yooo hooo....

can you find kristie lou?!

:)

not to brag...

well, sort of. they are having a color contest for the best room over at apartment therapy, and one of the final four rooms (there were a BUNCH to start, some very creative) is strikingly similar to a certain someone's kitchen....


satisfied.

reddest red

all of a sudden, the barberry bushes have turned bright red. i always forget how beautiful they are!!

you cannot see the little bird in the 3rd pic who was yelling at me the whole time to leave, so he could continue feeding ;)


sigh. i love color.

my weak constitution

in the world of symbolism yesterday, i had a "glass not only half empty, but kicked over and the other half empty too" kind of day. i am pretty sure if i had grown up in the days with covered wagons going across the prairie, i'm the one who would have succumbed to the first mysterious ailment that came along, when there was no tincture to administer.

or, in more modern terms, i would probably be the first one kicked off the island ;)

i guess you could say i am not much good at being sick. i hate it!! even though i think God spared me from being TOO sick, as i asked. i never did actually vomit, although i wanted to...alot. i finally figured out my slight stomach upset was being enhanced by the theraflu, and the fact that i'd only eaten a brownie and a packet of sugar free jello in 36 hours.

let me tell you, that stuff is nasty. it took awhile before things settled, and i had a cup of noodles later in the evening, which helped. today, i am still woozey in the stomach, but toast sounds kind of pleasant.

i guess maybe sometimes, even the weak survive :)

bye bye verizon

i cancelled my silly verizon cell phone on monday. the worst part about it is that i won't be able to use my pretty orange phone :-( however, the not spending $89 a month will be good. especially since i have not turned it on in months.

going to try that net 10 thing that my friend ellen recommended. i am kind of scared to buy and set up a phone online. however, tech savvy gal that i am, i'm sure it will be fine!

there is something bad about not being a cell phone owner. pretty sure i would be mocked and shunned.

sunshine on my shoulders

it's a john denver kind of day over here on the back forty...cannot tell you how much i love the sunshine! we are still kind of fixated on looking out the new door. i don't even mind the dead plant/salvage yard view with sun streaming on it!! thank you Lord.

speaking of, still holding off on the flu bug. symptoms include itchy eyes, slight fever, headache, sneezing and one very strong urge to vomit last night. i sat on the bathroom floor, prayed for God to take away the urge, and to be healed in Jesus' name! i really think you gotta plead the blood of Jesus over this stuff, peeps. i sat there for awhile, and by a half hour later i did not feel too bad. still drinking fluids and sleeping a ton, and believing God is bigger than flu :) thank you twice Lord!

hope the flu is not getting your household either. praying the Lord will restore and bring health if it has already entered...happy tuesday.

here comes the sun!

and there goes my cute old screen door...


i do love the vintage charm of the old one. but i did not like the fact that my cat could escape from it if it closed just SO. and that the winter wind came blowing underneath it like it didn't even exist!

now, i can lock the bad guys out during the day when i am working, without shutting the door! that's a benefit for sure in this neighborhood. and the color matches the windows, so at least the outside looks cohesive.

and little miss can totally see what's up! right now she is freaked out, because pit bulls live across the way. who wants to see those all day when you're a cat?! i'm sure she'll get used to it though.



oh. and look at that NEON door. beautious ;)


and most importantly, the SUN is shining! woo hoo!!!

peace and onions

i knew it was going to be quite the weekend, when i stayed up working until 12:00 on friday night. words cannot describe how tired and anxious i was, i had about 3 days work to get ready by this morning. so, i dug in.

funny thing happened! i hermitted myself at home (yes, that is a word) - and got the 3 days of work done in about 1.5 days total. plus, i managed to sleep two 10+ hour nights, because i have been feeling fluish lately on top of things.

last night as i sat crocheting, i felt at peace. then, i remembered the onions! panic! he he. i quickly went outside to see how they were, and YES, they had not rotted yet. close call :) so, i will let them dry off and try to figure out how to store them for the winter.

not exactly what i would call an IDEAL weekend, but not bad, either.

leftover love

i am kind of obsessed with leftovers lately. i guess it comes from the discovery of all the food i had in the freezer. i did throw out a HUGE bag of stuff, but still have quite a few things that are good, but need to be used.

so i got the idea of making my own microwave lunches. today i crockpotted some beef, onion, a nearly gone red pepper, leftover cream soup and a spoonful of yogurt to make a yummy stroganoff. then, i made some rice (on the bottom) and steamed peas to go with things.

3 cartons of goodies, at no cost because everything was leftover. i am hoping to lose some weight this winter, and it helps to have fast lunches ready, so i don't eat fast food or candy bars for lunch.

what next?!! i have some shredded chicken, so i am thinking a mexican meal will be coming up :)

for the record

THIS is why people shop target. look at the cute little (actually BIG) door hanger i found on my door today! with a great booklet on the back containing $15 of coupons for the new, cool target i have yet to visit.

i can tell you it is on my soon-to-do list, however.

go target!! you rock.

oh ps. i can also tell you carey has already written this headline for a small retail grocer client of ours. i believe her version was "Get fresh with us."

:)

tea time

i desparately wanted to take a picture of something pretty around here, but it's still completely dreary and grey. hopefully, the sun will come back some day.

so. i'll post about tea. i am getting back into the daily habit of tea, usually at night while i'm watching top chef or project runway :)

my fave for the last couple of years is Good Earth, the original flavor which is licorice-like. my friend rachelle introduced me to it a few years back, and i immediately loved it. i wish i could redo their packaging. but still, it's worth a try.

happy friday!

spuds

so yesterday before the rains came, i ventured out to dig potatoes. i was very very close to just leaving them in the ground, never to be seen again. i get that way with the garden by this time of year .... but i have to admit it was kind of fun unearthing them! they were bright pink, kind of pretty before the mud dried on em.

i dug about half of em, maybe a third. we'll see if i get the rest done. probably not, if i had to guess. i will not be planting them again, because for the $8 i paid for the seed potatoes, i will be lucky if i get $8 worth of goods. still, it feels good to know i am able to grow em up. well, me and God :)

let's review

in a 2 hour period this afternoon, i will have visited a daycare and the local clinic. naturally, i do not have one of these little babies in the house, but I'M JUST SURE there won't be any germs present ;)


please Lord, please.

tastes like mom

i have an interesting experiment going on over here at the back forty. i'm cooking as many things from the bottom of the freezer as i can, as a way to clean it out. that sounds a little gross, doesn't it? but seriously. i've had a stand-alone freezer for over a year now. it's GREAT to be able to put up corn and apples and green beans and such. however, i have not eaten a great majority of the stuff i have saved!

so, i made some swiss steak on saturday, using little leftover pieces of meat, from when i grilled and had ONE TOO MANY. i used to HATE swiss steak when my mom made it. now, i like it. at least enough to eat the freezer portions i made, in 3 consecutive days! ha.

then, yesterday, it was a mini tater tot casserole. now THAT is a good memory from growing up! i actually think it was one of my favorite meals, although i used to kind of pick out the big chunks of hamburger, and give them to my dad :) oh. and my mom used carrots in her TTC. really, i've never known anybody else who does that. but let me tell ya, it's the goods.

wonder what else is down there at the bottom o' the deep freeze, waiting to be turned into tastiness?! moms, just remember that whatever you feed your kids today is going to be their memory of you when they get older ;) carry on.

octoberness

i always say i am going to clean up the yard/garden in the fall, and i never do. i think i know why, it makes me sad to see the deadness. i actually avoid even going outside when it gets cold out. since the freeze, i have not even stepped foot into my sun porch, which badly needs winterizing.

however, today, i set out with the new camera to take a look. some of it did make me sad. i don't think i will be able to tackle the back yard this year. it was neat to walk back there, though, and see about a hundred birds happily chirping and playing in the dead stuff. they don't seem to notice.

there was also more life than i thought. and more beauty. a few things, like the pretty ivy that is still going strong, and the rosemary, are coming in the house with me for the winter.

:) i think i will go have tea out there later on today.

kind of sort of

i am trying not to be nervous about this flu epidemic stuff, but i kind of am. i really don't like the thought of air-borne viruses of any kind. kristie made fun of me for being afraid of the bird flu, but i guess it's the swine flu i need to worry about. either way, the thought gives me the heeby jeebies.

of course, i would not consider a person who lives alone and rarely leaves the house "high risk." but still. i do go out. sometimes. i guess it gives me a good reason to limit my already limited social life all the more. thank goodness for ya'll. and online ordering :)

the yarn came yesterday, and i'm not sure i like it. i will not go out shopping for something different, however ;)

keep it safe out there...! and maybe stay home, just to be sure :)

geography lesson

last week carey and i were in a meeting, talking about how much things would change for us if we were in college NOW rather than back when we were baby seedlings. she hit it on the head when she said "well, i would actually know where Peru is!"

he he. that is so totally true. i kind of missed something in translation during geography class, too. i cannot tell you what shape the state of maine is. kind of sad.

so yesterday when the missionary of the week came to us from nepal, i had to think. it helped when he said near india, and mentioned mt. everest (although that kind of screwed me up, too) and the himilayas. let's just say it's OVER THERE for the sake of this chat, eh?

:) it was a good sermon, not quite as engaging as the last 2 weeks, but i think it's because he didn't have many photos. missionaries need to remember photos help.


doug jacobs and his family are from alabama. however, they've spent the last 14 years in nepal. i think my pastor described the experience best (he has visited there). he said that you stand on a dirt path looking up into the mountains, and realize that you are looking at a place that the Gospel has NEVER GONE. and that you have it in your heart. you have your backpack, and your good shoes, and you go. it's as simple as that.

do you think that is why we suck at evangelism in america? because dang it, if someone wants God, there are about 1 million 37 ways to get to Him, from best seller books to GODtv to a church (your favorite flavor) in every town. sometimes, i think all of the "stuff" is just like the mountains of the himilayas, though. makes the terrain hard and crusty, and difficult to navigate.

i digress. but not really. doug's presentation of the Gospel was very simple, really. he started out by saying that the Gospel is only going to go as far as we take it. that if HE had planned things, he might have done it differently. but for some reason, God loved his crazy, inadequate creations enough to involve us intimately in the greatest plan we could ever be a part of. that's it. no more.

he also said that here in the u.s., when we say we are "blessed" - we are usually talking about our stuff. our family, our house, our job, maybe our good health, maybe even our latest purchase at the mall. he suggested we have no idea what "blessed" is, until we see a man in nepal who has heard the Gospel for the first time, understood what God has promised, said "yes" and then realized that his life will be hell from now on. that he will be persecuted, his family will be scorned, and his life might even be in jeopardy. but because he has said yes, he HAS IT. the peace that passes understanding. the Spirit inside that will change and make his life better, will "bless" him from now until eternity. doug says he has seen it time and time again. people who are changed, and KNOW that God is who He says He is.

let's get our backpacks on and GO this week, peeps. we only have to look around and find the nearest mountain.

if i wasn't myself

i have a feeling i would be her. and i might be happier, because SHE has that yellow and pink deer curtain. :)

good eats!

so i was talking on the phone with my friend maribeth the other evening. she used to be my neighbor, then God called her (at about age 55) to go to seminary, graduate, and move way the heeeeeeeeeeeeeck to timberlake, sd, to minister to "the lutherans" as she calls them. he he. i should note that she is scandinavian and lutheran in her background. but probably not traditional in any sense. she sings opera, has lived in china and colorado, and is a mixture of many surprising and eclectic things.

anyway, i was telling her about the stressful work life lately, and we made plans to meet for coffee on sunday when she is visiting SF.

imagine my surprise when she stopped by yesterday with a "care" package for me! here's what she brought:

1 box revolution tea - white pear.
1 carton red pepper hummus. ahhhhhhh!
1 box stone ground wheat crackers.
1 container sunflower butter. omgoodness.
1 container fruit.
1 perfectly perfect asian pear.

that pear was worth it's weight in gold! have you ever had them? i was so enamored to have the taste of pear, which i love, with the texture of apple. i would eat pears all the time, except i kind of don't like the mushyness.

i guess God knew that would be a problem, too, so he made these also :) gosh it's wonderful to have such thoughtful friends!

feeding the addiction

who knew that there are 740 images on the web featuring my latest addiction, in a flickr pool called 'hexagon love?' well, i do now, after i spent about 2 hours there last night! quite aways away from my drinking days. har.

ps. i did not really have 'drinking days' - but i did have 'stupidity days' - of which crocheting was not a part ;)

next up

not one to dwell on work overload, i want to share the crochet pattern i am thinking of trying next, courtesy attic 24 on the web.

i'm not doing that exact color scheme, it's a little fru fru for me, and i'm also not sure about crocheting them together, usually i sew my squares together, so we'll see how close/far away mine looks to this.

the thing i love most about finding these blog sites from british crocheters (and there are a few of them) is that they don't call it crocheting, they call it hooking.

which makes me a ..... well, never mind :)

friday fact

i need to wake up and hit the ground running. let's just get this clear, i really am not into hitting the ground running (probably why i am chatting with ya'll).

by october's end i need to:
design a magazine (double issue)
get a website design finished
organize and get production done on another website
design a logo/brand for a new client
design a new "winter" campaign for a new big client


do you think it's okay if all of that starts on monday?


no? i didn't think so either.... :(
happy day all.

jolene

did i ever tell you that this song is on my 'top ten of all time' list, and possibly would make the 'top five.'

finally bought her album tonite. i love mindy smith. not as much as dolly, but still. she is pretty good :) the girl can make videos, too. go to youtube and watch 'come to jesus.' wow. can't you just imagine a concert with her and mac powell from third day?!! please, Lord, please!







ps. don't think i'm really off on a tangent, but dolly's 'coat of many colors' is probably on my top 20 list :) sheesh. dolly and porter wagner, why do you still haunt me sometimes?!! i will not even mention 'i will always love you' because we all know that whitney houston kind of ruined that one for everybody. but still. you should listen to dolly as soon as you can. i saw her a couple of years ago up fairly close, and she looks like she does on tv. amazing.

lovin' the red headed boy

i keep forgetting to bring this up. i cannot stand how much i love top chef this season!! and not just because of hunky tom colicchio.

this year, i'm rockin' the red headed man. he's from texas. he is not a jerk like most of the male contestants. he has a pig tattooed on his arm. he reminds me of a cute little garden gnome.

he's kevin, and i am bettin' he will win :)

change o plans

that kristie lou is a smart one. she took one look at the ugly colors afghan and said 'WHY WOULD YOU SPEND THAT MUCH TIME working on something you don't like?'

hmmmm. good point. so, uc afghan is going to become a fetching pillow! i finished it up last night, but i'll need to make a pillow form for it this weekend, the finished pillow i slipped it into for the photo is too small.


i think it will compliment the cow pillow nicely.
sigh. okay - i feel so much more in control of things. and also satisfying a strange pillow fixation that has come upon me lately.

carry on and have a lovely day.

observations

still been thinking about the ways we connect these days. obviously, i still love the blog format. i still LOVE the conversations that happen!! for instance - yesterday when ellen made her great comment about the muslim post, i absolutely had forgotten she was reading. it was so neat to see God had connected us through the missionaries i had mentioned!

it's the connection part. for me, blogging does that. i wonder how long i would blog - REALLY - if none of you commented? perhaps for awhile, but i bet it would dwindle considerably. don't you think?


then there is facebook, which i am a little warmer about than in the beginning, but which is a little frightening to me. have you noticed how the "suggestions" are getting a little more detailed? look at the top guy - i KNOW we have mutual friends! i KNOW who he is! crazy! also, i was a little sad to see kirsten's hubby's status. i know him, too, he seems fine with the amount of friends he has. :)

anyway, i still see this as a series of half-a**ed conversations. i do go on there daily, and comment quite abit, even offered to mentor a guy in mpls that is needing some design friends, last night. but not real live connection for me, somehow.


and of course there is twitter. i'm not trying to pick on the "dude" in this picture - too much - i hear he is a wonderful marketing person here in sf. however, the point of twitter is supposed to be that it's 140 words. quick read. don't you think this guy abused the whole point of the medium just a TINY bit? sheesh! there were at least 25 posts in a row from him when i last checked...come on! write a blog post and stop clogging the system, dude! see. not my form of connection at all. but we do get to pick and choose.

i choose you guys :)

muslims and God

k. karen wanted a "real" post so here goes. i've been holding onto this one since sunday at church - you know - week two of missions month :)

the guest missionaries last week were about to head over to Jordan for 3 years. that's a long ways away. they are young, probably in their late 20s or early 30s, with a small child. they currently live in minneapolis, where the guy was an assistant pastor at a small church.

sometimes, i cannot believe what people do for God.

anyway. did you know that right now, 1/5 of the the earth's population is muslim? i don't know alot about the muslim faith, they wear all the robes and stuff, and bow down to allah several times a day. that's about it. and to be truthful, i had not spent too much time thinking how God feels about muslims. here's the good news: he loves em :)

we found out that one of the greatest areas of breakthrough of the Gospel is actually iran! who knew! our missionary speaker chose to preach most of his message directly from Isaiah. which of course is a VERY good book.

from Isaiah 52:15:
so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

the thing that amazes me from this verse, is that God's plan is to reach people. He will reach people and tell them of His Son. people who have been raised to bow down to another WILL hear of Jesus. in many instances today, God is working thru the supernatural, visions and dreams, to reach people.

the gist of being muslim is of course based on works. if one leads a good life, follows the regulations and rules, there is a chance that you might see the promised land. but no guarantees. you must keep working.

i found it interesting also that the koran acknowledges Jesus, in fact, suggests that He will usher people in to the judgment after they die. however, they do not acknowledge the Resurrection. the talk of Him in the koran, however, is enough to bring about a curiosity for many muslims about Jesus. they want to know more about Him. one of the testimonies our speaker gave was of a man - who when finally confronted with the idea of Christianity - said simply "i cannot stop thinking about this Jesus."

i love that. i love that God has engrained Himself into who we are. whether we have Him from the start, or whether we dream of Him in some faraway land, where such dreams can cause great persecution, as well as finally. finally. finally. salvation. He is coming. and i am so glad :)

sigh.

planes, trains and irritation

so, i thought i was out of the woods, what with the early winter and all. i have not heard the roar of a harley, or a peep out of the neighbors who love noise for a couple of weeks.

i did notice another vehicle added to the lineup, a junker from about 1971, but seriously, these people rotate dogs, cars and other things with motors like i rotate yarn projects. i was not too worried.

today, however, it seems said junker will not start. so, for going on FOUR HOURS as of now, i have heard "whirrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, stop." "whirrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, stop." "whirrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, stop." "whirrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, stop." you get the idea.

arrrrrrrrrrgggh! i want to scream! i know i should pray for that damn car to start running, but i cannot do it. maybe you might do it for me :)

ps. that car above is not the one. if i actually went outside to take a picture, i would most certainly say something i would regret. :)

more like it.

okay, happier. just ordered these colors (and a couple more) from the good ole interweb, will pair them with a soft natural color for a blankie for my bedroom. AFTER i finish my current project. otherwise, i will never complete the uc blankie.

it's a record

kind of a straggly little snowfall, but apparently it still set a record, for practically coming in summer :)

snow day

hmmm.

snowing for about the 3rd day in a row. i think there is a limit to how much soup a person can make, and even though it's a "holiday" - i did not think about it, and have to work.

one good thing about the early cold weather, is that i feel perfectly justified in doing nothing but sitting and crocheting in the off hours. this means i got a pretty good start on the ugly colors afghan this weekend.

the colors are not BAD. just not at all what i like. trying something "different" is not always good. i do like the funky pattern, however. i thought i would hate it, but actually it's fairly easy. i think you are supposed to make all the little squares first, then attach them all together at the end. i have decided to go the more "instant gratification" route, and sew em together as i go. tonite i will have a jillion ends to tie. there is something satisfying about even THAT part :)

sigh. happy monday peeps!

relaxin'

ah. love the new camera. i have a feeling you will be seeing more useless pics of siesta and mabel over the next few weeks.

here's the $5 chair. i thought the blue was interesting. the rest of the chair might need some work. it's a well-spent $5 bucks, because i will probably look at it and think about it all winter, until i find another $5 chair somewhere. ha. i could spend my entire life savings on small chairs, tables and lamps. they are worthy :)

also pictured is the new afghan which i don't like. going to make a switch before i get too into it, i cannot imagine spending an entire winter on a project that is not pretty enough for me ;)

new camera!

wow! the new camera from target! it's the one i wanted, only turquoise, darn it :-)

i just wish the scenery did not include an entire season's worth of leaves that fell within 24 hours :)





ps. of course, i found a cute handmade case for it also :))) yeah me!