A Poser....

of the question kind not of the pretending to be something you aren't type.  


I have been blessed with long-living grandparents.  I still have three out of four on the planet and have spent so much time with all of them it seems strange that I have not made this observation before.


One of my grandmothers is prejudice and judgemental and seldom has a good word for anyone.  One is accepting and kind and has trouble asking for help even when she really needs it.  Now the question is...which one do you think is in church every Sunday that she is able?  Its door number two.  Why is that?  Is it a lack in the church's teaching?  Is it "calling Me Lord, and knowing me not"?  


In all honesty, the two people in my life who are most loving and unselfish are NOT church goers.  Grandma P and Mom don't profess any sort of belief and yet they are examples of what Jesus calls us to be.  I need help understanding.

Is it Possible....

....to link?  Here is a sweet little column for Mother's Day.


http://www.registerguard.com/web/livinglifestyles/26203998-41/cleo-jenny-didn-baby-cat.html.csp


However I think I may have missed Dorcas's point.  My favorite part of the whole article is her by-line. 


"Dorcas Smucker is a homemaker and mother of six. She can be reached at dorcassmucker@gmail.com."  


She is one of my favorite authors and still she describes herself as a homemaker.  She does all kinds of interesting things and writes truth to salve the soul but her claim to fame is making a home for her family. I love that.


   

Chick-u-bator Update

Though most of you who "follow" this blog already know this because I've been crowing all week....THE CHICKS HATCHED! Even now, looking at their little sweet fuzzy heads and funny little toes, I can't believe that the beer cooler incubator actually, factually HATCHED CHICKS!  If you have the inclination and $8 and a friend with eggs (which you all do) and 21 days that you will be home to turn eggs(or a friend who does, which you do) you can be a chickie mama!

Official statistics...eight live babies out of 13 eggs (thank you, thank you Miss Katie) and yes Mr. Smartypants, I am counting the one that wasn't fertile. :P
View the new additions here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150165695871818.297083.616126817
for now, and later I will put them on the blog for real.

Thoughts and Wonderings

~Are the things you think about and worry about in the night the real things or is it the daytime knowings?  I had some epiphanies last night that seem less true this morning, but they seemed honest last night. Hmmm.

~We saw the peeps last night!  Almost all of the eggs had wigglers in them and only one was obviously a bad egg.  Yay.

~Its supposed to rain again tomorrow for the market. I am very weary of the rain, but I am very NOT weary of whole days with my mom who is one of the most fabulous people on the planet. (Run-on sentence, anyone?)

~I am exceedingly excited to spend time touring the countryside with my farm chickie friends on May Day.  Does anyone know of any great barns or bridges?  These girls are wonderful photographers and so.....I will be the driver.  I am  an excellent driver, excellent.


~While at Miss Katie's farm the other day, I realized that she is the only friend I've ever had that was also a Laura fanatic growing up.  Why did it take so long to find her?

~Did I mention I am tired of the rain?

Chickie Mama

I am beginning to believe I am not cut out to be a mother. (Some who have witnessed the interaction between myself and my children might agree.)

This venture into a new phase of motherhood is driving me batty! (Though it seems logical I am speaking of becoming a Mother-In-Law, I am not.)

I am having trouble sleeping and have been crawling out of bed at odd hours to check temperatures. (No, no one is ill at our house, but that would be another logical assumption.)

Its this dad-burn INCUBATOR! Dear Mom gave me 40 one dollar bills for my birthday and I used them on shoes and gum and the makings of a styrofoam incubator to try hatching my own fuzzies. I had fully intended to buy the Silkie babies from a reputable hatchery in our area but when the e-mail containing the PRICE of said three ounce bundles of joy arrived, I balked and thought this would be worth a shot. It may not have been. Being one who leans toward worry anyway, this may have been a bad choice. Being one who is a bit obsessed with all manners of the birth process it seems that this would be right up my alley but it may be my undoing. We shall see in about 18 days.

Ponderings and Musings

I believe that the occasion of turning 40 (not "the big 4-0", plain 'ol 40) usually warrants some sort of interspection or contemplation or at the very least acknowledgement. Here are my exceedingly dull thoughts on the matter.

First of all, as there is no stopping or changing or even slowing the coming of said milestone, is it truly a milestone? I am fairly certain at on Thursday, I will wake up feeling almost exactly the same as when I go to bed on Wednesday night, and I wonder, if it truly meant anything wouldn't it change something? It doesn't change the fact that I am already past middle age, if middle age is defined as the MIDDLE of your life, which would be at 39 with our current life expectancy in America at 78. It doesn't change the fact that our eldest is planning to marry this summer (and no, I didn't give birth to her as a teen, but thats another post that would probably be considered by some a rant) or that we have no children of our own in our elementary age Bible study group. Must you have control over something for it to be a milestone?

Here's another thought. A few months ago I contemplated "doing something" before I turned 40; like losing 20 pounds or getting into better shape or taking a basket weaving class. But I didn't. I just kept doing all the things that a 39-year-old wife, homeschool mom, Bible story teacher, wanna be homesteader does. And honestly, I am not sure where any of those life changing things would have fit in! (Yes, I started TWO sentences in this paragraph with conjunctions and used an exclamation mark, but I didn't say "so" or "um" to start them, and that is a step up from my usual verbal communication. Maybe that class should be a repeat of WR121, 122, or 123 instead of basket weaving?)

Just one more thing. The setting of goals. Isn't that something that is traditionally done about now? In all honesty, the longer I'm hanging around down here on the third rock from the sun, the more it seems to me that making it through with heart and soul intact is the only thing we can hope to accomplish. The body is temporary, which is rapidly becoming obvious, so staying true to our commitment to march forward in our Walk with God and true to our vows "til death do us part" are the only objectives that hold water. There are many underlying notions wrapped up in those two "greatest commandments" but every worthwhile pursuit can be boiled down into those.

Seems to me.

Ask me in 38 years.

Misc is Such an Over-Used Word

Outdoor living room remodel....new metal firepit.
Someday soon the rains will move on to Spain,
and we, on the plain, will be able to PLAY!
(I'm definitely not a poet.)

Once upon a time, my paternal grandmother
(not the one we are caring for)
used this lovely crockery bowl for mixing bread
and feeding us potato salad. Then one sad day, my
Aunt and I while snooping through Grandma's
donation box and FOUND OUR HERITAGE stuffed in the bottom!
With many cries of disbelief, we rescued said bowl and after promising
the Matriarch not to use it for food service, I gained possession.
I do believe it's second incarnation is almost as
good as the first.

I finished a project! I finished a project! Dear CRD bought me this printed apron panel for Christmas and I finally finished it! Three months isn't completely ridiculous for a two hour project, is it? :(