God's Word for Today

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Bunny Watch 2011 ~ Day Five

Well unless there is one tucked up underneath by my count we have three baby bunnies. They appear to be doing just fine. I make one trip out a day to give them a visit but otherwise have been leaving them alone. I figure the less human interaction the better.

But they are just so sweet to look at. The little one in the top of the frame is kind of giving his sibling a “stop touching me” nudge as they nestle down in there warm little space.

Now all I have to do if find out how long baby bunnies take to leave their nest.

Anybody know?

Blessings

R

Monday, June 27, 2011

Bunny Watch 2011 ~ Day Three

Well as I continue to pray over the small nest of bunnies in my back yard they seem to be doing OK. I consulted with a veterinarian friend of mine yesterday at church and he told me that kitten food is acceptable to feed baby rabbits should the need arise. Let’s just hope that the need will not arise. Last night we had a horrible thunderstorm along with torrents of rain that soaked the backyard for over an hour and I grew concerned for our tiny backyard residents. Well this morning when I made my way out to the flower bed to check on our little interlopers they seemed no worse for the ware. They were safe, dry and from all appearances well cared for. They had gotten a good bit bigger. As you can see from the video they are nice and fuzzy now and moving around a lot more.

I can only surmise that since they are still alive and kicking that mommy bunny is around somewhere and making regular visits to her nest. I have not seen her but then I think she may do most of her care giving after the sun goes down.

The nest was originally a bit difficult to find as mommy bunny has camouflaged it very well.

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I have a small stick on the ground right next to the nest so I can gently move the ground cover and bunny fluff away to have a look!

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Needles to say Buster is still a bit obsessed and doing his best Elmer Fudd impression of Kill the Wabbit, but so far we have managed to keep him away for the nest. We have set up the chain lead in the back yard so he can at least make the occasional trip outside to do his business. This internal imprisonment is not making the DD happy due to the increased amount of walks she must take the dog on…..poor baby!

Just look at the difference!

Day One! Saturday

Day Three – Monday

So the bunny watch continues.

My backyard garden may be in for an invasion very soon….

Blessings

R

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Project 365 ~ Week 26

Hey there! I can’t believe it actual have a picture every day this week. It’s a miracle! So let’s get at it shall we!

Sunday, June 19

Last week  I told you all about the DD being gone with the youth choir. Well they came home and Sunday was their Homecoming Concert at church! They did so good y’all! The DD is almost hidden from view, but she is tucked in on the second row on the left. They did several songs but this one has always been one of my favorites. Technically not a picture but I just wanted to share this song with y’all!

Monday, June 20

Ask and you shall receive. I was contemplating add a few more classic novels to my reading list and I was at the Goodwill and I hit the jackpot . Two Charles Dickens novels plus Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I recently saw the mini series and I have been wanting to read the book….

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Tuesday, June 21

I finished another Prayer Shawl on Tuesday morning.

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Then Skoots1mom and I came back to my house and we made sushi for lunch!

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Wednesday, June 22

The green beans were ready to pick.

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Thursday, June 23

The Crepe Myrtles are blooming in the back yard!

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My corn is nearly as tall as me!

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Friday, June 24

From my back yard garden to my table, fresh green beans, fresh cucumber’s sliced up and marinated just like grandma used to do and a sliced tomato. It just doesn't get any better than this!

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Saturday, June 25

Well after our traumatic Kill the Wabbit episode on Saturday morning it was necessary to hold a small rabbit funeral. We opted to intern our small casualty in the front yard to insure that it in fact remained buried. Clearly the DD is holding in her grief over this tragic loss. She is the picture of compassion don’t y’all think!

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Well that’s it for me this week. For more P365 y’all head over to Sara’s and link up!

Blessings

R

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit, kill the waaaaaabbbbbbiiiiitttttt! A Quiet Saturday morning with Be Still and Know!

So there I was enjoying the peace and quiet of my house on this fine Saturday morning. The Hubs and DD were still asleep! I was about to to spend a few moments savoring my first cup of coffee. I let my sweet Buster out for his morning constitutional and I sit down to check the ol facebook page and maybe do a bit of blog hopping. In a few minutes I see something out of the corner of my eye. It’s my wonderful furry child bounding around the back yard with something unfamiliar in his mouth.

So there I am in my blue stripped seersucker bathrobe and my orange garden shoes that skoots1mom had given me running around my back yard trying to croaks to dog into dropping whatever it is he had decided makes a wonderful play thing. The normal enticement were of little interest, he would not be distracted, even his ever faithful tennis ball would make him drop his prize.

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I resorted to the one and only thing that I knew would get his attention! A very firm “Buster Crate!” This did the trick and he immediately dropped his prize tucked his tail and and headed for the back door. I herded him into his crate and hastily went out to the back yard to have a closer look at his prized possession. I will spare you the gory details but let just say that thankfully the sweet new born bunny did not live very long after it’s morning romp with my precious puppy.

I gave the back yard the once over trying to determine where he had retrieved this tiny little creature from with no success. I then removed the small little casualty for a proper burial.

A little while later when the hubs and DD had finally awoken we were out in he back yard enjoying a second cup when all of a sudden Buster leads us directly to his wabbit stash. He snatched a second play thing out of the nest and we quickly pounced upon him and gently placed the infant safely back in the nest with it’s sibling.

Y’all mommy bunny had set up house right in my herb garden.

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I guess she felt at home given the open invitation extended by my garden statuary!

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As we discussed our dilemma, the hubs points out the bunny spotting from the night before! We were all about to settle in to watch a movie last night when the hubs call us over to the dinning room window. He had spotted a bunny hopping along the side of the house next door. We stood for a moment to see if we would catch a glimpse of him. We could see it’s little ears poking out being the neighbors AC unit. Having never spotted a rabbit in the neighborhood before I have to assume that the offspring left in my flowerbed belongs to our long eared friend we spotted last night.

Given the very small size of the babies I suspect that she found her spot last night and gave birth. We have banished Buster from the back yard until we can figure out a solution.

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Buster has been less that enthusiastic about his imprisonment and it has been a running episode of the Looney Tunes cartoon as he whines and whines to be let out in the back yard so he can continue making friends with his new neighbors.

Y’all pray that momma bunny comes back and that our sweet little babies will be OK!

Blessings

R

Friday, June 24, 2011

Friday Fav Five

As weeks go it has been a relatively good one. So I thought it would join in on a bit of recognition of some of the good things this week!

1. Tuesday I finished up and turned in a prayer shawl, it is always a wonderful sense of completion to tie off the last know and fold it up and add it to the pile.

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2. Sushi and good friends. Just spending time with one of my besties and having fun learning something new was a hoot and we got to enjoy the final result over lunch. Click here to see the full post!

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3. Wednesday morning I spent a lovely few moments out in my garden very early in the morning. The only time time to work in the garden down in the south is before 9:30 am or it’s just get to darn hot. Well I grabbed my picking basket and and gloves and headed out the the back yard and as I opened the door I realized that there was a very light morning shower going on. It was a wonderful peaceful few moments as I knelt in the garden gently picking green beans from the vine listening the the rain. It was wonderful feeling the cool droplets lightly hitting my back and arms.

4. With summer being in full swing I am watching the DD had off to all sorts of fun activities. Choir tour a few weeks ago, youth bible study on Wednesday evening and last night they went to Stone Mountain for the laser show. I think my favorite  things about this is just the sense of joy I get at watching her enjoy being with her friends and watching her come into herself. Her desire to be in a Christ centered environment is such a blessing to my heart.

Lastly 5. It isn’t summer until I have a few of these in my frig. The cucumbers are coming in y’all and every time I slice them up I think about my grandma!

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It’s good every once and a while to stop and think of the simple things that make your week. I hope everyone is starting off there summer with some fun time and some cool breezes!

If you want to take a peek at some of the other Fav Five’s then head over to Susanne’s at Living To Tell The Story and link up!

Blessings

R

Thursday, June 23, 2011

the holy seed will be the stump in the land

In my quiet time a few days ago I found myself in Isaiah. I think it is one of my all time favorite books. It is so full of God’s promise and it gives us a very clear picture of just how much God loves us.

However even with God’s unfathomable love there comes consequences if choices are made to live outside of His plan. I know I have lived outside of God’s plan many times in my life. It’s human nature to think we can come up with a better one. It’s human nature to want to listen to our sinful side. Listening to the world is so very easy. Isaiah heard God’s voice so very clearly. There are times when I would wish for that clarity, but then I know that with that clarity comes the reality of what happen next.

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

   And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

And I said “Here am I. Send me!” Those are very powerful words when spoken, even more powerful if you really mean them. I know there have been a few time in my life where I have really felt that God was calling me into an area of service. It was a bit scary but the obedience required was over shadowed by the very real an insistent nudging I felt in my heart to answer the call.

I can only imagine how Isaiah must have felt when God sent him out to preach this message to his chosen people. I can inflect a bit of my own opinion here and feel God’s frustration. He does not say “Go and tell “my” people” who, myself included, has not used this popular distancing technique at the end of the day when the hubs walks through the door, “Well your child did….”

9 He said, “Go and tell this people:

   “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
   be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
   make their ears dull
   and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
   hear with their ears,
   understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”

God’s chosen people, this people, had stepped off the path and they had become so calloused an accepting of the world around them that they no longer could recognize the truth of God. They were ever seeing, but sadly they were also never perceiving. The other difficult concept is that God gave them over to their sinful nature. He closed their ears and their eyes so that even if they wanted to turn and be healed they would not be allowed to.

The question I always ask myself is how does this apply to me and my life today. What do the actions of the Israelites thousands of years ago have to do with me today? What examples can I find around me that line up with this lesson?

I am trying to keep this as real as I can so here goes!

How many television shows have I watched that promote concepts and lifestyles that are directly opposite from what God's word tells me is right. In essence I am ever hearing but never understanding and ever seeing but never perceiving. The solution for me is not an easy one. I have had to go in and delete some of my long time favorite show off the DVR.

It’s a gradual process to be desensitized to what is acceptable. It’s a gradual process of what I have always done, watched on television and learning how to do something different. It is also a sacrifice to deny the sinful nature of what the world wants to put before me in favor of what I know to be true, noble, right, pure or lovely. (PHL 4:8) My sinful nature wants the steamy, the gruesome and the naughty because the sinful side speaks very loudly.

However God’s word always prevails and God is always more satisfying than any momentary pleasure that comes from indulging my sinful nature. Plus there are no lasting or difficult consequences to endure as a result of indulging my sinful nature.

The other fact that I must not miss is the opportunity for redemption. Isaiah asks a very important question. What child has not asked “Are we there yet?” or “How much longer do I have to do this?” or the favorite in the home of any parent of a teenager “How long will I be grounded?”

I ask it all the time. “How long O Lord, How long?”

11 Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?”

God’s answered may not seem very hopeful at first glance.

   And he answered:

   “Until the cities lie ruined
   and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
   and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away
   and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
   it will again be laid waste.

But as the terebinth and oak
   leave stumps when they are cut down,
   so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

I have not been able to get this image out of my mind.

The image of a stump jutting out of the dusty ruined land surrounded by the devastation of the invading armies. The Israelites had been hauled off into captivity and there was nothing left but ruin and stumps.

Have you ever been pruned so much you felt like a tree stump sawed off to the very ground?

Have you ever been a witness to someone else's pruning and wondered when they will finally get the message?

I know in my life there have been many many, many, many times that I truly felt my life resembled a barren wasteland with a tree that had been pruned right down to the ground. Sometimes the trimming comes from God’s heavenly pruning shears, they are sharp and very painful. Other times circumstances beyond my control wreak havoc in my life and I feel completely stripped down to nothing. Utterly forsaken, those are powerful and descriptive words.

But what I try to focus on is the fact that God will always be faithful to provide a way out, through or around (1 COR 10:13) just like He did for the Israelites. After the divine justice was metered out, after God’s people had been cut down to stumps and laid waste there was the hope in the Holy Seed! The shoot off the stump of Jesse.  (ISA 11:1) Our Savior, Jesus!

In those times when I am feeling like a stump jutting out of the ground surrounded by ruin and wasteland I remember that from the stump comes new life.

I look back on the lessons I have learned from my garden. When I prune my Rose of Sharon and only when I prune them will I get the beautiful blossoms each summer.

I am enjoying them every day and I can defiantly attest to the need for regular pruning.

Will there ever be a time in my life when I will no longer require pruning?

Probably not.

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Am I thankful for the hope of the holy seed. Absolutely!

Blessings

R

 

Philippians 4:8

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

1 Corinthians 10:13

13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Isaiah 11:1
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
   from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I see, You See…Skoots1mom and Me Made Sushi!

I was inspired by Sara over at Make Music From Your Heart To The Lord. She had a Sushi Party at her house a few weeks ago. It looked like so much fun and since I love sushi I asked the popular Be Still and Know question: How hard Could It Be?

Y’all it was super fun and not very hard. The most difficult thing about the whole thing was actually making the rice and that was not hard just a bit more time consuming that making regular rice, but still very easy. It is a bit ingredient heavy but still it was well worth the effort to do all the prep work and y’all the end result was really good!

On Saturday I made a trip to my ever popular H-Mart for some authentic sushi ingredients. I spent just under $30.00 and I have enough sesame seeds to last me the rest of my life, the sushi mat’s are reusable and the rice and vinegar will last me a long time as well. So all total if I had to guess I would say that maybe we had $10.00 tallied up in ingredients for enough sushi to feed 4 folks!

You can’t beat that!

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I got the cucumbers and peppers out of my garden.

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About 20 minutes to get it all prepped!

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We were ready to roll’em up!

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Step one, roll up a small ball of rice.

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Pat out evenly over the nori.

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Sprinkle with sesame seeds

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Flip over onto sushi mat.

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Load it up with whatever filling you want. Not to much though!

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Tuck and roll pressing firmly and then continue to roll until the sushi is formed and snugly together.

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Using very sharp knife cut into 6 or 8 equal pieces. These were my fist attempt!

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Skoots1mom rolled up these!

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Y’all for the very first time we did this I would call this a HUGE success! We sat down and enjoyed ourselves so much. It was just to GOOD!

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Y’all it was really good!

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You can bet we will be doing this again and again and again!

That’s one thing crossed off my Bucket List: Part Two! Learn to make sushi…CHECK!

Blessings

R

Monday, June 20, 2011

Look at the birds of the air….

I talk about my grandmother all the time here on my blog.  I was truly blessed to have wonderful grandparents. I have so many sweet memories of my grandmother but it occurred to me that I have not said much about my grandfather. I remember so many things about him. He passed away many years ago. He was a big man with an even bigger nose. I remember as a child begin fascinated by his gigantic nose. Is seemed to fill up my entire hand.

One of his favorite things was bird watching. I think my appreciation of watching God’s special feathered creatures must come from him. I remember the excitement in his voice when a cardinal would come up to the feeder mounted outside the window in the breakfast nook. He would get so excited and point “Look and the red bird!” he would say! He kept a big fat book tucked behind the toaster that sat on the table and if a bird came up to the feeder that he did not know he would snatch the book out and begin to flip through the pages.

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When we were in Hawaii especially when we were on the Big Island I saw so many different kinds of birds. Each morning I would take the lap top out to the table on the patio and try to get an internet connection, most times I just sat there waiting but while I drank my coffee and had my breakfast. The internet was HORRIBLE!

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But is did provide me with a wonderful bird watching opportunity. I had so much fun y’all! They were very bold and unafraid of people and I suspect that many visitors to this condo had made a regular habit of making sure the food supply was abundant. This is the feamale, themale was a bit more elusive and did not wish to have his picture taken, I treid but he was less than coorporative!

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This little guy with the read head was by far the most friendly and the most brave, however the cardinals were equally unafraid.

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One morning I was outside quietly drinking my coffee and my sweet little red head flew over and landed right on the table just a few inches from me. He looked at me gave me a little birdie tweet as if to say “Well don’t just sit there whatcha got to eat?”

Not wanting to disappoint I went in search of a few tid-bit’s and my camera to see if I could get a picture of this bold red head.

Y’all I was sitting right there at the table. He did this almost every morning.

Y’all there had to be about a dozen or so of these bright yellow birds. They would gather on the grass right outside the patio and just nip at the grass and then all take off into the air all at the same time. It was like a flying yellow ribbon in the sky!

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Gotta love the bird’s y’all!

Matthew 6:26

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Project 365 ~ Week 25

Hey there y’all! Well it was a good week as weeks go. The evil fairies were at bay and the hormonal rollercoaster was on a decline so I am claiming success for at least a little while any way! I actually have some pictures to show y’all this week!

So let’s get at it!

Sunday, June 12

We sent the girl child off on choir tour today! They were headed to Mobile, Alabama for their first stop then on to Katy, Texas, then on to San Antonio and then back home again!

This is my DD and her gal pals…happy faces looking forward to a good week!

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What this meant was…I was going to have the entire week all to myself. The hubs had informed me that he had to go out of town for business for the entire week as well! Awwww jeee wizzz….. a whole week all to myself…what was I going to do with myself!!!!

the answer…WHAT. EVER. I. WANTED!

Monday, June 13

Well my week to myself got off to a rather rocky start. The very first thing I ended up doing was taking my sweet Buster to the vet. I am not sure how he did it but he managed to nearly rip out one of his doggie nails. It took me about an hour of chasing him around and crawling under tables and around on my hand and knees before I finally figure out what the problem was. He was not a happy puppy and the nail was jutting out sideways from the side of his foot. Can you say painful!!!!!!!!

Well they had to cut the nail off at the quick, you know the little curly nail that is up on the side of the foot. Well they gave him some pain meds and some antibiotics and sent him home.

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Y’all he was one pathetic little puppy. Limping and hopping around. I looked around to see where he had settled and he was not in any of his usual spots. He never does this y’all but he had crawled into his crate and had curled up and gone to sleep.

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I think this is sending a clear message…he was done with folks trying to touch his foot!

Tuesday,  June14

The Prayer Shawl Ministry has begun holding morning meetings during the summer. Given that I had the entire week to myself I told myself that if I got up early that morning then I would get my ducks in a row and head up to the church to have some fellowship time and work on my latest project.

I just love the earthy colors y’all!

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I also had an ulterior motive as I wanted to make a trip to the Wal-Mart to get photograph albums. I had bought some prints from snap fish and I was eager to get them into an album. Easy, right? Well not so much. Do you think they had even one photograph album at Wal-Mart…that would be a BIG NO! I eventually found them at Hobby Lobby. I guess with the popularity of digital photos the demand for actual photograph albums is not a high priority. After searching the Hobby Lobby I eventually found a very small cardboard kiosk out in the isle with a very small selection of photo albums.After sorting thought their meager selection I came home with three red one that will coordinate with the red ones I have been working on here at home.

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One of the things I try to do when I find myself with uninterrupted time on my hands is to work on those project that you just never have time to do, like working on the photograph albums. I got the Hawaii album finished…yea for me!

Wednesday, June15

The next day I finished up the Yellowstone album. I then moved on to the ongoing photograph album project. Now don’t we all have those photograph albums that we have had for 20 years. The ones that have the old yellow pages and really need to be transferred to the new acid free albums. One of the things I have learned as I have transferred some half a dozen albums into new ones is a concept that was foreign to me as a new mom… EDIT, EDIT, EDIT.

Does anyone really want to sit and look though every single picture ever taken. I guess I figure since I paid for all the prints then I needed to put them into an album. Y’all I had about 20 blurry pictures of my son learning how to swim, some of the picture you could not even see him only a small blurry splash, well needless to say I have condensed down a lot of my pictures. I think I finally have all the really old albums replaced with new ones. I still have one or two that may need to be replaced in a few more years but most of them are all holding up very well.

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It was good to finally finish up with a very long running project.

Thursday, June 16

This falls under the category of a big giant duh!

Since I was working on my photograph albums I think I just had pictures on the brain. I took the time to do a bit of sorting of my pictures on the computer as well. I should have done this all along but I guess sometime my old brain synapse aren't firing on all thrusters if ya know what I mean. I now have all my pictures in separate folders sorted by the year they were taken in instead of having to scroll down through 7 years worth of daily folders.

“Momma always says stupid is as stupid does…”

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I love Project 365 but it does add up in the folder department! This has been much easier!

No pictures on Friday, June 17 ooooppppps!

Saturday, June 18

Back at the end of may I posted about the pineapple demonstration I saw when we were on Oahu. The lady who did the demonstration said that it would take about four months for the crown to begin to sprout. Well….it's been about three weeks.

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Well I don’t know about you but I’d call those roots wouldn't you?

As soon as I can get my ducks in a row and get a suitable pot this bad boy is going in the dirt.

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Well that does it for me for this week. For more P365 y’all head over to Sara’s and link up!

Blessings

R

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