Becoming Thirty-five

So, I’ve been THIRTY-FIVE for a whole week now! A solidly middle-aged 35! It doesn’t seem right. I feel like I should be 28. But, I digress. 

June 18, 2021, was most definitely an "EAT CAKE FOR BREAKFAST" kind of day! I had taken blueberry cheesecake cupcakes to VBS for snacks the night before and luckily had ONE left! So my rainy birthday day started off right with that small delight, several slices of medium cheddar cheese, and black Griffin’s Wharf coffee. After donning my new cute Joules rain boots which were a birthday present from my bestie Jill, Danielle and I scooted up to the Atmore Library to take in a “rodeo” that was presented for the summer reading program. Once we said our heeyahs there, we headed to good ole WeCare where I had a $5 birthday reward to spend! I mean how cool is it to have $5 off at a thrift-store?! Erica Lyn and Summer joined us there, my mom soon also. We scavenged and dug and smiled and scored! I fell so in love with a comfy, Old Navy, thin, cotton blouse that looked cute over my dress, that I just wore it out of the store and for the rest of the day! It looked clean and smelled freshly laundered! What you don’t know, doesn’t hurt you! I also got 3 more books, and a small kitchen strainer I had been needing. Danielle got a large Ryan’s World pirate treasure chest. This daughter of mine… sometimes, I just don’t know why I let her choose “one thing.”

Katie and kiddos joined us at Cafe 251 for an amazing lunch! It was my first time dining there, and it did not let me down! For one, the kids’ play area is just beyond  brilliant! They quickly gobbled chicken fingers and then happily played away while we lingered over our lunches in peace, mostly. I had chosen the “Greek Goddess” wrap which was an excellent selection, along with loaded baked potato salad and sparkling water! My fave. Thanks, Mom, for treating us all! Next stop was Mutton Hollow Farm where Danielle and I gathered fresh eggs and picked Japanese cucumbers from Rhonda’s garden since they were gone. I was most delighted to open the gift she had left for me on the counter in a darling reusable bag! The electric teapot I had been longing for, a peachy tote bag, and 3 cans of peach Sunkist! YUM! (Would be ideal over ice cream for a peaches and cream float!) Once home, I caught up on birthday messages and peachy puns and got Danielle ready for her last night of VBS. Then Danl said he wanted to take me out for tacos! He couldn’t have done better than giving me a date night, authentic street tacos from Alcapuco, and cash to spend! (Perfect for the impending Prime Days!) The VBS Balloon Liftoff was the next item of the evening; followed by listening to the children enthusiastically sing their songs! Best music ever! Danielle was ecstatic to be onstage. Back home, it was time for more cake! This time it was 7-up pound cake with peach tea. I tried to stay up until midnight like I always purpose to do on my birthdays, so I don’t “miss” any of it, but alas. I remember seeing 11:46pm on the ceiling before drifting off into a sweets dream-filled slumber. 

 Becoming 35 got the best of me. 

The Haiku of the Water-hose

This week our assignment on the “Challenge Your Zone” chat that I’m a member of has been to describe in some way a daily touch of nature. Hence this haiku for yesterday. 

And here’s the correct 5-7-5 version in addition to the original 7-5-7 one! 🙈

A Monday Midday Stroll

(I do have a birthday post partially written, but since I quickly jotted this down yesterday as part of a group challenge, I decided to post it here for my posterity!) 

A Monday Midday Stroll…

•Sounds like birds tweeting away with raucous abandon! (No social media limits for them!)

•It smells like mud, and green things growing too fast, and the neighbor’s freshly-cut grass. 

•A Monday midday stroll looks like ominous, blue clouds building and brewing up another summer thunderstorm. 

•It tastes salty from the sweat beading on my stiff upper lip. (I can do this. 💪🏼)

•Even though it feels like a blanket that’s been wrapped too tightly around me, slowly smothering me in the 73% humidity, this Monday midday stroll made my heart feel full. 

smf 6-21-21

Fruit of the Summer 2021!

So I’ve done this “Fruit of the Summer” thing for several summers now! I can’t even remember what initially inspired this, but I just keep my eyes “peeled” for whimsical ways to incorporate items of the year’s fruit into my life. 2021 is my 5th year of going fruity! 2017 I went wonkers for watermelon! 2018 lent itself to lemons. 2019 was simply strawberrific! 2020 was the perfect year to go bananas! So far for this year, I’ve scored a set of 4 “just peachy” plastic cups from Target, a peach-printed market tote from Dollar Tree, and a peach-tinted glass water cup with a straw from DG! And I have been dousing myself with Peach body spray from Bath ‘n Body Works! Ordering these adorable peach charms from Etsy to make myself a bobby pin is also part of the plan. 

 

At the suggestion of a friend, I made Peaches ‘n Cream homemade ice cream for the Last Day of School Picnic; not sure why I didn’t think of this on my own since I have peaches on my mind! Danielle and I picked peaches at our local orchard, which proved to be mostly a fail. The plucking was fun, but most of our spoil spoiled before ripening properly! Oh well. It was still an adventure! Somehow I’ve never read James and the Giant Peach, so that’s on my summer reading bucket list. Also, I want to find the fabric to sew a knit peach gingham dress! No luck so far, so please let me know if you see such. And last but not least, a cup of peach tea with a spot of honey and a splash of cream is a satisfying way to end the day! All in all, it’s shaping up to be a pretty peachy “Summer of the Peach!”

Loving With Our Eyes Wide Shut

  Ever since our special revivals at Southern Harbor the end of March, thoughts about love, and family, and being there for each other have been drifting in and out of my mind. So when my cousin Sheldon messaged me last Tuesday asking if I would write something on the topic of "The Blessings & Benefits of Church Family," I thought, "Yes! Yes, I would love to do that." These thoughts had been simmering long enough and needed to be collected and written down! So here they are. I really felt like I didn't have much to do with it, that it just sort of wrote itself. It was as if God was telling me what I needed in my own life. 

Loving With Our Eyes Wide Shut

(He’s not heavy, he’s my brother.)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103:2

Benefits, just the sound of that word has pleasant connotations! God has given us so many benefits; blessed

us richly beyond what we deserve! One of those benefits is our closely-knit church family. We love being

together, singing and worshipping together, and feeling like we are in the battle of life together! But with all

this togetherness, we get to know each other pretty well, just like we do with our own personal families. And

then sometimes it’s easy to forget that being a family is a benefit and not a bother. We step on each other’s

toes and get on each other’s nerves. We can’t understand why people do and say and think the things they do!

Walking along by ourselves in peace and quietness even looks more appealing and stress-free. We just want to

do our own thing! Surely, that would be a benefit. But no, stumbling along on our own in our own littles bubbles

is not God’s plan for us! Satan wants us each to view each other as “heavy” and something that we want to

walk away from, but God has another way. He wants us to have the attitude of the boy back in 1918 at

Father Flanagan’s Home for Boys. When he was asked if carrying another boy who had had polio and was

wearing leg braces was hard, the boy replied, “He ain’t heavy, he’s m’brother!” We need to decide to love with

our eyes wide shut. Not excusing or making excuses for sin, but consciously overlooking each other’s petty

faults and humanness, just like we want others to do for us. Several years ago, Minister Shawn Becker told us

to think the best of each other! Especially of those of whom we say we love. Assume the good and doubt the

bad! When we want to feel overly reprimanded we can decide to think, “She’s not critical, she’s my mother in

Israel, and I’m so glad she’s looking out for me.” And we can go and ask her for more advice when we don’t

know what to do. When one of us is down and out again, we can say “He’s not needy, he’s my brother and I

want to sit with him in his darkness.” We can’t take away the burdens that our church family members carry,

but we can let them know that we know they have a heavy load and that we care. Sometimes just knowing

that we are seen and heard is enough. We can squelch righteous irritation by thinking, “She’s not flighty, she’s

my young youth sister with a heart full of dreams just like I used to have.” And we can tell her that we’ve

been there, and that it’s hard to trust your future to God, but it really is the best way. When we want to

sigh and plug our ears instead of hearing again about the horrible condition of the present world we can

remind ourselves, “He’s not a doomsday prophet, he’s my father, who’s handing down the faith of our

fathers.” And we can choose to empathize with our elders because deep down, they probably feel scared and

helpless because things are so different today than in the world they grew up in. When we can truly love with

our eyes wide shut like God loves us, we will fully reap the benefits of being a whole-hearted member of our

church family. People grow well when they are loved well. We can give grace and grow in grace! The benefits of

this attitude will be never-ending. Like Paul advises in Colossians 2:2-3, “That their hearts might be knit

together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the

mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and

knowledge.”

Let’s all remember that, “We aren’t heavy, ‘cuz we’re family.” We are all just walking each other home with our eyes wide shut.

Written by Sharon Faircloth 4-22-21

WOTY WINNER!!!

 

drumroll, drumroll....

Congratulations, Nette!!! 

This printable is a digital file, so let me know what size you would like, and I will get our order placed! 

Remembering Your WOTY ~ Giveaway!

 Now that you have chosen your WOTY and it's forefront in your mind and your year is just proceeding along swimmingly accordingly, (cough, cough)... OR, maybe you are like me and the year is speeding by and you know you need to be reminded constantly of WHAT your WOTY is and WHY you chose it!?

There are so many good ways to remember your word of the year! I like to scour the web for quotes that speak to me pertaining to my word and then use them for my lockscreen and homescreen backgrounds on my phone. Currently I'm using these two respectively.

And this one sparks joy every time I glance at my Apple Watch.

I also am loving having my lightbox which sits above my pantry in the kitchen proclaim:

Q U I E T

💗

#WOTY

Last year I ordered myself a whimsical little copper plant tag from my creative friend, Priscilla Hibner. I loved it so much I ordered them for stocking stuffers for my mom and sisters this past Christmas! If you want to order one, contact Pris at (270) 590-4895. You won't regret it.

The possibilities are endless for ways to keep your WOTY front and center! Others ideas I've heard of are getting custom stickers cut, (you can sticker up your windows, mirrors, phone cover, insulated cup, etc.) getting a t-shirt or hoodie printed, or finding a worded mug.

This year, I've decided to frame quiet 2021 and hang it in my "new to me" home office that I've moved from my dressing room to a corner of our living room. I wanted something super classy, yet simple and minimalistic, so I chose the printable below from this Etsy shop! 

Because I'm so excited about this wall art for my WOTY, I will buy an extra one to give away when I order mine! If you want to enter this drawing, you have to tell me your WOTY in the comments below! If you haven't chosen one, it's not too late! Since I love long comments, I'd also be delighted if you tell me why you chose your word and what you hope it does for you. 

OK, comment away! 

I will do the drawing on Wednesday, so you have until 12:00 midnight on Tuesday before the coach turns back into a pumpkin.