Wordless Wednesday - Colors of Summer

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Wordless Wednesday - Soft Clematis

Check out the WW hub and Gabriel's blog for more wordlessness.

Summer Living

What a difference a little R&R can make in a person's life. My life, to be specific. Earlier last week, I hung out at the park with the boys, their cousin, and her friend. Actually, they hung out together while I was on a blanket at the edge of the park with water, my camera, and a book. And it was gloriously relaxing. I had to scoot everything occasionally to keep some things in the shade, but an hour and a half of taking photos and reading a book was simply delightful.

Dueling frisbee game


Friday I was able to have a nice chunk of time all to myself and spent an hour in God's word at Starbucks. What a joyful blessing as He led me to study in a way I'd not done before. Then I went out to the park to pick up a whole pack of boys (or at least as many as would fit in my van). I arrived a little early, so I drove to another area of the park and walked around a couple of ponds, breathing in the beauty of the afternoon, and taking the opportunity to shoot some chipmunks, among other things. With the camera, of course.





I have felt more relaxed and peaceful this past week than I have in a long time. I believe it's because I've been able to slow down just a bit and have these pockets of downtime. I need to find a way to schedule these in throughout my life. Whether it's sitting on a blanket reading, wandering around a pond in the woods, or just enjoying God, it's so important and valuable to my well-being.

I Heart Faces Photo Walk

I'm excited and honored - one of my entries for the I Heart Faces Photo Walk was chosen as the winner for my city!! If you click the link, you can also see the winners for the other cities. There are some terrific photos.



I selected this image because I just kept coming back to it as I looked over the selections from our group. I feel like it really captured the feeling of the old building and the history housed within. - Kristi, Colorado Springs Photo Walk Leader



Here are my other two entries:




In the background, you can see Pikes Peak. Also, if you go back and look at the shot of the entire Pioneer Museum, you can see these finials (I think that's what they'd be called) WAY up at the top of the bell tower.

Wordless Wednesday - Lavender Clematis

For more wordlessness, check out the WW hub and Gabriel's blog.

What You Might See...

...if you turn your computer off in the middle of Windows installing a whole slew of updates.

Actually, this is what you get when you try to turn it back on.

That would be after you turn it on and just look at a black screen.

For a very, very long time.

And think you might cry.

So you turn it off and back on again.



Fortunately, this Startup Repair coupled with several minutes resulted in a fully functional laptop.

And there was much rejoicing.

Washing Baseball Caps

My dear husband has collected baseball caps for years. Many years. So he has many caps. This tradition is making its way to my boys now. Although they don't so much collect them as just wear one all the time. And then maybe wear another one all the time. But not at the same time. The Comedian is almost never without one.


(BTW - this may not look like much, but they're stacked at least 3-4 deep. This is also only a small portion of said collection.)

As you might imagine, these baseball caps get dirty. Either from a) sitting in a portion of the collection atop our dresser, or b) being worn every single day.

I've seen crazy little gizmos that you can use to wash them, but don't really want to spend money on such a thing. So I chose the next best option. I googled washing baseball caps. While there were many answers, I most enjoyed this particular entry. Great sense of humor, for sure.

It turns out that since sometime in the 80s, they started making the brims out of plastic, not cardboard. Therefore you are free to just toss the hats in the washing machine with the rest of your laundry. Who knew? Obviously, not me. So I promptly washed about 6-7 hats with a small to medium load of clothes, put them on our drying rack afterward, and they look nearly new! I did use some stain remover on a couple, letting it soak for awhile before tossing them in the wash.

On the one hand, I felt silly that I'd never been washing baseball caps when I could and should have been. On the other, I was just happy to have discovered that I can do this. My men do not have to wear grungy, yucky hats any more! And that is a very good thing.

Wordless Wednesday - Gazania

For more wordlessness, check out Gabriel's blog and the WW hub.

I Heart Sewing

I remember my mom teaching me how to hand sew sometime around age 5 or 6. When I was in 6th grade, she helped me make my first outfit on the sewing machine. Ever since, I have been sewing. More or less. I purchased my own sewing machine, a Viking, around the time I was 18-19. I took out a loan for a blue 74 Honda Civic and the sewing machine. I've actually since parted ways with the Viking because I inherited my grandmother's Singer. I even have the conditional sales contract my grandpa had to sign to buy it on TIME back in 1960. This machine predates even me. Because my grandma didn't do much more than mending with it, it was definitely a low-mileage machine. They even purchased the cabinet at the same time.

I made a lot of my own clothes for years. I also made a lot of my sister's clothes, as evidenced by the time I was at her apartment, took a look in her closet, and discovered that I'd made more than half her wardrobe. When John & I were engaged, I made my wedding dress and veil. As challenging as that was (really, it was more about the time it took), the hardest thing I ever made was a tailored, lined suit for him. Yeah, I really bit off more than I could chew on that one. That story is a part of my It SEEMED Like a Good Idea series (entirely unposted at this time).

But once we had our second son (17 months after the firstborn), and I worked full-time, there was really no time in my life for sewing anymore. Especially since we lived in a somewhat small house, with no room to keep my sewing machine set up. If I wanted to sew, I had to clear off the dining room table, haul out the machine and accoutrement, and then get going. After the boys were asleep. And chores were done. By the time I could get it out and set up, it was time to put it all away. So I packed it up and put away. For a very long time.

When the boys were younger, I did make a couple of costumes for them for the Harvest Festival on Halloween at our church. Sorry, those are on film, not digital, so I'll need to scan some before I can share.

But during the past few years, I've sewn some purses, a number of little organizer bags, a fabric flower pin, and now a camera strap cover. And my love of sewing has been rekindled. I really do love to sew. I really want to sew - a lot. But now I enjoy making accessories. I'm not that interested in clothes anymore. At least not to sew. I still like to wear them.












I don't know what's in store for me with this new sewing bender, but I would love to find a nice little niche within which I could sew something fun and perhaps sell some. But it's hard because there are SO many people out there doing precisely that. How do you discover a niche with places like etsy and Big Cartel? I need to keep praying and see what God would have me do with this desire. If it's from Him, He'll show me the way. If not, then I'll stick to making things for myself.

So have you ever had something in your life that you loved and did for a long time, and then it got set aside, but you later came back it, only to discover that you still thoroughly enjoyed it? (how's that for a ridiculously long run-on sentence?!?) What was it? Do you do it now?

Wordless Wednesday - Caption This

For more wordlessness, go here and here (both include linky).