Friday Foto Friends- A Little This, A Little That

Psalm 111: 1-4
"I will praise the Lord with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.
The works of the Lord are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.
He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion."

What a great way to start out this Friday Foto Friends...praising the Lord "with my whole heart"...and being reminded that the Lord "has made His wonderful works to be remembered...", and that is one of the reasons I take so many pictures...to remember God's wonderful works!  There is so much to see, study and "have pleasure in them"...for His work is honorable and glorious...

So, some of my photographs this week are of a few of God's wonderful works to be remembered...and others are just a little this and that of what I've done or have seen this past week.  In everything, I give thanks and praise to God.

I will start with the clouds!  With all of the storms we've had this past week, there have been many opportunities to watch the clouds rolling in and out...so here are some that I found noteworthy:

These last two are actually of the sun breaking through the clouds after the rain this past evening (writing this on Thursday night)  The pictures never do them justice...but the sun was so brilliant as it broke through the clouds...again
"The works of the Lord are great!" 

And this is the rain falling down...the sun was actually shining during this little shower and the raindrops were sparkling on the trees, but it didn't show up quite that way. This looks more like snow! But it is definitely rain...I live in Florida, and it was about 90 degrees when I took this picture!

I thought this looked like icicles hanging from the trees!

I couldn't let a week go by without another rose blossom...every few days a new one opens, and I just love to watch them open their lovely faces to praise the Lord Who created them...

And our "bird of the week" is this tiny young ? warbler of some kind?.  He was feasting on the mimosa tree flowers after the rain. Can you find the lady bug?

Now we will change gears a bit.  

This looks like a bar of soap.

It is,...but it is handmade (Rosemary) soap, created by the daughter in law of one of my dear friends.

My friend brought several of these bars for me to try...actually, she had given me some quite some time ago, and it just sort of sat there and I just sort of forgot about it because I've always been  a "Dove" girl.  But lately I've noticed that my skin was getting very dry, tight, and wrinkled! Yikes!

I'm too young for wrinkles! (Ha!) But honestly, as soon as I'd wash my face, I'd have to put a ton of lotion on to smooth it out and relieve the tightness.

So, I thought, why not try this lovely bar of homemade soap? And so I did.

And I have to tell you (this is not a commercial), but I could not believe how smooth and soft and fresh my face felt! It didn't tighten up like usual, and the "wrinkles" seemed to smooth right out...I couldn't even see them in my mirror! Even when I turned the lights on bright and put on my glasses!

So I had to know what was in this soap...and it is Emu Oil and Goats Milk, along with other essential oils.  Now I am trying to contact this lady and find out about other products she makes...and I will keep you informed.  

Have any of you ever used soap with Emu Oil before?

This is a real nice little gift from one of God's amazing creatures...actually two...don't forget the goats!

I was so excited about this I had to tell you!  You probably already knew it and never bothered to tell me...but now the secret is out!

Now, what else happened this week?

Oh yes! I had my four week check up with the doctor today (Thursday) following my surgery. She said I am doing just fine and she will see me again in two months. I am still in the healing mode and not totally back to normal yet...but I am doing as well as can be expected for this time period.  So I give thanks to the Lord for His goodness to me. 

I do not take healing for granted. It is a gift from God.

"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion."

One more thing I did this week. Some of you real seamstresses out there will probably laugh at this.

I am not a seamstress.  Oh, I can sew...but I find it mostly a lesson in frustration...something I don't have much patience for anymore.  But I guess I am getting a little stir crazy being cooped up so much.  One day, as I was taking one of my afternoon naps, I laid there thinking about a nightgown that I've never worn that was hidden away in the bottom drawer of the dresser  

Why? Well, because it had long sleeves and came down below my knees, and here in Florida I just never have needed long sleeved, long tailed nightgowns. I still get hot flashes during the night and just the thought of being trapped in attached long sleeves and tangled up in a long gown is enough to make me break out in a sweat.

So, I got this brilliant idea to make it into a usable short nightgown! I'm sorry I didn't take a before picture, but my husband surreptitiously took a few "during reconstruction" pictures ...I'll show you the ones I approved of.

Here I am in my "sewing room", which is actually in our master bathroom, which is sort of an expanded utility room where our extra fridge resides along with other stuff. (hence the cartons of soft drinks on the floor...they were sitting on top of the sewing machine cabinet) (this picture is looking in from our bedroom....yes, I have dolls everywhere).  

I was diligently trying to figure out how to wind thread on a bobbin on this machine.

 See how hard I was concentrating on this? Actually, I finally decided that on this sewing machine, which is new to me...a "gift" from a friend who has several newer models and didn't need this one anymore, anyway, the bobbin winding mechanism no longer works.  No matter what I tried, it would not do it. I finally found a filled bobbin that was close enough in color to use. I will have to deal with that problem another day when I feel better.

Me, deep in concentration...

 It also took me a while to figure out how to thread this machine...it is a Montgomery Ward machine (that should tell you how old it is), and loads differently than my old Singer.

But I must say I am thankful for this gift from my friend. Once I got all the bugs figured out, it actually did a nice job of sewing!!

So, here is the final product, after I cut off the sleeves to a short cap sleeve, and cut off the bottom to create a shorter gown.

I love it!  I've worn it every night since. Probably need to wash it again...

Okay, that's all for now folks!  We just had a huge thunder crack here...and I think I'll stop typing before the storm gets worse...

"The works of the Lord are great!

Praise the Lord"

Now, let's pop over to Deb's place at Breathing in Grace, and see what all our other Friday Foto Friends have been up to!  Have a blessed weekend my friends!  Don't forget to Praise the Lord for all His wondrous works!  Bye now!