The BackForty

random day

2012-01-31T06:03:00.000-08:00

sigh. i am glad it's tuesday. no 'meetings' today, thankfully. just a project to finish up, and a beautiful, sunny day to rejoice in. i got up and read my devo for the day and it opened with 'i am your strength and your shield. i plan out each day and have it ready for you, long before you arise from bed.'

i cannot tell you how MUCH i'm enjoying 'jesus calling' by sarah young...(ps. that is the kid version pictured, because i like the cover). i think you all need to go get it. it's great to wake up and read something that feels very much like God speaking directly to you. i'm always amazed at how much devos like these hit 'right' exactly at the circumstances that you are going thru. God is super cool that way.

last night, we also had our 2nd meeting for the bible group i am hosting at fern. LOVE it so far. the conversation last night centered around whether christianity was in fact 'absurd' or strange or difficult...and why? our group is all over the board with differences in age, experience, and denomination, so it was neat to hear and learn a little. i remember how when i was younger, i was only comfortable with those 'like me' in social situations. i cannot imagine how far God plans to stretch that little crutch, because increasingly i seem to find that He works well in places where we are all NOT alike. pretty sure heaven will be culturally diverse :)

anyway, i was reminded as i was setting up last night, of how i have only lived in fern for a few months. and somehow, she feels like i have always been here! it's crazy how that goes. i am pretty sure that i will not 'attach' to this house like i did with mabel, simply because as much as i love home, it is not really my home. i think we're meant to hold loosely to earthly things....and leaving mabel taught me that it is not so hard to do that.

still. having a home i love feels good. today, i'm thanking God for all his blessings. people and places and a lifespan to learn and grow and be hopeful for. i hope where ever you are today, you remember that it is part of the journey, but not the whole story :)

happy day!

these days.

2012-01-27T07:34:00.000-08:00

schwew. friday again. as the last couple weeks have been 'full up' - i realize i can only really handle a 4-day work week anymore. by friday, i can only handle mundane tasks. nothing to really apply much brain power to. my supply of brain cells is limited, i fear.

ha. but oh, these days. these january 2012 days have been good to me. nothing externally has changed much, there is still snow/no snow, work/no work, good moods/bad moods to deal with. the changes seem to be internal...coming from somewhere deep within. it's incredibly exhilarating to learn to rely on the holy spirit inside you as you go. i am sure that is the answer to the newness i feel.

for about a week now, somewhere in my life i have come across the concept of 'paths' - crooked vs. straight. for as long as i have lived, i have simply assumed and walked along the crooked path of my own understanding and view of the world. sometimes, it's been good, and i have been able to cope. sometimes, it's been awful and gut-wrenching and out of control. i don't think there has ever been a point where i have even realistically BELIEVED that my life was capable of being a straight path.

but then, Jesus steps in. He always steps in. He is changing my mind, peeps, after 10 years of wonky following. my paths were meant to be straight, no matter what is going on circumstantially. and so were yours. it's a realistic notion, one not based on what you do or what happens. it's achieved by standing on the ROCK of your salvation, and on the rock of mine. i so love that. i want to see across the horizon and my STRAIGHT path of assurance to what i know my purpose is, and to the one whom i know loves me the most.

okay. that was kind of deep. :) when i started this post, i just wanted to take some pretty pictures of my day. hmmmm. i guess He had other ideas. i wish you straight paths today...happy friday!

I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.
Proverbs 4:11

Dud on the Suds

2012-01-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

okay. so the soapmaking class was a little disappointing. it was basically a 'melt and pour' class, where we all made little glycerin bars instead of real, cold-pressed soap.

i should have known that it would not be the other kind. however, i'm learning to just enjoy processes that don't work out the way i think they should. our little instructor was adorable. it was fun to spend time with anne when we are NOT working. i got to meet a cute couple who is interested in all the crazy earth-momma things that i am interested in.

and, i learned a little more about soap-making. hopefully enough to get the courage to set up and make some in my garage this summer. that's how our instructor did it, she just tried it and learned as she went.

she also got lye on her tongue once. yikes. she said to always keep a bottle of apple cider vinegar handy, for when such things occur. because she is not dead, i believe her ;)

cleanup

2012-01-24T04:29:00.000-08:00

whew. so, it was good to shut off the email for awhile yesterday. it's amazing how much more work gets done! i am committed to doing that a few hours a day. really, try it. you might want to shut down your cell phone, too.

okay. tonite is the soapmaking class i have been waiting for. so very excited. it looks like our 'teachers' are going to be good. their company looks kind of fun. hopefully, i'll have pics and a rundown of the whole shebang tomorrow.

happy tues!

hunkering

2012-01-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

to settle in or dig in for a sustained period —used with down <hunker down for a good long wait

shhhhh. don't tell anyone. i shut my email and phone off today, and i am settled in to get a project done....it's snowy out, so that helps.

i'm also eating chicken noodle soup. it is a good partner for hunkering.

trying out a new blog template, too. i wonder why it's so difficult to decide what to put up there. oh well. it will probably change again soon :)

happy montag.

me and my tree

2012-01-21T04:04:00.001-08:00

my tree wishes you a warm and happy weekend ;)

brrrrrr.

2012-01-18T06:30:00.000-08:00

i want that chair. i mean really. how nice would it be to saddle up in that and go to work today? because it's cold outside. i hope that my weather app had a typo when it predicted -10 degrees tonite. fern needs her some new windows, forget all the beautifying i've been saving for. and a fireplace. stat.

i'm becoming quite a winter wimp. won't be long before i'll be checking out snowbird options....:)

okay. this is not what i wanted to talk about today.

i wanted to talk about these. these are the bible study books i downloaded for my kindle over the weekend.

i already HAVE the one-year bible, but it's kind of nice to have it digitally. one advantage to the kindle that i'm finding is that it's easier to read than some books. esp. since i read either early in the morning or later at night (i.e. in the dark). kindles are good for bifocal eyes.

the 'jesus calling' devotional is one that a friend recommended. so far, i love it. i love when authors write from the perspective of Jesus, talking. or, calling, in this case ;) ha. God has shown himself to me in these types of devos over the years. very excited to dig into something new.

then, i also downloaded a free version of the complete bible as an app. this would theoretically allow me to take the kindle to church, instead of my printed amplified version (which is a bit much for me as a version). not sure i will do this yet, but in case i want to, or if i just want to look up a passage from book studies, etc, i can easily do it. i downloaded this version because 1) i like the ESV version and 2) it's easy to use/find passages.

so there you go! hope you are staying warm and cozy today!

i'm going to go have a cutie now. because i am addicted to their ads on tv :))

how was your weekend?

2012-01-16T06:17:00.000-08:00

i need to get focused today. it's going to be a busy week. first, let me shake loose some stuff rattling around in my brain.

i made the most yummy homemade yogurt concoction i've ever tasted this weekend. i have talked about making yogurt before (wow! over 5 years ago!)...but today i'll share the recipe for the fruitiness that accompanies it and takes it over the top.

blueberry sauce:

1 pint fresh blueberries, slightly crushed
1/3 cup sugar
approx. 1 T. orange rind, zested
1 T. orange juice concentrate, or the juice of your zested orange

bring to boil in a saucepan, lower heat and continue to cook/stir for about a minute. remove from heat and add 1 t. vanilla.

refrigerate/cool. then, top your homemade yogurt with about 2 T. of this for beautiful/yummy results like those shown above. oh. add some homemade granola too, because you are a rock star in the kitchen!

ps. i forgot to take photos until i was halfway done with this serving. still, so pretty!

in other, much sadder, news - i had a stomach ache all day on friday as i had to endure the sight of a beautiful, majestic tree leaving my neighborhood. i wish i had a photo of the tree in its entirety, but you can sort of see it (the anchor tree on the corner across my street) in the bottom photo. the trees are the reason i moved to this wonky little vinyl house, so it seriously hurt my heart to watch it go. i pannicked for a bit about 'what if they ALL get cut down?' before i prayed and released it. still. it was hard. that tree was amazing, seriously about 3' in diameter.

i wonder why it had to go, was it super sick for some reason?

it did not look sick on the outside. i guess that it reminded me of our spiritual condition vs. outward appearances. it also reminded me of the temporal condition of this world. that tree was old, foundational on this street, seemingly solid. and yet this morning as i look out my picture window, it has ceased to exist. nada. nothing there. as if it never WAS. something to think about as we arrange our day/week. are we building/growing into the Kingdom that never dies, or the one that will one day just cease to exist.

sigh. i hope that i know the correct answer to that by now.

happy monday :)

happy dance

2012-01-12T14:40:00.001-08:00

oh. hi folks. i'm doing a little dance right now because my computer is back in my possession after almost 2 days! whew. she's like heroin, i missed her that much. it's sad to think i am so tied to a piece of electronic equipment, but oh well. that is a mountain to be climbed another day.

for now, whew. all is well.

in the meantime, while she was gone, i talked on the phone alot. oh. and i recovered a lampshade. that was kind of a good thing. here's what it used to look like (above).

and here is what it looks like now. i still need to get some ribbon and 'trim' the inside of the shade so those raggedy edges don't show when the light is on. but wow. much better.

siesta likes it, too. (actually, she likes being in every single photo i take, i swear).

um, also, i spent some time playing with this new thing. hmmmm. lots of fun. i am all set to go with an inaugural first 'all digital' bible study next week. we'll see how that feels. right now, i'm thinking it might be kind of awesome.

:)

finally.

2012-01-11T06:58:00.000-08:00

suds for all.

2012-01-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

oh people.

cannot even tell you how excited i am....got signed up yesterday for a soap-making class later this month!!

i have wanted to learn to make soap for YEARS. i like soap.

i like it so much i was having imaginary conversations with my friend anne, who will be learning along side me.

me: omgosh! i love soap. i have wanted to make soap forever.

her: blah, blah, blah.

me: is that a GUY that is going to be teaching us? in my head, only girls make soap.

her: blah, blah, blah.

me: i'm afraid of lye. i wonder if they'll have us use lye. because i don't want to make that weird glycerin clear soap that is not really soap.

her: blah, blah, blah.

me: i hope they provide protective eye wear.

her: blah, blah, blah.

me: can you imagine how fun it would be to design labels for soap. FOR OUR OWN CUSTOM SOAP?

her: blah, blah, blah.

me: seriously. this could change my life.

her: me, too!

:) he he. guess i will have to talk to her more to see what all those blah, blah, blahs are about!

happy tuesday.

healthful.

2012-01-09T06:42:00.001-08:00

so, with the new year and all, been thinkin' about getting healthy again.

it probably doesn't hurt that i got my first cold of the season also, so i'm reminded of what a precious gift being healthy IS.

i was actually LOSING weight last fall, on a horrendous diet of fast food and stress - remember?

sadly, or perhaps goodly, i have gained all of that weight back. i think perhaps the stress diet is not the way i want to live. however, i do tend to eat when i'm happy, not when i'm sad. thus the joyous progression back to obesity these past 10 years! he he.

okay. so i have been thinking about real food. that maybe since i LIKE real food, i should eat it. yesterday i made my sick self some beef and barley soup, and a batch of this loverly granola in the picture.

of course, i have not had much of an appetite, because the diet of zinc pills (helps the cold tremendously!) makes me nauseous. but man, when i get back my mojo, i'm all set to go healthy :)

happy (mon)day!

new movie.

2012-01-07T05:56:00.000-08:00

okay, before i forget, gotta talk about new year's eve. my OWN consisted of the living room couch, a cat, and falling asleep at about 11:31.

the MOVIE consisted of lots of cute stories. i really kind of like these movies with huge casts and multiple story lines, most of the time. this one did not disappoint, and i have to say, it's the first time i've EVER liked ashton kutcher. for the record, he didn't talk much, so that probably explains it.

anyway, it made my HEART happy. yeah, it's fantasy and all that, and those relationships would probably never last. all i can say to that is 'who cares?' :)) ha. i laughed a ton, and enjoyed almost all of the characters.

of course, my favorite plot line involved the slightly crazy middle-aged lady and the cute young boy/man who intersects with her and gives her a couple of good memories. hard to believe that michelle pfeiffer has become matronly, isn't it? but she plays a pretty good nutty recluse, i thought.

as for the boy. he was a.dor.a.ble.

i guess he's a disney kid or something...which i had no idea i would have an attraction to...he he. zac efron. look at that face. ummmmm. yes. good.

his next movie was previewed, he plays a war veteran who goes home and shakes up a random woman's world...i can see where his career is going. must be because he makes middle-aged nutty women like me and michelle so HAPPY... :)

sigh. go see it.

green.

2012-01-06T06:46:00.000-08:00

i suppose there are lots of reasons that this has been a joyful week. visits with friends, new projects, and 60 degree days. in january, people. life is good.

however, i have to give SOME credit to the fact that my brain has switched over to growing....like clockwork every year, in january it comes. i start to imagine gardens and trees and lush green everywhere. i was made for green :)

it helps that the seed catalogues start rolling in.

and that the houseplants are kind of waking up.

and that i got a wonderful gift from kirsten in the mail (market bag!!!) that is made up of lovely yarns and primarily....green.

sigh. and now today, it's friday also. hope that you are having a green day wherever you may be!

new things

2012-01-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

freshly tiled backsplash

amarylis poking through

gocco-printed artwork

fresh screensaver

heirloom dish set from sher

all good things. all make me smile :)

new year, new rez

2012-01-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

sigh. we made it, fellow bloggers. another year, another promise of what is to come. i've read the myriad of resolutions out there on the internet. many, many people seem to have been unhappy in 2011. lots are still hopeful for 2012. i think that alone is proof that hope is BUILT in our hearts...

anyway. i am not much of a resolution-maker, even though i love the concept. i am excited every year at this time. it's fun to start anew with a chance to be BETTER.

this year, i didn't even consciously think about making a resolution, but over the weekend, God gave me the answer, it's in His word...

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else,
and live righteously,
and He will give you everything you need.
Matthew 6:33

when i read that verse on friday nite, it hit me really hard, like something i had never HEARD before. i kind of know by now, that when God spreaks, he will take something you may have heard a million times, and make it sound brand new.

i really believe for me, that verse holds the key. for the last few years i have been SO consumed, with the 2nd part of that verse. where will i live? what kind of job will fulfill me and provide for me? how will i make it? is it too late?

sigh. lot's of unanswered questions. and yet, here i am, provided for, taken care of, and yes, even content. as for 2012, i know NOTHING about what the year holds. all of the questions are still there.

which leaves me with part ONE of the verse. the answer, the true answer. i resolve that when life is uncertain (which is, um, always), the ANSWER lies in seeking God, not for the things, but that HE truly is the answer. i love that He loves me, and knows my heart, and has really, truly been my provider for my whole life, even as i have sought to find a mate to be that security, or to be self-sufficient and provide for myself. HE is the one, and HE has a kingdom with goals and work to be done, and i want to be a part of the bigger picture, the plan, the real life that we all strive for.

it's not too late. it's only just beginning :)

happy new year, everyone!

blessing

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Sanford Video Library

woke up this morning and saw a video online of my friend doug. what a good word for the new year.

new love.

2011-12-30T05:58:00.000-08:00

ah, painting and music just 'go together' for me. i have good memories of painting mabel for almost a whole month before i moved into her, just me and the ladder and God and third day...those were really good days.

i'm finding this week with fern has a similar vibe. except that i have been a bit tapped out of all of the christian music i have, so i've switched back to pandora for awhile. i tried listening a couple of years ago, but really just enjoyed my own music more. this time, the switch might be permanent. i started with a christmas music station, which is really so much better than the limited collection i own.

i've made about 8 stations so far to paint with. stuff like:

the first station i made. i still love me some r.e.m., thankfully, they come with the police and matchbox 20, whom i also love. i could have also linked to michael stipe's recent 'naked' video which was burning up the internet, but you'll have to google it yourself. for the record, i did google it, and it made me laugh. very michael, but not very pornographic, i didn't think. he once wore a white suit in concert when i saw him, and it was see-thru with the backlighting on the stage! silly boy, i don't like you 'that way.' ;)

a healthy dose of james (doesn't he look different with hair?) and dan fogelberg and the eagles and crosby, stills and nash and simon and garfunkel. reminds me of grade school...and i really, really liked grade school.

billy, whom i spent a good 2 or 3 years with around 1979 or so. his station is kind of lame, it seems to come with lots of elton john. and lots of the beatles, i guess they go together, even though i kind of like elton, i usually 'dislike' the beatles. johnpaulgeorgeringo!

yes. garth. i do usually cry me a river when i go there, but sometimes, it's good. sadly, i know every song. i also have a dolly parton station, that one is a little safer for me to listen to... :)

and then i made a station for iron & wine. i'm really enjoying them, and listening to lots of music i would never hear otherwise, like bon iver and death cab for cutie.

schwew. so that is my week. i am thinking it is something i will not regret at all :)

happy friday guys!

old times

2011-12-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

i decided to take an afternoon off from painting yesterday, and drove down to canton to my very favorite little antique shop. 'the painted lady' has only been in business for a few years, after the old house (in my old hood) that they used to be in burned down here in central sioux falls.

i love that store. there is something so peaceful about leaving the city limits of sf, and driving about 20 minutes south to canton. that little town has some real charm, and has fueled lots of fantasies for me about 'some day.' the painted lady has just given me a good excuse to go there, i suppose. but i have always come back home with a treasure or two.

i was sad to find out they are closing next month. the owner was sad, too. it was hard to hear him talk about 'the economy' as the reason for the closing, but i have to wonder. all of us seem to have lots of money to buy ipads and kindles, so i have to believe it's a deeper reason. old, dusty things of the past probably are losing their importance in our shiny, throw-it-away-when-you're-done world. i feel old....because i love, love, love old things. perhaps i am the last of that generation, i don't know.

i did find a few treasures, even though the place was mostly empty:

a feather tree, in perfect condition.

some royal copley planters, it amazes me how these 60+ year old vases have the 'now' color palette and graphic patterns that i am seeing all over. cutting edge, i tell you :)

and old christmas card from 1932, talking about one family's hard times on the back, but pretty on the front.

a pair of cool 60s ornaments.

anyway, lou was sad, too, because she and i have many good memories from there. we agree that we must find a 'new' treasure hunting spot next summer, if we can.

and as for me, i'll just keep on painting to match my new/old vase. my parents are coming for a visit today, perhaps i will also hand them a paint brush ;)

happy day!

greetings from a tired person.

2011-12-27T05:03:00.001-08:00

hi all. how was the holiday? mine was glorious! i loved the whole day. all of it. i really loved when i drove back to sf at sunset, because the sunsets here in south dakota are the best on the planet. note: that photo is ugly compared to the real thing. the real thing was amazing! it must have been really good, because about a gazillion people posted sunset photos on christmas day.

in other news, i used to be organized.

i admit there was a point yesterday, though, when i thought to myself "this doesn't seem very much like vacation." probably because i did not eat lunch until 5pm. and probably because i am realizing there is NO darn way this kitchen will get done this week, unless i kill myself, which may not be a very good idea.

they say it gets worse before it gets better, so i guess i am heading in the right direction. today, i get to paint my chalkboard wall. i have no idea how THAT will go, so i am choosing to think about what i want to draw with chalk when it's all finished ... where does one go to get chalk, anyway? there are so many things to do with a chalkboard wall, i almost cannot stand the anticipation.

i could go functional...

or goofy...

or pretty...

or sassy...

or mushy...
lots of options. i guess i better get the wall done, first. but wow. fun things lie ahead.

i did get some small stuff done before i started the big project. like taking my china cabinet from this:

to this:

oh. and i also made a clock. well, sort of. i defaced/refaced an old one.

anyway. lots going on. it feels crazy to think that it's the end of 2011 already. almost. and that yesterday i brought the garbage out BARE foot. i love the surprise warm streak we've been having! it makes me want to plant my garden and get outside to feel the rays.

i might also join siesta in her day's work at some point! i mean, what could be better than a tuesday afternoon nap?

happy day :)

one more.

2011-12-22T06:20:00.000-08:00

after a terrible, horrible, very bad day yesterday, i have only one day left before vacation officially begins. i am so badly in need of vacation, and so thankful that it is almost here.

i'm sure i will be in blogland next week, but i wanted to just gather my thoughts and take a look back at the contents of my life revealed in this place. sometimes, it's kind of daunting to do that kind of thing. this year, i think the blog told most of the story, but of course, not all of it. at any rate, i love that blogs exist! and that people come here and share!

merry christmas, everybody - i hope to see each and every one of you in person in this next year (that's not too much to wish for, right?!)

if ryan gosling dated a crafter...

2011-12-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

there is some seriously funny stuff out on the interweb these days....

just for a brief moment, i'll admit to finding rg attractive, AND wishing some man in the world liked the same things i do :)

go there, go there.

2011-12-20T07:11:00.001-08:00

i'm not sure if i have blogged about sweet paul before, but if not, i should have.

he is who i wish i was ... a food/craft stylist from norway (living in nyc) who does all kinds of wonderful, stuff. i pretty much love him. i think i first saw him in country living, but he does lots of magazine work.

he has an online magazine that you simply HAVE to see.

i made the divinity from his magazine last night. it turned out!!! the kitchen guy is on his way, or else i would take a picture for you. trust me. it was good.

happy day!

2011-12-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

happy monday!

i woke up to a totally new house today. thank you, blue living room, for perking up this old girl (fern, i mean :))

i have been thinking about home alot. this weekend, i had some of my worship friends over for brunch, and yesterday, i noticed how peaceful the house seemed since the gathering.

i immediately started thinking about how i have not yet asked God to bless my new home. and i actually googled 'house blessings' because although i remember doing that with mabel, it was a long time ago. i want to get it right ....

here's something i found. i really like the whole thing:

We dedicate this home to love and understanding.
May its joys and sorrows be shared
and the individuality of each person
who lives and visits here appreciated.

We dedicate this home to work, and rest and play.
May our home have joy and high fellowship,
with kindness in its voices and laughter running within its walls.

We dedicate this home to friendly life.
May its doors open in hospitality
and its windows look out with kindness toward other homes.

We dedicate this home to cooperation.
May its duties be performed in love,
its furnishings bear witness that the work of others
ministers to our comfort,
and its table remind us that God works with us
for the supply of daily needs.

We dedicate this home to the appreciation
of all things good and true.
May the books bring wisdom,
the pictures symbolize things beautiful,
and the music bring joy and inspiration.

We dedicate the time and talent of those who live here
to help build a world in which every family
may have a home of comfort and fellowship.

We dedicate this home as a unit in the Church universal,
an instrument of the Kingdom of God,
a place of worship and Christian training
and a threshold to the life eternal.

amen!

i'm looking forward to this week, and to the big 'build-up' to christmas. in the words of 'elf' - this week is my favorite.

ps. for those of you that think i am some kind of crafting super hero, please take note of the trays that i was all braggy about making last week....

yeah. epoxy is not my friend. 'nuff said.

i did follow up with a quick craft last night, turning an old book into a photo / card display. that one did not involve epoxy, and took about 5 minutes. love.

i pray that God blesses you this week, with peace and kindness and the love that can come only from Him! woo hoo! and that is goooooooood stuff.

the countdown

2011-12-15T06:40:00.000-08:00

i think yesterday is when it actually happened. i hit the wall on anything else except christmas. i have felt it coming on, but boy do i know it. unless you have christmas cheer to share, i am not interested. and boy, do i need a vacation.

good thing i have nice clients who aren't pressing me TOO much.

anyway. all is well over here, even if my blogging is lame lately. here is what i'm up to.

still. buying. art. whew. i guess i am glad i still have a few spaces to fill, because i just see beautiful stuff everyday online. if you've ever been to stillwater, minnesota, you probably recognize this one. i have not been there in a very long time, but i want to go again. maybe to the white pine festival. it might just be my new happy place.

i guess i have not shown you my living room lately. it's looking quite cozy these days. lot's of pretty to look at.

except i need my teal wall. i am still searching for the perfect color. and some ambition. sigh. i bet i know which one i'll find first.

oh, and the kitchen guy is coming next week. so i've been shopping for a light fixture for over my new sink. that's harder than you would think.

and as for today, i need to make 20 of these bad boys for a client who is giving them away for christmas gifts. mine are the same, but different than this pic. how's that for telling you nothing?!

ha. i hope wherever you are, that you have more to say than me today! happy thurs@!

going dave ramsey on you.

2011-12-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

hello tuesday! you are welcome in this house!

sigh. that's because monday is always a blur. i'm thankful for a day in which my brain can actually think.

and thinking it does. i woke up this morning thinking about dave ramsey. even though i have never attended or heard specifics about one of his seminars, i know he's kind of a big deal. he helps people get 'freedom from the control of money' = which is a cool term my pastor uses.

he might be onto something. i am constantly amazed at how deceitful lenders seem to be. hidden costs are the norm, and lately i've learned that things have changed in the last 8 years since i bought my 1st house. i've been frustrated by the way things went in the buying/selling (particularly selling) process, because federal laws seemed to mandate very UNNECCESARY things now that they didn't then.

i'm not going to blame obama. i'm going to blame the fact that we are a money/consumer-based society, and there are ills that go along with that fact.

that being said, it drives me batty to have debt. i mean, really, seriously batty. unfortunately, the choice to move to a quieter, more peaceful part of town means i have to endure debt for a few more years. still, i attack it like a cancer. i want it gone (see, that is the dave ramsey part of me, or perhaps the nearly-50 part of me :)).

so, today i was quite surprised to open my mortgage online, and see that my bank is still charging me for what is called PMI insurance. for those that don't know, it's the mortgage insurance that is required for borrowers who don't have 20% to put down on their home purchase. since i already owned mabel when i bought fern, i did not put QUITE 20% down, so i had to get this stuff....to the tune of just under 20 bucks a month. no big deal.

except that after mabel DID sell, and i put a big chunk o' cash down on fern, the PMI is no longer required. or necessary. and 8 years ago when i did the very same thing, it just went away.

today, that has changed. i googled it, and here is what i found out:

In the past, most lenders honored consumers' requests to drop PMI coverage if their loan balance was paid down to 80 percent of the property value and they had a good payment history. However, consumers were responsible for requesting cancellation and many consumers were not aware of this possibility. Consumers had to keep track of their loan balance to know if they had enough equity and they had to request that the lender discontinue requiring PMI coverage. In many cases, people failed to make this request even after they became eligible, and they paid unnecessary premiums ranging from $250 to $1,200 per year for several years. With the new law, both consumers and lenders share responsibility for how long PMI coverage is required.

apparently, some new law is cooking that will uncover what is currently hidden. meaning that unless you pay attention, you are paying for absolutely nothing, and nobody cares. which i'm sure leads to millions of dollars in the pockets of the banks of america....ha. not that i am pointing out anybody specifically :)

for me, that means that $202 dollars a year that COULD support a child in haiti's education, would have gone to some greedy big guys.

except i caught it, and i 'requested cancellation' of something i shouldn't have been paying for in the first place. grrrrr.

i guess the whole point of this rant is to be MINDFUL, to be STEWARDS, and to be in charge of your own finances. don't fall for the lie that more is more, and don't buy things you cannot afford.

i need to remember that right now especially, when every day i seem to have the desire to push the big blue 'buy' button that keeps popping up on my 'puter.

:) happy day! let's not spend anything, okay?

yay day!

2011-12-09T06:45:00.001-08:00

ah. what a glorious day. i actually overslept ON A FRIDAY. must mean that i am relaxed, because i rarely oversleep. i was dreaming about meeting ashton kutcher. seriously. i was asking him if he was actually a photographer. he he. i don't recall ever actually thinking about ashton kutcher before, so i don't even want to know the meaning of that dream.

i feel like all i have worked on all week is teeny tiny little projects. an ad here, sell sheet there. my computer screen shows this to be true. time to put all those little pesky icons into folders today!

yesterday was seriously a good day. i really did nothing except chat with people. over an hour with my good friend who is having surgery next week. at one point she was laughing so hard at my stories about the neighborhood, she told me i MUST write a book. i think she has a point, because life on wood lane (see, i'd change the name of the actual location to protect the innocent) is pretty dang fascinating.

then, i talked to kirst for well over an hour. again, the laughter. and the realization of how much i love my dear 'old' friend. wow, we have seen some things together. there is nothing, absolutely nothing, better than friendship.

of course, i also spent my usual hour with carey on the phone. i think this week we talked about math alot. i don't remember math being so hilariously funny when i was in high school. now, i cannot stand it. math is for creatives! another book that needs to be written....

so. three conversations that took priority over all the tiny icons... my perfect day, even though i think i have a little sore throat today :) good thing siesta is not a serious talker.

happy friday!

can i have an accent?

2011-12-08T06:20:00.000-08:00

so, i've been thinking about painting an accent wall in my living room.

teal.

darkish.

i guess the whole 'neutral' thing was sort of just a phase for me ;)

small things

2011-12-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

i often talk about simple joys over here on the back forty. the older i get, the more satisfaction comes from watching a bird feed in the winter, or a flower take bloom in the summer.

today, my devotional was about 'small things'.

For who has not despised the day of small things?
Zechariah 4:10

i started to think about a short video clip that we watched in church last sunday. our church sponsors some ministries in equador, including the one in this link. sure enough, when i clicked to look at the website today, their tagline is 'reaching the least of these.'

i try to wrap my brain around it. how can i be so concerned with my seemingly 'big' things? my house, my job, even my relationships? things like how will i make my life more comfortable? how can i be 'fulfilled' in my career? what kinds of fun things can i do with my friends?

HOW can this be my main concern? HOW can i have so little concern for the least of things? HOW can i have God's heart concerning small things? why does it NEVER seem like enough, so i only fantasize about the day of BIG things?

i have to remember that God is in all things. and to continually hope for and think of the big things is to not trust God in the small things. today, i pray for this little boy in the picture above. though his life and future seem in jeopardy, i ask you to bring him joy today. to bring him a meal that fills his tummy. to bring him laughter. to bring him a hug from a caring person that he can trust. that even though we don't know where his tomorrow will be, that we DO know that you are in the small things. be with him.

Lord, help me to not despise small things. use them for your Glory.

happy wednesday, all.

i love tuesday.

2011-12-06T07:38:00.000-08:00

bossy the fern was even vulnerable to my mad decorating attack this year.
she is lovely, and only slightly annoyed with me.

wow. feels good to have monday under my belt, and a total 'free' day. that almost never happens. too bad it's -2 degrees.

i thought i would blog about the neighborhood so far. it's hard to tell about a new neighborhood in winter. but so far, i have a few insights.

1. ralph is going to be my nemesis. people named ralph always are. he's good, i can tell already. last saturday, after a brisk 1/4" snowfall, i heard the familiar 'scrape, scrape, scrape' of a shoveler. not to be outdone, i went out seconds after the sound stopped, sans COAT and shoveled my whole angled driveway and sidewalk. game ON, ralphie! next time i will beat you on this game!!!

2. on the gentler side of the street, dorothy has invited me to a 'coffee party' on saturday. we'll be having date nut bars and we'll be chatting about why life is so different now. she is coordinating everything, including the personal invitations to at least 1 more dorothy and a bunny. i remember when people were named bunny (bernice). life is moving pleasantly backwards, and i am relieved.

3. i got a plate of cookies and an invitation to a st. lucia gathering from another neighbor (further down the street) last night. in 8 years in my other 'hood' - i don't recall any st. lucia gatherings....perhaps i just wasn't paying attention.

anywhooo. so far, things seem promising. i'm sure the adventures will continue. i better start planning my OWN gathering before ralph beats me to it!

happy tuesday :)

easing into.

2011-12-05T06:31:00.000-08:00

ah. having a nice slow re-entry this morning, after a pleasant weekend. i got a start on my holiday shopping, which is rare for me, as i am 'last minute girl.'

i also shopped for myself, as i got my new kitchen ordered on saturday. well, half a kitchen. the other half will involve more elbow grease, and most likely will spread across the weeks this winter. i am sort of project'd-out, that is for sure.

as i look over the relationships i have in blogland and facebook, it is disheartening to see that most folks are not super joyful. there is a lot of 'busy' going around, that is for sure. a few weeks ago, my pastor talked about how nobody wants to hear that you are busy. WOW. isn't that true? i am ever so guilty of using that term as my badge of importance, or even as my secondary identity, when i have things going on. my value becomes THE THINGS I NEED TO GET DONE, which is so not what God says about us.

the truth is, busy sucks our life away. it really does. i keep asking God for a balance over here on the back forty. it seems when i am NOT busy, i just waste time and do nothing of value....probably in retaliation to the BUSY times when i don't have a choice.

i'm prepared to find value this december. for me, that means relationship. finding the time to share with others MY time. i don't really have anything of more value to the world to offer, and i don't think any of you do, either. it's time to start rejecting 'all martha, all the time' and to start being mary at least a little bit of the time, don't you think?

i guess what i'm saying is "do you want to come over for coffee?" ha!!!

:) happy monday!

help me rhonda.

2011-12-02T06:13:00.001-08:00

just the other day, i was chatting with a couple friends about becoming like our mothers. i actually made the statement that i had NO traits in common with mine.

which is funny, because today as i was shopping on ebay for my latest soon-to-be obsession, vintage putz paper christmas villages, i was reminded of when i talked to my mom on tuesday, and she said:

"oh, i'm in the middle of putting up all the houses...i have way too many of those, i think!"

he he he he he. guess i'll have my words for lunch today :)
happy friday!

thankful 30.

2011-11-30T05:44:00.000-08:00

day 30! wow, that went fast. i have more than a few 'thankfuls' that i never even got to.

however, last night as i was at a friends' house for a christmas gig, i was reminded of how much i love to laugh. i am the kind of laugher - is that a word? - that cannot control herself, and sometimes laughs waaaaaay too loud at the wrong time. still. it feels so good.

sometimes, i actually laugh to myself when i am sitting here at the computer. siesta knows i do this. now you do, too ;)

that's what i did when i saw this picture above, from jim lepage's facebook album called 'funny religious stuff.' is it just me, or do those girls totally look like boys dressed up as girls??? and for some reason, the title just KILLS me. ha ha ha ha ha.

wow. just. wow. hope you have at least a few laughs today. maybe even a guffaw or a titter :)

thankful 29.

2011-11-29T06:45:00.000-08:00

i just realized i skipped a day of thankfulness. a good reminder to me that it's easy to do that :)

i was thinking about things i have missed in this thankful journey. LOTS of things. one of the biggies is music, and how much i love it, because it changes the atmosphere. it changes my countenance.

i used to listen to a ton of sad songs. give me some dwight yoakam and a bottle of whiskey (not really, but they 'go' together) and i'd be good. i kind of secretly love to cry, so i guess it makes sense.

these days, i prefer mellow, easy music most of the time. i like lots of christian music, and mellow stuff like james taylor and natalie merchant from my younger days. i don't buy a ton of 'new' music except for christian, because it's what i hear most often in my daily life.

on sunday, i was painting at the church, and not really looking forward to a dark church and being alone there. alas, we have an ethiopian church that rents the space on sunday afternoons, so i was not alone.

as i was painting away, i could hear the sounds of the small group from the sanctuary. voices in a language i did not understand, and peaceful grooves that waaaaaaaaay carried me away to a good place. my whole mindset changed from task-oriented to experience-oriented. i became peaceful. i thanked God and felt joyful. and happy. and relaxed.

that's it. i am thankful for joyful noises and what they do in our spirits. i think i will turn on some right now, as a matter of fact.

happy tuesday!

thankful 27.

2011-11-28T05:54:00.000-08:00

i woke up this morning thinking.

that's not at all unusual, my brain just does not really ever NOT think.

some of the time it's spent worrying.
or repeating something in my head that has happened.
or making my to-do list and actually visualizing it being acheived.
or praying for something or somebody that needs praying for...sometimes, me.

most of the time, my mind is occupied with ideas.

here is the definition of 'idea':

Something, such as a thought or conception, that potentially or actually exists in the mind as a product of mental activity.

i love ideas. ever since i was little, they have been my very, very favorite thing.

yesterday, i had ideas about:

1 john - the book that pastor is teaching about right now - and how careful God was to pack so much meaning into the bible, even more than we can ever discover in a lifetime, if it was our full-time, 24-7 job. i'm thankful He came up with that idea.

homemade spaghetti - that was a quick idea, more of a notion really, and i followed thru and had some for dinner last night.

christmas crafts - oh, emily henderson, you RUIN me! your christmas tv special (which made me want to live in every single house you ever design, truly) made me want to make about sixty new things. and made me want you and orlando to come over for a craft party, because seriously, we would be friends, i am sure of it!!! :) ideas for everybody! yes!

painting a wall at church - well, that idea is one i had with anne a couple of weeks ago. i actually executed it on 'buy nothing' day, which was quite satisfying. yesterday i painted that little wall by the water fountain to match, too, but i forgot to take a pic.

then, in the afternoon i went idea hunting for the kitchen remake that i am going to be starting soon. i got some tile to look at, and help me imagine. i ordered some counter samples from the internet. i talked to the lowes kitchen guy and got some more ideas. heck, he even gave me an IDEA book! how awesome is that! i think i have more thinking about it to do, but the ideas make me happy.

then today, i have a new project that i need to cook up some ideas for. i really should be doing that right now :)

happy day! may your ideas never run out!

thankful 26.

2011-11-26T15:09:00.001-08:00

christmas arrived over the last couple of days.

it came without even one trip to the mall, or to target or even to hobby lobby (but with several trips to the basement for 'shopping').

it came with deer and pine cones and lots of vintage sparkle.

it came with hot chocolate and leftover pie.

it came just in time to light up the night, and for that, i am grateful.

thankful 24. and 25.

2011-11-25T05:55:00.000-08:00

ah, it was nice to be 'homeward bound' for the holiday. especially when the sky and landscape were as pretty as that one above. what a glorious day! i was thinking about how many years i have made the trek over the hilltops and through the woods to 'home' - my parents' house. now that they are older, i realize how quickly the time has passed, and how precious each passing year seems.

we (my mom, dad and i) sat in the gazebo - outside!! - yesterday, and watched the world go by. it was fabulous to be there so late in the season. we also got a glimpse of a real, live, ACTUAL turkey passing through the yard! i was amazed, but my folks said that 3 wild turkeys have taken up residence of late. i didn't take this photo, but the guy i saw looked exactly like a real turkey :)) ha. very cool.

and then i came home to a freshly decorated tree. in fact i decorated a couple last night as has become my tradition. i love the glow of Light at night. i have a very grateful heart today, wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

thankful 23.

2011-11-23T05:52:00.001-08:00

i didn't know what i was going to post about today. i know i'm thankful that yesterday is over, and our 12-hour workday was successful. for the record, both anne and i 'hit the wall' at the same time, about 10 hours in...

it's harder than i thought to write a month of thankfuls without restating the obvious. since it's the day before thanksgiving, i also feel the need to be profound, which always gets me into trouble.

so, i just went into the kitchen looking for breakfast, found and cut into this beautiful grapefruit, which released the most marvelous smell and *squirt* of juice at the same time, and i looked at it, really looked at it.

there it is. i'm thankful for small delights. some days, well MOST days, it does not take something huge to have a grateful day. as i sit here with my pretty (and tasty) pink grapefruit, a cup of coffee, and a whole day of restfulness ahead of me, i am very thankful.

happy day!

thankful 22.

2011-11-22T05:01:00.001-08:00

look! an actual person!
this is my amazingly talented friend anne,
who has done all the hardest work on this project.
i have mostly sat around making stars...
which i am pretty good at :)

whew. here are a few shots of our work yesterday. today is a big day, we are doing two shifts to try and finish up our big project if possible. so far, we are pleased with how things are turning out.

which brings me to my latest blessing: work.

most of you know that during the time of my house buying/selling, there was a very slow period of work for me. and most of you know that i freaked when the work slowed down...for various reasons, but mostly because i am a person who is most comfortable at WORK.

our pastor gave a sermon this weekend about work, and concurred that work is something that God has designed for us to do. it's good to note that God gave adam work to do in the garden BEFORE he sinned and fell....work has always been part of God's design for us!

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Gen 2:15

i am imagining having an awesome job when i get to Heaven! i do admit that i've always been able to work in areas that fit closely with my desires...not every job has been great, but they have mostly all played into my skillset in some way. i feel very fortunate for that aspect of my life.

in the past week, i have gotten word that i'll be doing two rather large projects - starting in december and heading into the new year - my normal 'slow' time at work. it's odd that God flipped it for me, to give me my slow time to move, and now to bring work back as i am settled into my new home. He is good to me like that, He truly is...i am thankful!

i hope that your work brings you joy today, no matter what your job description may be :)

thankful 21.

2011-11-21T05:56:00.000-08:00

i woke up today thinking about next week. isn't that always the way? i hope to really, really enjoy THIS week, but next week i am going on a roadtrip with my favorite art girls.

it's really good for us to do this. we kind of do it 'crazy' style, in that we drive to minnesota, get our visual fill (and usually do some shopping, too) and then drive back in a quick 24-hour frenzy. it saves money and time, but we really have HOURS of non-stop artgirl-time because of the driving. sigh.

this time around, we'll go to 'no coast crafterama' - which is in midtown at the global market. kirst and i used to wander around the global market back in the day. it's good there. the show involves sort of hippie crafters showing their wares, nothing like the country blue crowd that we usually get here in the dakotas. lots of interesting ideas, along with the feeling that i am not so odd come from trips to places like this :)

ha.

anyway. lot's to do in the in-between times. but yowza, i am thankful for both of you, lou and cass! and especially excited to bring a new little crafter girl with us this time, as fiona goes on her first artgirl trip with us :)

thankful 19 and 20.

2011-11-20T05:40:00.000-08:00

weekending:

* house is dusted.
* pantry is stocked up.
* crafting stuff purchased.
* laundry is folded.
* first snow has arrived.

weekbeginning:

* crockpot is cooking.
* sun is rising.
* worship is waiting.

happy sunday, everyone ;)

thankful 16. 17. 18.

2011-11-18T05:48:00.001-08:00

happy friday everyone!

i have been MIA for the last couple of days because i have not been at the computer much. it has been a good break, although i will be here a long time today :)

which brings me to my latest gratefulness.

i'm thankful for community. i have been fortunate to have lots of good folks around me for a long time now. i guess it's part of being *ahem* middle-aged, or maybe it is the design of God.

i love that i have a church family, for instance. one that i actually love spending time with - at this time in my life - about 3 times a week. i cannot imagine what i would do without "Jesus with skin on" as my friend anne calls those who come into your life as the light of God. i am very grateful.

after a few busy days, i'm also thankful for alone time. i think there is a HUGE difference between being alone, and being lonely. i am grateful not to be lonely, but to cherish alone time. it gives my mind space to relax, breathe and talk to God about all of the stuff of life. i crave alone time. i am grateful that my profession gives me a good mix of both community AND alone time.

let's see. i'm going to steal from rani's post about her new fire (fab name, btw) and say that i am lastly thankful for books....i just ordered another jan karon book this morning, and am looking forward to getting it, and things slowing down enough to read it. i read 'the mitford series' last winter, and got hooked on the little-house-on-the-prairieness of this writer.

do ya like how i make up my own words (is that an adjective or an adverb or what??)? because i do :)

ha. anyway - grateful for all of these things and more! i hope your day is filled with goodness and gratefulness, too.

thankful 15.

2011-11-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

schwew. i'm kind of late posting, but that is because today i am thankful for TODAY. today i lived in the present moment, doing something i truly enjoy with someone i truly enjoy. and mostly, i am thankful that i got to call it 'work.'

i wonder how many hours i have spent at the computer in my life? many of them have been truly enjoyable, but lots of them have simply been 'making the doughnuts' when i would have preferred to make something with my hands.

my friend anne has glorious hands to make things with. and a creative spirit to match.

that's why i enlisted her to make christmas decorations for a client here in town....and that is what we did today. actually, we made ONE pot out of several we'll need to finish before black friday.

we enjoyed ourselves. and we WORKED. our labor produced the kind of thing you cannot make on the computer, and i guess we both found that immensely satisfying.

thank you God, for today's work. i ask that you bless us with more chances to work at something that we love, to create and build and then to reflect and enjoy our creation...

amen :)

thankful 13 and 14.

2011-11-14T06:04:00.001-08:00

ah. what a fantastic weekend. i admit i was a bit crabby after saturday came and went, and i did not complete any items that i had on my to-do list. the day was good, just not super productive.

so yesterday, i kicked it into high gear (high for me, which may not be all that high) and got the garage emptied enough to park my 'bert' inside. i woke up this morning sore and satisfied!! bring it, winter, i am ready now.

which leads me to my gratefulness. this morning in my bible time, i thanked God for giving me a healthy body that enables me to do things like clean out the garage. our bodies are amazing, and i take mine for granted way too often.

i did wake up with sore hands and arms from the endeavor. i suffer a bit from arthritis, at least i think that's what it is, especially in the changing seasons. i asked God to take away a bit of the pain today, if He would.

His answer to me came quickly, as i was reading Hebrews this morning. the verses talk about disciplines that are appropriate for God to take in order to better us, because He loves us. even though it might have seemed a bit out of context, the ACTUAL words used went like this:

So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

Hebrews 12:12/13

So there you have it, my goal for the week, and my Helper who will make it so. So very thankful for the Word of God, alive and real and life-changing, for sure. Thank you, Lord, let's have a great week together!

ps. Siesta says 'read it, it's good.'

:)

thankful 12.

2011-11-12T05:54:00.001-08:00

Saturday day morning wake-up call in the new home.

i don't know why. i don't know why God has chosen to bless me with this life, or with this place, or with this time. i do know for sure that i don't deserve it. but as i see the sunrise again on such a beautiful fall day, i am thankful that God loves me. for that i am grateful, because i know that i know that He loves all of us.

happy weekend, everybody!!!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

thankful 11.

2011-11-11T07:32:00.001-08:00

whenever i think about veteran's day, i always ALWAYS think of my uncle gail, who served in the navy. although i have other relatives who served, he is the one that i think of as most exemplifying the spirit of the military. he was a wonderful, wonderful man who always had a huge smile and a hug for me, and who never was shy to tell me he loved me, a rarity in my family.

he died about 6 years ago, and my aunt elizabeth almost 2 years ago to this very day. there are some people in heaven that i can hardly WAIT to see, and these 2 are pretty much at the top of the list.

i am thankful for loved ones, aren't you?
happy friday, and happy veteran's day!

thankful 10.

2011-11-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

wow. 10 days into this thankful thing. it's going fast, although i admit i'm not going too deep :) ha. it's kind of whatever i can grab and take a picture of...meaning no people, even though i am REALLY thankful for a lot of you... ;)

lessee. facial pheromones....those are pretty swell. remember when i posted about them not long ago?

seems that SOMETHING has mellowed siesta out. she still vertical scratches on the couch, though, so it's not a perfect thing.

but her new favorite spot to rest (under the tv cabinet) is about 2 feet away from the pheromones. coincidence?

i think not :)

thankful 9.

2011-11-09T06:06:00.000-08:00

today i am thankful for serendipity, defined as:

the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.

which leads to my 'happy accident' from yesterday, as it were.

i now live on a tree-lined street. one of the desires of my heart.

except for when leaves abound, and you are moving and don't have time to deal. and ESPECIALLY when you have a fastidious neighbor who carefully bags HIS leaves in a very, very straight line dividing your property, making your neglect all the more noticeable.

especially when, a couple of weeks later, the wind takes note of the fastidiousness, and decides to blow leaves all over HIS yard, making yours look somewhat tidy in comparison.

and especially all the more when, in a stroke of serendipitous timing, a little man with a mower, blower and bagger comes along and parks on your street, clearing the masses of leaves from the yards of your elderly neighbors.

and when you ask ever so desperately, he tells you he will also remove YOUR leaves for the bargain basement price of $25.

leaving you with another razor-straight property line demarcation, THIS time to your advantage.... :)

ha. until the wind blows, i am sure. happy wednesday!

thankful 8.

2011-11-08T05:45:00.001-08:00

today, i'm thankful for art. i was actually GOING to say i'm thankful for the Holy Spirit, but i don't have a good illustration to use.

see, that demonstrates why art is so important :)

i have been framing the new pics over the last week or so. so far, i have only had to buy one frame, and some matte board. very satisfying. i cannot for the life of me hang things level...esp. with plaster walls. i really need one of those picture hanger levels that they sell on infomercials. lots of crooked makes my head hurt.

yesterday, i noticed that all of the art for my office has a bird theme. what?! i do like birds, but that is a little crazy. it's like realizing that all of your sweaters are ponchos. ONE poncho is good, but they cannot all be ponchos or you become the wacky poncho lady. not. good.

art can be complicated, too.

but mostly, it just makes my eyes happy to have a resting place. some days (well, every day) you just need that.

thankful 7.

2011-11-07T05:27:00.001-08:00

this guy has taken on some crazy flower action.
he was heading one way, but has completely switched directions
since i moved him over toward the window. love!

well, another beautiful day here in SD....such a lovely fall. i am praying for carey as she directs a video shoot today. we're trying to squeeze the last bit of summer out of every second.

my house is kind of looking like a greenhouse. to be honest, house plants are not my favorite thing. i tend to forget about them, and that usually is not good. they do help to make a long winter seem a bit more cheerful.

i'm grateful for the natural world that God provided for us. i keep thinking about eve and adam, and how beautiful it must have been in the garden WITH God. i cannot imagine how beautiful my garden in heaven is going to be :))

if it's anything even remotely close to the natural beauty of this world, we are in for something good ;)

happy monday!

thankful 4. 5. 6.

2011-11-06T05:54:00.001-08:00

thankful for: setting up the new office with a perfectly imperfect accessory from junk bonanza.

thankful for: saturday night on the couch crocheting. oh, pretty yarn, i have missed you!

thankful for: kitty settling into her old perch with the new scenery outside. we both are finding that the new normal is much like the old. feeling grateful to be back to the rhythm of our lives...

'happy extra hour' today, all!

tgif.

2011-11-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

tgif. thank God it's friday. that's what i'm thankful for today. this has been an exhaustingly wonderful week! so thankful for tomorrow, for a 'date' with lou at the washington pavilion, and for more cleaning/sleeping/organizing on the weekend. our church also starts a new '3 service' sunday on - of all days - daylight savings 'fall back' day. that should make for some interesting stories.

life is good right now.

i'm also thankful for chocolate chip cookies. going to test the new oven this weekend, with this recipe. i hope they turn out!

well. what's the worst that a chocolate chip cookie CAN turn out? seriously. you can't really totally ruin them, i know this from experience.

come for coffee soon?

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Food Network

Ingredients

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 ounces English toffee candy (recommended: Heath or Skor bar), finely chopped
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, husked, and chopped
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with parchment paper. Finely chop the oats in a food processor. Transfer the oats to a medium bowl. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in the toffee, hazelnuts, and chocolate chips.

For each cookie, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful of dough onto sheet, spacing 1-inch apart (do not flatten dough). Bake until the cookies are golden (cookies will flatten slightly), about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely. (The cookies can be prepared 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

thank. full. day 2.

2011-11-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

yesterday was the first day in awhile that i did not leave my house. i've been feeling a little sickish, and i had a big project to start. it was so nice to not have to go anywhere. it was so nice to work. it was so nice.

i am starting to feel a bit more settled. i look back at the last few months, and i can see how much God wanted me to turn to Him with the unrest. i can see that, really, He was my supply of peace. real TRUE peace in the unknown and the uncertain.

whenever i think back to the days before i was a Christian, honestly, of all the rewards - THIS one is the biggest for me.

thank you, Lord, for peace.

I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart.
And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.
So don't be troubled or afraid.

John 14:27

give thanks.

2011-11-02T04:43:00.000-07:00

i like what rani is doing in november. a month of thanks. seems easy, right? even though i missed yesterday, i am going to do this too. so here goes...

on a rainy, cold day, i am thankful for my new wool socks from target. i know i just posted about socks last week...but seriously, warm houses and warm body parts are so important and quite a pleasure. as friends head for the great outdoors today for video shoots, i pray warmth and comfort for all.

as for me and my socks, we are going to shut off the phone today and try to work, for what seems like the first time in a long while. happy wednesday!

new view.

2011-11-01T05:59:00.000-07:00

so, this is the morning view that i have now from my desk. yes, that is a crack in the window. another thing on the to-do list, waaaaay down in priority :)

the sunrise was very pretty today coming up over the yellow trees. i'm glad that i still have a morning view!

today is the first day that i actually hope to 'work' from fern, so it should be good. the bad is that i am feeling like i might be getting sick. so funny how that works. i am praying against it, and feeling okay either way. i need 'slow' right now.

the house is coming along, although i want to change a ton of stuff, for now i am feeling fine with how things are. it may not be perfect, but it's my stuff, and it feels homey. funny how that works, too :)

today i want to thank God for allowing me this transition, because it has helped me to see Him in new ways, ways that make me want to know him more. happy tuesday all!

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. Ephesians 1:18

a new normal.

2011-10-31T06:29:00.000-07:00

schwew. monday morn at last.

i guess it suffices to say that moving is somewhat chaotic. besides the fact that my keyboard now sticks on the 'space' key - which i use occasionally - i came through it somewhat unharmed.

i have to say, the picture above is what i have been most looking forward to. white bean chicken chili in the crockpot today; pumpkin bread later this afternoon when the dust of the day settles.

yesterday, as i was cleaning out the fridge a couple of hours before the new owners did their final walkthrough, it struck me that i did not feel a ton of emotion. it was not my house anymore. in fact, it wasn't even 'mabel' anymore! perhaps i learned a valuable lesson in that a home is only four walls, and the love and care that you put inside it, and that your friends and family and memories put into it, is what truly makes a home.

i didn't cry. which is nothing short of amazing.

so, today at 4pm i will close on this season of my life. lots has happened, both good and bad. i am ready to be here, and that is good :)

happy monday!

home.

2011-10-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

fall boot parade.

2011-10-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

so. all of a sudden it's winter today. not really, but i do have to dig out some socks. same thing.

you know it's that time when you start to surf the internet for cute boots. oh, so many to choose from!

you also know you are *50* when this is what you decide to buy instead.

they ARE metallic. that makes me still cool.

:)

let's do this.

2011-10-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

Dear God:

I have a good idea. Let's have 70 degree days in October from now on.

Thank you in advance,

Bobbi

ps. if you ever decide to create a large-scale client project using flamingos, just beware that before it's over, you'll be calling them 'effing' flamingos and that your client will say "wow, you sound like the OLD bobbi!"

not. good.

woot.

2011-10-20T18:44:00.001-07:00

i kind of don't know what to frame, the artwork or the card!!

that's it.

2011-10-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

i'm digging out the farmer socks as of today. i have kind of missed you, farmer socks!

on tap, workwise, i have a flock of flamingos to decorate for a mailer for a client. i was telling a friend that i wish i could put them all in Fern's front yard for a few days, just to mess with the new neighbors :)

ha. happy wednesday!

someday.

2011-10-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

yesterday at church, pastor shel mentioned about how he doesn't even hear the word 'busy' when someone is making an excuse why they cannot do something, he just hears 'blah blah blah' instead.

it got me thinking about how we all say we're too busy sometimes, and how usually we follow it up in our heads by thinking 'someday' things will be different. yep, if i'm being honest with myself, it's true that 'someday' has taken up a good share of my life.

lately, my joy has been directly related to 'when' and 'if' the house sells, and i move. as of today, that has been 3 months of seriously compromising my thoughts - EVERY day. what i've tried to convince myself in the process is the thought that 'someday' it will all be over, and i'll be able to focus on other things.

however, in the interest of waiting for someday, i quite possibly have missed some things:

fall. i love this time of year, and i have not spent a day in a pumpkin patch, or visiting my parents in the country, or walking in my neighborhood to see the spilling leaves. i have been outside precious little, usually to pet loco when i see him, but not to rake or feel the sun, which i love so much.

people. i have not been home to see my parents in MONTHS. yeah. that is crazy ridiculous. i live so close. i love sitting in the gazebo and hearing the sounds of the country. i love checking out the garden with my mom, and teasing my dad about being a farmer. i miss them.

reading. i miss reading. i am in the middle of a bible study now, and i usually read it in the few hours before i actually go to group. i miss lounging on a sunday afternoon with a book. or reading before i go to bed. i think reading is one of the precious things we have in this life, and i am sad that i have not done it lately.

cooking. making food. eating food with people. the smell of the kitchen when something is simmering on the stove. oh, how i LONG for this again.

in honor of 'someday' starting today, i plan to live, really live, in the moment - even though it's monday!

would you like to join me?

art makes a home.

2011-10-15T12:08:00.001-07:00

i'm ever so slowly getting the new house 'move-in' ready...for me, that means i will NOT have a shower in my upstairs bathroom, but i WILL have some new artwork to look at.

art is not optional in my house. i swear, i would live in a mud hut, and still have art in it! filling my new house with little bits of beauty is one of my truly favorite things to do.

just so you know (i feel the need to justify) = these six pieces of art were less than $150 total. my secret is that i don't buy frames, because i thrift and already have many, many shapes and sizes. in a perfect world, i'd have new frames too, but the art is more important to me. here's what i got:

jonah by jim lepage: i was extremely disappointed in the poor quality of the art (hello jim lp - get a new printer and set up your art for print, not web!) when i got it!!! however, the beauty of the work sort of makes up for it, and i do plan to hang it in my living room right away.

'serve the Lord' reclaimed wood art by the simple standard: my dear sweet cass gave me this for my birthday! what a girl, she snuck over to my pinterest page and found that i had pinned this art :) not sure where i will put it yet, but somewhere where i see it often.

welcome home decal by vinyl fruit: my new door is kind of ratty, so i painted it turquoise and will put this in the window!

birds by dolan geiman: oh my goodness! i got this for 70% off! some of you may remember me pining away for this a couple of years ago. thank you dolan for making your beautiful art affordable!

marilyn by velvet morning: i do have several themes running through much of the artwork i buy - birds, deer, houses, and women. all of them fascinate me, and i really do love marilyn.

nesting birds by bee things: these guys are seriously GOOD graphic designers. and lime green is popping up all over fern these days! i want more of their stuff.

'lemons' and 'love birds' by kingslip: i got this from a place called red bubble. the artist is in south africa, and he calls himself 'designer, printer, farmer, cook' - fabulous combo! both prints were tiny and very affordable - they came very quickly and are really nice in quality! go red bubble!

whew. that is a bunch of goodies. i should mention that most of my old stuff will be finding a new place to live, too. art show, anyone?

:)

october light

2011-10-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

even though i have not gotten to spend much time outside this fall, i do appreciate the light that shines into my office window almost every day. fall light is beautiful, yes?

two weeks until move date. so much to do. here's hoping that you have a wonderful weekend with all of the hours in the day to do everything you need to do, including soaking up some wonderfulness.

how do you spell meringue?

2011-10-12T06:45:00.001-07:00

well, no lemons today. but i could sure use a lmp!

i bought this print in a tiny size over at red bubble. i've had 'hit and miss' luck with buying from sites who process artist's work directly. this company is in australia, and so far, they seem to be on top of things.

i also have a fab spot to put it in!!! i bet you can hardly wait to see ;)

happy hump day.

we all need an advocate.

2011-10-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

so, here we are. a new week, and a new round of negotiations on selling my house. last week, i swear i was on my last, last, last shred of nerves. this week, i learned something new at church! it's actually part of a continuing theme in my life right now: God loves me. not in a 'maybe i'll love you if you get it right, but maybe i'll unleash my wrath on you if i feel like it, for some hidden unknown purpose that seems crazy to everyone else but me' fashion, but in a 'He really means it' fashion.

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

this verse is from 1 John. that's the new verse series we are studying! funny that it blends right into the lab class that is my life right now!

what is unbelievable to me is that right now, for today, i am thinking 'i don't know what will happen and yet i am still okay'. oh peeps. that is revolutionary!

be blessed today :)

pps. the new home is starting to look more 'homey,' too.

comfort food.

2011-10-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

today is the last day that i will have to wait to find out if my house is sold. well, technically that day is october 31, but today is a pivot point that will either lean toward 'yes' or 'no'.

i find that when i am super stressed, i don't really have an appetite. i think that it's the same principle that turns most people going through a divorce super skinny. the body just doesn't care about food all that much.

last week, i found some new food to chew on in the form of matt maher. i have loved him for awhile, his music hits on social justice issues and jesus both very beautifully. a couple of weeks ago, i was driving and heard his song 'turn around' for the first time....it made me wish i had not changed the name of my company from 180 creative earlier in the year.

the song is about repentance. repentance as a life style while we are here on this earth. it's beautiful, and makes me think God's plan is so beautiful, too. the whole album is worthy to listen to. one of my favorite lines comes from the song 'heaven help me'. he sings 'i lift You up and i lay me down'. isn't that the truth of every step of the Christian walk? i think it's just profound.

if you have a penchant for buying music, please, don't delay. go buy this album NOW.

one little observation: from the sound of his voice, i've always pictured matt maher looking something like kris kristofferson circa 1976 in 'a star is born'.

um. instead, he sort of looks like a cross between elvis costello and andy warhol. which does not change a thing about how i feel about him :)

mellow.

2011-10-05T07:18:00.001-07:00

siesta and i road-tripped over to fern yesterday for a whopping FIVE hours. i was dreading the whole thought, but still, she has to get used to a new life sometime.

a couple of weeks ago, i put her in the car during an open house, and thought seriously she was going to die from whaling and pacing during the 10-minute ride. it was pitiful. then, she circled around and around in the basement and would not come upstairs. too scarey.

yesterday was more of the same on the ride over. but i have employed a secret magic potion to entice her into loving the house itself. it's called feliway, and it's a magic cat drug. made of pheromones, the same ones that cats use when they rub their faces on things because they are happy. siesta likes pheromones.

anyway, initially, she had the same behavior. over the course of a couple hours, i sat down on the living room floor (where i had placed the diffuser)...and coaxed her over.

much to my surprise, she stretched out and flipped upside down, purring....!!!

yay! she also managed to find what i knew would be her favorite spot, my lovely just re-finished buffet.

the only problem of the night was when i thought she got outside, and then accidentally locked myself out of the house with a faulty screen door. which i broke to get in. another thing to add to my wish list, apparently.

anyway, if you have a nervous kitty, i would highly recommend trying. i know for sure that I AM CALMER because i have hope that she will adjust easily!

manna.

2011-10-04T06:13:00.001-07:00

i have been going to blog about manna for awhile. it seems that during this house transition thing, God is choosing to give me manna.

for those of you who need 'brushing up' on your manna description, here's what the bible says in exodus:

The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

it actually doesn't sound too bad, does it? why then, does manna make me nervous? well, because as God intended it, HE was the supply of what the israelites would need. for the record, He gave em some quail to go with that manna....so they should have been quite fulfilled as far as their stomachs went.

but the reality was, they weren't. here's one comment:

"But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

ha. ha. i laugh, but yet i don't. i tell God it would have been better to kill me in egypt than to have me out in the middle of nowhere eating manna. he mocks me when i ask if i can go to sam's club and get my manna, just so i KNOW i will have enough. which is kind of not the point of manna.

he whispers to me in the middle of the night His reasons for the manna:

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Lord, for today, thank you thank you thank you for your manna.

ps. some people described the manna as looking like this (hoar frost)....okay. maybe REAL manna would be cool to see.

next up.

2011-09-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

finally, the wheels are starting to turn. i am in 'project land' now, and i love it. i should be concentrating on packing, but i have not even started yet. tomorrow. always tomorrow :)

ha. the good news is that i have to be out of here by october 31. i work better with deadlines. i really do. so hopefully, that will kick some motivation into me.

in the meantime, i found another project yesterday. the buffet turned out awesomely! i want to show you, but since some sweet friends offered to help me paint the living/dining room this weekend, it will be better to have a big reveal next week! woo hoo! i'm ready for things to be semi-finished over at fern. too much disarray going on there right now.

so, okay, back to the project. it's a vintage metal typewriter table. since industrial is waaaaaaaay 'in' right now, i've been eyeing these for awhile. mine is in pretty good shape, although i'm going to have to make friends with steel wool as a first step (there is a little rust on the leg bottoms). otherwise, i'm thinking prep, paint, and decorate! should be a fun little item to keep somewhere in the new abode. i could seriously work full-time bringing back the oldies. LOVE to do this. you'll probably have to wait and see for a few weeks, however, because i don't really have time right at the moment for this :)

okay. fridays rule! going to go and get some stuff done, and enjoy the sunshine-filled day! hope you have a fab weekend, too!

ps. orange cats like sunshine, too :)

seasonally.

2011-09-29T05:19:00.000-07:00

i found a post for cinnamon coffee pumpkin cupcakes over at a site called 'tater tots and jello' - ha. staples of my youth.

anyway. i would love to make some of these. i don't currently possess instant coffee, but i suppose i could get some for emergencies. i have crushed up instant coffee and added it to cookie dough before, so it's not too much of a stretch to add it to frosting, i don't suppose.

lot's of stuff going on around here. there has been some activity on the house, so i've been walking on some pins and needles, but actually feeling quite peaceful. i have friends at 2 churches who have been praying for mabel and i, and i'll tell you folks, you can FEEL prayer. it really matters, so remember that when you think that prayer is kind of ineffective.

ah. other news. what do you think of the new blog template? I am anxious to hear your responses!

Click here to take survey

in other news. it's cloudy today. cloudy is not the same as sunny. cloudy makes me freak out and fear the big 'w' that is coming! go away, cloudy!

he he. have a good day :)

sneaky peek.

2011-09-28T07:35:00.001-07:00

oh, the excitement of it all. very happy with the stripped down dresser!

hope to show pics in a couple of days, living in its new home!

be blessed today!

stripping away.

2011-09-27T09:13:00.001-07:00

oh no. i'll probably get a ton of unwanted blog traffic with THAT header.

oh well. it's what has been going on in my life lately!

as i am spending my days being 'stripped away' once again because of uncomfortable circumstances, it's interesting to ALSO literally have a 'stripping away' project.

to be sure, stripping is not fun. but it is oh-so-necessary if you don't want something to stay the way it is.

look at the ugliness bubbling up on the surface. ps. if you ever plan to do this yourself, don't bother with 'earth-friendly' options. i use the most toxic stuff on the planet to get this kind of action.

the ACTUAL stripping is a horrible process. it's messy and things look way worse before they can even begin to look better. i hate, HATE it!

it's also a painfully slow, slow process. but as you dig down further in the layers, you start to see more beautiful things being revealed. it's very gratifying to see wood grain where there once was none, and a little brass keyhole that used to be totally hidden.

so, that's where i'm at. i need to keep at it, more stripping to come. i'll keep you posted on the progress ;)

Who did this?

2011-09-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

i sat here for about 15 minutes, trying to think about a good blog post. i have very little to say about the weekend, except that open houses are kind of a violation...it's weird to have people lollygagging their way thru your house for no da*n reason except to snoop. icky.

i also did nothing in the area of crafts. i do have a vision for the dresser, but the stripper in the basement didn't work too well. he he. that is kind of a funny statement. anyway, you know what i mean.

so, i'll blog about my new bible study. i will also whine about the fact that my used book from amazon that i ordered over 3 weeks ago is STILL not here, so i downloaded a version for my phone. this is the first time that amazon has let me down! but whew. it was handy to get the book in a 1-click touch. i may be asking for a kindle from santa at some point :)

back to the book. it's not one that was really jumping off the shelf for me to pick up. but, if you've read greg boyd at all (most famous is probably 'letters from a skeptic'), you know he has some pretty interesting perspectives. in this book, boyd is seeming to challenge a ton of 'accepted' chrisitian beliefs about God that are simply false. i admit, i do tend to see God in ways that perhaps don't match perfectly together all the time. i get bound up sometimes in the disciplinarian God of the old testament, rather than the God that paul talks about in the new testament. i get confused by some of the parables of Jesus. sometimes, his behavior confuses me, too.

i don't usually admit this kind of stuff, but in the group i'm in, it's okay to question. wow, i never knew how much that HELPS in terms of God growth. last week, i had a real, serious meltdown on the phone with carey. i admitted that i was completely confused by God most of the time. i asked some really hard, scary questions that i would NEVER ask God himself, but that it seemed safe to vent to a friend about. that very night, at church, the video i was watching ASKED THE SAME QUESTIONS. i am taking that as a sign that God understands that i'm still in the dark about some foundational things. i don't think he wants me to stay there. that is the good news, that the questions i have are something God cares about me knowing.

in the meantime, i was hit with romans 5 three times last week. a three-time reminder is a pretty sure sign that God is wanting you to get it. i admit, i usually don't read the verse in context, but a lightbulb went off when i did....!

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

^3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

^6-8Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

^9-11Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!

i think what this passage says is that God thinks i'm okay, because i DO have faith in his son! i cannot boast about a ton of things as a christian, but i do KNOW in my heart that Christ is real, alive and working on earth today. that i know. for today, is that enough? i sure hope so :)

happy monday!

new ideas

2011-09-22T07:05:00.001-07:00

how is everyone today? the sun is out here! it's a bit chilly, and the furnace is on, but still. i am hopeful it will stay sunny all day.

i think i have finally hit a wall on the 'working every weekend' thing. i have to clean up around here a bit for the open house on saturday, but there are a couple of projects that i have been wanting to dig into that are more on the fun side of things. fun might be good.

one of them is to redo the 'free' dresser i found on the sidewalk this summer. i'm not sure where in the new house it will live, but oh well. i found some old 'stripper' in the basement, so i would like to give it a try. after looking at it up close, the damage on the sides is pretty bad, so i'll probably just refinish the drawers if they clean up well, and paint the rest out. i already have a set of fun knobs, and the brass knobs on the lower two shelves are pretty cute. oh. i am so ready for something visual and pretty :)

i also have an idea for a repurposed vintage painting, to apply text over the top of it. i have my phrase picked out, but i don't have the art yet. so, i need to go and see if any vintage landscape art is out there. for super cheap, because i don't know how well it will work. but it sounds like a good excuse to go thrifting, i guess ;)

as for the house selling, today (and hopefully for at least the next few days), i am going to let God handle the details. i kind of need the break :)

happy day!

creamy.

2011-09-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

From foodiesathome.com

doesn't THIS look yummy?

i want to make some. i even bought bacon, but i did not get the kind without nitrates (sorry, anne). bacon is kind of 'spensive.

recipe is in the link, this looks like a great blog!

okay. change of subject.

in the past couple days, i've had another epiphany, and it's that EMOTIONS suck. seriously. they do. i know that they have waaaay too much power in my life. this house switching journey is teaching me to NOT look at emotions as markers of what is really going on.

here's an example of how my weeks go; i think you'll see why i am having this thought:

"oh my gosh. the economy is getting seriously WORSE! there is no way this house will sell anytime soon." :(

"woo hoo! two people are going to see the house today! everything is going to be okay!" :))

" crap. the people i thought were going to buy the house cancelled. i'm SURE they bought some other house. i am going to eat a donut now." ;-((

"oh God. why is it cloudy today? nobody looks at houses when it's cloudy." :((((((((

"well, i'll have an open house this weekend. i'm SURE it will be sunny then." :-\

"oh God. nobody is available to have an open house? that must mean God doesn't want to help me sell this house!" :-8(

and on and on it goes. i swear, if i go UP the rollercoaster one more time, and then down again, i will NOT MAKE IT.

hmmmph. for today, i am choosing to stand by this TRUTH instead of being held captive by those pesky emotions. Lord, this day is yours. please use it for your glory, and let me be of sound mind and joyful heart. yay!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

clean.

2011-09-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

i took advantage of the beautiful day yesterday to clean off the garden in the back forty. usually, i leave the work until spring, so the birds and bunnies have some nice shelter in the winter. it wasn't too 'realtor-friendly' though, so now it's gone.

i admit it makes me a little sad.

i am torn between desperately wanting an offer on the house, so that the roller coaster will stop, and not really yet realizing that mabel will not be MINE. it's hard.

today, i show the house twice. i am grateful that there has been a pretty steady stream of people coming thru...hopefully, that is a good sign.

i hope that whoever buys her knows that HE comes with the deal.

have a great tuesday!

scattered

2011-09-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

whew. it's too hard to make a decision today about what to blog. let's do some scrambled content, shall we?

let's see. yesterday in church, we finished the 'jonah' series. i cannot remember enjoying a sermon series more. we mostly discussed the end of chapter 4, in which God tackles Jonah's bad attitude toward the ninevites.

Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.

Then the LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.

But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.

When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

There you have it. Jonah was 'very happy about the plant' in his life, but didn't give a hoot about what God was doing with the ninevites. sadly, even when God brought a worm to remove the plant (some texts call it a gourd)...Jonah did not recognize that his own callous heart and need for personal comfort first were a problem for God.

i am jonah. this i know, and this i need to deal with. it's come to this. having two houses (gourds) to concern myself with has made me once again stuck in my own little web of self-issues. God, help me to see past the need for comfort and a paycheck. i need to know there is more.

in kind of an awkward subject matter change, look at what an ikea purchase looks like when you take it out of the box. sigh. good thing they don't really show you that when you are in the pretty showroom!

pretty sure my thumbs will never go back to their normal position after assembling this bad boy. however, i hope it's comfortable to sleep on.

and finally, take a look at the yummy apple i bought at the grocery store yesterday. good for you, but cost a whopping $1 dollar for one apple. um, that is kind of ridiculous. you can actually get a whopper jr. for $1....just sayin.'

:) happy monday.

junkaliscious

2011-09-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

ah. back from a whirlwind trip to junk bonanza yesterday....one of my favorite places in the WORLD.

just like last year, the bonanza did not disappoint.

there were so many beautiful and inspiring things to behold. this year, i'm in a bit of a budget constraint until mabel sells, so i mostly took photos. i did get a couple of amazing things for my new office, which i'll show you in later posts.

ONE day like this can rejuvenate me for quite awhile. it's a chance to break out of the 'normal' that can become a small world, and feel hope and excitement again for things yet to come.

i am so blessed to have 2 of the best women in the world to support me and share their trials and joys with me. i love both of them dearly. this year, we also got to bring one more little art girl with us for her first bonanza. she will be born very soon, and i'm glad to know we will have more chances to go junking with her in the future ;)

ah. 24 hours of pure bliss. today, i have a sore throat and my head hurts. but my heart is super, super, super happy! thanks junk bonanza, see ya next year!

the freeze is on...

2011-09-14T05:39:00.001-07:00

well, here we go. already. seems like just yesterday it was 90 degrees out! wait. that WAS yesterday. this morning, i had to turn the furnace on for just a little bit to warm up.

tonite we have a hard freeze warning. 29 degrees forecasted. which means i have to make time to haul in a million plants before i head to minneapolis for junk bonanza tonite.

good thing i tried these on at target last night! for the record, i did not buy them.

i'm not really ready for this. sigh. i think i will go make some soup now :)

a season for everything

2011-09-13T06:50:00.000-07:00

ah, i've just finished reading both ecclesiastes and song of solomon these past days in the bible. i wish i could say i got much out of either....i didn't. i kind of don't want to hear 'everything is meaningless' over and over, and then get up and do my day. i also don't have breasts like grape clusters, so that seems kind of meaningless, too :)

i wonder. i wonder about God, and why he included such chapters in the word....

i have been thinking about ecclesiastes in terms of timing. how God's timing has worked in my life, and how i've never ever been comfortable with it. from being a small kid and having anxiety about the safety of my parents and various school challenges, to being a grown up and just wishing whatever i was enduring was OVER, i have never accepted God's timing.

i'm a little bit stuck right now in that i have no other choice. i don't KNOW what will happen, or when, or how. i so want to know. i want to not be walking around in a big cloud of darkness all the time, worrying about when and how and why. i know that is not God's plan for me, for the remainder of my days.

so, i am fighting it. fighting the unknown, like it's my worst enemy. because i have the One who knows inside of me. He'll give me eyes to see, even what i cannot see. my future is secure, and my days are secure, too. i think today i will spend living in that truth, instead of in the dark cloud.

But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God;
may they be happy and joyful.
psalm 68:3

emerging

2011-09-12T05:33:00.000-07:00

ah, monday, you come so quickly.

i spent another weekend in a basement, how about you?!

:) good news is, i'm getting closer to living on higher ground, as the basement work is getting nearer to completion. i am so excited to be moving over to fern to work, instead of frantically fixing on mabel.

i was so encouraged yesterday, i actually started to paint the pantry. eight years ago, when i moved into mabel, i did NOT paint the inside of the cupboards. yeah. still have not done it. and i'll tell ya, this pantry NEEDED. the awful dirty gold made me not want to store food in there. look at the difference! yay!

i have switched over to lowes for paint for the new house, due to some bad customer service at ace hardware. i have to say, i highly recommend the valspar 'signature' line! that paint is thick like sour cream. i had to paint with a brush for the hard-to-reach pantry, but i am betting it will work in one coat when i get out the roller. i love paint :)

naturally, the small progress has me planning for the kitchen spruce-up. i'm thinking of going with a mostly apple green and white/black theme. i do love a white/black kitchen.

what do you think of these fabrics? i am kind of leaning toward the green/yellow option, which allows me to still keep my vintage lovelies in the kitchen that i have collected over the past few years....

it's so good to be able to start to accomplish some stuff. here's hoping it will carry over into the week, because i am already feeling like a nap!

ha. happy monday!

a fun-filled thursday

2011-09-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

ps. that ironing board only looks like it is not securely attached.

some days just stop you in your tracks and make you KNOW how fortunate you are. today was one of those days. one of those MUCH-NEEDED days.

my good buddy carey came to town with mr. j's 1992 dodge dakota to help me haul the remaining nastiness out of the basement. have i ever mentioned how much i love this girl?!

it's good to have friends. especially ones with good personalities who also do px90. the whole time, while i complained about how heavy everything was, she lifted and hauled...alot! seriously. plus, she can back up a truck like nobody's business. things were rolling smoothly along for much of the morning. i also felt less lonely to have a helper. emotional plus.

but, as usually happens, i started to hyperventilate about all of the mounds of STUFF, and decided that maybe a dump-load would be nice and handy while i had access to the dakota. so, we loaded up for the dump (which is somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, between here and who knows where. the decision was that i would follow in bert, and then she could zip back home to mitchell in time for a zillion family activities tonight. easy, peasy!!!

which it was, until somehow the keys got locked in the car. seriously. at the dump. which did not smell good. and had a ton of flies. oh, and as we were parked in the wrong spot dumping the wrong things. we soon found out that they have people at the dump who patrol those kinds of things.

this is tim. he's the one who busted us for dumping in the wrong pile. he's retired, but works at the dump, primarily to see what kind of junk people throw away. sometimes, he takes the good stuff home (but i guess that is supposed to be a secret).

at first, tim was a little peeved by us. then, he was laughing at us for being silly girls who locked their keys in the car. THEN, he made friends with us and brought us a pepsi while we waited for AAA out in the smelly, fly-infested landfill for like an hour...!!! wheee!

tim made my day, he was great. AAA eventually came, and i was glad i got a groupon for it last month. and we all lived happily ever after. i will remember this day fondly - probably sometime in the future when they are filming me for an episode of 'hoarders'... ha ha.

apple cart diet

2011-09-07T05:46:00.001-07:00

so, the apple cart has been upset once again in the last week, as mabel is now OFF the market for the next week or so. i'm taking care of an 'issue' that i kind of sort of have to deal with before she is ready to sell.

as i bump along in the apple cart, i've noticed my pants are getting a bit looser. which is sort of funny, as i have not eaten regular food for about a month. i just cannot make myself want to cook in a kitchen that is not mine anymore ;( however, i've also gotten to the point that just looking at a combo meal makes me kind of nauseous.

yesterday, i got up and dug around in my closet for a pair of jeans. all year, i've been alternating between 3 pair of gap jeans that all look the same. and all fit the same. when i slipped the jeans on, i noticed that they were slightly SNUG! what?! how can that be?

then, i re-examined. seems i grabbed a pair of jeans that had gotten much too SMALL for me, and that i had retired some months ago. at the time of retirement, i was having to lay on the bed in order to zip. we all know that feeling (well, some of us know)...not good.

so, the once way-too-tight-and-seriously-a-size-smaller jeans now are fitting! yep, a bit tight for the first half hour, but still!!!

a good companion to the apple cart diet has been the 'work your butt off to get this house sold' exercise plan. i noticed over the weekend, after a full day of moving/cleaning/packing/painting/fixing that i was not too sore the next day. much, MUCH better than a month ago!

now, if i could just find a cure for the 'it's 3am and i have no chance of falling asleep again' phenomena that seems to accompany this diet and exercise plan. then, and only then, i could probably relax and enjoy the ride ;)

happy WEDnesday!

A new week

2011-09-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

i've got a whole new approach that i'm going to try out this week.

it's called 'watch and see.'

going thru the whole home-switching process has brought all kinds of extra stressors into my life. when that happens, i find myself becoming more and more inward-focused. my friend calls it 'navel gazing.' i think satan often plans it that way, if he can get us to concentrate on our troubles, and worry about figuring out a way to conquer them, he HAS us.

sadly, this happens to me often.

i am determined to find the blessing in this stressful time. i find peace in small measure, but i'm asking God for it to increase. He is showing me.

last night, after a good 'freebie' day at home, i fell into bed, and started to talk to God about finding Him in my mess. i opened my devotional for today, to sneak peek.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Romans 8:35

time and time again, God assures me that His love for me is greater than my predicament. i need to press into this, however, so i asked God HOW do i know he is greater? well, i know, but how do i know to the point that i operate differently during my day?

the devo cautioned about using circumstances to measure God's love...because they are not indicative of His love, or work in our lives. and here was the nugget for me. the suggestion to 'watch and see' what God does in the circumstance. to EXPECT him in the circumstance. not necessarily to remove the trouble or change the reality of it, but to KNOW He is there. to look for the blessing of finding Him in the midst of trial.

i like that. i like that even now, when i am once again immersed, i can focus my attention on what God is up to, from the perspective of Him loving me, and me KNOWING He will show it.

folks, this is what it's all about. as i come up on the 10th anniversary of my acceptance of Jesus Christ, i want to live into His promises daily. i want to be the person He made me to be, to do the things He made me to do.

sigh...just a matter of watching and seeing.
happy tuesday!

wrestling....

2011-09-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

no, not that kind of wrestling, silly. although this poster is on my 'dream list' of things for the new house. because it mentions wahoo mcdaniel and mad dog vachon ... hello, names from my childhood!

exhibit #1: the circumstance that just about left me leaping over the edge of the wall this week.

no. i'm talking about a whole nuther kind of wrestling. wrestling with God, which is what my friend anne keeps bringing up when we chat...

at any rate, it seems to ring a little teeny tiny bell.... because every little circumstance that seems to come up, i'm met with the question "what do i DO with this, God? how am i supposed to deal? how are YOU going to deal with this? how do i be DIFFERENT than i was when this happened before? why do i keep doing it the same way OVER and over? what is your purpose? is it really possible that i have a purpose? are you really REALLY who you say you are?'

and on. and on.

and it starts and it stops and it keeps on keeping on. i admit, i'm a little tired from wrestling. but like any other sport, it draws you in. it's definitely NOT sitting on the sidelines, folks. i have to admit i've been thinking lately ... who wrestles with God, anyway?

um. yeah. i guess jacob did. and i think we all do, at some point or another. the good news is that God likes us to engage with Him. He is more than willing to wrestle back. and to show us Himself in the process. and just because we are just a wee bit weaker than He, he actually takes us seriously. which is something i cannot say for the wrestlers of my youth :)

just something to wrestle with :)

happy day, and especially happy Friday!

c'mon in

2011-09-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

is it just me, or is that sign GINORMOUS?

i guess it's good, but wow....kind of crazy.

i have already decided that the LITTLE sign is what really matters :))
btw. first showing this afternoon. less than 24 hours on the market...so, yeah.

lots of adrenaline over here on the back forty, peeps!

peaceful

2011-08-31T05:42:00.000-07:00

well, mid-week arrives, and for some reason it feels like friday. i'm looking forward to a 3-day weekend, even though i know it will probably involve some packing.

it's been overcast here the last couple of days, and i've actually been thankful. it makes me think of cooler temps, and starting to settle inside again. it lets me be okay with being still.

i have been enjoying many, many of the 3 b's in the back forty the last few weeks (bees/birds/butterflies)....it is so wonderful! i discovered earlier in the week that a hummingbird has taken up residence near the hyacinth bean. he will not let me take his picture, however, he never goes too far away :)

i don't blame him. i would stay back here too, all day, if i could :)

happy wednesday all!

look at the pretty!

2011-08-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

so, mabel got 'all done up' by a professional photog today!! wowza! i swear, she is looking waaaaay too pretty to sell :)

The Help

2011-08-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

big day over here on the back forty...my friend paul is coming to shoot photos of mabel, then the realtor is coming tomorrow to do the listing! whaaaaaaaaaaa! she is as clean as possible. however, still have a few small projects to do....seriously. nutso with the projects.

i thought i would blog about 'the help.' but that is kind of boring!

it's good. it's great! you'll laugh, cry and get mad (taken from another friend)...!

i kept seeing the people in the movie as other people i know.

i kept seeing myself in minny. i guess i'm a mini minny.

wouldn't minny be a good house name?

she is sassy, but the girl means well :))

go see it. it made me want to have time to read the book ALL THE MORE.

what i did for my birthday

2011-08-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

i went to world market, and cashed in my $10 birthday coupon for a big bag o' sumatran.

i know.

the girl at the checkout asked me what day my birthday was (it was about 7pm) and when i told her, she said 'oh, sad.'

ha ha. yeah. sometimes the single life is a little sad.

however, don't feel bad for me. the celebrations are continuing into today, with a birthday lunch and a birthday movie tonite. so there!

have i mentioned that i like world market? i do. i wander around the food aisles and look at all the pretty packaging. sometimes, i even recycle the pretty packaging :)

yay! it's friday! have a great weekend, everybody!

49 and still loving wicker

2011-08-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

whew. it's my birfday today. in honor of this special occasion, i think i'll blog about wicker.

anybody who knows the REAL me knows that i have a pretty big fascination with wicker. and let me tell ya, it's not for the faint-hearted. wicker rarely gets the accolades, people. oh sure, we all have our pier one moments, but MY moment has lasted 30 YEARS.

thank God for emily henderson, because she is bringin' back wicker. seriously. only in a good way. that is what i was thinking last saturday night when she did a 'retro polynesian kitsch' room on her show.

that chair made me seriously happy. as fortune happens, i ran into an almost EXACT duplicate at a thrift store last weekend. $68. i may need that chair.

i was thinking of putting it here:

and then, you know, obviously, i could recreate the whole vintage hawaiian thing in the sun porch, with a painted cement floor and bright color and a bunch of bark cloth....

yes. i knew you would agree.

ahem. the above pics are 'inspiration' photos, in case you don't know what vintage polynesian kitsch means. not that it's not fairly self-explanatory ;)

on a completely unrelated but quite related note, look what i got from lou for a birthday present last night! a pleasantly green version of a vintage rattan chair! rattan is quite similar to wicker! small world :)

happy day. live it like it's your birthday :)

2 down

2011-08-23T06:20:00.001-07:00

i think it's not a coincidence that i have started reading job in the bible this week. because these home improvement projects feel like boils and lesions all over my body :)) ha. truly, i am ready to be DONE fixing this house. 3 rooms to go in 3 days...think i can do it?

to ease the stress, i bought some stuff yesterday. yeah. that's healthy.

lowe's did have a great little pedestal sink, which is sorely needed in Fern. and natch, they had a matching light fixture that i really liked. i hunted down a 10% 'moving' coupon on the interweb, and lo and behold, now i just need a plumber to install. life is good.

oh. and i decided on the wallpaper. no crazy here, just a very expensive yet wonderful design by the famous julia rothman. i heart her, and i will heart sitting in the clouds in my newly redone bathroom, too :)

onward people, it's tuesday already!!!

:)

1 down

2011-08-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

i just want you all to know that i am never moving again, ever. never ever never never again.

thank you.

oooh. ahhh.

2011-08-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

someday, but not today i will tell you about accidentally painting over the painted tile in my shower with acrylic paint, when lo and behold, there was an oil-based paint there before.

someday. but not today. especially since i am tired from scrubbing tiles until midnight last night. and especially since i need to start all over with an OIL-based primer today.

sigh.

look at all the littles! for real, almost!

check this out...both nasty wallpaper and circus lighting....

but for today, i leave you with a wallpaper sample. a possible 'new bathroom' wallpaper sample (not like i'm jonesing to wallpaper a bathroom, but it already has HIDEOUS wallpaper, and it might be easiest just to re-paper....)

pretty.

good day!

post script: found another one....think this might be good? it's called 'underwater world' and i think i could be happy applying makeup and looking at the crazy fishy scribbles :)

goodbye pink

2011-08-19T06:20:00.001-07:00

i hate having things in total disarray, don't you? perhaps that is why i'm not really longing for this weekend....i have to spend it here.

at any rate, hopefully it will be purtier by monday morning. and hopefully, it's the LAST of the home improvement projects that mabel will need from me. hopefully.

thank goodness for hope ;)
happy friday, all....

radical update

2011-08-18T06:36:00.001-07:00

so, last night my bible study group finished up the book 'radical.' thought i would give a little synopsis of my experience....

well. first off. when you are reading the book 'radical' about giving up the American dream in order to really, truly follow Christ, and in the middle of it all, you decide to buy a house that is cuter and more perfect for you as you transition into middle age, you have to admit you've put yourself into a conundrum. i don't think i have ever been more tormented, to be honest. NOT wanting to 'sell out' my faith, but really wanting to go with my gut and move NOW was a super big conflict for me. i had to wrestle with that for much of the book study.

the book is not super unexpected. it talks about the majority of the world who don't have starbucks and vacations to disneyworld as part of their daily existence. it makes you think 'what am i doing with what God has given me' in terms of our obvious wealth in this country.

and the answer for me was not that simple - what / when / where do things need to change? i admit the whole thing made me a little crabby....until yesterday. i woke up in the morning and read the last chapter, which in my estimation was better than all of the other chapters rolled together. here's what the author suggests i do:

1) pray for the entire world (this was/is the toughest one for me to imagine myself fully committing to)...not sure where i will start...

2) read the entire Word in a year (have tried this for the last 5 years or so, i'm not 100%, but i've read my daily Bible quite a bit, and i feel i am at least attempting this faithfully).

3) figure out where/how you can SACRIFICE your resources for the good of the kingdom....the author talked about 'capping' your lifestyle. good stuff to think of .... and sacrificial giving vs. just giving what is not really a sacrifice. hmmmm. will require some prayer and thought.

4) spend 2% of your time experiencing your faith out of your normal context. so, one week a year. maybe it's going on a mission trip. maybe serving regularly at your community soup house. finding ways for God to transform your culture trap into HIS culture trap. love this one....! i want more than anything to change in this way.

5) getting with a real, authentic community in Christ and doing something there. yep, i believe in this also. thankfully, mercy church is setting me on my path here....even though there is much more to do/be as part of a real church body. i've never really had that experience before, and am so grateful to have it.

whew. so, that's my take. i came away very pumped up! and realizing that a 'radical' faith is also a 'doable' faith....at least it seems so. pretty sure God tells us that also :)

hello, fall.

2011-08-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

i woke up this morning with no idea who i was, or where, or when. i think the brain overload is starting to affect me in strange ways.

i am pretty sure i dreamt about david bromstad. go figure, i would rather have been dreaming about john gidding. or emily h. :)) ha.

at any rate, it's one of those beautiful fall days that is especially appreciated when it's not. fall. i just want to sit in the sunporch and read. or nap. or something.

things are going pretty well. i closed on fern on monday, and now have about 9 days to get mabel ready to show. my realtor brought a lady over yesterday, i would not let her in yet (!) because the place is a wreck. but she looked around the yard, and seemed pretty interested. the big problem is how/what to price the old girl. i need to go with my gut, but it's hard. i will lose quite alot of $$, no matter what, i guess. mostly because the old adage of 'location, location, location' is true. however, mabel is so good. i hope someone who needs her will find her. and as for the location, it has been good for me these past 8 years, too. God has been here, and will stay, i am pretty sure.

sigh. lots of emotion. best to just keep plugging along with home improvements and dreams of david bromstad, or else it will be just too hard.

happy wednesday!

suckity-suck-suck-sucky

2011-08-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

that is the adjective i would use to describe tarring a roof.

ps. those are the clothing items that were discarded right after i took my bath in gasoline.

now, i just need somebody to come over and clean out the bathtub :)

however, i did manage to check off a GIANT checkmark on the list. and if things roll my way, i'll never ever ever have to do that again.

beautiful friday

2011-08-12T06:32:00.000-07:00