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May 2013
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July 2013

Sugaring ...

What I love about sugaring.  Okay, so when I heard the word "sugaring" I thought it was a messy body scrub.  Boy was I wrong.  Sugaring is a relaxing form of hair removal...actually an art of hand moving a substance over the hairs to remove them.

Once I heard what the real sugaring was I contacted our local sweet sugaring guru at Radiant Lily and set up a visit.  That first appointment was a little over a month ago.  Today I had my second sugaring.

Stephanie Boedeker, hair removal specialist, and I have some awesome conversations.  Today we decided that the reason people live longer today than in previous years is from all of the preservatives in food products.  I mean soon we won't even need embalming!  LOL  Just teasing, but if you are looking to learn more about skin, hair removal, well, obviously much more, you should be stopping by the Radiant Lily!!!

I mean, there are serious talks about Eminence products.  I have loved the feel of this skin care line.  We talk about how they are made, the Stone-Crop plant and the other natural plants that are grown to create the products.  How some ingredients are actually grown using the moon cycle.  Just pretty interesting to discover the natural beauty of this company.

And sometimes we learn things like how to get to your desktop for facebook from your phone.  We must thank the Holland girls for this tip.  This way we can delete mistakes from our phones without freaking out and running over someone to get to our desktops before someone sees it!  LOL

We talk about the beauty of simplicity ...

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So, this is my five cents worth on something I am really enjoying.

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Fresh Find: What fun colors on this rolling shelf unit!!!

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Hearing or Listening ...

I got the following story in an email today.  It reminds me of how people hear but we don't listen.  People are crying out every day, yet they go unheard.

This little story is cute, but we must listen.

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The Children's Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one,' but I think He must be a lot older than that.  Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.  Then God made the world. He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.....Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars. Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel. Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.   One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check. After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat. Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston.  Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable. God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti.  Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.  Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother. One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.  After Joshua came David… He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.  After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them. After the Old Testament came the New Testament.  Jesus is the star of The New Testament. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')  During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him. Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.  But the Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot.  Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead. Anyways, Jesus died for our sins but he came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum.  His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

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Fresh Find:  I'm not a super sleep outdoorsy kinda girl (I love the outdoors though) but I like this tent!

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Real Dads Wear Yellow ...

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I can remember the day when leisure suits were the rage.  I can honestly say that real dads wear yellow.  Since my family worked retail and my mother was our stylist, we were always trending, thus a yellow leisure suit!!!  I like this dad picture as we celebrate another Father's Day.

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Fresh Find: What a great little pitcher!

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Old Dresses ...

While recently taking pictures of my great-grandfather's historical pieces for our genealogy I decided to pull out my great-grandmother's wedding dress.  Lorena Ellison married Cleon Huston Robert Etter in September 14, 1902.  Here is her dress...it is 111 years old.

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And while looking at this amazing dress I thought about my wedding dress that has been stored in our attic for 38 years.  I decided to see how it faired the extreme attic heat and cold.  I was nervous to undo the plastic around the box.  What would I find?

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In the box I found the pattern used to create the dress...

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My shoes and my something old...

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I was shocked at the beautiful condition the veil, headpiece, neck train, and dress were in...beyond beautiful!!!

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I still love this dress, neck train, and headpiece not so much ;o)  My mother sewed every seed pearl on each flower on that train.  Talk about a labor of love!  Our whole wedding cost 375.00 in 1973.  Costs were cut but because of my mother's creativity the day was lovely!

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I still have our going away pant suit.  A beautiful St. John ivory knit.  No, I can't fit into it either!

What a fun stroll down memory lane.  I told my mother (who is recovering in rehab from a recent illness) and she was shocked that my dress has survived!  I can't wait to show her the pictures!!!

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Fresh Find: I love this world painting...

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Letters ...

I was reminded today of the lost art of letter writing.  Remember when we would get hand written letters from friends & family about everything from the weather to the last big event? 

Today I was photographing my great-grandfather's personal items that we have for our genealogy.  There were several letters in the group of things.  One in particular I found really fun.

The letter to CHR Etter is from his youngest sister Eva.  It was written on March 20, 1923.  I'm going to just share a few excerpts from it:

"Alta Mae has been down and made up a visit.  She has grown and made a terrible change ~ for the good."

"While the weather was cold she (her mother) stayed home pretty close but now it is beautiful spring weather - she is that much like a frog.  She gets out and shakes herself - good as new for another summer."

"Are you boys studying up about the radio? Raymond has himself one - so we have a real entertainment every night.  It is wonderful how a wire can draw the sound out of the air.  It surely can do it."

"Vivian & Malvin are home on a two weeks visit...They both are so fat.  Texas must be a healthy place to live.  There is such a contrast between Minnie & Vivian.  Minnie is so very thin and Vivian is as fat as a pig."

Then, in with this same letter is a note marked Private. In it Eva responds to Robert's question about different women.  She tells him  that she thinks it would be a shame to bring any more babies into the world.  (This is after his first wife has passed away).  She suggests that he take his half brother and sister in. 

Just interesting to read old letters.

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Fresh Find:  I love this radio. I like having access to a seperate listening device!!!

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Little Feet ...

I love this grand-sisters shot taken at swim lessons by their grandmom...love the little feet!

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Nothing much sweeter than these girls!!!

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This fern makes me smile...

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From my chair ...

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Fresh Find: Everyone needs a family recipe box to pass through the generations.  Not a digital one...this kind!

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This Day ...

Look at our sunset this evening here in Plainview . Texas.  It was amazing!

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God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us.  Acts 17:27

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I got a sweet email that said I had a Yu bobblehead doll waiting at the grand-sister's home.  How fun!!!  Yu joins Bush, a political elephant, a political donkey, Obama, Uncle Sam, Elvis (baseball not the hip swivelin' one), and a Texas Ranger in my little bobbleheads collection.

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Fresh Find: I love this little coat!!!

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Swim Lessons ...

I learned to swim through Girl Scouts.  I believe we had a badge to earn that required some swimming skills.  I also learned some swim technique from my "babysitter" and across the street from my grandparents neighbor. Marie Anderson (front: 2nd from left). She was a life guard at what we call now the "old" Westridge Pool (when it was new). This picture looks like it was taken of the American Legion life guards.

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Our grandsisters are taking swim lessons this year.  They are having fun!

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The pictures are kind of blurry but still show their expressions and learning! Miss D and Daddy time!

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Miss A learns to float...

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Fun summer days!!!

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Fresh Find:  Love this little treasure trunk!

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Spices ...

Okay, I have had lots of time to think, be still, know, and chill over the past week.  I've stayed pretty busy being the daughter of a very ill mom, yet God has still shared thoughts with me.

Today it was spices.  The thought began with salt and pepper.  Salt & pepper have always reminded me of that quote I love...“It takes the black keys and the white keys both, to make perfect harmony.” - Benny Goodman

I believe this to be true about the human race, as well.  Look at this picture...

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Look at the different spices pictured here.  Look at the textures, the colors, the size of the grains, etc.  This is how we are as a people.  We are colored from one end of the spectrum to the other.  It takes us all appreciating and respecting each other to bring harmony to the world.

In Luke 24:1 the Word says, "Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared." 

Spices have been important throughout history for many reasons.  When Jesus was in the tomb they prepared spices for his burial.  I am taking a closer look at the end of this scripture where it says...came bringing the spices which they prepared. Who are the people I am preparing for the Kingdom of God?  Who am I bringing before the throne? 

Are we the salt of the earth?

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Fresh Find: What a wonderful vest. 

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