For the love of... dirt!

Sarah and I were praying the other day before her lunch, thanking God for what Sarah was eating, and all of a sudden she chimes in with, "and dirt!" So, yeah, Sarah has this thing for dirt. I actually really love it because she is always perfectly occupied when we're outside (she even weeds!), but she often goes through two or three outfits a day and tests the claims and limits of Oxi Clean...
It got me thinking that I really should be more active in thanking God for the everyday blessings in my life, not just the "biggies." Computers, clean, running water, movies, dishwashers, telephones, cars, central heating, lights, coffee makers, etc. How many "dirt-simple" things do I take for granted that a HUGE percentage of the world population can't even dream of?
No justification exists for complaining that:
I don't have _________.
Or
I have to wait to get ________.
Or
I have _______, but it's three (eight) years old, still works, but I want a "new" one.

I love having Sarah around because she not only reminds me of the simplicity and joy of life, but also convicts me of how my sinful nature crops up and the old man must be put to death yet again.
I am thankful her.

Recreating the "Oatmeal Incident"

This whole thing has a history even beyond the very cool post that Amber B. posted not too long ago.
Once upon a time, Paul (my brother) or I (not sure who) spilled a container of oatmeal. What ensued was since remembered (at least by me) as "the time we slipped and slided on oatmeal." I love that my mom was go-with-the-flow and didn't get hung up on keeping her house so pristine that she deprived us of having a fun memory... So when Amber posted about doing it with her kids, well, how could I resist? I didn't wait for an accidental spill -- Sarah loved it! I plan on doing this again sometime, but not often enough for it to get old...

"Kips and Salsa Peeze!"

Per Sarah's request, we started dinner last night with her favorite, somewhat spicy hors d'oeuvre. She even says, "salsa" like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry keeps saying it because it's fun to say... She cracks me up. Guess it's that southwest blood coming out in her...

Both Todd and I are reading this book because his uncle is dating the main author. She is a fabulous writer in addition to being an impressive scientist in the area of psychology. I appreciate that I can read an academic work that is still accessible to someone not formally trained in psychology. I can't wait to meet her. On thing puzzles me though. She has used the phrase "evolution designs" a number of times and I'm not quite sure how she defines "designs." Todd and I were talking about it last night and just can't get around the idea that by using "designs" a person is meaning that there is purpose and intent behind something "designed." As Todd put it (and expanded my vocabulary in the process), "There must be a sentient (conscious) being (acknowledged to be the God of the Bible or not) behind the 'design'." Chaos or chance cannot design. If our world is governed by the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (All things move from order to disorder - not the other way around) how could evolution "design" a baby to be predisposed to learn language so skillfully etc? Anyway, just something I hope to ask her someday without the weird overtones that lead to debate...

Works for Me Wednesday... on Tuesday...

The first room in our house that we remodeled was our downstairs powder room. Why? Not sure. Probably because it seemed like a smaller, more manageable goal for newbies than, say, the kitchen, which we hopefully will redo this summer....

The final touches to the bathroom were a long time in coming, but I didn't want to just slap up any old thing. These two prints are by Miguel Dominguez, an artist that I found I really like while on our 1st anniversary. We got them on art.com for $6 each, but when I went around pricing what it would take to get these double matted and framed (custom because they are each 7x7"), I got quotes anywhere from $30 each up to $100+ each depending on the mattes and frames!

Ah, that would be a "no."

Luckily, there were some very helpful girls at the Michael's framing department who steered me to some scrapbooking paper, clear mounting tape squares, and some ready-made frames... After some very precise cutting and mounting, this is how they turned out - for $30 TOTAL thank you very much!

And THAT works for me!