Garden Of Dishes, Needing Inspiration and Strawberry Pie

Greetings and Holykisses!

Just a quick note today.
It's our bible study night, so I need to clean house and get things spiffied up for my Sisterchicks. This morning I made a strawberry pie for thee occasion. ( I'll try to remember to share the recipe at the end of this post.) Our lesson tonight is over Leah and Rachel. It was alot of reading this week, but I really enjoyed it and look forward to going over the homework and hearing what the other gals have to say about these two sisters.

This past week I also started the Beth Moore study "Believing God" with another friend.
The timing is perfect and I'm going into it with my whole heart.
We're only on day 3, and God's already used it to give me a new realization while journaling. I'm anxious to see in the days to come what He shows me. So far, it seems to me that my fears seem to be fueling the places in my soul where I've not fully been trusting God.

Onto a lighter note, ........did you see the pretty dishes in the photo up above?
This weekend I found several pieces at a flea market. Pink roses yall. Most were less than .50 cents a piece. The ones above are like half plate and half bowl. I served chili to my dear husband the first night I got them. He tore into his bowl of chili and just kept chowin down. In fact he never mentioned the pretty, new, vintage dishes at all. lol So I finally asked him what he thought of them? He said they were really nice,..... but went on and on about the GOOD chili!
I was looking at our dinner table thinking how pretty the bowls were, and he looked at the dinner table through the food. -- "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, the way to a woman's heart is through pink roses."


I found teacups, saucers, and this cream and sugarbowl, along with the "chili" bowls. Oh and two larger bowls that you could serve a salad or vegetables in! They're not all thee exact same print but many are. I kinda like the mismatched look anyways. As long as theres lots of pink flowers. Soon as I saw them, I start envisioning the day we'll start having our bible studies out on the new porch. -A bible study/tea party. I'm looking so forward to the warmer weather where we can do just that!
This is what I've been doing lately with the help of my wonderful husband.
This area is behind the shabby olde potting shed.
Where you see dirt... used to be a pile of old sheet iron. It was snakey and last year there was alot of poison ivy/oak growing up even into the trees. What a mess!
It's hard to see in this photo, but this is a long fence behind our house and our back pasture is the view.
This shed is my starting point and I just can't decide what to do?
I've thought about putting up some wooden privacy fencing. But then the view of the pond would be blocked. So now I'm leaning towards maybe just planting morning glories and red honeysuckle on a fence. But this corner needs something special.

We have a lot of cedar trees in our woods so maybe we should put in a few cedar posts and build an outdoor "living" room. I keep thinking open slats and a vine ceiling? Maybe a tiled patio?

I wonder how a section of privacy fence right against that end of the shed would look? And then .... picket fence facing the pond? We have cows out there though so I just don't know?

If you have ideas please share! I'd love to have a table and chairs back here. It's very peaceful and would be a great little get away corner.
Look at little Oliver giving me this "pitiful" look.
He'd just peed on my vacuum; so I'd scolded him and made him go outside. The other dogs were still in the house and he was out there all by himself. These looks are what get me, and are why I keep giving him chance after chance. I don't know what tomorrow holds.... but right now he's curled up and sound asleep near my chair. I can tell you one thing... I'm learning patience. Every day I know ...patience just a little bit more. lol

Well, I better get out the swiffer and mop up all the paw prints before the sister chicks get here. It's been a beautiful rainy day, and so far the dogs haven't learned how to wipe their paws.

Here is the Strawberry Pie recipe that I made today. If you try it let me know how it turns out!
We really like it...it's lite and a fairly healthy dessert!

Strawberry Pie

1 9" baked pie shell
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cup water
3 Tablespoons real lemon juice (I always leave this out and it still turns out)
1 qt fresh strawberries, cleaned and hulled. A bag of frozen works great!)
1 small sugar free strawberry jello
Splenda

Slice strawberries and sprinkle with splenda to sweeten.

In medium saucepan combine cornstarch, water and lemon juice. Over high heat bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook & stir until slightly thickened and clear about 4 minutes. Add gelatin and stir until dissolved. Cool to room temperature and stir in more Splenda- I used about another 10 teaspoons. Stir in the berries and pour into cooled pie shell. Chill 4-6 hours or until set. Serve with big dollups of lite whip cream.

Have a great day,
Holykisses xoxo
L