Thankful Thursday

Funny thing... last night I woke up thinking... oh no, I missed Thursday again! Then I realized that it WAS Thursday morning, not night. Hahaha.


Wow... so much to be thankful for!

I'm thankful for my daughter, and the joy she brings me each time I see her. She's learning new things. Her eyes look so intelligent to me, and it makes me smile each time she smiles. Oh, she's almost rolling onto her tummy now! She was soooo close yesturday!

I'm thankful for our video camera we got for Christmas in 2007. I have it out so I can capture those moments for my husband to see later on. He's working so much that he misses out on a lot of what our daughter is doing.

I'm thankful that I don't need a job outside the home... I can stay home with my baby and raise her and watch her grow instead of having her at daycare for someone else to raise. Not that daycare is bad... I just prefer having her to myself... I'm selfish that way (smile).

I'm thankful for Flying. My sink is shiny, my meals are finally being planned (why did it take so long for me to do that... all I needed to do is write it down that I need to do it every monday, and now I do it... so silly), I'm getting rid of stuff I no longer want or need (why do we hold onto these things? I never look at them, just hide them on myself... why?), and so I feel better about my house... and myself.

I'm thankful for crackers. Yes... crackers. When I'm hungry and baby girl needs me, crackers are easy to grab and munch... so are carrots, celery, cheese... I could go on.

Anyway, baby girl needs me yet again... so I'll cut this short. I'm thankful for her vocal capabilities... no monitor is needed in this two story house!!! (smile)

More Pictures

Here are some more pics of my baby girl at 4 months... wow... has it been that long already?

Spread the Love

My friend Lacey from Don't Make Drugs just passed two awards to me! Thanks, Lacey!

Here is The Premios Dardo Award. The rules are to link back to the person who sent it to you, and then pass it along to 15 people by commenting on their blogs to tell them about it, and put their links on your post.



Here is the Honest Scrap award where you are to link to the person who gave you the award, post 10 honest things about yourself, and then send the award along to another 5 people.

I think what I'm gonna do instead is give both awards to 10 lucky people. Less work for me, haha.

Ok... so for the honest 'scrap'...

1. I have a weakness, and it's called peanut butter. I'll put it on almost anything... almost. I love peanut butter on celery, peanut butter with toast, I'll put it on crackers, bananas, oh, and peanut butter and pickle sandwiches are sooo good (sounds so weird, I know). I put it in all sorts of baking. I sure hope my kids don't ever get allergic to nuts... ever! And don't even try to show me reese and not let me have some! That has gotta be the best combo of anything ever!

2. I've never dyed my hair. I don't know why.

3. I had a poodle perm back in fifth grade. Blech. I had all sorts of nick names from that one.

4. I used to collect boxes. Why? I still don't know. I'd wrap a gift in a box, and after my sibling would open it, I'd ask if I could have the box back instead of it hitting the trash. I still have lots of boxes, but most of the time I recycle them now... by sending them to recycling rather than recycling them myself.

5. I had one craving while I was pregnant... for Pizza Hut's ceasar salad and breadsticks. And we were in town, and hubby wouldn't let me get them. Why? Ask him. I still don't know.

6. My sister and I loved making funny commercials years ago. It was such fun. We did corn flakes, a local furniture store, Mc Donalds... it was hilarious. Unfortunetly the VCR was set on slow play instead of extended play one day when I wanted to tape an old movie on tv, and it completely taped over EVERYTHING.

7. When I was in engineering and living in the city, I would sometimes just have crackers and cheese for supper... apparently I was paying for suppers too, but the woman was never home, so I just made what I had that was quick.

8. I'm addicted to Mario and Zelda games.

9. I am fascinated by old buildings. Love them!

10. I kept a pair of glasses for over 7 years... yup, 7. Got them in grade 12, and only replaced them about 2 years ago... or less. And my eyes went from needing a bit stronger to needing less strength in those years. So my newer glasses are less strong!

Anyway, that's my bit! What a lot of scrap, haha.

Ok, I'm going to sort of copy Lacey in this and give both awards to 10 people.

Shelby at Apron Strings and Angst

Dana at The Homesteading Housewife

'Mommy' at Mommy Confessions

Mama Farmer at The Farmer Files

Lena at Small Inspirations

Mel at Fruits of the Spirit

Tara at Feels Like Home

Rhonda at One Step Forward

Crystal at Pearls and Peridots

Café Chick at Tales of a Café Chick

Enjoy, and I look forward to reading your 10 'scrap' (smile).

#61: Put 5 More Photos Up

Yippee! This has been ready for ages, I just hadn't gotten around to putting up the four frames I bought months ago until today. Anyway, I had nothing on my walls before, so I figured it was high time I get something up!

My sister bought me this for Christmas, and I thought it was gorgeous. I have it by our phone, and put some pics of our baby girl into it.

The floor standing frame I've had up since last year, but the wall frame I got in the USA and have put up a while back... only I had it where the previous picture is now. My hubby and I moved it the other day so I could have the organiser near the phone instead. These all hold pics of the farm.

And now for my pride and joy... what we put up today. I've had these frames ready to go up for ages (bought them end of May, 2008), except the small ones didn't have any mounting hardware on the back... so I had to come up with a way to do so. The regular ones with nails... the nails were too long. So... I used tacks. Works perfectly. Oh, and those mirrors are from Ikea. I've had them for ages, just have been using them on tables instead of on the wall. Love them in this situation. Now I can say we have a photo of anyone who comes over.... ha ha ha. Wanna know what I love best about this? Total cost of frames, printing pictures, buying the matts, and the Ikea mirrors... about $20. Tee hee. I love Liquidation World (you can swipe some good deals on frames there)!

We got two other frames from a friend... unfortunetly I didn't take a pic... but they have photos in them too. They don't have mounting hardware... or a means to put any on them, so they will have to stay on the wall unit for now, until I get some nice dark bookcases on our main floor. One of them has a family picture of us three. Sigh. <3

Oh, I also finished a couple of other 101 things. #17, play a new game... we played a bluffing game at my parents house (there's another game we played with friends... I think it's called "What"?). I also finished #25, put money into savings each month for 4 months. We would have been done that one, except that in September we used the money toward a stroller/carseat combo and glider instead... so I had to start again, lol. Gonna keep that one up though!

Thankful Thursday

I know this is a day late... I had this all typed up Wednesday already and just didn't get on my blog to post it at all yesturday. Oops. Anyway... here it is.

1 Samuel 16:7 - "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Many of us bear a variety of physical scars… things that seemingly ‘mar’ our outward appearance. I want to focus on these scars today in my Thankful Thursday post.

I have a few scars that I bear… some small, some… not so small. There is one on my face… or two… that I got from chicken pox. Why be thankful for those scars? Well… I remember watching how my mom lovingly cared for my sister when she had chicken pox, and I know she did the same for me. Nothing like a big dose of love to make a scar not seem so bad. I also remember the oven mitts… so we ‘wouldn’t scratch’… well, they obviously didn’t work for me since I did scratch, hence the scars… (smile).

I have a scar on my chest that I got from my cat, Fluffy, when I was 12. She hardly used her claws at all, and while holding her I went to the back of our yard where my dad had buried our family dog of 11 years. I sniffled, and my kitty freaked. Why am I thankful for this scar? Because it reminds me of the wonderful pets I was blessed with growing up, and the times I spent with them, more specifically Fluffy… I still miss that cat. She was a good friend.

I have a scar on my hand that I got from the lid of a can of pineapple. Yes, I remember… that was Valentine’s Day, many years ago. I wanted to do something special for my parents, and so I got my uncle to take my dad out for coffee while I baked and cooked and decorated to make the dining room look like a restaurant. To make a long story short, the pineapple was for a ‘variety’ dessert tray. I sliced myself after not moving the can out of my way. Mom and dad were there (I would NOT let them in the kitchen…) and they helped me to take care of the cut (and yes, I was stubborn and continued to finish my work… which was practically finished anyway). Anyway, I don’t remember the pain, all I remember is the joy I felt at making my parents feel special (yes, I did something small for my siblings as well, although they were devastated that they couldn’t sit at the fancy table with mom and dad). When I see this scar, I remember that day.

I have another scar on my wrist, this one from a pan that I took out of the oven… my oven mitts weren’t long enough you see. I was making buns, and I burnt myself. I’m thankful for this scar for a variety of reasons… that the burn wasn’t worse than it was, that I can bake because my mom taught me, and for the new oven mitts I have that are much longer… (smile again).

My newest addition to my realm of scar tissue is on my tummy… the oh-so-wonderful array of stretch marks. Honestly, I don’t even mind them. I’m sure you can guess why I am thankful when I see those. I hope to be ‘adding’ to their number eventually…

Anyway, That’s my bit on scars… I honestly believe they make a person more beautiful. After all, each scar tells a story, and many of those stories either developed the person’s character, or give you a bit of insight into their past. Now all we need to do is convince ourselves that our scars make us beautiful, and I don’t think we’ll be trying to cover them up so much.

I recently came across this story once again… I remember reading it as a child, and it’s always stuck in my mind. It kind of goes along with the whole scars thing… although I think it can apply quite well to those emotional scars in our lives as well. Enjoy, and happy Thankful Thursday… even though it’s a day late.

A Beautiful Heart

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect.There was not a mark or a flaw in it.Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen.The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said,"Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine."The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart.It was beating strongly ... but it was full of scars ...it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in ...but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges.In fact ... in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.The people stared ... how can he say his heart is more beautiful ... they thought?

The young man looked at the old man's heart ... and saw its state and laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine ...mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.""Yes" ... said the old man ... "yours is perfect looking but ...I would never trade with you.You see ... every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love ... I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them ... and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart ... but because the pieces aren't exact ...I have some rough edges ... which I cherish ... because they remind me of the love we shared.

Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away ...and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me.These are the empty gouges ... giving love is taking a chance.Although these gouges are painful ...they stay open ... reminding me of the love I have for these people too ...and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting.So now do you see what true beauty is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks.He walked up to the old man ... reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart ...and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands.The old man took his offering ... placed it in his heart ...and then took a piece from his old scarred heart ...and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart.It fit ... but not perfectly ... as there were some jagged edges.The young man looked at his heart ...not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever ...since love from the old man's heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.