It Says "Blue"

We had a slight delay in the painting project - my sister J. was going to help me, but she wound up sick over the weekend. :( So I got started on Monday instead. After doing the walls I realized now the ceiling looks dingy, so I think my project just got bigger...

Ok, so this is really strange, but when I am trying to load the before/after pictures, they keep loading sideways! I've tried a few things, and it's not working, so I'm just going to load them on G+ and put a link to the album here.

Have you seen the Valspar paint commercial with the chameleons? It makes me laugh:

Not Yet!

We had our first snowfall today! AND IT'S STICKING! I'm not ready for this yet!

I think October 20th is the earliest we've had snow since we moved here.

You can see the remains of my tomato plants... guess growing season is over! 

How has your weather been?

Changing

I am starting back at square one with the blog... this time I am committing myself to writing at least once a week, instead of every day. After realizing that I could not give that level of dedication, and trying to ignore the blog for awhile, it seemed like something was better than nothing! 

There have been a few more changes in the wind lately. As of today, my oldest sister, N. has been married a full week! Not only did she get married, but is now living much farther away than the bedroom next to mine. She is now closer to old friends and family, and very, very happy - so while we will miss her, we are also happy for her. The wedding was beautiful, and combined vintage nostalgia and woodland elements. 

N.'s dress was our maternal grandmother's wedding dress, with an overlay cut from our paternal grandmother's bridal veil. Since B. used Darcy's quote from Pride and Prejudice when he proposed, there were paper roses and leaves in all the bouquets and boutonnieres taken from a copy of the book.

ACT II

The second part of changes, which I alluded to in my last post, is really the main, #1 reason why I got distracted from the blog... I'm in a relationship! In August I was still keeping the news relatively low-key in the case that it wasn't going to continue, but now that he has met all of my extended family and friends, and I have met his church family, I suppose it is officially well known enough to announce on the blog. :) You can blame him (or thank him!) for the fact that I now share all the boring the details of my daily life with just one person now, and not all of you, haha. But I still do want to write, and to keep you in the loop, hence my rededication to write at least once a week. 

After the wedding, we were able to spend a few days over the weekend with him and his family. We visited the Ft. Worth botanical gardens and conservatory, which it was unusually chilly outside, but beautiful. 

After church on Sunday, we relaxed at the house and played Boggle and Scrabble:

 A shout-out to B. for 'pinecone'! :)

It all came to an end too quickly, and yet we were also ready to give up our nomadic ways and settle back in at home. I now have a bedroom and "sitting room" with the recent vacancy... I am thinking up all sorts of ways to arrange and decorate in there. More on that soon!

Meet Calvin

We just went into the pet store for dog food...

I've always had a soft place in my heart for rats since I was eleven and was convinced to buy one by the Petco associate. It was the best pet I have ever had. Her name was Flower, and after three years she was followed by Galadriel. When we moved to the Big Woods, I sold all of my small furry friends and said my goodbyes. 

Last year, the local pet store move to a new facility that is easier to get to, and we've been frequent visitors to hold the animals and buy dog food. While I was in there today, the store owner's daughter told me that I could have this sweet black and white hooded rat because she just couldn't bear the thought of him becoming snake food, and that was most likely going to be his fate. How could anyone refuse? 

I've named him Calvin, and he is such a sweetie! He sat on my shoulder and supervised me folded laundry today, then he fell asleep in my lap while Mom arranged his cage. Now, I'm watching him run on a bright yellow wheel and search through his food bowl for the best treats. 

Most people think rats are gross, but once you've had one as a pet, you never see them in the same light. They are sweet-tempered, intelligent, cuddly, clean, social, and very laid back. They are always on the alert for a treat or a ride on your shoulder, and their little eyes sparkle with curiosity. Can you tell how much I love them? It's good to have a furry friend of my own again.

Want to see more pictures? Check out the album here!

Carlyle 5K

Ran my third ever 5K today! Here are a few pictures from the race.

We got these awesome moisture-wicking shirts that are a pretty blue color.

The weather was actually warm and it didn't rain, woohoo!

There were 191 participants

 My time was 49:50, two minutes slower than the Shamwalk, but I did not train for this like I should have!

Had a great time, and now we're looking ahead to the Freedom 5K on July 4th!

Eleven Ways to Shorten the Distance Between You & Your Pen-Pal (Guest Post by Nikki Derouin)

Hey folks! I had my sister Nikki write a guest post for us about how to be a better pen-pal. I love getting snail mail letters, don't you? Hope you enjoy this & maybe we'll see more of her writing in the future!

One of my best friends and I have been pen-pals for over 14 years.  A mutual friend thought Beth and I would be good friends and encouraged us to write.  Thankfully, we both loved writing real, pen-and-paper letters and unlike most long-distance friendships, this one stuck.  We still live over 1,500 miles away, and we still keep in touch.  It wasn't until 3 years ago that we reluctantly went to email over snail mail.  However, we still send random letters, just to keep the nostalgia of letters and stamps alive.  

Over the years I've kept up a pen-and-paper correspondence with several people.   Here are my Top 10 Tips {and a BONUS 11^th tip} that I hope will help keep the snail-mail experience alive for you. 

1) Try not to be boring.

Enjoy the process of writing. Write like you talk. Find ways to bring humor to your writing. If you don't want your letter to sound like a list of things you did last week, write about how a certain situation made you FEEL. This will keep the letters from getting redundant. 

2) If all else fails, keep writing. 

Even if you think your letters are boring, keep writing. Even if you don't have a natural knack at being conversational, you still have something to give. I don't mind reading “boring” letters because there is still so much to glean and enjoy. 

3) Write in a journal like fashion.

My favorite letters to receive are the ones that take 4 pages and cover twice as many days. Sometimes seeing the stop and start of how a person corresponds is extremely revealing about their day-to-day life. If you can't dedicate a long amount of time, then write in short spurts, and date each time you change days. 

4) Be willing to learn more about writing.

There are so many books about letter writing. There a websites and classes. Look into these things. Recently, while trying to write a sympathy card, I started to wonder if I could express myself more sympathetically. I did a search and found a funeral home that had a specific page dedicated to writing sympathy notes. I was so grateful for the perspective that was offered. Take time to improve the way you communicate in writing.

5) Remember you don't live next door – be descriptive. 

This is especially true of international pen-pals. Yet, there are so many cultural and demographic differences even in the same country! Try to be aware of ways in which your writing could expand your pen pal’s perspective – if in no other way then mentioning the weather. Beth is already telling me of days that almost reach 90* while I'm still sitting here in wool socks and sweaters hoping it will get to 32* this afternoon! I love to imagine what it would feel like to be in the same place! 

6) Remember you don't live next door – put a little more into it. 

If you lived next door to your friend, you would most likely go out to coffee, bring over a dozen muffins or share something you read in a book or magazine. Value your pen pal as a friend, not as a letter. Try to find ways to make the letters personal or add a little something extra. This can be a simple as a tea bag, or a bookmark, or an article you clipped out of a magazine. Show your pen-pal that you thought of him or her outside of the letter and in your day-to-day life. 

7) Remember you don't live next door – be realistic about problems. 

This is not where I encourage you to be positive and not negative. Some of the most important letters I've ever received have been in response to a “negative” letter I've sent. Some of my pen-pals have helped me through the most difficult times in my life. A letter is a powerful tool! But be realistic. If the person is not fully aware of the situation, do not expect them to be fully sympathetic or fully capable of offering healthy and correct advice. But on the flipside, asking a close pen-pal for advice may be exactly what you need to do. He or she will be removed from the situation and may be able to offer clear-headed advice.

8) Don't assume the worst – write out of turn.

Pen pals take turns. I write, I get a letter, I write back. But life is crazy. Realize the other person has more priorities than just returning a letter. Every once and awhile write out of turn. Don't ask, “So, why haven't you written??” Just write a short little letter or postcard mentioning that you thought of them or had something to share. This will usually jump start their response and give them a good opportunity to write back. If you find that you are always writing out of turn, perhaps the other person is not a good letter writer and being pen pals is not their strong suit. If you enjoy the other person’s conversations, try another form of communication. If you have found little common ground, then perhaps you need another pen pal. But don't give up too soon!

9) Be encouraging.

This is where I say, “ don't be negative all the time”. Make sure that you are giving in this relationship and not just taking. Share something that encouraged you. Be uplifting. Be sincere, but be as positive as possible. I hold on to every. single. letter. And I'm amazed at how much strength I gain from these letters. I hope that the same can be said of the ones I have sent.

10) Motivate without harping. 

Like any friendship, you want to motivate the other person! Find ways to motivate each other. Beth and I both enjoy yarn crafts, and we will ask about each other’s projects … thankfully, she’s kind enough not to mention how many projects I’ve started and never finished. Yet, we still like to ask, motivate, and encourage each other to try new things and to finish what we've started!

BONUS TIP: 11) Do the same thing a thousand miles apart! 

One of the most fun and exciting parts of my friendship with Beth is our attempts to “do things together a thousand miles apart”. How? Well, we both took up jogging at the same time {part of the ‘motivate without harping’ tip} and found 5ks to run on the same day! Even if we had been at the exact same race, we would not have run side by side, but having this “run day” together was so motivational, fun, and just plain silly! She and I also take the same online classes. We encourage each other to do the assignments and we send pictures of our completed coursework. This year Beth and I set a goal to work on memorizing Scripture – we are memorizing the same book of the Bible and using the same memory program. I would never have kept up on my end without her motivation. Other ideas would be – working on the same type of project, listening to the same podcast, reading the same book, or watching the same movie. If at all possible, shorten the space between you and your pen-pal! :) 

I hope these tips will motivate you to keep up a correspondence the old fashion way – but with the blessing of modern technology. If you don't have a pen pal, write a letter to someone who needs encouragement or someone who would love to get a letter from you. It doesn't need to be fancy – it just needs to be heartfelt.

Nikki is an author, part-time babysitter, and full time crafter. She recently published a book for women called Singled Out, which you can purchase through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or CBD.  

Nesting Emotions

It's funny how many layers of emotion can be felt on any one single occurrence. We have so many different words to express how we feel, and so many depths, and an enormous range of thoughts that fluctuate through our minds. All because of one tiny thing. 

I have a tendency to come off like the matryoshka doll above - precise, relatively together, and somewhat emotionless. The extroverts in my life tend to shake me and say, "Do something! Smile! Say how you feel!" But that is very difficult for me, because, like that matryoshka, I have several other faces with other feelings all locked inside, and I'm never quite sure which one to show. 

Tonight I had one of those moments. A moment when you realize that you aren't a child anymore. When you suddenly realize you don't quite know who or what you are... or how to react. I was mainly excited, but then terrified, then serious, then laughing. Responsibility, insecurity, questioning... All of these factor into which layer is what emotion at the time. 

But deep in the heart of that matryoshka is a tiny, unopenable final layer. It can't be placed anywhere but at the core of the doll, and it is not hollow like the rest. Which is like my emotions. Because underneath all of my temporary, conditional feelings, there is one constant. God. He is the solid calm in my final layer. He is the most important piece upon which the other layers fit. I may not be very good at expressing which feeling I am currently undergoing, but I know that right at the core of my life, is the One Who made me, the One Who cares for me, and the One Who has it all figured out. And that is what keeps me together. 

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Absentee...

Hey everyone! If you haven't noticed, I haven't been posting like I should! We are out of town, and I haven't had the extra time to blog like I thought! We are still on the road, and I will try to return to regular posting by Thursday! I feel bad I missed a Think About It Thursday last week, so I just might post two!

Ciao,
      Toni

IKEA For the First Time!

 Last night we went to IKEA and had dinner in their restaurant  It was my first time to be there, and it was awesome! I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:

I had the chicken dinner

Loved all the econo-sized rooms

ribbons tied to sticks... kinda cool, I thought

 This elevator was ADORABLE!

We only had time to explore one of the three floors, but I will definitely be going back again!

Busy Bee Bakery

I have had the craziest day today! Got up this morning and went grocery shopping, then came home heated up lunch, then dyed my hair with henna. While that was setting, I made molasses cookies, a chocolate cake, and a lemon pound cake... no, I'm not on a dessert binge, they are all for other people! The lemon cake is for our singing night at church, the chocolate cake is for our dinner guests tomorrow, and the cookies were requested (in a very persistent manner, lol) by the woman Nikki crochets with on a regular basis. When I told my friend about my little cooking tangent, her words were, "You go, Betty Crocker!" I wonder if Betty Crocker's back and feet hurt so bad when she was done cooking? Nah, probably not. Mostly because she wasn't actually real, but we won't get into that.

My hair is now in the awkward "oxidizing" stage, where it isn't quite absorbed, and it still smells a little funny. I catch myself sniffing and wondering where the farm is - then I realize it's me! It's really not that bad, and I love how healthy it makes my hair, and the red highlights are a bonus!

All my baking is in their respective containers, waiting to be given away, and I'm busy planning for our dinner tomorrow. I finally have my feet up and I'm finding it hard to focus on the computer screen. I think I am totally exhausted!

I will hopefully have a more titillating post for you tomorrow, but for now, goodnight!

In APRIL??

We've had twelve inches (or more) since yesterday... It's supposed to be SPRING already! Where is the sunshine? Where are the flowers? What about "April showers"?? I am getting tired of this. :/

I haven't even been taking pictures for my +G+ 365 Project like I am supposed to, because I'm so bored of all this snow. I look out my window and see the same thing, every day. This:

Beautiful, yes... for about a month. Then I begin to miss the sunny days of summer, or the crisp days of fall. 

What makes it worse, is that the neighbors pulled out the snowmobiles. I love snowmobiling. But I don't have one, which is a bummer. Because something that might make the snow tolerable is to fly across it at high speeds and feel so adrenaline pumped it's not cold anymore. I digress. This post is me being grumpy, sorry. At least now I feel like you might know my grr feelings, and that makes me feel better. 

Hospitality

When we moved to the Big Woods six years ago, we were nervous. We were new, we had no clue what our new house looked like, and had no idea what kind of welcome we would receive. About two weeks before we moved, we received an email from one of the women at our new church. She told us that she and her husband had three kids, 16 chickens, a horse, a dog, and two rabbits, and that she was so excited to meet us. She said that she wanted to host a tea party for us girls at her house to make us feel welcome, and to introduce us to the ladies of the church.

Within hours of our moving van pulling up in town, she stopped by with her daughter to introduce themselves, and offer help moving our many boxes. Her husband and sons helped bring in the washer and dryer, and the next day she stopped by with a plate of cookies on a beautiful green glass plate. Always the cautionary, my mother was scared to death of breaking it, but M. said not to worry about it, because what is the use of having nice dishes if you never actually use them?

As promised, she hosted the tea party, and that was when we learned that she didn't just have one special plate, she had many. Different colors, different styles, all special, but all very freely offered. It was the same attitude of her hospitality, "If I have it, I will share it." At the time, they lived in a small mobile home, and somehow we managed to squeeze thirteen ladies into it. That house was full of love!

Last summer, I had the privilege of helping them work on a new house, building a basement, and learning how to use a sawzall. Once again, those green dishes came onto the scene, as M. served the contractors and electricians coffee and blackberry kuchen outside, throwing a tablecloth over a pile of lumber. One simple act of kindness, and it made them feel at home, even though the actual "house" was just a shell.

Today, she hosted another breakfast, one of our regular monthly Bible studies. There were fourteen of us this time, enjoying her lovely food and admiring the vintage decor. But it wasn't about the dishes, or the antique rocking chair, or the cherry patterned apron hanging in the kitchen. It was about feeling 100% welcome. It was about relaxing, finding peace, and knowing, "I am wanted here." And that is the greatest gift you could ever give... true hospitality. 

Creative Consultant

(created by Nikki Derouin)

Folks! Look at these super awesome business cards my sister designed! They even have a QR code, which if you have a smartphone (I don't) means you can access my blog even faster. That makes the impatient side of me happy. The writer side of me loves the clock and the ink stain... we had to dial down the red tones on the ink color, because it looked a little too murder mystery. Which was cool, granted, but I'm not Arthur Conan Doyle. Ha.

I also took some business card that I had printed through MOO.com and made labels for them to include my blog URL. (By the way, if you order something through the link above, you will receive 10% off your order & I get referral "moolah", so check it out! They have customizable postcards and stickers, too.)

These ones also have my email and phone number on them, so I don't just hand them out to anyone. Which  is why I had Nikki design the others just for the blog. It's kind of funny, because that means the people who don't get my personal information actually get a cooler business card... I guess to make up for the lack of info and be fair and all that. You can't have everything. Or something like that.

Spring, Salad, and Simply Silly

It was fifty-five degrees today! It was wonderful!! We celebrated by having salad for dinner. I love dressing up salad with chicken, peanuts, croutons, cheese, seeds, etc. Had there not been a breeze outside, I probably would have made everybody eat outside. :) 

(Our thermometer is always 7 degrees off)

Lily decided that it was a good idea to find a stick and lay in the sun:

I'm not sure whether to admit this or not, but last night I realized that my pillowcase was downstairs in the wash, and I didn't have another in my room. It was late and I didn't want to go digging in the linen closet, but it is basically a cardinal rule to never sleep on an uncovered pillow. What I did next will probably not make my mother proud, but it was the only logical solution after ruling out the other options:

Yes, that is a shirt. I even turned it inside out so that I didn't risk getting anything on the "good" side of the shirt. The stain on the pillow is dirt, by the way... That's what happens when you take a pillow on a three week car trip and it gets caught in the door. I would get a new pillow, except I've finally gotten this one "broken in". 

What are some crazy non-conventional ideas that you've seen or come up with? Have you seen this way of making pasta? I think it's actually pretty brilliant!

Feeling A Little Low

I had a bit of a scare today... I took an ibuprofen and a benadryl at the same time. Bad idea. My blood pressure is slightly on the high side, but it's come way down from the borderline hypertension I was at last year. This afternoon it dropped much lower than I am used to and made me feel really strange. Mom and Nikki were really great and helped get me some fluids and keep me from totally falling apart (I think I was slightly delirious... I kept laughing while Mom was taking my blood pressure). After about half an hour I was much better, and definitely know not to mix those two meds again!

I had the chance to play with one of these ^ bad boys today... had to dig out a floppy reader with a USB port to access all eight of the pictures. It's amazing how far we have come in technology! But I sort of like playing with the old technology for nostalgic reasons. 

The weather here is warming up and the sun was out all day today. Which is lovely, because I am sick of the winter and the snow and the layers of clothes. But warmth also brings the irritating mass population increase of bugs. Asian lady beetles (not to be confused with their delightful American cousins, the ladybug), have invaded my bedroom, pinging against my lamp and landing on my pillow while I sleep. I wouldn't mind if they were less inclined to bite and release noxious orange spit that is the bug equivalent of pepper spray. Ugh.

How is the weather where you are? If we get another sunny day tomorrow I'm going to try to go for a walk and get some fresh air. Can't wait to start opening the windows! 

A Few of My Favorite Boards

Today I thought I would share some of the boards I find useful/funny/inspirational on Pinterest!

1. For those of you who love building a dream home, Home Design & Organization by Daniella Lourenco has some great design ideas and organization improvements. Check out her other boards too!
2. Smile - if you're a writer by Amanda Patterson has some hilarious cartoons and quips about the joys and curses of being a writer, blogger, or journalist.
3. Among all the clothes, funny pictures, and recipes, it is good to be uplifted, too: Words to Uplift by Teresa Bedwell keeps scriptures and positive thoughts scrolling through my home feed.
4. Want to learn more about what is really in your food, and how to make more nutritious choices? Check out Good Nutrition=Healthy by Renelle Sears.
5. Everybody loves cute pictures of animals, and Les Animaux by Marta McCall has some of my favorites.
6. For my final board, a little bit of everything quirky, Geekery, Funny or Cute by Hansol Kim has a great collection of pictures and videos to browse through. 

Hope you check them out, please leave a comment below and share your Pinterest address, or a link to your own blog post about Pinterest boards that you love!

Puppy Dog Tails

Don't get me wrong, children are wonderful little creations. They teach us lessons about loving freely, living with abandon, and exploring everything with a sense of wonder. But... they are exhausting. They drain energy like sending a picture drains a cellphone battery - you thought you had four bars, and next thing you know you have no bars and it's blinking red, empty. 

We agreed to babysit a three year old boy for some friends of friends, and none of us were really prepared for it. As four adults living in a calm, do whatever, make-your-own-routine world, we were suddenly made aware of how un-child friendly our household was. Bed time? We go to sleep when we wanna. Meals? Except for dinner, it's serve yourself. We realized that we couldn't just leave scissors on the table or knives on the counter, and the first time we sat down to eat, he was like, "I need to wash my hands!" Who thinks up all this stuff? 

My mother is not used to boys. We girls read books and crocheted and danced around the house. This kid stomps and clangs and shouts and touches everything. Poor Lily, who has been used to a relatively laid back life style, can't settle down because there are little feet constantly flying around and, "Doggy come here!" "Doggy go away!" "DOGGY WON'T PLAY WITH ME!" Sorry kid, she is not interested in being chased around the house and tied up with yarn. I brought her up to my room this morning, and she sat and chewed holes in her blanket. It's like an autistic kid stemming - she does it when she's stressed, and there is no way to stop her.

                            

I still have an incredibly stuffed up stuffy head and feel like a rhino kicked me between the eyes. I can't be more than five feet away from a Kleenex box, and these have become my new best friends:

Hopefully I can kick this back to where it came from. Head colds = self loathing. 

My friend +Karen Westbrook mentioned that she is repainting her door. She said it was the closest thing she would get to having a hobbit hole... I told her I was going to go to her house and scratch an Elven rune "G" on her door just for the fun of it. :) It reminded me of this display I saw while we were out shopping yesterday:

Isn't this the neatest display? I loved it so much, I wanted to take it home with me. They might have noticed though, trying to sneak it out through the automatic doors. It really was adorable. It is a goal of mine, to have a hobbit hole my backyard. Just in case, someday, a hobbit stops by and needs a hole to stay in. "Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with thing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

By the way, I bought my copy of The Hobbit: There and Back Again... Did you?

Mara Mi's

J. and I did a little volunteer work at a food pantry this morning, then we headed over to Stillwater to taking the shops and sights. They have a great main street full of all kinds of stores (For my TX readers, it is similar to Wimberly or Fredricksburg). It was very blustery outside on the sidewalks, but we found shelter in an adorable store/studio/cafe called Mara Mi on the corner. 

We split a cookie dough cupcake & sat at a little table looking around at the artwork. It was such a neat place... I could have spent hours taking photos in there!