Love Mercy - a book, a shop and a journey

While in Nashville this past weekend I paid a visit to McKay's (thank you Sarah Freeman) and found the book Love Mercy - A mother & Daughter's Journey from the American Dream to the Kingdom of God. It's a brand new book, just published in this here 2010.

The title caught my eye, because that's the name of my Etsy shop and then the author's name caught my eye, because she is one of my favorite authors. And since my daughter and I were in Nashville on a social justice trip it was a buy, buy, buy situation.

Lisa Samson and her daughter, Ty, wrote the book together about their trip to Swaziland and how it rocked their world.

Lisa and I have a lot in common.

She writes great fiction.
I like to read great fiction.

She and her husband wrote a great book, Justice in the Burbs.
I read Justice in the Burbs and recommend it to people all the time.

She was born in '64.
I was born in '63.

She has a child born in '89.
I have a child born in '89.

She and her daughter have been to Africa.
I've been to Africa with one of my daughters.

See! We're almost twins!

I'm only on Chapter 3, but I'm greatly appreciating this book. The writing styles are welcoming and honest. Can't wait to finish it.

This is Fezzik

As you can tell the fence isn't that much taller than him, but he hasn't figured that out yet.

He has figured out how to open one of the gates. Thankfully a lot of us were out in the backyard when he did it the first time.

There was a boy in the park and Fezzik was barking like crazy at him. He can't stand it when someone is out there.

All of a sudden he ran to the gate, stuck his nose to the bottom and shoved it open.

I almost had a heart attack. He took off after the kid at a full gallop, barking his head off.

Can you imagine looking up and having that charging at you whole hog?

Of course, the kid started running. I started yelling (or screeching) for him to not run.

And I couldn't believe it. The boy stood still! With THAT bearing down on him!

Fezzik didn't know what to do. He was so confused. The boy wasn't playing the game right.


I got to the kid and apologized profusely. He just smiled and said that Fezzik was a smart dog like his dog.

So glad he felt that way.

I'm still in shock he listened to me, a total stranger, and stood still. That took a lot of courage. I think I would have been looking for a big stick if something was coming at me like that.

And, he is right. Fezzik is a smart dog. And sneaky. And obnoxious. And smelly. And loving. Sometimes too loving. Obnoxiously loving. Ask Corinn's boyfriend, Micah. Fezzik loves Micah. A lot. Fezzik thinks they're bosom buddies. Micah's not so sure. Especially when Fezzik is at his smelliest.





Now, these two rotten creatures were saying, "We had nothing to do with this! See, we didn't go chasing after the boy! We're the goods ones!"

HA! None of us are fooled. We all know you just didn't move fast enough this time.

Texas - The Confused State

This is what Texas weather was like last weekend.






Friday














Sunday













Monday


I kid you not.

Upcycled t-shirt becomes ruffles for a blah skirt

I've been working on a little project and finished it yesterday. It's tied to my crazy shopping post.

This is what has emerged:


















It began with a denim skirt that I've had a million years or so. Not sure if I got it at Goodwill or if it was a hand-me-down. It was very plain. So...
I took an Archie comic book from the 70's and scanned a couple of the pages, flipped the images and made iron-on transfers. Then I hand stitched around the images. I didn't really care if the comics were readable. I like the worn look they have. There is also no rhyme or reason in the order I put them on. If you tried to read the story you would get confused.













I placed comic panels on the down the front and three panels on the left bottom part of the skirt.
Yes, I'm wearing TOMS. I love my TOMS.

Now, the skirt has a front slit that wasn't too high, but it was awkward to sit in. It just seemed if I wasn't on constant watch it would gap in very annoying ways. Or, at least, annoying for me. Maybe the men around me really liked the slit. Anyway, this is what I did:














I upcycled a red Pine Cove Ranch t-shirt that had seen better days by cutting a panel and hand stitching six ruffles onto it. Then I hand stitched the panel into the skirt.








The dentist recognized it as the project I was working on last week when Callie had her visit and a lady in the waiting room really liked it. Callie explained to both of them that the ruffles were made out of an old t-shirt.






And that fuzzy thing below the ruffles. That's not my hairy leg, that's Dog Henry, not to be confused with Nephew Henry. Nephew Henry, not to be confused with Dog Henry, is going through a "I will NOT use the big potty!" phase. His parents are THRILLED!

It was a fun project. I only stabbed myself a few times. Twice in the lip. I know, it doesn't make any sense. It would have been faster and safer to do it all on the machine, but I like hand stitching and I can do it anywhere. On the train, in my living room, at the dentist, at a meeting, at my mom's, etc...You get the picture.

Philip Andre has been adopted

This is Philip Andre. As you can tell he has lived a hard life. In the past he has been a boxer, actor, and a screenwriter.















Etched into his face are lines left by extreme living and taking punches.
















Underneath is a heart of gold. Well, maybe not a heart of gold, but a heart, none the less.
















Philip Andre has been adopted and now lives in Louisiana. His adoption fees are being donated to Faceless International.

To learn who inspired the birth of Philip Andre, click here.

These are so my children!

This picture does a good job summing up the craziness of my kids. And this is only two of them.







Can you imagine what it's like when all five are around?


With color, without color, it shows they're pretty much nuts.









Wonder where they get it from?

Real Hope for Haiti Dress Party

My cousin, Jodi, decided to host a dress making party for Real Hope for Haiti. It was a great success. People donated fabric, sewing machines, and time.

You can read about it here. My mom is in one of the pictures. She isn't the sleeping baby. That's my adorable third cousin and Jodi's adorable daughter.

I think Jodi should come to Plano so we can have a dress party here. What do you think?

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pecan Muffin Squares

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pecan Muffin Squares

They're in squares because I don't like dealing with muffin tins or papers.

9 X 13 pan

Mix together the following:

2 cups organic white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup fair trade organic sucanat
1 T Ener-G egg replacer
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Add:

1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cups almond milk

Mix well.

Add:

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix well.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease 9 X 13 pan. Pour mixture into pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until center bounces back when pushed gently or a knife stuck into center comes out clean.

Variations:
Substitute your favorite oil, milk, fruit, or nuts.

Sadie Suzanne - easy going kind of girl

Meet Sadie Suzanne. She's an easy going kind of girl. She likes things plain and simple, like her. Sadie Suzanne sees things a little differently than most dolls.

Maybe that's because her eyes are so unique.













They were crafted just for her at Coventry. No eyes like them anywhere else.












The folks at Coventry view things through a lens of love and I think it rubbed off on Sadie.


She tells me she was hand-stitched with a lot of love, helping the person doing the stitching work off some stress while trying to be creative.

Sadie Suzanne says when she is adopted all of the proceeds will go to Faceless International. That's a group of people with a lot of love.

So, if you are looking for a easy going kind of girl to love, Sadie Suzanne might be just the doll for you.

I'm not crazy about shopping

I'm not really crazy about shopping, like at the mall. It's not something I consider fun. (Flea Markets and thrift stores, that's a whole 'nother story.) Haven't always felt this way. In the past I had no problem spending hours in a mall. I'm not really even sure when the change took place. Maybe it was around the time I starting realizing I didn't need all that much, nor did my kids. Maybe it was around the time I starting realizing where clothes were made. Maybe it was around the time I started realizing that much of the stuff I was admiring was being made by people forced to work in horrible, dangerous conditions. Not really sure. It's probably a combination of a lot of things.

My friend and I were talking the other day about her struggle to find a baby gift she knew came from an honorable company. She was going to start researching companies for her future purchases. Shaun Groves wrote a few years ago about searching for blue jeans that were fair trade and organic. That made me search. There are good companies out there who are honorable in their business practices. It costs more to buy from them sometimes, but I would rather spend more money, than wear or use something made by a slave or an abused person. Or, simply go without.

Anyone who knows me in real life can tell you I'm not a fashionista. Most of the time I really don't care. Now, I usually know how to dress appropriately for a situation or I call a friend and ask for help. A lot of times I like to be different in some little way, which gets an eyebrow raised now and then. I went through a boring time in my life where I played it safe and was constantly freaked out about what I was going to wear. Not so much anymore. Some years ago I decided to have some fun, which is where the not caring comes in.

I'm getting more and more into altering pieces of clothing to have more of a "me" style. I get a hoot out of repurposing pieces and upcycling stuff. It helps my creative side. I love to hand stitch things. It helps me with stress. And it works nicely with my dislike of shopping.

So, all that to say that I'm going on a little adventure where I'm going to try to not make any purchases without knowing if the supply chain is pure and I'm going to be getting less stressful by creating a lot of my own stuff. Don't how it will all turn out or how I will record it. Since only a couple of people read this, maybe they will throw some ideas my way.