(All Posters)

Sometimes I wonder what impression I am making on my children and grand-children.  Do they see me practicing what I preach?  I am not perfect and that leaves me praying that I have done my best.  God blessed me, today, through a conversation with my son.

Several of my friends, and family, have lost loved ones this week.  I was talking to my oldest son about those who have gone home, these past few days.  He is actually my step-son from a previous marriage.  He is 36 years old and his dad and I have been divorced for 23...24 years.  I bring this up because it is important in regards to what I have to say, otherwise I consider him my own.  Anyhow, he brought up how we don't really ever think about certain people until they pass and then all the memories come flooding back.  All the good times we have spent with them.   I agreed and stated that we should remember those we love before they go on. He whole-heartedly agreed but commented on how hard it is to get past the hurt and old grudges, sometimes.  How hard it is to let go of some things...

My answer was this. 

"I know but we have to get past them.  I've been hurt over and over again, but I know God expects me to forgive, so I do.  What begins as hate and anger usually turns into pity for the person who has hurt me, once I forgive them.  To go through life, hurting and dragging people through the muck, must be a horrible, miserable, existence.  I suppose I have been successful forgiving those who have hurt me because I can't think of one person, I hate... not one."

Here is why it is important for you to know he is my step-son...

He said,  "That's why I love you and why I call you Momma."

I answered, with tears in my eyes and a frog in my throat, "And I love being your Momma.".

I guess I am setting a pretty good example for my children and grand-children.  I want my legacy to be that I obeyed God,  loved my family more than my own breath, and never let hurt or anger dictate my life.

How about you?  What kind of impression are you making?

I am beginning to despise blogs these days.  So much pressure to "measure up".  I'm sure it is all unintentional but it seems everyone is showing off, now days.  Decorate this way, cook that way, do this, don't do that...  It's enough to make a person question everything they do!  Why must we try and be better than the others?  Who are these people who have picture perfect homes?  Does anybody even live in those houses?  Really???  Where is the dust and the clutter?  Where are the greasy hand prints, on the light switches, after a husband has spent all day working on a broken down car?  I know there are kid-stained carpets, everywhere, and not everyone cleans the kitchen, every night!  Everywhere you look people are bragging about this or that.  Come on!!!  We do not live in a perfect world!  Nobody can be as perfect as we are trying to portray, on our blogs! I'm as guilty as the next blogger.  I have gotten so overwhelmed with blogs like this.  I say...

 I only have a handful of blogs I read on a daily basis.  Those are listed on the right side of this page. I like blogs about every day life.  Simple blogs.  Blogs that share the every day life of every day people.  Blogs about the ups and downs of daily living!  Some of my favorite blogs have nothing to do with decorating...in fact, the ones I read most, are about people, who often have old, beat up furniture, peeling paint, and flower beds that are filled with weeds!  They don't cook gourmet meals...just  happy with what the Lord has provided.  Many times the pictures that appeal to me have little dirty faced children running around a yard that is filled with toys and no landscaping!  Just the dirt and grass God put there.  People who are living the simple life are the ones I want to visit.  

Just keeping it REAL!!!

As you probably know, I keep my grand-daughter, while her parents work.  I am always looking for healthy, tasty, and fun snacks, for her.  As I reached into the pantry to get the graham crackers, I thought back to the snacks my Mama made for my siblings and I.  There weren't all these pre-fabbed, as I call them, snacks that are available now days.  If you went to the grocery store, the choices were pretty limited and usually there was no money to buy them anyhow.  I remember lots of saltine crackers in our home.  Those were, very often, snacks for us kids.  Mama put peanut butter on them or even just a bit of real butter.  We didn't complain.  We ate them like they were candy.  My daddy loved crackers and mustard and we all loved that, as well!  I still eat crackers and mustard!  Sometimes, if it happened to be grocery shopping day, Mama would get some Honey-Maid Graham Crackers for us.  Of course, she put peanut butter on them and we thought that was pretty special, since Graham Crackers didn't happen very often.  If it had been a very good payday, for Daddy, he would buy a package of Chips-Ahoy Chocolate Chip Cookies and we really thought we were in high cotton!  Peanut butter was a staple in our home.  Mama would mix it with either honey or Caro syrup for sandwiches and I remember her homemade peanut butter cookies!  Oh my goodness, I loved those cookies!  That is still my favorite cookie and I will go for a peanut butter cookie before I do the most decadent dessert made.  We also got lots of homemade oatmeal cookies...sometimes with raisins, but mostly not.  Raisins didn't make the necessity list, most of the time.  And homemade cakes... we always had a cake when Daddy came home.  He was an over-the-road truckdriver, who was always gone...always.  So when he got to come home, we had meals and desserts that we never got when he wasn't.  Not because Mama didn't cook or bake while he was gone but because it was a special day to have Daddy home...that and there just wasn't enough money to eat like that every day.  Mama could stretch food further than anyone I know, but that will be another post.  Another yummy snack we had a lot of was plain butter and bread...sometimes with a bit of syrup or honey.  We all loved that!  Simple stuff and most people now days would think it is crazy to eat something like that.  Well, I think we have all become a bunch of spoiled brats, with too much junk readily available, and our health is definitely showing that to be true...mine included.  Maybe we need to get back to the place where the only things we have to snack on, are those simple ones that Mama came up with...and we were none the wiser!

I don't know about you but I am the type of person who can't simply work on one project at a time. this is evident by a ball of yarn, crochet hook, and crochet project, in various stages of progress, in every room in the house.

There is the beginnings of a scarflette, on my desk.  Pardon the dust.

I couldn't enjoy time with my husband, without a project beside my easy chair, in the living room.  This is a Mandala Vest I am making to sell.  It is too big to work on unless I am sitting.

Who has a crochet project in the kitchen?  I do!  My Mister and I will have an "End of Summer" yard/craft sale, in September and I hope to have all of these projects and much more to sell for Christmas money.  If not, guess what everyone will be getting for gifts!  HeHeHe!



I guess the only room I don't have a project, in progress, is the bathroom... that would just be weird.

I am linking up with Frontier Dreams', KCCO.  Go visit and check out what others are sharing, today!