Tuesday's Tips

Floor Socks

by Barbara Latta

If you have a floor sweeper that uses disposable cloths, you may run out of cleaning supplies before you are aware of it. 

What do you do? Grab your keys and run to the store? No, of course not.

Go through your pile of unmatched socks (you know, those the dryer eats and never gives back the mate). Slide one sock over each end of the mop base and presto: you have a mop. I also did this with a reusable mop when the pad became torn and I was needing something in a hurry. And rather than throwing them away, you can wash and reuse. 

Of course, the dryer may not give them back!

The Never Ending Gift

by Barbara Latta

Each Christmas season we see plays and read stories depicting the Nativity scene with angels descending and proclaiming, “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14). These words are quoted often, printed on cards, and sung in songs; yet the world is at war, kids are shooting each other, financial disasters abound, and terrorism threatens us all. Where is peace?

It wasn’t peace on earth the angels sang about, but peace between God and mankind. Even Jesus Himself said he did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34). Trusting Him would require a person to commit to God’s ways and separate themselves from the wrong they had done. Friends and family familiar with the old ways wouldn’t like the change. Division would occur.

The world’s turmoil is caused by strife between groups of people. Because humans have no peace in their hearts, fighting and anger grow creating havoc and war. Selfishness rules with pain and heartache becoming the result.

Peace is not the absence of conflict in the world, but the absence of conflict in your heart. It is the Christmas gift God gave to all of us over 2,000 years ago. No matter what is going on around us, we can have a peaceful soul if we let this gift be ours. Peace never wears out, doesn’t need batteries, doesn’t need to be returned, and can be used in every season.

Before Jesus left the earth He said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27 NKJV).

Peace is a never ending gift. Are you a willing recipient?

The Price of Pearls

Book Review Friday

by Barbara Latta

Peeling back the layers of her life, Patricia Manns opens her heart to share the pain of searching for purpose, acceptance, and peace. Growing up during the 1950’s and attending college in the tumultuous 1960’s, she takes the reader through her experiences of bad decisions and harmful relationships followed by the painful consequences.

Suffering from years of depression but not knowing the underlying cause, the pain of her soul led her to find the One who could ultimately make the difference in the value of her life. Her new found freedom brought the security and confidence to face the challenges of life and release the past.

The Price of Pearls is a journey from bondage to peace, the discovery of real love, and an everlasting possession of a new identity.

This book is available at amazon.com.

 You can visit Patricia's blog a www.treasurechestmoments.com. 

Does Your Sink Stink?

Tuesday's Tips

Holiday cooking, rushed time schedules, and maybe even more people than usual in your kitchen can leave some messes we don't get cleaned up like we want. If you drains are suffering from stinky pipes and need a little refreshing, try this:

1 cup salt

1 cup soda

¼ cup cream of tarter

Mix well  and keep in an airtight jar.

Use ¼ cup in drain followed by boiling water

Your sink will smile and be very happy.

The Manger and the Mercy Seat

by Barbara Latta

When we hear the Christmas story recorded in the book of Luke and read about the manger where Mary laid the newborn babe, the image of a wooden box full of hay comes to mind. But research shows that mangers in those days were usually a carved stone trough and were sometimes on the ground floor of a house so the animals could be close by.

Stone feeding trough in Israel

Jesus came to earth to die (John 18:37). His purpose was already being displayed when he was born. The baby would have been rubbed with salt and oil (Ezekiel 16:4), wrapped in strips of cloth,and then laid in a manger (Luke 2:7). Angels were proclaiming his birth.

At His death, he was anointed with about one hundred pounds of spices, wrapped in a linen cloth, then laid on a stone slab in a tomb (John 19:38-40). At His resurrection, two angels were sitting at the head and the foot where he had lain (John 20:12), which paints a perfect picture of the Mercy Seat—a slab on top of the Ark of the Covenant covered with two angels one on each end.

The priest would sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat covering the sins of the nation each year (Hebrews 9:6-7). Jesus entered heaven and sprinkled His blood on the altar to atone for our sins forever (Hebrews 9:11-15). The blood shed during the birthing process showed us He was the Son of Man, the blood shed at His death was as the Son of God.

Christmas is the manger bringing to us the blood on the Mercy Seat—and that is the greatest gift of all.

What does that gift mean to you?


Leave a comment beginning today until Monday, December 8 at midnight and be entered into a drawing for Jerry Jenkins novella, Holding Heaven.

Driftwood Tides

Book Review Friday

by Barbara Latta

Libby Slater is engaged to a wonderful man, she has a perfect job, and a high society mother who wants her to have the wedding of the century.

While Libby’s mother is planning the wedding she wants her daughter to have, Libby is finding out things about herself she has never known. Like adoption papers.

Searching for the answers to her identity and with hopes of meeting her biological mother, Libby sets out to Nags Head, the last address recorded for the woman who gave her birth. Leaving her fiancée and demanding mother behind for the summer, Libby’s search turns up painful questions instead of answers when she finds out her mother has died and the husband she left behind doesn’t know of Libby’s existence.

A drunken driftwood artist and a woman desperately wanting to belong to a family become an unlikely pair while they both seek the answers a dead woman left behind.

Gina Holmes weaves a story of hope and redemption amidst the backdrop of the Carolina coast with characters rich in personalities that clash and dreams they all want to make come true.

This book is available at amazon.com. 

Share your thoughts about some of your favorite books.

Doggy Ears

Tuesday's Tips

Dogs sometimes suffer from ear fungus and other maladies that are unpleasant for them and us. Scratching, itching, and bad odors are something we don't want to deal with. Our groomer gave me this formula to keep the fungus at bay and ears smelling and feeling better.

Our dogs in the photo are Peanut, the dachshund mix, and Buster the snoodle. The German Shepherd and Chi-weenie belong to our son and daughter-in-law (RIP Weenie, sniff). With this family of canines among us we use this recipe a lot.

Peanut, Buster, Kato, Weenie

2 TBL water

2 TBL white vinegar

2 TBL alcohol

Mix together in a small squeeze bottle with a squirt top. I squeeze a few drops into the dogs ears every few days and massage in.

Next step, stand back for the shaking. 

What do you do to keep your pets fresh and clean?