Evolution of the Neighbor's Tree

Kind of sad, isn't it...a bare-naked tree.  At least it can provide a home to a bird in that nest way at the top!

Baby Quilt

I did it.

I finished a quilt.

All by myself.

Granted, it was a baby quilt.

But, the important thing is....I finished it ALL!

See, I've started multiple quilt tops and actually have finished...one.

With help.

On the first quilt, which was a wall hanging, a friend did the binding (outside) for me.

On this one, I did the binding and the quilting stitch. 

It only took me a year.

Seriously.

Here is the finished blankie.

Amazing!  It was fun and in my brother Jim's words...I did it! 

Beauty

I drove to the Town-of-My-Birthplace last week.  It was a beautiful fall day and I decided to ditch the interstate and drive back roads as far as I could.  It was as if God removed the veil from my eyes and allowed me to see the beauty of everything that I saw.  Colors were very vibrant and alive.  My spirit was refreshed and energized by that drive.  Several times I pulled the car over, actually put the car in park, and snapped some pictures.  There was a bald eagle at the side of the road that I didn't get a picture of but it was breathtaking!

God is so good to us.  The beauty He created just for us to enjoy.  Here are a few of the pictures for you to enjoy along with a verse that just seems to go along with how I felt during that drive.

Isaiah 52:7


How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger bringing good news, Breaking the news that all's well, proclaiming good times, announcing salvation, telling Zion, "Your God reigns!" Voices! Listen! Your scouts are shouting, thunderclap shouts, shouting in joyful unison. They see with their own eyes God coming back to Zion. Break into song! Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem: "God has comforted his people! He's redeemed Jerusalem!" God has rolled up his sleeves. All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm. Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other, sees him at work, doing his salvation work.

Praise You, Lord!

Family Room Project

Our family room had become a storage room. Furniture from Kidlet Two's apartment(s) that he couldn't use in his current apartment was added to the furniture we already had. Furniture from The Father-in-Law's move out of his apartment into an assisted living joined our home. Oh, and the huge net you see there. Well, that goes to the Joe Mauer Batting machine that I wrote about here.

 Over a period of four to six months I started tackling this problem area. Oh, and the paint on the walls was this:

 After clearing a path to get to the walls, I was astonished to see many, many, many divots in the walls.  Divots that I guessed Kidlet Two might know something about.  See, when he was a teenager living at home, he got an air soft gun.  And he has now admitted to shooting the walls in the basement.  Multiple times. All over....

I spent HOURS patching the walls and sanding.

 The prep includes taping and sure takes a long time.

 From eggshell white walls I chose two-tone colors for this room.  The paint on the right is called Cocoa Bean and the paint on the left is called Chalkware.  I called them chocolate and vanilla ice cream!

 Kidlet Three helped me roll on the paint.

Walls that have shown fingerprints in the past are now painted that wonderful chocolately color that will hide marks.

 Cutting in...

 And getting rid of all of the stenciling I did about 20 years ago!

 Here is a shot of the almost finished room.  Some furniture has been re-arranged but we now have a functional family room. 

We love this room!  It is amazing!

Comfort

Today I am finding great comfort from Isaiah 30:18. The first occurrence listed is from the New International Version. The second occurrence is from The Message Version.


May this verse bring comfort to you, too.

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!

But God's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you.
He's gathering strength to show mercy to you.
God takes the time to do everything right—everything.
Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.

No-See-Ums

Yup, that is my neck.

You should see my arms and lower legs.

The weather was so beautiful here this weekend.  The Husband, Kidlet Three and I started winterizing outside.  The deck furniture was wrapped up and tucked under the deck.  Flowers were dug out of the flower boxes.  Flower pots were emptied and stored until spring.

All the time these tiny, No-See-Um bugs were biting me.  I was like a walking buffet for them.

Did I think of coming back into the house for bug spray?

Nope.  Who uses bug spray in October?

I do have to tell you that whenever I get bit by a deer fly I swell to abnormal sizes.  So I am not surprised that I'm reacting to these little guys.

Hey, I could do a commercial for Benadryl Anti-Itch gel.  It has become my friend and it really works!

Lucy Strikes Again

I had another Lucille Ball-type adventure.  I did not have to chase after my car again in this adventure, thankfully.

A friend asked me to pray for her husband.  He has some health issues and was in a serious flare and she asked me to remember him in prayer.  As we finished our conversation, I did pray for her husband.  To keep him anonymous, I'm going to call him Jim-Bob.  I prayed for him quickly with the promise to myself that I would remember to keep praying for him.

But I didn't write this prayer request down.  First mistake.  In the brain and right back out of the brain that prayer went.  It seems if I don't write things down these days I forget them.

However, I remembered Jim-Bob just as I was dozing off to sleep that night.  Ah ha!  I did remember on the same day as the initial request!  So I prayed for courage and strength to get through this flare.  And that he would be ultimately healed of this nagging disease.  And to remember to tell his wife that I had prayed, I turned my nightlight on to write myself a note.  But I didn't have any scratch paper on my nightstand, just a pen and my Bible.  So I made my own "palm pilot".  I wrote on the back of my hand.  I wrote JIM-BOB in big letters so in the morning I could email Mrs. Jim-Bob to see how her husband was feeling.

Then I turned off the light and curled up in my fetal position for a good night's sleep.

The next morning the alarm goes off and I stumble into the bathroom, turn on the light and first notice how scary my hair looks.  Squinting through my eyes that don't want to open yet, something is on my face.  I had to lean way into the mirror to figure out just what in the world was on my cheek. 

Oh the horror.  The words JIM-BOB were imprinted on my cheek.

Seems I sleep with my hand tucked near my cheek so all night long the name of another man was being imprinted on my face.

I did NOT go wake up The Husband to let him see this.  Somehow I knew he wouldn't think it was funny.  With my eyes very wide open now, I grabbed my washcloth and scrubbed my cheek.  Thankfully the ball point pen ink came right off.

Now Lucille Ball would've somehow had a pen with unwashable ink.  Thankfully, I got out of this one without anyone knowing....until now!

Lucy and I are amazingly alike!

Taco Soup

I've been in a cooking and baking mode.  My boys are very happy!  Today I made Roasted Pork Loin in Ginger.  Then I made homemade rolls.  The plan is to have some nummy pork sandwiches for supper. 

The problem is that I haven't been good in my tracking what I've been eating this week.  So one pork sandwich could end up being three.  I know myself.

So.....

I also made a pot of Taco Soup which on the Weight Watcher web site calculates out to 2 or 3 points per cup.  And a cup of this soup fills me up.

This will be my lunches for the week and will keep me from snacking in the afternoons.

I can't take credit for this delicious soup.  See I ride the City Bus to work and a lady that gets on two stops after me gave me the recipe.  Her name is Cindy so I'll give a shout out to Cindy...THANKS FOR RECIPE CINDY!

1 pound hamburger browned with 1/2 chopped onion. 

 

Oh, I love onion so I really used about 3/4 of a large onion.

All of the canned goods listed below should not be drained.  Pour the whole thing in.

1 can Rotelle tomatoes (I bought the  can with lime juice and cilantro for an extra "bite")

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can chili beans with gravy

1 can pinto beans (sometimes I use black beans)

1 can whole kernel corn










To the browned hamburger, add 1 package taco seasoning mix and 1 envelope dry Hidden Valley Ranch dressing.  Now if you don't have the dry ranch mix, do like I do.  Use the prepared dressing.  I added about 1/8 cup to the soup.

Mix all ingredients into a crockpot or stock pot and simmer for 1 hour. 

And then ladle up a cup of this delicious taco soup. 

Amazingly delicious and it freezes well, too!