One of my favorite songs!

And it isn't just because I'm a June Bride :) Well... that may be part of it.

Our new baby!

Our sweet new baby is currently purring up a storm and trying to pounce on the computer while I type! My (early) birthday present is this loving baby kitty :) Though my birthday isn't for two weeks, my grandfather found this little one all cold and wet in a bush while he was walking his doggy. He knew my hubby was going to give me a cat for my birthday, and he said he thought God had brought this one for me! She came home withe me today, and we are already enjoying some wonderful cuddle time. Her name is Ari, which is a Hebrew name meaning Lion. Now thats alot of name to live up to, right? :)

Shamelessly entering a contest!

Life in a shoe is hosting a $250 dollar giveaway of Vision Forum items! You're supposed to make a "wish list" of all the VF items you would win. Here's mine!

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God
Be Fruitful and Multiply
Raising Maidens of Virtue
Homemaking
Family Man, Family Leader
The Elsie Book Collection

Needless to say, if by Grace I win this... I'll be reading until my eyes fall out :)

A neat cleaning link

the "elements" of cleaning!

"But remember, my young female friends, and the lesson cannot be too deeply impressed upon your mind, that the seeds of a woman's lifelong excellences must be sewn in the springtime of existence. The flowers of womanly excellence, which you would wish to grow in your future character, must be previously and carefully selected, and be contemplated, anticipated, in all their full blown beauty and their richest fragrance, even while you are yet in youth."

John Angell James, "Female Piety" 1853

(image courtesy of AllPosters)

On "girls gone mild"

I've only read about 30 pages, so far. But I had to stop and I say I'm not sure if I'll continue or not. The book has been filled with disturbing stories, and definitely I would NEVER recommend it to anyone who wasn't married. This is because I don't think there is any reason to be so disturbed by tales of wicked people and woe unless you plan on reading it for the defense of say, homeschooling your own daughters, or something along those lines. So that's my mini-review of Girls Gone Mild. It uses those stories to get across a point, understandably, but it is by no means or measure rated any less than R.

New book!

I've just picked up Wendy Shalit's new-ish book from the library. I'm really excited about reading it, since her first book (A Return to Modesty) made such an impact on me. I'll let you know how it goes!
Has anyone else read it or her first book?

Over the weekend we went to see some of our family in Abilene, Texas. It was so much fun! On my aunt and uncle's farm they have about 25 guinea fowl, which are the loudest birds in the whole world I think. My Aunt Mici asked me to try and "herd" them into their pen for the night... and this is a video of this city girl trying to move guineas by feeding them millet.
(My momma is narrating)


Allright, I've finally got the hang of it! :)


And now they are safe and sound in their cage!

My favorite Tea Cup

Some lovely ladies (here's one... and another) were sharing their favorites, so I thought I'd put mine up.



I think I'll go make myself a cup of peppermint tea!

projects, projects

I spent last night hard at work... crafting :)

More headbands to go with two winter skirts I made! I hand stitched the black and white one, because I had *just* cleaned up our breakfast room, and really didn't want to haul out the sewing machine again. Let me just say, nothing will make you appreciate your sewing machine quite like hand sewing!

And look what's getting bigger....

Stark Raving Mad.

Thats how Lady Why described it, and that's exactly what I think. I was so shocked and saddened by this story. Those are 11 year old girls. They are babies. Trying to prevent having babies. And now they don't even need Mommy and Daddy's permission. There are so many horrible things going on in this fallen world, but this one really stuck with me today. I won't even get into the fact that those girls shouldn't even be *thinking* about boys at all yet. But the potential ramifications from the pill are endless. No one seems to be concerned with the idea of hormonally manipulating CHILDREN. Does anyone out there seriously not believe that hormonal manipulation has no long term side effects? The links to breast cancer, the risk for strokes from DVTs, the abortifacient nature of the pill... I could go on and on. But someone already has... it's on the package. Read the insert. It's in there.

Tagged!

Sweet Heather tagged me in a fun little game:

''Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.''

Hmmm, I'm trying to think of seven random things.

1. I have a strawberry shaped birthmark on my tummy tum tum.
2. Pink is my ridiculously favorite top color of the world... and I once had a room painted entirely pink. With furniture I painted pink and yellow. Yep, it was a little over the top :)
3. If I could wear Regency dresses every day, I absolutely would.
4. I love babies. (Okay, thats not too original, but they absolutely light up my world when I get to swaddle and rock them)
5. Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday, with Christmas following closely at its heels.
6. I named our apartment Cherry Arbor. Tee hee. You see... I have this thing about naming houses.... I was inspired by Jane Austen. Cherry because I've decorated our kitchen and breakfast room that way, and Arbor because we live on the third floor, amongst quite a few trees!
7. I love Shakespeare's plays, and I'm pretty sure I have A Midsummer Night's Dream memorized from beginning to end! I have a huge old book with all of them together.

I tag (if you would like to play, of course) :

Rachel

Tilly

Sommer

Jenny

Serena

And anyone else who would like to play! This is just all my tired mind can come up with late at night! :)

Organized Drawer = Complete!

After much googling and reading of your helpful comments (Thanks ladies!), the drawer project is finished. I would post a "before" shot, but it would be terribly embarrassing. I ended up putting the headbands on another ribbon inside our second cabinet, and clothespinning them on! I'm very excited about this storage method...




And I made four different sized boxes out of scrapbook paper to keep my bobby pins and hair twisties organized! I very much recommend this tutorial.

A little note: Looking at that picture, it looks like I coat myself in makeup everyday. I really don't, I promise :) Most of that is quite old, and used only for very dressy occasions. I usually just wear eyeshadow, coverup, powder and mascara... when I do wear makeup.
And... I don't buy MAC makeup anymore because of their just plain awful messages that they send in advertising. But... I'm certainly not in the financial place to toss it all and start over.
Just to let you know :-D

*Happily reading on the couch*

SMACK!

Me: "Colin, what did you just kill?"

Colin: "A spider."

Me: "Oh no! A JUMPING SPIDER?!"

Colin: "Yep."

Me: "Noooooooooooo!"

Clippies and Headbands- "Works for Me Wednesday"

Confession: I am a closet disorganized person. My husband is very neat... so I try my absolute hardest to keep our apartment neat and clean. There are a few places that are completely mine, though... that no one ever sees.... like the drawers in my craft tower. And my makeup/ hair drawer. Those places are ridiculously messy. However, in trying to improve myself, I am going to TRY to organize those spaces. Hmph. I just don't know really HOW to.
For example, my "hair" drawer. Having the kind of crazy curly hair that I do, I have in my collection about one million barrettes and headband- type things. Not the hard plastic kind- I can't stand those. But fabric headbands (I've made a ton of these) and ribbons- the impossible to organize kind. I've tried putting them in a box. I've tried hanging them on tie hangers. Every time I either get annoyed and just throw them back in the drawer when I can't find one, or dump out the box in frustration.
I've also lost half my clippies.... either in clippie lala land, or in the car, or possibly in the vacuum. Here's my newest solution for the barrettes- clipping them on a ribbon like my momma used to do. But here's my "grown up" version- inside the cabinet! It 'works for me' (Tee hee)

I just used push pins and a ribbon I used to wear in my hair. Hopefully now I won't lose so many, and I'll actually remember which ones I have. And for you with the 20/20 vision, yes I do have a barrette with my name on it. And yes, I still wear it. And yes, I am about to turn 24. :)
So, my question is, and I am so hopeful that someone has an answer... is how do I organize the ribbons and fabric headbands in a way that will last more than one day? I so hope some creative gal out there has the answer.

For now, go check out the other neato "Works for Me" at Rocks in My Dryer.

More Fall!

A few more touches of fall for the apartment! I switched out the summer flowers for some fall flowers on the key rack.


Some leaves and pumpkins for the table. The picture in the corner is my grandmother and mother when she was a little one! What a treasured photo to have.


That is my scripture frame- I just switch it out for the seasons.

I hope you are having a blessed fall day! :)

Jumping Spiders

Recently, I've been noticing either two jumping spiders in our apartment... or one very busy, very mobile jumping spider. I was reluctant to kill him, because he seemed so happily innocent and small. Also... my great grandmother used to say a spider in the house was good luck (I definitely don't believe in luck... but I always remember her saying that) :)
So I decided I would google said spider, and find out if he posed any threat. Turns out jumping spiders don't bite people unless you corner them or handle them. I'm most certainly not planning on either. And, they eat way bigger bugs. I don't know about you- but I'd much rather have a itty bitty spider than... well, any other kind of bug, especially any bugs that fly. So for now, mr. spider and I will live in harmony. He'll take care of any bigger bugs, and I'll do my best to stay out of his way!