Thankful

Our pastor likes to say if you were born in the United States, in the Midwest, during this century, you have pretty much won the lottery.  I don't think he is saying this proudly or with any other intent than to say that wow, we are blessed with so much, with so much more than many others have and we haven't done one single thing to deserve that.  Yet, we have the nerve to complain about the long pick up lines at school while we are sitting in our nice warm cars, picking up our healthy, well-fed children as we check the weather on our cell phones.  And believe me, I am guilty as charged.  I don't think I will ever have enough appreciation for the blessings I have or for the God that has given them too me.  But, today I'm gonna try.   Happy Thanksgiving!  

I've Been Pinspired

The Captain says I am addicted to Pinterest. That may well be.  I argue, better Pinterest than Twitter, which he enjoys immensely.  I'd rather be a pinner than a twit. Regardless, the internet is full of goodies and pinterest just sort of gathers them all up in one place for you.  Then you can decide what you like and don't like. What you like, you can pin.

I liked this haircut, so I pinned it to my board and then sent it to my email to show my hairdresser and that turned out pretty well.  I like her boots and her scarf too, but Rachel did not deliver on those.  If only it were so easy.

There's a humor section too, just silly stuff that makes me giggle the hours away.  Sometimes I guffaw and snort a little bit, it is that funny.  Some of these I pin, and some of these I save in my download file to reference later.  See, your "boards" get shared with others who are following you. I wonder if this is "appropriate",  but it makes me giggle for some odd reason. And who knows, maybe I'll need it someday.  A love note to the Captain or something.

Ok, so did you know that you can put warm chicken breasts into your mixer, use the paddle attachment, run it on 5 for a few seconds and get beautiful, juicy, restaurant style shredded chicken??? I KNOW!  I did this the other night and it worked like a charm.  The Captain asked me if he could lick the paddle.  That made 

me gag.

.

But mostly, I get inspired.  There are oodles of pins about home decor, cute outfits, crafty little such and suches, and the list goes on.  I even busted out the sewing machine.  I had some sad, sorry, outdoor pillows that I had picked up for $2 at a flea market.  They were just OK.  We have used them for a good two years and they were just tired.  Here's the before made even more gruesome with the orange shag carpet and dark brown paneling in the background. 

Dreadful, right?  

And here's the after, times two.

Side A

Side B

Bought me some reasonably priced fabric at Walmart, and got to stitching.  I like.  I pin.  

So go on over and join in the fun.  You do need an invite to start pinning, so leave me your email in a comment if you want and  I'll send you one. Happy Pinning!

What Pumpkin Carving Requires

Take note:

You need your Daddy to be home.

One missing front tooth is preferable.

Pumpkin carving also requires much concentration,

an occasional over-bite,

and a good tongue rolling.  Go ahead, you try it.  I'll wait.

It may require some unbridled Halloween excitement

and Ninja-like need to stab something. 

Then, if you're lucky, it may turn out something like this.

Hope your Halloween was happy!

Mas Musica!

I think the title means More Music! Just brushing off my Spanish II brain cells.  Not that Spanish has anything whatsoever to do with this post. More Music! does though.

So my Dad has been in a nursing home for over a year now.  As a family we have wrestled with this choice, and though we feel have made the right decision, I think we still think through the "what-ifs  and "if-only's".  It is not easy to have your Dad/Husband/Grandpa in a nursing home at age 73, but that doesn't mean the nursing home is a horrible place.  I refuse to call it such.  Parkinson's is a HORRIBLE disease, and that is where the problem lies, not in the nursing home. At least not Dad's nursing home.  

I know we have it good here.  Most nursing homes leave a lot to be desired.  But here, we have pretty darn good nurses, a nice facility, good doctors, fresh popcorn most hours of the day, and a large basement where the grandkids can all get together and play hide-n-seek or sardines if they choose.  Oh, and we also have Judy.

Judy. Judy. Judy.  She can call a Bingo game like nobody's business.  She dresses up like Mario for her grandson's birthday party ( I know this because I work with her daughter and have seen the photographic evidence). She also directs a pretty mean handbell choir and makes us cry like babies whenever she puts on a special program for the residents and their families.  So this past Saturday she did both.  My dad plays in the handbell choir and he does a great job.  They all do.  It amazes me how good they sound!  They played some traditional hymns, and ended with "I Love You Lord." Not a dry eye in the place - let me tell you.  I'm sure it was a sweet, sweet sound in His ear.

And so the nursing home provides me with an experience that I probably would have never had.  I got to see and hear my Dad perform - to loud cheers and clapping no less! I am so proud of him! Maybe it is just the smallest opportunity for me to repay the countless hours of concerts, track meets, basketball games, and school plays both he and mom attended in the years we were growing up.  They always let us know how proud they were of us too.  Sometimes you find your blessings in the darnedest places.

Good Music, Good Light, Good Life

Marissa had the chance to play in the NW Iowa Middle School Strings Concert the other day.  As you can see, I took my camera along.  As you can see, I could use a little zoom in my lens.  But you get the gist. Really, why do you bring a camera to a music concert anyway?  I should have brought a recorder of some sort because she, and the rest of the kids from our middle school, totally rocked the house church.  My goodness. I seriously get teary-eyed when I hear them play.  Even when they just warm up, it gets to me.  I thought I was the only one, but the Captain said he had the same thing. We're weird that way.

So after a wonderful concert, and dinner out with some friends afterward, we forsook Best Buy, Target, and Lowe's and headed home.  School night you know.  Besides, that, the light was really pretty as only it can be on an autumn evening in rural Iowa.

Actually these pics were from the trip down to the concert.  Love the different textures of the fields as they are harvested. And catching that telephone pole right in the middle of the photo as I was hanging out the car window at 67 miles per hour - well, that's raw talent I tell you.

I'd like to live on that hill.  I'd put my horses out back.

Oh dear, I have become my husband.  We can add this to his cloud picture collection. The Captain's a sucker for a good cloud formation.

We can add this one to the side-profile-of-the-Captain-as-he-is-driving-collection. Seems like we have a bunch of those shots too. But this one is special because here I am experimenting with creative sun flare.  It looks like a golden sneeze. (HER-RUSSIA!! That's a joke only the girls and the Captain will appreciate.) And that large piece or radioactive green bokeh bursting forth from his right frontal temporal lobe, well, like I said. Raw talent.

Then we saw this little rainbow-ish thing.  It was more like a rain-cylinder than a rainbow.  But it was pretty cool looking.  Turns out we were the lucky ones getting a nice little rain shower back in the OC.  

Wish this one hadn't been so blurry 'cause the light was pretty neat-o keen. Like I said, 67 mph hanging out the window of your car never does much for the sharpness of your pictures.  Your hair either, for that matter.

And here's what it's all about in NW Iowa this time of year.  I still love the sight, smell, and sound of a good hard fought harvest being brought in.  There's something very good and right about it.  Like hearing your girl warm up for her orchestra concert.  Ahhhh.

  It's a good life.