Author: Violet Rhodes

It’s that odd week of the year where everyone is in vacation mode. Children are off school, there’s traveling to see family, Christmas get togethers still going on, New Year’s parties in the planning, reflections on 2022, and aspirations for 2023. There’s so much effort put into all of the goings-on that, ironically, it makes one busy trying to relax! 

We traveled to Daviess Co IN. to visit Jerald’s folks for Christmas weekend.  We got in on an enchanting snow fall Monday morning. The children had make shift sled rides with their cousin, via a snow shovel, for lack of sleds.

Monday evening we enjoyed a supper with Jerald’s Schrock cousins and Uncles/Aunts. Many of his cousins are married with young families which contributes to noisy and interesting gatherings. But honestly, the big cousins emit a fair share of raucous sounds too!

Many discussions and calories later, we returned to our favorite home Tuesday evening. It is good for one’s soul to reconnect with family and old friends but ahh, it is very good for this soul to unpack suitcases, stow the leftovers, and begin the humble job of laundry. East or West home is Best!

I dreamed of sleeping in, leisure breakfasts and relaxed time at home for a few days before the school schedule resumes next week. I also dreamed Jerald might even find time to paint the bathroom. But he’s not in vacation mode like I am. Yet another dream is that I can gather up buckets of patience and bake the traditional cutout cookies with my children. Reality is; a head cold with a stuffed nose, zero energy, and little sleep. You can’t sleep in when you can’t sleep so there goes that dream. My plugged nose is a contributing factor but I’ve also got a history of insomnia, which is why I roam the house at all hours of the night. At 3 AM I heated a pan of water and dropped in Breathe and Eucalyptus essential oils. Draping a towel over me, I propped my elbows and steamed my head. I felt like a hoodlum. My nose remained plugged. Next time I’ll steam the cabbage head instead of mine.

As for the cookies, we attempted those this afternoon. I tried a new recipe using a gluten free flour mix. (Read the whole post and you will understand why gluten free) They were more sticky and tricky to work with but I had no time limit and decided to not care what they looked like. I had Josie and Reece take turns with the cutters. When we were ready to decorate the cookies, I frosted them and let the children each decorate as they pleased. Putting them on cookie sheets catch alot of sprinkles, by the way! Now we have cookies in the freezer, we made memories and Mom stayed much more calm than sometimes, thank God. Yay for one dream accomplished!

Holidays are good in moderation, but I am not too sad about having them over for another year.  Let’s get the fridge emptied of chocolates and snacky foods and bring on the veggies. Its fun to eat all the cookies and candies and not worry about it. But there comes a time when worry creeps in right behind the consequences of unhealthy eating and I’m just sick of it. Armed with a large helping of fresh courage, I’m ready to embrace strong discipline and healthy eating once again!

I also despise the shopping craze to be endured whenever you make a run to town in December. I wish people knew that gifts/ things do not equal lasting happiness. In fact,  piles of stuff often leads to overwhelming clutter and depression.  I wish people focused on Jesus being the real reason for Christmas. Not Santa, trees, and gifts. Most of all I wish more people knew the peace of Jesus and sins forgiven.

This year instead of giving gifts, Jerald’s family decided to give money to help a need in Ukraine. Its a good feeling to know we can help out a little and another good thing was, we had less things to bring back home than usual!

My heart also goes out to those who have lost loved ones this year and are missing them this season. It doesn’t seem fair that others can go on with their usual festivities while they huddle in grief. It appears people try hard to make everything feel perfect for the Christmas season with extravagant decorating, sparkly lights, gifts, and food. But things are not perfect. There’s still hurting and grieving people around us. Only Jesus can bring perfect peace and comfort to those in distress. But since we are the hands and feet of Jesus, be Jesus to someone today by showing compassion and love! ❤️

How many others have  fresh courage to lose weight in a fresh new year? I have been off  my usual diet plan for about 6 weeks. I can tell I’ve gained weight and I’m so ready to get back on track. My walking has also fell in the ditch these past weeks. But my hubby inspired me with his health related New Years goals; He said he’s going completely gluten free and walking 1 mile a day. I smirked a little, but he claims he can do whatever he decides to do!! Perhaps I should have laughed loud and long so he doesn’t lose his willpower in the heat of Summer. 

Last year we had a goal to implement thanksgiving into our daily lives in a tangible way.  Each evening before prayer at our Supper table, we take turns saying something we’re grateful for. It has become a good habit we plan to continue. We endeavor taking turns but there’s often a 3 year old chiming his thanks in a loud voice regardless if another is already speaking. His willing spirit blesses me, but still we must teach politeness.  Some days thanks comes harder than others and I may say “I’m thankful for water”.  The children too, began relying on things within eye sight if their thankful list was waning . Then we’d hear things like “potatoes” “chicken” or some other food on the table.  So we made a rule that you can’t mention anything that’s on the table. We’ve got so much to be thankful for, surely we can be more creative!

I bought a larger planner for 2023 than what I normally use. I’ve already transferred events/ notes and filled it in as much as possible.  I’m super excited to use it for several reasons;  1) It’s new and has a pretty cover. (I don’t care if that’s a lame reason, it’s true.)  2) It has much more space for jotting tasks. I want to write in those daily little jobs that I normally didn’t write down, such as, make bed, wash breakfast dishes, sweep floor, walk, etc.  In this way,  I hope it helps me realize I get more done than what it sometimes looked like judging by my planner in the past.  I find it so irritating to be working all morning then I look to see what I  can cross off and lo behold! I haven’t even begun the day’s project!  3) It has a ‘priorities’ section for every week.  Hopefully that will help me be OK with it if I don’t get much more accomplished than the most necessary things for that week.  4) It has enough space I can easily jot down the day’s menu. (Not that this always got done in the past. My other planner actually had a designated spot for the menu.) But I’ve already made notes in my planner for the next several months, reminding me to plan the next month’s menu! I wish I was more diligent in abiding by menus. I fall off track so many times, but I always feel virtuous if I put proper, thought out meals on the table, rather than last minute scrambles.

If you’ve never used a planner I would highly encourage you to try one out. You can buy a cheapie at the dollar store if your afraid of wasting money. Not only will it save you brain space by keeping your events and appointments in place, it’s also valuable to have a place for brain dumping. Any ideas you want to implement or projects you’d like to accomplish or even a recipe to try; write it down. You are much more likely to get it done if you write it down!

A Happy, Healthy New Year to you and yours! 

A hearty hello to you my faithful readers and an extra howdy to all the new ones!! I’m happy to gird up my loins and write again. Praise God I’m feeling better than I did a couple months ago and heaps better than a year ago! My mental capacity is more stable, though still prone to sink below sea level if my ship is over loaded. But I’m blessed for the healing God has given!

I’ve had a stack of new subscribers in the last months since I took a break from writing. How they happened to come while I was on strike I’d like to know, so if you want to tell me who you are I’d be pleased to hear from you. And thank you for being here!

In light of that, I thought I would reintroduce myself… No, my name and height hasn’t changed and I’m not in the habit of sharing my weight. (Sorry if you were getting your hopes up.) If you want to know where in the world we live read my home page.

Quirks to describe me:

I love healthy food but not the effort it takes for those meals to appear on my table.

I love naps but not the time it takes out of my day. Most days it’s a ‘have to’ thing.  Some days I’m able to plow through without one which always feels like a great time saver. But then I drop in bed rather early so I don’t know which saves more time.

I love to declutter, organize, or decorate my house. Frequently I find myself caught in any of those without previous intentions.

I find it hard to make conversations with new  people or those you bout half know, but not enough to dive into heart stirring conversations. In my head I’m trying to think of what to say but as soon as anything comes out it sounds awkward. Sometimes the conversation goes better thanks to the other person’s contributions. Then I relax and enjoy visiting. I come away pleased with myself for being involved in good discussion with a perfect stranger.

I’m a task oriented person who loves to cross things off the list and it takes discipline to stop working. But no matter how fast or hard I work, the house never stays free of crumbs, dust, and detached hair. Nor do meals drop onto the table through the ceiling. Or clean laundry glide into the drawers. And so I keep working, hoping to- no, make that wishing to, someday reach the end of my mental ‘to do’ list. Maybe when I’m 89. 🤞

Now some words about my family. I don’t like bragging but neither do I want to bring up their faults. I’ll try to provide average information.

My good man Jerald is covered up being salesman and secretary for the local Mid-America Structures. (He switched from being a BigIron Sales Rep last winter.) He manages their dealer network plus has a couple lots where he sells sheds himself. He’s often meeting customers who want to look at or buy sheds. Him and I endeavor to make a weekly appointment with each other to nurture our relationship. Tuesday night is date night. It generally consists of early bedtime for the children so we can visit uninterrupted. I applaud him for being good at protecting our evening. These nights will get trampled quite easy in the roar of life, if not protected.

Reece is 3 and plays all boy- Its tractors, combines, boards, and tools. He doesn’t give slack for quietness aside from sleeping, for he is in the question stage of life. My most used answer is “I don’t know”. You would think a Mom in her 30s would know a few things but the amount of times I say “I dont know” in a day’s time is alarming. His questions are simple such as “who’s vehicle is that?” (Parked beside the road) “What’s that man doing?” (A random walking stranger) But how am I to know these answers? He digs out the bathroom scale to “check my feet” he says. (I wish feet were the only thing for me to check when I stand on it.) We rejoice he’s F I N A L L Y potty trained! I despaired the child would ever learn. We persevered, prayed about it, and had him pray about it and eventually he learned. Indeed, we praise God!

Josie is in a growth spurt. She requires extra food and lots of sleep.  At 7 years old she’s a social bug like her Daddy and school is her world! Saturdays are dreaded because it means a day at home. Often her first questions as soon as she’s home from school are: “Can I have a snack” and “what are we having for supper?” In this case an “I don’t know” is hardly acceptable even if it’s occasionally true. She’s matured to sleeping in her own basement bedroom and wakes with her alarm clock.  She enjoys reading in bed at night or when she wakes before her alarm. I’m grateful for the good collection of story books from back when I taught school or that her Dad had growing up. She polished off the Laura Ingalls series in surprisingly rapid succession.

Tell me, what makes you unique?

You can reach out to me at jeraldsflower@gmail.com, I would love to hear from you!

Before I met Sew Basic dress patterns, I had an old pattern that I used back when I was in my twenties. As any Mommy knows, going through pregnancies & nursing can change your body a lot. I would just guess around on my pattern, adding or cutting off here and there, or exchanging my regular bodice for a nursing pattern when I needed it. I had to play around with it until I got it perfected. But then if you loose weight after baby, or perhaps can’t loose that weight, your previous dresses may or may not fit. I did a lot of changing around and adjusting with many dresses I sewed! Seams didn’t always match up either. Also, with my old pattern I would use the bodice piece for the cape- I  had to remember to fold in the side, & not cut as wide, but then cut wider at the top, making my own guesstimated slant cut. (Actually not as complicated as it sounds) But its another thing I love about the Sew Basic patterns- they have a separate cape pattern included!

Around 2 years ago I finally tried out the Sew Basic Cape dress patterns for myself and absolutely love them! Yay what preciseness and yay what beautiful seams!! I’ve used the little girl dress patterns quite awhile for Josie. It’s super easy to just order the next size whenever she needs it! Or for myself, I have lost over 30 pounds in the last year, and it was so easy to simply order a smaller pattern!

Sew Basic dress patterns were designed by a Mennonite lady, Michelle Oberholtzer. She has an Estsy shop where she sells a wide variety of sizes.  From little girls dresses all the way up to women’s size 48. They are just as the name suggests- basic and simple.  I love the design and easy to understand pattern! These patterns are also available at many Mennonite or Amish fabric stores.  Mt. Hope Fabrics & Gift Shoppe in Mt. Hope Ohio carries these patterns as well as a beautiful selection of fabrics. They have prompt shipping services too! You can look them up online or call them at 330-674-5292.

I haven’t used these yet but Michelle has added a nursing bodice to her line of patterns. What a brilliant idea! Now when you need to have nursing access you can simply use the nursing bodice in your size!

The dress patterns come printed on large paper, which you will then need to cut out  yourself. It comes with a sheet of step by step instructions on how to sew the dress as well as a sheet of pattern adjustment how to’s if needed. She thought of everything. And these are beautiful patterns!

The patterns all come with a variety of options. You can do a fitted or gathered sleeve. You can do a fitted, gathered or elastic waist. There’s different skirt patterns clearly marked with the style.

To figure out your dress size, you simply measure your bust and that number will give you the size of dress. If your between two sizes, you choose the one you think would fit you best.  Example, when I first started with these patterns I ordered size 42 even though I measured a little smaller. (I hate tight dresses and would rather err on the side of having it a bit loose than too snug.) It fit well for me, although I made some minor adjustments to my liking- I felt the sleeve hole was a little snug, so I cut the pattern a tad deeper. The bodice tends to be more short waisted, but that’s not a problem because I just cut the bodice pattern a little longer.  If your really short waisted, there’s the option of folding up the bodice to make it shorter.

The neck line in these patterns tend to be a bit large, so you may want to keep that in mind. Just don’t cut quite as deep and don’t sew the neck line as deep either. Snipping the inside of the neck almost to the seam line really helps the neck to lay neatly.

When I first started with this pattern, I had  used the fitted skirt pattern which only has darts in it. It fit nice but later I decided it was not ample enough. So now I use the gathered skirt, cutting it just a tick smaller and then I have plenty of extra to put in two good sized pleats- approximately 2″ each.  I really like my dresses this way. It provides fullness without the bulkiness of a bunch of gathers. I feel it’s important to have enough fullness in the skirt for modesty and only a dart or very small pleat will not give you that fullness.

I don’t care for puffy, gathered sleeves, so I use the fitted pattern. Although its fitted, there’s enough extra that it doesn’t fit tightly over my arms. That’s something I would  caution against; don’t have your fitted sleeve so tight that it fits snugly over your arms. It can easily happen. Tight sleeves aren’t modest just as tight skirts aren’t either.

These adult dress patterns have a lot of darts. I don’t like the time it takes to sew them in, but it truly is worth it! (And it really don’t take long to sew them in, it’s just that I’m always in a hurry and I don’t like the extra step.) The darts in the bodice makes for a neat fit. And I especially think the darts in the back cape, helps so the cape doesn’t awkwardly stand away from the bodice. I don’t utilize the darts in the front cape but instead, I cut it wider to allow for pulling in gathers. Without an elastic waist, I feel gathers really help with adding fullness in the cape, so that it doesn’t outline what shouldn’t be seen.

These dress patterns are great for anyone but especially for someone learning to sew because they’re so simple. If you’re looking for a quality pattern for yourself or daughters, I would urge you to try one of these! I love to sew and what’s more rewarding than turning out a neatly sewed dress? It always makes me feel accomplished!

I like to organize my patterns in plastic sleeves in this large folder. Using masking tape & a sharpie makes it easy to see what style pattern I’m looking for. 

The morning dawned with a dewy mist of splendor. The sun’s brilliant rays matched the beaming smiles of the bride and groom. Could it really be true that today they were saying “I Do”?!! A perfect dream come true!  Well, not perfect but pretty close.

Eleven years later and we’re still a perfect pair- perfectly imperfect. But how love grows and changes along the way! It certainly does change and at times, quite rapidly. Only a week before this, I was feeling irritated at Jerald and full of despair. Weeping with tears and discombobulated thoughts, I meditated seriously how we probably need marriage counseling. How I prayed! And also prayed I would feel better by the next week. Sure enough, God answered my prayer! When I was feeling emotionally stable again and mentioned all this the next week, Jerald laughed at me and shared his wisdom.

Last year when we celebrated our 10 year anniversary, we enjoyed a few days in Gulf Shores which you can read about here. We took the children along. While we thoroughly enjoyed the beach, I actually enjoyed this year much more since it was only us two and the travel was minimal- I’m not a traveler!

This year we celebrated a few weeks post anniversary. On June 10, we woke the children, finished up a few things and headed south to drop off the children with Steve and Karla. What a blessing to have such trusty caregivers! The children were too excited about staying there to be sad they weren’t going with us.

Then we were off to Kansas City with no younguns in the back seats. A delightful drive indeed. No squabbles and none of this “he hit me” “It’s my turn” type of talk. No deadlines or appointments to meet. And what pleasure to chatter uninterrupted to the one I love most! (Uninterrupted being the key word here.) We discussed a wide variety of ideas and possibilities. I saw a jet low in the sky and nearly burst out with “look at the airplane”! But caught myself just in time.

Now we’re simple country folk not up with city life. We got into downtown looking for a place to park. Spending money on something as simple as parking wasn’t what we were here for. Seeing nearly vacant lots, I piped up “There’s a spot”! “Or there”! I kept yelping out suggestions to my knowledgeable husband. Advice freely given, you know. Every answer came back the same. “You can’t get in there”. “You can’t get in there”. Finally we tried one but had no clue what to do to lift the parking bar. So we hit the ‘help’ button. “Can I help you”? the lady answered. “Yeah how do we get in here” Jerald asked. “That’s for employees”. “Oh”. The wife should have kept her mouth closed, because I think, under such noisy influence, the husband gave in to trying out a lot. “But we’re not in a hurry,  we have nothing planned,” we assured ourselves. We put it in reverse, drive back up the way we had just come and resigned to the parking garages.

I hate parking garages. They give me claustrophobia.  Scene 1- All I can think of is the concrete floors crashing down beneath thousands of tons of vehicles. Of course this would happen while I’m looking for a parking space or walking out to find my vehicle. I can imagine myself instantly crushed to bits. Or partially crushed but yet alive, yelling in tortureous pain to be delivered. Scene 2- Just by looking at those dingy low ceilings reminds me of being stuck in prison or in some vacant dungeon, by kidnappers. I have no experience in either but my brain is creative in imaginary scenarios.  I take deep breaths when I’m out from underneath the despairing possibilities.

After the uneventful walk out from the parking garage and some deep breathing of fresh air, we amble hand in hand, to Panara Bread, which is located inside a massive building of some sort. Eating lunch outside gave such a touristy feel.

We walked up the streets to visit the Federal Reserve Bank to learn about Federal reserve notes. These are the kind of notes everyone loves because they’re worth so much! Watching the inspection of bills was informative and super interesting. The machine is hand loaded with bills. The machine checks each bill for counterfeits, graffiti, or tears. When one is discovered, it automatically shreds it and a brand new bill gets put into place. This way the exact dollar amount stays the same. The robots moving pallets of cash was intriguing. The realization of the billions of dollars so close to you and yet so far, was fascinating! One full pallet of $100 dollar bills is worth 64 million!!! If the vault is full of 100 dollar bills it would equal more than 138 billion!!!! And we were right outside the window of these millions of dollars!! The thought was enriching.

After touring that rich place, we trotted back to that parking garage, climbed in our vehicle and drove out completely unscathed. We headed over to Crossroads Hotel and checked in….at the grand hour of 3:00 pm. But we didn’t have any schedules except relax and enjoy each other! I kept exclaiming how relaxing it is without the care of the children. Normally when we’re at a motel, we’ve been traveling. Often it’s nigh bedtime and I keep trying to collect my brain, figuring out who should use the bathroom and get cleaned up first, how to keep noise levels to a minimum, cut out the bed jumping or how exactly to occupy the ones who aren’t getting ready for bed.

But there was none of this since my hubby is not in the habit of bed jumping or hollering. We could simply lounge around in the unique, old fashioned hotel. The room was completely adorable and the glass, walk in shower luxurious. We headed out around 5 to eat supper and do some shopping.

To be sure, we are not in the habit of patronizing such luxurious hotels. This was a splurge! But we had points on our credit card that could only be used for travel. And besides, Anniversaries are special to celebrate! Every year together is truly a gift from God!!

We shopped a variety of stores that evening looking for decorative bed pillows. It’s something I’ve never spent money for. But recently we redid our bedframe which resulted in a large open space on the wall. Just what we wanted- because minimalism is so peaceful. We had agreed to get some large pillows to add color. Indecisive me, could never conclude on this alone. Thus it was the perfect time to shop together. And we did. I was unsure of the ones I found. After he gave his opinion, I put those back and we headed over to Target. We found some we both liked but I was still reluctant. I didn’t want to spend so much just for pillows! We made the purchase but concluded to stop at an At Home the next day just to make sure we weren’t missing something better. I was convicted I nearly exhausted my long-suffering hubby’s forbearance levels. It was a good thing we had no deadlines. Or maybe not?!

After our leisurely morning we headed towards home, stopping along the way at a couple stores and then also ran into town wide yard sales. But it was past bargain time since it was Saturday afternoon. We made a purchase at the first sale. Otherwise we got a good walk in and that’s it.

And sure enough At Home was worth the stop. They have aisles and aisles of pillows! We found the perfect 3rd pillow to add color to go along with the one pale green wall in our room. I have plants in clay pots which go along with this terra cotta color. I’ve learned to love my houseplants! The ‘throw’ you see under the pillows were cheapies- two beach towels.

The only thing that disappointed me about our trip was that I started feeling ill Friday evening. Sore throat and slightly achey. I didn’t sleep well at all which was a shame in such comfortable conditions with no children to wake us. Unfortunately I felt sick on Saturday but managed to drag myself around. We picked up the children and arrived home about 4 pm. It was wonderful to be home again- all together ❤️ Our trip wasn’t perfect, but pretty close.