{p,h,f,r} Small joys!

Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for a little more down home contentment!

{Pretty}

This is only the second dandelion I've seen.  Maybe Texas just doesn't have as many, but dandelions always heralded summer to me.  We used to have tons, and even though I know they are weeds, I really like them.  They're so joyful!

{Happy}

This makes me so happy because look at all that sand!  I have been going to this beach since I was two, and my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents have been going there before me.  For the last few years, the sand decided to depart, so it was rocky as all get out.  Really, underneath that sand are rocks.  Lots of rocks.  While it was nice, it wasn't running at 100%, and I think the toddler-toting crowd felt the lack of sand worse than the rest of us.  

So, despite all the hippy libs that said we killed the beach (they blamed it on a storm wall kind of thing that is keeping a house from falling into the ocean people!), as all the wise old ladies have said for years, it's cyclical.  Sand comes, sand goes.  It always comes back.  And right they were, as this picture is less than a week old.  Is it vacation yet?!!  

{Funny}

Source

Not really appropriate, but I ran across this silly picture earlier today and it just struck my funny bone!  God bless the animals for their trusting nature, because oh baby do we abuse it!  Can I have a dog now?

{Real}

The dishwasher isn't working, so all those nicely loaded dishes....are dirty.  I'm about to attempt to make dinner without washing anything so that I can do it all while dinner cooks.  One fell swoop sort of thing.  I like to bring in my groceries in the least number of trips, wash my dishes once a day, and otherwise attempt time-saving activities that do not actually save time.  Real me, whatdayaknow!

Time to return to my unspoiled days and go wash dishes by hand.  First world problems - yep!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} Blessings and Coupons, or Daily Life

Joining in for some {phfr} fun at Like Mother, Like Daughter and double-whammying with the Catholic Blogger's Blitz!  

{Pretty}

I posted this the other day, but I'm still looking at it and it's still making me happy.  Some of the recently discovered money (noted below!) will likely go to buying plants.  There is something so inherently uplifting about flowers and living greenery in and around one's home.  My grandmother is amazing with this; I am not, but figure it can't hurt to work on building new skills.

It's been said that carnations are funeral flowers, but I happen to love them.  They are simple and pretty, and epitomize what life ought to be - unencumbered by other's opinions, living out our vocation and life to the best of our ability. After all, we can't all be roses; some of us have to be carnations or the garden of life would be boring!  A bit deep for a single flower, but with all that embedded in it, how could it not be pretty?

{Happy}

Photo shamelessly snitched from one of my best friends, Anne, who takes far
better pictures than I do, and because my pictures were lost when my
laptop was stolen.  Thank you Anne!

We are going to Rome in the fall!!!!  I've been once, when I did a study abroad semester, and it was AMAZING!  The Husband has wanted to go for ages, and has never been, so off we're going!  

It's actually been quite challenging finding a time that fits work schedules, won't cause me to give birth in Italy should the Lord decide to so bless us in the near future, and is affordable.  For a while I didn't think it would work, but I prayed about it anyway asking for God to make it clear when we should go.  We were looking at dates last night, and they were all over $3k, which was just too much for one week. Then, all of a sudden, we pop in a date range and BOOM!  Flights plus hotel for $500 cheaper than the best deal we'd found yet.  And the timing is good for everything, including the Husband's work meetings.  Thank you God!

{Funny}

There is a kid that gets bitten by a dog in this, so that part isn't funny, but the cat is.  The kid is okay, by the way, and will probably be on the Today Show with his family, hence why I think this can qualify as funny.   

This is super-cat, and he means business!  Dogs that bite kids - ain't nobody got time for that!  (Haha, oh Americana)

{Real}

Real women get deals.  Don't ask how I got that big of an order on pictures; suffice it to say that I did. That's the trouble with having a great wedding photographer...you simply cannot whittle down those amazing pictures to 10.  Doesn't work.  So, instead, I made all the photobooks I wanted, and then waited until I had enough coupons to make the order semi-reasonable.  I love coupons, although I hate couponing. But this?  This made my morning!

Now, I am trying to think of what I could possibly do with three loaves of unrisen sourdough.  Something is very wrong with my bread, and everyone is stumped.  It works at my parent's house, just not here.  Any recipe ideas for unrisen dough?  And, thanks, but I don't need to eat three loaves worth of cinnamon buns.  But thanks.

Five Minute Friday: Grateful (for life)

Linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday!  (This might have taken more than five minutes because I got a phone call in the middle, but we'll just say it's five minutes and call it good, ok?)

I was talking with some women from church the other day, and one of them was telling us about a conference she'd been to where one of the speakers asked the audience to do a quick exercise for him.

"Write down ten things you're grateful for," he said.  "You have two minutes."  So, she told us, everyone started writing, and then when the two minutes were up, be began speaking.  He asked everyone who had five or more things on their list to raise their hands, then he said he only wanted to see the hands of people who had six or more things.  Then just those who met the full ten, then any who had more than ten.

Once that settled down, the speaker said that he figured most people were thankful for their families, children, jobs, etc, and there were lots of nodding heads.  However, he next asked who wrote that they were grateful for being alive.  For the air they were breathing.  For the ground they stood upon.  That idea launched the rest of his talk about being thankful for everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I got to thinking - what kinds of things am I grateful for that didn't seem like blessings at first?  Well, lots, actually.

I'm grateful that my horse, which I was sooooooo excited to have, turned into a monster that bit and kicked everyone, forcing me to sell him after a year (I think he had a personality disorder or something; I've worked with a ton of horses since and never had a problem.  Ah well.).  Turns out, we had to move just a few months after his sale, but the picture of me riding him that happened to be in our adoption portfolio was a leading reason why my brother's birthmother chose our family.  She had always lived in the city, but she wanted her son to get to experience a country life with mountains, animals, and horses.  So, if I hadn't had that beloved awful animal for those eleven months, I might not have a brother, and we might not have been able to move to Virginia.

This is about a year after selling Chance, but suffice it to say that the "horse bug" has 

yet to be squashed; it's just on hold at the moment!

I'm grateful that I got cancer right out of college.  It kept me home, and caused me to take a different job than my original offer, which launched me on a career path that ended up putting me in exactly the spot I needed to be in order to meet my husband.  It also taught me to trust God, to remember that He's in control no matter what, and it made me grow up.  Trudging through hospital halls and getting needles stuck in one's neck (with all the resulting bills), is a very maturing experience :)  Plus, when I had my last surgery a week after our wedding, it was bigger than anticipated and I got to come back to my parent's house with a drain hanging out of my neck.  Really classy.  But my wonderful Husband didn't even bat an eye when he visited for the weekend.  What a trooper, because I know deep down he was probably rather grossed out!  And now, I'm healthy exactly when I need to be for us to start a family.  Divine timing, eh?

There are lots of random things to be grateful for, including the air we breath, the life we live, the sky we see, and the breeze we feel.  And while we shouldn't ever forget those things, I think it's equally important to think about the things in life we hated, and try to find the blessings hidden in them.  If you look deep enough, you'll always find something.  I guarantee it!

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