Scribbles and Scrambles - A Rose by Any Other Name is Still a Flower

So far April is dry but whether we have April showers or not, May is coming and with it, flowers.

I am particularly fond of daisies. There is just something about the simplicity and the cheerful little "countenance" of a daisy. I'm not drawn to them because of scent, that's for sure, because if they actually have one, it's not pleasant.

I'm also drawn to lilacs for completely different reasons. The season for lilacs is short and imitation lilac scent makes me queasy. But standing between purple festooned lilac bushes and breathing in that unmistakable scent is one of the great pleasures in life.

Why did God take the time to give us an abundance of flowers? I suppose we could say its for the bees and the birds. Sure. But why would He make the fragrant lilac that lasts three weeks, the peony, the poppy and the hyacinth, all vibrantly colorful and vastly different?

I'm going to suggest that the flowers He created, in all their glory and difference, are for our pleasure. And His.

Each type of flower has a growing season, soil and sun preferences and a maintenance need that differs from others. And each of us has our own flower preferences. Roses are beautiful but come with thorns. Daisies are hardy, cheerful and scentless. Lilacs and peonies are here today and gone tomorrow and the scent of each can't quite be captured in a bottle. Some flowers grow shallow, some crave sun, some can grow without soil, some need shade.

A garden can be sculpted and neat or unruly and wild and both can be gorgeous. Flowers even have their own language. A gift of yellow roses means something entirely different from a bouquet of carnations or lilacs. And a gift of flowers from a special friend is not like receiving a token flower at a banquet.

Aren't we also very much like a garden? God's own garden, created for His glory and His purpose and His pleasure? And for the needs and pleasure of those around us? Some of us will be drawn to the human roses, others will be drawn to the wildflower garden. Those who come in contact with us, those whom we pray for, those who don't know Jesus, yet, are drawn or repelled by the scents and the sights and the garden that we are.

What type of flower are you? Functional? High-maintenance? Fragrant? Can we help cultivate our particular human flower? Can we offer our soil some help? Maybe do some self-pruning? Any dead-heads that you are aware of that might be hindering new growth? Could your soil use a little more time in the Word as preparation for some new seed or seedlings? Maybe we could try to stop striving to be roses if we are wildflowers and we can accept that wildflowers are beautiful and valuable just as they are.

And while you are pondering all of this, don't forget to stop and smell some flowers.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Life, Fruit and Blessings

I fell in love with my husband again last night.

Not that I was out of love, not at all.

But I saw him through an unusual lens.

His father is ill. Very ill. As we sat and talked with his dad, I was able to observe a different level of their relationship and to experience a hint of the depth of the love between them. My husband served his father his dinner and he sat down, grasped his dad's hand and mine and prayed for his father.

My father-in-law is a kind and generous man. He has been quietly providing for his children and their families in so many ways, many we were unaware of, as long as I've known him. And seeing my husband's kindness and gentleness toward this special man reminds me that life is so much more than the day to day things we do to get through to the next day. And that I'm blessed that the apple has not fallen far from the tree.

A blessing beyond words.

Scribble and Scrambles ~ Thought for Monday

Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult.

Hypocrites

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Groceries and Other Internet Experiments.

Note to the one reader who knows who she is. Yes. Or else. Two days have passed and my muscles hurt. I'll be asking you. Prepare.

Now. Back to the story of my grocery goodies.

So far my journey into $500.00 worth of groceries was problem free and chugging right along. But I was running out of options and had to dig into the fine print. (All of the offers had fine print.) I clicked on several, read the details and backed out.

Finally, I clicked on a face cream trial but repetitive-clicking-exhaustion had rendered me momentarily (yes, opening myself up to nasty comments here) clueless and I didn't read all the details. This one was the only negative experience. Because I didn't read the fine print very well I ended up missing the deadline for the inexpensive trial and had to buy the face cream. I got the second shipment canceled before having to buy a second one but the one I purchased was pricey....$78....pricey. The face cream is great, actually. But really, not $78 great. And the really, really frustrating thing was that the company didn't click clear me as participating so when it came down the final week before my completion deadline I had to find one more offer to participate in. This one cleared me right away and I ended up getting some great bargains through them so I ended up being okay. But. If you participate with any of these, learn from me...read the fine print.

With all eight of my offers completed, my gift card quest reached the next level. I filled out paperwork, mailed it in and waited. And waited. And waited. All the time I waited I wondered if I had purchased the equivalent of a bumper sticker or T-Shirt emblazoned with a bright orange "SUCKER."

Would I actually get my card? And if I did, would it work?

I did and it does.

Free lunches usually have strings but if you can work within the strings, that free lunch can be a tasty, tasty little meal (or many).

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Jingle -- uh Groceries in My Pocket

Note to someone specific, if you are not that person you may check out for just a moment, I did my Wednesday workout, did you? And since I won't see you today, you have one more day of grace. Use it wisely and I'll ask you about your workouts on Friday....

Okay. Back to the regularly scheduled post.

I posted a link to Freebies VIP last week. And mentioned my awesome deal and said I'd share about it later. So. Looks like later. Here goes.

In early November, shortly after I realized that legitimate freebies were something I could find on the internet I checked out the Freebie VIP offers and one in particular jumped out at me. It was for a $500.00 gift card to various grocery stores. One of which was Whole Foods. I was understandably skeptical but decided to trust that what was said was true. In order to get the card I had to participate in several offers via other companies. Eight of them to be exact. I had seen other listings that mentioned participation was required and had read about another blogger who'd gotten some real satisfaction through one of the companies that was participating.

I went through all the options and there were many. Several seemed safe. Two no-brainers were Netflix and Blockbuster at home. I clicked and joined both intending to keep one and lose the other after the low-cost or free trial. I had been toying with Netflix for months so that was an easy choice. Another easy choice was a birthstone ring for a total of $7.00 and Silkies for about the same. I joined both, got my goods and canceled upon meeting the requirements. So far I was pretty pleased.

I joined two different on-line savings groups. One offered a free $25.00 card and the second offered two $25.00 gift cards. So I stayed with them both for the free trial and one month paid membership to get the additional freebies. If I was a big on-line shopper they might have been really beneficial but I'm not so I can't say much about the benefits there. I also joined a free music site that offered free songs. I downloaded the songs and canceled before the monthly charge kicked in. The only issue with any of the above was that the songs didn't download onto the I-Pod like they were supposed to. Each of the things I had signed up for were very easy when it came time to cancel and well worth trying out and cost very little.

Now comes the oops.

And maybe I'll leave you hanging. I'll share my oops tomorrow.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Scenes from a Bloomin Walk

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Thankful For Grocery Stores, Modern Medicine and Multiple Rooms

Wow. We've been enjoying documentaries and creative reality television via Netflix for the past few months.

Lately, Frontier House has caught our attention.

Watching this particular five-month experiment/project has been eye-opening.

Lord of the Flies, the tale of young, civilized boys finding themselves on an island embracing animalistic survival-of-the-fittest mentality and becoming something altogether different than civilized, fits the experiment results in Frontier House pretty well. One family resorted to "trading" with modern families a walking distance away (with the teen girls watching MTV while the trading was in process), then making moonshine to supplement their income. Another family is on the verge of divorce and man oh man the dialogue/interaction between two bitter adults is an ugly thing to watch.

That said, I am thankful that I live in modern times. The lack of cleanliness, the hard, constant, physical labor, the close quarters would be a challenge I don't know that I could survive let alone thrive in. Fascinating place to visit via television, wouldn't want to go there.