Xylophone in the Forest

Simply beauteous ...

via Gabrielle

ShiftHappens

The State of Technology?...

Education?...

the World?...

VOTE for Anita's Memory!

The Quilting Gallery is holding a weekly quilting contest

and I have entered one of my quilts.

Help me to win a $25.00 gift certificate

from The Fat Quarter Shop by voting for my quilt,

Anita's Memory,

here!

Become a Sister of Mercy

Have you ever thought about it?

Special Delivery!

Doesn't it just make you want to send him something?

3 faces of vulnerability

In my experience

vulnerability has 3 faces:

1. ENCOUNTER ~ moment of self-revelation, intentional or not

2. MEMORY ~ moment of self-revelation

revisited

3. RE-ENCOUNTER ~ with the one to whom you have revealed

Though not literally naked,

I often feel that way when I am most vulnerable.

I've been feeling vulnerable alot lately ...

and thankful for the wise women who surround me.

Mijo turns 3!

Look who turned 3 yesterday!

I wonder if Mary enjoyed little Jesus as much as I enjoy this little "Cristián" …

Doubt it! ;-]

playing with words ...

Seems there is always a lesson to be learned ...

Here are a few I've learned from others:

DENIAL = Don't Even Know I Am Lying

FEAR = False Expectations Appearing Real

BITCH = Being In Total Charge (of) Herself

FINE = F'd-up, Insecure, Neurotic & Emotional

and a few more I put together myself:

DON'T = Daring Oneself Not (to) Try

CAN'T = Cowardly Avoiding New Things

DOUBT = Digging One Under Before Trying

FAILURE = Freely Admitting Ignorance; Learnings Unrecognizable Regarding Experience

(when I should be working on something else!!!)

Where Children Sleep

Where Children Sleep ...

a wonderful piece ...

can be read online here.

my hard drive crashed

My hard drive crashed.

My hard drive crashed!

My hard drive Crashed!

I received this lovely card in the mail the day after ...

... my hard drive CRASHED!!!

National Vocation Awareness Week

EVERYONE has a life-vocation:

single,

married,

religious,

clerical ...

Each is unique,

fulfilling,

equal in importance,

Blessed by God ...

Some are more popular than others,

some are more scrutinized and public...

All are challenging,

and require continued commitment ...

and a good sense of humor!

OO

(..)

\___/

That time of year ...

It's that time of year once more!

When I prepare a family favorite ...

And gaze upon two, 

new,

Jesus-Children!

Angels of the New Millenium

Remembering Women in El Salvador

December 2, 2010 is the 30th Anniversary of the death of the four North American Churchwomen, killed by Salvadoran paramilitary troups.

on bullying

I have been listening to the recent and all-too-often ugly accounts of bullying among school-age children. It has felt unbelievable to me, until yesterday ...

I went over to the high school behind my house to vote. It is a large building and I had to walk its long hallways to get to the gymnasium where the voting was taking place. I rounded a corner, took several steps and fell forward, landing hard on my knees and hands before ending-up in a prone position. I lay there for a few seconds, somewhat in shock. There was uproarious laughter from students around me. I felt embarrassed and a little afraid that I would not be able to get up.

I finally mustered the courage to crawl towards the wall and use it to steady myself in order to stand. I stood, pulled down my jacket, and walked on toward the gymnasium with the laughing students behind me the entire way. Not one person stopped to give me a hand or ask if I was ok.

recycling old books

I had 8 of these MacMillan Pocket Classics that belonged to my Grandmother and Great Aunt. They were filled with penciled notes and comments from their high school days. I decided to recycle them in order to make them useable and gift them to each of my siblings. I removed the pages from each of the books to use for other ideas. Then I followed Cathi's tutorial to put a pocket on the inside of each cover. I then visited Dollar Tree and found some decorative pads of paper ... some with pockets and others with calendars ... and some cute little mini pens to finish each set.

"I'm a TIGER"

Mijo visiting Aunt Trish at work:

"I'm a TIGER," says Mijo!

[Don't even TH!NK about

calling him T!gger!]

And he makes the cutest little tiger sounds, complete with paw swipe! :)

creating with pages from an old book

I began with an empty salad dressing bottle,

pages from an old book,

and ModPodge (MP).

I covered the bottle with MP using a paintbrush, placed book pages over the wet MP,

and covered the pages with more MP.

I continued to place pages on the bottle,

twisting, turning and overlapping them until I was satisfied.

Then I covered the whole thing once more with MP and let it dry.

A black ribbon from an old pair of drawstring-waisted shorts made a cute bow.

Then I made some flowers with more pages using this tutorial,

attached them to some skewers hanging around in my kitchen drawer,

and placed them in the vase for a finished bouquet that you never have to water.

Hmmmmm, Christmas gifts?

Maybe I'll show you what I did with the cover of the book next time!

Weekend delights for young and "not so young" too!

I spent a wonderful weekend with Mijo and Mom.

We took a little ride on Sunday and stopped to greet some of Mijo's favorite animals along the way.

Mom shows us how to say hello in horse language. Mijo tries to clear the fence.

Anticipating his hello ...

Time to go ...

Mijo's response,

"I wanna stay here, Weewa."

So did I!

Think Mercy

Have you ever thought about it?