dropped into the freezer

Do you remember how it was in the high-forties Fahrenheit yesterday when we took our walk?

Today it has dropped to -4 Fahrenheit.


No more crawling in the snow!!


I don't know if anyone noticed but DramaQueen wore her crown on her walk yesterday.

various and sundry

I made this magnetic nativity with 25 pieces for the girls to use during the month of December. I used an Usborne cardboard nativity for the figures. Photocopied the stable and decoupaged it a huge round tray that I had painted. I made the magnetic backings different heights so that the figures could be layered, giving it a three-dimensional look. I rather like it.


This gift came along with a personally made thank you card from the lovely and talented Julie at Is There a Shadow? How lucky can I be? Isn't the little book gorgeous!!!



A gazillion years ago Dawn from (4:53 a.m.) sent me this lovely thank you card. It hangs on this lamp in the corner of the dining area.


Two Sunday's ago - on the couch with Dad.



This past Sunday morning.


Last summer's raspberries.


I liked the lines of this shot.


After weeks of frigid weather (lows sub-zero fahrenheit and highs in the teens fahrenheit) today's forty degree weather was delightful so we went for a walk. The snowsuits were worn to keep the girls dry more than to keep them warm.


No matter what I try, I cannot convince the girls, especially Stinkerbell that eating snow is gross. I shudder.


Tossing snow into the creek.

the girls' dress-up clothes I made as their Christmas gifts

17 years ago

Seventeen years ago this evening, when I was a freshman in college I went to the Student Union to ask a senior engineering student if the attraction was mutual. We had to wait until a rather socially dense friend left to discuss our attraction. By the time the discussion was over, it was past midnight and my curfew. I discovered that at midnight we had entered his birthday. I told him I would give him his first birthday present and kissed him.

Well here we are. Seventeen years later.

Tim and I have not been saints. Our marriage is blessed because God chooses to bless it not because it deserves it and while I know that is true for everyone, I feel deeply that we’ve committed many more crimes against each other than deserve the joy we now know.

What I find fascinating is how love changes. I am now at a stage where we love each other despite of our flaws, in fact, we accept the flaws. I know that when I got married I thought I understood loving despite of flaws and thought I was capable of accepting flaws but I know now that I knew nothing and was extremely self-centered. The security of knowing that you are accepted and love even as your body gets flabby and your hair thins and your skin starts to age is a treasure beyond value. I can’t imagine trying to date at my age – insecurity is bad enough when you are a teenager.

I can’t wait to see how our love deepens and grows when we are old.

Tonight at midnight Tim turns 39.



Before his two front teeth were crowned. They were crowned when he was little and he has silver teeth for awhile. His parents were appalled but he was adorable with them.


Isn't he cute?


There are many photos of Tim with his puppies and they are among my favorites.


None of the photos here are taken by me except the last one. These are all photos (duplicates of course) that Tim's mom saved to give his wife.


Senior photos are interesting because they are formal and often lack the personal nature of a candid and yet one knows that the hope for life must be in the eyes of the person photographed because it is a time like no other when one feels one is embarking on the journey of life.


I always thought this was a beautiful and symbolic photo.



Freshman year of college.


Isn't that a great smile?


Of all the photos I've taken of my hubby over the years, this is still my favorite. I took in the college cafeteria shortly after we started dating.

gifts

This was a gift for my FIL. It showcases a bunch of old family photos (years ago when DramaQueen was a newborn I scanned a bunch of their old photos for him - it has come in handy more than once to have them on my hard drive).

It is a Connect Four game. I found the idea at Craftster. You can read about it here.

Crafster - that reminds me of something. My Scrabble board tutorial made The Crafster's Best for 2007 at Crafster.



Speaking of Scrabble boards. My in-laws wanted me to make another one so they could keep one and use one for the party game at Christmas. So I made another one. I used a Golden Gel medium for the finish. It did funky things to the pink squares, they turned orange. Guess I should have sealed it first.



Many, many years ago, one of my aunts (aunt N for those who know her) gave me a jewelry box after her boyfriend broke up with her. I used it until I went to college then I gave it to my youngest sister.

About a year ago I had the brilliant idea to make a dolly wardrobe from a jewelry box but couldn't find what I wanted. I described what I wanted to my Mom and she said that they had an old jewelry box of B's did I want it. I said no - that was mine from Aunt N and yes I did want it.

It was plain, ugly brown. I painted it, distressed it, decoupaged it. I put marigolds on top so that when DramaQueen grew up she could use it for jewelry if she wanted and fairies inside for a surprise.

DramaQueen uses it for her jewelry and that is fine with me. She loves it.


Marigolds on top for the big girl who wants to be.


Fairies for the little girl inside.



I found this a Goodwill last year and thought it would make a great Christmas gift for Stinkerbell. Isn't it pretty?

ALS

Jane lies on the floor staring at the preposterous shadow
which extends across the wall to darken the clock’s face.

Thirty minutes ago, she sat on the edge of the tub arranging her hair,
preparing for the twenty-minute journey downstairs for breakfast.

The impulse to stand and check her face in the mirror failed.

the body will not respond
the brain continues to ask
until tired of echoing requests

it stops - abandoned, Jane watches

shadows stretch and contract: muscles
working autonomously to measure time
as rhythmic as the pulse in Jane’s veins
answering involuntary will


A friend was recently diagnosed with ALS. After a visit at the Mayo Clinic, they decided she has probably had it since 9/11 but the symptoms were always written off as something else. She has declined rapidly in the past six months and is now in a wheelchair and will probably need a feeding tube by next spring. This was inspired (is inspired the right word for negative inspiration?) an incident that occured to her back in October (when she could still walk somewhat).

Origins of Christmas Carols

Sometimes reading about the story behind a hymn or carol is as inspiring as the song itself.

Angels from the Realms of Glory
Hallelujah Chorus
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Oh Come, All Ye Faithful
Silent Night

some of my MIL's garden

caring for children

I know people whose love and fear for their child’s safety is so intense they smother their children. The children have the best car seats on the market, aren’t allowed to explore outside of very tight bounds of safety, and everything thing that may bump, bruise, or cut the child is covered, removed, or softened. They obsess about every little thing edible and otherwise that goes into their child’s mouth.

Often these same parents are the ones who buy all educational toys and use flash cars on their infants. Or they take the flip route and give their child every toy imaginable in a bid to make sure they miss nothing during their childhood.

Don’t get me wrong. Many improvements in child safety are good. For instance, car seats are a lifesaver even though they cramp many a baby’s style. Feeding your child healthy food is admirable. The hands on approach to educating your children is absolutely essential. Toys are nice. But...

My observation is that often these people are so obsessed with the physical well-being of their child that they do not give much thought to the spiritual well-being of their child. Yes, they go to church. Yes, the child has a mealtime prayer. Yes, the child gets a bible-story read to them at bedtime. Yet, there is little attention paid to the child’s true needs.

Children are every bit as spiritual as their parents. Often they are more attune to the emotional/spiritual needs of those around them than adults. In fact, Jesus reminds us that “"I can guarantee this truth: Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

To neglect the spirit is a very bad thing to do.

My humble observation is that often those who worry most about the physical are so unsure about the spiritual/emotional needs of children that they over-compensate in the areas in which they feel confident.

hello

The little girl who sat ahead of us at the Shamu show.

I apologize for disappearing after returning. Stinkerbell has pneumonia. She is greatly improved but for a couple of days, I did a lot of holding. I am now exhausted and achy. I am now resting myself.

I have a bunch of photos from my MIL's yard which I want to share with you all and I have some thoughts (thoughts I always have when comparing my in-law's lifestyle and attitudes with our own) that have clarified and I want to write about. I guess these things will come about in their own time.

Just before Christmas something happened. I started writing poetry again (the date represents the date of the revision).

Transient Global Amnesia
Sunday, January 06, 2008

The sun turned houses,
cars, and traffic signs yellow.
Jane turned south.

She was still in the right state,
every sign had the two initials
needed for proof.

The incline of the horizon
distorted the shadows
flying along the golden grass.

She felt forgotten.

Jane turned north, the level wobbled,
marbles shifted into the depressions
on the northern point of a Chinese star.

Shadows slip past smoothly, then halt
on the far side of small blue globes-
everything points to the horizon.

Jane turns east.