(no title)

Realm of Possibility

There is phrase I say quite often. Half the time I don’t even realize I’m saying it.

My response to something that seems perhaps unlikely to happen I tend to say, “It’s not outside the realm of possibility”.

“It’s not outside the realm of possibility”.

Where did I get this phrase? Did I hear it somewhere? Did I make it up? I don’t know, but I find myself saying it a lot.

And sometimes I wonder, as I’m saying it, or after I’ve said it, how much I actually BELIEVE it.

For example:

Oh, sure. I’m 41 and we don’t have children though we haven’t been preventing anything for almost five years…will we have children? Well…’It’s not outside the realm of possibility’. Anything can happen. God can do anything.

BUT do I really BELIEVE that we’ll have kids? That having children REALLY IS inside the ‘realm of possibility’?

On on hand, yes. On the other, I feel doubtful. Do I put boundaries on possibility? Or is this something I say just because it’s catchy and I don’t know what else to say?

That is just one example of how I use my current favorite phrase .

For you…what is in your ‘realm of possibility’?

Where are the boundaries of your possibility realm? How far does your realm of possibilty stretch? Is is a small realm? Or large? What unlikely thing do you think can happen? Or will happen?

I really think that the ‘realm of possibility’ is neverending and that we, as humans, are the ones who put boundaries and limitations on what can or can’t happen in our lives (Myself included ten times over).

Our perspective, way of thinking, beliefs about ourselves or what we think God is like, our mindset, etc, can really hinder what we think is actually possible.

Can we change our mindset?

Yes. Yes we can.

Changing our mindset about possibility is ‘not outside the realm of possibility’. 🙂

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day was my dad’s favorite holiday.

He would buy each of his family members, his wife, his kids and his grandkids — even down to the littlest one, a dollar store card and some sort of candy; Conversation Hearts, or a heart-shaped sucker or two, or Smartees, or the like.

It was always really special to me.

In the card, every year, he would write, ‘You’re the best’ and then his name.

Why was Valentine’s Day his favorite holiday?

Love.

It was all about Love.

And love comes from God, God is love and God loves us and my dad loved God, so therefore Valentine’s Day was his favorite. It celebrated Love.

There were a few times over the years that my dad would write out, in his familiar, scrawly handwriting, a verse or two about love from 1 John. Once he used a pink index card, one time he drew a cross and wrote Love verses around it, one year he typed up a Love verse on pink cardstock.

Two of his favorite verses?

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16)

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” (1 John3:16)

This tradition of getting everyone a card and candy started with my dad’s parents. His dad would stop off at the dime store on his way home from work on Valentine’s Day and get silly cards for his children and some dime store candy.

I don’t know if his dad wrote ‘You’re the best’ or not in the cards, but I DO know that my dad’s parents, throughout their marriage, would always ‘argue’ over who was ‘the best’.

As in:

My grandpa to my grandma, ‘You’re the best’.

Grandma to Grandpa, “No. YOU’RE the best’.

Grandpa to Grandma, “NO, you’re the best’.

And so on.

It makes me smile to think about it. There’s something comforting in knowing the affection my grandparents had for one another.

I love that my dad passed on the tradition of dollar store Valentine’s cards, candy and ‘You’re the best’ (I definitely tell my husband that he’s ‘the best’).

This Valentine’s Day is the first one without my dad. Even the first holiday without him.

I’m not expecting anyone in my family to continue the dollar store card tradition, although if my husband and I end up having children I will definitely continue it with them.

Tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, I am planning on buying a rose or two, writing a little note to my dad and dropping it off at the cemetary for him.

I am not one who typically visits gravesites, but this is something I feel I have to do. In all the years of him giving us cards I don’t think I ever got one for him. That is remiss on my part. And although he is gone, I can still make it special. Somehow I think he’ll know.

HIS Stories

Lately I’ve been pondering what kind, or type, of writer I am.

What do I write?

There are so many types of writers and writing out there.

Fiction, non-fiction, history, sports, news, copy for products and business, poetry, memoirs, biography, autobiography, research, journals essays, blogging, children’s books, letters, curriculums…with writing the sky is the limit.

At base level, writing is just putting words on a page in such a way that communicates a thought or idea.

But it helps to narrow in on what you do and do well.

I’ve known for a long time that writing from reality is really my forte. My personal, day-to-day experiences in a journal form and now blogging (And what do I blog about? My experiences and thoughts on art, creativity, life).

I know that I am not necessarily a good writer of fiction. It’s hard for me to just make something up. However, I have wanted to write stories, novels, children’s books.

I’m reading through Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Pioneer Girl right now.

In the Introduction the writer talks a lot about Wilder’s process of writing and Rose Wilder Lane’s writing and editing. Both of them took from reality, real stories, their experiences and fictionalized it.

And that really resounded in me.

Like Wilder and Lane, my fiction writing would need to stem from my personal experiences.

I write from reality.

I write from my experiences.

I write from what I know.

And then I take that and can dramatize it, fictionalize it.

As I’ve been thinking of this over the past few weeks I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying to me that I write HIS stories.

Since I write from reality, from my personal experiences and thoughts, I don’t have to create a plot for my writing, I’m writing what is happening…HE makes the plot, I write it down.

And writing HIS stories can be both: writing from experiences and reality in both non-fiction and fiction form.

It feels good to know what and how I write. I hope that now matter what I write about that it will be a blessing to those around me.

What type of writer are you? How can you bless those around you with what you write?

Taking Out the Question Marks

Every month, for my business, I do what I call a ‘Biz Outline’.

It’s basically editing a doc where I reassess my goals for the coming month and year.

This has helped me SO MUCH the past four years since I started my biz to keep me on track with what I’m doing and where I’m going.

But…the one thing I’ve noticed as I edit and type new things in, is that I use a lot of question marks.

For example a list of things to do would be:

‘All blogs for Hope blend finished and scheduled by 3/1 (Scheduled 3/1, 4/1 and 5/1?)

Bring out Hope blend by 3/1 with scheduled blog posts, IG and Newsletters

Get a list of which shops fit my brand and start contacting — one a month?

Post in a team 3 x a week (Mon, Tues, Fri?)’

Question mark, question mark, question mark.

Why?

Because I’m not sure.

DO I want to contact a local boutique once a month to see if they’d be open to selling my product?

SHOULD I schedule each blog post for the beginning of the month?

I think I put the question marks because I’m not necessarily a business person with a business brain…I’m just feeling my way in the dark.

So I’ve had learn to intentionally take out the question marks on my monthly Biz Outline.

I’m still learning this.

Because as I edited it today, I started seeing question marks pop up. And then I realized it and had to go back and take out the question marks.

WHY SHOULDN’T I contact local boutiques to see if they want to carry my product?

WHY SHOULDN’T I schedule a blog post for the beginning of every month?

So out come the question marks and I feel better. Like I have a real plan in place instead of just suggestions. Even though everything on my list might not get done in that particular month, I have something solid to work towards. It’s not just up in the air. This kind of goes along the line of no second guesses.

Where are the question marks in your life? Where do you need to take out the question marks? What are you uncertain about in your art, life, creativity? Where do you need to have a real plan in place instead of suggestions?

COVID & Smell

Last November my husband, both came down with the dreaded COVID-19.

I’m sure that we all have different symptoms and this new strain of the coronavirus affects everyone differently.

Thankfully, for me and my husband it was not much more than a head cold (I couldn’t help but think, ‘I TOOK TWO WEEKS OFF WORK FOR A HEAD COLD????!!!!!’).

We did lost our sense of taste and smell though.

Which wasn’t fun.

Thankfully, it only lasted about five days, which, as I’ve learned is on the short side. Most people, so I’ve heard, it’s about two weeks to a month.

Yikes.

But while our sense of smell and taste was gone, I felt God was showing me how much we’re like HIM.

How much we’re made in HIS image.

God sees.

God hears.

God feels.

God smells.

And if God smells, then doesn’t He taste too, since they’re connected?

Losing my sense of smell and taste made me realize again how much I am made in the image of God (And not God in our image).

I wasn’t expecting that little renewed revelation, but it was sweet.

And made me more thankful to finally get my taste and smell back.

Book List: 2018

I don’t how far back my book lists will go, but here’s another one for 2018.

What I read in 2018:

‘The Outlaws of Sherwood’ by Robin McKinley (By far my favorite, very favorite Robin Hood version)

‘Good Manufacturing Practices’ by Marie Gale (Boring as all get out and had to force myself to read, but it is a must read for small manufacturing companies like I own)

‘Ella Minnow Pea’ by Mark Dunn (A re-read for me and one for all the word-lovers out there. Very clever, if a bit odd)

‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ by Alexander Dumas (The full unabridged version. Uh…I can see why they shortened the movie. Good and I understand he got paid by the word count, but wow…so much that really wasn’t pertinent to the revenge plot)

‘Steal like an Artist’ by Austin Kleon (Love. So, so good for stoking the creative fire in you)

‘The Robe’ by Lloyd C. Douglad (Classic and one of my all-time favorites. This was my third read and my husband and I read it out loud together)

‘The Barbarian Way’ by Erwin McManus (Eh…alright, but nothing that really rocked my world)

‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ by C.S. Lewis (Obviously I’ve read these before, but my husband hadn’t, so we did these as a read-aloud. Love, love, love)

“Little House in the Ozarks’ by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Enjoyed)

‘Free to Live’ by John Eldredge (Like the McManus book I read earlier, nothing really life changing. If I wanted to change my life, I’d read the Bible. And I say that because the Bible has changed my life)

‘The Family Nobody Wanted’ by Helen Doss (Very, very cool)

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee (Classic. Couldn’t put it down)

‘Revolution in World Missions’ by K.P. Yohanan (Good, but he harped on how much money the Western world had and how much they needed to give it all to other countries — for the gospels sake, of course — so it got old. Maybe it was harping, or maybe it was guilt-tripping…???)

‘Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus’ by Nabeel Qureshi (Wow. Another one I couldn’t put down)

‘The E-Myth Revisited’ by Michael Gerber (Good biz book, especially if you’re just starting)

Erasing Memories

Losing someone you love is hard; although that may seem like an obvious statement.

The week after my dad passed, being at my parents house, I came face to face with things my dad left behind.

The night he passed — his glasses sitting on the loveseat, broken. ‘Who’s glasses are these?’, I wondered, and then I knew. My dad’s.

The next day, Saturday, I didn’t want to clean up his empty food containers, syringes and measuring cup on the counter by the sink. I couldn’t it. It was too hard. And then, on Sunday, I arrive at my parents and I noticed that everything had been cleared away.

Sunday, walking into the play room at my parents — my dad’s hat, coat, scarf sitting on the radiator, waiting, right where he left them.

A day or two later — while helping my mom pick out an outfit for the service, I noticed a piece of paper with a sketch, dad’s handwriting, regarding the fence he was in the process of putting up around their house.

My dad’s clothes in his closet, his handkerchiefs sitting on his dresser…all reminders of him…

And as time continues and these reminders of him are cleared away, given away, moved, changed…I feel like we’re erasing the memories of him.

Now I know that is not specifically true, but it seems like it.

And to my heart, at this moment, it feels true.

I will always treasure my dad. And losing him, and moving his stuff around, as time continues to pass here on earth, feels like I’m somehow erasing him…even though I’m not.

Writing

I know I’ve already said a couple times that I’ve come to the realization this past year that I am a writer.

I have owned it.

I really, really, really believe that God has given me this realization, even though it may come as no surprise to anyone but myself.

So, now, what do I do? What do I do with this self-revelation that I am a writer?

The obvious answer is to write.

I know I will keep blogging (Or ‘writing’ as I like to say. ‘Blogging’ just sounds so…preppy).

At my dad’s funeral service a couple weeks ago, I stood in front of everyone and gave a eulogy that I had written.

At the end of the service, as people were lining up to pay their respects to my dad, a long-time friend came up to me and gave me an encouragement that may have changed my life.

She reminded me that I had told her, back 20 or 25 years ago when I was a teenager, that what I wanted to do in life was be a writer.

I had forgotten about that.

I had forgotten that I wanted to be a writer.

I barely even remember telling her this.

But she remembered.

And she reminded me.

At the end of 2020 I was thinking a lot about my biz, and ‘How do I use my strengths in my biz????’

Because so often I feel like I’m failing in business…slow sales, slow motivation for me to market, slow, slow, slow…everything is slow…

But! I can write.

One of my strengths that I can use in business is writing.

Why don’t I start a blog?

A little voice in my head says, ‘But you started a blog. And it was hard. And you took it down. It wasn’t working.’

But that was before, really before, I discovered that I can write.

So I’m mulling over all this at the end of December; writing, starting a biz blog (Again), strengths, etc.

And then my friend reminds me of me wanting to be a writer when I was a teenager.

She was reminded simply because of the eulogy I shared.

And everything clicked it seemed.

And through tears I told her thank you, thank you, thank you.

I really felt that it was confirmation from the Lord…everything that I had been thinking about as far as my strengths and writing went…I felt the trajectory of my life change in that moment.

Confirmation from the Lord is a sweet, sweet thing.

This past Sunday I had a little melt down about life. Poured all my frustration out to my very patient husband. I was frustrated with my job.

‘I want to write my Squeaky books’, I said. (Squeaky is my favorite stuffed mouse that I’ve had since I was like five).

‘So write them’, Adam said.

Again, a light bulb is going off.

Ok. I am a writer, I want to write adventure books about Squeaky, so why don’t I?

So, Sunday, I started.

I don’t care if I become a writer who gets paid for what I write. I’m not really looking to make a career out of writing. I just want to fulfill my God-given calling of writing, whatever that may look like.

If that means blogging, writing Squeaky books and self-publishing, so be it. As long as I’m doing what God gave me to do, that enough for me.

If I had a Million Dollars

What would I do if I won a million dollars?

I know a million dollars, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t very much. But still, it’s a sizeable amount and much more than I have at this present moment.

This is what I’d do with it:

I have a heart for restoration. People, places, things, houses.

Houses.

I love houses.

Old houses, mostly.

And I love old, empty houses that need restoration and rehabbing.

Houses that have character, charm, a story, and history to share with you, no matter what condition they’re in.

My dad had the knack of looking at an old, empty builiding and envisioning it to be more than what it what at the present moment.

He could see the potential in a house or building that was falling apart. He saw the character, the charm, the story.

I have inherited some of that from him.

I can see the beauty in an old, empty, falling apart house and envision what it could be.

And whereas my dad actually had the skill and the know-how TO DO it (And what skill he didn’t have he contracted out), I don’t.

I can see the potential of broken down buildings, but I’m lacking the skill.

So what would I do with the million?

I would buy a house that needed rehabbing.

I would contract out the work to local companies, overseeing the process and making decisions, but leaving the actual hands-on work to the contractors (Simply bc I lack the know-how).

Once the house was finished I’d furnish it with eclectic finds from thrift stores and estate sales. For fun and to practice my interior decorating and design skills.

Then I’d sell it (And if if buyers want any of the eclectic furniture or goods, I’d write that into the house contract).

Once it’s sold, I would start the process over again.

Buying a house in need of rehabbing in a neighborhood that needs some restoration.

Contracting out the work to local companies.

Furnishing it.

Selling it.

And starting again. And again and again and again and again and…

I’d do this now, today, but I lack the capital. The million would be the capital to actually do it.

Now, one thing I would say is that my dad never had a million dollars (At one time anyway). But he owned at least nine builidings in his lifetime (If I’m remembering correctly) and at least three of those were pretty much gut rehabs. The others he was continually working on, bringing out the character, charm and potential he saw in all of them and adding his own classic and creative flair throughout.

I say I lack the capital, but do I? I say I lack the know-how, but do I?

When my husband and I prayer walk through neighborhoods that have need of some restoration, I’m constantly on the lookout for a building, albeit a small one, to buy. To restore. To rehab. To furnish, then to sell. And then do it again.

And one house, and then another house, in neighborhoods that need some TLC, can make a world of difference.

I don’t know if my husband is 100% on board with me doing this in our current financial state, which is why a million would be helpful.

Anywho, that’s what I’d do.

What would you do if you won a million dollars?

Book List: 2019

What I read in 2019:

‘Refugee’ by Alan Gratz (A page turner)

‘Joyful’ by Ingrid Fetell Lee (I loved this book, although she has a lot of evolutionistic thoughts that I didn’t agree with. However, the designer and creative person in me was satisfied. Very beautiful).

‘Walt Disney’s Missouri’ by Burnes, Butler & Viets (I started reading some about Disney out of pure curiosity, not bc I’m a big Disney fan, because how did one man create such an entertainment empire??!)

‘Cozy Minimalist Home’ by Myquillyn Smith (A simplistic interior design book with lots of easy and practical advice for the novice/lay designer…ie, yours truly)

‘The Blue Sword’ by Robin McKinley (Love her stuff and this is one of my favorites. Good vacation reading and makes me want to write a fantasy novel)

‘Johnny Tremain’ by Esther Forbes (Classic)

‘The Dean’s Watch’ by Elizabeth Goudge (My parents recommended this one to me; they both read it. Now, after my dad has passed, it makes me feel sad…such a good book — I feel like the main character, the Dean, was like my dad. Had visions for so much in life. Always doing something. Always kind)

‘The Grass Harp’ by Truman Capote (Short story. I had never read anything by Capote, but after this one, don’t know if I’d be inclined to read another. Just, eh, in my opinion)

‘The Cathedral of the Wild’ by Boyd Varty (Ummm….can I go to S. Africa and stay at his resort??? This book is one of the most fascinating I’ve read and maybe bc it’s so different from my life. Crazy true stories. Couldn’t put it down)

‘The Divine Romance’ by Gene Edwards (I love his take on Biblical stories)