Things and stuff

Yet again I have been productive. Wow - isn't that like more than two days in a row. Last night's productivity was even a little surprising to me. You know I took some things to the studio when we cleaned out to put the tree up. Well - I decided last night to finally put together the CIP mailers and I couldn't find the sequins I was looking for. So off on a search I go. ( a futile effort - hopefully they are in one of those boxes in the studio)

Anyway - in the search I cleaned a few more things. I snagged several spider webs off the wall decor above my bed. This is one of my favorite things at my house.


An old lobster trap. John and Linda Collier are very good friends of ours. The man at my address worked with John, but I did not know either of them. We bumped into them in Lexington, KY at a Georgia football game. Fast friendship formed. They were older than us but the friendship was strong and we soon started travelling together to football games. Part of the fun was junking/antiquing together. This lobster trap was a find on one of those trips. (try to explain finding this in Kentucky and tying to the top of a minivan to bring it home.)

I had been looking for something beach related for this odd space and this was perfect. Now I am on the lookout for glass float balls to fill it with. (they are generally way overpriced for me) I'll be adding to this as I find them resonably priced.

I collect lighthouse memorabilia and figurines, so the beach theme is perfect.

The shell wreath is a made by me piece. I love all these colors together - however the wall color may be changed - I'm a little tired of it. Look carefully and you will see that I did not use perfect shells for this. I took all of the shells I had collected since childhood - a huge bucket full and dumped them out - how much fun was that to go through. Hot glue and a straw wreath form finish the material list.

I am not perfect. I will never be perfect. At times the shiny exterior stuff hides the brokeness of the soul. But everything in life has a special beauty in it. Those are the things that this wreath exhibits. For those of you who know me - the deeper meaning should come as no surprise.

Another view of the wreath. Look at the gorgeous purple on the inside of this shell. The exterior of these is never much to look at - I used to tell the girls when they were small - look deeper, find some beauty in every thing and everyone. Many times we would use the shells to illustrate this point.

Since Molly is about to go away to college - I hope many of those lessons "took". I never hoped for her to be rich financially (just to have enough). I never hoped for her to be famous ( just respected) I never hoped for her to be brilliant ( just responsible). I only hoped for her to be faithful for herself and her God and to be mindful of finding grace and beauty in every day and every one. I hoped for acceptance of shortcomings (the plain and ugly) in herself and others and for forgiveness when it all falls short of expectations. We will see.

I do believe that first college acceptance letter has gotten to me.

Back to the seach for sequins. I never found them - so I regrouped. The beginnings of the January package for CIP . I started bagging them and spread across the piano. Me and some serious satellite radio broadcast on our tv. This is a wonderful addition to our dish package and I utilize it frequently when it's just me at home. ( the studio will have a boom box - i will miss this particular ammenity)

Buttons - 14 packages of them - and it did not even begin to make a dent in what I have in my stash. Scary ------

And just so you know how bad the stash really is look down in this next picture.

This is the island made from the pool table slate and is full of art and craft stash. One of the many spaces that are full. When I move into the studio, the shelves built in here will hold the school and office supplies that are now in the kitchen island cabinet and then I can put away things like the ice cream maker and crock pots in that island.

Tonight is basketball/volleyball - then I'll have to clean up a few dishes late. After all that I'll be finishing the CIP January project sample. Look for that over there either tomorrow or early next week.

Have a wonderful day.