I’ve never done a 7-day fast before, and I’ll tell why I did so and how I’m coming off the fast the right way, tomorrow on The Homefront Show.
Also, I’m going to talk about having a glad heart, and how you won’t get there with meds per Dr. Caroline Leaf, about Abigail Adams style parenting, Ree Drummond holiday tips, and Mrs. Dunwoody’s Excellent Instructions for Homekeeping.
John Parker will also be with us tomorrow, so put it on your calendar: Wednesday morning at 8:00 Mountain, at https://1360khnc.com/ and thanks!
So I just opened this box of crackers only to find they’re so cleverly packaged that there are only half what would fit in the box. Wrong! My husband John just measured the little plastic cracker organizer and the box to find that there is 3.28 times more box area than cracker storage area.
Can you say shortsighted? I will NEVER buy ANYTHING from these people again.
Same for the canned tuna and canned chicken folks who think their customers are dumb as posts and won’t notice the cans are only half full.
People do not appreciate having their intelligence insulted by dishonest companies, who would, I believe, be much better served to simply raise the price and advertise that their cans are full!
This is like a book I saw today, advertised as $2.99 but the shipping was $28.00. To quote Tim Hawkins, it “makes you wanna slap your (their) mama!”
I say we patronize honest merchants, even if they do charge a bit more.
P.S. Join me on The Homefront Show Wednesday morning at 8:00 Mountain. SO MUCH good stuff and a very INTERESTING guest!
And, you can’t really do this playing it safe. White. Gray. Grey.
A coffee table that’s too large, too small, too nice to put your feet on. Too new.
What would happen, I wondered, if I turned that old, very old, dresser on it’s back. The size would be perfect.
What happened was my daughter, Hannah, laughing until she had to slide down the wall and sit in the floor. Just you wait. She and every other doubting Thomas in my house went to bed.
As did I. No, I won’t use it. I’ll just do something else. It’s too out there, even for me. I went to sleep.
But then. I woke up thinking of the exposed slats in the bottom of the old dresser, exposed and right in front of the couch. And I thought . . . I wonder . . . Would that picture of the Golden Retrievers fit? Nah. Too long.
But I went to get it and tried it out and you can see the results below. You can see what people who put their feet (pillows and warm socks always provided at our house) and their coffee on my coffee table see when they look down a bit.
And now, more of my welcoming, cozy, answer to the Bleak Facade: (first you must decide which puppy you like best)
That’s a vintage (a-maz-ing sound!) record player in the corner – Neil Diamond “Moods” is playing.
The pram in the dining area (next to the piano) holds CD’s and a CD player.
This room was a lovely but a bit chilly in blue and white. Put in new windows and remove the old sills, and it’s a bit of a horror.
Using what’s under my nose, i.e. paint I already had from other projects, I decided on the pale aqua and green yellow. “This is going to look like a nursery,” my son predicted.
Not if I use red accents. Just you wait.
AFTER!!!
Master Woodworker Husband John and Dire Predictor Son Seth set to work on the new window trim, and as you can see (pics don’t do the perfection of their work justice) the results are lovely.
(There’s always more to do, little touches here and there. For instance, I am going to paint the frames on the little French biker children a shiny copper, as the dark frame detracts).
I am especially pleased with my red efforts. I had already made curtains out of the red polka dot fabric (a hand-me-down from a seamstress friend) and they had a bit of surplus length. I took that surplus and made the little valance for the smaller window, then took a crocheted piece from the linen closet, and tied it with a red ribbon.
On the antique dressing table chair (above) I added a Mary Engelbreit pillow – with red, of course, and on the walls opposite are quilted wall hangings, as well as a never finished quilt top (another hand-me-down), all of which contain a bit of red.
Does it look like a nursery? Not according to the two guests who have so far enjoyed it. “Lovely, absolutely lovely,” is the verdict. And again, except for one additional can of paint, I used only what I already had – right under my nose.
My daughter’s meltdown was right smack dab in the middle of mine, and while my stalwart husband was quietly nursing his own wounds over a perplexing disappointment. But thank God for the woods.
It was there I received a phone call from my child saying she was ready to chuck it all and drive straight home to Colorado. We talked and prayed through some things and I told her to first of all not make any decisions until after Fall Break (during which she will spend a week camping with beloved family in Oklahoma) and secondly to call her best buddy and ask if she can come over. Most important of all, we got rid of the poisons due to taking offense, including being offended by a Christian “minister” who insulted homeschoolers (yes, Rebekah was homeschooled) in her presence. But back to someone much more important – a true friend, and the one I told Rebekah to call.
“I don’t want to bother her, she’s doing a report (or something like that)” was Rebekah’s reply. “Call her! She’s called you crying before and you came to her rescue. She’s also good at rescue.”
So, as Rebekah called her friend I called mine, who has known and loved my daughter all her life. “Could you just call and encourage her and pray with her?” I asked, knowing it was a done deal, and a good deal.
There’s lots more to this story, like how God showed off the very next day for Rebekah and with one blessing after another throughout the day. I’m talking BIG stuff and REAL breakthroughs, and beautiful blessings. Isn’t that so often the way when we think we can’t take any more – victory is around the very next corner!
I pondered how often we don’t ask for help when we really need it, when we really should ask for it, and how we do ask for help when we really don’t need it. And when I talked it over with my brother, Cal, he said this: “It’s an honor to be asked for help.”
So, let’s not be always pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, and let’s know that it’s OK to ask for help. Rebekah told me she didn’t like to call me when she was lonesome and upset, because she knew it would be hard for me to hear her cry. “I didn’t want to put that on you,” she told me. But she said that she’d learned her lesson, and wouldn’t be doing that any more.
Praise God! How I HATE the thought that she would cry alone, all alone, so far from home.
I know God must feel the same way when we don’t come to Him with our troubles, and unburden our hearts to Him.
Thanks for listening,
Bev
P.S. Speaking of asking for help, I haven’t posted recently because I have been trying and trying and really trying to figure out how to get back on this website – couldn’t sign in, and coudln’t figure out the problem. Finally, I got my husband involved, and I’m happy to say he couldn’t figure it out for a good while, either. But he did, and I’m posting again!
I have pictures to share very soon – some new decorating I’ve done. I’m inordinately pleased with the outcome, especially as it cost almost nothing – there was great use of what was right under my nose!
I know about Vision Boards and The Five Habits of Successful People; and about Morning Routines!!! I’ve heard about The Seven Things Successful People have in Common, or is it Eight?
I’m familiar with the idea of turning off the loveliest of classical music, and certainly not listening to The Eagles telling me to Take it Easy, because there are motivational speakers to be heard while I drive. And when I’m putting on make-up. Then as I whip up a politically correct dinner, I can listen some more.
I know “successful” people are disciplined and determined and consistent. At what? At going after their dreams, being all they can be, living life to the fullest!
I am thankful for such people, and thankful I’m not one of them. I, too, have my eyes on the prize, my goal clearly mapped out and pursued. The prize is the high calling of God, and for me that is first and foremost the care and keeping of home and family. The goal is to be so enamored of God, my ears so keenly tuned to the Holy Spirit, so after Jesus, that like Him, I only do what I hear my Father say to do (not there yet, but on the journey).
That means I get to live a life of adventure and excitement and a somewhat giddy unpredictability. This life is much tougher than getting up at 4:00 am to write a by-God-I-will number of words daily, do my prescribed workout minutes, eat my egg whites, drink my protein shake, dress for success, and all before 9:00 a.m.
This life is for those crazy enough to forget all that and to try walking on water – no formulas, no gurus to look to. Only Jesus.
This life is for those willing to labor to enter into His rest, to be led down the path straight to His blessed, favor-filled, victorious Garden of Eden life. Success!
Lots about marriage, and from the star of my book, The Maker’s Marriage. That’s so – John Parker will be short and to the point today, and it’s a point I for one can’t hear too often.
As usual, I have all kinds of goodies for my dearly beloved listeners, so make a cuppa and prepare for a blessing today on the Homefront Show.
That’s a vintage (a-maz-ing sound!) record player in the corner – Neil Diamond “Moods” is playing.
