Just a short one...

Just a normal little overcast Monday in northern Minnesota. I decided to act "fall-ish" and brew up a pot of tea this morning. It's the first time I've actually  used this little pot!

The pattern on this teapot reminds me of a sweater. This is the only pot I own since downsizing.

My fancy tea cozy. ;)

Yup, I'm into Pioneer Woman dishes. I don't have a lot, but just enough to have a couple of lady friends over, lol.

I've been reading a lot of "fluff" lately, it seems. I kind of feel like a kid who's eaten too much cake. I thought I'd pull out a few more serious spiritual tomes for a change of pace.

This is the painting a gal sent me this month for the 5x7 canvas swap. Sparkly!

Micah and Adam FINALLY found someone to "tape and mud" their drywall. They will also prime the walls and paint the ceilings. So, when they're done Adam will just have to paint the walls. Things aren't going as quickly as they'd hoped just because the original "mudders and tapers" kept postponing, but now things should begin to move! Still a lot to do, but Micah wants to be in there before the baby comes. Push, push, push! Before you know it, I'll be in the trailer and posting pictures of my decorating attempts, lol.

Well, I've been lollygagging at the library long enough. It takes a ridiculous amount of time to check everything online when you only come on here once every day or two. I still have to make a run to Walmart for a few groceries, and then get home in time to help with school pickup.

I'll try to visit everyone soon! Thanks for dropping by!
Shalom.

Some artwork...

Apparently, my camera decided to just reset itself to take huge pictures, which means I can't post them on my ATC site without going to a photo editor and resizing them. Instead, I'm just going to post them here and put a link at the ATC site. SO, that's all that's going on here at the moment!:)

These are for the Whimsical Faces swap...

 And these are for an APC (Artist Playing Cards) swap. These are made using a playing card as the background. The number and suite are left exposed, but you can collage or paint over as much of the rest as you want to.

Here are a bunch of playing cards I picked up cheap at the thrift store because I loved the vintage art on them. I planned to make cards like those above with them, or just give them as extra gifts to other ATC players, but I found out that they are BRIDGE cards; not POKER cards, so they can't be used. They are 1/4 inch too narrow! I'm thinking that rule needs to be changed since we make ATCs in all sorts of shapes and sizes these days. But I can still give them away as collage materials. I did "accidentally" pick up one pack of Poker cards, which I used for the above APCs.

 This is the cool old case those cards came in, along with some Canasta score sheets. (More good collage materials!) A lot of these cards are in really bad shape, so I don't feel so bad about breaking up the sets.

 I'm sure I'll hang onto some of these for actually playing cards with the grands.(Probably not the sexy swimsuit girls, ha ha.)

On the house constructing scene, here's a pic of the yard which Adam and his dad have dug up to lay pipes for sewer, water and heat (which comes from an outdoor woodstove, which you can see next to the barn). It takes a lot of huge digging in our sandy soil so trenches don't collapse before you can get the pipe laid. Most of this has already been back-filled. This was a while ago. Glenn, I'll try to get some updated photos. ;)

Jordan and Brooke have also been doing "housework" on their 1950's ranch house in Fort Worth. Here are some pics they posted after refinishing floors. There was a video touring the whole house, because they've actually finished all of the floors, but I didn't know how to put that here. The picture here is one of the bedrooms, I think, where the floors and painting are finished. The others show how damaged the floors were.

 Actually, I'm not sure if the walls have been painted here or not. I can't see them that well. But the floor is done! :) They're having fun.

Well, I'm going to call that good. Typing from the library. Micah had new tires put on her van this morning, so I met her in town and we took the babies to breakfast while we waited. Now I'm doing a few errands on my own. Hope everyone's enjoying their autumnal weather. It's pretty nice here today!

God bless us, every one!
Shalom.

Not much new news...

But I thought I'd check in anyhoo.

Well, I've kind of sidelined the Ben Franklin book for now. Instead, I've taken up The Naturalist, a book about Theodore Roosevelt's adventures as a naturalist from childhood.

I may get back to Ben later. That book is quite a long, slow read and I have so many in line. But when I left off reading he had gotten himself in a fix, at age 18, and I may need to see how he got out of it, lol.

Here is my latest 5x7 canvas for a swap.

 And here are three ATCs for a Galaxy swap.

 I'm at Micah's and the family has gone to Grandpa's for a birthday party. SO, I may borrow their Netflix to watch some Call the Midwife. Tricky!

God bless all! I'll try to drop by and see everyone!
Shalom.

Good results...

Hallellujah! Got back a "normal" report on my mammography, for those of you who have been sitting on the edge of your proverbial seats waiting to hear, lol. Thanks for your prayers!

I'm sitting in the library, in my usual hurry to get some errands done, so this will be short. I just finished Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and highly recommend it! I learned a lot about the history of the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, along with the history of the people. Greg did some amazingly difficult things to bring education to a lot of the impoverished children of these countries, and his charity (Central Asia Institute) continues to do this good work. He's retired, but still involved.

I've now embarked on The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. It's a lot to read, and I'll have to decide how interested I am. It's had some interesting sections, and a few not so interesting. I found some quotes from it in The Last Child in the Woods, which whetted my appetite. Hopefully, I'll enjoy learning about Ben. :)

I'm off to choose some movies to check out. I hear that I'll be surrounded by ATVers this weekend and I may need some noise to drown them out. But,  honestly, with the temps as they are I suspect they won't be spending a lot of time outside where I'll be able to hear them. I'm thinking some National Treasure or Indiana Jones? Ha ha. Just a hankering at the moment. Maybe some popcorn and hot chocolate.

Y'all have a hygge weekend!
Blessings and shalom to everyone! :)

Encouragement from unexpected sources...

Mammogram day! I saw my doctor recently to seek advice and an exam because of what I perceived as some "changes". It's only been 2 years since my last mammo, and I've heard a lot of negative press about them, but I decided to get one because I couldn't think of a better option. Things went smoothly and I'll hear the results next week, probably. Of course, I managed to do a bit of worrying, but the Lord kept reminding me that He's taking care of me. (Whether I live or die I'm His!)

When I checked in on Facebook just now a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter-in-law had posted scriptures about not being anxious and trusting in God, knowing nothing about my appointment. Earlier, as I sat in the waiting room waiting for my turn I figured I had 30 minutes to read, so I opened up my copy of Three Cups of Tea, which I just started yesterday, and the first thing that met my eye was a quote at the beginning of the chapter.

Why ponder thus the future to foresee,

and jade thy brain to vain perplexity?

Cast off thy care, leave Allah's plans to him--

He formed them all without consulting thee.

-Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat-

Of course, Omar's Allah borrowed that idea from the God of Israel. But it served to remind me of Jesus's many reminders to cast our cares on Him. As it turned out, the patient before me had cancelled, so I was called in immediately and that was all I got to read...but it was enough!

I'm counting my blessings and expecting a good report. And now I'm off to read some blogs!

Shalom!

 

Greetings from Micah's place!

Hi y'all!

I'm back at Micah's. She and the littlest two are at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), so I'm checking all the places I check online. I'm hoping to watch an episode of Call the Midwife when I'm finished online. The kids have Netflix, so I try to watch something occasionally when I'm here alone. I asked Micah if she'd watched this particular show since she's interested in being a midwife. She said she tried it because some of her friends like it, but she didn't get into it. I think people probably like it partly because of the English context, and my Anglophilia didn't rub off on  her. Ha ha. Having said that, I haven't actually watched an episode yet, so I won't go on as if I know if I like it or not! Do any of you watch it?

Fall is definitely here. We're losing some leaves and mornings are in the upper 30's or low 40's. Getting out the flannel shirts and sweaters! Everything is still pretty green. I'm loving it!

I'm checking through my saved pictures to see what's new since I last posted pictures. So, this will be a hodgepodge!

Here are some ATCoins. It was an open theme swap, so I just made stuff up. My collage skills aren't very well developed, but I keep trying. Some of the ladies on my ATC site are so good at layering things to make them look cool. 

The last bouquet of summer.

 I'm reading a book called The Last Child in the Woods, which is about how our modern children suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder. The author noted that this isn't an actual medical diagnosis... Anyway, these two quotes from the book almost made me stop reading. Come on, people! We didn't already KNOW THIS?!?

 A TEN YEAR STUDY was necessary for these folks to realize what most of us know instinctively. Anyhoo. I'll probably finish the book. There have been some interesting parts.

 Some scary art from the grands...

By Audrey. Sharp teeth are a trend right now, I guess...

 I picked this up at the last library book sale. I use the pages for collage. Inside I found...

 these three slips of paper from 1961! Some comedian filled out a magazine order form....

 Then there were these two hall passes. These will probably make their way into some collages.

 Since my veggie fermentation experiments didn't go so well, I've found a new use for these glass weights. They are great for flattening out my ATCoins!

 Speaking of ATCoins...here are some more. This swap was called A Little Odd, so we just had to come up with something odd. I'm a very literal thinker, so thinking outside the box isn't natural for me. But I gave it the old college try.

Well, Micah just called and it looks like I'm going to be babysitting tonight. She and Adam need to take a truck and trailer to Bemidji to pick up things for working on the house. The kids and I will have a movie night. 

I'd better get on with watching my episode of Call the Midwife. Micah and kids will be home in a couple of hours. :)

Good to "see" everyone! God bless and much shalom to you!