Birthday Reflections and a Simple Side Table Mat Pattern

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.--2 Cor. 4:16-18

Well, here I am, another year older.  My birthday falls in my favorite season of the year...when I look out the window and see the trees in vibrant colors, with a carpet of fallen leaves covering the ground.  Many trees are a topaz yellow color, with some splashes of ruby, emerald and orange garnet interspersed.  I enjoy the coolness in the air and the smell of fires burning.  I enjoy the cloudy gray days and cool rain, but I also take pleasure in seeing a sapphire sky behind all of the beautiful colors of nature on a clear day.  I anticipate the arrival of winter, when the snow blankets everything in a dazzling display of glittering diamond snowflakes.


There's so much to be thankful for, too.  During this time of the year, we start to turn our thoughts toward Thanksgiving--traditionally a time to give thanks--but it's important to stop and realize just how blessed we really are all of the time.  Every time I come into the house from outside, I think about how glad I am to have a warm cozy house to live in.  I'm thankful for my health, despite the problems I've been having.  I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and best friend.  I'm grateful that we always have food to eat in the fridge, and the extra income to eat out if we so choose.  I'm blessed to not have to worry about any basic need being filled.  There are many who can't say that.  Mostly, though, I'm thankful for the gift of salvation that I have been given, and the assurance that when I leave this life, I'll be with the One who created me, and there's no greater gift to be thankful for in life.  There's a total peace that comes with that knowledge, and nothing on earth can offer that.

In the midst of all of my reflection, I took the time to start making things with my new fabrics.  I created a simple, yet pretty, set of table mats that I thought I would share with you!  The instructions below are for making two matching mats.

You will need:
4-3" x 13" strips of border fabric
4-3" x 12" strips of border fabric
2-9" x 12" center panel of contrasting fabric
2-16" x 13" coordinating backing fabric (I used the same fabric for the backing and front border)
One spool of matching thread
2-2 1/2 yd. packages of matching piping

Do this:
Pin the long sides of the center panel to the long sides of the 3" x 12" strips, right sides together.  Sew these edges using 1/2" seams.  Iron the seams open.

Pin the 3" x 13" strips of fabric to the sides of of the middle panel, right sides together.  Sew these, making sure to keep the seams flat on the sewn piece.  Iron the new seams open.

Cut lengths of piping to slightly larger than each side of the panel.  Pin the piping to the right side of the fabric edge of the top panel.  Line the bottom edge of the piping up to the raw edge of the panel on the right side of the fabric.  Overlap the piping on each corner, and sew along the edge of the piping (usually 3/8").  You can use a special sewing machine foot, but my regular foot worked fine for me.

Pin the backing along three sides of the panel and piping, with the right sides of the fabric together.  Leave the fourth side open for turning out.  Sew along the same line that you created when you sewed on the piping for a guideline.  Iron the edges flat, then turn the last raw edges inward and pin.  Sew along the edge of the piping to close the mat.  Iron the remaining edge flat.

Repeat the steps for your second cover.  You should now have two table mats for your living room end tables!  Great job.  Your overall size should be about 15" x 13".  You can be more creative than me and add batting and quilting, or you can simplify it by leaving out the piping (and skipping a step or two in the instructions).  This is just a basic, simple pattern that you can use as a base for whatever you can create!

Birthday Fun Continues!

Hello!  I'm finding it hard to keep up with the blog lately.  Since the holidays are approaching, I find that life seems to get busier.  I've been continuing with birthday fun, and wanted to share a few tips for others to get free stuff for their birthdays as well.  I have received freebies from Chili's, Texas Roadhouse, Auntie Ann's, Speedway (I know, a bit weird), and Dairy Queen.  How, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you!

Chili's: Go to their website and sign up for their e-mail club.  You receive coupons on a regular basis for specials that they run at the restaurants for appetizers, desserts, drinks and more.  On your birthday, you receive a coupon for a free dessert (mine was a brownie sundae, but I don't know if it changes).

Texas Roadhouse: My favorite restaurant, by the way!  Join their e-mail club (used to be called VIP club) by clicking on the link for a free appetizer on the bottom of the page.  Fill out the info and you'll receive a free appetizer on your birthday, and a free appetizer for your anniversary (if you're married) and also for your "anniversary" of the date of signing up for the e-mail club.

Auntie Ann's: Sign up for Pretzel Perks.  Again, it's an e-mail thing.  You receive monthly coupons for free pretzels or drinks, and for your birthday you also get a free pretzel (this time, I had to buy a pretzel to get one for free.  Oh well.).  These are sent out all year.

Speedway Gas Stations: If you are a member of the Speedy Rewards points club, you know that you receive points for anything and everything you buy from the gas station/convenience store.  On your birthday, you are sent a coupon for 200 free points--just go in with the coupon and your rewards card and have the cashier scan it, and boom!  Free points.  You can earn a lot of great things with your points, from free candy bars to money off your gas purchase.

Dairy Queen: Join the Blizzard Fan Club and you receive occasional coupons for Blizzards.  On your birthday, you receive a BOGO for Blizzards.  One is never really enough anyway, right?

I'm sure that there are others out there too; if you have some ideas, leave a comment at the bottom of the post!

I'm a bit sad about being a year older.  When you start to realize that you are getting to the age in life that you never thought you'd be when you were young, it sobers you a bit.  Sometimes being a grown-up is hard and not fun.  But when you have great family around you, and someone to love and spend all of your birthdays with, it is worth it.

We spent this weekend with family--my mother and stepfather on Saturday, and my in-laws on Sunday.  We all had a good time together.  Now I'm wondering, "where did the weekend go??"!  Here are a few photos of our fun on Saturday at the Toledo Zoo.  They are setting up for the annual Lights Before Christmas display, which can be seen in some of the photos:

White Lion--he looks fierce, but he's actually just yawning.

Mr. Hippo gives us the stink-eye.  He has tiny eyes.

Lizard!?! "I seeeeee yoooooouuuu!"

One more lizard.  I loved his colors!

The elusive mallard.  "Quack quack quack".  Translation: Quack quack quack.

What a great day to work on your tan...

Owl Corner: Long-Eared Owls

Photo from Wikipedia

Long-eared owls are kind of funny looking, in my opinion.  Kind of like they are constantly surprised.  These owls are medium in size, averaging around 14" tall, with females being slightly larger.  They have a brown and buff colored plumage, and the females tend to be a little lighter in color.  Their habitats encompass most of the United States, and they are also widely found across Europe and into parts of Asia, including Russia and China.  They tend to be found in forests, woodlands, and river areas, with nests typically found in very dense forests.  The females typically lay 4-5 eggs, but can be as few as three and as many as eight eggs at a time.  They prey mostly on other mammals, such as voles, mice, squirrels, bats, and even small rabbits.  They are also known to hunt other birds, and their enemies include Great Horned and Barred owls, and raccoons are known to steal eggs.

Information taken from The Owl Pages and All About Birds.

Aging is an inevitable part of life.  From the moment we are born, we being to age, and yes, die.  No one is immune from this, regardless of all of the silly vampire movies that say otherwise.  The Bible has several passages about growing old and still being Christ-like: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:16-18).  "Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled" (Titus 2:2-5).  And finally, "The glory of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is their gray hair" (Proverbs 20:29).  (That last one was for the hubs, when he someday loses his auburn locks to the distinguished look of white.)  While our bodies will always age, it's what we do with them that makes all of the difference to the Lord.  He has given us directions of how to "age gracefully", so to speak.  It's what I strive for--but I am rarely graceful.  Still...if I have to get old, I might as well do it Biblically!

Life Happens

My Husband's Birthday
This week, we celebrated my husband's 30th birthday.  Hard to believe he's finally joining me in the thirties!  We went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant to celebrate, and I got some balloons, a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, and a can of Pibb for decoration.  If you knew my husband, you would understand the Doritos and Pibb, so for those who don't: the Doritos are in honor of sticking to good eating habits for six months now, and the Pibb is in celebration of his vow to not drink any Pibb (his favorite pop) from the beginning of the year to his birthday--six and a half months, a big commitment for him.  He got to enjoy some old favorites on his birthday!   We were up to visit my family over the weekend, and while we were up there, we celebrated his birthday with a golf-themed ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.  We had a few days of birthday celebration for him, but he left for a business trip the day after his birthday.  :(

An Owl for My Sister:

Crescent Roll Pockets

So, at work today, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the half of the can of crescent rolls that I would have left over after I made a pot pie for dinner.  Then I had an idea.  I decided to try making them into chocolate-stuffed and cinnamon-sugar-stuffed pockets!  Below are the steps and recipe for the creation I call "Crescent Roll Pockets":

First, create four rectangles from pinching the seams together of each set of triangles, like in the picture above.

Pat the rectangle out and make it more uniform in shape, if necessary.  For the picture above, I sprinkled about a teaspoon of cinnamon on the dough, then roughly 1-2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

For this crescent pocket, I decided to try and make it cinnamon-sugary.  I spread butter over the dough, then mixed 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of lightly-packed brown sugar in a bowl, then spread it over the butter.  You can certainly experiment and create whatever flavors you want!  Just be sure to leave an edge around the dough for sealing.

To fold the dough, follow the steps in the pictures above, and when you've folded all of the sides in, pinch the seams together on the top to seal and keep the stuffings in.  Bake them in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until they are golden brown, then remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes.

 While the pastries are cooling, make the glaze: 1/4 to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk, and about 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Mix all together in a small bowl, adding milk a little at a time until you get your desired consistency for the glaze.

When the pockets are cooled, drizzle the glaze over the top.  Then, grab a fork and enjoy!  You're welcome.

A Loss in the Family
I mentioned earlier that we were up to visit with family over the past weekend.  The reason was because my uncle, my mother's brother, passed away from an illness.  It was a sad time, for obvious reasons.  He was always a good uncle to us, and he was always nice to us.  I have many good memories of him, and he was a neat man.  He liked to dabble in all sorts of hobbies: he tried growing crops, he did canning, he created barbecue sauce, he brewed his own raspberry wine, he restored antique telephones, he sold Christmas trees, and just generally seemed to enjoy life.  He seemed to succeed in anything he tried to do!  He even gave us one of his phones a few years ago, and it's been a prized possession of ours ever since.  Now, it's something that will always remind us of him every time we see it hanging on the wall in the kitchen. My husband didn't know him extremely well, but he always enjoyed the times that we were able to visit with my uncle.  Please pray for my uncle's children, grandchildren, my mom, and my mom's other brother, who are still grieving, but are glad for the time they were able to spend with him on earth.

Sad Garden

Sad, sad, sad.  It's certainly struggling under the severe conditions that seem to have settled over this part of the country.  While I water whenever I can, it doesn't seem to help that much.  There's such a difference in the plants when it rains, as opposed to a good soaking from the hose.  Though I would love to have a rain barrel, and not have to use chemically-treated city water in the garden, a rain barrel does no good if there has been no rain!  Everything is still alive, but it seems that the hot sun beating down all day just makes them so droopy.  It's cloudy now, and there is rain in the area, so here's hoping for a good soaking from mother nature!

A blossom on my pumpkin plant

My heirloom chocolate cherry tomato plant--hoping to keep some of the seeds and do it again next year

Rain's a-comin'!

I feel like some days are a real struggle.  Life is hard, even though we have all of these incredible conveniences today.  The world is not a friendly or nice place, so we take comfort and refuge with family and friends that we love.  And that's not a bad thing; we are meant to have relationships with the people around us.  But are we building the kind of relationship that we need to have with the One who created us?  He loves us more than we can imagine!  He will give us strength to endure each day, each hour, each trying minute of our lives.  The trials and grief, along with the joys of life, all work to mold us into the person that He wants us to become.  "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.