Muddy Boots

Sanctified Manipulation

Kindred Spirits or True God Honoring Friendships

Nuts!

Its pretty quiet right now. Except for the thunking of copious amounts of walnuts tumbling out the three in the back yard. I’ve been watching Sassafras out their in the yard with buckets- diligently filling each with walnuts- dumping and filling some more. She’s about got hit a few times with the ka-thunking nuts but continues to steadfastly fill buckets. I am amazed at her diligence and stick-to-it-iveness. I doubt I’d be out there singing and talking to myself and continuing picking up (well, I would be doing the talking to myself part)- I’m sure I’d have quit after the about the 3^rd five gallon bucketful. I would probably have shaken my fist at that tree and murmured a few things when it kept showering down more nuts. I doubt I would have persevered as she is. She’s been out their for a good half hour or so. It is a joy to watch my beautiful daughter in the warm afternoon sun.
I do believe I have it in me to join her and fill up a couple of buckets.
And then
Perhaps
a bit of sweet chocolate for the two of us.

~Women Professing Godliness~

Update on Us: Oct 9th 2008

Anyone know where Christine Duncan is ?

Where do you do most of your grocery shopping????

We are moving kinda slow this morning. We stayed to late at church last night so we are a little tired this morning.  The girls are working on their school work and I was taking a look at our budget. I am now sitting here with a cup of herbal tea thinking about writing up our grocery list.

We have been doing a lot of our grocery shopping at our Walmart supercenter but I am now thinking of changing our grocery habits:) There is a Krogers next to us along with Food Lion. If we go further down the road there is an Aldi's which I have been to but they don't seem to carry everything we normally buy. So I am now asking where do you do most of your grocery shopping?

This weekend my husband and I have eye appointments and then we are going to get the girls a few long sleeve shirts. We are hoping to work on the greenhouse windows and the garden beds. I am so glad we are nearly finished with the greenhouse/polytunnel it was a hard weekend of work but well worth it.  It is suppose to be a beautiful weekend.... we are so blessed:)

Blessings,

~~Ma

Getting it back on track

Frayed

Today I feel frayed at the edges.
It’s my fault.
I completely woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
I didn’t even want to get up.
The blanket cocoon was so very comfy and warm and it was so dark, cold and dreary.
It didn’t help matters that I knew there were a couple of things I had to attend to today that I just didn’t want to do.
Cranky.
Then that frustrating email.
Ugh.
And it seemed like I couldn’t quite get in sync with teaching all 3 children simultaneously this morn.
I ended up letting Mr. Conductor color with sharpies on a large piece of heavy paper. Right next to me.
The fumes quickly gave me a headache.
He didn’t seem to mind the least little bit.
We made a huge mess on the table and on the floor with schooling.
Which is normal.
Except that it helped perpetuate the continual fraying of the edges.
Mr. C and I are discussing circles this week.
I let Mr. C have a hole punch.
The floor is peppered with bits of colored paper.
I need to get my perspective back- there is still a lot of day left.
I gotta get past these grumpies.

Are you tired [grumpy]? Worn-out [frayed at the edges]? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Matthew 11:28-29

[my additions for today]

Pulling into Frustration Station

I am currently fighting a growing frustration.
My frustration is with email. I am amazed at the amount of “between the lines” reading that can go into email and the trouble it causes.
I have learned, with some job/ministry related emails to say a prayer before even opening them.
Sometimes I feel like opening my email is like walking through a mine field- some days I make it through alright and other days . . . . .
Boom!
Ker-blooie!
So I pray when I get emails from certain people and I pray when I read the emails and I pray when I am forming my replies and I pray when I hit “send”.
I think to myself that I do not want to perpetuate the frustration they are making me feel. I work hard to answer the email words not the tone.
And there are times when I fail to make that happen. Times when what I perceive to be the “tone” of an email pushes my hot button down so far that I don’t think it will ever pop back up.
Some emails I do not reply to right away- I have walk away, think about it, pray about it- talk it over with Mr. Steady.
Email can be an ugly thing.
I often find myself saying to Mr. Steady, “Does so-and-so think or proof read before sending emails? Does so-and-so have any idea how they come off in this email?”
Or “Boy, I wish so-and-so understood how their emails made me feel- I wonder if they would continue?”
Unfortunately for me I do not feel that I can speak to the two biggest so-and-so’s who send me frustrating emails.
Right now it seems that the frustrating emails are job/ministry related but in the not-so-distant past there were frustrating, confusing and misunderstood emails within a group I belong to.
I know there is email etiquette but how many people use it? It is so very VERY easy to whip off an email to someone- and very tempting to do it when you are mad/angry/frustrated and want to share all your thoughts without someone butting in- you have your say, your rant in all it’s glory.
Email is easier than phoning. Email is easier than face-to-face. But I’ve learned that it is not better. There are times we take our rants too far in emails and do irreparable damage. Yes, I know this for certain. I’ve been on both ends of the rant and no lasting good comes from it.
I often hear myself mumbling that the emailer is too narrow-minded. Can’t they see it from another point of view, I ponder. Like mine? Don’t they know that a little sugar with a complaint makes it easier to swallow?
Does anyone keep “some thoughts” to themselves?
Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.”
and
“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”
And here is something I wrote down in my quote journal and try to remind myself of when I wallow in frustration and more- just like this.
Its alright to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush it when you are done.