One Part Inspiration...

Last night, my husband came home from working hard all day. He was just in time for the nightly routine of a cuppa tea. As we sat, chatting about the day's events, he looked into the dining room. Usually, this is what he sees. I have created a little 'romantic vista' above the buffet and hutch. I leave it there during the year, to add some dynamic interest (don't you just love that decorating term? - I came up with it myself). However, last night, this is what he saw: The first question out of his mouth was " Why are the lights on ?" I answered with womanly logic. " Because, Saturday is November the Firs t." Naturally, he was a little confused. Then the 'lights' came on for him too. His wife is practicing for November the Fifteenth. She's getting the lights warmed up for the advent of winter fun. That's when the snowmen usually wake up and join the lights to add their festive voice for celebrating the season of "Coziness". H...

Deeply ingrained in every parent's heart is the desire to see their kids become adults with an adequate set of life skills. A child's life is fraught with clear and present danger. Perhaps the adult feels that if they can just save one child from the traumas they themselves suffered, their own life lessons will have been worth it - there will be some gain from the pain, so to speak. However, these lessons adults have learned along the way are in constant danger of becoming swallowed up by the more pressing life lessons that their own kids are learning. Also, the world is changing at such a rate, that the language an adult uses in trying to instill these lessons is barely understood by the young ears. These days, you just can't say to your kids "I played a video game called PONG when I was a teenager" or use words like fuddy duddy without the dinner table life-lesson completely collapsing under the children's laughter. All the same, adults are infused w...

Have you ever read that children's book? It's a classic in our house. The book describes a series of events that unfold because there was a fly on the wall - each one is more wild and crazy than the one before. That's how I felt yesterday. I had on my list to work on the housework. I was hoping to finish the whole house by the end of the weekend. It has been sadly neglected. What was the fly on the wall you ask? Well, it was my #1 son deciding that he wanted to create more connection rather than competition with his brother. After a serious chat, they moved the Wii downstairs into the office. This way they both can play, rather than having to ask each other's permission for access to the other brother's room. I was so impressed by the maturity and brotherly kindness. I decided to lend a hand to the boys as they moved their stuff in. The problem was, that they didn't have anything to put the Wii and all the paraphernalia on. We went on a mission to look...

What do you do on Friday night? When I was a teenager, Friday night was THE night. That was when youth group happened. I lived for the excitement of being a part of all the crazy events that happened. I remember one night, we brought in dry ice to create some sort of "club" atmosphere (in the most spiritual way we could). I also remember going out of town to the Diddley do's who were hosting the whole youth group at their place. My sister and I said we would take two brothers back to their home afterward. One of the brothers said he knew a short cut (The warning bells should have been going off right then). It was in the days before cell phones. And of course, we got horribly lost and a trip which should have taken 1/2 hour ended up taking us 2 1/2 hours. We were most concerned about what our parents would say and how many days we'd be grounded. [although as I recall, they didn't ground us, once they heard the story, but I can imagine that we added...

now that I've posted saying you can't leave a comment, that post allows you to? I don't get it. Anyhow, I'm off for a little walk in the park.

After taking the time to write to you my cyber readers about leaving comments, I see that they are not even enabled at the bottom of the post. What's with that? So I have spent considerable time today trying to reinstate them but to no avail. My husband informs me that perhaps it is a soft ware dealy thing going on at Blogger (the server) so I shouldn't worry about it So I am going to take his advice and get outside for a quick walk instead. Maybe if I clear my head, the computer will take the hint and clear it's head. If you have been trying to leave a comment and cannot, I apologize on behalf of all techno- peasants that I can't get it to work....for now.

Do you know what this is? Well of course you do! It is an odometer. But wait! It is so much more than that. This is a customary celebratory marking of a milestone! I actually had planned to stop at 222 222 and take a picture, but I got distracted so this had to do. Then I found that so fascinating, that I stopped and took a picture of this one: In case you can't read it, it says 222 444. The last three numbers are exactly double the first three. I get this tradition from my Dad. For some reason, he found it fascinating to mark certain numerical occurences by pulling over to the side of the road and making everyone look. That might be a slight exaggeration. He didn't always pull over. Sometimes he kept driving and had us watch the odometer turn over. Then we'd go back to what we were doing. Very occasionally, the milestone was celebrated with an ice cream cone. He also marked other numerical events by exclaiming over them. These included pointing out that the shape of 88 ...

To my thousands of faithful few cyber readers: I appreciate so much that you read my blog. I especially appreciate when you leave a comment. Could I just ask, that if you are "anonymous", you'd leave a little hint about which 'anonymous' you are? I know a lot of them! All you have to do is put down your name after your comment, even if you log onto the 'anonymous' comment box. That will help me because then I can sleep better not having to try and figure out who left the comment! Thanks! Marni of www.onepartinspiration.blogspot.com

I'm just going to blurt this out in front of everyone. I have a hard time throwing out dead plants. There. I confessed. I don't know if I feel better or not. I keep analyzing why it is that I just can't throw a plant out. Do I think that by throwing it out I de-value the thoughtfulness of the person who gave it to me? Am I wracked with guilt over not taking care of it properly and by holding onto it, am I trying to assuage said guilt? Am I holding out hope that something will miraculously happen to resurrect the poor thing? It's probably some of all the above. As the great theologian Joe Cocker said "Letting go Letting go The hardest part is knowing That I'll miss you so I'd like to wish you well Oh but it hurts you know Sometimes doing what is right Means letting go Yeah " [http://www.lyricsdownload.com/joe-cocker-letting-go-lyrics.html] I feel this way about flowers too. My mother-in-law will look at flowers that clearly should have be...

Write a wise saying and your name will live forever . What is curious about this quotation you ask? Well, it was written by ANONYMOUS .

Have you ever thought about plastic surgery? Botox? Eyelid lift? Tummy Tuck? I have to admit, that there are times that those words have echoed in my head as a distinct possibility to fix all that ails me. The "if only's" come along and whisper in my ear tempting me to turn back the clock on what life has mapped out on my body. But to be honest, the thought of having to go under the knife to do so is a big factor in my not pursuing any of these things. That, and the fact that I don't have piles of money kicking around for me to even consider such a thing. Still, sometimes, when I take a good hard look at myself, I think, "you know, if I could just...then I'd..." Serendipitiously, I stumbled upon a cost-effective solution the other day at Super Store. I had washed my hands and was going to put them under the hand dryer. Literally, this hand dryer just about blew me away. It was THAT powerful. Then I watched the transformation of my hand. It went from this...

I love the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". This is for several reasons. I love to imitate the Ethiopian version of it "Come zhou Foun tahv eevrrry blehssing, Toon mah hahht too seeng zzhy plraize". [Writing it out is so much harder than to sing it. ] The other reason I love it is because of the stanza which says : Oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. I am so prone to wander. I am so prone to leave the God I love. And yet, how grateful I am that God's grace follows me and searches me out and takes me before the throne, where I am pronounced "not guilty" because Jesus "interposed his Precious Blood" (see next stanza) This past week, I have twice heard the hist...

I want to give equal time to my children. So I am going to split up my thankfulness into three each with one left over. (I didn't realize this project would test my math too!) My daughter is a person who 'goes for the gold' - she has a steely determination to accomplish much. And she has already. My daughter has very sparkly brown eyes. When she is excited about something, it is infectious - and I love to watch her eyes shine as she describes what it is she's planning. My daughter is a very thoughtful person. Over and over again, I have seen her reach out to others to let them know how important they are to her. This could be in the form of a note, or picking up a Starbucks and bringing it to them to encourage them, or involving them in her life. My # 1 son has incredible insight about life. He expresses that in so many ways. One of these ways is through humor. My # 1 son tells me every day that he loves me (Recently, he changed it to "Mommy, I am loving y...

O.k., here it is, six days (Puff, puff puff) of thankfulness. Today, I'm going to bragabout be thankful about my husband. I figure I can pull off 10 things off the thankful shelf about him in no time at all. Ready,set, ..... GO~! My husband tells me every day that he loves me. Good bad and ugly, he's never changed his mind. I could stop right there and be satisfied. but...I will go on... My husband is a man of integrity. My husband is able to look straight to the heart of a situation, and figure out the bottom line. My husband is a realist. He doesn't spend a lot of time being all sentimental - and therefore doesn't get drawn into the dramas that can go on in a household of five people. My husband doesn't let on that he minds the catch and release system of trapping bats. My husband doesnt' let on that he minds getting rid of the MOus!!!EEEEE!!! My husband asks me to come with him on errands - he says he enjoys my company. My husband is wise enough no...

Today, for my project, I am going to reflect on ten things about being thankful that have occurred to me this week. Being thankful doesn't change your circumstances. Being thankful isn't necessarily a warm fuzzy feeling - sometimes it is a decision you make to turn off the "Now I'm Worried" voice inside your head. Being thankful is a little like wearing your ring on the wrong hand to remind you to take out the garbage. It feels a little weird at times. There you are grousing about something small and suddenly the ring (thankfulness) twists on your finger and you say to yourself "Oh right, I was going to be thankful. " Being thankful opens your internal eyes to catch God doing some mighty interesting things that you might have missed otherwise. (the beautiful sunrise you see because you had to get up to get your son to early morning class) Being thankful means that you have to have an open heart - not a closed one. And having an open heart means tha...

I am continuing my thankfulness project. Hope you aren't bored yet. It is kind of funny that since the weekend when I started it, the project has become a bit of a fun -finder. I look at something and think "hey I could put that on today's list". Of course by the time I find my way to the computer, most of those brilliant thoughts have flown away. So I'll start from scratch. Scratching my head...scratch, scratch, wrinkle the nose, stare off into space, go and check the load of laundry..see the detergent and think of getting all those groceries this afternoon...oh yeah... 1. I'm thankful for the occasional trip to Costco. There's something decadent about being able to stroll down the aisles and load up with 500 rolls of toilet paper, 3 million tea bags, and enough skim milk powder to make a ton of really great breadmaker buns. (o.k, just realizing strolling is not a good word here because it's more of a tugging action as your buggy becomes laden with th...

I'm thankful for a chance to unwind after a busy, intense day. I'm thankful for other bloggers. I enjoy reading up on them and getting to know others through cyberspace. I'm thankful for my [2nd] older sister. Her thoughtfulness and ability to see through to the bottom of issues are things I admire. (oh yeah, and her dry sense of humor) I'm thankful for God's provisions through many dry seasons of life. I'm thankful for the team members who have surrounded my kids in their growing years. They have many strong role models in many different sectors. I'm thankful for a sense of fun. I'm thankful for the ability to appreciate the funny things of life. Today a little girl looked at me and said "I like you. Wanna come to my house for Christmas?" I was a little taken aback and said "Well, that's a long long ways away". "No it's not", she replied "It's just a couple blocks down the road". I'm thankf...

I'm thankful for the days when I can go to work. It stretches me and challenges me in ways that I never knew it would. I'm thankful for the days when I can stay home and be in my jammies. It gives me the spaces I need to gear up for the other things I do. I'm thankful for my dining room table. It has been the center of many interesting discussions where we have laughed, cried and (yes sometimes) yelled at each other. I'm thankful for hot water - wow, when you take a shower, that really makes a difference! I'm thankful for my #1 sister. She is unfailing in her enthusiasm and has been such a support to me in this blogg=thing. I'm thankful for shoes to wear - and I have such a variety! - as I found out the other night when I had to pull them all out of the closet because of the discovery of an unsavory substance there. I'm thankful for the radio. I get to listen to all kinds of programs that give me food for thought. I'm thankful for the automatic ...

It's that time of year again. Thanksgiving. If you are like me, the first thing that enters your mind is "good food"! The second thing that enters my mind is "oh yeah, count your blessings". I'm going to make it my Thanksgiving project to be thankful for 10 things a day until next Monday. You get to be the recipient(s) of this. I hope it will spur you on to taking time to look at life through a different lens. I am thankful for the variety I enjoy in my life. I don't work in just one place, so I have opportunity to work with and get to know a lot of different people. I love the juxtaposition of teaching young minds and offering older people the opportunity to access their former skills as well as learn new ones. I am thankful for a great recipe for buns that makes my family so happy, and that is so easy to make it makes me look like the great baker of '08. I am thankful for the opportunity to go out in the evening and lock up around the farm...

Original Plan: Slee p In N e w Plan: Go back to bed Today was one of the only Saturdays until June that I would have been able to sleep in. No guitar lessons at the crack of 'well-at-least-it-gets-me-up-and-going-on-the-weekend'. Late in the week I remembered that this Saturday would be a day for lounging around in my jammies until whenever I felt like getting out of them. What a delicious morsel of anticipation! I began to plan for it. I'd start with staying up a little later than usual. I'd watch a movie at 10 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. I'd moved the phone downstairs where I wouldn't hear it. The "are you still in bed?" and the "oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" people would have to leave a message. Last night, I expectantly settled in to enjoy this break from routine. I grabbed the most comfortable pillows and got myself all cozy to watch the movie. I even put the timer on so that the TV would turn off automatically, in case...

Huh? I felt like my ears were not working today. Everything my co-worker said to me sounded like something else. In my workplace, it is common to have folks who can't hear what you are saying. I'm just not usually one of them. I thought about how frustrating that must be to constantly have to decipher what someone is saying. At least this is temporary. ( No, not, Tickle Mary. TEMPORARY). Although you can have some great stories out of it. I have a couple of favorites. One is the doctor who met an elderly patient of his on the street. He saw Mr. Jones far away and wondered about the pretty little thing who was on his arm. " Well Hello Mr. Jones " said the doc. " You must be feeling better ". "Sure am doc. I took your advice. I got cheerful and I have a a hot mama". The doctor was taken aback. "That's not what I said. I said " BE CAREFUL, YOU HAVE A HEART MURMUR ". And the other one I like is from my sister. Her h...