A Perfect Evening's Musings

Mrs. Roy spent this evening on the back porch reading.  Yes, dear friends, it is January 24 and Mrs. Roy sat on the back porch all evening.  In fact, the bedroom window is open as Mrs. Roy types this post.  There is definitely something good about living in south Georgia!

As Mrs. Roy said, I have been enjoying coffee along with a good book this evening - decaf, of course, since Mr and Mrs. Roy aren't as young as they used to be and caffeine is no longer our friend.  sigh  Oh well.  There is still something so relaxing and fulfilling about a cup of coffee and the peace and quiet and a good story.  Mrs. Roy enjoys that much more than the surround sound big screen experience Mr. Roy loves so much. 

Mrs. Roy also mused about the fact that Mrs. Roy is reading a .99 cent book from the book warehouse and Mrs. Roy's mom is reading a 9.99 digital book on her Kindle.  Mom loves her Kindle but Mrs. Roy doesn't really feel a need to join in on that just yet.

Mrs. Roy did get a little tickled this evening as Mrs. Roy's mother got dressed to go out for the evening while Mrs. Roy put on her pj's and grabbed the coffee and book aforementioned.  Mom is busy all the time, running here and there and doing this and that.  Mrs. Roy just wants to come home from work and rest.  It didn't used to be that way; seems there was always something to do a few years ago.  But it is nice to come home and relax and slow down; Mrs. Roy enjoys not having something to do every minute.  Just watching Mom go is entertainment enough.  ha

All these musings have led to thoughts of contentment and yes, Mrs. Roy is content.  It is a blessing to be able to find contentment in our home and simple pleasures.  Thank you, Lord.  Life is good.

Just A Little Bit At A Time

Occasionally, Mrs. Roy can be a real pig.  Like during the holidays with all those goodies sitting around and the perfect excuse to cook casseroles smothered in cheese and dinner rolls as a snack.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Roy is now carrying around the remnants of that excess on various and sundry body parts better not mentioned.  And thus begins what has become Mrs. Roy's January tradition - watching what Mrs. Roy eats.

Mrs. Roy has discovered that a little bit at a time is a good rule of thumb for eating.  Small meals or snacks several times a day of the right kinds of foods really can make a big difference.  And changing just a few little things along the way makes a difference, too.  Mrs. Roy has given up her morning poptart in favor of whole wheat cinnamon toast.  Sodas are replaced with water.  The bread had to go.  Baked potatoes only get butter instead of butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon bits.  Less meat helps, too.  Mrs. Roy might get real ambitious and add a little exercise but there's no need to go crazy just yet!

Mrs. Roy knows that just a little bit at a time works in other parts of life, too.  If Mrs. Roy cleans just a little bit of the house each day, it never gets out of hand.  Putting $1 a day in a savings jar results in a healthy stash by vacation time.  A few minutes blogging or journaling every day keep writing from becoming a task.  One load of laundry every now and then is much better than an all-day marathon of washing, drying, folding and putting away.  And Mrs. Roy is toying with the idea of putting one item every day in a give-away box; that would mean 365 pieces of stuff out of the house by the end of the year!  Mrs. Roy might even find at least one piece of garbage to throw away each day for 365 days.  Wouldn't that be fun!  Actually, Mrs. Roy has blogged about this before - with the 100 day challenge.  You can check out the previous entries by clicking the label below.

Mrs. Roy even has some sewing and quilting projects that need to be handled a little bit at a time.  Mrs. Roy got to do some hand quilting today and got batting cut out for a couple of other projects.  Fifi over at her blog is working her way through some great projects just a little bit at a time.

So how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time, of course.  And that Mrs. Roy's way of doing things, too.

Life is good.

My verse for 2012

Every year for the past dozen or so, Mrs. Roy has chosen a Bible verse to live by for the year.  It's not very scientific; Mrs. Roy prays about it and looks around for verses that speak to where I am at that point in my life and then Mrs. Roy tries to apply that verse for a whole year.  Some years Mrs. Roy gets bored with it and has to go back and look up the verse in July just to remember what it is.  Some year the verse takes hold and really changes Mrs. Roy in some way.  It was like that last year, as Mrs. Roy tried to be more open to whatever God brought my way. 

Anyway, this year's verse is about being a Godly example to the young women in Mrs. Roy's life.  It is amazing, not to mention intimidating, that God has very intentional instructions for Mrs. Roy at this point in my life!  Mrs. Roy is constantly amazed at how God is into the details of our lives!

The verses Mrs. Roy has chosen are Titus 2:3-5:

 ³ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴ Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Mrs. Roy can tell it's going to be a great year!

CHEAP SHELVING. REAL CHEAP SHELVING.

See, Mrs. Roy had a need for some shelves in a corner of the walk-in attic. And there were two large stacks of old college textbooks and skateboard magazines (which have been abandoned by Mrs. Roy's favorite son) sitting in the way. So a quick check in Mr. Roy's shop revealed some sufficiently wide shelving boards and Mrs. Roy soon had a very servicable shelving unit AND got rid of the useless book and magazine stacks. Now those books and magazines are supporting Mrs. Roy's shelves and everyone is happier for it.

 

A couple of soda flats sitting around work very nicely as pull out drawers, making Mrs. Roy's t-shirts and shorts much more accessible.

Mrs. Roy's daughter gave me a wonderful set of lined baskets for Christmas and three of them are now part of the shelving unit, holding small items and miscellaneous.  Aren't they beautiful?

Yes, those are old VCR tapes now creating a support pillar for the shelving unit.  If you want to use this idea somewhere other than attic space (like somewhere where people would actually see it), you could wrap the VCR tapes (and books) in pretty wrapping paper to coordinate with your decorating theme. 

If any of you have bought a college textbook lately, you know this may actually be the most expensive shelving unit in the universe!  But since they were just collecting dust in the corner, Mrs. Roy is very happy to put them to use holding up shelves.  Mrs. Roy did try to sell some of these textbooks online but after a couple of years, the schools update their book lists and these editions were not longer usable.  And why didn't Mrs. Roy's son sell these back at the time?  Don't know, maybe he did.  End result is Mrs. Roy has very "smart" shelves in the attic.

 

Life is definitely good.