Before You Go Throwing Things Away---

"Nurturing is not complex.
It's simply being tuned in to the thing or person before you
and offering small gestures toward what it needs at that time."


- --Mary Anne Radmacher


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Back in June I finally (after 4 years) spray-painted then hung a Victorian-ish hook outside. Only thing, that's when those hanging flower baskets cost full-price and we penny-pinchers would rather cross hot coals than pay that.

So I waited, but uh-oh! Our weather turned all record-breaking-heat-and-humidity-ish  and I bought no flowers, hanging or otherwise, because I. Just. Didn't. Care. 

Humidity zaps the will to live right out of me. 

Well, almost, so except for 3 little sunflowers and my loyal bouquets of hardy asters and daisies, this summer we went flower-less. 

Until Saturday. 

That's when we drove past a dried-up, brownish, sad, neglected pot of barely-there petunias on the curb beside trash cans. Tom asked if I wanted him to pull over so I could grab them and I, recalling that empty hook at home, said, "May as well."

Hours later, when the temperature dropped to only-mind-numbing, I sat outside (in my turquoise breakfast robe, actually) and clipped, fingered, watered and whispered to those poor dried-up, wilted petunias and oh! This greeted me on our sanely-cool Sunday morning:




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Can you believe what a little extra pruning, care and love can do? Suddenly we are flower-less no more. (And our temperatures are back to I-want-live!-ish. Whew.)

Which reminds me. This past month, Tom and I had a rough patch (sweet ol' married forever Tom and Debra? Gasp!). I fell into a sloppy habit of disagreeing with his ideas and he got into the habit of snapping at me, over-exaggerating how often I did this. (He used the always word and that makes me bonkers. No one is that consistent in anything--and yes, I'm pretty literal in this instance.) 

Anyway, finally we 'had it out'. We expressed what we were feeling (I think they call it 'communication'), it wasn't fun, but hey, it helped. Since then, we've tried harder to respect the other's wishes and life is returning to normal (which--here--is good).

It felt, actually, a bit like bringing back those flowers to something beautiful. All it took was asking for God's help, paying attention, pruning what was wrong/ugly and watering what was left.

I highly recommend that, rather than just throwing away what still has life left within it if only we take the time to nurture it.

"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit."  ...John 15:2



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Oh no! Remember this inexpensive house that I loved--

-- but getting into it during the winters is all wrong and would be costly to fix?

Well, I'd been praying that they'd sell that house (so to put me out of my misery), but no! Instead, they lowered the price by $10,000. It's only $59,900 now.

Eegads. Ol' Debra had another rough afternoon trying to re-work and re-work things in her head and slip a ton of hints to Tom. But it's still a no-go.

*&&^%$#@. What a test. 

Yet Life goes on (and yes, there are more important things) as does the challenge of making the most of what I have. Fortunately, that's a challenge I--mostly--enjoy. 

It just seems to get more difficult as I grow older, rather as though my imagination doesn't work as it once did. Hmmm...


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Have you seen the based-on-true-events-movie called The Finest Hours? If not, it's now available instantly on Netflix. 

Starts out a bit slow, but Tom and I enjoyed it. We both especially appreciated the ending which we'd never have believed if it didn't, according to eye-witnesses, really happen that way.

A very old-fashioned film, made the way they used to. Check it out.


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Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think."   ... Horace quotes ******

Free Kindle Books:


The Story Girl

The Road to Oz

 A Shot in the Bark

Gunpowder Chowder

Happy Thoughts and Illustrations

Explode Your Creativity



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How Many Folks Do You Need In Your Audience?

I remember while in my teens and twenties daydreaming, "Someday I'll do something amazing (like writing a jaw-dropping book maybe?) and people will exclaim, 'Oh! Debra was so young and yet she accomplished such a huge thing. Gee, she's deep/really something.'"

Then I reached my forties and thought, "Uh-oh. I'm no longer young (bummer). Anything I do now can only be expected, rather typical and, most likely, already done by others."

Oh, of course we're all unique and no one can replicate anything we do the same exact way. That's true, keeps life interesting and I've blogged about it way too often.

But here's the thing: in my thirties, God showed me the futility and the 24/7-bonkers-stress of trying to impress people. How impressions are fleeting, are not to be the goal and certainly not my motive in talent-sharing.

Viewing Him as my Audience of One was the new goal. Obeying God superseded all and would meet the needs of others (He knows exactly who needs what). And if others disliked my when-I-got-it-right obedience? Then it became God's problem, not mine, for His directions are His ideas.

Wow. In time, in layers (think onions) everything changed through my persistence in desiring to please God, not 50 different people who wanted to pull me 50 different ways.

Oh, Life in that auditorium with that Audience of One! The peace, the lack of throbbing inside my poor ol' head. The growing ability to focus and no longer wandering upon the stage all distracted by selfish-ambition (and the plain bad feelings with it). 

What a better way to live. At any age.

"Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you..."   ... Ephesians 1:18




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"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,  not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."   ... Philippians 2:3,4


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My friend, Ann, shared this awesome retro mid-century house.

My other friend, Anne (with an 'e' ...smile...) shared this super-cool vintage house.

Oh, and if you have time, be sure to check out Anne's post called Gratitude. Wow. Her words about her grandmother convicted me like crazy!  (Go here to see what I mean.)


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“Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.” 
― Charles F. Stanley

“If three steps are taken without any other motive than the desire to obey God, those three steps are miraculous; they are equally so whether they take place on dry land or on water.” 
― Simone Weil

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Free Kindle Books:


The Teacup Novellas--The Collection

A Cup of Murder

Crushed: An Amazing True Story

Catching You Up On What You've Missed

Our Labor Day weekend was so peaceful that Tom and I (again) spoke about early retirement, but (again) couldn't figure out a way to wing it yet. So he drove away to work this morning and life goes on.

Yesterday he and I drove to Salvation Army for their holiday half-off-of-everything sale and I found the coolest book for my Scholastic collection:

                                 Loved every page of this book. Seriously.


Obviously Debra doesn't collect mint-only-condition books.  No, not even. Just give me a cool Scholastic in readable shape and I'm thrilled.

Also, I found black slacks (all I ever wear. Yep, I'm in a rut.) which fit like a dream, plus, another pair which are not dream-like, but I'll take 'em.

And something else we squeezed into our little house? This, for only $2.50:

Doesn't scream 1970's, exactly, yet neither does it yell modern. But we both liked the look so it stays, plus, anything which will help keep Tom a bit more organized is a literal God-send.

Usually Naomi goes with us on these holiday trips, but she didn't come home till 3:00 a.m. She did, though, get up a few minutes to make us her World's Best coffee (forget Seattle's Best) which she does every weekend because she's sweet that way. I get just one-half cup of this heavenly brew lest my head ache/pop/explode. I think finally I've become content with that, but it took forever awhile.

Speaking of contentment (or the lack thereof, actually),10 days ago we drove past a house for sale in my favorite nearby/safe/awesome neighborhood:

It's a colonial, has a deck, a balcony, 4 bedrooms, a sunroom, coat closet, fireplace and full attic and is only $69,000. But I can't have it. Darn. Darn. Darn. There's one major deal breaker --getting from the garage to the house: we'd have to tear out the deck (!!), chop down a huge tree (sigh) and build a pass-through extension/room ($$$$$). There is no way around doing that. Trust me--I've spent hours and hours trying to come up with one.

But other than that, (and replacing the windows, buying a stair climber chair, adding more cabinets to the kitchen and switching from oil heat to natural gas...) hey, it was perfect.  

Clearly I have masochistic tendencies. I still, daily, check out real estate online--for ideas, you understand. Only for ideas. 

Riiiiiight.

A good prescription for yours truly right about now? This, which I shared at Facebook this morning:

Go keeping the main thing, the main thing, and it's amazing how suddenly contented one becomes--and stays--on the way to where she's going.

I know this. I do. I just need to keep it closer to my heart.



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Anyway, I'm rereading Betty MacDonald's incredible Anybody Can Do Anything (get this book if you can) and I'll leave you with an awesome passage, one which makes me, ok, really really want that colonial house or--if I can't have it--then to relax a bit more here at Hobbit Cottage and not always need to have things just so. (But that's a personality thing so uh-oh! But hey. All things are possible---).

----Betty's speaking about her mother's house (which she shared with Betty's 4 siblings during the Depression), the place where Betty returned with her tiny girls after living 4 dark, lonely years on a farm:

"To me that night, and always, that shabby house with its broad welcoming porch, dark woodwork, cluttered dining room plate rail, large fragrant kitchen, easy book-filled fire-lit living room, four elastic bedrooms--one of  them always ice-cold----roomy old-fashioned bathrooms and huge cluttered basement, represents the ultimate in charm, warmth and luxury. It's something about Mother, who with one folding chair and a plumber's candle, could make the North Pole homey, and it's something about the warmth and loyalty and laughter of a big family. 

It's a wonderful thing to know that you can come home anytime from anywhere and just open the door and belong. That everybody will shift until you fit and that from that day on its a matter of sharing everything."


Can't you just see all that? Lovely.

(A very in-depth biography about Betty MacDonald is coming out this month. It's something all of us crazy fans have looked forward to for years--hooray!)


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"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need."  ... Philippians 4:11-12


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Here's the colonial I can't have:

I'm not a huge fan of paneling (who is?), but I find this type, 'beachy'. I could easily live with it. And a coat closet! I've been known to walk around here saying, "My kingdom for a coat closet!"  :)

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Have you seen this yet about the 100-year-old school chalkboards? Awesome stuff.


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And P. S. for Nan----thanks for your questions! I love that you're interested in my 'dilemma'.  :)

Here's a better photo of the side entry. There's currently a wheelchair ramp there blocking one of the garage doors. If we took the ramp out, we'd still need stairs to the deck--and Tom can't do snowy stairs nor could I salt the wooden deck without ruining it. 

If we took out the deck (sigh) and the huge tree, we could build a room between the garage and side entry, but that would cost a lot (and I'd hate to cut down another tree and not have the deck). 

Another idea is for Tom to pull up to the front of the house and I'd just have to keep the sidewalk to the front door clear for him, then I would always park the car in the garage for him in winter (and move it back out on snowy mornings). But I might grow tired of that. (Though with the way I feel right now, I'd like to risk it. heh. *And* I did this out at the farm over the two winters that he had a job and didn't mind it much.) 

Though again, Tom's not in the mood to move. Boo hoo.   :)