It's a Wonderful World! A Throwback Photo (Photo Challenge) & a Little French Happy & Beauty of the World Love

Hello friends. I am sharing a throwback photo for the daily photo challenge today. Today's theme is ANIMAL/INSECT. I just cannot muster the energy to go look for either at this time. I like taking a current daily photo for the challenge, but this will have to do! I am bringing you this sweet fellow from my time this past spring when I stayed in a Tiny Home on a goat farm for a solo getaway and hike. I just loved feeding the goats and watching them. 

It may be a throwback photo but it is still super cute!!! :) 

Last week my husband attended a LOCAL ministry conference. There were some missionaries to France there and he purchased me some goodies. I wanted to share. It supported them and blessed me. 

It was handmade dish soap that is suppose the be good on your skin, a candle, a lotion bar (although, I giggled at the name of it) as well as a scrub brush and a smell good star to put in a drawer like a sachet.  The bowl is lovely. Inside the bowl is a soap that is good on the skin as you wash dishes but also works as a nice cleaner for other things along with the brush. 

The missionary wife makes the soap herself and pours them into these nice bowls. I am looking forward to using it. I am also looking forward to once the soap is gone! I have plans for this bowl!!!! 

The scent of this candle is European Belgium Linen and smells very nice. I am really and I mean REALLY picky when it comes to candle smells. This is light and nice though. 

The little brush! It is just so cute and purposeful!

This smell good star is made with frankincense and lavender. It smells very nice. I am not sure where I want to really store it but for now I have it in my closet area, but I cannot really smell it in there. 

I have to say I giggled when he gave this to me. LOL! I am not sure I like that he gave me a Crepey Skin Eraser. HAHA! He told me she suggested it for dry hands. So, that is why he got it. I will have to trust that. 😏😆😜

It was all so thoughtful. I am glad he supported some missionaries and, in the process, blessed me. We love supporting missionaries. We have been on the mission field for short trips and see how much sacrifice and hard work missionaries do to spread the gospel. 

I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are in this WONDERFUL WORLD! Isn't this world filled with so much wonder?!

I want to leave you with a LIVE YOUTUBE channel I check on daily to see the bears catch salmon. This is at Katmia National Park (Alaska) where you can watch in real time the bears. I sometimes catch them playing, swimming and even fighting. 

If you are an Eagle lover like me then you may enjoy popping in on occasion and following this couple at Big Bear in California. I love to follow their lives with their Eaglets.

Images I am sharing below are from stockphotos!!! I just love the Beauty of the World!

These beautiful rocks at Glacier National Park!! I hope to see this in person one day!

A waterfall in Missouri at Dogwood Canyon! I mean! Missouri! There is beauty everywhere. 

Whoever caught this image needs an award! It is beautiful. How unique and beautiful. Oh, how intricate the Lord created things. It amazes me. 

With Love,

Chrissy T

Flower Pressing & Photo Daily Challenges

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week. I needed the little pause I took for a few days. I feel a little more reset! I will first share some Flower Pressing that I started this past Tuesday and at the end of the blog I will share the last few days of my photo challenge. 

I started taking a big interest in flower and leaf pressing in May of 2025. At the time I was always in nature and hiking. I came across so many beautiful leaves and flowers and wanted a way to keep them. I just put them in some heavy books between tissue paper and it worked okay. I realized I would forget about them and because the heavy books I used to press them were rarely opened due to being vintage books I use for decor I hardly ever remembered them. It takes a while to press them. Weeks. I also realized I had them tucked away in so many books I lost track which book I pressed what in. I began to look for a flower press and received one for my birthday last June (2025) fast forward to now I am just now really cranking the thing out because a lot of things happened over the summer and fall. I never got around to pressing. Then winter limited me the foraging of those flowers and leaves. Spring came and my health went down. Anyway, I had a lot of beautiful flowers from bouquets people had given me for get well gifts. I decided to choose some of my favorite ones and press them.

First, I chose the ones I wanted to press and cut them and cleaned them up to press evenly.

Second, I pressed them gently to get any moisture I can off of them and run a blow dryer on low setting for 30 seconds. This helps with preventing mold as they are being pressed.

Third, after I put the press together, I placed the cardboard piece, then blotting paper made for specific for pressing, add the flowers spaced out, add another sheet of blotting paper, then another cardboard piece, and then start another layer.

Then once I had all my layers made I placed the last layer of the cardboard piece. You add the top of the press and then tighten the gadgets to press down tight but not too tight where it might crush them. Put in a place with good air flow and check once a week. By week three to four should be ready.

So, what do I do with these. You can create nature journals, use them for card making, decor, or frame them for a special home decor piece. You can add dried flowers or herbs to soaps or candle making if you do that. Which I have added lavender to soaps when I hosted a "Make Your Own Soap" night. 

Truly my favorite is do press leaves and make a neat fall collage frame for Autumn decor for my entry table. I like to collect them when I am on my walks and hikes. They must be special and unique!

So, I missed posting Tuesday-Thursday daily photo challenge so I will show that here. I will say these days were kind of hard. Well, not hard really but truly seemed kind of basic to me and I had a hard time being creative due to my limitations.

Here goes...

Tuesday- On the Floor

Yep, when you have had surgery in your abdomen dropping anything on the floor is a dread. I can't bend at the waist still. I dropped my lid to my water and had to use my little handy pick-up tool!

Wednesday- I skipped this day. I do not have really any signs in our home that I haven't already shown, and I can't get out yet to drive. So, no sign. Plus, I was not inspired today to be creative. I felt pretty rough this day.

Thursday- Indoors

My current view for mainly the last 3 weeks. Indoors was easy and yet again I felt less inspired to get up and be creative. I just haven't felt super this week. 

Friday (TODAY)- on the shelf

I had to share my sweet brass little ducks and swan I found this past winter at an antique store. It was a new to me store. It was PACKED. A little overwhelming to be honest. I did come across these precious things. I knew I had a place for these. I am a sucker for birds, ducks and etc. 

I found the wooden duck and the brass beauties on FB marketplace when I used to have social media. I love them so much!!!

Tomorrow's theme (Saturday) is Animal/Insect. I hope to pop in and share something. 

Until then....

Chrissy T

$5 Pantry Challenge with Mrs. Patsi @ The Working Pantry & Shadow Photo

Hello everyone. Before I take my "BLOG PAUSE" for a few days, I want to share my pantry challenge and daily photo challenge for today. I was going to share my photo for the daily photo challenge of SHADOW and post Wednesday but I loved what I captured today on my walk and had to share. 

I love how the sun hit the trees just right and created this shadow that I was able to capture today. I walked two times today at 15 minutes each. I am pretty happy about that. I will say though I am sore this evening. Recovery is slower than I anticipated. :) 

Below are my items that my lovely husband picked up for me today for the $5 Pantry Challenge. Please check out Mrs. Patsi's blog for details on this Summer Challenge being held on Mondays at The Working Pantry. 

She encourages us to stock up on things we actually use as far as food and home supplies. Today, I stocked up on Green Beans. We purchased five cans. Our go to vegetable side dish is green beans. They are a staple in our home. I cook them very differently than most. I am from the SOUTH so my GREEN BEANS are very "southern tasting." In other words, they have FLAVOR and are a hit. I have a secret ingredient. 

We are not in a season in our lives that gardening is something we can do. We used to garden. Matter of fact my husband is currently putting up tomatoes for the freezer right now because we were gifted a basket load yesterday from someone in the church. I can't wait to make some sauces, salsa and add those garden fresh tomatoes in chili, soup and stews this fall. 

We are blessed by others because of their bounty. We are grateful for that. BUT this is just not our season in life for gardening. 

On the most part we tend to lean toward our favorite canned veggies for our pantry. We do not like store bought frozen veggies other than broccoli and corn. When it comes to green beans it is canned green beans for us.

Here is my $5 stock up. Oh, I remember the day that canned green beans were $.40 and $.60 cents. Not here in my area. $1.00 is a deal nowadays and that is for generic/store brand. 

The guidelines suggest for it to be a separate purchase and an intentional purchase to build the pantry. Basically, show a receipt of your intentional purchase with the amount suggested and be intentional that it is something that you are adding for stocking purposes and not just because you need it that day. 

I hope to be more creative and stock up on so many other neat items over the next few months. This goes until September. Right now, I am limited physically. I am making a list of things to look for though as soon as I can get out. 

Have a blessed day!

See you all in a few days!

Chrissy T

Taking a Pause

*Update* I will post later today my $5 Pantry Challenge I am participating in with Mrs. Patsi @ A Working Pantry.

Hello! I just wanted to pop in and say I need to take a pause for a few days here on my blog. I will still try to capture my daily photos for July. My plan is to post maybe Wednesday and Friday this week. I will combine my photos. I have been posting almost daily since my surgery. I mainly have done that to stay connected and to feel a little community as I heal. I love this community. With that said I am feeling that "less than inspired" blogging mode at the moment. I will be honest my days seem super long. They feel pretty monotonous with the recovery. While I have been trying to be joyful and find little things of joy and beauty, I am really beginning to feel that stir crazy feeling. 

I hope I can drive this week. I am pretty nervous to get behind the wheel and drive. I think I will just drive in our neighborhood a few days to practice twisting at the waist and putting on the breaks to make sure all is well before I venture out in our busy little "city." I live in a college town, and public schools start school here NEXT WEEK. INSANE!!! It is still summer to me. Our area has a year-round school model. I homeschooled all of our children for 20 plus years, so we did not go by that, thankfully! Anyway.... that means it will be traffic heavy and busy this week. 

I do plan to hopefully to walk a little further and more each day. It has been a challenge doing what I have been which is very small amounts. I am trying to not be frustrated. I have people saying I should be able to do this and that. Yet, when I do try, I begin to hurt and feel exhausted. I truly believe each person is different. If I could make those good meaning people believe that would be great. :) 

Today's challenge is SHADOW. This one is going to be hard for me. I do not know if I will capture it. If I do I will share it Wednesday or Friday when I do my recap of all my photos. 

Jump in anytime you can! Have a great week.

Thanks for visiting me today. See you soon. 

With Love,

Chrissy T

Soft & Cozy ~ Nature Can Help in Healing

 Hello everyone. Today's photo theme is SOFT. I knew I had to share my pillow that I purchased for my recovery. It has been such a blessing to me for when I cough, laugh, sneeze, and sleeping. It also protects my tummy against the seat belt. So, this is my SOFT photo today. This gray pillow is among all my COZY SOFT pillows as I rest today.

I am craving time outdoors. Even in the midst of this HEAT. Normally in the summer I get up around 4:30 to 5:00 to hike early once or twice a month. I am dreaming of the moment I can do this again. The Lord has blessed us with such a wonderful creation that can uplift, reset and has calming properties. 

I am sharing some images from Pinterest that I love.

I can honestly say I always enjoy my time in nature!!! 

Here is the daily photo challenge list...

With Love, 

Chrissy T

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