Random Musings

Well, it doesn't look as nice as I had hoped, but it's now wearable/presentable. My niece's birthday isn't until April, but I'm debating whether to give her the present while we're in Alabama to assist my Mom or give things to my sister to put up until their actual birthdays. Before: the dress with someone else's initials (which is why I got it for $6) After: the entire dress with its new pocket Anda  close up of the pocket. I like the stitched flowers (courtesy of my new machine) by I fear my hand sewing it on was not my best work. I was scared I'd mess up both the pocket and the dress if I tried to machine sew it. Hope she likes it!

My Granny Rea hated medicine. As in, it better work on the third dose or it wasn't worth a thing. And it would get flushed. Two weeks of antibiotics? Nuh-huh, no way. And my mother is her daughter. She doesn't flush her meds, thankfully. She just "adjusts" them, as in the dosage or whether or not to take them at all. But she doesn't dispose of them, so it's not as bad. My aunt, her other daughter, is similar. My cousin and I laugh when we share stories about our Moms and say "See what we have to look forward to" because we know it could very well one day be us. Or not. I like to think I take after my dad, who worked in a pharmacy before becoming a preacher, in this regard. Medicines, like herbs and spices, have multiple purposes. For example, we use cinnamon in pies, cookies, and some drinks. To the Chinese, it is for medicinal purposes only. When my Chinese students tasted a good ol' homemade apple pie, they would wrinkle their noses and...

In the grand scheme of healthy eating, I bought a few sweet potatoes. In the reality of life, one of them didn't get eaten in time. As in, it sprouted. So I left it alone. And then while cleaning up the kitchen one day, I decided to set it down in a jar of water to see if it would take root. Supposedly it's supposed to. So after a few weeks of this, nothing.  I was about to toss it and clear off some of my kitchen space when I saw it.  From a distance, just the same old ugly sprout with no new growth in several weeks. But up close, two budding leaves! :) Now, I have no idea what I'm going to do with this thing. My tiny garden plot is not big enough for a potato plant, and anything I plant in the big containers will become a digging toy for Buster. Suggestions anyone?

I never watch the calendar to find out when spring is coming. I watch the plants. :) To me, spring has been sending messages that it was on its way ever since the daffodils began their long stretch and the camellia sent out its buds. Granted, they always come to visit in the winter, but it's like a daring and defying cry against the coldness of winter that spring is coming. But when the bradford pear bursts forth in bloom, I know that winter's days are almost over. Flowers of all sort will begin to wake-up, pollen will erupt like a volcano and time for planting the garden is upon is. And that is amazing and wonderful. :)

Last month (yes, I'm finally downloading pics off my camera) we ate at IHOP, but due to the crowd had to park in the back. (You know, their two handicap spots are almost always taken!)  As we got out of the van, this is what we saw:  I was expecting this to be typical graffitti with a girl's phone number or curse words, but no. Can you read it? Acts 2:38, in both Spanish and English, along with the words: Church Phone: 919.834.8892.  I was more than a bit shocked. Granted, it's empty space, not being used, but it seems a bit strange to advertise your church via graffitti. I'm now over the shock of seeing it, but I still can't seem to wrap my head around the idea, nor would it make me want to ever visit that church. What type of person/church vandalizes someone else's property in the name of the Gospel? I'm still shaking my head in befuddlement on this one.  

One area where my husband is adventurous is in his willingness to try new restaurants. This always cracks me up somewhat because he is very traditional and averse to change in so many areas. But anytime we travel, he wants to know what unique (non-chain) restaurants are in the area. So when we traveled to my sister's church to hear my niece sing a few weekends ago, sure enough, the list of places he gave me to make our supper choice had little check marks beside the non-chain ones. :) Here's the one we wound up at: I think this is the first time I've ever seen the tail end of a pig on a store sign before. I'm not an eastern NC barbeque girl, so of course I ordered the fried chicken. And I was surprised. Unlike most fried chicken in barbeque places around here, it was not salty, nor was the meat dry, and it actually tasted home-made. Normally, at least to me, fried chicken in non-chain restaurants taste like it came from the deep-fryer, but this actually tasted lik...

Several years ago my sister bought a dress for my niece at a consignment sale. She said it was great quality, but was a brand she wasn't familiar with. So she did what anyone of today's age does: she googled it. Chez Ami is a brand by Patsy Aiken, who sales online/by catalogue, and has a warehouse/outlet in Raleigh. The outlet is open twice a year only. I've only been there twice. The first time I was very surprised to discover that it literally is in a warehouse-style building. But what totally cracked me up was the pink door. Every other door in the building (they're just one of many businessess there) have the traditional steel gray door or dark green, but the pink...yes, it totally fits the company.  The other thing I think is totally cool is that this is the place where they actually make the outfits. One Mom years ago got very tired of all the poor quality children's clothes on the market, so she started sewing. It's much bigger than a one person compa...

Today I had planned to blog about two very different shopping experiences from this past weekend. I even had a picture! But then I read e-mails and blogs first. And now posting about something so trivial as a shopping trip seems frivilous. My brother-in-law is a pastor. Yesterday morning he stepped off the hospital elevator to visit members who had just bore a child, to be greeted by a nurse with "Preacher, how did you know to come now? An angel must have sent you!"  They had just told a young couple that their unborn child was no longer living. Through an interpreter, he was able to pray and share with them, and even met with them again last night. It brought back horrible memories from five years ago as a young missionary couple that I worked with (and shared an office with the wife) lost their firstborn with less than four weeks to go before delivery. The heartbreak was horrid; there were no words of comfort that could truly help. And one of the caregiver support group...

One of my favorite quilt shops has a saying "Just make time to quilt 30 minutes a day."  And I've found I tend to get more projects done when I give them a small amount of time every day as opposed to tackling the entire project several days in a row. I've thought about that a lot this week as our schedule has been out of whack/non-existent since Bobby retired. This is to be our week to get back on schedule. We're not there yet, but we're getting closer. My goal this week is to get caught up on laundry and some housework, and hopefully be back to putting some small amounts of time into projects by the weekend. So what are some of those "Projects"? : the montly block for Bernina Saturday Sampler finish quilting a quilt I started 2 years ago repair two pairs of pants, two ties, and a pillow for Bobby finish cleaning my sewing room finish a quilt for a senior at church prune the grapevines strip wallpaper in a bathroom finish finding a home f...

We lost our beautiful teenage rooster this weekend. I'm guessing a fox, though it could just have easily been a raccoon, possum, hawk or coyote. Despite the fact that he was the most beautiful rooster we've ever had, it will make it much easier on all the animals when we introduce our spring flock into the mix (because he won't be trying to establish dominance in the hen house). And speaking of spring, we hauled our dilapidated push mower into the store this morning for servicing and repair work. It's hard to believe that in just a few weeks it will be time to cut grass and plant the garden. A small part of me wants to forget the garden completely, but the other part of me knows it's a wise thing to at least plant some of the foods we like. Who knows what I'll wind up with this year, or what will actually survive! Tomorrow is one of those absolutely crazy days that make me question my sanity. It's election day in Garner. Although I'm usually a coordi...

We traveled to Washington, NC last night to hear my alma mater's (it used to FWBBC) choir perform. Yes, I will drive two hours to hear my niece sing in a group. :)  The music was great, but it was a tad unusual. And here's why: You know you're old when: college students look like kids instead of the adults you know they are you remember when one of them at the age of 3 declared she would go to college at FWBBC and study ballet (which brought snorts of laughter and shocked looks from the alumni at the table) you remember a tiny 3 year old boy shyly bringing in plates of cookies to the lounge when you were a student, and realize with shock he's a junior in the choir his younger brother, whom the entire campus prayed diligently for during that trying pregnancy, is now also in that choir the piano player at your college church is now playing for the school choir, and her tiny children who entertained the church nursery are now using their musical talents with the sc...

Well, if there were any doubt that spring is approaching (as if the budding trees, seasonal allergies, or crocus buds poking their heads out of the ground were not enough), I have another item to add to your list: hawks. Every spring baby chicks make their appearance, and every spring we begin to see hawks or encounter hawk attacks. Last spring we lost three "teenagers" out of 4 to a hawk. The "teens" we hatched this winter were past (or so I assumed) the size the hawks preferred, so we were a bit startled to see the hen dead on the ground yesterday evening. She was probably one of the prettiest hens we've got, and I was a bit baffled. There were no signs of eating. Hawks usually pick up and carry (their version of take out), or kill and eat on the ground (which unfortunately has been our most common experience). This bird was simply dead. I didn't have the heart/time/energy to deal with her last night, and by the time we got home this afternoon there were...