learn

To Not Try is to Fail

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment
No, it’s not art. It’s self-care.

I had a follow-up with my primary care this week and was reminded about what he told me several months back: “It’s time to do something just for Tammy.” My mental health was his concern for so many years that, while he loves the changes he sees, he wants me to make a point to keep moving forward.

I’ve been wanting to learn watercolor for a while, so I decided to have that be the Tammy thing; I even bought supplies before Christmas. I’ve mentioned my plan before. I think I’ve also shared that I have an issue; I tend to not try things because I expect myself to do everything right the first time even though I know I won’t.

Yes, that’s ridiculous. I’m being transparent here. Okay? I do understand the saying, “Nothing ventured nothing gained,” and I’m officially working on it this time.

So… today I pulled out the paints and other supplies and decided to just play. What you see above is actually my second play sheet. Here, you can see the first.

Today was all about learning how everything worked – the paper, the brushes, the watercolors, and even the water itself. I gave myself permission to do the ridiculous, to create ugly, to fail. In doing so, I learned a lot, and have a solid plan for the next time I pull out my supplies. knowing what I learned today, next time will be better.

We live in a world that demands the appearance of perfection. Your TikTok must be just right for people to hit the follow button and the algorithm to make you visible. Your Instagram posts show only the best side of life. Your Facebook feed is filled with what appears to be perfect families.

And we know perfect families don’t really exist!

So I’m here to challenge you to rebel. Try something new, and give yourself permission to fail. Not fail permanently of course; that’s no fun. Just allow yourself time to learn without giving in to frustration at your own lack of experience. Don’t stop at the first hurdle; keep running the race.

It can be very relaxing, freeing even, to just sit there, mutter, “What if…?” and then try. It might fascinate you to find out.

If you’ve read about my tiny house life, no. None of this will be going into the frames on my kitchen wall. But some day I’ll share a post with those frames filled. After all, I’ve taken the first step in that direction.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Tiny House Part 8: The Library +

Tammy M Cardwell2 Comments

The “+” comes before the library.
It seemed to be a good time to give an
overall look at the main room, so here goes.

In this photo you can clearly see the stained concrete I like so much. To me, it looks like well-worn leather. It’s a breeze to keep clean, which is especially good since I have access to a pool; coming in wet is not a problem. Another thing this photo reveals is the curtains I’m using instead of doors on both the closet and bath. The closet curtains don’t reach all the way to the floor since I ordered them long before I knew what my actual measurements would be. Eventually I’ll order a longer set or add something at the bottom, but for now they’re fine. The bathroom curtain is also short, but that was intentional as I wanted to leave a large space at the top of the doorway for airflow on those rare occasions when I have the curtains closed.

One last bit of randomness about the “kitchen.” Those white boxes you see beside the mirror are the same box frames I use elsewhere. The friend who spent several hours not only redecorating my tiny home but also making things (like the lamp and book easel on my desk) to use as accents in it, hung those there and gave me orders to fill them with art I liked. They mark a goal. My primary care recently told me, “It’s time to do something just for Tammy.” I took his advice to heart and, since I’ve been wanting to learn watercolor, I ordered some supplies. I am determined to not only learn, but to create pieces I feel comfortable putting in those frames.

Now the Library and, yes, I use the word loosely. You get two photos because I thought it would give a better idea of how everything fits together. Bonus peek at the bath included free of charge.

The first thing you likely noticed about my library is the small number of books. I wasn’t kidding when I said I did a hardcore purge in all areas. These physical books that remain are my essentials. The bulk of them being Bibles should not surprise anyone given my book Experiencing the Bible (shameless plug). The others I refuse to get rid of for one reason and another.

I shared previously that I’m an aphant (one who has aphantasia); people as high on the scale as I am can remember what people and places look like to a certain extent, but that knowledge is conceptual, not visual. Consequently, I need photos and that’s why pictures of my kids and grandkids take the primary position in these shelves. Even the parrots on the wall were photographed by my sister on my surprise cruise getaway. (No kidding. She literally scheduled with my boss and booked a cruise for my birthday. She’s the best!) They serve both as art and vacation reminder.

The blue basket on top is convenient for extra storage; right this minute it just holds my lighters and matches; it’s nice knowing I have storage waiting for me to use it! The flowers and the gold-painted dictionary were gifts from my decorator friend. She knows my love of words, so the dictionary is not just an accent piece but a nod to my passion.

If you’re wondering about the framed quote on the top shelf, it’s from Mark Twain. It says, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”

Now, the reason I’m able to have so few physical books…

Bonus: You now know about one of my favorite authors.

I’ve lost pretty much everything twice in my life. The first time taught me a hard lesson and led to my getting my very first kindle as a gift from a friend who had upgraded. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about reading ebooks in the beginning, but learned quickly that I liked it. By the time that Kindle had died, I was carrying an iphone and started using the Kindle app. That was hard on my eyes, though, creating strain I didn’t need. (I tended to read for literal hours at a time. I still can.) So, after much research, I bought a Kindle Paperwhite that, a couple of years ago, I replaced with this Kindle Oasis.

I love this thing! You can tell by the wear on the cover that I use it a lot. As they say, it’s not the age; it’s the mileage. The Kindle Paperwhite (and Paperwhite Oasis) uses an e-ink that is very easy on the eyes. This Oasis also has adjustable lighting as well as the up/down buttons you see on the side. The regular Kindle Paperwhite did not have these buttons, and I would probably not want to go back to doing without them. And this e-reader is waterproof! So yes, reading in the tub is just fine.

So, to get back to my original point. I pretty much stick to paper books for non-fiction, which is what you mostly see on my shelves, because I mark those books up. I want to be able to come back and find things of note and relocate where I’ve recorded my thoughts on a topic. On the other hand, except for a few random non-fiction books, my Kindle is filled with fiction across a variety of genres. I don’t even know how many books I have on this thing and it’s nowhere near full. My TBR (To Be Read) list is massive, which would not be possible if I were limited to what I could fit in this room.

Since I’m on the topic of ebooks, here are some hints for those concerned about ebook prices. First, subscribe to BookBub. You’ll get alerts every day of books in your preferred genres that are on sale or free. A large number of my ebooks were picked up this way. Another thing I do is keep an ebook wishlist on Amazon. I update it any time I find a book I want to buy eventually, and every couple of days I’ll log onto Amazon and check out that list. If any have gone free or been marked down dramatically, I’ll hit the Buy Now button. So loading your kindle doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. You only need to pay full price when you want to read it today.

And that’s it for this week. Like last week, I’ve chosen to put all of the product links here, at the end of the post.

SMILE Weaver Peacock Blue Curtains (closet)

Deconovo Turquoise Curtains (bath)

Experiencing the Bible

Kindle Oasis

Huasiru Case for Kindle Oasis

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Sometimes You Just Need a Do Over

Tammy M Cardwell2 Comments
Back to the Beginning

Years ago, my aunt gave me starts from my grandmother’s hen and chicks plant. That plant, which grew quite large, was my favorite of everything I had. It was the only plant I brought with me to my new place.

But on the day of the move I was tired and stupid. I parked a plant that had been inside for nearly a year outside in full sun while we were in a drought with hundred degree days. I cooked Granny’s plant.

Once things calmed down and I’d regained a few brain cells, I went outside to check it out and discovered a few (exactly 7) pieces that were still hanging on. In hopes of salvaging something, I cut them off and put them in water to hopefully root.

They did root, and today I was able to put them in this cute little planter on my window shelf. And I felt better. Granny, or the plant she nurtured, is with me again just as I’d hoped. Even better than I’d hoped, actually, because while this little planter works on my window shelf the larger plant could only be outside.

Sometimes we mess up. Sometimes we blow it so completely that we destroy something we love. But then there is grace. God cares about even the little things in my life, and though I’d personally signed that plant’s death warrant He saved part of it for me.

So…I start over. I’ll care for this new pot and get to watch my plant grow all over again, see the crazy ways it spreads out, and start new plants off fallen leaves. Grace gave me back what I’d thought completely lost and now I’m totally prepared to move on forward without feeling quite so bad about that particular mistake.

Sometimes going back to the beginning is a blessing.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Only in the Night

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

Eleven years ago, a friend and neighbor called me late at night, telling me that I absolutely had to head over to witness something she was sure I had never seen. She was right.

Night Blooming Cereus, at least the particular plant you see in this admittedly not-great photo, only blooms at night, and only blooms once a year. I’d seen it many times during the day and it was a remarkable plant – remarkable in that it wasn’t all that attractive. She cared for it tenderly though, and nurtured it, because of how glorious it is on that one night a year.

I spent a lot of time over there that night, chatting with my friends and admiring a thing of beauty that was entirely new to me. What if I’d not been home? What if I’d refused to respond to the invitation? I would have missed out, and I would’ve had no idea what I was missing.

The fact is, there are a lot of beautiful things we can only see in the dark. Plants like this one, fireworks, the stars…

The same applies to dark times in our lives. Frankly, there are many truly wonderful things that can only be seen and understood when we let God lead us through the night.

Do we want to walk in the dark? Not really, no. But just like I would have missed that one-night-only flower if I’d refused to accept the invitation and step out, we miss many nighttime-only lessons when we refuse to let God lead us through those dark days of our lives.

Uncomfortable? Undeniably.

Potentially fear inducing? Yep.

Profitable? Beyond our wildest imaginations.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Experiencing the Bible with Children

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

I was asked, recently, if I would consider writing Experiencing the Bible for Children. I’d really have to pray about that one because, though I spent years homeschooling and working with homeschoolers, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually dealt with curriculum for children, and in a sense this book is a Bible curriculum of sorts.

However, as a parent, I strongly encourage you to work through Experiencing the Bible with your kids. Whether you realize it or not, you are continually translating the truths of the world around you into a language your children can understand, and you can do the same thing with my book.

You may not be homeschooling, but if you know any homeschoolers you might want to talk to them about the power of studying as a family. Family discussions, with everyone having the opportunity to both listen and give input, can be truly power-packed.

They do much more than merely offer a rich setting for learning the material being discussed. They also let children of all ages witness their parents actively pursuing knowledge and understanding. This is huge, since much of what any child learns is from what he sees adults do. Yes, that old adage, “More is caught than is taught”? True!

Such discussions also help children, people of all ages, learn how to have true conversations and even debates without arguing and getting into fights. In today’s culture, where it seems we’ve reached a point of “fight first and maybe agree later” this is a vital skill.

Open family discussions can also head off potential misunderstandings. I have a personal story that is a classic example of what happens when a child hears something and fails to understand it, but doesn’t feel comfortable asking questions. The preacher was reading Psalm 23 and for the life of me I could not figure out why I wouldn’t want the shepherd to lead me beside still waters.

This is only a short list of benefits, but you get my point. I encourage you to get a copy of Experiencing the Bible, whether in paperback, ebook, or audiobook, and work through it as a family or in a small group.

You can get the book in all three formats at Amazon by clicking HERE.

You can also get the ebook, and name your own price, at Smashwords by clicking HERE.

Get into the Word and be blessed!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

We Need It All!

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

A.W. Tozer said, “The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.”

If our desire is to be everything God wants us to be, it is imperative that we get out of our biblical comfort zones and dig into the parts of the Bible that we don’t usually visit. 2 Timothy 3:16 lets us know that we need the whole Bible!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Study to Show

Tammy M Cardwell4 Comments

2 Tim 2 15

I shared, last night, about the cashier who clearly didn’t understand the basics of percentage discounts. Had her math teacher witnessed the incident, he or she would surely have been appalled, and if her employer had seen? Hopefully someone can help her understand before it happens again.

As is common, God used this practical experience to remind me of a great truth. We must prepare for life ahead of time. The math lessons should have been fully learned before the customer stood in front of her with a 50% off item. Likewise, God tells us in II Tim 2:15 to study ahead of time: This is how we are prepared to face life events before we reach them. Whether it’s a sudden battle with cancer or an ongoing conversation about salvation, a question about which action would best please God or how to fight a battle, all of the information we need is right there, in His Word.

Yes, as some would say, His Word is at our fingertips and we can look it up, but a Bible won’t always be immediately at hand (as the cashier’s calculator must not have been) and the Bible you don’t know will be of limited help to you.

It is the math student’s responsibility to learn the difference between 40% and 50%, and know how to calculate both, however…it is not always the student alone who pays the price when she fails. (I paid an extra .25 because I wasn’t willing to give a math lesson.) When we fail to study God’s Word, to make it part of our lives, we pay…  whether or not we notice the price being paid; and we are not the only ones affected. Those who surround us, those who come in contact with and are not helped by us… they pay a price too.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C