What I Learned in March 2016

We've reached the very last day of  March which means that it's time to join Emily's link up again. Here are six things that I learned over the course of this month in no particular order.

How to unclog a bathroom sink. This video is super thorough and it was FAR easier than I ever
imagined.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an atrocious speller and he also kept a detailed record of his life in a ledger. Fitzgerald happens to be one writer that I really admire, so the fact that his spelling MAY have been as bad as mine makes me feel relieved. As for the record keeping, well, it's nice to know that we kind of have that in common too.

That Mrs. Patmore has a first name and it's "Beryl". This slideshow on what the Downton Abbey stars look like in real life is pretty interesting.

The Chronicles of Narnia ARE worth reading and Holy Week is a great time to do it. Stay tuned for my full review in a couple of weeks, but until then, know that I have A LOT to say about my first time reading this WHOLE series.

Bernie's last name is Sanders, NOT Mac and he is a cute old white man, not a middle aged black man. This will tell you exactly how much I pay attention to politics. Truth be told, I have no idea what most politicians look like. I need to work on this. Any tips? 

If I want to remember what I learned, I have to write it down along the way. I only kept track of a few of these in this draft and the rest of what I learned was contained in a mental list which went away the moment I sat down to type this post out. Oops!

What did you learn this month?  

One Year Later

April 20, 2014

Having just celebrated Easter with my new church family, I am overflowing with praise to God for the gift of other Christians. I don't doubt that many of you share my gratefulness for solid brothers and sisters in Christ. Some of you know the struggle that comes with yearning for and asking God to grant you a church home. It is a familiarity with that longing that convinced me of the NEED for regular communion with other Christians.

You see, aside from a short stint when I lived in Massachusetts, I've never been a part of a solid local body of believers. It got to the point where I went over four years without even going to church. The story of that period is a long one, but it boils down to a period in my life where the only option was a church that was not true to or enamored with the Word of God. During that time, I stayed as close as I could to God and I never stopped asking Him to grant me people who LOVE Him. I spent a lot of time at the Ranch and with Jay and Alice and Al and those in person times of Christian fellowship were beyond sweet. For several years, I missed having a church and felt really silly when people asked me about what church I was a part of and having to tell them that I wasn't. If I'm honest, it mostly felt really good not to have that area of battling with people who should have known better in my life any more.

Eventually, the whole not having a church thing started to really bother me. I missed what I had in Massachusetts and I craved a body of local believers the way that many people crave marriage or a baby. I cannot express to you just how overcome I was with this longing. Last Easter that longing came to a head. On Palm Sunday, I wrote this post and then I visited my parents' church for Holy Week services only to be reminded of the gut wrenching words that came from the pulpit there. On Easter Sunday, I sat out on the back patio at our house listening to the church bells ring. It was a beautiful spring day and I was just coming to the end of a journal. I poured myself out to God in prayer. By the time I gathered my things and went back into the house, my soul was refreshed. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I had submitted this area of concern to Him. I was honest with myself, with Him, and full of confidence in whatever it was that He had in store. 

One year later, Easter rolled around and everything was so different. On Sunday I stood surrounded by this new body that I've been a part of since the end of August. The voices cascading over me as we sang "Christ The Lord Is Risen Today" were enough to make me sing this familiar song with all that I had in me. As we joined together to read Psalm 2 and hear the preaching about being glad in God, I was sitting in my seat overflowing with gladness. When the bread and the wine were passed around, I feasted on my Lord and His faithfulness. Though God didn't have to grant me a church or make it possible for me to have a place in it, He has. Those years of living where I grew up have given me so very much to be grateful for, the main ones being the walk with God that I have, dependence on Him, and a strong conviction for the absolute necessity of regular communion with other Christians. 

Wherever you are, please do not take God's charge to meet with other Christians lightly. As with all of His commands, this one is for your good. Seek out people who love God and whose delight is found in His Word. Praise God and pray for churches full of these kinds of people. I still have to finish the "Strategies for Beholding" series, but until then, it is my hope that this testimony of God's grace will remind you of the gift that we Christians are to one another. 

How has God's grace shown up in your life recently?

Island of New Beginnings

"The Red Door Inn" by Liz Johnson is a novel set on Prince Edward Island. In this story, a woman named Marie is in the process of leaving her life in Boston behind. She sets her sights on starting over on Prince Edward Island because of her infatuation with LM Montgomery and the famous Anne of Green Gables saga. I don't share Marie's admiration for Montgomery, but I am very familiar with the pull a faraway can have on a person because of the way an author portrayed it in books.

Along the way, we meet an old man named Jack who will endear himself to you from the moment you meet him. Johnson mixes in a wide range of characters who are absolutely perfect for the roles that she designates for them to have in this story about starting over, carrying on, and renovating a B&B in one of the most touristy places in the world. I read the first 200 pages of this book in one evening and finished the rest of it the next day. It's not necessarily a quick read, in fact, it's the kind you could take slowly if you wanted to. Once I got going I just couldn't seem to stop. I wanted to see what Johnson had in store.

With the introduction of Jack's nephew Seth, I started to wonder if Johnson was going to disappoint me. I'm not a fan of mushy-gushy chick-lit. This book walks the line. 200 pages in and things could have really gone either way. That first evening, I was getting to know Marie, kind of swooning over Jack, getting a feel for the island life, growing super curious about how the B&B would turn out, and hoping that the Seth plot would not ruin things. Marie and Seth's story does take up a fair amount of space, but I wasn't disappointed. The B&B remained central and Johnson did a great job of keeping things balanced.

If you're looking for an enjoyable novel, this is probably one you'll enjoy. It's not a mystery and there isn't any real dilemma. It's a nice easy story about a handful of people on Prince Edward Island. Johnson gives her readers plenty to think about as her characters wrestle with hope, forgiveness, the idea of "home", and figure out how to relate to God. Whether you grew up sharing Marie's love for Montgomery, find B&Bs enchanting, tend to read heavy books, or not, Johnson's "The Red Door Inn" will have something for you.

Grab your copy HERE.

What have you been reading lately? 

*I was provided a review copy of this book by the publisher. All thoughts are my own honest opinion. 

I Obeyed Then

I read this poem back in February and found myself stopping to read it again and again. I don't often enjoy things that tell me things that Scripture doesn't include, but somehow, this piece led me to do the kind of thinking I needed.

It's Good Friday and this poem is still fresh in my mind. Things are soooo much different this year than they were last year. The same is probably true for you. Take a moment to read this poem, I think you'll enjoy it!

The Tenth Hour by Madeleine L'Engle

Who is to comfort whom
in this time beyond comfort
this end of our time?
Can I, who already have one mother,
alive, oh, very alive, and not over-willing to share,
be another man's mother's son?
Perhaps if she could hold me, as she so small a time ago
  held him,
knowing him dead with only a fragment of her knowing
the rest of herself, her arms, heart, lips,
not understanding death---
but we will not touch. Not that way.

Can she, who has lost in such a manner her son,
be mother once again, past child-bearing, caring
to a man full grown?
I loved her son, ran from him, returned only for the end,
most miserable - I, not he -

"Son."

My lips move. "Mother." though no sound comes.
She leaves the hill, the three crosses.
I follow. To her empty house.
She does not weep or wail as I had feared.
She does the little, homely things, prepares a meal, then
O God
washes my feet.
"An angel came," she said,
"to tell me of his birth. And I obeyed.
No angel's come to tell me of his death."

This, I thought, was not an argument.
I held back tears, since she held hers, though foolishly.
We ate---somehow---she always listening.
I said, at last, "You do not mourn."
She looked down at me gravely.
"No, my son. My second given son.
I obeyed then. Shall I do less today?"


I've never really thought about what it was like to be Mary on this day. She obeyed once and though Jesus Christ's death should not have come as a surprise, she was called to obey once more.

The same is true for us. We obey and we must keep obeying.

Enjoy your Easter weekend!

5 More Things About Me

May 25, 2015

I've never read the entire HP or Narnia series. It's spring break/the play is over week around here, so I decided to pull my Narnia series out. I'm currently on book 3!

I have no idea how to make the word "series" plural. Do you?

When I introduce people I always look at the person whose name I'm saying rather than the person I'm introducing them to. This really bothers me.

A lot of my blog posts are born in the comments of other blogs. I'll be writing a comment and decide that I have sooo much more to say on a topic. 

I can't do a cartwheel. My Mom tried to teach me. My friends tried to teach me. My sister tried to teach me when she was like 5 and has kept trying to get to me give it another go. It's just not going to happen.

What don't I know about YOU?

 

Don't Worry

April 13, 2014

After a major breakthrough on anxiety, the last few weeks have been rough. It was getting to the point where I was thinking it might be time to take some time to write down everything that was weighing on my mind so that I could pray about it and remind myself that I had given it over to God.

Seriously...I was feeling tired and drained and like I couldn't breathe. I had major headaches. I was nervous. It was getting ugly. I was worrying about EVERYTHING and most of it was 100% out of my control.

About two days into it reaching the point where I was pretty sure the breaking point was coming, my Mom got SICK. My brother and sister's latest play had JUST opened and the cast and crew was passing around some major germs. My Mom getting sick was one thing I was worrying about more than anything else. She does their makeup and helps several others with theirs too and there is no way the show could go on without her....Long story short, she spent most of three days in bed and pulled herself out JUST long enough to do my brother and sister's make up.

She was sick enough and I was frazzled enough that ALL of my worries disappeared over the course of those three days. I contacted several friends and asked them to pray for my Mom. Whatever she had was kind of scaring me. I prayed each time I thought of my friends praying and it really helped me to KNOW that people were praying for us.

The thing about anxiety is that you can't will it away. If you focus on it or focus on trying to overcome it, it gets worse. If you focus on turning your mind away from it, it gets worse. The thing about anxiety is that something has to become bigger than it is. My Mom being sick was THE thing I was most worried about. Once she got sick, I began to realize that all I could do was take her to God and trust Him. THE thing I was worried about was BAD, but it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be.

And that's how it always goes. Not because things aren't BAD, but because God is in control and with every bad thing He brings, He brings grace too. The grace is measured out perfectly.

My Mom got sick and four days later she got better. We made it through the school shows. I was reminded how sweet it is to KNOW people are praying with you. The play closed this last Sunday and I'm tempted to worry about different things now, but God's grace over the last month is here reminding me not to mess with that. There's more...

Last winter, the top of a pine tree broke off and landed in our backyard. It came down with a CRASH and drove huge ruts into the grass. BUT, it didn't hit the house, the roof, the fence, the bushes, or ANYTHING. It came down and I was overcome with gratefulness. We opted to leave it be until spring. Spring is here and we've been trying to clean up the backyard. It's HUGE and getting it out of the backyard and hauled away is a daunting task. I went from being grateful to pathetic. It was easy to thank God for keeping the tree from hitting things, but when the next problem arose, I did what I do and turned to WORRY.

On Friday, we heard chainsaws mid-morning. My Mom looked over the neighbor's roof and saw a guy up in their pine tree. We opened the front curtain and realized that a tree service was in the neighborhood and had brought along a woodchipper. I went out to ask them what they would charge to run our pile of branches through that chipper if we hauled them out to the street. The boss came over to have a look and after negotiating a price, we came up with a solution for the branches that were blocking the gate in and out of our backyard and putting our spring clean up at a stand still.

You guys...I'm writing about this to tell you that in three days and with 30 bucks, my worries disappeared. Before the last of the branches was even run through the chipper I began laughing at myself. The weight of worry was lifted and I saw THROUGH the fog of my anxiety.

God knows. We worry soooo carelessly. Being consumed with anxiety doesn't help anyone or accomplish anything. Waiting on God is the way out.

Whatever has been weighing on you is just like my Mom getting sick, those giant branches blocking our gate, and the snow that's coming down on the exact day I planned to plant some seeds. These things do concern us and yet God never leaves us to fend for ourselves. Yes, these worries are small and trivial and nothing compared to things like the terrorist attacks in Brussels, but I'm convinced that all of them are doing a work in our hearts that cannot be accomplished any other way.

God's grace is bigger than any concern and He sees that it comes through at just the right time.

Don't worry.

Oven Baked Carrots

Week night dinners consist of a main dish and two sides at my house. I like sides that come together quickly and easily. After seeing a lot of posts on baked vegetables, I decided that this was something I wanted to try for myself.

The way we fix carrots around here is to slice them, boil them just until they are soft, drain off the water, and then toss them with a little brown sugar and butter. I had a feeling that baking them might just result in a different texture and would do a better job at bringing out their natural sweetness. So, I gave it a go....

The first thing you do is wash, peel, rinse, and slice your carrots. I like my slices to be nice and thin.

Next up, toss them with a some salt. At this point you could play around with other seasonings too.

Add some olive oil, and make sure you stir them so that they are evenly coated.

Spread your carrots out in a single layer on a foil lined cookie sheet. Make sure the foil is lightly greased. I'm using a pizza pan here, but that's because my cookie sheets are at the other house.

Bake them until they are JUST tender. I made this batch of carrots to go along with meatloaf and mashed potatoes. During the last half hour of baking, I slipped these into the oven right along with the meatloaf and everything came out perfectly!

Transfer to a serving dish and ENJOY!

This olive oil and salt version is definitely in the savory category. Baking the carrots does bring out their sweetness, but if you're used to a butter and brown sugar version you may find that this one takes some getting used to. 

I enjoyed it enough to share with you, so I think you'll enjoy it too!!!

Some other combos I've been dreaming up are: adding garlic, using coconut oil instead of olive oil, and of course, going the brown sugar route and skipping the salt. This is truly a recipe you can play with!!!

Oven Baked Carrots
serves 4

4 carrots
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt


Preheat oven to 350F .  Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with foil and lightly oiling the foil.

Wash, peel, rinse, and slice carrots into 1/4 inch thick rounds.

Toss in a medium bowl with salt and olive oil.

Spread carrots in one even layer on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or just until tender.

Transfer to a serving dish and ENJOY! 

What are some of your favorite weeknight side dishes?

Do you ever bake your veggies? 

Catching Up On Books

My reading pace is slowing down just a little bit with all of this nice weather. Even so, it's time for another round of Quick Lit with Anne Bogel!

Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper At the end of last year, I asked my friends what I should put on my reading list for this year. My friend Evy came through with a bunch of suggestions and this is the first one from her list that I picked up. Draper wrote this YA novel from the perspective of an 11 year old girl with cerebral palsy. It's super insightful and pretty well done.

The Feathered Bone by Julie Cantrell I received a review copy of this book from the publisher and let me tell you, it is nearly impossible to put down. Cantrell knows how to weave various plots together, create problems for her characters to face, and keep her readers on their toes. This is not an easy read and may not be appropriate for young readers, but I gave it 5 stars without a second thought. Read my full review here.

Roots and Sky by Christie Purifoy You'll be hearing a lot about this nonfiction book this year. It's a memoir of HOME that is driven by the seasons. I read it all at once and I have plans to read it again as the seasons go by. Purifoy's perspective is one we can probably all relate to.  I also reviewed a copy of this book.

The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens With inspiration from his poem "The Snow Man", I opted to make this my poetry pick for the month of March. That said, I'm still working my way through this collection. I've skipped around a bit because of the way the book is arranged. If you're a poetry lover, you'll enjoy Stevens. If you're curious about how to get into poetry, check out my beginner's guide!

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson I'm always up for a classic! This particular novel is one that I have really been enjoying. I'm only part way through it, but I can already see why it has stood the test of time. If you made it through school without reading this in it's entirety, you should definitely give it a go!

What have you been reading?

Is there a particular classic that you read as an adult and want everyone to read?  

What are your thoughts on poetry?

Rainy Day Playlist

July 23, 2014

Remember when we were in jr high and mixtapes were THE thing? I spent countless hours putting together mixtapes for every mood.  Somehow there was always one song that seemed to belong.

It's been a few years since I burned a cd, but if I was going to create a mixtape for a rainy day these five songs would definitely make the cut. They're jazzy and moody and happy and I love them all.

La Vie En Rose this song has been stuck in my head for MONTHS. I can listen to it over and over again without growing tired of it.   

Dream A Little Dream of Me this one gets tossed in for the dose of happy that rainy days require. Fitzgerald and Armstrong brought a lot to the table and I love this duet of theirs.

Clair De Lune this is the extended version and I sometimes put it on when I'm reading or editing. It's mentioned in several books (The Small Rain by L'Engle and All the Light We Cannot See by Doerr to name a few) and if you listen to it when the house is quiet, you'll know why. Fun fact: It's the first song I played for a piano recital when I was 9.

Smile this song reminds me of my Mom. She never put up with pouty or grumpy children and often employed songs to break through the gray clouds of our souls.  My moods would break away with tears and a big smile on the first note nearly every time. This song manages to do the same thing for me. 

I See Fire when I was visiting my brother in September, he played this song for me while we were driving back to my Aunt's house after his graduation. Listening to it takes me right back to the drive that took way longer than it should have because of the rain and accidents. We were grateful for the delay.  

What's one song that seems perfect for every mood in your book?

What kind of music do you like to listen to on rainy days?

16 and 49

Birthdays are some of my favorite holidays. There's nothing quite like decorating the house, making special plans, picking up the perfect gift, and celebrating the ones you love. We celebrated 16 for the last time in THIS generation of our family back in January and the whole day was bittersweet (as soooo many monumental days are for my youngest brother).

My Mom, sister, and I woke up EARLY to start the decorating process so that a certain someone would be surprised when he woke up. Streamers, balloons, banners, and a balloon avalanche that fell on him when he opened his bedroom door. I whipped up a batch of cinnamon biscuits for breakfast after that and then the day was full of all the usual things. School, housework, a trip to the grocery store for the cake that he finally told us the flavors of (chocolate and chocolate).

We had been expecting to have to go to rehearsals that night, so the SPECIAL plans were very up in the air. At the last minute, we found out that we would be able to stay home and do whatever we wanted. He chose burgers and chocolate chocolate cake. The night was YOUNG and we were excited to celebrate 16 one more time!!!

We went to this reallly popular burger joint where they serve napkins.

Ignore my Mom and look at that cute kid who is super excited to sink his teeth in a cheeseburger. :)  After our dinner out, we headed back home to put the finishing touches on the birthday cake. My Mom has done allll kinds of cakes in her day. Completely from scratch or from a box. Heart shaped, Lego, Pony Shaped, or frost your own cupcakes. They're always fantastic. Always. For whatever reason the boxed cakes are still a special treat.

I didn't get a good shot of him blowing out his candles, but this one is one of my favorites from the entire day!

These two have been mistaken for twins for most of their lives. The bond they share is one that I have been soooo blessed by. Just the other night, they were up late working on memorizing some Scripture and studying for their Two Ways To Live class. I was soooo tired and I really wanted to go to bed, but I couldn't bring myself to break up their study session. They sat in on my sister's bed and alternated between studying and laughing so hard that I think the neighbors could hear them. THESE are the moments I live for.

He finally got a baby bottle pop! LOL!!! My sister threw that in with her gift because she knew it would make his day. It did.

That's how we do 16 for this kid. It's a day I won't soon forget. These teenage years have been sooo full and being a part of them has meant more to me than he'll ever know. My brother is sweet and caring and TOUGH and strong. He is funny and tells his own jokes that are soda hilarious. He loves all things Lego and has been a natural performer ever since he was a little boy. When he sings, people stop to listen.

The other night, I passed by him when he was taking his stage makeup off. I caught a glimpse of us in the mirror and stopped. He is almost taller than me. It won't be long now and he'll pass me up. When he does, I'll celebrate with him then too, but he'll still be and always be my youngest brother.

Celebrating 49 looked a bit different. The Sunday before my Mom's birthday, we went out for a spontaneous lunch at The Outback after church. We went all out with a bloomin' onion, steak and potato, and a salad people are still raving about that had pecans, bluecheese crumbles, and a dressing that was the right balance of sweet and tangy.

On her actual birthday, we had a full house. Zachary and Monica came to visit and brought flowers and chocolates with them. My Mom and I started the morning by running to have the oil changed. We were first in line and had it done before we knew it. While we were waiting my Mom said, "I bet there's a geocache here. I just know it." After handing the keys to our car over, we trooped around the parking lot and logged a cache within a few minutes of looking!!! From there we headed to the library to pick up a hold that had come in for my Mom only to find out (for the second day in a row) that it wasn't open.

After that, I made everyone a big breakfast of waffles, bacon (thanks for taking over the frying, Monica), and potatoes. We had stayed up LATE the night before, so everyone was really looking forward to some time to just veg. My brother and sister and Zachary started watching Brave and Monica and I played cards. Eventually I went with my Mom and Monica to the thrift store to look for a vase for the flowers.

We came home to find the study area turned into a dance studio. My brother and sister spent much of the day teaching Zachary their dance routine to "Tellie" and trying to convince him to let them film it. Costumes were designed and everything, but no official music video was made. THIS TIME. 

I think part of the reason that I love birthdays is the amount of excitement that is in the air. We didn't do anything out of the ordinary. In fact, the whole oil change business and driving all the way to the library only to find that it was closed are the types of things that can lead to a lot of frustration. BUT. Here we were trooping around town and thrifting and having an excellent time. Birthdays make everything seem memorable.

When we returned home, I turned a bunch of leftovers into a lunch that left us all so stuffed we didn't even have dinner. I sliced up some meatloaf which we turned into sandwiches, I made my favorite stovetop mac and cheese, and served some green salad for good measure. Later that afternoon Zachary and Monica left and we got things ready for the big celebration.

Here's a pic of my Mom doing what she loves with all four of her children around her. This puzzle is a TOUGH one.

Before we knew it, it was nearly 9:30 at night. We were all so stuffed from lunch and she never would tell me what kind of cake she wanted, so I talked her into banana splits.

And then it was time for the gifts...She wanted three things: Aladdin on DVD with the extra scenes, the new Downton Abbey board game, and a blacklight flashlight. Two out of three isn't bad. :)

One. And the looks on their faces are my favorite. :)

Two. (A note saying it was coming in the mail. Apparently things take a bit longer to ship across the ocean. Who would have thunk?)

Hallllloooo.

You get one realllly good shot with my Mom and I ALWAYS mess it up. I LOVE her face in this and wish that I hadn't reached up to fix my bangs. She's beautiful.

You can't know how blessed I feel to be able to spend the entirety of another birthday with my Mom. She's my Mom, my Blessed, and she's also my FRIEND. I thank God for giving me the Mom He did. We've seen A LOT and together we've learned life's most important lesson, namely, blessed be the name of the LORD.

That's 49 and 16 before it. 2016 is shaping up to be a great year.

If you've made it through alllll those pictures and my long descriptions, you're amazing. I really need to work on writing narrative and showing rather than telling. Until then, thanks for reading my rambles!!!

How do YOU celebrate birthdays?

Somewhere Else Today

Follow me over to Lori's blog where I'm sharing one of my favorite guest posts!

At a Stop Light

March 7, 2014

It's Monday evening and I just put a casserole into the oven. This will be the first dinner I've made for my family since Thursday night. We're TIRED around here, but we're not alone. Now I know exactly what the line, "the show must go on!" actually means.

Opening weekend went off without a hitch even though so many of the cast and crew were fighting all kinds of sicknesses. We made it through the last few weeks of rehearsals and the first weekend of performances on pure fumes. It's the Monday I've been looking forward to and I'm STILL running on fumes (and I'm not even IN the show).

We're taking it slow. We're enjoying our first night home in weeks.

With all of this going and going and going, I've seen how fragile I really am. I cannot run on sack lunches or fast food or a number of hours of sleep that just keeps shrinking.

On my way to the store the other day a pastor came on the radio and he was talking about sin. As I sat at a stop light, it hit me...The good news of the Gospel is this: we're sinners and by God's grace and Christ's blood, we're saved. No explanations required. No hiding tolerated. As person after person turned into the lane beside me, I looked each one in the face and wondered about them. Do they feel like they HAVE to have it all together? What would they hide if they could?

And then I asked myself the same question. How much energy do I put into making myself look better than I actually am? Even if it's one second (and it's a lot more than that, I promise you), it's too much.

We're sinners. That means we don't have it together. That means that we all have stuff we'd rather just cover up and gloss over.

By God's grace and Christ's blood, we're saved. No explanations required. No hiding tolerated.

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." John 3:36

Funny what a few minutes at a stop light or driving through the rain can teach you.

I know this isn't the birthday pictures I promised you...I'll be back with those another day!

Over and Out

It's the first Thursday of the month which means that it's time for another edition of Journey Together! I put the finishing touches on it this morning and I'm excited for you to dig in!!! I've placed a button in the sidebar so that you can always have direct access to the current edition. It looks like this:

Would you like me to remind you about it on the first Thursday of each month?

We're gearing up for opening weekend of my brother and sister's latest show, so I'm taking a few days to step away from the computer. I'm looking forward to returning next week with pictures from recent birthdays!

If trivia is your thing, you might check out this week's round of Trivia Thursday over on my facebook page! I'll be sharing the answer this evening.

I hope you're all having a great day and that you have a fantastic weekend!!!