Bright and Spacious

A rocker! That's what I got at our annual Arts Festival!

Not just any rocking chair, this one has "indents" and "outdents" just where you need them! A dad and his daughter make them by hand...love that, too.

Now, on to the rest of the re-do...even my Dad noticed today how spacious our humble house seems!

I spent a lot of money on this ceramic cow's head for my Mom. What 16 year old gives her mother a gift like this? (She did love it though!). Growing up, we used the oar on the wall when we would go canoeing in the river in our backyard. My favorite childhood games were playing "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer on the Mississippi" or "Harriet the Spy" in our woods (and on my sister's dates).

See this empty space under the table? I am trying reaaallly hard not to fill it up.
The table was $10 at a garage sale and very ugly before I painted it.

A better shot of this side of the room...

Cool mirror ($20 from the Flower Factory) which does zilch for a girl's self esteem, but looks beautiful on the wall.

It's kinda like a fun-house mirror. Not good for grooming.

My hand-me-down couch. The hope chest was a gift from my parents when I was a teenager. Nope, I never wanted the usual gifts.

Perhaps the best part of the new room...a basket next to my rocker filled with my Bible and devotionals. I'm trying to meet with my Maker every morning.

Out of sight, out of mind ("has anyone seen my Bible?!") so this basket has helped me a lot!

Today, I've been staring at this phone though. Our daughter is flying to Europe. I held it together at the airport this morning and God gives me peace (that truly does pass all understanding).

She is His.

And if I let Him, He makes letting a child grow up easier.

l

Need to go start dinner...we're hosting a family friend from Anchorage this weekend for his parents. He's here this weekend, at soccer camp all week, and then home on Friday. It's so wonderful to be able to return the hosting favor!

Refresh

I can't remember how I found Layla at The Lettered Cottage, but I'm so glad I did! She has inspired me to continue my quest to feather our nest in simple and beautiful ways.

l

As I streamline things, I'm finding that following Layla's example lifts my spirits and gives me room to breathe.

On Friday I painted our Family Room (sneak peek above), got rid of stuff, and added a new piece of furniture I've wanted for 4 years!

Can you guess what it might be?

l

"Have nothing in your home that you don't know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

-William Morris

Pre-Dawn Laughter

I get headaches during the night, so I will often rise way earlier than desired (to ward off a headache when I wake to the beginnings of pain). This morning, this is what greeted me in our downstairs bathroom where the kids shower.

Last night while our daughter [who is in Spanish III not Spanish II] was studying for final exams, and after I had snuck/sneaked? up to scare her, I begged her to put her dirty clothes in the hamper, wring out her wet washcloth and toss it in the laundry, hang up her towels, and put away her jewelry.

Because every stinkin' morning when I enter the powder room I am greeted by a pile of dirty clothes, good jewelry strewn about, a mountain of gross, cold, wet washcloths in the tub, and a pile of towels on the floor (if they've made it down from a pile on her bedroom floor).

But this morning? She had "decorated" with her belongings and left me a love note.

And made me laugh.

And that's always a wonderful way to start the day.

19

19 years today. wow.

steve and I met our senior year of college and became close friends. we both dated other people, but a friend reminded me recently that i always invited steve on my dates. we studied together through grad school. he saved my neck when computers were big machines with floppy disks and i would make a mess of things. his dad met me and told his wife "I met the girl steve should marry today." we graduated. we broke up with our significant others. he helped me move from college to home. i moved to Virginia. he moved to northern ohio. he attended a wedding with me on labor day weekend, 1989. things were different. he proposed a month later. he drove to see me every weekend for 6 months. we married on June 2, 1990.

without him i would be lost.

and homeless...because he likes to save money. (who knew people really did that?)

you know i love you, steve. more everyday.

*This is Us by Mark Knopfler was playing on a halibut fishing boat in Homer, AK as Steve and I, and the kids, were reeling in 25 pound fish. I've loved it ever since because it reminds me of us and the incredible adventures God has thrust us into these past few years.

Creating Beauty

Yesterday was a Titus 2 Reunion Luncheon. Titus 2 being the ministry that has hosted 3 groups of women, you know the more experienced women sharing their wisdom and love for God with the less experienced (I'm in this group!). I have become friends with my "mentors" and volunteered to do the nametags yesterday. What fun I had!

I chose a bird theme and while looking for a crystal bowl to display the nametags, spied my decorative grass and plunked them there. Oh, that grass comes in handy!

I decided to add a giveway for the ladies. These bird's nest soaps are normally very expensive and only found in shee-shee boutiques, but I found them tucked away on a low shelf in one of my favorite stores. I wrote each lady's name on a slip of vintage paper and placed them in a bird's nest. All of this in a vintage suitcase, with the Titus 2 verses and some vintage ephemera...

I don't like to do crafts with specific directions that take forever to complete. But a bird's nest name-tag-giveway-project? I'm in heaven.

Creating beauty for beautiful women.

A lovely day indeed.

Prairie Time!

Lots of THIS to get there. Cornfields on the right. Beans on the left. Do you see the windmills in the distance? They look like something from a sci-fi movie!

Aunt Gail, Jerry and Cousin Katie knocked themselves out for our visit to the farm. Here are some of us (me in the bright blue, Madison in the dark, cousin Kaitlynne and Tommy's back) busy making smores.

An uncle's barn. Years ago there was an oil painting of this barn for sale in the Cafe and we didn't buy it. Drats. I love this barn.

A mama and her boys.
Have I told you what an incredible family I married into?



The birthday church. She doesn't look a day over 125.



Boys in the mud.

Cousins in the stream. Wonder what they were chatting about.

More Prairie pictures soon...

Home Again, Home Again...

Nebraska wheat at Aunt Gail's farm

l

Jiggedy-Jig!

2000 miles in 3 days.

Worth it (now that I'm home).