So I've been cleaning house all week, and thought I would take some pictures while it is looking good for the dinner party tonight! It may not look this neat again for a while!

The Living Room

The Dining Room

The Gathering Room

The Den

What a Blessing!

To check in on my blog and find this wonderful Award!

The Marie Antoinette Award

Many thanks to Becky of Holiday in the Sun for thinking of me with this wonderful tribute! Becky is such a faithful, true friend I have met through blogging! She is a gracious encourager who never fails to bless me upon each visit!

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The Marie Antionette award is for people who are perceived to be "real" in who they are. You know...what is the point of trying to be someone you're not??

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I just think this is wonderful! To be considered "real" is a great compliment to me, because transparency to such an important attitude to have... for it is then that God's light can begin to shine through. Therefore, I am truly honored to accept this award and am thrilled to have the opportunity to pass it on to the following fabulous ladies!

Emily

Stacey

Marie

Gina

Angela

Blessings to each one!

Pink Saturday

For more Pink Saturday visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound!

One day last week I shared the beautiful tea for one set

I received from a secret pal, Mary, from the Jan Karon forum group I frequent. For today I want to share the rest of the beautiful gift I received from her which was part of the matching set!

This wonderful lap quilted lap robe with its encouraging message!

You cant even imagine my joy and incredible awe to think an online secret pal would be so generous and wonderful! What a blessing!

Now I will wrap up in my laprobe and watch House Hunters and wonder about Amanda and Joshua's house hunting endeavors!

Happy Pink Saturday!!!!

Show and Tell, Friday

For more visit Kelli at There is No Place Like Home!

Yesterday my friend, Dottie, and I rode up the Shenandoah Valley to Stuart's Draft known for its Amish community. We visited the Cheese Shop which sells food in bulk, and we discovered a new fabric shop. I found what I had been looking for!

I love this fabric to make my dining table cloth to offset my new dishes. This toile hosts a pastoral tale of life in a quaint English countryside, decked about with dairy maids and grazing sheep! And best of all it was purchased at only $6.95 a yard as opposed to $20.oo a yard goods I had seen hereabout! I love it!!

Then I ran across this piece!

I had to have it to make a cloth for the kitchen table! I can't wait to get these done!

Friday's Favorite Family Foto

Visit Deborah at Pictures, Pots, and Pens for more!

Today I was looking through some fotos and ran across this one which is just so indicative of Amanda's joie de vivre! Taken on her college graduation day she exudes the thrill of accomplishment and anticipation and expectation of whatever the future may hold.

Taken three years ago she still had 2 1/2 years of grad school ahead of her. Today she is completely finished with school and is deep in the throes of job hunting! I pray that she will soon find the niche God has for her in this troubled world! She has tons to offer whomever might hire her, and if you dont believe it, just ask her mother!

Tablescape Thursday

For more beautiful tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch!

On Saturday evening we will be hosting 3 couples from our Sunday School class. I am honored to be able to serve these very dear friends, including one of our teachers and his wife. We are just initiating conversational dinners and have 4 other couples hosting dinners this month. I will be serving roast beef cooked with savory onions and carrots, rolls, tea, and coffee. The guests will be bringing the salad, veggie side dish, and dessert. This is such a marvelous way to get to know each other better and share in others lives. I have practiced my tablescape this afternoon and would like to share it with you.

I recently purchased my Churchill Brook dishes which I love! When I first saw them it was love at first sight. This will be my first meal on them.

I have been trying to spring up around the house. When I ran across these lilies of the valley at Steger Creek I had my theme!

I decided to pull together my bird collection as if they flown right out of the forest of an english countryside and landed under the spreading lilies.

Drawn by candlelight, they will seranade us with their birdsong and loveliness during dinner.(Actually, I will be playing Danny Gibson's cd of the classics interspersed with beautiful birdsong which I adore!)

I love the theme of this china. Ever the anglophile this english pastoral complete with rural cottage and castle turrets in the background tell a story right out of the Cotswold history which is home to my maternal ancestors.

I have been scouring the fabric stores to find just the perfect piece to make a cloth that would set the details right off, but have yet to find just the goods. Until then, my Waterford damask with napkins will suffice. I did find this beautiful silk table runner at Bed, Bath, and Beyond this week.

You might help me with this one. I could use maroon candles or these. I thought these would show up best, but perhaps they are too over the top. I want my guests to feel happy, warm, welcome and cherished, and comfortable.

I am trying to keep the atmosphere light and happy, therfore I broke out the bunnies!

But more about those on Friday's Show and Tell!

Hope you enjoyed your visit, and please do continue on to the other Tablescapes. I am always blown away with the creativity and beauty!

Word Filled Wednesday

Visit Amy Deanne of the 160Acre Wood for more WFW!

The power of God is awesome...the power to heal, restore, save, create, deliver, even raise the dead. And because of Jesus' death on the cross we now have full access to that power through the Holy Spirit within us. He is our head, but we are His body. He depends on us to manifest His power on earth. Do you consider yourself a co-laborer with Christ? Our great commission established our dominion o'er the earth, over the enemy, and enabled us to be overcomers of the strongholds in our own lives. Each day we need to be proper stewards of that which is at our disposal to run the race, win over the enemy, and help reclaim what has been and who is lost for Christ. I know I fail Him everyday. Dear God, help me to live the life you have planned for me, not seeking after my own purposes, but living for you through your power, growing Your kingdom, and making Your awesome goodness known in all the earth!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today...Monday, February 23, 2009

Outside my window... It is 5:47 and the world doesn't seem to be awake yet! It 26 degrees and no sign of moisture in the forecast. We have had no snow this season except for a little skiff mid January which didn't amount to much. I am becoming concerned about a drought this year.
I am thinking... what I can do to actually plant some of our food this spring and summer. last year we did have tomatoes, which did alright, nothing great- Our yard has never been very suitable for planting food because of the shade, but with the dry years and dying trees that is not such a problem anymore. I am thinking planting more vegetables might be a good idea.
I am thankful for... my family, my church, and my life. God is so good!
From the kitchen... I am planning a visit up the valley to the Cheese Shop which sells foods in bulk. I am thinking about what I might begin to squirrel away!
I am wearing... I haven't dressed yet, but will be donning jeans and a sweater set.
I am reading... Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
I am hoping... to find just the right fabric this week for my next project-
I am creating... a new tablecloth to go with my new dishes. I got a set of the pink transferware china, Brook, by Churchill.I am looking for a pink toile on chintz or something similar.
I am hearing... absolutely nothing except the fan on my computer. It is so quiet here this morning.
Around the house... I have some cleaning, ordering, and putting away this week. I am having 3 other couples for a dinner party Saturday night from our Sunday School class. We have started conversational dinner and I am hosting this month. I want to spring it up around here.
One of my favorite things... is changing the decor seasonally. I bought the cutest "olde world" looking planter this weekend at Tuesday Morning and want to go to Michael's to purchase something with a trailing vine.
A few plans for the rest of the week... .This morning Lynn is taking me to breakfast and then I have an eye appointment, then I am fabric shopping.
My Beth Moore study tomorrow which I have missed the last few weeks, so I will be going for the fellowship, and hopefully a couple of us will go for lunch or coffee afterwards. Wednesday the ageless Group to which I take refreshments with my mom. She is making a dump cake and I don't know yet what I am taking. Then Wednesday night fellowship dinner at church and Christian World view class which is fabulous!!!! Nothing much so far on Thurs. or Fri., and the dinner party on Saturday. I should have plenty of time for getting somethings done here around the house!
Here is a picture I'd like to share with you...

This is one of my favorite sites in my hometown. I have loved this sign every since I can remember. we used to produce this coffee here, but thank goodness we still sport the sign. It is one of our most famous icons. And I think I smell coffee brewing downstairs now. Bless Lynn's little pea-pickin' heart!

Pink Saturday

For more Pink Saturday visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound!

There is no PINK like God's PINK!

Happy Pink Saturday!

I am off this morning to my very dear prayer team session! We pray for our church, community, families, and the world situation! Our hour together is full and potent with the power of God manifest through His Holy Spirit. I am lifting up all of you who might visit my blog today that the desires of your heart might be made tangible and that God will bless you each in personal ways as needed. Thank you so much for visiting and have a lovely weekend!

Love, Carolyn

My Husband Rocks, Friday

Lynn is so great about this!

He is the main dish washer in our home. I mean he really doesn't even like for me to attempt to wash the dishes.

This is especially wonderful when we have dinner parties and large crowds! What a guy! He truly rocks!

Show and Tell Friday

Kelli of There is No Place Like Home hosts this each Friday!

This week I am sharing my sunroom table hosting a display of tea goodies. I love this teaset for one I received from my Mitford secret pal, and wonderful friend, Mary, a few years ago. I hope to stop in to see her on visit up north in a few months! Ever the encourager, this teaset reminds me to have faith, hope, and love! My heart is full of love each time I see it because I know this was a gift of the heart! Lynn gave the yellow roses to Amanda for Valentine's Day!

Friday's Favorite Family Foto

For more FFFF visit Deborah at Pictures, Pots, Pens!

Sunday I had my parents over for a Valentine dinner to spend some time with the kids before they left for Boston. This is one of the last photos I got of them with Amanda.

Skywatch Friday

Monday we were travelling through the Shenandoah Valley at dusk and enjoyed this gorgeous handiwork of the Lord!

Click here for more Skywatch Friday!

Elizabeth Gaskell

This week I am focusing on another Victorian author, Elizabeth Gaskell.

as our Kindred Reading Group begins her book, Wives and Daughters, I am compelled to do a bit on research on the author.

According to Wikipedia, "Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson, (29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. She is perhaps best known for her biography of Charlotte Brontë. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.

Though she was born in Chelsea, much of Elizabeth's childhood was spent in Cheshire, where she lived with her aunt Hannah Lumb in Knutsford, a town she would later immortalise as Cranford. They lived in a large red brick house, Heathwaite, on Heathside (now Gaskell Avenue), which faces the large open area of Knutsford Heath.

She married in 1832 and then settled in Manchester, where the industrial surroundings would offer inspiration for her novels, namely Cranford (1853), North and South (1854), and Wives and Daughters (1865). " So I am off to Barnes and Noble to purchase my own copy of Wives and Daughters.

They Have Moved

Amanda and Joshua left today for Boston! It was a tearful goodbye for me as we entered a new phase in our family.

While Joshua packed their rental van with all the comforts they'd need while living in a hotel suite for the next month or so, Amanda was saying her last goodbyes.

Thank goodness for fold down seats!

Then she went out and helped with some of her many clothes bags filled with her winter togs! And then it was time for their final pass through.

I was pretty choked up as I saw our girl raise her hand to wave goodbye.

So they got away by 9:45 am and they called tonight to say they had to pull over in Pennsylvania due to treacherous roads and blowing snow. With about 3 or 4 hours to go tomorrow I am praising God they are safe and sound tonight. For Lynn and I, we have now officially become empty nesters of our professional children instead of university students. A new beginning all around. I am really trying to see the benefits instead of the losses! If you are reading this, now you definitely know how to pray for me.