Why I Blog

One of my blogging friends, Lindsay, is going to be teaching a mini-class on how to start a blog. She asked followers of her blog to list the reasons they have a personal blog, so here is my list!

1. I love being able to share life with friends and family who are far away.

2. I enjoy having a chronicle of my life, something to capture my memories and feelings so I can return periodically and reflect.

3. It is a great place for me to organize some of my hobbies. For me, I LOVE crafts, sewing, junking and re-purposing. Through my blog I am able to post projects I enjoy so I can return to them when I have time. This has the double benefit of keeping my husband happy since I don't have random project ideas scribbled on bits of paper all over our house!

4. The blog provides a wonderful organization tool to keep up with friends and family who blog. You can follow other blogs and then when you log in to Blogger, it will show their updates on your "Dashboard." It is a quick and easy way to check for updates on their lives. Much more efficient than clicking on a bunch of "Favorites" every day.

5. Sometimes you just need to write stuff out in order to feel better.

6. I love having one part of my life, the blog, be a place that is undivided. Some people have several blogs: one for recipes, one for life, etc. That is great! But for me, I like the appeal of having it all in one blog. I always hope that for visitors to my site it is almost like having coffee with me - you get it all, the craftiness, the homesickness, the job updates and occasionally a cute picture of our cat.

7. It is a great way to practice your writing skills, or if you are a writer for your job, it is a great place to not worry about your writing skills for once! I write for my job, so in the blog it is refreshing to not edit, edit, edit, but just publish!

8. As a side benefit, I have also started reviewing books for both Thomas Nelson Publishers and Bethany House Publishers (both great Christian publishing companies). You sign up to be a reviewer with them (simple online form) and then pick out a book (or several, in the case of Bethany House). They then send you the book (FOR FREE!!!!) and you read it and then, on your own time, post a review on your blog as well as a book buying website (like Barnes and Noble or Amazon). It is really easy and, in the end, you get to KEEP the book! I can't tell you how amazing this is for a girl with a husband in seminary!

That is my list for now. I'm sure I could think of many more wonderful reasons you should start a blog, so if you would like to know more, comment and let me know!

Belle gets a Tutu!

Mom and Dad were kind enough to drop off the tutu on their way home from Wichita. Here is Theresa with the tutu.













And of course, a little present for Theresa! I gave her a perfect purple purse and some other goodies.



Melt my heart! I so wish I could be there to see you, little Belle, but I love you from afar!

Back in the Saddle

Well, we are back in the great state of Texas, and back in the saddle again at our jobs. While Texas truly is a great state, it is not always a state I want to live in. At least half of the year it is too hot for comfort. But I must say that the other half of the year almost makes up for it, at least at this point in our lives. But I digress...

This weekend, some of you may know, Marc and I headed off to Kansas to meet up with my parents in Wichita. It is the halfway point between Waco and Sioux Falls. We stayed at a great Holiday Inn Express and enjoyed wonderful times of fellowship and, of course, a little crafting! The Yankees made it to the World Series, so while the boys watched the Yanks, Mom and I crafted and dreamed up fun projects. We even have one really great project currently "in the works." It is a collaboration between the two of us and it is a fun and creative gift for someone we love a whole lot. Can you guess what it is or who it is for?

Well, you'll just have to wait for that answer! Christmas is coming soon my friends -a thought I often repeat to myself like a mantra - after all, Christmas is our CRAZY season at work.

Here are some pictures from the weekend!




Getting ready to leave for Wichita (with my handmade scarf)!



On the road we did our usual cheap Panderson food from the cooler in the back. Saves money and you get mini-picnics!



Sustenance. :)



On Saturday, Mom and I crafted it up! While out purchasing crafty stuff for our big project, we also picked up some tulle to make a sweet little tutu for my Belle.



Here is a close up. It is a lilac color.



Dad's CPAP mask broke at around midnight on Saturday night. So Mom and I came to the rescue with a quick trip to Walmart (don't judge me, people, it was for my Dad) and a little electrical tape. As you can see he definitely missed some important beauty sleep, but was really no worse for the wear. :)



On Sunday, we went to the zoo in Wichita. What a great zoo! Here is the orangutan. Seeing him definitely was eye opening. It led to some great conversations about evolution; if you want to know what I think you will have to ask me some other time. Needless to say I was shocked to actually watch him up close and see all his "humanoid" mannerisms.



Here is a chimp chilling on a platform. He was totally taking a sunbath!



Poor chimp with a hair-loss problem. By looking at this picture you can also see why we had lots of evolution discussions while in the zoo.



Wallaby! This cute little guy was just basking in the sun on the side of the path we were walking around. He wasn't even in a cage (just an enclosed huge pen that we could walk through). I could have touched him, but I didn't want him to bite me and all that fun stuff.



This may just be the cutest meerkat EVER. I wanted to kiss his (or her, I didn't get a good look) face.



Yep, we fed giraffes. I even petted him! He was a sweetie. For anyone wondering, it was like petting a horse.



Here I am feeding the baby. :)



Marc, acting weird on Sunday afternoon (insert feigned surprise).



Here we are holding the tutu I made for my little Belle! It is lilac with dark purple ribbons. More photos will follow, I'm sure!

All in all it was a great trip! I'm just sad we have to be back in reality. :)

Cleaning the Camera

Want to see what I did to my finger while trying to fix my sewing machine? Warning: Graphic photo of my sewing injury will open if you click the sign below... Not for the faint of heart!

Amazingly, I'm fine! No emergency room trip, no major pain meds. In fact, My nail has already healed and I am no longer wearing a bandage. The human body is pretty darn resilient. But I don't plan on testing that theory again any time soon!

In other news, this was an amazing weekend! On Friday evening Marc took me on a date to the Derek Webb, Marc Scibilia, Jillian Edwards concert at Common Grounds. It was so much fun! Here are some highlights.

On Saturday, we woke up early to go to the Baylor Homecoming Parade with our friends Lacey and Megan. Here are some pictures of our adventure!

On Saturday evening we chaperoned the FBC Elm Mott youth trip to the Corn Maze. The highlight of my day was scaring the poop out of three teenage boys in the "scary" corn maze. As we were walking along in the maze waiting for the next suprise, I suddenly screamed with all the ferocity my five foot frame would allow. They were terrified. Even after being "attacked" by a man with a chain saw, hearing screams from an abandoned bus and being chased by a goblin the team agreed that my screaming stunt was by far the scariest. These sixteen year old boys were quite literally shaking with fear!

I was pretty proud. The corn maze may have just found its newest seasonal employee, eh?

Our weekend was great! Sorry it took so long to post about it!

From Shabby Vintage Door to Classy Headboard

Here is my latest transformation!

Before...

During...

And After!

The headboard was pained a beautiful grey with a hint of blue to it. It is called Morning Mist, or something assonancy.

It was made of entirely reused materials, other than paint and hardware (screws and bolts). What do you think?

The Search for God and Guinness

The Search for God and Guinness, a book by Stephen Mansfield, begins with a brief history of beer and moves on to the specifics of the Guinness family and their influence on the world of brewing (and more).

The Guinness family story begins with Arthur Guinness, the patriarch of the family and the creator of what was to become a world-renowned beer company. Arthur, who had a passion for being an entrepreneur and a passion for beer, didn't just have a good idea (starting a beer company), but had a good idea at a good time. In fact, much of the Guinness story of success centers on the family being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of the political, economical and social climate in order to better their business, and arguably, their employees as well.

Mansfield's account of the beer giant is a moving story of the importance of family, love and philanthropy. As he weaves his way through the Guinness family line, Mansfield sheds light on several of the guiding principles that made Guinness the international success that it is today. It was interesting to see the pioneering way Guinness provided for his employees.

From complete employee health care, housing, education and other services to unprecedented compensation for day-laborers, the Guinness company of yesteryear was arguably the first "Google-type" caring company.

While Mansfield's tale of the Guinness clan is interesting and enlightening, I wasn't totally enthralled like I thought I would be. About half-way through the book he lost my interest. I think that this happened for several reasons.

One was that Mansfield's style switched from an intense focus on the Guinness family themselves to a loose focus on the family and a tight focus on Guinness employees who exemplified the "Guinness" character. After hearing about the work of Arthur and his sons, I was disappointed to find the focus shift to other employees. While Mansfield's book seemed designed to show the way God, kindness and the "spirit of Guinness" was alive and well in a modern company, the gradual digression away from the Guinness family and away from philanthropy in general, just left me feeling like Guinness is the same as "any ole company" out there.

The second reason I lost interest was that at the half-way point, Mansfield's tale began a series of distracting bunny trails. He continually jumped from one story to the next, often going backwards and forwards in history with little explanation or warning. At the end of chapters I was often confused as to who did what, and when. These distractions took away from the intended message of the book and left me feeling dissatisfied.

My final critique is that the title seems ill-fitting. While God is definitely a theme in the book, He is certainly not at the crux of the Guinness story. At most, I saw God as serving as a peripheral character, at least in the life of the beer-brewing Guinnesses. (For those of you who are confused, there is also a line of very religious Christian Guinnesses that also descend from Arthur Guinness).

All in all, I give the book a three out of five. If you enjoy history, if you enjoy biographies, if you like knowing random facts to enter into normal conversation, then this book is for you. If not, the book is still interesting and makes a great coffee-table conversation starter. I can't tell you how many times I was approached when reading this book in public places!

Note for Full Disclosure: While I do not receive any monetary compensation for my book reviews, I am provided with free complimentary copies of each book. That being said, this review is completely my own, and free from the influence of Thomas Nelson Book Publishers.

A Little Tuesday Humor

I love this hilarious clip of a very creative group of high school students. Well done. May you laugh your socks off.