Scallopy Bits

I am so lucky to be married to a man who can take my visions and create them for me....in wood.

So, we have scallops on the outside of the house up in the pointy parts of the roof.  (You would think I would know what these parts are called after all this house building time, wouldn't you?  But, I don't.)
I love the cottage-y look it lends.  Definite cute factor.

Wanting to carry that cute on down closer, I dreamed up window trim with scallops and my little husband made them for me...and painted them and put them up and caulked them.  Yep.  He's that kind of guy!

Have a look...

Hey, you can see my back door....lovely green.

He was pretty proud of himself!

Love.

Then it was time to move on to the front door trim.  It needed an extra piece to tie it to the door style....see the dental (how do you spell that word for this meaning?)  molding piece?

Everything else matches the window trim.

Happy camper.

Pretty door.  See the same dental molding under the glass?

And to carry the theme a little bit farther....

...scallopy trim around the garden bed.  Can't plant too much yet, because we still have to get in there to do corner trim and battens.

Have not figured out how to keep grass from growing up close to things yet.  I want to be able to mow close enough to take care of all the grass, but I can't get in there even with the push mower.  Ideas?

West Virginia just celebrated our sesquicentennial and our community chorus dressed in period clothes to sing.  I borrowed mine from a Civil War reenactor friend.  It was hotter than the dickens...whatever they are...but fun!

The house at Shangri La Ti Da is coming along....slow but sure...

Tornado Watch

So all day yesterday they were telling us that we are under a tornado watch.   With the images of the devastation in Oklahoma still fresh, it was a little bit scary.  So, I made a little plan and packed a little bag...
The plan was for each of us to grab a cat and stuff them in a cat carrier, then grab the dog and her leash in one hand and my bag in the other hand and run for the car....it was night time and we don't have a TV so I'm not sure how we would have known when to make a break for it, but that was the plan.  My little husband did stay awake and monitor the internet until the watch expired.  Me?  I didn't hear a thing.

And here's what was in my little bag...

...my Bible...

....the quilt I am working on....

...my sewing pouch and glasses!....

...both fully charged Kindles and a real book...

...all tucked securely, with the computer, into my new

favorite polka spotted bag!

Thankful that all I had to do was unpack the bag this morning.  Nothing serious came through here.

Of course, as I was unpacking I thought of so many more things I maybe should have packed.    But, in reality, there is not very much 'stuff'  that I couldn't live without.  

There are things I would miss...but if I have my furries and my little husband...and something to read... and something to make, I would be good for quite awhile.

What about you?

Party!

After 3 years of fun and exercise....yes, both of those words in the same breath....Karyn decided to call it quits.  I don't blame her at all, but I sure am going to miss the friends I made there and the calories I burned and the muscles I tones....but mostly the friends.  I have been seeing some of these sweet ladies 2 or 3 times a week and sharing lives with them.  Now, I am going to miss watching the pregnant ones grow and blossom and I won't hear about the trials and accomplishments of getting that next degree or the weddings of kids and the birth of grandkids or the adventures at work places...one of my circles has fallen apart.  Not gonna lie, it makes me sad.

Maybe it will make my life less busy, but it will also be less full.....ah, well.

To celebrate the end we had a party!  I think I might like to be a party planner (or a meteorologist0 for my next career.

It was fun and nobody cried!

Can't have a party without balloons, right?  

Especially those nice helium ones, huh, Karyn?

Stripes and polka spots and yellow fiesta waiting for food.  

And Camille's pretty pink glass bowl that you can barely see.

Lemon cupcakes with pink icing by Makayla, 

who is raising money

for the Relay for Life team she captains....

as an 8th grader!

Can you tell it was a pink lemonade theme?

Pink jello mousse yumminess with the spoon already tied inside...

with yellow and pink ribbons!

Water...it is an exercise class!...with fancy new wraps...

and more lemons.

I am all about banners these days!

And there she is....our fearless leader!

We all worked together to make it a fun ending and everyone was gracious enough to stay with the pink and yellow theme so it all looked nice, too....ahhhh....a party plan gone well!

Love my zumba ladies!  Don't lose me....I will miss you....

Colors!

These are most likely my favorite colors....today...along with yellow....and purple....
But these are my most favorite.
Today.

 The magic season of burst and blossom.

 When once again God says, "Continue."

The gentle turn from black and white to green and green 

and ever more shades of green.

 Life.  Abundant. Vibrant.  Fragile.  Fleeting.

 When once again God says, "Live."

See beauty in the tiny. 

 See possibility and promise and future fruits.

When once again God says, "I love you...just this much!"

And this is spring in another color palate.

The ornamental red maple with early morning

sun shining through.

Thank you, God for spring!

Maundy Thursday

We cannot mourn this Holy Week - the reality of its shame and pain and blood.  The reality of confusion and loss.  We cannot wish it had never happened or we would be lost.

We can celebrate the love of the God who willingly sacrifices his PERFECT LAMB to save me...and you.

We can know that we never have to suffer alone (and I know so many who are suffering right now) because he knows all about pain and suffering...

Now, to go from this Last Supper with his mandate, his new command to love one another as he loves us.  How can I mess up such a simple command so often?  God have mercy.

Do you think that at that supper, he wondered or worried that  any of his disciples 'got it'?
Got all that he had told them and shown them?
Got all that was going to happen to him tomorrow and the next days?
Got the LOVE that he was offering and asking them to pay forward?

Do you think he wonders still?

Love.

October to March!

I love living in the mountains of West Virginia....especially when we have a 6 month winter season like this one.  It started in October with the Hurricane Sandy left overs and it is still going strong today!
Enjoy the pictures...The first 2 are the October storm and the rest are from this last week in March!

Happy Easter, Happy Spring

Happy Happy Everything!

Callie-Cat

Or, as her dad calls her, Callie-gator!
She needed two dresses to make everyone happy and when she saw them she was very happy!  Wanted to wear them both....at the same time and that made me very happy!

You probably remember the story of Callie's horrific accident right before Christmas where she lost her big sister and her Gram.  Callie still can't use her arm.  Her hand is working, but she can't lift her arm.  Lots of technical medical explanations for that, but what she needed right now was a hemi-sling to keep the arm in the shoulder socket tight.  You can buy them, but not for tiny Callie, so her mom and I figured out our very own by using parts of Callie's neck brace that she no longer needs and felt.  I love felt!  It is so very useful and beautiful in so many ways.  Here's Callie sporting the prototype.  (and she isn't unhappy....just not a good picture of her)

See the gray part?  It is soft and came off the neck brace.  Velcro sticks to it like glue.  It ties, with a shoe string under her opposite arm.  Has to go on the outside of her clothes for now because she didn't like the feel of the shoestring under her arm....can't say I blame her.

The blue is the felt (she picked the color) and it has velcro on the ends of the 'fingers'.

Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?

And in the mean time, Jake needs some lip gloss, which she is holding with her right hand and applying with her left.

I am making her another one with some pretty on it...nice stitches and decorations.  Feel free to offer suggestions about how to make it more comfortable and cute!

Here is your real job - they have an appointment on April 1 at Johns Hopkins hospital with a doctor who does 500 or so corrective surgeries on little ones each year....your job is to pray that Callie is a good candidate and they schedule her surgery ASAP....nerves only live so long when they aren't doing their job.  Thanks for your prayers.  Callie is almost 2 and is just the sweetest, cutest, smartest most independent little thing!

The other night her parents, Rachel and Aaron,  were watching The Bible and she heard them talk about Jesus and heaven and she said, " With Laurel and Nan-nan...."  

Prayer....

*****UPDATE:  Callie and her family go on Monday, April 1 to Johns Hopkins to talk to the doctor who can do the surgery.  Pray that he sees Callie as a good candidate for the surgery...or that God tells him to do it anyway!  Please and thank you.

Oh, and here is her new and prettier sling thing....Kristen I need you to teach me how to do a stem stitch....I tried.