I’m ready to cruise!

I’ve Been Tagged!

I was tagged by Miss AR quite a while ago, so here it is…

ABC’s

A–Attached or Single? Legally attached for 25 years on June 4th

B–Best friend? I’ve been blessed with several including the one mentioned above~ here I am with 2

C–Cake or Pie? Pie ~ Rhubard Custard is my fav right now.
D–Day of Choice? Monday – it always feels like a new beginning
E–Essential Item? A good hand lotion (and sugar…oh, did I say that?)
F–Favorite Color? Red just makes me smile…gotta say RED
G–Gummy bears or worms? Bears
H–Hometown? Summit Valley
I–Indulgence(s)? Sugar, Junking, Reading, Napping, Crafting (amber, just changed Shopping to Sugar)
J–January or July? This is a hard one…I’ll go with January – actually spring is my fav
K–Kids? Three great ones!

L–Life is incomplete without? Family and friends…ditto
M–Marriage date? June 4, 1983 – don’t feel that old!
N–Number of siblings? 2 brothers and 1 sis

O–Oranges or apples? Apples..fresh from the tree…ditto unless I can get an orange right off the tree – only done that once in my life
P–Phobias or fears? Hitting a pedestrian with my car
Q–Quotes? Art…the end result of perception, wisdom, intelligence, discipline, hard work, luck, passion, accident and coincidence. (author unknown)
R–Reasons to Smile? I live in the country!
S–Season? Spring
T–Tag 5 people? I can’t – it reminds me too much of a chain letter (but I had fun doing this myself) Will some horrible calamity take place if I don’t tag someone?
U–Unknown Fact? I seem to be the most motivated to scour the toilet bowl as soon as I get out of the shower – sorry! No pictures for this one!
V–Very Favorite Store? Definitely Anthropologie (I’m sure I was meant to be rich)
W–Worst Habit? Eating too much and at the wrong time
X–X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound. – makes me think of those sweet babes growing inside of me
Y–Your favorite food? The HuHot Mongolian Grill in Spokane Valley
Z–Zodiac? Leo… but does it matter?

No Tears in Heaven

This was a custom order made for a gal whose husband passed away recently. The words to the 1935 hymn that trail around this piece of collage are:

“No tears in Heaven, no sorrows given, all will be glory in that land; there’ll be no sadness, all will be gladness, when we shall join that happy band.”

Vintage Wallpaper

I bought a whole roll of late 60’s wallpaper yesterday.  I told my hubby I could make 2 million charms out of it.  So here is #1~

My sister~My forever friend!

DSCN0532

Originally uploaded by Tinker Verve

I have been blessed to have a great sister. She truly is my forever friend. I made this for her. It was slightly belated…her birthday was less than a month ago, I’m not doing too bad.  I had so much fun making it for her. I carefully searched for sayings that fit her so well.  Like, “I want to be a professional singer when I grow up” and “I am fond of reading and I like to write letters.” And, what a classic picture!

The ‘sister’ charm hangs from the bottom and the orange bead was from a necklace that belonged to our grandma.

Happy belated birthday sweet sis!

Sunday Inspiration!

One of the great hymns, “In the Garden”, has been a favorite of mine since childhood. I liked the tune and I’ve always thought it was sweet. Not so sure I really paid attention to the words. WOW! They are so personal.

“And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”

Each time I sing, “and He tells me I am His own”, I get a little choked up. I know that He loves me like none other as if I am the only one in the world…but do I really know it? Sometimes it’s hard to know things like we should…to really accept them.

…also, for years, “joy” has been a favorite word. I feel that it is a ‘God word’ and that the only way any person can experience true joy is by knowing him.

My mom and I have been working on our garden. Some morning this week after my walk, I’m going to take my hymn book out to my garden and sing this song. 😉

Lovin’ the home life!

I just love living in the country.  I’ve always known I was a country girl trapped in the city (even though I’ve lived in small cities..and I’m thankful for that).  For the past few weeks I go to sleep at night with a chorus of frogs doing their thing and wake up to the singing of birds.  I really love the birds.  There is such a wonderful variety here and I need to learn to identify them.  I’ve especially loved the hummingbirds.  I bought a spout for a do-it-yourself hummingbird feeder for a couple of dollars and this is what I came up with.  A little rustic and it seems to have a slow drip but at least they have found it.  😉

belated mom’s day mention

mom&me

Originally uploaded by Tinker Verve

I have really looked forward to blogging about Mother’s Day for the past couple of weeks but because of my recent ’emotional’ state with blogging (meaning, I haven’t wanted to spend time on my computer…at all!), I just let it pass right on by. Is it OK if I back up a little? Here’s a picture of my mom&me. I’m not sure why she looks so forlorn…maybe because I was #3 and she was 20? or maybe it just wasn’t cool to smile…don’t know because certainly I was what every mother dreams about. I’ve got to say though that I could not have had a better mother. She has taught me so very much. She has shown me what it means to love and nurture a family, to love others, to care for my home (and yard…and I’m still learning), to love God, to sew, craft and create, and to give of myself to others. I have also been blessed with a tremendous mother-in-law who loves me bunches (and adores her son) and raised a sweet young boy to be the wonderful man that he is today. I was able to spend the day with both of these incredibly gals and that was a true blessing.

I’ve been charming again. I made these beauties for all of the moms at church. There were 21 of us and I was short 3. That was a bummer but I’ll take them this coming week.

What a blessing it is to be a MOM! I have 3 charming children…each one incredibly special and unique.

I love this quote from Charles Swindoll…”There is no more influential or powerful role on earth than a mother’s. As significant as political, military, educational, or religious figures may be, none can compare to the impact made by mothers. Their words are never fully forgotten, their touch leaves an indelible impression, and the memory of their presence lasts a lifetime.”

Here’s a quick and cute story: My two nieces (Abby,4 & Katie,6) were playing and Abby was becoming irritated and angry with Katie. Katie did something to really make Abby so, so mad and Abby yelled at her as loud as she could and said, “Katie, you will nevew get mawwied and you will NEVEW have a baby!!!” It was the worst possible insult she could think of. This is just one sweet example of how God puts this very natural instinct in us gals to love and nurture.

Celebrate MOTHERHOOD everyday!

Workin’ my way back in the saddle…

…really I am.  It’s just been so hard.  I was gone for a week (about 2 weeks ago) and that just completely stifled my inspiration and motivation.  This usually happens with my dieting…I’m doing great…go out of town…things are interrupted…can’t get the motivation back…gain 5 pounds…   But I can’t remember this happening with creating.  It will come…it has to.  I’ve had company this week…more company next week…lots of yard work, cooking, cleaning (is any of that really important?)

Speaking of the going-out-of-town and poundish issue…I was hoping to have 20+ off by the end of this month for my 25th anniversary cruise to Mexico.  OK, so now I’m feeling like a complete failure.  I have 16 days before departure.  Well…if I would do all of the above mentioned things like I really should, I wouldn’t have any time to eat.  Not so sure that’s the answer.

Oh well, I’ll keep you posted on how it’s all going.