food, crochet, merriment
Honestly, wasn’t this just yesterday?!
Somehow, while we weren’t looking…
we got here.
So incredibly proud of these two sweet, smart, wonderful kids.
It all goes by so crazy fast.
But the love has always been the same, from there to here.
With all my heart and with all the next big, beautiful steps…
Beckham and Lily…
I love you.
Grammy
You may see this picture and think–what on earth am I looking at here?
I’ll tell you. You are looking at a hole in the rock facade on my front porch, that used to have a doorbell in it.
NOW however, what it has is a creepy hole, with creepy wires poking out, that could easily be hiding a creepy spider family just waiting for some unsuspecting person to fish around in there for a doorbell…so they can pounce and eat their fingers off.
Well, I wouldn’t do it. And neither would anyone else. So, instead, people knock. Which is fine enough but I don’t always hear that knock because it’s kinda quiet and then I miss stuff…and all the people who think I’m not home…
or deaf.
Then, here comes Josh–my friendly neighborhood fix-it guy who also just happens to be my sweet son-in-law. He measures and fiddles around and measures and fiddles around some more. He comes and goes a few times. He says, “Darn it” a couple of times and leaves again only to come back with…
a magically created doorbell button and a plate that fills up that silly hole in the rock space! Take THAT spiders!! It’s even lighted!! *Squeal!!*
WHAT?!! How did he even DO that?!
I’ve lived here for 10-1/2 years and have never had a real doorbell. Ok, there was a doorbell on the inside of my house…
but you just ignore something like that when it looks all fancy-schmancy but doesn’t actually work. Duh.
NOW, however, not only does it work, but it sounds like a rich lady’s house.
So if you come over–don’t knock!! Ring the bell, and wait for my butler to answer the door. Or, I’ll see that it’s you and actually answer the door myself.
That’s how some rich, fancy-schmancy ladies do it, you know.
PS– Thanks Josh!!! I LOVE it!!!
This is my latest Copy Cat, made for a friend of mine to give her sister-in-law, whose kitty had passed away.
This was one complicated kitty. And whether or not you can tell…
I do try very, very hard…
to get all the patches and stripes and colors to match the real kitty…
as closely as I can.
I hope it brings a little speck of happiness and comfort while she’s missing her sweet little friend.
PS–if you know anyone who needs a Copy Cat of their favorite kitty–contact me at Launi@graciousrain.com
Ever since I was a kid, growing up in Los Angeles–I’ve been great–perfect even, at keeping very still when a stranger knocks on my door. We didn’t live in a particularly great part of town and I knew better than to just fling the front door open at any and every knock when, as my mother explained, “we have no idea who is on the other side of the door and what they really want.
It scared me sufficiently.
My sister and I even got good at ducking down fast so that we couldn’t be seen from the outside.
When I was a young mom, I got braver because…well, now I lived in Utah and it was safer to open the door. Right? Well, that’s what I thought.
While I admit, I was never threatened or frightened at my own front door in Orem or Provo or Lindon or American Fork–I did end up buying a billion dollars worth of stuff that I really didn’t need, all because I didn’t want to be rude to the nice kid on the porch.
That, my friends is costly politeness. Something had to be done.
So, I went back to the stop, drop and roll method from my childhood and quit answering the door again…for years.
*Sigh.* There had to be a better way.
Enter Etsy and the cute little shop called Lisabees.
This sweet gal made me a couple of No Soliciting signs for my door that ward off the too kind and too cute sales folks without me having to do anything! And the best part is that I don’t even feel guilty about it because the sign is so cute that it’s actually…you know…polite. Perfectly polite. Checks all the boxes for somebody like me.
Now, you may think that another easy solution would be for me to just learn to say, “no.”
Insert gutteral laughter here.
Pretty sure saying no is a maturity level that I haven’t reached yet.
Don’t wait for it.
Heh.
Oh, this awesome guy. He is so good at this beloved game.
This kid ‘s been able to do something that he loves with passion and intensity for most of his life.
All the work, all the practice, all the long hours, all the practice, all the injuries, all the practice, all the recovery time, all the practice—
has helped make him the awesome guy that he is today–on the field and off.
And even though this is the view I usually get–(my poor Grammy eyes!) and I often have to be told what’s actually happening moment by moment…
still…
I do know incredible when I see it.
along with everybody else.
