Pinterest treasures

With some chagrin, I admit that I have become quite fascinated by Pinterest.

I tend to avoid trends like the plague, but my sweet sister (who was also, incidentally, the one [animal lover] who convinced me [not-animal-lover] that my life would never be complete if we didn't have an indoor dog) introduced me to it one day. The girls and I had gone over to her place to visit.

She makes the most amazing food, so I had invited myself to stay for lunch :). 

After we settled the kids with a video, we grabbed a cup of fresh, hot coffee and talked about whatever we could fit into 15 quiet minutes (not that the video was only 15 minutes long, but that's generally the full length of the quiet window of opportunity).

And she, who will always be infinitely cooler than I am, whipped out her laptop and introduced me to the world of Pinterest.
And life has never been the same.

I will admit, Pinterest gets a lot of flack. There's a lot of ick content on there, but if you only search for recipes, kid crafts and christmas decorations, it filters out pretty quickly. Also, there is a bit of a battle, so it seems, between Pinterest moms (moms who do these super amazing crafts with their kids and let them do crazy things like finger paint .... for fun ... I hyperventilate around finger painting....) and moms who aren't as much into those things but feel a terrible sense of guilt because of it. Sigh.

BUT, this summer I found a WINNER.
And it has to do with (...suspense building...) LAUNDRY.
YES. It's fascinating. I know.

I will blog about it soon, but lately the LORD has been working in my heart a matter of simplicity, and how it can begin (or continue, rather) to apply to my life. I've been evaluating everything from cleaners (actually quite trendy, but as usual I'm lagging behind, perhaps my own form of trend-rebellion) to food ... even to blogging ... and well, all of life actually. It's great, and I'm learning tons.... and I'm also learning things that just don't work for me right now too :).

In my travels through this particular topic, I came across a natural laundry cleaner that will remove THE most stubborn stain you'll ever encounter....
stains bleach can't fix it ....
boiling vinegar water can't cure it ....
nothing short of tossing a t-shirt will remedy.
Armpit. stains.

At first I contemplated taking pictures of all this, to document it like the cool bloggers do.
But then I thought again, and somehow posting pictures of airing my dirty laundry (no pun intended) just didn't seem very suave. So. Google it. You'll find scads of pictures of dirty armpit shirts that are magically white and bright and beautiful and smell lovely again.

Try this. Your summer t-shirts will THANK YOU for it.
And you'll minimize that pile of icky clothes that you're not ready to part with.
And you'll re-add a few treasures to your wardrobe.
And you'll have accomplished this in less than 10 minutes, probably less than 10 cents.
See? Simplicity.... if there was ever any doubt.....

Check out THIS PINTEREST LINK for details...
The claim says:

Goodbye to yellow armpit stains! 1 tsp. Dawn, 3-4 tsp. Hydrogen Peroxide, 2 tbsp. baking soda. Mix together, rub in, and be amazed!

One spot said 3-4 tsp one said TBSP. I didn't know that at first and went with tsp. It worked well. Maybe TBSP would be even better???

Oh, and in case this wasn't clear ---- not only white t-shirst, but ANY t-shirts. I've used this on a variety of colours and not noticed any negative effect on the fabric. If you have a $90 t shirt that you're nervous about, try it on a cheaper version first, just to be safe :).

So there you have it. A pinterest treasure.
But, in case you're like me, and need to laugh at pinterest too from time to time..... I had a chuckle over this one ;)....... Pinterest Nailed-It

ps - If you're a Pinterest Mom, bless you. :)

Summer love

Seems like there are summer-love blog posts just about everywhere these days :).
And rightly so. There's something so life-giving about the vibrancy of colour, the flip-flop tan lines, the jungle garden forming in the background, the cup of tea on the deck at the end of a full day.

Between the learning and growing and refining moments :), some fun ways we've found to celebrate these hazy days....

During the hot hot days, we pull out the sprinkler!

Poor pooch, as the unofficial "smaller brother" of an almost-all-gal crew around here, he gets signed up for a lot more than he bargained for!

Summer skies --- courtesy of M :).

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS. Since we don't have a local library, a neighboring community offers us out-of-towners a summer rate of TEN BUCKS!!! for a membership. It's fabulous. A trip to the library. A stop at a park for lunch. Home for nap time. Voila. Summer love!

Camping with family - camp fires, smores, crazy cousins and, of course, the karaoke aunties ;).

Living as much as possible on the deck. Crayons and notebooks, snacks, the very rare-but-ever-lovely quiet moment ;)....

And PUZZLES! This has been a winner this year. In June, my heart was looking forward to connecting with M during those afternoon quiet times. I don't do this every day, because frankly, it takes energy and sometimes I just need to go find my own corner for a little while. But another MCC bargain - puzzle mat and 750-piece puzzle. It's perfect because M loves marine life and this is a tropical fish picture. When we need a quiet-wind-down activity, we whip it out. Sometimes we're quiet. Sometimes we giggle. And we're now at the point where one of us asks for the wonky scoopy piece with a little bit of blue and an orange knobby part and the other one knows exactly where she's seen that piece before. If you're a puzzler, you'll know what I mean ;).

Who owns you...

A sweet gift from a friend.

A reminder --- it's not about me, it's about Him. His glory.

A Love, and Life, like no other.

Weekend Favorites

On the nightstand...

I've read it twice.
In a row. :)

On the iPod....

The week after Easter

This week has followed the Week of Spring Break (aka. the Week of Crafts, Sort-of-sleeping-in kids, Playing Outside in the massive 8' snow drifts in our backyard and lots of coffee ... for mama :P).

This week has been about sorting and tidying, bringing calm to chaos, cleaning and organizing.

It has also been about moving beyond the season of Lent, the close examination, and walking  more fully in the power of the Resurrection. 

It is about leaning into these words and learning to live them more fully...

The Vine and the Branches - John 15:1-6a

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 

² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 

³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 

⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 

⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers....

When I do this life apart from Jesus, it's true. I feel withered. Fatigued, overwhelmed, dried up.

Turn back to His grace, and the way seems clear once again.

Simple promises to cling to every day.

Remain in me.

And I will remain in you.

A gardening analogy for the season of spring that is coming.

Celebrating the Resurrection.

Can anyone hear me!??

Pffffft.
I can tell by the blog entry dates when, roughly, our precarious sleep situation has fallen to pieces.
Not a lot of fun, those swirly, twirly days of fatigue where things don't always make a lot of sense, but happy to report after weeks of practice, we are on the mend!!

Carrying on.

There are days around this joint when I wonder if anyone is truly listening to a single. word. I. say.
I feel like I repeat myself ... a lot.
Please say that with kindness in your heart. Nope. Try again. With k.i.n.d.n.e.s.s.
Sorry to be a party pooper, but no, you may not jump off the counter. Or run around with a pair of scissors.
Please close fridge door. And the freezer door. And now the fridge door. Again. Stay out of the fridge.
I'm sorry. Using your bathing suit to go swimming in the puddles is not an option for today.

There are times, you know, when I'm mature enough to step in and settle a situation. If Plan A is not working, which usually involves a small amount of reasonable discussion, then it's Plan B.
Which is Say It Once.
Walk Away (especially if the inner temperatures are approaching Steam Coming Out Of The Ears...).
Watch the magic of Logical Consequences (which typically means, NO to a privilege until their YES is  willing obedience).

And I'd LOVE to say I'm mature enough to walk this thru most of the time, buuuut I'm a work in progress, and in the spirit of "keeping it real," there are still many most times when I allow myself to get sucked into a debate and repeat myself. A lot :).

I know. I only have myself to thank!

So. Imagine my surprise, delight and Laugh-Out-Loud moment when I heard this the other day:

Oldest sister was making some sort of noise that Littlest Sister found irritating. Likely whistling.
Littlest sister DID try to solve the problem herself (which is a positive step) by asking Oldest sister to stop.
Which she did not (not quite a positive step).
Littlest Sister became quite irritated.
She started to both raise her voice AND mutter under her breath.
"Will you please stop making that noise. I just can't hear myself think." !!!

She's 2. And she's repeating exactly what she's heard someone else around here (moi!) say!!

Yup. I guess they do listen!!

The art of truly being happy for someone else...

Every day I learn through my kids. Each one.
Without them, or Jon, I am fairly sure I would not be half the person I am.
Sleeping better at night, maybe :), but certainly no where near the character ;)!

We've been working on our potty-training-skilz for a long loooooong time.
Because of development issues, having two move through this milestone has taxed my patience more than I thought possible.
Though we've seen some major progress, and for this I am thankful, each day we work on this is ... well... work.

Today I was thinking to myself... I will just finish ONE MORE THING before taking K to the potty.... Oh silly self. You'd think you'd learn by now.
Each time you even think that, it is too late.
And it was. Another accident.

And while I'm in the process of cleaning up my five-year-old, my two-and-a-half your old scoots up onto the potty, makes good use of it ;), and proudly pronounces her achievement!

My heart stirs at this point.
Joy mingles with discouragement.

But does K let this discourage her?
Does she compare?
Does she feel wearied??

Absolutely not.

She is L's biggest cheerleader; her biggest fan.

With all the enthusiasm contained within her sweet self, K cheers and claps and YAHs for her younger sister - L has peed on the potty!!

And I bow my head.
Thank you LORD for teaching me.
What it means to Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15 NRSV

Every day I need to know this, to remember, and my heart needs you to carry it out.