The Old Man Is Snoring

Remember that verse from your childhood - It's Raining, It's Pouring, The Old Man Is Snoring! Wonder where that came from....is the snoring thunder? It has poured down here today. Lots and lots of rain. I love summer rainy days - how much better can it be than to snuggle in and read a good book or stitch in front of an old movie on a rainy day. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get to snuggle in this morning.

Let me remind you that I'm a "bit" OCD. Just a tiny bit. And if you believe that I have some land....well, you get the drift. I plan my days is an understatement. The day before. In my head and woe to anyone who can't read my mind! Today I was going to get up at my normal time, grab my chai latte and Bible and head for the deck. After that I would bake the bread I had left rising the night before, make the beds, sweep the kitchen, shower and dress, and head for a 9:40 doctor's appointment which might take an hour. Then I'd drop books off at the library, go to Kroger, come back home to finish my housework and cook dinner for a friend who was coming over later. That should leave time to read a few blogs and stitch a little on my wool wallhanging. Except....

At 9:00 last night a friend called my husband to remind him of the Methodist Men's monthly breakfast at 7:00 a.m. And that wives were invited. We're never invited. And I hate surprises. Especially when I have plans. So instead of my calm and methodical day I rose at 6:00, put bread in the oven, dressed and went to church. Where I froze. I mean really, they complain about the utilities but the temperature is set at minus seventeen. What's up with that? Then WE ran to Kroger (it always costs me twice as much when my husband goes with me, does it you?) and then back home where I dropped him and the groceries off. I made my doctor's appointment, barely (and remember that all of this is in a torrential downpour!) where he told me I had something that sounded like Jose Cuervo (Di Qupaorvain Torosynoulis or something remotely similar) which really means I'm getting older and the tendons in my thumbs are not happy about that whole aging thing. He sent me to the people who make braces and I ended up like this:

The doctor said wear them in the day time. The brace people said wear them at night too. Excuse me? There are things you cannot do in braces like this. To put it delicately, or not, the bathroom is one place where you have to take them off. To do the dishes. To take a shower. If there are typos in this post it's not my fault.

And then, to top it all off, he sent me to get a shingles vaccine. Anybody had one? Where they talked to me about getting a flu vaccine. It's just July people! And I had two allergy shots this week....you are not sticking a needle in me again this week.

Despite it all, it's 2:00 and I am snuggled in. Chicken is in the crock pot, bread is baked, dishes are washed. I didn't dust but I can't use this as an excuse because I rarely dust. Dust is a protective coating for furniture...did you know that? The Old Man Is Snoring!

It's Monday - Yea!

Some people hate Mondays but I love them! I just love new beginnings I guess. Mondays are like a brand new book you've never opened, or a blank piece of paper waiting for you to put a pen to. With Mondays you can make the week anything you want it to be. By Wednesday it's too late for that because stuff has already happened that will shape your rest-of-the-week. But Mondays....

You can start Monday with a burst of energy.....wash the sheets, sweep the floors, straighten your house, run your errands. That will set the tone for a week of accomplishments.

Or you can start Monday by pulling the covers over your head and begging for just a few more minutes of sleep. If you do that you'll drag around all day aggravated that you didn't get to doze longer and playing catch-up on all that you need to do.

You can start Monday by baking bread, making cookies, cooking chicken spaghetti and then taking it to someone who's got an illness in the family or who has 6 kids and needs a break. If you do you'll sing under your breath, smile when no one's looking, thank God for your blessings.

Or you can start Monday by balancing your checkbook and getting mad that you can't afford a shopping excursion or a new car. You'll grumble all day asking why me and what's life all about anyway.

Here's my Monday:
1. I got up at 6:30, grabbed my Bible (and my chai tea latte) and went out to the deck to read and think.
2. I pulled the sheets off my bed and stuck them in the washer.
3. I cleaned off my desk and stacked up the bills to be paid, thanking God I could pay them.

What's next for me today? I'm going to sing under my breath, dance through my chores, count my blessings.

What's your Monday going to be like? It's up to you, you know.

Thursday Prayers

A fellow blogger (McKMama) has started a new Prayerful Wednesday post. She is encouraging her readers to post prayer requests so that we might each be in prayer for fellow readers. It's so important to "approach the feet of the Father with our heartfelt requests." Because her audience is so vastly different from mine - she is a young mother with small children and I am an "older" woman/grandmother/quilter/stitcher which means we have vastly different audiences - I'd like to copy her idea here on my blog. Of course since I'm technologically challenged I'm not going to have a link or a button or whatever that thing might be that allows you to go to a separate place and talk about one particular thing (see what I mean about being technologically challenged?) I'm just going to devote one post a week to prayer requests.

If you would join with me in conversation with our Father about the prayer requests made here I'd be so pleased. And if you have something dear to your heart that you would like others to join you in prayer about please let it be posted here - we don't need details to know that your heart needs a little comfort. If you have a Caring Bridge link or a Caringpage site that you would like to post feel free to do that. I promise you that I will lift up every single request that you put in the comments and I know that others will join me in that promise.

I have several things on my heart today that I hope you will pray with me about:

1) Our friend, Charlie, who is in the hospital right now.
2) Our friend Kim's father, Terry, who is battling cancer.
3) Our daughter, Tammy, who has had back surgery in the past but is still having terrible pain.

God loves the prayers of His children.

Justification

I do things like make my own laundry detergent and fabric softener.....














I can tomatoes and make pepper sauce.......










I cook up figs that were given to me, add strawberry jello.......







and make some beautiful Fig/Strawberry Preserves.......







and then I go to a quilt show and buy all this. Do you think my frugal/money-saving efforts justify purchases like this? Is this legal? moral?



What do you do to save money? And what do you buy because you "saved all that money"?


BTW...I'm beginning to hate blogger. How about you?

June Goals

I got a good start this month on my embroidered Halloween quilt blocks. I've done four and there are only eight in all. I'm doing these on a dark tea color Kona cotton with black thread. The surrounding blocks will be pieced using oranges, rusts, browns and blacks.










This picture of "Marlene's Herb Garden" is not of the finished quilt because I've entered it into a quilt show here in Hot Springs and forgot to take a picture before I did that. But it is finished and the binding is on!












The binding is also on this Snowball Quilt and, in fact, the grandchildren used it this past weekend to cover with at night - I don't think the snowballs made them feel any cooler though. :)




This table topper, "Friendship", is made of wool and was the most fun to make. I love stitching on wool - that old saying, "it's like sewing through butter" really holds true with this!








And the binding is on the Butterfly Quilt too!



















As for the rest of my June goals - well not much progress. I haven't done any studying so that means I didn't read Breaking Free by Beth Moore. However, I did go to Little Rock and buy the workbook that goes with it so I'm ready! Maybe in July. Maybe.

And weight loss - not a happy tale there either. If you remember I had lost 19 pounds since Christmas. The first week I came back from babysitting I gained 3 pounds. :( I chalked it up to not getting as much exercise (no changing diapers, no picking him up and putting down and picking him up, no pushing the stroller, etc.) I asked my son if he wouldn't just quit his job and move down here next door to me but he declined. I can't imagine why! I've lost 2 of those pounds but that means I'm still up 1 pound from last month. Not so good but not so bad.

How did you do on your goals this month?

And does anyone know why Blogger is rearranging everything I put in my post? Grrrrrr!

It's a Beautiful New Flag!

My cousin Carol and her husband Keith sent us a new flag for the Fourth of July celebration. Isn't it beautiful? I am thanking God today for our country and those who came before us who were wise enough and courageous enough and who had enough foresight to take those difficult steps to our beginning. And I am thanking Him for those in all the between years who fought so valiantly to maintain our freedom.