April OLW Blog Hop

Welcome to the hop!

So this month we were supposed to take Action!  I was a tad stumped for a bit.  I'd already been doing some things and I didn't want to just write what I'd already started.  So I was trying to think what I could do to have more grace, be more graceful, something!  At that point I realized I had an idea of what "grace" means, but not a real definite idea.  So my one little thing was a word study.  It wasn't a huge thing.  I just looked it up in a couple of dictionaries and my Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.  Grace means a lot of things!  So instead of writing the whole thing out here, I chose a few of my favorites that were kind of what I had in mind for my word when I chose it. 


My very favorite, the one I think best fits the idea I had was from Vine's.  It's one of the meanings of the Greek word (pronounced charis) that is translated "grace":

That which bestows or occasions pleasure, delight, or causes favorable regard; it is applied to beauty or gracefulness of person, act or speech.

 The friendly disposition from which the kindly act proceeds, graciousness, lovingkindness, goodwill generally. 

I like those.

From the dictionary my favorites were: 

Beauty or harmony of motion, form, manner, or proportion.

Favor or service freely rendered; goodwill.

The act of showing or granting such favor. 

I think the study has helped me with my word.  It was fun to look it up, write it out and all that lovely stuff.  :-)  Here's what my pages look like.

 I hope everyone is enjoying the blog hop.  Your next stop on the hop is at  http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/

Have fun!

Here's the list in case you like to hop around. 

APRIL 1 OLW Blog Hop Participants (FINAL)
Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog/one-little-word
Monica http://scrapinspired.com/
Jill http://jillconyers.com/
Jenn www.studiojenn.blogspot.com
Kara http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com
Catherine http://myview-catherine.blogspot.com
Nikki www.inkyart.com.au
Cindy http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/category/one-little-word/
Donna http://holimess.blogspot.com/
Coley www.coleybelle.blogspot.com
Naomi http://poeticaperture.com
Stephanie http://playinghouseinmaryland.blogspot.com
Ruth http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com
Eydie www.whatwecreate.net
Janet http://lifeinsideascrapbookroom.blogspot.com
Orange Gearle http://orangegearle.blogspot.com
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com
Jen www.jenritchie.com
Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com
Kaylea www.myscrappylife.com
Missus Wookie http://www.mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.co.uk/
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com
Beth www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com <------------you Are here
Tere http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/ <------------you Go here
Kelly http://mindingmynest.com
Heidi http://mommy.heidimdavis.com

In my Garden

It's an absolutely completely beautiful day out today!  Just wonderful.  And now that my allergy headache is clearing up, I'm enjoying it even more. 

The roses are blooming, the grass is green and soft, trees are all green and shady now. 

I spent a couple hours weeding today.  My poor herb garden was completely overgrown with weeds of one kind or another.  It isn't finished, but you can tell it's a garden again.  A winter so warm that it never killed the grass made for a lot of extra weeds in the spring! 



There are so many bugs out in the garden.  I remind myself it's a good thing.  That means the soil and grass are healthy enough that a bug would want to live there.  It wasn't that way when we moved in here oh so many years ago!  But now things grow.  I watched an inch worm inch his way across a branch of a rose bush, green squishy caterpillars crawling here and there and I wonder what they'll turn out to be.  Will they be a beautiful butterfly, flying around our yard someday?  Or a moth coming in to eat my clothes?  The hope of a butterfly keeps me from getting rid of them. 

Instead of having one big garden, I have several little gardens.  I like it that way.  They all seem so small and sweet.  I wonder what will go in them this year.  Time to start planning pretty soon.  Anybody have any tips on growing squash?  I'd love to grow squash, but they never turn out right.  But I'll probably try again this year.  Ever hopeful!

Bird's Nest Necklace

Aren't these sweet?

  A while back my mom found them on one of the blogs she reads with a link to this tutorial.  These are so cute that we had to try it.  We've had a lot of fun with them.  The site my mom first saw used silver wire for the nest, which was really pretty, but we found this brown wire and aside from the fact that brown is my favorite color, it seemed very appropriate for a birds nest.   

They were so fun to make it was almost a shame that they came together so quickly! But that was probably part of what made it so fun!

Do you know what it is?

Something we saw at Goodwill.  We tried, but we couldn't make sense of it, but they had lots of them and they were packaged 4 to a set.  Any suggestions? 

T-Shirt Makeover

So this morning I decided I needed to make something.  So I decided to re-do a t-shirt.  I went to Goodwill to get one that I didn't mind ruining, in case it didn't work out...  It often doesn't work out.  But I'm pretty happy with the results this time! 
Before: 

After: 

I made a ribbon casing on the front with two buttonholes in the middle -- we won't go into how using the buttonholer on the sewing machine worked out.  Let's just say I'm pretty happy with my handmade buttonholes.  :-)  I put some ribbon through the casing, sewed it on and it was all done.  I may have to try this again sometime!

I feel like a tiny bird with a Great Big song

I just heard this quote a few weeks ago and like it very much.  The last couple of weeks I think of it as I hear a mockingbird singing in the morning.  My favorite bird.  :)  It makes me happy every morning to hear his songs.  He has quite a repertoire.

OLW February Blog Hop

Welcome to the February Blog Hop! I hope everyone has had as good a February as I have. It's been a crazy busy month and I've neglected this blog, but I'm hoping things have settled down to a reasonable pace now. I just barely got my prompt done in time. I'm finishing it up on February 29. It's a good thing it's leap year, or I'd be late!!! 

I thought at the beginning of the month how easy this prompt was going to be with this word and that I'd get it done in no time, so I ended up not doing it until the end, for the most part.  It's a good thing that it was an easy prompt for this word.  The pictures are of things that I am thankful for and of things that I am doing or hope/plan to do to get more grace.  Starting from the upper left corner the pictures are: 1. Henbit (a weed that grows here in abundance and is really so pretty.  It seemed like a grace because we really don't do anything to get it, it just comes up on its own.  2. Music/piano.  I love music and I want to start practicing it more so I'll be more graceful with my piano playing.  3. Exercise.  To be more graceful in general.  4. A page from my planner.  I've started trying to write things down more and keep track of my days better.  5. You can't see it, but there's a picture of my family there, something I am very thankful for. 6. The Grace necklace my friend gave me for this year.  It reminds me to have more grace. 7. More flowers coming up.  In addition to the flowers being a grace, the fact that they are here in February is amazing and something I'm very thankful for.  They're very early this year, but it's been so warm and wet here that they're growing.  This summer it was so miserable and dry the plants all died, so this is especially a grace! 8. Doing things for others.  I made the baby things laying there. 9. This one is for friends and for traveling, since I'm with a friend somewhere away from home.  I'm thankful for both those things. 

So that's my prompt.  I had fun doing it.  Grace is going well this month.  I hope you have all had a lovely month and hopefully I'll be on here more in March. 

The Blog Hop officially starts at 10 PST, so I think this is a tad early, but have fun hopping!

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com
Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com
Sharyn http://LaVieEnChic.com
Kimberlee http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com
Jill http://jillconyers.com/
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com
Cindy www.cynthiacrysdale.com
Jenn www.studiojenn.blogspot.com
Monica http://scrapinspired.com/
Catherine http://myview-catherine.blogspot.com/
Naomi http://poeticaperture.com/
Jamie jmpgirl.blogspot.com
Coley www.coleybelle.blogspot.com
Melissa C www.smudgetime.com
Donna http://holimess.blogspot.com/
Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Veronica www.veronicanorris.typepad.com
Heidi D http://mommy.heidimdavis.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/category/one-little-word/
Nikki www.inkyart.com.au
Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com
Brooklyn www.everysnapshot.com
Kristina http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.com/
Jen R http://jenritchie.com
Kara http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com
Eydie www.whatwecreate.net
Ruth http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com
Missus W http://www.mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/
Marilee http://rose-brier.blogspot.com
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com
Kaylea http://www.myscrappylife.com
Dawn G www.sunshineandcreativity.com
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Becky www.becky-handforth.blogspot.com
Orange Gearle orangegearle.blogspot.com
Katrina www.katrinasimeck.com
Jo http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com
Nicky Www.seejanebake.blogspot.com
Beth www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com  <---You are Here
Kelly http://mindingmynest.com  <-----You go Here
Tere http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/