And the winner is.....

Before I announce the lucky winner I want to say thank you to all who entered this giveaway.  I'm delighted I have made some new friends who signed up to follow and heard from a few of my established friends.  I so love doing giveaways, sharing my handmade goodies with others. I feel truly blessed to know how to paint and sharing that blessing with others is, well, a delight!  I do plan  on starting another giveaway on Monday so stay tuned for that; it's going to be a quick one.

Ok, the lucky winner is Brenda with The Rusty Thimble!  Congratulations Brenda, I'm glad you won.  I think you have entered every giveaway I have done.  It was just a matter of time before you name came up.Please email your mailing address to me so I can get this out to you:  mntpeeps@yahoo.com

Don't forget I will be posting another giveaway on or before Monday.  And when I have 500 followers I will do another giveaway.

Til next time....

~willa~






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Car Troubles

Don't you just hate car troubles! A couple of months ago we bought our daughter a 08 Pontiac Vibe. Her previous car was starting to have problems. It was her first car as a teenager and she had beaten it up pretty good, I mean bad. Since she is away at college, about 4 hours from our house, we were starting to worry about her being stranded so we bit the bullet and bought her another car. So, like I said, she's had it a couple of months and about 2 weeks ago it started to have problems. The battery began to loose it's charge so we bought a new battery but the problem continued so we took it to the mechanic to have the alternator replaced. That didn't fix the problem so she took it back to the mechanic. He told her the alternator was bad and replaced it again. Again, it was loosing it's charge. So the mechanic changed the alternator again, with one that "was the top of the line". With a prayer on our lips and fingers and toes crossed, we hoped and prayed it was finally fixed but later that evening our daughter called and told us "the car won't start again"! That night my husband got on line and researched mechanical problems with the Pontiac Vibe. In his research he found that the car is still under warranty so we had our daughter take it to the dealership. They tested the alternator and said no problem there; after several hours the verdict was the radio amp was causing a power drain so they disconnected it. She's taking it back to the her mechanic tomorrow to fix the problem. It's been a roller coaster ride through this entire saga. I'm hoping the problem has been found and solved.

During times like this it's easy to loose our peace of mind. All those little, and big, worries rush in and consume our thoughts. It's hard to concentrate on anything else. It would be easy if it were only for a couple of hours that we felt eaten alive by our worries but sometimes it can go on for days and maybe even weeks. Meaningful words spoken by friends and family help temporarily but then we are right back to our worrying. It's like a faucet constantly drip in the middle of the night. Drip.... Drip..... Drip. It wears us down to the point of exhaustion. Honestly though, the thing about worry is that most of the time, what we worry about never happens or doesn't happen as badly as we thought it would. It has taken a while but I am learning to trust rather than worry. To trust that God will cause things to work out, even if it doesn't work out like I thought it should; to trust that He will use it for a greater good. To trust that God knows exactly what He is doing and the outcome will be favorable. The thing about trust, is that it brings peace, peace of mind; peace of heart. If you are eaten up with something you have been worrying about, try to trust that God will work this out for you. Trust means to stop striving, fall back on Him and find that He will catch you in His everlasting arms of mercy. I sometimes tell myself "there is nothing I can do about this, nothing I can do to change this situation", it's God's time to shine in this crisis and do what He does best, work out what I can not possibly do. Til next time ~willa~ Pin It Now!

Punkins 4 Sale.

My Sister in Law picked up some free cupboard doors last summer at a garage sale They were free....can you imagine!! I have enjoyed painting on these pieces. I love that they come with a built in frame. This is a design by Terrye French. The original design has Jack-O-Lanterns in the cart but I decided to use simple pumpkins so this piece could be displayed throughout the Autumn season. A couple of years ago I picked up some small prim trees at Michaels for their after Christmas sale. I also picked up some 35 and 50 light strands. Does it sound like some decorated holiday trees are on my list of things to do? If you are asking that question, well, the answer is "you betchya"! But first on my list is to finish a commissioned piece. It's a turkey door hanger. I'll show and tell once it is finished. Do you ever wish you had more time in your day. I do, and, I wish I had more energy to go with that time. By the end of my work day I am tired and ready to relax. I always think once I get home I will take a short rest and then start painting. But, most of the time it doesn't work out that way. I find myself only painting a couple of times a week. But that is better than nothing, sometimes you have to give yourself permission to do only what you can do. My husband and I have recently been watching home movies of our kids when they were young. One thing I have noticed about myself, in these films of when I was a young mother, is the energy I had. Where did that energy go? I've always been an energetic person, with body and mind engaged. Sometimes I would have trouble sleeping because even though my body was tired and ready for sleep my mind was still going at top speed. God in His wisdom certainly knew how to design us; to give us the energy we need while we are young parents and allow that energy to wain as we get older so we will slow down. Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway. Til next time. ~willa~ Pin It Now!

Sleepy Hollow Give Away.

It is starting to feel "fallish" here in N VA. There is a crispness in the air and the summer color is fading from the leaves. I don't know about you but the cool air revitalizes me and perks up my energy. Last night my Sweetie built a bon fire and the family roasted wieners and marshmellows. Of course we made smores! Sitting around the fire and visiting about our day was a delight I wished we shared more often. I love this time of year; the cool nights and warm days, the autumn colors, the leaves dancing with the wind, the clear air that makes the Blue Ridge Mountains seem like they are in my backyard. Even Sadie seems glad that the hot days of summer are fading. She has certainly been perky lately but honestly she's always perky, just more than usual. Ok, I am giving away this "Sleepy Hollow" noodle board. To be eligible to win follow these rules: You must be a follower of my blog Add a comment to this post Post it on your blog Leave an email address so you can be reached. Only US and Canadian addresses are eligible. The drawing will be Sept 29th and the giveaway will be mailed out Sept 30 - Oct 1st. Good Luck! Til next time. ~willa~ Pin It Now!

Sleepy Hollow.

Hi Everyone.

I've been busy since my last post. I spent almost 5 weeks in Cleveland, OH. Gotta say I loved it there. I enjoyed Lake Erie and several of the other attractions of that great city. While I've been home, I helped my Sweetie with an investment house ( that's the hopeful term for flipping a house). We have a contract on the house and should be closing on the 13th of this month. This weekend we stained the deck; we started on the main deck off the family room. My sweetie wanted to try a new product called "Restore"; it's a textured stain formula. We are using solid stain for the pickets and top rails and putting the textured formula on the floor and stair treads. I'm holding my critique of the product until we are finished. W have 2 more smaller decks to stain.

So, now that my excuse for being away for so long is out of the way, let me tell you about this noodle board. It's a Terrye French design. I have been in a painting funk since the beginning of the year; I had high hopes that I would snap out of this funk quickly but that didn't happen. A couple of weeks ago my fingers began to itch to pick up my painting brushes again but I ignored it since there was already so much on my plate. Then, last weekend I decided to remedy my situation by cruising over to the "Terrye French Designs; Painting With Friends" website; that's all it took to spur some motivation in me. I ordered several patterns and lined up some items to paint them on. Sometimes you just have to take matters in your own hands and do what it takes to help change the situation you are in.

On another note: Where has summer gone? I can't believe we are into September already and kids have started back to school; it went by so fast! Maybe it's because I have been gone most of the summer and while I was here I was busy working on the investment house or on our house. The trees are starting to loose their summer green colors as well as some of the flowers in my garden. It will be time to put the flower gardens to bed for the winter in just a few weeks. My head is still shaking at the thought that it is almost that time of the year. I need to hop back on Terrye's site and order some more winter/Christmas patterns.

See ya next time:

~willa~






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