beautious

ah. had a great time at the arts festival with janet and kristie lou. we have been there together 3 yrs. in a row now. a TRADITION, which i love.


lou and i both bought a bird. lou's is a wonderful piece by sarah kargol. she paints monsters. this one is a monster riding on a swimming bird (duck?). very very cool.

mine is a garden bird made out of wood and bottle caps. i think i love him.


i came home to somebunny waiting for me. nuthin' better.


also came home to my asiatic lilies' decision to bloom. sigh.


also getting used to the new haircut. not sure yet, but i think it has promise.


happy weekend friends!

toe love

so i got my first pedi yesterday. carey and i were talkin' about how weird it is that i am 46 and have never had one. especially since i kind of love my toes. they don't change all that much with age, and they don't gain weight, either :)

anyway, what a fun experience! i admit it was kind of like having a root canal when they were digging away, but aside from that, the little spa treatment was great. the greatest thing was sitting by carey and chatting, while 2 asian women chatted in their language, and of course we wondered what they were talking about. i don't think it was us! maybe, but they didn't act like it. carey asked for a "flower" because that is the hip thing to do, and i LOVED watching my lady make mine!!!! she was good. very steady hand, and i even got a little gem in the middle :)

now, i hope gardening with socks and boots on will not be too much of a bother. ha. at least for TOEday, all is well :) happy weekend!

jumping on the wagon

i've been meaning to tell you about how i am finally getting with it. getting rid of plastic shopping bags, i am!! i tell ya, it's taken awhile, as i have resisted the urge to be "trendy" about being environmentally responsible. i'm also cheap. (to be clear, i don't go around freely throwing away plastic, either. i save those bags until there are mounds and mounds of them in my house, then i drop them off at the salvation army, who uses them in their thrift store).

these bags were 99 cents at the grocery store this week. i kind of like them! even though they are made from that weird handi-wipe fabric that i hate. i do think i look kind of trendy when i carry them. might need to buy some outfits to match, you know, to really show how green i am :)

ha. i hope i remember to use them. i bought 5, and i really think that is the most groceries i will possibly ever buy at one time. i could be wrong, but i think that. on second thought, i should probably pick up a couple more, as i do like to eat.

minnesota will no longer shun me, of this i am pretty sure.

a day late

and a dollar short, as my dad used to say. that's how i feel this morning, after an amazing rainfall last night (about 1.2" here) that left me wishing the rain barrel had been plugged in. oh well. God takes care of things, with or without a rain barrel i guess. notice that i cannot QUITE shut the garage door when bert is in there now. sigh.


the storm last night reminded me of the spirited conversation i had with lou about weather radios over the weekend (by "spirited" i mean that i ranted, and she just sat there :))

she is convinced they are a necessary item for when she is sleeping and the storm comes (i am pretty sure there is a bible verse about that). i am convinced they are silly. i kind of have eyes, ya know? anyway. as i was driving home last night from hyvee heading north, i would have turned one on, had i had one, because it looked .... weatherish. like bad and swirly and blue-purple. like i needed some kind of confirmation that it was dangerous.

however, this morning, the urge has passed to obtain such a thing... i am such a livin' on the edge girl!


in other news, tomorrow these feet will be, um, cared for. by another besides me. for the first time in their 47 (almost) years. i feel sorry for that person, but they are excited ;)


here is a shot of my morning coffee view. all is well when i look at this when i rise.


hope you have a great wednesday all!

stuck

so far this tuesday:

• my computer email was stuck and required a visit from the mac doctor, and two+ hours of database rebuilding (10,000 emails deleted)

• the city has chosen TODAY to remove all of the electric poles in my neighborhood, and has run their vehicle (revving included) constantly since 8am, right outside the office window

• i tried to wash a load of laundry, and the washer got stuck on the spin cycle til i turned it off and jiggled it

• i could not get the grill started to grill my lunch veggies, and when i tried to start it with a candle lighter, it blew up with a giant WHOOOOOOSH and nearly scorched my entire body - however, it then worked and i got to eat







i am wondering if the afternoon is going to get better, or worse. might want to pray for me if you can.

fire free fourth

hey all.

hope you had a great weekend! i had a relaxing time in lincoln, although the weather did not exactly cooperate. it was kind of dreary on both friday and saturday, causing us to skip the fireworks, and make the call to stay indoors.

on saturday, we did trek down to the haymarket in lincoln. the farmer's market was going on, and it's a good one.


i got a "monster" succie to accompany some of my other ones. isn't he cute?


i also got some new bling, a leather-ish cuff to wear. it matched my outfit at the time. of course.


i came home yesterday to an ever-growing garden, complete with a beautiful clematis greeting (and a very sunny day).


apparently, it rained in these parts over the weekend, too. i brought home the rain barrel that kristie's dad made for me, and just need to get it hooked up....and painted, of course. life is good over here on the forty, thanks lou for the fun weekend.

sweet

think i might have found the right fabric to pull the oh-so-pink kitchen together. it's from moda, a group called "urban chiks." ha. appropriately enough, the fabric line is called "sweet." the large scale roses would be the main part of the curtains.

think?

controlling the uncontrollable

since i almost alway post the pretty stuff outside, i thought i'd post reality for you today. yeah. that's my really crappy, weed-eaten, always unkempt lawn. it's a certain sign that things are out of control over here. really, really out of control.

i have a feeling that is the way God wants it. at least, He is telling me things are out of MY control. which is uncomfortable for me, to say the least. but getting more comfortable. at least i know that what i can do is not that big a deal to the Lord. it's what He can do thru me, and for me, and for the people around me.

so, in my quest to give up control completely to Him, today i am asking Him to:

• mow my lawn, or fix my lawnmower, or make the grass stop growing.
• vacuum my house, or fix the vacuum, or make me not care about dust bunnies and fur balls.
• do my work, or give me the desire to do my work, or make my clients not care whether or not i do their work.
• keep the sun in the sky, bring some rain, make it warm but not too warm, and help me to get some time to enjoy whatever "it" is.
• forgive me for this post, which is really quite random, but meant to draw attention to His goodness and provision :)

i hope you are letting Him control your uncontrollables today too :)
happy almost 4th of july.

yay neighbors!

i got a happy surprise today, when the harley-lovin' neighbors started putting the new color on their house...wow! they ARE loud people! this time, i think we might have that gene in common :) love the color so far....


speaking of, i got all the rest of the pink on the walls last night. very excited to get the white parts of the kitchen painted, and on to decorating this baby. loud rules.


speaking of AGAIN, see that house there? those baby birds in there SHAKE the thing, and make so much noise. as does the mom when siesta and i are near, which is always.


i wish i could SEE in there, but i cannot.


i did, however, see this sight today. very tiny, but very much turning. into. something. this is the earliest i have ever had a tomato turn!! go weather!


:) happy day. what day is it, anyway?

more pink kitchens

wow. lots of good pink kitchens, i'm finding...LOVE the first pic....

hope to finish up the painting in mine tonite ;))
then, let the decorating BEGIN.

new lite

so, i have to tell you about our monday night worship group (again). i guess you know it's been ramping up lately. God is in da house, people!! our group leader advertised in her church's life group pamphlet, and we were surprised to have NINE additional people sign up!! for a group that we "press into Open Heaven experience through ardent worship and prayer." yeah. nobody EVER signs up, so nine people is ALOT!

last night was really cool. only 4 additional people showed up this first week (more coming starting next week), 2 men and 2 women. 3 of the 4 had AMAZING testimonies of how God is leading them. one young guy made me cry with his recount of a life of drugs and crime and a pending 40 year sentence in the penitentiary, that God somehow amazingly reversed. this guy preaches to people at TARGET, guys. he is 29 years old. he said that he was never a "popular" kid, but that somehow God has made him very popular with people, very charismatic, the kind of person that people his age seem drawn to. he swears that God has made him the life of the party!! he was just an amazing encouragement. the kind of son i think we'd all like to have, i'm sure God is just smiling over his life.

soooooo. i am thrilled beyond measure. several of us are going to do the street evangelism school together. all of us are excited, and SURE God will show up and His Glory will be known!!! hallelujah!!

ps. can you tell i'm happy/excited?!?

chocolate and cherries

apparently, i was hungry for something this morning. not work, which did not seem too pressing today. sometimes, we freelancers get away with stuff.

anyway, the walls are more than halfway finished. gotta let the paint dry before i can move on, but i should knock this out in the next couple of days. i ended up going with a color called dhurrie pink, which is REAL close to the 1953 kitchen...looks more orange here than it is, although it's an orange-ish pink for sure.

thing is, i have absolutely NO pink things in my kitchen. not one. well, i have a plastic pink gerbera daisy. that needs dusting. i really am thinking this is more the neutral backdrop for all my great green/red/yellow/orange vintage things. oh my heaven's, it's bright! just a cheery, happy bright. not weird at all. i know, call me nuts, but i'm not going for an overall pink look. i'm so excited about how good the floor looks with the color! and also how the big black hole of a refrigerator and stove suddenly make more sense.

and all day long, i got to think of kathy (carey's mom) who helped me - actually mostly did all the work - paint the kitchen the first time. i miss her. i hope she will approve of this new color when she sees it :)

whew. i'm tired. going to go shower and admire for awhile...i kind of wish it was finished, though!


:)

weekend wrapup

sigh. it cannot REALLY be monday, can it? dang. well, if the weekend is over already, i'll waste a little time talking about it. better to live in the past, than in monday morning, i think.


friday nite, i got invited over to check out lou's new patio furniture. the good news is, it's comfy and it goes well with hot fudge sauce. kristie does get a little psycho if there is a chance of rain, cushions must go IMMEDIATELY to the basement, kind of like when i wrapped my new couch in placemats to protect it from siesta. this, too, shall pass.



on saturday, i got in about 5 hours of good garden labor by finishing the next third of the garden mosaic project. whew. i like how it's looking. i am not getting super duper into planting (which is HARD) because i plan to transplant some perennials from the side garden here next spring. patience, that's what i'm growing.



my fave thing in the yard right now is my little dwarf cherry tree. it's rocking the cherries this year, after its "cousin" got ripped out by the roots and stolen last year. sweet baby!

oh, on the frugal front. i am trying to reuse plastic ziploc freezer bags, like i read on somebody's blog. trouble is, they do not seem to dry out!! i want to do my own part, so that nazi minnesotans (in stores, not kirst) who think they are so cool by refusing plastic bags still think i'm cool. cause THAT is important ;)

not much else to report, yesterday was the longest, laziest, best day ever. naps rule, that's all i'm sayin...

i hope you all are rested and ready to go!! happy monday!

thinking pink

i've been thinking about it for awhile, and i admit the urge is growing stronger - to paint my kitchen...pink. well, not pink exactly, but more like a lite, orangey sherbet-like pink. salmon, really. which is a food, no? from the ad i found about it when i googled "pink kitchen" - looks like it was somebody else's great idea in 1953!

a life of fridays

sometimes, i think i measure everything in fridays. everything leads to friday during the work week. and everything subtracts during the weekend. it's like my ground zero, and i get a new one every week.

there is nothing better than waking up on friday morning, knowing that soon, a few tasks here and there, you'll be FREE for an entire weekend. this morning, i've been in the garden, sitting and looking and getting up and looking and pulling a few weeds. perfect way to start the day....hope you have a great one too :)


















on another, completely unrelated note, look what happens when you turn on the faucet in the sink to do dishes, hear your favorite chris tomlin cd playing, stop to go worship, get caught up in worship and forget what you were doing, go back to work in your office, hear something funny an HOUR later, and discover that completely tepid water has been overflowing into the accompanying drain, but not onto the floor.

definitely NOT a friday thing.

lovely day

this song is my absolute favorite, as of sunday evening when i was driving home from brookings at sunset, and heard it on the radio. i also saw Heaven and the angels gathered around the throne, singing "worthy is the lamb."

:) happy wednesday.

happy 3

well, actually it was last week. for 3 years (and a week), i've been blogging. pretty regularly, at least more regularly than i jog. or go to the movies. three years goes by pretty fast, although in some ways it seems like forever ago. in that time i've gained and lost a fiance, a cat, more pounds than i care to think about, and some clients in my business. i'd like to think i've grown in my relationship with Christ, the only gain that really matters. and of course, i've documented bugs and bunnies and fruit and veggies and flowers and found treasures. those are the constants, and i am grateful.

thanks for being here along the way! i still love blogging, i cannot see stopping unless for some reason life shifts dramatically away from my computer. i am glad you stopped by ;)