Making The Right Choice

Tis the season of phone calls, email reminders, snail mail reminders and then yes...Will you put my sign on your lawn?  My answer is always NO!  How can I trust a mere human to know how to guide us unless they are willing to say they stand by truth and honesty (even when they are found out otherwise).

Great Grandma always said...Time will tell.  

Dwarf Rename

In honor of allergy season I have decided to rename the seven dwarfs.  This is totally interactive; you can apply the new names to the dwarf you feel deserves it! 

So here goes:

Watery

Sneezy

Drippy

Wheezy

Blotchy

Brain Fuzzy

Cranky

Don't Go "Snakin" My Heart

Oh be still my heart!  My hubby rescued Bella from a huge snake this afternoon.  Our gardener for the Homeowners Association told us recently that he has noticed many snakes lately that are non-venomous to humans but they can kill animals.  Apparently this snake was very long.  I only saw it chopped up into 3 ft lengths!

Mothers Day 2012

 Our beautiful new red fountain.  I wish you could see it at night with the white lights.

 A little cozy corner to sit and sip on your beverage of choice.  Come and sit a spell.

The very beginnings of our "under the window" flower garden.

Oh my, these men work so well together :-)

Secret Garden

 Oh my, what a difficult week this has been for me and many friends and loved ones.  We are learning how to build fences that contain the beauty that God has destined for us but at the same time the very same fences are necessary to keep out our foes...those that would seek to devour us with a casual phrase, a glance, a bit of gossip.

I turned off all the noise tonight except for some beautiful Worship music.  During this time I prayed for blessed peace for those that are under attack.  These beautiful words bear repeating:

"In the quiet, in the stillness

I know that you are God

In the secret of your presence

I know there I am restored"

Livin the Country Life

 While we live in a rural area I really wouldn't consider ourselves "living in the country" until...on the way home from work on Friday I had to brake and honk my horn so the vultures would take a break from their dead rabbit feast so I could drive by.  Yuck and double yuck.

 You already know about my recent battles with the bats in our attic.  I really do love to watch them take off at dusk ready to do their duty in battling the insect population around the lake.  However, one poor bat was earthbound on our deck this evening and Al had to scoop it up and throw it over the fence before Bella had a feast.

Oh, and then we were driving home today and right there in the road before we entered our housing development was a huge king snake in the road.  It had an injury but the remaining 2-3 feet of it seemed to be OK.

Add this to our morning traffic jams with the wild turkeys, the amazing sightings of owl, osprey, blue heron and the constant cooing of doves and you'll get an idea of why we love living here.  

Remembering

It is at this exact time of year that I start remembering my Daddy and his journey to Heaven.  Mama and Daddy came to live with us in May.  Daddy was so very sick with cancer at that time that we didn't notice  Mama's dementia was becoming increasingly front and center stage.  I'm sure we excused many behaviors because Mama was never able to cope with stress.  I wish now that I had paid more attention to her needs at that time.  Today she is in a Nursing Facility that takes loving care of her.  I often remind my students with a "note to self"...don't do this, or that,  but remember always to respect your family and friends because we never know what they are going through.

So here goes:  "Note to self"  cherish each day with your loved ones.  Look for clues.  They are trying to tell you something important.

I can say all of this because today when the classroom was really loud, unruly and full of strife one of my littles said "Just breathe Nancy, remember what you tell us".

Bread Nerd

If there was a dictionary entry for "bread nerd"  my goofy smiling face would be right next to it.  I tried a new bread recipe which started last night mixing up the wet dough to set on the counter top overnight.  I would share a picture of the dough but as the old saying goes "if you've seen one, you've seen them all" 

 The real excitement set in this morning as I preheated my oven, then placed the dutch oven in to preheat for 30 minutes.  I was listening to Worship music, staring out the window at the beautiful hilltop view we have and then I placed the wet lump of dough into the dutch oven to bake for 30 minutes.

 After baking for 30 minutes I uncovered the dough for the last 15 minutes of crispy baking.  By this time I have butterflies in my stomach (nerds get those) and the steam fogged up my glasses (more nerd evidence) as I put the bread back in the oven.  Change of music now.  This excitement calls for Lady Antebellum at "almost" full volume.

Oh my, look at this crusty ball of beauty.  I can't wait to slice into it.  I'm bringing bread, butter and jam into school for the kids this afternoon.  If it is good, I'll blush and modestly say thank you.  If it's a bomb I'll quietly go into a corner and cry.