A Christmas Greeting to all my friends

To All My Democrat Family and Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2015 but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

To My Republican Family and Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Just a little note to all my faithful readers, I'm a little MIA lately because time is precious. I'll be back posting regularly soon.

Love me some Christmas Flicks!

We love to watch movies especially classic movies with "real" actors. At Christmas time we pull out all the old Christmas flicks and sit down several times a week and watch a Christmas movie. Here's some of our favorite classic movies. 

Without saying really, one of the best, all-time Christmas movies ever made. James Stewart and Donna Reed, can't go wrong with them. Anyhow, it's great and if you haven't seen it you've really missed out!

My second favorite Christmas movie, The Bishop's Wife. David Niven, Loretta Young and last but not least Ol' Mr. Grant himself. This is a delightful tale of the misplaced values and a little help from above. Just seen this one this year and it's already one of my favorites!









Yet another new one to me; We're No Angels is hilarious and the sorta movie you start watching and never think about anything else till it's over.
The lead actor being Mr. Bogart with two wonderful actors along side. Peter Ostinov is the actor that played Black Beard in Disney's Black Beard's Ghost (hillarious). Anyhow, this one is great and totally worth the watch.









Another Jimmy Stewart Christmas, feel-good movie. Shop Around the Corner is just a very nice, feel-good movie. Worth the watch!












Lest I forget, Mr. Scrooge, This is my favorite rendition of A Christmas Carol. I love the actors and it's just very high quality. It's aweful hard to make a less than great Christmas Carol!














Can't ever get enough of Dr. Seuss! My kids love this movie and honestly I do too.














Oops, I almost forgot Charlie Brown. A Christmas classic forever. Poor Charlie makes us all feel better about ourselves no matter how pittiful we are. :0)






So here are some of my Christmas favorites, what are some of yours???
BTW, all these movies can be found used on Amazon for great prices.

reposted from 12/12/09

To Do Tuesday

1. First thing on my To Do List is to make this adorable baby quilt for the new little girl coming in January. I found this lovely one that Susan made and I'm collecting fabric to make a similar one for little Hanah. 

I love the gray, pink and white color pallet. It's gonna be beautiful-icious! 

2. I am still working on gifts for the new baby so I found this super soft blankie in full size and I'm going to make two blankies out of two it and crochet the edges. You can find a great tutorial for edging fleece here. 

Other than the obvious household stuff I'm still "planning" on doing the flower beds in the back yard. I AM going to get it done and hopefully before it snows. 

Today Johnny and I are off to explore the city of Pecs, Hungary. It's gonna be fun and God has given us amazing weather. Yesterday it was 70 plus degrees. For November, this is unheard of but I'm not complaining. 

Okay guys, that's my short list for the week. Looking forward to checking out your To Do Tuesday posts. 

INSTAFriday

I'm a little #crochet crazy lately. Loved making this cute little owl hat with the pattern from #repeatcrafterme . Now to see if it fits the little head it was made for. #yarn #crocheting #crochetlove

A photo posted by ↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞ⓉⓄⓇⒾ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠ (@johnnysgirltori) on Nov 12, 2015 at 4:39am PST

Psalm 40:1-3 I remember the day that He brought me out if a horrible pit and established my goings. Wow, what an amazingly merciful God we serve. #Jesus #Bible #Scripture #salvation

A photo posted by ↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞ⓉⓄⓇⒾ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠ (@johnnysgirltori) on Nov 11, 2015 at 11:13pm PST

Made some amazing #glutenfree pumpkin bread, first I've had in 1.5 years. Delish!! #Autumn #pumpkin

A photo posted by ↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞ⓉⓄⓇⒾ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠ (@johnnysgirltori) on Nov 11, 2015 at 5:42am PST

Sweet little bunny all done and waiting for the arrival of a sweet little one. #yarn #crochet #crocheting #amigurumi

A photo posted by ↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞ⓉⓄⓇⒾ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠ (@johnnysgirltori) on Nov 11, 2015 at 3:18am PST

You might be a crocheter if... #crochet #crocheting #yarn

A photo posted by ↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞ⓉⓄⓇⒾ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠ (@johnnysgirltori) on Nov 9, 2015 at 2:32am PST

Because fall #timehop

A photo posted by ↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞ⓉⓄⓇⒾ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠ (@johnnysgirltori) on Nov 7, 2015 at 10:05am PST

Are you kidding me? It's November and almost 70 degrees? Loving it! #Croatia

A photo posted by ↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞ⓉⓄⓇⒾ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠ (@johnnysgirltori) on Nov 7, 2015 at 4:07am PST

Road closed due to the harvest. Interesting.

A photo posted by ↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞↞ⓉⓄⓇⒾ↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠ (@johnnysgirltori) on Nov 7, 2015 at 1:46am PST

Okay Guys, there's my INSTAFriday post. I'm crazy running to get it done this morning. I hate that but today is Johnny's only day off and we're going to do and enjoy the crazy warm weather.
Have a great weekend friends!!

Super-Yummy Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread

I have been craving pumpkin bread for a month and I finally bought a pumpkin, processed it into puree and froze it. I wasn't sure what I was going to use it for until I found the gluten-free all purpose baking mix. Eureka!! 

This all-purpose baking mix from Spar has been an answer to prayer. I have all those gluten-free recipes where it calls for 10 different kinds of flour. I mean really who has the time for that much less the money. Anyhoo, thank you Spar!

Ingredients

• 2 cup sugar
• 1 cup Splenda
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup water
• 15 ounces of homemade pumpkin puree or 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 1/2 cups gluten-free baking mix
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease 3- 10x4 inch inch loaf pans.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, Splenda, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. 
4. Stir in pumpkin. 
5. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, baking powder, ginger, allspice cinnamon, and clove. 
6. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. 
7. Pour into loaf pans and bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.

*You can put full sugar, I just tried to cut it down a bit. Tasted delish with the Splenda but I'm sure it'd be better with full sugar.

Be warned, this stuff is dangerous!!!

To Do Tuesday

Hey Guys! It's Tuesday again and I'm here for To Do Tuesday! Woohoo! 

We have had the most amazing weather lately. It's almost mid-November and it should be cold and white here already. I'm not complaining at all but it's a little crazy. I put up all the patio furniture a month or so ago and got it all out again yesterday. The longer I can use that patio and sit in the sun the better mood I'm gonna be in. Anyhow, I'm gonna take advantage of the weather and prepare some flowerbeds for the Spring. 

1. Prepare flowerbeds for Spring planting. I found this great tutorial here at Canadian Gardening and I've been saving up my newspapers. It seems so easy and I'm hoping it works out just like they say. No, I'm not naive but hopeful. 

Basically it's just a matter of layering paper, mulch and dirt and the idea is that by Spring all the grass below has died out and it's ready to plant. Since I hate pulling weeds, I'm gonna give it a try. 

2. Make some Christmas gifts for the kiddos in church. I'm obsessed with crocheting lately, can't get enough. I am not only starting lots of projects but, wait for it.......I'm finishing them too!! What! 

Yep, I finished this one yesterday for my sweet Nan. She loves Minions. 

Anyhoo, I want to make some Ninja Turtle hats for four of the boys in church. 

Oh yea and before I can do that I have to find a yard store that has green yarn. It's like a treasure hunt here to find basic yarn. 

Johnny's at Bible Translation Project and I have the whole house to myself till noon so I'm gonna take full advantage of it. Gonna get some girlly things done while he's gone. I love the "me" time, not that I don't always have access to "me" time now that we're empty nesters. I just prefer to pluck, color, shave and any other of those sorts of unseemly things while he's not here. I'd rather he think I'm naturally this smooth. HA!

Anyhoo, Happy tuesday Y'all!!

Public Service Announcement - Free Books!

I recently saw this on a sweet little blog I read and I was seriously interested. How cool is this? You get free books and all you have to do is give an honest review. Does it getting any better than that?

We give out review copies to bloggers, retailers, librarians, and media outlets in exchange for an honest review!

I would love to participate in Blogging for Books but I imagine my geographical location will prohibit it but for some of you book-lovers this is probably right down your alley.

They have books in all of these categories:

Better Living
Business
Cooking & Food
Crafts, Home & Hobbies
Entertainment
Faith
Fiction
Non-Fiction

I also found this one, BookLook Bloggers which is a similar company. I have noticed a few people using this one too. 

Apparently these are the qualifications to be involved with BookLook Bloggers:

• With an actively maintained personal, public blog. The program does not accept Facebook, Amazon, Goodreads or any other type of community profile site as a viable form of blog.
• Who have a visible minimum of 30 followers or subscribers. If the BookLook Bloggers team cannot view this follower count, we cannot currently accept your application. There are multiple options in order to place a follower count on your blog, such as Google Friend Connect, Wordpress Follow Blog Widget, Blogger Buzz, Twitter follower buttons, Facebook follower buttons, and using a Feedburner Count.
• Who consistently post content at least once per week.

And BETHANYHOUSE also has a review program. Are you kidding me? They also allow world wide review of electronic copies so that means I'm eligible. 

Anyhoo, Blogging for Books, BETHANY HOUSE & BookLook Bloggers are more than cool and I thought you'd want in!

INSTAFriday #12

I seriously say this absolutely every Friday but I can't believe it's Friday already. Can you guys believe that we only have 48 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and as of the time of this post 56 seconds till Christmas! What? How did that happen? 

Croatia has been unseasonably warm this year so Johnny and I took some time to go to the driving range. It was fun but more so it was amazingly beautiful. I am in love with the colors this year. 

Oh guess what I'm making? A crocheted rug for my super-room. I had some old sheets a friend gave me and so I ripped those suckers up and starting stitching. I can't wait to show you the finished project. You can find a tute here. 

Zoi, is so funny. She thinks she's a cat and insists on sleeping on the back of the couch. 

I finally finished a special little blankie for a special delivery coming in January. I love how it turned out. I used a tutorial from Yolanda Soto Lopez, so easy and it works up pretty quick. 

Did I tell you how much I love Fall?

My feed was full of trees, I couldn't get enough. 

The only thing that made the amazing Fall colors better is that I got to experience it with the love of my life. 

Oh I have to say how excited I am that our Mueller has yarn now!! Not just yarn but cheap yarn. They're small skeins but they are only 7 kuna which is about a buck! Can't beat that. 

It's been so warm here that there have been lots of bugs going around and sadly my baby love caught one. I thought it was adorable that Zoi was watching over him while he slept. So sweet. 

Finally, I post a lot of Scripture on my feed. This one really spoke to me. Absolutely everything you need to know to succeed in life. 

Anyhoo, there's my INSTAFriday post for this first week in November.

Can't wait to see yours!

My Missionary "Dom" Tour Part 4, the super-room

Wow, I seriously needed that little bloggy break. I spent the time finishing some UFOs and talking in the amazing Fall colors. Break finished and so I'm back! I missed you all!

So remember I told you I was taking out daughter's room and turning it into my super room. Well I'm well on my way to being finished with it. 

I took this these photos of Nan's room after she was all packed up to go to college Stateside so it looks a mess but it's a great before photo. 

It was strange to pack up all her stuff and watch her decided what she was leaving behind. One thing about being a missionary, it leaves very little room for love of "things". 

So Johnny and I took down the bed and moved the closet into our dressing room and started with an almost clean slate. 

The first thing Johnny did was to add this long counter top to be used as a desk. I love the size of it cause I can have several little stations along the way. I love not having to pack up my stuff junk to change projects. Plus after putting a skirt on the counter top I realized I can hide a multitude of junk under there. 

I used a lot of random yarn I had lying around to make a crocheted valance for the window. It's a good thing I like pink since Hannah's custom blind was pink. Hey even if I didn't like pink I'd learn to. 

We used Nan's old dresser to house all the paper and supplies for the Silhouette and printers. It's seriously nice to have everything corralled in one area.  

I also love having a designated place to read some of my favorite blogs. 

On the other wall I used some of Nan's old furniture to set up a sewing desk and a place for the wifi printer. BTW, can I just stop and say how amazing wifi printers are. Seriously, I can print from any device from anywhere in the house. Very cool!

I love being able to hang some art that Nan painted when she was little. I get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I look at those paintings. 

Johnny made me a cutting table to finish off my little room. It's just the right size for the cutting mat and as soon as I skirt it I'll be able to hide Zoi's bed and my stash under there. 

I loved making the art for my walls. Some of it I pinched but most of it was mine. I tried to include Scripture too since you can never get too much of God's Word.  

BTW, can you see how much I love colors? Hey rainbow is my all time favorite color! Colors make me happy, make me smile. Who doesn't love to smile?

I am amazed how much more I can get done when all my stuff is easy to find and I have places to work. I seriously miss Hannah more than I ever thought I would but having my own super-room lessens the pain a little. 

I'm not finished but at least my little room is usable and loved. 

If you'd like to see some of the posts from my tour you can check them out here. 

My Missionary "Dom" part 1

My Missionary "Dom" part 2

My Missionary "Dom" part 3

Time for a Break (a little one)

Hey y'all, just wanted to pop in and say hey and let you all know that I'm gonna take a little (week long) break. I'm gonna enjoy the colors of Autumn and work on some UFOs. Hope you guys have an awesome week. See ya back here in 7.

INSTAFriday #11

Crocheting something special for a special little girl who'll be here in January.

We have a new little one in our church due to arrive in 

January. She's gonna be super-loved by us all. The sweet couple in our church is naming her Hannah after our daughter. What an amazing honor!

Preparing low calorie, individual, freezer meals today. Italian chicken and rice with veggies. Yum! Oh yea and only 208 calories!

 So, after a long year and half of eating entirely low carb I've decided to give low-cal a go. I need something to change things up a bit. Johnny's at his goal and has maintained for over a year but I've still got some to go. So, I cooked up some Italian chick and rice with veggies and popped those suckers in the freezer. Today, i'm going to make 4 more pasta meals. 

Am I the only one who thinks that Hepher 🐮 naming his daughter Hoglah 🐷 is funny?

Okay so I just thought this was funny. I didn't even notice the Hepher's daughter Milcah! HA! 

Love the view from my computer as I work. Missing my Nana girl today!

I'm missing my Nana girl lots lately. I love being able to look up and see her smiling face. 

🎉🎈Happy birthday to our first born Cody!!🎈🎉 23 years ago today you changed our lives. We're so blessed to be your parents. We love you son! Hope today is wonderful and this is your best year ever!!

I can't believe I have a son old enough to be a father. How did that happen. It seems like yesterday he was a toddler and now he's a man. 23 years sure pass fast.  

Look @waynecody we have sun only for your birthday. Wish you were here to enjoy it.

What's the opposite of drought? Yep, that's what's been going on here. It's been so rainy. I was glad to see that it was sunny on our son's 23rd birthday. 

Prefect Christmas gift, a world travel toilet seat. Super cool!! #why #whynot

Okay so Johnny and I recently took a trip to the hardware store and I was mesmerized by these toilet seats. Yes, toilet seats! Are they not the most amazing things!

We have such cool stuff in Croatia!! Only the coolest toilet seat ever!!!

Love this one the most. Although I think if we had those in our bathrooms we'd spend way more time in there than we already do. :0) 

Okay lovies, that's my INSTAFriday for October 23rd, 2015. I'm gonna add the link-up for those who want to participate. BTW, make sure you add your name to the link-up so we can find you!

To Do Tuesday

Tuesday again! I know I say that every Tuesday but every Tuesday I'm surprised shocked that it's already Tuesday again. I actually remember being a teen and telling my mother that I was bored. I would complain about how long the days were and she'd say, "The older you get the faster the days will pass.". At the time I didn't believe her but I'm here to tell you, Mama was right on. 

Okay so I'm trying something new this week. I'm actually finishing some of the stuff on my list! I know you're shocked to see this fabric actually on a pilllow but I did it! I know it's been on my list since back in August but not any more! It's done! Checked off! Marked through! Finito!

I actually only have two things on my list this week because I was super busy yesterday and I did most of the stuff I needed to for Gypsy church. So I don't even have to list those, actually it would be good if I did then I could check them off and that'd look really good for me. Ha!

  I while back my honey-man got me a new Bible. It's a beautiful, burgundy Church Bible and it's wonderful. It smells just like a brand new pair of Justin  boots! ❤ Anyhoo, it's not a study Bible it's just the Word of God with no additions. I have had a Scoffield for years and loved all most of the notes and helps. Even through I love my new Bible I miss the notes and references of the old one.
So the other day while rummaging through a drawer I found this one. It was our middle son's Bible and he hardly used it. It's a Rock of Ages Prison Ministry Study Bible and I love it! It is used a little but not much. Apparently he stopped using it because the cover fell off but it's perfectly intact inside and has some great notes.


 Okay so why is it on my to do list for today? Cause it's nude! It needs a little coverin' up so I'm gonna make a Bible cover for it. See, there was a point to all that rambling.

Finally, last on my list for this week; enjoy today and tomorrow in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, and the theater tonight. My honey-man booked us a room and got us tickets to see Anna Karenina. Not sure about the story, something about Russian royalty, we'll see. I'm just looking forward to a little get away after being cooped up for 2 weeks of strait rain. I'm glad the sun is deciding to come and visit us today because I was getting ready to order some Gopher wood!

Okay now it's your turn! Link up so we can all come and check out your to to lists and get motivated to make our own.

A Great Read!

I just got finished reading Why Modesty Scares Me over at The Modest Mom Blog and I have to say, ditto to everything! What a clear but brief clarification. 

Please take the time to scoot on over there and check it out. She hit the proverbial nail on the head!

❤Thankful Thursday❤

 You know, the last couple months have been some of the hardest of my life. I hate even admitting that because perfectionists don't admit weakness easily but it's true. Leaving our last child in the States and returning home to an empty house has been one of the hardest things I've ever done. I thought it was going to be easy. I figured it would be like being newlyweds again. In my mind it meant lots of things; freedom, leisure, free time, Oreos that last longer than an hour, but I didn't realize how much loneliness would fit into the whole scenario. I didn't realize that being a mom for 23 years was going to be such a hard habit to break. Sure, I'm still a mother but with kids that live 5700 miles away my duties have been seriously diminished. 

So my hero through this whole ordeal has been my sweet husband Johnny. I can't even begin to express what this man means to me. (Hey I know this is mushy but it's true.) No one knows me like he does. He knows me better than I know me. When I am feeling rather useless and unneeded he's always there and knows before I do. He really is (after Jesus) the best thing that's ever happened to me. 

 Today for Thankful Thursday I'm most thankful for the sweetest gift God ever gave me here on Earth, my husband Johnny.

Oh yea and I'm linking up with Lori over at Frog's Lilypad for Thankful Thursday.