen. Well, of course I had to try! If you would to try you will need the following items:


Old ties, the more vibrant the color and pattern the better the egg will turn out. (Don't take one of your husband's without asking;) I asked Mr. P if he wouldn't mind looking and seeing if there was one that he didn't want that I could use. Also, I know you can literally pick them up for a dime at yard sales.

Cut approx. the bottom third of the tie off.

"Open" the bottom part up and remove any inside filling, lining, etc.. All you want left is the tie material that you see on the front.

Take a small to medium egg and with fabric "right" side to egg you will take the fabric and wrap it up as smoothly as you can until you have it nicely together at the top. Make sure that the material is nice and flat and doesn't bunch. I didn't show the following next step. Take an old white undershirt, sheet, etc. and do the same thing with that material as you did with the tie material. Cover tie material completely making sure there are no bunches and then tie with a twisty tie at the top.

Measure out at least 1/4 cup vinegar and place in a pan of water (should be glass or enamel)

Place eggs carefully in the water and heat the water to boiling. Once is starts to get to a boil you need to cut the temp down so that you have just a nice little simmer. Do this for at least twenty minutes. Once that is done and you have taken the eggs out of the water you need to let them cool completely. Unwrap eggs when cool and then rub with a little vegetable oil to make them shine. Place in a pretty bowl and then stand back and admire because you have just made some beautiful and unique Easter Eggs!! BTW, make sure you save the tie because it can be used up to five times! Here is a link to the video (it's on the right under egg dyeing techniques) so you can see how they should really turn out!

Just to give you a chuckle, I will thought I'd share this with you. I brought the eggs out onto the porch because I thought they would phograph better. I placed them "artistically" on the table ready to take the picture and the phone rings. I go in to answer and it is my sister. I sit at the kitchen table and we are having a nice chat when all of a sudden I look out the window and I see our Lab, Jake, reaching up with his mouth to have a little snack. I scream and throw the phone down and I am running after him saying, "give me back my Martha egg!" It was not a pretty sight, Ladies;) I finally managed to "fanagle" the egg from his mouth and the pictures you see above are "after" the fact. I tried best to hide the crack marks! LOL Gotta love it;)