Five Minute Friday

Ache.

Yeah.  I'm there this morning.  My ache is to help.  To help him through the melt downs.  To shake them off of us both.  I ache to take the frustration away.  The tears he sheds.  I take comfort in knowing God feels my ache.  He hears my heart.  He's right here.  Aching with me.  With us.

God brings me a bird outside the open window.  The prettiest song.  So loud from such a tiny creature!  His song is like a release from his little body.  Giving it all he's got.  Getting it all out.  And then I feel it. 

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Peace.  Renewal.  Calm.  The God I serve is so wonderful.  I pray I can remember this place later when the ache returns.

Join in?

Five Minute Friday

Grit

I have always loved Clint Eastwood. My father and I have bonded over many a Saturday morning film. We've been dusty, filthy, clad with corduroy elbow patches, and put in our places over and over. With glee! I just love the no nonsense vibe in every one of the films, whether he has less than 100 lines or more than I can count.

Clint is my mental image of Grit. When life gets rough and I need to borrow someone else's no nonsense sensibility, he's my go to tooth clincher, sans cigar. I can speak my mind and pretend not to care about the consequences when I don the Clint persona.

It never lasts long. Neither do those moments when you need that kind of Grit.

Five Minute Friday

I have started joining in on Gypsy Mama's 5 Minute Friday.  I don't consider myself a writer.  I am a reader, for sure!  And I love other peoples' gifts with words.  I consider myself a Thinker.  But I do love the idea of a time limit of dipping my toe in and typing what comes to mind.  No pressure.  No corrections.  (OK, I correct spelling--but that's it!)  All for the fun of it!

This week's topic:  Delight.

What a lovely place to dwell for five minutes.  Delight and Joy go hand in hand in my mind.  Being filled with God's Joy brings me Delight.  It spreads to my family.  It spreads to my daily activities.  And it shows without saying a word. 

I am delighted with food.  Chocolate that passed through my house this week was enjoyed, guilt free, by me too.  Rolling that smooth yumminess around in my mouth...delight!

My children Delighting in one another.  Oh, how wonderful.  To hear secret giggles coming from a bedroom.  A gift.

Delighting in silence.  Too much of my day is noisy.  With my thoughts, music, talking, questions, TV, tears...silence is not to be taken for granted.  I hope I am teaching that to my kiddos, too.  Be Still.  Know.  And be Delighted.

Organizing with Gussy

Gussy of Gussy Sews  has started a new (to me!)series on her gorgeous blog. She emails out a topic and sends us off on a cyber adventure to get down our interpretation. Sounded like fun to me!

The topic for this month is Organization. Oh boy. My husband would be rolling laughing if he knew I was writing about this. I'm not a slob too messy. My downfall comes in the clutter. THAT is a bad word around here.

Truth be told, I love organizing. Tools, labelers, baskets, and color coding really excite me. Ooo, and office supplies! Forgot about how much I loooove office supplies! I just about hyperventilate at the back to school sales.

When my first kiddo came along, the organized house took a hit. By the time the second one came, it was a t-total mess. That was when I discovered the world of blogs, actually. I always bought magazines with organizing info on the front cover. I picked up a particularly gorgeous one that led me to Penelope Loves Lists. This sweet blog has an adorable label that I fell in love with-to be a "Penelope," you love nice neat things. And I really do! I just had lost myself in the big C..

So, I needed to shake it up and get my house back.  Next step was getting a book. (always my answer...). This book is fantastic, however. A life changer. For real.

Organizing From the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern.

This book changed my perspective on why there is the tendency to be cluttery (shudder), how to get it together, and how to keep it working.

Now, it isn't perfect. This book is on my reread list constantly. (do you have one of those?) But it really changed my approach. And the fact that I needed to approach it.

I dream of a well oiled machine around here. But as we say in the south: "It ain't gonna happen.". I don't want to freak out about it. I do try to clean up before hubs gets home. But kinda love the toys all over. Creativity happened!

One of the biggest tips I've taken away from the book is to revisit your system about every 30 days.  Working out the kinks and staying focused on the system.  My systems are always getting an inspection by me.  Mostly when the kitchen table is piled high (again) when it should be filed away.

I love dreaming of the next project with this new ammo in my back pocket.  I want a sewing space.  I have a sewing space currently...but it's sad.  I don't want to spend time there!  So, I've already been thinking organizing before I even start.  Big work table.  (Got it.  It's cluttered.  Dang it.)  Better ironing board.  Table just for the machine.  Wheely chair.

Then the fun!  Paint colors.

benjamin moore
(Swatches are up.  I dust them.)

Wall treatment?

allen and roth wallpaper

button art

Lighting?

 doily lamp

 ball jars hanging

I've been pinning other people's craft rooms:

www.thirtysixthavenue.com

Don't you want to sew there?

easy and interchangable!

Oh, the built in bliss!  Maybe...

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What do you think?  How do you begin a new project?  Jump in or plan plan plan?  Can't wait to hear!

Jennifer

link up!

Five Minute Friday

The Gypsy Mama offers the chance to join her beautiful blog on Fridays and write. Just five minutes. Nothing perfect. Just get it down. I am not a writer. I am a Thinker. So this is a great exercise in release for me!

Our topic this week: Real.

I have had a Real week. Jack Mac got his first case of strep throat. Our first real painful episode with sickness. His autism played quite a role in the process. He couldn't tell me what hurt. He couldn't ask for specific comfort. He couldn't tell me. But he showed me. In his own real way. Real. You can't miss the signs for hold me, mommy. Let me lay down here, mommy. My favorite was him reaching up and smoothing out my worry lines on my forehead with one finger. Real words. From one soul to another. He told me. I listened. I prayed. God answered. Jack told me he was sad. With real words! That is a huge leap in our house. The encouragement all week was Real. Another mother reaching out to me with similar situations. A speech teacher encouraging me spiritually. A random phone call from a near stranger reminding me she loves our family. This week has been so Real. All in all, my Real God showed up. It was a blessing.



Hopefully this is the link back to the Gypsy Mama website. Don't know how to work blogger from the iPad too well yet!

Happy Friday!

I did it!

Wowee wow wow wow! I did it! I just walked/ran two miles in my neighborhood!

I haven't really made any resolutions this year. I am already working on the healthy eating/weight thing. It was a huge victory this year to go through the holidays with Weight Watchers. Almost quit. Thought it was nuts. But never felt deprived! I ate what I wanted. And was smart in between the "feasts" and didn't gain it all back! Yippee!

But I have been needing a new motivation to exercise. Let's face it, I hate it. I hate to sweat. I hate to be out of breath. I hate to sweat. Maybe it's more the sweating thing...anyway, I know I will not make my goal without it. Dang it. So I need to embrace something more interesting than the DVD I keep plugging in.

So I read about the Couch to 5 K. I did the first day this morning. I can not believe I was able to do that. I can walk all day, but to run?!

Might I add that our neighborhood is the hilliest ever created. Ever.

So I kept track of which set I was on and hit it. Totally convinced I would need to call someone to come scrape me off the pavement. But I didn't! I made it! I was tempted once to flag down the garbage men and hitch a ride, but that's not uncommon, right?

Of course, the real test is if I do it again on Thursday. But why not build on this momentum? The feeling in my legs will return by then anyway...so why not?

No matter what, today was a victory. I accomplished something I have never done. Pretty cool!

Fun Friday!

A while back I decided that Fridays needed to be my day. MY DAY. My own personal Fun Friday. Kiddos are at school. At least in the morning. So I am the kind of gal that needs something to look forward to all week. Hence, my little tradition.

Fun Friday always gets thrown off when the kids are out for a break. I don't think I have taken a FF since before Thanksgiving! So you can imagine how excited I was!

I don't even have to spend any money on my outings. Sometimes I am on the hunt for supplies for a crafty project I've read about. And sometimes I just want to bum and drink coffee and people watch.

Today was a combo: project and bumming. I made a stop at the Dollar Tree. Picked up a punch balloon and some new kitchen scissors. Ok, Ok, and some M & Ms. Dang it.

Then I made my way to Goodwill. I just love Goodwill. I know I am not alone in this devotion. There is always something new to discover! I didn't even think about yarn being there! Got a Pom Pom project in the works for that beautiful white goodness I picked up. I got a bag filled with wooden clothes pins. Score!!! Some tea towels for next Christmas. And a cutie patootie bag. Yippee! A grand total of six bucks!

All in all, an awesome Fun Friday.