Merciful Humor

Throughout this year, I will be posting to my page, Year of Mercy.  You can read more about the Year of Mercy in this post.

A few weeks ago, one of my older children who will remain nameless, was picking on one of my younger children and made them cry. 

 I responded to said older child, "There, now don't you feel terrible? You made her cry."

 To which said older child who will remain nameless retorted to me, "Nope, not at all.  I know the story of the Prodigal Son.  I know how it ends."

Aaaahhhrrrrgggggg!!!!  I laughed so hard!  It caught me by surprise as I was in serious "Mom mode".

And, younger child who really wasn't all that hurt, stopped crying.  Not because she knows the story of the Prodigal Son and thought her older sibling who will remain nameless was so witty, but because she really wanted to know what made me laugh so hard.

The Gospel for today's Mass readings is the story of the Prodigal Son or also known as the Parable of the Lost Son.  If you don't know the story, it's a really, really, really, powerful one.  You can find it here in Luke 15:11-32.  Commentary can be found here.  Want to delve into it further?  This book is the "go to" for the parable. We have it, but I read it years ago. I think it would be a good one to reread in this Year of Mercy.

Why the image above?  As I was deciding which photo I could include with this post, this image I created a few years ago came to mind.  Maybe because it's three flowers.  The Father, the lost son, and the son who stayed.  Of course there is also representation of the Holy Trinity too. 

Even more so, I think this image came to mind from it's inspiration.  The book,  "Ish" by Peter Reynolds.  (Which I bought a few months ago to read to my kids and for myself) It's so inspiring, to be who you are! The book itself is a story of Mercy.  A little sister recognizes the beauty in her older brother's art before anyone else and that allows him to see his own beauty.  Truly, this is a great book.

I learned to make the flowers in Photoshop from this tutorial from EarlK Designs.  He calls them "Ish" flowers.  He was inspired to make the flowers from the book, "Ish" which is then how I came to know this book. Good things inspiring good things....

Still Life: Pears

We've been eating down our pantry and freezers. But, I still need to run to the store for fresh fruit and vegetables. (We are pretty bare shelved now.)

I read everywhere talk of decluttering.  

Decluttering strikes me more in not stock piling food and letting it get pushed to the back of the pantry or the freezer and then possibly wasted.

In decluttering the rest of the house and sorting my stash, I have a bag of vintage aprons ready to be donated as they are rough and I have a lot of them.

Then when these pears struck me to photograph, I grabbed out an apron from the bag.  Now, I'm not sure I should donate this bag.  I think they may still may have use here. :) And, the aprons won't expire, ha!

There is such beauty everywhere, isn't there?!  Gifts from above.

It's Wednesday already this week...it's nice to at least slow down time for a moment in a photograph. 

 Stopping time: the beauty of  still life photography.

Saturday Digest

►This sleepy doll slumber party is the CUTEST!  I know my 9 and 10 year old would have fun with these dolls! This just makes me heart happy and makes me want to play "slumber party" too.


►I know everyone is waaaaayyyy past thinking about Christmas and even beyond Valentine's Day, looking to spring, but I still think this video is still inspiring to watch.  Anthropology windows never disappoint.





►The best fine mist water bottle ever!  I ordered two for me and more for gifts.  If you ever need to wet hair, this water bottle is awesome.  My little girls would cry when you'd spray their hair because the big drops would just roll down their hair and get their shirts wet so we'd need to drape their shoulders with a towel and spray so much water.  This is a fine and long mist that wets the hair so nicely with less pumping.  And, free shipping from the UK!

►A vintage photo from my collection.  The questions that popped into my mind: Did they sing too?  And what songs did they like to play?  Mother/daughter?  Were they good?  It's such a great photo to stir the imagination.

Happy weekend everyone!

Rust, Scraps, Fragments

I went to my sewing room to make a pillow out of an old chenille bedspread.  I made a heart one the other day and thought I'd make another.  Well...one thing led to another and I made this triptych instead.  

I used to not be a fan of Valentine's Day and now I love it!!  Ha. "Love it".  yeah, well it's true.

My prayer life has led me to focusing on love which of course is where everyone's prayer life leads.

  Because God is love.

Everything about this triptych represents our human condition.  It's scrappy and imperfect.  

Little bits of this and that weigh on our hearts to make us who we are.

Of course there is always time weighing on us.  The time that God created and we try constantly to manipulate, organize, and "make the most of".  

The key, may be in removing the hands from the clock.  

Eternity has begun.  

God is timeless. 

God is love.

And, the triptych?  The Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

I pray His love envelops you on Valentine's Day and every day!!

Happy Valentine's Day my friends!!!

Life: Black and White

Hahaha!  Life is so not black and white.  Take this past week.  

In a nutshell:  Pain.  Pain in shoulder.  Pain in chest and down arm.  Pain in chest up neck to jaw.  Go to Hospital.  EKG.  Helicopter ride to bigger hospital.  Heart Procedure.  ALL GOOD!  NO BLOCKAGE.  More tests.  More tests. Conclusion: Pain is muscular.

This test indicates this...but may be that...not black and white.

Medicine is an art as well as a science and I praise God for all the Doctors and caregivers and all our advancements in the field!  

So my husband is good. He's great.  He's fine!  He's back farming!  After this little hiccup.  Did I say little?!

And, through this I turned 52 whether I was ready or not.  

And, my husband sent me flowers. :)

I took pictures.

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A slightly different edit.

Hazy with the big picture out of sight.  Some days are like that.  

And, yet still very beautiful.  

That was Monday.

Paper Bag Valentines

While preparing for our 4h club meeting this month, I was heading down the path of my vast stash of bias tape, and looking for a project that kids could do in a short period of time.

I experimented quite a bit and came up with some things that some of you might enjoy, but I think too hard for what I needed for this meeting.  Then all of a sudden while perusing the interweb looking for inspiration, I found this and shifted gears.

This post on the blog called Andrea Currie Crafts caught my eye.  I have a lot of sacks.  I have even more sacks than I have bias tape.  Why?  Because supplies happen.

You could get as fussy and fancy as you want when you decorate these up.  I was just trying to get out some prototypes quick-like, so I kept my decorating of them to basic and simple.  

You could also add a little Valentine treat inside too.  

I used a bigger sack here and just omitted the handle to make a soda glass.

I was going to use a real straw in here, and then this idea happened instead. I thought it was kind of fun.

This one is my favorite with it's heart "steam"! The steam is easy to free-hand cut. Here it's from another paper bag, on the other ones I used scrap book paper.  Almost any scrap paper could work.

I shredded the left over scraps of my bags to use to add a little "whipped cream, coffee, and tea" to the cups. Tissue paper would work too and they would also be fine without either.

They aren't super strong so you aren't going to fill them with candy, but they do really sit well and are just perfect for a little Valentine gift for someone. 

You can find all of her directions for making the cups here at Andrea's site. 

~have a great day~