OIL CHANGES AND FISH-SHAPED BEDS

I had to take my vehicle in for an oil change this morning and was mildly annoyed at the inconvenience of it. I just wasn't in the mood. Trying to make use of the time, I packed up my Bible, a devotional book I'm reading (from December because my plan to read a great Advent study that month didn't go the way I hoped), and a couple books for fun, then headed out.

As I found a seat in the waiting room, I noticed a woman sewing something and asked what she was making. My vehicle was done about 45 minutes later, about 5 of which I spent reading my Advent book, looking up the verse it focused on, and writing the verse down. The other 40 minutes were spent visiting with the lady.

We talked about our families, our faith (turns out we have that in common), and how cool it is that God made people with a variety of skills and personalities. We know how many kids (ours) and grandkids (hers) we have, how old we are, how long we've each been married, and which foreign countries we've visited family members in. We're basically oil change best friends. 

I also found out she makes something I have absolutely no use for and didn't even know existed.

Fish-shaped pet beds.

Seriously.

A cozy little place for your cat or small dog to sleep that requires them entering the mouth of a fish. Did you know such a thing existed? I didn't, wouldn't be in the market if I had, and am completely amused. 

I told her I was going to link her Etsy shop on my FB page and asked for a picture of her hands working on the pot holder she was making. (Which, of course, led to us talking about the appearance of our hands.)

So, yeah. That was my morning. An interaction that was exactly what I didn't know I needed and couldn't have happened without first doing something I didn't want to do. And an opportunity to let my friends who want a fish-shaped pet bed in their life know where to get one.

MY BRACELET

My great-grandma had a gold bracelet. She died when my grandma was three and eventually my grandma wore it. My grandma passed it to my mom when my mom turned eighteen. My mom died when I was fifteen and I started wearing it sometime after that, although I don't remember exactly when. I quit wearing it for a few years in early adulthood because it was reacting to my body chemistry, lotion, or something by leaving a green mark on my skin. I tried again later and didn't have any problem. I didn't take it off for over twenty years. 

I was reading in bed one night in March and felt my sleeve get caught on the bracelet. Strange, since the bracelet is perfectly smooth. I looked down and discovered it had split. What in the world?! It's lasted over a century, my mom wore it constantly for two decades, I've worn it constantly for more than two decades, and it broke while I was sedentary at the end of the day.

It took a while, but I finally got around to having Sherrie's Jewelry Box look at it. The repair was going to be easy because it was on the seam, which is why it was perfect break, but there was another problem. 

The inside of the bracelet had names engraved in it. A mom's first name, hyphen, her daughter's first and last (maiden) name, from my great-grandma to my mom. The cool thing was that it was hand engraved. The bummer was the engraving had been done right over the seam. I had a choice to make. Leave the original engraving as is, with one name permanently ruined, or have the engraving redone, not by hand and starting just after the seam so the problem couldn't happen again. I chose the latter. I also had the name combinations dropped to make room for more generations, so it's just each woman's first and last name. I also had my own name added, which makes me get a little choked up sometimes. 

Not only have I always had old lady hands with all their wrinkles, but I've also always had man hands that are really wide. (Hmmm ... maybe I have old man hands. Whatever. I don't care. My hands look how they look and do what they need to do.) Because my hands are wide, I never take the bracelet off. It's simply too difficult and painful. However, I haven't put the bracelet on in over twenty years and had forgotten that it's easy to move it that direction. I slipped the bracelet that's been part of my family for over a hundred years back on my wrist today and smiled. I love it. 

HAPPY TWOSDAY!!

My life is complete. 

 And, yes, I set an alarm to make sure I didn't miss this momentous occasion. I'm one of those people. 

I WON A PRIZE

I found out during my time at the beach with Sonja last week that I'd won a free bakery item from Bauman's. I stopped by on Friday, as it had to be claimed by the end of the week, and opted for their citrus almond poppyseed bread. 

We'd been eating plenty of treats for the last several days, so I put it in the freezer to save for this week's Wednesday night dessert. It did not disappoint! Bauman's cider doughnuts have always been their bakery item we can't resist, but this was equally good and I'm sure we'll be indulging again in the future. 

MY FUNNY MUG

This card was tucked inside the mug a friend gave me last week. At first glance I assumed the mug design was the popular pretty blue art (which I'm sure has a name, but whatever) that's on lots of dishes, but this card made me look again.

I didn't know Calamityware was a thing until that moment.

I'm so thankful for people who make me laugh!

A DOUGHNUT DEAL

We sometimes loan out or borrow puzzles from friends and today some friends stopped by to return a puzzle they'd borrowed and swap it out for a different one. We got the good end of the deal because they also brought a box of real doughnuts, our family's first Voodoo Doughnuts experience, to go with the doughnut puzzle they were giving back. I made them pose because that's all kinds of awesome! 

 

BIBLE BAG

Look at what showed up in my mailbox a few days ago! My sweet friend made a bag for me to carry my Bible in. She knows I love blue, green, and Ws, so she surprised me with this gift for no other reason than she loves me.

 

RANDOM PICTURES: JANUARY - MARCH

I recently realized there are a bunch of pictures I've either shared only on Facebook or not posted anywhere at all the last several months. It's time to get the blog caught up! I'll do the random pictures from January through March today, then April through June on a different day.

JANUARY 

1/10 - I looked down on the kitchen counter and discovered Devon had struck again. So funny!

 

1/14 - Devon didn't like math last school year. Not at all. So I took a picture with him in his suffering. 

Suffering, I tell ya. The smile was brought to his face by the poem he wrote that day entitled "Math Sucks".

1/17 - It had never happened before, but somehow we ended up with a math fest in my room. Two kids on my bed and one on the floor to my side.

1/15 - "Red and yellow, black and white" may not have referred to lip color, but Naomi didn't care.

1/19 - The end cap kids, a future firefighter (or at least what we thought he'd be at the time) and his little brother, setting stuff on fire in the yard. But not before the older gave the younger a lesson in fire safety.

1/18 - It was crazy hat & hair bowling night for the grade schoolers at church.  Gabi and Tyler participated, Naomi and Devon helped. Naomi stuck a ton of pipe cleaner in her hair to look like fireworks. Devon put his hair in pigtails. Tyler wore a coonskin hat. Tim usually helps, but was unavailable that night, so Gabi snagged the famous turtle hat Tim usually wears for the occasion.

 1/19 - Naomi finished reading Anne of Green Gables, so I introduced her to the movie.

1/22 - She wasn't feeling well and chose to konk out in my bed during down time.

1/26 - Devon and Gabi made a bunch of pancakes for us.

1/27 - Devon and Luke played a chess game by phone, telling each other which moved they made and adjusting their boards accordingly.

FEBRUARY

2/6 - Tyler made some Nantucket cranberry pie for dessert. 

2/8 - We bought several bags of fun chips we'd never eaten before from Wheeler Dealer and had a chip sampling party for Family Fun Friday.

2/18 - Silas and Devon each spent time wrestling Gabi and Tyler.

Naomi sat outside to soak up a little bit of winter sunshine later that afternoon.

2/20 - Tyler decided my bed was the perfect place to read a school book.

Later on he and I played several rounds of Pyramath. He decided to sneak in a silly face when I took a picture.

So I did the same thing back to him on the next shot.

Then we were silly together.

Finally, two smiling faces.

2/27 - Snow day!

Followed by some crafts.

MARCH

3/2 - Nothing beats a Saturday morning when you get to sleep in and head to Miranda's for pan dulce and doughnuts for breakfast.

Gabi and Tyler are such goofballs!

Me and my sweet girl.

3/6 - Snuggling one of Natie's brothers.

3/10 - Just enjoying the sunshine.

Maria came over with homemade tortillas and a bunch of peppers, we provided the rest of the ingredients, then she made a ton of enchiladas for our families to eat at dinner. So delicious!

  3/14 - Because Devon can't just have an ordinary stack of bills.

3/18 - Tyler and Silas spent a bunch of time working on Silas' car together.

Naomi has no need to turn on an overhead light if she can color while wearing a headlamp.

Devon earned his first Benjamin. He knows it would be tacky to tell people about it himself, but, as a mom, it was fun to see his excitement.

3/19 - I looked over at the whiteboard and noticed Devon had taken a break from his math homework to turn the letters from dollar words into faces.

3/23 - Enjoying a day of working in the yard with the family.

3/25 - Devon and Tyler pushed two chairs together so they could be close to each other while doing their own things.

3/26 - I took Naomi to DSW for the first time. She fell in love immediately and had me take a picture to send our friend Pam, her fellow shoe lover.

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