Beauty and Confusion

Last night as I was preparing dinner this was my view outside my kitchen window. I am constantly amazed by the work God does. If the colors are this beautiful here can you even imagine what they will be like in Heaven? I can't but I like to think about that. I bet there are colors we've never dreamed of and birds that are so dazzling we couldn't take it in if they were here. I bet the music is so incredible that we will simply stand in awe and that the mansion He has prepared for us is more beautiful than any castle we've ever read about.

I went to my back door to capture the moment from there and obviously I'm not a photographer but doesn't the peace just sort of surround you and make you feel like you're in His arms?

On the other hand, this creation that God designed has gotten a little confused. Either that or she is on a different calendar than me. Christmas is over. But you can't tell it by her! She has just now begun to bloom for the season and she is stunning sitting there under my bedroom window. So in honor of her confusion I decided to finish a Christmas wallhanging. :)

The Christmas Cat is a panel I've had for several years and just never took the time to work on. I wanted to begin/practice a little machine quilting so I decided to do this "primitive". I paid no attention to the items on the quilt, like the tree and the packages, except in a general way. I "sort of" quilted around each ornament and package and the tree but didn't care if I stayed in the lines or not - kind of like when I was five years old and coloring. :) It gave me a chance to get a feel for the loosey-goosey feel of having the feed dogs down and gave me some practice time. It was a fun thing to do.

The Geese

My husband says he has the wild geese on the lake trained to come when he goes out to the sea wall to feed them.

But what really happens is the geese swim up to the sea wall and honk. He hears them, gets the bread, and goes out to feed them.

Who trained who?

Here's Your Chance!

Here it is, your one and only to get something hand made by me! See that Pay It Forward widget over there on the right? I've joined Bonnie over at Calamity Jane's Cottage in this little pass it on game. Here's how it works (yes I'm copying it from Bonnie cause why retype if you don't have to!):

It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness pass it on. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on the blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I've actually done this Pay It Forward exchange before and enjoyed it so much that I wanted to do it again. It's really fun to make something for someone else for no particular reason except that I want to. I have absolutely no idea right now what I'm going to make but I promise it won't be home baked because you know how I am about cooking - not so good. It will definitely be something stitched and you will definitely get it sooner rather than later. Bonnie said within 6 months but I'll go her one better and say within 3 months. :)

Now remember you have to be in the first three that sign up to do this (you can comment without signing up!) and you have to pass it on. Be sure I have your e-mail or your blog address so I can get in touch with you.

Now when I say go ya'll can fight over me. Go!

From The Diary Of A Seven Year Old

Today I had fleas in my hair.
First my mama washed my hair with a special shampoo.
Then my mama combed my hair with a special comb.
Then my mama put olive oil in my hair.
Then she combed my hair with the special comb again.
Then my mama washed my hair again.
Then my mama combed my hair with that comb again.
Then I took a bath and my grandma washed my hair.
Then my mama dried my hair and combed it with that comb.
Then all the fleas were gone. Tomorrow I can go to school.

My mama said not to tell anyone I had fleas.

Eat This And Live

I just finished reading a new book that I got at the Christian Book Store. The title is Eat This And Live by Don Colbert, M.D. I'm making a list in my sidebar this year of books as I read them and will try to give you a brief overview of the ones that aren't pure trash. That means you might get a book review once or twice this year. :)

It Was Scary! I eat all the wrong things. You eat all the wrong things. I thought I was doing so good when I switched to 1% milk, low-fat yogurt, canola oil, Splenda, etc. This book tells you the good, the bad, the ugly about all of that and more. He recommends everything organic which is certainly what we'd all like to do but how in the world do you afford it? There are just the two of us eating in this house most of the time but even so we live on social security and teacher retirement and that just goes so far. He does list some alternatives, thank goodness, but not nearly enough!

I'm not a big meat eater but my husband is. I've always known that Jerry eats too much meat, but even I do (according to Colbert) and that's saying something! I loved the fact that the author explained Biblically his reasons for making some of his recommendations and I gained a better understanding of what God told us to do, beginning with just eating growing things like plants, and then later (after Noah) with God's directions that it was ok to eat some meat. And in the New Testament Paul talks a lot about meat eating, even pork.

The day after Christmas I started on a healthier way of eating...according to me. I cut my chai tea in half (woe is me!), started adding fresh fruit much more often (Dr. Colbert recommends washing it with water with a few drops of bleach in it!), cutting out most sweets, etc. And I have to say I've already lost 4 pounds so it's helping. This book reminded me of the importance of eating nuts, blueberries, extra virgin olive oil....things I already know but don't think about very often. Of course, there's much more than this that makes sense in the book but these are some of the highlights. The price for the book was $15.99 at my store (I had a coupon though which lowered the price) but I found it for less than $11 on Amazon if you're interested.

Has it changed my way of thinking? Yes. Here are some things I plan to do:

1. Drink more water. And more water.

2. Investigate a water purifier and rarely, if ever, drink out of plastic bottles.

3. Wash fruit much more thoroughly. Try to find an economic fruit cleaner (the stuff I saw in the grocery was expensive I thought).

4. Buy double fiber bread. Check out local bakeries for Ezekial Bread.

5. Make my own salad dressing.

6. Read labels much more aggressively, looking for ingredients and not just fat & sugar content.

7. Eat more nuts and vegetables.

8. Make a list of "do buy" and "don't buy" products to keep in my purse so that I won't get confused in the grocery store.

I'm glad I bought this book. I'll keep it and use it as a reference book.

(He recommends Stevia instead of sugar. Anyone use this? Got any tips?)

Oh Eight Was Great

I'm stealing this idea from Mama Kat but she won't care. In fact she said I could so I guess that means it's not really stealing. Which is a good thing since I don't do that. God said don't and even though sometimes I don't get it when God says don't, I do get it about this so I don't. Make sense?

There's no particular order to this Top Ten list and I could probably expand it to a Top Twenty list but that would take too long to read so here goes:

1) I'll start with the best even though it happened on the last day of the year. Andrew was born! Grandchild number eight made us all even, four girls/four boys. And he's healthy and has all the necessary parts and they all work!

2) I turned 62. Now I know that most people wouldn't think that would make the top ten list but for me it did. Uncle Sam started paying me to stay home and blog. Isn't that too cool?

3) Which brings me to number three - I discovered blogging and made 973 new friends. At least. Maybe more. I lost count. Ok already, so I didn't count but I bet there are at least that many.

4) I quit artificial nails. Yes, after a twenty five year addiction (ok maybe twenty) I stopped cold turkey. They looked terrible for many months and they don't look great now because they're very short and they keep breaking but they're getting better. And that's time I'm not spending at the nail place, and money I'm saving. Good for me.

5) I quit dying my hair. Yes, after a forty year addiction (and this time I'm not kidding) I stopped cold turkey. It was pretty awful because I colored my hair a dark brown and the roots were white but it is now all white. White. Me. How in the world did I get to be old enough to have white hair?

6) I completed the second year of a four year Bible study and started the third year. My husband and I are doing this together and we go once a week for about 34 weeks each year. We sort of loosely follow the school year. My memory isn't what it once was so I don't remember everything we study but I do remember enough to understand the history that's talked about during the sermons on Sundays and you'd be surprised at how much the sermons are enhanced when you can add that to it.

7) I celebrated my 44th wedding anniversary. Glory Be! I don't even feel like I'm 44 years old so how can I be married 44 years?

8) I had a small health problem in the spring that kept me from going on a mission trip I had planned but the health problem was small and I got to go on a different mission trip in late November that I absolutely loved! I loved it so much that I (and my husband) have volunteered to go back for a long-term (two or three month) position. We haven't been chosen yet but maybe we will in '09. :)

9) I learned some new things in quilting, some new things on the computer, some new things in church, and some new things about myself. Learning new things means I'm continuing to grow and become a better person. Oh and that stuff about myself - I learned that I'm not any more graceful at 62 than I was at 32 but that it doesn't embarrass me any more because I'm much more ok with myself now; and I learned that people who gossip about me (or you) aren't worth worrying about because spreading gossip is kind of like spreading manure on a garden...the one spreading it ends up smelling bad; and I learned that God has plans for things He wants me to do so no matter what my age I still have things to contribute to others and to the world. And I learned that Jesus knows me - this I love.

10) For the second year in a row I got to have five of my high school girlfriends spend the weekend with me. This year we will be attending our 45th high school reunion so for six of us to still be around, still know where the others are, still love each other and still want to spend time together is a miracle! Old friends have a special place in my heart.

Anybody out there want to join me in celebrating '08? Make your own Top Ten List and let me know!