A New Year

Happy 2010!

Or 2k10 as the National PGA Tour is calling it in their commercials.

The remnant of Christmas 2009 still resides in my kitchen and living room in the form of a tree and various other decorations. I hope to have them all put away before I go to bed Sunday evening.

Do you make resolutions at the beginning of each year? I usually don't. I may determine to try to do this or that but I never firmly resolve.

Prior to the holidays, I was pretty good about getting my devotions done each morning; this year I'm going to try to follow a 1-year Bible reading plan. I started yesterday just to get a jump on it and I'm keeping notes as I go. I also need to get back to healthier food choices as the cookies and candies and sodas are showing again on my hips and-since I'm getting older-on my tummy too.
And I need to return to planning and implementing at least a week's worth of meals at a time. There are just too many nights that we're not sitting down for dinner until 7:00 pm and I don't like that.

And now for something totally different: the dishwasher repair man is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Grace & Peace,
Leslie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's Dr. Love from a Thanksgiving past. See that pile of plates? On top are the paper plates for the kiddos. We had a full house that year!

Thanksgiving is my favorite-est holiday. I love to have people in, the more the merrier! This year will be smaller: the four of us plus my dearest friend Connie and her husband, along with their newly married daughter Amy and her sweeheart husband Curtis.

I enjoy cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I love setting the table with linens and china and silver. I don't mind cleaning up afterwards (Dr. Love helps!). I love sitting down all together to enjoy the food. Most of all, I love going around the table having each person tell what they are thankful for!

I home some unique things on my thankful list this year:

Charlie had an appendectomy in February and Miss B just had one this past Sunday. In both cases, God worked out their situations: neither appendix ruptured; each of them got the right Doctor for their surgery; each of them bounced back quickly. Two new babies (grandnephews to me) were born healthy & happy. Miss B made the leap to high school with great success. Charlie moved to a Christian school and God provided the wisdom & financing for that.

A few weeks ago God was gracious and gave me a peek into His reasons for moving us here. As you know, I wasn't thrilled about moving away from Crown Point and Bethel Church and all of our relationships there. I struggled with the change for a long time, even naming this blog "Contented in West Lafayette" as an attempt to come to grips. Recently, God used Dr. Love to help our church purchase some prime property for an incredible price in order to further a ministry to Purdue University. If we didn't attend FBC.....hadn't moved here..... Dr. Love hadn't accepted the job at PRF (which also threw me into a funk 2 years before the move happened!)......etc... I am thankful to see how God was working out details several years in advance and I can't wait to see what's ahead! Above all, I am humbled that He chose to use us in spite of ourselves! He makes everything glorious!

Wishing YOU a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Hugs, Leslie

Ornament Swap/Birthday Celebration

I am participating in "The Enchanted Forest" Ornament Swap! It's hosted by Yarni Gras! over at Yarnigras Swapper Spot. Signups close on October 31st, so if you think you might want to join in, hurry here to check it out!

We had a nice birthday celebration for Miss B and Charlie. Sunday afternoon we took them to our local mall and let them choose their own gifts from their favorite stores. Then we took them to dinner.

Tuesday morning they showed up wearing these sweaters which were chosen at different stores and donned that morning without prior agreement. We never realized that they were doing the "twin thing!" When they were little, I didn't dress them in identical outfits but in things similar to what you see in the picture that follows. Up until now, I haven't realized how much bigger than Miss B that young man is getting to be!

Then yesterday, on their actual birthday, they exchanged the gifts they'd chosen for each other. It was so sweet to me how each of them thought about & chose (with their own money, no less) something special that they knew would be appreciated. For dinner last night, I fixed something that Miss B especially likes and made a caramel apple cheesecake that Charlie requested. It was quick though, so that we could do our normal Wednesday night stuff (youth group, nursery, choir, etc...).

I'll leave you with a picture of the cheesecake....Enjoy!

Pink Saturday/Independence Day

It's Pink Saturday once again. And Happy Birthday America! Be sure to head over to Beverly's blog for links to all the celebrators! http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Two years ago when we were looking for our home, one of the features that stood out to me was the sunroom. It's heated & air-conditioned and is on the north side of the house where there are a lot of trees so it's really always bright & breezy but never suffers from too much intense sunlight. This little chest was given to me by my friend J, she decopauged it and dressed it up. I had the movers put it in this spot in the sunroom and it hasn't moved from here. I store my sewing & craft stuff in it (but not my fabric....it wouldn't begin to hold that!).
Here's a close-up of the vignette on the top. The plate on the left was a birthday gift from J, the little framed saying was from another friend. I found the pink Lefton vases on the right at an antique store a long time ago and I still love them! The same with the little dark pink powder box (I think that what that is). The little campodimonte basket of flowers is a gift I gave my mother when I was in college. Way in the back is an unused vintage bridal shower giftcard that I found in my Mother's things.


And because it's Independence Day too, I thought I'd show you my entryway vignette:


There you have it. Happy Pink Saturday! Celebrate safely!
Love, Leslie

Happly Father's Day!

Because Dr. Love has his High School Academy starting tomorrow, we celebrated Father's Day today. He got to sleep in and then be a contestant on his very own game show, created just for him by Miss B. His gifts were homemade and he loved them! Both Miss B & Charlie took turns at the sewing machine to work on their individual gifts. When the race was finished, we spent some time in the pool together & just hung around as a family. All in all, I don't think the good Dr. could have asked for more!
I adore you my wonderful husband, awesome partner and World's Best Pai!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

End of the School Year Ramblings

Today is the last full day of sch.ool....tomorrow is a short day and then "no more cla.sses, no more books..." The summer is pretty much planned to the hilt: Unless God has other things in mind for us, Miss B is taking summer PE & theatre and will be tied up with those for 8 hours every weekday in June. Charlie goes to technology camp at Purdue for a week in June. Dr. Love is busily getting the finishing touches on his High Sch.ool Entrepreneurship Academy that will have him gone for an entire June week too. Towards the end of the month we will have visitors from Alabama. Then in July the kids will be gone on a Texas trip for 12 days. We'll be in Michigan for vacation the first week of August and then school (High School for Miss B!) starts back up the very next Wednesday. Somewhere in there we hope to do a little visiting up in the Region and also get to Wisconsin to see Aunt Joe.

Yesterday was my 45th birthday. I woke up to a big zit on the end of my nose!
Dr. Love and the kids plus Miss M took me to Turkey Run State Park for a day of kayaking (Charlie & I) & canoeing (Dr. Love and the girlies) plus a cook out. We took the short trip so we'd have time for hiking too. I'd never been in a kayak before; now I don't think I'll ever sit in a canoe again! I loved being closer to the water & able to move about the water more freely plus I could stop & look for rocks at will. I really liked having the backrest too! Just as we got to putting the boats in the water the rain began so I don't have any pictures of the actual trip down the creek. It was a nice gentle rain so we weren't too bothered.
Afterwards we changed into dry clothes & headed for the part itself. As Dr. Love started the charcoal, the rain came down in earnest so we huddled around the grill under umbrellas while the hot dogs cooked. Since it was still raining off & on, we decided to not hike on this trip. We did stop & make a reservation to spend one night at the Inn next Memorial Day weekend. After napping (me) on the way home, we leaded up the wash machine & then napped (me & Dr. Love) again! The day ended with Kentucky GRILLED chicken, presents (a red rooster for my kitchen counter and a very generous gift cert.ificate to my local quilt store) and a chocolate cake that Miss B made all by herself.

Our family devotions have moved on to the book of Esther at Miss B's request. Since I finished Beth Moore's 10 week study of Esther back in April, Dr. Love has me co-leading our discussions. Today we talked about Xerxes' command that all husbands should be mas.ters in their own homes and cross-referenced that with the passage in Ephesians that tells husbands to love their wives. We discussed the idea that love is an action, not a feeling. I also brought up the verse that instructs older women to teach the younger ones to love their husbands & children, etc. One of the kids was taken with the idea that loving someone is not always easy. I think we may have more discussion on this topic during dinner tonight.

The robin in the slide show has built a nest on my front porch. I opened the door to take a picture of the chair cushion that I made and saw Momma feeding the babies. She was none to happy with me for intruding and she flew around & chewed me out but good! I'm glad that the nest is high enough to keep the neighborhood cats from accessing it.

Miss B's new skirt took just a couple of hours to make. There's a dress on the way for her too but I need to get some housework done before I start on it. We're also working on a backpack for her 1-year-old baby (1/2) brother. She wanted one with Elmo on it but we couldn't find one in the stores. I'll post pictures of both the dress & the pack when they're finished. I've got a second quilt going too.

I was thrilled to find the rug on Craigslist! I was a bit worried about the color--it looked sort of peachy in the sun. But I think it blends in really nicely with the room and is just right.

Wishing a happy day to you all...Grace & Peace,
Leslie

p.s. Once I posted this, links showed up! I don't like that, so I added some periods in the words. I really do know proper punctuation!

The Best Christmas Present.....

...came via email from my brother. This is a slide that my nephew performed techno-magic on to get it to computer. I'm in the high chair and since we're dating it circa 1968, I'd be about 4 years old. In the foreground is my favorite Christmas present....that train was metal, had batteries, and moved around on the floor. If it ran into something it would back itself up & keep going. There was a really cool sounding bell too. Happy, happy memories.

Thanksgiving Surprise

If you know me at all, you know 2 things about me: that I have been "best friends" with Connie since we were in kindergarten and that Thanksgiving dinner is my absolute favorite meal to prepare and share with family & friends.
As I see it, one of the beauties of the friendship is our flexibility. At times we talk more than once a week and at others we'll go several weeks without communicating. We might send a birthday card a whole month early so that we won't forget to send it, another year we might call a few days late. We both moved away from the small town where we grew up and currently we're a 3-hour drive from each other. The only tradition that is constant between us is that we usually spend Thanksgiving Day together along with our families and whomever else Dr. Love & I invite for the day.
This year, for the first time ever, we opted for her home instead of mine. I made some changes to the logistics of cooking....I prepared the turkey the day before and had Dr. Love do his carving thing so that it could be taken ready to be warmed up in a pan of gravy. Connie baked pies as she always does (hers is the absolute BEST crust you will ever taste!) and we worked on the rest together. We ate leisurely, played cards, discussed her daughter's upcoming wedding plans, spent the night and the next day baked Christmas cookies and did just a small bit of shopping. On Friday evening our men took us for dinner and then Dr. Love & I made our way home. It turned out to be one of our most memorable Thanksgiving days ever and we're thinking of starting a new tradition.
The surprise of the entire day is pictured above. Isn't it gorgeous?!!! Since we've never been much into presents, I was shocked when she brought out a beautiful gift bag complete with tissue paper and inside was this lap quilt that she made for me. I love quilts, especially pieced ones with soft, muted colors surrounded by cream or white. I have never made a quilt myself nor have I ever been willing to purchase one. I love handmade things....the idea that someone uses their creativity and time to make something with me in mind. I love tulips....they are my favorite flowers. And I love my dearest, bestest friend. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Happy Birthday Dr. Love!

I simply adore you meu amor!

Halloween at our Contented Home

For those of you who may not know, the character below is Sonic the Hedgehog. He's a video game character. And the following two pictures are Miss B's take, using Dr. Love as her guinea pig:

And here is one who's not so content. In fact, I can see in her eyes that she's thinking about leaving her own treat in somebody's shoe...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all my blogging friends!

Happy Birthday!!

Here's a picture from our birthday celebration last night for Miss B and Charlie. Standing with them are their Great-Uncle & Aunt! The distinguished gentleman is my mother's older brother; he and my aunt have been married for 63 years! We were blessed to have them visit with us on their annual journey from Michigan to Arizona.

Also joining in the celebration were a wonderful couple who are both neighbors & friends. After surreptitiously asking Miss B about her salad preferences, Mrs. brought a terrific spinach/mozzarella/tomato salad to add to our dinner of lasagna, italian veggies & italian bread. Banana cake with cream cheese frosting and vanilla ice cream completed the menu. We all enjoyed visiting with one another 'round the table and the kids loved having some of their favorite people celebrate with them.

To Miss B and Charlie: I look forward to each day of this next year to see what growth and change it will bring. You are both truly gifts from God and I love you so very much. I always will, no matter what! * * * Momma