Being a mother is exhausting and wonderful,

Hopeful and scary,

Joyful and nerve wracking.

Rewarding and draining.

It is the best and the hardest job you could have.

Regardless of your situation YOU are the Mother God gave to your children and He knew what He was doing.

Have a blessed Mother’s Day.

This was a last minute doodle but I wanted to give each and every one of you beautiful ladies something for Mother’s Day–since I can’t give flowerrs to everyone this is what I’ve got.  Feel free to pass this on to your favorite mother.

The following are the top and bottom of the painting for my new website  theme.  I inked the original and added grass to the foot of the tree for use in the footer.  I like the watercolor much better inked.   Almost there.

Planting the seed of lifelong learning and a love of reading.

On a side note this one was completely out of my little brain–not from life.  And it was so fun.

Today at Grandma’s I caught Rachel doing what she always does at Grandma’s–reading the Sunday Comics.

• I am in the midst of a huge blog design change.  Huge I tell you.  I am finally getting all my eggs in one basket but it will take me awhile to get it figured out then organize it all.  In other words I have three websites that will soon all be combined in a way that should simplify things and make it easier for people to find me and my various work.
• Once the new theme and new sites are in place I will introduce Doodles for Hire. I have to work out the details and get together my portfolio.  In fact, that is one of the reasons I am revamping the sites.  Sorry for the mess in the mean time.
• In order to redo the site I am teaching myself Gimp.  I have used Paint Shop Pro for over 10 years so the transition is a bit tricky.
• Planned on putting in my Frankferd Farms order today and picking it up when I visit Grandma tomorrow.  (This is part of my once a month big shopping trip and we have been out of flour for almost a week due to a certain young persons overzealous baking spree.)  There are several other “we’re out ofs” that I had planned to get but in my heart I was feeling that we, as a family, should really try to hold off and use up what we have.  Then my grandma called expressing how lonely she is today and how she would really love company today instead of tomorrow and my plan went out the window.  So I guess no cheating.  We can get by without flour till next week and we have the chance to bless my grandmother today.
• That said if anyone is in my area (you know who you are) and want to add your order to mine I plan on heading to Frankferd Farms on Tuesday or Wednesday so need your order in for pickup by Monday or Tuesday. If you want to add in so I can pick it up all  at once email me at gracedbychrist(at)gmail(dot)com.
• Oh, and my hyoung(at)zbzoom(dot)net email is only giving me half my emails at best so if you have emailed me in the last month and have not received a reply please email me using the gracedbychrist one above.  In fact, I am moving completely to the gracedbychrist@gmail(dot)com email address.
• Added my blogroll to my sidebar.  I had been avoiding it because, well, it is HUGE.  This is actually an import of all the stuff in my feedreader, minus a few recent finds.   I think my artwanted widget is not working so well and I will likely remove it when I redo the site.
• The kids have been doing all sorts of fun projects. They have been listening to Island of the Blue Dolphins, playing Roller Coaster Tycoon, working on the Highlights Top Secret Adventures my mother-in-law bought them, playing video games, playing outside, working on their gardens, building swords and shields and words out of Construx, reading books, and cleaning their rooms.  The room cleaning was a necessity.  There is a small chance that we will have friends staying here for a while and we needed clean rooms just in case.  In the midst of cleanign I discovered that a picture frame had fallen and there was shattered glass all over all the dress up clothes and Cabbage Patch Kid clothes.  This meant tossing the lot since it really shattered and I did not want to try to figure out what was covered and what was not.  Talk about an easy way to clean.  Filled two garbage bags.  It is a very good thing that I hadn’t bought any of the things–much of it was my own when I was a child but once I got over myself I was very glad to be rid of all the junk.  No, I didn’t take pictures.  I discovered it while sitting on the flor in the midst of it.  Not a fun moment.
• Also preparing for a coming soon yard sale. Lots of kids clothes–especially play and lots of toys.  Also have a vintage Krohler dresser set I want to sell.  It was my grandparents so I am hoping it will actually sell though I gues sif I find someone in need ofa dresser I will give it away.
• Shoes.  Several of you wanted to know if I bought shoes on our girl outing.  Yes, I did.  Out of sheer necessity.  Rachel diod not need anymore shoes (especially since she is entering another growth spurt and tripping constantly) but my summer shoes were worn out–literally, the bottoms are falling off and I needed a replacement.  For those who don’t know I have Rheumatoid Arthritis which started in my ankles when I was 13.  I can wear flats with lots of support and inserts and still have flair upsor I can wear heels constantly with no flair ups.  Heels work out since I am short and they relieve the pressure on my ankles (which have RA nodules already so I have to be super careful), redistributing it in a way that does not trigger the RA.  So, I wear heels everywhere and am constantly on the lookout for a comfy pair.  I found these on sale for half off and they are the most comfortable shoes I have had in years.  They are super soft, don’t rub, and match everything I own. If heels could feel like a good pair of running shoes then these are them.  Plus they are well made so should at least last me the summer (Union Bay, on clearance for $15.)  As an added plus hubby loves them. 

This week Shannon is hosting a “What Doesn’t Work for Me” version of WFMW.

Other things that don’t work for us?   Modern day ideas for being Frugal, Schedules, traditional sit-down meals, lesson plans and traditional classrooms, working outside the home, traditional church, being involved in sports, cable tv, packaged foods,….the list goes on.

The following is the potential image for my new theme.  I have to decide how I am going to go about it and how I am going to add the text.  (The paper was still wet when I took the photos–it is flat now.)

I need YOUR opinion.

As I continue to rethink my priorities (like doing more art and less blog design and hosting) I have come up with some possible ways of supplementing our family income (very small ways but every bit helps) and reorganizing things but am wondering whether any of these ideas would fly.

• First, doodles. I am considering doing doodles for hire.  Lots of people are uncomfortable putting pictures of themselves and their kids out there on their website.  And yes, there are places where you can use presets and make your own little avatar for your site and to use as your forum icon etc.  I am considering offering to do doodles of people and their kids for use as an icon, in their sidebar or header, whatever.  My question to you is first, do you think others would be interested in this and second if they were how much would you expect such a thing to cost?



• classes.  I have had several people email me in regards to my doodles and paintings, asking how to draw people. I have had others email me regarding learning to do CSS and blog design.  As a former teacher and home school mama  I am all for helping out.  Up until now I have directed people to other sites that are helpful.   My question to you, would you be interested in some “art class” or “web design class” style posts or possibly an ebook?  I am not really considering charging but am wondering if there really is an interest in either.
  



• If I were to do classes of some sort which would you be interested in?  Would you prefer it as a meme–for instance once a week I could give an explanation and an “assignment” similar to how I did the Faith Shape?  Or should I put it together into a PDF for download?  Or both? Would you want all ages classes?  Home school lessons?  Which subjects would be most interesting? My gut is to do a general meme style class and then if there is interest do a downloadable ebook with more detailed explanations and extra activities.  As far as subject the most interest seems to be figure drawing. :)  I have had some asking me about learning web design and I would be glad to do both.

5th grade girls are mean.  There is no denying it.   Girls can be nasty.

I had hoped, to some extent, to avoid the 5th grade girl syndrome.  It isn’t just 5th grade girls, once it starts the nastiness continues through high school and college in a never ending cycle.  It only takes one person to break the cycle but most girls are not self-assured enough to do it.  Up until today Rachel has avoided it.

It could have come out of any preteen novel or sitcom.   One girl, trying to be cool, repeatedly snubbed, teased, and put down her same age/same interest friend, for the sake of older, cooler girls who were actually using her because she had a cool thing.  This treatment went on all afternoon though I only learned of it towards the end when it got bad.

Rachel has encountered it before, at Sunday school, but not so outright or blatant and not nearly so straight out directed at her.  She came to me and cried.  It broke her heart to find that someone could treat a friend like that.  As a mom I wanted to cry with her.  I had been in that place many, many times and hated it and hated that another girl would treat my daughter in such a way.

I dropped her siblings off at home and took her with me to visit my mom and then my dad. Along the way we talked.  At first she was hurt but as she worked out what had happened and why she understood. She also realized that there had been warning signs. She figured it all out including ways to recognize it and  deal with it in the future.  She matured significantly in those few hours.  This is a big deal for my extremely extroverted and not overly sensitive child.

Both my husband and I felt the urge to take her for ice cream, because that is what you do when a child hits a milestone.   Since Rachel can’t have regular ice cream we opted for a small celebration of her new found maturity–she and I dressed up and went to our favorite Chinese place and then to the mall for some shoe shopping. :)  While out we talked about a lot of growing up things.  I am shocked to find that this small episode stemmed multiple conversations about relationships, marriage, divorce, and other mature subjects. It also took our relationship to a new place where  she thought things through, worked them out, and bounced them off me instead of me telling her what to do.  We laughed together and had fun on a different level than we have in the past.

She still has a ways to go but this little girl is on her way to becoming a young lady and I am very proud of how she handled herself today.

Remember this?

Here is another view.

And finally.

Yup–it is our garbage can lid.  It had gotten wet and a bit muddy then realizing i was a puddle attracting mosquitoes we flipped it over to dry in the grass.  We finally figured out that the swirlies were from the grass underneath and it made this awesome texture.

Now you can look at it again.  Isn’t that awesome!