Build a New Boat...

Do not continue
to bail out
the leaky boat

let it sink
save your energy
to build another

I read this poem, written by Andrew Frueh, and it spoke volumes to me about my life. Good words of wisdom to ponder and act upon. There are many things that I've been working hard to "fix" and maybe I need to to consider coming at things from a different direction. Very cool.

Suburban Farm Girl...

Lately I've been thinking about stuff. Doing stuff, dreaming up stuff....just stuff!

Anyway, as I was growing up, I lived on a wheat and soy bean farm. We had chickens, and horses, and kittens, and dogs, a couple of ducks, and a tom turkey. It wasn't bliss, but it was my life. Riding on a pile of just-harvested wheat in the back of the wheat truck on the way to the grain elevator. Eating fresh wheat by the handful, turning into "gum" from the gluten. Digging up dirt with nothing more than a shovel and a hoe for our garden. (The tractor and plow were always used for Granddaddy's turnip patch, but not our garden by the house.) Walking in a wheat field full of golden heads of wheat with that dried grass smell wafting on the hot summer breeze. Walks down to "The Crossing", skipping stones in the creek, shooting tin cans with BB's, wading in the cool water. My mom taught me how to knit, my grandma taught me how to sew. Both of them, along with my other grandma taught me how to cook and bake and make homemade icecream (and snow icecream). My family wasn't rich, I wore clothes from the thrift store (before it was the thing to do), and we saved everything because it might be "something useful" later on.

So we'll fast-forward to life today. I work full-time, and I'm getting ready to start classes (summer or fall, not sure which) to finish my degree. I live in "suburbia" with all of the fast-paced-ness that it brings. We're helping start a new church, which brings a few time-consuming events along with it also. There never seems to be "time". Time to just do "stuff". Lately, and I guess it's coming with life finally settling into some kind of crazy routine again, I've been thinking about making things, fixing things, growing things, sewing things, stitching things, baking things, canning things....well, you get the picture. I'm on a quest to have a little "country" in my suburbanite world. No, not hickville or wanting to be redneck (thought that can definitely be fun at times too), but to find the simplicity of the country life and the warmth that it brings into my home. A friend and I are plotting at a business/hobby venture, and we'll see where that goes, who knows? But also, I just want to teach my kids the art of so many "country" ways that seem to be lost here in suburbia.

In my internet searching of all things cool and country, I came across MaryJanes Farm. On my search of her site, I found this excerpt, and it really spoke to me, about Farmgirls:

A farmgirl is anyone
who sews or knits or weaves
(or wants to learn how).
A farmgirl remembers
her mother or grandmother paring apples for pie.
A farmgirl believes in the strong arms of friendship,
community and the just plain fun of being together.
A farmgirl believes in connection.

A farmgirl ...
isn’t afraid to go it alone.
A farmgirl takes joy in the quiet satisfaction
of making things with her own hands.

A farmgirl wants a world that is sane, and just,
and clean, and is willing to do her part to make it so.

You’re right Toni,
a farmgirl doesn’t have to live on a farm.
There’s a farmgirl in all of us.

Farmgirl is a condition of the heart.

Yep, that's me. And you know what they say..."You can take the girl out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the girl!!!"

So yeah, I have tons of projects going on right now, and that just helped give me the push I needed to continue being inspired!

Tooth Fairy's Comin'...

Elisabeth lost her first tooth today. Okay, let me rephrase that...Elisabeth PULLED HER OWN first tooth today!!! She's so proud and so excited that she's finally losing teeth like everyone else in her class. (She got her teeth "late" and she's in a 1st grade class as a Kindergartener, so she's younger than most of the kids in her class.) It was so cute how excited she was. I asked her how much the Tooth Fairy would bring, would it be a penny? She said, "No, dollars!" LOL I have a feeling the Tooth Fairy will be leaving a $5 under her pillow tonight! hehe

BTW--yes, it IS that warm and beautiful here in Florida right now. Come on down for a thaw if you need one!!! We'd love to have you! ;)

Another Cool Thing About Today...

Rocky, our Basset Hound, managed to get out this morning and didn't come back before Jerry left for work. He ended up being just down the street from our house when we got home, but seemed to be worn out. He and Elisabeth crashed on the livingroom floor before supper time, and Jerry took this picture. Too cute!

Loving Spring....

Welcome Spring!!! I figured that since today is the first day of Spring, I'd post a welcome to her!!!

This weekend, we got our one-acre yard mowed. That's always an ordeal since we only have a pushmower. But, we've been blessed by a really nice neighbor who has offered his riding mower whenever we want to borrow it from now on! We had about 1/4 of the yard finished when he was out in his back yard pushing his little boy on the swings and he called me over to offer the use of it. That thing is fun to drive!!! I was messing with Jerry on it by making no sense of where I was mowing (to him, anyway), it was a trip! Now on to other yard work...

My hibiscus' do NOT look as pretty as this picture because of a hard freeze we got in late February. I've got to trim all of them way back because much of them froze and died. The "flower beds" that go all of the way around the house have NOTHING planted in them. I'm going to get some Vincas, since they grow into bushes down here. I also need to replant some rose bushes that are trying to grow by the shed. I've got Canna Lilies sprouting up all over the place, so I need to replant some of them. We've got dead/dying bushes that need taken out completely, what a chore that will be. There's a sago palm that's gone crazy in reproducing itself. The thing is huge and needs to be divided, there are probably at least 6 of them growing together. I'm hoping we can do it without heavy machinery, and would love to get a couple of small sprouts started in large pots so we can take them with us whenever we buy our own place.

Along with yard work, Spring brings new beginnings right? Well, there's no better way to celebrate Spring than with some good ol' fashioned Spring Cleaning, so I guess I'm kind of in the midst of that, though it's always a work in progress. I already did Elisabeth's room last weekend. My next Spring Cleaning project is going to be the den, which is currently a storage area and unusable as it is. After that, Nick's room, which needs to be decorated and to complete the unpacking. (He still has boxes we need to sort through, so much stuff, so little time!)

Speaking of new beginnings, our church will be starting weekly services in two weeks. Jerry is starting up the youth ministry next week. Life is definitely good and we are being blessed!

Welcome Spring, and all of the newness you bring with you!!!

My Weekend Project...

Elisabeth's room...

(click on the loop below, once opened put your mouse on a pic, right click and hit "zoom in")



It's still a work-in-progress, but I'm decorating it in Floral Castle from the Simply Shabby Chic collection at Target. She's also going to have some ballerina accents around the room, once we're finished. I still need to buy two more of the curtain panels for the window by her bed, and some sheets to hang as a divider from the rest of the room. (Her bedroom is part of a double room that was added on to our home, the other half will be an office/sewing area with a TV and the game system, once I finish unpacking and sorting through all of the stuff in there that was in storage.) We're also going to purchase an armoire from K-Mart that they just started carrying in the children's department, so we can get rid of the clothes rack in there.

This weekend, I dyed her duvet cover and sham with pink Rit dye. I tea-stained her dust ruffle and some Battenburg shams, which are on her bed, along with some other Battenburg lace items I haven't figured out what I'll be doing with yet.

Anyway, on Saturday night as I was tucking her in bed, she showed her extreme appreciation with the following statement: "Now I have the prettiest room of everyone in the whole 'wuruld'!" That made it worth every minute!!! I'll post "finished" pics when I am really done!

Lent...

Our family's background is Baptist, and we never really "did" Lent. In recent years we've heard more about it and have come to enjoy and appreciate the Lenten season leading up to Easter. (And we're no longer "Baptist". ) I've never really given up anything major, and this year is the same, I'm just striving to focus on Christ and what he did for us. Anyway, we were talking about Lent at the dinner table when it began and Nick said he'd consider all of the foods he had to give up for his allergies (for 2 months before adding things back one at a time) his thing for Lent. Elisabeth told me she was going to give up Capri Suns/juice pouches/boxes. Well, I didn't think much of it when we were shopping at the grocery store earlier this week. I went to pick up a box of Capri Sun juice and Elisabeth said "No Mom, I can't drink Capri Sun this year. Remember? I gave them up!" Wow! I was floored that she had taken that decision that seriously and had remembered. I ended up buying a bottle of juice instead, and that was cool with her. The follow-through on a commitment by a 6 year-old, how powerful is that?!? My kids never cease to amaze me sometimes! :)

I'm so excited...

about everything this year promises for us!!!

*A new church, with new ministry and all of the excitement that can bring
*An awesome pastor who fully trusts our experience and our input
*Friendly, positive people
*Great friends
*New career opportunities
*Working on degrees
*A prosperous year over all...
*Short-term plans (within the next 6 months)
*Long-term plans (well, for the next year or two anyway)

I'm just so excited about the fact that God blessed us with coming back to Wesley Chapel, and we were able to get out from under the cloud that hung over us in the recent past. I occasionally have thought back and "wish things had been different" but then God reminds me that criticism and negativity at every turn is not something that will bless us or our family, and it's not in His perfect plan for us----and for that I am extremely thankful. I can truly say that I am surrounded by positive people who are supportive and are challenging us to be God's best, and I am happy that most of the past year's events occurred, because it's what God needed to happen to allow us the blessings He's giving us now! Our whole family is happy and content and just enjoying all that God has for us! That just excites me more than anything!

"That's all I have to say about that...."