Leverage

Ugh, I've neglected this poor little blog so! Anyway, moving forward....

Over the summer I really got moved by the idea of leveraging your resources for the most impact on life around you. Some of us don't have much but what matters is using what you already have, plus your time and talent to be a good steward. I figured out that I'm a pretty good darn couponer. I've never been too embarassed to use a good coupon and I can smell them like a fly smells a picnic.

So, I began to collect things here and there as stores had their loss leader sales like folders for a penny, I had some coupons making items a penny, etc. I maxed out the number of items you could buy with any given sale or coupon. By the time the Stuff the Bus campaign rolled around this is what I had:

All of this for less than $1. There were also a couple of packs of Crayolas that didn't make the picture for some reason. (OK, picture-taking is NOT one of my gifts)I was so excited about what I managed to pull together. I hope some kid somewhere gets that small bit of excitement about what this new school year might hold as he or she cracks open that fresh new crisp notebook or pack of unsharpened pencils.

Wow Wednesday Etsy Sellers I Love

I have a serious purse problem. My love is not the fancy brands that typically bring a girl to her knees at the mere glimpse of their emblem or that parades down the catwalk practically on the kinetic energy of the oohs and aahhhs of the beautiful people. No, my love is the quirky, kitchsy, adorable, changeable, creative stuff.

This seller is a recent discovery and I just love her style. I like her offbeat patterns and the way she's not afraid to use color. I've been accused of the same thing in my decorating however, when they cough before they say it, it makes it seem like it might be a bad thing..

Anyway, check it out: Kirasma

Looks like she does diaper bags and custom orders too!

Just Like Faeries ;o)

I've been super busy creating some new goodies...here's a peek:

I'm just loving the felt stuff. I've got some beautiful crochet flowers that were made by another Etsian and they are so pretty that pictures don't do them justice:

the yarn has a really pretty sheen to it.

So I'm looking at my work table (never to be posted here. You would DIE if you saw it) and it's over run with new projects and ideas. It's like a horde of little faeries have been hard at work. Except it's me and I'm tired! LOL

Wow Wednesday- Etsy sellers I love

Today's favorite Etsy Seller is Old Barn Rescue Company. They do vinyl wall decals and art using vintage and reclaimed items. We've got to re-do Super G's room thanks to springing ANOTHER leak in our plumbing and spending a soggy evening tearing up carpets and padding a few weeks ago. We've finally decided on a color and are probably going with a muted teal-ish color (wow, how specific and technical was that?!)

and we'll need some fresh new ideas for the wall.

So far I'm completely in love with this decal from OldBarnRescueCompany's Etsy shop:

They even have one on sale, but alas the sale one is in brown and I'd like to do white. The white design we had looked so nice last time that I have a hard time not going with it again.

Mr.M loves this one, but I'm not 100% sold on the fact that we're really the cutie patootie sort:

Spend some time moseying around their shop. You're sure to find something you are going to love!

Spicy Bean Salsa Recipe from Allrecipes.com

So my cookout was a blast. All of the kids were incredibly well behaved and all around the same age. Gabby had a blast! If and when I ever get pics I'll share. My good friend April came to the rescue with this super easy and delicious side item recipe.

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup Italian-style salad dressing
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, combine black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. Season with Italian-style salad dressing and garlic salt; mix well. Cover, and refrigerate overnight to blend flavors.

Good grief does it get any easier than that? Ok, well short of driving to Costco and scraping the label off of one of their delicious entrees and passing it off as your own. Which I have never done. Which I will never do again. {{whistles}}

Anyway, she told me she always gets asked for the recipe when she brings it, and true to it's reputation I got asked 3 times for the recipe. Mine didn't even look as nice as the one in the picture! It makes a ton which the Kid Army was more than happy to take care of afterwards.

Mine had a lot of "juice" and I think that next time I will add 3/4 of a cup of Italian dressing instead and do a better job of draining everything well. It wasn't very spicy though so I added a can of green chiles and 2 tbsp of Cilantro. This upped the tasty factor but still didn't make it what I would consider spicy. Good stuff!

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My latest challenge

As we get older things just start to seem to challenge us more. I was never one of those people who had a VCR that blinked 12 and I could pretty much fake my way through anything else that came along. This whole blogging thing has driven home the point that the old gray mare just ain't what she used to be if you know what I mean. It's a struggle to not curse, throw a temper tantrum or some other unladylike reaction every time I try to understand how to change code on this darn thing.

I know why it's called code now, because it's a secret to anyone who is not a computer guru or is over the age of 15. I think HTML is really some sort of underground language and the little people will soon be staging their grand coup. Most of us won't even know it happened because we didn't DVR it.

anyway, I'm going to shamelessly post pics of The Cute One because they came out so darn cute:

Trust me, the cat had it coming....

here she is trying out for the Price is Right. Hey, Bob Barker she's not even 2 yet ok? Hands off but momma sure would like to win that showcase:

and here's the grassroots (pun intended LOL) of her path to the nobel prize for botany: Hey, a mom can dream can't she?! Look, one of us has to be able to grow something other than weeds and anthills and the future of our landscaping is resting on this girl.

Now my next challenge... trying to channel Martha Stewart {{cue chant music here}} for a side item for my Starting Point cookout. I'm so uncreative when it comes to these things. Time to start blog hopping to find that one recipe that's nearly dummyproof yet still fab. Yeah, that's probably not far off from that nobel prize.

Princess Leadfoot

ahh, so my assignment this week for Starting Point is to follow every single traffic law that exists to the fullest extent. Hereby this is your formal notice that it's safe to be on the roads again. Well, this week anyway. So how am I doing with that you wonder? Mr.M has been driving to and from work most days this week and I don't go too many places other than that so I'm making out remarkably well LOL.

The few trips I've taken I realize how quickly that even consciously thinking about doing everything 100% right, my speed still drifts up or I'm tempted to roll a little more than I stop. I mean, I'm in a hurry and what I'm doing is important so it's ok to do the little things right? Uh oh, I'm thinking not...

Speaking of driving, I used to love to drive. If I had a day off and enough gas I was pretty much game for any destination mentioned. I guess it's another sign of getting older that I see it pretty much as an inconvenience now. I have soooo many things to do (ahem, not that *blogging* is really helping that but I digress...) that I feel like I'm wasting time driving. I remember that feeling though of the windows rolled down and the radio blasting some great song and just belting that puppy out to my heart's content. Age wasn't the only reason the paint was peeling off of that car.

Come on baby, let's get out of this town
I got a full tank of gas
With the top rolled down
There's a chill in my bones
I don't want to be left alone
So baby you can sleep while I drive

Ok, so let's back this up

How did I get here to start with?! I have several recurring themes running through my brain these days and I can't exactly pinpoint where it all started. I have to give a shout out to my good friends Amy, Emily and Angela without whom this blog might not exist or at least not in it's current form.

Things have been tough for the last few years. There's a lot to it, but let's say I've had more than a few moments of despair. Around this same time I started to feel the tickle in my soul that told me that someone was trying to get my attention. I went back and forth between feeling like maybe I should give it some more thought to feeling guilty that my motives were somewhat selfish in seeking peace through a relationship with God to feeling like it was just a crutch because I was feeling helpless. Meanwhile, it seemed that everywhere I turned I was being encouraged either outright or through seeing the grace that the relationship with God brings, to revisit where I stood with Him.

There's an old joke that goes something like this:

It had been raining for days and days, and a terrible flood had come over the land. The waters rose so high that one man was forced to climb onto the roof of his house.As the waters rose higher and higher, a man in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me."

So the man in the rowboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.The waters rose higher and higher, and suddenly a speedboat appeared. "Climb in!" shouted a man in the boat. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me."

So the man in the speedboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.The waters continued to rise. A helicopter appeared and over the loudspeaker, the pilot announced he would lower a rope to the man on the roof. "No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me."

So the helicopter went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.The waters rose higher and higher, and eventually they rose so high that the man on the roof was washed away, and alas, the poor man drowned.Upon arriving in heaven, the man marched straight over to God. "Heavenly Father," he said, "I had faith in you, I prayed to you to save me, and yet you did nothing. Why?" God gave him a puzzled look, and replied "I sent you two boats and a helicopter.....

I started to think those people and things were my boats and my helicopter. Ok, Angie you were probably more like an armored tank but I needed it.

In thinking about the theme of reconciliation recently I have to consider my own reconciliation with God. I wonder how or why he would put up with me. I suppose it's the same when someone who has committed murder or otherwise rejected him. I have to ask myself, if my own child committed such a crime or wronged me would I still love him or her and welcome them back into my arms? Absolutely. I would expect that they might suffer their own hardships and punishments at the hands of others, but I would still love them and find joy in them and rejoice at their homecoming each and every time. Would my heart be more full when one child embraced me than another? No.

It seems I've heard this somewhere before....

Weekend Pieces

How can you get so little done and be so exhausted?! I have done a little crafting, a little reading, a little cleaning but not a LOT of anything.

It seems like I've been reading so much bad news lately. I'm really counting my blessings some days. Strangely enough I've been reading a lot about brokenness through my Starting Point, through the Baggage Series at church and just through random reading. It's so true that clinging to past hurts and failures drags us down and keeps us from greatness. God chooses simple people like Abraham to do great things. If we let the stumbles and roadblocks along the way trip us up, we might not achieve our purpose. There is nothing without a purpose. We may not even see the fruits of our purpose in our lifetime, but can only trust that they are great.

I keep coming back to one of the few old hymns that really makes me stop and put my heart in a more Godly place and that's It is Well With My Soul.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,It is well, it is well, with my soul

In reading a little of the history of this hymn I found out it was written by a gentleman by the name of Horatio Spafford who endured multiple tragedies in his life, most notably the tragic drowning death of his 4 daughters. He penned this hymn on the boat journey to meet up with his wife who was spared and wrote it as the boat passed closely over the spot where his daughters perished. Unbelievably his wife said she was reminded most of the words of her friend: "It's easy to be grateful and good when you have so much, but take care that you are not a fair-weather friend to God."

I've been so blessed not to have suffered like these people have suffered yet they have maintained their faith and servitude to God. I can only hope that I could rise to such a test with a fraction of the same fortitude. Have I? Will I?

I've been chewing on some ideas about reconciliation but they aren't really that clear yet. I'll save those for later.

Spock

No, no the good doctor of all things child rearing. The Vulcan. After much llife drama this week, I became the proud owner of the Spock glass from BK Cafe and things started to look up a bit. I have to admit I'm pretty geeked out about the new Star Trek movie. We'll hopefully be seeing this in the next few weeks and I can't wait! Should I have posted a nerd alert first?

Then again who could really argue with logic like this:

Kirk: Well, there it is - war. We didn't want it, but we've got it.

Spock: It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want.

and this gem:

After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.

Gene Roddenberry RIP. Your legend lives on.

When it rains it pours

I guess that's a silly expression really. What the heck does that even mean?

Rain takes on so many different forms from a misty, hazy sprinkling to a thunderous flooding downpour. I guess in the same way life's rain shapes us differently by sometimes being a gentle tickle to living in the middle of a hurricane. Hopefully it's nothing an umbrella and some happy thoughts can't chase away.

Reconciliation

rec⋅on⋅cile 

 /ˈrɛkənˌsaɪl/ Pronunciation [rek-uhn-sahyl] verb, -ciled, -cil⋅ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired: He was reconciled to his fate.
2. to win over to friendliness; cause to become amicable: to reconcile hostile persons.
3. to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.).
4. to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent: to reconcile differing statements; to reconcile accounts.
5.to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, cemetery, etc.).
6.to restore (an excommunicate or penitent) to communion in a church.

So, one of my assignments this week is to attempt a reconciliation. This would appear easier than it seems. For starters, there are few people I would consider myself in any way estranged from. Secondly, this is a tough week to feel like reconciling things with the people I probably need to reconcile most with.

As always, I'm puzzled as to where to start. Some things just become a part of the fabric of who we are and and should I start to pull at threads will I unravel?

Birthdays

Excited in a small way thanks to some new craft goodies that came in for some new ideas for my Etsy shop. I'll post pics once I get the new things done. I'm always so excited with new materials. On to more important happenings:


So today is the birthday of the Queen Bee of the kid army in our house. She's 18! It's so unbelievable that you spend so much time thinking and planning what those 18 years are going to be like and what you are going to do. Life has a funny way of playing with all of those plans and keeping you thinking on your feet.

I remember being scared to death thinking there was NO way they were going to let me be 100% responsible for making sure she makes it through ok. I'm happy to report she made it here mostly intact but for a few self imposed holes, questionable hair cuts and flirtations with the arts.

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

I'm trying to think back to my favorite birthday gift ever. Hm..there were some albums I'm probably pretty embarassed about at this point {Bay City Rollers anyone?

wow, there's a set of faces only a mother could love!}

a tape recorder and later a boom box. Not surprising that my most memorable gifts all involved music. I would have made a heck of a rock star. I figure I just needed a prescription drug habit and a little luck right?! Unfortunately, I fear I have become The Man. {{sigh}}

in the words of the great Dewey Finn: Give up, just quit, because in this life, you can't win. Yeah, you can try, but in the end you're just gonna lose, big time, because the world is run by the Man. The Man, oh, you don't know the Man. He's everywhere. In the White House... down the hall... Ms. Mullins, she's the Man. And the Man ruined the ozone, he's burning down the Amazon, and he kidnapped Shamu and put her in a chlorine tank! And there used to be a way to stick it to the Man. It was called rock 'n roll, but guess what, oh no, the Man ruined that, too, with a little thing called MTV! So don't waste your time trying to make anything cool or pure or awesome 'cause the Man is just gonna call you a fat washed up loser and crush your soul. So do yourselves a favor and just GIVE UP!

hm, maybe it's good that I gave up on that inspirational speaking thing too.

About choices

Still trying to get over Strep. For some reason over the past few years I've become a veritable breeding ground for strep. Ugh! I got some sweet gifts for mother's day from the kids and stopped after church to treat myself and Gabby to lunch at BK. Guess what?! They have Star Trek glasses. Lunch was lousy and they only have one ebola seat, I mean public high chair, so Gabby had to sit on my lap and needless to say it was mercifully quick. But hey, I am now the proud owner of both the Kirk and Uhurra glasses. They are gen-you-wine cheap glass not plastic too! woo hoo!

So last night in between fighting the dark forces of strep and handling my piranha of a toddler, I got my work done for Starting Point this morning and managed to get through telling my "story" today without losing it too much. We later discussed brokenness and it was, as always, quite a riveting discussion. The time really does seem to fly in there.

The question was raised as to why God placed the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden if he did not want man to partake of it. One of our members pointed out that love is a choice. Interesting. When we love anybody or anything we are choosing to love them. Would you really want to be "loved" by someone who had no choice in the matter? Isn't that just mere obedience?

I guess this really describes so much of what is going on in the world. For some of us the choices seem so easy and natural that they don't seem like choices. Do we even realize that we are choosing to love that fragile baby we hold in our arms for the first time? Most of us felt a rush of love somewhere in those first few moments, days or weeks when we've met our children. Is that the moment we've made our choice? Some people would credit the hormone surge most new moms have with these intense emotions. Maybe so. Is it possible that God's hand is in that surge making our choice so easy? It's only when we start controlling things after that, that things become so complicated. Also, it's unfortunate that not everyone makes what seems like the easy choice. Then again what's so easy about sleepless nights, constant worry about the status of our children's health and happiness?

Anyway, we also quickly revisited the image of the X-structure at the center of the whirlpool galaxy as taken by the Hubble telescope as shown above. If you are interested in any of the background of this, check out this video by Louie Giglio where he talks about how he feels about it: here. Hard not to see the Hand of God in that. I mean, it's no Star Trek glass, but it sure is something to ponder.....

Where to begin?

There are so many things on my mind these days that I don't know where to begin. Probably my largest new development is that I've joined Port City Community Church and feel like I have fallen into a new home. God and faith are all things that have been bubbling to the surface in the past few years and months. Hopefully, I've found a place where those thoughts and feelings can take root and grow. I've been listening to a lot of the old topics from services and several things have been resonating with me. Strange though how I've always felt like my marriage is one of the most secure I know but after examining several things while digesting the talks from the podcasts, I realize I've been doing so many things wrong and looking at things from a flawed perspective that it's only by the grace of God that I've made it this far. More on this later.

I'm working on some things for a small group at church called Starting Point and I have discovered so many new things. I came into it with so many questions and things on my mind and of course, it has only sparked the flame of curiousity even higher.

I've been super busy with creating some adorable new things for my Etsy shop too. It's nice sitting down to work because it gives me time where my mind is free to roam and really medidate on what's been cooking in my brain. Let's hope it comes out over easy instead of overdone and rubbery.