blech

is it just me who cannot stand matthew mc conaughey?

i'm sorry. he is just kind of creepy. he's one of those people you probably would have drooled over when he was 24, but c'mon. he's in his 40s. he needs to wear a shirt and grow up.

so no, i won't be going to that "ghosts of girlfriends past" thing that he is in.

oh. and i also think michael douglas is creepy. he was creepy even when he was young :)


ps. reminds of an actual attractive guy making fun of matthew:

dry

so, it's been raining all week, but the sun looks like it wants to come out today. PULLLLLEEAAASE! let the sun shine.

it's also day 4 of the "surprise! you have no job!" week. funny how i don't think about what i'm doing until it is upon me. i have known for awhile work was kind of slowing, but did not expect it to completely dry up. this is a rare thing for me. i am trying unsuccessfully to not panic. but still. i will not want to be a gas station attendant. please Lord, let something come up soon.



ok. on to the next conundrum. potatoes. to plant. i remember from my grandparents that you cut them up with an "eye" on each piece before you plant them. but what if the eyes have big weird sprouts on them? is that bad? ps. you'll probably not need a 5-lb. bag for $8.99 when you want to plant about 8 hills of potatoes. because the 5-lb bag will plant about an acre. rani, need some spuds?

happy day all. i will be here, waiting patiently for your responses, til something better (or at least more profitable) comes along.

rainy days and bee gees

best song EVER!
thanks to otis redding, who wrote it.

doncha love the bee gees?

financial whiz

ok. so i need some advice here. i just had to re-order some check blanks, was astounded to see that it's $50 for 2 boxes. is it just me, or is that kinda steep?

the thing is, i still USE checks. i lost my debit card about 5 years ago, and just never replaced it. am i the only one? i do use my CREDIT cards for purchases quite abit, because i pay off the balance every month, no matter how much it hurts (oh, and HURT it does).

should i get a debit card? does everybody use them instead of checks? do you use checks still to pay bills? i have a couple of online payments, should i switch over to as many of those as i can?

what do you do?

signs

instead of the usual mound of paperwork i have going on in my office, i am looking at a "to do" list outside this week. for some reason, work has dried up, but that is probably a good thing. the outdoors are actually kind of depressing me, i am just. so. behind. i sure wish the weather would warm up a bit, 40 degrees is not exactly calling my name to get out there and do anything. the plants are coming out, regardless, but i bet they wish they were inside, too.



still. some things are exciting to me. like the beautiful daffodils that are on my front porch. or the PROMISE, always the promise, of the humongo bulb i bought at menards a couple days ago. JUST TO SEE WHAT IT WILL BECOME.

It had been planted in good soil by abundant water
so that it would produce branches, bear fruit
and become a splendid vine.

Ezekiel 17:8

lessons from an ace

yesterday, kristie's dad came over to "tune up" my lawnmower for spring.

wow. everybody should have an ace hardware guy in their back pocket! among other things, he:

sharpened the blade
cleaned the carburetor
replaced the oil
replaced the spark plug
replaced the air filter (they have those?!)
got it to actually start!

i have had the mower for about 5 yrs. he told me i should replace the air filter twice a season. since i did not know it HAD an air filter, i'm a little behind on that task ... see evidence above.

at any rate, i should be good to go. how NICE to have people in your life who can help the helpless! thanks kristie's dad :) i OWE you. big time.

now, i just hope the weather warms up, because i boycott mowing in the cold :)

random friday

whew. whatta week. i don't know if i deserve it or not, but somehow i magically get today (almost) off. i think it's neat that 'heaven & earth' day is followed up closely with arbor day. it kind of makes me sad that some of it will be spent ripping OUT more of the old bushes in the back yard...but, they seriously were getting bad, had to go. so, i want another tree. i wish i could have forty.


lately i have been jonesing for a REALLY good design project. it's been quite a dry spell, i guess. if i had my druthers, i would get to design something like this lotion bottle. i could sit and look at it for DAYS. really, i could.


speaking of design, the new door color is kind of a ... commitment. the good news is that i can shut the door, and make other people look at it :)


happy friday 'all y'all'!!

going swimming

in my head, that is. spring MUST be in the air, because the number of projects i have up there that are waiting to come out is astounding.

i cannot possibly design the whole world. in fact, i am pretty sure i cannot even design mine. kristie came over last night with a bucket of paint for the living room wall, and her final confirmations on what else i need to do in there. mostly, she calmed me down.

one room at a time. starting with the living room.

paint the accent wall darker chocolate.
paint the armoire a bit darker / richer green
paint the coffee table a coffee color, literally
get new knobs for the armoire.
add a ceiling fan so i can open the windows and let it blow!
keep "editing" out the little dusty stuff
finish staining the windows
add roman shades to the other half of the windows.
paint/reupholster bamboo chair
paint the front door turquoise
get a new stunning piece of artwork

STOP and enjoy the fact that it looks okay


oh. ps. just a sneak peek at the book some of you will be receiving for your birthday :}

happy day!

happy day

Acknowledge and take to heart this day
that the LORD is God in heaven above
and on the earth below.
There is no other.

Deuteronomy 4:39

friends

this is siesta with her friend hewie lewis. it's kind of a love/hate thing they have going on. sometimes, she cuddles him and licks his fur. sometimes when i am gone, she tries to maim and destroy him.

going backwards

i woke up this morning thinking about last friday, when i got to travel to sioux city to see michael w. smith and steven curtis chapman.

i think the neat part is that much of the concert was spent watching their friendship, how their lives have been connected by music, and the highs and lows that happen in life.

kind of reminds me of a couple of my very good friends. aren't you thankful that God made relationships?


i'm kind of glad someone decided to make the beautiful orpheum theatre in sc, too.

happy monday!

scone goodness

sunday pm scones. almost too pretty to eat.

almost.

new bed

well, siesta got a couple of new beds this week. the old couch (nasty!) is finally gone, and i also decided to do away with siesta's really gross cat bed that she loves so much, and get her a similar new one.

guess which bed she likes the best?!

:) ha. in other news, she is a pretty good girl. has not really "gone off" on the new sofa too much, except for a couple times when she was just really excited and havin' fun. amazingly enough, this "retraining" has been fairly smooth.

i am not sure who is training who though, because last night i drug the old, hairy nasty cat bed out, and she proceeded to jump in and take a LOOOOOOONNNNGGGG sleep.

when life gives you lemons

God gives you roses.

true story. life has been rather crappy, circumstantially speaking, for the last week or so. i've been doing pretty well, seeing God in the midst, but still {sigh} pretty sick of it all.

so, when i went to favorite printer today, and my favorite printer's WIFE said to me happily as i walked in the door "today is your lucky day!" - i figured it was a God thing. she then proceeded to offer me a dozen roses as a gift, courtesy some benefit charity that she was supporting.

wow. okay. a dozen roses! that is good!

problem is, i wasn't sure i had a vase that would work, or WHERE it might be, so i stopped quick at the nearby goodwill to pick up a vase. i bought a few other things, and the lady rang everything up and i paid her. when i went to pick up the vase, she said "oh, darn it. i forgot to ring that up...you just go ahead and TAKE it as a gift today!"

:) so, getting roses is nice, and maybe or maybe not a God thing. but i'm pretty sure that getting roses AND a vase from two separate people IS a God thing.

thank you Lord, i love them and they make me happy :)




ps. siesta and her new scratch pad laden with cat nip. so far, so good.

throwdown

well, on saturday the new couch arrived via Carey and Jamie, who were kind enough to deliver it for me.

i'm happy to say it fit perfectly, and is quite comfy.

siesta expressed her approval within 5 minutes by going after the corner of the couch with her claws. game on.

so, here's the deal. i am going to get some padded placemats and pin them on the edges of the couch whilst we battle over a solution.

i have hit her DEAD ON with the water bottle about 3 times, she has sneak attacked about 5.

so, me - 3; sieta - 5.

she really hates the water though, so i'm thinking i just might win this one. today at noon i'm going to buy her a scratching post as a treaty offering.

any bets?

vintage

lately, i have been wondering about family photos. i don't really have a ton, my mom never really took that many photos. however, we have a few. think i will see if i can scrounge around and find some more when i go home for easter.

i have a pretty cute 60s family, huh?

:)

egg night

going to make easter eggs tonite with Lou. not this kind, but i do think these are pretty.

speaking of, i bought some dove chocolate eggs last night. it's true what they say about dark chocolate. it's GOOD, because if you eat one or two eggs, it is so rich that you have had enough. but still feel like you got your chocolate fix. go get some.

happy wednesday!

hunger is a language

last night in worship, we learned something in our teaching about hungering for God. it made sense to me, not at first, but after i chewed on it for a bit.

jason westerfield was discussing how to access God "on earth as it is in Heaven" - this has been our focus the last few weeks. he talked about how God coming into our daily lives is much related to our hunger for him. he called hunger a "heavenly language." his point is that in heaven, worship for God is natural, and ongoing, and desperate in reverance and awe. in the realm of heaven, you are hungry for God.

i could relate that analogy to my own walk. back before i really knew or cared if knew God, i was not hungry for Him. AT ALL. i was concerned with me most of the time, and looking for a "spiritual satisfaction" which ultimately made me look cool. my hunger was mostly for worldly things, or things that fit into my idea of how smart i was. ultimately, i guess i was hungry for more of me.

then, one year (1996 i believe) - i started to get an appetite for God. it began innocently enough, when i began to run. it changed my body, and i was excited because i thought this newfound attractiveness was going to get me somewhere. i wasn't looking for God, but sometimes in the mornings on a run, i would look around me and think "if there is a God, He must be here." that was probably one of my first appetizers.

it would take many years before i was ready for the next course. it came during a crisis, and i was just. plain. hungry. lost and reaching out for anything that would satisfy. anything that would stop the pain. it was a desperate, growling hunger, and God met me there, introduced Himself and fed me a good meal. still, it was not a heavenly hunger. i learned to go to God and let Him feed me, but then would choose to go away for days/weeks/months/years without hungering again.

lately, my hunger has been changing. it's becoming more pronounced. i'm not just hungry for THINGS i want God to do in my life, but hungry for who God is. if hunger is a language in Heaven, i would say i am starting to learn a couple of words. maybe i'm in Hunger 101 class right now :)

i have a feeling that if i keep on the path, hunger will become more and more beautiful to me. And as much as He is the God who fills us, He is infinite, and will always leave us hungering/seeking/wanting more of Him. and really, we were created to be starving. and for Him to be the answer. as we are in the midst of the holiest of holy weeks, let God come in and feed you. you know you are hungry, and so does He.

for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
psalm 107:9

she's got legs

crap. the seedlings are starting to get kind of "leggy." NOW what do you suppose i should do? besides wishing i had that problem, i mean.

like a hole in my head

okay, i KNOW that i have alot of craft books!! but doesn't this one sound good?!
Here's what you get to make:

Albums, Scrapbooks, and Memory Boxes
Beading
Block Printing
Botanical Pressing
Botanical Printing
Calligraphy
Candlemaking
Clay
Decoupage
Etching Glass
Fabric Flowers
Gilding
Glittering
Jewelry Making
Marbleizing
Matting and Framing
Mosaics
Nature Crafts
Origami and Paper Folding
Painting China and Glass
Paper Cutting and Punching
Paper Flowers and Birds
Photo Crafts
Pom Pom Animals
Quilling
Rope Crafts
Rubber Stamping
Silkscreening
Soap Making
Tin Punching
Wirework
Wreaths

crap. i wish it wasn't wednesday...i would stop and make some pom pom animals :)