Silliness

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Excellency Theresa the Omnipresent of Goosnargh on the Carpet Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I feel like "Goosnargh on the Carpet"...doesn't that conjure up lovely mind pictures?! LOL Still here. Still coughing. We're all still miserable. I'm getting at the end and lucky me...I get to go to the dentist to diagnose what I already know...that I need a root canal! It's the only tooth on that side that doesn't have one and I am in miserable pain everytime I drink or if food touches it. So hopefully once they diagnose, they can get me in soon! And hopefully we'll all get better in time to do something fun for Daddy's birthday on Saturday!

Testimony

Sisters A and J watch as D tells Miss L and "all the people" that he asked Jesus into his heart!
A listening to music
D and J listen to Miss S, D's Sunday School teacher
My handsome little man!

Last weekend our church had a celebration of the first year anniversary of being in the new wing of the building that is for children's ministry. Pastor Mike has also been teaching from The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn and L, our Children's Ministry Director (overworked, underpaid and probably doesn't get thanked enough for the AWESOME job she does!!!) related how the children are one of the best treasures we have in our church. She also emphasized that having Jesus in our heart is the greatest treasure of all. She "interviewed" D, asking him questions and D had no fears whatsoever, speaking in the microphone "to all the people" as he put it. He kept saying "all the people" as if that was one single identity. :o) He shared with all the people that he "asked Jesus to be in his heart".

Some might thing that he does not understand but there truly is a reason that Jesus tells us we need to have the faith of a child...to just believe God and take Him for His word, not doubting and fearing, just believing. We have noticed a change in D over this last month or so. Yes he is still a little boy who is often times naughty. But, he honestly does have an awareness of right and wrong and often asks to "talk to God" about things. He has even been trying to read his Bible and has pretty much learned how to read the first chapter of the book of John. It is so precious to me that he can do some of the things he can do. I think back to my childhood and my fears and anxieties which stemmed mainly from other people making fun of me or telling me what I could or could not do. D has been somewhat sheltered but still, he has not had those experiences with other children yet. No one has told him he should be shy with the microphone in front of the congregation, so he is not. No one has told him he is too young and doesn't know how to read well enough to read his Bible, so because he wants to he does. It reminds me of the weight of our words and how important my job is to season my words for my children with grace! Correct them, yes! Discipline them, yes! But the words I choose have power to steer young souls...please God direct us and give us wisdom in teaching our children.

And this experience was good for D. The Bible says that we come to God by "believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord." This gave D the chance to testify to his new and growing faith, to confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord of his life!

Spring!

Last Saturday before I got really sick, I had to run to the store and I brought my camera with me. Previously I had seen these beautiful blooming fruit trees in an industrial park near us. So, I had to go back with my camera to get some pictures.
While I was there a security guard came out to ask what I was doing. I just explained that I loved the flowers and wanted to photograph them, then they were okay but still watched me.
The trees seem to have an overabundance of blooms this year.
Wouldn't it be nice to take your lunch break from work and walk through here?
It reminded me a little of Anne of Green Gables when she says that the name of the road is too ordinary and should be called something like the Great Way of White Delight because of all the beautiful blossoms.
So I went to Home Depot because I had a coupon for paint sale (bedroom redecorating during spring break) and I bought a half flat of pansies.
I always love pansies because of the colors. Each one is like a mini masterpiece from God and to me their coloring is just as lovely as an orchid!
Here is one of the completed planters. I also planted my bulbs which were growing without being in soil. I figured there would be nothing lost by trying to see if they would still come up. So far they look pretty good and many are already poking out of the soil. They are mostly tulips but some daffodils. They were all mixed up when I took them out last year so I don't know what is what. That is a little disappointing because I did love having one or two with all deep purple or all pink. But a little surprise is fun too!
Here is D taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. We have lots of pictures like this in our family but this is the first one from this generation!
These are my helpers, J, A and D. They had been playing out in their sandbox in the back but it was more fun to "help" Mom and they were of course very cute about it!

The final product! Doesn't look like too much but we don't have a real yard so we "bloom where we are planted"! :o) I always like to take a picture at the beginning of the season because it amazes me every year how much it changes. This is the front walk and patio.

New Photographer In The Family

After hubby and I got our new cameras, we let our son, 5, try using one of the point and shoots. He loves to draw and so we want to foster his creativity in any reasonable way that we can. He has taken a couple hundred pictures (the joy of digital photography!) and when he is concentrating, does quite well. This is one of the first pictures he took of me and daughter J.

Budding Artist

For a few years now my son has been obsessed with Larry Boy and for a time that is all he would draw...ad nauseum! Noone has ever told him it is difficult to paint or to get it just right, he just picked up a brush and started, painting this freehand...I was impressed! Sure the colors blend together and he looks slightly askew, but I don't think I could have drawn him this well. He looks just like his Larry Boy toy. For those of you who do not know what Larry Boy is, he is the super hero alter ego of Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales. The Larry Boy stories are parodies of Batman. There are much worse things he could be obsessed with! :o)

For Grandma and Grandpa

This one is J in the sunlight saying "Take a picture of J!" She is fascinated by cameras and wants to get right in the lens.
This is A who poses when she wants to...or not! She is a true diva! :o)
When A saw me taking pics of J reading a book, she didn't want to be left out. So she picked up her book but couldn't handle the suspense, she had to peek to see if I was going to take a picture of her too! LOL
This is J "reading" The Velveteen Rabbit. For some reason the girls really like bunnies.

The kids played for a half hour climbing up on Daddy and then sliding through the tunnel he makes with his LONG legs! This shows D going through and A watching.
Here's D after coming through...if that's not an Uncle Dennis face, I don't know what is!
Sometimes J gets left out and sometimes she chooses to pull herself out. It's hard to find alone time when there are five of you in 900 square feet! Here she is playing with the "cell phone" which they use to pretend to call Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Kathy and other friends.
Everybody wants to sit with Daddy!
J, "Take another picture of J!"

Catitude!

Nuff Said! LOL This is Abbie while I was packaging the Ashford to go to its new home. Nothing can be done without Cat Approval.

I Do It All By Self

The title says it all! LOL This is A so that Grandma can see how "bootiful" she is! :o)

Apple Hill

Okay, indulge me here...or I should say indulge my Mom because every time there is a picture of me on the blog...that's for her! LOL The cute one in the pictures is my hubby! We have been thoroughly blessed by God in many ways. Sometimes His blessings come as a surprise. I think we often feel like His blessings will be "good for us"...you know like when you have to eat your veggies because they are good for you too! LOL I guess what I mean is that we feel if there is something you really want for yourself that won't happen because you are being selfish. And no, God is not a cosmic Santa Claus, but He is also not a spoiled sport and I honestly think that He finds joy in blessing His children in many ways. Well, you can see what we are holding, right? Well God blessed us through another friend who gave us money to be able to purchase a Nikon D40 SLR for my husband and a D80 for myself. We are both very excited. And I really love that hubby and I can do this together! :o) And btw, another blessing...the jacket I'm wearing in the photo is a cotton/Lycra corduroy that I got for $11.98 on clearance...that just never happens in my size. Mom it reminds me both of the corduroy shirt Grandma had in her closet on the back porch and of the corduroy blazer I had for my first year of high school in 1980 when the preppy style was all the rage! LOL

So, after church a couple weeks ago we took advantage of the break in the rain and we made a run up to Apple Hill. If you have read my blog long, you know that is a short drive from us and just far enough out of the city to start relaxing and enjoying ourselves a little bit. City life can be so claustrophobic at times!
Of course one of our motivators for going is

scrumptious apple donuts! They were just about out so we had to settle for some apple brownies. Sounds weird...but they taste awesome!
Click any of the pics to see them larger. D is not very happy in this pic because he thought he was getting all of the HUGE brownie to himself! :o) He takes his food VERY seriously...now if we could just get him to eat more variety I would be happy! J is in the purple, A in the pink. As you saw in the picture above they had a fire going. It made me a little homesick seeing and smelling apple wood burn as my Grandma Hopkins often burned apple wood.

Here is A in the car...wanted to show Grandma her pretty leggings! :o) I love this farmhouse and land here. It is always kept so nice.

We did some shopping on the way home and in the parking lot we saw this pickup with 4 Alaskan Malamutes (one of my favorite breeds of dogs), so I took this picture to show Shelley

And we ended the day with a sunset in the Kmart parking lot. It was weird too because there were people in the parking lot giving me really dirty looks. Everywhere I go and take pics with my new camera I get lots of strange looks. I don't know if this is a post 9/11 thing were people are a little cautious about things like this or not? I never had this happen before when I used my film camera. I guess I will have to be careful and cautious myself. Has anyone else had this happen?

Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild Show and Sale

I am still feeling like I'm being drug behind an 18 wheeler on the freeway, but I am on the downhill side of this virus and thought I would try to post a couple things in order to catch up.


On February 10th I went to the Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild Annual Show and Sale.
This year the theme was "Textile Traditions With Today's Twist." I thought they did a nice job with their displays and had many people demonstrating so you could try some things hands on.
I enjoyed looking at a lot of the weaving since that is not something I do or could do at this point in my life (space limitations), it is interesting to look at other peoples' art.

I loved this...different breeds of sheep wool all done on little Weavette looms and sewn together.

If you want to see anything more close up
I believe you can just click on the picture and it will enlarge.

I spent a good deal of time talking with Mel Silva who is an awesome Navajo weaver. He had me almost convinced to take a class with him. I am not so much interested in the Indian designs as I am in the hands on approach. I think my kids would like it.
This shows his home made loom and project in progress as well as some of the rest of his display behind him.
The skeins at the left were chemically dyed and the photo on the right with more earthy colors shows skeins all dyed with natural herbs, plants, roots etc.


There was a display/demonstration about cotton.
And another on flax/linen.


Naturally one of the funnest parts was the sale! I did buy some dyed merino/nylon superwash sock wool to spin. What I really wanted to buy was this...

Isn't it beautiful and it was REALLY soft! The lady's company is called Wild Flowers. Pretty.

When all was said and done God gave me a smile and a chuckle. A rainbow!
I took this for Jack as he loves to go to dollar stores and other places to get a good deal. I figured the rainbow over the 99 cent store was proof that God loves a good bargain too! LOL