Christians are Not Annuals

Christians are perennials! Yay -

Ok - so you know I'm passionate about my gardening and I was just thinking Christians are not annuals. Let me tell ya - Annuals are plants that sprout, grow, produce, die. Corn is a good example...you plant a "corn" it sprouts, grows, makes some ears (yummy), and then dies....nothing you can do can ever make that corn produce more ears or live longer....it just aint happening...I don't care what climate you are in.

Perennials on the hand (check out these synonyms: constant, incessant, continual, imperishable, undying, eternal, immortal) don't die - it may look dead but it's not. Asparagus is a perennial, every spring I get a bountiful harvest!

When we become a Christ follower (if you don't know how I can help you learn) the bible tells us that God gives us eternal life, we become a child of God, we are sealed with the holy spirit. This life perennial - it does not die, I mean the Bible says its eternal!

Ok, I know you can pick this apart and say that perennial plants can be killed (yep I've done it) but not so with God's eternal life! Yes, asparagus need a dormant period, and although we probably all go through one now and again, we are more like a tropical plant, fed and watered, we just keep producing bloom after bloom.

So there you have it - Christians are not annuals!

Dear Snake,

Dear Snake,

Hurry Hurry Hurry - she's gonna hit you. She doesn't see you in the tall tall grass.

In your best interest,

The Lawn Mower

Dear Connie,

Ow! That really hurt!

Mortally wounded,

The Snake

Dear Snake,

I'd like to apologize but ever since we started mowing the grass longer, it's harder to see you guys and I couldn't ever see you even when it was short....

Not really sorry,

Connie

Dear Connie,

My blade is dulled by the contact with the snake. Could you be a little more careful in the future?

Used as a weapon,

The Lawn Mower

Dear Lawn Mower,

I'm very sorry to have hurt you. Doug will be sure to sharpen your blade when he comes home next month.

Sincerely,

Connie

Spring....it's in the air....

Although it was quite crisp this morning, longer days and the height of the sun leave no doubt that spring has sprung and if you need more proof, check out the daffodils. There is green growth on all kinds of things, I see phlox, dragonflower, primrose, peonies, clematis, iris, seedum, green green green. The trees are fairly popping with huge buds and I did see a magnolia tree starting to bloom on the way back from walmart.

It seems crazy that four weeks has passed and that Doug is already back in Alaska and heading out to Shemya today. We had an awesome time with lots of days at home to relax, a 5 day car ride through Arkansas, which has its good and bad points. We had a wonderful meal at Lamberts in Branson (home of the throwed rolls)...I'll take you when you come visit. We also found 70 acres of land we are seriously considering buying it, northeast of Branson that has absolutely no structures on it at all. Crazy!

I ate like a pig and my weight shows it, the house is a disaster area, seriously needing spring cleaning, the weeds are starting, and I'm ready for all challenges. This next 9 weeks is going to be like the exact opposite of the 9 weeks before Doug came home. My entryway got attacked this morning, but not until I had done a chest/tricep workout and 2 miles on the treadmill.

One very cool thing is that we bought a 4' plant light and a germination mat. Seems like my little plants are quite happy. I believe I have about 48 healthy salvia for around my well, and lots of other things including several varieties of marigolds. Also some tomato plants that are doing well, and blue and white petunias! I just planted some veggie seeds and am excited to start thinking about my garden!! It's almost time to move everything off the dining room table and into the sunroom, maybe tomorrow.

I can't believe how fast the grass is greening up.....I guess I'm going to have to think about mowing later this week!

Parent Mode Can Be A Bad Thing.....

So, have you ever gone parental on your spouse? I did this morning, and it's not good especially over the phone. Some know the details, others may not.

My normally OCD husband gets up two hours before he has to leave the house. He likes to go the airport two hours before departure, even if he's already checked in. He has a flight this morning that leaves at 9 am, so naturally when the phone rings at 7:15 (10:15 my time) I'm thinking, he's through security...Oh no, he hasn't even left my mom and dads! I'm like, really? Then I find out he hasn't even checked in. I lost it - I went ballistic. His excuse, I don't have a computer....really I told you my mom has one and you can use her printer to print your boarding pass. "I don't know how"....

I think my exact words were, "When I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it!"....and believe me I just couldn't let it go.

Now, to give me a little break, I am anxious for him to be home, I miss him, and it just wasn't what I expected.

I knew I was really bad, when he said, let me just call Wes and see if he's on his way. I'm like, YEAH!!!

Then Wes calls me from the airport after dropping him off, and I know I'm still in parent mode, when I'm hollering, Can you believe him? Just like I used to ask Wes about John....(Thanks Wes, you just let me yell!)

Long story short, when Doug called back after checking through security, I apologized for going all parental on him. He chuckled good naturedly, and told me how he hadn't gotten up til 6:20. Thank God he didn't tell me that the first time!

Well, he's on his way home! Hurrah!! I think my heart beat might be back to normal....

The Blahs are gone!!

Yay! Sometimes I think I'm not ever supposed to feel bad, so when I do feel bad, I'm always trying to figure out why. Like my last post, winter blues, short timer's attitude...those things generally aren't even in my vocabulary with a negative effect. PMS/cramps - I think that's why I felt bad!! Now that shouldn't be a revelation but it is.

I feel great today - laundry is sorted, bed is made, I have the desire to clean, I've been going through stacks of paperwork and actually only handling them once to accomplish their purpose and file it away.

I'm a woman on a mission!! I'm gonna start a new hat, memorize the lines for my adventureland script and talk to my man, who'll be home in 6 days!!! Yay!!

Just thought I'd let you know, I'm feeling good!

Oh and my Bible reading today was pretty cool too - like how Jesus tells Peter once he's been cleaned, he doesn't need another bath. Nice presentation of the difference between salvation and the need for daily cleanup...

Can you say Blah my friend....

I believe I have a case of winter blues and short-timers attitude...not usual for me and certainly not overwhelming. Is it still call pms while you're ms"ing"....? About the only thing I've been doing, besides a little knitting, is caring for my babies...and there aren't as many babies as I'd like. There's a whole tray of peat pots that just isn't sprouted and that has me down....one lone marigold out of the whole tray of variety....what is up with that....but I'm not don't hoping more will sprout!

I do have a nice tray of Salvia (Red Flame) that has sprouted (about 50%) which is pretty good for older seeds. Some of them are starting to get their secondary leaves, some look like they might not make it. I do have another tray half petunias and half salvia seeds sitting under the lights. I love Salvia and can't wait to see these planted around my well attracting beautiful hummingbirds!! They just bloom and bloom and bloom

This tray has the remainder (about half a tray) of a package of 3 year old vinca (annual variety, white with red centers) seeds germinating (I hope) in them. They need dark to germinate so I'm obliging them with a nice covering of a dark towel.

I'm longing for warmer days and you can see by my yard that today isn't it. To the left of the shed you can just make out stripes. He's been coming to visit every day.

Patiently (NOT) waiting for spring and Doug!

A watched peat pot never sprouts.....

at least that was supposed to be the title....

but check out this little baby!

Some day he'll be a marigold. I planted my seeds last week and voila a sprout!

This morning the ground is covered in white not very much, and pretty crusty. It is beautiful especially because I know what's under it. Check it out - this picture is from 2/3/10 and you can just see a little daffodil poking out...Hang on little daffodils longer days and more sun is coming.

This is my dining room table and this is just the beginning. I haven't even started any petunia seeds yet. If you look in the upper left corner of this pic you can see a blue jay enjoying some sunflower seeds.

Not enough stash.....

I learned something new today - I don't have enough stash. No, I'm not doing drugs, although you may consider me psychotic. I wanted to make something for a baby, not another hat or another pair of socks, not even baby socks.

I went into my bedroom and peered into the bags in the corner, pulling several of them up onto the bed. They are organized by weight (not bag weight, yarn weight) and so I went for the fingering weight yarn. I have about 15 small 2-3 inch diameter balls of fingering weight yarn, nothing suitable for making anything other than baby socks!! I know Abrianna needs some more socks, but I'm just not in the mood. I must confess right now that there is 3 1/2 skeins of lavender fingering weight yarn, plenty to make a cute little top or sweater for a baby, but I didn't even notice it this morning when I went to check my stash. I'm not in the mood to confess why it didn't receive consideration....lets just say it could be yarn snobbery....

I also must confess that up until this year, I have never even considered buying yarn for a project unspecified. However, earlier in the summer I bought a whole mess of yarn when it was on sale, with no particular projects in mind. Since then, I've been guilty, except now I realize that I've completed several projects from this stash and have enjoyed having the variety of yarn available.

I blame both of these psychotic issues on Kelsey! Its her fault.

So now, I'm stuck making another hat - though I did challenge myself and am doing my first double knit project. The flap hat will be black on the outside and red on the inside....cool huh? Oh and check out the hat from yesterday's blog at the bottom of this page...I think it turned out quite nice...more pics when Hannah gets it!

Good Knitting Gone Wrong

Hats are easy - simple, they work up fast and you can have them done in no time...that is...if you know what you want the hat to look like when you're finished...

I believe hats should be like snowflakes, no two the same....so I'm making Hannah Bilau a hat reminiscent of the style of Meaghan Goldman's hat (see below). However, it can't just be exactly the same...that aint right!

So, I get the yarn, which I might add is beautiful. It is called Marigold and was hand dyed by my niece Kelsey Saari...It is a beautiful semi solid with some soft deep yellows in there - gorgeous!!

So, I cast on the appropriate number of stitches and rib for an inch and a half, and decide that aint enough stitches....so I rip the whole thing down to nothing and start again. Perfect I now have the perfect number of rib stitches for the hat to go over a human head! That's always good.

So, I look through my beloved book, A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and come across "wasp wings"...well I only want one wing and I'm circular so I start rewriting the pattern and add the needed stitches, and go to town....Only problem is is that after one repeat I realize that I only needed 7 stitches not 8 and so each of little half wings is off center.....frogging to the rib!

All right now, I have it all centered up, the problem is...well, I just don't like it!! What does a froggie say?

So, I start flipping those pages again and I come across something I think will be nice, a cabled feather pattern....so I figured out the pattern for circular - seems simple enough and go to town. I get two repeats of the pattern done, and it looks wrong....I look at my pattern and look at the hat and look at the picture in the book....hmmmm....and then with all the brains of a 51 year old woman at 10 at night (yes that's late for me) I think, well there's my problem it's supposed to be a repeat of 18 and I'm only repeating 12 stitches. Can anyone say frogged to the rib.

In the bright dawn of morning and with a second cup of coffee under my belt I get on the computer and chart the thing and that's when I realize that I was repeating 18 stitches. In my tiredness I had neglected to remember that the repeat of one of the sixes had yarn overs in it...

and now I'm wondering if it was right all along and I just wasn't awake enough to know it.