Batman junior

My grandson, Tyler, posted this

a few days ago.  I can't believe Heath

is six months already.  Things change

so much in six months.  Babies, life in

general.  There are times when I wish I

could turn back time.  (wasn't that a

song by Cher??!)  but God moves

us on for a reason.  He puts people

in our lives and then just that quickly

yanks them back out again.  No

explanation.  Sometimes we can

surmise the reasons behind His decisions

but we can never be sure, I guess.  We 

just have to go through the pain and

emerge on the other side better

because we listened to His voice.

So I guess the meaning of all this is

that when God removes someone from

your life don't go chasing after them.

He did it for a reason!  How did I

get from a sweet baby picture to all that??

Anyway, isn't he a cutie?  I am hoping

to get to meet him next month when 

I go to North Carolina to see my sister.

I haven't done spirelli in so long.  We called

it string art when we were younger....Everything

has to have a fancy name these days.  Those

were on a far larger scale, though.  This

is quick and easy.  No nails to pound

in a board, either.  I think it turned

out really well.  I'm not sure why I

got in the mood to do it, but I am afraid

you might be seeing a few more

like it.  Once I get stuck on something

like this it's hard to get out of it.

Speaking of stuck, I keep hearing "killing 

me softly" by Roberta Flack in my

head.  I haven't, to my knowledge, heard

that song in years.  So here's one for

all of you.  What if the hokey pokey really

IS what it's all about?  Now tell me you

don't sing that song in your head the

rest of the day!  Why should I be the

only one?  giggle.

Take two

This is the same basic card, just

two different ways.  I think I like

the portrait one better.  Sorry about

the paper clip but they were being

stubborn and wouldn't stay shut!

I think they turned out fairly well.  I had

to free hand the circle on the top mats

which I'm not good at, but I couldn't 

figure out any other way to do it.

I'm sure there's another way....I

just couldn't find it.

The oven only cost me 140. which was

way less than I was expecting.  I'd rather

have not had to do it at all but since

I eat a lot of pizza it was kind of needed!

Just a friendly reminder:  To those

of you who have a keurig, when putting a

cup under it, make sure it is RIGHT SIDE

up!  Fortunately I was only running

water through it to clean it after a cup

of salted caramel hot chocolate (YUM!)

and somehow the water was all contained

in the drip catcher.  I'm not sure how

that happened, but I was glad not to 

have a huge mess underneath .

I'm looking forward to having lunch

with Dianne this afternoon.  We are

going on the cheap and going to

Wendy's!  I think I'm going to opt

for a salad today.  I know they still

have zillions of calories, but not as

much ad a chicken sandwich and

fries would have!

It is what it is

That sums up how I feel right about

now.  I had to  have the fire department

here yesterday because I smelled

gas.  It happened once last week,

but a knob was a little askew so I 

just attributed it to that.  Not the problem.

He said the igniter needs to be replaced.

I have no idea how much that's going

to cost.  More than I want to spend, I'm

sure.  I looked online and the prices are

$20.-25.  Online, that is.  Even if it

is that cheap, you still have to figure in

a service call and labour.  Just after

I had to have my a/c worked on.  This

is when I miss John the most.  He would

have handled all this stuff and I 

wouldn't have to.  I hate being alone.

Sorry, just feeling sorry for myself

today, apparently.  I guess you can't

keep a smile on your face all the time.

At least I got a pretty card out of it.

Isn't my sweet little girl ladylike?  She was

eating a chew stick.  I couldn't resist

taking the picture.

I hope y'all have a better day than I'm expecting.

 

Good friends

This card came out exactly how I 

envisioned it.  That doesn't happen

too often!  When I was in school

I wasn't in the "in crowd".  But I had

friends (who were also  not in the 

"in crowd").  as kids we thought you 

could only have one best friend and the others

were only regular friends.  I think

that's wrong.  You can have more than one

 best friend.  Best friends are ones who

truly know your heart.  They are there

to cry with you, laugh with you and

sit with you when no words can be

spoken.  I have several best friends.

I know I can count on them whenever

I need to and I hope they know that

they can count on me as well.

I'm taking the birds to the vet today for

grooming.  They are both pretty sharp and

it's hard to maintain an upper hand

when the bird is so sharp you can't stand

to have her on your hand.  With Lili

you really have to have an upper hand

as she is very headstrong .  She knows what

she wants and she wants it.  Period.  Well,

sister, there are times when you just don't

get what you want.  We've had a few

discussions on this subject.  That's where 

the "beak occupier" AKA backscratcher

comes in.  Sometimes we need to keep

that big beak occupied so it doesn't

stray down to the hand.  She gnaws on me

frequently, but never hurts me.  Much.  LOL.

That's the nature of a scarlet macaw.  She

will clamp down when she doesn't want

to go in her cage for example.  But she

never draws blood and knows just

how much pressure she can put on me.

She's really a great bird with a headstrong

personality and we get along just fine.

Luna, on the other hand, drives me

crazy.  I didn't want another small bird

in the first place but John wanted her

so much.  When he was sick he said she

"comforted him".  Since he has died I 

have lost my tolerance for a lot of noise

and trust me when I say conures make a

LOT of noise.  Constantly.  So any bird

owners that read this blog, I know you

will think badly of me and that's OK.  She's

going to have to go to another home.  I can't 

take it anymore.  I will do my best to

make sure she goes to a home that knows

about conures and the noise that comes

along with them.  Again, this is the nature

of this particular bird and I understand

that, but I'm just not the right person for

her.  I'm sad about it, but it's also not fair

to her.  I'm hoping the vet can help me

with this, but if need be I will put an ad

in the paper and then screen out anyone

I think won't give her the best home possible.

If I get any takers that is.  Please help

me pray about this.  Thanks.

Our cross to bear

You know, you hear the phrase

"that's my cross to bear"

and it makes it sound like a

bad thing.  That's how people

mean it, too.  On Sunday (I know,

I'm a little slow) the pastor pointed

out something I'd never thought of

before.  Our cross to bear is the

things that bring Glory to God.

Witnessing, being there when someone

needs a friend, visiting someone

who is sick or shut in.  I never realized

that before.  But think about it-Christ's

cross to bear DID bring Glory to God.

Bearing our cross is a good thing,

not a bad thing.  I know I don't really

do much for the Kingdom.  I'd like to

be better at witnessing, but each of

us has things that we are better at than

others.  Witnessing is not a strong

point for me.  The body is made up

of many parts, both the human body

and the body of Christ.  You can't make

an arm take the place of a leg.  Each 

part has an important part to play.

So what is my cross?  I guess I'd

have to think about that for a while.

I'm sending this to Robin to send

to Mya's family.  On the inside it says

"thinking of you at this difficult time"

Doesn't that sound so feeble?  It's 

definitely  a difficult time.  What do

you say to someone who is suffering?

I just can't fathom the pain of losing

a child, especially one so young.

The fact is that I have been thinking

of them and praying for them.  It's a heartfelt

sentiment, but it just sounds hollow 

considering what they're going through.

I'm getting tired of making sympathy

cards.  I can't wait until there will

be no more sorrow, tears and death!

Thinking of you

This card didn't come out exactly as

I envisioned it, but I like it nonetheless.

Is that even a word?  Well, my computer

didn't flag it so I guess it is.

I love my distress inks!  And I'm so

glad that I went ahead and got this script

stamp.  I stamped it with versa mark (a wet

ink that you emboss with) and then embossed

it with clear powder.  Once that was cool

I inked it with several colours of distress ink

then rubbed a paper towel over the piece

to remove the ink from the script.  Remember

when we used to do that with crayons

in elementary school?  Voila!  Resist.  I love

how it looks.  The sentiment is popped

on the piece although it's kind of hard

to tell.

Yesterday I noticed that the garage looked

a little dark and sure enough the light

was out.  So I went to take the bulb

out and it broke off.  This morning, after

making sure with my brother in law that

the house wouldn't explode if I turned some

breakers off (hey, I've never done this stuff

before!!) I got it out easy peasy which 

was surprising since I thought it was going

to give me a hard time.  For some stupid

reason, the previous owners never put

any sidewalk or stepping stones to the

front door and although we talked about

it, we never got around to it either.  The

garage door is right in front of the driveway

so we just use that.  The only people who

come to the front door are people selling

something so I know I don't want to talk

to them.  To be polite I open the door

and tell them through the glass that I

don't want to talk to them.  I mean, it's

only right.  I don't want people to think

I've been brought up in a barn, after all!

Imagine

I guess I should have waited to put

this card on facebook because most

of you have already seen it, but oh, well.

I don't have anything else ready, lol.

I love how it turned out!  I don't use

this mesh stamp very often.  I should.

I have to admit I pretty blatantly 

copied it from pinterest.  Well, I added

my own flair of course, but the core

idea came from there.

Many mornings I can smell the baking

bread coming from the McDonalds bakery

nearby.  It's one of the best smells in the world!

This was not one of those

mornings.  It smelled like someone had

cleaned out their barn.  Since we are 

not exactly in a rural area, I'm not sure how

the smell wafted here, but  I'd rather

have the baking bread smell!

My garage light went out and when

I went to take out the bulb it broke in

the socket.  I look at the breaker box and

it lists the garage as #15- that's NUMBER

15, not HASHTAG.  When in the world did

the pound/number sign become a hashtag

and why is everything hashtag this and hashtag

that?  Anyway, I digress.  I look at the

breaker box to turn off the electricity so I

can get the bulb bottom out of the socket.
As I said, it lists it as #15.  The problem is 

that there are FIVE #15's!!!  What will I

do?  What I always do when I have  an

issue such as this.  Call my brother in law

Larry.  Maybe I can get them to play some

cards tonight, too.  Laurel and I need to

redeem ourselves.  He's worse than John

when it comes to winning.  Or losing for

that matter.  If he loses he says, "Well, I'll

let you have that one".  If he wins he says , "You 

tried your best" or "poor card management"

(he borrowed that one from John).  Very 

condescending and infuriating. I mean, it's

all in good fun, but we are all highly

competitive when it comes to cards and try

to set each other whenever we can.  I was

up to phase six (the card game is phase 10)

with 30 points and he set me 6 times in

a row last time we played!  I need to get even

somehow!  I'll let you know how it turns

out in the next episode....