Wednesday Link Love

Ever since I found this site and realized that you really can bake just about anything in a cupcake, I keep thinking of fun things to bake.  I’m thinking a tiny apple dumpling inside a yellow cake with a cinnamon buttercream frosting……

Is this house dreamy or what? 

Check out this great birthday party?  I can’t stop looking at the garland and the big grouping hung from the ceiling.  Very cool.

Very cool idea.  Just have to wonder how someone thought of it.

Oh, how sweet her work is!

I had never seen a DEAREST ring before and I’m taken with the concept. 

Loving this idea.  Might be a good way to keep adult’s attention too!

Music Monday

Yep, I’m a sucker for a sappy love song.  Especially if it has a chick flick video to go along with it.

Three (or 30) women

Friday night I had the nicest time sharing a meal with some of the brightest, most interesting women I know. We get together once a month for dinner and catching up. I’ve mentioned before that I try very hard to sigh and then smile as my head hits the pillow, and Friday night I fell asleep smiling at the pure joy of friendship.

My youngest daughter came home especially to support her dad at a very significant event, and on the ride there we spoke as friends, anxious that the event would be everything my husband/her dad hoped it would be. There was a moment that afternoon when our eyes met and while unspoken, we both signaled to each other that it was indeed a perfect day for him.

Today I sat in a big wonderful circle of women (and one brave man) who had come together to celebrate with two of our favorite friends as they have brought a sweet new baby into their hearts and home. All kinds of love and wisdom was flowing around that room. I can bet I’ll fall asleep again tonight smiling at the thought of it all.

Carrie Newcomer has a wonderful song called “Three Women” that has played like a soundtrack in the back of my mind today. If I were savvy enough, I’d have a link to the music here, but I’m not, so the lyrics will have to suffice. Here’s to the strength of women holding hands!

There's a light in the kitchen There's a glass on the stand Three women round the table And they're holding hands They're care taking the birthings Bringing food when they can They're easin' the leavin' And they're holding hands Love can get tangled And jumbled sometimes You can lose your way in this world You can lose your mind But there's something love In which I can depend It's the strength in women Holding hands The night can be dark So dark and wild And life burns like a diamond It's unbearably hard But it's sweeter than honey Right from the jar Your eyes have the look Of some different place You've got one foot in heaven And one still in this land So we breathe it in deep And we let it out slow We're holding you up While you're letting us go There's a free falling feeling I'm lighter than air and home burns Like a beacon in your eyes But somehow we get anchored Somehow we get by Here's to the women Who bind the wounds tight Here's to the ones Who sit talking half of the night Here's to the love And the life that they mend And here's to the strength In women holding hands And here's to the strength In women holding hands And here's to the strength In women holding hands

Wednesday Link Love

I spent the first 40 years of my life dog phobic. I mean seriously phobic. Like calling in sick if a dog was in the parking lot where my car was. And then when DH and I started having a house built and I knew I was no longer living in a controlled no pets environment, I decided I didn’t want to be afraid any more and did a lot of work to move on past that. It was hard work, and it is one of my proudest achievements that I stuck it out, and how much richer I am because I did! When I was starting to feel like I was ready, I did some research on dog breeds. I remember a chart that showed various circumstances like when the doorbell rings, when it storms, when a stranger comes into the house, etc and of all breeds, Basset Hounds were flat-liners all the way across. So laid back are they, that not even the dreaded siren of a passing firetruck brought a rise out of them according to this chart. So, we paid a lot of money for a purebred Basset named Elvis……..and I was not ready. I was scared to death of that puppy after my husband left for work. Elvis ended up going to live with a friend within a few days. I’ve still remained enamored with the breed, and these pictures just cracked me up.

And speaking of dogs…..how is that my two seem to find the simple concept of “doing their business” outside so difficult when there are dogs clearly capable of so much more.

Made some of this one night this week and we both loved it! Yum!

I think these cupcake stands are adorable!

Another beautiful post by Kelly for World Down Syndrome Awareness Day.

Having eaten just one toooooo many Cadbury eggs one year, they no longer hold the allure that they once did. But this list could threaten to win me back over.

I highly recommend you read this post by Allison about Japan and the amazing spirit of the Japanese people. Be sure to also watch the video.

Six Word Saturday

 

Celebrating 17 years as Shawn’s wife

For Japan with Love

This Friday I will be participating in the For Japan with Love Bloggers Day of Silence   (no postings) to acknowledge and help raise awareness and respect for the devastation going on in Japan, as well as to help raise money for relief aid to Japan. Please stop by the For Japan With Love site and contribute if you are able to do so. Every little bit helps!
“All of the donations {For Japan, With Love} will go to ShelterBox, which provides emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies for families around the world who are affected by disasters at the time when they need it the most. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.”

 

Wednesday Link Love

I made one of these this week- very easy and very festive!

Wish I had seen these before Valentines Day! But maybe I will make these instead.

A little bit of quilt love here and here.

Great idea here from annalea as the guest blogger on kojodesigns.

We almost have to try this just to see how it works.

So, how much would you love to have Mary E make YOUR wedding invitaitons?!

I think I’d like one of these.  Wonder how DH would feel about it!

Now this is some candy bling!

Fun party invite!

I need this girl to come pack my purse!

Carrying an unknown friend

In the wee hours of the morning today, a woman crept into my vision, then into my heart, and I have carried her piggy back all day long. She is a mother, just like me, and my same age. Her children, like mine, are off at school or in jobs in other cities. She likes to journal, enjoys decorating her home, loves her alone time, and collects old photographs. I live in Kentucky. She lives in Japan. And right now all she knows, all she wants to know is that  her children are somewhere safe, to hear their voices, to know that they are out of all harms way.

A simple question, “What would I do if.......?” and there she was, and all day long as I've watched or read news, I have seen it through her eyes. She and I are a rather unwieldy entanglement. I have carried her sadness as mine all day long, and can't shake it tonight.

Dear Other Mother who I do not know- I will pray for your children as my own. I will pray for you. I will hold out the hope of a day to come when you may write in your journal, set a red pitcher on a table, tuck photos of your grandchildren into a book, fall asleep easily in your own bed.

Loyalty

I apologize for posting videos back to back, but this is so dear I wanted to share it.   While I can’t understand the Japanese, I can surely tell what is going on here.   May we all have a friend so loyal!

Music Monday

I’m on a round of steroids this week which are helping me a lot toward getting well, but the down side is that what little precious sleep I am able to get is filled with bizarre dreams.  Last night’s dream made me laugh out loud when I woke up and remembered it.  I dreamed that Aretha Franklin was singing this song……

What’s up with This?

And my short night of attempted sleep involved a long long dream with me trying to coach the Louisville Cards that went strangely like this video.  

Six Word Saturday

Ever present in my heart today

Wednesday Link Love

Free printable of this great permission slip found here.

I love this! Can we start a place in Louisville?

More guerilla kindness here and here!

Some very funny then and now pictures!

Sometimes I am conflicted about the whole tiny house thing and really just want a great big craft room like Amy has.

Oh my. I do love cute food!

Check out Sara’s new bedroom. I especially like her headboard.

Someone please try this and tell me if it is even remotely good.

Great quote from Suzanne.

Check out this pizza bread! And it’s from Alison’s father-in-law!

Love these little bunnies!

So much to see in this catalog!

The girls and I have made these a few times. We call them tie dyed. They turn out really cool and are easy as can be to make.

Celebrating Women!

I know I’m a few minutes late, but really, what day shouldn’t we step back, take stock, and celebrate our sisters all over the world?

I hope you will take the few minutes, literally, that it will take to look into the faces of each of the women pictured. Think of all the things that she holds dear, and think of how they are likely the very same things that you hold dear. Think of her dreams- not unlike your own dreams. Think of her courage- the courage that you too could summon if you had to. Whisper a prayer for her. Think of the young girls in your life, and of ways you can love and support them as they grow into women of strength and courage. Help them find their own voices, their own power.

I’m saying a giant prayer of gratitude tonight for all of the women who have paved the way for me, for all the women who have walked this road with me, for all of the women who will share their wisdom and their faith with me in the days to come. I celebrate them all.

Music Monday

Because, really.  What could be a better combo than good music, stop motion, and…..toast?

Inviting Imagination

My church has begun a time of looking at Imagination- in worship and cultivating it in our own lives.  One of the fun things we did on our retreat last week was to make a machine, each person joining in doing some repetitive action and sound that builds on the others.   I’ve thought a lot this week about that machine and the folks who stepped out into the circle to become a part.  It was fun, and a neat process for a group to look together at the importance of each of our creative selves as a part of the whole.

Today my friend Vernon, who is an artist, talked about imagination and one of the things really struck me.  I’ve been feeling really locked up in regards to art.  Not only have I been unable to create anything, I’ve been almost mad at the people who are!  He said that at some point we choose to sell our imagination as the fee to get rid of our fears.   He used as an example the fears he used to have as a kid of going into their dark basement because he could imagine all kinds of  monsters and traps, and he said he wished he still were afraid because at least it would mean that his imagination was still alive.   To imagine opens you wide and fear guards each step- the two just don’t exist well together.

I cleaned off my big desk/work table in my office/art room.  In the process, I found evidence of a more fearless me- the me with the imagination.  I loved looking through a stack of artist trading cards- I made one a day for quite a while.  I want to throw my fears aside and dabble again, make something from nothing or make something old into something new.   So, I cleared a space in my heart and on the art table.   Come on back home Imagination! 

Mennonite Hospitality

I’m reading Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen, and it is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.  It is a somewhat irreverent memoir of growing up Mennonite, and the author has this delightful dry wit that just keeps a perpetual smile on my face while reading it.

I have a huge admiration for the Mennonite friends I have in my life for a million reasons.  They live these simple lives of service and they are pacifists and they are resourceful and they have the gift of hospitality AND they are all good cooks.  Great cooks.    One of my favorite blogs that I follow is Mennonite Girls Can Cook where you might find recipes such as this Carrot Cake for 30.  Girls after my own heart!

Janzen says this about the tradition of bringing a good meal to the table. 

The women in our family are the kinds of cooks whom you can’t kerfuffle.  You need a dinner for ten an hour from now?  No problem. We’ll rustle up homemade bread, noodles, gravy, sausage, whatever.  Mennonite food has its delicious moments but our gift lies in the ease with which we cook.  Some cooks struggle with timing, with menu planning, with missing ingredients.  Not us.  Our seven side dishes always come up at exactly the same time, and if we have run out of something, which we rarely do, we have improvised a delicious substitution.  We’re idiot savants when it comes to food preparation.  You’ve heard of those developmentally delayed folks who can shout out what day of the week it was on May 16, 1804?  That’s us, only we’re shouting, “Dinner’s ready!”

I was reminded of a bygone era in my own life when I read this post about Sunday afternoon preparedness, and the spontaneous hospitality shared that I remember from my childhood.  There was always enough in case we wanted to invite someone to come home with us. 

Stop in and check out the blog.

Wednesday Link Love

Why, yes, I’d love a Fluffernutter cupcake, wouldn’t you?!

Love the pushups! Now, I need about 3 other folks to go in on the “hardware” for them as I sure don’t need 100 of them!

I love these paper flowers- made out of copy paper!

Aren’t these adorable? Each one is a work of art!

Fun idea! Mother’s Day is on the horizon.

Love this adorable little LITTLE house

I know I’m heavy on recipes this week, but I just keep finding good ones! Like this!

Music Monday

In the mood for some Shady Grove tonight, and always in the mood for Mitch Barrett!