Magazine Nonsense

For the record, I am a magazine junkie. I love, love, love, my magazines. (Especially Us Weekly, but that is for another post.)

I just cannot help myself. I love to read all about starvation weight loss secrets, fashions that I will never be able to afford, exercise regimens of stick thin women, make up tips for using make up that I will never buy or wear, pictures of good hair that I want to have and proceed to torture Melissa with, not to mention all of the organizing and decluttering tips that I never end up doing.

I think that I inherited my love of magazines from my mother. She hoards loves them as well.;) (Just ask my daddy, but as I said before, that is also for another post.)

And one of the first things that my mother taught me about magazines is this:
The first thing that you do upon opening any magazine is to go through and pull out all of the ads and subscription cards.

So, when my current issue of Redbook magazine arrived last week, that is exactly what I did.



I pulled them all out. Like so.



I quickly noticed that there was a particularly thick advertisement that really stuck out in the magazine. (I tried at first to rip it out, but it would not budge.)

But then, I noticed that it had a very pretty and colorful picture on the front of the thick advertisement. It looked like this.



Then I flipped it over, and this is what it looked like on the back side.



Well, now my curiosity was beginning to get the best of me. I wondered what on earth a butterfly net had to do with Fruit of the Loom unmentionables.

So, once I was able to rip pry the pages apart, I saw this.



Pretty clever, huh?

Fruit of the Loom colorful cotton pantie-clad butterflies.

In 3D, no less.

Please feel free to just completely ignore me.

I really should try to get out more.

I'm just saying.

“I was leafing through a magazine where there was a before-and-after picture of a woman who went from a size 5 to a size 3 by liposuction. Was she serious? I've cooked bigger turkeys than her "before" picture.” ~Erma Bombeck

Just A Simple Observation........

Trying to prepare for my upcoming trip, Shannon's work related travel, various doctor's appointments, and trying to finish up school with my boys has left me a little overwhelmed this week, so I do not have a Bible study post to share with you today. When I return from my journey, I will post again about what I am learning through my studies of the women in the Bible. So today, instead of a devotional post, I will share with you something that I observed around my home.

I hope you enjoy it.
God Bless, Amy:)

We always have a lot of these gorgeous butterflies around our home.



They fly away.......



and then they come back......



with more of their butterfly buddies.



What is interesting to me, is what attracts them to our yard. You probably can't tell by just looking at the pictures, but it is not the beautiful surroundings. What attracts them to our yard is our dog Allie's pee and poop waste.

I remember thinking one day, as I watched a lot of them flying all around her pee and poop waste, how odd it is that these beautiful, delicate creatures spend all their time in search of such disgusting things. I mean with all of the beautiful greenery around our country home, they want to sit and feed on Allie's pee and poop waste.

Then God pointed out to me how hypocritical and judgmental I was being towards these beautiful creatures......It was almost as if I heard Him say, "Amy, isn't that exactly what you do sometimes?.....I created you in My image, but look what some of your time is spent doing....gossiping, watching inappropriate television programs, worrying, not helping out at church as much as you should, reading romance novels instead of reading My Word........"

Proverbs 15:14
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

Then I thought about how the butterfly leaves the pee and poop waste, only to come back with more buddies to enjoy it with.

As Christians, don't we do this same thing?......Sometimes we drag our friends and family members into things that are "wasteful" activities, because we don't want to be alone in them. And sometimes we follow our friends and family members into these same types of "wasteful" activities, because we don't want to feel left out, or seem different than anybody else.

Proverbs 13:20
He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

I looked up the definition of waste on Wikipedia.
Waste is an unwanted or undesired material or substance. It is also referred to as rubbish, trash, garbage, or junk depending upon the type of material and the regional terminology. In living organisms, waste relates to unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from them.

So much time in our lives is wasted on waste.

Humbling, isn't it?

There is so much to learn about life from just a simple observation........

Where's Waldo?

Did you or your children like these books? My boys really enjoyed them. I spent many hours sitting in doctor and dentist office waiting rooms trying to find the elusive Waldo.

But don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to try to find Waldo today. No, instead, I'm going to have you try to find butterflies among the daisies. I know, I know, I said that I was done last Sunday with my spring daisy pictures, but I lied was mistaken. Sorry.

Friday morning I went out in my front yard to take a few more pictures of my beloved daisies before they all withered away. As I was taking some pictures, I spotted this little butterfly right as it landed on one of the daisies.



At first it was just one, then two, and before I knew it there were probably ten of them fluttering about in the daisies.

So, if you would like to, come along and see the butterflies in the daisies. They are much harder to photograph than I would have ever thought. Watching them I realized they are very much like two year olds, constantly on the go. They never stayed still for long; they just fluttered about from flower to flower.

And while you look for them, if you like, you can hum a little Dolly Parton tune.
You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

♫ Love is like a butterfly ♫



♫ As soft and gentle as a sigh ♫



♫ The multicolored moods of love are
like its satin wings ♫



♫ Love makes your heart feel strange inside ♫



♫ It flutters like soft wings in flight ♫



♫ Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing ♫



Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.