Obtaining Mercy Croft – Page 5

Trying to Catch Up

July 11, 2013June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Florida Weather, Food and Drink, Hallelujah Diet, How Great is Our God, Obtaining Mercy Croft, What's Happening

We've had a quiet couple of weeks here at our house. Ike's caregiver was on vacation one week, then she took some days off for the 4th of July.

We've been getting lots of rain here, along with our mid-90* weather. The rain does help the mercury to stand still and stop climbing for a little while each day.

I think the crepe myrtles must really love the rain. They are all in bloom all over town.

Our summer skies are really breath-taking here in Florida. I know other places have beautiful skies too; but I am quite particular to ours.

I know Kepler doesn't get outside as much as she would like. I think she was trying to tell me she needed a little more vitamin D when she positioned her head to bask in this puddle of sunshine.

Doug is still planting seeds and harvesting a few veggies here and
there. Nothing has produced like we expected it to, so for this next
round of seeds he will be using a special fertilizer for each bucket. Yep,
we have a garbage can full of cow manure in our back yard. ;)

I like to call this new addition to our garden "Bowl-o-Cilantro". (You can click to make the pictures bigger.)

Now…I'm a little hesitant to tell you this, because I'm afraid I might get fussed at; but that bowl? Yeah…it's Tupperwear. And yeah, it does have drainage holes now. Is that like really wrong? I'm telling you, I just could not resist doing it. How amazing does that cilantro look in that bowl???

The trick is to cut from a small quadrant of the full bowl when you need cilantro, then rotate and clip the next quadrant the next time you need it. That way it will continue growing in the bowl all the time. I am looking forward to some yummy dishes this summer!

We are still doing ok, financially. We did have to dip into the money we were saving for Doug's surgery during last week, as he didn't tutor. (The boys spent the week at church camp.) We received a $300 check in the mail, just in time to pay our utilities bills this week. We also received a HUGE check towards Doug's surgery. He will be calling today to set up his surgery date. He is a little nervous about that, as he's never had surgery before; but I know the Lord is going to see him through it with no complications.

By the way, we are still continuing to try to stay on our diet. I say "trying" because we got waylaid a little bit by the 4th of July. When you step out the door and smell barbecue grills cooking, it sets up a domino effect! We did have burgers…and then cupcakes, and then we struggled all weekend. However, on Monday, we got back on track and are doing well now. According to my doctor's scales, I am still the same weight I was this past February. Eh… And Doug, of course, has lost in the neighborhood of 30 pounds already. Yeah…I know. I want to just poke him in the eye, too! 😉

I leave you with a close up of Poppet. Doug was cleaning her cage this week and so I was spending a little one-on-one time with her. Then she bit my ear. And went right back into her cage!!! But she looks really cute here.

That's all for today!

Talk to you again soon,

Alesha

How to Share with your Friends

June 21, 2013June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Household, Obtaining Mercy Croft, What's Happening

Well, I'm going to show you how to share PLANTS with your friends, anyway! You really ought to know by now how to share other stuff with your friends. 😉

I think I'm going to be known as "The Mint Lady" soon. I now have spearmint, sweet mint, chocolate mint and lavender mint growing in my kitchen. We love the smells of each of them, and I've enjoyed sharing them with my family and friends.

Just in case you've ever wondered how to "root" a piece of leafy plant like mint or ivy, this is the way my Mama has done it for years.

You cut off a sprig of the plant you want to "clone". You tuck it into a container of water. Keep it filled. Put it in a sunny place, if you'd like. Eventually, you'll begin to see small root forming; and you will begin to see additional growth at the top of your plant.

Here is a bit of lavender mint that my friend passed on to me. This was after it had been in the water about a week.

Here it is about a week later:

And here it is this week:

It is truly amazing to watch.

Some plant take longer than
others. I had tiny sprigs of ivy that did nothing for months, then
suddenly began to root and grow like crazy. I transplanted them to a
large pot and planted them in good potting soil, and now, it is a happy,
happy plant.

I plan to move this lavender mint to a pretty little pot very soon…when we have extra money for potting soil. 😉

By the way, I was able to pay all the bills through this end of this month today. I also sold a set of books today. Yay!

Doug doesn't work the week of the 4th, so it will be interesting to see how God provides for the bills of next month!

Hoping you have a great weekend,

Alesha

A Profitable Week

June 14, 2013June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Food and Drink, Household, Obtaining Mercy Croft, What's Happening

Wednesday night, I came home from church, and my hubby had these yummy roasted potatoes ready.

They were so delicious! There was, however, just one catch: he included crushed red pepper flakes in his seasonings. They were so hot I could barely eat them!!!

So, we are planning to do them again, minus the atomic seasonings.

We picked our first cucumbers today! So exciting!

The long one is a Straight Eight and the short one is a pickling cucumber. We also picked our first jalapeno pepper this week, and used it to make some delicious Mexican rice and refried beans. Oh so yummy!!!

My gardenia is out-doing herself this year.

This is her 5th blossom, I think, and she has 2 others as well. She has never bloomed very much, so I am enjoying these gorgeous blooms so much.

Our tax return was finally approved and deposited. It only took over 60 days! Three times as long as they say it will take. I'm thinking it was some glitch in the e-filing; but at least it was corrected eventually.

My sweet mother-in-law sent me a box of books this week.

Does she know my language of love, or what?! The exciting thing is that I can share them with my friends, too. So fun.

Our church is doing something special for Father's Day this year. They put up several bulletin boards in the back of the church, and everybody is bringing in pictures of their dads to put up. It's been so fun to see the really old pictures of our church members, and the way they resemble their dads (or not!).

So, of course, we had to get a picture of Isaac's Daddy for the display. We shot this on Wednesday afternoon, and were able to get it printed off and posted in the auditorium. I really love it!

Well, it's been a good week. I was able to order some supplements I needed today, thanks to that tax return. I will also be able to buy some new bedsheets, which we are in desperate need of. I'll let you know what kind of deal I find on those!

Praying you have a profitable weekend (by spending time in the Lord's House!),

Alesha

It’s the Little Things…

June 6, 2013June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Hallelujah Diet, Obtaining Mercy Croft

…that remind us to be thankful!

Lessons from the Storm

June 28, 2012June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope, Florida Weather, Food and Drink, Obtaining Mercy Croft

(Here in Florida we are enjoying the absence of Tropical Storm Debby today. She dumped massive amounts of rain on us, and sent through some big, gusty winds for several days. I wondered how our little garden would survive. You can see my last update here. After inspecting my plants today, I have come to three conclusions that are quite powerful, I think.)

1.) The storm can destroy you.

(Our lovely cucumber that had been producing so well, stripped and broken by the high winds.)

2.) The storm can cause you to grow.

(Our yellow pear tomato had dropped all of its tiny green tomatoes just before the storm came. We just knew it was completely dead, and we had no idea what had killed it. It is now literally drooping with the weight of dozens of new tomatoes that appeared during the storm.)

3.) Even if you've never produced anything, the storm can teach you to try something new.

(Our yellow heirloom tomato plant had experienced wonderful growth and dozens of blossoms, but had never produced one fruit. Here, the day after the storm was over, is our first tomato, growing beautifully, all by itself.)

Are you in a storm?

Do you feel your storm is destroying you?

I ecourage you to wrap your drooping tendrils more tightly around the strong Support that is anchored in the Word. Drink in the waters of sorrow and allow them to feed and nourish your soul. Brace your branches in the Lord as the winds of turmoil bend you almost to breaking, and allow God's storm to sink your roots even deeper into Him.

Then watch in amazement as HE produces fruit from the very life that you thought must certainly be dead.

There are so many lessons we can learn from God's nature.

Let's be encouraged by the miracles that we see there…knowing that the very same God can work those miracles in our lives too!

A Garden Photo Update

June 2, 2012June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Florida Weather, Food and Drink, Hallelujah Diet, How Great is Our God, Obtaining Mercy Croft, What's Happening

I've been listening to an audio version of The Secret Garden; and every time I go outside to check on my plants, I hear the following refrain (by the mean children who teased little Mary):

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells

And marigolds all in a row"

I love the way good literature seeps into your psyche, and colors your thoughts with lovely rhymes and prose and wonderful little quotes to fit some of life's more interesting moments!

So, in case you've been wondering how my garden is growning, I thought I'd let you see!!!

We moved all the plants out of doors, and that is working really well for us. Doug was so innovative to find another "trellis" for the cucumbers when they grew taller than the one we had provided for them.

He sunk a discarded chain link gate into the ground near the house and the cucumbers had twined around by the next morning!

It was pouring when I took this picture, so sorry for the "fuzziness".

And here's how every little thing is growing:

Tiny, tiny baby yellow heirloom tomato plant

So big now, and still growing…new blossoms every day, but no tomato yet.

Yellow Pear Tomato

Pretty little tomatoes, growing nicely!

Pickling Cucumber

This will be cucumber #3 for this plant, and it has many more growing.

Here's the first one we picked. It was delicious!

Crazy 8 Cucumber (because the cukes are supposed to reach 8 inches long.)

This guy is about 6.5 inches. It is killing us to leave him out there!

As you can see, everything is growing very well; and we are so thankful for that!

Other than our garden, we are all doing well. Doug and Isaac have been to therapy twice in the new vehicle and we are so thankful for it. Every time we drive it, we find something new to love!

On Friday, I went for my first solo drive. It was so easy, all the buttons, knobs and gizmos are in convenient places. I usually hate to drive in the rain, but Tranny even made that a fun adventure. 🙂

Praying you all have a blessed weekend,

HopeFULLy,

Alesha

What a Wonderful Weekend

April 9, 2012June 23, 2015 by ObtainingMercy, posted in Florida Weather, Household, How Great is Our God, Isaac Update, Managing My Mondays, Obtaining Mercy Croft, What's Happening

Managing My Monday – Ike and I are hanging out by ourselves this morning. Julie is not feeling well today. I did manage to get all of his dvds back in their jackets and videos rewound and on the shelf. That's something that Daddy doesn't manage to keep up with on the weekend, and it is no problem to do them on Monday morning. 🙂

We had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday together yesterday. As I stood up in the choir and looked out at the church congregation, in their spring-colored clothing, singing "I serve a RISEN Saviour. He's in the world today! I know that He is living, whatever men may say, " it seemed to be the happiest holiday ever!!!

Really, it is a day of such victory, such triumph, such incredible sacrifice ending in Christ's resurrection. How can we not LOVE the celebration of all of that?!

Of course, I also indulged a bit over the weekend in my favorite Easter candy eeeeever – Robin's eggs.

We didn't get any pictures yesterday. We were focused on the basics – all of us getting to church together. :) So some of the fun extras were dropped; but we had a good day! The weather here was just gorgeous! Ike and Doug spent some time out on the front porch while I was at church for the evening service. They were able to listen to the service on the radio out there. 🙂

I do have a pic of our newly planted veggies, though! Our friend, Mike, potted some plants for us and Doug brought them home last Tuesday. I am trying really hard not to kill them! 😉

From left to right these are Yellow Brandywine Tomato, Yellow Pear Tomato, Boston Pickling Cucumber and Straight Eight Cucumber. He also sent this little pot of Basil.

They are on my front porch, but are getting plenty of sunshine and fresh air. This is really an experiment of sorts, to see if I can grow things on this porch. We do have bamboo stakes and a mesh that is used for gutters that we'll be inserting into the pots for the cukes. The tomatoes are a determinite variety and will not need to be staked.

I just got an email from him, reminding me that these will need to be pollenated, since they aren't outside to get the help from the bees. I'll be researching that to see what needs to be done. If you are knowledgeable about this process, I sure would appreciate some advice or perhaps a web site that might help.

Well, I have several more things listed on my "To Do" list on my phone for today, so I'd best get busy!

Wishing you a happy week,

Alesha

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