SURPRISE BIRTHDAY LUNCH

My crafty friend Suzie is celebrating her birthday today, May 30.  To surprise her, I invited her church women's board to lunch before their meeting - that way, I hoped she wouldn't suspect anything was being planned.

Here is the place setting I chose. Every item except silverware were great deals and finds at the second hand shop or rummage sales.





My garden flowers were nearly past peak, but still dressed up the table nicely.



Their United Methodist Women Board members came to lunch in January so it wasn't like coming for lunch was unusual.  They are great taste-testers for all the neat savories and sweets I want to make, and mostly, it is a joy to serve them and share a meal together in friendship as we visit.



I asked crafting friends, church friends, and friends to send her a birthday card c/o of me so I could surprise her with many special greetings - thanks, girls! Here's the card I made for Suzie:



The menu items were from a favorite magazine of mine, Life: Beautiful which is a quarterly publication for $4.99 per issue.  The recipes for the cream puffs, chicken salad and pears can be found here. The cake was a box mix with an easy frosting from Pinterest called Marshmallow Frosting.

MENU

Cream Puffs filled with Chicken Salad

 Poached Pears with Agave Sauce

Red Velvet Birthday Cake - the mini angel food, disposable pans can be found here

Here's Suzie with her cake and big candle - too many candles for "her age."

May God richly bless you, good friend, this day and all year through. 

Has it really been that long since I posted? 
We have been busy cleaning up and rearranging our Historical Society Museum which will open for the summer in mid-June.  I have so enjoyed having so many helping hands this year.   We rearranged our military section, which brought to focus the reason for Memorial Day.  Please take some time out of your 3-day weekend, from your camping, traveling, cook outs, etc, to remember why Memorial Day exists.  Even if you have not lost a member of your family through serving in our military, there are so many who have given their lives for each of us.  We are grateful!  Let our actions show it.

At the museum, we are doing an inventory of items donated, collectibles and photos. Most of the old photos are not labeled, so finding some that are is pure joy!
 



 

Here is a photo that is labeled, and one of these ladies is my husband's grandmother, which was a big surprise because she is not from this town.  This photo is labeled 1904, which I had guessed by their "turn of the century" hats. We wonder about this photo, what are their connections to one another, and were they all dressed up for.....tea?

We found a couple of items we couldn't identify, and that's where two (or three or four) heads are better than one.  Soon we realized we had to keep focused, because it would have been so easy to look through all of the pictures and really take a walk through time.  There'll be time for that in the next step.

We've got a few more days at the museum as we are putting a new display in our feature display case and then we'll have to make the signs.  We have a very small museum, but we're proud of the story it tells to the world.  We have three other museums in our small town, plus two in the next town, so we must work diligently to focus and not overlap.

I see a big red sun staring me in the face, so it's time to get started on my day.  It's been nice chatting with you.  Have you labeled your pictures? However you spend your next few days, have a great weekend! SB

TWO DAYS

There are two days in every week about which you should not worry;

two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of the days is YESTERDAY with its mistakes and cares,

its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. 

YESTERDAY has passed forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. 

We cannot undo a single act we performed;

We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone.

 

The other day we should not worry about is TOMORROW,

with its possible adversaries, its burdens,

its large promise and poor performance.

Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds --

But it will rise.  Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow for it is as yet unborn.

 

 

This leaves only one day - TODAY. 

Any man can fight the battles of just one day. 

 It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities

 - yesterday and tomorrow - that we break down. 

It is not the experience of today that drives men mad

 - it is remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday

 and the dread of what tomorrow may bring. 

Let us therefore live but one day at a time.

 

                                                                                                         --Author Unknown