I am not blameless

I am guilty of speaking in a way that I find offensive. It was 3:30 a.m. at a last big party night out before my girlfriends wedding. We were wrapping it up for the night and Pink's rock star song came on the radio. I had to get up and dance, but before I did, I rattled off my rant about how much influence Pink has on the young gerenation and I thought it stupid of her (she was not thinking of the power she carries) to perform the song "Mr. President" to these youth. I feel it is outright disrespectful to the presidency to tear into our President publicly like that. So there it is. I called names, and then I danced hard to a great rock song.

Life of a Couch

We had a furniture repair man visit to fix our new couch. It took him all of 5 minutes to fix our new sectional that kept sliding apart. He was a super great guy spending more time sharing tips to extend the life of our couch with me. He also said reds fade the fastest for color. Greens and neutrals tend to have a more stable color base. We have our couch on tile so he suggested putting patches of rubber type material to prevent sliding and even using 2x6's to set the couch off the wall and not cover the vent. What a great experience.
Here are the tips he suggested:
Couch care should be monthly. Bounce seat cushions on all four sides, rotate and flip cushions clockwise. Corners should be bounced, turned and flipped as they are not interchangeable.
Back cushions should be fluffed, rotated and flipped as well. The average life of a typical couch is 6-10 years.
Well, I tried this. Let me tell you what I found. First, sit while bouncing the seat cushions. It really is a lot of work. Secondly, I have no idea if actually flipped any of the cushions. How can you tell? Lastly, I think it very unlikely I will remember to this once a month, therefore, I can assume that I will occasionally put this kind of effort into my couch and because of that I will plan that we will be getting a new couch in seven or eight years, which is about when my husband will tire of this one anyway.
With all the couch talk, I was thinking of the cost of furnishing our homes and price of window treatments. If we replace furniture about every 10 years and replace appliances every 10 or so and need new windows every 20 years and restain, repaint, redecorate....at least the lifespan of my home doesn't have an expiration date.

Unplanning

I planted some shrubs in a spot that I didn't ever imagine them. I had thought of it briefly two years ago and mentioned it last year and then just like that I decided they needed to be planted there. I also have a shrub that is struggling but with planting the new shrubs I have the focus to give some extra care to the brown wilted one. I am so excited for the future of this garden and this particular section of our landscape. There is so much work left to be done, but it will have to wait until Spring.
So..... I feel like this is somehow connected to the verses that have been presented to me at present. Somehow, unexpectedly I have been brought a new sense of peace about our future. Enough that I am considering not charting my temp anymore in an attempt to get pregnant. I feel like I could free fall into God's arms. I feel strong and confident in Him who is in me, and I think rather than wondering how long it will last I will just enjoy the serenity of the day.

Name calling

I am bothered when a political discussion (or any discussion) is taking place and someone starts name calling. It doesn't matter what side your on, if anyone is going to call someone else "stupid" , "dumb", "ignorant" or any other unflattering adjective, it will set off an unpleasant atmostphere. It is a mistake easily made and one that should be avoided with all cost. It really does invoke hurt feelings.
This most recent conversation pertained to the idea that women would simply vote for a woman and though that may not be the case all of the time, it certainly can be the case some of the time and no one should be name called because that is their priority. We all have a driving factor in our choice, and if mine isn't yours, it simply isn't.

Will my character match the landscape beauty?

I was working in one of my gardens the other day thinking of how beautiful this yard will be some day. Some day when I've filled the empty spots, achieved color in each bed throughout the season, the best visual heights, and discarded the plants that underperformed.
I think one day the yard my just be breath taking displaying all of God's wonderful beauty. And when that day comes, will my character be as beautiful as well? Will I have filled my head abundantly with God's holy word, will I have acquired wisdom and grace? When someone looks into my old eyes with all the fine lines and wrinkles will they find comfort and warmth that also represents our Lord's strength and great love? I sure hope so. I just keep doing a little bit when I can. Sometimes adding amazing picks to the garden, sometimes experiencing amazing events in my character building life. As the gardens evolve, God's plan is continuously revealed.