Prayer Request for a Tiny Infant

Dear friends of ours had their first grandchild just about

three weeks ago.  Little Tucker became ill and is now

in the hospital in isolation suffering from the flu and 

RSV.  

Please join me in praying for Tucker.  He is a sweet

little guy whose life has just begun.  May God bless

him and heal him.  We all know how powerful

prayer is, especially when we pray together.

Thank you.

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan

Tweaking a Mini Bookcase

A few weeks ago I was in the miniature section of Hobby Lobby and

found this unfinished mini bookcase and brought it home.

So I painted and distressed it and started filling the shelves with books.

I found some very charming antique looking books on etsy.

Here is the link to the shop:

MiniatureBookstore

Debby does some great work and I will be buying some more books

from her in the future.

Here is how it looks on the bookshelf.  I made that little wing chair several

years ago.  I learned from the mistakes I made on this one and have started

making another.  

I am completely enchanted by miniatures.  

I am feeling much better today.  What a pleasure not to be coughing so

much and sneezing so loudly that David can hear me all away across the

house ~ and it's a big sprawling ranch house so believe me when I

tell you that I am a very loud sneezer.  I am such a tiny person, but

my sneezes could shatter glass ;-)

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Farmhouse Musings

I am still feeling lousy.  It's day three.  I am starting to feel the teeniest,

tiniest bit better but I have so little energy that I think I will head back to

bed.  It's been a restless three days.  I have coughed so hard at times that

I was afraid I might have cracked a rib.  I know that it is not too serious

because I have never developed a fever, and realize that all I can really

do is wait it out a bit longer.  

I took a couple of pictures in my kitchen hoping that photography 

would work some kind of healing magic.  For a couple of moments

it seemed to help, but now that the pics are loaded up on this post

I have come to the realization that finishing this post will be the

most amount of work I will accomplish today.  

Despite being propped up on lots of pillows in bed, I have not been

able to turn my mind off.  I have been reading all sorts of scholarly

articles on the web.  I watched a lengthy YouTube lecture on the 

economic future of China.   Why you ask?   I suppose it's because my

Daddy used to lecture at different universities about emerging Asian

markets, so in some strange way this particular lecture just struck 

a chord with me.  

Then I began to feel that I was having a mini existential crisis when I

started to examine all of the areas of my intellectual life that need a

boost.  I can be very melodramatic at times ;-)

Mini crisis resolved.  I have decided to take some non~credit courses

through MIT Open Courseware to keep my little gray cells from 

shriveling and drying up.  Now that I have that issue resolved,

I have decided to attack the really important issue ~ finding a

contractor to install the farmhouse sink that has been sitting in

my garage for the past two years!

Yes, farmhouse musings are much less traumatic :-)

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Blogging From Bed

I  have been fighting a cold off for days.  The cold won.  It's really my

own fault.  I starting feeling the symptoms on Friday.  When David came

home from work on Friday evening, he said "let's go to Houston tomorrow".

Not wanting to miss a fun outing, I said "sure, let's do it".

So we went and I really had a fun time visiting some of our

favorite shops, stopping for a yummy lunch and then picking 

up some supplies from Costco before returning home.

I didn't feel great yesterday, but had to run to our local HEB for

milk and lettuce and stuff.  I came home and got dinner ready 

and was all set for a comfy evening at home watching

Downton Abbey.  Then it hit … sneezing, runny nose, scratchy

throat.  Bummer!  David took over the nightly walk with Bentley

while I put on flannel pi's, grabbed cough drops, tissues, hot

tea and climbed into bed.

Woke up this morning with a raging cold, so I am giving in to it and

staying at home, in bed with old movies, my current read, Facebook

on my iPhone and the January issue of Southern Living.  There is an

article about waking up the bedroom by promoting color and

pattern.  I took a good look around our own bedroom and thought

to myself ~ "I think we have that covered":-)

I am hoping I feel much better by tomorrow because there are lots

of things I am longing to do.  Wish me luck!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Immersed in a Good Book

I have been meaning to read this book for quite a long time.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.  Somehow other books

rose to the top of the list, and this one sadly was forgotten.

Recently I read a friend's list of favorite books and I headed 

to our Victoria Public Library and checked it out.  

It's a wonderful historical novel beginning in London.  The 

year is 1913 and a very young girl is abandoned on a ship

headed for Australia.  A husband and his wife take her into

their home in Australia and treat her as their own, yet she

is haunted by memories of her origins and a generational

search begins to uncover the truth from the few memories

and leads she possesses.

It's a good long read and I am happy for that because I am

totally immersed!  I also checked out Kate's other novels,

Distant Hours and The House at Riverton.  I will be happily

reading away for hours and hours and hours.  If you have

not read The Forgotten Garden,  I do recommend it

and hope you enjoy it if you do indeed check out a copy.

I also want to take this opportunity to remind you to please

support your local library.  The library is a tremendous 

resource for all ages and a cornerstone of every community.

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley