I was kinda planning to do this anyway, eventually…
But I stupidly bought a couple of months of web hosting when I didn’t have to…
So I’m moving this blog to a new address…
http://www.sunraysnsaturdays.com
I’m still figuring things out… So don’t be surprised if there are a lot of changes over the next few weeks.
I want to get my money’s worth ya know.
I’m a big thief.
I’m stealing this from JC. I hope she doesn’t mind.
25 days of gratitude. One for every day up until Thanksgiving. I may have to do more than one in a day a few times, since I’m starting a couple of days late on this. A good exercise for me though, since I know that I have been rather unappreciative and ungrateful lately.
And that’s a blog post for every day too. We will see how well I can keep up with it.
Today I am most grateful for the inspirational people that have crossed my path in life. Or rather, that were purposefully placed in the path of my life. There are many, but today I am thinking specifically of my adopted grandpa.
He passed away a little over a week ago. I attended his funeral last week. A very difficult experience for me. His wife passed a little over a year ago, I was 9 months pregnant with Sir at the time. The service was at the same chapel, and we ended up sitting in almost the exact same place. It was surreal. Both services were beautiful.
But this one, this one really hit home to me, in a way I never expected. My adopted grandfather was described over and over again as a “rock” and a man of goodness and generosity. I, of course, knew this. But I never really reflected on it. Until last week.
His favorite Bible verse, Psalm 46:
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah
8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields [b] with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah
His favorite verse, very telling of where his strength and generosity came from. Directly from God. He took the time to be still. To listen. To hear God’s voice. To trust it. To lean on it.
And, it is funny, or coincidental, or perhaps (probably) planned that I should hear this now as well. With times as uncertain as they are. God is still in control. A timely reminder for me.
And an inspiration. To spend more time just being still, listening, trusting, leaning. It has become one of my faith-goals.
And I am grateful for the lesson.
First off, Happy Halloween! We aren’t big celebrators of Halloween, but Missy did dress up and go trick or treating, and Sir went along for the ride. I have pictures, but, well, I’ve been on the computer all. night. long. trying to figure out this thing that I’ve been working on for DAYS. Pictures tomorrow.
I finally got it to work. Now let’s hope that the reset request I sent in won’t mess it all up.
I purchased a domain for my photo business, but I can’t really afford to purchase an actual site yet. I know what I want, and it is kind of pricey. And while I know that it really would be an investment in my business, I have a hard time purchasing it until I have either the money saved up, or I have fairly consistent bookings so that I know I’ll be able to afford it. So I’m waiting for now, since thing have been kind of slow.
So anyway, I have the domain on all my referral stuff, so I wanted to somehow link people to something through that site. Since I already have a photoblog, and since blogger works with custom domains for free, I decided to set it up so my website goes to my blog for now. Only it wasn’t as easy as they made it seem. And I am completely web stupid.
But, I finally got it. I had to get creative, and thank goodness for Google becuase otherwise it still wouldn’t work and I’d still be clueless. Well, I still am clueless, just not as clueless.
http://www.michellelynnphotos.com
Ta-da!!
Now I really need to get that blog looking pretty. Sigh. Another big job.
I finished my prototype hat. I’m really really pleased with how this one came out. And, it is entirely my own creation, so no worries about copyrights and all that. I’ve already got another one started, and I’m hoping to have a few done in the next couple of weeks so I can start up a shop!
So excited about that!
I have a few other on-going projects as well. I have to finish up the details on that dress I made yesterday.
I’m due to have another niece or nephew this winter (don’t know which because my poopy sister in law isn’t telling!) so I’m making a couple of things for that.
I have 3 more prom dresses that I’m going to be making in to dress up for Missy. And a few other dress up related projects, some of which I also am planning for my etsy shop.
So my hands are busy busy busy these days. I’m really enjoying it. Grandma would be so proud.
The only thing I wish is that someone had told me 10 years ago where I would be in my life today. Because I would have done a whole lot of things differently, had I known. For example, I wouldn’t have wasted my time in all those darn education classes.
Sigh. Hindsight.
I made this dress. I have some old prom dresses that belonged to me and my sister, and I thought they’d make some pretty nice dress up clothes for Missy. Her Christmas present. And actually, credit for the idea should go to my sister, as she is the one who suggested it. I suppose since she gave me such a great idea I should probably get going on that bag I promised her several months ago….
I’ve never sewed any clothing before. I actually don’t think I’ve ever made anything from a real pattern before either. And when I first read over the patten I was completely overwhelmed. Good for me though, my mom has some background in sewing clothes from patterns, so she came over today and helped me get started.
I had to kind of make it up as I went along, I did not have enough fabric in the original dress for the skirt part of this dress. I had to add in some other fabric. But it worked out great.
I’m pretty pleased with the result. It is by no means perfect, but, a decent first attempt I’d say.
And now I’ve got 3 more dresses hidden away in the closet, and I’m itching to get started on another, now that I know what I’m doing.
My hands, however, need a rest.
There’s nothing like some good old feeling stupid to make your day bright.
And me, well, I must be a glutton for punishment. I’m trying to teach myself a couple of new things, and I’m flying completely blind. Don’t have a clue what I’m doing. And it is making me feel pretty stupid.
I suppose it is my own fault. I mean, I am trying to teach myself. I’d be much better off if I went back to school. Or found someone who knows what they are doing to teach me. Only problem is, I don’t really know anyone nearby that can teach me, at least not for free.
Sure, I could go to Joann’s, enroll in a sewing class. I’m sure I’d only need to complete one complete class curriculum and I’d be off on my merry way. But, that’s gonna cost money. And, part of the reason I’m attempting this is to save money. So, that would defeat the purpose. Stupid pattern and funny terms are making me feel stupid. I wish I had the ability to just make it up as I go along. I always have in my past projects, but somehow I don’t think that will work on this one. Sigh.
And then, there’s this web stuff. There are a couple of things I am trying to do. I’m a complete web virgin, at least with setting things up. Everything I’ve ever done on the web the basics have already been there. I screwed something up and now I’m waiting for a pro to fix it, thank goodness for free. Not sure I could have fixed that one myself anyway. Then I can get one of my projects out of the way. The other web project, well, that one is just for fun, and because I stupidly bought hosting when I didn’t have to, so I’m using it to learn. And, actually, I think I’m figuring it out, trial and error. A lot of error. But I’m getting it.
But, the process is good. Nothing wrong with a little ego check once in a while. Nothing wrong with feeling stupid for a while, it helps keep things real. I’ll get it all eventually, I always do. And when I do? Oh, will that feel good.
And the learning of new things? Well, it has been helping to keep that mommy brain in check. Forcing myself to think. To read carefully, reread until I understand. Its kind of like school.
So I guess its not so bad, feeling stupid.
I’m having problems again, putting together clear thoughts. And my unclear words are leading to misunderstandings. So I’m shutting up for a while. Until I feel like my brain is once again capable of being completely clear.
I’ve had a bad week and I need a break. So I’m going to sit here and watch the show I taped and do some sewing and knitting and reading.
Anyone that needs me (ha ha, yeah right) knows where to find me.
Nothing is going my way today.
I tried to do fall pictures of the kids. Had a complete lack of cooperation. It was a disaster. I only fired off about 15 shots and they all suck.
That second hat I’ve been knitting for Sir? Still humongous. I should have trusted my math the first time, but I didn’t, so apparently I’m an idiot. It wasn’t worth saving, so out it went. And, I used up a lot of yarn on those 2 hats so I don’t think I have enough to make another.
Got the cat litter but they didn’t have slippers I liked for me, and I really need new slippers. At least the kids got some.
Didn’t get any crafting done that was worthwhile. I wasted so much time on that stupid hat.
So the only productive thing I did today was wash the fabric for a quilt. And get cat litter.
I give up.
I’m going back to bed.
I’ve been tagged by Harmony for a fun picture meme. You all know how much I love pictures.
Here’s the instructions:
* Go to your Sixth Picture Folder then pick your Sixth Picture.
* Pray that you remember the details.
* Tag 5 others.
This was a bit more complicated for me… I have so many pictures so I have folders within folders. Have to to keep it all organized. So in my 6th picture folder there are, you guessed it, more folders. So I picked the 6th folder within the folder, and then the 6th picture in that folder. Whew, did you catch all that? Then I had to search for it in my flickr stream, because I knew it was in there.
So here is the sixth picture in the sixth folder in the sixth folder. Sir, smashing cake. That was a rockin’ good time. And one of my favorite picture sets ever.
And I’m gonna tag:
Kelly, Bethany, hf, Nita, and Unkempt Mommy.
I woke up this morning breaking up with an old boyfriend in a dream. An actual old boyfriend, from my past, not just a “dream” old boyfriend. A vivid and realistic dream. Right down to the details of what he was doing when I broke up with him… it was something he actually did in real life.
Waking up that way has put a damper on my day. It makes me feel sad, and I have a feeling today is going to be one of those days covered in clouds. Not literally, it is actually a beautiful crisp sunny fall day here. Metaphorically. My mood is covered in clouds.
Its funny how dreams can affect your mood like that. I’ve had my share of doozies in the dream department. When I remember my dreams they are pretty intense and realistic. And if it is close to morning, or I wake up in the middle or after a dream, it can affect my mood all day. If I have a scary or suspenseful dream I feel like I’m on edge all day. If it is a nice warm fuzzy dream then I feel good and loved all day. Today it was a sad one.
Of course, it isn’t just the dream that is affecting my mood today. Sir had another not so spectacular night, so I didn’t get the amount of sleep I would have liked. And there are some other things going on too, not anything I really want to get into. Let’s just say that things are not going the way I expected them to, and while my expectations may have been too high, it still would be nice to get a little more love in that department. I just have that “not good enough” feeling. Talk about a downer.
And I have a long list of things that I want to do and should do. Nothing new there. Most days I just kind of ignore my list, but I just can’t today. The cat’s box has almost no litter left in it, so I have to get out and get some. I have a print order to finalize. And several sewing/knitting projects that really need to be worked on. OK, that I really want to work on.
I suppose that if it is going to be one of those sad days I might as well try and craft my way out of the funk.
sunrays and saturdays 