Short Story

Worms for Feathers
an excerpt from Abiding Stories by Michael Wells

Romans 1:23, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of bird and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

A gnome was pushing a wheelbarrow full of worms; he was a little man with a big nose, hands like shovels, and shoes like Arabian lamps. "Feathers for worms, worms for feathers," he cried as he walked. One little bird has been warned by his mother, "Be careful of the yellow cat; he loves to eat little birds." When the little bird met the gnome, he gladly exchanged one little feather for a big, delicious worm. Day after day this went on, until one day the mother asked, "Why do you have a bald spot?" "Oh, I hit a tree flying," lied the youngster.

Every day the exchange continued until one day, one feather too many had been traded. The cat appeared, the little bird could no longer fly, and you can guess the end. If we exchange the feathers, the truth of Jesus, for lies, we eventually lose our ability to fly. We are to mount up with wings as eagles, but those who would teach legalism slowly take our feathers and give us worms.

Jesus is the Way, and every other way is not the way. The world has it's appeal, but only to the flesh of man. Christ's appeal is to the soul because of the happiness that He brings, for the purpose of obedience is to make each believer happy. Each morning I ask myself a simple question, "Mike, if you want to be happy, then follow Jesus. If you don't want to be happy, then choose your own way."

All in a days work

As you probably all know, Brian is a superintendent...and today he had to check up on one of his jobs and pull some measurements. The company he works for is a commercial contracting company, and they do a lot of exterior/interior remodels of mall stores and strip malls (when one store moves out and another moves in). This place used to be a Boaters World, and is being turned into a military recruiting center. Since it would only take a minute, and is in the mall right across from our Costco, we tagged along to "help" and then go shopping!

They love to visit Daddy's jobsites!


Helping by holding the tape measure


Pulling more measurements


Kenna found a butterfly in there. She was trying to catch it. She's a whole lot braver than Mommy and Brooks, who wouldn't go that close:-)


She got it!

DIY: Multipurpose Cleaning Wipes

I am still going strong with making my own wipes. It gives me something to do while watching tv, so I don't seem like a total couch potato some nights:-) I usually get a batch going (cut & folded) once per month or so, and then I just grab them (still dry) and pour the solution over them when the wipes container(s) are empty. Still loving the cost savings, that's for sure. It might be more work, but when I think about all the money I've saved over the years, it definitely is worth it to me!

Here are some homemade solutions to pour over paper towels (follow the same method as the baby wipes, HERE and then pour the following mixtures over them and let sit until well absorbed). They are definitely cheaper than Clorox wipes etc, and if you are like me, and already making baby wipes, you just steal a few away to make these for ease of cleaning!

Make the solution and adjust the amount you actually pour on the wipes, based on the quantity etc. It's not rocket science, but you don't want them soaking, only damp.

General Surface Cleaning:
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups water

Disinfectant Cleaning:
1/4 to 1/2 cup pine cleaning solution (such as Pine-Sol brand)
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cup water

Window and Glass Cleaning:
1/2 cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Friends

We've missed our Jack Jack! We are watching him today for a little while (his Dad is a teacher, so we only take care of him Sept-June). The kids are showing him everything we've bought since June (food, dish soap, toothbrushes etc haha!). And isn't it lucky that this car is 'built for 3'. :-)

Beatbox Baby

Brooks shared his/Daddy's hat with the baby, to turn him into a beatbox-er. Brooks is a little obsessed with beatbox sounds recently. I would put up a video, but I've been trying, and still no sound. I'm so disappointed/frustrated with it!

My roots are showing

It's been a long time since anyone has called me blonde. A lot of this has to do with my being so dang old now, I'm sure I've matured to a great extent, and no longer do dumb things. Or perhaps this is wishful thinking. It might be due in great part to the fact that I spend most of my time with toddlers, and of course, I am infinitely more intelligent than they are (aren't I?). Sometimes I do wonder who is smarter than who around here. Perhaps my super smart husband is rubbing off on me...but even in his brilliance, he can never find his keys, so it's likely not that either...

I think it's probably because when you move to a new place, you can sort of re-invent yourself into anything you want I guess. When you are from a certain place your whole life and never move (like me, until I married), people just know you too well. And feel comfortable calling you out when you do dumb stuff:-) So since I spend 95% of my time alone with children, and the other 5% with people who are dupped into thinking I am really on the balll - I will go ahead and call myself out on a dumb blonde thing. No one would ever know if I didn't say...but where would the fun be in that? :-)

I adore my dishwasher so much. Every day, I load it, and marvel at the amount of time-savings I have been blessed with, since it's installation in January. And the counter space gained, since I no longer need a dish rack out constantly. And I just love it. Except for one thing...the cutlery rack. It has these pre-shaped holes in it, and my cutlery doesn't fit in the holes. So one of the racks is always jam packed full, and the other is basically empty, with only a few things sticking out of it that would fit.

For months now, I've been wishing I didn't have to deal with that basket. Last week it hit me. Yes, I know...DUH, right? That's why it's called a blonde moment:-) I simply removed the top with the pre-shaped holes. Now I have 2 baskets, the same, and both perfectly functional. Wanna know the funniest part? Both of the baskets came with this top on them, and I removed one right away. For some reason I thought I was "stuck" with the second one as it came...once the thought came to me, I laughed. I'm just that smart, lol. And now I am completely and totally happy with my perfectly perfect (and personalized:-) dishwasher.

Just in case you're like me and need a visual - Here's the discarded top thingy!

Kids Rock

Guess who let someone borrow his "rock star"? Grey loved making the sounds happen by banging on it! And Brooks thought it was hilarious, so he was more than happy to share:-)Future rock star Number Two - he has the hair for it and everything!