Self-acceptance comes from meeting life's challenges vigorously. Don't numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.

-J. Donald Walters

while the computer was down, I found some inspiration...

I had some magazines to go through...

an urn on the table!...

better be a strong table...

but what a statement...

is this a bed in the living room?...

I love the colors...

light and airy and bright...

my friend Rebecca has an outdoor bed...

and I'm getting closer to mine!...

but we sure need the netting this year...

sage green, yellow, purple, and teal with whites...

my colors...

love the colors...

and the candles in the bottles with the lilacs...

is that cool or what?...

check this out...

the lid is a vintage casserole lid...

would have never thought of that...

I love it when old pieces are married...

I love this kitchen!...

an amazing place to play...

hang out...

create...

silver, white, birdhouse, creamers, roses...

oh, yeah...

now if we could get the heat turned down a notch or 2 or 3...

I'm ready to play...

hope you were inspired. too!

august...

august angel...

happy angel...

my favorite angel...

I knew when I was little she was my angel...

for when she came out front and center...

it would soon be my birthday...

back when that was a very good thing...

to be older...

a higher grade in school...

bigger shoes and clothes...

from tricycle to bicycle...

from baby dolls to puppy love...

from nap time to chores...

and the years slid by...

and the older part isn't as exciting...

but I'm grateful for every one of them...

they brought me right here...

right now...

and it's a good thing...

because those years were mainly filled with love...

with hugs...

with joy...

with laughter...

more than enough to overcome the sadness...

and the tears...

enough to heal a broken heart...

and come out whole again...

and that is always a good thing...

The primary joy of life is acceptance, approval, the sense of appreciation and companionship of our human comrades. Many men do not understand that the need for fellowship is really as deep as the need for food, and so they go through life accepting many substitutes for genuine, warm, simple relatedness.

-Joshua Loth Liebman

It was one of those days...

so many things went wrong yesterday...

and then to get up on the morning before White Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday...

to a virus on the computer...

was so disheartening...

before 7am, I'm on the phone to one friend...

and not to soon another was calling me...

Terri's husband, Andy, fixed the computer in one day...

got a call this evening to pick it up...

and Rebecca of Ella Mae.'s Barn Gathering posted my post for me...

I had photos all ready and couldn't get to them...

so we came up with a plan on using older photos from my blog and doing it as a before and after...

and it worked!

and Andy saved all my photos and programs on my computer...

yeah!!!

so my sincerest thanks to Terri, Andy and Rebecca, my super hero friends...

for coming to the rescue of this addicted to the core blogger...

you all earned your capes today...

if you are here for White Wednesday or Outdoor Wednesday...

just pop on down to the next post and see what Rebecca did...

down...

there...