Be Still and Know...Then and Now

of the World Bloggers Award Why do y’all blog? I know for me I started out not really knowing what all this blogging things was about. I was curious and I just want to find out more about it. Not to mention the concept of expressing myself through the written word, which holds great appeal to me. What I did not anticipate was the unique opportunities that blogger have every day to encourage, to laugh, to share, to spend a few minutes visiting with other blogging pals. I was not expecting to develop friendships with folks all over the country. I like that about blogging. It broadens your horizons in way that I just was not prepared for. Basically I feel like I know all y’all and most of you I have never even met. I think that very cool! Some weeks my blog is as dry as a bone, there are weeks when I  am filled to the brim, overflowing with things to share, insights to pass along. Other days I am just trying to resist the urge to strangle my beloved 17 year old with the cord to...

Some weeks ya got it and some weeks ya don’t! This week I had an unexpected boost of energy and several opportunities to put my creative juices to use.  Monday, July 23 Monday I canned a few tomatoes. I really did not have that many, however no one else in my family likes fresh tomatoes….I have wondered for a long time what is wrong with them! But I continue to love them any way regardless of this HUGE flaw in the taste buds! After struggling for several years trying to grow successful tomatoes for what ever reason this year I actually had some limited success. I only had enough tomatoes for four small jars but I have been wanting to try canning tomatoes for a long time and just never had enough to give it a go. It was a bit labor intensive for such a small amount but you work with what ya got sometimes! Tuesday, July 24 Are good friends the best or what! Skoots1mom scored these FREE chairs the other day in her daily thrifting rounds. YES I said FREE! They were being tossed ...

We were driving home last night from church. We had a wonderful supper. I got to see my son and his family. Anytime I get to spend some time around the table with Muffinhead and crew is wonderful. The conversation after dinner was equally pleasant. It was a good night! On the way home I had a moment of clarity. It was like the heavens parted and God filled up the car and said “Robin, Honey…you just need to let this one go! No matter what you say it is going to be WRONG and it is going in one 16 year old ear and right out the other!” My experience with my son at 16 was very different. His interests leaned towards electric guitars, rock and roll, mayhem and basically doing the exact opposite of whatever we told him to do. He was a whirling dervish of rebellion and chaos all rolled into a handsome blonde curly head with devastating blue eyes. Teenage girls are a different animal. Our conversation on the way home went something like this. The names have been changed to protect the priv...

I’m nearly done with all the pre-vacation prep work, all I have to do now is put the cloths actually in the suit case and then I am planning a little pre vacation papering this morning with a mani-pedi!!! Yea for me! So here’s the thing….. Skoots1mom is going to be camping out with my DD for a few days while we are on vacation! Is she the best or what??? HUGE AWESOMNESS and beyond thankful for her is all I can say! So in the spirit of friendship and because she really deserves it I got the guest room all fixed up. It was in sad shape. Isn’t it always the way of things that you usually put off till tomorrow until there is a real necessity! Like she could sleep in there with it like this!!!!!! So this is the before……..   and this is the AFTER… I purchased a new soft fleecy green blanket, two new bed pillows and a bed side lamp…all total I think I spent a little over $40.00! Not to bad for whipping up a guest room if I do say so myself! Please disregard the attractive ironin...

Just for Skoots1mom , but all y’all can enjoy it too! Enjoy R

We've talked about families, so it seems only natural that we should talk about the friends we had when we were growing up! Who was your first friend? One of the first friends I can remember was a girl named Donna. She and her mom and brother lived in the apartment below us. They were in a very similar situation to ours. Donna and I were the same age and we both had younger siblings. We were both growing up in homes with no fathers present. Our rooms were directly under each other and in the summer time we would leave our windows open, we had an elaborate system of passing notes and other thing back and forth. We had constructed a small basket made out of popsicle sticks and tied a string to the handle. We would lowered this basket back and forth between the windows. We would lay in our beds and carry one long dreamy handwritten conversation long after the lights were turned off over what our wedding would be like. What our apartments would one day look like. Wh...

We all get them, the endless string of email's.... forward this to 10 of your friends and something wonderful will happen to you in the next 30 minutes or don't break this email chain or the world will come to and end and it will be your fault. Sometimes I read them and sometimes I hit the old delete button.  Well this one made me laugh and I wanted to share it will all my blogging friends. Feel free to share this with all your girlfriends!!!!!!! ****** Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of True Friendship. You WON'T see cutesy little smiley faces on this  Just the stone cold truth  of our great friendship. 1. When you are sad, I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!!  2. When you are blue, I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.  3. When you smile,  I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.  4. When you're scared, we will high tai...

I have had the opportunity to wait with friends in hospital waiting rooms on several occasions. However as I sat with friends and family members yesterday we were pleasantly surprises with the arrival of a woman pushing an interesting looking cart. My curiosity was piqued as I saw her approaching awkwardly maneuvering her cart. Upon this cart she had a small harp. It was anchored in place with what appeared to be a bicycle rack and jutting up from the base was a music stand made from what looked like an odd assortment of plumbing apparatuses. I comment to a friend that it rather looked like an invention from a Dr. Seuss story book. She took a few short moments to properly position her self and her harp and then began to play. We continued to share conversation and wait for the surgery to be over, but there was the wonderful undertones of the soothing harp music playing in the back ground. I thought to myself that this was a rather a unique experience, the harp music turned what can be ...

(Sing with me people…….) I could while away the hours, conferrin ' with the flowers Consultin ' with the rain. And my head I'd be scratchin ' while my thoughts were busy hatchin ' If I only had a brain. I'd unravel every riddle for any individ'le , In trouble or in pain. With the thoughts you'll be thinkin ' you could be another Lincoln If you only had a brain. Oh, I could tell you why The ocean's near the shore. I could think of things I never thunk before. And then I'd sit, and think some more. I would not be just a nothin ' my head all full of stuffin ' My heart all full of pain. I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a- derry , If I only had a brain. Not only is this one of my favorite movies, it is now for the next several hours my personal theme song. So proceed with caution for the operator of this blog is officially no longer in possession of a working brain. Sadly I may look like a very normal person from all outwa...

She was 99 years old. A beautiful and bright smile met me most every Sunday. I entered the sanctuary with expectation of her presence. There she would sit second row back on the lectern side. She and I were pew buddies. I would enter the sanctuary and place my things in the floor beneath the pew and turn and there she would be sitting. Wise in her years, warm and loving with her smile. Her small and fragile hands bent with the years would lift to grasp mine in a greeting. I would lean down and embrace her, I can still smell the familiar scent that was Miss Pepper. She would at times reach up and place her hands upon my cheeks and look into my face. You knew that she loved you, I knew that she loved me. I will miss her more that words can express. As sometimes happens the flesh is weak, her body failed her and the years began to take there toll. I would enter the sanctuary and find her place empty. Her loved ones would report the changes and decline in heath and mobility that simply mad...