Barefoot In The Garden

Public Service Announcement -- DO NOT get food poisoning 4 days before Christmas. It's bad. Really trust me on this.

Christmas was lovely - Christmas eve service was lovely - the kids got more STUFF!! Yikes and we toned it down this year... LOL!

MIL will be here tomorrow - I'm staying on blogcation until the New Year - I'm reading just not writin' - coming down off Christmas is always angsty for me. I love the buildup - but the letdown SUCKS.

Anyway -- Happy New Year all!

Christmas fun!!!

Christmas Boomwackers!

And here's White Christmas!!

Don't forget to track the big guy here.... NORAD

And here's Santa's direct line....  1-800-972-6242.

ENJOY!!!

It's amazing what you think about while making cookies.  Standing there rolling out the dough. It's just sugar cookies. One of the many kinds I bake during the holidays. It doesn't look like much - it doesn't even start out as dough. Just eggs and sugar, flour and vanilla,  salt and baking soda to make them rise.  Mix them together and they turn out into a lumpy bumpy glop. Refrigerate a while - dump out that glop - slap on some more flour and roll it out. Mold it, cut it, or shape it according to my will. Decorate liberally - and bake.  And yet, I can see God in cookies.

Flour and eggs - the basic person -ourselves - just the raw material

sugars - typically there are one or 2 in a recipe - white sugar and the less sweet brown sugar both of these represent the sweetness in our lives, friends, good life

vanilla - the extra special stuff - a little goes a long way - I think of this as being the life altering moments - the birth of a child, marriage - the biggies

salt - the pain or trial of our lives - notice there is much less salt in the recipe than sugar

the baking soda - that which makes us rise - for Believers it's our faith

Then the refrigerator -- cool times - - we might  pick up some bad smells from the fridge if we're left too long (the world)

The Lord uses that cool time - to harden us so that he can mold us into His image - He brings us out into the light and begins to mold us to His image. I have noticed that sometimes no matter what I do the dough doesn't want to do what I need it to do. It gets too warm,and it tears, sticks to the rolling pin, gets too thin, or is too sticky. That's when I know I have to put it back in the fridge for a while. I wonder how many times God has had to do that with me.

He decorates us with His Word - sometimes, some of the candy falls off - I think we do the same when we forget the scriptures (or refuse to learn them) but MOST of the sugar coating sticks! And those cookies look lovely. But they're not done yet!

Then He BAKES us in the oven  -- our trials on earth. 350 degrees - ouch. All of us feel the fire of the oven. I watch the cookies in the oven, the candy melts into their being - after they come out of the oven I won't be able to remove the candy from the cookie. They rise up and spread out to take the heat - and do what they were created to do. Bake into a mostly perfect image of what I've created.

Next?? Either we burn up in the oven, crack into pieces, or spread out and rising up to take the heat, turning a golden delicious color - delightful to all that see. I pray that I am spreading out and rising up to take the heat.

After 3 days I actually feel better -- human even. Yay. The cookie baking is moving right along here -- I will be popping in for quickies but the kids are getting some home made things - which I have to sew at night - when I usually blog. And nope no pictures - at least until after Christmas - since sometimes I pop onto my own place and I don't want to ruin the surprise!

So If I don't "see" you.....

May the Peace and Joy of Jesus Christ be with you this holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Hair of the Dog..

Well - I thought I could hack it.  I have been in a funk for a while. Snappish with the kids - quick to lose my temper. My heart has been under fire - from without and within.

I went off my medication because I was hoping to convince hubby to have another baby. The weather and the stress of the season and my heart have convinced me that it's not the best choice.

So after some thought and prayer. I have decided to go back onto my Zoloft. And I'm OK with it. I thought I would feel like a failure - like I just couldn't hack it and there was something wrong with me. Well, there is. I can't hack it on my own and God has shown me what works for me. And it's Zoloft - the other little blue pill.

It really hit me the other day. I was talking to my best friend - and she said "Well, sweetie - if your form of depression is anger you need to deal with that." Then it hit me - DUH - depression isn't always moping around and sadness. I mean I am sad - but I am GROUCHY - like someone get an IV of Chocolate STAT - are you getting your Aunt Flo? PMS on overdrive grouchy. I don't want to go out, and if I do it's for retail therapy.

(OK tangent here - Thing 1 just asked me - "Mama I just made up a Christian song - do you want to hear it?" And then proceeded to sing me a song about Jesus and the manger! He's still singing - Jesus I love you - I'm a Christian - at the stable I love you Jesus!

PRAISE GOD!! Then Thing 2 started a song too -- what a reminder huh?? We got our Playmoblie Nativity Scene in the mail today)

So anyway -- I realized in that moment - that depression for me - is ANGER. That is really hard to type. I am impatient with my children, irritable with the world, snappish with my husband (who has been remarkably understanding) My family is bearing the brunt. SO I am doing something about it. Back on my "Little Friend" until.

(and YES I meant to leave it like that)

I need prayers. Really - a family member has gotten involved in a sect that is "Biblical! The guy it's named after is in the Bible!"  SO NOT Biblical. It begins by accepting ONE piece of scripture as true - and then blows the entire rest of the Bible to oblivion.

I find it amazing that this person - who is VERY smart - hasn't noticed that. Either you believe that the Bible is the WORD OF GOD - or you don't. We don't get to pick and choose the scriptures you like (otherwise I would toss that whole submit to hubby thing!!!! LOL!) and decide the rest are the ones that must have been tampered with".  and "didn't they take books out of the bible??" No - and Constantine didn't either -- Good night - why is it I always think of good answers to these things HOURS after the question

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance.” ~ James 1:2 (NIV)

I have edited this post dramatically -- I am feeling way to exposed.

This is better!! Only the wrapping paper, library books and puzzles. I really do have to teach that laundry how to climb the stairs by itself though... That is one HAPPY asparagus fern by the way...

The kitchen is better - only the necessaries for baking the rest of the stuff for the baskets

See, not purty -- but MUCH better.

Then I got sidetracked -- while putting away the Christmas boxes - I had to grab the stockings ect. out of it.

Yes I vacuumed the floor - but, well, there's a newer mess there. K? Moving on.... The house is not perfect - but it's much better.

You know the really scary part? I am the local group owner of a FLY-LADY yahoo group -- I clearly don't have it together - yet - but I'm trying. 

Welcome Back! See I have cookies! Don't worry there are more of the Chocolate Chip dipped ones (I'm hiding them from the Things) The bells are a butter cookie, the white ones are peppermint snowdrops, and of course , chocolate chip and gingerbread boys... yum!

And now in the interest of truth -- YIKES!!!

Yeah - notice how much smaller these pictures are. My house looks like a BOMB went off in it. Keep me accountable! I will get this place straightened up today!! This is 2 baskets of clean and FOLDED laundry - that apparently can't climb the stairs and put itself away. Also the basket of library books and the boxes that held the Christmas decorations.

This is my living room floor - ugh - STUFF everywhere - the box in the corner is currently being turned into a rocket by Thing 1 - I'll take pictures of it when it's done.

My dining room table - there is barely  room to eat --

Gift baskets almost ready (the ones to ship to far away relatives anyway) and the pile-o-Christmas-crafts left to do..... The next one - I really DON'T want to post -- but I need motivation to fix it.

My kitchen - and I still have more baking to do - and No there is no more counter space than what you see here. The other side of the sink has the microwave - and the other side of the stove has the toaster oven. Considering how much I bake  the lack of counter space makes it interesting to say the least.

Well, hopefully y'all will come back - and see a sparkling house later tonight! Or at least a house full of DIFFERENT messes. sigh.

Quick!! Hide the Clutter!!!

Look Sharp Things!!! We have visitors!

OH MY WORD -- my Sitemeter says there were 136 visits so far today! And I didn't put out the good china, the laundry was on the couch and the kids were making crafts and leaving stuff all over the house!

I hope some of you all come back!!! I'll put out some of the cookies I've been baking next time you visit!!

YAY!!!!!!

<------- I won!!!

NO WAY!! I totally won the bible page how cool is that! I haven't won anything in YEARS.

SO I was very busy this weekend. Thing 2 had her first dance recital - at a local nursing home the girls did their Christmas pageant. Now Thing 2 is in the Kinderdance class - so she isn't in the Nutcracker or the big pageants but they did this one.

All I can say is HOW CUTE SHE WAS! Last year in dance class she would NOT preform in front of others - this year she out on her biggest smile and danced her little heart out. I cannot believe how much my baby has grown.

We also cut our own Christmas tree this year at our local farm market - $50 and a wagon ride, the kids LOVED it. So it finally looks like Christmas around here. YAY! It was killing me not to have a tree up. We are thinking about (gasp) a fake tree for next year - then I could put it up whenever I want -- BUT - a fake tree... I donno - the fake ones are much nicer than the one I grew up with.. We're still talking it over.

Then the bake-fest began, the cookies are started the breads are on the list for today  and the blondies and brownies, the candy ect. I have to get a few baskets mailed out for relatives this week.

Off to get odds and ends....