Chairs and the Basics

These chairs (at the Polebridge Mercantile in MT)

 make me think of what I really need to succeed in life.

I may seek the new, the trendy, the latest, the biggest....

BUT what I really need is the tried and true. 

 The basics.

Keeping Jesus in the center.

Keeping in touch with Him through the Word and prayer.

And keeping in touch with others through fellowship and witnessing.

I am renewing my commitment to this focus and these practices 

through our Life Group Discovery Class.

Focus.

Discipline.

Trust.

Obedience.

= success.

“Begin your day in the calm trust that God is at work in everything.” 

Goodwill Bargain and DO-OVERs.

Bought my first-ever dollar day bargain at Goodwill last Thursday.

Got this end table for a buck....
missing a piece on the bottom shelf, very dirty, very shabby.
Needing some love and attention and a DO-OVER.
So, I sanded, primed, and spray painted it black.

And here's the result.

Am so glad that God gives us DO-OVERS when we are messed up and dirty and shabby.

Apple Dumpling Bake

This is a delicious, easy frugal "fall" recipe.  

Made for a pot-luck dinner the other night and it was a hit.

• 
  
• 2 large Granny Smith apples
• 2 tubes Crescent roll (8 each)
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 12 ounces Mountain Dew (really)

Cut each peeled and cored apple into 8 wedges (I rolled them in cinnamon sugar).

Roll each wedge in crescent roll.  Place in greased 9x13" pan.

Melt butter in saucepan and stir in sugar and cinnamon.

Pour over apple dumplings.

Pour Mountain Dew over the dumplings.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

SPOILED

This is what greeted me after my return from an overnight stay 

while I attended the Women of Faith conference in downtown Phoenix last week-end.

I'm spoiled, I know.

 I really believe that Doug is a far better husband than I am a wife.

Autumn memory

Autumn pic from vacation last October.

Breckenridge, Colorado