Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Evening Prayer

O Lord, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.

Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Morning Prayer



In the darkness of unknowing,
when your love seems absent,
draw near to us, O God,
in Christ forsaken,
in Christ risen,
our Redeemer and our Lord.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

How to recap a month...


I can't believe a month has gone by since I blogged! It's been a busy one, but surely not that busy. Just a normal kind of busy for us!

Let's see...I will hit the highlights: quilting, exercise and health, family and friends, and good books. Because, if I am honest, that's pretty much my life.

In quilting this month, I completed two UFOs, unfinished quilts from years past that I'd abandoned for different reasons. One I finished and mailed to my mom, and another I finished and kept for myself. I also quilted three large client quilts. Finally, I designed, pieced and quilted a special quilt to raffle to benefit Bahamas Habitat. I spent Mondays sewing with my friends in the Sugar Creek Quilters (who meet at my house), and had a couple of fun shopping outings to Goldsboro and little Washington. I ended with the "shop hop" to the stores in Morehead City and New Bern last weekend. Oh, and I bought several new tools and pieces of fabric online this month. Hmmm, all of that deserves a blogpost of its own...I'm going to have to get better at this.



So, we continue to eat nothing except real food, following a Paleo-template, focusing on fresh foods as much as possible. So many delicious meals this month...we shared a couple of them with our children, and I got to cook a few at my in-laws' home while we visited. Traveling presents some challenges, but we just make the best choices available to us as they occur. We are now on week four of P90X3, the "transition week" at the end of phase 1. I love everything about P90X3, but especially the 30 minute time commitment. The big excitement for us this month was being featured at the Whole30 website as a "success story." Our story is still being written...but we have lost 120 pounds without trying that hard, and it's great to say that so others can make simple changes to get big results.

http://whole30.com/2014/02/weight-loss-whole30/

We ended up spending ten days on the road visiting Dennis's parents for the end of January. It was a nice long visit, and because I traveled with my Bernina, even when we were snowed in for three days, I managed to make some quilting progress. We even got to visit his aunt and uncle, which included some mighty fine hamburger steak and sweet potato fries at a little country grocery store grill. We had all the kids over for dinner when we got back, and were surprised to realize that was the first time all seven of us were together since Christmas! Gingersnap turned two this month, but between our colds, Maggie & Matt's flu, and our trip...we didn't all get a real celebration.


As far as books I've read this month...you'd think I was too busy to read. Au contraire! I read C.S. Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism for our book club group (but was forced to finish it after our discussion). Excellent thoughts on what makes a good reader and what makes a good book...or even a great book. I confess that I read more than my share of easy books, just for the delight of the story. But I read a few hard books, and some of them are also good. When Dennis and I drove back from south Mississippi, I read Janet Evanovich's Takedown Twenty (the latest of the Stephanie Plum novels) aloud to him as he drove. I have one to go in the Divergent series. I'm saving that one for our next trip. I am rereading a couple of Madeline L'Engle books I treasure, and of course, still journaling my way through the Life Journal reading plan.

I make no promises that I will blog daily...but I am cutting back on my Facebook time during Lent, so as the season approaches, you'll probably see more of me here.

Today, at the Manor, we enjoyed another snow day...



Thursday, January 9, 2014

Quilting Quietly

I had every intention of participating in "Wordless Wednesday" yesterday by posting a picture on the blog. Never got around to it, so my wordlessness was pictureless as well. After Bible study last night, I ended my day with a fun read: 101 Most Influential Characters that Never Lived. A neat list of fictional characters that changed history, including Hester Prynne, Lady Chatterly, and Buffy. And a bunch of others. I may be in love with Scribd, my new "NetFlix for books" reading app that allows me to read all sorts of things that are normally outside my desire to pay for...it's more like having a library to browse.

I spent yesterday working on UFO1 of the new year. I have planned four of my unfinished quilting projects for this month's calendar, and actually scheduled them so that I could get them done. Happily, I'm right on schedule with the first one. It took all day to get the borders attached and the backing ironed and the binding pieced, but it was in the frame and ready to go first thing this morning.

Of course, first thing this morning was "The Challenge," day four of  P90X3, a pull-up and push-up routine that made noodles of my arms, and pretty much ensured I won't be lifting even a tea mug tomorrow. Then after our workout, our typical breakfast of egg, bacon, avocado and banana. I'd worry that we were in a breakfast rut, but sometimes we mix it up with an omelet or scrambled eggs with spinach and sausage. One thing we have noticed is how our daily workouts ensure we drink enough water. Both of us drank two bottles while we worked out this morning, and I had two more through the course of the day, along with several cups of hot tea.

Anyway, Dennis had several appointments today, so he was out and about running errands, and I had the day to myself. I set up my frame, chose my thread, and got ready to stitch. The pattern I'm quilting is more intricate that I'd expected, but lovely, and so it took a long time to get the first row in place. Then I realized I'd have to wind a bobbin after every row! I think it's worth it, but time will tell.

The second row gave me challenges, however. I didn't pay close enough attention to placement, and it was nearly an inch below where I'd like for it to be. By the time I caught it, I had about a foot of stitching to unsew, or as quilters call it "Frogging" because we rip it, rip it. I frogged for longer than I wanted to, but began again about three hours later. I took a break in the middle to eat the last of the venison chili and a blood orange. So delicious. And somehow in all the quilting and frogging, I also managed to do all our laundry.

I had a student to tutor this afternoon. I've had so many Algebra 2 and College Algebra students this year. I find that tutoring is the best of both worlds for me. I get to breathe a little math, and I don't have to grade anything. Plus, with just in time tutoring, students are motivated to learn.

Tonight we had a great dinner of sweet potato fries (in coconut oil), wilted spinach, and venison sausage. It was delightful. Dennis always ends his evening meal with a smoothie, but I rarely need anything after dinner. We have very different metabolisms. I'm grateful that he's home with me, because many days, he is the only reason I eat.

After dinner, I've settled in to get the quilt "halfway" quilted. I mainly like to get the top off the floor, if possible. I've begun floating my tops on the frame, and I really like that. I only roll the backing fabric on the rollers (the belly roller and the uptake roller), and I just lay the batting and top on there to float until it's quilted down.

In the Bible reading for today, Abraham and Sarah again, plus much foretelling of Jesus' death and resurrection, and the apostles don't get it. It's okay. I don't get it most of the time either.

That's all for today. Quilting, Laundry, Exercise, Food...a little Jim Dale reading to me while I stitch. Ordered more thread (and hope I don't run out of the thread I'm using on this quilt before the new spool arrives!). Tomorrow looks very similar.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Must be Tuesday

What a mighty fine life I live. I have that thought several times a week, but today, just now, it came to me again.

Rather ordinary day, honestly. Slept until I woke up, around 7 a.m., to the voice of Jim Dale narrating the final moments in the life of the Boy Who Lived. Made a couple of cups of tea and ate half a banana, bemoaned the need to climb out from under our incredibly heavy pile of deliciously warm quilts (it is a cold snap, after all), but did so anyway. Climbed the stairs, pushed play...today was Agility X, and Tony Horton was in rare form. Hilarious. Day 2 of P90X3 as much fun as day 1.

Came downstairs to fry some bacon, brown leftover sweet potatoes, fry a couple of eggs. Add some raspberries and blueberries, and half a blood orange. Time to shower and enjoy my leisure. I returned to my project from yesterday for a while, blogged on my business blog (So. Many. Blogs.), then settled in for lunch. Mustard chicken (yum!) and a salad. Really wanted a cookie, so I had dried mango and another cup of tea, and opened a new book. Jayne Ann Krentz's new book River Road hit my nook this morning from my months-ago preorder. It was a nice entertaining mystery for a cold afternoon.

In the middle of my book, I got a random text from Dennis...with Darth Vader. Of course.


"Met Luke's father," he said.

Now I get to return to my project, or another project, or still another project...no shortage. Tonight I will meet with a few of my favorite women to plan our beach retreat for next month. I am going to enjoy a nice cup of venison chili before I go. And bundle up.

A mighty fine life, indeed.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

New Year, Same Old Me

Happy New Year! It's okay to say that, even if it's the fifth, right? I spent the first in the wilderness of no Internet (isn't this 2014? South Mississippi will never change...), the second hurdling through space from MS to NC (16 hours in the rain), the third driving to Greensboro and back for an appointment at the FAA for Dennis, and the fourth recovering...including restocking the pantry and doing some cleaning. More cleaning scheduled for this morning before church, and more cleaning scheduled for every day this month. Maybe I'll get ahead of the routine winter scrub down of all the house surfaces and actually get some organizing accomplished!

Anyway...it's the fifth, and I feel like I need two more weeks to start this year "right." More plans than time, and more interests than one person can juggle. Or what I like to call "Normal Life."

Top priorities for this month include a new quilting schedule and a new exercise routine. Continuing on from my regular habits will be the Life Journal Reading Plan, over-consumption of all the books I find to read (LOL--although I am attempting to be more intentional), regular meals and sleep schedules, and many hours devoted to my business at Island Time Quilting. I have four of my own projects on the calendar to complete this month, which of course leaves time to quilt several for clients as needed.

My new quilting schedule begins tomorrow. Sugar Creek Quilters meet here at the Manor on Mondays, and for the new year, we are meeting in the afternoon AND in the evening. So, Mondays will be primarily a personal sewing day for me to piece new projects and fellowship with my dearest friends. With six hours of my day set aside to sew, I hope I can accomplish a lot of new work this year. Our group has decided to start by piecing Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt Celtic Solstice. We have a few beginners in our group, so it will be a learning and growing opportunity for them. I'm going to test several methods, including Inklingo, a fascinating technique of printing directly on fabric for the pattern pieces. Look for pictures and reports of progress after each Monday!

My new exercise routine for the next 90 days is P90X3, a 30-minute intense aerobic and body sculpting program from Tony Horton and the folks at Beach Body. Today I will take my before pictures (but will spare you from that image) and my fitness test (will share the statistics). Dennis and I enjoyed P90X last year when my brother John gave us his set of DVDs. I lost 70 pounds last year, and Dennis lost 40! Or, as Dennis says, we lost 16 gallons of fuel...everything is airplane math here. For once, though, it was nice to enjoy the holidays as the treat they are intended to be. I over-ate sugar, enjoyed breads and cookies, and mainly just loved my family. And my clothes fit, and I didn't have any guilt.

Yesterday, though, I restocked our Paleo pantry with lots of veggies, fruit and meats, and we are resuming our clean eating habits. We've been Paleo for the last 6 months, though not religiously. We read _It Starts With Food_ by the Hartwigs, and it changed our attitudes toward processed food. We now describe our food choices as "single ingredient" or I tell people my grocery list sounds like a second grade spelling list (apples, asparagus, bananas, bacon, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower...). We don't buy many things that come in a box, bag, or can. Today, Dennis cooked breakfast while I blogged, and we had two eggs, a piece of bacon, half an avocado, a handful of raspberries and half a banana. I ate one egg, and only part of my avocado (it wasn't ripe enough), but otherwise cleaned my plate. OH, AND BIG NEWS...we have switched from coffee to tea!!!! We were destroying a pot of coffee together each morning, and Dennis cannot drink his black, so he was still dealing with some added sugar and dairy. But, tea is easy for us to drink plain. We bought an electric tea kettle to interrupt our habit of making coffee, and so far it's delightful.

I'd share all the books I've read this month, but it would sound like boasting. I found Scribd, the online library that is like NetFlix for books. I am still on my free month, but it will replace my nook for all my "fluff" reading, and quite a bit of my intentional reading, too. I think my latest book count on Scribd is over 50. (It was Christmas break!) But by far, the best book of 2013 was _Island of the World_ by Michael O'Brien. It is in my top five of all time. READ IT.

So, same old me. Did I make a stack of resolutions and plans? Absolutely! Am I satisfied with the way they are written (on the right paper, in a poetic and pleasing format, with the best motivation and schedule attached)? Of course not! But here comes 2014, ready or not. 

I think I have more grace with myself now that I have established the habit of the Life Journal Reading Plan. It's a read-through-the-Bible and journal about what you read strategy that anyone can use. For me, it means I preach the Gospel to myself every day. It's like combining artist's pages (which I tried for a while) with meditation and prayer. I am taking better care of myself as a result of spending more time with my Savior. He is teaching me about love. And patience. And kindness...and a lot of that is self-directed. It's good.

Time to wrap up this and get to the business of the day. And the irony that it's the day of rest does not escape me. Clean, church, lunch, fit test, pictures, clean, AAC meeting/dinner, quilt fabric selection for tomorrow's SCQ, and anything else I can squeeze in. Ready, set, go!