Rub a Dub, A Fall tub !

In the subdivision I live, there are many decorations displayed for the season, some lovely and some er well not my personal taste (read halloween garbage) However, none resemble the ornamental piece which adorns my back porch. So blessed am I to have such a dear and hard working husband who has ever so kindly decided to re do our master bathroom. In order to do this the jacuzzi tub had to be removed and the old tile ripped out to make way for the lovely new tile bath surround and floor. Unfortunatly after my husband ripped out the tile and tub, he ripped a muscle in his arm loading the sheetrock onto his truck, that he needed to complete the project. So, six weeks have passed and I am so pleased to say dearest husband is much better and was able to return to work after only four weeks. Sunday after church my dear husband and son worked on the bathroom which resulted in the tub being carried to the back porch until the bathroom is ready for it. You can imagine my surprise at having such a large and interesting piece of decoration as I walked out my back door. Alas, if only I had the matching commode outside, I could turn them into unique planters but as the bathtub must go back in soon (please, please let it be soon). I am so thankful to have such a good hardworking husband and son who has volunteered to help work on renovations. God is so good to have blessed me with such a family. I love my family so much and I hope there will be many ways in which to let them know my appreciation for them and all they do for me. So sweet family, thank you !! I love you all and dear hubbie and dear son, thanks for the backyard tub and BLESS YOUR HEART!

Friends of silver and gold

There is an old saying about old and new friends one being silver and one being the gold. Both to be cherished. My heart is ever so full of love and thankfulness because of the dearest ladies who to me are much more precious than silver and gold (and even diamonds and mind you that is allot if you know me well.). During the past week, I have been so thankful to spend time with an old friend that I have known since I was in high school. Oh the fun and the trials we have had together over the years makes us know each other so very well and makes the friendship so special. Also this week, much to my delight, I was able to spend time with another dear friend and her family, a friend that I have come to cherish and love, even though it has been but a year or so since we have met. I must also add that last week another lovely and dear friend came by with her darling children and visited and blessed me in a myriad of ways. These friendships are very dear to me and I smile even now thinking of these dear ladies. God has given each of these ladies such various gifts and talents that it certainly would take pages to list them all so I shall not attempt it. I will say that each of them use their different gifts and talents to the glory of God and to further advance the gospel going forth. It is without a doubt that I can say these women have a heart for Jesus and always a helping hand for a friend and even stranger alike. I wonder if they know how much I am blessed by them. One sweet friend has offered to work on a most hated thing ( getting rid of 5 garbage bags of clothes) if I will lose 5 lbs. This is her offer to suffer along with me so I will have encouragement to lose weight. Another darling friend came by and cut my hair in a style that I really like. Still another sweet friend comes by and encourages me so on the smallest of things I do (such as making a chicken salad sandwich, which is nothing) and she acts as if it is the finest of dinners and compliments me and makes me feel less like the struggling homemaker I sometimes feel I am. Friends like these are nothing less than blessings from the LORD ! May God help me to never take them for granted and to strive to be the friend to them that they are always to me. I thank the Lord for the wonderful gift of these special friends, yet another way the Lord blesses me exceedingly above all I could ask or think. Beloved friends, if you happen to read this, know I love you ! Thank you for you are darlings! So happy am I to know you ! Bless your heart!

Cure for selfish, whiney , bad mood MOP !

Whiney, selfish, self centered excuse making brat !! How I loathe you and your detestable nature that is full of self and no thought of anyone but your miserable soul with your pity party of such large portion that it could rival mardi gra in size. Ah , how I despised even the very thought of how I behaved and thought yesterday. No need to list the tiresome list of excuses I made for myself to reason away such behavior as there is never a reason for a lady, a supposed Christian lady at that to wallow in self pity as a pig in a wallow. I am now humbled and shamed at my attitude and behavior not befitting a lady in any fashion. I was ill tempered and short with everyone who came into my path and feeling quite ill used by everyone who dared upset my delicate sensibilities due to my "infirmity" (read pmdd brat hormonal excuse maker). Spiraling down into my pool of despondency and thinking only of how detestable it was to deal with insufferable people (aka my family who were doing nothing of any consequence, no ill intent at all towards me) who did seek to comfort me in my loathsome infirmity (pmdd suffering self centered brattiness). Finally, my selfishness was put in check as daughter started complaining of a headache (praying for her healing from migraines) so I snapped out of my pity party mode, which had been ongoing throughout the day, and started tending to my punkin. I had her get into bed after giving her an extra strength tylenol and I asked if there was anything I could do to make her feel better, she requested a cool cloth for her head which I was happy to place on her little forehead. She asked would I lay down with her to which I answered with why I could not as the house was such a mess that I must clean it ( uh, right the house which had lain in shambles all day, unable to be cleaned due to my infirmity) Thankfully, coming to my senses I realized and told punkin that she was much more important than the house so ofc ourse I would snug up with her. After some time, she seemed to feel well enough to play her leapster and for me to be about the pursuits of cleaning as long as I checked on her often. I spied a bottle of a bleach cleaner on the counter (one of the many things that should have been put away) and sprayed it directly onto the kitchen floor which was overdue for a mop from a marathon day of baking held previously in the week. After mopping over the spray I was delighted to find that the floor looked so much better with so little effort that I started spraying more and rinsing the mop and working a bit more and with each pass of the mop being more encouraged in my work to the point where I pulled out the oven and mopped under it and washed it down (disgusting and something I never do , must add it to list of monthly chores). After checking on punkin and putting a few things away and continuing to mop, I realized that I felt better. Suddenly I had energy which here to fore seemed to have completely drained out of me. Such a revelation to me (actually a re revelation if you will as surely I had known this in times past). So, as a tip for anyone who cares to read this post (all two of you darlings) and a reminder to myself, when the day seems long and tiresome and attitude is vile, pick up a mop or broom or even a duster and get busy. Dear bloggy reader if you are feeling a bit "blue" , "under the weather", mistreated by everyone (atleast in your mind) get busy doing something productive and BLESS YOUR HEART !

Trying times with precious honey

I must say today seems destined to be "one of those days". You know what I mean, one of those days where you feel somewhat under the weather have um er well, womanly issues that are of a nature not be discussed and leave one somewhat in a state of perpetual aggitation. Yes, it is one of those days that along with the former mentioned, your darling honey precious child, blessing from God above, informs you, in her most resolute tone, of her plans for the day after you have given instructions quite to the contrary. Ah yes, the independant spirit of a blooming rose in the garden of girlhood. Naturally, I felt it my place to lovingly inform (read as a warning of correction in no uncertain terms) what would happen if path is to be carried out as she was planning precious honey that she is to me. Indeed she would be following the well thought out plan that her dearest father laid out for school days many weeks ago. Converstion with honey child was not a profitable as I would have liked as honey dearest let me know in such a tone that she was indeed going back to bed. This is at odds with the plan I have for the day which involves school starting and 8 am promptly. Ofcourse darling husand on evening shift today, (ofcourse) shall be witnessing all that transpires. So thankful I am to have a dear husband who expects the best of his family, for a perfectly coifed and made up wife to be educating a perfectly coifed and nicely dressed honey child to be working harmoniusly as he prepares for his own day ( at them moment includes sleeping) Ah, there she is now precious honey darling has come back into the school room mentioning the correction she knows is impending and making such a request for breakfast that it is quite astounding to this mother that darling precious is not a leader of a small gurilla army with the insistance, tone and persistance in which she declares her wishes to be carried out. How wonderful this day will be as I am blessed to have such an opportunity to extol such virtues as are due a mother, such as long suffering and patience and with such a loving Christian attitude as being affable to all who come into my presence. You can only imagine my delight at the prospects of such a day (read, trying not to scream, pitch a tantrum of my own announcing the pmdd from which I suffer and that I think everyone here will soon be suffering from) and or escaping to the nearest fast food joint for a burger and fries) Ah, here is darling honey now showing off that brill ant mastery of vocabulary she has, quite a verbose little soul (read giving mom a list of I hate, do not want to do, have something else in mind and of course hungry for the breakfast that should have been eaten a half hour ago when instead dogs were being played with in pajamas of course). Oh, happy day I rush to meet you with such delight at what unexpected thrills and joys of being a stay at home mom and homeschooler shall await me. So thank you for sharing my morning dear bloggy friend and I thank you so much for I know in your own corner of blogdom you are saying to me "BLESS YOUR HEART!"

Happy Birthday Lily !!!! Happy Birthday Iris !!!!

Such a special day it is today. It is the day of new beginnings for a family who have went from two to four. A day that God has blessed a loving mommy and daddy with twin girls ! My heart is full of joy at the news that Lily and Iris have their first look of the world and that I shall soon have a good look at them. Such excitement over the wonderful blessings God has given my precious friends. These darling girls will be such a joy and pleasure for all of those who know them. So many of us have been waiting for the big day to arrive and it is FINALLY here, it is hard to find words enough to properly express the joyful enthusiasm we all share over this most wonderful day ! Praise be God for bringing these two lovely darlings into the world. As the days go by and the babies grow into little girls, and then into women, I have no doubt they will continue being thought of and indeed cherished by all who know them as great blessings from God. To the new mommy and daddy I send you all my good thoughts, many prayers have been said for your dear little family, so to all of you may God continue to BLESS YOUR HEARTs as mine has surely been blessed by knowing that the sweet flowers have safely arrived to loving arms, into a superior family built upon Godly principles and Christian love.

To my beloved friend who has received the coveted title of "Aunt", I know you are enraptured by it. Bless your heart ! I share your joy.

IN - TER- EST- ING , answers it all.

How thankfull am I to be blessed with a dear friend, who shares my name even, who has her own catch word as I have the phrase Bless your heart, dear friend has interesting. Oh, it is a multipurpose word that can cover any situation that arises for sweet friend. Perchance you doubt that one single word can accomplish a meaning appropriate to most every situation well I shall give examples.

1. Interesting - Said together not stressing one syllable greatly over the others means she has found something to be of genuine interest such as a good recipe, local history experts or perhaps even a Bible concept for which she has just gleaned from study or a teaching. If it is a considerable gem of new knowledge such as a new recipe or cleaning method you most assuredly will hear very interesting.

2. In-TER-Esting (It was inTEResting)- Said by stressing the ter means that she finds something that has upset her delicate sensibilities such as someones finding themselves in an akward situation as finding their husband in a compromising situation, an evening that was full of helping one of her various charity projects whom she must drop everything to help whatever poor soul is homeless, jobless, on drugs or being cheated on by their spouse.

3. INTER-esting (Oh, um INTER-esting)- This answer is readily at her command to utter as soon as her opinion is asked on something (usually an object) which she finds completly distasteful even downright hideous, but not one to offend, dear friend merely says INTER-esting.

I do believe their are a few more slight variations on her enunciation of the most useful word intersting but they are mere shades different of those used more predominatly by her and as I have told of the first and main three, I believe any reader is sure to follow and understand the general drift of the passage. If you still cannot fathom so many uses for the word interesting being both a compliment to a scholarly attempt, or at the other end an insult politely veiled, all I can say is BLESS YOUR HEART !

Bad hair, worse clothes, tantrums, ah the joy of Sunday's

What a wonderfull day, a day ordained of God to be a day of rest ! How blissful is the thought of a quiet day of tranquility and peace. A full day set aside for rest and a fellowship of the saints learning from Gods word in unity and one accord. Just the thought of it amazes me. So amazing in fact I wonder where such a day exists. Not with my family !! No, quite the opposite, the day starts out with me making a nice breakfast of omlets, toast and oatmeal. So far so good but then it starts. Darling daughter refuses to take vitamins (very expensive ones much needed as it seems my cooking does not provide all the essentials according to dear husband, thus dear daughter eats too much , only one of the many errors I make it seems.), dearest husband makes faces about the homeade oatmeal that could rival any small child who was force fed a lemon. Then darling daughter starts complaining that I was going to eat the last piece of toast and she was quite bothered by it. Would have made more sense had she not had toast on her plate and in her hand at the time but ... seemed justified to her. Now, for the battle royal aka fixing darling daughters hair. Well, letting the bangs grow out are just so precious as her baby fine hair slips out of every hair style I try and looks terrible. She ofcourse is "carrying on" to point I want to give the child a buzz cut (ok not really). Going to get in our car I realize you can see straight through darling daughters dress, thus we must go back up stairs and have her get redressed amid her protests. That being done we get in our car, well she does, I have to go back in the house for my Bible. Whew, I sit in the car so relieved that it is only 9:30 the time we were to leave. I proudly point this out to my husband who replies well good as we were almost late last week. Almost late?? How can you be almost late? I asked. Obviously a silly question on my part since he just kept saying ok then, in a tone that means I am exasperated with my dimwitted wife who does not even get the concept of time. (still don't since almost late to me means not late so there!) Arriving at church, (well before class starts thank you very much) I happen to see a reflection of my self in the restroom mirror which is quite upsetting to put it mildy. As I know had the knowledge of just how bad I looked wearing a homemade skirt (made by me thank you very much) upon my word if I knew how horrible I looked I would surely not have worn it. The fact it did not match my blouse and my frowsy hair was pulled up in a small clip and make up was only so - so was only part of the horrid ensemble as I had worn white anklets (thought to be hidden as the skirt was so long) not the case. So, into service I go with my ugly clothes, frowsy hair, less than great attitude and half smile. Sunday school is interesting, darling daughter actually comes in from her class and sits down (Lord, I do thank you for that one) Service is going well and darling daughter whispers (read talks somewhat less loud that usual) only half the time. I am now breathing easy, listening to a really interesting sermon when it starts. What is "it" only a meltdown to be in progress, I say to be because it was only a mere scuffle at this point. Dearest husband wants darling daughter to share her life savers with her friend. She loves her friend and wants to share but she is taking way to long trying to get the life savers apart and finally I take candy out of her hand and pass it down. Well, not only did she not get to hand her friend the wonderfull red life saver (the best as everyone knows) she did not have any more life savers. Oh the fit, she throws herself across the chairs and weeps ans though her heart were breaking. Such pitifull sobs that one would think a beloved pet had died. Dearest husband gives me the sign to do something about it and finally tells me to take darling outside. Easier said than done as pastor was halfway down the aisle speaking and dd was whole heartedly refusing to go. Finally the squalling tantrum had ended (thankfully unoticed by the congregation as a whole as darlings face was buried in a seat cushion. She is fine now although her face is red and blotchy and her formerly stringy hair is not wet stringy frizzy tangly looking and bangs in her eyes. Normally just a cutie, she looks sadly pitiful only beat out of being worst look in church today by me in the homeade skirt and ... you remember the rest. So, what do you think the correction should have been for such behavior? No reall what do you think it should have been? Somehow she ends up being apologized to by me and her dad, a promise of more candy, taken out for Chinese food which she loves and getting a new movie and soda at Wal-Mart. Hmm, I cannot imagine why she continures to have these tantrums at church (eyes rolling) So , I wonder where are these people who rest on the sabbath? And do they have a secret for keeping hair bows in and darling outfits on the entire family and make breakfast that the family enjoys? Hmm, now that I think of it I know where they are they the dear families all around mine at church who pretends not to notice the look and behavior of my darling childs tantrum and my somewhat fashion statement. To my dear friends who read this, you know who you are so I won't call you by name. Thank you for pretending not to notice and acting as if we were quite like the rest of you being in church with your sweet mannered children and darling oufits and cute hair. Love and hugs to you all, I think I will get a super bad unhealthy sugary off limit diet breaking, icy cold Coke, Cheers and a blessed sabbath to you all ! For any of you pitiful creatures who had a day similiar to mine BLESS YOUR HEART !

Bless your heart !

Bless your heart covers almost every situation from wedding disasters, a bad driver, death and taxes. Oh, sure you say, some hackneyed expression used as to thinly veil an insult and it is suddenly the one line univeral statement for every situation. Most definately, I think, and if you don't get it well "Bless your heart", I will attempt to explain in the following examples:

1. Your dearest friend gets a bad hair cut and she is so upset, well the hair cut might be indeed bad but you certainly don't agree or even if it looks cute to you that does not help her at the time. So what do you say, you, in a most sympathetic tone say "Bless your heart", let see what we can do about it.

2. Perhaps a stranger in a public restroom starts telling you about their children and how one was really loud like your own child, who you are pleading with to stop singing while in the stall of afore mentioned bathroom, (not pleasantly mind you , but off key off pitch and well just bless the childs heart it would make animals howl) The kind stranger goes on in her story about having one child who could not hear and would pull his mothers face around while she was driving so she could see his signing to her. Well, at this point, some of you might be at a loss as what to say but I found myself going back on the most helpful phrase of " Bless your heart", It perfectly summed up all of my feelings and emotions at the time and the person perfectly understood my meaning which was, thank you for not saying how annoying my child was being, how sweet of you to relate the story of your children to make me feel better, and how sorry I was that one of her own dear children was deaf. She smiled as did I, and my little singer finally did me the great honor of finishing her toilet top concert and washed up as she knew nothing of the embrassment of her actions caused her poor mom (me).

3. A family member calls and relates the harsh news that indeed they owe a goodly some for taxes, well, you could tell them to think of it as an interest free loan from the govt. all this year or how they should be thankfull that they made enough to have to pay. You could start ranting about the horrors of how the govt. spends the money and let the conversation get both quite depressed. Well, would it not be much better to say "Bless your heart", in such a tone that conveys your understanding of all the former lenghty conversastion which only leads to more suffering. So "Bless your heart" and hon, have a piece of pie completely makes things seem better.

4. Yes, certainly "Bless your heart can be an thinly veiled insult but then it must have a slight deviation from your to her or his. An example being that someone comes to the attention of you and a friend or family member, who has decided to wear the most odious of all fashions statements which that one could make and you make a slight grimace, look at each other and say bless HER (or HIS) heart, do people not have mirrors ? (or some such other comment)

The list could go on and on about the wonderfull catch all phrase of bless your heart and it's myriad of applications for use as sympathy, friendship, kindness or disdain, but if you just cannot understand it , well "Bless your heart."