White Wednesday...the bracelet that taught me how to live.

This Wednesday I think I will stray a little from my typical white post
to share a little bracelet that I have had for a few years now.

 A bracelet that gave me a gift.

A lesson in how I view my life now.

Every time I wear this, I am taught anew about the how

 to continue to view life and how I choose to live it.

I am a bracelet person. When I saw this piece, I instantly fell in love with it. I wore it for about a year and then one day looked down at it on my wrist and realized that I had lost one of the little stones  from it's place.

I kept meaning to take it to Twin Falls to a jeweler to have the little stone replaced,
but would never remember to take it with me when I left town.

I would put it on to wear it and then remember, "gosh, I would really like to have this thing fixed'.

This was an aggravation for another couple of months.

 One day however, as I was cleaning it, I looked at it and thought how much I loved it and appreciated it's prettiness.

And then the thought hit me...good grief June, this bracelet has so many pretty stones,

 how is it that you can only see the fact that the one is missing and not in it's place. 

So I counted...it has 50 of the 51 intended stones. 

They are all there and continue to adorn the bracelet and make it a joy to wear.

I started to think about this, and realized that this little bracelet had just taught me a new way to think about the trials or 'bumps' in my life.

How many times do I let a few wrongs things in my life, steal the joy from the right things in my life? How many ways had I managed to focus on the missing stones and neglect the ones that are right before me everyday, making my path beautiful?

I no longer have the desire to have my little piece of prettiness fixed.

It is beautiful just the way it is. 

It reminds me not to dwell on the few things that make my life hard,

but to be content with the many things that make my life the blessed journey that it is.

Thank you to Kathleen at Faded Charm for hosting White Wednesday, week after week.

White Wednesday...needing sleep...counting sheep.

I know I have been missing in action here on my blog of late.

 I've been trying to get  few things done around the homestead this week. I know that soon

 the house will not get a lot of attention from me, because I will soon be spending

 every waking minute in the garden.

Speaking of waking minutes...I've been having quite a few of them lately.

So I think I will start counting these.

I found these sweet sheep last week at Joannes. I fell head over heels for them.

I don't know if I have ever told you all how much I love sheep.

I love

everything about them. I have even told my husband that I would love to have

a little band of sheep of my own someday. (at least a ewe or two, to have little lambs for me)

I don't think he's listening.

Yoo Hoo! What about those sheep honey?!!!

We remodeled the bedroom a few months ago, but I haven't done much in

the way of decorating yet. I did get the curtains made a couple of months ago.

The bed looks inviting, no?

Well, it seems lately,

that the minute I get in it, my brain goes into overdrive,

 and I can't seem to shut it off.

I have so many garden plans going on in my head that I can't fall asleep at a decent hour.

I would really love to snuggle down into this bed and get some zzzz-s

Until I find a resolution to the garden building when I should be sleeping, I'm

thinking that

 maybe these little guys can help.

One....Two...Three...

Today I am linking up with Kathleen at Faded Charm for her weekly White Wednesday.

I hope all of you are sleeping snug as a bug in a rug.

If not...maybe Joannes has more of these little cuties left...or,

maybe your husbands will be a little more receptive to the idea of a band of sheep

 than mine is.

I'm so confused ! ! !

At a friend's 'just for girls' dinner party this past Christmas, my friend Michelle

 and I started talking about how 'come heck or high water' we

 were going to get to Texas

one of these days for the great fleas going on down there.

 We also chatted (in front of our non-fleaing friends (a little rudely now that I think about it))

about how we were going to pick up one of our other friends who 

had just moved to Texas, and that we were also going to go look up

 Carol Hicks Bolton, (she's our hero) and invite ourselves to her home.

 I think for awhile, we forgot that we were not the only two at 

her party, and we were saying 'Carol this and Carol that', and

finally one of the girls said "who is your friend Carol, and how did you meet her?"

My pretty little 'Get Mee' campanula...

Well we stopped yapping just long enough to say, "Oh we don't know her yet,

 but we will, and she's gonna love us!"

***

She's just gotta!

I adore her style.

And I am sooo confused.

got this at the market the other day...

Because my other hero in decorating is Rachel Ashwell.

I know, I know, a real contradiction of styles here!

 I really got into the distressed and shabby style

when Landon was about three, long before Rachel, because that's

 when Landon started to crawl in earnest and was able to get to most of the

 furniture and one of the things that he would do

was run his teeth across it. Well needless to say,

 I had my own style of distressing going on . 

it's a perennial, so I can plant it in the garden...

So when the Shabby Chic explosion happened on the scene,

I knew this was the style for me. It fit so well for a mom with six children

and  a son who loved the eat the furniture.

But so does Carol's style.

 So, I have a very confused style going on at my place.

And you know what, I don't care one bit.

So far it's workin' for me...

So Michelle, do you think we should call Carol and tell her we 

are coming, or shall we just surprise her????

now if I can just keep it alive!

 I won another giveaway. Yes...I am starting to feel guilty too.

Abby, from the lovely blog Abby's Garden offered three chances in

her giveaway and I won one of her pretty prizes.

I just love the way you presented this gift Abby.

Isn't the way things are presented huge! The way something is

wrapped is as exciting for me as the gift itself.

I won her gorgeous little Valentine sachet. And I just adore it!!!

I love the art that Abby creates. I had seen this when she showed it

on her blog and just sighed...

The colors are just perfect...so soft and yummy.

Look at this amazing detail.

Abby this has already found a special place in my home. I LOVE it!!!

If you want to see some of the beautiful things that Abby creates,

and meet the sweetest person while you're at it, visit this girl's blog!

You will love her!

I made a mistake...White Wednesday below.

I'm sorry to interrupt this WW. I have made a big mistake in adding someone's giveaway to my sidebar. I accidently typed in the wrong blog address in the link bar and it has gone to someone else's blog. Because Becky's blog is called ' behind blue eyes' I didn't see that on her actual blog address it is spelled 'bechind' with a 'c' before the h and so I typed it in wrong. It has gone to someone's blog behindblueeyes.blogspot.com which is not a good site.  I 'm sorry for this Becky. I hope that you will please forgive me for this mistake. I guess I should have read the site that it went to when I tested it last night.

My White Wednesday is posted below. Thank you all.