would it be too weird

for a 44 yr. old woman to go see this guy all by herself because nobody she knows loves him as much as her?

aaaaaaaaarrrrgh. i am obsessed. anybody in a 5 state area that wants to go with me should respond immediately.

:)

shhhh. it's a secret.

this post is for kristie.

i "won" this apron on ebay, it's inspiration for a top-secret craft project we have cooking.

it's by vera, a textile designer from the 50s/60s/70s that i am in awe and admiration of. i just love all of her designs. this particular apron is brand new, never been worn, and has an original vera tag on it.

ohhhhhhh. gonna cook something that matches turquoise soon :)

oh boy

intermittently throughout the day, i read blogs. some of them are random people across the country that i've come to stalk regularly. i know i'm not the only one who does this, even if it is a little weird.

anyway, today i am thankful i am not THIS guy, who is caring for these baby raccoons who lost their mom. he's having a bit of a hard time not loving them, but if it were me, they would already be named eeny, meeny, miney, and mo, and i would have a whole living "suite" set up for them in the basement.

if you see any stray raccoons, no matter WHAT you are thinking of doing with them, please don't bring them over. my heart could not STAND it.

almost full

i guess it's time for an update on the health issue i've been dealing with for a few months. i haven't posted about it, because a) this is a happy blog (at least for the most part) and b) i haven't been too happy about my health.

i get the feeling that things are changing though, God has given me a word about it lately.

to be blunt, the word was "why not just believe Me?"

you see, for most of my life, i've been plagued with doubts and fears. from the time i was very very young, i would have classified myself as an "anxious" person. as friends of mine can tell you, even when i HAVE NOT BEEN SICK, i've worried about being sick. i think they call it "hyposomething or other." ha.

so when this happened, and i really DID feel yucky, and really did not know what was going on, i panicked. starting thinking of the bad things. kept on talking about the problem, much more than the solution. God gave me His Word right away, that i would be healed, by Him, because of faith.

and yet, i have tried to find the solution. went to doctor(s), read on the internet, and documented everything that was wrong. kept coming up blank, and still feeling yucky. even a couple of weeks ago, when i went to a specialist who God handed me on a platter (how many docs do you know who say "no charge" and confidently tell you "nothing bad is going to happen to you") i did not fully believe that this was "it" - i kept looking for another answer.

finally, in frustration last week, i asked God what to do. i told Him i was DONE looking for solutions unless one showed up at my door and i was just hoping it would be over soon.

i guess it was this weekend that the thought popped into my head "why not just rest and believe you ARE better, and this IS over?"

hmmm. why not indeed? i mean, even if you've been a "glass partially empty" girl your whole life, what good reason is there for not becoming a "glass really pretty full" girl just once to see what it feels like?

so that's where i'm at today. not quite all the way there, but hoping to focus on the positive, which is that i am BETTER than i was a few weeks ago. and that i have the meds, and the tools to get all the way there. soon, i hope, but surely getting there, no matter how long it takes.

John 7:38
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

sundays pretties

just a lazy sunday,



except for the bees, they ARE busy. if you don't like bees, don't plant the mexican sunflowers, because they are inundated right now. this little guy did not care that i was 8 inches away from him, he kept right on going :)



also, the "salad plate" sized hibiscus plants are blooming too. photos do not do these justice, you have to see the huge blooms in person. look quick, they only last one day. but the plants have alot of blooms, so i get one-a-day for quite awhile.



unfortunately, the whole lawn is dead. i think it's been about 6 weeks since the last rain. that is a bit too long for grass, so i've said "goodbye til next year" to it. this little plant is not too worried though, he decided to bloom in the middle of the yard anyway.



and just when i'm about ready to camp out in the yard all the time, i see that there is beauty right IN the house too :) be blessed today!

helpful hint

if you don't like your neighbors all that much, invest about $1.59 on a packet of mexican sunflowers. then, in 2 months you will forget you even HAVE neighbors. these babies are right around 7 feet or 8 feet tall right now.

:)

SOOOOOO last year

I notice that Target is now selling a pair of ballet flats that remind alot of ones a "certain someone" was drooling over last year. or at the beginning of this year, i forget which.

Link for those still interested:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_6/601-4116886-1820120?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000PW502G

how fun is that?

cutting gardens RULE.

flashbacks

what a nice weekend it was. i realize the blogs get kinda sparse this time of year, but the outdoors call us, don't they? anyway, it's monday and here are the memories of the weekend that i most want to keep around:


garage sale with sher and kristie, mostly for the company, not the goods. although i did find a nice little turquoise "mixette" to go with my big girl mixer, and made some pretty good cupcakes (searching for a good wedding cupcake recipe!!) with the sassy little one!



garage sale immediately followed by fabric shopping with kristie! we found some UNBELIEVABLE DEALS, and i have enough fabric to furnish my next house...whenever i buy it, that is :)



speaking of, i AM thinking of buying another house. apparently, one is not quite enough. this "project house" is right next door to me, and my neighbors will be putting it on the market soon. have not seen the inside yet, but it MIGHT make a good house for my biz, and my dream of "flipping" houses. only time and prayer will tell!



okay, back to the weekend. lush garden land that i spend alot of time in. esp. in the morning, reading the Bible and reflecting on the day. aaahhhhhhh. i could do this forever.



first canned tomato experience in my whole life! hint: it's messy :) ha. but since i cannot quite eat them yet, i am canning them for the future, and i have HOPE that i will be able to eat tomatoes before the season is over!



and finally, sunday evening spent with geoff moore, literally it felt like he came over to the house and sang. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. his sweet sweet personality and funny stories and absolutely heavenly voice are enough for me. i am content.

i know i left some things out. but you get the idea. weekends are good, aren't they? what did you do for yours?

seven things

A few weeks ago (when i road tripped to the black hills) i was listening to a tape by mike bickle of the international house of prayer in kansas city. mike is doing deep, relevant work about the end of days and how God is preparing His "bride" for the wedding feast! in this particular tape, he was talking about the "seven longings of the human heart" that God has placed in us.

ever since then, whenever i hear about ANY desire or need that people have, i always think of this idea! i ordered the book from amazon this morning. i am not surprised that God would place SEVEN longings in our hearts, are you?

anyway, will tell you more after i read it.
for now, here are the longings.

1. The longing for assurance that we are loved.
2. The longing for enjoyment.
3. The longing to be beautiful.
4. The longing to be great.
5. The longing for intimacy without shame.
6. The longing to be wholehearted and passionate.
7. The longing to make a deep and lasting impact.

i can relate to EVERY SINGLE ONE of these strongly. more importantly, i think we all can. and because we are made in the image of God, it's not a surprise that in Him, each of these longings is consummated and reflected in His longings for our lives and our hearts!

whew. so cool. i will share more about these points as i read. mike b. gives a very "sensible" explanation of each one! and how so many times, we spend our whole lives trying to fulfill these longings by looking to the wrong thing. a person, an activity, a job, a hobby or skill, or something "just out of reach" that we know could satisfy our lives.

just had to share.

plum happy

i got a good deal (.97 a pound) on plums last week, so i decided to make plum jam. my grandma used to have a big plum tree in her yard, and i never really cared for plums.

now i LOVE the flavor! i did kind of screw up the jam, i put less sugar in (can you make jam healthy?) and it did not gell up that good. so, it's kind of a runny jam, but the color and flavor is fantastic.

it reminds me of one of my favorite books, Quite a Year for Plums. by bailey white, of NPR fame. i think reading her books (Mama Makes Up Her Mind is another great one!) is part of the reason i have a fascination in my heart for the south. the books are set in georgia, and the characters are "quirky" southerners to say the least.

ah. would love to have a wooded yard with a front porch and a mint julep right now!
too bad it's monday morning and time for work or i would go there in my head for sure :))

happy day.

color frenzy

that's going to be the name of my show when i get an hgtv contract. because that is what happens to me when i see too much brown.

like this afternoon, when i realized i had a predominance of wood tones in my living room. until "color frenzy" hit me. i quickly stained my coffee table a cinnamon color, and the armoire "mediterranean green" - or olive green, for those who are not familiar with their geography.


love the coffee table, not so sure about the armoire, but at least there is a bit less brown going on!

bounty

finally they are back.

don't tell anybody, but i just ate 5 cherry tomatoes.... ;)

oh my. i think i'm in love.

somebody stop me

but i keep seeing canning jars on garage sales!

i just HAD to have these though, these are the really good BLUE ones

:)

top down

yesterday a girlfriend stopped over at my house, and we went on an impromptu car ride.

not a big deal, except she has a convertible! woo hoo. they are fun :)

(no, this is not her car, in actuality there were a couple "kid-friendly" seats in the back)

i have just made up a new rule: everybody needs to ride in a convertible every once in awhile or they are not really living....thanks annie :)

1st day back

well, today i am officially back to work.

held my first meeting this morning back in the garden, it looks to be a very nice week :)

it's not luck, but it's still good

if i had a dollar for every time i read or heard a news story yesterday about what a "lucky" day it was, i would have been able to afford another garage sale. lots of people appeared to be into 07-07-07, as babies were born and weddings were held.

but every time i hear somebody talk about what a "lucky" day it was, i cringe.

i wish our silly american culture, many of whom claim to be Christian, thought about God a little bit more. because really, any significance in the number seven comes from the Author of the Universe, who seems to favor this number. i'm not into "numerology" but the use of number seven in the Bible is astounding. and since our God is amazing and Holy, i am sure He has something in mind concerning the number seven.

i looked on the internet, and found a couple really cool things.

There are ten other words derived from the same word as seven, meaning fullness or completeness. Together they appear a total of 434 times in the Bible. 434 = 62 x 7.

The Hebrew word for seven occurs a total of 392 times in the Bible. This is not only a multiple of seven but of seven times seven, 392 = 8 x 7 x 7. 392 is also remarkable for being the sum of the square of seven and the cube of seven, ie. 392 = (7 x 7) + (7 x 7 x 7) or 392 = 7² + 7³.

The word seven is often used more than once in a verse. So the number of verses in which it appears will be less than the total number of times it is used. It turns out that the word seven appears in 343 verses. 343 = 7 x 7 x 7 = 7³. There is therefore 49 times seven is used more than the first time in a verse, or there are 49 repeat uses. 49 = 7 x 7 = 7².

and finally,

Seven represents Spiritual perfection and so adequately represents the Holy Spirit itself. But seven is also the seal of God, He stamped His aproval of the creation by resting on the seventh day. Seven occurs throughout the Word of God more often than any other number. Ivan Panin regarded a pattern of sevens in the gematria of scripture as the stamp or seal of Gods authentic Word upon it. In fact, rightly or wrongly he used this to determine whether scripture was part of the genuine Word of God or not. If we look at seven in this light, no wonder that the holy Spirit is associated with seven. The holy Spirit is the seal of God on the believer, the earnest of our inheritance. Thus seven is symbolically the seal of God in scripture and in the believer as well.

i am thinking that today is a good day to praise the One who made my "lucky" day happen yesterday, huh?

ta da!

one more project done for my craftful week here on the Forty.

i love these chairs, they are kinda cheaper in quality (what you get for $20 bucks each i guess) but the paint finish is exactly what i was hoping for!

now, i just need to invite someone over for marshmallows and a test run of the new fire pit. i love summer!

still more finds

i saw in the paper yesterday that there was an estate sale at 8 am this morning in the central part of town. there were canning supplies on there, and i need more jars if i am going to keep all of these tomatoes i will be getting in the next month.

so, i went.

and oh my, what a haul!!!!!!! i did not even get to look at everything, because i found so much stuff that i spent the money i had with me! i am NEVER going to the mall again, i swear :)

anyway, here's what i got:



two big crates of canning jars, plus a big box of lids, which alone are worth what i paid for the whole shebang, $10



cute little food processor (mini) that is just perfect for a small batch of pesto! $3



whole set of german knives in the original case, with a kitchen shears (yeah!) and a sharpening thingey. tried it out and the paring knife is sharp! $5



and the big purchase!!!! i have wanted a stand mixer FOREVER. for all the baking i love to do, i just have a crappy old hand mixer. anyway, this is a KITCHENAID and it is in perfect shape, with all of the attachments. and it works great!!! it was covered with years of residue and batter, and the lady said the woman who died LOVED her mixer. it's creamy white, and after 45 minutes of polishing and scrubbing, it looks brand new. aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh. apparently happiness cost $10 today ;)

oh, and i got a handful of old wooden yardsticks and 2 gardening books thrown in for free :) there is nothing so satisfying as finding other "much loved" items and bringing them home to love yourself. my vacation can be done now :)

sew crazy

much like those who have gone before me (karen, kristie, kirst) i have gotten the sewing bug.

i think it's because of the fabric. i cannot stand how much i love amy butler, the fabric designer goddess who made most of the stuff i bought for my quilt.

i want to be her. seriously, i love her.

i also love my quilt. i cut out the pieces last night, started at 8 am this morning by laying them all out on my basement floor, and by 2 this afternoon, i had a very stiff back and a completed quilt top!!!

now, i just need to finish it up. uh-oh, that is the yucky part :)

projects, garagin' and gardening

this is possibly one of the best vacations i've ever had...so far anyway.

at this point, i'm pretty satisfied. although i have a few more things to accomplish before next monday morning!

take a look at my "stay at home" vacation:



project #2 is still "in progress" - i should finish it up tomorrow, but so far, i really really am excited about it :)



project #3 completed yesterday with my art buddy kristie lou. we had a great time, decoupaged the afternoon away, made a nice supper out on the patio, and ended with a fireworks show (and me having to pee, BADLY). oh. so fun.



project #4 not quite started yet. but probably tomorrow. thanks to kristie, the sewing bug has bitten. going to try to make a lap quilt with this amy butler fabric. yummmmmmy. oh. and i got the cute little sewing box on clearance for TWO dollars. whoa.





and in between crafts, i have been garagin' it up too. today i struck gold. first sale, a super cool "air pumper" from the 70s...just like ma used to have! $1. oh, and two cute pyrex storage containers so i can start to use less evil plastic when i cook! second sale, 4 cook books for .15 cents each, 2 of them quote scriptures about the Lord and how to eat to please him. super cool. oh, and a nifty trivet with mosaic tile probably from the 60s....$2.

whew. i am making myself tired! probably better go nap!

:) later.

garden shots

here's the latest on the Forty:




I just love dill. here's a whole FIELD of it, only thing is that i don't have any cucumbers yet. oh well. last year i used it in bouquets - it is almost too pretty to eat!




speaking of....it won't be long now til i get to eat my yellow zucchini. i am not quite sure when it is done, but i am imagining it sauteed with garlic and olive oil and sea salt. yum.



apparently you can eat these too (nasturtium). not quite that hungry yet, but maybe sometime...






and finally, the cutting garden is starting to bloom. nothing but zinnias yet, but i think they are pretty in a "grandma" kind of way! okay, i hope ya'll are relaxed and ready for a holiday tomorrow :)

peeking

okay.

i admit i've been sneak blogging. it's HARD to give up reading what is going on...if karen got moved (oh no dear, i pray he is okay) or if susan got back from her vacation okay (welcome home!), or if kirst is going to put any more gull lake photos up (sweet mercy, that bing is unbelivable) or if carey actually blogged before she left (shoot, nope).

anyway, i miss you guys. you are my link to the civilized world some days, it seems.

out here in the wilderness of the back forty, things are calm. the body is working good one day, not so good the next. i'm trying not to think about it too much.

project status:
project number one (recovering the chair and loveseat cusions) done at 11am monday morning. pain factor: high. satisfaction in finishing factor: higher still, which is a good thing.

tomorrow i will tackle project number two. or read and nap, not sure which yet.

:) happy nite all.