OPAM September

Here is a sad, and completely gratuitous, photo of our sweet baby Dakota. I also have a semi-sad OPAM this month... because October crept up on me! Yes, it is the complete fault of October! I did NOT finish my baby quilt :( But I did a lot of knitting and am trying a new pattern for spa face cloths (pink in the photo below). So several washcloths and spa face cloths are my finished project for the month. I am considering selling them to a friend of a friend who sell soap and needs an extra goodie for packaging her soaps. I am making several samples to send to her... wish me luck! AND, I am hoping to get back to work on that quilt.

Elmer's and Xacto

I am part of a site called (www.bzzagent.com) and I am fortunate to get to test different types of products. I have tested food and make up, but imagine how excited I was to receive this kit filled with wonderful crafting goodies from Elmer's- Xacto!

I'm working on a couple of projects using these new tools!


If you are looking for ideas, go to Elmer's site for crafters...

I am filled with hate...

... for my dishwasher.

While this may seem humorous, I can tell you that this is real serious hatred. It is hatred toward that thing for not doing its job. I have to rinse and wipe my dishes before I use it. I have to rewash things if I find they weren't properly rinsed. I have to let things soak in my sink before I wash them. And I hate doing those things. I really do. I have complete disdain for dishes with food on them sitting in my sink. I feel like it is the beckoning invitation to bugs "come and eat". I hate that!

I hate it so much that I just seethe inside when I see dishes in the sink. But what does my hatred do to the dishwasher? Yep, you see where I am going... My hatred does not do a single solitary thing to that dishwasher. The object of my hatred does what it has always done, nothing. And it has no remorse. And what is my hatred doing to me? Well, probably raising my blood pressure, definitely making me procrastinate about the dishes, and making me generally disagreeable in the vicinity of that thing. Hate is like that. No matter what people are hating, it always hurts the hater more than the hatee. And it is always unproductive.

Before you clock me upside the head, I know as a Christian, I am supposed to hate evil (Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Romans 12:9). Now there may be a case to be made that my dishwasher is evil, but even if that's true; hatred is still tearing me up. Maybe that is how I know that the dishwasher is not evil.

So why am I holding on to the hate? I really don't know. I just know that it is truly hurting me more than it hurts the dishwasher. Is that productive? Ummm, let me think about that... NO! So, here I go, I am letting go of the hate! I think it may help my kitchen be a place of peace again. If it can do that for my kitchen, what can it do for my heart? And what about those other things, those other people, all the little "hates" we carry around with us? Yes, what do you hate that is only hurting you? It could be as silly as a dishwasher.

Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs. Proverbs 10:12