"Junk"...or..."Stuff"?

"Hey! That's not junk...it's stuff!" said hubby as I headed toward the "throw-away pile" with an armful of..."stuff"?

I turned and cocked an eyebrow at him

bracing my legs under the weight of the "stuff" in my arms.

We were in the process of organizing "the building" that sits at the edge of the pine trees that surround our yard.....the building was full of "stuff".

And we had more "stuff" we needed to move from an upstairs room in our house that had become a "graveyard" for everything our grown children either didn't have room for or didn't want.

But the stuff I thought was junk and the stuff my husband thought was junk weren't the same "stuff"...hmmmm.....and we kept running across "stuff" we had forgotten we had that we just couldn't relegate to the "junk" pile.....

It's very true what they say..."One man's trash is another man's treasure."

I am reminded of a Bible verse we learned as children:

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

-Matthew 6:21

Lesson: Be wise about what you treasure....Is it really good "stuff"...or just plain "junk"?

The way we live our lives says a lot about what we treasure.

-Mug

Hubby and Christmas.....

In addition to the antennae Christmas tree

(in which Hubby takes great joy, I might add).....

By the way, you readers do realize I had to wrap garlands around the metal tripod base

that holds up the antennae in order to give it the shape of a tree...right?

It's actually all gray metal rods...

and, you know, the antennae actually sort of resembles a star.....doesn't it?

Anyway, in addition to "his" tree, he has added a few glowing creatures to our yard

I guess this isn't Rudolph because he has no glowing red nose....

Looks as if he might be....hmmmm...Dancer!

Hubby says his reindeer will help light the way

for any guests who might have to "see" their way

from our house to their car:)

This angel heralds the arrival of Christ

as she stands at the point of an island of pine trees that our driveway encircles...

I wouldn't like all of this if we lived in town, I don't think,

but it is very festive at night way out here in the country...

still looks a tad tacky in the daytime, though.

But THIS is Hubby's pride and joy...



an 8 foot tall Frosty who stands across the pond
and waves at people riding by on the road:-)

Merry Christmas!



May your days be merry and filled with the love of Christ!

Love, Mug

The "House" That Jack Built.....

Phenix City Children's

Healthy Kids * Happy Moms

This is the "'house' that Jack built"...

my hubby Jack, that is

One of the first things you see when you enter the front doors of this lovely pediatrics office complex is the colorful receptionist area...

The color just keeps on keeping on in this happy place...
This is the "well" waiting room...

If you look up upon entering the foyer,

this is what you see looking down at you...

...And this is on the wall leading into the "well" waiting room...

Colorful creatures adorn the walls everywhere one looks...

makes me wish I had children to take to this doctor:)

Don't you just love this giraffe's eyes?!

...the colors on this parrot

and Sam the Toucan?

...And these monkeys just make me grin with delight!!!

They all adorn this wall that leads from the waiting room to the exam rooms....It's as if the children have their own little cheering squad or support group...

This is Mug...wishing she could be THIS doctor's patient:)

And this is the CAM Builders TEAM

that built the "'house' that Jack built" .

Hubby & son are front center and right...

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

Remember the ...Antennae?

For those who missed the "Antennae" post, you can see it here:http://musingsfromhitherandyon.blogspot.com/2010/10/all-for-sake-of-auburn-football.html

Silly me joked about the fact that I might have to decorate it for Christmas.....Famous last words....

I wasn't sure what to do about the area underneath, so I decided to set up a little manger scene under the "pine tree"....

I guess it's pretty appropriate, since The Antennae was set up in order to be able to view Auburn football on local channels,

that I decorated it during the game with South Carolina that clinched our chance at the National Championship!

Yep...Sometimes you just have to make the best of things....make lemonade out of lemons.....make a tree out of an antennae...:)

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

P.S. Warrrrr Eagle!!!!

If "if's" and "but's" were....

I made 35 of these quote blocks for my 8th-grade English students last year for Christmas. This was also one of the quotations they had to write about in their quote journals in December.

They had to write 75 words.

What would you say if you had to respond to this quote?

Have a lovely day...and may your hearts be merry!

-Mug

Happy Thanksgiving!

Apparently, Harry is thinking about his Thanksgiving Dinner")

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

We went to NYC in April.......and guess who we saw?!

In every job that must be done ...

...There is an element of fun.

Just find the fun...and SNAP!

The job's a game:)

And every task you undertake...

Becomes a piece of cake...

A lark...

A spree...

It's very clear to see...

That...a....spoon full of sugar

Helps the medicine go down

The medicine go dow-ow-n

The medicine go down...

Just...a...spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down

In a most de-light-ful way!:)

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..."

-Ps 17:22

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

WHAT'S IN A CANNISTER?

I alternate using these according to mood, but use one or the other just about every day. The Cinch is great mixed with milk and a banana; the soy protein is good mixed into any juice or sprinkled over cereal.

The plastic containers are sturdy with screw-on tops, and, best of all, the label peels off easily and completely! My husband uses the empty ones for nails, screws, et cetera, and we use one for used coffee grounds (to put around our plants), but the containers were still piling up.....until I decided to paint them, attach these labels, amd use them for my baking cannisters! The next empty one will hold sugar, I'm thinking:)

P.S. I've found some great recipes in Cooking Light magazine for variations of banana bread using ground flax.....and I usually substitute whole wheat flour (ww flour on the cannister) for white flour (3/4 cups ww to 1 cup white).

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

This house

surrounded by cotton fields

sits by the side of Highway 51, the road I (and many others) take "going to town" as we country folk say when we, well, ...go to town.

A favorite little poem of my late father's came to mind:

The House by the Side of the Road

by Sam Walter

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,

Where the race of men go by -

They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,

Wise, foolish - so am I.

Then why should I sit in th scorner's seat,

Or hurl the cynic's ban?

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,

And be a friend to man.

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

ALL FOR THE SAKE OF AUBURN FOOTBALL...

Because we live 25 miles from the nearest town/city, we cannot get cable tv, so we have Directv.

IF we lived in town, we would also have local channels...even with Directv...and even with the crazy digital "stuff" that makes converter boxes, etc. necessary for television viewing for many folks.

Not even converter boxes worked with us.

Well, last year, we decided to get Directv's Game Plan just for the sake of watching Auburn football games. But alas...we were not able to watch a single AU football game if it was aired on local TV because local TV or maybe Game Plan didn't allow it. For Heaven's Sake....the local games were what we wanted to watch! We could get all of the others on ESPN....aarghh!

Once ordered, Game Plan could not be UN-ordered......we did not read the fine print:(...

so we got nothing for our money!

This past Saturday morning, Hubby decided we were going to Radio Shack and get something...anything...so that we could watch the Auburn/LSU game.

This is what we came home with.

The size of the box should have been our first clue.....

Hubby wanted to put it together inside before he tried to put it in the attic or on the roof. He wanted to be sure it would work....and he wanted to make sure of this in time for THE game at 2:30 P.M.

Too bad I didn't think to take pictures of the assembling....and the facial expressions and exclamations as the thing grew....and grew.....and grew....

Hubby got to watch THE game...UNDER his antennae...

In fact, he wanted to invite others to come sit under the antennae and watch the game .:)

There's no way this antennae's going out the doors or up the stairs without taking it apart.

I'm afraid I' m stuck with this piece of modern folk art until football season is over...Hubby even mentioned that we could forego a Christmas tree and just decorate this:(

The table the sculpture is now sitting on used to be here...in fact, we ate supper here the night before.

The tripod it sits upon once held a small satellite dish.

All for the sake of football....

Have a lovely day!

-Mug

P.S. I surely am handling this well, aren't I .... It's a little frightening how calm I've been ..... It must be the 33 years I've been married to this man....I'm finally learning to...what?...Love him in spite of himself?...Be thankful we have a large room?

I DID enjoy watching the game:)