Friday Night Fun

I enjoyed an evening out with my hubby last night.  Good food -- and loved the uninterrupted time together.  And yes, I had dessert, though not first as one of you had recommended.  ***Red velvet cake with cream cheese icing***  It came in a teeny tiny skinny cup, like a mini parfait of sorts -- the perfect sweet ending to a meal.  I'm glad we made the time to do something special together.  We don't do it often enough.

Of course, we always end a "dinner out" with a walk at the mall to burn just a few of the calories -- and there may or may not have been some B&BW candle-buying involved.  (Can you say GREAT SALE?)

I may or may not be sitting here soaking in the smell of Island Nectar...I'm just sayin'.

The pond-that-is-not-really-a-pond in our backyard is creeping ever closer to our patio.  It seems there is no end in sight for this rain.

Except the SNOW forecasted for tomorrow, that is.  (heavy sigh)

I hope all of you are safe and sound and dry -- on high ground.  Enjoy the weekend.

What are your big plans?

"My Husband Rocks" Friday ~ 2

This morning as my hubby kissed me good-bye and walked out the door, he turned around and said, "So, do you want to go out for dinner tonight?"  What?  A real date?

Have you ever just been too sensible for your own good?  Since we'd be taking kids to Bible studies tonight (two different locations), our dinner out would take place at around... 8pm.  While I realize that many people stylishly eat out after eight, it's not usually our thing-- and so I hemmed and hawed, and said, "Dontcha think that's kind of late to eat dinner?"  My husband's response?  Disappointment.  And I sent him off to work.

And it's been gnawing on me ever since.  It's one dinner.  Live a little.  For crying out loud.

So I just sent him a message: "Yes!"

Predictably (he's such a comic), he pretended that he didn't know what I was talking about.  However, seconds later, a plan was in place.  P.F.Changs, here we come!  My husband rocks.  I love it when he make a special effort to spend time with just me.

What restaurant do you & your husband choose

when you get an evening out?

Love these beautiful lanterns at P.F.Changs!

It has come to my attention that the "My Husband Rocks" idea isn't really rockin' over at "The Great Adventure" blog anymore-- so....I'm not going to link up.  In effect, I've been linking up to nothing....sorry about that.  There's gotta be somebody out there who is participating, though -- because, HOW ON EARTH did I find out about this?  Wish I could remember the source.  If you google it, it looks like an "old" idea.  Still -- I think it's a good one!

Is It Soup Yet?

My friend lost her job yesterday - along with about 15 other friends and acquaintances.  She called me to tell me before I heard from anyone else.  She ended up comforting me.  She told me she knew she would be okay because I, her friend, would make her SOUP.  I'm not sure what that had to do with anything -- except that maybe it means she reads my posts about loving soup and figures it will always be on hand around here in case she's in need of a good meal.  Also -- it made us laugh.  I told her that I would make her soup, or whatever else she asked for.

I know my friend - all of them, actually - will be fine.  They all trust in God, and will look to him for direction for the future.  But - I still had a sick feeling in my stomach all day -- the same feeling I had on a Wednesday in 2005 when my husband walked through the back door in the middle of the day.  He too, had been downsized.  We've been through it, and lived to tell.

From my perspective, there are more good memories about that jobless almost-twenty-months than bad.

1.  It stretched our faith - big time!  We were at the end of ourselves, and all we knew to do was to trust God!
2.  It made us think carefully through every reaction - because our children were watching.  It was an amazing opportunity to teach them about trust and faith.
3.  We had a lot more family time together.
4.  It made us appreciate our family and friends more.  They were there at every turn along the way encouraging us, supporting us, and sharing what they had -- or what we needed.
5.  It made us understand this phrase from The Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread."  It doesn't mean that God lays a storehouse in front of us.  It means he gives us just what we need for each day.  Nothing less. (There was the day that I made a menu plan, and intended to go grocery shopping for the items I needed.  Before I could shop, my mom showed up with bags of groceries -- including the things that had been on my list!)
6.  It made us pay attention to the hand of God, and how He was working.

One day (when it was all over) a friend asked me, "How did you ever get through that time?"  We had been talking about monetary issues -- so I knew what she was referring to.  My answer was: by the grace of God.  We didn't have any big plan... we were scared, and clueless.  But God was not surprised by any of it.  He put people in our path providing us with the things we needed along the way.  It was as simple as that.

I will forever be grateful:
* to God - for his leading
* to our family and friends for their care
* for the lessons we learned along the way - like the TRUTH in these verses:

"I can do all things through Christ,

who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.

(Proverbs 3:5,6)

Hope Springs Eternal

So, with the rains, the snow has gradually melted away.  The biggest piles still remain, of course.  The air is very cold -- but there is something about being able to see the grass again, and having the sun out that makes you hope for springtime!  Today is that day.  I did a circle around our house and yard, and found these few bits of green.  It's so amazing to me that they are here -- after just being completely covered by snow less than a week ago.  What a mighty God we serve.  How amazing is his creation?  How awesome is it that He shares these bits of green with us long before the due season -- just to give us hope!

Sweet Woodruff ground cover

Daffodils! (and incredibly...weeds!)

Love this bright green mound of moss!

And would you believe -- strawberries!

This time of year is filled with wonder for me.  I love to "follow" all the little buds as they develop, and snap lots of pictures along the way.  One of my favorite things to photograph is flowers.  (You never have to ask them to sit still or smile!)  Start looking for little bits of springtime!  See how they encourage you!  Maybe you've already seen signs.  What have you found at your house?

Check this out. (Love it!)

Speaking of green:  Check out these re-usable canvas gift bags at in2Green.com.  Use them over & over for gift-giving.  Now that's a good idea.  As much as I like a pretty gift, it kills me to think how much I spend on wrappings when they only get torn off and destroyed or disposed of.

December Daily ~ Days 23-25 (Really!)

Well, I cannot believe that I am just now finishing up my December Daily album.  I must say that the whole process got overlooked at the end of the year, and into the new year -- too much going on, I guess.  My goal was to have it done before the end of January, but that came and went.  New goal: end of February - that's TODAY (as I write this).  At this point I've, admittedly, lost interest.  I can definitely see the benefit of keeping up with it day by day - so that this procrastinating doesn't happen.  (I can procrastinate with the best of them.  Including right now when I am writing blog-text instead of finishing up December 23rd.)

Would I do this again?  Definitely.

Would I do a December Daily every year?  Maybe, but not necessarily.  (I wish I would've known about this project when our kids were little!)
Something I learned for "everyday" scrapbooking?  The use of baseball card page protectors.  This is a great way to include lots of pictures without having to figure out a layout to include them all.  Love this idea for close-ups of people too!  Good way to use pictures of people, but crop out all the distractions.
The problem with procrastinating?  I lost my momentum on the journaling.  A lot is taken for granted in these last pages which totally lack for journaling.  I regret that.  I'm thinking that I may add a page of holiday journaling at the end.

This year, I was on a budget.  I didn't have a lot of extra money to put into this project, so I worked with what I had.  If I did the project again, I would love to spend money on more "fun" papers, and get a different look.

I still love the classy album I chose from We R Memory Keepers.  I found it at Archiver's, and used a coupon!  I'm actually thinking about using this album for all my scrapbooks.  The jury is still out on that one...

And now, without further delay -- here are the last of the pages...  December 23, 24, and 25th.

Ho, Ho, Ho.

December 23rd

 

(left)

 (right)

Christmas Eve

(left)

(right)

Christmas Day

(left)

I knew there would be lots of photos from Christmas Day
- so I added a baseball card page protector here as well.

 (insert front)

 (insert back)

(right)