Our Peach

This is Peaches ("The Peach," "Peach-muffin," "Goof-ball," "Poo-face," "Miss Peach," "Snort"). She is usually a good-natured dog, and very playful--in spurts. (She'll suddenly just start bouncing off the walls for no apparent reason. And yes...we do limit her coffee and sugar;o)

The little stinker figured out how to lift up the blind covering the front door, and this has since became her favorite vantage point from which to bark at strangers, cats, and the garbage can. (Well, not so much anymore...but she sure had a fit the first few times she saw it sitting at the curb! If she considers anything remotely out of place in her environment, she'll let it know!)

Peaches adds liveliness to our home, and is good company for me when Micah is gone. We're happy to have her as part of our little family.

Deja Vu?

Five years ago, at an open-air market in England, I bought this:

I loved the scene: the girl drinking tea, and the ADORABLE puppy looking up at her (I love tea...and puppies!). Unfortunately--for lack of a good place to hang it--it's been stuck away in a closet for the past few years. But when we rearranged some furniture and wall hangings recently, I had a "space open up" and decided to dig out the print. I'd almost forgotten what it looked like. Imagine my surprise when I pulled it out and saw my 1 year-old puppy (a mixed-breed), Peaches, depicted in the picture!

Even Peaches' spots are almost identically placed to this puppy's. (I'll share a couple photos of Peaches in my next post...for some reason, I can't seem to upload more than two pictures per post!)

So much for garage sales...

Micah and I tried to have a garage sale yesterday...to little avail. I guess we hadn't let our home get cluttered enough before we decided to dig out. We had two tables and a desk full of stuff--along with a few larger misc. items that we spread out directly on the driveway--but we had to agree that our offerings looked a bit measly once we had them all arranged. Our passersby must have agreed, because most of them didn't bother to stop. (Micah said that he probably wouldn't have stopped either:op)

Problem is--I told Micah--I'm not willing (nor do we have the space) to let piles of junk build up just so that I can have a more appealing sale! We came to the conclusion that we should probably stick to selling items off individually online (Craigslist, ebay, amazon, etc.) or give them away. For me, it works much better to keep the house purged of clutter on a continous basis than to allow it accumulate for one big sale (or even a joint sale with someone else where I could get by with having less stuff). Besides...truly valuable items will usually bring in more profit online than with a limited garage sale audience anyway.

BTW...This definitely doesn't mean I won't be shopping at garage sales. I will. And the bigger, the better:o)

The Thinking Homemaker

I was just thinking how blessed we are to have access to so much information through the internet. Sure, 95% of it is trash...but the sheer volume of content online insures that there are some wonderful educational resources to select from as well! Between that and the library system I rarely have problems finding the information I need, whether I'm searching for new recipes, reading a finance book or expanding my knowledge of history. (And if all else fails, there's always used books from Amazon:o)

As a homemaker, I believe I have the right and the responsibility to nourish my mind. I also firmly believe that the education I pursue should be as broad and balanced as possible...not in any way limited to immediate household concerns (although I do certainly spend time learning about those too). Why? Because the mind is a muscle that needs to be fed so it won't shrivel up. And because God created me with an innate curiosity which I assume He expects me to use for his glory. Not to acquire knowledge for its own sake, but so that I can practically apply it, share it, and develop a proper understanding of eternal truths and how they play out in the world around me.

There are many types of information I'm interested in, but today I thought I'd highlight a few blogs I enjoy reading because of their intellectual curiosity and usually graciously-presented questions/arguments.

(Please note that I don't necessarily agree with or endorse everything on these sites...but I do like being challenged by good discussions and varying viewpoints! I find that the TRUE value in sites such as these comes from analyzing the viewpoints presented constantly against God's Word.)

True Womanhood - This site seeks to explore what Christian womanhood looks like...getting past cultural expectations and stereotypes and examining the heart of true womanhood according to Scripture. You'll find lots of thoughtful and challenging dialogue here.

Boundless - Yeah...I know it's a site meant for singles. But I'm a long-time reader of the original Boundless articles site--since my early college days--and continue to appreciate the wide-ranging and interesting topics they present!

Walk Slowly, Live Wildly - This site challenges my notions of what I NEED materialistically. I love Sara's passion and the thankful spirit she exhibits.

The Happy Feminist - I'm sad that Happy Feminist seems to have disappeared from the blogosphere. I'm including her here anyway, because I hope it's only a temporary absence! Though I probably disagree with HF about 90% of the time (and quite naturally...because we've built our worldviews upon polar-opposite premises), I've deciphered a lot about secular viewpoints from reading her blog. And I can't say enough about her graciousness towards disagreeing viewpoints (which unfortunately doesn't translate to some of her regular commenters...but you can't win them all;o).

I'd love to hear about your favorite "makes me think" blogs/sites! And now--because I have to balance interesting online reading with real-life responsibilities--I'm off do some housework:o)

Sticking it to Perfectionism

We've just finished a very busy week at our home which included a week-long visit from my sister and her husband from up north, and the beautiful wedding of a family friend. It's now time to get back to "normal life"...and yet, when is life ever truly "normal"?

"My normal" seems to be constantly in flux. On a week-by-week basis, I'm constantly being stretched to be flexible...to find that balance between structure and flexibility that allows me to put my highest priority of the moment first. As I alluded to in the last post, I'm a recovering perfectionist. Let's just say that "flexibility" doesn't always come naturally to one such as myself! Instead, my natural inclination is to become embroiled in a project and not come for air until it's finished "properly". By which time, of course, my husband and dog have starved to death, and the remainder of my house is in shambles.

Out of curiosity...how many of you are fellow recovering perfectionists? Last night, Micah jokingly suggested that I should start a "Recovering Perfectionist Support Website". The funny thing is, I'd already been seriously considering adding a page or category or something about learning to overcome perfectionism to this site, as it's something that can really trip up homemakers! (Oh, how I know!) For those of you who don't struggle with this particular malady, don't worry...you'll be sure to find me lamenting one you DO deal with at some point...just give me another week or two;o)

Welcome!

Since this is my inaugural post on this blog, perhaps I should be waxing poetic about something or other. But I'll spare you that! Instead, I merely want to touch on a couple of random points:

1. First and foremost, I want to say thanks for visiting! I'm assuming that my readers will primarily be old-timers from my previous blogs...thanks for coming over, and for being patient with me while I get this one off the ground! I really appreciate ya'll:o)

2. After having blogged for more than two years, this blog represents a fresh start for me. I felt the need to start with a clean slate and a fresh focus. I'll probably, however, be transferring some of my favorite posts from my older blogs over here as I get the chance. And I'll wait a little while before deleting the older blogs. Those of you who have been blogging for a while know how it is...our blogs gradually begin to contain so much of our histories...it's hard to part with them completely!

3. This website is not yet completely finished...you'll find some links that don't work yet and such. Also, the design remains somewhat tentative at this point (and will probably always be a work in progress:o) But--being a recovering perfectionist--I wanted to give myself the chance to practice being OK with "in progress". If I know people are visiting me here, that's extra motivation to focus on my priorities for this site instead of dawdling endlessly over the minor details!

4. I hope this website will become a place for sharing encouragement with other women, as well as things I've learned and am learning along the way. But since I'm young and inexperienced relative to many out there (I'm twenty-five and have been married for four years), I don't want to come off as though I have all the answers or am an "expert" in any of the topics I may write about. I'm a fellow traveler who has just as much to learn as anybody. So I heartily welcome the wisdom and experience of all you other wonderful ladies (as I'm assuming most of you will be) out there! I always appreciate reading your comments!

ETA: If my template is doing anything wacky on your computer, please let me know! We had a couple problems with this before, but I'm hoping we now have it fixed. Thanks!:o)