In Which I Determine That Purchasing Cleaning Products Makes Me Happy.

So. I bought a new mop, Murphy's Oil Soap, new sponges, Bar Keeper's Friend, and a toilet brush. Obtaining these items has made me inordinately happy. What does that say about me? That I need to get a life? That I take house keeping seriously? That the doors on my kitchen cupboards need to be cleaned? That I have dirty floors and toilets? All of the above? Or maybe I just like to buy cleaning products.

Seriously, though, spring has sprung and that makes many of us want to clean up, and clear out the old junk. Lots of simplifying and decrapification (to borrow a term from...ummm...somewhere....???) has been going on lately and I'll be listing a bunch of stuff on Craig's List in very short order.

I'm also in the mood for lighter cooking and I'm in the process of cleaning every inch of my kitchen. My cupboards were never properly cleaned before we moved into this house, so I'm tackling them first. It doesn't help that my husband cooks a hamburger at about 1000 degrees for lunch every single day of his life. Word has it that Murphy's Oil Soap is the best thing for cleaning grease off the cupboard doors. You know what I mean...that sticky shiny stuff that looks totally gross and appears out of nowhere. Nowhere, that is, unless you have a husband who likes to cook hamburgers at exceedingly high temperatures.

Photo credit: 
http://keepingitpersonal.com/author/leah/

Smile! You Are Beautiful!

  

Years ago, when I was probably about sixteen or seventeen, I found some notes in my car. In those days, and in the town where I lived, we never bothered to roll up our car windows in the summer, never mind lock the doors. I had gone into some shop or another and when I came out a note had been placed on the driver's seat of my car that said, "Smile, God loves you." I thought that was kind of cool, and I did smile. I went on my merry way and stopped at another shopping center for another errand. When I came out I found another note on the same kind of paper with a smile-y face and the message, "Jesus cares." I have to admit, at that point I was a bit freaked out. I remember looking quickly around to try to see who had put it there. Who was following me?

Nothing transpired from those events...no one approached me, no one followed me home, nothing. Even though it was kind of freaky that they had followed me from store to store, I thought it was nice that someone had taken the time to tell me that God loved me. This was not something I was not familiar with at that time in my life. Two years and a lot of heartache would pass before I met Jesus personally and made Him Lord of my life.  I can only conclude, to this day, some 30 years later, that it had to be either someone I knew who preferred to remain anonymous, or someone who simply had a heart to reach out to others but for whatever reason didn't want to go about it directly. Whatever the case, I have carried in my heart that memory and the little spark of happiness those gestures gave me for these 30 years. I seriously believe that it was in those moments that God began to deal with my heart and draw me to Himself, culminating with the start of a new life when I received Jesus as my Lord and Saviour two or three years later.

This memory came back to me the other day when I came across this:

www.operationbeautiful.com

Photo credit:
flickr.com/photos/rayguntv/2306213245/

This'll put a smile on your face!

Just for fun. Love this! 

Five Little Things

Five Happy Things:

1. Getting rid of extra stuff on Craig's List and Freecycle.
2. A burst of super-high heart rate working out instead of a nap.
3. A perfect cupcake on a gray February day (it's true. Don't fight it).
4. Tea. Green. Ginger peach flavor preferably.
5. A real letter on real paper from a real person in the real mail sent through the United States Postal Service.

Early Morning

I love the early morning. Since childhood it's been my favorite time of the day. I don't love that the early morning comes so early(!) because I also love to drowse late in my cozy warm bed. I wish the early morning could come about 10 AM.

But it doesn't.

Once I'm up, though, I'm up, and I'm always glad when I get going early. Some mornings are exceptionally beautiful! The weather is changeable here and it makes for a different sky every day. One day it's bright pink before the sun rolls over the horizon. The next day it's rainy and misty. What do they say? "Red sky at night, sailor's delight, red sky in the morning sailor's warning"...something like that. Red sky in the morning portends rain, I guess. Some mornings the sky is a beautiful bright salmon color. God must really love creating with color. Just think of all the colors in in the world! Far more than in a 64 count crayon box.

The world is peaceful early in the morning, before the rush of the day. I love to step outside to breathe deeply of the fresh morning air and hear the birds stirring. The squirrels are busy, scampering up and down the pine trees behind my backyard, stashing their stores for the winter. Not that we get a whole lot of winter here on the coast, but God bred that instinct into them so they all do it.

The morning is still before the busyness and responsibilities of the day begin. I love to spend time in prayer early in the morning to set the tone for the day, and to ask God to be involved in every aspect of my life and decisions and activities. After a night of rest, I love having that time to rest in the Lord and bring before Him my concerns and issues surrounding the day...my day, and the issues concerning the lives of others as well.