November

Frosty mornings.

Bare trees.

Shadows thickening as supper ends.

November is here.

It's probably my favorite month of the year, so full of excitement, and the pure happiness of holidays.

It's the month I set aside writing time to pound out a 50,000 word document. In the hopes that, after careful revision and polishing, a book will emerge. A book all my own.

It's the month of first snow, and return to all things warm, cozy, and comforting.

It's the month of Thanksgiving. That eager time of gathering together, to laugh and play, to remember old memories and create new ones, to thank the Father for a year's-worth of blessings. To feast, rejoice, and marvel at the goodness of God.

It's the month of preparation. Mysterious noises, conspiratorial whispers, lumpy burdens, plots, patterns, purchases. All the things necessary to create those delightful Christmas-morning surprises.

It's another month to learn, read, discover. Another month to deepen the relationships of family and friends. Another month to grow closer to my Heavenly Father who loves me and holds me.

November is here with all it's multitudes of blessings. And I'm so thankful!



Fine print: #87-97 of the multitudes I am counting. Linking with Multitudes for Mondays as well as Sharing the blessings over at Accordion to Kellie. Images are not mine.

Loose ends, New beginnings

Do you ever feel like you are spinning your wheels, accomplishing nothing? I've had several weeks of that. Weeks that have left many, many loose ends, and unfinished projects.

These past few days though have been days of re-inspiration, of projects finished and loose ends tied.

-Lessons completed

- Yards of fabric turned into clothing

-Nano novel all ready for the big start Tuesday

-Goodies added to the shop.

Have I ever introduced you to my shop? It's here at Timeless Everythings. Check it out! 

With the completion of set off projects came the completion of warm weather. This morning every blade of grass, and flower stalk was coated in shimmering frost. The air is nippy and smells of ice and snowflakes.

And now I can't wait for winter. For Thanksgiving fun with dear friends and family. For the excitement surrounding Christmas, gifts made, gifts received. For the long winter evenings, snowed in, seeking warmth under furry layers. The smell of crackling fires, the quiet night walks under falling snow.

Bad weather is approaching, and I cannot wait.

Don't be a winter hater this year. Get in the mood, bake something ummy, warm your hands around a mug of steaming hot chocolate, go for a walk and look for the signs of it's approach. Get creative and make something cozy. Cuddle up and get ready for hibernation.

Winter's coming, we can't wait.

Fine print: Images not my own. Cat is, don't even try to convince me that she isn't the cutest cat in the world. :) 

Multitudes (and a request for blogging help)

77. Dear friends who I'm thankful for just because they are dear friends, but who made my day yesterday with a gift of a case of Nehi Peach Soda. I can now reminisce over vacation while sipping the best soda in the world!  :)

78. Down filled duvets for these freezing nights.

79. Last glimpses of autumn glory.

80. Baby steps in success at learning to drive. I've survived thus far.

81. Spice. What would baking be without it.

82. Complex story coming together out of a heap of ideas and dreams.

83. Frosty mornings where everything looks glittery in the sun.

84. New authors discovered.

85. Journals.

86. Approaching holidays, the thought of which always sends a thrill of excitement through me.

87. Little sister vigorously marking her way through magazines so that we will know what she needs for Christmas. :)


Quick question for all you bloggers out there. Does anyone know how to fix the email subscription settings? Most of my email subscribers say that they never receive my posts until three or four days after it was posted. Can anyone help me with this? 

Fine print: Images not my own.

Kaleidoscope

Shards of colored glass, a battered cardboard tube, circle of transparent plastic, all so small and insignificant.

But in reality, that's all I am.

Me, the real me, holds the battered cardboard tube that is this present life. Inside it rattles the colored glass pieces that make up everyday. All those tiny, insignificant pieces and parts of my life.

I look through and see nothing but blurred and dim shapes in the darkness. He tells me to point it towards the light. For it's only by His light that I can see life properly.

I point the cardboard upwards and see it. A pattern. A beautiful mosaic made up of all the pieces of life, sparkling and brilliant.

But then He takes hold of the cardboard tube and shakes it gently. And I cry because my pattern is destroyed. But I look again, and see a new shape, a new beauty greater than the one before.

At times I forget to point the tube towards the light, and I lose sight of the beauty of the pattern.

Sometimes I pull back and pity myself. I wish I was something more than a collection of broken glass and worn out cardboard.

Sometimes I try to keep Him from shaking my life. I wildly clutch, attempting to save the pattern that I think is the most beautiful. Unwilling to wait and see what He creates.

I must be still to see the picture. I must keep myself pointed towards the light, letting it illuminate this great puzzle of life. I must allow Him to shake and move and jostle, knowing that He does all things well.

Because life's a kaleidoscope, and He's the Master artist.

Fine Print: Original idea by a dear friend, pictures not my own. 

Monday Multitudes

A few of the things I am so grateful for this week:

66. Crunchy apples

67. Music. Nothing can calm or sooth you faster. There is something incredibly powerful in it.

68. Autumn's last harvest.

69. Wind tousling your hair and making you feel like a little kid again.

70. Sisters.

71. Psalm 91.

72. Song of a bird stopping for a rest before traveling further south.

73. Success in growing potatoes. (I've tried for years and have never until this year actually succeeded.)

74. Congregation mingling voices in ACapella song.

75. Forest pine colored pens. :)

76. My brother- Sir Valiant, ever willing to rescue his sisters from bugs, toads, and bats. :)

What are the little blessings you are thankful for today?

Fine Print: Picture and quote are not my own. 

A Rather Blustery Day...

Outside: it's a very blustery day. A very pooh and piglet sort of day. 

Inside: It's a quiet, sun and shadow sort of day, the kind that just calls for hot apple cider. 

There must be something in the Autumn wind that whirls and thrashes energy into you. It's like the very last bit of energy must be used up before the winter's stillness. It's chilling, but adventurous and exciting all at the same time. 

I raked leaves today. They were gloriously beautiful as they were, but they did need to be raked and gathered. Now they are heaped almost four feet high waiting to be slowly turned into compost to enrich next year's garden. 

I seem to always pick the windiest of days to rake on. One of those days when the wind can't decide which direction it is going. Well, either that or it is purposefully playing with me. Just as fast as I would rake  the leaves in the direction the wind was blowing it would turn on me and throw them back in my face. I finally conquered in the end. 

Inside we hunkered down and listened to the wind crashing the wind chimes outside. Warming cold hands on warm mugs, and drowsily reading thick books. Just the thing to do on a very blustery day. 

      Hot Spiced Apple Cider

1 mug Apple Cider
Pinch of : Nutmeg, Cinnamon
Half Pinch: Ground Cloves
1 Stevia packet.
Mix, heat in microwave until warm. Drink with hands wrapped tightly around, and many pauses to just breathe in the fragrance. 

Fine Print: Images not my own. 

Sharing the Simple Blessings

Simple Blessings, scattered all throughout our days. Tiny things, often hidden behind bad things.

Things we never see because we are so wrapped up in our big problems.

 Never realizing that our problems are normally the petty things, and the blessings are the big things.



It rained today. A gray, depressing, dreary rain. One of those dripping rains, that take all day long to finish when they could have finished in a 10 minute hearty down pour.

I grumbled at the rain. It was ruining all me plans. The leaves were piling up in the yard. With rain added on top they would take forever to rake up.

Not a big problem really, but just enough to get me really grumpy at the weather.

It wasn't until I actually took a good look outside that I saw what I was missing.

It wasn't only raining little tiny rain drops, it was raining leaves.

They came down swirling, and fluttering to land in a thick carpet. A carpet of reds and oranges and browns.

And then I realized what I would have missed if I had raked those leaves up today in the sun.

I would have missed one of fall's greatest blessings. The final, glorious farewell of summer. Leaves are not just dead things to be raked and burned without a thought. God made them beautiful gems, even in their death. Flaming pieces of color to brighten our dark fall days.





So there is my simple blessing for today. I can't think of anything more simple or more radiantly lovely than a fall leaf.

Fine Print: Linking up with the Sharing the Simple Blessings series from Accordion to Kellie. All 

pictures are my own. 

Pieces

They were beautiful lengths of fabric. Each one carefully patterned, colored, and woven. They were perfect, solitary and in no need of any other help.

In another basket were apples. Each one with superb red and green swirls, each one sweet and crunchy. No defects, no imperfections, perfect just like they were.

Or so they might have thought.

To the fabric came a heavy pair of scissors, slicing and chopping. Within moments the entire length of fabric was reduced to pieces. Short, awkward, triangular, wrinkled pieces. It no longer was perfect on its own. It was ruined, torn and left scattered.

To the basket came a sharp glittering knife, cutting them into small pieces. The delicately colored skin was peeled off and thrown away. All that was left was chunks of bare apple, fast turning brown as time progressed.


All that was left was pieces.

Life's like that. For a time you think you are perfect, completed, a beautiful creation. The life you live in is carefully constructed, colored, and loved. Then along comes something, sickness, death, change. And your life is torn apart. Chopped. Scattered. Sliced. Ruined.

And all that's left are pieces. Tattered shards of no use but to remind you of who you used to be.

But the story for the fabric, and the apples isn't over.

To the fabric came someone, the same someone who had held the cutting scissors. Carefully, with patience and skill, she gathered up the pieces and one by one fit them back together in new ways. From under her hands came a piece of beauty and perfection, far surpassing what the fabric had been before. An entirely new length of fabric, which all the tiny pieces joined to form.

To the apples came a chef. And slowly, and meticulously he formed and mixed and molded. And when he stepped back there, in the place of the broken pieces, was a creation of perfection. Simple, yet beautiful, an object to be enjoyed by many. Every piece of broken apple lending to the perfection of the whole.

Without the scissors the fabric could have never become a quilt. And without the knife the apples could have never become a pie.

Without pain, struggle, change, I will never become who I was meant to be. You can never become who you were meant to be. There will be times that your life may seem ruined. Times when you are left standing surrounded by the broken pieces of your life.

Just wait.

The Master Creator, He who perfectly formed all things, is at work. Carefully, gently, He will reassemble the pieces into something better, something beautiful.

Just wait and see what comes out of the pieces.

Fine Print: Picture of fabric pieces is my own, all the rest are not mine. 

NaNoWriMo

Who is doing NaNoWriMo this year? I can't wait, I have two full stories outlined and ready to go, hopefully one will be a complete rough draft by December. :)

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. Basically, you attempt to punch out a 50,000 word novel in one month-November. That being probably the second most busiest month in the year. (At least for me :)   


Last years NaNo worked well for me. I got my book done, and have been working ever since on editing it to a point that is acceptable to read. :) (When they say rough draft, they mean rough draft)

So who will be doing it this year? Any first timers? What's your genre? Will you be writing in first person or third person? What do you do to get ready for writing your book?

My book genre is undecided, principally because I can't decide which one to work on. : /   Either historical fiction, or historical/ science fiction (old school scifi, like the Jules Verne kind, not fantasy). The only thing I have decided is that it will be in first person. Which for me is easier to write. : )

Things I have done to get ready are: Outline my ideas for the books. For me that looks like a very loose timeline of events. I've also pulled pictures that will help me with the scene and setting.

 I've taken each main character and figured out his likes, his dislikes, his talking style, his actions... One fun thing I have done this year is model each character off of a certain classic writers' writing style. For example, one character will be like Verne's typical MC's interested in learning, observant, quiet, under the authority of the other(s), and in the end assuming command. Another will look more like Doyle's typical scientist/detectives, brainy, quirky, blustering when excited, in command, disdainful of everyone else. :)

So here are the questions for you. How many will be doing NaNo this year? How many of you are interested in posts/discussions on writing?

Hoping that all of you have a day filled with rest and autumn-y pursuits. Applesauce making is the plan for me today. :)

Amanda

Fine Print: Photo not mine. Would love to have a turquoise typewriter though. :) 

Monday

Mondays are days of fresh beginnings. Days when we are called from our Sabbath rest to renew our battle in the world. They are days of adventure, new hope, and fresh energy.

No doubt Mondays are rarely fun days. They mean work. But they also mean new possibilities. Before you stretches an entire week unmarked by anything. What you will make of this week depends largely on what you will make of today.

Just a little pep talk for myself and ya'll. :)

Multitudes for Mondays:

55. Warmth. :)

56: Joyfully at Home - Jasmine Bauchum. I love this book, it has helped me greatly.

57. All five senses. Life would be so different without them.

58. School studies.

59. Little girl learning to read.

60. Tales of a Wayside Inn - (Thanks again for recommending it Eyebright! I love it!)

61. Craft projects that actually turn out.

62. Old hymns and the stories behind them.

63. Crunchy leaves.

64. Apples, just waiting to be turned into sauce.

65. Music.

What are you grateful for as this week begins? 

Fine print: None of these pictures are my own. 

My Week

It's been a cloudy week. Heavy cloud banks outside, contributing to my brain fog inside. A week of misty ideas and plans, of indecision and thought.

But it's been an interesting week, slow, calm, cozy. A week of taking it all gently. A week of crafting, baking, and turning page after page in the books I'm reading. 

It's been a week of marveling at the changing world. Leaves falling, kittens chasing acorns, flower gardens put to bed for winter. 

It's been a week of chill. Necessitating many layers, chunky afghans, hot chocolate, and ginger cookies. 

It's been a week of music. Wind whipping the wind chimes, pleased kittens purring, Midnight Sonata played slowly. 

It's been a week of poetry, as I (who have always been afraid of poetry) discovered the loveliness of it. Any good suggestions for poets to read? 

It's been an interesting week. Full of ups and downs, of gray mist and sunshine. But it's been a good week. 

How was yours?

                                                     Ginger  Cookies

Cream 3/4 cup butter, with 1 cup sugar. 

Add 1 egg, and 4 Tbs. Molasses (the real stuff, thick dark and bitter)

Mix in 2 Cup Flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp Cinnamon, 1 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp powdered ginger. 

Chill dough.

  Make balls and roll in sugar.

     
 Press with either a cookie press, the bottom of a glass, or your hands.

Making the cookies a little less than an 1/2 in. thick.                              





 Bake at 375 degrees F. For 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

 Fine print: First image of window and coffee is not mine. The cookie ones are. I only wish I could share the smell of these with you as well. :)