my one heart

 

These are lyrics from a song called Sea of Faces by a Christian rock band, Kutless…

“If only my one heart

was all You’d gain

from all it cost,

well I know,

You would have

still been a man

with a reason

to willingly offer Your life.”

Though I’ve heard the song a hundred times, it gives me goose bumps to really think about this idea.  When I think of me following Jesus I don’t exactly think of him ‘gaining’ something.  I know this song is not scripture, but I know from scripture that this concept is true.

Luke chapter 15 verses 4 and 5 say:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing…”

Verse 7 goes on to say:

“Likewise… there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

You can also read the examples of the lost coin and the lost son; stories which have the same conclusions.

Though I know in my head that I am saved by grace, through faith, not by works, it is hard to feel that in my heart at times.  I often feel like I don’t have enough faith, don’t deserve salvation, and don’t DO enough for God… which is all true… BUT, Romans 5:8 says,

“God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

He knows where I’m at.  He knows my heart… which is scary in a way, but also comforting.  He knows that I do have a little faith, and though I mess up at times, He still loves me.  He loved me before I loved Him.  He chose me before the foundation of the world to be His.

Maybe if I meditated on this instead of being so easily distracted by the cares and duties of this world, and remember that Jesus would leave the flock to come find little old me and save me and rejoice over finding me, I would experience a deeper faith and better focus on living for Him in all that I do.

I am not sneaking in to Jesus’ promises, trying to be good enough for Him… He picked me.  Through His grace and sacrifice, I am enough for Him.  I need to let Him be enough for me in my life.

I hope this scatterbrained rambling is encouraging to someone else!  <3

Farm Chicks Show 2012

 

Well, the yearly trip to the Farm Chicks vintage market last weekend was a blast! 

This was my third year.  It did not disappoint.

First of all, I think I look forward to going to Chaps restaurant just as much as the FC show…

     

I mentioned it in years past, also.  They have some serious food.  Sweet or savory, whatever you crave.  They serve their ice water in mason jars.  The place is gorgeous.  You simply must go. 

We went each morning we were there.

 

Here are some shots of a few booths I really liked at the show…

I didn’t get a shot of her goods, I was too busy buying them, but she specializes in vintage/industrial pieces and I love her space every year.  It is highly competitive because she’s the first booth inside the building (you can see it in this post; in the first two pictures of merchandise).  Oodles of lockers, industrial metal bins, industrial stools and chairs, school pieces, wood tool boxes, etc. 

 

I really liked these tie-dyed vintage slips by Lipstick Gypsy.  They were all in perfect condition and the colors were lovely.  She was really sweet and friendly and sells online.

 

 

 

 

This tower of locker baskets cheaper than all the others at the show had me at hello.  They were the exact kind I wanted, too!

 

 

 

Some random goods…

     

Don’t ask me how that glass box is a “sanitary sterilizer”.

Skirts made from vintage aprons… really sweet.

Bunting and school house trash cans. Where else?

This was a beauty everyone was talking about.  It was priced between $400-$500.  It sold.  That is actually a good price.  For such a rare and trendy piece, I expected it to be near $1000.  Either way, it wouldn’t fit in my tiny house and it was certainly not fit it’s pinky toe into my budget. 

 

Day two.  Second trip to Chaps.

     

Many ladies drive sweet old rigs to the show.  The mileage has to hurt, but how fun is that truck!!

We finally remembered to take a picture.  The day before some of us were duded up in our cowgirl boots and dresses, but we forgot to take a picture to show you.  =)

 

Well that is about it. 

Until next year… I get a post together about my goodies.  =)

 

Godbless.

broken hearts

 

Lately, trying to take control of God’s timing has been the culprit of much anxiety for me.  Both in my own life and in many friends’ lives right now, stressful, ugly, sad and lonely situations abound.  Being a female, I tend to take these worries upon myself, agonize over them, feel for the person and stress myself out about it. 

I tend to come up with a plan in my tiny little head to solve everyone’s problems.  Then I become fixated on that plan, and pray for God to make it happen because it is, quite obviously, better than what he is doing about it which seems to be nothing. 

Reminds me of when I was little.  My mom said I would need something; a toy, an item of clothing, a craft supply… we could go to store after store, and I would not buy anything because it would not be the exact thing I had pictured in my mind.  And even if that that exact thing I had pictured in my mind did not actually exist, I was still not interested in any substitute.  I would just be crabby and buy nothing.

That is how I am treating life’s situations, and my hair brained solutions.  How sinful I am!  God is GOD, who am I to even bring him a plan I cooked up?  God is gracious and merciful, though, and he does tell us to make our requests known to Him.  He knows us, he knows our emotions and our hearts and our minds, and he desires us to seek and know Him and His Son.

This week something disheartening happened.  Amongst all that stress I brought upon myself on behalf of me and others, a little portable at my church that hadn’t been loved since the 70’s, which I had begun fixing up was broken into and vandalized.  I started fixing it up probably over a year ago.  I had the youth group kids help me strip wallpaper, make curtains, paint the walls, doors and trim and decorate one room.  We use the room for My AWANA girls and they loved it.  The vandals broke in through a window that didn’t lock, tipped over my book shelf full of supplies, dumped my leftover paint all over the walls, doors, trim, floors, bulletin board, tables and chairs, and used my leftover spray paint to draw giant male anatomy on my schoolhouse chalkboard, in the hallway and in another classroom. 

Are you kidding me God?  This?  Now?

Standing in that room, even after the youth group had cleaned up what they could and put things back in place… looking down, I took note of the floor.  The FLOOR.  The floor is what started the redecorating process in the first place.  It was heinous harvest green and gold, with highlights of 40 year old scum.  After I fixed up that first room, the board of trustees wanted me to go ahead and finish the whole thing, and said we could even get new flooring.  We tore out the nasty old carpet, but it has taken forever moving forward with getting the new carpet installed… Between getting quotes, picking stuff out, finding out we can’t do that kind, picking out another kind, getting another quote and on and on.  I would get really frustrated at myself when I thought about it, that I hadn’t gotten it done, so I could proceed with all the other improvements.

But standing in that room, looking down at the bare floors with paint splattered all around the room in thick puddles… I got a tiny glimpse into God’s timing.  It might be tiny, but it is a true glimpse of God’s wisdom and grace.  I can’t imagine the stress I would have felt if this had happened to our brand new carpet that I had just encouraged the church to buy.

In this, I was reminded that whatever ideas I may have, and however long He seems to take, God does have a plan, and I know that He “works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  -Romans 8:28.  I am going to REST on that.  I need to bring my worry and stress to God and not try so hard to conjure up my own plans, but instead, soften my heart and be ready for God to use me to accomplish His plans.

If you, like me, feel that your heart is broken into a million little pieces… know that Jesus saves those broken pieces.  He will put your heart back together again, if you trust in Him.

my morning bliss & keeping house

 

That title is like an oxymoron.  Housekeeping and bliss in the same sentence is just wrong.  Two separate thoughts, don’t worry.

My morning bliss…  does anyone else keep a bowl or shaker filled with a cinnamon + sugar mixture for sprinkling on heavily buttered toast?  C’mon, I can’t be the only sugar feign out there.  Well I having been using it for something else lately…

I leave out about a teaspoon of sugar from what I usually add to my coffee, then add that skipped teaspoon in using the cinnamon sugar mixture!  It leaves some little floaters in the coffee, but it is oh, so good!

Maybe it will be enough to get me out of bed early.  HAHAHAHA I’m so funny.

 

Okay, so keeping house… I posted way back when [in March] about committing to the 30 Day Shred, for a whole month, and shared my “before” weight and body fat % numbers with you.  Then I left you out there in la-la land wondering how it went.  Well I have a mixed review... 

After doing the 30 Day Shred workout video 4 days a week [and indoor soccer 2 days a week]…

weight before:  153.8;  

weight after: 153.4

body fat percentage before: 32.8

body fat percentage after: 34.2

Even though the numbers don’t show it, I was super happy with the workout…

Pros:

Toning.  The workout focuses on strengthening and cardio and I definitely noticed some muscle definition where there hadn’t been any in some time.  For me that was the arms and shoulders and my collar bones have reappeared!  Sometimes when running or working out a lot my quads get too big – I didn’t have that problem with this workout; it is the “long and lean” type of strengthening. 

Cardio.  There is no way the average person could go through the workout and not feel like they just threw down a couple hundred calories.  At the same time, she keeps the pace so that it is doable.

Levels 1, 2, &3.  It is nice to be able to move through the levels as you get more fit, or to choose up or down from your usual level on an off day or when you are feeling particularly motivated.  I started on level one for about a week and was up to level 3 for the last week. 

Cons:

My weight didn’t go down much.  Probably because I gained muscle and lost fat (and fat weighs more than muscle), so that is okay with me.  I saw results so I won’t stress about the numbers.

My body fat % [supposedly] went up.  I measured it using a bathroom scale which my collegiate athlete sister-in-law tells me is pretty much bogus anyway. 

My final synopsis is that this is a really great workout to shed calories and get toned.  My downfall was in that I didn’t limit my food intake enough.  After completing the challenge, I took a couple weeks off from working out at all, and concentrating on limiting my eating, and I lost about 4 pounds.  If you are looking for a good workout to do at home, I highly recommend any of these in conjunction with a healthy diet, listed easy to difficult, 30 Day Shred (3 levels), No More Trouble Zones (more strengthening focused), Banish Fat and Boost Your Metabolism (more cardio focused).  I am in no way compensated for this review.

 

That’s all I got for today.  I have so many odds and ends to finish around here, so I can share projects with you!  I have been trying to be more organized, and made myself a list of my weekly goals!  So far I have only completed 3 of 12!  Back to work!

tidbits {farm chicks}

 

So there were a few straggling ideas that I caught at Farm Chicks that I couldn’t go without sharing.  Get ready for some randomness!

I thought this was the sweetest touch to cute up some regular old fashioned folding metal chairs…

So sweet.  Use fabric scraps from your scrap pile or utilize thrift store sheets, pillowcases or clothing to get the perfect look for your event.

Another interesting and creative way to use up fabric scraps…

So they took fabric strips and twisted them as they sewed down the line and created a colorful, twisty rope.  I thought it would be cute to use as the string for a bunting. 

As a side note: I saw this similar but different idea on Goodwill’s blog…

It is a scarf made from an old tshirt, and it was actually a class, so I haven’t seen instructions, but I think they simply cut it in strips and then tied knots every couple inches.  I think it is a cute summer accessory!  It would solve my scarf problem, too – I always feel too poofy in regular scarves.  That green one is like a statement necklace.

Back to Farm Chicks… painted trays…

I love the red one, I love the little gray ones with the doily relief (I bought one), I love the little TV tray table they are sitting on!  That TV table would make such a sweet nightstand.

And I love this silver one with chalkboard paint …

All those trays are pretty common at thrift stores – especially the silver ones (pretty sure that red one was silver before red).  Totally on the lookout for these items now.

Also, map creations… there was a ‘globe’ garland…

Paper gift bags made from music and maps – would be great for party favors or gift cards…

And you know by now I am a sucker for bunting…

LOVE the combo of the baker’s twine and the map flags.  You will be seeing some of that in Mark and Susie’s room reveal!

Then there was this garland made from the pages of aged books…

Looks like they just rolled up each page, then tied two pieces of string snugly around the center of the roll, added another, and tied it, and so on.  Totally doing that for Christmas on my mantle.

And if you are terrible at growing plants like me, try inexpensive grass in a classic terra cotta pot…

Buy a little bag or single scoop at your local hardware store, and when you manage to kill one batch, start over.  Winter Rye is especially thick and nice.  I water mine by setting the pot in a dish of water and letting it soak it up, otherwise, the water knocks down all those beautiful blades.

Last but not least, there was this great double header idea to transform an old window into a message center…

Sorry about the awkward picture – that person simply would not be on their way!  Chalkboard paint AND chicken wire??!!  I would clip things to the wire with clothespins.  I happen to have an old window which has a broken pane and couldn’t figure out what to do with it - I will be utilizing the window and this idea in my bedroom just as soon as I finish up some other projects.

Now I have to go finish those projects!  And figure out what to make the hubby for dinner.  Argh!

Farm Chicks 2011

Okay, so it is that time of year again – last weekend was our annual chick trip to Spokane, WA for the Farm Chicks Show! And I think this year my goal is to fit it all into one post… with the exception of our favorite food spot which deserves its own post… and some tidbits that are a cinch to do at home which I will blog when I have nothing else to blog about… but for the majority of the show – all in one post!

Let’s do this.

This is what we saw when we arrived shortly before the show opened, around 9:35, I think…

I am pretty confident that is the longest line I have ever seen in my entire life. At the very left edge of the pic the tiny ‘ants’ are the people at the start… and then it goes out of the picture on the right and under those trees and the little white rooftop, the line comes back into the picture and you can see the tiny heads of more ‘ants’ – and keeps going and going, just like the energizer bunny. Don’t let this line prevent you from going to the show – they have you buy tickets before you get in this line, then when the show opens, everyone in line is in the show within about 5 minutes. Funny that some of these ladies line up at 6 and 7, and they only beat us in by five minutes!

Yep. =)

Above left is day 1, first pile of junk walking in the door – random old junk = LOVE. Above right, that is a floor lamp made from plumbing and a galvanized bucket! I kinda want one for some weird reason!

For my dream entry. Sold already - one of those ladies five minutes ahead of us snatched it up.

I purchased something out of that bucket – I will share the project soon!

Above left: I love cows! Someone else pointed this out and I would have had to have it if it were baby cows which are even better than grown up cows. No price. And I was afraid to ask. Above right: Ah-mazing! Pottery Barn style and prices at this booth – it was $163. So cool though. There were three.

A favorite vendor from last year was there this year, too; Retreat Style. Very pretty booth. I recently learned this booth is run by a husband and wife team - so cool! Talented team.

This photo was hard to get without women's arms flying through it. The huge booth was one of the things I had been waiting for all year! Vintage table linens - at our local antique shops, vintage table cloths are usually around $40 or $50 and even $60. I could have sworn last year at FC this same booth had them for like $4/ea but this year they were more like $10. Still a ton cheaper than antique shops. That guy on the right in plaid shorts is the boss of the booth and the only one of 3 workers who knows the prices. No prices are marked, you just dig through, find something you want and hold it up and he will inspect it and give you a price in 3 seconds flat. He (supposedly) remembers how much he paid for each one. He travels all across the country ‘picking’ the stuff for his booth. This photo represents about 1/16 of his booth. He specializes in mass quantities, which always draws me into a booth.

There were also old quilts, all tattered and loved, which make my heart swoon…

Tons of boots, which were also under most tables around the whole perimeter of his booth…

And tons of other things including old purses, belts, buttons, post cards, …you name it.

The knock off Pottery Barn booth…

They brought out that blue Polish china for day two, really cute.

I love their grain sack and burlap pillows. I didn’t even check their prices... someone in our group said they were way overpriced. That’s okay, I can make my own burlap pillows. =)

They totally followed PB’s lead, copying their Found Grain Sack Pillows and those jars are just like PB’s Found Antique Pickling Jars. I looked online and the grain sacks do usually start around $45 and most are toward the $80 range. They are European and German Grain sacks. The material is like a rough Mexican blanket, but a very tight weave.

Another booth also specialized in European grain sacks and making pillows from them…

Also overpriced. And the people dressed in smocks made from the sacks, too… hmm?

Not sure what is up with the Red Cross theme but cute vignettes and I love that sofa.

I am pretty sure this huge basket is PB; it looks identical to a line they recently discontinued…

But it was $130 and PB’s were only like $65. Darn. Good chunky baskets are hard to find.

Two beds I wanted to buy even though the kids are sharing a bunk bed right now…

That metal one was only $65 and if it didn’t have broken rails and I wouldn’t have had to nag husb to find some way to make it function, it would have come home with me. The one on the right was sold, but those beds are a dime a dozen on Craigslist and always so cute with a distressed coat of paint!

The only feature by big time blogger Heather Bullard was this display, selling the plans to her web-famous chicken coop.

The second day had been pretty brief; checking to see if our favorite booths had restocked and seeing if anything we wanted had been marked down. When I (always the last one) announced that I was finished, and we turned to make our way to the exit, I saw what I had been looking for!!!

Flour sacks! I am making pillows to sell at the Dickens Fair (have not been able to find website for that yet) and I wanted to do some flour sack pillows. I snagged the last few without holes in them. Two I might have to keep for myself are actually sugar bags, and one says “U & I Sugar”, which I might have to make a little bed pillow out of, and one is old C&H and says “Sugar, the essential food.” AGREED!

On the way out I noticed that first junk pile we saw had completely morphed and been restocked into a new and beautiful junk pile…

As far as our loot (after the first day)…

BTW, you should also see Esther’s post about the show!

Actually, it is not all mine - those two galvanized locker baskets are for my MIL and the jar lids are for a friend. Mary didn’t seem to think her loot needed to be photographed! Mary! You stinker. I know she scored a couple table cloths – we were battling it out with the hoards of other women at the same time and we both kept going back to that booth throughout the show.

This is what I added to my loot the second day…

(Oops that tray was same one from the first day). I think I will do a little post to tell you what each of my items are. I know, it was a pipe dream to think I could get it all shown and said in one post. Farm Chicks is just too much!

This little baby might just be my favorite of all my items…

The little rosettes by Allora Handmade have always been my favorite and when I saw a booth full of flowers mimicking Allora’s I knew I had to have one. This sweet little ring was only $6 and I wore it from then on. I did get OCD and trim those strings when I got home. =)

So that’s all for now. I have so many good posts in my brain, and hope they can all get out on the blog this week and next! Peace!