General

THE LAND OF HAPPY

August 21, 2010 by tonja 7 Comments

I want to live in the land of happy.

I want to bask in the sun of love.

I want to sleep in the bed of color.

I want to laugh in the breeze of joy.

I want to run in the meadow of song.

I want to swim in the water of peace.

I want to color on a page of pure snow.

I want to fly away in my dreams.

Reading time: 1 min

Faith, Family, General, HUMOR

STRANGE HAPPENINGS ROUND HERE

August 18, 2010 by tonja 6 Comments

I can not tell all the details…now don’t ask me, cause I promised. But, I think I can walk all the way around the last 2 days without breaking any promise I have given.

Yesterday, I felt bad…all day. Achy and Yucky. I was still on Finn Duty, and I took him out several times. He would pee every time…but only once did I convince him that we were going to stay outside till Jesus comes if he doesn’t poop! So he did. The other times he conveniently waited until we got back into Al’s room, and he stopped right in front of me and ‘did the deed’. And, once I did not see him stop there, and I tripped on him right in the midst of the action. The dog went yelping one way…and I went sliding the other…poop following him as he went. It really didn’t matter to him at all, but I was trying to sidestep poop as I slid so gracefully across the floor! I landed on my ‘you-know’, and that puppy, who probably thought I was after him for not obeying my explicit instructions, came whining slowly towards me, with fear and trepidation, and climbed up in my lap and licked my face. Being as I can’t hop up from a fall like I once could… we sat there awhile and talked about how we should always obey our Mommy if we want to grow up and be a happy, well adjusted boy dog.

Then I got some bad news, and I was sad…very sad. And, I was mad…very mad. And, I wasn’t thinking about all those sweet, uplifting things I say to people when they are disappointed about something. I just whined and fussed and said it wasn’t fair and nothing ever works out for me and I’m the saddest girl in the world and why doesn’t God hear my prayers. Unfortunately, I said some of these things out loud. And, someone who lives in the house with me and is older than me heard . He gave me a most disapproving look…but I ran out before he could start the lecture series on “How to Be Happy When You’re Not”….. a series of 14 one hour sessions. I’ve heard them all…and heard them all…and heard them all. Thing is, I knew what I said wasn’t true, just sometimes it helps me to go ahead and say it…get it out of my mind and soul…and then just get on with living. I am not saying that is the right thing to do…it’s just what I do..at times. And, besides, I was in my own studio…and NOBODY should be listening to what I say in there.

Not less than15 minutes later, the bad news got taken back and good news came in its place. Oh, I was a happy girl! The sky turned blue with fluffy white clouds, and the sun shone right through my window, and 2 little blue birds came swooping out of the skies carrying a banner I embroidered myself that stated…”All’s Well With The World”. And, I revelled in that blissful moment. Why I think 10 pounds just fell off me for good measure! I was thinking about all the’ happy’ that the good news would mean, and I could have set there the rest of the night thinking and then gone to sleep and dreamed sweet dreams all night.

But, no-ooo-ooooo! Someone had to rain on my parade. Some one had to burst my bubble. Some one had to take their sticky lollipop and rub it in my hair. Someone had to intrude into my ‘happy’…because I needed to hear session 12 and 13 of ‘How To Be Happy When You’re Not’. Lesson 12 entitled: Don’t react to bad news…just accept it! Lesson 13 entitled: Are you setting a GOOD EXAMPLE or a BAD EXAMPLE ? I had to sit through 2 sessions, people, with no intermission and no popcorn and fountain drink. And, yes, there was a test…with ‘fill-in-the-blank’ answers!

Then this morning, still feeling happy, I got up and went to take my shower and get dressed. Some workmen had come to repaint our ceiling under the porch. We have a dumb pool cleaner that rolls all over the whole pool and when it comes to the one spot on the whole trip that it could do damage…it rears its ugly head up and shoots water up onto the porch. Well, it used to spray it onto the ceiling and it ruined the stain. Now it shoots it onto the furniture and ruins the cushions…but we’re moving in the right direction…so someone told me. Now the porch is waaaaaay over there, next to the far left column of this blog…and that’s the general vicinity the workers would be working in. Waaaaaaaaay over there…on the far right column is the small window up near the roof line that brings lovely light into my warm and inviting shower. And, there I was…in my warm and inviting shower…doing all those things you should be doing while you are in there. When all of a sudden, a thought came to me…”I feel some one’s eyes on me.” And, then this is exactly the thought process that followed…”Isn’t that funny for me to think that? I have always heard people say they could feel when someone was looking at them, but I just don’t think I would ever know. But, it’s funny that I had that thought right now. Wonder why I had that thought just now? I think I used too much shampoo…I can’t seem to get it all out. GREAT! Now it’s in my eyes…I hate to get shampoo in my eyes. Well, if some one’s eyes were on me right now, I afraid they’d be a mite disappointed . I wonder what made me think of that?” And, with my sweet little face lifted towards the ceiling, so as to get ALL the shampoo out of my hair, I opened my eyes. And, RIGHT. THERE. RIGHT. IN.THAT. TINY. LITTLE. WINDOW.AT. THE TOP. OF MY. SHOWER. was the head of one worker, and the rear end of another. IN. MY. WINDOW. Faaaaaaaaar from where the work was supposed to be done on the roof.

In case you’ve never had this situation come up before, it is nigh unto impossible to hide thy self in thine shower. Even if thy take thyself into a corner, there is no hiding there. And, if thy should embark on a foolish attempt to hide thine nakedness with thy hands and arms and legs…thy will surely find out that there is way more to cover than what thy hast to cover with! I’m just telling it like it is!

So, there I stood, in the corner that I felt gave me the most coverage for my money…..and waited…..and waited. Occasionally I stepped out carefully to see if I still saw head and rear. Then I would go back to my corner. FINALLY!!! There was nothing in the window but sky…and I high-tailed it out of there…so to speak! 🙂

I dressed…I came into the studio…and I started reading an article on FB. And, I got a phone call…not at all related to the one I got last night.

But, this one stopped me in my tracks…and this one made my heart sink. And, thankful that I had already gotten ready, I did what needed to be done. And saw what needed to be seen. And, hugged who needed to be hugged. And though the waters are quite rough at the moment…up ahead we see calm, smooth waters.

When I read this recently, I thought the words were beautiful…and very comforting.

Psalm 89

^{1 -4} Your love, God, is my song, and I’ll sing it! I’m forever telling everyone how faithful you are.
I’ll never quit telling the story of your love‚Äî
how you built the cosmos
and guaranteed everything in it.
Your love has always been our lives’ foundation,
your fidelity has been the roof over our world.

^{5 -7} God! Let the cosmos praise your wonderful ways,
the choir of holy angels sing anthems to your faithful ways!
Search high and low, scan skies and land,
you’ll find nothing and no one quite like God.
The holy angels are in awe before him;
he looms immense and august over everyone around him.

And, this is what I stake my life on…this is what my husband and I taught our boys…this is what we stand on. This is our Truth. And, no matter whether the phone call is good…or bad…or scary…or sad, God is who He says He is…God will do what He says He will do…And, when things happen so quickly that we don’t even have time to pray and ask for help…He’s got us covered. And, nothing is a surprise to Him. And, that, my friends, brings such peace to this mother’s heart.

Reading time: 7 min

Decor, Family, General, HUMOR, Photography, Remembering

THIS, THAT, and the OTHER………

August 15, 2010 by tonja 9 Comments

Just a few things going on at the Creek House….

1. When I was in Birmingham a few days back, Ian brought me a gift. He said since he would not be with me on my birthday, he wanted to give it to me now. He went into a store selling signs with many different sayings but not this one. So he had them make it special for me! I love it! I found the perfect place for it! And, I think it looks great!

I love giving gifts. Always have. I think long and hard about my gifts and am on the lookout all through the year wherever I go. I despise the idea of having to buy a gift, at the last minute, and putting no thought in it. AND, I am so proud of Ian for thinking about what I would like and getting it made. Lots of thought! Thanks, Ian!

(JUST A NOTE)… Why ‘The Creekhouse’? When we began building our house, I found that I felt boastful and inconsiderate when I would continually refer to ‘the new house’. I wasn’t, but I felt like others may begin to tire of hearing about it. And, I wrote about it so often on Gatherings, it just bothered me to continually say …”in my new house…”. Also, being a voracious reader, I always loved it when old Southern homes had names. Yes, Tara was one of those homes. We have a lady in our church who was involved in music all her life. She was the organist at church, and she taught organ and piano for a hundred years (Joy and I included). Her daughter was a special friend and I spent many summers on vacation with them. Anyway, her home was filled with kids taking music for as long as I can remember. She named her home, ‘The Harmony House’. Loved that. My home is on a street that has a creek running from one side of the road to the other. There is also a very quaint wooden bridge that you cross mid way the road. The name of the street is Cross Creek Lane. I could have called it The Cross House, but that felt like we were always mad at one another. So, since ‘creek’ was in the name of the street, and I had to cross a ‘creek’ every time I left or came home…I chose The Creek House.

It is just fine with me if you think it is silly. I don’t mind a bit. I’m still going to call it that, and I’m old enough now to be a little silly if I feel like it.

2. We had 2 very fine men, ‘pillars of the church’ as they are sometimes called, who died on Monday and Tuesday of last week. Neither was a big surprise, but they have been such fixtures at Southside, they will be greatly missed. Both of them had children that grew up with Joy and I, so we have known them as long as we can remember. Both of their wives are still living. I wanted to show you the beautiful flower spray that one of them had on their casket. This gentleman was such an outdoors man…he loved fishing especially. I just thought this was so perfect. Very masculine, and tied to what he liked. The spray on the other casket was equally as lovely, this one was just so different.

Do you see the about midway the last picture…all the way to the right….the fish! There are 2 of them! Neat, huh? And, did you notice the burlap netting in the first 2 ? It all looks so masculine and so appropriate for him.

3. Alex has been having a really bad few days, so I have been getting to have some of the ‘Finn Duty’. We went out a little while ago, and even though he stayed under my feet most of the time, I did mnage to get a picture or two. He is a sweet puppy and just is in love with Alex. He actually whines when Alex moves out of his sight!

Over achiever ? He tried his best to run with this stick, but it kept getting stuck on other plants. Cute, cute, cute!

“Mommy, let me smell the flowers.”

“Wait, Mommy! I need to kiss the angel!”

4. AWARD TIME ! My sweet friend, Debby, of Just Breathe, has honored me with this “CHERRY ON TOP AWARD”. Isn’t that nice? I thank you so much, Debby, and will try to live up to the spirit of the award. (I am so sorry that I can not link to her site, but Ian has not taught me to do that yet on this new blog. Tried to figure it out…couldn’t. She is linked in my ‘LINKS’ section, however)

The rules for this award are:

1. Thank the person who gave this award to you.
2. Copy the award and put it on your blog.
3. List three things which you love about yourself.
4. Post a picture you love.

5. Pass this award along.

THREE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT ME

1. I love the fact that I am not bound by a ‘black/white’ viewpoint. My mind has always been open to quirks and differences and ‘other than normal’ way of seeing things. But, always within God’s laws. I have never been able to color inside the box…there’s just so much wonderful space outside the box!

2. I love the fact that I have learned how to use a computer, and have chosen to write a blog. I love the fact that I am not afraid to let you see who I really am…warts, grey hair, tummy rolls and all!

3. I love the fact that I have dear friends in many differing walks of life. Some from church, some from school, some from childhood, some I have never met IRL, but we meet every day in the Tblogosphere and some…just because. I love that I can share my life with a plethora of friends and am at ease with them all.

And, now a picture I love…Joy and I on Maui in March. This represents fun, and secrets, and support, understanding, and sharing, and love…all the things we share as sisters.

4. While at the grocery store the other day, I picked up a 6 pack of these. I don’t know why…I haven’t had any of these in ages. But, I’m so glad I did, because THIS DRINK IS GREAT !!!!! I had forgotten just how good they were. Very refreshing! AND, they come in 7.5 oz cans that are 100 calories each!

I went back to the store this week, and picked up some more…I thought! However, I did not get the F*nta brand…I got the S*nk*st brand. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE ! I will buy some more, and they will be of the F*nta brand ! I’m just saying…

5. Aren’t these great dishes? Can you see there’s a little nest on the bowl. Wouldn’t they look great on a wooden or woven charger? I think I could probably do a lot with them….if they were mine. They may or may not be living in my kitchen. If they’re not…they should be. And, if they are…well…then…that’s just a good thing! ( The color on the second picture is correct.)

6. Don walked in one night this last week, and handed me a shopping bag from Veriz*n. I looked inside and saw this:

Really…and this is the truth…all I knew how to do was open the box. Which I did. Inside the box was a tiny little instruction guide. Obviously it was written for someone who had spent years as a cell phone designer and programmer. It was intended for someone who understands ‘flash’ and ‘froyo’ and 3 Gh and ‘OMAP processor’…and other such foreign words. It had nothing in there for the average consumer who knows that when a phone rings you answer it and say ‘Hello’. I expect a guide to be just that…a guide. It should be in easy to understand steps that doesn’t assume anything. Such as 1. Take the cord and plug it into the phone and the other end into a socket. Wait 2 housrs while it charges. 2…Unplug the phone from the wall. 3…Locate the ON/OFF button…it is located on the upper right corner of the phone…turn it to ON. 4…Good for you! You have sucessfully charged and turned on your phone! What a great accomplishment! You deserve a break…go directly to the nearest Dairy Queen and buy a Blizzard of your choice! We will continue with the next lesson tomorrow and in just 3 short weeks…you will know how to use your new Dr*id 2!!!