The Illusion of Perfection . . .

Sometimes in life we look around us and see the outside shells 

of all the lives that surround us, and we think, 

"Wow! Wouldn't it be nice to have that perfect life!"

Of course most of us know that within those shells 

are the heart and souls of warm and wonderful people, 

and their reality cannot always be seen clearly.

Thank goodness we get to learn all this from each other.

Do not think for a moment that all my pretty pictures reflects a perfect life.

Unless of course . . . 

You can consider a perfect life to be one that teaches us many valuable lessons.

Friendships, giving, sharing, loss, illness,

making the same bad mistake over and over and over again,

sacrificing, being given to, losing one's temper,

getting our feelings hurt, aging, asking questions, 

feeling disappointed because of an unrealized expectation,

drawing on others strengths, letting others lean on us, 
laughing, loving, crying,
dreaming big or small dreams,
seeing the beauty in the world around us,

turning to our God in our darkest hours, 

having life continually change -

whether we want it to or not . . .

that is the only form of perfection that really exists.

And it exists in each and every one of us . . .

everyday.

PLEASE 
somebody warn me next time 
I talk about doing a king size quilt 
out of sixty something different fabrics 
cut into 5" squares.

I am going crazy!

And it doesn't help that Annabelle 

keeps walking all over it.

 

And then after sewing for hours . . .

I have to quilt it.

Or maybe not. 

~ Grant ~

What can I say?

I love this little guy.

 

~ Finally ~

Something I can grow really well -

mushrooms!!!

I have my own little inedible mushroom farm. Yeah.

There's even a different variety growing in the grass . . .

How does one get rid of these pesky little things?

Or are they just interesting enough to leave them be?
They do give you a feeling of being in the great North West . . . 

Gardening . . . maybe?

Usually I try to post a picture of something beautiful, 

or delicious, or interesting -

but today I am posting a picture of what will be the before 
so that when I show you the after it will actually appear to be wonderful!

I am revealing this not so pretty fact about me . . . 

I am not a natural gardener. 

In fact - I probably should not have posted gardening on my blog. 

I have some flowers in my yard that have survived my killing skills - 

but only because they are all extremely hardy varieties. 

Sooo . . .

I am attempting to grow some vegetable garden items in this barren area. 

So far I have killed the blueberry bushes I bought at Costco at the beginning of the year.

Don't ask me how. 

I keep wanting to blame Costco. 

Maybe I just should. 
If I hadn't thrown away the wrappings in a moment 
of rare gardening self-confidence 
I might have returned them a month ago.

But now I am going to try to attempt to plant some kind of vegetable 

and hope that the winter/summer freeze ends  -

and we actually get enough sunshine for squash to grow. 

Or maybe raspberry bushes. 

Anything but weeds please.

As much as I love to quilt - and sew - and paint -

the season took over my life and

I have not been my

usual productive self.

So far this is all I have sewn of my quilt:

It is a work in progress . . .

I have been busy 

trying to get my yard up to speed for the season - 

so I have neglected to post these pictures from 

one amazing storm Sunday night.  

It produced some pretty good thunder and lightning throughout the evening ~ 

and very little moisture. 

But that's okay because last night's rain made up for it.

And it produced a fantastic sunset . . .

and you know how I love sunsets.

Summer Sunday Ramblings

I love Sundays in the summer more than any other time of year.

I love waking up to birds singing, quail warbling, and the sun shining.

I love driving to church and seeing people smiling.

I really should be walking to church but I am always running late.

I love the smell of the air and grass and flowers and earth.

I love the smell of dinner in the crock pot.

I love the time between church and dinner when it is peaceful and calm.

I love learning all the sweet things the scriptures have in them.

I love seeing the women I love and the young women I love.

I love that I got to substitute teach the 16 year old kids who are amazing.

I love teaching about Ruth - she is a remarkable woman.

I love that I learned this month that I am a descendant of Ruth.

I love that there are millions of us out there who are descendants of Ruth.

I love life. 

Especially on Sundays.

Blueberry Muffin Bread

I made this for Tanner's teachers for end of the year thank you's - 

and then I made a loaf or two for the family. Yum yum yum.

 

One recipe makes 1 large loaf or 12 muffins. Double recipe if desired.

2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

2/3 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

With wire whisk mix dry ingredients together well. 

Mix milk, buttermilk, eggs, lemon juice, and melted butter together well. 

Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and mix just until blended. 

Stir in blueberries. 

Do not over mix.

Spoon into greased bread pan or muffin tins.

Bake @ 360 degrees for bread, approximately 55 minutes or until knife comes out of center clean. 

Bake @ 400 degrees for muffins, approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from pan and coat top(s) with melted butter and sprinkle granulated sugar on top.

Delicious!

I thought it was time to acknowledge the mother of my only grandchild . . .

My daughter Katie who is a beautiful mother and wonderful daughter & friend . . .

life is good!

I know I was suppose to post my recipe for Spaghetti . . . and maybe I still will this week -  but I decided instead to share a recipe for Granola that I made last night and it turned out really well. It is my new favorite cereal - in milk - on top of yogurt - on ice cream - it is even good with a tablespoon of honey dipped into it! It would be great on fruit, 

warm or cold. It is just good stuff!

Homemade Granola

4 cups of rolled oats

1 1/2 cups slivered almonds

1/2 cup brown sugar - packed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup canola oil

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup raisin

1 cup craisins

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a bowl mix the oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In saucepan warm the oil and honey and blend together, whisking in the vanilla. Pour honey mixture on top of oat mixture and gently blend. I stirred for a minute, and then just used my hands to thoroughly mix. Spread granola onto a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until almonds and oats are golden. Remove from oven and cool. Add raisins and craisins. Store in an air tight container or freezer bag. If you will not use within the week, store in freezer.

Troy and Trevor . . . 
never too old . . .
EVER . . .
Gotta love the socks . . . 

Even though it feels like a winter rain forest outside,  

I am thinking it is time to say goodbye to spring 

and to start welcoming in summer. 

So in honor of a very wet trend that produced 

amazing tulips this year - I am displaying my last 

pictures of these heart warming flowers for 2010. 

There is always a silver lining to every dark cloud and 

this just happens to be this year's silver lining.