Wednesday, March 30, 2011

AMAZING!!

As part of a promise I made to myself was to connect with ALLLL my favorite bloggers. And Anna Allen at Graceful Lady is no exception. She is a talented seamstress (she created the wonder jacket she is wearing *sigh*) that lives in this old church from the turn of the century which is perfect for her since her gifted hands create reenactment garments from the Civil War period. And as any honest sewer will tell you - you must be gifted to tackle that era ... the details are tremmmmendous. Anyhow apparently she isn't the only talented one in her family... her siblings wanted to make a short film and it is THE MOST bewitching things I have seen ... from the camera shots to the music (for those taking the "A Better Us" challenge this band is totally safe-the band's name is Balmorhea and the song is "Rememberance") it is captivating, enchanting and haunting - I absolutely LoOoVe it - so much I HAD to share it. Please pass it along. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go create something =D

Monday, March 28, 2011

Fixing An Old Friend

I can't remember the first time I laid eyes on my old friend. She has been with me for at least 30 years!! Not only has she kept me safe from vampires (did you know vampires can't bite thru cotton! LOL childhood superstitions) and warm but also was a tent, a raft, and a superman cape for the kids. Ahhhhhh the memories.
I always thought she was meant for just me - since it had my name on it. That she was created magically and found its way to me.
Well after all these years she is starting to look her age =D So into the repair shop she goes.
As I stitch her I wonder what else she will be to the next generation: A throw on the floor? Will they learn their alphabets (well part) and colors from these blocks? How about an Aladdin rug that will fly us to far away lands? A picnic blanket when we take them to the park? What will you be my dearest and oldest friend?
Now with Spring here I will place you with prominence.The best thing about this sheet (it has no backing-it is simply a bunch of scraps of fabric sewn together) is that she is so colorful and  lightweight perfect for Phoenix summers. I adore her imperfections (seems that don't meet right) it shows that others tried to save her too. Welcome my dearest friend - I have missed you so very much.

*Please check out Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphis Monday. There are so many great ideas*

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Challenge #1

OK ... this will be the first in the series (A Better Us) of this particular challenge - it is created to keep me focused on what is truely important in life: God and family. I am NOT saying that friends, volunteering or church are not important - they have their place but I just want to focus on the top two tier for now. In my life sometimes I get too wrapped up in other peoples stupidity, that my life ends up being ... unbalanced and I have missed too much of my family's time that I will never get back because of this weekness. We have all done it whether it is too many commitments with work or friends or even church - these activities brings us home too late and exhausted, we become rushed and aggitated, none of is in God's plan for a happy, loving family. So from time to time I reassess what is going on in my life to catch these kinds of problems before my life gets too out of control and as martiarch of my family I realize the power that I have to influence those around me. When I am calm so are they or atleast I can cope better when problems come up. I DO NOT want to be one of those women who have lost everything great in their life and wonder what went wrong - I REFUSE!!!!

Before I get to the challenge I have a few rules:

~1st - you can not tell anyone that you are doing this - in Matthew 6:16-18 it speaks about how to behave when you are fasting and says that you should wash your face and comb your hair and behave like you are not fasting and your Heavenly Father you sees what you do in private will bless you.
~2nd - you DO NOT have the right to insist or pressure someone else to do these activities - this challenge is for personal growth and as we ALLLLL know you CAN NOT change someone if they don't want to do it. You can change others behaviors. When they see how YOU have changed - they will follow .... eventually.
~3rd - you need to do these challenges with an open heart - God can not enter your heart if the door is shut.

Back to the challenge.

Challenge #1 - You are to only listen to certain music: either classical or jazz WITHOUT any lyrics (Mozart or Miles Davis) or christian music (gospel, alternative, whatever tickles your fancy). *This is especially important when you are in your car but DO NOT change someones station if you know they are going to have a problem - rules #1 and #2 - and if someone asks "why are you listening to that?!" just simply say "I don't know - they played a song that sounded nice and I've just been listening ever since". Period - end of discussion.

This weeks challenge is somewhat simple. When one goes on a spiritual diet one needs to clean out the fridge EVERYTHING MUST get tossed, it needs to be scrubbed and it needs to be filled with fresh wholesome food. Well that is what I (we?) will be doing. With ALL the negative that come towards us we need to strengthen our spiritual armour. So this challenge is to do just that - to fill our soul with positive and/or unconditional love or at the best NO more negative images. This is kinda tough for me ... I LOOOVE my classic rock but The Doors "Back Door Man" doesn't rreaalllly fill me with positive love or ACDC's "Dirty Deeds" conjures up images on how I can "take care" of those who have crossed me ... not the positive energy I need to strengthen me. My second problem is that I really don't like tradional christian music - it conjures up images of tent revival and cults but there is a station Air 1 that I have found - they play "positve-alternative" music and I can actually listen to it. Listen at work if you can or down load songs into your MP3 player for a more "personal" listening. Think of how your world will change - you will arrive to work/home calmer and more at peace - now isn't that what everyone wants. A better you. I will let you know next Sunday how this challenge went and post a new one.






Sorry


Sorry about the mess - I hope to be done updating this week.
I'm not as tech savvy as others but I'll get there =D

Friday, March 25, 2011

Shabat Shalom

Looking them in the face, Jesus said to them,
"With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Matthew 19:26

Bad Washer! Bad Washer!

I get a call from my sweet Mr. from work and in the middle of the conversation he says that there is water in the kitchen and he went to the laundry room and the washer is leaking *o* Not cool!! So now I am off washer shopping - ugh - our Hawaii trip is 9 days away I don't want to spend $500 on a new washer! I want to shop for flip flops! *tears* Maybe if I get a great deal - I can get a washer and flip flops *giggles* I will keep you posted on this major drama.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Donate!!


Donate! Donate your time, money, skills - it doesn't matter just donate! There are sooooo many suffering and in need of your help - it is our duty as children of God to help each other when we can. This isn't the same as giving money to guy on the corner who will spend the cash on alcohol - this is someone who has lost evvvvverthing and is just wanting some food for themselves and their families. My favorite "go to" charity is The Red Cross - they are the first to get in and start helping - please see what you can do. But there are so many people that are setting up support for Japan and over at Posy Gets Cozy she put up a post linking others who are paticipating in donations/auctions.

In the Bible Nehemiah was assigned to rebuilding the wall around the city - which was a daunting task but instead of one guy building the new wall, everybody pitched in by doing only a section of the wall because of this - the wall was rebuilt in record time. The point is, sometimes a job is too big for just one person to do by themselves but together we can do wonders. Think ... if a billion people only donated a dollar to Japan - even more if you think of what your drink at Starbucks cost now *o* Again we are all connected some how - some way and besides you never know next time the person needing help is ... you.

Monday, March 21, 2011

I DID IT!!!!!

I GOT MY LICENSE!!!!
I AM a licensed aesthetician!!
I can't get over it! I'm just blown away!
Allllll the studying - Allllll the hours away from my family.It all payed off - extra classes, perfect attendance, honor roll!I had a few doubts that I would (others didn't but I did).