A Christian Woman Thinks (And It's Dangerous)

10 Things We Struggle With

This is in response to anonymous, who commented on the previous entry that my daughter actually put on this blog. I, dear friends, have been absent for quite some time - as you may have noticed.

But, dear anonymous, whomever you are, here is what I think Christian women struggle with most. I am 41 years old.

1. Marriage

2. Dealing with children & making decisions that are Godly and right.

3. Friendships

4. Coping with time, i.e., not doing too much and speading yourself too thin. In other words, saying no occassionally.

5. Finding prayer/quiet time, time to read your Bible.

6. Gossip, or idle chatter about other people that is not helpful, but possibly hurtful.

7. Addictions, like everyone else: food, shopping, computer time, etc.

8. Aging - and doing it gracefully. Trying to answer questions like, am I too old to pierce my nose? Are tattoos okay in God's eyes? (You may chuckle here)

9. Along with aging, our health, and taking time to keep ourselves in good health. We are often sleep deprived and do not eat foods our bodies need, at regular intervals.

10. Marriage (worth two entries, in my book).

Any other comments? Anyone else get asked to contribute?

I want to take a moment to say hello to long-lost friends here, too, including Darcy, if she's still out there somewhere in Montana. Would love to say hi soon.

Hunny Bun!

Meet Kenyachick

Has anyone here read Kenyachick's blog? We had the great pleasure of visiting and catching up with Kenyachick - aka Ellen - while she stayed in Connecticut for almost three months. Ellen & family arrived in the US in August and stayed into October at the missions house our church sponsors, which is available for furloughing missionaries. Ellen & her family serve in Kenya.


Check out the cool zulu bead necklaces Ellen is wearing - these are made of grass beads in lots of glorious colors, strung onto elastic along with small glass beads. Ellen also brought over some very ethnic beads for us jewelry fanatics - handmade in West Africa.

Please visit Ellen by clicking on Kenyachick in my blogging buddies list of friends to the right, and tell her it was great to see her! And thanks to Mary L. for taking and sharing this photo of our friend.

Monster Cable

Stairs, Cake, and Where Have You Been?

Like many of my blogging friends, we seem to have seasons of intense blogging followed by periods where we "disappear." Guilty! Been away a while, and it's hard to come back, there's much you can say and it seems time doesn't allow that. So here's a brief synopsis of what we've been up to.

Stairs: we're working on stairs to the still-in-progress second floor. Wow, it's cool to watch them materialize. Pretty soon we can just walk on up....


This used to be a complete wall & closet (with a door). Stairs are a challenge, or so my contractor brother tells me. You need to figure them to fit the space - in our case, with three that turn to the right at the bottom (see the next photo) - and you need them to be the right height, width, etc.


Then... you need to put "stairs on the stairs" - these are not the actual treads, they will be covered with oak treads. Neat, huh?

What else.... we had a special cake for my mom's birthday. For several years my mom has asked us for an Italian birthday cake from Federal Hill in Providence, RI. Every time she's asked we say, "yeah, right..." and go to Big Y or some bakery to get a cake. This year while she was away my brother actually drove the 45-minute drive (maybe closer to an hour) and picked up a zuppa, as we are told this is called, which was very delicious. We surprised her with it when she got back from a trip to the Cape. Here is photographic proof my mom had her Federal Hill cake:


This was not inexpensive, but we thought it was worth the drive and the money and it made mom very happy.

What else? I have a new job, almost a month now, working as a secretary at my church. It was time for a change. I worked for the past almost 8 years as a paralegal/legal assistant. It's been a nice change.

Finally, for now, I want to share a photo of a visitor to our house recently. Anyone know what kind of moth this is?


Don't you love the snake-eye looking images on his wings? This guy sat on our doorstep for about 24 hours. Then he was gone.

One more thing: still beading & making jewelry. A friend and I learned to make rope-style jewelry with tiny seed beads. Then I made these sparkly earrings for a friend whose daughter roller skates professionally - like figure skating with roller skates. They are full of crystals, and this picture doesn't show you the sparkle they have, but I'm sharing anyway. Lots of bang for the buck.


The pattern is not mine, but I wish it was. It took less than an hour to make these.

Thanks for sharing time with me, I hope to be back more regularly. Until then - good night.

Chris

Epcot Redemption, and "Duh"

Well, we're home, it's Monday and once again everyone is back to "normal" - school, work, etc. What a ride! We did get to Epcot on Thursday, and it redeemed Disney for us because it was easier to get around and do things. Someone anonymously left a comment on my last blog that I should know better than to go to Magic Kingdom during spring break, "duh!" Well, if everyone knows not to go during spring break, wouldn't it be less crowded? Heh heh - just kidding. Hey, we went when we did because that was the week for our timeshare, and we've never had one before - so I guess we'll know to trade next time, eh? We also got to visit with my dad, who lives in Jacksonville, FL, and we saw a pirate dinner show that was really cool. The best thing, though, was when my younger daughter, Natalie, went in the pool at the resort one last time Friday night (we left early Saturday morning) - and she went under water and started swimming!!!! She's never put her head under before, nor really put together all the things you need to do to swim - so this was really cool.

I hope to post some pics later on.

Meantime - how was everyone else's week? I'll have to check all your blogs. I have noticed some old friends moving from homesteadblogger - I hope all that has resolved. I will miss the ones who have left.

@#(!^%@ Disney!

Let me just make a disclaimer before I tell you about my first ever day at Disney: yesterday turned out to be THE busiest day of the year for Disney, according to one park employee: the end of spring break, a total of 71,000 people jammed in the park (Magic Kingdom) verses about 33,000 the week before. Plus it was in the 80s, sunny..... you get the picture.

So I did not enjoy Disney yesterday. There were so many people you couldn't do anything: rides had waits of 60+ minutes, and the FastPass options were gone on some of them by the time we got there. You could not stroll liesurely around. We waited about 40 minutes just to get on the Dumbo ride. The kids were hot, tired of walking, and disappointed we couldn't do things like Space Mountain.... and we only got three autographs from characters, ones from Pinnochio.

We did manage a ride on Big Thunder Mountain at 9:30ish when the crowd was diverted to Cinderella's castle for the spectacular fireworks. My daughter also went on some kind of splash ride....Mostly we just walked around and ATE. We had a bad experience on the train that runs around the park: we were let on, but as folks RAN to the trains the seats quickly filled. My hubby and one daughter got a seat, but Joy & I could not find a space to fit in. The "conductor" kind of sneered at us as we headed towards the front (we told her there was no room in the back, she insisted there was)... meantime the front filled up and we were then turned away by another conductor ("No more, folks! No more!"). So all we got to do was exit the train ride. How, well, let me say it just once, sucky. I was so mad. We couldn't get ANYTHING accomplished, our kids just wanted to go home and get in the pool.

Having said all that, it had to be done, our trip to Magic Kingdom. Hopefully Epcot tomorrow will be better. Today we are recovering, our feet are killing us from Universal and Disney, two days in a row, miles of walking.

Here's some pics for sharing:


Here's all the kids on our journey: from left, my daughter Natalie, with Jacob and sister Brooke (my niece), and daughter Joy, posing at the resort.


Some pretty hibiscus, growing in April! In New England we MIGHT be able to grow these later in the summer, but they wouldn't last. These were from big bushes of them...


And one pic for the kids: find the little lizard in this photo....

Security, Lizards, and The Hulk

Music Tag

Taking The Gold

Start the music - Queen, ready, sing: "We are the champions, my friends...."

Taking the gold in both events she participated in on Saturday during her first tournament was my little blue with green stripe gal, Joy. She came in tops in forms (1 kata) and sparring.

Sharing in her glory is veteran karate guy Uncle Mark. Lots of other folks came out to witness the event: Aunt Elaine, mem & pep, and Uncle Mark's wife Lynda. Each person took credit for Joy's prowess in the ring: Aunt Elaine for Joy's speed; Uncle Mark for Joy's business-like punch; daddy for the total package.

Joy will also be testing for the next level on Saturday (green belt) - didn't she just get this new belt? She is on FIRE! We're very proud of her progress and dedication.

Just looking good on the sidelines was enough for sister Natalie....

T.I.R.E.D.

T  ime to get up?

I    don't believe it.

R  ise and shine?

E  gads, I'll leave it.

D  reamland is much more fun.

Art

Found my youngest in her room recently, the can of Magnetix pieces empty and only the magnetic balls remaining. Where did all the linking pieces go? What did she make?



Ahhh...., I found them, they were used for a more contemporary piece of art in her room.....



These are all attached to a POLE LAMP in her room. She still does not want to take them down, preferring this look to the old one.....

Undergarments

It's a giant, isn't it? Intended to service three bathrooms and two laundry rooms, plus a kitchen that gets plenty of use.

We also have plumbing off the furnace for a second heating zone for the upstairs, and a new water pump (it's bigger than the old one, too!). You can see it sitting in the back, on the left.



Finally, a new panel was put in so we can up the amps in the house. It's big, I guess the motto for the new stuff is BIG.



Since I was in the basement, I snapped a photo of our older wood stove We've been using it here and there to help with heating, as the open unheated upstairs makes for drafts and there have been plenty of times when the heat had to be off for plumbing, etc. We would love to update with a newer, more efficient stove. But what kind? Pellet? Corn stove? Just plain wood stove? It would not be in the visible living area, so no sense splurging on something like a soapstone stove. Anyone have any ideas?



Once this old gal gets cranking she runs really hot! If you don't keep an eye out she runs RED HOT, so we're leary of using it all the time or leaving it unattended. We also don't stoke it up for the night, we let it burn down before bed time.

Well, that's the tour of our new "undergarments" for now, thanks for stopping by.

Sparkly Things

I love sparkly things, you know that? We had some snow on Thursday night, and by Friday morning it was so pretty - only our second real snow of the season, and really, the first snow was more ice than snow. This one was the nice, heavy kind that sticks to tree branches and makes everything seem white, soft, blanketed. I took a camera in my car on the way to work and snapped the view from my windshield... it doesn't capture the true beauty, but I thought I'd share anyway.



I drive 20 miles of scenic, rural road to work...it's hilly, but as you can see the roads were clear so I could truly enjoy the snow view.

The view from my back door was equally impressive... and for you farm & construction equipment fans, I've included a photo where you can see the snow AND a piece of equipment, courtesy of Endless Express Contracting (and Alan Bates, my contractor brother).



I've been enjoying a couple of other sparkly things lately... my hubby bought me a pretty Journey pendant for Valentine's Day, a true treat because he doesn't often buy more expensive jewelry like this. He really made my day when he did this year. I also finished stringing and hand-knotting a set of pearls to wear.



Some of my knots did not come out as close to the pearls as they should be - they're supposed to be snug, right up to each pearl, and many are but some had a little space. So I am not ready to be an expert hand knotter, but it was fun learning and you get a nice result to enjoy when you're done.

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog and allowing me this space to talk about whatever I feel like, what fun!

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

I thought I'd give this a whirl (literally)... homemade laundry detergent, powdered style (I don't have the patience to make this into gel, although I have seen recipes that enable you to do so).



You use grated up Fels-Naptha soap (or I am told you can use your own homemade soap, or any bar soap here), washing soda, and borax. The recipe is 1 C grated Fels-Naptha (I believe that's the entire bar), 1/2 C soda, 1/2 C borax. I can find the borax and washing soda in a couple of my local markets, but I had to send away for the Fels-Naptha to Soapsgonebuy.com. This adds to the price a bit, as there is shipping to deal with, but it's not bad just for soap bars. You can also buy this ready made (the laundry detergent, with all three ingredients already grated and combined) from the same web site if you want to try it out. Grating the soap was a bit of a pain! You can buy just the Fels-Naptha already grated from Soapsgonebuy if you want to splurge.

How did it work? My clothes smell/look clean, actually they don't have much smell besides just smelling fresh. I am sure if they were hung to dry outdoors they would smell fantastic. I have stopped using fabric softener and can happily report the clothes don't seem any worse for it. I do use a dryer sheet, though. This does not oversuds in my front loader.

Is it cheaper? I am too lazy to do the math, it is tax time and I'm dealing with that, so I won't divy up the costs right now. But you can work it out - the borax costs around $3 for the box I have, the washing soda about $2.50, and the Fels-Naptha about $1.25 per bar (plus shipping, about 90 cents per bar). It makes a small batch, but you only use 2-3 tablespoons per load. I have BIG loads, I bought one of the biggest front loaders out there, and it works plenty well.

Anyone else had experience with this? I feel better not running out to buy the giant liquid detergent bottle every month to month and a half, so let's see how long this lasts.... if it lasts about as long, it is much cheaper, as I preferred a bigger name brand that cost $12 to $17 per big bottle, depending on the size ($17 would be the biggest one out there).



The Fels-Naptha does have a kind of cleaning agent smell - not offensive, but smells like a cleaner. I read a review on the soap, someone at that site was using it as a face cleaner - I can't say I'd do that! I much prefer my own homemade soap for that.

Anyone want to add their experiences on this topic?

My Big Girl Is 11

Last week my "baby" turned 8... and today my firstborn turns 11. Wow! How close are we to teen years? Don't tell me about them - I am taking the stand that being oblivious is far better.

We're having a small party for both girls later, and we're including Jacob, my brother's girlfriend's son, who also had a birthday in the past week. Swimming at the town hall pool and cake are in order for later today.

We had some pretty snow last night, the snowballmaking kind (Musketman, you need to be here) that's heavy and slushy. It hangs on the branches and is so pretty - until the wind starts blowing it off and you get pelted by snow, that is! I'll try to post some pics later. I took my camera on my drive in to work, tried to point and shoot while driving (!!!) but it's really hard to capture the serenity you feel while driving encased in sparkling white. When the sun came out it was dazzling... not much snow here this winter, so it's enjoyable, still not enough to have to shovel, so I'm liking it. Until later, friends!

Running With Abandon

I was thinking about the last time I ran with abandon, full speed, all out, with no thought of anything else except one thing: SPEED! I guess that would be sometime in 8th grade. We played tag then, a lot of boys versus the girls, and I was one of the fastest girls in the 8th grade (hard to believe, I know). I remember being chased to the goal by Mike Labbe, THE fastest boy on the playground. Just this one time I had a little bit more speed than him - he was right behind me, almost an arm's length away, and I reached the goal without being tagged. Wow! My knee socks were probably sagging all the way to my ankles (this was a Catholic school, we wore skirts/uniforms). My face was most likely beat red (it always gets that way when I start moving around or get overheated - still does). But I had beat him that one time.

Last year during youth group "play time" the kids were doing relays, and I was asked to join a team because adults were each joining. I thought to myself, "I'm still fast. My daughter is fast because her dad & I were both fast - even though we can't catch her any more, we're speedy for our age." So I lined up. The relay stick hit my hands. I took off, managed about two steps, when my head suddenly became a brick and pulled me down. That gravity, it's a hindrance... I hit the dirt, full force, knocking the air out of my stomach. I somehow managed to pass off the relay stick, get up, and walk away, but boy, it hurt. I was speedy no more. I am afraid to try again. At 40, Mike Labbe could probably lap me.

When Christ returns, will I be able to run for Him with abandon again? Will my speed return? Will I not care about speed, just getting towards Him? Or will there be no need to run, just kind of amble up to Him and in awe say hello?

 I like to think I don't run any more because I choose not to... I'm too sophisticated for that and I don't want to sport a red, puffy face. But you know better now, don't you?

Musings

My baby is 8 years old today!

I can't believe almost two weeks have gone by without a post. I've had a lot of thoughts, but not the time and/or desire to sit and type them out. I know, you don't want excuses, so I won't go on with them. But as I was saying, my baby, Natalie, is 8 years old today! That's hard to believe, isn't it? Seems like yesterday she joined us. We got up today and made frosting for some cupcakes for her to bring into school (yes, her school still allows you to celebrate things, unlike the middle school, which doesn't). I wore a lot of the confectioner's sugar. I battled an old hand mixer to get the job done, and afterwards Natalie and I each licked a beater. Nothing like frosting on a beater, is there?

I want to thank you all for your comments about our neighbor. We attended a memorial mass for him that Saturday, and being in a Catholic church again brought back a flood of memories. Most folks find the smell of the incense stinky - but I find it comforting, and they had incense going! Also my kids, who have never been inside a Catholic church, found the church building amazing. Catholic churches are beautiful, aren't they? Majestic, and you just have to be respectful once inside. There's something to be said for this approach to worship. At any rate, we were able to see our neighbor's wife and my hubby gave her a hug. Please continue to pray for her and their family if you get a chance, I don't believe there's anything she can salvage from their home. It will be a long process of cleanihg up and I'm still not sure if she will rebuild/live there. Thanks.

Housewise, a lot of the "undergarments" have gone in: you know, the stuff that has to be arranged below to make things work above. Maybe I'll take a quick photo, but unless you enjoy looking at pipes and water heaters, you won't be waiting for this photo, heh heh. We have a new, bigger pump downstairs, a new and very big water heater that's separate from the furnace, and lots of new pipes connecting it all together. We're ready for the second zone upstairs. AND, I really do need to give my brother access to the girls' room so he can get pipes running upstairs. This means I'll have to move them out, into our bedroom, and I have been dreading this. I'm out of places to stash stuff, and there's much to be stashed in order to move them into our room. Hmmm.....

What else have we been up to? I learned to string and knot pearls onto silk, that was fun - hope to make some necklaces. We (my friend Deb & I) made more soap recently, with a new recipe, and we can't wait to try it out. This one has shea butter and should be nice and moisturizing. It's still hardening, we're about 1 1/2 weeks out from making it.

Last week I had a nostalgic moment while shopping in a little grocery store on my way home from work. I realized it was the same grocery store my gramma shopped in, just a little one in a little town, used to be the only one for miles when I was a kid and lived at my gramma's house (our family lived with my grandparents for a while). Back then it was known as Michael's, because Michael owned it. You could find Michael at the store and talk to him... today it's called Better Value, it's still small and when I go there I'm probably walking on the same flooring my gramma walked on, LOL! My gramma never drove, so my grandpa would take her to get what she needed. She always wore a homemade dress, ones that zipped up the front for easy on/off, made from whatever fabric she had on hand.  She always wore a bun, so you didn't realize how long her all-grey hair really was unless you caught her putting it up (this was rare). She had those 50s cat's eye glasses, in silver, and she was always cooking. When we'd get home from school she would sometimes have bisquick pizza for us, topped with whatever was on hand: the leftover keilbasa from supper the night before, hamburg, whatever was in the fridge. My grandmother has been gone for a little over 20 years, but just stepping into Better Value made me think of her.

Well, thanks for listening to my ramblings today - until we meet again, friends!

Tribute To A Great Neighbor

Our old neighborhood - we've been moved some six months, but sometimes I still wonder what folks are up to. Last night I heard news I wish I didn't have to hear, first on the local television news, and then confirmed by talking with another neighbor. It seems the gentleman who lived next door to us had a fire in his home. It started when some items near his woodstove (they say papers and plastic, perhaps furniture that was too close) caught fire. The fire quickly spread, and unfortunately, our neighbor, an elderly man in his early 70s, did not make it out the door. They found him near the door after the fire had begun to fully consume the house. His wife was not at home.

You can read the local news if you want by clicking here: NEWS.

In the story, you'll see a quote by William. He was one of the buyers for our house. In the photos, our house was to the right of this neighbor's house.

Paul, the deceased neighbor, was a blessing for a neighbor. He was always friendly, never pried into your business (easy to do with houses so close together!) - but he would keep an eye out for your house, and tell you when he saw someone strange on your property, come help you mow part of your lawn if he could. He always waved when he went by... and on the Fourth of July he would crank up his vintage pickup and run it in the parade downtown.

Paul was a local crossing guard, and he was out there every day making the road safe for local school children. He was just a sweet person - and I am not doing him justice in this retelling of his life. He was someone who was there, all the time, probably someone you don't appreciate until you don't have them around any more.

My heart goes out to his widow and two adult children, and also to the people in our old neighborhood who saw the smoke, yelled for him to come out, but could not do anything to save him. They had talked about kicking the door in, but just at the time they decided to do something firefighters arrived and the flames suddenly engulfed the house. The fire help had arrived quickly, but when they opened the front door the fire backdrafted, injuring one of the firemen severely when a fireball came out the door. By that time we're told it was too late to save Paul, and our other neighbors felt very badly about this. But if they had kicked in the door they would have been burned severely.

Thanks for listening as I tell this story, it's bothered me all day. I drove by his house today, but there was no family there to talk to, and there were no neighbors to seek out. Just investigators. I drove on.

Meanwhile, at home my hubby took inventory of our smoke detectors and woodstove use. It makes you think, doesn't it?

Say a prayer for the neighborhood and the family, if you get a chance.

My Little Blue With Green Stripe Belt Gal

My little gal (okay, she's not that little any more, she's almost 11!!) is so proud of herself, she tested and passed to the next level belt in karate, the blue with green stripe level. This is the last "basic" level testing from here on out: to get to black belt from here is much more involved. It's about mid-way to black belt - and it may take a couple of years (or more) to get to black belt, but she is determined to do it.

Here's Joy with her instructor, Master Ken, a fifth-degree black belt for a Villari's studio - Joy learns shaolin kempo style karate.



Wow, that photo came out big! That's happened to me a lot lately. Here's Joy waiting to receive her stripe belt, wearing the plain blue for the last time, and putting on the new one...







Cool. That's pretty much what we did this weekend, outside of attend church. It's been cold here, but we can't complain, we had such a mild start to winter. It was so cold my remote car starter (did I tell you about that neat gadget? I love gadgets... wanted to do a post about them... but I'm getting off subject) wouldn't turn the starter on my car. I actually had to GO OUTSIDE AND START IT MANUALLY. Harumph. Not enough crank in the programmed start, I guess. And I just had the crank time extended!!!

So hope you all have a good week. I've enjoyed reading posts by Musketman about his childhood fun, and seeing pictures from new friend Raymond (zoggypdx). Good night! (except you, Andrea, your day is only half over!!! for you it's good afternoon).