bits of sunshine

some really yummy cookies

that i invented the recipe for  :)

and i think they would taste awfully good on a saturday . . .

or any day for that matter . . .

oh!  did you want the recipe?  well yes.  i will share it.  :)

1/4 c butter 
1/4 c peanut butter 
1/2 c brn sugar 
1/2 c white sugar 
1 egg 
1 tsp vanilla 
1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/2 tsp baking powder 
1 c flour 
1 1/2 c rolled oats 
chocolate chips 
coconut

preheat oven to 350 degrees F 
cream butters and sugars together 
add egg, vanilla, baking soda and baking powder; mix well 
add flour and oats; mix well 
add chocolate chips and coconut to taste (i chopped my chocolate chips up a bit . . . ) 
roll into balls, place on cookie sheet, press somewhat flat (i used the bottom of an 8 oz jar) 
bake for 8 minutes 
remove promptly from cookie sheet 
allow to cool for a few minutes 
pour yourself your beverage of choice and enjoy 

this is a tiny recipe, but easily doubled or trippled or how-ever-manyed . . . cause you'll probably have to share . . .

grace (cleaning up the poop)

so, yesterday, i mentioned my friend E, who is a sometimes tired - but not exasperated - mama.  (in my original post, i used the word "exasperated."  i later removed it.)

and i learned another lesson about words.  and how i need grace.

exasperate - to make very angry or impatient; annoy greatly; infuriate

i did not mean to say that she is angry or impatient with her kiddo.  nor that she is annoyed with her kiddo.  and certainly not that she is infuriated.  but i guess that's the word i picked. 

i am so sorry, E.  i do not see you that way.  at all.

i was thinking of it in terms of those days where everything is just off and it's too cold to go outside and mama is tired cause she's pregnant and she feels like she should do more to make her little guy feel better and maybe he's cranky and she is, well, i chose the word exasperated.  i should have used a different word.  and funny thing is, when i was typing it yesterday, it didn't sit quite right with me, but i couldn't think of how else to say it and didn't take the time to change it, and thought my intention would come through  . . . i should have taken time to find the right word . . .

thankfully, this friend was very gracious with me.  it bothered her that i used that word.  but instead of her sitting there being frustrated with me, she asked me if that's really what i meant, and gave me a chance to fix it.  i appreciate that.  that grace.  that chance.  so much.  to continue with my analogy from yesterday, she didn't just allow or cover over a misunderstanding.  she told me there was poop in our yard.  i like our yard too much to leave my poop in it.  i'm cleaning it out.  and i wanted you all to know it.  cause some of you read that word yesterday morning.  and i can't look at the speck if i don't remove my own pile first, you know what i mean?

tomorrow we'll be on to card games or cookies.  one of the two.  :)  happy Friday, my friends. 

{these pictures are of a Japanese garden in Minnesota . . . and they made me think of you, E.  hugs to you.}

poop and snow

So, all winter I have known that Zoe (our chocolate lab) does her thing in about the same place outside.  But, it always sinks into the snow and then it snows some more and we hadn't been able to see any brown piles in our yard - there was just a clean blanket of white.

Until the past week when the wind has been crazy blowing, 50 mph sometimes, piling up drifts in some places and blowing others bare.  Wind that has been brutal, keeps us inside, blocks in our vehicles, fills in our snow cave, buries our wood pile, burns any bare skin it can find, presses on the house and finds the tiny cracks that need more caulk, makes hair-line chinks feel like gaping cracks.  Wind that has blown the cover of fresh white off the side yard to pile it against the trees and grow other drifts.  And the windswept yard is suddenly, in Maddie's words, "a poop yard." 

So, yesterday, with the temperatures warmer and the air calm, we shoveled up all of Zoe's business and put it in a pile, out of the way.  And while I was shoveling, I was thinking about life.  And poop.  And snow.  And thinking that sometimes there's lots of poop - attitudes, reactions, responses, etc.  There will always be hard cricumstances, and sometimes we respond in a rather poopy manner, don't we?  I know I do.  But then there's the matter of what to do with the poop.  Cover it over with a blanket of white?  And hope that no one ever sees it?  That might work for a while - while it's calm, but when that brutal wind kicks up?  That covered poop is not going to stay covered.  It's going to show, for all the world to see.  A whole poop yard.  What ugliness. 

And guess what?  Poop breeds more poop.  I know.  I know because when I let my attitudes resemble that crap, my kiddos' do too.  Which makes me feel and act even worse.  Which causes them to . . . you know.  Or how about those conversations when someone starts talking bad about another person, even their own spouse, and suddenly everyone in the group has their own story about the original talked-about or about someone else - some more poop to top the other poop.  I also know because when I was cleaning up the "poop yard" yesterday, Zoe's wasn't the only business out there.  Racoon skat?  And deer.  And who knows what else.  Seems like everybody and his neighbor had pooped in the poop yard.  If there hadn't been any there to begin with, would anybody else have gone there?

So, the lesson from the "poop yard" seems to be that when there is one little pile, that would be the time to clean it up and put a stop to it.  To keep things cleaned up.  To stay on top of it.  So that white blanket isn't hiding anything.  It really is white.  And when the brutal wind comes, it might blow the blanket thin, but it won't reveal any hidden ugliness.

 

Psalm 51

 ¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
   blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
   and cleanse me from my sin.

 ³ For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
   and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
   and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
   sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
   you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

 ⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
   wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
   and blot out all my iniquity.

 ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
   or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

 ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
   so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
   you who are God my Savior,
   and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
   and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
   you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
   a broken and contrite heart
   you, God, will not despise.

Isaiah 43:25
"I, even I, am He who blots out
   your transgressions for my own sake
   who remembers your sins no more."

 

{I decided that pictures would not be appropriate for this post . . .   I was also thinking about an email conversation I had with my friend E - a (sometimes tired) mama, and about my friend S - who always loves a good poop story.}

 

just a little bit o' Maddie

 

I love this gal - I sure do.  She's such a bit of sunshine in my life.  And she is so much like me - with her melancholy moments, her love of reading (she just finished her first chapter book on her own!  ::The Secret Garden::  She was so very, very proud to have finished it, and in less than a week!), her love of being outside, and building with legos, and caring for her babies, and doing crafty things (coloring and sewing and cutting and gluing), and writing letters to the people she loves.  And last week, she started learning to play the piano!  It makes me so happy to be able to teach her and to help her learn and to be surprised at the things she figures out all by herself! She is also loving this website where she can read through the Bible all by herself.  I was realizing that when she reads her own chapter books and the Bible on her own, she can hear it on her own, without my spin on it.  If there is something she doesn't understand or a word that is too big, she can always ask Ben or I, but when she reads on her own, she is making the words her own.  I have been loving having her tell me about what she's reading.  We're going to pick out another chapter book for her to start today.  And I'm just loving every moment with this girl of mine.

some more sewing

A while ago a friend of mine gave me a flannel sheet that had a hole in it.  The rest of the fabric was in great shape.  She knows I sew and thought that I could find something to do with this soft fabric . . . and I did.  :)

{Isaac and his little cousin who were both thrilled with their matching cozy pants}

Can I just say that I absolutely love recycling/upcycling fabrics?  Whether they were a gift, an item of clothing from our home that isn't being used for whatever reason or I find them thrifting or rummaging.  Maybe part of the reason I love them is because I can get nice quality fabrics for a small price (or free!) and at this point in my life I cannot afford brand-new quality fabrics.  I also love the fun of matching things up from here and there and making something fun and pretty (like the quilt I made for my niece).  It adds to my sewing enjoyment when I'm thinking of who or where the fabrics I'm using came from and then imagining the recipient using the handmade goodness. 

a bit of this + a bit of that = a little girl quilt

for this little neice of mine

~ pink fabric : a freebie ~ green plaid : a shirt Ben has shrunk out of ~ big flowers : sent to me from my friend Geertrude ~ lace : from G, too, all the way from the Netherlands ~  all put together with so much love ~

pictures from the evening I gave it to her - so they are a bit fuzzy and dark - but you get the idea.  :)

a boy who is 6

he turned 6 today.  i love him a lot.  he's just downright awesome.  i love being his mom.  what more can i say?

a song in my heart :: take it to the Lord in prayer

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory, bright, unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.

-Joseph Scriven

new year :: and a finish!!!

once upon a time I wrote about a quilt . . . 

on January 29, 2009 :: 

And a WIP :: A memory quilt for Ben. I've been working on it for, well, a long time. Lots of little embroidery bits - the date we met each other, our wedding date, the kid's birthdays, lots of memories - fun things and hard things that we've made it through together. All the fabric is shirts and pants of Ben's. Like the shirt he used to wear on weekends the first summer I knew him, and an old pair of carharts that he worked to pieces - all clothes with memories. My plan is to have it done for Valentine's Day . . . and that is doable. I've got 16 days! 

(insert wild, maniacal laughter here.  very wild.  very much.  laughter.)

on March 23, 2009 ::

I have all the "squares" done. 

I worked on them over the weekend.

Each one is a different size and shape.

I will put them together - starting this evening.

I am getting really excited about this!

Yep, that says 2009.  I worked on the quilt a bunch this summer, ahem, the summer of 2010, at my mom's house.

then, on January 9, 2011 ::

I stuffed it under my sewing machine needle once again. And sewed away like a maniac.  And before the night was over, this was the scene in the living room :: The quilt is DONE!  And is perfect for snuggling under!  I was so glad to bring it down to Ben!!!!

That is one of my best moments of 2011!  (so far.  *smile*  lots more to come!)

a picture is worth a thousand words

{taken back in November . . . when we all needed a break from riding in the car . . . }