Sheri Mast!

Congrats, Sheri! I will be contacting you to find out where you would like to have the book sent.

In other news, my two youngest made Thanksgiving Trees at church the other day. These trees were very cute. Two foam pieces fit together to make the brown tree trunk. A squirrel (that strongly resembles a beaver) sits in the top of the tree holding a sign that reads ‘What are you thankful for?’ Then there are lots of leaves, and on each leaf the child was to write something they were thankful for.

Along with the names of his friends, my son had Legos, xbox [sic], Penut Buter Jelly Sandwitch [sic], and Starwars [sic] on his leaves. (I was glad to see that Dad and Mom also made it on.)

This got me to thinking about things that I am thankful for. On my list would be: Jesus, the Bible, my husband, my kids, Coffee, Chocolate, Dishwashers, Washing Machines, Vacuums, computers, my home, my toothbrush, health, freedom, my church, pizza, fajitas, the gift of writing, OakTara (who gave me a chance to share my story with others), and Candy Corn. There’s so much more, but those were the first things that came to mind.

What are you thankful for?

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Infocreek makes some of the most beautiful templates for blogs out there. I have downloaded a couple of their themes and have settled on this theme (Aspire) for now. However, I was having trouble getting my text to wrap around my images. And since it took me a whole day to figure it out I thought I would post the solution that worked for me, in case there are others of you out there having trouble.

Let me caveat this post by saying this worked for me, and it may not be the correct way to do it. I’m kind of a trial and error code tweaker. So with that understanding here are the steps I went through to find the problem.

First, make sure that your post looks correct in the wysiwyg editor of your blog administration software. This can be “buggy” especially if you are switching between visual view and html view. Once you have it viewing correctly and saved, then switch to the html view.

The code for the image or images will reference a “class.” Here is an example.

     <img class=”alignleft” title=…….> , or
     <img class=”alignright” title=…..> , etc…

The class reference is pointing back to the Cascading Style Sheet (style.css).  When I viewed the style sheet in the Theme editor of my blog administration software, I noticed that the style was not defined anywhere in the file. 

To fix this go to your Theme folder and get the CSS style sheet (found on the FTP site containing your blog). Drag a copy of it to your desktop and open that copy in Notepad. Scroll down until you see the #Content section. And enter the following in the spot shown in my screen-shot. (Note - you may be able to do this from your theme editor right in your administration software, however, mine gave me an error and would not allow the change - thus the recommendation to go directly to your files via FTP.)

     .alignleft { float: left; }
     .alignright { float: right; }

You need to make sure that you enter the code exactly as it is shown. And, to be honest, I’m not 100% sure that you need to put it exactly in the same spot that I have it, but it worked, so I left it there. Save it and drag it back into it’s folder. You will be asked if you want to save over the previous CSS sheet, say yes.

 Hopefully this helps you too!

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Author Kelsey Kilgore will tickle your funny bone with this wonderful story. I sat down to read a couple chapters and ended up spending the whole afternoon reading. Authentic voice shines through as you read about Lark, a down-on-her-man-luck gal with no prospects on the horizon. Unless of course you count Brent who’s just told her she looks like a sick cat. Um, yeah. Add in a handsome (but shallow) cop, a well-intentioned mama, and a few flamingos and you’ve got a great story!

I just LOVED this book. At one point I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my cheeks. My husband poked his head into our bedroom where I was reading, eyeing me like he might have to pull out the straight jacket again, and asked, “Everything okay in here?”

If you want an afternoon escape, this is the book for you. But don’t start it if you have something important coming up - you won’t want to stop reading once you’ve begun!

Kelsey Kilgore has generously offered to sign a copy of this book for the winning entrant!

How do I win, you ask? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. I will print out everyones names and draw randomly from them to determine the winner. Enter as many times as you want! The contest will run from today through next Friday the 21st. I will post the winner here (just their posting name.)  I will also contact the winner to get their name and the address where they would like the book mailed.

Don’t want to wait? Click the cover of the book to buy directly from CBD.

A Love for Larkspur

Lark–a twenty-something, strawberry-blond, freckle-faced Texan–has had enough of dating geeky, weird guys. So when her sociable mama suggests she pre-screen some guys for Lark to date, Lark’s just desperate enough to say yes. After all, with her three low-level jobs and the classes she’s taking, she’s not likely to snag The Someone anytime soon. But with her mama’s Man Getting Project, she might just have a chance.

When Brant Stephens, her old classmate who lives down the street, tells her she resembles a sick cat, she chalks it up to him being the most boring, mean, and predictable man on earth. He’s got more degrees than she can remember, more annoying personality flaws than she can count, and all the gorgeous, shallow dates he could ever need. So why does he feel led to insult her every chance he gets? And what’s with all the eccentric flamingos popping up around town?

Kelsey Kilgore

 KELSEY makes her home in windswept West Texas with her husband and four children. This stay-at-home mom is the writer behind the award-winning blog HolyMama, where she candidly writes about her life and family (www.holymama.org).

She appreciates small details, and delights in bringing them to life in works of fiction, often with humor. Whenever possible, she’s lifting weights at the gym, off-roading in her big pickup, wakeboarding, kickboxing, or engaging in other exceptionally ladylike endeavors. Next on her list of activities to try are rappelling, parasailing, surfing, and possibly cooking.

She is a fan of eBay, colorful shoes, fantastically designed jeans, and long candlelit baths. A Love for Larkspur is her first novel. For more information:

 www.kelseykilgore.com

 www.holymama.org

That’s it! Just comment below. Yours could be the winning comment!

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Yeah, that was the thought that hit me as I walked past the annoyingly mirror-like elevator at the dentist office today.

Let me backtrack and tell you why that thought came to mind. Yesterday my second son had evening basketball practice at his school. It was a busy day for me and I hadn’t had any lunch yet, nor did I have time for dinner before taking him back to the school. So as soon as I dropped him off at practice I headed for Burger King and ordered up some fuel for my screaming stomach. Back at the school, waiting in the parking lot for practice to get over, I scarfed down one spicy chicken wrap, half of the fries and some coke. My stomach was feeling better, but my nose started running and I started coughing like crazy. I thought that the spice on the chicken just hit my senses wrong because I had felt fine all day. But by the time I arrived back home an hour and a half later I knew the truth. The chicken wrap had nothing to do with my suddenly aching body, flemy throat, and bowling-ball-for-a-head feeling. I was sick.

But as all mother’s know, life simply does not come to a stand-still when you are sick. Thus the trip to the dentist office today. My first son had an appointment.

Wait, it gets better. A couple weeks ago I went in for a haircut. After years of having pretty much the same hair-style I decided to go with something different. (Let me just pause here to utter a blessing on the inventor of the scrunchi. God bless you! No, really, I mean it.) Pretty much, I hate the new hair, but what am I gonna do except pull it back in a scrunchy until it grows so I can do something different with it?

So this morning before the trip to the dentist office, feeling like warmed-over oatmeal had been poured into my head, I took a shower… and forgot to apply the trusty scrunchy to my hair.

Yes, I really did look like a resuscitated poodle. It was not a pretty sight. Be glad you were nowhere near my dentist office this morning. No, really.

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Hard to believe but my oldest son turns 15 on Sunday.

Wasn’t it only yesterday that he was leaning on the arm of the couch watching Winnie the Pooh? Running in from outside to tell me about the marvels of ‘dumblebees’.  And fighting over the frog he and his brother caught in our back-yard creek. (Poor Froggy - I aways wondered if he lived after I rescued and released him. He was swimming kinda funny.)

Everyone tells you that the years fly by. But when you’re in that moment - cleaning up another round of clothes, making a dinner that you know everyone is going to whine about - again, loading the dishwasher when all you really want to do is crawl into bed - you don’t feellike the years are flying by. It is too easy to get caught in routine and forget to lift your head, look around and enjoy the precious things life has to offer. At the end of the years, when you look back, it won’t be the dishes and the laundry that you remember, it will be the time spent with your child - the scent of a little, warm, body, fresh from the bath, snuggled up next to you as you read to them, the joy of giggling over silly knock-knock jokes, the exhilaration and laughter of wrestling nights (and pain! especially now that they are older) - these are the things life is made of.

Don’t get caught in the trenches with your head to the ground. Look up! Find a moment to savor - they are all around you. Your life will be better for it - and so will your kids.

Blessings to you.

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My daughter told me this morning, “All my shoes have disrepeared, so I need lots of new shoes.”

Yes, the shoe fettish has already begun and she is only five.

On a more serious note. I was saddened by the election results. Here in my home state of Washington people even passed an assisted suicide law. Our country is turning more and more away from Truth and Right Living. God is still on the throne, however. And Christians need to remember that. I do fear that our country is headed for some hard times. Anytime a country chooses to turn their back on God, they can expect difficulty.

While I don’t, by any stretch of the imagination, think the republican party holds all the answers, I do think they are closer to the mark than the dems. But perhaps this loss will be what it takes to open up people’s eyes to some Truth. We have got to quit depending on the government for answers. Only when people’s hearts are turned towards God will the problems in our country disappear. If people desire to do things His way, many of our social issues wouldn’t be a problem. There would be no abortion, no gay-marriage, no need for the government to take care of the poor etc. You cannot legislate morality. And I think for too long Christians have been tempted to think that we can.

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This morning my daughter was saddened to the point of slumped shoulders when we didn’t have anymore Nacho Cheese chips to put in her lunch, only Ranch flavor. The Ranch flavor bag is blue.

Her shoulders slumped to the point that her backpack almost slid to the floor as she lamented, “But Kate doesn’t like the blue ones!”

My husband and I looked at one another and did our best not to burst out laughing.

It was a good opportunity to teach her that it is okay to stand up for what you like. Hopefully she will get that lesson down before Junior High.

Sigh. Is it supposed to start this young?

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My daughter started Kindergarten this year. It has been fun watching her making all kinds of new friends. One little girl in particular stands out as quite a character.

Kate.

Kate is a force to be reckoned with, I’m sure. She is a tiny little thing and can’t weigh an ounce over 20 pounds. But everyday I hear, “Kate says…” or “Kate did….” Just yesterday, eyes round as golf balls, and head bobbing up and down, Skye told me, “Kate is the captain of our world!”

Quite unlike Skye, who has 3 brothers, Kate comes from a family of girls. She is ever coming up with feminine things that the girls, whom she is ‘captain’ over, need to do. She has taught Skye how to walk mincingly while holding up her skirt. Now, mind you, this isn’t a fistfull of skirt, this is a three-fingered-thumb pinch of the skirt, with the pinky finger held delicately off to one side. Step. Sway hip. Step. Sway hip. Step. Kate’s saying to go along with this action? “Pinky’s up, girls, all day long!”

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I am very new to blogging and am kinda finding my way in this new area for me. So I’m expanding the purpose of this blog to include my random ramblings. About writing, about motherhood, about being a pastor’s wife, about hanging onto my sanity when all 4 children decide to throw down the gauntlet of challenge in one week.

This week my 96 year old Grandma ended up in the emergency room when she didn’t recover from a cold. She was very dehydrated and for a time they thought that she’d had a ’sleeper’ heart-attack, but now they are saying maybe not. (Gives you great confidence in the medical field, huh?)

Anyhow, this got me to thinking over my memories of this wonderful woman. Born in 1912 she has seen a lot of the history that I’ve only read about. She has lived from a time of mostly covered wagons, to a time where a jet can get from here to the other side of the world in just a few hours. Her life has spanned back-yard, home-grown, garden-plot sustenance to do-we-dare-eat-this-vegetable-from-the-multi-billion-dollar-a-year-grower-or-does-it-have-salmonella-on-it?

My first memory of Grandma, really is more about her house. She and Grandpa lived in Auburn, Washington and had several acres of orchards. They also raised bees. I am the youngest in my family so I was the ‘baby’ when we went to Grandma’s house. And my first memory of their place is of sleeping in one of Grandma’s huge dresser drawers.

My next conscious memory of Grandma has to do with bologna. I hated bologna. But we were always taught (and forced to live by) the rule that you eat what is set before you. Upon arriving at Grandma’s house one day after the long trip up from Oregon, I was very hungry and looking forward to some of her good home cooking. I knelt down in front of her coffee table (where the kids ate) and almost rubbed my hands together in expectation. Grandma hustled in from the other room with plates for all of us. I looked down at my fare with great, mouth-watering expectations. And what to my dismayed eyes should appear… but a sandwich. I lifted the corner of the top piece of bread and my worst fears were confirmed - it was bologna. My shoulders slumped, but there was nothing for it, but just to eat the thing. There would be no talking my way out of it. I took a cautious nibble - and my eyes opened in wonder! Grandma made the best bologna sandwich I’d ever tasted. That’s just grandma, she can cook sow’s ears and make them taste good.

After that the memories are sort of a collage. Roses - grandma always had an abundance of them; her trip to Africa to visit us when both Daddy and I had broken legs at the same time; dinner rolls that could cause family feuds when only one or two was left; the way she sacrifices every year to send each of her 24 great-grandchildren $10.00 for Christmas. And overarching it all is her love for Jesus. I have no doubt that her prayers are why so many of her grandchildren are serving the Lord to this day.

She is a wonderful woman. I am blessed to call her Grandma.

Grandma Stewart and her family

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