designnarrative

this greeted me on my way to work…
so stunning I pulled over
then I heard a little voice in the back seat
praying a thank you to God
and asking for the day to be filled
with more “lovely suprises”

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I’m just not an animal person. My favorite animal is a lightning bug. They are fun to watch and never invade your personal space.

But this beautiful girl of mine has pined for a dog for years. Her first word at 9 months was "dog". For her 9th birthday, we decided it was time.

Bella is a lab mix from a local rescue.

Joey added a doggie door to the sunroom. We built a nice little fence.

She waited until we were off at work to jump said fence and run around our neighborhood. The next day we locked the doggie door while we went back to buy even more lumber to modify our fence. She escaped again.

And she refuses to eat dry dog food and she needs a night-light and she is so adored by our family. We now have a six-foot fence and she’s only escaped through the house and garage twice.

Ava says her middle name is Houdini. Bella Houdini Thompson has a nice ring.

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lately I’ve been overwhelmed
overwhelmed by news of yet another mass shooting
overwhelmed by total depravity
and it’s manifestation in the stories I hear everyday
overwhelmed by just stuff, we all have stuff

I’ve bowed out of an urban ministry, a fabulous urban ministry
I’ve bowed out of small group because I just can’t
see my own kids less than I do now
I’ve taken a personal day to do laundry, clean, and grocery shop
it’s just life and at times it’s hard….for everybody

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and beauty is there, in the hard, in the everyday

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I’ve been searching for a replacement door for the mudroom/ craft area for a while now. I even found one at a habitat re-store that I conned the hubs into installing…. only it was 2 inches too short.

Retail would be special order $$$ since our home was built in the fabulous 80s….

enter into a little gift of grace, a neighbor gave us the exact door I’ve been searching for, for free
I was singing “Shiny Happy People” from REM thus the mustardy-yellow submariney hue, it makes me shiny happy

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this weekend, we spent some time on my parents’ farm

I felt the salt soak back into my soul

the big boys worked on the carriage house electricity

the little boys worked in the gravel pile

there was birthday cake, yard sell milkglass, laughing with my aunts, demolition derby (Joe took one for the team by taking our kids while I watched HGTV with my mama), a hayride and blackberry cobbler

there’s no place like home

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(here is a totally unrelated pic of my mint simple syrup, equally fabulous in tea or mojitos)

I recently finished the Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I have to say it’s a quintessential summer read- thanks for the recommendation Jey! It has rich characterisation, several plot twists, and the overall theme of how we reinvent ourselves and at what cost that reinvention comes.

My 83-year-old grandfather just walked the aisle and said, “I do” for the fifth time. I wish the tough old bird and his new bride the best. Reinvention strikes again.

As I was painting my foyer and stairwell today, I thought much about identity and how we define ourselves. I couldn’t help but play a bit of what if:

what if I was a librarian with a goth look and a granny chic dress, sporting a Hello Kitty tatoo and a chip on my shoulder….

what if I was in academia and plagued by large stretches of monotony followed by political subterfuge and betrayal….

and that was when I determined I like my suburban life with my two kids, the hubs, and my school pycho, tatoo free life, no reinvention required. Thank you Benjamin Moore and Amor Towels.

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