A Recipe for Disaster

Sorry folks but this recipe isn't a yummy foodie one! I'm just mulling over some things today and reflecting on the vast assortment of scenarios I have been subject to observing. Some from afar; others in my own backyard. All sad, unfortunate, and such prime examples of the consequences experienced after making a single CHOICE. One choice, and an individual has a lifetime of regrets, problems, hang-ups, drama, and heartache enveloping their life forever. This vicious cycle and how it continues to circle around and around creates a deafening roar of sadness and disappointment not only to my ears, but to the ears of innocent children; whose own life, without intervention and firm guidance, will also fall prey to the cycle. And so it roars, creating havoc wherever it goes. Tearing up lives and breaking hearts.

This one choice looks something like this:

A girl...lost and alone in this world, looking for love...follows this disastrous plan.

She finds someone needier than she is. So she can feel like she actually means something to someone. She finds someone who has no self esteem, so she can again, be his saviour. She finds someone who can't stand himself. Then she can be a light unto him and make him believe his sun rises and sets on her. She finds someone who trusts no one. Someone who refuses to be subjected to any authority. Of course, all these traits are just so dashing and charming! Perhaps when you are 16 they are...in a wild and woolly way I assume. Throw anger problems into the mix. That spices things up even more dashingly. He has spunk, he has fight, he is abusive. How wonderful.

So then she jumps in even deeper...she makes a baby with this monster. Maybe that will calm him. Perhaps...he will see this innocent being and it will bring out the good that surely he has deep down inside. She doesn't consider the chance that perhaps this plan won't work. She dives off into the realm of motherhood, hoping beyond hopes this is her answer. It isn't of course. In fact, it's worse now. Add another kid. That will surely help.

Life goes on. Through the years, she continues to bend over backwards hoping her running to his every beck and call that she will someday be his angel of deliverance for his deep and immeasurable character flaws. He was handpicked by her, so she is committed to making this work. No matter the abuse, no matter the hurt, no matter the pain. She would rather live in misery then to admit she made one bad choice. One choice that led to another...and another...and yet another. Pride. It's humiliating to admit you made a bad choice. Forget the humiliation of knowing everyone sees your disheveled and unhappy life. Who cares if everyone knows your children cry at night in misery. Who cares if he even mistreats others outside of the home. Stand by your man. That's the motto.

Then...as her life crumbles and she comes to the realization that she cannot fix him, the next step is to lash out at those around her and blame them for his faults and failures. He blames everyone else, including her. She blames everyone but him. She blames the world on his problems when she was the one who made the one, single, choice.

It happens everyday. And in the field I work in, I am presented with the broken pieces of a life who craves peace. Wants to be rescued. But unless she is willing to admit a wrong choice, back up and fix the brokenness, I am of little value in the equation. I have no magic wand. Do I have God? Yes. Do I have the Word and it's beautiful truths? Yes. Can these things help her? Emphatically YES, but...unless the brokenness is identified and fixed, and the truths in the Word applied, and God made number one in both lives, I cannot help.

How does she fix it? How does he fix it? That is the age old question that not everyone agrees upon the answer to. They both, must first realize there IS a problem. He cannot continue to believe he is not wrong. He must CHOOSE to see his faults and be willing to do whatever it takes to FIX them. It's not impossible. So what if he had a bad childhood. People with WORSE circumstances come forth as gold. There is no excuse. Admit there is a problem, identify the problem, and FIX THE STINKIN' PROBLEM!

What does she do? She must evaluate with an honest heart, whether or not he TRULY admits, identifies, and is FIXING the problem. How can she do this? Through prayer. With divine intervention. With godly counsel.

And most importantly, THEY must PRAY together. This is a must. And if this cannot be done, then IT WILL NOT WORK. I don't care who you are. This is my blog and I will write what I want. People that PRAY together STAY together. Spirits are unified, bad spirits flee, trust is established, and broken hearts are mended. IF HE REFUSES TO DO THIS THEN THERE IS NO HOPE! You can go to any counsellor you choose, christian, non christian whatever you like, they can try to sort your mess of what you call life out. Hours can be spent trying to tell the full grown two year old how to act in a home. But if Christ isn't in it, IT WILL FAIL.

Please take this to heart...when you are working with teen girls...as difficult as it is to lead them and guide them, PRAY with them, plead the blood of Jesus over them to keep them from falling into this horrific trap. I can't bear to see the pain inflicted on innocent lives due to this nonsense.

There...Relationships 101 by Ms. Kari Morgan Ph.D. in "I've done seen it all"

Christmas Time is HERE!

I really really REALLY cannot believe Christmas is already right around the corner! I have put up about all the decor I think I will. I want to spend the rest of my time making gifts and spending time with my loved ones as that's the most important part!!!

Here are a few shots of our tree; AFTER the Christmas fairy came and repaired the broken lights and rearranged the hodge podge ornament placement. These were taken with my iPhone so don't expect great focus play tricks!

I love our fresh assortment of handpainted gingerbread children and houses, snowflakes, polka dots and glitter! This is all from last year but it's just as spectacular now as it was then.

Stay tuned for a NEW MIY decor piece on a budget!

On another note...without speaking in "Oh ye of little faith" lingo, this year is going to be quite the scaled down model of Christmas' past. Although it always seems to point that way, something always seems to give just in the nick of time. I don't doubt that can happen this year as well; however, as a mama looking out for her babes and wanting to make it the best year ever, I have to be prepared and plan around the seemingly hollow pocketbook.

I have some fabulous MIY projects brewing! I can't even begin to list them here for fear I will work myself into a panicky frenzy and excessive anxiety levels that I will fail to get them all done. But...just think homemade fairy houses and dolls...waldorfy toys made from felt, cute accessories and home decor.....

(((sigh))) I feel the panic rising already....

How 'bout I move on to what COULD happen? What COULD happen is a magic money tree could sprout up in my yard and then my WANT list would be acceptable!

I have so much to be thankful for, I feel like a spoiled child even uttering the words "want list". *slaps hand* (BAD GIRL)

How about if I change it to a "NEEDS" list?

Would a Kitchen Aid Mixer fall into a "needs" category? How about a 28mm 1.4 Canon lens? LOL Probably not...

A food dehydrator? Sounds needy to me! Or an oil expeller for my Samson Juice extractor? As you can see, I am not a bling bling girl with high hopes for material pleasures. I always covet the things that could make life a little simpler, or healthier. Oh that reminds me, I cannot forget my newest item of NEED. I am very much so coveting a pair of Mizunos running shoes. Wave Nirvana 7's to be precise. Size 7 to be even more precise. In White/Sunrise to be ultimately precise.

You see, I have taken up running and my beautiful, out of my normal budget pair of Nike's are not supporting my overpronating feet like they should. :( I have developed shin splints which are QUITE PAINFUL to say the least. Thus I NEED the Mizunos in a bad way. I am debating selling my Nike's on eBay, but can't bear the thought of being stuck with my Puma's for the duration of the transaction...(sigh) I am in a pickle indeed.

Anyway...I have lot's of projects to tackle so I'd best be leaving you faithful readers alone.

Happy December 1st!

I love letters...a Tutorial

I adore letters and words...last year after Christmas, my house felt so bare and forlorn that I went on a home decor rampage attempting to fill my poor white rental walls with warmth and happiness. I was somewhat successful...one of my endeavors, featured a very cool letter collage that I will soon be posting photos of.

However, my color scheme has changed! For some reason, I am pulling away from the blacks, reds, and warmer tones of which I have been inclined towards; and have been leaning towards cooler tones of robin's egg blue, bright cheery red, and crisp, clean whites. So I am redoing this collage and this tutorial features one of the letters.

Of course, our letter is "M". I bought this paper mache letter at Joanne's for about $4. I had painted it black and mod podged it with a black and white damask scrapbook paper so it looked like this:

This tutorial is going to show you how I did this.

(please pardon the dust on the letter, it's been in a box since moving)

Acrylic craft paint

Fresh coat of paint...I only used one coat because

I like the dark showing through for a touch of rusticness.

These are the scrapbook papers I have chosen for this new color scheme.

After the paint dried, I placed the letter on the sheet of paper

I chose to use and traced the letter with a pencil.

After tracing, cut the letter shape out of the paper and make sure it fits adequately. Trim any excess edges off as you don't want the paper bigger than the letter. A little smaller is ideal.

Then you use the handy dandy Mod Podge! (And a cute little assistant helps a lot too)

Remove the paper and paint a coat of Mod Podge on the paper mache letter. Then place the paper back on. The Mod Podge glues the paper on securely.

Use your hands to carefully smooth the paper on to the letter to reduce wrinkles or bumps. The paper may try to buckle but smooth it until it doesn't.

Then generously apply Mod Podge on top of the paper with a paintbrush. Apply Mod Podge to the sides of the letter also. This will seal the entire letter and create a nice, smooth finish.

Voila! After the Mod Podge dries, (about 4 hours) You have a beautiful letter to display however you please! Stay tuned for the completion of my letter collage and display choice!

Ahhhh Thanksgiving Eve!!! Warning...Photo OVERLOAD...

It's the day before Thanksgiving and while most folks are busy neglecting their blogs, its one of the rare chances I have to sit down and attend to mine! Thus, I have TWO posts for today.

We went on the promised nature walk yesterday so here are the pictures to prove it. Had a great time although I did not get the clippings I wanted for a holiday decor project. But I will!

Aren't these photos gorgeous! I LOVE FALL!!!!!

We went to the park for some football...

And some reading....

Annnd...swinging of course...

And yes...my daughter is a goofball...

More nature finds...

Then we went home and later that evening....

Woot!!! We are just slightly exuberant over putting up the tree!!!

And we even got the outside lights put up!

So that was our day!!!! I'll try to post pictures of the house when it is completely decorated for Christmas.

My First Guest Tutorial Post!

In other words, ME being the guest!!! My sweet friend Misha at Mommie Hobbies hosted my post! Thank you Mish!

So make sure if you are one of my faithful readers (ahem...all 3 of you) please go see her and check out all the wonderful goodness she posts about every day...uh...sometimes more than once a day!

This is a busy busy week! I'm sure each of you can relate; I have GOBS of things to do.

1. Nature walk with kids-ulterior motive: to gather greenery and red berry branches for my next thrifty holiday decor project, and to snap a few photos of the gorgeous fall weather we are having.

2. Finish hairbow project for friend-MAIL those suckers.

3. Print this weeks lessons being a short week.

4. 3:00 baby photo shoot at the park-maybe I can tie nature walk in with that.

5. Begin project I have up my sleeve...

6. Deep clean house so leaving Thursday won't be horrific.

7. RUN

8. Prayer at church at 7:00pm

9. Incorporate all of this into a regular activity filled day

10. Oversee hubby and kids completing outdoor decor

11. And last but not least...LAUNDRY. The worst thing ever!!!

And now you know how busy I am pretty much each and every day!!! Perhaps tomorrow I will report how successful I was....anyone want to guess at which area gets shirked? LOL

Pinterest Love!

My daughter said we spend too much time on Pinterest and never actually do anything so I decided to prove her wrong and actually do a project! It came out nice-not exactly complete just yet as I want to make or buy the right towel but for the most part this was a quick and easy little project that makes me happy when I'm doing dishes!

I started off by spray painting a black cake plate that I had been using as a candle holder for one of those super fat candles with 3 wicks. I have recenlty become opposed to black. It used to be black everything...now suddenly I want clean and light colors and this ocean blue goes great with the bright scandinavian reds and whites I want to use for my kitchen/dining area.

Next, I purchased a new soap bottle and a new root scrubbie. I love the natural look the clear soap and scrubbie have paired together.

I also purchased a cute fat quarter at Walmart. I am planning on using some various Amy Butler designs for curtains and table linens but this works for the holiday season nicely.

Once two coats of paint dried I put my little goodies together next to my sink!!! Cute!!!

Free Christmas Printable

Feel free to copy this and use as you please! If you would like a PDF just shoot me an email and I'll be glad to send one your way. Happy decorating!