New Year's Resolution.....

Okay, a lot of these were sent to me, but as I've been cleaning and throwing out, I decided to gather all the books that I've either been reading, will read, or want to read again. At the top of the stack is a DVD collection that I need to view and send on to Patchouli. I know you can't make out all the titles, but what's YOUR stack look like?!
Happy New Year to my BlogBuddies! You make me so happy! Abundant blessings to you and yours!

Revelations

I love the time after Christmas, especially the new year coming. I'm in the midst of cleaning and painting my house. I'm painting my paneling in my living room. I know, gasps from the crowd about painting good wood paneling. Well, I felt that way, too, but I've lived here since 1985 with it, and it's lovely picture frame paneling, but I finally settled on a color and we're going to love it. Our house faces north, so the sun doesn't shine into the windows much. I need light, lots of it, and the color I chose is cozy, almondy, and warm while lightening things up a bit.

Walking Gracie this morning, it's trash day, and I see everyone has their Christmas trash set out. You can tell a lot about people from their trash! Some houses had the remnants of food; popcorn maker boxes, pizza, cookware. Another house had carpet, broken tile. Another had toy boxes, lots of them. One had office boxes: shredder box, file boxes, etc. Most had old trash out. Looks like they're cleaning, too.

What would my trash tell others about me? Well, I think that our trash right now is full of stuff that we've hung on to for far too long. Useless, broken stuff that is not necessary to our living now, and certainly might hold us back from moving forward. Old clothes, kids' toys, ripped up dog toys, old linens, magazines, broken appliances. We're cleaning lots of this out and it's comforting to see the stuff leave.

I guess winter is God's clean-out time. The trees have shed their dead and useless limbs...and their leaves. (all over my yard! ;-)) They are bare and stark now, but ready to bud in the spring and begin again, fresh. So we should be.

Kansas Bob has been talking about healing. It's a major factor in his life and his family's life. Mine, too. This year has been a revelation to me. I've dealt with a lot of health issues, and wondered why I haven't healed. One blog buddy sent me some great books and a CD on healing which have certainly helped me out in this journey. Thanks again!

I have had 3 contentious relationships in the last year, but thankfully, the Lord has filled those voids with loving people in abundance. I have blamed myself for these relationships until, of all people, my 19 year-old sat me down and told me how it is. Having someone who can step away from your situation is a great blessing. As I've said before, God leads me to people who will minister to me, He is so good. My kid pointed out that it's not my fault about these folks; he suggested that they have some personality disorders (don't we all?) that I had nothing to do with. I think he was on the mark. I thought I was so smart and I have to have a 19 year old knock me upside the head. God works. Isn't it funny how we have problems, and we try to fix them, and we throw our hands up in the air, saying, "Well...I've done everything I can, guess all I can do now is pray!" when the praying part should always come first?

The amazing thing from all of this is that I have experienced a modicum of physical healing from these revelations. By turning the blame away from myself (and I'm not blaming these people. They also need to be healed) I'm receiving healing! Maybe this is what God had in mind. That I would stop hurting myself because of anger or sadness over others. It's easy for me to minister to those I don't know very well. It's easy to keep distant and rational and helpful. But when I have a close relationship with someone, and something goes awry, I always blame myself. It takes 2 to "tangle" of course. I can't change their behavior, but I can certainly change mine.

So in the last few weeks since this has happened, God has reminded me of the many wonderful people and relationships that I have that are give-and-take, healthy, truly supportive and loving. I'm the luckiest gal around! I feel stronger physically and especially in Him....and ready to move forward. I guess, with God's leading, I'm cleaning out a lot of the old stuff, and it's comforting to see that stuff leave! What stuff do YOU need to toss out?

I pray for healing for those of you that need it, as well, in asking Him to help you find what you may need.

Shepherds...

kansas bob has lots of interesting posts at his new site. I can't keep up! One interesting thread is about the description of a pastor.
What do you think a pastor is?

Found this on Matt's blog....I'm not a nerd...but apparently not all that cool either. LOL!

To all of you...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

sweet dreams

Got to babysit! :-) Momma had to do some Christmas shopping. What fun. . .especially when you can send them home! All the love and perks with no sleep loss. What a great deal!

How are all of your Christmas dealings coming? I finally got a bit of the Christmas spirit. 2 days of subbing the last days before the Christmas break (or as they call it now, Winter break) was pretty exciting. The noise level was intense as I worked basically as crowd control for a holiday sing-a-long and for 4 hours in a gym with about 100 kids a session playing very loud games. My head is still screaming.

My favorite thing I've done so far was to sing with my singing group in retirement and nursing homes. The residents seem to enjoy this, we do, too. We did a little program and then sang Christmas carols. I am always amazed that people with Alzheimer's can remember the words to Christmas songs. I got to do a little solo; my allergies were acting up, but miraculously cleared when the time came. Our family also did the donation thing. That makes it all fun and means more than anything at this time of year. I run into folks in the stores, everyone says, "Isn't this insane?" but no one does anything about it. But at least I'm more in the spirit. I guess. I usually get in the spirit the day AFTER Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all of you if I don't blog between now and then. You are all wonderful blogbuddies! I pray blessings for all of you. For good health, for happiness, peace, and prosperity. Bless you all! :-)

agghh...attack of the trash trees

I have leaves EVERYWHERE. In the back yard are 2 (used to be 3) 20 plus year old ash trees. One in the front. They are basically what the knowledgable yard folk call "trash trees" because they grow quickly and their roots are obnoxious. That's for sure. I think they are Arizona Ash...different from Texas Ash, a much coveted tree. Or, maybe I have that switched. Maybe it's the Arizona is the much coveted...and why would I have an Arizona Ash in Texas, anyway?
Anyway, I had 3 in the backyard, one finally croaked. When they die, they die. Instant, barren, death. Last year, I had this guy and his crew from Saginaw come out to remove it. These are huge trees. He had started with my permission, to remove the tree, as I was out picking a kid up from school. I came back and went to the back yard and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh...that's the wrong tree!" You know, 'cause it's so OBVIOUS which tree is dead. Guys from Saginaw have NO sense of humor and I don't blame them because the name Saginaw is horrible.
Anyway, every single dang day this week I've swept, raked, and yelled at leaves on my patio, my gutters, my roof, my bushes. We had put straw out on the back half of the yard since Gracie has run paths back there, and it's very soft. She loves it. Can't see it because of the dang leaves! Who needs mulch? Why bother? I just got back in from taking a break. . .raked some off the roof, the patio, the path, and like magic, a bunch more dropped. The trees still have many more. I stuff 'em in the compost and I can't help feeling like Captain Kirk in the "Tribble" episode. I'm glad we have privacy fences because I'd be embarrassed to have anyone see me trying to shake leaves off of a gigantic tree.

Boo hoo!

Plans got changed...didn't get the little fella last night. :-/

whoo hoo!

I get to babysit Michael tonight! :-D
Hope I remember what to do! :-O

Comfort

Kansas Bob did it this time. What a great meditation by Rev. Diane Hendricks he posted.

update: KB sez: "Thanks for the link ... I love the way the meditation ends. Maybe the Longest Night (12/21) could be one where we all in Bloggerville remember in prayer those who are hurting, sad and downcast."

Great idea....blogbuddies, let's remember to do this....those prayers would probably cover just about.... everyone? ;-)

milly did it!

I'm too lazy to hyperlink, but you can click on my links...Milly Time

The rules are:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest!

After surveying the two groups, James came away surprisingly impressed with the morbid-minded. He fully understood the appeal of the optimists; they discounted or denied evil, sickness, and death. But their faith did not account for all the facts, he concluded. At least the evangelicals described a world that actually existed, one riddled with sin and suffering.~~Phillip Yancey, Rumors of Another World
Hmmm, a tad heavy, but a fun exercise!

my muse is on vacation...

I recently finished two art jobs...
posting a couple of pics here. One is a backdrop in a retail spot for a company that does iron work. It's supposed to be big sheets of "falling" paper. The idea was to put up warm colors that enhance the iron work. Lots of what they do is functional iron furniture.


The other pictures are a trade show set for the same company, this set gets carted around the company. Lots of their furniture is "fantasy" oriented..very arty and organic, so the set is to compliment that idea. Two very different settings. I think I got burned out on these, creatively. I designed and completed them in 2 months. They look blank, but imagine tons of iron stuff in there.

Now, I'm sitting here, for the last week, my muse is cowering in a corner, and I'm trying to write 3 brochures for 3 companies that have the DRIEST products. The words are not coming....

Ho, ho, hack...

Bruce echoes some of my feelings about Christmas music and such in his latest posting. Yeah, I tagged ya, Bruce, so you'd post something. Bruce always has good stuff to share.

I also tagged folks in the hopes of getting some kind of Christmas spirit for myself. I just don't have it, and rarely do. It's particularly hard these last couple of years with our men and women overseas. We're running around hoping to get that piece of jewelry. They just wanna come home alive.

Christmas is a pagan holiday. It just is. It has very little to do with Jesus, and as far as pagan holidays go, I prefer Halloween. Legalists out there will recoil in horror at that, I'm sure. I think Halloween is funny. It's a laugh in the face of evil, and it's creative. It is what it is, and, ironically, doesn't masquerade as something else. Plus, there's the instant sugar rush.

How many moms out there have had to make pterodactyl costumes? It ain't easy, let me tell you. That beak is a patience-killer. One of my guys went as an IRS man one year. He'd have had all doors shut in his face if he hadn't had the younger one in tow.

We try and will continue to try to maintain a spirit of the holidays that are about Jesus. It's hard in a world where the most important thing is getting that Lexus in your driveway with the red bow on top. Now, that just SCREAMS the birth of the King, doesn't it?

I'll try to refrain from any further cranky posts!

I'm not trying to steal your Christmas, but I guess I am the Grinch.

What are we doing?

Lately, I've felt a tad "other world" as far as relating to this realm. Everything seems so stupid, so insipid. I hate to rain on anyone's parade. This happens every holiday season for me. January 1st brings me relief. Everyone runs around like crazy people, shopping, wanting. Decorations go up before the Thanksgiving turkey is even digested. Neighbors compete for effect. How much extra energy does that new hotel near us suck up in their light display? How much energy do we waste each and every day?

Why do 2 people need 3,000 or more sq ft of living space...rooms that are rarely used?

We're at war. What have we sacrificed here? We're not even feeling the pain, the strain of our men and women over there.

Many views on global warning..pointing to climatic disasters...more hurricanes, potential new little ice age. Do we care?

The media is getting more and more sensational, entitled, and opinionated. Why do we tolerate this and listen?

Television is getting more and more ridiculous, frivolous, and self-serving. Why do we watch?

Christmas is reduced to materialism and secularism. Why do we support this?

People point out that the war is fueled by greed for oil. So what are we willing to give up to change that? Our cars? Our big houses? Our comforts?


Our Christmas is pretty tiny compared to others. It wasn't always "tiny" but we've downsized. We put up 3 little trees with a nativity under them. It all sits on an old radio cabinet in the corner. The boys' favorite part of Christmas season is our decorating night...we have hot snacks and soda, Christmas music and decorate as a family. Christmas dinner is lasagna. They are 19 and 15. I ask them every year what they want for Christmas, and every year they say "to decorate, listen to Christmas music, and have pizza rolls." This tradition sprung from budget restrictions. We're not grand and noble people. But from somewhere in the budget stuff, we discovered something more important than craziness around the holidays. We found rest, family time, perspective, and mostly, Jesus. We drive around and donate food to the food pantry, clean out unneeded stuff and donate to charity, and give pet food to the animal shelter. Each of these exercises reminds us that this time--this LIFE-- is not about us.

This probably sounds like a righteous, cranky post. I'm sorry if it does. I just pray that this season, maybe, just maybe...we'll all get a grip on what's happening in our world, stop worrying about appearances and wants, and start living a life that He would be proud of.