Homegrown Hospitality

I learned to say "yes"...

yesterday.  You know how people are always saying "you need to learn to say "no"?  Have you EVER heard anyone say, "You need to learn to say yes more often"?...No, either have I, until yesterday. it it has enlightened me to the extent that I have been waiting for my kids to ask me a question....so I can say "yes".  This is an example of what I heard:

Q: "Mom, when we get to the gas station, can I have a dollar to buy some sun flower seeds?..

A:Okay!

now, really, probably not a big deal, but it was 8:05 at night, we had just finished a dinner &  a little dessert and probably was not really something that she needed, but in the big picture, it really was not a big deal, so "Yes!" was the answer.  I thought about what my answer would have been, and without a thought, I would have said "no, we just finished dinner, it's late, you don't need them, etc. etc...Maybe you would have had to have been there to get the "jist" of it, but honestly, when "she" spoke to me about this simple and plain thing of saying "yes", it really did change my way of thinking. 

okay, so let's cut to the chase...I have been talking in code for a few days and you are probably wondering what the heck ( or maybe, if I said "Oh My Heck!") Oprah & her wildest dreams and Ty & his bullhorn has to do with all of this "learn to say yes" blah blah blah,  the fact is that, well, I flew to SLC, UTAH, "She" picked me up from the airport, "she" drove me around (and around and around), "she" now knows that I love Tortilla Chips & Salsa and Diet Coke with Extra Ice, um let's see, "she" took me to her house (hold on.."ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"), okay, "she" made me crack up so hard at times I had tears in my eye's , "she" also said some super things about me to ALOT of people that made my eyes water...."she" loves my cookies, okay, "she" is Lisa Bearnson, and she really is a super woman.(the little "she" was her daughter Brecken as she bought "Dill Pickle flavored Sun Flower Seeds!)

Enough said. 

I will save the rest of the moments & memories (like cute little Sage holding my hand as she "heelie'd" down the sidewalk")...and as if I was not a scrapbooker...I DID NOT take ONE picture.  It was a day that I will hold onto tightly as an incredible part of my journey called "Life"...

have a great night and try saying "yes" more often...It makes a difference!

Focus & Pray...rely on my FAITH

so, just a quick (ya, right) thought before I go, I have been given the ultimate compliments from some very important people in the scrap booking industry.  I am not good at recognizing  nor taking compliments  regarding  the things I make, create, doodle, draw, I don't compare my work to others, and more often, admire, become inspired, & compliment others on their works.  It is not a contest for me, never has been, and I do it for the sake of my children and because I LOVE to do it ( plus, now as I read it, about 500 more reasons!)  I could type the word LOVE one million times, and it would not be enough. It really does make my heart soar and that my friends, is one of those feelings that you want for life!

so I leave you with this, thank you for all of your INCREDIBLE posts & e-mails, well wishes & compliments...I hope, wish & dream for you to at some point, get a spark of inspiration, a slice of hope and a dash of FAITH from something I create, write, doodle or draw to keep you going on the journey you are taking...

see you tomorrow!

Faith In Dreams

More like Wildest Dreams....did Oprah's "Wildest Dreams" bus cruise down my cul-de-sac while I was not home? Cause I did not see it... Did Ty Pennington and his bullhorn stand in front of my house and scream my name while I was sleeping?...Cause I did not hear it...all I know and can share with you is this....

1.Today is a packed day

2.PTA Meeting to run first thing

3.Deadlines to meet today at MAMBI

4.Extended learning time starts for Ben today

4.I have to bake a bunch of cookies (which quite honestly does not count in my to-do)

5. huh, gotta get me nails done at five (that is a must, duh)

6. Had to go out last night and get a WARM coat, not jacket, I have lots of those, because as my Wildest Dreams Adventure starts EARLY on Wednesday morning, I will be traveling alone, to a VERY COLD STATE ( hint hint) and besides the fact that it was, um, I think they said 17 BELOW ZERO, I may be a little jitter-e from the extreme cold, not to mention jitter-e from nerves....

okay...gotta go...I will take my camera...and share with you what I can....P.S...I will be back the same day...well, same night, unless, well, there is a giant snowstorm...which is totally possible!

Faith in "B's"

Baby blankets, baking, brrr, books, boys,brothers, busy, blankets, Butterflies....I have been a BUSY girl this weekend..getting ready for BIG things...but before I go on, it is BRUTALLY cold here in sunny So. Cal...here I am yesterday in the garage sewing all BUNDLED up (BEN took the photo) okay, so..I have faith in my "BROTHER"...don't have one, but I got one, and it has produced more than the manufacturer probably ever would have claimed a Costco home machine would..BUT the little piece that holds the thread BROKE, but that is okay, MacGuyver me rigged it up to make this BLANKET .... (opps, the pic. is BLURRY, probably cause my hands are shaking cause they are cold)

and did I mention BOOKS? I made, worked on & finished quite a few this weekend...

at least I warmed up a bit, as I BAKED some pretties...

and the BOYS cuddles up in BLANKETS..and lastly, I think that I am officially finished with the kitchen cabinets...key word "BARN red" (it did not take me an entire year to re-do all of my kitchen cabinets, but pretty close...here is a BEFORE & after ...

okay, I gotta go take a BREAK and go to work...oh, and one last thing...I mentioned BUTTERFLIES...don't like them ( the real ones) but I got them (the internal kind)...

have a BEE-U-TEE-FUL day!

Racers..take your mark..*EDITED**

well, probably not exactly what they said, but as of right now, my little sister is 19 minutes into her first Marathon...in Phoenix at the P.F Chang's Rock & Roll Marathon...I am keeping track of her via Internet & her bib number..I am feeling really bad that I am not there...I should be.  I journaled about her today which I will post...I am praying for her and this marathon.  She had a set back last Sunday, as she prepared for her last trained long run, she hurt her knee, pretty bad, and could not finish her 10 mile run...she has rested all week, only to get a sinus infection on Thursday...so it will be a mixture of antibiotics, ibuprofen, strength,endurance,focus, pace & FAITH....only one other HUGE roadblock in this day for her....at the start line, the temperature was a whopping 27 degrees. um, not planned for.  Although, at the start and through the entire time I ran my Marathon, it rained, even poured at times, and I swear it took two days to get warm...so I pray for her, and I pray to GOD to take care of her and the other 30,999 runners.....keep focused, get in the zone,pace yourselves and PRAY....it is what got me to the finish line!

***EDITED*** she just finished!  YIPPEE...4 hours..52 minutes and 32 seconds!!!!!

I told *her "NO"...

I mean, really, I told *her "NO"...I was having a really unbelievable & incredible phone conversation on the phone yesterday with *her that was complimentary, heartwarming, & sincere regarding some potentially life changing, creative fulfilling & dream making options & opportunities.  When it was time to chose a day to meet, and Thursday was suggested...without thinking for a milli-second, when really, the answer should have been "YES!"...I said "No"..I mean, I did not shout out "NO!", I probably said something like, "Oh, No, Thursday is not a good day, I teach the Good News Club on Thursday"...now, someday, when I am able to really share more of this conversation, you will understand that even if I was dilated to 10 & ready to "push"...I should have  said "okay, I will be there"...this leads me to todays entry in my FAITH Journal entry.

      

*She will remain anonymous for now

p.s.sorry for my mispellings...it is me...Iam always talking, typing & writing faster than my brain, or maybe it is the other way around...

Have Faith in...

ME.  Wow, that is bold of me to ask you that, for many of you, you do not even know me, so it sounds strange to ask, but really...is that not wait FAITH precisly is?  Belief in something that you can not see? I mean, some of you see me in pictures, many of you you read about me in my journaling, and sometimes you see me dash across the school parking lot or blacktop...but really, in the past four months, I have not been seen so much, therefore I ask you to have FAITH in me.

I am just like every other mom out there in America with a full plate. cakes to bake, cookies in the oven, the washer goin, the timer buzzin, the homework helpin, trash needs to go out, the dog poop needs to be picked up, the lunches need to be made, the dishwasher needs to be unloaded so that it can be loaded again. the laundry that is clean, needs to be put away...oh, I am the missing PTA President, (thank GOD for Patsy)...Board meetings, district meetings, checks to sign, ah man, I need to drop two kids off at two different practices and two differant parks, grocery shopping, oh and I need to go get me nails done....and then, I have to go to work, deadlines to meet, ideas to put into motion, glitter to glue, buttons to sew, oh, and Good News Club...verses to teach, snacks to give, roll to take, oh oops, I need to make dinner, breakfast, and the bunny & dog needs to be fed...and I need GAS...excuse me, I need GASOLINE, and hey look, it is down to $2.63 a gallon...I could go on, and I think you get the picture, and maybe you can relate, the thing about all this, is it is a choice....a choice that I make to do all that I do.mostly because I LOVE IT , partly because I have to...and as long as I can keep it under moderate control and try to stay organized, it flows...but I am no where's close to even perfect, I have dropped the ball at times, made poor choices, bad decisions, but are those not the things that make us smarter and stronger? and when I drop the ball a bit, the ball has air, and it keeps on bouncing back up, I catch it and keep movin on.  What does this all have to do with FAITH, and ME, and YOU? well, GOD has FAITH in me to teach children about him, You have FAITH ( I hope) in me, that I can do all this (with bouncing balls once in awhile) and I have FAITh in you, those who have picked up where I have left off, those who have left me wonderful comments, given me great ideas & sugesstions, supported me in my blue & yucky times,  to take a little something from what I write about, what I scrap about and overall how I live, into your daily lives to keep the Faith.  Bon Jovi sings "Keep the FAITH" and intend too...although I can not sing.

p.s. the spell check is not working, it is 6am, I gotta take a shower, and get goin, therefore I post this in raw form.  Please excuse my poor spelling!

**EDITED**okay, just a quick little something that just happeneded Signs of a serious scrapbooker...I pretty much change my bag everyday to kinda coordinate with what I am wearing ( hold your comments....) anyways, I have been working alot at home on stuff for work, so when I left work yesterday, I stuffed a couple of sheets of foam mounts into my bag and off I went...when I got home, I grabbed the sheet of the top of my bag and continued working...leaving the other sheet in my bag...fast forward to right now, I am taking my stuff out of yesterdays bag, to fill up todays bag, and this is what I found....

Extreme Faith...

is what I have to practice.  Now, I do not like using ,nor claiming this, but I am a single mom. The "D" word...yep. divorced.  NO GOOD..the process..the facts, the courts...the KIDS...arghhh...I hate this, but I know that it will touch someone out there, therefore, I share.  I only have so much "control"...over my environment here at home, while the kids are with me (Which thankfully, is most of the time) anyway, I need to, as a responsible parent, keep some type of order over what they listen to, what they watch, what they can and cant do, when they do their homework, what they eat, what they wear, etc...but, during those times that they are with their dad, well, I am not in control of those everyday things...therefore, a lesson taught/reminded to me from my mom, is that I have to just plain IL rely on FAITH.  FAITH that God will watch over them, FAITH that God will take care of them, FAITH that God will guide them and remind them of the rights and wrongs.  It used to be that the moment they left me, I fell apart, simply fell to pieces..I did not do well being alone...and it was all because I honestly forgot... I am ashamed to admit that I simply forgot to rely on GOD during those times.   Now, today, after a rough past few years ..I am so proud to shout that once I was reminded that I am NEVER alone, and that if I am worrying then I am not praying enough, and that GOD never gives us more than we can handle, I am okay...and you will be too, but cha gotta have FAITH ( and ya gotta pray)!

have a super day...and a little toot toot in case you did not see it yesterday

www.meandmybigideas.com click on "Stephanie's" blog.... 

oh, and I found this from my freestylin friend... www.embers.typepad.com

and soooo..it inspired me to make my own deck o' faith!... here is the super cute lil pouch that I just made using felt & a needle... the cards will fit right into it...sooo cute!

Everyday Faith...**EDITED**

Good Tuesday....I woke up today with the everyday faith that no matter what comes my way, it will all be okay.  I have faith that the teachers that are going to teach my children today are ready and capable to teach them...I have faith that the other drivers on the road are aware and careful and I have faith that our super crossing guards will remind those who are not so aware and careful that they need to be.

I have faith that even though my daily path through life has cracks in the road, rough patches, smooth spots, detours, bridges, hopscotches, black ice patches and rainbows, God is either right next to me, right behind me, carrying me or guiding me...

p.s. todays artwork is done with markers!

Oh goodness...go here, and click on "stephanie's blog".... www.meandmybigideas.com

A Good way...take two

my post from two days ago introduced you to my word o' the year and the Ali Edwards Challenge, and although I have not changed my word, I did change/adjust/change my day one entry.  Here is the "inspiration" page that I showed you the other day

and here is my entry for today.   By the way, for those who have asked..here is my process for my journals...

I ALWAYS use a pencil first...usually a mechanical pencil, because then the writing will not be real dark...it is key for me to use a pencil for placement, to avoid mispellings (that I have alot of!)it is just a must...for me, at least...but, once in awhile, I freestyle and go straight for the paint brush... it s a great idea sometimes, just to release and flap your creative wings..anyways...I also use a WHITE eraser ...It leaves not a single smudge! okay, then I use a Micron 03 black pen, I go over the penciled in lines...Wait a minute before erasing your lines, but dont forget to erase prior to adding the color...as for color, sometimes I use paint, usually making memories, sometimes markers and then, like you see here, chalk & a q-tip!  whalaa.....not complicated at'tall! well, ...okay, so have faith in yourself...to go out and chase your dreams....I have faith, I have dreams, and I am chasing them....