Good Ole Mater Sammy~ Susan Branch Summer Read ~ Wax Seal Fun

 Hello everyone! Today I worked on Thank You cards and making my wax seals for them. I really enjoyed making my seals. It has been since Christmas since I have made them. I usually make some up in advance so I can easily add them to cards. Here are a few I made today. Toward the end I also painted some to enhance the imprint and they turned out great. I did not get a pic of those. 

I use two methods. I use a glue gun method (my preferred way) as well as an electric wax melting gadget (better for just one or two seals). I usually work with the glue gun mostly because you can make more at a time and they come out better looking to me. I had a lot to make today so after using the electric gadget I switched to the glue gun method. 

I did a few different ones today! I went back and forth using some of this stamp, a sunflower and a thank you stamp.

I colored some more thank you cards as well. I had to take a few breaks as sitting for long periods of time still for some reason is causing a lot of discomfort in my pelvic area. So, when I felt this discomfort and pressure, I would take a break and rest in bed with the newest Susan Branch edition of The Summer Book which was on my Summer "To Be Read" list. Oh, her work is so beautiful and cozy.

 I mean how can you not love these illustrations! This book has some neat quotes, artwork, sayings that hit the heart in a joyful Chicken Soup for the Soul kind of way. Perfect for summer!! There are a few recipes I would like to try one day.

SPEAKING OF SUMMER.... IF YOU ARE FROM THE SOUTH (USA)... THEN YOU KNOW!!! Is it REALLY SUMMER if you do not have a good OLE' Mater Sammy?! Today's daily photo theme is Fruits or Vegetables. So, here is the PHOTO OF THE DAY!! I enjoyed this delish sandwich for lunch and also ate the remainder of the tomato to the side. This is straight from a garden from a man in our church who loves to share his bounty! 

I love cracking fresh pink Himalayan salt and ground pepper on the tomato!!! Oh, summer sandwich perfection!!!

Here is the PHOTO CHALLNGE LIST.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend!!!

With Love, 

Chrissy T

Busy Bee~

Hello everyone! Today's photo challenge was a little hard because I wasn't sure how to capture the theme BUSY! As you all know I am far from living a life of "BUSY" at the moment. 😆

BUT..... I captured this BEE on the Crepe Myrtle blooms; it was BUSY doing its thing. It could have not been a better capture of BUSY. 

Look closely....

I hope you all have a great weekend. I will leave you with this that I seen on Pinterest. It is so fitting to add to this post.

Feel free to join in on the daily photo challenge at any time. 

With Love, 

Chrissy T

Things that CALM

 Hello everyone!! Today's photo challenge is CALM! I knew immediately that I would take this picture today. Because during this season and truly all my seasons of life being in the presence of the Lord and in His Word always bring me a calmness!!  MY PHOTO FROM TODAY THAT REPRESENTS CALM IS BELOW.....

I am going through all my digtial photos while I am in recovery to start completing my photo books. I thought this would be a good time to clean up my photos on my phone. I have been using Amazon Photos for extra storage for years. Each year I usually get on and download all my phone photos to the storage and then I will go back and clean up the ones I don't need. I will make photo books or prints for the year. I am behind two years so this is a great time to catch up. 

With that being said as I was going through photos for 2026 and 2025, I decided to share photos of things that also BRING CALMNESS to my soul or makes me remember how calm I was in that moment that I took the photo!!

In no particular order here are things that always brings me calmness. From Sunsets, family time, church moments, gazing out at overlooks on mountain tops, hiking trails, kayaking, eating outdoors, waterfalls, sitting by creeks, forest walks, walking through gardens, sitting by campfires, and sitting on a beach watching and listening to the waves.... here we go.

Oh, I could share a ton of photos of things that bring me calmness. Worshipping Jesus, sitting in an empty or full church, watching animals, listening to ocean waves, light spring rain, and creating... Oh, I am so thankful how the Lord has created so many wonderful things for us to enjoy and that bring a calm salve to our souls. 

What a WONDERFUL WORLD! 

What brings you a sense of CALM? Share!!! 

With Love, 

Chrissy T

A Yummy Drink~ Photo Challenge~ Where Would You Travel??

 Hello everyone. I had a yummy DRINK of sorts today for the July Photo Challenge which was a DRINK.

There is nothing like a float! I love a good ole float. While some may not think it falls under the category of DRINKS I beg to differ. 

I love a good ole Rootbeer float but I had to settle (deliciously so) for a coke float! It was treat after dinner!

Thank you to those that are joining me for Photo of the Day July Challenge. Hop in anytime!! Even if you can't do it daily. **Reminder, this was found on Pinterest with no information or link to the creator. I cannot take credit for the design or challenge creation. **

I did take a little walk today. I was able to do 10 minutes today. I will say I am actually having a harder week as far as pain, uncomfortable feelings and lack of energy this week more than the first two weeks. I do hear that this is fairly normal for some in the third week of recovery. So, hopefully that is all it is. My days seem very monotonous, but I am reading some good Bible studies, listening to good preaching and teachings, journaling, scripture writing, and reading lot of good books for leisure. As well as coloring and resting A LOT. 

The crepe myrtle blooms are in full glory this time of year. I have 4 crepes in our yard. This one is huge. 

I am still not able to stand long and cook so the hubby purchased two premade "homemade" meals at a local place that makes homemade meals for your freezer or for catering. He picked up a chicken alfredo. So, we made that this evening. It was so nice to just put in the oven and bake it up and serve. It reminds me how I need to get back to freezer prepping. I did that a lot when all our children lived at home.

I did have some bread in the freezer that I popped in as well to serve alongside. All of our grown kids were over tonight as well as their "significant others" which meant a full table. We laughed and had good conversations. We each shared a dream place we would like to visit in America and outside of America. It was fun hearing all their desired places that they want to travel to.

I love moments like this. I love that so far, our grown kids want to spend time with us. It could be the "free" food but hey I will take it. LOL! It isn't every day. 

Back to our travel dreams! I was surprised how many of us had similar places we would like to visit.

The Hub said he would like to visit some states in the east and see the Redwoods in California and for out of the country he wants to go to Scotland or New Zealand.

Ethan (26) our oldest said he would like to visit New York and Japan.

Hannah (21) said Glacier National Park Area and Thailand or Iceland.

Clayton her boyfriend also said Glacier and New Zealand.

Kyle our youngest (19) said Miami and Germany.

Carleigh his girlfriend said anywhere in the West of USA (California, Oregon or something) and Japan or Korea.

Of course, I had a hard time answering this because I love to travel. I said for the East of USA~ Acadia National Park, Salem, Massachusetts, Cape Cod or something like that. For the West of USA~ Hands down dream National Park is Glacier National Park. Out of the country~ The Cotswold's in England or New Zealand or Sweden. 

Oh, it was so hard for me! HAHA! The kids got a good laugh because they said the question was for top dream place and I said those all are!!! HAHA! 

Anyway, we had a good dinner. I am almost finished with one of my second reads for this Summer. Midsummer Mysteries (collection of short stories) by Agatha Christie. It has been very enjoyable. I will be sure to be done with it by tonight or tomorrow. 

I finished the book Kim (Exquisitely Unremarkable blog) sent me as a Get Well gift last night. The book, Comfort Prayers. I LOVED THIS LITTLE BOOK. It had become a nightly ritual to read some of this book every night after surgery before bed. It really soothed my soul and had so many wonderful prayers, poems and etc. I loved it so much. I was sad it ended. 

Anyhoo.... I would love to know what is a dream place you would like to visit? Share in the comments!

With Love, 

Chrissy T

My First Outdoor Walk ~ Photo Challenge~ WORDS

Hello friends. I hope you all are doing well. It is a little cooler here than it has been. Mind you it is still very hot. I was able to take my first "walk" after surgery yesterday. I haven't gone yet today. I had a lot of office/church book work I had to do. I do not want to get behind in bookkeeping for the church. It is a beast already. 

Today marks the beginning of my third week. I can now walk 5-10 minutes on a flat surface this week. I can eventually build up to 15-20 minutes. I was thinking 10 minutes would be no biggie. THEN..... I started walking and realized 5 minutes was HARD. So, I will be taking my time for sure. 

I am shocked how much pressure I felt. It was actually very shocking. This was a sign that slow and steady is my lot right now. 

Today, I had a little more energy and I needed to get some office work and church bookkeeping accomplished. 

Lots of printing, scanning and recording! LOTS! It is all done and I am all caught up. I am so thankful!

Today, my heart is swelling with THANKSGIVING because the Lord answered TWO specific requests for me and my husband. We had some deeply personal prayers where we really needed a miracle for our youngest son Kyle (19) and he answered it. We still have ongoing prayers for him and a very serious prayer for this coming Thursday. I believe if He answered this one for today, He will answer for Thursday! My husband and I without realizing it was praying about the same thing for our daughter, Hannah (21) yesterday. Neither of us knew until this morning that we both had focus prayer time for her job and for her a raise yesterday. She works very hard and is the "face" for her orthodontist. She is the first person that people see when they go to a consultation for braces. Since she took the position, their patients have increased by 75 percent. She works very hard and always has a smile. Not only that she jumps in all areas that are needing help. She celebrated being there a year last week and they had told her when they hired her last year, she would be evaluated and possibly receive a raise which is MUCH NEEDED as a young lady trying to kick off young adulthood in these times. The Lord answered my husband and I (her too) and unbeknownst to her when she got into work today they blessed her with a raise. We are thankful. 

On to my Photo for the July Daily Photo Challenge! The theme is WORDS. I am sharing TWO today! 

The first photo is of my Thank You cards that you can color. I am having a lot of fun with them. I also do wax seals for letters and cards. I am so excited to get my seals and wax out after I color them to have some fun!

My second one is this lovely sign with the words Simplify on it. A statement by Henry Thoreau one of my favorite poets.  I admire him for being a naturalist. His love for nature and simple living is what drew me to his writings. 

A little story about this sign. I found this primitive sign about 21 years ago for $1 at a yard sale. This sign is so meaningful to me because when I came across it, I had begun to shift my life and was craving a slower and simpler pace for my then young family. I was going 90 miles an hour serving, volunteering, running a cleaning business and raising small children. I had a moment where I knew the Lord was calling me make some changes. Oh, That I did. I went to our Pastor (we were not pastoring at the time) and stepped down from all ministries I was heling in but for two areas that I felt the Lord wanted me to continue. I stepped down from many volunteer positions. I put my house cleaning business on hold. I started homeschooling our children, taking nature walks with them and on my own, reading and playing with them, we took naps, picnics, learned so much and had so much fun. I began to stop and smell the roses, learn how to simplify things, started thrifting, being a better steward with things we owned/had, decluttered our entire home and began having a hospitable home for slow and relaxing moments with friends and their children. Oh, we built so many memories and what a treasure those years were. This sign caught my eye right when I was kicking off my life of "simplicity." It has been hung in every single home we have lived in even if it doesn't really match the home. It will always have a place because it serves as a reminder the importance of a simple life for me.

It is one of the first things you can see when you walk in our front door. What a great reminder for us all.

Thanks for joining me today, 

Chrissy T

Hello!! Sunday & Monday Photo Challenge~ Grass & White

Hello friends. I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Today I am sharing Sunday and Monday's photo challenge combined. Let's start with Sunday which was GRASS!

We have a lot of ornamental grasses in our yard for landscaping. I knew it would be the easiest form of grass I could capture. I love how it lines a little walk in our backyard.

Now on to TODAY'S CHALLENGE which is WHITE! This one was little trickier. I was trying to be creative. I have all kinds of white in my house from cabinetry, dishes and decor. Then I thought about how I love our white columns that our home has. So, I thought I would capture one of the columns surrounded by a lot of my plants!

I thought the photo turned out neat. If you would like to jump in the photo challenge is below. Just a reminder... this is not my creation. I found this with no link or information on Pinterest.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and week ahead. See you all tomorrow!

ALSOOOO... starting NEXT MONDAY, Mrs. Patsi from A Working Pantry will be starting the $5 Pantry Challenge. I will be sharing the weeks I participate on Mondays as well. For more information check it our HERE!

**BLOGGER ISSUES~ most of you are aware that blogger is having glitches or some issues that are not being fixed since May. I am not getting updates on some of the blogs I follow. I have to be intentional to check all the blogs because updates are not showing up in my feed. Especially, if you are WordPress or have your own website. I am trying to make my rounds and be intentional to see if blogs have new posts. Also, I feel that if I am having this problem then my new posts may not be updating. 

Unless I feel too bad or it's a weekend I will be posting regularly daily during the month of July for the photo challenge. That way you know I am actively daily posting. I love when you visit and comment. I love visiting your blogs too. Hopefully, blogger will fix itself soon.

With  Love,

Chrissy T

Saturday Recap ~ Sparkle & Family

🎇 Hello everyone. I hope you all have had a lovely weekend so far. We had a nice day with our adult kiddos as well as their "significant others." Saturday's Photo Challenge was SPARKLE! Here is my ONE DECENT SPARKLE photo. You all this photo challenge will not be producing amazing photos. It is simply to give me a little fun thing to do while recovering from surgery. I am still pretty limited with movement, bending and lifting. So, my photos will be quite simple. 

Our kiddos came over and spent the fourth with us. My husband grilled up a lot of food. They all went and bought a few fun fireworks then we just ate, laughed, and did fireworks at our home this year. They put me a chair outside to watch them have fun! This was one of the fireworks! 

I did a few "sparklers" but the quality of them were not the best this year. Nonetheless, it brought me childlike joy! 

I kicked off my day with a surprise. My husband got up early and went to the church to prepare for Sunday's message (he is a Pastor) because he knew his normal evening routine would be at home and not at the church as normal. When I woke up, I headed to the kitchen to find that he had left me this sweet note and my fixings for a little "cappuccino" that I have been craving for two weeks. 

It made my heart smile! I am so thankful. He has really taken on a lot with me being down. 

Then our oldest son surprised me with his FUNNY PATRIOTIC attire. Our oldest son is Ethan (26) loves the Fourth of July! Besides Christmas it is his favorite holiday. When he was young, he would sit under trees and read all kinds of books on presidents, wars, and he loved a show called Liberty Kids. He grew up with a true love to studyhistory, politics and worldviews. So, to see him so excited about the 250-year Birthday of America was not a surprise. We love his enthusiasm. I put it this way... when he graduated his Senior pictures had an American flag in it and his backdrop for his Senior Table was patriotic decor. 

And yes, those are his house shoes! He had me cracking up!

Our daughter, Hannah (21) was next to arrive. She made a fourth of July cake I had asked her to make and it was very good!!! Here are her and her bub (above). We all call Ethan Bubbe or Bub. He is the oldest! :) 

Watermelon and corn dip was our pre dinner snacks. Clayton (Hannah's boyfriend above) made a delish corn dip. They are snacking away.

Eventually our youngest (Kyle-19) showed up after celebrating lunch with his girlfriend's family,

The siblings all together finally. Now, after this they headed out to go get fireworks. That is our tradition. LOL! We get fireworks ON fourth of July. They are always 50% off and less crowded. 

My husband cooked a lot of great food. He helped me make some sides. I had to sit to do most of them. My abdomen still isn't strong. We had chicken drumsticks, grilled chicken breast, hamburgers, deer sausage, and brisket for meat. He grilled a long time. :)  For sides we had pasta salad, deviled eggs, mac and cheese, baked beans. Dessert- cake, cookies and ice cream 

Oh, this cake was so good. It had fresh blueberries in the cake and homemade cream cheese icing. IT WAS SO GOOD. Hannah did a great job.

After clean up we headed out and did fireworks. Well, I sat and watched praying none would land on me. I loved watching our adult kiddos laugh, have fun, and just be filled with simple joy!

Hannah decided to change and put a shirt of her dads on because she said she was too full for that other shirt. LOL! We ate well. 😆😆

This is Carleigh (Kyle's girlfriend of 3 years) we are hiding from the bottle rockets in the garage. I eventually decided to sit in the driveway far back and enjoy seeing the full view of it all. 

I love this. I caught them in full run mode!!! They had lit it and were trying to run far away fast. 😅

We all giggled at this photo because it looks like Hannah is holding a light saber from Star Wars!

This picture is one my favorites. I love how they are all so into the fireworks! 

Kyle just had to get smoke bombs! LOL! His favorite! Yes, the four-wheeler had a little American rip down the road for celebration. I mean we are southern it is just the way things are done. 😆😅😏

I am looking forward to doing my photo challenge today~ GRASS. I will post it along with Mondays (WHITE)  photo challenge tomorrow. 

Here is yours truly! I don't look the best and truly didn't feel super but I was so happy to have all our children home. They could have chosen to be anywhere else, but they spent it with us and for that we are so thankful. 

Have a good rest of your day!

With Love,

Chrissy T