A day late and,,,,,,

Greetings!!

Well, I am a day late with this, I totally lost track of days and I am sorry!!

My business page on facebook has taken off with orders for my hand made ceramics and I have been busy to say the least.  I'll include some pictures of the items that have recently been ordered at the bottom of this post.

With Christmas fast approaching I have been determined to make this a "hand made" Christmas this year.  In other words all the gifts I will give will be hand made by me.  No, I did not do the black Friday shopping thing and would not do it if the stores were giving out free gold bars.  I'm not a scrooge!!  I just can't see the big deal in standing in long lines for hours to get in to a store, just to fight with other customers over some supposed special sale.  I don't like crowds to begin with and I refuse to buy a lot of useless junk as I am simplifying my life as much as possible.  Besides, I think "home made" is more personal and usually more appreciated.

I will probably purchase a few things to supplement the items I make but I will buy local or hand made in the USA.  If I don't get busy on my gift making soon I might be purchasing a lot of things from other crafters and home businesses, LOL.  Luckily, I do not have too many on my gift giving list so hopefully, I will manage to get it done before Christmas.

I feel Christmas has become too commercialized and we have lost the true meaning of Christmas.  Let's not forget Jesus is the reason for the season.  Whether he was actually born on December 25th or not, it is when we choose to celebrate His birth.  At Easter we celebrate His death on the cross for the remission of our sins and more importantly His resurrection.  Jesus is alive!!!

I have neglected my web site and am not sure I will keep it as I am doing much better in sales on the facebook page.  It is just very hard to keep everything up to date when you are the only one doing all the jobs.  My web site should have been updated a couple of months ago but it has not been.  I also need to update the church web site, hopefully later today.  I might have to skip bible study to get this done.

I've also got to do some work on the house next door.  As you may recall my neighbor passed away in October and I have been helping the family who live out of state.  Winter is fast approaching and there is still much work to be done yet before it gets here.  Whew, I am out of energy just thinking about all the work that needs to be done, LOL.

Well, I need to make a couple of phone calls then I am going next door to work for a couple of hours, then to the post office and other errands.  When I am done with all the running I need to get back and do some more painting on ceramics.  Still a few more orders to get finished.

Hope you have an awesome week!!
Until next time,,,,,,,,,,Blessings

Blue Delft style mixing bowl set.  So far two sets are sold and a possible third.

Red Rooster Coffee Mug, sold one have an order for 4

Tea for two sets have been real popular this year.

My birthday and Christmas present to myself is an entire kitchen set of the blue delft style, it will include, plates, soup bowls, cereal bowls, dessert plates, salt and pepper shakers, mixing bowls, tea pot, mugs, and much more.  I work on it when I have the time, LOL.

This is a bowl that could be used as a serving bowl or an over sized cereal bowl, LOL.

What are you thankful for??

Greetings!!

I am running a little behind in posting today as I ran errands this morning and got my grocery shopping done for both the holiday meal on Thursday and my usual shopping for the month.  Now I am broke until next month but there will be plenty of food in the house so I am thankful.

I am thankful for many things.  I am thankful my health is not worse than what it is and I can still get around and do things.  So many folks with chronic illness and pain cannot.  I am thankful for the roof over my head, I have been homeless and know what it is like.  I am thankful for the food I am able to put on the table each and every day.  I am thankful for my church.  They are a loving bunch of kind people.  I am thankful I can still see well enough to make ceramics, one of my many passions.

I am extremely thankful for my friend Harry.  It is such a joy and pleasure to have him back in my life again.  I feel so blessed!!

Most of all I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for the sacrifice of His only begotten son who died on the cross for the remission of sin so that I might have eternal life.  And I am so thankful to Jesus for being my savior, my brother, my friend and my shepherd!  I love you Lord!!

As you prepare for your Thanksgiving holiday I hope you take the time to thank God for all your blessings and think about the things that you are thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Who do you live for???

Greetings!!

Well the good Lord laid this on my heart this morning so I figured it is to be talked about.

Who do you live for?  What makes you tick?  Is there someone special in your life that you just don't ever want to do without so you feel like you live for him or her?  Your spouse?  Your children?  Perhaps your parents or a dear friend?  I live for Jesus!!

Don't get me wrong, there are some very special people in my life that I would never want to do without.  I love them dearly.  But if it came down to having to make a choice between them or Jesus,,,  Jesus would have to win hands down!!  My relationship and my life with Jesus is for all eternity.  The things of this earth are temporary.  In the grand scheme of things, earthly life is but a blink of an eye compared to eternity.  Here today, gone tomorrow so to speak.

Its really hard to imagine what eternity is.  Its hard to wrap your mind around it.  But let me see if I can give you a bit of an analogy.  Pick the largest sandy beach in the world and imagine how big it is, stand in the middle of it.  Now take one single tiny grain of sand and put it in your hand as you stand on that huge beach that you can not see the beginning or the end.  That tiny grain of sand is life on this earth and the beach is eternity.  Get the idea now?  You can not see the beginning of eternity and there is no end to it.  What do you then think is more important, life today or eternity?

When we can put things in perspective such as this then we can really begin to see what is more important.  I suffer from chronic illness and pain, but I do not let it control my life today because my eternal life is much more important to me.  I live for Jesus!!  I am promised a new body without illness, pain and sorrow in my eternal life.  So now I don't worry about what I am suffering today because it is but a blink of the eye in comparison to what I will have for all eternity.  Living a sinful life today is not worth what I might lose in heaven.  Am I perfect and without sin?  Of course not!!  But I strive to do the best I can and repent when I make a mistake because I want the rewards that await me in heaven and do not want to spend an eternity suffering in the lake of fire called hell.

We were not promised a life on earth without trials and tribulations but we were promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us  if we but call upon Him.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  We can also endure and get through all things through Christ.  If you suffer from chronic illness and pain you can get through it with His help.  One day at a time, one hour at a time and even one minute at a time, but you can make it with His help.  Call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be delivered.  I believe these things with all my heart.  I have called upon my Lord and Savior millions upon millions of times and each time He was there.  He comforted me and strengthened me.  He carried me when I no longer had the strength to carry myself.

When Peter got out of the boat and walked on water he had his focus on Jesus.  The minute he let the storms around him distract him enough to take his eyes off of Jesus he started to sink.  That is like life today.  The minute we let the storms of life distract us from keeping our focus on Jesus we begin to sink.  But like Peter if we keep our eyes on the Lord we can weather the storms of life and walk on water or rise above those storms.  So, get out of the boat and walk straight ahead because Jesus is there to help you!!

Until next time,,,,,,,,Blessings!

Another week has gone and what have I done???

Greetings!!

Another week has flown by and I did not get accomplished nearly what I had planned but I did manage to get a lot of other things done in the process, LOL.  Unfortunately the recipe with pictures that I had promised for today did not happen, hopefully by next week.  I did manage to get a lot of ceramics made and will post a few pictures at the bottom of this entry.

Tonight is the New Hope Christian Chronic Illness and Pain Support Group that I run at my church.  If you are local to Clinton, IL I invite you to attend whether you suffer from chronic illness and pain or know someone who does.  It starts at 6:30pm at New Hope Christian Fellowship Church at 118 S. Monroe St., here in Clinton.  For more information please visit the church web site at http://newhopeclinton.org 

The holidays are fast approaching and there is so much to do in preparation.  My birthday is the day before Thanksgiving this year but I have no real plans for it.  Maybe I will take myself out to dinner, but probably not as I will more than likely be cooking and baking all day for dinner on Thanksgiving day.  This year I plan on giving "home made" gifts to my friends for Christmas so I really need to get a start on what I can soon.  I will be making candies and fudge as well as baked breads, muffins and cookies.  The time seems to be flying by and I hope I can get it all done in time.

My church will have its food bank open on Saturday the 19th just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.  We will have whole turkeys and other fixings to go with a turkey dinner.  Again check the church web site for more information.  On the 17th of November there will be a free seminar on how to prepare a winning resume and conduct yourself in a job interview to win that job.  This is also on the church web site.  We have a busy month planned at church!!

Today is errand running day for me.  I have bills to pay, ceramic orders to deliver and many other little odd jobs.  Then tonight is the support group.  Its good to be busy, but sometimes, too busy, LOL.

I hope your week has gone well.

Until next time,,,,,,,Blessings!!

This is a tea for two set that has been ordered.

Another tea for two set.  I make these in a variety of styles and colors.

This mug was an experiment, it came out OK but I did learn a lot in the process, LOL.

The smallest bowl in a mixing bowl set, this is a work on progress.  It is in the style of blue delft ware.  This is underglazes so the colors will not look like this when glazed and fired.

This is the middle sized bowl, I just started putting the underglaze on.  As you can see I drew in my basic design and will now fill that in with color.  There is one more, larger bowl to the set to do after this one.  I will post pictures of the completed set once it is done.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!!

So much to do, so little time,,,,,,

Greetings!!

There is always so much to do, and so little time!!  Now that Halloween is over it is time to busy ourselves getting ready for the holidays.  This year I plan to make all the gifts I am giving.  There will be home made candies and fudge and baked breads, muffins and such.  I really need to get busy now on some of it or I will not get it all done!!

First, I am busy with ceramics trying to complete some orders.  I have been glazing every chance I get over the last several days trying to get a load ready to go in the kiln.  I plan on firing it tomorrow.  I was hoping for today but alas I am just not going to make it.  I also have a few loads of laundry to do today as well.

Happy 50th birthday wishes go out to my friend Harry!  I made a little birthday video for him that I will include at the bottom of this post as today is his birthday.

Last week I hit a fantastic sale at the grocery store and really stocked up.  Now that is my kind of shopping!!  I used every coupon I could find plus only bought on sale items.  That made for a huge savings.  According to my receipt I saved about half of what I spent or I should say, what I would have spent if I paid full price for everything and did not use any coupons.  In this day you really need to save where ever and when ever you can.

Next week I plan on having a recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin muffins complete with pictures.  I was hoping for this week but just ran out of time, LOL.  Hope you have a good week!

Until next time,,,,,,,,blessings!!

Harry, I hope you have an awesome birthday and don't forget I owe you 50 spanks the next time I see you, LOL.  Love you my dear friend!!