handsful

Thanks so much for all the kind words about the post for my Grandmom.  She was laid to rest on Saturday, and it was a gorgeous, warm sunny day.  It reminded me of her.  Her service was beautiful, and the testimony that her care giver shared brought me to tears.  And, just as the pastor finished at the graveside, the church bells starting ringing.  That made me smile!

I’m not certain that God speaks through shoes, but in this case…let me back up.  I bought a pair of Clark’s Springers mules online YEARS ago.  They are my absolute favorite shoes to wear in the fall/winter.  They aren’t the most beautiful pair of shoes, but they are to me.

Today, as I was dropping off some items at our local kid’s consignment store, I was browsing in the $2 bins outside.  Nothing arranged by size, type, etc….just stuffed in bins.  I came across these shoes and nearly fell out.  Clarks Springers, in my size.  Not the mules, but just as comfortable.  I think they’re super cute, too.  And, did I mention they were $2?  I came home and checked on Ebay.  There’s a pair exactly like them for $43.50.  Score!!  I love a deal, especially when it’s SO meant for me to find… :)

So, after my last post where I indulged in a little “whine” about whether people actually stop by our blog, I’ve gotten some sweet comments from quite a few readers. Thanks a ton, ya’ll.

This post will be a “this and that” kinda thing. Just randomness about life here in the country :)

And, yes, we do now live in the country. We’ve been in our new house for about 6 months and I love it more and more each day. We’re just northeast of our quaint, little downtown, off an old road that all used to be farmland..and a lot still is. Our neighbors across the street used to own the land we’re on, and the neighbors on the left owned it at some time as well. She came by not too long ago and told me stories of living here as a child, and farming this land. I LOVE that.

Sign at the kids tumbling gym…I must get these words up on our walls somehow. And, recite it daily. Hourly?

We’re a good month into our homeschooling year. With some of our curriculum being new this year (we seem to change something every year…), it’s taking some getting used to, but we’re just about there. And, I’m pretty sure I’m liking everything so far. After finishing history last year up to the present, we’re back in Egypt and a lot of our history text is straight from the bible. Gotta love that.

I’ve finally found a way (that works for me) of being in the bible everyday. I came across a program that I can access from my computer or Iphone called “Project 345”. Reading a minimum of 5 days/week, it’ll get me through the New Testament in a year. I read about a chapter a day, so it’s not a huge, daily time investment. Which, at this stage of my life, is just perfect for me. If you’re interested, check it on on the “YouVersion” app or online.

Last month, or dog Jack turned 10. A few weeks later, he decided it was time to tear the ACL in his knee. Nice, Jack. He was running outside and just fell our, yelping his head off. He was on pain meds for a few days, and not getting much better, so we took him in this week. Surgery will be coming up within the month.

What are these, you ask? One of my latest Pinterest projects. My boards are over-flowing and I could seriously be in the kitchen for a month with all the recipes I want to try. (the pizza casserole was a huge hit last week…)

These are laundry balls. Take wool yarn, wrap into tight balls, tuck extra yarn under. Wash in HOTTEST setting on washer, dry on HOTTEST setting on dryer (I did that last part twice) and then you get this.

See how the yarn is now “felted” together. Now, instead of spending money on dryer sheets, I just throw these balls in the dryer with the wet clothes. The balls travel in and around the clothes, helping them to dry faster and the friction of the wool against the clothes softens them. I hear the balls last “years”, but do get smaller and smaller as they’re used. I sometimes put a few drops of essential oil on them for scent. Love this!

More Pinterest. Cheap beads from craft store (the kind designed for kids, not jewelry). Layer in a cake pan, bake in the oven till melted (can’t recall temp). It cools quickly, you pop it out, drill a hole in the top, and…

Sun catcher :) (this is a different one from the pan pictured above). I also made smaller ones in muffin tins, and they’re lined up in the window above my kitchen sink.

Let’s see, what else…

Should have my new wedding/engagement ring next week. I’ll post before and after pics. I’m excited.

I’m trying to eat better these days, drinking a lot of water, cutting back on snacks, sodas, etc. Upped my exercise as well….feels great, but when my stress increases I could eat a whole tube of cookie dough. But, I don’t!

I’m so excited about Fall, it’s my favorite season. We’ve got our plans nailed down for the NC State Fair, and a mountain festival in October. It’s been getting cooler at night, and some of our leaves are already changing. There’s not much better than NC in the Fall.

Work day tomorrow. Randy is beginning to get our shop (building behind our house) in order to host a youth bible study on Friday nights, and I think I might tackle one of the garages.

Well, those are my ramblings. Guess I better get some sleep. G’night.

* Since I’m off FB for awhile, I’m noticing that status’ pop into my head regularly. A sign I was on it too much? Perhaps. But, I can honestly say I’ve not missed it like I thought I would.

* Chocolate and tea, I’m missing. In the mornings, I’m substituting hot water with fresh squeezed lemon and a little sugar. It’s not bad, but it’s not my tea.

* Payton and I also did a Daniel Fast together last week for 3 days. No meats, dairy, preservatives, breads, or sugars. We survived on things like brown rice, fruits, veggies, natural peanut butter, nuts and lots of water. In the future, we’ll spend more time preparing for it so we can pull together some tastier recipes. It was a humbling experience, helping us realize how spoiled we are with the huge variety of foods that are readily available to us. My rumbling stomach reminded me to thank God for his love and provision. And, it also helped to stretch both of us a bit, in finding foods that we wouldn’t normally eat – some of which are new favorites (have you tried the 100% fruit leathers at Trader Joes?!?)

In other news…

* Sometimes a GPS doesn’t even know where it’s going, which is bad for this directionally-challenged mom.

* I need about a week with NOTHING to do so I can catch up on all the books I’ve started and not finished. Like that’s gonna happen…

* Just when you think you have all your ducks in a row, they suddenly all break out of line. Last Wednesday was one of those days.

* Today was a good day for the ducks.

* I’m stretched thin most days, with a crammed full schedule. But, I love my life.

* Waiting is hard, I don’t care who you are.

* But, the wait can be extremely rewarding. More on this soon ;)

No, not the city – the spider

And, no, I don’t usually blog about spiders…or other creepy crawlies. But, I just had to share this story. It appeals to the homeschool mama side of me…

This is Charlotte. She appeared in our laundry room window back in September. We did some searching, and found out she’s a “zipper spider” or more specifically an Argiope spider. They re-do their webs most everyday, including the “zipper” in the middle. I finally timed it right today, and watched her spin the zipper…fascinating.

This was taken today. See the difference in the background? The leaves have changed since the first picture :)

The part of this that’s interesting? We thought Charlotte was dead last week. Absolutely certain she was dead. She had dismantled the web, crawled to the top of the window, and kinda curled all up. No movement at all. I went online again and read that the zipper spider will die once the temp hits freezing and below. We’ve had several freezes, so I assumed that was it.

As I read further, it said that the female zipper spider will weave an egg sac just prior to dying, and position it near the top of where the web was. I went to the window to check…

At the top of the window sill, safely secured with webbing…an egg sac. You can get an idea of it’s size with the leaf hanging there. It’s supposed to stay there til spring, when the babies will hatch. Maybe one or two of them will hang around and live in the sill like their mama. Maybe we’ll name them Joy, Nellie, and Aranea :)

So, apparently she didn’t die, since she spun this new web today…we had a storm tonight, which tore it apart again. I wonder if she’ll spin it back again tonight. I think Charlotte’s days are numbered, but we’ll enjoy having our spider pet for now.

Flash forward to the next morning…I finally captured Charlotte making her web and zipper :) She spun the entire outside portion, and then began making the haphazard middle area.

See the bundle of silk coming out at once? She can control that perfectly, using only a single strand for the outside portion and then changing it’s thickness as needed.

Then, she crawled down a little ways, and began making the zipper back up.

Then, she crawled to the top, turned around, and made the zipper back down to the middle. This part wasn’t so perfect…I think she was just ready to be done :)

Okay, so now I’m probably done talking about spiders. To me, scenes from nature like this are just more confirmation that we have a very precise and very creative God.

So, I googled Val Kilmer today.

He used to be THAT actor for me.  Well, one of them.  Kiefer Sutherland was on the list, too.  You know, the actors that you thought were “cute”.  Most of my friends swooned over Tom Cruise….he seemed too full of himself (still is, I believe).

I was commenting on a friend’s FB question (fav actors and their movies) – and I couldn’t remember the name of one of his films I like (Real Genius) and a current picture of Val popped on the screen.

Guess I’ll have to remember the way he used to look.  No offense, but he’s not aging as well as he’d probably like.

It’s interesting how time works…I still feel like that teenager sometimes (no hysterical laughing, please).  Hearing my old tunes, 80’s movies, etc.  Then, it takes me by surprise when I see how we’ve all aged on the outside.  Oh well…I’ll look forward to heaven, when we’ll all look however God chooses and we won’t care about it one bit.

Hope you enjoyed my little Saturday morning observation.