Dreamweaver

“To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that the one that must be loved is not a friend. There is no merit in loving an enemy when you forget him for a friend.” Mohandas Gandhi

 My husband and I have this on going debate regarding "forgiving and forgetting".  I'm sure that everyone has their own philosophy regarding this notion and some can't forgive at all, much less forget.  Rus and I don't have a problem with each other.  I don't want anyone to think that it's about us.  It's all about others in our lives that may willingly or unwillingly inflict harm or pain onto our family.  Seeing life through the eyes of an individual and as the protector of the ones that I most hold dear in my heart.  Especially as a mother to two very young children, I have not gotten to the point as a mom to separate their pain from my own.  As a matter of record, I still feel their pain deeper than my own and subject myself to emotional pain if it somehow benefits them.

 Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.
Hannah More

 Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.
Indira Gandhi

 I think that forgiveness is imperative.  Without it, anger takes over the soul.  Anger and hate can preoccupy the mind and destroy the body.  Forgiveness is easy with practice.  remind yourself that the person or situation only has the control that you've given it or them.  You control the control.  It's your life and no one can do anything about that.  Forgiveness can be a long process, it can come in waves, it can also be a singular moment in time, and it can be triggered by something.  Forgiveness can be given over and over again, as long as you need to put yourself in the situation that forgiveness needs to be repetitive.  It's an ever-changing notion.  It can be whatever you need it to be and at any time that you need it.

 Forgetting is an entirely different animal.  Depending on the frequency, harshness, and necessity of the pain, forgetting may be completely self destructive.  If a woman has been beaten by her husband then leaves, she may need to forgive to save herself, but no one would expect her to go back to her abusive husband because she has forgotten the pain.  If a friend is verbally abusive toward you every time your together, you should do everything in your power to forgive them, but should you spend more time with them because you constantly forget?  How much pain should we be willing to endure for the sake of forgiveness and at what point dose it become self destructive?  I think that God gave us a memory for a reason and we should use it as he intended.  We should give people "second chances" and acknowledge any improvements as they are, but at some point we have to come to the realization that some behaviors are beyond our control and we should stop putting ourselves out there to be hurt again and again.  As humans, most of us can't help but to learn.  Most animals learn.  The more we are hurt in a situation, the more we expect to be hurt in the same situation.  As we struggle harder and harder to forgive, forgetting gives way to avoidance and is counter productive to our wellbeing.

When moving to our new house I discovered that two of my propagated plants had grown into the ground at the old house.  I had to chop a lot of the root system to get it to it's new location.  I have not had the chance to make the plans for the gardens, but had to plant them on the same day that I got them here.  A rose of sharon went beside the driveway and a gardenia was planted on the front side of the deck.  The gardenia has recovered well without any trimming, but the rose of sharon looks like it is still in shock.  I trimmed the rose of sharon back about a foot to lighten the load to it's damaged root system and mist the leaves when I water it.  With a lot of TLC I think that it will make it, but will probably look terrible this season. 

While the warm weather is welcome this time of year, the wasps that come with it, are not. Make your Own Wasp & Yellow-jacket Trap.
Simply cut the top of a 2 liter bottle just above the label.
Invert the top and staple to the bottle (creating a funnel shape).
Add approximately 2 inches of soda, or sweetened water.
Place your traps in a wide circle (about 40-50 away from the area that you'd like to be "wasp Free".
To make them instantly "attractive" to other wasps, kill a few wasps with a flyswatter & drop the bodies in the top of your trap. Wasps release a chemical drawing others.

These homemade traps work wonderfully around picnic areas & decks.

To Make your Own Wasp Sprays:

Spray with Liquid detergent (Dawn) diluted in water- this works the best!

Spray with Cheap Hairspray such as Aquanet

Another Super easy, effective Spray Recipe- combine the following in a med. spray bottle: 1 T. Peppermint extract, 1 T. Baby Shampoo (unscented if possible) fill with warm water - this works wonderfully.

Summer begins in the Shuler household with big plans and a big "todo" list. With a new house that needs a lot of work and a new neighborhood with lots of new friends, we're excited to start working and playing. At least two trips to the grands with beach and lake outings are planned. Three sessions of speech camp for Brandi, one week of Baskitball camp for Dylan and a reading readiness class for Brandi are on the calender. For the new house, we plan on taking a couble of the large trees down, painting and rewiring the stairwell to the basement, getting the hot tub in working order, presure washing all the cement around the house, getting the basement in order and empting all the boxes from the move. On a personal note, I hope to get in a lot of reading and hopefully some more blogging. I've asked Rus to help me work on a new look and feel from some of my blogs.. specificly the house blog and the dreamweaver blog.

Ingredients:
2c. Flour
1c. Salt
2c. Water
2Tbsp. Cooking oil
4tsp. Cream of Tarter
Food Coloring

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except food coloring in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture forms a large ball. Drop onto floured wax paper and knead to remove lumps. Add food coloring and knead until mixed. Store in an airtight container. DO NOT EAT.

Paul Harvey on Wikipedia.

I just heard that Paul Harvey has passed away.
I can actually say that I feel as if an old friend is no longer with us. I say this because every morning, without fail, from an extremely early age until the time I left my childhood home I would wake up in the mornings to the sound of Paul Harvey coming from my father's AM radio. Paul Harvey had a wonderful way of reminding us just how small the world really is and how things that you do today may have a huge impact tomorrow. His stories never failed to mistify.

25 Random thoughts

1. I like making lemonade out of lemons (figuratively speaking).
2. I wake up early because I like the quiet.
3. I think that adversity reveals a lot about a person.
4. I believe that the most important lessons in life are right in front of us.
5. I think that the live oak is the most beautiful tree on earth.
6. I’m going grey… fast, really fast, and I’m letting it.
7. I don’t do heals. They really hurt and I don’t invite pain.
8. If I were old enough and weren’t so southern I would use the phrase “kiss my ass” a lot.
9. I believe that better public education and universal healthcare would help salve a lot of our problems.
10. I think that my kids are the most incredible people on earth.
11. I’ve almost mastered delayed satisfaction.
12. I’m fascinated with psychology and philosophy.
13. I married my best friend.
14. I think that all things pertaining to government or law should be looked at with the worse case scenario in mind.
15. I hope for the best, plan for the worst.
16. I think that the Buddhist and comic conscienseness are closer to the truth, but no one is entirely wrong.
17. Rus and I stay up talking every night.
18. I get very sick right after I get very stressed.
19. I plan because not being prepared is my biggest stressor.
20. I wear lots of different hats for my family.
21. Big, important things seem to happen around Valentine’s Day.
22. I can’t watch sports on the TV and can barely make it through them live. Watching politics is more my speed.
23. I procrastinate when doing laundry.
24. I find great humor in everyday life.
25. I don’t mind getting dirty.

After Dylan was born, it didn't take long to realize that we needed a bigger car. Namely after that first Christmas South Carolina Tour. When we packed up to come back to the upstate, poor little Dylan (only 2 months old) sat in his car sit surrounded by all the gifts that the Grandparents bestoyed upon him. I kept thinking during the whole trip that if we went over just one pot hole he would be trapped under in all.
So, that January we headed to Car max and Traded in my beloved little saturn with the cute sun roof and awsome sterio systom for a white toyota sianna minivan. We had thought about an SUV because I felt that I simply was not ready to trade in ALL my coolness for the soccer mom look. But, after giving it a lot of thought, we felt that the minivan would give us all the functionality of a SUV with a lot more room and better gas milage.
let me tell you right now that I have not spent a single day regretting the trade. We can go to Edisto and back on a tank and ahalf, which we do on a monthly bases. We can howl 700lbs in a trailer, which we do quite often. We can pack that thing to the hilt from the supply warehouses or the local nursery.

About 21 years ago a bunch of 16 year olds got together and had this picture made. We all got a copy and we went out to live our lives. The other day one of us found their picture and put it on Facebook. What pursued made my heart swell. A nice little conversation between some friends that have not been together since perhaps this picture was taken.

We planted the "Green Giant" Thujas along the Peacewood Trail back border with thoughts of one day renting this home out while living in a home to the back of the property. We figured that this border would someday give us privacy from whomever lives here.
We planted them in the fall of 2007 when they where about 6 inches tall. I found them at parkseed's website and was advertised as a fast growing privacy border that could give you 3 to 5 feet of growth per year.
I've been very pleased with this plant so far. Very low maintenance and is growing according to discription. Not really hitting the maximun growth, but they are not getting full sun either.

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Halloween preview. Dylan lost his first front tooth the week before his birthday.

Some cakes I've made for the kids over the years.

Just found him on Facebook!!! Doing fine in LA. (No, this isn't him) I had to share this picture he found doing some people watching.

Now, this is really getting into recycling. In case you where wondering what to do with all those doll houses the little ones have stopped playing with... Just pop it on your head and get to church, sister!

It's time for the first fundraiser of the school year! Anyone interested in helping us raise money for the Indian Land School smart boards can click on the photo to browse the items for sale. You'll also be helping Dylan earn great prizes.

You can not order on the website so you will have to send me an email at chshuler@yahoo.com to let me know what you want, I'll send you our address so you can send payments. I know that it's a real bother to do business that way, but it's the best we can do right now. I think that the company is trying to make online shopping available. (you can change pages from the left side of the page)

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