What a fun night! Our little friend K. came to play in the pool. I had forgotten how much fun it can be once they’re water safe. It seems like when my kids were small I was always the ever watchful mom afraid one of them wouldn’t surface so pool time wasn’t relaxing. Tonight I got to play ‘robbers and person’ and ‘teenager’ and ‘chase’ I wanted to scream I don’t want to get out along with her when it was time to go. It was good to feel like a kid again. It didn’t hurt that the water was warm either!
Blog
What’s that doggie in the window?
Yes, I said what, not who. There is a lot of construction work on the bridge in St. Louis which results in long traffic lines that don’t move quickly. While we were waiting our turn to move forward I glanced in the car next to me. A small face popped up catching my attention. My brain didn’t process the information it was getting because what I was seeing didn’t belong! My brain kept saying small dog but my eyes were screaming, NO, it’s a monkey!’ And it was. A spider monkey was in the car next to me riding on the driver’s lap. I have to say it was the oddest thing I’ve ever seen on the bridge.
Last night, St. Louis was hit by a major wind storm. We were spared from any wind damage but we also didn’t get any rain. Not good for my little town across the river. My son lives on the other side of the river and he is one of the many without power. Today it is going to be 101 degrees. Many people will be without air conditioning today, please pray for their safety.
Bats!
We leveled the garage yesterday. The hottest day of the year so far, 98 degrees in the shade. We had friends to help and our sons and that made the job much easier. We did fill one huge dumpster and it will take another two to clean up the rest of the debris.
When Ed pulled the garage
door away from the front about 30 bats swarmed through the air. We had no idea they were living there! It does explain why there never seemed to be a wasp or mud dauber anywhere around that old building. Around here abandoned sheds are a favorite place for those insects. If I had known they were there I would have contacted someone about moving them. Even though I’d rather visit bats living at the zoo I’m saddened that we destroyed their home.
The inside was really cool. The building was first used inte 1930’s a a machine shop. It was one of the first of it’s kind in Belleville. That made it hard to take down but the wood was rotted and the ceiling had a huge holes!
Oops, we buried the tongs to the bobcat under there! It’s going to take a while to dig them out.
New Layout
credits:
paper, elements and sketch Gina Miller http://ginamiller.typepad.com/live_laugh_love/
fonts: Copperplate Gothic Bold, goudy old style
I love Gina’s sketches. They challange me to learn more about my program, PSE. Sadly, Gina is stepping down from SBB so their won’t be anymore challanges. I’ll have to check her blog site for her newest sketches. She’s promised to post them them there.
Sold we hope
There is a contract on our house! That is such a relief but we do have to take down the garage. I’ll try and post a picture of that nightmare next week. The dumpster arrived today but I don’t think it will be big enough.
Today I decided God put that house into my life so I wouldn’t have so much time to mope around my empty house missing my sons. I know, I know… they have to move on and it’s part of my job to make sure they do. I have to say I’m grateful I’m human and not a momma bird though at least the season I had them in the nest lasts much longer!
Ramblings about fear
I’ve realized that fear doesn’t always happen quickly. The adrenaline rush doesn’t always occur. I’ve let fit creep into my life ilike and invasive weed. It has to stop. I’ve allowed the evilness of it to control my every move in the past two years. I’m turning this over to God. Right now. I know He is the only one who can eliminate this nasty nightmare from my life.
IF I let Him.
And that’s the problem. I like control. That free will gets me into trouble because I’m so sure I can fix this by myself, after all it’s how I got here right? Allowing myself to be afraid to do small things like drive on a highway. Now to be fair to myself there is a reason I am afraid but the odds are it won’t happen again. And I did survive it. I should be happy not fearful. So far I’m the only person I know other than my husband who was with me at the time to be stuck in trafic no where to go as police cars skidded, slammed and slid past us on thier mission to stop a criminal. Guns were pulled, shots fired at tires, sparks were flying past my window, of course I was scared, anyone would be. But why have I allowed it to keep me from living my life? I don’t know. So I’m going to hold onto these verses from Proverbs 3:25-26 (NIV) Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.
God works when I allow Him access to my life. I stumbled on this verse yesterday while searching for scriptures for my new book. The bible is huge and yet this is the verse I discovered.
July 5
Since Sunday I’ve been thinking about the service. Normally, I’m a contemporary worshiper but this Sunday we sang Blessed Assurance and I’ve been singing it all week. I had forgotten how much that song meant to me through my teenage years. I think it needs to become my new internal theme song. There is one line, okay more than one that really touched my heart.
Perfect sumission perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy whispers of love.
I needed to hear that without His Son there would be no mercy for me. I’m thankful to God He loved me enough to save me.
July 3, 2006
So I’ve revamped my blog and I like the way it looks but…
I can’t get my images to click to a link to read more about them! I’ve only managed to find a way to get the image covers on the page. So if you want to read more maybe even decide you can’t live without them? My home page address is www.dianabrandmeyer.com. Later I’ll try and add direct links to order. By the time I figure it out I’m sure I’ll be classified as a danger to myself. 🙂 HTML is my friend, right?
Last night we went to my mom’s for dinner and fireworks. She lives in the country and has an awesome place to have a fireworks display. My kids took full advantage of the grandparent’s place. They brought along fountains and Roman candles. There were a lot of oohs and ahs said and even the bullfrog voiced his approval. We also had sparklers. Love those things! I always get burned but the desire for bright colored sparks out ways the momentary twinges on my arms.
July 1
This might be the answer to keeping up with my blog! Yay! I found this cool add on program for firefox that helps me post.
It’s hot here! Our backyard pool is still green so we won’t be swimming this weekend. We bought the pool when our boys were younger and they enjoyed it. But now almost everyone is living somewhere else, except the youngest who is only home during prime swimming time. He doesn’t seem to be around when it’s time to work on the pool. Odd isn’t it? Love you Josh.
Still no buyers for our ‘tuition’ house. I’m hoping after the fourth of July, people will be more interested in finding a new home. Or maybe I’ll reconsider selling our home and moving into that one. At least everything is updated and clean there! I’m working on cleaning this one now. It’s amazing how fast things can get out of control when you’re tired.
On writing:
I’m using writer’s blocks 3 and Karen Wiesner’s book First Draft to get my next book ready. I’m on day two. 🙂 I’m also getting another proposal ready to send out so my time is filling up fast. I thought I would have lots of free time now that I’ve finished most of my hard labor on the tuition house. 🙂 Lesson learned: there will always be work to fill up the empty time IF you are willing to do it.
For Sale
Maybe I should say the end of June! I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since Christmas. How is that possible? Oh that’s right LIFE. The good thing is the house we have been working on is now up for sale. We still have things to do but we’re hoping soon someone else will be willing to take over the small things every house seems to need. Here are a few pictures of the remodeling.
Living room with all the old green paint removed from the bookcases, mantel and stained glass windows. The carpet is gone and the floors polished. It took my friend and I two days with a razor knife scraping off the old gunk!
French doors
Kitchen
upstairs bath-This room was the last one we did. I’m very glad to be finished with grouting.
On writing: I’m starting a new project. Too new for me to talk about it except to say it will be more mystery than romance oriented.
I’m still waiting to hear from a few other publishers on my book about blended families.
I’ve recently taken up scrapbooking. It’s great fun and I like using the computer to digiscrap as well as paper scrap. Both kinds are lots of fun.