Spending the day with Troy

Today I thought I'd blog about the day I spent with my sweet hubby on Saturday.  Nothing thought provoking or pondering in this post just mainly telling you about a typical day in our home.

We awoke to more rain here in the Panhandle of Florida.  Although I love love love the rain my hubby does not.  He likes to be outside sweating and getting things done around the house.

So what to do....what to do.....my ideas....get some home made laundry soap made, and figure out a way to put up two fabric panels on my soon-to-be curtain rod plus do some much needed cleaning and laundry in between working on said projects.  His ideas.....put up an antenna in the attic,  put up his crazy wife's idea for a curtain rods, & put fletchings on his arrows.

The day started out okay.  Really it did and then I am not sure what happened but before we knew it we had the kitchen table a mess with hubby's arrow fixing's; the kitchen counter full of detergent fixing's; a cable running down the stairs through the hallway and hooked to the t.v.; furniture moved with insulation on the ground that was out of the wall where the antenna wire was going to be fed into or out of; the upstairs landing had all the JUNK from the attached closet where the attic door is which is where hubby has to feed the wire from and I had fabric panels plus supplies on the coffee table proceeding to find a way to hang these panels as curtains on a rod that really isn't a curtain rod but a picture holder.  Whew!  Now is that clear or what?  No?  I didn't think so.  :)  But there you have it. This was our home on this rainy Saturday.

It would be nice to say it took us no time at all to get all these things finished. However that did not happen.  I made two trips to get the right things together to put grommets in my fabric.  Hubby needed stuff for his antenna project and arrow project.  I think we spent much of our time in the car going back and forth.

At the end of the day the curtain panels got hung up.  The t.v. antenna worked perfectly.  The arrows look fab and are ready for Elk hunting season.  The detergent got made.  Plus we got the house back in order.  I'd say that's a pretty good day and very satisfying.

The thing I learned was that my husband and I may be complete opposites on some things like our choice of rainy or sunny days.  However we are so much alike when it comes to the way in which we go about a project or two or three.  We like to go full force, make the biggest mess possible and never have everything we need ahead of time which makes for many trips to the store.  And you know what.....I wouldn't have it any other way.  Until next time....be blessed.

Picture holder as a curtain rod Before.

Curtain rod with fabric panel

I love love love the rain....

I awoke to the sounds of the rain on my skylights.....AGAIN!  Oh how joyful for me.  I love love love the rain.  Living in Florida I have seen buckets and buckets full of rain.  Being a native of New Mexico where it is dry and arid has taught me to appreciate the rain.  In New Mexico you can see the storms building up and coming.  You can hear the thunder and see the lightening and you just know it's going to be a gully washer.  The scent of a rain  is amazing and all your senses are heightened.....a good thing is coming.  Then it rains for like a minute and it is dry in no time and you think....really.....that's it! {growl} But here in Florida it pours.  It floods the yard, the street, and even your car if you have a convertible.  Hee!  Hee!  (Sorry just had to throw that one in there.)

My sweet husband on the other hand is not a fan.  He loves the heat and the sunshine.  I like the sun too but when it shines here it is unbearably hot and miserable.  We are total opposites about the weather all the time.   :)  Oops....I digress....where was I going with this.....?  Oh yes...I love the rain....especially rain first thing in the morning.  It's a great start to my day.

So I got to thinking..... another great start to my day is spending time with God.  Stopping and resting in His presence is wonderful for me first thing in the morning.  Like the rain He sprinkles me with blessings as I pray and spend time with Him. As I read His Word it waters my soul and renews my spirit within me.  Are you ever parched.....so thirsty you can't wait to get a clear cool glass of water?  Water is refreshing to our bodies.  His Word is refreshing to our souls & our spirit.  Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8 The rain reminds me that God blesses all of us...the lost and the saved. "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matthew 5:45 He doesn't play favorites.  He loves us all.  He made us in His image. "those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." Romans 8:29  He made each one of us unique.  "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14 He gifted each one of us for different gifts to serve His kingdom.  "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work." 1 Corinthians 12:4-6  

Yes my friends I love the rain and all it has reminded me of today. But even more then that I love our Lord Jesus Christ who died for my sins, who rose on the third day and sits at God's right hand.  I am thankful for the reminder that I need you like water to a parched dry land. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  

Until next time friends....consider yourself sprinkled with a little rain infused "son-shine."  

Are you listening?

God's word tells me to be still......to know that He is God.  Sounds easy and yet I find this really hard to do. Not the knowing He is God part, because I know He is but it's the being-still-part that has me flustered.  Oh I can stop for minutes at a time and be still but................for hours!  Oh my, not hardly.  My body might be still but my mind isn't.  I want to listen to God.  I want to hear him and yet I find myself talking....blah....blah...blah....and oh God....this....and that.  If I am talking then I can't possibly be listening too now can I.

Listening is a skill.  It is a learned behavior.  It is others centered.  Anyone can talk but not everyone can or does listen.  Have you ever had someone really listen to you when you talk?  I have and it's a beautiful thing.

9 &1/2 years ago I met a sweet lady named Sandy Pennington and God bless her she asked me to lunch and proceeded to listen to me cry & talk for hours.  I don't remember her saying much.  But I do remember her heart. She cried with me.  She heard the sadness, the loneliness, and the pain of what I was going through.   She heard me.  She prayed for me. Then because of what she had learned about me, she made a phone call to a leader of a bible study group who called me and invited me to join.  The group was called "Busy Hands & Warm Hearts."  I was (am) a crafter and this group met once a week to study God's word, have lunch together and then share a love of crafting.   Oh my heart I am so thankful to God for showing me what it meant to be truly heard.

Slowly with God's help I have learned how to listen.  My mantra is.....Be slow to speak and quick to listen.  When I am frustrated I say that passage over and over praying for God to help me be slow to speak.  Listen...just wait and listen.  There is a lot being said even during the quiet.  And that's when it hits me.  I can learn so much more from God if I will be still......quiet my soul.....let the Holy Spirit speak to my heart.  Then there is this blessed Peace..........the peace that passes all understanding that comes over me.  It isn't some thing I can do or bring about myself.  It's God speaking to my heart.

I am beginning to realize that relationships flourish during the listening part of a conversation.  Now don't get me wrong, I still like the talking part too.  :)  But now I love to listen to people share their life with me.  It's a gift.  It's a little bit of them that they are entrusting me with.  What I do with it, is up to me but if I listen to God's promptings....well who knows where this conversation might lead.

Until next time be blessed!

Going banner crazy

I am going banner crazy these days.  Have you been on PINTEREST lately?  There are ideas for banners all over the place.  I like them.  At first I wasn't sure what they were used for. But the more I see, the more I like them. I realize that they can be used for anything.....to celebrate a birthday, a holiday, a family, etc.  Or they can be used to declare ones favorite team, declare your faith, shout out your family name.  They are used to decorate a mantel, as a valance, party decoration, wall art, name plate etc and the list goes one.  The first one I made was for a friend to celebrate her ordination.  It didn't take too long and I was able to use scraps of fabric plus use up some of my scrap book paper in the process.

I love being able to use things I already have.  The next one I made was for another friend who had decorated her home for the 4th of July.  She is patriotic about sharing our nations independence and keeps up her decor for the whole month of July. So I made this one saying the word Freedom.

I used paper scraps for it and just regular old glue to piece it together.  It came together so fast too and now has a place of honor in my friends home.........at least for the month of July.

Then I decided to try my hand at making one for a babies room.  I have a friend who is having a boy who gave me some fabric she had purchased to make her little guy a quilt.  I thought......I can make a banner using their last name with the scraps.  Again I used fabric and paper for this one that says P R I D G E N.

I noticed I was having trouble see the letters on some of my banners like this one here.  I needed to use a very dark contrasting fabric so that the letters will pop. I can barely see the letters in this one.
Fabric and paper were used plus my trusty sewing machine and glue.  I used a template to make the wonky rectangle pattern.  Plus I used old ribbon I found at a collectible place to sew the banner squares on.  It went together quite easily.  The last thing I did on this one was try to antique the letters with shoe polish.  I will not be doing that again.  I don't like the look of the shoe polish.
S M I T H  is what this one says.

Here is one that I don't like the look of.  I made it using old quilt pieces and paper  Here is it but I am thinking of changing it somehow.  It's just not right.  :)

One morning before going off to work I tried my hand at this one which I must say was my favorite.  It has our family name on it and I adore it.  I adore it for several reasons.  #1 Americana one of my fave themes.  #2 It went together super duper fast, like less then an hour.  #3 I got to sew it all which I love.  #4 The squares were already cut pieces of quilt squares I got at a yard sale years and years ago....so it's cheap.     #5  They do not have a finished edge and are vintage with are my favorite.  #6 The squares do not match each other.

All the banners have a theme in mind and all go together.  I like this look most of the time.  But I LOVE the new styles I see a lot where nothing matches.  I love to use different textures of fabric, colors, styles, genres to make an item for my home.  Oh I know this isn't for everyone but for some reason I really like it.  Anything goes with the decor and I don't get hung up on it not matching.

There is a gal whose blog I stumbled upon via PINTERST and her name is Dottie Angel.  http://www.dottieangel.blogspot.com/   She is the one really who jump started my now crazy banner journey. She makes banners out of old vintage notions, doilies, bits of this and that.  Her stuff is truly wonderful, whimsical and fun. Check her out when you have a moment or two.  She'd be proud of the banner I am currently working on.  Here's a sneak peak at some of the flags......



And that my friends is all I have on the subject of my banner making for now.  Sewing for me is relaxing.  I do a lot of pondering as I put my fingers to my task at hand.  Sometimes I pray for the person to whom I will be sprinkling a little cheer into their day.  God teaches me things along the way too.

I am striving to be a model of the Proverbs 31 women who sews for her family to help along the way.  Even if it's just a pretty thing to be placed in a friends home for a while to cheer them, I pray it brightens their day.  I leave you my friends with the scripture from Proverbs 31.......

A wife of noble character who can find? 
    She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
    and lacks nothing of value. 
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.
¹³ She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands. 
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family
    and portions for her female servants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
    her arms are strong for her tasks.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
    and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
    and extends her hands to the needy. 
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed;
    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
    where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
    and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

God bless!