Archive for June, 2010

What Did You Do To Yourself?

Stress.

You didn’t go looking for trouble but life comes with troubles and you tend to then stress out… to prove how much you care…

Once you get started it snowballs and before you know it you are being run over by your own creation.

Stress.

Why do we do that to ourselves? It hurts! Physically, mentally, spiritually!

Life is honestly hard BUT…

Peace of mind… Peace is a blessing that comes filled with joy. It will not make us immune to struggles but will allow us to not crumble and prevent us from punishing ourselves with stress.

You don’t want it…
you lay it down…
it is self destructive so you willingly sacrifice your tendency, your temptation to stress…

Our God is bigger then the stressing, bigger then the struggles and he wants to ease our body, mind and heart.

Thank you Jesus for the healing you bring to those stressed by the worries of this life.

TTFN

SONGBIRD – EVA CASSIDY WITH LYRICS

My sister Mirelle sang this song at our vow renewal this weekend and it was so beautiful!
Thank you so very much MIRELLE!

TTFN

Makes Me Think Of

When I look at the river I will always remember this verse and when I think of this verse I will always remember my cities river.

“Thou flowing water pure and clear,
make music for thy Lord to hear,
Alleluia, Alleluia!”

-All Creatures of Our God and King-

TTFN

Silhouette Portraits

(Perhaps I am just feeling old today, but I love this above silhouette, it reminds me of a younger side of me!)

I have been thinking often about Victorian style silhouette portraits... and how I would love to have one of each of my children before they get much bigger. Click on the above link to see a picture of what I am talking about. I am trying to decide how to go about it… I just love them and hope this will be a successful future project, just not too far in the future…TTFN

Rhubarb

Fresh rhubarb from my mother in laws yard delivered to my door.
Boiled with water and some organic sugar in my grandmother Katherine’s large pot.
A beautiful stew of rhubarb warm and pink.
Served over vanilla frozen yogurt with a touch of bright organic cinnamon on top.
A moment to my self while I savor it.

I adore rhubarb season:)

TTFN

In Two Days!

HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY TO US!THEN
I was 19 and he was 21!
Wrapped up in one another and not much else!
NOW
I am 29 and he is 31!
Four kids later our world of love has grown A LOT!

Having a quiet rainy day at home. Making buns, doing laundry and enjoying my cozy home. It is a relief to be at home today, stuck because of a delivery I am waiting for. Yesterday was a crazy errand day and the rest of the week will be filled with preparations. I decided to post this today because I am sure even our actual anniversary date will be busy. We are renewing our vows on the weekend and having a ceremony for our family. The buns are for the potluck that will follow the ceremony. I really don’t want this party to be about stress but about celebrating life and family and OF COURSE my husband and my love for one another so I am trying to take it slow and not go overkill on plans… thus today… a slow it down day… an enjoy now day.

I can still see the young guy I married when I look at my husband. I can still get completely mushy when I think about how we fell in love.

From a Passionate Love to a Crazy Love.

I am no longer full of secrets, they where never kept from him, just undiscovered when we started out together. All is reveled, he knows all my fear and faults as well as my dreams and qualities. I also, in turn, no all this about him. This is a CRAZY love! In a modern world where love is to be easy and fun and exciting it is crazy to love someone for who they really are, the good and bad. Most expect others to love them that way but are unable to give such forgiving and patient love. Everyone finds it so easy to say good by when people change or things get tough. Everyone understands the passionate love, the showy romance. It is drilled into us, coming from every angle. To understand the crazy love is much more difficult. It is HARD. It is worth it.

“Crazy love, in a world where I could be my own woman and hold my own dreams I choose to be your woman and dream of being a couple to the end.”

TTFN

“Our Honeymoon: Enough Memories to Last a Lifetime.” MARRIAGE MONDAY

(June 2000)

Our tenth anniversary is only days away:)

Both having just graduated from college we kept everything about our wedding and honeymoon simple. The lodge we stayed at was only a few miles down the road from my parents farm, where we had gotten married. It was affordable and pretty. We stayed in a sweet little log cabin, complete with deck, kitchen and a lovely stove to snuggle up in front of. The cabin was part of a large wood lodge over looking a lake. Perfect for me because I was to immediately say good bye to all things north and move south with my man after the honeymoon.

The best and worst thing about the honeymoon was that it rained all three days we where there so we mostly sat in the cabin or visited the lodge to dine there. Lovely because it forced us to have lots and lots of talking and alone time… not so lovely because if we would have stayed longer we would have been bored to tears.

I highly recommend to young couples, like we where, to plan a simple get away that leaves lots of down time for you! It is better to not add opportunity to get more stressed. Being in a hurry is no good because patience on a honeymoon, to start the marriage off right, is a real good beginning. Don’t rush through the honeymoon and take the opportunity to start the communication habit in your marriage right then and there.

(So young, marriage was so new… He was 21 and I was 19.)

Remember you and your man being together is the most important part of the trip so cut yourself lots of slack if you are broke like we where and have to keep it simple. There will be time in the future to enjoy fancier things together! We hope to find more opportunities for honeymoon type trips in the years to come. Something more extravagant would now be our style and a cross country train trip would be tops on my list, just me and my man!

First Monday of every month at Chrysalis

TTFN

“Our Honeymoon: Enough Memories to Last a Lifetime.” MARRIAGE MONDAY

(June 2000)

Our tenth anniversary is only days away:)

Both having just graduated from college we kept everything about our wedding and honeymoon simple. The lodge we stayed at was only a few miles down the road from my parents farm, where we had gotten married. It was affordable and pretty. We stayed in a sweet little log cabin, complete with deck, kitchen and a lovely stove to snuggle up in front of. The cabin was part of a large wood lodge over looking a lake. Perfect for me because I was to immediately say good bye to all things north and move south with my man after the honeymoon.

The best and worst thing about the honeymoon was that it rained all three days we where there so we mostly sat in the cabin or visited the lodge to dine there. Lovely because it forced us to have lots and lots of talking and alone time… not so lovely because if we would have stayed longer we would have been bored to tears.

I highly recommend to young couples, like we where, to plan a simple get away that leaves lots of down time for you! It is better to not add opportunity to get more stressed. Being in a hurry is no good because patience on a honeymoon, to start the marriage off right, is a real good beginning. Don’t rush through the honeymoon and take the opportunity to start the communication habit in your marriage right then and there.

Remember you and your man being together is the most important part of the trip so cut yourself lots of slack if you are broke like we where and have to keep it simple. There will be time in the future to enjoy fancier things together! We hope to find more opportunities for honeymoon type trips in the years to come. Something more extravagant would now be our style and a cross country train trip would be tops on my list, just me and my man!

1st Monday Every Month at Chrysalis
Want this button?

TTFN

Pedicures for My Girls

(See the heart? Cute!)

Seed was planted when I read a fellow blogger’s post about her girls playing SPA. Memory was triggered by my sister asking if I wanted to get a pedi done with her. I realised I had bought a pedi set a while back to share with my girls and hadn’t broke it in yet!
Last night was the night! Big Boy was at his grandparents, Baby Boy was stuck to Daddy (shadowing him all over the house) so Big Girl and Little Woman and I had a spa night!

It is a lot of work, by the way! Basins filled with warm water for the minty foot soak and all the other supplies to gather up, spa music selected and put on for mood, girl-y magazines to add to the feel and I felt ready to pamper them.

They soaked for 15 minutes and then I used a sea salt scrub thingy on their feet, but they where so ticklish it was a short scrub. Enjoyed the laughter though!


Once their feet where pretty and clean I set up the nail station. Nails where trimmed and cleaned.
Choosing color for their toes was by far their favorite part!


When it was all done their little toes looked so cute together! Big Girl went with a pattern of the blue and pink and Little Woman just wanted blue.


Waiting for the paint to dry was worth it! Once finished Daddy said they smelled like mint-y cake. They couldn’t help smelling their feet off and on for the rest of the evening. “Mmmmm, my feet smell like pizza.” insisted Little Woman, she says everything smells like pizza lately.

Spa night worked out great! They where quiet and relaxed the whole time (other then the giggling out bursts during the sea salt scrub) and it really mellowed them out for the rest of the night.

Busy fussing with them, my toes remain unpainted and I do not have clean soft feet that smell like mint-y cake… BUT my spa treatment was to put the crew to bed and sit down to a cup of tea, some treats just for Mommy and a post card from my oldest sister to read. All in all a lovely girls night!
TTFN

Impress Myself

I truly impress myself sometimes!
Especially if I have impressed my kids!

No crafting queen here, but now and then I get an idea that bugs me till I try it out and it usually ends up being a little crafty thingy. Usually it involves a wee bit of sewing, and I do mean a wee bit! Rarely does the big machine get pulled out, I am far more enticed by my adorable sewing basket (my Mom gave it to me when I was a little girl) and a simple needle and thread in hand.

The project I am sharing with you today made me beam with pride only because of my sons reaction. After getting frustrated about all the hole-y socks around this house I decided I didn’t think it was fair to waste the ankle piece of the sock just because the toes always go! With a snip those sad socks where cut in two and the top was simple sewn into a wrist band. Big Boy was particularly impressed because his bands had ‘Lightning McQueen’ and ‘Spider-man‘ on them. When I realised he had started wearing them to school, without mentioning it, I was thrilled but the day he came up with another hole-y sock in hand I felt like super mom. Like a gentleman he simple said ‘Mom, when you have some time, I would like some more of your wrist bands please.’ Oh you bet I made it for him as soon as I could!

More hole-y socks show up on my desk by the day!

TTFN