Happy Saturday!
How was your week? Ours was pretty quiet, though our daughter came home early for spring break, so we're enjoying having her around again - she's such a sweet thing! This next week will be full of shopping, cooking, cribbage, and hanging out together so my mama-heart will be filled up again before her next term starts. Love. On to this week's three things (Note: the links I provide are often affiliate links, though not always):
I updated our chalkboard from my word of the year, Selah, to an Easter/spring theme. I really like having a large enough chalkboard that I can add a wreath and have it be a part of the board theme, like this egg wreath. My goal with the "He makes all things new" lettering was to strike a balance between the new life represented by eggs and the new life we have through Jesus resurrection.
To make the chalk design and lettering, I always start with a search through Pinterest and pull inspiration from there. The leaf design around the wreath was on a couple examples and then the wording was on another though the design wouldn't work with my board. I grabbed that from another example.
Then I copied the banner from something I found on Google images. It's like it takes a village for me to make one simple board design, ha. It's not perfect and I'm a work-in-progress in my lettering goals, but imperfection will never stop me from sharing with you guys!
Oh wow, the phrase for March weather, "in like a lion, out like a lamb" has proven true for us in western Oregon! Well, at least for the lion part - we can hope it will be lamb-like by the end of the month, right? I mentioned last week that we had been getting a lot of rain, wind and thunderstorms, but this week saw hail and sun as well - at the same time! My photo's not all that great, since I just grabbed my iPhone quickly, but you get the idea. We also had so much rain there were flood warnings. So. ready. for. spring. Are you?
The garden doesn't seem to mind, though, and I was able to cut some forsythia branches to replace the daffodils on our spring mantel. There are quite a few flowers blooming and plants springing to life, actually - I even harvested the first pound of asparagus, which is pretty early for us!
Oh, and speaking of gardens, I've got a wonderful new feature that will be starting next Tuesday for all you gardeners and gardeners-to-be, so be looking for that - I'm really excited about it and hope you will be, too!
I finished three more books over the last few weeks and while the last batch of books were audio books I listened to while working on other things, these are all physical books that I 'really' read! And quite the diversity here, right? Here's my short reviews on them:
The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy & Kathy Keller was actually a book I've been reading slowly with a young woman I'm mentoring since last fall and we just finished meeting and talking about it last week. This is a case of me choosing a book for someone else that ended up blessing me so much! I learned things about actionable love that work in all areas of life, not just marriage, and many other "ah-ha" moments. I especially enjoyed the emphasis on the meaning of marriage from a Biblical view in light of our current culture. No matter how long you've been married - or even if you're not married (there's a chapter on singleness as well as understanding God's view of marriage)- I highly recommend this book!
My sister-in-law sent me Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets (isn't that a fun name?) and I am grateful for the deeper understanding of prayer and why we pray after reading it:
God chose, from the time of the creation, to work on the earth through humans, not independent from them. He always has and always will, even at the cost of becoming one.
The last book, The Rosie Project, is a quick, light and fun read that was on my to-read list after seeing it on so many other blogger's best books lists. I really enjoyed the story which was unique in that it was written from the man's perspective - and he's a bit, um, OCD. It's very cute, but again like many current books drops the F-bomb more than needed and the characters have very loose morals. Sigh.
Oh, and these 3 books brings me to 10 books total read for 2016 - and March isn't even over yet!
Links To Check Out:
How to eat an avocado seed (who knew?!).
A brief guide on companion planting techniques.
Outdoor sale season is coming up - get ready with these yard sale tips.
20 minute moo-shu pork.
Here’s a unique DIY table made with pallet wood.
I love Greek flavors and this pork loin recipe sounds amazing.
7 easy organizing tricks you’ll actually want to try.
Like these links? I'm always pinning these and lots more - follow me on Pinterest for more inspiration and ideas!
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links and by clicking on them you help support AOC at no extra cost to you – thanks so much! Plus you can trust I'll only share what I love. (You can always read our entire disclosure page here.)
Elaine says
HI Jamie,
I loved The Rosie Project. What gave me so much enjoyment from it is the main character. He is not OCD but has Asperger's which is a type of autism. High functioning but someone with Asperger's does not pick up on social cues and norms so consequently are awkward and rigid in social situations. As a psych nurse I can identify with the main character's challenges which in part is what made it so humourous.
Jami says
I figured that out, Elaine. 🙂 I just thought they wanted to keep it hidden for new readers since it's kind of revealed slowly so I tried to say something without saying 'it.' I'm a former special education teacher, so I enjoyed his perspective like you did, too.
Suz says
I love your chalkboard; the lettering looks great!
Jami says
Thank you, Suz 🙂