Painted Turtle Shell!

        My Mister and I were visiting family for a weekend and when I got excited about the turtle shell on their property, my SIL told me I could have the shell. I hate that the poor guy didn't make it, but the ants had already stripped the shell of any remains. (Ewe, I know) But, I knew the shell would make a great garden accent, so I painted it with some paints I had on hand, and then clear coated it. I love how it turned out!

It looks great with my newly planted Croton!

     It's been too long since my last post, I know. I must say that I had lost interest in most everything after our son's tragic accident last year. The loss of our child has been - by far - the most difficult thing to bounce back from. Grief overtook me like nothing I had ever experienced. I won't get caught up in the morbid details of death and grief, but I am back! By the grace of my dear Lord, I have experienced healing! 

    Mister and I have learned so much this past year about grace: forgiveness, patience, finding strength when we are weak... We have learned to hold fast to one another! So, I will leave this post here, and I'll be back soon with some fun projects and updates! 

    Until then, love one another folks, because in the grand scheme of it all, love really is what sees us through!!

    

    

Stop Making Excuses!

Greatness does not just happen by accident! 

I may not know all that is in store for my future, but I know it will be full of amazing greatness! 

I will make it happen!

I will look to my Awesome Creator and I will make it happen!

I will make choices not excuses!

Boxes, Tape, and Tears!

I slept in this morning. When I rolled over and looked at the time, I thought, "Wow, it's been a long time since I've slept so late!" I didn't take too long to stretch it out though, because my very next thought was, "Wow, I've got a lot of packing to do!"

Mister and I have been sorting through our two little homes, trying to decide what to keep, sell, give away, or throw away. We just sold the little house in the forest! Whoot whoot! We've been talking about selling that old fish camp property for years now, and finally put our money where our mouths were! Yes, we've both been known to procrastinate a bit. Not only procrastinate, but change our minds a time or two (okay, maybe three. Lol)

The place on the Gulf that we lease is now full of the fish camp hoard. I admitted a long time ago that I have the tendency to collect things. By nature, and upbringing I like to find beauty where others might see trash. It's more than a phase for me to want to turn an old rickety outdated dresser or china hutch into a cute little bench, shoe rack, or other repurposed item. It's in my blood.

I have so many collections of things though that while loading things for this phase of our move, my Mister was doing a little extra eye rolling at me. One such moment of eye-rolling was followed by a retorted, "Do you really want me to load this barrel full of plastic bottle caps on the trailer?" After explaining to him that it's easier for me to haul said bottle caps to another location than it would be to spend five years collecting them all again, then "why yes; yes I do want you to load those plastic caps on the trailer."

It was like a standoff at the Okay Coral: our eyes locked, and uh oh, the Mister raised his eyebrows at me.

"Oh no he didn't." I took a good long southern gal breath and blew it out of my nose like a bull to a matador. I had that let-me-tell-you-something-Mister look in my eyes, and I don't mean to brag or anything ladies, but my plastic bottle caps made it onto the trailer! They are right here under a stack of boxes; just waiting to become something pretty. I'll get to that another day though.

But seriously folks, no matter how modest in size a home is, packing it up to start a new chapter in life, can be nerve wrestling to say the least. I've been trying to keep it fun, but well; it's packing. How fun can packing be? Okay, so I'll at least TRY to make it fun (a little bit?) I'll grab a cup of coffee, put some music on and get to it!

First things first though! Before I begin to sort through anything else, I am putting a pork roast in the crockpot. Mister went to the grocery yesterday and since he came back with a pork roast that wasn't on my list, I guessed with a quickness that he wanted a good meat and potatoes kind of meal. So it shall be!

You check out that Crockpot Pork Roast here!

Pork roast is on, dishes are done, and now it's time to get back to that sorting and packing. I have literally been sorting through 30+ years of papers, photos, and memorabilia for days now. I do have some things packed, but to my Mister's dismay, everything is still strung out all over the place.

I am soooo thankful I have a spare room to at least house some of the chaos! Can you believe how many toys end up at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house from two tiny people?!

I don't do well when I'm not organized; I've been known to become a bit of a crybaby. I don't want Mister to come home from work and see me crying, so I'm taking a break, having some iced tea, and making lists and notes! Aha! A plan will be developed! …

Until next time! 
May your blessings be many and your troubles be few!

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An Acrostic Poem For our Missed Loved One!

I am at the Gulf house today trying to sort, purge, and pack for the next chapter in our life! As I was sorting through some notebooks of poems and doodles, I came across this Acrostic Poem I had written for my youngest son's friend who unexpectedly and tragically passed from our world - much too soon! 

Little William was one of those friends who was at our home so often, going to football games with our family, spending nights and weekends with us; he would show up just in time for dinner almost every day; and the day before he died, I had joked with him that if he spent any more time at our house, I was going to have to charge his daddy child support. He looked at me with his tilted head and crooked little smile and laughed at me. It was a smile and a laugh that put sunshine in hearts!

William and my son were true and wonderful childhood best friends. William played baseball, my son played football; they were at one another's games with celebrations of won games, picking one another up after a lost game. They were often running the country roads as boys will do: fishing, catching snakes to bring home and scare the bejeezus out of me with, climbing trees, hanging out at the local river rope swing; it seemed they would always be inseparable. They should have grown up together, sharing all the milestones kids experience: first dates, first kisses, getting their driver's license, senior skip day, and maybe a broken heart or two before settling into adulthood.

As our family settled in the first night after hearing the news, I sat alone in the kitchen trying to find strength. I had gotten a deep urge to write and it didn't take long to pen these words:

William Be Our Angel and Fly!

When God gave you life,

It was His plan to take you home.

Let me not ask why, 

Lest you be the child who has gone.

I cry in my strife,

And yet I know you're not alone.

May your soul soar high!

Be our angel and fly!

© 2007 Michelle LaDuke

 *****

May you forever be resting in peace our fun and adorable little friend! Thanks for making me smile today!

Preserving pine needles for basketry

Basket making supplies

I love the outdoors and all it has to offer. I love going on leisurely walks, collecting seeds, pinecones, and leaves; so, when I want to unwind and also be productive, I collect pine needles for selling. I could sell them as is, off the ground or off a fallen tree, but I like to clean and preserve them. This way, the pine needles are ready for whatever project awaits them!

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The first thing I do once I've collected a good amount of pine needles, is to wash them. I like to get as much dirt and pine sap off as possible. I wash them in warm to hot water with a simple dish detergent. I usually use Dawn Dish Detergent.

This is approximately 1 pound of needles.

I completely immerse the pine needles in the soapy water. 

I like to get the pine needles nice and clean, so I actually wash them with a wash cloth. I pick a few up at a time by the sheath end, and gently wipe them to the tips. 

The water gets fairly dirty, so I usually start with clean water for each batch of pine needles.

After I wash them, I rinse the pine needles well, making sure to get all the soap off. Most times it takes two rinses before putting them out to dry. You can see even after they've been washed and rinsed well, there is still a small amount of dirt and particles in the rinse water. 

I spread the pine needles out on a towel to dry. I don't put them back out in the sun, because that tends to make them brittle, and they begin to twist.

During our rainy season, we get these naturally mottled pine needles. I think these are beautiful; so I was going out after each little afternoon storm, or windy period to get as many of them as I could.

I know that mottled foliage usually means there's a plant/tree illness or disease; but once these they are washed and dried, we get these stunning preserved needles!