Baby bird, Pyrex, Vintage Pepsi Machine

Do you ever get an over whelming urge to go thrifting? We were driving to town to my momma's house when I had this really bad urge to just stop at Goodwill and see what was thrift worthy!!

I found this really cute Vintage Pyrex 1.5 Qt divided Cinderella Oval Casserole in the Barbed Wire pattern. It was a 1958 Pyrex Fall Promotional pattern. This is such a great  dish! I have been using it a lot!

Then I bought this set of Pyrex green clear bottom mixing bowls that are in really good shape and I love green!! They are just the same style, but different color as another set I received as a wedding gift 20 years ago. 

So the thrifting was definitely worth the urge!! Haha!!  

 

So how many of you have an old Pepsi vending machine in the driveway? This is the one at my parents house. It looked so pretty with all the flowers by it, I just had to take a picture to share with you all. Yes, it does work and my dad kept it stocked for a long time. Kids and grown ups alike always get a big bang out of getting pop out of it!!!

And here is a picture of me enjoying my Pepsi!

Yes, that is me.. uhh.. I mean Cindy Crawford enjoying a Pepsi!!! Haha!!!

This is my little buddy I have been enjoying all week. He is a little Black Bird. His mom and dad kicked him out of the nest as he was getting big. He needs to learn to fly and still grow in some more feathers! His parents guard and bring him food. He hops over to this water dish I have out for my chickens and the wild birds in the yard. He likes to sit in the rock in the middle. Isn't he cute?? The chickens just treat him like a little baby and don't bother him.

I am so busy, busy, busy!! But I want you to know that we are personally safe from the Colorado wild fires, but so many people have been going through disaster. Thank you for all your prayers and kind thoughts. We need rain in Colorado. So many fires burning it is so sad. Too much loss. Stand strong in your faith in God and be thankful for all His blessings!

Smile and be happy today!!

Blessings,

Little Susie Home Maker

 

Colorado is on Fire Again

Hello Dear Friends,

I hope you are all safe and well. I am doing good, but it is not a good time for Colorado. You may remember that last year about this time, I blogged about the Waldo Canyon Fire. That was a terrible ordeal. But we have had wonderful support in our community and the rebuilding and planting had begun.

My daughter and her classmates helped with planting new trees in the Waldo Canyon burn zone. May 2013.

But terrible news is that our dry state is in terrible need for rain. We have several wild fires burning out of control. The three major ones started yesterday and from most serious to least of these three in that order are the Black Forest Fire, The Royal Gorge Fire, and the La Veta Fire.

You can see the Royal Gorge fire to the left and the Black Forest Fire to the right of us. We took this panoramic picture last night view toward Pikes Peak. June 11, 2013.

Unfortunately, I am right in between the two largest fires, and by in between I mean that the Black Forest Fire is only a few miles away. It has grown a lot closer since this picture yesterday. It is affecting approximately 8,000 to 12,000 acres. This is a very populated and heavily forested area. Homes are about every 2 to 5 acres apart. The latest I heard Update on Black Forest fire: Preliminary reports show 92 homes a total loss, 315 homes still standing, 5 homes partially affected. This is the fire that I am most impacted with and I have the most news on.

Home burning in Black Forest Colorado, June 11, 2013. Picture courtesy of denver.cbslocal.com

As of today at at 5:30 pm there are around 9000 people directly affected by this fire. This means about 3400 residents or thousand of evacuees. 

School June 12, 2013 approx 4:30 pm

 Even my sons school was being fought to save over night by this furious fire. The fire is at present 0% contained.

Picture of huge fire plumes from my yard of Black Forest fire.

The air quality is not good for anyone. With record high teperatures in the 90's and 100's across the state and windy dry weather. No chance of rain until atleast Monday.

A pronghorn runs across a field Wednesday, June 12, 2013, while a helicopter from Fort Carson helps fight the Black Forest Fire. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

So if you could, please include the state of Colorado, the Firefighters and all the people and animals affected by these fires. Yes, there are a lot of horses and other farm animals as well as pets affected by this as well.

As far as the Royal Gorge Bridge, it has not been burned down but 3400 acres have been destroyed.

I don't mean to sound like a news cast, but this is impacting me and my State, and some of you I am sure. My prayers go out to all of us. I am so grateful that the Fire Fighters are working so hard, and that almost everyone is evacuating when asked. Yes there were some that didn't we will learn more about that later. I pray all are safe.

Bless you all, and I hope to have a much happier post nest time.

Blessings,

Little Susie Home Maker

Afternoon Lunchean Tea Party & Food Trays

Having a tea party is so much fun!

Plenty of varieties of tea and even honey!

 Being able to spend time with good friends and family
 is such a wonderful thing.

Fresh cut mandarin oranges and grapes are so refreshing.

We recently had a fun tea party with some of my dear family and friends !

Home made cucumber dill chips in red wine vinegar.

My momma and I put together these fun foods to honor
one of my sisters for her birthday.

Who doesn't love Chocolate Covered Strawberries?

 I am not sure which is more fun...

preparing the tea party , or partaking of the tea party!!

Lettuce and whole wheat turkey and ham wraps.

My sister was really happy with her party.

Beautiful dish of Momma's Best Deviled Eggs.

Good healthy snacks even for gluten intolerance and no-sugar diets.

Pretty store bought cookies and some sugar-free, too!

Our kids thought it was the most fun ever! 

 We had everyone dress up and wear a hat, any hat, even a silly hat!!

I think this will be our new party theme for us sisters and my mom, and I know a few fellas and kids that thought it was great, too!!

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures from our tea party. 

Maybe a little inspiration on the foods! We kept it simple and had lots of fun.

Bless you!!

Little Susie Home Maker

Spring Time Joy

Hello there! Have you been enjoying Spring time this year? I am so happy that we are finally having some nice weather and haven't had any snow for a few weeks!! Yay!! 

I have had some time spent with some of my favorite people and enjoying a conversational cup of tea. A tea party can be just the thing one needs to stir up some smiles and fun conversation.

We are getting ready for my daughters Graduation Party, so having fun with my mom and sisters deciding what kind of goodies to make. It will be here in two weeks! She already had one Graduation for her Associates Degree from college last week. It was so exciting. Next week, she will have her Graduation from High School. She is Summa Cum Laude. A very amazing feat and all of 17 years old. 

Please pardon me a moment while I brag, because I am a very proud Momma. My whole family are all so proud of her hard work and accomplishments, too. We are just so excited to celebrate her achievements!!

I sure been busy keeping up with all of life's demands. I been working hard to adjust to my dads absence from our daily lives. Trying hard to handle all that life throws my ways. All the while, I stop to notice and be thankful for every blessing. It can be hard to sometimes find that silver lining, but I must insist that we all should try real hard to always look for it.

Grief is a very difficult thing to get through, as many of you surely already know. But we are so blessed and know that Daddy would want us all to be our very best.

Hopefully, I will have more time to blog more often again, really soon. I miss my blogging buddies!

Here is my wish: That you all are happy, healthy and blessed!!

Little Susie Home Maker

The Lamb of God

To You, from Little Susie Home Maker

Hello sweet friends!

I wanted to share with you this little graphic that I made and with you all the best for this Holiday Weekend.

I really have not had the time to spend on blogging that I used to have, but I do still think about all my blogging buddies and wonder what you are all up to. I am looking forward to a great weekend with my very own family out of town. 

I know it will be tough to have our first holiday without Daddy. We all miss him so much. I remember every since I was a little girl he would help us decorate eggs and then he always loved an Easter Egg hunt. But more importantly, He would give us a bible lesson. (Which he did anytime we were around, anyways!)

Momma is doing as well as she can, and we are all surrounding her with as much love as we can.

It is a great thing to be able to spend time with people I love and I know that I am blessed.

 I am so thankful for my Savior and what He did and why we are celebrating this weekend, so that each and everyone of us have the opportunity to be together with Him again forever.

I will also indulge in a little chocolate and some other fancy treats. I know I will have fun with all the children and play a few games, and exchange in great conversations, etc.

I hope you make time to be thankful and praise Him for what He has done. He is so wonderful.

Blessings,

Little Susie Home Maker

Too much SPAM

I have too much SPAM!

No, not this kind. I might actually enjoy that.

I have been deleting so much SPAM from my comments lately.

Just wondering if anyone else is having this problem recently?

I feel like turning back on Word Verification, 

but really don't want to do that as of yet.

Please tell me how you feel about the sudden increase in SPAM and how you feel about Word Verification? I really would like to know.

 Thank you for all your comments. I want you to know that I appreciate every single one of your comments!

Looking forward to Spring and the New Life that it brings.

Blessings,

Little Susie Home Maker

Spring Cleaning Anyone

It is time to think about and do some Spring Cleaning! I love being able to open some windows and circulate some fresh air on warm enough days.. don't you?

I had been visiting over at Heirloom Treasures and it is a really sweet blog by Jeanette O'Donnell, she loves to sew Christening Gowns and sell them, garden in her cottage garden and she is also an author!

I was so please when she told me that I won her book in a recent give-away she held!

This is a great book, written for working mums. (Jeanette is from Australia, I love how they say "Mum"!)

But I think any body who is in need of some great tips on how to get organized and streamline the household chores. She writes it in Seven Easy Steps that can get the whole family helping out!

Jeanette, thank you for sending me a copy of your book. I don't want to give away her steps, but you should go visit here blog and see all her pretty ideas she has. And see about purchasing her book, too!

It will get your Spring Cleaning all geared up and be ready for sunmmer!

Blessings to you all,

Little Susie Home Maker