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!