Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

I almost forgot how to blog.  It's true - it's been so long since I wrote a blog post that I had to putter around to find my way again.   In reality, I've been blogging in my head.  I really have.  I've been talking to you and showing you things around The Wren.  Projects we've worked on. . . food I've cooked. . . crafts I've made. . . and of course, the grandchildren that won't stop growing.  But of course, if I don't put my fingers to the keyboard and download some photos, then you have no idea what's going on.   During the past year, my jobs have taken up a lot of my time and attention.  Most of my attention, actually.  The problem?  I had too many jobs.  I was teaching preschool, running the preschool ministry at our church, staging homes for Realtors, and helping clients with organizing their homes.   Something had to give.  I felt the Lord was telling me it was time to give up teaching.  I a...

I'm having to convince myself that sharing is a good thing.  It's something my youngest grandson taught me.  Sometimes we don't have a choice in sharing - people (or doggies) infringe on our rights and take what rightly belongs to us. How we respond to that infringement is what separates the "sharers" from the "non-sharers".  When someone cuts me off in traffic, do I respond with my usual mumbling under my breath or do I let it roll of my back.  When someone takes the credit for my idea do I insist on getting the attention or do I let it go? When someone bulldozes over my feelings do I spend the next week fretting over it or do I get over it and move on? I've decided that I'll share the road, share the credit, share the positive attitude and spare the drama. Life is too short to eat a whole bag of goldfish crackers all by yourself - even if Mama packed them just for you.  Sharing is a good thing.

I love to walk around my yard in the early summer and visit all of the blooming plants.  One of my favorites is the Clematis vine.  This particular variety blooms every few weeks all summer long.  I don't know what variety it is because I got it from the clearance bin at Walmart.  It was a sad little thing, but with a bit of TLC, it has recovered beautifully. Another one of my favorites is this peony.  Again, I don't know the variety because it was rescued from the clearance pile at Lowe's.  The blooms don't last very long if a good rain storm comes along, but they  are stunning while they last.  I can't help but be reminded that it's not how you start out, but how you finish.  Like these flowers, I want to finish well.  How about you? 

Several readers have emailed me asking me what I used to make the party favors for my church's women's  event.  Here is my work table ready to assemble the little pots.  I like to set everything out and precut anything ahead of time so I can move quickly - assembly line like. I bought peat pots at Big Lots - 10 pots for $1.00.  I already had a roll of green paper raffia from another project.  I think I bought it at Michaels.  I also picked up a bag of excelsior from Michaels with my 40% off coupon.  For 80 party favors I used 1 1/2 bags.  So that I didn't have to use a lot of the excelsior, I recycled some of the shredding from my paper shredder in the bottom of the pots. I tied a strip of the paper raffia around each pot and filled it half full of shredded paper.  I printed out little paper tags onto card stock.  I just used the column setting in Word, getting 8 tags on each sheet...

I'm still alive, just crazy busy.  Doesn't it seem that life gets really busy as soon as spring arrives?  Last week I prepared for a WOW (Women of the Word) event at my church.  We had a great turnout on Saturday morning and spent a few hours enjoying fellowship and food (of course) and I was able to share some great ideas for keeping balanced in your heart, your health, and your home.  Here is a little party favor I made for each of the ladies to take home.  After we set the table, we put some little speckled egg candy in each cup.  The paper tag can be used as a Bible Book Mark.  It had our theme verse on it.  After I got home from that event, we had a little event of our own at home - our bee hive swarmed.  This time we knew it was really our own.  We were prepared with new hive supers (boxes for the bees to live in).  Now we have two bee hives! Sunday morning was worship and work (I am one of the dir...

Yup, it's Thursday and I'm just now posting Wrensday (which should have been posted on Wednesday).  Yup, that's how I'm rolling right now.  I always love to hear what people are reading.  You can learn a lot about a person by observing what they read.  You can also get a great lead on what your next read might be.   When I showed you my newly refinished bedside table, I purposely left my books "as is" in the photo because that's usually how it looks.  Sometimes the bigger books are precariously piled on top of the smaller books, but on this day we were living safely.  This is what I'm reading right now:   1.  Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is an amazing devotional book.  It is written, using scripture, in the first person of Christ.  I start every day with it and . . .    2.  My Bible .  I've had this Bible for 21 years now.  It's worn and weary, but I love all of the...

Sunday afternoon was rainy and windy and even a 15 minute hail storm made it a bit noisy.  But the best part was what we saw afterward. . . All chickens, goats, and bees were accounted for and no harm was done.  The hail melted quickly because of the rain that came after it.  Yes, lots of water made for a muddy backyard and our wheelbarrows needs to recover from their tumble.   Thank you, Lord, for the rain.  Thank you for protection during the storm.  I pray for those devastated by the tornadoes that destroyed their homes and harmed their families.  I pray that you will comfort them with a peace that passes understanding.  Amen

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, my focus starts to turn towards hearts.  Not the bright red paper ones, but ones you would find in nature.  I'm always looking for heart shapes whenever I'm walking around our yard or out on a hike somewhere.  I decided to stroll through Pinterest today and find some photos of hearts in nature.  Here are some that I love. . . Source: woman-taken-by-the-wind.tumblr.com via Imaflygirl on Pinterest Source: springhillnursery.com via jay on Pinterest Source: flickr.com via Bev on Pinterest Source: fivesensus.blogspot.com via Bev on Pinterest Source: centsationalgirl.com via Lisa on Pinterest Source: justkeepbreathingandbelieving.tumblr.com via Julia on Pinterest Source: flickr.com via Bev on Pinterest I love how God built little reminders of His love into the world He created for us. 

I've been contemplating what my word for 2012 would be.  2011 was quite an amazing year and I've been thinking that 2012 would just sort of be a shadow year.  You know, one of those years where you just live - nothing big happens.  You live in the shadow of what happened previously  because it was so bright and shiny that everything else paled in comparison.  Well, as usual, God wouldn't let me live in a shadow.  He reminded me that he healed me from kidney disease and paralysis for a reason -  for a PURPOSE.    Source: sarahjanestudios.com via Lorraine on Pinterest (Sarah Jane Studios has some adorable artwork - sarahjanestudios.com ) Selfishly, I wanted a year to rest.  A year of sabbatical.  A year of just hanging out.  But do you know what happens to you when you rest for a whole year?  You turn flabby.  ...

I think most of us look at the beginning of a new year as an opportunity to do better.   Do a better job at taking care of our bodies, our jobs, and our homes.  Work on our relationships with our Lord, our spouses, our family, and our friends. Learn new skills, new words, and new knowledge.  After the Christmas decorations were packed up I spent a bit of time on the computer looking for ideas for the new year.  What new things would inspire me?  I bookmarked a bunch of sites and thought I would share them with you.  Let me know which ones you like the best.  Spiritual: I'm not the kind of person who usually says the "C" word - but I love this quote and this is how I want to live. Source: designsbycp.com via Kelly on Pinterest I would love to get a new Bible, but I'm so comfortable with my old one and I love reading the notes and dates I've added over the years.  See the notes in the margins?   (P...