and the winner is........!

 I am thrilled to announce that the winner of The Happiness Project is..........

 TIFFANY FRIESEN!!!

AND, {SURPRISE!} MARILYN SCHNEIDER!!!

   Since I was able to secure 2 books for the price that I had expected to pay for one, I decided to make it twice as fun and draw out 2 winners! The books are on their way, so keep on eye on your mailbox, Tiff!  Mom, I will hand deliver yours! Both are used, hardcover copies so hopefully they will be in as good of condition as they are supposed to be! Happy reading! And thanks to everyone for entering this drawing. I loved learning about the books that have made you happy! I've made many additions to my reading bucket list from your recommendations!

 

white daisy junction!

  Check out my friend Jill's awesome Etsy shop!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WhiteDaisyJunction?ref=top_trail

She has a super fun selection of vintage and modern handmade items! I'm in love with this adorable dachshund!




The drawing for the winner of the Happiness Project will be held this evening at some point after the sun goes down to give time for any late commenters! I will post the winner tomorrow morning! {Or tonight if I am inspired and have the opportunity!}

reenactment

Habits are safer than rules; you don't have to watch them.  And you don't have to keep them, either.  They keep you.  ~Frank Crane

   The above quotation is my inspiration quote for this "Healthy Habits" month of July! It is becoming easier...{I think!} to keep {some} of my aspirations! I do know that our bed has been properly bedecked in its wrappings of coverlets more days in a row than ever before! The hardest things to win stars for so far has been keeping my feathers unruffled and cleaning up the house and kitchen daily. Gonna keep on keepin' on though!

   Now a few thoughts about the reception or "reenactment" as Danl called it! It was a splendid affair! Approximately 225 people attended, giving a small and cozy feeling to the event. We all were adorned once more in our wedding garments, except for Jacob, who wasn't able to wear his wedding britches due to the hole that somehow now adorns one knee much to Rhonda's dismay and despair. Nathan and Shawna stood in for attendants instead of Taylor and Drea. The short service consisted of an opening song, "I sing the Mighty Power of God" by John William Eicher, a few words of welcome by Dad, a song about love that I didn't know by a quartet {Shane, Tyson, Seth, Troy}, some thoughts on honoring God and each other from Uncle Carlos, "Sunshine in my Soul" and "Locked in the Bottom of my Heart" by a large group of couples, a congregational song, "Oh God, Our Help" led by Steve, and closing thoughts and prayer by Mike. Then we went down to eat brisket sandwiches on HOMEMADE buns with HOMEMADE BBQ sauce, lettuce salads, sweet salads, pasta salads, potato salads, fruit cobblers, and Bluebell ice cream cups! We wiped our faces on the beautiful light aqua napkins that Dad laboriously matched to a scrap of Katie's dress. Some people had to use a grey napkin. Rhonda and I arranged the bouquets. We weren't sure if they turned out according to our vision or if we even had a vision, but they at least they were interesting! The colors of the blooms were primarily dark purple, hot pink, lime green, and white. It was Katie's mom's birthday, so we had Roxie and Jeremy put a candle in her cobbler since they were serving bride's table. A small and mostly insignificant detail here that I just thought I'd mention is that my 8 year old wedding shoes sort of gave out on me... I had to remove that bottom pieces from both heels lest they come out mid stride down the aisle and render me helpless and prone to stumble and fall. So I just plunked around with open heels! On the sad side, it was exactly a year to the day that Uncle Kale passed away. We had a special bouquet in his memory on display, then sent it home with Aunt Donna. We all miss him so much!!

{TOMORROW is the DAY to draw a WINNER for the HAPPINESS giveaway!!}

rain

It rains, and rains, and rains...

Grey shadows.

Drip drops falling, falling, ever falling.

Outside and down my face.

 

Then Someone says,

"You can stand under my umbrella."

Warm, Safe, Dry.

Always and forever loved.

 

The sun will shine again,

The rivulets down my cheeks will cease

...until then,

I'm gonna stand under His umbrella.

 

sharnjean

7.07.13

 

 

happy b'day, america! {& happiness project!}

    Happy Belated Birthday, America! We celebrated by staying home, sleeping in, smoking venison, watching the neighbors' fireworks from our front porch, and being extremely lazy!!! It was good. The dogs enjoyed hanging out in the house since the weather was so blah. I did spend some time pondering on my happiness project...and decided to start! Now is now! July will be "Healthy Habits" month. I printed out Gretchen's blank resolution chart and filled it in with the following 10 resolutions, many are the same ones I was aspiring to in January. I hope I will do better with actually visibly charting my progress. My bestie Jill started her happiness project back in January. She says it is really helping her! You go, Jill! She told me that I am trying to do way too much this month, that I should start smaller, but I just couldn't decide which things to leave off my chart. Really, they are all quite piddly things that "normal" people probably do every day without even realizing it! Oh well, I have to be ME! And these things are HARD for me!

~ God first. {Have some quiet time of devotions before getting online etc.}

~ Move it! {Do some form of exercise no matter how short! Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!}

~ Make the bed.

~ Scan the news. {Just a quick look at the headlines on ABC, NE, & CNN goes a long way to feeling "with it."}

~ G'morning, Kitchen! G'nite, House! {Do the dishes, straighten up the house before bed.}

~ Post on my blog. {It's so much more fun to stay current.}

~ Sleep 8. {Get my beauty sleep! lol }

~ Drink 6. {Drinking the recommended 8 glasses of water is basically unattainable for me so I'm trying for 6.}

~ No ruffled feathers. {Be on time instead of always late!}

~ Tackle a nagging task. {Big or small, it feels so good!}

THERE! You have it! This is what I am trying to focus on during July. Already, it is amazing how much happier I feel when I do these little things and can put a star on my chart! Hopefully by doing these things every day, they will soon become healthy habits! Already today I have tackled a nagging task, {cleaned off my desk} slept 8 hours, had my God time, scanned the news, am blogging, and am fixing to make the bed with a happy smile on my face! Then, I need to get over to my mom's to help her make all the BBQ sauce for the reception Sunday night. {We girls helped her bake all the buns on Wednesday!! Wow! That was a project! 10 batches of dough!} My feathers are getting slightly ruffled though because I really wanted to have been at Mom's long ago already...

BTW, only 4 more days until I draw out the name of the winner of the Happiness Project book! So if you haven't commented, go to the "giveaway happiness" post and get your comment typed in!

{not} too much birthday!

How I loved my Monte Cristo sandwich at Cheddars today! Thanks, Aunt Sue, for the scrummy birthday lunch!! I'd always had a hankering to try one of these novel sandwiches, and today was the day! It exceeded my expectations! It's a strange sammie, no doubt! It consists of ham, turkey, and cheese between slices of bread dipped in a pancake-like batter and deep-fried served with a dusting of powdered sugar and a raspberry jam dipping sauce...Think fried donut with raspberry filling, but somehow still a ham sandwich! The marvelous blending of sweet and salty is unparalleled! I highly recommend it if you end up at Cheddars! Aunt Sue and I had a splendid day. I got my allergy shots, we browsed Bed, Bath, and Beyond, ate birthday lunch, shopped Target, and ended up with $.50 Burger King cones! Once home, I buckled down and blanched our annual two bushels of zipper peas! Now they are resting {pea}cefully in the freezer. Zip, zip, hooray! That done, going to Piggly at 9:00 seemed a wonderful idea! It was blissful to browse in a practically people-less place.

disability

Quote for the day....