ponder this ....

When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
—Luke 2:39

Everything in life is "for a time." When the time is over we move on, we do something new, we find a new way, we return to an older way, we start a new chapter.

When we are in a bad situation in life, when our hearts are broken or we are not where we want to be, it seems as though the time will never end. All we want is to find the door through which we came in so that we can go out again.

There are also times when we are full and happy. There are places in our lives we want to experience, that invite exploration—encouraging us to look around to see what else might be there. We aren't looking for the door out, because we are enjoying where we are.

All times, however, will end. We will go out the doors that we came in, and then we will enter new doors. This is the adventure of life, and in every coming in and going out, God is there with us. There is no need to be afraid. There is no need to push out of the bad or hide in the good.

All we’re called to do is be present and do all that we can do where we are. And know that we do not do it alone. When the final time is over, we like Mary and Joseph, will return to the place that we call home.

Gracious God, help me stay awake and present to all the times in my life that you give me.

I had to share this .... it pierced through my heart ... what do you think??????

planning for a new decade .... 2010

something about a new year excites me .... and yes, being in a new locale makes it even more exciting! but getting a new dayPlanner ... yes, I use the old-fashion paper ones!! I love paper b/c I can add photos, comments, embellishments, glitter etc. a place to keep my todo's, reminders etc. and then to transfer last years's info into my new one excites me also. Got your dayPlanner?? I know that most of you are techno and I respect that ... but the pens, pencils, colored ink, papers, paperclips, quotes & sayings ~~~~ oh, ..... to have a new planner! xoxox, m

finishing STRONG ....

 
 
 
almost DONE ... finishing work and electrical plus plumbing to be completed. We'll be home owners hopefully by the end of the week ~ end of the year! and the first week of 2010 will be when we move in. Yea!! Only to finish STRONG!!

Merry Christmas 2009 Visalia CA

 
 
 
Truly a blessed Christmas!!

Mr. Sandman BLASTING!!

 
 
 
NOT every day do you hear about a sand storm nor drive through one. However, on the way home that is exactly what happened. Scary, Frightening and incredible all AT THE SAME TIME. A LOT of damage done to my truck (darn-it-all!!) but, what's a car when lives are involved??! YES! there was a major 4-car pile up with an overturned vehicle on the side of the road. Mr. Sandman BLASTED everyone. So, if you ever need advice about driving through a SANDSTORM call me!!

SANTA with a message

 
 
 
not everyday do you see this .... SANTA with a message on the corner of Mooney & Walnut in Visalia CA. He's got it right ... JOY TO THE WORLD and PREPARE HIM ROOM. Merry Christmas, m

M i c h e ..........

okay, I have loved loved loved the Miche handbags/purses/pocketbooks. Several reasons: 1. my nickname from a beloved GF in Boise (Idaho Falls actaully!) calls me Miche .. and some in Boston too! 2. they are the bags that have the changeable outershells. 3. They now sell them at Hallmark stores (yea!!) and 4. I saw one with a Christmas motif. So .... I bought one for me. Yep, that's right ... I did!! and I love it!! xoxox, m

my desk ..... my space!!

 

I can barely stand it! This is my built-in desk. I've never had one of these! You'll have to come over and scrap with me! I even have a closet in my new workspace! YippPPeeeEEe and today they installed it. Double Bubble YippPPeeeeee

ta-da ...... surprise!!

 
my darlin' husband decided to surprise me on Saturday night .. and this was my surprise .. a real tree with the kind of lights I love love love and it's so pretty!! He did all of this for me ... it looks like Christmas around here!

friday progress

 
the front doorway .... slowly making forward progress due to the weather!! I thought it never rained in S. California?!! have a great weekend .... remember December!! xoxo, m

remember December ...... long long time ago

I'm a brat! yep, an AF Brat and damn proud!!! anywho ... one year in Dayton OH (Wright Patterson AFB) all the neighbors got together for hot chocolate and fun!! simple entertainment!! and everyone .. I mean EVERYONE built the largest snowman I've ever seen in my life ... it was taller than the apt. buildings!! It's was a blast!!! how are you remembering December?? past, present even future????? xoxox, m

Merry Christmas ... vintage style

 

I have become addicted to vintage ANYTHING!! I found this ... it reminded me of all my dutch friends in the area!

HooooooRay ... TODAY!!

 
 
 
worker bees ...... yea!! TODAY .... stone being added and the grout!!!! Who would've thunk ... I'd get excited over grout????? I am easily amused!!

tile delay .... gone on way too long!

I get the concept!! and I am so ready to move into 'our' house. Building a home is a huge project, something I thought we'd never ever do ... and we are doing it. I am so hoping the tile gets delivered very very very soon!!! and so I continue to wait. The weather here (central CA valley) is supposed to change ... uuUggGhhhhH and that may delay ~ but it can't ... everything will be delivered from IDAHO January 8th ... and and and ... KWIM?

s t o n e .... finally!

 
 
 
the major delay has been the stone and tile. FINALLY, the stone was delivered and somewhat being installed! oh the wait. It is supposed to rain all next week ~~~> not good for construction! so, we wait and see!

December = playoffs!

yep, that's right college football time! I so enjoyed watching it ... and tomorrow is an all-day event!! Remember December does include football for me ... watching Paul, then off to another sports that involves a round ball ... and now watching it on TV .. remember december. How are you doing? with remember december?

remember December!!

 
one year ... we ALL DECIDED .. that anything we bought had to come from the dollar store. It was a hoot, everyone got creative and we laughed and had a ton of fun!!! from that year, stemmed the giving in honor of the person through Samaritan's Purse (Franklin Graham's organization) .... Happy December. m

Remember December ..... happy December

This is the truth of the matter & of my circumstances. ALL, EVERYTHING we have 'is in storage' .... so, what is a decorating diva to do in December without ANY decorations? Buy more ~ NEVER! Live vicariously thru her GIRLFRIENDS ~ yes! and
R E M E M B E R December!! I've purchased a cheap (dollar store) journal and decorated the cover ... and EVERY DAY December 1 -25 I will reflect on Christmas's PAST & FUTURE .. and those tiny glory-story moments throughout this wonderful time of the year!!! so, to all of U ~ what are some of your memories?????? I'd love to hear them, here or a telephone call or an email. TODAY begin REMEMBER DECEMBER 2009
xoxox, m

the table ...

 
This is what our Thanksgiving table looked like ... I tried to fun-it-up with chocolate turkeys! and some fun diet cokes. Doug and Paul laughed and enjoyed it ..... we had glory stories, laughter, delish food ~ a smoked turkey from Tyler TX (thanks mom!!), sides purchased from Glicks market (a local excellent meat market!) and football and movies and time together ....... so so so much to be thankful for and gratitude!!

Happy

 
Happy Thanksgiving America!! I am so truly blessed .... and able to give! have an awesome day. xoxox, m

tuesday ... daily

 
grateful DAILY .... yes! that's exactly right ~ so for TODAY what exactly are you grateful for .... family & friends are a given ......... go into details!!! m

monday ......

 
Happy Thanksgiving .... as Americans we have sooooooooo much to be thankful for ... what are YOU thankful for?

Fort Hood .. comments by Col. Allen B. West (Ret.)

For those of you who don't know, Col. Allen West is running for U.S. Congressman Ron Klein's seat in Florida. Attached is his article regarding the shootings at Ft. Hood, Texas.
Please take a few minutes to read what he wrote .....

“Tragedy at Ft Hood” by Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)

This past Thursday 13 American Soldiers were killed and another 30 wounded at a horrific mass shooting at US Army installation, Ft Hood Texas. As I watched in horror and then anger I recalled my two years of final service in the Army as a Battalion Commander at Ft Hood, 2002-2004.

My wife and two daughters were stunned at the incident having lived on the post in family housing.

A military installation, whether it is Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, or Coast Guard, is supposed to be a safe sanctuary for our Warriors and their families. It is intended to provide a home whereby our “Band of Brothers and Sisters” can find solace and bond beyond just the foxhole but as family units.

A military installation is supposed to be a place where our Warriors train for war, to serve and protect our Nation.

On Thursday, 5 November 2009 Ft Hood became a part of the battlefield in the war against Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism.

There may be those who feel threatened by my words and would even recommend they not be uttered. To those individuals I say step aside because now is not the time for cowardice. Our Country has become so paralyzed by political correctness that we have allowed a vile and determined enemy to breach what should be the safest place in America, an Army post.

We have become so politically correct that our media is more concerned about the stress of the shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The misplaced benevolence intending to portray him as a victim is despicable. The fact that there are some who have now created an entire new classification called; “pre-virtual vicarious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” is unconscionable.

This is not a “man caused disaster”. It is what it is, an Islamic jihadist attack.

We have seen this before in 2003 when a SGT Hasan of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) threw hand grenades and opened fire into his Commanding Officer’s tent in Kuwait. We have seen the foiled attempt of Albanian Muslims who sought to attack Ft Dix, NJ. Recently we saw a young convert to Islam named Carlos Bledsoe travel to Yemen, receive terrorist training, and return to gun down two US Soldiers at a Little Rock, Arkansas Army recruiting station. We thwarted another Islamic terrorist plot in North Carolina which had US Marine Corps Base, Quantico as a target.

What have we done with all these prevalent trends? Nothing.

What we see are recalcitrant leaders who are refusing to confront the issue, Islamic terrorist infiltration into America, and possibly further into our Armed Services. Instead we have a multiculturalism and diversity syndrome on steroids.

Major Hasan should have never been transferred to Ft Hood, matter of fact he should have been Chaptered from the Army. His previous statements, poor evaluation reports, and the fact that the FBI had him under investigation for jihadist website posting should have been proof positive.

However, what we have is a typical liberal approach to find a victim, not the 13 and 30 Soldiers and Civilian, but rather the poor shooter. A shooter who we are told was a great American, who loved the Army and serving his Nation and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) stating that his actions had nothing to do with religious belief.

We know that Major Hasan deliberately planned this episode; he did give away his possessions. He stood atop a table in the confined space of the Soldier Readiness Center shouting “Allahu Akhbar”, same chant as the 9-11 terrorists and those we fight against overseas in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of operation.

No one in leadership seems willing to sound the alarm for the American people; they are therefore complicit in any future attacks. Our Congress should suspend the insidious action to vote on a preposterous and unconstitutional healthcare bill and resolve the issue of “protecting the American people”.

The recent incidents in Dearborn Michigan, Boston Massachusetts, Dallas Texas, and Chicago Illinois should bear witness to the fact that we have an Islamic terrorism issue in America. And don’t have CAIR call me and try to issue a vanilla press statement; they are an illegitimate terrorist associated organization which should be disbanded.

We have Saudi Arabia funding close to 80% of the mosques in the United States, one right here in South Florida, Pompano Beach. Are we building churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia ? Are “Kaffirs” and “Infidels” allowed travel to Mecca?

So much for peaceful coexistence.

Saudi Arabia is sponsoring radical Imams who enter into our prisons and convert young men into a virulent Wahabbist ideology….one resulting in four individuals wanting to destroy synagogues in New York with plastic explosives. Thank God the explosives were dummy. They are sponsoring textbooks which present Islamic centric revisionist history in our schools.

We must recognize that there is an urgent need to separate the theo-political radical Islamic ideology out of our American society. We must begin to demand surveillance of suspected Imams and mosques that are spreading hate and preaching the overthrow of our Constitutional Republic……that speech is not protected under First Amendment, it is sedition and if done by an American treason.

There should not be some 30 Islamic terrorist training camps in America that has nothing to do with First Amendment, Freedom of Religion. The Saudis are not our friends and any American political figure who believes such is delusional.

When tolerance becomes a one way street it certainly leads to cultural suicide. We are on that street. Liberals cannot be trusted to defend our Republic, because their sympathies obviously lie with their perceived victim, Major Nidal Malik Hasan.

I make no apologies for these words, and anyone angered by them, please, go to Ft Hood and look into the eyes of the real victims. The tragedy at Ft Hood Texas did not have to happen. Consider now the feelings of those there and on every military installation in the world. Consider the feelings of the Warriors deployed into combat zones who now are concerned that their loved ones at home are in a combat zone.

Ft Hood suffered an Islamic jihadist attack, stop the denial, and realize a simple point.

The reality of your enemy must become your own.

Steadfast and Loyal,
Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)



I never post such a long blurb ... however, I admire this man ~ standing for truth! and being true!!

going to the movies .....

okay I know it's Thursday ... but tomorrow we are going to the movies to see "The Blind Side" = the new football movie with Sandra Bullock ~ I love true stories and this looks like it will be awesome. Plus, I enjoy Sandra Bullock as an actress! I can watch "Remember the Titans" over and over ... even "We are Marshall" . What are your weekend plans?????? The house projects is delayed - so that means we are waiting for tile!!

a giveaway over at Donna Downy's website

this is a special, HOLY FRICKIN' COW, spectacular giveaway announcement! Craft-e-Corner will be giving away on my blog this Cricut Create Machine with Don Juan Cartridge.


oh my goodness, leave your comments now, this is awesome!


leave your comment today before 10 PM (EST).
To double your chances tweet, blog or post on your facebook about this giveaway and come back and leave another comment.
Winner will be announced on the blog tonight.
Craft-e-Corner is a family owned business that began in early 2008 when Carrie and Dean Duehring took their hobby of scrapbooking to a new level. With three young children and a love of preserving their special moments, they launched the on-line scrapbooking e-commerce store, Craft-e-Corner.

In addition to this giveaway, Craft-e-Corner with also be having a huge **Machine Madness** sale from Midnight CST Black Friday November 27th until 11:59 PM CST Cyber Monday November 30th. You can not afford to miss these awesome deals. Just tell them Donna sent you and use the SIMPLYME coupon code and receive 10% off your purchase!

cabinet installation ... never knew I could

 
 
I am just elated! cabinet installation TODAY. what a surprise and joy, never knew I could get so happy over cabinets!

t e x t e r ...

 

well look here .... son teaching dad to text! what are your 'goto' lines and favO'rites to send? ILU ~ call me!! ~ 241 ~ where r u? ~ so, we all be texting now!!

FRIDAY delivery!!!

 
what's a kitchen without cabinets .... (as Yukon Cornelius would say ~~>) NOTHIN'. So, look what was delivered today! Yes sirree bud ... kitchen cabinets!! Oh how I hope they get installed on Monday. It's beginning to take shape! have a great weekend. xoxox, m

concrete ... cement

I've asked the contractor if I could sink a 2009 penny into my concrete .... he now officially thinks I am a dingbat of epic proportion's ~ okay, so I am! I think he may even be a bit 'miffed' too!

PAINTING is a process ....

 
 
 
 
prepping, priming, taping ... it's hard work and here is the proof. Carlos is the crew chief and he has 4 workers. Thought I'd give a 'human' element to all of this ... I plan on taking them donuts on Friday! Who wouldn't want donuts on friday?!!! have a great day ... and remember & honor all those veterans who have served, are serving and who made the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation! Happy Veterans Day.