I am blessed. More importantly, I feel blessed. The older I am the more earnestly I know that what your life is depends almost entirely upon your decision to feel good about it or to feel bad about it.
It really is all about perspective.
I watched a man being interviewed after the devastation in Haiti. He'd lost his very young son. A loss he felt very deeply. However, he chose to feel blessed to have known his son. To have loved and been loved by him. He chose to celebrate is son every single day. It was powerful, humbling, and emotional.
His perspective allowed him to be thankful, grateful and loving right in the midst of the worst loss he'd experienced.
Thanksgiving is approaching and I am truly thankful for all that has been my experience. I am especially thankful for the man I love and who loves me right back.
Happy Turkey Day one and all!
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Bowling Ball Art...
I love stuff in the garden. Probably have mentioned that before. Here is the most recent bowling ball creation! Gift for a good friend. Love it!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
More than... Less than...
I was cruising the web yesterday and came across a post that was basically a rant about a famous blogger. I say rant because the post was filled with bitterness and accusations about how the famous blogger can't possibly be doing...
What this particular post said or who it was written about really isn't important. What struck me about this piece is this:
Why on earth does someone else have to be less than what they are for you to be enough? Why on earth are you comparing yourself to anyone else and deciding that you are a failure? People! Seriously!
Let's start at the beginning, you were born - therefore you are worthy of your time here on earth. You don't have to earn worthiness. You were born. You are enough. You are the only you there is. It's not your job to be anyone else, in fact you can't be anyone else. You can only ever be you. In trying to be someone else, you are still you - just you trying to be someone you aren't.
What is point being ticked someone is doing something you are not? Either you want to do it too, so get out there and do it, or you don't. In which case, why would you be ticked about people doing something you don't want to do? Seriously!
You can only ever be you AND Only you can be you. Which can either be amazing or a bitter, ranting, pity fest. You decide.
No one else has to be less than what they are for you to be worthy. Why? Because you are enough.
You are enough. Period.
This photo was taken by my amazingly talented son.
What this particular post said or who it was written about really isn't important. What struck me about this piece is this:
Why on earth does someone else have to be less than what they are for you to be enough? Why on earth are you comparing yourself to anyone else and deciding that you are a failure? People! Seriously!
Let's start at the beginning, you were born - therefore you are worthy of your time here on earth. You don't have to earn worthiness. You were born. You are enough. You are the only you there is. It's not your job to be anyone else, in fact you can't be anyone else. You can only ever be you. In trying to be someone else, you are still you - just you trying to be someone you aren't.
What is point being ticked someone is doing something you are not? Either you want to do it too, so get out there and do it, or you don't. In which case, why would you be ticked about people doing something you don't want to do? Seriously!
You can only ever be you AND Only you can be you. Which can either be amazing or a bitter, ranting, pity fest. You decide.
No one else has to be less than what they are for you to be worthy. Why? Because you are enough.
You are enough. Period.
This photo was taken by my amazingly talented son.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Harvest Soup
Inspired by a family member, I decided to try putting a days harvest into a pot and turning it into soup. Lots of tomatoes this year, so I filled the pot with them - skins, cores, seeds and all. I added peppers (including one very hot one), garlic and sage all from the garden. From the pantry I added two carrots, two stalks of celery, onion, peppercorns. I let it simmer for a couple of hours, removed the tomato skins and sage twig then blended it right in the pot with the stick blender.
I've never had a stick blender before and I am blown away. Easy and Amazing results! It blended all this wonderful whole foods into the tastiest tomato base. The first time I made it, I turned it into Spicy Tomato Soup, which I served with grilled cheese for a trip down memory lane. I simply added milk to the base after I let it reduce after blending. I like to call it Spicy Tomato Bisque because it sounds fancy, but it doesn't involve seafood, so therefore not truly a bisque.
I've made it a second time, this time I did not remove the tomato skins, and it blended just as well. I also cleared out the veggie drawer, adding mushrooms, zucchini and a small handful of spinach. It blended beautifully, tasted even better than the first and became Chicken Taco Soup.
We have another batch of tomatoes ready for picking and it's destined to become a concentrated base that I'm going to freeze in small zipper freezer bags. By allowing the blended soup to simmer and reduce, I'll end up with soup starter in a bag.
It's so easy, healthy and delicious! I just had to share. I hope it inspires you the way I was inspired!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Electricity
Like a million other people, we were affected by the storms and lost power for days. Thanks to my forward thinking, handy husband we have a generator and were able to power the fridge, freezer, one light, the water pump, a couple of fans, and the LED tv. We are blessed. We lost some limbs, but no damage to the house or cars. We are blessed.
There are still people without power and it's supposed to over 100 today and tomorrow. So for just a minute I'm going to focus all my positive energy in a single direction and pray that everyone is able to thrive during this time.
Last year we chose not to use the air conditioner. Primarily because it was quite old and needed frequent repairs, second because I prefer actual air, not conditioned air, third because we create a better world when we more thoughtfully use our resources. This year, we decided to replace our old unit.
Actually, we've been purposefully replacing all our old appliances and electronics to improve our houses overall energy usage. It started with the television last year, which we replaced a plasma with an LED TV. The picture quality is fantastic. The screen size is exactly the same, but the housing and weight of the TV is greatly reduced. The best part is the energy usage is less than half for the LED.
That started me thinking about what else in our house was ancient. Replacing the fridge reduced our monthly electric bill by $20 - no joke. The old fridge was more than 10 years old and was a very basic model. The new fridge, with all the modern technology, is rated at $51 dollars a year (actual usage may vary ;). $5 a month!
We've replaced light bulbs (LED's are quite expensive, but I've begun switching to them as the cost to run is so minimal); the dishwasher, and the washing machine. All of which have contributed to an overall smaller electric bill which means less energy usage.
So, we started looking at air conditioners. Last year it was pretty uncomfortable in August and this year we'd already experienced several 90 degree days. Plus, the old unit was 15 years old and we just couldn't see putting more money into it. In addition, the furnace was also 15 years old and not very efficient either. Turns out we would benefit from a whole new heating/cooling system.
After several quotes and much consideration we jumped in with both feet. There are a lot of choices and you just have to go with your instincts. My best advice: educate yourself, get more than one quote, stick to your budget, keep an open mind, trust your instincts. (Actually that advice is good for everything, isn't it?)
They came, spent two days, left us with more than we expected, wouldn't leave until we were happy - and we are. One full month into it, we are happy! It has been quite a month of high temps, storms and power outages, but every single time it kicks on, or we come into the house, we are happy. It's quiet, cool and best of all efficient. Our old unit cost us at least $100 every month we used it. This unit was just $45 for this first month. Chances are it will be higher as the summer progresses.
There are still people without power and it's supposed to over 100 today and tomorrow. So for just a minute I'm going to focus all my positive energy in a single direction and pray that everyone is able to thrive during this time.
Last year we chose not to use the air conditioner. Primarily because it was quite old and needed frequent repairs, second because I prefer actual air, not conditioned air, third because we create a better world when we more thoughtfully use our resources. This year, we decided to replace our old unit.
Actually, we've been purposefully replacing all our old appliances and electronics to improve our houses overall energy usage. It started with the television last year, which we replaced a plasma with an LED TV. The picture quality is fantastic. The screen size is exactly the same, but the housing and weight of the TV is greatly reduced. The best part is the energy usage is less than half for the LED.
That started me thinking about what else in our house was ancient. Replacing the fridge reduced our monthly electric bill by $20 - no joke. The old fridge was more than 10 years old and was a very basic model. The new fridge, with all the modern technology, is rated at $51 dollars a year (actual usage may vary ;). $5 a month!
We've replaced light bulbs (LED's are quite expensive, but I've begun switching to them as the cost to run is so minimal); the dishwasher, and the washing machine. All of which have contributed to an overall smaller electric bill which means less energy usage.
So, we started looking at air conditioners. Last year it was pretty uncomfortable in August and this year we'd already experienced several 90 degree days. Plus, the old unit was 15 years old and we just couldn't see putting more money into it. In addition, the furnace was also 15 years old and not very efficient either. Turns out we would benefit from a whole new heating/cooling system.
After several quotes and much consideration we jumped in with both feet. There are a lot of choices and you just have to go with your instincts. My best advice: educate yourself, get more than one quote, stick to your budget, keep an open mind, trust your instincts. (Actually that advice is good for everything, isn't it?)
They came, spent two days, left us with more than we expected, wouldn't leave until we were happy - and we are. One full month into it, we are happy! It has been quite a month of high temps, storms and power outages, but every single time it kicks on, or we come into the house, we are happy. It's quiet, cool and best of all efficient. Our old unit cost us at least $100 every month we used it. This unit was just $45 for this first month. Chances are it will be higher as the summer progresses.
Friday, June 15, 2012
True Story of an Everyday Hero who Squared a Quilt!
Okay... This is going to a little difficult because I don't have actual pictures from the event. But I think it's important to document for anyone else out there who might be trying to figure out how to get a reasonably square quilt at the end of the process.
First of all, when I was making the strip quilt for my son, none of the rows were the exact same length. The way I worked the cutting of the strips was to make them all the same height, but I didn't do anything to decision the length. That was determined by the fabric and how much shrinkage occurred in the wash. Because all fabric shrinks differently and because I used embroidered panels, which were all different sizes, and because I did not want any seams to line up, the edges of the finished quilt top were very uneven.
At the point where the quilt had been quilted and it was time to sew the binding on, I absolutely had no idea how to proceed. I read every blog entry, watched every You Tube video, and checked out every available book from the library. I researched for a day and a half to no avail. No where could I find an honest discussion of what to do if your quilt top isn't magically square. Now I realize that not everyone has my inability to get the seams to line up, but come on! I don't believe for one minute that every quilter hasn't struggled with edges that are out of square at least once.
And if there is a good discussion of it, I could not find it.
Graduation is looming and I'm beginning to freak out. Though my husband doesn't quilt or sew, he is the handiest person I know and has an abundance of common sense. Sometimes I find that just by talking in through with someone else I can arrive at the solution and I was hoping this was the case this time. So I say to my husband "I need some help trying to figure out how to get this quilt square." "Ok." is his reply.
Several hours later, I'm hanging out the back door yelling into the looming darkness "I really need some help trying to figure out how to get this quilt square or square-ish". There is an element of frantic desperation in that phrase.
He comes in, looks at the quilt, I explain what needs to happen and what my thoughts are. (My plan was to tape a piece of yarn to each side of the top of the quilt, eyeball it and cut. He says why don't we just run some painters tape all the way down each side. Okay! So we do that. It doesn't look even. I adjust by picking the tape up, moving it a little and sticking it back down. My youngest strolls through, looks at it and says it isn't straight. He adjusts. I look at it - it still doesn't look straight. Hubby looks at it, adjusts the tape and then we both look at it. It just doesn't look straight.
Now, I'm going to tell you the truth, though it ain't pretty... At this point I'm on the edge. We are standing there looking at this thing, it's the night before graduation and by now it's 9:30 at night. I've been working on this quilt for two solid days and it was HOT! I can feel the tears welling up and I hear myself saying "I just need to suck it up and cut it." I'm not sure, but I think I might have stamped my foot in frustration. My husband lays a hand on my arm and says "Well, hold on now. We just need to think about this a minute because I'm sure we can get it lined up."
He begins talking about pinning the corners & measuring diagonally and I start crying in earnest. He may as well have been speaking a foreign language for as much of that as I understood in that moment. But, as I have no ideas and I trust him with my life I say okay. I took a minute to blow my nose and drink some water, then asked him to explain again. And this is what we did.
We put a pin in each of the top corners of the quilt. Measured that distance (68"). Then we measured down the side of the quilt to the same distance on each side (78") and put pins in the bottom corners at the same width as the top measurement. So the pins were marking the quilt at 68 x 78. Then we took the two diagonal measurements and compared the numbers. Because they were not the same meant we had a parallelogram, rather than a rectangle. By moving each of the top pins over an inch, measuring the two diagonals again, moving the pins another 1/4 inch, we ended up with a rectangle. Once we were sure of the pin placement, we moved the tape to the inside of the pins and cut.
I was afraid, but I'll be darned if it didn't work. Even after sewing on the binding, those quilt corners all meet up. I hope I've explained this fairly well and that even without pictures it can help you if you find yourself in a similar situation!
And that is the true story of an everyday hero who made a quilt square and saved his wife's sanity ♥
First of all, when I was making the strip quilt for my son, none of the rows were the exact same length. The way I worked the cutting of the strips was to make them all the same height, but I didn't do anything to decision the length. That was determined by the fabric and how much shrinkage occurred in the wash. Because all fabric shrinks differently and because I used embroidered panels, which were all different sizes, and because I did not want any seams to line up, the edges of the finished quilt top were very uneven.
At the point where the quilt had been quilted and it was time to sew the binding on, I absolutely had no idea how to proceed. I read every blog entry, watched every You Tube video, and checked out every available book from the library. I researched for a day and a half to no avail. No where could I find an honest discussion of what to do if your quilt top isn't magically square. Now I realize that not everyone has my inability to get the seams to line up, but come on! I don't believe for one minute that every quilter hasn't struggled with edges that are out of square at least once.
And if there is a good discussion of it, I could not find it.
Graduation is looming and I'm beginning to freak out. Though my husband doesn't quilt or sew, he is the handiest person I know and has an abundance of common sense. Sometimes I find that just by talking in through with someone else I can arrive at the solution and I was hoping this was the case this time. So I say to my husband "I need some help trying to figure out how to get this quilt square." "Ok." is his reply.
Several hours later, I'm hanging out the back door yelling into the looming darkness "I really need some help trying to figure out how to get this quilt square or square-ish". There is an element of frantic desperation in that phrase.
He comes in, looks at the quilt, I explain what needs to happen and what my thoughts are. (My plan was to tape a piece of yarn to each side of the top of the quilt, eyeball it and cut. He says why don't we just run some painters tape all the way down each side. Okay! So we do that. It doesn't look even. I adjust by picking the tape up, moving it a little and sticking it back down. My youngest strolls through, looks at it and says it isn't straight. He adjusts. I look at it - it still doesn't look straight. Hubby looks at it, adjusts the tape and then we both look at it. It just doesn't look straight.
Now, I'm going to tell you the truth, though it ain't pretty... At this point I'm on the edge. We are standing there looking at this thing, it's the night before graduation and by now it's 9:30 at night. I've been working on this quilt for two solid days and it was HOT! I can feel the tears welling up and I hear myself saying "I just need to suck it up and cut it." I'm not sure, but I think I might have stamped my foot in frustration. My husband lays a hand on my arm and says "Well, hold on now. We just need to think about this a minute because I'm sure we can get it lined up."
He begins talking about pinning the corners & measuring diagonally and I start crying in earnest. He may as well have been speaking a foreign language for as much of that as I understood in that moment. But, as I have no ideas and I trust him with my life I say okay. I took a minute to blow my nose and drink some water, then asked him to explain again. And this is what we did.
We put a pin in each of the top corners of the quilt. Measured that distance (68"). Then we measured down the side of the quilt to the same distance on each side (78") and put pins in the bottom corners at the same width as the top measurement. So the pins were marking the quilt at 68 x 78. Then we took the two diagonal measurements and compared the numbers. Because they were not the same meant we had a parallelogram, rather than a rectangle. By moving each of the top pins over an inch, measuring the two diagonals again, moving the pins another 1/4 inch, we ended up with a rectangle. Once we were sure of the pin placement, we moved the tape to the inside of the pins and cut.
I was afraid, but I'll be darned if it didn't work. Even after sewing on the binding, those quilt corners all meet up. I hope I've explained this fairly well and that even without pictures it can help you if you find yourself in a similar situation!
And that is the true story of an everyday hero who made a quilt square and saved his wife's sanity ♥
Monday, June 11, 2012
Another garden project
Have you noticed my obsession with garden art? I don't really know why, and I'm not sure that it matters, but I love unexpected stuff in the garden. This little project, completed much the same way as the bowling ball, now hangs in a walnut tree. Things hanging in trees = ♥. To the baseball covered in stones, I added an eye screw and some jack chain. Have you ever seen a more beat up, well loved baseball? Me, either! I decided to try gluing to it and it worked out fairly well. There are a couple of pretty large gashes that were tricky to cover, but with enough glue all things are possible ;)
You can still see the baseball through the gaps and while I could have added another layer to hide that, I prefer it this way. The color of the baseball is a perfect backdrop to the creamy white stones and being able to see the stitching gives it humor and that makes it even better!
With graduation surrounding me, I've uncovered some wonderful quotes, which can be applied to your life at any time whatsoever...
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary... Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” – Steve Jobs
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