When My Make-Up Bag Caught Fire And Other Stories

"A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."   ---Proverbs 22:3  (An awesome verse in support of prepping, right?)

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1.) Remember when I ordered 8 sets of these white shelves from Walmart?

That's when I finally became content with this modest, storage-less house. I learned (on a deeper level) it's not the house that matters so much, but rather, how you live inside it.

The shelves, our fireplace, a larger dining room table and creating 5 flower beds in our yard: those decisions and purchases, especially, changed my mind about living here only temporarily.

Choose action rather than whining and wishing, ok? Activity over apathy can make your dreams happen.

2.) Speaking of those white shelves... My oh my! Last week I spied them at Walmart.com, out of stock, and now they'd gone from $22 to $42(!)

And here's the take-away: Please don't wait for 2 angel appearances or for your family (or strangers) to walk up to you and say, "Right now! Make the choice to ______. You've been waffling back and forth, but just do it!"

Go waiting for obvious signs and you'll be sorry. (Voice of experience here.) Instead, daily listen to that still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, of Grace, and you'll be led to all the right places at all the right times.

3.) So have you watched any of my recommended movies lately, especially The Game, A Man Called Ove or Last Man Club? If so, I'd love to know what you thought, well, unless you hated them. heh.

4.) Finally I met my neighbor who moved into Marsha's house. Her name is Lauren and she's probably 20-something. For months I'd meant to offer her our almost-new battery hedge trimmer, for she has a small strip of hedges.

She appreciated the hedger.

Oh, how I still rejoice over the hauling away of our 100 feet of hedges! Not just because my life's so. much. easier., but because neighbors feel free now to stop and chat.

Old Debra woulda been bugged by that (and the being watched). New Debra adores it. And if you needed a reminder that people can change? Well, there you go.

Our God is a life changing one.

5.) Here's another hint for preppers: collect hard copies of how-to books for emergencies. You never know when you'll lose electricity or the Internet and this information will be gone!

Here are some of mine:

(Could a homework assignment be more fun than being told to purchase books? I'm thinking, no.)  ツ

6.) Last week I thought of something. 

While at Facebook and Twitter, millions of my closest friends (ha) and I are often censored. But here at Blogger? They've never censored a single word in 16 years.

Knock on wood.

Also, if you tend to get hurt feelings over friends' rejection of what you post, this might help: only share things you feel 100 percent with all your heart. That way rejection won't sting as much. As Christians, our beliefs should reflect God's Word and so friends' criticisms of that shouldn't move us. 

Truth is truth and even if we lose friends, we'll be blessed by God for sharing truth-- and nothing tops that!

7.) Now, in all my 41 married years, never have I been all, "We must own the best silverware in all the land!"-ish. 

My parents gave us a nice set for our wedding and as many pieces mysteriously disappeared over the decades (probably due to moving often) we picked up mismatched pieces at various estate and yard sales. And called it Good.

But in July, Tom arrived home from Salvation Army, saying, "I bought a whole box of silverware for just 10 cents each!" (You know, place settings for 8.) Ol' Debra said, "Oh dear. At this stage of the game I hope they're special because what we have is good enough."

My oh my. They were special! They're stainless steel, I love them and I'm now into having nice silverware. Ha!

8.) Good gracious. This getting-old (aging) stuff is for the birds. The past two years? Ninety percent of my injuries have been desk-related. You know, from just sitting at a desk. 

You get up one day and you've got a new pain that lasts a week or more and you now must find a different way to sit.

Bleh. I have one of those now. If I move my left leg certain ways, ouch! Bah humbug. ツ

9.) The past two weeks Tom's sold music-related items during what we like to call Front Porch Transactions. Some folks arrive with masks, most don't, and all have been nice, friendly human beings.

We feel very safe selling things this way. People from at least 12 houses can see us, these deals are always done in daylight and each person understands beforehand the house is off limits (a mention for my friends of the worrier persuasion. heh.). 

Anyway, what fun to actually meet new people during our government's let's-just-lock-everything-down-and-see-what-happens days. 

10. Okay, the burnt-up make-up bag. 

Man, I'd had that thing for 15 years. Made of fabric that looked like tapestry, I'd taken it cross-country a few times. Used it every single day. Nearly.

But last week I sat down with the bag at our dining room table, flipped open the lid, yet this time it landed on one of my wax-melt candles. Soon, whoosh! A flame appeared on the lid, surrounded by black charring. Hurriedly I emptied the case then carried it over to the kitchen sink and poured water over it.

Sigh. It's easy to get attached to things you've used so long, right?

I must've not made too much of a fuss over the fire because around 5 minutes afterward Tom, from his office, asked simply, "Hmm. Do I smell smoke?"  ツ

And my make-up items now live in a boring Ziploc bag.

The End.

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 (We're having an extra long Autumn here and I feel so very blessed. I hope your area is 'autumning beautifully', too!)

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15