Happenings at the Berry Patch

Good beautiful afternoon friends!  Spent the morning with the Lord in His Word, then in the beautiful outside.  I (along with Pepper, our miniature schnauzer) went for a walk along our country road.  Praising God for such a gorgeous day, beautiful blue sky and sunshine, wonderful breeze, pretty flowers to stop and smell along the way (as Pepper marked the trees, haha).  It is a gorgeous 72 degrees out there.  I'm not trying to rub it in, so sorry for those of you that are covered in snow.  I would gladly take some!!  We went all winter with only 2" of snow (at different times) that was gone by the afternoon.  You all stay safe, be careful out there!

It's been a busy time here at the Berry patch.  It's so important for me to be praising God right now because there are some things going on that I wish were different circumstances but I will praise God for whatever He brings our way!  While we still don't know what is going on with the American Airlines bankruptcy; after much prayer, Rich and I have decided it's best for me to go back to work part time right now.  I spent two weeks filling out paperwork and training to substitute teach at the 5 schools here in Catoosa.  I'm ready to go now... but my body isn't.  I have been sick for a couple of weeks.  I thought it was a really bad sinus infection and was treating it as such.  I would feel better so I tried to do things around the house and it would wipe me out. It was a continuous cycle, lol.  It's so hard to be down!  Rich finally made me go to the doctor yesterday, thank goodness!  I have bronchitis.  Ugh!  So after my first round of steroids and antibiotics, I am feeling so much better already.  But a very long ways to go to normal.  I'm also contagious so I have to stay away from the kids.  =[   Hopefully by next week, I will be doing well.  Gonna go talk to my old boss about working at Hobby Lobby again over the summer.  Not liking being sick, not looking forward to working again... it's so hard when there are 3 kids here to tend to and take places.  But I know this is what needs to be done.  Prayers would be appreciated!  Thank you much!!

Yes, there is still much to be thankful for and I will praise God for blessing me even though I don't deserve it~

I am really behind on showing you so many goodies that I have won and bought these past 2 months so I will break it up into a couple of posts.  First up is this awesome hand stitched Easter egg tuck that I won from Marilyn over at Fanciful Stitches!!  She is beautiful, such an adorable bunny!!  I have been following Marilyn's blog probably for a couple of years now and so very thrilled to have something made from her talented and creative hands!  She is such a sweetheart too, love that gal!  Go pay Marilyn a visit and see what she's stitching up.  Thank you again Marilyn, I LOVE it!!  Although all my Easter/spring is packed up, this sweetie is staying out.

Just look at the attention Marilyn pays to the little details!  Cute little butterfly embellishment on the front.  Beautiful vintage bead trim around the edge (wish I had gotten a close up picture of it), and such a pretty print on the back.

Marilyn has another blog that you all might like a little bit better for it is a prim blog: ~Harvest Moon Primitive~.  But I'm here to tell you that both of her blogs are wonderful!

Since I'm talking about blog friends, I think I'll share with you next what sweet Carole over at Prim n Raggedy gifted me with.  She did a post back in March about some lovely soap that she had made.  One was daffodil scented!  Ooooh, being a daffodil lover, that caught my attention right away!  I commented that I would love to smell it and asked her if she was selling it.  Gracious Carole said she would send me a sample in the mail.  For some of you this is no big deal, but I was pretty excited to receive "Royal Mail", hehe!

Rich was ever so curious, haha!  He thought that was pretty neat that Carole would just send me some of her homemade soap all the way from the UK.  I told him that's why I adore my blog friends so much!  Not for the gifts, lol... but for their ever so big hearts!!

Tucked away in these cute little bags were 4 different soaps that Carole made.

I mainly wanted them to display in my bathroom but Carole suggested I try it on my skin for they are made out of goat's milk.  Not to let the name fool you, because it smells SO much better than monkey farts (I don't know what they smell like but it can't be good).  I use the Monkey Farts scented soap in my bathroom when I wash my hands and it is wonderfully soft and smells so good!  Carole made sure that I knew that is the name the manufacturer uses, not one she came up with, hehe.

My daughter laid claim to this one.  Oh dear, I forgot which scent it was but it smells wonderful!  I think it was an Abercrombie scent?

With the Honey Wash scented flip flop, I shared my gift with my swap partner Linda.  I let her know where it came from and the details about it.  Isn't it darling?  The honey wash smells heavenly!

The daffodil scented soap is in my main bath with some other flower shaped soaps but none smell as good as this one!  It is wonderful!

Carole was such a sweetheart to send me some of her handmade goat's milk soap!  Thank you again Carole!!

One more picture for today, this post is already too long, with too much of my rambling, lol.  I was so excited to get out and go antiquing with a friend last week, on one of the days I actually felt decent and thought I was better.  I had $$ to spend so you can probably guess what happened... it was a bust.  =[  I should have left my money at home, then I would have found all kinds of awesome things, haha!  I found a few pieces of homespun for super cheap, a little Americana box (with some of those old flag stickers still inside) that will go on my old school desk, and an old very worn out Amish doll that I felt so sorry for and had to bring her home for a buck.

I was afraid someone might throw her in the trash so I thought I better rescue her.  I was going to throw away her bonnet, but she can't have a new bonnet with an old faded dress and worn out stockings so she will stay like she is.  She was well loved!!

Sorry for such a long post friends.  I appreciate it dearly if you stayed with me till the end.  =]  Remember... there is always, ALWAYS something to be thankful for~