If I decorate my house perfectly with lovely plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls, but do not show love to my family - I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family - I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family - It profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love never fails. Video games will break; pearl necklaces will be lost; golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure.

from this website, Girlfriends in God, in Devotions, Archives, Dec. 11, 08

been visiting family this week, including husband's grandmother in nursing home
very thankful for them and for all of you

hey, so like one day I will write real posts over here and not just link to posts from my other blog, but, hey, if you have already done the work, why not just share the love and joy?
I was so happy to have finally finished the lavender-ish afghan for my friend that I posted a couple of pics of it here

Fall break was very productive for me, as I got tons of things done in my house, decluttering and donating.
Bobby knows from personal experience that if I were a superhero making piles of clutter in rooms would be one of my talents. ha ha ha ha.

Well, I kind of consider it a weakness. In the past decade or so, I have gone from, I don't really care, to , Man, I really care about this but how am I going to get this done? And now that my lap is full of little ones, I  know this is just a season full of kids and all the stuff that goes with it. I mean, I know it is my fault for having three little ones. And, yes, I do know how that happens.

I think part of my problem in my outlook is how I deal with life sometimes. It is the classic Scarlett O'Hara. I mean, how can argue with her? Really, tomorrow really is another day. And, most of the things you are dealing with will still be there tomorrow. So, I have tended to have the super ability to just block out the stuff and just stop and chill out.

I know there are people who cannot rest until things are straight, straight, and straight. I can feel myself being pulled in that directiion. And, actually, that is probably good for me. Then again, maybe you should pray for me. I mean, I swept the floor 3 times yesterday, and at the end of the day, I wanted to do it again.

what happens when you check your email too long

good night everyone
sweet dreams
i was feeling very bad when i woke up this morning at my mom and dad's house
they took good care of me and helped with the kids and even went out of their way to drive us home, over an hour away

just wanted you all to know i was thinking of you
my dad updated one of my craft pages, you can see a link to it here

just checking in, have a horribly busy day
how did I let it get sooo full?
who knows? It is sooo quiet here now, only the baby and I are awake
husband is off at work

gotta get some things together for a craft group i am organizing at husband's fencing studio. Hey, got the space, might as well borrow it for a couple of hours :). I will be helping parents/children learn & work on things like crochet, cross-stitch, hand sewing, embroidery, etc. Today is the first day, we will see who shows up :)

I have to locate all my supplies for today's project, get them together, plan lunch to bring along as we will be out all morning to the library for story hour and also going to the studio for baby's kindermusik
Yikes
well, baby's full diaper is calling my name,
have a good one

 daily crossword here at dictionary dot com
you can pause the puzzle,too, so you can come back to it later
i do admit that i am playing at the regular skill level, which my husband thinks gives a kind of cheat
all the incorrect letters you enter show up as red letters
i guess it is, but it sure is fun to finish a puzzle

 God did me a favor, ha ha
The off switch on my remote control is broken, so now I have to get up & walk over to the TV to turn it off. What do you think of my new exercise program?

thank you to everyone
your thoughts and prayers have meant a lot to me

i am busy trying to finish a mile a minute afghan for a friend who is almost 35 weeks, i think
also working on a unicorn birthday party for my Little One who will be 4 in a couple of weeks

I find I am dealing with lots of fears about family members, and who might die next. I know I cannot continue in this frame of mind. This first loss has just been such a blow

everyone here is finally well, it seems
Baby boy is now 9 mos old, crawling, pulling up, has 2 teeth, and is into everything. I predict it will not be long before he is walking. He absolutely adores his Daddy, and I am glad.
My 2 little girls seem so grown up to me. Time seems to be going so fast 

my  parents were in one of the towns in KY, IL, and Missouri that got hit really hard by the ice storms. They have had no electricity for 3 days now. My dad said that his tree in the back yard looked like someone had peeled it like a banana. I am going to really miss that tree. They are going to have to cut it down. My parents are ok, they have a gas stove and water heater, which is more than lots of people have. The community is coming together to help each other and that is good.

reminds me of the winter/ice storm we had in 1992 I think. They closed the whole state of KY. Anyone remember that? It was in January. Maybe it was 93.

 more christmas photos.....on the other blog :)
courtesy of my mom and wal mart (these were a surprise gift for my husband, that is why he is not in them)
the pics we tried to take ourselves, incl hubby, did not work out on first try....so hopefully i will have a better family pic later

 my dad posted a pic of my Little One from the Christmas play

actually was looking for the mood "impatient," but, alas, it was not there, which is funny because, for once, I can actually put into words the exact way I am feeling

tap, tap, tap, wait, wait, wait
looking out the window for the delivery truck

a couple of days ago i was invited to play oboe w/a friend who plays violin
we are going to play Christmas songs in the lobby before a Christmas performance thing, you know, mood music as people come in and find their seats

just my kind of thing
except, well, I don't play very much anymore, and I don't have any good reeds
So, what to do?
overnight a couple of reeds because I don't have time to make some
well, that and I have no cane, and working on reeds with a 6mos old baby grabbing things just would not work right now

you know how well babies and knives and razor blades mix
well, anyway
here's the thing
they have this package tracking # and I have been checking online
so I know my reeds are close by
they were in a nearby town before 8 this morning
and they have been in my town since about 9 or 10
and the delivery person is just driving around and around, not delivering my reeds!!!!
ok, I know, I know, it is a busy time, but, man it is taking longer for this package to get to me since it has been in my state, than how long it took to get from New Hampshire to KY

so, anyway, wish me luck with my reeds and Christmas music
cause yeah, I have to play tomorrow night
I am really looking forward to it
especially my 2 younger children don't really know what an oboe is, & have never heard me play
(that is not great for someone with a college degree in music)

baby boy restless, i think he is digesting that 1 tablespoon of banana i gave him this mrning
baby girl sleeping in hallway, fell asleep very early....6:30, after a yucky tummy ache, could not get her to eat dinner
the 6 yr old is singing /dancing along with high school musical

 still here
fall break for the kiddos
trying to go through all clothes, donate extras, put away summer & too small stuff
living room absolutely full of plastic bins I am separating clothes in
looks like Mission Organization or Clean Sweep around here
you just really wanted to know that, ha ha

my 6 yr old, who just started fencing got her pic on the front page of local paper :)
you can click on my mom's blog to see the pic, & other current ones

 well, got a couple of new yarn/kitten icons from the lj community khushi_icons....

I have been trying to finish this baby girl afghan for a friend for a while now. I can't seem to be satisfied w/it. I made all these big squares in pink & lavendar & I stitched them together & even added a border...technically done, except that I hated it. It was 2 rows of 4, & it didn't look right.

And then, I found one more square I made that the girls had carried off or something. So now I had 9, so I completely took apart what I had done, & rearranged the squares in 3 rows of 3. I picked a different scalloped border from a pattern book, & figured out how to adapt it. Hurray!

So you would think. I am on the last few stitches of the last row & I see that I have dropped a whole 3 stitch treble crochet cluster from the row before, a long way back. For those non-crocheters, it means a big hole where should not be one. So I am sitting here w/tons of things to do (laundry, dishes, etc....what if my friends drive by:), & I am contemplating taking the whole border out & re-doing it.

I never intended this project to stretch out this far. It was just something to do for a friend after I finished baby boy's afghan (that's right, I was working on this way back when I was pregnant). Both our babies are almost 4 months old, & I have not finished hers yet. This & all the squares were totally done before my baby was born. I has just been assembling them that has thrown me for a loop (I could not resist, ha ha).

I also wanted to blog about this cause my Big Fat Kitty now thinks this is her afghan, & she gave me a pitiful look when I kicked her off of it. She was pitty patting, all ready to curl up for a nice nap, too. She is the only kitty I let in most of the time now. The other 3 stay outside, they are more wild. Big Fat Kitty was 1st anniversary present from my husband & she is 11 yrs old. Here she is, as a baby on her afghan....
 

 thinking about you today
happy grandparents day