Change

He sent me a text picture of his treasured yard sale finds.

One was a sturdy oak chair with layers and layers

of enamel paint -

complete with runs, drips, and dirt.

We stuffed the original straw back into the black leather seat

and attached new boards on the bottom.

 I got out my trusty sander and went to work.

Then I painted it a lovely shade of 

TURQUOISE

and he said,

"I loved my little white and red chair 

just the way it was."

With shabby-chic visions dancing in my head,

I mixed my own BLACK chalk paint, which was a little thick,

 and covered the TURQUOISE with black.

He sent me a text picture, again,

of the little white and red chair that he loved so much,

even though we were both in the basement.

Then I gently shabbied the black with sand paper,

but the sanding went mostly right through the black,

past the turquoise

and back down to the white.

It was ugg-LEE.

And he says, from over in the corner,

"I just loved my little white and red chair."

So I grabbed my sander again,

smoothed out the wrinkles

and painted the chair 

TURQUOISE again.

And he said from the opposite corner.....

well, you know what he said.

So the next day when he came home,

this is what he found

in the corner of our bedroom

 by the lovely TURQUOISE re-purposed door.

The next text I get...this morning...

with the original picture attached, says:

"Sometimes we go through lot of changes,

but we are what we are."

Yes.  

I know, I may never be one of those DIY bloggers

with beautiful step by step pictures of Pinterest-worthy projects,

but I've got one happy man!

Kool-Aid or Not

I thought about volunteering to work in Vacation Bible School.  "I could pour Kool-Aid", I said to myself, to the air, to God. 

The thought was hardly out of my brain, when I was asked to work.  I went to a meeting.  Crafts?  Ok.  All of the crafts?  All?  As in Preschool through 7th grade?  Really?  Really?  I'm not a member of this church.  I'm not even Lutheran.  It's still ok?  Bring ideas?  Prepare for 100.   Okay.........Pinterest here I come!

The committee wanted big projects the children could take home and keep forever.  So.....big projects we did.

For one of our big crafts, we decorated artists palettes - but not the way an artist would!

We tore pieces of old thrift store sheet music and glued them to a blank canvas.  You can also use old books, magazines, or maps.

 Then (after it's dried) we attached vinyl adhesive letters/words. 

 The littlest kids put a prechosen word

and their sweet little hand prints on their canvas. 

Aren't they darling?

The older ones, painted over words they chose,

 then peeled them off when they were dry. 

They all did such good jobs.

The budding artists sealed their masterpieces with Mod Podge.

Their FAVORITE craft was the t-shirt project. 

It was something I had done with my grand kids

 (whom I miss more than they will ever know).

They put a red solo cup inside the shirt, secured it to the underside with a rubber band on the outside and decorated the drum with bright colored Sharpies.  Then they dropped droplets of rubbing alcohol (90%) onto the painted drum.  Watch the ink spread!  They allowed it to dry (about 30 seconds) before they were excited and ready to remove the rubber band and move on to another area of the shirt.

Did I mention that this was a favorite? 

 

and they all wore them for the parents program.

.

 Because it was their favorite project.

I heard comments like:

Can I work on my shirt some more?

Is this a doctor's office?

You smell like a nurse (rubbing alcohol)

and my favorite:

We're doing this for Gramma Camp!

We did another project - The Ten Commandments

but I didn't get a picture of it. 

It wasn't their favorite. 

It really was a great week,

even if I didn't get to pour Kool-aid!

Maybe next year!



Crazy Quilt

I started cutting out this quilt years and years ago

using a pattern someone gave me.

When I got to North Dakota with the cut out pieces and my sewing machine,

I had to get help at the local quilt shop,

because the instructions weren't all there.

The owner of the shop gave me some tips on sewing each block,

then some ideas on how to put the blocks together for an interesting quilt.

To make this quilt, I went through three sewing machines

(total through the years)

and a borrowed foot pedal

from a new friend in North Dakota.

I loved sewing for them

and I had a crazy theory that the mother

should never look better than the children.

I would put them to bed and sew

then later I would send them to school and sew.

I made baby dresses, prom dresses,

and matching doll dresses

I made clothes for play

and costumes for plays

I made a wedding dress

bridesmaid dresses

and flower girl dresses

I made one prom dress the day of the prom

now that's crazy.

The colors and fabrics were soft and sweet

and wild and crazy

Each one was stitched with love.

From the very beginning,

I saved a scrap of each outfit I made

to make a quilt someday.

Someday has finally come.

While I was sewing the quilt,

it occurred to me

that my quilting skills

were a little like my parenting skills.

 

I didn't have a clue what I was doing

I used someone else's pattern

I had to get outside help from experts.

I tried it different methods

I ripped it out and started over more than once

In the end,

I had to do what worked best for me and mine.

A lot of pieces make up the finished product

The quilt has a unique personality

This quilt is not at all forgiving about slipped stitches.

Close inspection shows each one.

But unlike my quilt,

This daughter has chosen to forgive her crazy raise'n

and doesn't show one sign of my mistakes.

This crazy quilt

was stitched with a lotta lotta crazy love.

"Look!

There's my Lady Forget Me Not dress

from my second grade play!"

Bucket List

On my bucket list

 (you know, the list of things I think I want to do

 before I kick the bucket)

is to learn to watercolor.

I have a years long collection of

books, paper, paint, and brushes,

hoping that by collecting those things

I could do it!

For a year I have painted and painted,

 now have lots of ugly painted paper

and have reworded my bucket list item

from learn to watercolor

to just be good at it. 

I have felt really hopeless.

Then, my very talented, patient, teacher, artist friend, Nathalie

(click on her name to check out her blog)

sent me a tutorial to try.

She knew it was something I would like

New Mexico - Hatch Chilies

Here's MY finished painting:

Ta DA!!!

Thanks, Nathalie.

I'm back at my Texas home for

a couple of weeks and

as soon as I made a molehill out of the mail mountain,

I had these chilies framed and on the wall of my

chili pepper kitchen.

My chili pepper collection started when

my good friends,

Pat and Charlie Reynolds,

answered God's call to Guatemala.

They sold and gave away everything that wouldn't fit

 into their vehicle and drove south.

The sweet grandson we share was only a month old

when they left - he's eleven now.

Their beautiful Chili Pepper Woman

came to live with me.

Walking into my kitchen reminds me of

New Mexico Autumns,

when roadside vendors are roasting chilies.

Once on a motorcycle trip to New Mexico,

we were overcome by the rich aroma of the chili roasters

and packed our tiny ice chest with chilies.

We could smell them all the way home.

Since I have already rambled all over the place,

here's Pat making chili rellenos in my daughters kitchen

Now where was I headed with this?

Oh, yes!

My bucket list...

....maybe I can learn

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

(Philippians 4:13)