Stumbling around in heat induced delirium

The weather is HOT!! I know, I know, it's summer right? You could go back just a few posts and read where I was complaining about how cold it was and how I longed for warm weather. Now
it's here and I am once again complaining because it's hot. It's not so much that I don't like the heat. Really it doesn't bother me all that much,and seeing how I live in the mountains, it isn't as bad as my "peeps" who live in Florida. It's just that with the heat comes the heaty grumps. You know the ones where you fear anyone coming within a few feet of you on the off chance they may want to touch you, driving your body heat up a few painful degrees, not to mention the fact that they might just block the fan's cool breeze that you just spent fifteen minutes setting to blow perfectly in your direction.
The heat I believe is what has contributed to the boys new game of "Clash of the Titans". Not so much a game as it is a reenactment, which leads usually to tattling and trying to see who can say "OUCH" the loudest, thus seeing how loud my Medusa impression can get and just how far away from each other I will make them go. And yet they seem drawn back to each other with some sort of internal brotherly gravity.
Lady little has completely given up on the boys and their new pass time and has tucked herself away in her room until the exact time she will leave for her summer tour. I can't say I blame her. Sometimes it is best to be grumpy all alone.
I don't mean to make it sound like times are miserable, they're not at all. There is plenty of happy sand play and bike riding, it's just that between the hours of 3 and 6 when the sun hits just right on the house to drive the inside temps up 5 or 10 degrees its not a pretty sight.
And so I sit this morning searching for something to fill those miserably hot hours before dinner, bath and bed. In part I am also putting off the list of things to do today. The washer is running, but I dread the dishwasher. I need to clean and garden, but for now I just need a little time wasting.
My sweet techie girl introduced me to stumbleupon.com a few months ago. I'm always looking for new craft ideas and it is a fun and free way to waste time while collecting ideas for gifts. I love to be crafty. The problem is that it can get expensive, and so I am always looking to something that I can make out of something I already have. A few weeks ago I took apart the kids old bikes and organized all of the parts and made a Father's Day gift for my Dad. Sounds fun right? He will read this and wonder, but I really think and definitely hope that he will like it. I would put up a picture, but the gift is on it's way, so I will have to wait until next week so as to not ruin the surprise. Anywhoo, I love taking something and turning it into something else. Finding life in something inanimate. I am most definitely that lady that will knit sweaters out of old dryer lint when I am old, but for now I try to stick to things that are more on the "normal" side. Normal is most likely not the right word to put there but you get my meaning I'm sure.
I save cans and bottles, because you never know when you can use them. Starbucks coffee jars are really pretty when you take the wrapper off and add colored beads, and then wire them to
hang in the window. They would also make great votive holders, except I don't light candles very often, for fear that I will get caught up in craft land and burn the whole darn place to the ground. My husband knows the look I get when I am intrigued by something. He can look at me and immediately know that while he doesn't know where I am going, I am most assuredly
somewhere else. Last night my sweet girl asked me why I had cans in the dishwasher.
"I'm saving them," I said.
"For what," was her next question.
"I don't know, I might want to make something with them,".
She had a look of fear, like my answer was going to be that I was making her a new outfit for her first day of her sophomore year.
"Well, o.k., as long as you don't turn in to one of those whorder people I'm fine with it. "
I have stashes of fabric and paper, beads and paint. I just sometimes need a little help with what to do with it. As I was "stumbling" this morning I found a site that showed me how to make a gift box out of a soda can. I felt better. It looked like fun. I also learned that I'm not the only one who likes to make something out of nothing. And believe me I will show Lady little as soon as she wakes just to ease her fears.

Glorious Perspective

Good days and bad days. You know how it goes. I have days where the fear creeps up and smacks me even before I heard it creeping. Most days I'm fine, and able to appreciate all of the wonder that comes with the simple life we live. Watching the Littles grow up in this calm little cove, spending time with my neighbor/adoptive family member/garden buddy/mentor on all things, seeing my husband appear through the door after work and watching the kiddos run and announce that "DADDY'S HOME". Life is good all the time, and yet those creeping fears still seem to surface. The fact that my husband's job may just be teetering on the edge as so many are these days, and the fact that might mean that I will be adding server to my profile once again. I sometimes need to stop and remind myself that we will have food and a home, and that most importantly, no matter how bad things get we will still have those same friends and family there to love us no matter what. I see my worries and they are quickly put into perspective when I talk with that same buddy and he tells me that his wife of over 50 years is not feeling well and there will be tests and possibly surgery. I see the creeping fear in his eyes when he lets himself go to that place where his beloved is gone and he is still here. Most fear full moments
pass quickly and most times I find it quite easy to put things back into perspective. I can just open my eyes and look around, and see the situations that others are facing and realize that we have it so good. And so,the other morning while taking some pictures of my newly flourishing
garden, I thought it was time for a little inspiration. I pulled out my Bible and a stack of quote books and searched for anything to pass something on. Of course I didn't have to look for long before I found enough for 15 posts. The funny thing is that before I could get this post written, something happened that put everything just a little further into focus. As Lady little and I ran out for treats last night to celebrate the last day of school, the hubs called to let me know that the power had gone out. As we arrived back in the cove we passed all of the dark houses with doors open. Complete silence. This time rather than the power being restored within a short time it was out all evening and well into the night. I sat with my babes all huddled on the couch talking and telling stories. We watched as the first lightening bugs of the summer appeared all over the front yard, and just sat in silence as they flickered magically as far as we could see. We watched as our neighbors came by to check on a homebound family member. We watched and listened for the trucks from the power company, an then watched again as their mighty spotlights danced around looking for the problem. We talked about how things used to be, not so long ago, right in this very spot. How they used to wash their clothes in the same creek that they bathed in. The simpler times with much harder work days. Ahh how wonderful it is to gain glorious perspective. Times when you did what you did to survive and then went to sleep at night being thankful for the wonderful abundance that you were given so graciously.




Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again:Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to tall. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4




Not what we have, but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.
John Petit- Senn





Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.
Marianne Williamson




Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and yo will find rest for your souls."
Matthew 11: 28,29





This is the gift- to have the wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly, and naively, the basic goods of life with awe, pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy.
Abraham Maslow





All the really great things in life are expressed in the simplest words;
friends and family; purpose and meaning; love and work; caring and community; appreciation and gratitude.
Dan Zadra



Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
Wayne Dyer





We are most alive in those moments when our heart are conscious of our treasures.
Thornton Wilder






Therefore, since we have been justified though faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained
access by faith into this grace, in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
Romans 5: 1-5





The world is grand, awfully big and astonishingly beautiful, frequently thrilling.
Dorothy Kilgallen







What we need is to love without getting tired. How does a lamp burn? Through the continuous input of small drops of oil. What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent, of looking speaking and of acting. Do not look for Jesus away from yourselves. He is not out there; He is in you. Keep your lamp burning and you will recognize Him.
Mother Teresa




The Lord is my shepherd;I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23