Weekend Update

Stephanie (daughter-in-law) had a birthday party Friday night.

Tom and I drove down to help celebrate.

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Our gift was a basket full of all kinds of Lavendar products.

On our trip to Oregon this summer, we stopped at

a Lavendar farm and just went crazy buying things for Stephanie!

The girl loves Lavendar!

Copper River Salmon

Todd, the chef, served the most delicious salmon.

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A chill in the air calls for a fire to keep warm.

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~Next Day~

We babysat or should I say, baby sat on Tom.

Levi's mommy wasn't feeling well. Daddy and big sister went to get

some camping equipment. Kimmy stayed home and rested.

This was the first time we had Levi all by himself.

This little guy is walking all over the place!

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Hey, with shoes like these, he was meant to walk.

Yes, it was a fun and fulling weekend.

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

Bug-Free Room•

Put a couple of drops of lavender or peppermint essential oil on a cool light bulb to help repel bugs.

Place several drops of oil of lavender or peppermint on a cotton ball or two. Put them into a small jar or margarine container. Poke a few holes in the lid and cover. Put around the room.

Stop Trying To Impress Other People

For the past several months I have been on a mission to change some habits, change some feelings, change some situations, that I didn't like. I came across an article about, (of all things), money. I thought it was interesting and thought I'd pass it on to you.

"Stop Trying To Impress Other People"

Here are six ways to break through that situation.

1. Take the lead. Be a trendsetter within your group. Back away from the expenses and activities that revolve mostly around impressing other people. Make suggestions for activities that don’t revolve around showing off.

2. Try new activities. You can do this either with your circle of friends or on your own, but try out new things that you might never have considered before. Think of things that seemed fun to you but you never got involved with because others around you decried them – and you were trying hard to impress them by agreeing.

3. Guide the conversation. If the conversation turns to bland compliments of each other and insults of people outside your group, steer the conversation away from it. Focus on being positive towards everyone, particularly in non-material areas. Pick areas you’re passionate about (don’t be a one trick pony – figure out several) and guide the conversation there instead.

4. Use your compliments wisely. Offer compliments on jobs well done, but don’t bother with big compliments on new gadgets or new clothing or a shiny new car. It’ll become clear that what you value are people who take charge of their life, not people who fritter away their money trying to impress others.

5. Share personal growth oriented thoughts. Instead of talking about popular culture and “stuff” all the time, instead mix in some thoughts on personal growth. Talk about ways you’re trimming your spending in positive ways. Talk about your big aspirations and dreams. Encourage others to share theirs as well. It also helps to read good materials in these areas so that you have more food for your own thought and more ideas to share.

6. Explore new relationships. If your circle of friends is still focused too heavily on impressing others and on material gains, spend some time exploring new relationships. Call up people you’ve thought of as interesting but simply wouldn’t fit in your old group and see what they’re up to. Connect with people at the new activities you’re trying.

In short, don’t play socially by the tired old rules that revolve around needing to impress people. Instead, spend your time on things that bring real value to you – and give real value to others.

Scripture verses:

"Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” Proverbs 29:25
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Philippians 2:3

Gospel Approval

(it’s so much better!)

Here are a few gospel aphorisms that might be helpful to memorize when you are tempted to prove yourself to others, yourself, or God.

We don’t have to impress [God] because Jesus impressed him for us.
We don’t have to perfect [Ourselves] because imperfect people cling to a perfect Christ.
We don’t’ have to seek approval from [Others] because are approved by grace in Christ.

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

Simple repetitive tasks require a time frame of approximately 21 days to condition. Here is a familiar example: When you walk into your bedroom you "automatically" reach for the light switch on the left side as you enter. Then you move to a new home where the light switch is located on the right side as you enter. You will find that it will take you about 21 days to stop reaching for that light switch on the left side. (that is not there!). You will also find this 21 day "benchmark" to be the time your new house will start feeling "like home".

Simple Pleasures

Trip to Costco...

One Chocolate Yogurt and One Vanilla Berry Yogurt

One yummy pleasure!

Dayle, over at A Collection of This and That, is hosting Simple Pleasures.

Please join us every Thursday.

The Blue Hour

Sunset: 8:1o PM

The things I learn while reading Blogs!

Did you know that there is such a thing as The Blue Hour? I didn't, not until I read the post from Words on Wheels.

I told Tom, my husband, that I wanted to see it for myself.

So we set off, in search of our Blue Hour, last Friday night.

Sunset: 8:15 PM

I first investigated, bluehoursite.com, to find out the times it appears in our area.

I also wanted to, "kill two birds with one stone", so to speak.

My other idea was to find a good parking spot ahead of time,

for my niece's wedding, the next day.
(It was a home wedding, lots of people and little parking.)

So we drove over to the area of the wedding.

We had to hurry, we had just enough time to drive to the right spot.

Sunset: 8:30 PM

Yes! It exists
The Blue Hour: 8:45 PM

By the way, I didn't take pictures of the wedding but Kimmy did!

Thank you Kimmy for sharing!

And yes, we did find the perfect parking spot for the wedding.

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

Parking;

Always look carefully before backing out of a parking space. Whenever possible, choose "pull-through" parking spots (that is, where two rows of cars are parked facing each other nose to nose, look for two connected spots so that you can drive into the further one, ending up facing the direction you will drive away in) so that you don't have to back out.

Simple Pleasures

At work...

So HOT outside and even hotter in my office.

I'm snacking on cold, delicious grapes.

By the end of the day and they are almost gone!

But look what's waiting for me.

Tomorrow's snack.

I enjoyed my cool, refreshing, sweet grapes.

Simple, but pleasurable.

H

Dayle, over at A Collection of This and That, is hosting Simple Pleasures.

Please join us every Thursday.

Get the Kleenex

I Can Relax

Today (Friday) was the Retreat.

(Please click Retreat to read all about this event)

The decorations went up.

The tables were dressed.

I had my speech rehearsed and hair combed.

Me, going over my notes, with butterflies in my stomach.

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Before

After

Before


After

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I arrived early, just in time for the sun to come into the room.

Our main speaker.

Yes, that's me in front of all our members, gulp, speaking.

Things were going very well. Then I found out that our 2nd speaker

was running 45 minutes late.

Yikes!

Time for, me, Christine to improvise.

Our Union rep stretched her talk a little

longer than planned....

we handed out door prizes early....

and to cap off this segment,

I became one of those 'Last Comic Standing' comedians.

I brought out my bag of jokes.

(Had them ready just for this type of thing!)

Finally, our 2nd speaker arrived...Whew!... and we continued on.

There are only so many jokes you can tell without the tomatoes being tossed.

Each member received one of these.

A planting pot, dirt disc, and herb seeds.

Remember, our theme was,

"Learn, Grow and Be Excellent."

Just showing how many of these we made. A lot!

After Thoughts:

I have been the Emcee for the school Secretarie's retreat

for three years. If you told me 5 years ago that I'd be in

front of the best secretaries, for the best school district in our

state, I would have laughed. That was not me.

But, I took the challenge

knowing that the experience would be one more thing

pushing me outside my comfort level.

Bring on my next challenge!

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

Probably the biggest tip for emcees is to tell the client that as emcee, during the event, you will only answer to one person and you will only make changes in the program if that one person approves. This reduces confusion and makes life a lot easier for the emcee. Every single emcee program I have done has gone smoothly as a result. — Al McCree

Simple Pleasures

Have you every run out of gas?

This week, my Simple Pleasure is a full tank of gas.

Ahhhhh......

Dale at A Collection of This and That, is hosting Simple Pleasure on Thursdays.

"I've lived long enough to realize that the simple pleasures of life are the most important ones, but it's easy to let them slip by, unnoticed, during the busyness of an ordinary day. That's why I created the Simple Pleasures series, to remind me to stop, to look, to listen, to slow down and pay closer attention to the simple things in life. And whenever I do, I'm never disappointed. It might be the sound of a baby's laugh, the gentle splash of a summer rain against the window, or flowers in a jar on the kitchen windowsill."

~Dale Allen Shockley~

Join us.

Concert at the (Rainy) Winery

Jazz Concert at the Local Winery.

We rode our bikes to there.

People came and set up "camps".

We found a huge tree to sit under...

and people watch.

The tree kept us very dry.

We got a little cold, so we went inside the Winery.

(WOW,thinking about you Mary)

Along with everyone else who wanted to get out of the rain.

Here's Tom, with the best seat in the place.


Behind me are people sampling different wines.


Back outside, Tom checking to see if it's still raining.
Yup!




Music has started! Hurry!




We heard enough music, eat our lunch, saw enough wet people.
We decided to get back on our bikes and head home.




~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

When you host the wine party, one 750 ml bottle of wine holds about four or five glasses, so one bottle for every two guests should be enough.

Simple Pleasures

Husband Tom

Husband Tom watering

Husband Tom watering with coffee.

Husband Tom watering with coffee equals Simple Pleasure.

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Dayle, at A Collection Of This And That, is hosting

Simple Pleasures every Thursday.

Join us.

Birds Need A Birdbath

These bowls were a wedding gift my parents receieved in 1950.

I really like that they are so different.

But...

because they are some "sort of pottery" and have tiny cracks inside,

I don't want to use them for food.

Idea!

I found the Gorilla Glue that I hid from Tom.

I bought this candle holder at the Goodwill.

You can't really tell how big it is because Lucy is only 3 lbs.

Then I glued the bowls together and

just placed them over the candle holder.

Perfect birdbath for all the birds in

the Children's Garden.

~~~~~~Y~~~~~~

~Tidbit~

Keep your birdbaths clean. Rinse birdbaths, ideally with a hose, and change the water frequently, daily in hot weather. Scrub birdbaths with a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water when they begin to appear scummy, or about every 10 days to two weeks, to prevent algae growth. Be sure to rinse them thoroughly before refilling.