Good Things

Sometimes what we plan is not what God has planned for us, amen.  I know that God's way is always the best way and out of trying times comes good things.  Things such as knowledge.  When things get a little hot it tends to get my full attention, as if being tested by fire.  I have always said that life can get very real, real fast.  But the knowledge learned can change the direction we are walking in, if we allow it to.  

The good things that came out of this week in the hospital are;  the infections (UTI, mild pneumonia, sinus infection, and e-coli) that my honey had are either cleared up or are clearing up.  A new diabetic doctor ( yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!), we've never had a doctor that specializes in diabetes and I got to talk with a nutritionist ( double yay!!!).  His blood sugar is down to a very reasonable number and I am armed with knowledge.  He had tons of test and they all came back clear, like an EKG, came back good, that's always a comfort to know.  The doctor called the e-coli, "chemo-e-coli".  He said that we all have a little in our bodies and with his immune system down it had the opportunity to make him sick.  So even though hospitals are sad places they are also good places.  They not only serve the dying, they serve the healing and the living.  

When I went on my walk to Emmaus the one thing, the ONE thing, that I walked away with was I knew the road before me.  It was no longer some pie in the sky idea, something that I could "kind of" imagine, it came down to earth, took me by the hand and showed me the road and  I knew that I could walk that road.  I knew how to stay on that road.  That's knowledge, Godly knowledge.  Hosea 4:6 says, my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.   Think of that we are destroyed.  We are destroyed because we don't know when we have left the path that leads to life.  We destroy ourselves because we listen to lies that say "you don't need help". Sometimes we have to learn the hard way but that's the kind that sticks, that kind that changes directions, the kind that you earn, the kind that you own and no one can take it from you.

Knowledge, it's a powerful thing, it can change the world you live in because you can not be easily swayed from what you know and what you own as truth.  

I have a 4" x 4" tile that I kept in front of me as my children were going through the school system, it reads "Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child."  

As a child of God the same thing is true, God doesn't change the path for us, He changes us for the path.  I think that is a very good thing.  That the God of all creation would care about one person enough to change them so that they can walk the path that is set out before them.  He does that for me all the while He is doing that for you.  What an amazing God we serve.  

 Today, my honey spent some time riding in the pasture looking at the baby calves, that's a good thing and I am staying focused on the One who showed me the path and arms me with the knowledge to stay there.  

Thank you all for your encouragement, it means the world to me.  You are the hands and feet of Christ.

Blessings

Tomorrow, crafts!  :))

This Week

This week did not include seeing the grandkids.  

This week was not what we had planned but this week may have been exactly what was needed.  

When your on chemo you have to be careful.  You know things like wear a mask in public (especially on an airplane) and call the doctor if you have a fever above 101.  Little things for sure BUT big things when you are used to taking care of yourself and everyone else around you.  Asking for help or admitting you need help, that's a big thing.  

Always before, you just tough it out - wait a little while, it will go away.  

But not on chemo.  It doesn't go away.  

Last weekend I worked like crazy in my craft room.  The creative juices were just flowing, I was having all kinds of fun.  We were leaving early Monday morning for a quick, overnight trip to take care of some business and see the grand kids, so I stayed up here and I stayed up late wanting to finish what I had started.  See, "I wanted to."  I wanted.  I stayed up here.  

When I finally came down he was already in bed.  I walked quietly into the room and he said, 

"are you in here?"  

"yes."  

"Will you lay down beside me, I'm really cold."  

"Yes I will, let me get ready." 

 By the time I got in there I knew that my skin was going to feel cold next to his, so as I scooted in I was about to say how cool I was when I felt the heat.

Never in my life have I felt a body so hot!  He was burning up.  I jumped up and grabbed the thermometer and it read 103.9.

First thing he said to me was, "your not big enough to make me go to the hospital."

Well I may not be but I can always bring in reinforcements ... but I didn't.  

I know you ladies who read this may want to encourage me but no matter what anyone says and no matter what I try to tell myself, I know that I am not the best wife to have when you need someone to have a clue about illness.  I'm not the best mother for that either, or friend or daughter.  I just don't get it.  I don't see it.  It has to jump up and slap me across the face for me to go "hey, this doesn't seem quite right."  Well this was one of those slaps.

See I stayed in my room, crafting my silly little things, having a good time in paint and (this is a big and) and letting him tell me what he wants me to believe.

Whew, that one may have just come out of left field.  

I wait.  I hear but I don't listen.  I let him talk me into waiting "just one more hour."  It's not like I didn't know.  I came up to my computer and pulled up any article on fever with chemo, I packed my bags, I even put on make-up, I kept him in cold wash rags and I took his fever all night long and ... I mentioned.  I'm a mention-er.

Back when the knot in his stomach first showed up he would show it to me, ask me to feel it and I would say, you should get that checked out.  Then next time he showed me, I would say you should get that checked out.  And the week after that and the week after that and the all the weeks after that ... "you should get that checked out."  And when he finally did, the doctor missed it.  He told him it was something to do with his hernia surgery and not to worry about it.  

So we didn't.

And then he would show me how much bigger it was getting and I would say ... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah.  

It feels like I didn't care.  I thought, he's a grown man he knows what to do, so I didn't push.  I didn't harp, I didn't pick up the phone and schedule an appointment when I wanted to. I was too concerned with my own flesh to risk him getting mad at me.  I didn't push to the point of making him so mad at me that he would have done it sooner just to shut me up.  That's what I should have done.  That's what anyone, who really loves someone, would do.  That's what Jesus did.  He put himself out there so that we would believe - so that we would know His love is real.  And that's what He ask us to do.  To put ourselves out there and if we are rejected because of Him, because we love that much, then we are blessed, we know we did our best and maybe just maybe we pushed hard enough to break through and everyone knows you loved them. 

So, we spent this week in the hospital.  Hospitals are sad places.  I watched the faces of the people as they came and went and I recognized the ones whose face mirrored my own.  

I know this is temporary.  I know that he will get stronger.  I know that he will get back outside working again.  He is feeling better and we both know this too will pass, he will - we will get through this.   

I just hope I can love him strong enough, be tough enough to really put it out there when I need to but be soft enough to keep my mouth shut when I know there is no gain for speaking, after all it's all about love.  

  

I use to pray for all kinds of things, now I just pray for forgiveness and ask for strength.  

It's really not about me, it's about Him and him, so what am I so afraid of?  

Lamp Project

Hello from Salt Creek Ranch.  

Today was a sunny - windy - chilly day here on the ranch and a great day to stay in the craft room.  I have been wanting to try my hand at re-furbishing a lamp so a quick trip to the Dollar Store and ... wa-la .......... lamp project. 

Michelle at at Sweet Something Design has a great tutorial on a beautiful finish for projects like a lamp.  Fortunately or maybe unfortunately this is not a "how to" tutorial - maybe a "how I didn't follow her instructions"  but probably not a "you should do this one" tutorial.   Okay.

At any rate, lets just get on with it, shall we?  

So here's my $10.00 Dollar Store lamp.  Nice for a first try..... come to think of it, it's probably a little pricey for what I could have found at a Salvation Army store, no, this is no .99 cent great bargain lamp, this is a 10 big ones - little bitty lamp, plastic at that!  

This reminds me of what God said to the Israelites when they walked in the desert for 40 years, instead of eight days,  "because you mur-mur".  I feel like I'm mur-murring, complaining, negative thinking, stinkin thinkin cause really no matter how it turned out, I had a good time doing it.

Nice beginning, though, painters tape on the parts I don't want painted.

Her instructions say to use a spackle knife or putty knife .... I opted for my hand.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to remember her saying, "if you want to do a lamp like this click here for instructions" ... or was it something like "I would not use a lamp like this"!  

Her tip was to skip the spackle part and  use spray paint but I read that just a little to late.

Anyhoo.

You know that quite little voice, the small whisper that pops up and you quickly smash down?

 Yea, that one.
I tried to find ribbon to put on the lamp shade or maybe re-cover the shade with burlap or scrapbook paper or maybe fringe on the bottom but atlas, nothing worked.  Mainly because I didn't want to work at trying to figure out how to re-cover the whole thing, two - I didn't have enough fringe although that was cute and three, the ribbon just kind of said no.

So, I carefully painted it.

Next step is to paint the base coat.  So far so good.

And then ......... I decided to go out on my own and use this stuff that sounds soooooo good.  It's  called chipping cream.  It goes on in between a base coat and the top coat of paint and then you are suppose to be able to scrap the top layer off and it leaves a chipped look.  This is the second time I have tried using this stuff and I am in no way knocking the Country Living Chipping Cream, lets just get that out in the open here.  It's not them, it's me.  

 

I'm sure of it.  However I will say that I am not giving up.  I will conquer the chipping cream!

Next I used this fabulous paint, seriously love this paint.  It's super thick and it goes on as thick as you want it to and I like it.

Now it was time for the chipping the paint part.  And fortunately for you I didn't take pictures of this part cause ... I don't know why.  I guess I was too busy trying to figure out how to take just the top layer of paint off.  I sanded, I scraped, and I sanded some more, then I scrapped some more.  In some places I chipped all the way to the plastic, I didn't feel like I was applying to much pressure.  Maybe I didn't let it dry long enough.

When all else fails rub on some toner or you may have seen it called glaze but not here, here we call it toner.  Don't ask me why.  

And here is my result.

I don't know, it's pretty shabby alright.  It wasn't the look I was going for.  If you check out Michelle's site you see but what the heck, it's cuteish.

AND now for the finishing touch, I cut the letter S out of scrapbook paper and learn how to make this adorable burlap flower.  

I have plans for this flower.

Have a great day my dear friends, I am going to see my grand babies, Miss Sarah, Mr K-Bob and little Anah.  I can't wait, see you in a few.

Sweet Sundays

Prayer

Prayer unlocks the doors of heaven

and releases the power of God.

Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9

Ask and it shall be given to you,

Seek and you shall find,

Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

Study in Color

I saw on Living the Simple Life blog a link to art.com, went there - found color.

Loving the color.

Isn't he cute, this is for my oldest, she loves these dogs.

Craft Room

I've had these on my mind to do for months.  I saw an example of these at Beneath My Heart.

(Just a note to say, I really didn't want to show Traci's version of this project because I think hers looks better, but it's all good)

Simple.
Sweet.
Easy.
They can be used as coasters, I put burlap on the back because I didn't have cork to protect the table surfaces.  The burlap seems to work well.  And then I thought "hey, burlap on the front" (light bulb)  so I put the burlap on with  Mod-Podge and painted it, then used Distress crackle paint for the stamped area and that's it.  

Easy.

Then .....  I had to play a little more and got in my beads stash and ribbons and added a little bling. 

Little Queenie

She was playing in her pack n play when we noticed  

she had all three of her pacifiers. 

Garth

Let me just start by saying, my honey is very stubborn.  He is a "get outside and do something" kind of guy, no matter what the weather or the situation.

And with the weather we have had lately, like the rest of the country, he has been cooped up in the house and has cabin fever.  For those of you who live in places that get a lot of snow, I feel your pain.  Or maybe it's not painful for you because you know how to get outside with the snow.  At any rate, here in this part of Texas, we don't.  Where we live when it rains or in this case snows our ground becomes very muddy.  The roads in the pastures become very slippery and when we drive down them they rut up really bad.  So, in a rancher point of view, or in my rancher's point of view, you stay off the roads as much as possible because you ruin them. 

 

Okay, so have I set the stage for you?  He's stuck in the house and has nothing to do and is blue.  Then he get a phone call from his best friend and invites us to go to Vegas this weekend.  I had already made plans to watch this little sweetheart. 

Oh, how I wanted to.  My motherly arms are just aching to get ahold of her.  She only lives five hours away from me but somehow with RS's illness that just seems to far to go these days.  I just want to spend time with her.  Look at her and watch how she reacts to things.  Find out who she is and how she sees life.  I just want to gaze into her eyes and watch her as she looks back at me.  And I so want her to get to know me and remember me.  

But he was so blue and so bored and thought he just needed to go that I felt sorry for him and called my daughter to ask for another chance at keeping little Anah Grace.  Hopefully I will get that opportunity soon.

Anyway, we made the trip and stayed at the Wynn.  When I got there I found out that Garth Brooks was playing.  Now I like my music and I like different types of music but I am not much on crowds and I am not into really big venues and reallllly loud music so I didn't think too much about it.  Until ....... I talked to one of the guys that works there.

  

This concert was like nothing I have ever seen before.  It was just him and his guitar and a small venue of me and 1200 other folks.  (side note, I got tickets because of cancellations)

  

It was so stinking good, I am writing today to tell you to go.  If you get the chance it's worth it.  He was funny and he told stories and Trisha came out and sang two songs (they say she doesn't always).  She is my favorite female singer, I have more of her albums than anyone else.  And he looked like he really enjoyed it. 

The honey doesn't know much about music, he says he was always working and never listened to the radio and I believe him because he really doesn't know much about music.

  

For those of you who do not know, we are walking our way through non-hogkins lymphoma.  We have had four chemo treatments and my honey is a type 2 diabetic and the chemo is very hard on his blood sugar.  It makes it go out of control very bad.  (did that seem like I was yelling?  Cause I was.)  My honey says he feels like he has had the flu every day since early December.  He can't sleep at night, the high blood sugar makes him have to go to the bathroom all night long.  We are trying to get it under control but it has been a battle.

  

The trip was hard on him but like the statement I opened with, my honey is stubborn.  I think all in all, he will say it was worth it but as the wife and mother hen that I am, I'm not so sure.  But such is life you just have to roll with it.  So there you go.   

  

 

Anyone Longing for Summer?

This week from the newly clean and semi-organized Craft Room

I have been elbow deep in glue and glitter this week and it has been heavenly.  I was inspired by some of the crafts that included burlap.  After all, I'm a burlap kind of girl too.  So, I started playing and ...... 

these are the results.  When the kids received them, they actually liked them.  I was stoked.

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Strong Heart for the boys

Bubbly Heart

Sparkle Heart

Bold Heart

baby's heart

Old Heart