The weather has been out of this world gorgeous here lately. The kind of weather that makes you want to get barefoot and be outside. It feels good to air out.

A couple of nights ago we made a trip out to the family farm. We have around 17 acres on this land, and my mother in law owns the rest. To this city girl, 17 acres sounds like a LOT. To folks around here, it's not much.

I tried getting the cows to come closer. They weren't interested. Sometimes they come to the fence and lick my hand. Do you know that their tongues are HUGE? And feel scratchy? Like a cat's tongue? Just thought you might like to know that.

The late afternoon sun was gorgeous. And things are really coming to life. Aren't these peach tree blossoms beautiful?

I've started falling in love with barns lately. I don't know where this affection came from really. But just look at that. Love it. If I had any talent in the drawing/painting department, I would plop down right there with a mason jar of lemonade and draw for hours.

These last two pictures are of my husband's tractor. We don't have room for it in town. So it sits in it's home under the barn. My husband is and will forever be a Ford man. His grandpa gave him this tractor and it wouldn't surprise me if he asks to be burried with it.

My mother in law got this bike at a yard sale/auction. She is so proud! She just needs a bell.
 All of us kids have tried it out now. And she said that when we have each rode it at separate times, we take off down the gravel drive and let out a holler! Have you ridden a bike lately? I haven't ridden one in a few years, and that feeling you get when your feet are off the ground and two balloon tires are taking you for a spin- well it just requires a WOOHOO! It sounds crazy I know. I think the fresh air is to be blamed.

I saw these at the grocery store last week. I put them in the cart. Then felt guilty about thought about eating healthier, so I put them back on the shelf. Yesterday in a moment of weakness, I bought them.
I mean it IS their 100th birthday. That's BIG.

So that's all I have for today! Have a great Saturday!

Don't forget to read yesterday's POST and get ready for March 22.
We CAN make a difference!

The Adventure Project- Bringing Clean Water to People Who Need It

If you're like me, you take clean water for granted. I leave it on a little too long whenI brush my teeth, take sort of long showers, water my flowers and garden, let the faucet run when I do dishes.
It's so wasteful. Even when I'm trying to be careful, it's not enough.

I also don't spend a lot of time thinking about people who don't have access to clean drinking water. Or clean water for bathing. Or clean water to wash their clothes.

It's really a problem. Much larger than most of us realize.

On March 22nd, which is World Water Day, I'm lending my voice to The Adventure Project, to help raise funds for clean water in India. The Adventure Project is doing something extraordinary that I'm thrilled to be a part of. They are providing tools and training for people to start well mechanics businesses, so they can fix and maintain broken wells, ensuring sustainable access to clean water for 5,000 people in surrounding communities. Sadly, 1/3 of all wells are currently broken, and local communities do not have the resources to fix them. This is an empowering solution and I love that they are creating jobs that serve the communities to clean water, and I am determined to help.

The goal is to help The Adventure Project hire 186 mechanics in poor, rural regions of India. Once hired, the mechanics will help 930,000 people to clean water! That's almost a million people!

Please help me raise $550 to hire one mechanic by donating here: http://tapwater.causevox.com/RachelJeter

Please don't take this opportunity for granted. It's such a worthy cause.

Visit my web page above and learn how you can help.

Even if you can't donate a lot.

Every dollar counts!

When a group of people come together, watch what happens.

Tell your friends. Share this page. Facebook it.

We can do this.

Guest Post By Kendra @ Keylime Digital Designs

I am so happy to have Kendra with us today! She is full of great knowledge when it comes to blogging and design.

You will definitely want to read what she has to say.

 

 

 

Hi Faithful City Mouse Readers! My name is Kendra and I blog at Key Lime. I am the designer behind Rachel's blog! She was so fun to work with and we have stayed in touch since then! I am so excited to be guest posting here today! I have a few little tips to show you on keeping your blog sidebar nice and tidy, it is Spring cleaning time you know!

With Spring in the air it is only natural for us to feel the need to clean out house, get rid of the winter dust, and get everything organized! Have you ever thought about giving your blog a good spring cleaning? I highly recommend it! Schedule a few minutes to take a good look at your blog. Look over your sidebar and take down any extra or irrelevant widgets. Maybe even think about switching the order of your sidebar content. Keep things fresh! Once you have gotten rid of any extra clutter you can use these two easy tips to make sure all your sidebar content is nice and centered.

Tip #1. Center all the buttons/widgets in your sidebar

To do this open up each of your html widgets. Add <center> at the beginning of the code and </center> at the end of the code. Here is an example....

[click on image to view larger]

Pretty simple right? And this works whether you have blogger or wordpress!

Tip #2 - Manually Adjust Widgets

Sometimes even when you "center" a gadget [using the html above] it still isn't exactly in the middle of your sidebar. Anyone have that problem before? Look at the image below....See how the "welcome" note is not in the center of the sidebar. That is because of the "padding" that is built into the blog template. Instead of changing the padding for the sidebar [that can be a little tricky] I think it is easier to move the individual widget. In this case I want my welcome note image to be moved to the left, in the center of my sidebar column. Here is how to fix that....

Go into the Design Tab > Template Designer > Add CSS.

Then you are going to paste this:

#HTML1 {margin-left: -17px;}

You will need to make a few changes to the code above for your specific widget..... First, you need to identify your widgets' ID - go to Design > Page Elements, and mouse over the specific gadget's Edit link. The widget Id can be read on the browser's status bar. Example widgetId=HTML3 will be referred to #HTML3 in the CSS.

You can change the word left to top, bottom, or right, depending on which way you want to move the widget. And of course you can change the number to whatever number you need [positive or negative].

If you want to move you widget in two directions, say up and to the left, you would just add the second command. Like this....

#HTML1 {margin-left: -17px; margin-top: 10px;}

Ta-Da! All centered!

Hopefully these two tips will help keep your blog looking clean and organized!

Thanks Rachel for having me!! :)

Thank you so much for stopping by Kendra!

For anyone interested in a new blog or freshening up your existing one, contact Kendra. She does great work!

Found

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 NLT

Happy Wednesday!

You must go check out Beautifully Rooted. Really.
It is real and unfiltered ( in a good way!). Women are laying it out and sharing God's love there.


 

Virtual Coffee

Good Morning!
Ready for some coffee?

I'm a little behind with my blogging, so let's catch up shall we?

The weather has been FABULOUS here in Arkansas. We're talking in the 70's yesterday and today and still warm days the rest of the week! And you can believe that this girl has some serious Spring Fever.
And yes, I got my tootsies ready for sandals :)
There is another person in this house who has spring fever and that would be the hubberooni. He's ordered somewhere near a zillion seeds for our garden.

Over the weekend he was busy getting our more seeds started indoors.

Have you had any of the Dove chocolate candies? I'm a big fan of the dark chocolate squares for just a little sweetness, but nothing overboard. I get a kick out of the messages they put in their wrappers. Like little cheer leaders :)

Last week Charlie woke me up at an un-Godly hour and wanted to go outside. When we came back in, he went straight to sleep, snoring and everything. I could not go back to sleep to save my life. So instead I ate cold spaghetti and browsed instagram. Crazy beagle!

When I was cleaning up the craft room/office I found these fans. I think my mom gave them to me. Aren't they a hoot? I know you know which one if my favorite right? How could it not be! :)

I try and have something sweet made for the hubs to enjoy over the weekend and without a doubt, pumpkin pie is his FAVORITE! I make them so much I have the recipe memorized. Someday soon I'll share it.

Well, that's about all I have for today.
How was your weeked? Anything exciting planned for this week?

Take care and thanks for coffee!

<

Spring= Fluff Your Nest

I'm linking up with Gussy Sews  for her Inspiration Workshop. Her theme for today is Spring.

I've been reading a few blogs about sprucing up your place for Spring. Cleaning up and organizing, removing the winter stuff and getting ready for all things Spring.

So I decided I needed to fluff up our nest a bit. And it felt great!

Here's what the table looked like before:

Cute, but somewhat bare and blah.

And here was the end result:

Lovely! Do you like my new "table cloth" ?
It's actually a flat full size sheet! Why had I never thought about this before? I love it!
I found this at the thrift store for $1 sometime last summer! IT's been sitting in the craft room with no purpose, until yesterday.
It has brightened up the kitchen significantly!

This sweet little mason jar with candle and ribbon is from my Aunt Robin. She had these on the tables at our wedding celebration she hosted. Makes me heart happy to see that on my table and remember that wonderful weekend.


Hopefully soon we will have some of these on the table.

Source


What are you doing to get ready for Spring?

Found @ The Mercy Mall

This past Saturday, the hubby and I had the opportunity to serve at our church's Mercy Mall.

Basically it's a pumped up food pantry. It has clothes, shoes, toiletries, kitchen goods, lots of food, some baby supplies and lots more. It's mainly on donations, but the church does purchase some things they know are needed.
It's a place for people in the community who are struggling or going thru a rough time to come in and get what they need.

While we were there, someone dropped off several bags of donations.

Our church is also on the list to send people if there home or belongings have been destroyed by a fire or tornado, etc. Because when you have nothing, a place like this is a true beacon of light.
It's an intimidating experience for some to come to a place like this. Because they might feel like they have failed or pride gets in the way. These are tough times for people. Lots of people.
This wasn't like going to the downtown of a metropolitan area and handing out brown bag lunches to the homeless. This was serving people in this town. The town we live and work in.

Brand New Church knows people.
When I say that I mean they know how to love people. They know how people hurt and when they are down and out they need to be lifted up and brought back around.
We've all been there at some point. Maybe not to the extent of needing food or clothing, but everyone needs a boost.
The Mercy Mall is a judgement free zone.

Teddy and I helped carry in all the bags and started sorting them.
A few people came in. Some of the other volunteers got their information, showed them what we had and helped them get what they need. It's such a basic concept, but it meant the world to these people.

It was a true blessing to be a part of this. And in the future we hope to help out as much as we can. Right now their busting at the seems and are building on. How awesome is that?!

This was posted near the coffee pots at church. And as I was preparing the coffee to share with other volunteers, I thought how true this needs to be in my life. I need to be serving these people, my work, my marriage as if I was serving The Lord.

Dear God,
Help me to remember your love ALWAYS. I need to focus all my energies on that. Let me find the ways to spread your love to others who need it most. Thank you for leading us to Brand New Church.






Have a great day!