An Example of Low Cost Design Ideas

image from 30 Low-Cost Cabinet Makeovers, Better Homes & Gardens

As mentioned in a previous post, using a painting, or in this case a poster from which to draw your design inspiration, shows how an old kitchen can be modernized with just a coat of paint. Adding just one mug in the same sunny yellow ties the entire «look» together. Again whether you are just starting out or simplifying your life, using color choices to weed out, replace or renew can create harmony and peace.

A Treasure From the Past …

Love God...

Reverence your parents.
Submit to your superiors.
Despise not your inferiors.
Be courteous to your equals.
Pray daily & devoutly.
Converse with the good.
Imitate not the wicked.
Be always desirous of learning.
Study virtue & embrace it.
Provoke nobody.
Restrain your tongue.
Covet future honor, which only virtue & wisdom can procure.

In 1834, the Massachusettes Sabbath School Society borrowed from a book called The School of Good Manners, which had been around for over a century, to publish a few rules of behavior for their children.

This message was shared on Barbara Sarudy's blog, It's About Time. Barbara shares many photos, paintings and architectural wonders of the American past through her several blogs--living in the East does have it's advantages.

Design for Life -or- How to Save Money

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." — William Morris

The fame of Morris during his life was probably somewhat obscured by the variety of his accomplishments. In all his work after he reached mature life there is a marked absence of extravagance, of display, of superficial cleverness or effectiveness, and an equally marked sense of composition and subordination. Thus his poetry is singularly devoid of striking lines or phrases, and his wall-papers and chintzes only reveal their full excellence by the lastingness of the satisfaction they give. wikipedia

In college in East Texas I was on the cleaning crew sent to spiff up the Vice-Chancelor's home prior to his arrival for Fall classes. The foreman of the crew showed me the ceramic rooster, whose colors had been used to decorate the entire house. It was my first experience in seeing a color-coordinated home--every item, no matter how small, had been chosen from the rooster's palette. Later in life I have come to see that it costs no more to choose a blue item than an orange item. The question is--which will go with everything else already in one's possession.

If you are just starting out in life, or training your daughters, gain exposure to beautiful things; china patterns, quilt designs, paintings, carpets and fabrics. Walk through designer homes, showrooms, and store displays and stand at the magazine counter and look through the magazines for months before you buy the one that has the items or overall look that has come to be you. Then consciously build your trousseau and hope chest with only those items that suit you. Not only will you save money, but you will be able to learn how to make many of the items you need and want; you'll be able to buy them on sale, saving not only money but frustration in having too much and not enough of the best and right things.

If you're older and stuck with a lot of mis-matched stuff, educate your eye and get in touch with your heart and choose what's really become you and sell or give away what isn't you. Simplify your life and keep or acquire only those items you need and love. Plain living does not have to be sombre to be simple, but it does mean living without excess. Enjoy getting to know yourself …

Never judge a book but its cover …

Overnight singing sensation, Susan Boyle, is truly the wakeup call we've all been needing. She is the embodiment of the failing of judging by appearances «for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).» What a shame it would have been for Susan to go to her grave never to have shared with the world her amazing voice.

Thanks be to God that He has allowed the technology of the internet and YouTube--and now, even after 10 years in obscurity, we can all hear Susan sing again in a resurrected rendition of Cry Me a River.

«*Boyle has shattered prejudices about the connection between age, appearance and talent. She has proved that you don't have to be young and glamorous to be talented, and recognised as such.

Lisa Schwarzbaum, writer for US celebrity magazine Entertainment Weekly, said the performance was a powerful reality check.
She wrote: "In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging - the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts - the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace.
"She pierced my defences. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective."


"Susan Boyle is the ugly duckling who didn't need to turn into a swan; she has fulfilled the dreams of millions who, downtrodden by the cruelty of a culture that judges them on their appearance, have settled for life without looking in the mirror."»

But Boyle herself also said she wouldn't want the instant fame to change her.
"I wouldn't want to change myself too much because that would really make things a bit false," she said Friday in an interview with CNN. "I want to receive people as the real me, a real person."

*quoted from BBC article.

I dreamed a dream …

My cap is off to Susan Boyle … never give up!

Today, while the promise still stands … choose life … be a doer

When the sons of God mature sufficiently that they are no longer interested in playing pretend with the Lord but are interested in actually understanding the mysteries of God, then these sons of God begin to peel back the deception of the Adversary (who has deceived the whole world — Rev 12:9) and reveal previously unknown levels of linguistic precision in Scripture. But this can only occur because meaning is assigned to linguistic icons (i.e., words). Thus as the person matures and is no longer an infant or small child, the meanings that the son of God is able to assign to already familiar words change and become more complex … if words had hard-linked meanings, then the first time a passage is read all of the meaning contained in the passage would be grasped. There would never be the need to reread a passage for there would be nothing further to be gained by rereading the words. But as any Bible student knows, this is simply not true concerning Scripture (or any other literary text): every time a passage is read, more is taken from the passage for the person doing the reading is not then the same person mentally as the one who read the passage before. The person will have grown in some way—unless of course, the person continues to play pretend with the Lord and is too young to actually read the words on the page but must rely upon someone else to tell this small child what the passage says.
    Age old questions resurface when one reads more than the panel of the cereal box on the kitchen table or the "only approved" literature list from one's current affiliation. As the Apostle Paul noted in Romans 7, verses 15-21 … “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” (ESV)
    «The(se) paradoxes are present in Hamlet, where they have been raised to the power of so many tragic truths: tragic because they point directly to as many appalling contradictions in the nature of things. Appearance contradicts reality, words contradict deeds, behavior contradicts purpose; nothing is what it appears to be, and nothing endures, least of all the high dedication of a passionate moment.

What to ourselves in passion we purpose,
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose. (III.ii.206-7)

… Ironically enough, it is the other King, the one of shreds and patches, who has the final comment on this matter, which involves nothing less than the need so urgently felt by the tragic protagonist throughout the play, for suiting the action to the word, the word to the action.

That we would do,
We should do when we would, for this "would" changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
And then this "should" is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing. (IV.vii.118-123)»

Hamlet, William Shakespeare, ed. Cyrus Hoy. W. W. Norton, New York, 1963, xi.

New Cap

I am trying out a new cap, the Matron, from Plain-n-Simple Headcoverings, which is made from Kannik's Korner Mob Cap pattern. It is made of cotton organdy, and I wore it for several weeks before I sat down the other night and removed the top stitching and rolled and hand-stitched down the edges all around. Now it doesn't catch in my hair and the edge around the face is taken in just a bit and fits better. I have reached that advanced age when having a covering over my ears is comforting, much as that kerchief or shawl I often wear around my shoulders.

Even though I sew myself quite well, I was more than happy to pay Bayley for making the cap. Her workmanship is excellent, as there is a long strip of fiddly organdy around the edge of the cap. I highly recommend Bayley's skills with a needle and am very thankful that she offers so many styles from which to choose. I intend to purchase two more Matrons and one of the Maidens; I already have one of the Madres. Both the Madre and the Maiden can be held in place with a coif, an 18thC style, that adds warmth,as well as saving one's bonnet from the wind! Here I am demonatrating knitting wearing a coif over s Sophie cap and a Lappets cap for warmth at Fort Massac, IL.

Sarah Brightman - Symphony

I wish that I had been in another room to only hear the concert last night on my local PBS station, but I was watching--and I couldn't believe my eyes. Sarah Brightman's voice, the highest selling soprano of all time, was filling Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), Vienna--with ethereal sound, usually drawing pictures in my mind of an angel singing--but I was appalled at what I was seeing. As I watched the remainder of the concert, I realized that in the back of my mind was a picture from my childhood, an Adventist painting of the whore of Babylon, scantily clad in purple with flowing black locks, but the whore was more tastefully clad than was Brightman--who appeared in diaphanous, nude-colored chiffon topped by a corset in white satin with what appeared to be garters holding up outer layers above her knees.
As she walked up and down the cathedral's aisle, her clothing suggested nakedness. Sitting along the aisles were many people of all ages, men and women, among whom I saw two women with hats of sorts. No one--in the audience and, especially Miss Brightman--appeared to be dressed appropriately for appearing in a cathedral, normally a place of worship, normally a place of decorum and respect, not only for oneself, but for the "sacred" place.

As a teenager I sang in the Motet Choir in St. Michael's Episcopal Cathdral, in Boise, Idaho; I've sung an aria from Handel's Messiah in Jewett Auditorium, College of Idaho--I know what singing sounds like echoing among the vaults of cathdrals, sounds heightened by wonderful acoustics--I can understand the appeal of singing into the vaults of Stephansdom. But I cannot understand the complete lack of propriety in Miss Brightman's appearance. The voice of an angel should not proceed from the lips of a woman dressed like a whore in a sacred space.

Building Treasure in Heaven …

In response to a previous post on the disappearing woman, a reader has taken me to task for, as she perceives, destroying my temple by being self-deprecating and by making myself a slave to people who dishonor me and misuse me and disregard my work. If I am not to be concerned about body and raiment (Luke 12:23) and I am to be about building treasure in heaven (Matt 6:19-21), then I do not need the approbation of my fellows, nor self-congratulation for my efforts at obedience (Prov 31:31).

"Dear Sarah,

It wasn't three men, it was ten, and seven of them would not be ruled by him and that is the story of those who are not meek and quiet …

In the parable of the pounds, the young nobleman who went to the far land to get a kingdom (Luke 19:12) called ten of his servants and gave them each one minas and said to engage in business until he comes. But his citizens hated him and would not have the man reign over them. These were the same servants who were told to do business for him. So when he returned one servant had multiplied what he'd been given by ten, one by five--one had done nothing and had what he'd been given taken from him. And the servants who would not have the nobleman rule over them were brought before the nobleman and slaughtered. In this parable told mere days before Calvary, Jesus, the nobleman, who would go to heaven to receive a kingdom, had come to earth from heaven to acomplish the work the Father had given Him (John 17:4). He'd come like a helpmate, like a wife in this world--He'd come to His own people and they would not receive Him (John 1:11-12). He'd come very much like the woman in this post, who did not receive respect, who was invisible, and who is today being slandered for her lack of assertiveness.

Disciples are very much the temple of God, but this has been poorly understood, for the new creature, born of spirit, is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek (Gal 3:28), yet the body remains male or female. So it is the body, not the new creature who is the temple. The new creature is part of a holy nation a royal priesthood, a nation that was not before a nation (1 Pet 2:9-10) and the new creature dwells in the body as a Levite dwelt in the temple--this indwelling being to serve a nation and to teach the way of God. The woman who insists upon exercising her rights has not left spiritual Babylon."

__Sarah said...
I am certainly not in any way an atheist, but this here is self-destruction. Even Jesus teaches that the body is a temple of God and should be cared of properly! If you give up everything for people who are cold as ice and full of contempt against you (because that's exactly what is showed in such actions!) so you will make God cry about you and not be proud!

Do you remember this story about the 3 men and their master? The master was away and gave to each of the men some talent (money in those times). The first man doubled his talent during the absence of the master, the second man doubled his talent during his absence, but the third man was afraid of the gift and buried it in the earth (humble???). And what happened? When the master came back, the 1st and 2nd man were rewarded for being eager and honoring the masters gifts in the proper way - the 3rd man was punished for dishonoring the master! I learned this story as a child in the Sunday school, it is inside the New Covenant - you disregard the gifts and talents God gave to you, if you bury them in earth and self destruction, instead of using them and learning and improving them, you make yourself a slave to people who dishonor you and misuse you and disregard your work, no you do NOT build a cathedral, maybe a cathedral of self-destruction - the kind craftsman working on the cathedral would never build it, if he would behave like you, he would have stayed at home and serve ice cold people as a servant, he would not find the courage to do great things in life and do creative work, which WILL be remembered, he knew this, he was just not egoistic to work for fame, he worked to fulfill the gifts God gave him and which were written in his heart.

God NEVER rewards self-destruction, like any destruction. And you know that. It is written in your heart. If you disregard the talents given to you, your life will become more and more dark and cold...

I pray for your kind soul to come back on the trail of the heart.__

Tabernacles - Feast of the Seventh Month

Portrait de Jeune Fille en Costume d'Arles' by Antoine Raspal, 1779

The feast of the seventh month, or Tabernacles, or Succoth, will end this week. Huguenots, French Protestants, kept this feast of eight days always beginning on the first Friday of September, which means seventh. This is a time of feasting and looking forward to ultimate peace with family and friends . . .