Seeing the Path

I, like many others, believe that God is in control and that there is a reason for the things that happen in our lives.  Having said that - sometimes it is very hard to see the reason or purpose and I confess sometimes I just whine!!  I am going to share my latest "oh, that was the reason" moment with you, and the nearly year long trail of occurrences that didn't come together until now. 

Starting last summer when the 14 year old, paid for, car died and had to be towed to the house.  We went and looked at new and used cars and had the most awful experience with a dealership and the "you need to buy today and pay a huge interest rate guy".  Both Hubby and I agreed that the thought of a loan for an old car just made us sick, we prayed about it and we got the old car we already owned fixed......

The old car with 217,000 miles on it was the subject of a recall.  We went in in December and got the airbags replaced.....

Hubby goes to job fairs and looks for the perfect part time job for the 'older' retiree, and visits with the vendors and collects pens and magnets and sometimes gets food - and he has fun doing it.  So he goes to the job fair and starts talking to the insurance recruiter and tells her about his wife (me) who is a licensed agent, not working for anyone right now and all my many years of experience, and she asks for my phone number and he starts to think - maybe he should check with me first and takes her card for me to call her if I'm interested.  We prayed about it,  I did call and got the perfect little part time job (!)- 15 hours or so a week, easy commute, 5hrs a day, 3 days a week, and I'm training new agents who are building their agencies - it's kind of a trainer/den mother job (they are all the age of my kids and younger and male!)  So now we have a little extra money coming in starting in December - just before Christmas - this is kind of fun.......

This was just the side of the rock!

The tire and wheel were toast!

For Christmas our friend gave us a really fun sounding gift - a 'sleigh ride' with a chuckwagon type dinner included, at one of the local mountain resorts!  This has been a banner year for snow and it sounded awesome.  The day of our trip it looked like rain in the lower elevations and snow in the mountains so we were hoping for the roads not to be too bad, we prayed for safe travels and took the old car up to the snow,  there was about 12 inches of snow on the ground and it rained - not sprinkled, but rained, hard, driving, cold nearly freezing rain!!  We were so cold, the ride was wet and cold, the food was good, but we were just ready to get home and put on dry clothes.  We headed home in the rain and fog, driving slowly, I came around a corner and there was a boulder about the size of a deer in the road, oncoming traffic, on a 2 lane mountain road, one side was a mountain and the other side was the cliff down to the river!!  I could not avoid the boulder but only hit the side, the airbags deployed, (and we were glad they were new) we were shaken but we walked away.  The small mountain town was very nice and people stopped to check on us, we have AAA etc. We headed for home about 7pm we finally got there about 11pm!  But now we were pretty sure that the insurance company would total our car!  We were right, but the adjuster was wonderful, they gave us a little more than what I expected, and now we had a check in our hands....

There went the new airbags!

2014 Toyota Corolla - isn't it cute?

With the memory of our previous bad experience in our minds we made a list - how much, what kind of cars, (we would not be pressured!) - and we set out to see a dealership here and there, maybe taking a week or two we thought.  We still had the truck after all and even though it doesn't get the best gas mileage - it runs.  We headed out for our first foray into the car buying world that Saturday morning and went to the Toyota dealership closest to our house, we prayed for wisdom and got out of the truck.  The nicest guy talked to us about what we would like to get, showed us exactly what we asked to look at and when we asked what the payment would be he gave us the exact amount we had on our list!  We told him we needed to think and he was very nice and told us he would be there any time we called and gave us his cell number.  We went home and thought about it for a little bit, we both felt so good about it,  we decided that it was everything on our list - but if we got there and they jacked up the price or anything we agreed to walk out together.  We prayed about it again.  We drove home with the car we wanted for $14 a month more than we had hoped, but it is a certified used car with an extended warrantee.  It is pristine and looks new. 

We now have the car we needed, the money to pay for it and the old car was worth more as a total loss than it would have been as a trade in!  The airbags were new so we did not suffer some of the horror stories of injuries from them.  We now have a reliable car that we are not afraid to take to visit the kids and Miss Lily!  I hope that our story will help the next time something happens and you get the urge - like me - to say  "really Lord?  Are you sure!?"    ;)
God is good!!!  (and thankfully he knows what he is doing!)




Since I mentioned her - here is a photo of Miss Lily (and her Daddy) when the Super Bowl was just too long!!    :)

Home Sick....not homesick!!

So New Years Day I knew I was sick just didn't know what it was yet, went to the Dr and as suspected it is/was a sinus infection, an 'acute' sinus infection (there is no 'cute' sinus infection trust me).  The nurse practitioner was great and said she would give me an antibiotic to kick the infection fast...so I'm reading the insert that come with all the drugs these days and under 'uses of' it has listed several things including sinus infections, and to my surprise - airborne anthrax and bubonic plague!  I am feeling particularly safe this week!!

In case you have never had a sinus infection let me clue you in, these are boring, because you feel fine except for the head full of gunk, no body aches, no flu like symptoms.  What you are is kind of slow witted and tired but able to do things as long as you don't bend over and fill up your head again!!  As you get better you feel even better but you can't go anywhere or do anything as you've been told to rest. (And hubby acted like he had a badge from the health department!!)

Simple tasks were on the menu and here is how I have spent my week -

Since one of my goals this year is to step up my game in the crochet arena, I started a new project using by far the most complicated pattern yet and what do I find?  Once you break it all down into rows it is just not that complicated...as long as you don't lose count!

 These two fabrics were in the half price bin at Joann's and I had a coupon for an additional 20% off so a vest of the purple velour and a pullover shirt of the jersey-like print.  I even remembered to watch the nap and it came out correct!  Love the color!





Got these silly things off my to do list finally!  I had seen a DIY thing somewhere on the net  (apologies to the clever person who came up with it) I took the old unlined curtains from the back doors and rolled them around old blankets and towels mostly old baby blankets, (yes my 'baby' is 27, why do you ask?) then tacked the edges together with regular needle and thread.  It was very simple and doesn't contain anything that will attract mice or cats!  (like beans or rice or kitty litter or sand!) 

Now that the holidays are over I can share the  "waterfall" vests that I made for 2 of the daughters-in-law.  These things are all over in the stores, just a big rectangle with holes for your arms.  I figured I could do it but was a little nervous!  Amber makes it look good! (this is Miss Lily's mom)

Daughter-in-law number one, Laura, was not good at requests last year at Christmas and she did not ask for much so I felt guilty and she got a crocheted hooded robe/blanket/poncho, how did that happen?  Well I tried my own pattern and it grew! (it's huge and really soft!)





There - that is all caught up I think, this week I will go back to my little part time job for the first time in two weeks (holidays and sick days) and I'm thinking I can do a few things that require a little more thought this week!!!  (Crossword puzzles are so hard when you can't hold a thought!)

Hope your week is lovely!

Happy 2016...and a little gift!

So today finished;  putting away of Christmas 2015, cleaning of the office/studio, and filling in all the birthdays and anniversaries I need to remember on my new wall calendar - Mom bought me a beautiful one from the Canadian Rockies when she was on her trip to Glacier National Park this fall!  It is breathtaking and I am going to enjoy looking at it all year!!  Watched the Rose Parade on TV this morning as I worked and marveled at the temperatures!  It was 60 (15C) in Los Angeles and we were at 6 (-14C) degrees this morning! 

Happy New Year to all, may your year be blessed.

Here is a gift for all of you who (like me) struggle to explain how someone is related to you!  I love genealogy and this has been a great tool for me!!  Enjoy...