Yes, I am done stressing about school for right now because it totally went on the back burner this week.  Appointments.  Shopping.  Family traveling home.  Get-togethers.  I ask you, how can anyone do school work?  It’s time for our winter break here, and I intend to enjoy it.  

Is all dead in winter?  I don’t think so.  The withered rose blooms on my rose bushes look so pretty to me.  There’s a sad sort of beauty about them: clearly dead or dying, yet with a touch of summer’s red-pink blush left.  Makes me think of our lives.  The brevity.  The uncertainty.  The beauty.  The joy.  We’d better enjoy one day at a time.

Oh yes.  Life, I think I said.  I pulled a bloom from a rose bush and this little mayfly-looking winged creature came out.  I felt bad for disturbing its resting place, but it flew away, hopefully to find another rosebud. 

There’s life, all the time, when we look for it.

On other, less serious note, I’d advise you to visit homemadedollhouse.blogspot.com to read about our beautiful foreign doll and her current endeavor.

It is a worthwhile project, as I feel sure you’ll agree.

Around the net:  I stumbled across the most beautiful blog with the most adorable header yesterday.  Just take a look.  I made a screenshot because I figure that after winter this header will be gone.

You’ll have to visit Turkey Feathers yourself to see the snow falling across the header of this beautiful blog.

Enjoy this day.

Lynn

If you’ve tried to visit me today and my site would not come up, or if you are noticing odd characters on my blog, I was hacked today. It’s sad that anyone would do that, but it happens — frequently. This is the first time for me.

Good reasons to back up your files. Keep your wordpress and plug-ins updated. And remember to smile. It’s just a thing.

Lynn

I was thinking that it would be fun to share your very most favorite thing in your house.  Not to be focused just on material things, of course, but do you have something that just makes you happy?  Something that is sentimental?  Something that you hope you never have to get rid of?

My favorite thing is my spice cabinet, and it certainly has a story behind it.  It is sort of a focal point in our kitchen and gets used every single day as we cook our family meals.  I think it fits perfectly into our 1921 home. 

I love the rustic old handles and the rusty latches on the doors.  I love the glass panes that allow me to see all my spices, including some old-looking Watkins spices.  The rusty-but-sturdy hinges appeal to my liking of all things rustic and useful, and I even love the peeling paint. 

The story behind the cabinet makes it even more special.  I had been looking for a spice rack, but needed something bigger than the standard little spice racks I was finding in the thrift stores at the time. 

I walked into a local antique store one day and chatted with a newly-made friend.  I enjoyed so much looking at the items in her rented space in the store.  She just had an eye for finding things that I loved.  Not that I could afford anything I wanted, but it was fun to look and dream.  Anyway, when I saw this cabinet it was exactly what I had imagined for my kitchen.  It was the perfect size and had that look I needed.  Anything too new just does not fit into my old house.  It clashes. 

I wanted that cabinet so much, I figured that I would put in on lay-away, budget a portion of my grocery money, and pay it off over a period of three months.  It went well for about a month and then we had a financial crisis and corners would have to be cut.  I knew that luxuries could not be afforded and the spice cabinet was a luxury (as much as I hated to admit it).  So I went to the antique store, not even expecting to see my new friend, as she was usually not there unless stocking her booth, but she was there that day.  It was with embarrassment that I told her of my situation and that I needed to end my contract, losing a portion of the money, but I felt I would be unable to meet my obligations to pay any more payments.  I was astonished at what she said.

She told me that she had — for some reason – felt like I was having a hard time.  She said that the Lord had put me in her heart and that if in fact it did turn out to be true that I was struggling, she was going to mark the bill paid at whatever point I was in the contract and just give me the cabinet.  And that’s what she did!

So every time I look at this cabinet, I am reminded of the kindnesses that have been shown to me, even in little things, and in things that I really didn’t need, but just wanted.  I am reminded that there are many, many kind people in the world, no matter how harsh our world can seem at times.  And also I just love how this old rustic spice cabinet fits into my home. 

You’re invited to leave a link to your blog and YOUR favorite thing and why you love it so much!  It’ll be fun!  I may even tag a few people.

Lynn

PS – I did decide to tag 3 people:  Hannah at Cultivating Home, Patty at Morning Ramble, and  Shauna over at Shauna Rumbling.  They may or may not feel like joining in, but it would be nothing less than intriguing to me to find out if they have a favorite thing and what that thing would be!   It was hard to stop at three blogs, because there are SO many blogger friends on line and I would love to know everyone’s favorite thing.  So anyone join in!

Hey, feel free to pass the question on!!

I am loving playing around with graphics.  I must tear myself away and get some school work and house work done! 

Anyway, I put together this little logo for AMothersJournal.  It’ll be for some of my other websites to send people here.

What do you think?  (I am going to keep working on smoothing the lines around the edges.)

I want to invest in some tools — something easier than a mouse to draw with.  Suppose they make anything like that?

Thanks for dropping by!

I’d love to read your comments and find out about YOUR blogs!

Lynn

 
Ahhh, carrot juice!  Just what I need to be able to handle my computer loss for a few days. (I’m having way too much fun with these graphics.)

So it’s goodbye, computer. At least for a few days.  My computer has slowed way down.  I get messages that my virtual memory is low.  I am sure the case is full of dust bunnies.  It’s time to take it to my favorite computer guys and have it worked on.  Hopefully, it will come home to me in 3 or 4 days with more memory, dust free, and faster than before.  What’ll I do without my trusty computer?  I guess I’ll hop on the laptop and surf when needed, but all my files are here on my computer, so I’m sure there’ll be a bit of withdrawal.  It will be a good time for me to finish up some books I’ve been reading and write some book reviews.

Yes, she’s scary!  It got so cold, my daughter turned into snow girl and she wanted you to see it.  Scary.

Actually, that snowball she’s holding has been in my freezer for a few days now.  My daughter decided to take it outside and break it, only it wasn’t so easy to break.

First she threw it down hard on the sidewalk, but it just bounced and rolled away.  Jasper (the cat) ran after it.

Then she tried to kick it, but that didn’t do anything but hurt her toes.

She finally took a garden tool and chipped away at it for a little while.  I did not stay to see the final outcome.

Speaking of Jasper, because of my husband’s allergy and medical problems, we got rid of our longtime indoor cat, Tabitha.  She went to a very good home and we are happy that she is happy where she is.  Still, my daughter mourned the loss of her pet.  Thankfully, a stray cat — known now as Jasper, has taken up on our front porch and has become my daughter’s beloved outdoor cat.  Actually there is another cat as well — Fluffy, but she wasn’t around for the snowball-breaking event.

Isn’t she pretty?  She got the name Jasper before we realized it was a female cat.

Lynn

Well, I am sticking with the 3-column Cutline theme by Chris Pearson.  I love its features.  I love the fact that you can insert a little bit of code and have the random headers.  Eventually, I will learn to work with the custom CSS sheet to change all the colors and background at will.

So, even though I love the black, I have decided that I will just continue to learn all I can about the Cutline themes (I feel Chris Pearson will certainly continue to make more themes and probably will continue to change Cutline as Wordpress changes).

To quench my thirst for a black background — for now, I have designed five random headers on black backgrounds.  They all have an ornate, Victorian flair, which I absolutely love, as evidenced by one of my other sites, Innately Gray.  I find that I love making headers.  (Like I needed anything else to draw me to my computer each day.)

Are these some little sweeties?  And isn’t it cool how you can crop them neatly right out of a picture and use them in wonderful graphic projects?  Well, I think so anyway. 

Lynn

I know that goes on a lot here.  Yes ma’am.  But I have been learning and playing around with what I like best.  I have been learning about how a little bit of code can cause your header to rotate randomly between several different headers.  I have been looking around at the various wordpress widgets available.  I have been seeing what works with what.

I agree with Heather (she left a comment below) that the black is best and, yes, dramatic.  It is actually my favorite, too.  Things here will probably not change too much more.  (ha ha ha ha ha)  Maybe just a little bit.  From time to time.

Lynn 

I have a new site that is black and white photography for free use on personal or business websites.

http://www.innatelygray.com

Just wanted to share. 

I was surfing around this morning and ended up at The Daily Meme. I was looking through the lost memes and found a fun one called Another (5) Book Meme. I guess that just means it’s the fifth book meme found?

Anyhoo, here goes:

1) Take 5 books off your bookshelf.
2) Book #1 first sentence.
3) Book #2 last sentence on page 50.
4) Book #3 second sentence on page 100.
5) Book #4 next to the last sentence on page 150.
6) Book #5 final sentence of the book.
7) Make the five sentences into a paragraph.

Okay, here I go to get my books. I took a few pics of some of my bookshelves for you to look at while I am running around getting my books. Here I go. I’ll grab books off of different ones.

I’m back. And now here’s my crazy paragraph:

Between the year 1700 and the present day, the ways that wars are conducted has changed beyond recognition.  The reception was better and he didn’t interrupt the television or the music that they had listened to.  While James VI, who had been barely a year old at the time of his coronation, was growing up under the care of his learned but disagreeable tutor George Buchanan, who methodically thrashed and overworked him, the country was once again ruled by a succession of Regents.  He had no children.  Good news…ting ting…good news she sang Our day’s not done…it’s just begun.

 Whew.  Anyone else want to try?  ~:-D  Make sure your books have enough pages. 

Is this truly necessary?  Technorati says it is.  This post is to assure the spiders that I am truly funkymosaics and can claim my blog.

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