On The Fifth Day of Christmas

Image courtesy of Google.

On the fifth day before Christmas my true love gave to me, Five Golden Rings….

ZZZZEEERRRRP! (record scratch sound) Wait. What? What kind of rings?

Well if they’re from my true love at Christmas time they would be  these five things, err, rings:

1.       Family. Family is what it’s all about. Family makes us strong, brave, and compassionate. Family holds our hands through the good and the bad. Family helps us be better people than we would be without them. Family equals love. And love is everything because God is Love.

Image courtesy of Google.

2.      Faith. Faith has so many layers.   Have faith in yourself that you can achieve your goals, or at least conquer your biggest hurdles- which in and of itself is a pretty satisfying goal. Have faith in others, in human-kind. Not all people are bad, in fact most are good. We just hear more about the bad. (And remember, those bad people probably have grandmas who are praying for them.) Faith in God the Father. Without faith in the guidance from a higher power (whatever yours may be), life would be a bit “pin-bally”/ without direction.

3. Friends:Sometimes, if you're really lucky, you have good friends who become family. We are blessed with fabulous friends!

Photo by Tim. Woodshed built? Check!
Logs cut? Check!

4.       Hard Work: It’s the only satisfying way to get what you want and what you need.  As my true love would say, “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it.”  And, "If it was easy, anyone could do it." He’s so right. Work hard in your relationships, in your education, in your career, and, of course, to meet your dreams.

Make the world a better place
by planting a garden.

5.       Appreciation of our home: Look around at this beautiful Earth, be it the blue skies and green fields of Iowa, the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, or the rugged mountains of Colorado. Take time to appreciate a violet sunset, stars in the night sky, and the soaring beauty of an Eagle. Celebrate the plants and animals in your own back yard that go through the cycle of life every year. Don’t take this home for granted.

Photo by Tim. Okoboji sunset

Photo by Tim. Sunrise over the lake.

Photo by Tim.
The moon rises over the woods.

These five things. They’re IT. They’re all we need.

Merry Christmas and Peace to all.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Nadine's Notions to the Fourth Degree

Notion:noun 1. idea, conception. 2. opinion, view. 3. whim, fancy.*

The above dictionary definition is how I decided on the name of my blog.  I dug through the N section of the dictionary looking for alliteration- a word to go with Nadine. 

Now I wish I would have given my blog name a little more thought. Notion seems like such an old fashion word. Back in the day there used to be a "notions" section at Woolworth's and K-Mart that had all sorts of stuff for sewing.

Notion:noun 4.small useful articles (as pins, needles, or thread)*

A sewing selfie!

This week, my blog is about the fourth definition of Notion.

Typically, this time of year, Tim and I choose someone from the angel tree at church to buy for. This year, I had an overwhelming need to make Alzheimer Activity Quilts. I first saw them on Pinterest, (Pinterest is my friend.)  and thought "I can do that!"  Take a look at what I've created. I'm pretty happy with my novice work.

This is my first activity quilt. It's approximately 3ft by 3ft. and it had quite a learning curve. I used a green crush velvet dress in 3 of the squares. Never again. Crush velvet material is not for beginners! It moves all over the place when you're trying to sew it.

1. Lace & velvet collar 2. Silk ribbon to tie (from dress)
3 Tassel balls from the end of a scarf 4. Zipper pocket from swim trunks with a stuffed pup inside 5. Sliding buttons on red ribbons 6. Puffy gingerbread boys
7. Taggies from ribbon 8. Lace crinoline from dress 9. Buttons of various size and color.

My next two lap quilts are Christmas themed. I decided to make two smaller 2x2 quilts instead of one bigger 3x3 quilt and I'm happy with the way they turned out too.

Top Left: Beads inside a "tube" and felt fringe.
Top Right: Velcro hands Santa stuck to felt Christmas trees.
Bottom Left: Soft snowman picture frame.
I cut off the back, added beads and buttons and sewed it down.
(After I chased beads around the room a few times!)
Bottom Right: Big pocket stuffed with needlepoint coaster (someone else made)
and little wooden shoes.

Top Left: I call this my Father, Son, Holy Spirit square. Ribbons and sparkly white buttons.
Top Right: Wooden Christmas tree beads strung on embroidery floss.
Bottom Left: Soft Santa in a pocket
Bottom Right: The Star of Bethlehem. With a yellow brick-a-brack tail.

Every piece of these quilts were made from reclaimed materials. I bought items at Goodwill and Salvation army. Also, my teacher friends my recognize some of their old bulletin board fabric. Because I like to craft, I had plenty of left over doo-dads to use as well.

I plan to deliver these to a local nursing home tomorrow. I hope they will be put to good use!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Nadine

* The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974. p.480.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Like Thanksgiving Over Christmas

Photo courtesy of Google Images

OK. Let’s get this straight. I am a Christian. I am thankful for the Gift of Jesus. I am thankful for God’s Graces in my life. I celebrate the Birth of the Christ Child.

But. I don’t like the Christmas season. There. I’ve said it. I don’t think I’m a Grinch or a Scrooge. I don’t rain (or more likely, snow) on other people's Christmas parade, I just silently wait for January to come. 

Let me tell you why I like Thanksgiving over Christmas, and then maybe you’ll understand.

Number Ten: Its typically not as cold and snowy at Thanksgiving making travel less stressful.

# 10: Photo courtesy of Google Images

Number Nine: The “Food Train” last for two days, three at the most, not for the whole month.

Number Eight: Thanksgiving food involves pie. That’s all. No cookies. No candies. Just pie.

#6: The extent of my Fall/Thanksgiving
decor.

Number Seven: There are no Thanksgiving songs on the radio.

Number Six: Thanksgiving decorating equals Fall decorating. Fall lasts three months. Yay!

Number Five: To go with number six, My Thanksgiving decorations take up next to nothing of my storage space.

Number Four: Shopping lasts one afternoon. And it's just food.

# 5: Christmas decorations.
I have a few new ones, too!

Number Three: There are no physical gifts at Thanksgiving.

Number Two: Thanksgiving is not a *Consumerism Trojan Horse.

Number One: Thanksgiving gives us the opportunity to think about and be thankful for the graces in our lives, not the purchases we and our loved ones, friends, acquaintances, employees, employers, etcetera, will be making.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Until next time,

Yep.Shopping has commenced.
(I am not immune to it all, either.
 I really enjoy giving gifts to my loved ones.)

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine


*Metaphorically, the Trojan Horse is the invasion of something insidious into your life. Think about it: “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” and decorations filling the stores by Halloween. Black Friday. This year Black Friday is every Friday in November.  Cyber Monday. Consumerism run rampant - it just sucks us in -the tail wagging the dog.