Just Pure Lovely

A Baby Shark

2010-03-18T00:06:40-05:00

All babies are cute, right?

Or maybe not.

This baby was so brave and fearsome in his teeny tiny sharky sort of way. After our children pet it and pretended to be afraid of it (no longer pretending, I think, when it turned quickly with an open jaw), our friend set the baby shark loose into the Gulf of Mexico to grow larger and live to scare another day.

I hope to never see it when it grows larger, especially if it remembers one humiliating day when humans pet it and cooed, "Awwwww, you're soooo cute!"

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Recently, I...

2010-03-16T23:26:20-05:00

...was run off the beach for the first time ever by the pelting sand

...couldn't get the sand out of my ear folds or my knitting project for three days

...saw two seagulls float backward in the wind as they struggled to land at the bread I tossed. That was pretty funny.

...cheered my terribly handsome lumberjack and my dad and three kids as they cleared a big dam in the river without a single power tool

...tried my best not to laugh when the log my man was standing on rolled him into the cold river

...found it easy not to laugh since our 10yo little guy was on that same log (he was fine and happy)

...was proud of my crew for taking the time and effort to remove a propane tank, two huge foam pieces for a dock, a plastic tube, 6 trashbags of mostly cans and bottles, one brown Croc, and a purple My Little Pony from the river's dam.

...kayaked for the first time since I've been hurt (January?)

...enjoyed my parents who visited for too short a time and left too quickly

...had a wonderful date with my man in our college town where we met: visiting an old friend, eating at a favorite bagel shop, buying at a craft store, finding just what I wanted at a hardware store, wishing in a furniture store, and treating ourselves at a local ice cream shop on the way home

...picked up a bundle of books on the library's free-to-keep cart, including one on getting rich, one on getting my groove back (I had one?), one on living, loving and learning and two by C.S. Lewis.

...can't decide which book to read first

...was too animated today when talking to the neighbor that I felt my almost-healed back take two steps back (two "back" steps back, that is...two healing steps back...whatever)

...learned not to be too animated when talking

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My Pittypats & Tippytoes

2010-03-15T23:33:00-05:00

While searching for some poetry for our 9yo to read and learn this year, I found a lovely poem by Eugene Field (a favorite poet of ours), called Pittypat & Tippytoe. I hope you like it as much as I do:

Pittypat and Tippytoe
by Eugene Field (1850-1895)

All day long they come and go---
Pittypat and Tippytoe;
   Footprints up and down the hall,
  Playthings scattered on the floor,
   Finger-marks along the wall,
  Tell-tale smudges on the door---
By these presents you shall know
Pittypat and Tippytoe.

How they riot at their play!
And a dozen times a day
   In they troop, demanding bread---
  Only buttered bread will do,
   And the butter must be spread
  Inches thick with sugar too!
And I never can say "No,
Pittypat and Tippytoe!"

Sometimes there are griefs to soothe,
Sometimes ruffled brows to smooth;
   For (I much regret to say)
  Tippytoe and Pittypat
   Sometimes interrupt their play
  With an internecine spat;
Fie, for shame! to quarrel so---
Pittypat and Tippytoe!

Oh the thousand worrying things
Every day recurrent brings!
   Hands to scrub and hair to brush,
  Search for playthings gone amiss,
   Many a wee complaint to hush,
  Many a little bump to kiss;
Life seems one vain, fleeting show
To Pittypat and Tippytoe!

And when day is at an end,
There are little duds to mend;
   Little frocks are strangely torn,
  Little shoes great holes reveal,
   Little hose, but one day worn,
  Rudely yawn at toe and heel!
Who but you could work such woe,
Pittypat and Tippytoe?

But when comes this thought to me:
"Some there are that childless be,"
   Stealing to their little beds,
  With a love I cannot speak,
   Tenderly I stroke their heads---
  Fondly kiss each velvet cheek.
God help those who do not know
A Pittypat or Tippytoe!

On the floor and down the hall,
Rudely smutched upon the wall,
   There are proofs in every kind
  Of the havoc they have wrought,
   And upon my heart you 'd find
  Just such trade-marks, if you sought;
Oh, how glad I am 't is so,
Pittypat and Tippytoe!

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The Teen Who Could II

2010-03-12T00:46:11-06:00

Remember our teen who could? And remember how I was all braggy about him being one of only two cadets to finish their weekend tasks so far (after he'd finished 4 of 6 weekend cycles of Emergency Services School for the Civil Air Patrol)?

Well, I'm about to be even more braggy now.

His officer, sergeant-colonel, whatever-the-title (I'm such a civilian) emailed this week and said, "Did B tell you that he was selected as Best Cadet of the Cycle in February?"

Uh, no.

So I yelled for "B", our 14yo cadet to come. "Hey, that brownie you mentioned that you got in front of everyone from the chief-officer-guy...you said you thought it was for finishing tasks."

"Yeah."

"Soooooo, it wasn't for finishing tasks. It was because you were selected as Best Cadet of the Cycle!!!!!!!!!" At this point I jumped up and hugged him super tightly. If he wasn't 6'4", he'd have fallen over.

"Yeah, okayyyy, Mom," he said, backing off. "I knew it was for something, but wasn't sure what."

Clearly, I'm the more excitable one of the two of us.

Again, I'm amazed that this kid who I thought was kinda lazy is actually not. Obviously, if something interests and challenges him, he's a go-getter. I'm excited about that!

But I feel pretty badly - downright rotten, to be honest - for assuming he was lazy and especially for mentally putting that label on him. This was a good wake-up call to me to believe in the kid, work on good habits, and motivate him to do even those things that are not interesting or challenging.

Now that I know, I have all sorts of things I want him to do! ;)

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A Really Pretty Disappearing 9 Patch Doll Quilt

2010-03-10T00:39:26-06:00

Whee! I'm so excited about this Disappearing 9 Patch quilt! I didn't make it and it's not mine, but I'm just as excited as if it was mine because it was shared by a reader who created it using my Disappearing 9 Patch Quilt tutorial. "My" and "quilt" and "tutorial" together in a sentence never fails to make me giggle. I'm such a quilting amateur that I still can't believe, even 2 years later, that I had the nerve to write up a tutorial on how to create a quilt.

When someone sends me a link and a photo of something as beautiful as this....

...I'm in awe. It is amazing to me how far a little nudge and a bit of inspiration can go. That's all I was trying to do when I wrote the Disappearing 9 Patch tutorial...I was just trying to share something exciting to me, saying, "you can do it, too!"

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The Disappearing 9 Patch Tutorial that I wrote (giggle) is located here. (It's by far my most popular blog post here at Just Pure Lovely. Wow.)

The beautiful Disappearing 9 Patch above was created by Star @ A Load of Craft. Visit her blog to view a larger shot of the quilt and to get a link to a binding tutorial (awesome!). Star has quite a few other crafty tutorials on her site. Pretty ones.

Let us know if you create a Disappearing 9 Patch, too, so we can all peek at it!

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2010-03-05T00:07:20-06:00

Aw. I love them so much.

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God Bless America

2010-03-04T00:05:10-06:00

This flag flies over the bay in our little town.

Every time our little gal sees it, she says, "God bless America"

So do I.

God bless our waterways and animals and plants

God bless our maddening politicians (or, rather, bless the non-maddening ones)

God bless my childhood friend Nicky who is a US soldier helping out in Haiti.

(Someone my brother knows happened to run into Nick two days ago, and somehow they realized they have a mutual acquaintance. It's a strange, small world.)

God bless my brother's childhood friend, Nathan, who is a US soldier-surgeon helping out in Haiti, too. Nathan's hands heal bodies, and his words heal souls. Nathan has a lot of missionary in him.

God bless all freedom-fighting soldiers, especially those in more dangerous spots than Haiti

God bless the daddies who work hard for their families

God bless the wife who greets her hard-working man with a kiss at the door

God bless the mommies who enjoy their children

God bless the ones who pray

God bless you.

God bless America. And the world, too.

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