She Can't Ride a Bike?!

Olivia is five. And she doesn’t know how to ride a bike. How sad is that?

You see --we live on "the state park" and have no pavement anywhere - with the exception of the road - which is obviously no place for a kid to learn to ride a bike. (At least not if you're me - overprotective parent that I am...)

This past summer I should have been more diligent about taking Olivia to the community park which has a bike trail. She could've learned to ride. Problem is - there are no benches in this park on which Moms can sit and watch their kids crash their bikes. And with me needing a place to park myself and rest a lot...the no bench thing was a deterrent. So --we didn't go very often.

This afternoon, I made this cute little mini book to sell on my etsy site. I had the illustration of the Retro Red Bike and it reminded me of the red bike that sat ever so regally in my garage as a kid. It was very similar to the blue Schwinn that also had a space in the garage. I think the blue one had been my Mom’s bike when she was a kid. And now I had one almost just like it. I rode that red bike for a few years - and then all I could think about were the cool, banana-seat bikes with the high handle bars. I wanted one. I wanted the one with the groovy flower power seat. And I got one for my birthday one year. It was a bright turquoise color - and it had the flower power banana seat - and a basket! Wow! I was livin’ high on the hog now!!

Fortunately for me, my birthday is at the end of May –the beginning of the summer season. Aha - so many miles to ride!....

I rode that bike all over town. Literally. My friend and neighbor, Bobbi Jo, and I would ride everywhere. We lived on our bikes. Stopping only for an occasional round of perpetual Monopoly set up on Bobbi Jo’s front porch –the never-ending game that lasted all summer. (I used to buy as many houses and hotels as possible - as quickly as possible - and would squeal with glee when my friends landed on my properties and had to give me all their money!)

One day my Mom and I were driving past a church in our town.
“Bobbi Jo and I rode out here on our bikes.”
“No, you did not.”
“Yes, we did,”
“You couldn’t have.”
“Why not?”
“We’re more than ten miles from home.”

I was in fifth grade.

Next year, I think I’ll take Olivia to the park so she can learn to ride her bike.
Or maybe not.

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My sheep wandered over all the mountains
and on every high hill.

-Ezekiel 34:6

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Bowled over by His blessings!

I volunteer at The Good Shepherd Center –our local “mission”. (heretofore The GSC) Some days I spend my time conducting intake interviews to determine if an individual or family meets the income guidelines to receive free food from our Pantry.
Other days I stock the shelves of the Treasure Store with all kinds of neat junk that people donate. And I run the cash register in the Treasure Store too.

Ninety percent of my Christmas shopping for Olivia has been done at The GSC. Over several months I've picked up games (Green Eggs and Ham, Operation, Don’t Break the Ice, Arthur Goes to School), books (too numerous to list!), clothes, videos, a Dora doll backpack, puzzles, an addition to her Fisher Price dollhouse village...and the list goes on and on. In fact, I’ve had to curb my spending because I ran out of room in my “Christmas chest”. All told, I think I’ve spent about $25 - maybe less. And some of the things are still in the original packaging - never been opened.

I decided that I needed a new purse. In addition to a purse for me, I was looking for one made of tapestry to use as a backdrop for photographing my jewelry which will be put up for sale on my website. Purses at The GSC are always 50 cents each. Granted, some of them have decades worth of lint and cracker crumbs in the bottom, but most are clean and in good condition. They had no tapestry purses, but I found a little leather wallet clutch with a long strap - perfect to sling over my head, allowing for hands-free rummaging and shopping. There's even a pocket on the back for my cell phone and a pen. Perfect.

On my way out the door of The GSC, I spied a bowling ball. “How much?”
“Free - it’s going in the trash.”
“Trash!!”, I said with horror and disbelief, “Don’t throw it away, I want it.”
“For what?”
“I use them as lawn ornaments.”
(Insert strange looks and shoulder shrugging here.)
“Well, we’ll save them for you if you want because we get them in all the time and we just throw them away.”
Filled with excitement and glee (I know - it doesn't take much...) I picked it up and headed out the door.

When I got home, imagine my delight when I discovered that the bowling ball was RED! I quickly added it to one of the many groupings of balls we have throughout the property.



Then I sat down to 'change' wallets. Upon transferring my things from old wallet to new –guess what was in one of the pockets of the ‘new’ wallet for which I only paid 50 cents?.....$25.00

Brillo Man comes home that evening from his scrapping adventure and asked me if “this is anything you want to keep”. He handed me a tote bag full of highly collectible Shenango China and antique glassware. The tote –made of TAPESTRY!

So - all my Christmas shopping at The GSC has been ‘reimbursed’ with the $25.00, I’ve got my garden ornaments and my tapestry...and the end of the day, when I listened to my phone messages, there was one from The GSC.

They have another bowling ball for me!

God is good.

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All these blessings will come upon you
and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God...
Deuteronomy 28:2a

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Lord...of the Flies

Yep, today is Sunday.

The Sabbath.

The Lord's Day.

Sunday-goin'-ta-meetin' day.

The Holy Day.

Today at my house, it's the Day of the Flies.

I've swatted 38 thus far....and counting.

One of the plagues...revisited.

WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM?!?!?!?

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...I will send swarms of flies on you
and your officials,
on your people
and into your houses.
-Exodus 8:21

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Laughter - the Best Medicine

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A merry heart
doeth good
like a medicine.
Proverbs 15:13

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Many of my blog buddies will remember my friend, Dawna. She had back surgery yesterday and I know would appreciate your prayers!

Scatter Brained....

My therapist (yes, I have one) says that she believes I have attention deficit disorder - one reason being that I am often unable to complete what I've started and if I do, can't stay with it very long.

For example....I started off a few weeks ago listing on my long forgotten etsy site. I began by listing a few notecards and some ephemera stuff - then decided to make earrings - then decided I needed a 'niche' or something for which I could be KNOWN, so I began to create stained glass pendants. Then I got off on this tangent creating brooches and pendants made from upcycled stuff (i.e. - you take things from the garbage and make them art!). Those pieces have turned out really well (in my humble opinion), however, they will NOT appear in my etsy shop - rather they're going to a shop in a nearby town - hopefully they'll sell there. (The one in the center with the stars is a Christmas ornament - I've made a bunch of those.)



Here where I live, it doesn't seem like there's much of an 'artsy' crowd - if you know what I mean. They're mostly farmers - NOT that there's anything wrong with farmers - but I haven't known too many farmers who appreciate funky art. They're mostly into seeds and cows and stuff.

Anyway, then I got this brilliant idea to do these word and Scripture pendants - so I made a few of those. I'm checking my etsy site practically every hour and noting with horror and disbelief that NOT ONE of my fabulous word pendants has sold yet! What is UP with that?

Then this afternoon, I started searching through my studio space. (Yes, I know I promised pictures of the finished studio - hold yer horses - it's not quite done although I AM able to use the creative space!) I found my acrylic paint and canvas stash, then sorted through my watercolors, then looked through a bunch of ephemera and funky papers for possible collage pieces.... what to do next? Oh --I also found this old peasant skirt that no longer fits me (too big - yeah!) and since it has some really great fabric squares in it, I thought I'd do something fun with the fabric - maybe fabric and glass coasters or mini pillows... At this rate - I will never be known for anything. And I literally have HUNDREDS of notecard designs which I need to list...

I guess Deb's Random Art was a good name for my etsy shop after all.

Attention Deficit...ha!

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Your eyes will see strange sights
and your mind imagine confusing things.
-Proverbs 23:33

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