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I am Sandra - faithful steward. listener. shepherd. dream believer. hard worker. collects brass bells, boots. Jesus follower. contented. star gazer. homemaker. farmer. prayer warrior. country woman. reader. traveler. writer. homebody. living life large.
Showing posts with label i-universe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label i-universe. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Extraordinarily Ordinary

 ~ spring, it's sprung ~
That's me, extraordinarily ordinary. I made peace, a couple a three decades ago, that I'd never be the prettiest, nor the ugliest; the smartest, nor the dumbest; the thinnest, nor the fattest; the wealthiest, nor the poorest; the shortest, nor the tallest; the best, nor the worst. In fact, I'm just somewhere in the middle of billions of people on God's good earth and happy to be here. When I figured out it wasn't my peace for which I was searching nor needed, I became a much happier person. It's God's peace, along with His grace, mercy, love and Christ's salvation, that keeps my feet firmly planted on terra firma with my head stretching toward the clouds in the heavens.

One thing I am is a child of God and that's what gives me peace when Uncle Screwtape is giving his nasty advice to Wormwood and, in turn, Wormwood is knocking at my door. The dual doors, actually, of my heart and mind. BTW, if you've not read The Screwtape Letters, you really should as it gives enormous insight on how, exactly, satan works his ill will in your life and mine. C. S. Lewis dedicated The Screwtape Letters to his good friend and fellow Inkling, J. R. R. Tolkien whom you may know as author of the Lord of the Rings series.

I'm not sure, perxactly, what lead me on that tangent because this is, essentially, a post of information. Oh wait. That's exactly what I've started with...information. Silly me!

Yes, I'm still wandering around the i-universe and finding things of delight, wonder and information with which to amaze and stagger you. Interested yet?

One site I found is from OH State College of Medicine and is a lengthy self-administered test of cognitive neurology to assist in determining dementia and Alzheimer's. It takes about fifteen minutes and is best if you download, find a quiet spot and get cracking. I've not taken the test as I'm waiting on other test results and am finding, today at least, I can focus on only one test at a time. No, you can't sue me or anyone else if you don't like the test results. Just get a grip and try to do better; that's all any of us can do.

There's a Baby Conference in Houston July 8-10 and looks to be Amazing! If you've read my blog any time atall, you know how Pro-Family I am and how much I believe families should strive to strengthen their members, their unit and their impact upon the world. Not by any great shakes either; simply by being a Christian light in a dark and frosty world.

Jim Bob and Michelle Dugger are going to be key note speakers and Michelle is hostessing a ladies tea that is just about sold out. The Dugger's are those folks who have had, and do parent, nineteen children! I dare say they didn't know, all those many years ago, they would find themselves "for such a time as this" being witnesses to the beauty of children and the family. They live, debt free, in Arkansas in a huge house they built and have their own reality television show which I saw once. It was an interesting show but I'm just not that much into television nor reality shows; my life is just about all the reality I can handle! -smile- I do admire them and marvel at their family; I also wish them well and look forward to seeing them beyond the veil.

The Noa's in Washington have a link to Joyfully At Home who has a give-away. She's giving away a DVD collection of her father's What He Must Be conference. I sure wish my Daddy had had these DVD's when I was a much younger woman! If you have a daughter, sister, niece or friend who is to be married, do two things...sign up for this giveaway and buy the DVD collection. Come to think of it, I think anyone, male or female, would benefit from What He Must Be. It used to be, boys learned from their fathers how to be Godly men and girls learned from their mothers how to be Godly women. That's still true but, unfortunately, the "Godly" part has been left out.

Monsanto. Ah yes, Monsanto. I have a love hate relationship with Monsanto. I love to hate them. Not fair, I know but, I'm not going into my anti-Monsanto politics now. What I do want to do is tell you about Monsanto's Farm Mom of the year. No, wait, I'm not telling you; if you want to know, look here. I'm funny about which dogs I lie down with so won't be applying; that and I'm not a Mom.

So, you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, Independent or something else? Take this Political Quiz and amuse and amaze yourself. I'm all for self-government and feel the less government the better. But then, I'm not a fifth generation welfare check endorser nor do I believe the government knows what's best for me. Heck, most of those happy ejits don't even know what's best for them!

Jesus, the Name above all names.

Manhatten Declaration, support marriage.

Docker's advertisement, wear the pants.

Want to turn your blog into a book? Blog2Print

Slow Cloth - a lot like slow living or slow cooking or slow parenting or...you get the drift. I am amused at folks who have come up with "slow...". I am also grateful to them because there are gazillions of folks who don't do anything, much, slow. I'm not one of 'em. Generally, I'm not in a hurry nor in a rush and enjoy living my life that way. Right now, I've got a pan of shortbread in the oven and when that one comes out, will have another ready to bake. I'm doing a marathon baking so I'll have plenty of shortbread to take to folks who need a bit of encouragement or thanks. We ate pork chops, rice and brussel sprouts last night for supper -not dinner because as any farmer knows, dinner is lunch- and will eat something slow tonight as well. I've talked for years about joy in the journey and Lainie calls it "joy in the process"; same thing, just said differently.

For me, slow anything is exactly like Christianity. We live in the moment, preparing for eternity or, as Alistair Begg says, "we live between the now and the not yet."

"Every day you must do something that frightens you." Eleanor Roosevelt

Blessings ~ encouragement ~ slow ~ dinner and supper ~ marriage and children, in that order ~ the Dugger's ~ The Screwtape Letters ~
 
Thanks for visiting Thistle Cove Farm,
Sandra

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Terroir, Terruno, Terre

 ~ tiny little signs of spring ~
The French word for sense of place is terroir and the Spanish word terruno means native land or homeland and the English word terre means land. Thank you to those who read my blog with any amount of frequency so you know my sense of place is deeply rooted in Thistle Cove Farm, here in these southern Appalachian Mountains settled by my kin so many generations ago. I've been doing a massive amount of holding down the porch furniture this week and it's likely to continue through next week. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I've been given the gift of time and I've used it to due advantage by catching up on my reading, magazines and books, as well as skimming through the i-universe. Just take some free advice...never, ever say "I'd love a week in bed so I could sleep" or any such silly thing. You just might get it but at what cost?

I have been crocheting some chair pads and have started on a rag, circular rug. Monday, I'll do a tutorial, God willing and the creek don't rise as I used to hear.


Some things of, possible, interest and fun include ---

True-Value Paint has a quiz, What's Your Color? and what does it mean about you. It appears yellow is my color and "you are quite the powerful thinker. It's this talent that allows you to overcome a plethora of great obstacles. Luckily, this doesn't affect your ego and you give off a pretty easy-going appearance. You enjoy the finer things in life and also have an attraction to art. If you can help it, you try not to rock the boat. But you also can't stop yourself from searching for new ideas, methods or styles."  Okay, this is, for the most part, true except for the boat rocking part. I don't hesitate to rock the boat especially when the boat is full of folks who want to take the easy way out, are timid about making decisions, would rather stand in place or, worse, stagnate. Remember the Gen. Patton quote from Sunday? Yeah, he nailed it!

Benjamin Moore Paint has released their 2011 Color Trends in four categories: The Farm, Order, Escape and Tribe. Design Hole says it best so look there and see if you like and/or agree.

Career Path gives career advice based upon color choice.I haven't a clue what career advice they gave me because it took forbloddyever to download and I finally hit the close button.

What's your type? No, really...what's your type? Mine is...hmmmm. Again with the download problems so haven't a clue. Let me know if it works for you.

OHMYGOSH! Look at this but not with a hot drink in your hand nor while drinking alcohol nor while on a piece of exercise equipment. You Are Warned - Be Careful.

What's your Interior Style? Mine is Sleek New Earth, "you love the outdoors and bring them into your living environment. You consider the technological side of your space. You bring trends that compliment your lifestyle into your home." Um, not so much, no. Unless you mean the wretched puppies bringing tree branches into the house to use as chew toys or the cats bringing mice into the house as gifties for Mom. Or, the wretched puppies completely trashing my chaise lounge on the back porch. Although, it was funny when, after they totally ripped out the entire seat cushion, they went to lie down and fell on the porch. The nasty little beggers had the gall to look at me like I'd done something! Anyway, there's really nothing sleek nor new about this ole farmhouse and that's just the way I like it, uh huh, uh huh.

How About Orange? is a great blog and is where I found the above time wasters stuff.

You know I like Sew, Mama, Sew and have spent some quality time perusing their site.

Posy Gets Cozy is a, dare I say it...cozy site and I always leave feeling I've visited a friend I've not yet met. 

KC Willis is a fabulous artist; I look forward to meeting her one day. One of my favorite posts is entitled Jonah Days about being in the belly of the whale. This past week I was in the belly of the beast because I had to have surgery. Not a nice feeling, frightening actually, and it seems to me the more anyone says something, the less likely it is to be true. As in, "we care about your health". Okay, so how about less talk, more action, please but not the kind of action where you gave me the exact meds that give me allergic reactions.

I hear ning is going to start charging for their on-line groups or communities. Bummer.

Blog Frog is, I think, similar to ning but without the price tag; at least, not yet. I found it via Tip Junkie, another fun site but there's a lot of stuff to peruse so, usually, I skim. Actually, now that I'm reading a trifle more deeply, Blog Frog is centered around your blog so it seems it's similar to a, new, marketing tool for your blog...? Whatever. The meds are kicking in so it's difficult for me to care much right now.

So, there you have it. A bunch of stuff. Some useful, some fun, some a sheer waste of time. Spring, it's sprung. About time, I'd say.


Blessings - home again, home again ~ i-universe~- flowers ~ my sense of place ~ home ~


Thanks for visiting Thistle Cove Farm,
Sandra
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