New Look

Yes, you are where you thought you went. {Smile} I had to change my background due to the host changing some things and then they had a traffic overload. So for now, this is what it'll be. What do ya think?? I rather like it, and it might just stay a while.

Sweet Shot Tues.

My blonde haired, blue eyed, bouncing, baby boy!!

For more 'Sweet Shot's' visit 'Life with my 3 boybarians'.

Linked to 5 Minutes for Mom.

Ramblings...

Right now I'd much rather be outside... as the sun is finally shining after a week of rain and clouds!! But I figured I better get some more things done inside before next week, when my garden works calls and the flowerbeds ask for attention. I also wanted to share some more things I found... :) And have been having fun with. If you ask my Hubby, I have WAY too many irons in the fire right now. So hopefully things slow down a bit here before long.

First off though, I am finding out more and more people that I know, are reading my blog. I know I've told a lot of people about it, but there are those I hadn't, and I find out they are reading it. Why should I care?? It's not like I posted it on the World Wide Web and didn't want anyone to see it, right?? But it does make  me more nervous, posting ME, for you all to read about. Kinda like putting yourself out there for everyone to judge. And before you do, please know, that I am NOT perfect!!! Most of the posts I write are things I'm learning, and I still make mistakes even after posting. It's just me sharing from my heart. And please, if you have something to say, encouragement, tips, etc. etc., do share. I'm not going to bite!!! I like knowing about my audience, and who's out there. Many thanks to those who have told me they are reading, and have encouraged me. You know who you are...

Next, the fun things...

The first one I just started using a while back, after hearing about it a long time ago. So maybe for some of you, you are already doing it. I wanted to try it out myself, before blogging about it. And that is Paper Back Swap. A place to post some books you no longer want, and then you can order another book off the site, from another person. All you pay is the shipping for the book to who ever requests a book from you. They will mark it 'Received', when they get it, and you will get a credit to order another one. So we are all helping each other out, sending and receiving books. If you sign up under my link, you will give me a credit for a book. Tell your friends to sign up under your name and have the favor returned. If you want to read more about it, do that here.

Another fun site is Swap a DVD. And, yes, it is just like the PaperbackSwap. You post 10 DVDs and you get a credit to order any DVD on the site. I posted 8 DVDs and within 10 minutes 2 of them were requested. I liked that!! So now I am getting rid of a few of those DVDs that we got and then didn't care for. It's a great way to replace those DVDs with something of a much better moral value!! And yes, if you use my name, Lois Martin, as a referral, I'll get a credit.

I also want to remind you of Swagbucks. A search engine, where you randomly earn points, and then you can cash them in for prizes. I have been ordering my $5 gift cards and saving them on Amazon.com. One day I will have enough to order my grain mill!!! And you all can help me out, but signing up under my referral link here. Your wins help me win. You can read more about it on my post here.

The other thing I've been doing is posting things on Craigslist and Ebay... and things have been moving. Well, I thought a tent was leaving today, but she never showed up. So either a misunderstanding or who knows. So that is how I've spent my week. I like making a few extra bucks.

If you have any questions, shoot me an email. Have fun exploring these sites...

Spring...

...Some things I love...

About Spring...

• Buds on trees
• Blue Skies

• The Robins return
• Open window with breezes blowing in

 

• Going to the Creek
• Playing in the MUD

 

• Flowers picked by my son
• Watching the grass turn green

• Warm Sunshine
• Working in flowerbeds

• Baby Chicks
• Watching the Earth 'Wake up'

Think About It...

I received this as an email from a friend. And it is very thought provoking... Let's pause in the busy moments of our lives and remember to just ENJOY LIFE!!!

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND.

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain'. And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get 'Steve' toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-deck-er. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to... not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi'?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift.... Thrown away.... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!'

Character Marks

"Ummm, wonder where this mark came from??" I mussed while scrubbing my kitchen chairs. Soon I was noticing lots of pits, scuffs, bumps, and dings all over my chairs. One spindle is even cracked and being held together with a piece of string.

"Wow, these chairs have sure acquired a lot of marks in the past 7 years." My mind went back to the day we bought these chairs and matching table... It was a chilly fall day. But excitement was high for a certain Bride-to-be!! I didn't seem to notice the long wait, or the many people at the auction. I had my Handsome Groom-to-be with me and we were enjoying our day!! I had dreams and plans for this table and chairs, they looked so nice and new, and I wanted to keep them that way!!

BANG!!! My attention was quickly brought back to the present. Another tractor had hit it's target-the center of a chair. Another ding was added to the many other dings now covering my chair. Another reminder that I have 3 boys. And another reminder that they no longer look so nice and new.

I love my chairs-and I am learning to love each and every ding and the stories that they tell. Oh, the conversations that they have heard, the feet that have used them as stools, the meals that have been eaten on them... the list goes on.

As my mind thought of all the different happenings around my kitchen table, I thought of something else. All those dings marking up my chairs are giving it character. Each chair has it's unique shape, each acquiring it's own looks.

We are much like those chairs. We were at one time a perfect, innocent child, no marks in our life. But as we grew, we chose our own paths, we made mistakes, we fell down and we got 'marks'. But it's all in how we choose to let those marks heal that determine how we look-beautiful or ugly. If I can allow God to use those character marks for His purpose, He will make something very lovely out of it. It's the things that happen in life that forms us, it's what makes us who we are and who we will become.

Oh, that I would have beautiful 'Character Marks"!!

Counting Sheep? Or Peaceful Sleep...

Have you ever gone to bed to sleep? Only to have your mind run and run?? Your eyes are very heavy and your whole body is asking you to just shut down the thoughts and get some rest.

You finally resort to counting sheep, only to have them scatter before you get to 17. There are just to many thoughts to be thought, problems to solved, plans to be made and dreams to dream.

As the hours gets later, you think you simply MUST get some sleep!! But those brain wheels just won't shut down. Soon the 'late' hour becomes an early one, and you wonder how you will ever function 'tomorrow' on only a few hours of sleep. Surely you will be a crabby mess.

But often times I find the opposite to be true. Let me explain... If I don't take time to myself to 'just think', I end spending a night 'Thinking'. I have to sort out bits and pieces of my life, reorganizing and rearranging, praying and laying EVERYTHING at His feet!!

And ONLY then do I find peace and rest. Only then will I be able to sleep. Trusting my Shepherd to lead His Sheep!!!! And the day ahead will be much better, because my life is in order and back under a Loving Shepherds care. And that's a Finer Thing for me!!

Linked to -Amy's Finer Things
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