Tue, Sep 27th - 8:50PM

Whose fault is it?

One very sweet Christian lady just lost her husband.  But where was her son.  Here in town, but not available to his grieving mother.  In fact, the son won't even let his daughter visit his mother, the child's grandmother.  Even if the woman may not have been the model mother when her son was growing up.  She was a single mom.  Still, his actions are very wrong. 

My son married a Japanese Budhist.  He left his Christian roots.  Money appears to be his god now.  He makes lots of it. 

When his twin babies were born I volunteered to help with the babies for the first few weeks.  I am sorry that I did.  When the babies cried because they were colicky, I shared with the mom what I had learned the hard way.  My advice was not welcome.  She took it that I was critical of her skills.  In fact she let it be known through my son that I should not expect any financial help from them when I am old.   As if I had asked.  The mom has decided she doesn't want to see us anymore.    I thought that Japanese children were taught to be respectful of their elders.  Maybe that was a generation ago. 

I have not shared this about my twin grandchildren with anyon else before because it has been too painful.  Where have I gone wrong?  Or have I gone wrong at all?   Whose fault is it?  My son is obviously going along with his wife because he wants to. 

And whatever the short comings of the dear woman, whom I mentioned earlier, may have been, she does not deserve to be treated as she is.  What a world of sin we live in!     

Alice

http://www.wordsfromagarden.blogspot.com     

Fri, Sep 23rd - 7:39PM

I Think I Can

How does an old woman get herself into this kind of stuff?  The answer is that my husband is disabled.  So guess who is becoming the jack-of-all-trades?

 Before I finished writing my book, I was a seamstress.  I had a separate sewing room, with an outside entrance to that room.  That way my customers did not have to go into any part of my house when they brought me stuff to work on.  Well, since I finished writing the book, I have given up my sewing business.  I am spending my time now doing inter-net marketing and promotion for the book.  By the way, the title is BY HANDS OF STRANGERS.   And I am also doing free-lance writing for AllAboutGod.com which takes up a good bit of my time.

So  what is this jack-of-all trades I was talking about?  I cracked through the wall which was separating my former sewing room from the rest of the house.  Then I went to Lowe's home improvement center to buy a door.  I have the opening framed in already, but the door is not installed yet.  That will be Monday's work.  Sore!  Every muscle is complaining! 

But I feel a little bit like the little blue engine in the children's story, I Think I Can.  Little blue engine had a very important job to do, too hard for her she thought.  But there was no one else around to do it so she tried.  " I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."   After much chugging and panting she succeded.  Then she raced home " I thought I could. I thought I could. I thought I could."  I don't remember who the author was, but it is a good lesson.

Alice

http://www.wordsfromagarden.blogspot.com

Thu, Sep 22nd - 12:17PM

Soap

The homemade liquid laundry soap I made a few weeks ago is not liquid anymore.  There is a layer of hard soap floating on top of the liquid.  I am in the process of melting it down again.  I am writing this blog while I watch the pot.  Oopps, Help!  It's foaming out of the top of the kettle. Got to run and turn off the heat.

Did that.  Now when it cools down I will take a few cups full at a time and put it through the blender to get it emulsified a little better.  I didn't have to do that last time I made soap.  I wonder what I did wrong this time.

Why am I doing this?  My mother and my grandmothers for generations before me made their own soap.  Now that I am old myself, I am teaching myself the ancient ways.

My laundry soap is made by shaving a couple of bars of my homemade hand soap into a gallon of water, adding a cup of borax and a cup of washing soda and melting it together.  Igt really cleans quite well.  And I don't have to worry about harmful petro-chemicals that may be in commercial detergents.  I know what's in my soap.  And it is well cured and not harsh at all.

My laundry this morning will be done with my own soap as usual.

Alice

http://www.wordsfromagarden.blogspot.com

Thu, Sep 22nd - 11:52AM

Soap

The liquid home made laundry soap I made a few weeks ago is not liquid any more.  Hard soap has conglealed on the top and left the liquid on the bottom of the jug.  I am re-heateing it now to melt the soap befor blending it back into the liquid.  Oopps, Help!  The soap is foaming out of the top of the pot!  Got to run to turn off the heat and stir it back down.

Did that!  Now when it cools down to a lukewarm temperature, I will put a few cups full at a time, of that solution into the blender to get it more homogenized.  That's what I will do my laundry with this morning.

Why an I doing all of this?  My mother and my grandmothers for generations before me made their own soap, as well as doing almost everything else in a self -sufficient way.  Now that I am old myself, I am teaching myself the ancient ways.  I really feels good to be able to do that.

The laundry soap I am making is made by shaving a couple of bars of my homemade handsoap into a gallon of water, adding a cup of borax and a cup of washing soda, and melting it together.

I have been using it for a while.  It really cleans quite well.  And I don't have to worry about all the toxic petrochemicals I may be exposed to, like from commercial detergents.    I know what my soap is made of.  It is well cured and not harsh in the least bit.

Alice

http://www.wordsfromagarden.blogspot.com

Wed, Sep 21st - 9:03PM

I did it.

Created this site.  This is a very pretty looking template for a blog.  I like the rose motive.  Roses smell lovely and they look so beautiful but they also have thorns.  That's how it is in life.  There is always a thorn in every situation.  But that should not prevent you from enjoying the good things that life offers. 

Our church is in a three day fast.  Even though I have not been entirely faithful to it I am suffering from lack of eating.  In other words I am too tired to write more today.

Alice

http://www.wordsfromagarden.blogspot.com