DIY

Well in between soccer games, football games, cheerleading, open houses at 2 schools and all the practices that go along with....I've been getting my DIY on.  By the way, Hayden's football team is undefeated, if they win their game this Saturday at Ector, they get to play at Ratliff for the championship.  The whole DIY thing is totally not my fault.  I have been looking at Pinterest and they have got me believing I can re-upholster a chair, create a great up-do, make some wonderfully creative Halloween decorations, cook some good recipes all while putting together a fabulous outfit.

It made me feel like a DIY slacker!  I was bound and determined to make something. (In between practices of course)  With my limited cooking skills, I decided to tackle Fall Mix.  A trail mix that includes pumpkins and candy corn (FALL).  This got my confidence on a high.  IT LOOKED LIKE THE PICTURE, therefore, I passed the first DIY test.  On to the next one--Nutter Butter Ghosts on a stick.  (Any food item on a stick gets higher DIY points by the way.)  Foods on a stick are very popular in the Pinterest community.  Apparently, there is a lot of eating on the run with this group and they need a stick to be able to drive and eat their cookie/cakes/apples.  My ghosts did not turn out as well.  Peyton said they look more like mash potato monsters than ghosts. 

I decided to move on to a non-food item.  Halloween Wreath, you are on my list!  This DIY project cost only about $20 total.  I got a wooden letter, a wire wreath, a festive bolt of ribbon and two bolts of black tulle.  After painting orange and black spots on the letter "K" for Kidd, I cut squares of the tulle and tied them onto the wire wreath.  I then added the ribbon and letter.  After 240 feet of tulle, I DID IT!  (A person needs to be willing to devote a lot of cutting time to this project.)  This was probably my favorite thing in the whole DIY experience.

With Purpose

Since the last blog, I have gone to Albuquerque for a leadership conference.  It was a good trip!  The weather was a little cooler, I got to hang out with some great people, I got to shop.  I got a white notebook full of stuff.  (You can never have too many white notebooks.)   We got to hear lectures from various authors for 3 days, one of which was a recently retired VP of American Airlines.  After setting down and looking at the itinerary for the first day and seeing the first day meeting was going to last until 9 pm, I wrote the following words at the top of my page:

God has you here for a purpose--work your hardest to find out what that purpose is.

The funny thing is, & I can't tell you how often this happens to me, where a reoccurring theme will pop up, that "having a meaningful purpose in life" came up in the meeting throughout the weekend.  Maybe if we started each day with the thought that we are purposeful in our actions we could capitalize more on our creative contributions to this world we share? 

Some other good things came out of these discussions:

1)People don't care how much you know, until they   
    know how much you care.
2)Trust your leadership
3)In serving others, you must ask the right questions.
4)No decision is a bad decision--This means not doing anything is allowing some one else to have control over you and make the decision for you.
5)Reconstruction is harder than new construction.
6)Perfection is the enemy of good.  If you strive for perfection every time, it may take away from your good work because you can never be satisfied.
7)You have to be able to do a work around, this means coming up with creative ideas work around problems that may come up.  This may also mean being bold & accepting of change.

Good stuff huh?  Now for the fun stuff.  When I was in high school, my parents took me to Carlsbad, NM and I HAD to have a pair of white fringed ankle moccasins.  So, when we went shopping in the old square and saw a sign for moccasins I HAD to go check them out.  Don't worry, I didn't get white ones, don't start having an 80's flashback.  I got grey ones!  So comfy.  Maybe 20 yrs from now I will go back to NM and get some more.  The art there was truly inspiring.  Of course my kids love all the odd ball, kookie souvenirs--so I got them some New Mexican jumping beans.  The first night back in the hotel room, I kept hearing a ticking sound from all sacks.  "Do you hear that?  It sounds like a clock ticking."  Was their a bomb in my sacks?  OH YEAH!  It's the jumping beans, you could hear them all weekend.  They loved to jump around 4 o'clock in the morning!  The kids loved them, they have already made the rounds at show & tell at school and the dog has not ate them yet.

I also brought Kevin some hot sauces.  One is called "Colon Blow"  he hasn't had the guts to try this one yet!  (HaHa! Get it?  Guts?)

Be PURPOSEFUL in your actions this week!  What Lasting Fruit are you now bearing?