Once in a While, You Gotta Purge.

Hi friends!
I apologize now for the length of this post. Seeing as we are leaving tonight for vacation, I thought I'd get all the latest news "out there" for you to feed on until we return on Tuesday. This, therefore, is one of those "butterfly thoughts" postings...I'll attempt to catch some of them for you.

Abandoning Ship

I told you a while back that I had started a book by Jodi Piccoult called Picture Perfect. I read 3/4 of the way through that mess, and made the painful decision to stop reading. I just didn't care about it...and it was making reading more of a chore. (Lesson learned: stick to books that have been personally recommended.) I replaced that book with one that has come HIGHLY recommended by more people than I can count, Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers. I'm sure I'll finish that one this weekend, as I'm already halfway through it. THIS one has kept my attention!

On The Church Front
Chris and I may have finally found a church here in Duluth. It seems to be energetic and growing...so much so that they are building a brand-new facility VERY close to our house! Not only is it an exciting prospect for fellowship and spiritual growth, but it's convenient, too! More on that fun stuff later.

Annoyances
I broke my fingernail in a horrible place...right below the nail line. That means it's too far down for me to cut it. And it's been snagging on EVERYTHING!!! I have resorted to a full-time band-aid.

Flowers are A-Bloomin'
Since Chris moved in to this house in the fall, none of the plants in the garden were visible. So it's been fun watching to see which plants bloom around the house! We have some day lilies on the side of porch, some climbing roses on the trellis, lots of rhubarb in the back, and several herb bushes. Neither one of us are gardeners (thanks to the rain lately, they've been properly watered!) so when we come home to a new plant in bloom, it's a pleasant surprise!

Speaking of our House...
It is now a new color! Gone is the yellow and green of yesteryear- now it's sporting some cool neutrals: taupe with black shutters. It looks really great...we just have to paint our green screen door to match. And Chris has been hard at work on staining the deck. I'll be posting pictures of that soon :)

There are several more things I could write here, but I figure that gives me some more blog material for the future. I hope you all thoroughly enjoy your holiday weekend! We'll be relaxing at one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes :)