Things I Learned the Hard Way

1. Everything
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C.A.S.E. or Copy and Share Everything

I learned this lovely acronym at Stamp Camp. My teacher said it was from www.splitcoaststampers.com, a wonderful site to get ideas for paper crafting. My teacher retired from school-teaching about 10 years ago. Just before she finished, she was introduced to Stamping Up, a home-sales company for rubber stamps, inks, papers, and other supplies for paper crafting. Since then she has made a wonderful stamp camp studio in her basement. The usual drill is that about 9-12 ladies gather around and she shows us each project. The sample and materials for each are on a tray. Once she has demonstrated them all, she turns us loose! After about 2 or 3 hours of controlled chaos, we each come away with 5 or 6 completed items. The pictures are my finished projects from three seperate camps.

What I especially enjoy is seeing the final results. Even though we all start with the same ingredients, each person puts their own spin on things, so they are all slightly different. I've also learned that you can cover a multitude of sins with sponging and glitter!

Get 'Er Done!!!

I read a suggestion somewhere about reading the chapter in Proverbs that coincides with the day of the month. My efforts are hit and miss, but yesterday was a hit. Low and behold, what did I read but God's version of "Get 'Er Done", my uncle's favorite saying. (Which, by the way, he was saying years before Larry the Cable Guy made his catchphrase popular." Anyhow, here it is:

Proverbs 14:23 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Makes me think of my uncle's other favorite saying also: "Less talk, more work"!

Couldn't have been more timely, since my plan was to take the AM off from work and finish painting our front porch before the cold weather set in. We put the first coat on over the weekend, so round two didn't take long. I was helped along by some good tunes on the CD player, pointed out the window, and supervised by Little Man, who meowed encouragingly and kept a close eye on all the proceedings. The side tree did its best to fling leaves into the wet paint, but in the end, I got 'er done!!!

Sweet Contentment

This week I enjoyed listening to the CD "Love in the Ruins" by Lianna Klassen. She has an angelic voice and deeply inspiring lyrics. Here's a song that really spoke to me:

Sweet Contentment
words and music by Lianna Klassen

There's a place of sweet contentment
But that place is a harder journey than it seems
and the journey is a mystery
'til Messiah, He lights the way for eyes to see
and though I'm as a child
and quickly lose my way
I know that place of sweet contentment
grows closer everyday.

And the character I'm building on this journey we call Life
Is the Character that gives me hope and that it'll be alright
and the hope I find in Jesus, is the hope of better things
So I will wait in sweet contentment, for the next step that He brings.

In that place of sweet contentment
The Father, he whispers gently in our ear
But on the journey to contentment
and through the breaking , His voice it shouts loud and clear
Oh the pain that I have known
Has brought me closer still
To that place of sweet contentment
In brokeness fulfilled.

And the character I'm building on this journey we call Life
Is the Character that gives me hope and that it'll be alright
and the hope I find in Jesus, is the hope of better things
So I will wait in sweet contentment, for the next step that He brings.

The song notes include this quote from C. S. Lewis: God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

www.liannaklassen.com

Who Knew? #2

And now for something completely different!

In an attempt to find an easier way to cook bacon, I stumbled across the oven baking method. Here it is:

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Fit a cooling rack into the sheet. Arrange bacon slices on the rack in a single layer. Place the pan into the oven and heat to 400 degrees. When the oven tells you it’s preheated, start checking the bacon - it should be done about five minutes after the oven reaches 400 degrees.

I got this information from http://jessthomson.wordpress.com

Little Man's father tried this yesterday AM while I was still snoring, and the results are WONDERFUL!!! He ended up cooking it a little longer than the 5 minutes, and then just turned the oven off and left the bacon in there until we sat down to breakfast. The slices where flat and crispy and delicious!

Who Knew? #1

A loved one of Little Man has been diagnosed as being unable to absorb the vitamin B-12. This individual is being treated with a series of B-12 shots, plus is taking hig dose B-12 pills. Already an improvement is felt, but what is amazing is the range of symptoms that this condition will cause. Type "pernicious anemia" into google to read all about it. I've written that to say this: when you have a routine blood test done, ask to have your B-12 levels checked! It is something that is not mentioned much, but has a huge effect if they are out of whack.