Gravel Road Musings

And my baby is one. This post is the opposite of normal-- It has a lot of pictures and not many words. This was actually just an extra cake that I served the next evening at my family's get together. A rainbow cake-- see why below. Some one-on-one with Daddy after he was gone ALL WEEK long. She was quite neat about it, but then with Amber food belongs in her mouth, nowhere else. She didn't get to eat the whole cake. I thought that would have been way too much of a sugar overload. She was obsessed with this card, as in it was the first thing "she" opened and we had to hide the card to get her to open anything else. She posed perfectly for the pictures, just relaxed and willing to cooperate. Can't wait to see the rest of them.

So I didn't post yesterday. I don't know that anybody noticed or anything, but I did. Because I'm supposed to post on Thursday, but between rushing to get this finished in the morning and then just sort of relaxing and doing pretty much nothing in the afternoon, it didn't happen. I even have a post written that just needed to be published, but oh well. This is still my blog and so I can do what I want on it. Probably the biggest thing is me anyway. I determined to do this on Thursdays and I missed a Thursday.  We won't go into any psychoanalysis now. There's not time. Okay, so for the second part of Amber's birthday gift, I made her a quiet book. I should probably say, "am still making" her a quiet book. The book got smaller and smaller as we went along. A word of caution here: if you ever decide to make a quiet book (this is my second try at one), start before the deadline. I got started about 2-3 weeks ago. Let's just say these things ...

Oh my, this book defines chick flick in my opinion. Big city, money tycoon, Colt, comes crawling back to his dad's ranch after losing his money in a Ponzi scheme (however you spell that). Of course, he and his dad don't get along, but the dad, Sam, has had a change of heart in part due to ill health and in part due to his housekeeper, Angelina, a former cop who's hiding her family. He comes crawling back and instantly turns into this wonderful cowboy with a heart for others and wanting to reach out and make a difference and of course the housekeeper and he fall madly in love. Add in a few misunderstandings, accidents, and a fire and you have the story. But really, I was able to pull some good out of this book as well. Forgiveness and second chances. God extends them to us as long as we are alive and we would do well to accept and move forward a changed person.  After the romance, that is the next prevailing theme of the book and I would give the author much kudos in ...

I'm rereading a book called "Longing for Paris" by Sarah Mae.  It's a good book. I did a review on it earlier. I've come to realize that while I have the desire to do right and to do good things, I still have a carnal nature to fight against.  I am longing for a deeper relationship with God. I want to know Him more. I want Him to control my life, to direct my thoughts, and to be the central Person to my world. In my heart, I know that is the only thing that will bring me true peace and that will enable me to live my life in a loving, gentle and kind way. I struggle with being kind and loving and caring and all other good characteristics!! I know, that's a real news flash, especially to those who live close to me. But I want more. The chapter I was reading this morning talks about her longing to know God more, to meditate, to feel His presence. I don't want to infringe on her copyright, but I want to share a few things that spoke to me. Some I will sa...

Okay, I'll be honest. I picked this book because you can't just not pick a book to read right? I didn't really want to read it. It didn't stand out to me as my style of book.  But.... I really liked this book. D even looked at it and thought he would enjoy reading it and I think he would too.  If you like Dee Henderson and Janice Cantore, then I think you would like this book. I have never head of Dani before but this is her fifth book I believe. It starts in hard and fast and plows headlong into the story. A body is uncovered at the Gettysburg Park and whoever killed her doesn't want the body identified. You are following the plot through, are convinced you know the killer and what is going to happen and then with about a quarter of the book left, she switches it around to a killer you never even saw.  Of course, there are close calls, but none of the main characters are killed though one is injured. It's still a fiction book!!!  But highly entertaining a...

So after exclaiming over something so excitedly there's always that hesitancy then when showing others because you wonder if they will find your idea/project/thought/etc. as exciting as you did. So we'll start off with a pick of the little munchkin which I see turned out a little blurry. This is tin foil tube that she was able to stick in her mouth and hang on to with her teeth and no hands. She must have some seriously strong teeth.  These are the blocks I made for her for her birthday. Many long years ago my brother made the plain wooden blocks. I painted them, covered them with scrapbook paper and then put a capital letter, lowercase letter, number that corresponds to that letter's placement in the alphabet, a shape, a picture that starts with that letter of the alphabet and a plain square. As you can also see they lean just a bit because of the layers on them. Next time I would maybe trying painting the letters on rather than using cardstock. I have...

This is one of those books that I'm left shaking my head and nodding it both at the same time. I'm simply not sure what to make of it. First off, I don't classify it as a real Christian book. Yes, the character who died seemed to have a faith in God, but it wasn't mentioned a lot. The main character spend most of the book ranting at God. And the language wasn't what I expected in a Christian book published by a Christian publishing company. So in that regard, I was a little disappointed. I was hoping for a bit more depth. On the other hand, the depth of the friendship of these three women is a rare find. They did everything together, actually they did too much together in my mind. I have some really good friends, but there is no way they would accompany me to all of my prenatal visits and to the birth of my child. Sorry guys, no can do!! And there is no way I would go with them to theirs. Actually that whole idea is so preposterous it can make me laugh. But on...