For Your Listening Enjoyment

Zooey can act and sing! What a beautiful "retro" voice. I wish more young singers had vocal talents like this.






I think she was pretty darn good compared to the original. She made it throatier and slower, with a modern twist.

Why God Made Little Girls

God made the world with towering trees,
Majestic mountains and restless seas.
Then paused and said , "It needs one more thing...
Someone to laugh and dance and sing.
To walk in the wood and gather flowers...
To commune with nature in quiet hours."

So God made little girls
With laughing eyes and bouncing curls,
With joyful hearts and infectious smiles,
Enchanting ways and feminine wiles.
And when He'd completed the task He'd begun.
He was pleased and proud of the job He'd done.
For the world, when seen through little girl's eyes
Greatly resembled Paradise.

Two Temples

I had to re-blog this from "A Wise Woman Builds Her Home"! So beautiful.

A Builder builded a temple,
He wrought it with grace and skill;
Pilllars and groins and arches
All fashioned to work his will.
Men said, as they saw its beauty,
"It shall never know decay;
Great is thy skill, O Builder!
Thy fame shall endure for aye."

A Mother builded a temple
With loving and infinite care,
Planning each arch with patience,
Laying each stone with prayer.
None praised her unceasing efforts,
None knew of her wondrous plan,
For the temple the Mother builded
Was unseen by the eyes of man.

Gone is the Builders temple,
Crumpled into the dust;
Low lies each stately pillar,
Food for consuming rust,

But the temple the Mother builded
Will last while ages roll,
For that beautiful unseen temple

Was

a

child's

immortal

soul.









-Hattie Vose Hall

It needs to STOP!

Why can't people just do the right thing? Be decent and just say no???

After having to smell marijuana smoke coming from our downstairs neighbor over and over again, we finally got fed up with our home stinking like a dorm room and called the cops. It smelled so strongly that it was like a marijuana crop on fire or something. After the apt complex next door burning down halfway, we really didn't want to have all our belongings up in smoke because some kid wanted to get high.

Thank GOD we don't have kids or a baby in the guest room (the smelliest room where you can literally get a contact high from breathing in there).

We have ample evidence that points to them being the culprits:

• he has one of those door guard thingies along the cracks of their front door--to keep out the cold? No. To keep in the smell.
• Smoke rises. It doesn't drift horizontally or fall downward. Duh. And we are above them.
  
• He looks stoned every time he comes out of his apartment.
• They smoke cigarettes. (you can't have one without the other)
  
• He blasts loud music.
• He is a college kid.
• He doesn't work...Mommy and Daddy pay for his new car and probably the 2 bedroom apartment which costs over $750 a month.
  
• He screamed bloody murder when the cop banged on his door like a scaredy cat who knew he was doing something wrong. Proceeded to scream at his girlfriend after the cop left.
• Took 2 minutes for him to open his door for the cop. What do you think he was doing? Duh. Hiding his stuff.
• Smells never came into our apartment until he moved in.

Now, some may think I am jumping to conclusions...like our landlord who says the cops found nothing and that I shouldn't go on a "hunch" (although we've repeatedly called and complained about him)...but I am not dumb, and if you put 2+2 together, you get the answer. The other answer you get is that people don't care about other people, and there isn't much respect found in tight living accommodations such as we are ALWAYS in.

So now the kid is probably furious that some neighbor (probably knows it was us) ratted him out, even though he got off scot-free, and we really hope he doesn't retaliate. We both hope we won't run into him outside. The good news is that he is moving out Dec. 15th, and the office told us we could either put up with him until then or transfer apts for a "small" fee of $350 and 30 days notice...because of his lifestyle...we should pay them because they "can't do anything about it."...

What do you think we're going to do?

Stick it out, of course. Since our lease is up in April, it would be stupid to have to move all our stuff to a new place, pay $350, and then move out again in five months. So we will have to hope and pray the kid doesn't do something jerkish.

Drugs are everywhere, and it is really disheartening to realize this. We've lived in two different complexes in the past 3 years, and both had issues with drugs. The first one was a low-end place with rent around $550 a month--drugs, crime, illegal trafficking, etc were abundant. Now we live in a high end place, paying good money, and there are still drugs being used on the premises.

How sad that drugs have infiltrated every nook and cranny of society. It doesn't matter how much money you have, when you live in an apartment, you are going to have to deal, almost face to face, with other people's bad decisions. This is why so many people want to own their own home. I don't blame them. I can see the rationale now for getting into debt up to your eyeballs just to have a house. You need a refuge that you have control over. You need a space to feel free in, where other people's bad decisions don't grate on your last nerve and cause you to lose sleep and feel fearful for your life and health.

I am really trying to keep my anger under control, but it is hard. I want to forgive, but then I feel so cheated because we aren't doing anything wrong, and he is, but he comes off as innocent. I think the office thinks we're high maintenance because we complain about our neighbors sometimes, but why shouldn't we? We are paying a lot and they allow so much to go on that is disturbing. They promise a "safe, healthy, peaceful" living environment and it is everything but.

Ugh. Life.

Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window... late fall sunlight and "Indian Summer" temps.

I am thinking... about how cheese makes everything taste good.

I am thankful for... God being in my corner.

I am wearing... a blue button up blouse and black pants with black moccasins.

I am remembering... how nice it was to be younger and freshly idealistic

I am going... to try and make it through the day without negative thoughts

I am reading... e-mails, mostly!!

I am hoping... that my heart will be settled by God's comforting hands, and that change will come soon.

On my mind... money, safety, and dreams

Noticing that... I need to be content

Pondering these words... No question comes up more often among Christian young people who face what seem to be limitless options than this one of how to discover what God wants them to do. What, exactly, is one's calling? --Elisabeth Elliot

From the kitchen... hmm...leftover beef stew from last night or something with chicken.

Around the house... cleaning out closets and downsizing for a move in April...got to get on it early

One of my favorite things~ sewing something new that has a purpose, not just because it is pretty

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Give it a try! :)  A fun way to start or finish your day.