It's been quite a week.

In seven days' time, we achieved two milestones. First, hubs and I have now been married for TWENTY FIVE years. I told him that the return period was over, now he had to keep me. *L* Also, we have paid off our house. This won't lead to extra money as we have some debts to dig out from in the past few months, and yeah, it needs work, and yeah, it's not in the fab part of town, but WE OWN IT. Kewl.

Quote of the day

Do not be discouraged at your faults; bear with yourself in correcting them, as you would with your neighbor. Lay aside this ardor of mind, which exhausts your body, and leads you to commit errors. Accustom yourself gradually to carry prayer into all your daily occupations. Speak, move, work, in peace, as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be.

-- François Fénelon

Craigslist came through for me.

Here is my new old sewing machine. I'm partial to the old machines made in Japan. They are all metal, have no computers to go bad, but yet have lots of groovy stitches. The person I bought this from (for a song--$40!!!) thought it was too complicated and couldn't figure out how to run it. Hmmm...

Well, this machine is almost identical to my other one, including lots of pattern stitch cams. Also has lots of feet including a bunch of hemmer feet. Since my machines are late 70's and early 80's vintage Kenmores, they have a special "super high" shank and it is hard to get feet that truly work. Yes, you can get attachments from ebay, but they don't fit nearly as well. So I figure just the great army of feet included was worth the money just by itself. Of course, I wished it had a walking foot and a ruffler, but alas, that is too greedy of me.

As much sewing as I do, my online sewing friends were aghast that I didn't have more than one machine. Well, it never dawned on me. At this amazing price, it was well worth it. Did I mention that it was a mere four miles away? I just drove over and got it (hey, it's craigslist, so I was sure to have hubs along just in case).

After a few quick adjustments to the feed dogs and a quick rundown on the bobbin protocol (unlike my other machine but somewhat like the machine of my childhood years) I'm up and running. So far, it purrs like a kitten. I've gotten a fair amount of product done already.

So I'm a happy camper. It's probably not a coincidence that I found it, and I should give a quick shoutout to God and give myself a little credit for looking doggedly for an option that would be good.

It came with a bunch of sewing stuff, some of which I'm going to part with in an upcoming Mary Jane's Farm giveaway. So stay tuned, seamstressmeisters....

I feel naked without it.

My sewing machine is in the shop. It's an oldie so I am hopeful that they can even find parts for it. (It's older than our marriage--1982 vintage.)

It's my worry stone, my therapy, my "calm down" thing to do.

Guess I'll have to do something else. Well, walking does seem to help. I need all the (good for me) stress relief I can get.

But it doesn't help me make things to make money. Oh, well. There are other things to do, piling up, it would seem. Having a hard time keeping caught up, but I feel it will get better. It's going to have to.

Zoiks

Sis in hospital.
Kiddo heartbreak again.
Hubs tough times.

Praying as before.

"What the chewing locust left,
the gobbling locust ate;
What the gobbling locust left,
the munching locust ate;
What the munching locust left,
the chomping locust ate.

Between Sanctuary entrance and altar,
let the priests, God's servants, weep tears of repentance.
Let them intercede: "Have mercy, God, on your people!
Don't abandon your heritage to contempt.
Don't let the pagans take over and rule them
and sneer, 'And so where is this God of theirs?'

"I'll make up for the years of the locust,
the great locust devastation—
Locusts savage, locusts deadly,
fierce locusts, locusts of doom,
That great locust invasion
I sent your way.
You'll eat your fill of good food.
You'll be full of praises to your God,
The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder.
Never again will my people be despised.
You'll know without question
that I'm in the thick of life with Israel,
That I'm your God, yes, your God,
the one and only real God.
Never again will my people be despised."

--snippets from the book of Joel, "The Message"

May it be so. I'm still waiting. I totally suck at waiting, but in my defense it has been a LONG LONG LONG time.

Wow, the hits just keep on coming

Guess there HAS to be something good out of all this madness. It has ratcheted up again, and I'm holding on. Just the right time to get this gem from Charles Spurgeon in my email box courtesy of Heartlight (it's public domain so you can go download it yourself to your heart's content)...

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope."
-- Lamentations 3:21

"Memory is frequently the bond slave of despondency. Dispairing minds
call to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past, and dilate upon
every gloomy feature in the present; thus memory, clothed in sackcloth,
presents to the mind a cup of mingled gall and wormwood. There is,
however, no necessity for this. Wisdom can readily transform memory
into an angel of comfort. That same recollection which in its left hand
brings so many gloomy omens, may be trained to bear in its right a
wealth of hopeful signs. She need not wear a crown of iron, she may
encircle her brow with a fillet of gold, all spangled with stars. Thus
it was in Jeremiah's experience: in the previous verse memory had
brought him to deep humiliation of soul: "My soul hath them still in
remembrance, and is humbled in me;" and now this same memory restored
him to life and comfort. "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I
hope." Like a two-edged sword, his memory first killed his pride with
one edge, and then slew his despair with the other. As a general
principle, if we would exercise our memories more wisely, we might, in
our very darkest distress, strike a match which would instantaneously
kindle the lamp of comfort. There is no need for God to create a new
thing upon the earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they
would prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for
the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and the throne
of grace, their candle would soon shine as aforetime. Be it ours to
remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, and to rehearse his deeds of
grace. Let us open the volume of recollection which is so richly
illuminated with memorials of mercy, and we shall soon be happy. Thus
memory may be, as Coleridge calls it, "the bosom-spring of joy," and
when the Divine Comforter bends it to his service, it may be chief
among earthly comforters."

Market

We had a very good market this last weekend. Hats off to our new market manager who has got it goin' on, if you know what I mean. I think we all pretty much were busy. I'm very grateful.

I need to get a ton of product made not only for market, but for some other orders. Chop chop, nashbabe, keep workin'...gives me something to do instead of thinking about kiddo's situation. That's not all bad.

Whoa, spud

4100 hits in five months? From 45 states and 21 countries? Whoa. I had no idea. Thanks is the least I can say. Thanks for reading my musings. I'll try to keep up the cooking, crafty, creative part. Thanks a lot for checking up on my blog now and again. :-)

A flashback

Kiddo was around ten when I was telling them that they could do anything if they set their mind to it.

They said, "That's not true. I can't fly! I can't shoot fire out of my eyes!"

Interesting thing from my friend christy

I guess these are called memes. My friend Christy has this on her blog at present. So I gave it a whirl. If you're a blogger, perhaps you'll want to tag some folks with it, or write it yourself. Very stream-of-conciousness.

i am: complicated
i think: and then long to not think for a while
i know: there’s only one solution—God.
i want: to be obedient, and have health and peace.
i have: everything I need, even if it doesn’t seem that I do
i wish: I could truly help kiddo
i hate: indifference
i miss: my career
i fear: decline
i feel: sorrow
i hear: cats meowing
i smell: something in the oven
i crave: healing for myself and for others
i search: for meaning, and understanding
i wonder: how God is really in control at present
i regret: not saving more money earlier in life
i love: a few, very strongly
i ache: sin stinks
i care: about what God cares about, at least sometimes, certainly not always
i am always: trying too hard
i am not: indifferent
I believe: help my unbelief
i dance: at stop lights in the car while taking kiddo to school
i sing: a lot
i don't always: pay attention to what my body or my feelings are trying to tell me
i fight: for things I truly care about
i write: because I have to. I can’t not write.
i win: not as much lately
i lose: stuff
i never: want to be like those who hurt me
i confuse: my worth and my productivity
i listen: to a lot of stuff and try to winnow out useful things.
i can usually be found: trying to encourage and help
i am scared: of those who rage
i need: God's mercy and love. Friends. Help.
i am happy about: being able to put it in God’s capable hands, even though I’d like to deck him sometimes, maybe even now.

you?

Easy gifty baking on a budget

It's the end of the school year and that brings a need or desire to thank teachers and school personnel for all their help this year. But your funds are tight, you say? How about bringing them a few mini loaves of delectable homemade treats.

I don't particularly like to make cupcakes or even muffins. All that individual portioning crap, and frosting (at least the cupcakes). So a while back I bought some mini loaf pans. They were not only sturdy and teflon, they were on super closeout for some ridiculous price...79 cents each.

I take muffin recipes and nut/fruit/quick bread recipes and put them in mini loaf pans instead. When the loaves are finished and have been cooled on a rack, they fit just perfectly into ziplock sandwich size bags...so no big expense to package either.

They are always appreciated as a little gift, whether a thank you, encouragement, or as a little "I'm not going to tell you who left this on your doorstep" gift. I've been known to do the latter, so if you're a friend of mine I will neither confirm nor deny whether I was the one that did it to you. ;-)

Baking time is the thing to take into consideration, of course. With a muffin recipe, I find that about double the time stated on the recipe is about right for a mini loaf size. With nut/fruit/quick bread recipes, it will probably take almost as long as the original timing, but do check it after about half the stated time and see how it's going. I wouldn't bake it for as long as the large loaf, but you'll probably have to bake it 2/3 to 3/4 the time as the original quick bread recipe. Use a toothpick or skewer to ensure it comes out clean, so everything's baked through.

Be sure to spray all your pans with pam, and to remove the loaves after about five or ten min to cool on a rack for the nicest texture. Sometimes there are mini-loaf sized muffin paper cups available to fit in the mini loaves. Usually that would be from a place like one that sells Wilton-type cake supplies.

I find that most muffin or quick bread recipes make about three mini loaves, so I usually double the batch and make six. This time of year, that's a good little gift or snack anyone will enjoy.

If you want something other than muffin or quick bread recipes, a quick google search on the phrase "mini loaf" brings up all kinds of interesting recipes.

The other good thing for me personally about mini loaves is that I can give all but one away, and that one loaf will not destroy all I've been working for with eating right and working out lately. :-)

Have fun! They'll like it. I can (just about) guarantee it.

Quote of the day

People who make babies surrender their right to behave like them.
--Carolyn Hax