Link Love Early

Links are early this week as I’m headed out of town for a few days and am not sure if I would be able to get it all together while I’m gone.  So, a few recipes and treats to read and see to keep you busy in my absence.

First of all, feast your eyes on those cakes, will ya?  And they were soooo good! One mint and one plain oreo, each delicious and gorgeous when cut.  My friend Kathy made them for the Mean Moms and they were a hit.  You can find the recipe here- and no one will be able to even guess how you made it.

Could these really be simple?  Because they don’t look simple.  They look beautiful.

OH, and these are so beautiful and sound so good!

I am so crazy about these!  I think I seriously need to get my spray paint collection started.

I’ve been thinking about this article on mindful spending since I read it.

Someone please give this a try and tell me how wonderful it is….

Colleen is giving one thing away a day for a year.  Pretty cool idea, pretty interesting blog.

Wednesday Link Love

Great idea for paint party invites!

I did the orange cumin this week and not only was it good on its own, but made a great addition to some wraps this week.

Cute little cupcake pedestals here!

Here’s a great little idea!

In my continuing love affair with colorful grannies…..

Could it really be so easy?  I love Annalea and trust her…..

Light list tonight.  Haven’t been surfing around so much this week.

Just try NOT to smile!

I’ve probably watched this 10 times today, each time loving it more than the last.  You just can’t help but feel happy. 

Read more about Clay and his great adoption story here.

Ah, Summer…..

This is old, and very poor quality, but it just seemed wrong to have anyone but Guy Clark singing his song.  I wanted this song at my wedding, but DH wouldn’t go for it. 

Seemed the perfect song tonight as I just made my second batch of pesto for the summer and had a little on a homegrown Henry County tomato.  I’ve also got a nice pot of roma beans cooking and just cooked a nice pot of beets that I don’t have to share with anyone else in this house since they do not appreciate the delicious humble beet as I do.

My Father

I’ve thought a lot throughout this day about my father, as I often do.   If he had not been my father, I would have chosen him for a friend.   He could, quite literally, do anything, fix anything, and endure about anything including a household of females.   He took a high school education from Ahrens Trade School and carried that into a long career with IBM as computers came into existence and as they went from filling whole rooms to sitting on our desktop.   When he was in high school he became a HAM radio operator.  He told me once that while he was learning the necessary Morris Code to test for his license, he would read billboards as he rode the city bus to school and would tap out what they said on his leg in Morris Code.   As a child I would walk to the end of our street to watch for him to come  home from work.  He would pull up, scoop me up onto his lap and let me “drive” the rest of the way home. 

First and foremost, my father was a committed Christian and his love of his life in the Lord only deepened as he grew older and as he grew more ill near the end.  He was a good provider, and a great teacher, but the greatest legacy he left to me was giving me a faith foundation, a place from which my own faith story would begin.    I am forever in his debt for that.  And although because of his hard work, I always had not only whatever I needed but a lot of what I wanted, the greatest gift he gave me was telling me several times before he died that he thought I was a good parent, that I was raising my children well.  He gave me his blessing, and I am a better person because of it. 

I’d love to have him here, to be able to hug him and see the twinkle in his eye, but I love the thought of his life beyond this one, that which he looked so forward to- a place of no pain or illness and of joyful reunion with his own parents and loved ones.   Happy Fathers Day Dad, today, and really every day.

Wednesday Link Love

Hurry over to Art Mind for a how-to for Happy Girls!

And these are pretty happy looking too.

Fun little photo shoot!

Doesn’t this picnic look like fun?!

Set aside a chunk of time to read this.  It is a great read- Eating Well on $1 a day!

Not sure which is cuter, Audrey or her dress….

Now this looks like a good place for a cozy nap, huh?

I’d love to have this whole house…..but would settle for the sleeping porch and the little VW van that appears in most of the pictures.

This is a fun wedding story, and OH those hanging flower bottles!!!!

On the lookout now for enough doilies for a table runner!

I’ve been shut in for a week, and have spent a hefty chunk of time trying to defeat memory loss by playing along here.

For Today

Outside my window…..  a storm has blown through and broken the tension of humidity and dropped the temp a little.   I had not stepped my foot outside the door since Thursday and found a little dusk porch time with my neighbors very comfortable tonight.

I am  thinking...and thinking and thinking and still can’t come up with the perfect idea for DH for Father’s Day.  I’m not usually stumped, but this time I’m coming up empty on ideas.

I am thankful for...a lot this week.  I had some surgery on Thursday (nothing serious)  and my friends and family  have been so wonderful.  I am a bit of a control freak and my assumption that the world will spin off its axis if I’m not running the show has been proven false again and again.  DH and S have very capably taken on the running of the household and left me to just nap a lot.  Family and friends have shown up with food and flowers and good thoughts.  Facebook has kept me in touch with folks even while cut off for a bit during the recovery.  I’m thankful for the doctor and the nurses and the hospital who all made the day of surgery so easy for me.   I am grateful it is over and that I am drifting back into normal life, and hopeful for a good pathology report on Thursday.

From the kitchen….wait…. now where is the kitchen and what is it that I enjoy doing there?  I’ve done little more than sit down at the table and be served!  Oh yeah-   I’ve got some beets to cook for a treat tomorrow!  Yay!

I am wearing.. the same thing I’ve had on for the last few days.  Loose clothes that feel a lot like pajamas.

I am reading...  Eat Pray Love (now there is nothing original about me) and Little Bee

I am hoping...that I haven’t lost my social skills while being closed in for so long!

I am hearing...our a/c running with only a rare cut off time, and and so aware of grateful I am for it.

Around the house...there are tumbleweeds of dog hair and little stacks of various stages of laundry and probably sticky counters and for now I’m living in peace with that.

One of my favorite things...is the sound of a nice rolling thunderstorm in the distance.  I enjoyed sitting on my porch in the dark watching fireflies and hearing distant thunder even as the branches of my tree were tossing pretty wildly as the thunder headed in my direction.

A few plans for the rest of the week…I have only one plan- to see the dr on Thursday.  After that, I’ll be looking forward to making some plans!

Here’s a picture for thought I am sharing-

Today I have joined with other women who are choosing to linger on the simple things on Tuesdays through The Simple Woman’s Daybook