lime green and brick red

Today was another good and full day. I was able to finally buckle down and start on my first Celtic fair quilt. I cut the strips, sewed them together, ironed them, and cut the strips into squares. I'm very pleased with my start on it. It's lime green and black, even though in the picture it looks yellow. I know that lime green for Irish-ness is stretching things a bit, but I just couldn't resist these perfectly coordinating, fun, half price fabrics. I even have a feeling that it is the one most likely to sell. I mean, surely there's someone out there who likes lime green and who has a unique sense of style who will fall so much in love with it that they are willing to shell out some of their hard-earned cash to own it. ; )

Today I also cleaned and cut venison. I'm thankful for my mom who helped me grind and package it. I had forgotten how much tastier good venisonburger is than hamburger...mmm... And I worked on laundry and dishes. Just normal life stuff.

I'm enjoying the cozy, lengthening winter evenings and the opportunity to pull out my oh, so comfy favorite sweaters again. Right now I'm wearing a zip-up brick red one made of some kind of soft, almost shiny cotton.

Life is good...God is good...I'm rejoicing in Him!

pillows and potting soil

This afternoon I went out and bought pillow forms for my two new couch pillows, and now I can post pictures of them! The only problem I'm facing is that both sides are so cute, I don't know which one to face out when they are sitting on the couch. The one on the left is the back of the two new matching pillows. The one in the middle is the front. I love how the antique buttons sewn in the middle of each flower turned out (my mom sewed them on for me). And the oblong plaid pillow is one of a pair that I made over a year ago. I like how they turned out.
We bought a bag of potting soil while we were out and about so that I could re-pot a few of my root bound house plants. You can see from the picture how much fun little man had helping me.
He loves dirt but usually isn't allowed to play with it since that means digging it from around my poor little plants and scattering it all over the floor. Today was an exception. He found a pot that had some dirt left in it and had fun experimenting with it trickling through his fingers.

As the afternoon has progressed, I have gotten a yucky headache. Which is why I'm indulging in afternoon blogging instead of doing other stuff. I still need to finish dinner in addition to having some other things I'd like to take care of tonight, so I will now diligently go take care of them headache or not.

Thoughts

I've been thinking today about various bills that were brought before the voting public in some states concerning prostitution, homosexuality, and abortion. I was exited to hear about how some of the proposed amendments fared and disappointed about others.

As I was thinking about that this morning, I remembered the following verses:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
I Corinthians 6:9-11

You know, I think that as Christians we tend to easily fall into the trap of feeling self-righteously better than others. There are so many ways that this temptation comes, and this morning I found myself beginning to feel a notch above people who participate in such grievous sins. Then God brought the above verses to my mind.

And it hit me. God classified my coveting, putting other things before Him, and bad-mouthing others in the same exact category as He classifies other's homosexuality and immorality. My sin is just as vile and filthy as theirs, and condemned me before my righteous God just as much as theirs condemns them. God loves them and died to free them just as much as He loves and died for me.

Wow.

He has washed me from the filthy, vile sin, set me apart from it as a person holy for Him, He took my penalty and put His own perfect righteousness on me. It was the ultimate makeover. I no longer live a life given to sin. I am no longer condemned!

Wow. I feel almost speechless with wonder and delight over His goodness. May He give me grace to love others as He does and to spread the news of His marvelous, freeing, life giving, loving grace!

Snowy Day Spontenaity

This morning I went over to my mom's house where I helped her with one of her quilt projects. (Since she is visually impaired there are things that work a lot more efficiently if I help her with them; I like it--it makes me feel needed and useful. Plus we enjoy working together.) Then she watched Little Man while I went and voted.

After lunch we went to the store where we bought some groceries and got our free Starbucks coffee for voting. ; ) The very nice lady working there gave us a small hot chocolate for Little Man too! Boy, did he like that. Then my mom came over to my house. I was going to diligently work on the quilts I'm making for my brother-in-law to sell when he sells his Celtic knotwork art this spring at some Celtic fairs (check out his site, it's pretty nifty). But who wants to be predictable when you've just had a good cup of coffee and you are in your cozy living room contentedly watching a movie-set-perfect snow drifting by the windows? I mean, come on, it's a no brainer. ; )

So I decided to be spontaneous. A while back I found the cutest chocolate brown and vanilla ice cream retro flower print fabric at the thrift store. Feeling inspired to dress up our new-to-us couch, I decided to make couch pillows! I will post pictures tomorrow after I buy pillow forms for the cases I made today.

And I decided to make a Very Cute Tote Bag all my own. See, a while back Molly of a Foothill Home Companion posted about the funky-fun apple and orange polka-dot tote she had just made, and I've been mulling over making one of my own since I saw hers. Since I couldn't find the pattern she used, I combined the retro flower print and some leftover curtain fabric with my sewing skills and practical common sense and made up my own! See how cute final product turned out? ; ) Now I can hardly wait to use it.

Little Man is teething hard and is one moody fellow. One moment he will be happy, sweet, and giggly, the next he will be fussing, screaming and hitting. I can understand his grumpiness seeing that he has two molars that are part of the way through and two more that just broke the skin today as well as four other little teeth that I think are trying to come through. : (

Here is a cute picture of him in one of his happy moments. He was all ready to go out into the cold weather and was waiting for me to get my coat on. I couldn't resist snapping a photo of him playing with his trike all bundled up.

Today he started feeding himself with a spoon. He's already getting the concept though he is far from perfecting the art. It's so cute to watch him trying so hard and still getting food all over. I think he might be a lefty since he tried with both hands multiple times and the left hand was consistently less clumsy. I'm not really surprised since both of my grandfathers are left handed.

I think that's all for today, so good night!

I'm glad that every is not like today...

Now hold on a minute, I don't need sympathy; today has been a really good day. In fact, I feel like a super-homemaker! But I'm exhausted. I'm just really glad that God made each day different.

Here's what was on my to-do list today:

~Make a menu for this week
~Wash the weekend accumulation of dishes
~Tidy the upstairs of the house
~Put the bathroom back together and take all the painting tools downstairs
~Sweep and mop the kitchen and dining room floors
~Vacuum the living room, bedroom, and bathroom
~Practice the piano
~Practice the flute
~Make a tasty dinner

Amazingly, I got it all done! In addition, I vacuumed the couch given to us today by my husband's office mate and rearranged the living room. Thankfully Little Man slept a lot today and was fairly good while he was awake.

Here's something cool. You know the couch I mentioned above? Not only is it comfy and in nice shape, but it also is a light tan color that coordinates with our easy chair and gliding rocking chair almost perfectly! How amazing is that?!?

I want to share a couple of pictures of our newly painted bathroom. I think its decor and color scheme is the most nearly perfect of all the rooms in my house. But that's okay since, being an imperfect person, I don't want to live in the middle of perfection.

The valance is just a long piece of green fabric (I think its rayon or silk, but I don't know since it was given to me). It looks like it has tiny moth holes in it, but I couldn't bring myself to throw it away since I loved the color. When we moved into this house, I was glad I had kept it! I just knotted and draped it over the curtain rod without even hemming the ends. It looks quite a bit different this time than it did the first time I put it up. I just couldn't get it to look right the old way, so I tried something new and liked it.

Here's an angle of our sink. I love the two coordinating flower prints. I found them at Goodwill and while I didn't strictly need them, I couldn't pass them up since they were such a perfect match.

I think I will sign off for now...yawn...and maybe I'll even go to bed early...

This Week's Menu

Last fall I started really and truly menu planning. I was making up my menu on a monthly basis. There were many benefits: it was fun, helped me plan to try new recipes, helped me with my shopping, and stopped the "It's 4:30 and I don't know what I'm making for dinner, ahhhhhh!" problem. Then in April we bought a house and moved. And in the comotion of life, my menuing stopped.

Well, life seems to finally be settling back into normalcy. We are getting really and truly settled, and my husband has been asking me to do a menu again (the dear, sensible man realizes better than I do, I think, how much it really helps me). ; ) I have made a few starts but have done a patchy job keeping it up. So today I'm going to start making a real effort to keep on the right track.

I've seen several of my bloggy friends participate in "Menu Plan Monday", and while I don't usually do that sort of thing, I thought that it would be fun and beneficial to participate as well. So, here goes.

Menu for November 3-9

Monday:
Grilled venison (or chicken-depends on factors I don't really want to discuss here) with pasta, homemade tomato sauce (I need to use the next ripe batch of home-grown tomatoes), and mixed veggies

Tuesday: Burritos and salad

Wednesday: Crock pot chili made with lamb neck for flavor and meat and cornbread

Thursday: Roasted chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn

Friday: Chicken Pot Pie made with leftover chicken scraps

Saturday: Chicken noodle soup (homemade noodles) made with broth from chicken bones. I'll freeze the extra chicken broth for future use

Sunday: Leftovers or sandwiches or dinner at my parents' house.

I find that I do well having some scheduled flexibility, so I don't menu-plan breakfast or lunch. Breakfast is usually hot cereal, toast, fruit, and occasionally waffles, pancakes, or french toast. Lunch is often leftovers and sometimes sandwiches.

Can't wait 'till Friday...

Blueberry Bars

Today is a wet and rainy, cloudy and grey day. The perfect day for curling up in the living room with a cup of Oolong tea and a favorite dessert with a good book. Or maybe with a lap top so that I can tell all my bloggy friends about it. ; )

Little Man is napping, my husband is engrossed in music stuff, and I made a favorite dessert. Now I want to share the recipe with you.

Blueberry Oat Bars

Crumbly Crust and Topping:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup cold butter

Blueberry Filling:
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice

2tablespoons water

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, 1 cup sugar and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (I usually start with my pastry cutter, then move on to my fingers since they're usually so much more effective). ; ) Reserve 2 cups for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan; set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine blueberries, cornstarch, lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, and water. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, and "mashing" the blueberries against the side of the pan so that they juice until the mixture is the consistency of a thick yet runny jam. Spread evenly over the crust. Sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and cut into bars. Enjoy the blueberry yummyness!

The Answer to My Election Worries

There is such an election hullabaloo going on as the date where we all flock out to cast our votes gets nearer and nearer. Candidates try to assure the public of their honesty, convince the voters that they have the answer to all our country's ailments, and attempt to make us believe that our confidence should be in them. The media presents arguements for and against various candidates. The descision is futher clouded and make difficult by e-mail forwards of conflicting and somewhat doubtful information, the impassioned debates of friends and aquaintences, and our own ideas and ideals.

Neither of the primary options for that we have for presidents are ideal. It's easy to be fearful of the future. I find myself struggling with fear over who will be elected, over what will happen in my Little Man's lifetimes, over the possibility of economic instability like I've never known, over the grievous wickedness of our nation.

In our family Bible reading in Isaiah, I found the answer to my anxieties and fears about the future. God says:

I, even I, am He who comforts you
Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies
And of the son of man who is made like grass,
That you have forgotten the LORD your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor,
As he makes ready to destroy?
But where is the fury of the oppressor?
The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon,
nor will his bread be lacking.
For I am the LORD your God,
who stirs up the sea and its waves roar
(the LORD of hosts is His name).
Isaiah 51:12-15

There is my answer. The one true God, the almighty, the all-knowing, the awsome, is my God, and He wants to comfort me. He doesn't want me to fear any of His created beings, no matter how fearsome the might seem to me because He is in control. Even if really awful things happen to me, I can still rejoice in knowing that He knows what He is doing and that He will give me an incomprehensibally great reward some day the will make any afflictions that I endure here on earth seem negligible.

There is even more comfort earlier in the chapter. God grafically describes the enduring nature of His righteousness and salvation and the futil fragility of those who do wrong:

Lift up your eyes to the sky,
Then look to the earth beneath;
For the sky will vanish like smoke,
And the earth will wear out like a garment
And its inhabitants will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not wane.
Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
A people in whose heart is My law;
Do not fear the reproach of man,
Nor be dismayed at their revilings.
For the moth will eat them like a garment,
And the grub will eat them like wool
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation to all generations.
Isaiah 51:6-8

Oh, what liberating truth this is! May God enable me to embrace it, and live in it, and reap the benefits of the freedom it gives.

tired tidbits

i have had an extremely profitable day. unfortunately, I'm so tired. and my communication skills are more than seriously lacking. hopefully this will be clearer than pea soup. ; )

i have almost all of our laundry done for the week. the sixth load is in the washing machine, and the fifth one is in the drier. all the clean laundry is folded and put away. it's almost a miracle for that to happen the same day it all got washed, but my mom helped. i also organized my closet, which was a rather large undertaking this time. i went through the clothes in my closet and dresser and my husband's and dresser and decided which things needed to be kept, which needed to be thrown away, and which needed to go the the local thrift store. i am so grateful as i realized that i have grown in the ability to make decisions quickly. maybe it's because of growing up. maybe it's mom-hood. maybe it's a bit of both. ; )

this evening we went over to my parents' house for lunch. after dinner my dad, husband, and another man from church went into the basement where they cut up four sheep that had been given to them and us by a local sheep rancher. i'm really thankful for God's provision of the quantity and quality of specialty meat at very little cost to us (the only cost being the smelly and messy job of cutting it and packaging it). i sure can handle that. ; ) tomorrow i'm planning of finishing cleaning it, grinding some, and packaging it all for the freezer.

speaking of God's provision of meat, my husband went hunting this morning and was able to bring home a nice deer. i'm sorry if i'm grossing anyone out. hunting is kind of an integral part of montana life, and i'm afraid that i forget how shocking it can be. it really is a tremendous way to save on the grocery budget, though. ; )

i was able to IM with one of my best friends in brazil while i was at my parents' house. while my brain was not formulating portuguese thoughts very well tonight, it was so good to catch up with her.

i am glad that tomorrow is a new day. and i'm very thankful that God gives His beloved sleep...

When it rains, it pours...

Well, I guess two blog awards in one weeks isn't quite pouring. ; )



I was excited to get my second blog award from Christina, my first bloggy friend. (Btw, I love the pink and green combination of colors in this one.)


For this award, I'm supposed to list six things I love, so here goes:



1. My Saviour and Friend, Jesus Christ

2. My family (especially my husband and son!)

3. Making stuff (quilts, other sewn items, scrapbooks, food, calligraphy art, and more)

4. Reading

5. Music (playing it and listening to it)

6. Colors (but especially green)



Now I get to pass it on. ; ) I'm supposed to choose six, so here they go (in no particular order).



1. Rachel, who makes me alternately laugh and think. (Sorry, I know you just got one on these Kreative Blog awards, but I couldn't resist since I like your blog so much. ; )

2. Tammie, my mom, whose poetry-prose is beautiful and thought provoking.

3. Kathy whose cooking blog offers mouth-watering recipes.

4. Kristena who has so many creative ideas that I just like to look and absorb them.

5. Jean whose artwork and decor ideas frequently inspire me to make something of my own.

6. Shaina has me impressed by her 6 month menu plan right now.