Extending Grace

Do you ever feel like something just hits you between the eyes and you can't believe you've never thought of it?

I'm having one of those moments this week.

How many times a day do I fail?  (Let's not really count - haha.)  God extends grace to me every.single.time.

grace

   [greys]   noun, verb, graced, grac·ing.

noun

5. mercy; clemency; pardon: He was saved by an act of grace from the governor. Synonyms: lenity, leniency, reprieve. Antonyms: harshness.

How many times do I get frustrated with my child and harshly raise my voice with her, using the very official, you-know-you're-in-trouble first AND middle names?

Ziva Grace.

Wow.  What a constant reminder that I need to extend grace to her in the same manner that God the Father extends it to me.

I'm not insinuating that I let her off without consequences, but I may need to think a bit longer before I go getting frustrated.

Slow to speak.

Slow to get angry.

Extending grace.

It took me over 2 years to see this sweet little tidbit.  I wonder what God will teach me next!

frugal and fun dating.

Step 1:  Go to a thrift shop and buy a game that looks fun, and won't take up a lot of room/bother people.  (We picked up Orijinz for $2.99 - and it looks like it had never been played!)

Step 2:  Grab drinks and the comfy chairs at your local coffee shop.  (We chose Starbucks, not for lack of cool local options, but because it was Sunday night at nearly 5 o clock and we didn't want them to close on us.)

Step 3:  Play, laugh and enjoy each others company!  Our date cost less than $15, but it could be much cheaper - we "splurged" and got the big drinks! ;]

  We had originally planned to do dinner, but, the local place we wanted to go to closed at 3 on Sunday, and once we started driving around we realized we weren't really hungry enough to eat dinner.  None of the chain restaurants looked appealing, and I'd really been wanting to pick up Scrabble for cheap so we swung into Goodwill.  I found Scrabble for $3.99 (with all the tiles!) - yay!  And then on our way to pay we saw Orijinz and it looked fun.  We had toyed with just getting coffee anyway, so I said, "Hey, do you want to buy this and go play it at Starbucks?"  The hubs agreed and we had a great, cheap date.  Much less than we would've spent on dinner - and we didn't even end up going somewhere we didn't really want to simply because we had a sitter!  Love!

Just thought I'd share a bit about our evening out - do you have any ideas for dates that are fun and frugal? (And different!)  Let me know!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

 

Inspired by: Soulemama

Thoughts on Housework.

Housework.

It's inevitable.

In our home there seems to be a steady supply of dirty dishes, dirty laundry, dirty floors, etc.  Our home is lived in.  That's what happens.

I'm not going to say I love doing housework or anything like that.  I do find it rewarding and peaceful at the day's end to relax in a clean space.  However, I've found a greater reward by using daily chores as a means to count my blessings.

While doing the dishes, "Thank you, Lord, for providing my family with wholesome meals."

While putting away clean laundry, "Thank you, Lord, for our clothes that keep our bodies warm."

While sweeping up dirty floors, "Thank you, Lord, for the feet that have walked through my home."

While putting away books and blocks and play food for the millionth time (it seems) that day, "Thank you, Lord, for the joy that our daughter brings to our lives."

I find this really helps change my outlook and attitude toward housekeeping.

Next time you go to tackle your least favorite chore, think about why you have to do it, and you might find that it's not so bad after all.

Instant Gratification

So.  If you're on Pinterest (follow me!) then you've no doubt seen lots of cute boot socks and/or legwarmers floating around the boards.  So much cuteness!  Believe it or not I was not interested in knitting them.  But I still wanted some.  Then I remembered this sweater I had.

I bought this sweater when I was in high school.  I remember it being like $40 at American Eagle and thinking it was a classic looking staple and I'd get a lot of use out of it.  Well, I did.  I loved this sweater.  I could wear it with anything and I even wore it through my pregnancy.  After awhile though, it lost some elasticity and I just didn't like wearing it because the neckline was all stretched out and I was constantly tugging at it.  Into the thrifting pile it went... that's been sitting there for months.  Till yesterday, out of the thrifting pile it came.  My beloved sweater has a happy second life!

Legwarmers AND a cowl!  (Ps, please excuse my awkward attempts at modeling and backdrop of kitchen cupboards.  Gotta work with what I got.)  I love this little set.  I still need to stitch a hem around before I wash them (assuming they'll need it someday).  But yeah, I didn't sew a bit.  Sleeves are now legwarmers and the bottom half of my sweater is now a cowl.  =D

Mid-Morning Thoughts

Grocery lists and menus are more fun in color.

I adore this cup and saucer the hubs got me for Christmas. (Oh and he got me the coffee for Christmas too!)

Beeswax crayons are awesome.

Mason jars make everything look cooler.

I want one of these to make my coffee look cooler (but not colder) while traveling.

I've been googling a diy way to make my own cuppow (see above link) with no success.  These guys probably deserve their 7.99 plus 5 dollar shipping for coming up with such a cool product, but the thrifty girl in me says otherwise.

It's finally (I say finally but it's not like I was really hoping for it) looking and feeling like winter in Maine.

I've got the itch to sew Z a cozy nightgown thanks to all soulemama's posts.

I need to bring my sewing machine down to my parents so my dad can figure out what I broke on it this time.

End random thought process.

Weekend {in phone pics}

So I recently got an android phone.  And I'm kind of in love with this little app called lightbox.  Anyone use it?  It's so easy to just snap a pic, add a cool effect (as you can see I favor 'retro') and upload it to flickr, fb, etc.  Fun!  Ps - did you notice I finally finished my love socks??

Yarn Along

It's been awhile since I've participated!  It's been awhile since I've even blogged.  So here's my yarn along for this week.  I'm working on a pair of Love Socks for myself.  =] You might remember these from here. I ended up starting over on these after Christmas, because I used a needle that was too small and I got confused and I just needed to start fresh! They are gray and white in real life so I decided to simplify the pic with b&w.  On the kindle (I got it for the hubs for Christmas) is Pride & Prejudice.  The yarn bowl, a gift from my sister, is from AquaMoose.

I have a couple more post ideas in the works, so stay tuned.  Oh yeah and happy 2012!