My cup runneth over...my day in pictures.

Good morning, everyone!

OY!  I am a year older!!!  :-)
I was completely blown away by all of the love and consideration that went into the cards, gifts, notes, and the amazing thoughtfulness of everyone, so I decided to share my day in pictures.

This is what I woke up to...

Maddie's card...the back read...

"To a wonderful blessing from the Lord,

To the most wonderful, beautiful, creative, outstanding rose of a mother!  Your the prettiest red rose anyone can find.  Mom, you are more special than I can explain and God loves it when you are the best mother a kid could have or ever want or imagine. May God bless you on your birthday."

This kid has a way with words!!! So, I'm CERTAIN that I am not worthy of such praise, but this definitely had me crying 5 minutes out of bed.

Eleanor's handiwork

In true Jack fashion....soooo cute!

This is from Miss Madelyn, too!  She felted me the picture.  She is ALL about flowers, pink, strawberries and sparkles!

Don't mind the messy handwriting...this girl is ALL about quantity and not quality right now.  lol

She is my project QUEEN!

While napping on the sofa(I know, I know, but I had a sore throat :-) ), the mailman came...BOY!  Was that a treat!

My best friend sent me this package FULL of wonderful treats...can you even imagine?  I LOVED everything SO MUCH and it totally blew me away!  Organic treats, clothes, CHOCOLATE, clothes, jewelry, accessories...what MORE could a girl ask for!?!  The card even sang to me....ahhhh...it was lovely.

We decided it was too beautiful outside to lay around, so we went to lunch and stopped at the thrift store!  YAY!  I scored some antique ironstone pieces for my collection($1),  a basket($1), summer clothes($5), some books($.25) and two movies for the boys($.50).  Have I ever mentioned that I love to thrift shop?  hahaha   This is my best attempt at a pic of all of us, lol.    If ONLY my arms were LONGER!

The tribe

The boys playing peacefully(for a minute) lol

When we got home, my husband called and had supper on it's way.  My favorite...soup from the local co-op.

 I love this stuff!

And I could definitely feel the love, lol!

My FAVORITE dessert, lemon bars!!!  I pretty much wolfed it down, sore throat and all!  :-) 

It was a good day.

And then....at church last night, my mother-in-law brought two big cakes and we devoured those, too!  YUMMM!

That is my day in pictures(I really think I need a new camera, don't you?  lol) !  I hope you enjoyed them.  God is so good to each one of us, isn't HE?

Mary  :-) 


The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Psalm 23

My FUN weekend!

Hey, friends!  

It's Tuesday already!!!  I'm feeling totally unoriginal today, so I thought I'd share my weekend with you!  I spent ALL day yesterday cleaning, and organizing EVERY kitchen cupboard, my linen closet, and my 'junk' cupboard.  It literally took ALL day!

How was your weekend?  I had the opportunity to spend ALL day Saturday with my mom and sister.  We don't all get together very much because of our crazy lives, so it was SO MUCH FUN to spend the day together shopping, antiquing, EATING, and giggling.  

Here we are! Of course I forgot to bring my camera on Saturday(GAHHHH!), so this older photo will have to do!

Our first stop was at the antique show up in LaCrosse at Logan High School.  I LOVE ANTIQUES.  I love the history behind such simple objects and the stories that come with them.  I love the utilitarian pieces that were necessary for everyday life that I can treasure and still use again today.  I love the hunt, the friends I've made, and I love, love, love a bargain!  This show wasn't huge(which was a good thing), but I managed to come out with a treasure...

Isn't it fun?  I can think of LOTS of things to do with this beauty!  It's just what I needed(hahaha) for my spring decorating to take FULL swing!  :-) 

Our next stop was at a Spring gift and craft show(which is totally not my thing), but we had some good laughs there.  My sweet sister also bought me a new purse.  I love it!  

Then we headed to Holmen to check out some local shops there where I scored a SUPER COOL find!  A vintage stool for $10!!!!!  These babies sell at antique shows and shops for LOTS OF MONEY! SO, in typical Mary fashion, I snagged it quickly and loaded it into the back of my mom's smallish SUV.  I cannot WAIT to clean it up and poly it so I can bring it in.  It is still in the back of my car, so I'll post a pic of what it looks like until I can show you the before and afters.

This actually looks exactly like mine...I LOVE IT!  I love to mix industrial antiques with country pieces and of course modern, too.  I can't wait to glue, clean and finish it all up!

After an amazing lunch at Panera Bread(YUMMMMY!), we headed off to MY FAVORITE STORE OF ALL TIME(retail, that is).

TJ MAXX!!!

Whoever came up with this store is BRILLIANT!

We spent HOURS meandering through all of the aisles and thousands of items that suit hundreds of individual tastes and personalities.  This is THE perfect store for us.  My mom, sister and I have pretty different taste when it comes to decorating and clothing.  This store fits us all!  My sister scored a pair of sweet ORANGEY/CORAL shoes(her LOVE), haha! She got several other things too, but I think the shoes took the cake!  NEVER attempt to open her shoe closet...we may never find you!  :-) 

My mom found a super cool garden planter...I wish I had a pic because it is SO cool!   She also found a VERY COOL cast iron tray with birds on it, and a BEAUTIFUL floral picture for her bathroom that my hubby just remodeled for them.  I am going to post pictures about that project later!  If you need a fantastic remodel, he's your man!  

I had some birthday money to burn from my sweet husband, so I dove into the day and spent every last penny of my birthday inheritance!  I have been totally inspired lately by so many creative people and ideas.  My mind just goes crazy with never ending visions and possibilities.  Having vision is not always a good thing.  lol  Seeing potential in things can be good, but when you see potential in almost everything, your garage can start looking like a storage unit(hence my HUGE garage sale this summer).  I have gotten pretty good(ok, that's a stretch) at buying things that have potential that I only absolutely LOVE and will use in my house.  I just don't have much time to 'redo' things right now and sell them like I used to.

Here are a few pics of my treasures from the day...

This European inspired metal basket with super cute fabric by my back entrance!  My mom bought me the 

dragonfly wind chime!  You can't see the dragonfly though...OOPS!  lol

Cute picture board that I haven't decided where to put yet!  I found the same one online for $15 MORE than TJ MAXX!  Love it!  Oh, yes, and my ALL TIME fave...ticking stripe towels on CLEARANCE for $2!!!

A cuuuute pillow for my bed made out of a gauzy/burlappy material!  I LOVE burlap!

Clearance fabric tablecloths that are going to make SUPER cute curtains for my bathroom(potential!)...

Ginger Brew for the road...EW!  is all I can say!!!  I love a lot of this company's soda, but this one won't make the cut, so it's fair game for any of you.  :-) 

Our favorite preserves...can't leave there without it!

And on Sunday, a dear friend brought me this HUGE ball jar full of pussy willows!  She sure knows me!

I am so blessed to have such great friends!

Notice the daffodils have opened!  

This was a totally unusual weekend for me, because I hardly ever go retail shopping!  My husband was so sweet to keep all of the kids while I went out and played for my birthday.  It was a truly special weekend!  All of the things that I was fortunate to get are just MAJOR added bonuses to how God provides for us everyday.  Not essentials, just extras. 

On Sunday, I taught my Kindergarten Sunday School Class on God's provision and how He cares for us(I hope they got something out of it, because I had some pretty peppy little fellas in there!).  lol  It was such a simple story, yet SO relevant to our lives everyday.  His promises are SURE. They are TRUE.  We can count on them!  It really encouraged me that no matter where we are in life, or how tricky things seem to get, God cares, and He has PROMISED to take care of us. 

Here are the verses we talked about...

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"

Matthew 6:26

"Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Luke 12:27

God WILL take care of you!

I hope that you had a great weekend, too!

Good Stewards

Hi Everyone!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful day!  I got to spend it with some dear family that I don't often get to see!  We  had such  a great time chatting and visiting.  Family is such a blessing!  

Here is a picture of my husbands side of the family!  He has 6 sisters and 3 brothers which makes for a super fantastic, crazy busy, fun-filled life.  We wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING!  This picture was taken at my husband's grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary.  It was SUCH a great day!  Can you imagine Christmas with all these kiddos?!?!?  Let's just say it's 'eventful'!!!  :-)  Just imagine swimming through a sea of Christmas themed wrapping paper on the living room floor!  

Here is a picture of my side of the family!  I have one sister.  I love all of my family SO much!!!  This photo was taken at my nieces graduation.  I feel so old having a graduated niece and nephew(my nephew is even married...to an amazing woman!!!).   Makes me feel even OLDER!!! lol

I spent the rest of my day cleaning for my mom and dad again(IT"S FRIDAY!!!).  YAY!  

When I think about the love I have for my family, I obviously want the best for each and everyone of them!

We care about them deeply and their well being.  That is a huge reason why we love Shaklee.  It has helped us create a safer, healthier, environment for our families and has allowed us to share what we have learned about good stewardship.  Whether it be taking personal responsibiilty for your health or your environment, Shaklee has taught us that by making simple changes in your life, you can make a HUGE impact for yourself and those you love!

SHAKLEE WANTS TO HELP 50,000 FAMILIES GET HEALTHIER IN THE NEXT 7 WEEKS AND WE ARE ON A MISSION TO HELP THEM HELP YOU!  :-) 

For the Shaklee Family, every day is Earth Day. But this is a great time of year to tell our environmental story, and to teach how easy - and thrifty - it can be to make a difference for yourself, for your family, 

and for the planet.  One healthier home at a time.    In our family, we don't celebrate Earth day as much as we celebrate the Awesome Creator, who has blessed us with our wonderful families, our wonderful homes, and our health.  He has entrusted us to take care of what He has given us and use it to serve Him!  We feel that this applies to our bodies AND our habitat!

Consider this: one family deciding to convert to our non-toxic biodegradable household cleaners keeps the equivalent of 5,000 bottles of conventional "ready-to-use" glass cleaner out of landfills. What would it mean if 50,000 families did the same? A great big thanks from the planet, and from people all over the world who share this wonderful home we call Earth. 

         I am super excited to share this with you!

Through May 20, 2011,

Shaklee is offering FREE membership when you spend $30.00 in product!

As a member you will receive...

• 15% discount (off retail prices) on product purchases
• Special promotions, offers and discounts
• Unconditional money-back guarantee
• Access to MyShaklee.com, Shaklee’s center for health and wellness news and information from Shaklee’s Health Sciences Team, and product experts

It's time to GET CLEAN!

Let me know how we can help you create a safer, healthier environment for you and your precious family!  Small changes can create HUGE impacts!!!

Have a great weekend!