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The Winner Winner ( Chicken Dinner! ) of my  Let’s-Celebrate-my-Cuppy-Cake-Grandbaby Give-away is…….Miss Ashley Draper!!! Woooo Hooooo! Hooray for you Sugar! I think it is so fun that although Miss Ashley was picked at random her name is the same as my dear daughter who is blessing me with a sweet little bundle from heaven! Bless you Sugar Pie Ashley….I know you will enjoy these goodies…. and just in time for the Holidays too!

I am so thankful to all of you for leaving me such glorious congratulations on my daughter expecting her first baby and my first grandchild! My goodness, what an outpouring of lovely and endearing sentiments! I loved all of your suggestions as to what I should be called too!  (Yes! I read them all!) I haven’t decided on my name yet,  fortunately I have until spring to choose! Like most of you said….whatever I am called it will be the sweetest name my ears will ever hear coming from my grand-baby! OH HONEY! I can’t wait!!

Time for another Q and A! I am always so thrilled to receive so many comments from y’all and I wish I could respond back to each and every one. I love to know what your thoughts are. I get a lot of  questions and from time to time I like to have a Q and A to share  my answers….from my heart to yours! So let’s get started!

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Q. Do you decorate for Halloween? I can’t imagine you decorating with fake spiderwebs…

A. Well, my answer is not going to be popular…and that is okay….a gals gotta do what is in her heart…my answer is NO, I do not decorate for Halloween. Here’s why Sugar Pie:

1. I don’t like scary things.

2. I only want to fill my home with happy goodness.  Things that promote God’s blessings and bring honor to Him…things that cause me to reflect on good not evil, on life not death,  on joy not fear,  on light not darkness. Also, children have a difficult time separating what is real and what is not, and I would only want my home to be a place that feels safe and full of comfort and joy.

“Whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence  and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things (fix your mind on them). ” Philippians 4:8

3.  I understand that the typical Halloween decor of witches, ghosts, and morbid things are “all in fun” but when I read the following scriptures, they confirm my decision: Ephesians 6:12,  3 John 1:11,  Deuteronomy 18:9-14,  Ephesians 5:11-12,  and 1 Corinthians 10:31.

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My kids have always dressed up in costumes (non-scary) and they have enjoyed gathering candy from neighbors in the past (by-passing the “haunted” houses) but now we  go to our Church Harvest Parties. This year Summer is going to be Strawberry Shortcake and we are attending  a Church Fall Festival where they have all kinds of fun games and plenty of candy!  It’s a great outreach to the community, offering a safe place for kids and an opportunity for them to hear about the Gospel through a fun program that they put on. It’s amazing to hear how many kids give their heart to the Lord! Families who don’t normally go to church would see the care, joy and love our church members shared and many would begin bringing their family to church. It’s a good thing.

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We love to celebrate the delights and goodness  that God has blessed us with during  the Autumn season…without the scary stuff…and that’s just the way we like to do things down-home at The Farmhouse. (If you hold a different opinion about decorating for Halloween we can still be friends…can’t we?)

Q. Who is the artist that painted the beautiful pictures of homes in your entryway? I see when you decorate for fall and winter, you change the paintings to reflect the seasons. One has a house and fall colors, and one has snow.

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This one is titled “Abundant Harvest”….a scene from Napa Valley CA.christmas-decor-2008-097

This one is titled “Holiday Gathering”…

A. The artist is Thomas Kinkade (click here to find him). His artwork is so charming and full of light…in fact he is called “The Painter of Light”.  The windows of the homes that he paints always glow  with warmth and coziness….they are so inviting you just wish you could take a peek inside!  One way to do so is through his books… in the past few years he has written several novels that reflect the kind of charming small town life that he paints. You can find his books here on Amazon. Here is just a sampling:

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The Christmas Angel (Click here to read a sample)

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A Christmas Visitor (Click here to read a sample)

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A Christmas To Remember (Click here to read a sample)

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A Gathering Place (Click here to read a sample)

These are the kind of books that are great to read on a blustery day, with a cup of hot cocoa, sitting in a comfy chair next to the fire!

Q. Would you please give some tips and  how to begin decorating – making a cozy home? Of course, I have the basics furniture wise but somehow it’s not that cozy. And I don’t have a lot of extra money to spend. So how does one start and do you pick one room to work on at a time? How can you do things cheaply?

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Photo Source: Country Living

A. Here are a few ideas to start with …more in future posts:

1. Put your apron on…. light a yummy candle…turn the TV off and put on some lovely music!  Create a Happy Home Atmosphere!  Then it’s always best to start with a clean uncluttered room.  Pack up or put away little nick-knacks or things that really don’t speak to you heart.  The decorative things that you have, that you love, try grouping them together rather than placing them all around the room.  Give your eye places to rest, in other words don’t cover every surface with “stuff”.

2. Start collecting magazine pictures (or ones on the Internet) of rooms that you love….rooms that send a message to your heart this is what HOME looks like….so you can identify your own personal style. Put those pictures in page protectors, then in a notebook, divided into catagories…Kitchen…Family Room…Bedroom..etc. Then start little by little to incorporate some of those ideas.

3. Pretty plates are easy to find, and many times inexpensive, at yard sales or flea markets, even ebay. The picture above shows a great idea to hang them in the middle of vintage frames! I just found on the internet a new way to hang them without using the wire hangers….I haven’t tried them yet but plan to. They are called Dischangers (Disc Hangers) here is what they look like…..

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Photo: Country Living

4. How about a palate of whites and creams, it’s very soothing, simple and clean looking. A can of Swiss Coffee White could give your room (and furniture) a whole new look.

5. If you have a fireplace, make that the focal point of the room. I love the mirror that was made out of an old window frame shown in the photo above.

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6. Paint the inside of an old cupboard a favorite color.

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Photo: Country Living

7. I love the mis-matched chairs in this photo painted white…you could find these one at a time at flea markets…bring them home and paint them white. Before you know it you’ll have enough to sit around your kitchen table.

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Photo: Country Living

8. Set the table for the next meal. It looks homey and sends a loving message to your family that you will be serving up a meal later to warm their tummies! (love the painted coffee can vases!)

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Photo: Country Living

9. If you have a collection of something, keep them gathered together, as I mentioned above. Keep it simple and uncluttered and make sure it blesses your heart when you look at them.

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10. Scented candles and a  little lamp in the corner of your kitchen counter always cozies up the room. A warm glow in the kitchen is a homey delight for the eyes.

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11.  Think about how you want your home to feel. Most of all you and your family should feel loved and nurtured.  I love the mood that Ma on Little House on the Prairie set in her home….she had a tenderness and grace that made her family feel safe, secure, comforted and cozy.  She had grit ….and  was never lazy. She did what had to be done in a day. But she knew how to laugh too! She was dependable and fun-loving! The mother sets the tone in the home!  These are the things that really make a home cozy. It’s more about the tender, loving, care that  we fill our homes with. The other “stuff” is just frosting on the cake.

Healthy expressions of love must be carefully cultivated in the home environment, so that children go out into the world with the right ideas about what love is, what it isn’t and how to demonstrate it to others. ~ William Coleman

Well God bless you Sugar Pies!

Be Blessed today!

Hugs!

Aunt Ruthie

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