My grandma had this special drawer in her house where she kept what she called 'odds and ends'. Sometimes, we would find the most unique things in her odds and ends drawer. I think it was her catch all for busy days. When she wasn't sure what to do with something...it found it's way into the odds and ends drawer. I swear she probably had 8,000 band-aids, an old packet of vintage kool aid, $1,000 in pennies, thread, shoe polish, pens, tape, cut out recipes, unidentified family photos, and probably the cure for the common cold stashed in her odds and ends drawer!

As we close our November issue, this is our odds and ends page. Things that we think are creative and worthwhile, but they didn't make it into an article, so they're here...on the odds and ends page. Clearly unique to our online magazine, but we like to be different. We think they're things that might brighten your day, and give you one final creative idea before your leave this issue of 'For your Heart and Home'.

We hope you have loved your time spent with us, and felt inspired within your heart to create memories in your home. Please feel free to send us your comments, thoughts, and suggestions by clicking here. If you have an article your would like to submit for review for publication in 'For your Heart and Home, click here. Thank you for taking time to join us on these pages. 

Blessings and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Shelly Thompson
Editor and Publisher, For your Heart and Home

For your Heart and Home 
A publication of The Notebook Cafe and Millie's Vintage and Home Decor
201 Antique City Drive
Walnut, Iowa
515-745-0476

Email thecafe@thenotebookcafe.com

We've got the perfect gift...truly from our home to yours! 

From the Heartland, in Walnut, Iowa...sharing the legacy of a faith journey God has brought together over generations. Now, we can share it across our great nation. The perfect gift of love...the flame of faith...from our home to yours.
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Learn more about The 5th Street Candle Company by clicking here. 

Making coffee taste even better...is that possible? 

To help maximize the deliciousness, here are five of the best foods you can dunk in your coffee.
  1. Biscotti 
  2. Shortbread
  3. Oatmeal Cookie
  4. Kit-Kat
  5. Almond Horn

Here's a link to our Coffee Bar article if you missed it! 

Don't neglect the ceiling for your holiday gatherings! 

Ceilings are often neglected when looking at redoing spaces. There are many awesome ways to transform ceilings, but here's an easy one. You can purchase this Faux Ceiling Tile Removeable Peel and Stick Wallpaper in an array of colors. It looks great on a ceiling, but could also be used on a wall or other area where you want to create interest and layers of texture. This is a peel and stick product, removable, and repositionable. Click here for the link to check out this product. 

Savoring the Christmas Story

Beginning December 1st, read one chapter of Luke each day through December 24th.  There are 24 chapters. By Christmas Eve, you will have read all 24 chapters – an entire account of the birth, ministry, sacrifice on the cross, and resurrection of Jesus. You will wake up on Christmas day knowing WHO and WHY we celebrate!

A MUST SEE this season

This was one of my mom's favorite movies. I have wonderful memories of climbing beside her in bed when she was sick towards the end of her life and watching this with her. It still makes my heart so happy to watch it (several times) each Christmas season. This is the review by Ms. M's Bookshelf - This is a tender story of a lady doctor who is still mourning the loss of her husband despite attempts by friends to get her out and about again, and a man whose wife has Alzheimer’s Disease and doesn’t recognize him, their daughters, or her grandson. It’s Thanksgiving, and there’s a snowstorm.  Their paths cross and, of course, they don’t hit it off at all.  She offers him a lift.  He’s arrogant, and she’s rather superior, but they end up off the road and have to spend the night in a cabin to wait for the road crews to dig them out.  After a while, they come to a tentative liking for each other and agree to meet for breakfast the next Sunday morning. Well, of course, things go wrong.  There’s a misunderstanding, some pointed remarks that aren’t understood, and, well — you should watch this movie sometime over the holidays.  In the midst of a snowstorm, if you can manage it; it will add to the atmosphere.  It’s slow-paced, romantic, and a happy ending all around.  What’s not to like? 

Christmas Gift idea

​'Heart of a Warrior' is now in it's 6th printing and has received wonderful reviews. The pages of this book written by Shelly Thompson, Publisher of The Notebook Cafe, are real life devotions God wrote on her heart as a young girl growing up on 5th Street in an old neighborhood known as Highland Park...a miniature Mayberry...surrounded by her parents, grandparents, and a tribe of faithful widowed women (different shapes and sizes of Aunt Bee).

Readers are enchanted with this wonderful neighborhood as they journey up the hill to ‘God’s rock’, remember breathing in the smell of amazing stacks of books during Story Hour in the old library, discover the afternoon the neighbor 'Grace' received real Jesus grace, relive summer afternoons on the back porch with sweet tea and stories y'all, finding ‘buried treasure’ in the back alley that God used to demonstrate His restoration, walk through painful steps of saying a temporary farewell to the faith Warriors in this life as they pass the torch of faith to the next generation to carry forward...creating the ‘Heart of a Warrior’...for a time such as this.

This book is a forty-day legacy devotional with encouraging warrior journal notes, battle strategies, and real life devotions...for all seasons in life.

Your heart will be touched, changed, revived, restored...and prepared to leave a legacy of faith for the next generation.

Return with author Shelly Thompson for forty days to where her journey began...the old house on 5th Street at the bottom of the hill. A special place where God touched a little girl’s heart for a lifetime.

'Heart of a Warrior' is available at both Millie's locations in Johnston and Walnut, and online with free shipping. Click here for more information.