It's the simple things

It truly is the simple things in life that bring me so much joy. Take this welcome mat for instance. We have had the same welcome mat at our home for about 7 years, it was worn and tattered and we were way overdue for another one. As I was at the store the other day this one caught my attention and to make it even better, it was on clearance. I was so excited. So if you come over, this is what you get to wipe your feet on before coming inside. :)

For Christmas, we got this (pictured below) from my sister who had recently traveled to Israel. It is called a Mezuzah and inside it holds these Bible passages from Dueteronomy 6:4-9 and Deuteronomy 11:13-21.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

¹³ So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— ¹⁴ then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

 ¹⁶ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. ¹⁷ Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.


Although we are not Jewish by religion, we hold to the teachings of Jesus Christ and these verses from the Old Testament are very meaningful for those who believe in Him. So our family is getting into the habit of touching the mezuzah as we enter our home to remind us that our home is sealed with the blood of Jesus and our faith is in Him. It's been really fun to get used to doing that and such a great reminder when we enter our home. 

 I'm not sure how you switch gears from something religious to something like a shower curtain hanger so I won't even try. But like I said at the beginning of this post, it's the simple things that bring me joy and this happens to be one of those things. I have always had the old fashion kind of shower curtain holders, the kind you have to open up, insert the shower curtain and then snap it back together. For anyone who has ever tried this, it's so not fun and I usually have a shoulder ache the next day since my arms are above my head for several minutes. So while I was at the store buying our new welcome mat, I saw these for only $1.49 for a package of 12, so I bought them and I had the shower curtain hung in less than a minute. It was easy cheesy!

 The main reason for going to the store the other day was to purchase a new shower curtain for the kids bathroom. Anyone who has boys should know that their aim is not always accurate and as you can see here the toilet and shower curtain are not that far apart. Regardless of how much I launder and clean the shower curtain, I find myself replacing it every so often. And instead of buying a fabric one, I went with the vinyl one, it should be much easier to wipe down if needed. I still need to replace the toilet seat cover so it matches the rest of the blues, but for now I'm happy we have a fresh smelling shower curtain, now if we can just work on the aim and keeping a tidy bathroom.

 This picture makes me really happy. For the longest time we have had two lights out in the bathroom, but the other two offered enough light so we didn't think much of it but it started becoming annoying to me when I would use the bathroom because my eyes kept being drawn to the two lights that were not working. I'm not sure why it took me so long to purchase replacement bulbs, but it finally happened and we now have four working bulbs in the bathroom. Pretty darn exciting if you as me, but like I said earlier, it's really the simple things in life that bring me much joy. :)

 I am sure this wasn't simple to make, in fact I know my Aunt spent many hours making this beautiful blanket for our family to give us at Christmas. I am so in love with it. It makes me want to snuggle up with my Taste of Home magazine, curl up on the couch, wrap this warm cozy blankie around me and just chill out. In fact, it sounds so delightful I think I will wrap up this post and go wrap up in our new blanket.