Bonsai Me

When Pilgrim was here in early December, he took one look at my bonsai tree and proclaimed that my life was out of balance.

As you can see in the above header picture, Ziah is just barely hangin' in there, though she is trying to look her holiday best. I guess entertaining and redecorating and change are a bit much for her.

Maybe now that the bathroom project is mostly done, and Christmas is pretty much past, she can concentrate on growing new leaves and nurturing their development. Maybe now she can get it together and stop worrying about everything and start doing something and quit wasting time feeling sorry for herself. Move forward and chin up.... Life goes on, Ziah. It does. The kids grow up, they move out, you move on. There's a lot of learning left to do and opportunity is just outside the door (and in the kitchen).

Come on Ziah, girl. You can do it!

The Bathroom Project Saga

If you've been a reader of my blog for a little while, you may have read a few posts and seen a few pics of our ongoing bathroom project here in our 1970's ranch, Suburbia, USA. If not, click here and have a lookie see.

Well, I.T. got the ceiling painted a nice bathroom white and he installed a fan, which is working very nicely, preventing moisture build-up during showers. I wonder why builders in the 1970's thought bathrooms did not need ventilation fans. Anyone?

Anyway, check out this ceiling and fan:

Now, I spent about two seconds of patience on trying to figure out how to adjust the lighting so my Nikon Coolpix could capture the color we painted the walls and cabinet doors. But that didn't work out so well. The walls are a coffee with cream sort of color called "saddle up your horses" or something like that and the cabinet doors and walking through doors are somewhere between "retro green" and "pennyroyal", which is also a shade of green. The trim is one of a million shades of off white.
In the above picture, you can see the butterscotch characteristic of the coffee on your saddle tan walls when the light hits just right. Unfortunately, you can also see the peachish tan with pee carpeting that is still in this bathroom. It will- one day- be tile or perhaps, linoleum, instead.

I.T. built a little medicine cabinet to hide the hole he had to cut in the wall, to do the wiring job for the ceiling fan (which he did not do- our electrician expert neighbor did the wiring). The cabinet door is one from our old kitchen. It just happens to be the same style as the lower cabinet doors in the bathroom. I.T. sanded the door, primed it and painted it with two coats of green paint. Then he proudly brought it in for me to see.

Above shot is with the hinges ON, but when I.T. first brought this little number in, he stuck the door up to the cupboard and just kind of set it in there. I held it in place and he stood back to check it out. Then I said, "will you hold it, so I can step back to look" and I.T. stuck a piece of blue painter's tape over the top of the door, slightly adhering it to the frame. "That'll hold it." We held hands and took a few romantic steps back........and watched.......as the little green cabinet door plunged forward onto the faucet of the sink below and banged a deep gash in its decorative molding. And in a couple of other places. (picture below is after the wood putty repair job and two more coats of green)
Jewel, my college blogger friend, posted about a corporate stress reliever scream that students participated in last night on campus. At midnight, everyone screamed at the same time out their open windows. This is a more than excellent idea and would work very well in my neighborhood at times (such as the one I am blogging about) like these when your freshly painted cabinet door decides to leap into your sink and become a train wreck, before your very eyes.
As for the doors, two days after he painted it, I.T. noticed a fingerprint on this one, near the doorknob, so he started to rub it out with a damp cloth and presto- the paint rubbed right off. If you can zoom in on the knob, you'll see it.

This caused me to blow a gasket. I gathered up the little, green cabinet door, the can of green paint, the damp cloth, my receipts and burned some rubber over to Home Depot. I demanded that the paint man mix me up a batch of green paint exactly the same color as I had in this can right here, but with a different kind of stick -to- itness. Then I demonstrated how if you wet a cloth (I spit on the one I'd brought along) and rubbed ever so slightly on the door, such as you would if you needed to clean off a mere fingerprint, poof- the paint rubs off! (The paint didn't rub off the little green cabinet door.) BUT. The paint man mixed me up a new batch, no questions asked and took back my easy-off can #1- breaking the rule of no returns on paint. As I think back on it now, I believe I may have been showing signs of anger and with all that spitting....well....I do feel bad now for the paint man.
I may or may not use this striped shower curtain indefinitely, but I found it in the pile of things that did not sell at the garage sale this spring. Since it looked kind of okayish for Christmas w/the red in it and all- I put it up, because the family was coming over for Pilgrim's homecoming party.

The trim around the window did not get painted, yet and I don't know what I'm doing for a curtain, but these Christmas napkins are the current solution for peeping Tom prevention. That's my neighbor's house out the window. Hi guys!

I have no towel bars hung and no toilet paper roll holder. The lower cabinets beneath the vanity did not get painted. But they are supposed to be green doors on wall color cabinet to match the rest of the room. I.T. says he thinks he has to scrape all the paint off the doors and repaint with the new and improved green paint.

My favorite comment so far is Pilgrim's. He took one look at the whole project and said, "Funny, mom, you've always complained about the green sinks and green tub and green toilet, but now you've added green doors on everything. It's all very green."

Corporate scream time. Everyone open your windows and let 'er rip....... !!!

Passing on a Good Message

If you haven't visited Karen today at Surviving Motherhood, you should. I could have made that video myself sans the rats. If I had one message to give, the one from her video today would be it:

Rest in God's grace and know that Jesus- knowing him, loving him, letting him teach and lead- is enough. Jesus Christ will accomplish in your life, what you cannot accomplish on your own (not talking about the trash under the couch). You can trust him for it.

Pressure's off.

Later today: How the bathroom project is shaping up- with photos....

The Homecoming

Six months after leaving for California on the Greyhound bus, the beloved middle son came home for a ten day visit. Here's a piece of my heart:

Small kitchen, big fun. The family welcomes him home:

Fash effortlessly kept the nieces and one nephew (her cousins) entertained during the party. The other nephew was playing Othello with I.T. Here is the zebra shoot:
Here is the nerdz shoot:

Divas and their manager shoot: (wardrobe provided by Fashionista's closets)
Too cute shoot (check out the ponytails):
Another night, this longtime, wonderful friend surprised Pilgrim with a ticket to the Skillet concert for his birthday. Pilgrim turned 20 while he was here!

That's all for now- hope your holiday season is bright.

The House Without a Christmas Tree

Andrea, at Under Grace and Over Coffee invites bloggers and blog readers to share their favorite Christmas films today. Click on over to her place to participate and find out who's watching what.




In 1972, when I was 9 years old, a new Christmas movie made for t.v. arrived on the air. The House Without a Christmas Tree, set in 1946 small town, Nebraska, became my new favorite and remains so to this day.


In the opening intro., the now grown up, Addie Mills, begins to narrate the memory of her most special Christmas, as we watch her cut and paste windows on a construction paper house that fades into the real house where she lived years earlier. The story begins in the kitchen, with a grandmother made, pancake breakfast , on a typical day, as her friend stops in to walk with Addie to school.

I love the simplicity of this film, including the cut- out, construction paper house in the intro. and later, the homemade paper chains and foil star that Addie uses to trim her tree, as well as, the pancake breakfast that Addie's grandmother is serving up in the first scene- all reminders of a time when homemade was best.


I haven't had to experience a life without a mother or a hard hearted father, left that way from grief too heavy to bear, but I do relate to Addie's bubbly personality, persistance and ingenuity in coming up with a reasonable explanation for why she should have the forbidden thing, in this case, a Christmas tree.


Addie is just a regular kid living a pretty ordinary life in a small town, but the effect she has on the people who surround her life is extraordinary.

Though I enjoy other bigger budget Christmas films done with actors and actresses much more well known , this is still one of my favorites. This is the first year I have seen it for sale on dvd at the local department store. I'm off right now to see if I can find it today, so I can buy it!

Pilgrim, my definition

pilgrim- traveler, wanderer, one who journeys to foreign lands, on the road to the Holy place, where Love abides, where Hope resides, and noone is denied a home with Him.

I know a pilgrim. I love him. He is my son.

We've spent the past few weeks killing the fatted calf in preparation for the homecoming of our son, Pilgrim. I can't express the joy I.T. and I have had spending time celebrating Pilgrim's presence in our home during this 10 day visit with him.

Pilgrim loves California and is doing a great job of making it on his own out there. We lavished love and affection upon him. Tomorrow we will say a tearful good-by and wish him all the best, as we return to our knees and wait......patiently....the Lord is good to all.

New Post Coming Soon!

It's snowing! We are having a wonderful visit with Pilgrim! I look forward to my return to Blogville very soon. I miss reading and writing here.

Hope everyone is well!

Peace and Love,