Busy Busy

I've posted a few things on The Seam Rippers, but nothing here in a while. It's because I've been so busy keeping LMW and sewing/painting. And I've been working on the never ending back porch and yard project. Will I EVER finish? I'm almost there. The only thing left is plants for the planters. Then I will reveal it all, such as it is. It's not a picture in a magazine. It's not what I had envisioned in my dream world. But it's the best we could do on a limited budget with limited energy. I never found any vintage metal "tulip" chairs I could afford. (People must think they are made of gold) I couldn't build up the "landscaping" part with blocks and soil, due to money, time and energy.

 But, it's my space and it will serve me well. It's much much more than we had last year, and LMW loves to sit out there, watching the leaves blow, and the traffic race behind the scrub on the property line.

I have ideas for that property line, and it will interesting to see how much of it actually comes to fruition next Spring. Having lost all of my cedar trees to the drought and heat was disappointing to say the least. I'd really like to replace them, but I don't know if that will happen. I might just decide to put some crepe myrtles in their place. I've been wanting a crepe myrtle for years. We'll see how far we can take it when the time comes.

My birds have been flocking to the feeders. Mostly Cardinals. I'm waiting for the Cedar Waxwings to migrate and stop over to eat my Bradford Pear fruit. None of the other birds seem interested.

In other matters, I've had another injection in my neck, which didn't help at all. My Mom has had another chemo treatment and feels pretty well.

LMW is growing in stature and wisdom. (As did Jesus) He is our light and our joy. He will be 6 months old on November 4. Wow.

Proverbs 31 Woman

My friend and fellow blogger Erin is doing a series of blogs on the Proverbs 31 woman. I always enjoy a study of this passage, because it usually inspires me to try harder. None of us can actually live up to this ideal, and the woman described in this scripture is not an actual flesh and blood person. Or at least I don't believe she is. I believe she is meant to be an encouragement to us, just like Jesus Christ is an encouragement. We strive to be Christ like, and we strive to be like the Proverbs 31 woman.

As I was thinking about this earlier, I realized I know a P31 woman. She would disagree, I'm sure. And she will probably be surprised at my thinking.  This is what I see in her:

She works to bring in money to support her family.
She honors her husband as head of the family.
She takes care of the house and home and puts her family's needs above her own.
She's always available for her friends, no matter how busy she is.
She teaches Sunday school and is an active church member.
She does all she can to make her family and her life what it should be.
She strives to be all God wants of her, Even though she realizes she doesn't live up, she doesn't give up.
She is always concerned with "doing the right thing."
She may not always be a ray of sunshine, but she works on it.

Who is this paragon of virtue? No, not a paragon, a simple woman doing the best she can......

My lovely, precious daughter, LeLe.

That Smell

It has been a long hot summer, and we thought fall would never arrive. I was afraid my maple tree would just drop dead leaves instead of turning, but as you can see in the photo, it is indeed turning. Hallelujah!

The smaller maple in the back yard, did actually drop most of its brown and crumpled leaves. It now has a handful of yellow leaves still hanging on.  It's not very pretty, so no picture is posted. :P

I was in the front yard this afternoon, clearing dead leaves out of the flower bed when I got a whiff of something. I absently wondered what that smell was, but kept working, then swept up the leaves and picked them up to move over to the edge of the yard. As I moved closer to the lot beside my house that is just woods, I realized what the smell was.....it was the smell of the forest in the fall. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Every time I smell that, I'm taken back to my childhood. When I was in the first grade, I walked to school with other school children, through a small wooded area. I can still see that path in the woods, and smell the falling leaves. It's a very comforting smell. That particular smell has been missing this year, I suppose because of the drought. But the rain yesterday seems to have brought it out and I'm so glad. It's still a bit warmer than it should be, but I won't complain. At least it feels like fall now.

Latest photo of LMW....

Guitar Man.

It's Here.

Rain. Glorious, marvelous, wonderful RAIN. We haven't had any rain in weeks and weeks, months actually. I've mentioned my cedar trees that have died even with constant watering. We've wished for rain, danced for rain, prayed for rain. Thank you Lord in Heaven.

I have to admit, when the weather man said rain, I dissed him. Totally. So I hang my head in shame and say a prayer of thanksgiving.

Life has been monotonous lately. Nothing worth blogging about. But, Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of going with LeLe and LMW shopping. It wasn't too difficult, and he was an angel all afternoon.

Yesterday I gave my mother-in-law my old laptop. She was elated. She's never touched a computer, and it's pretty daunting to her, but she's a sharp cookie and will master it in no time. I tried to be as simple as I could in my tutoring, and made a list of things for her to read over. After I got home, I kept thinking of things I needed to write down for her.  I set her up playing solitaire as a good exercise in using the mouse. She'll have it down in no time. She's very much looking forward to receiving emails with LMW photos and videos.

I've been making a list for Christmas. My children aren't that set on being surprised, so it helps to have their input on what they want. As a matter of fact, LeLe would much rather know what she's getting, and know she wants it, than being surprised with something frivolous or unnecessary. She's a very practical person my daughter.

Now, I will leave the desk, and enjoy the gentle sound of the rain, and the cool breeze blowing through my window. Ahhhhh....life is good.

Why Worry?

I have not been worried much about anything lately. Just letting life unfold as the Lord wills it. But a friend of mine expressed great worry to a group of ladies the other day and it made me think. Without divulging the reason for her worry, she shared that she has been miserable with worry about a particular matter. And that she is worrying about being worried. She KNOWS God is in control and His will is always best, but asked the burning question....how do you release the worry to God? Sort of a how do you "Let go and let God" thing. None of us could really give her any help on that, and it made me think.

Why do we worry? Those without God worry because they have no assurance He is in control. Those of us who are His children still worry. I've come to realize it is not because we fear He doesn't have the power to fix anything He wants. It's the outcome we worry about. What if He doesn't "fix" it like we want? What will be the result of the outcome? How will we deal with that result? We know and understand without doubt His ability to work it all out to good. We fear the UNKNOWN. It's human nature.

I understand completely God not allowing us to know the end result. We would be tempted beyond our ability to refrain from taking matters into our own hands. We would make choices based on the end result we saw, that would muck things up even more. Personal example:  Had I known I only have one kidney (God blessed me this way at birth) I wouldn't have considered a second pregnancy. And just look what I would have missed!

God didn't give us a spirit of fear, be fear we have. It comes from the deceiver. We just have to continue to ask for strength, and yes....patience. Even though we know that with that particular prayer comes trial. That is the way we learn patience. Important lessons are hard learned, eh?

About Face......(Book)

Facebook. Social networking. Visiting with folks you haven't seen in umpteen years. Sounds good right? I've been facebooking for a long time, but I really only post things about LMW, and my Mom. Just to share what's going on with her and to brag on the boy. Yes, I admitted it. Facebook is a place where you can brag and others will actually encourage you. That part is fun. The part where folks are getting political and hateful, not so much.

Yes, anyone on facebook has the right to post anything they please. And it is a venue for getting your personal agenda out there. It's a place where you can vent to your heart's content and others will commiserate. It's a place where you can criticize your family, friends, co-workers..... and it's your choice. But, it's not mine.

In the beginning, I wanted to be a part of facebook to visit with friends and family. The longer I participate, the more negative things I see. It's not fun anymore. I don't play the games, and lately all I do is skim to see if any of my family is sharing something I need to know. And that sort of rankles too, because how hard can it be to send me an email or text message? Or wait! What happened to phone calls?

There are so many people who are saying such negative things. It makes me cringe to read it. I just keep going back to my Bible where it tells me not to say anything if I can't say something nice. What?! You didn't know that came from the Bible? Well my friend, take a look in Ephesians 4:29......."Let no corrupt word go out of your mouth, but if [there be] any good one for needful edification, that it may give grace to those that hear [it]." Ohhh my. Shut my mouth, and stop my typing fingers.....

So, for now, I'm going on hiatus from facebook. It's going to be very hard, because it really is addictive. I made it through yesterday without looking. I hope I can continue. The only time I will look, is when I receive an email with a personal private message on there. Then I will go directly to that message answer it and leave.

It sure did free up a lot of time yesterday....

One More Time

Ok, I'm going to try another giveaway. This after I complained about them. BUT, I am only doing the easiest requirements. 

So, it's at All Things Vintage Sheets and I really need some good ideas to use with my old sheets. The ones without paint splatter on them anyway. :P

Good luck to me......and to you if you decide to jump in there too.

Giveaways...

I like giveways. Not that I've ever won one. But, if it's not to demanding, I enter. Some of them are very demanding in their requirements. I don't enter those. Why? Well, because I'm lazy. And I want to win something simply because my name is in the pot, not because I jumped through hoops to get there. I want to feel like it's a real win, and not something earned. Does that make sense?

I've entered several giveaways recently, but only the ones I REALLY want to win. And once I even completed all the steps in a multiple requirement contest. Now, I have to admit, that every time you do a thing on the list, your name is entered again, but I still feel that once should be enough. Everyone get one shot, your name in the pot just because you said "yep, I want that too." It is a giveaway right?

I can understand some of why folks have all the extra chances at entering your name. I mean, you wind up following blogs you didn't know about and come upon new ideas sometimes. But some of the time, you really aren't that into the other blogs, and just want that one thing they are giving away.

One day, maybe I'll win something. But, probably not unless I'm willing to spend 30 minutes finding the other blogs, posting on them, posting on the original blog, and posting on my own....makes me tired just thinking about it....

Five

Merciful Heavens! The boy is five months old. I can hardly believe it!

He is so much fun! I never imagined he'd be so all consuming, but he is and I like it. He has two teeth, is rolling over, grabbing things, rubbing faces, watching cartoons....it's totally amazing to me. The next five months will be full of wonderful new things as well. He is such a blessing.

To update you on my Mom, she is feeling very well at present. She has now had two doses of her third round of chemo, and it always makes her feel better. She told me she can even walk now, without back pain. Hallelujah!

I have another injection scheduled for my neck on Monday. I'm looking forward to it, even if getting over it is not a party.

I've been thinking a lot about Christmas and now have a list of creative things that I need to get busy on. Unfortunately, my last trip to the local Walmart was a bust in the supply department. I'm going to have to make a trip to good ole Hobby Lobby and soon!

J and K visited over the weekend and I was so happy to have them with me. I miss them very much. Maybe one day they will live closer. A Mom can dream....

All my babies were here for lunch on Sunday and Nanna/Mom was a very happy person indeed!

The weather has been awesome, with the exception of the desperate need for rain. Maybe the Good Lord will see fit to bless us with some next week. I've lost three trees and am watching the fourth one slowly whither.
I love seeing all the fall decorations on blogs, on people's porches and in their yards. I haven't been able to come up with anything myself though. I need to address that issue post haste!
With that, and one last photos, I bid you adieu.

P.S. We got Grandpa's hand in this last pic. He is a bit camera shy....