beauty and beholders

Someone (Sara, Lydia?) introduced us to this blog "Better After".  They take pictures of old objects, or rooms, then photos of the object or room after it has received a makeover.  Many times I'm amazed at the creativity people display.  Other times I'm horrified at what they've done to antique pieces.  And sometimes I admire the work they've put into their makeover, but really dislike the finished project.

And that's the thing I like the most about having my own home.  It's mine.  I can decorate with blue and yellow, have wagon wheel lamps and bear end tables, and have a cartoonish farm theme in the guest bathroom and absolutely LOVE it.  My mother comes and cringes.  My mother-in-law raises an eyebrow and semi-smiles while she looks around. And I just feel content at home.

I've been in some homes where I love the look and feel, but doubt I could every pull the color scheme off here in my house.  I'd feel like an imposer.

I won't like every make over shown on Better After.  They would probably hate my home if they saw it.  But that's as it should be.  Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.  

new fall fashions

Brought to you via one of my bestest friends Joni, the Qingdao, China Wal-mart is now introducing its fall fashions.  At least that's one theory.  In all reality, it's very possible that the maintenance/shelving department dropped the mannequin off in housewares instead of clothing and so the housewares employees do what any good Chinese citizen would do - instead of correcting the issue, they make the best of the situation.

Or maybe she's the kitchen goddess, or the new Wal-mart Super hero.  Regardless of the rationale behind it, you gotta love the Chinese flair for art, no matter what medium they use.

And if I weren't so scared of the pictures I'd see, I'd double dog dare everyone to see what kind of household hero you could create it.

seasons

This past weekend was a time of reflecting on past seasons in our life. 

Friday night was the WCA Homecoming Football Game, and prior to the game many graduates "tailgated" in the elementary school lunchroom for a brief time of reminiscing. Personally, I would have skipped some of the game to listen to more of the banter and for us spouses to hear more stories of days gone by.  I had to refrain from cheering as I was starting to feel sorry for the other team they were losing so bad that a few times I almost cheered for them!

Saturday night we met at the church where I met Bobby.  Various singing groups from the church's history had returned and after a hot dog supper and much fellowshippin', we listened to about an hour of music.  It was great.

Sunday morning we heard two sermons, one from a previous pastor (never sat under his ministry but I knew his daughter who is almost my age), and a pastor's brother (a former missionary who I had heard before).  After lunch they recognized all the staff, current and former, and had a brief slideshow of historical pictures.  I got to hear my older sister's family sing a few times (my brother-in-law was the associate at the time I met Bobby...an important connection!) and briefly chat with them as well.

I'm continuously amazed as I look back at the various seasons of my life. I can't say I've enjoyed every single one, but I can honestly say that each one has had a purpose.  I've also been extremely grateful for the spouse God gave me, and for his steadfastness during the many seasons we've walked through during the last 12 years of our lives.  I finished this weekend with a few wounds healed, a renewed thankfulness for the mercy and grace of our God, and a sense of calmness that I haven't had in a long time.

And now I get to do my weekend work of cleaning the house. :)  There is nothing new under the sun, indeed!

a conspiracy theory

Every year the American Library Association celebrates banned book week. I had never heard of a book being banned until I was in college, and was quite surprised to hear that some of the books people attempted to ban were books I had already read (Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc).

I only remember my mother "banning" a book twice.  Once, my younger siblings checked out a picture book from our local library that were full of illustrations containing unclothed children.  Almost every page had at least one child without any pants on.  I don't think there were any frontal drawings, but my three and  four year old siblings were having monstrous giggle fits over the book.  My Mom was outraged, and we returned the book the next day while she had expressed her views of how it was inappropriate to the librarian, and the librarian huffily explained that not everyone saw things Mom's way and they couldn't remove it from the shelves.  Thereafter we had to present all books to Mom for a scan before it could be checked out.

The second ban came about in middle school.  Sweet Valley High was all the rage, and when Mom realized I was reading one every other day (my classmate had the ENTIRE series and I was in an ACE school where I had way too much free time on my hands), she read two of them.  We had a little talk about why they were inappropriate (the main characters displayed ungodly characteristics: bad-mouthing parents, slandering friends, jealousy, revenge, etc), and then I was told I needed to replace them with something else.  So I read them at school for a little while, out of parental prying eyes, all the while hearing Mom's voice in my head saying "The Bible says..." every time a character did something that was not edifying or representative of the fruit of the Spirit.

In high school during AP class, we would tell our English teacher if there was an assigned novel we were uncomfortable reading (Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath...made it through 2 pages), and he willingly allowed us to read a different book from the list.  So here's my conspiracy theory: all these "banned" books were banned by the publishers to boost book sales.

I mean, if I don't like a book, I'm not going to read it.  If a student doesn't like a book, they're going to go out and buy the cliff notes and not read the book.  In most cases, if a parent or a child truly has an issue with a book, most teachers would more than graciously allow the student to read 2 or 3 more permissible books in it's place.  Many parents would simply read the book with the child and teach them through the process how to Biblically analyze, dissect, and debate what is wrong with its content.  Everyone knows the way to make a teenager want to do something (or anyone for that matter) is to make it forbidden.

I never dreamed I would be one to submit to a conspiracy theory, but there you have it. It's all a scam.

It's what's inside that counts!

Wednesday nights are a little chaotic at our house.  By the time hubby gets home we're at a slow rush (you know, not the full-fledged "I'm late but I can't find my car keys or shoes" kind of rush, but the "we gotta keep moving" rush). This past Wednesday night I boiled a few extra eggs while preparing the potato salad for supper.  When we got home from church, there were three eggs on the kitchen counter.  Keep in mind, we had gathered eggs while feeding the animals before leaving for church, and the egg total for Wednesday was: three eggs.  So silly me thinks "Oh NO! I forgot to put the eggs in the 'fridge!" and opens all the cartons in the fridge looking for empty slots.

Fast forward to Thursday morning and the normal "get me out the door on time" morning routine, and my boiled eggs for breakfast are nowhere to be found.  I think you all know where I'm going with this. To make matters worse, I know one egg on the counter was a big dark brown, one a green, and one a light brown, so there's no eliminating any from the cartons.

After googling "how to distinguish boiled eggs from raw eggs", I now get to spin my eggs (all 40 of them) or dip them in boiling water just so I can find three boiled eggs.  Or I could just boil 18 of them and make deviled eggs.  Does anybody know what happens when you double boil an egg?  Will its insides burn or overcook?  How would react if you started to crack an egg to scramble and found out it was boiled?  Would you ever take eggs from me again?

And to think I so foolishly thought my life was starting to get organized!

the new pet

This spring something new happened at the Bryan household: we hatched our first biddie. We're still waiting for it to develop enough to know whether we have a cockrel (teenage rooster) or pullet (teenage hen).  The other birds will terrorize it if it gets too close, but this past week it decided it had a place of refuge.

 

the amish stitch

Okay, it's really not an Amish stitch, or even a Mennonite stitch for that matter.  It's a simple quilting stitch.  A quilting stitch should be small, even, and consistent. Like this:

the stitching of Denise Younge and Charlotte Shaw

and then there is not quite so experienced stitching like this:

the stitching of Monica Bryan

We all joked about the "toenail stitch".  If your stitch is too long, they claim a person's toenail could get caught on it.  But really, has anyone ever had their toenail caught in a stitch in their bedspread or quilt? So while I'm not making toenail stitches, I fear my quilting stitches resemble me - fat and inconsistent.