This and That…

Tidbits I’ve gathered today from previous posts: I’m partial to Susan Branch stuff—Cookbooks, Keepsake books, Calendars… stuff! I just received an email update about her site… I think you’ll like it! Her work reminds me of Karla Dornacher whose work I so admire and like seeing around our home—probably much more because it’s inspirational!

Site-seeing: Another great site with GREAT stuff! Though I love-love-love the Silpat sheets that my daughter-in-law gave me, I cannot justify buying more of them at this time (they’re pricey—but worth it, to me!). I just visited a site which offers a baking sheet and I really want to try the nonstick material for baking! These sheets at 12.00 per, look a bit more ‘doable’ than the 27.00 Silpats. Additionally, I’d be more apt to use one sheet for crafting —at that price! Apparently, glues don’t stick to the material and they’re not damaged by heat, thus they’d be great for under crafts with the glue-gun and Fimo or Sculpey stuff. While you’re at that site, check out their GREAT prices on needles!!

The Bittersweets: My Dad’s birthday came and went this week and today, seven years have passed since the morning he died… and O, how I miss my daddy today! O, the bittersweet’s of life. I wrote this letter about him a year after his death—I could have written much more at the time and since then have filled many pages. O, the power of life and death… it is so over when it’s over! He was an amazing individual… one of those larger than life sorts of men—a real gentleman and surely, one of my heroes.

On Men and Boys: Though I’ve had friends reject the writings of this author, I still think the things I’ve learned about men from reading books by John Eldredge have been extremely helpful. His book, Wild at Heart, has been used of the LORD to teach me a little more about my ‘boys who would be men’ and about my role in their lives and in my husband’s life. Over the years I’ve observed ways of boys and because of this, things don’t surprise me like they used to… things don’t discourage me in the same way and things aren’t as hard for me as they used to be in raising boys. I guess our trainer set really was the greatest blessing. They know that’s an endearing term I have for them and they also know I adore them—but truly, still, they’re a trainer set and I’m still, in many ways a trainee mother.

On raising boys to be men: I wish I’d said all this as succinctly as Jack Heald did. In the raising of many boys to be men, I’ve shared many of these exact thoughts with each one of them; Wes has enlightened them on many of these same points. This piece is sort of like Wear Sunscreen, the piece by Mary Schmich that has been attributed to Kurt Vonnegut (who probably wishes he’d written it!). In this QotD, Jack Heald shares advice to sons on such topics as: “…the gamut – Life, God, Women, Fighting, Working, Dying, Friendship, Money, Politics, Education, Culture, Leadership. It may be a book one day, a la Chicken Soup or Jabez…”

More on boys and men: I sometimes think that I’d sure like a mulching vacuum—you know, for all those little bits and pieces of things in the carpet. I don’t know how many little Lego’s have been vacuumed up over the years—our incomplete sets would give a clue. I also don’t know how many pennies have shot into the motors of our vacuums—many, I’m sure! Yes, that’s plural: many pennies and many vacuums. Now, most of our home is not carpeted—BUT—for the rooms that are, a Hoover Mulcher would be great. My sons thought this: would be a great vacuum! I’m not sure we’d get much actual work done with one of these!