More Rambling

Only two days 'til Christmas, and I'm convinced that y'all must be awfully busy because things have been very quiet around this blog as of late. I tell myself that I must not have any readers, but I know better than that. I know you are keeping busy!

I am not exactly bored, either, but things are starting to slow down. I think I'll enjoy my last two days before Christmas very much. :)

In fact, I have enough extra time to think of writing another "rambling" post. ...I wasn't thinking my first one was very exciting, but it was great fun to write, and since I'm not sure y'all have the time to read anything on this blog this week anyway.....why not? :)

You know what I really wish? I wish it was easy to upload pictures onto my computer. I have so many fun scenes from the past weeks that I could share with you! Our almost-2-feet of snow was a lovely fun thing. ...And Heather snapped a cute picture of Lezley and I cutting out Christmas cookies. ...And there are other things I want to show you, too. I haven't even shown you the shirt I made back in late summer!!!

Yikes. How can I call this place The Fruit of Her Hands when I don't even show pictures of my projects? I've got to get better at that.

I wish I could show you the skirt I finished this week! It is a lovely, lovely, grey-and-white wool-y type of fabric. Again, this was from the bags of fabric that were given to me by a wife of Dad's coworker. God is so good to me! I made this skirt for nothing!

It's a 50's style circle skirt...only it's not quite a full circle. But it still has that look of being fitted at the waist and coming out to a lot of fullness at the hem. I debated whether I should make this skirt ankle-length or not, but decided to pull it up six or seven inches. It's amazing what a difference that can make! The skirt went from looking heavy and weighty to being swishy and sporty.

But enough of that. Clothing description is boring without pictures. :) :)

I went shopping this morning with my Dad and two brothers. I'm SO thrilled to have all my shopping done now! I had only two more items to pick up, but my men folk were pretty much doing all their shopping in one trip....two days before Christmas.

I had to laugh. Those dear, sweet guys!

Oh - guess what happened in one of the check-out lines? The cashier noticed my brown corduroy ankle-length skirt and said, "Oh, I love your skirt! Where did you get it?"

"Oh, thank you. I made it." Then, a little shyly; "...I have my own sewing business."

"Really? Here in town? What's it called?"

"I just run it from my home. It's 'Amber's Ambitions.'"

"Amber's Ambitions. Hmm." (Looking at the skirt again.) "It's great. Looks very J.Crew-y."

Amber, smiling; "Thank you."

Maybe I ought to focus more time on making clothing to sell! Have you seen the prices J.Crew charges? :)

Anyway.

It is SO much fun to go shopping with three fellas when you're the only girl along. I certainly feel protected! Walking through the parking lot with Dad and my two bros, (who are all taller than me), I was as care-free as could be.

But it's also fun because the men want your opinion on whether something is "right," and sometimes they need your help to find their way around in the "girly" departments when shopping for sisters or Mom, .....and then they urge you to rush through your shopping. :)

But you know what? I like that about them. I like that my menfolk are menfolk. I like that they are protectors. I like that they want my advice. I like that they care about getting gifts for their womenfolk. I like that they took charge of the shopping trip and knew what they wanted.

Differences are good things. They add spice to life - like speech accents and hair color.

I've been learning lately not to fight against differences so much - not when they aren't important differences. If somebody's wrong about something, that's one thing - 'specially if it's spiritual - but just because somebody likes contemporary home decor, and I like country home decor, I don't have to spend hours trying to convince them to change their tastes. Or if they loooove shopping and I like hiking, I don't need to stress out about it.

Oh.....um, I think I'm going to end this post abruptly. My brother Curtis just came indoors with the news that one of our pets has died, and I don't feel like writing anymore. I'll pop in later to wish you a merry Christmas on Friday. :)

God bless!
Amber