A Thankful Heart

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
--Henry Ward Beecher

O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
-- William Shakespeare

Today I was listening to one of my absolute favorite CDs, Margaret Becker’s Just Come In, and it occurred to me that this song, "All I Ever Wanted" (just about my favorite one on the CD), would be perfect to share for Thanksgiving:

From where I lay
I can see the sun
Rising through the trees
Before I face
This morning rush
I get down on my knees

I lift my eyes
And thank You for
This life you've granted me
I pray that every day I live
Your heart will be pleased

I pray for
Hands that hold You
Higher than anything else
And a heart that loves You
More than life itself
This is all I've ever wanted
This is all I want to be
All I've ever wanted
Is to love You
Faithfully

From where I stand
I can see the dreams
That you have fulfilled
Such kindness I did not deserve
But You gave it still

What do I have
That You did not give
There's nothing that I can see
So all I have to give to You
Is what You've given me

I know I don't have the power
To love You like I should
But every day with everything I have
I wish I could
I'm standing here now
These words I pray
I want to love You better
Whatever it takes

I pray for
Hands that hold You
Higher than anything else
And a heart that loves You
More than life itself
This is all I've ever wanted
This is all I want to be
All I've ever wanted
Is to love You
Faithfully

-- Margaret Becker

Amen, sister!

And happy thanksgiving, everyone!

So New ... So Useful ... So Modern ... and So Beautiful!

Grateful Praise ©2008 Karen Mathison Schmidt
30 x 30 • acrylic on 2" cradled Gessobord

No, the title of this post does not refer to my painting, but to this:


YESSIREE! It's the Rival Two Way Ice-O-Mat, circa 1945-50, in lemon yellow, which I found in its original box yesterday when I was cleaning out one of the storage closets in the tiny room at the end of the downstairs hall. The Guarantee was a little mouse eaten, but the info card is still in good shape.


This little card is chock full of information, like that the Two Way Ice-O-Mat not only crushes ice, but it does it in either one of 2 ways: coarse or fine. That makes it at least twice as good as the plain old Ice-O-Mat.


Also illustrated are the many uses for crushed ice from this baby – you can use the crushed ice in chilled fruits & salads, cold drinks, ice bags, vacuum bottles (which I gather from the picture is what we new millenniumites call a “thermos”), making ice cream & chilled desserts, electric mixers (which from the picture is really a blender). Yes, ladies & gentlemen, these are just a few of the reasons the Rival Two Way Ice-O-Mat belongs -- yes, belongs in your Kitchen ... Home Bar ... Recreation Room!

I especially like the blurb under the SAFER heading:

"Patented metal fingers within cover guide the ice. You do not use your own fingers because of this exclusive safety feature."

... Whew! What a relief! It's nice to know that I can grind my ice cubes without risking grinding my actual fingers in the process.


And if you think the Ice-O-Mat is the cat's pajamas – or the living end, or the most, or groovy, or far out, or the bomb, or tight - which is about as up to date as my knowledge of slang gets - just get a load of the other swell products available from Rival:



The Juice-O-Mat (3 different models!)
The Vogue Ice-O-Mat (for the oh so fashionable kitchen)
The Can-O-Mat
The Grind-O-Mat
The Broil-O-Mat
The Shred-O-Mat
The Steam-O-Matic Deluxe Steam and Dry Iron

plus so much MORE!

Dude. I don't know about you, but my mind is officially blown. I think I need a nap.

A Cow of a Different Color

Thanksgiving Pecan work in progress

Here's the latest work in progress photo of the tree painting I've been working on. As you can see, I've added some different glazes to deepen and change the color over the whole piece. Now the fun part: adding layers and playing with texture. Using a palette knife in places adds a bit of the uncontrolled, the unexpected. I love it!

And now, changing the subject ... Sunday afternoon, cleaning out the tip top shelf of a little storage closet I'm just now getting to (I'm telling you, there are so many nooks a crannies in this house!) I found a couple of neato, keen and swell treasures. I'll take some pics and show you those tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here's a photo I took from our balcony a couple of days ago. Some cows in the rain. There were these cows up under my favorite pecan tree out in the pasture.

Five cows, each a different color. Petty cool.

A Cozy Night

Thanksgiving Pecan work in progress

Here's one I started today ... it's pretty big, 30 x 30, and I'll try to finish it tomorrow. This is one of our approximately 65 pecan trees. I can see it from my kitchen window, and this is how it looked this afternoon. I have a feeling that in a few days it will look very different because we're due for a couple of really windy days, and that will probably blow a lot of the leaves away!

Tonight is our first freezing night of the year, and I'm due in the living room in about 1 minute, for some snuggling with husband and pups, in front of our roaring gas logs.

I'll be posting again tomorrow ... good night!