Zumba for the Wii

Hi. Well, who would have thought that I would like Zumba?  I wanted a new exercise video. I was going to get a beginner's yoga video. I really meant to...but, really I have so much...how to describe it?  I have so much not really quiet, but having to be focused and quiet and focused and quiet (I couldn't think of any better words) in my life.  That I started thinking that I need something fun and active. Something that is a little silly. 

So I was good and did some homework. I asked my friend about Just Dance. She got some additional Just Dance games for Christmas, so she was happy to show me. I liked them, but the characters on the screen weren't really people. For some reason that bugged me.  I then looked at what other exercise options there were for the Wii. I didn't find too many. I looked at Zumba last year too, so I decided to look at it again. Carl helped me research a YouTube video to get an idea of what it would look like. I watched a few and read a lot of reviews. I found that the first Zumba had some problems. The second was better, but I heard that the Zumba Core was the best. I looked it up and found a video of it. The people were a lot more realistic. That clinched it.

I went to Target and found it on sale!  I brought it home and tried it out. Um, it is not easy. I really have no rhythm and no dance ability. I almost got discouraged by the tutorials, but then I just jumped into a low-impact, 20 minute class. Supposedly I mastered it according to them, but in my opinion I have a long ways to go.

I was sweating though and I was jazzed. I guess that is what it is about. I was so jazzed that I took a 20 minute walk to settle down!!  Belle liked that too. 

I haven't been able to stick to any kind of exercise regimen, so we will have to see how it goes.  I'll keep you posted. 

Catching up

Wow.  Time flies when life is moving on.  How to start again?  My main themes over the past year have been:  Building Community, Health, Growing (both in the ground and within myself), Nature, Positive thoughts. 

Building Community - has been going very well.  I feel connected here.  We have worked on connecting with the neighbors across the street.  Their kids are so sweet.  We haven't gotten to see them much since it is so dark at night, but I think we both feel like we could call on them when in need and I hope they feel that way too.  We are volunteering more at our church and have been asked to take on a bit project for the next year.  It is exciting and nerve-wracking, but it is all about getting a large number of people in a better financial place, so that is REALLY exciting! 

Community at work is so much better too.  I have worked to open up to more people and there is just more laughter there.  That is so good! 

Health - The update on that is that I have lost about 10 pounds and one pants size since September this year.  That was fun!  We continue to work on eating all organic food and a lot more vegetables.  We were regulars at the Farmer's Market this year and that was in spite of being part of a Community Supported Agriculture shipment each week and growing a bunch of our own veggies as well.  I am able to support four worm bins at this point!  Or at least I was during the summer!  I have been juicing and my son and I have been doing a lot of smoothies with additional veggies in them.  Our most recent thing was making our own apple sauce.  YUM!!

Growing - BOY DID WE GROW!  We grew a ton of tomatoes of a variety of kinds.  We grew zucchinis, summer squash, another kind of squash, celery, parsley, potatoes, peppers (not many though because the chickens thought these plants were especially good), lettuce, come carrots, and massive cucumbers!  We pickled and canned some, but mostly we ate the lovely food.   It was fun to see things actually start to grow.  We will see what will happen for next year...

I did my share of growing as well.  I took some time off this Fall due to some medical issues.  It was hard to let go for real.  But it was very necessary for my health.  I have come back a better person for it. 

Nature - The thing that really stands out with me about nature is...an owl who came to visit my yard.  I live very much in an area where it was a big surprise to see him.  I felt like he was visiting to say hello.  It was such a blessing.  I have been more watchful with the chickens though. 

I guess along with the this, I would say that we have been working on conserving water.  I heard this tip from somewhere and thought it would be an easy change.  We throw a bucket under the faucet while the water is heating up in the morning for a shower.  Then we use that water to flush the toilet.  It is simple, but it seems to really help. 

And this summer, with all the veggies we were eating, I was amazed at the small amount of garbage and recycling we produced.  We continue to work on this through the winter, but it is a bit harder as the Market is closed for a few months and our CSA won't start again until May.  But every little bit counts. 

Positive Thoughts - It has been a hard year in a lot of ways.  We moved in October last year, our dog died in November and then my sister died in December of last year.  There were many things in the news that were tough.  It was an election year for the President here and there was so much political back and forth on Facebook.  I made a commitment to share at least one positive thought on my Facebook page each day.  That has been an inspiration to me and I have had a lot of people thank me for it as well. 

I will try to write more.  Thank you for helping me ease back into blogging.  I have missed it. 

I love garbage!

Have I told you how much I love garbage?  Or maybe it is the lack of garbage?  This guy has his head in the right place.  For some reason, you cannot see that there is an embedded video here, but just click the title link and then you can watch the video.  It is about a guy who did a TED talk about setting up as close to zero waste restaurants as possible.  It is very interesting.

Neighbors

Such a lovely evening we had!  We spent the eveing with our neighbors.  They have two young children and they are a bit...ok, well a lot younger than us.  But they invited us over to thank us for watching their house while they were away.  They were away for a month and a half!!  And it was in the middle of our play, so it wasn't really an easy thing to do.  But it was a giving thing to do.  And honestly, they are just nice people and they deserved it. 

So they thanked us by offering us dinner.  It was a sweet, simple dinner.  We brough salad...lettuce from our garden, parsely from our garden, blue berries from both our garden and our CSA, peppers from the store, and some feta and salad dressing.  It was a lovely medley of goodness.  And they made really good...and I do mean REALLY good, cross cut beef ribs and some lovely bread.  I made a bit of a pig of myself with the meat.  It is rare that I do that, but it was that good.  We sat in their cute yard and talked and drank beer and wine.  The kids had their own table and they had a blast.  They were running around and chasing each other.  Really good KID stuff.  I hadn't realized that my husband hadn't really talked to them before.  He mentioned this morning that he didn't know their names.... :-)  Community...building community.  It takes time.  It is worth it. 

Community Building -- Community Theater

I have a bunch of pictures of our garden that I want to post here...but that will have to wait.  In the meantime, wanted to report that my family and I are part of an awesome community theater producation of Anne of Green Gables (a musical).  I was looking for community and what a wonderful way to build it!  I am playing Marilla...one of the characters that has the most lines...so it has been a busy and very tiring 6 weeks!  We open on Thursday!  Very exciting!  But in the meantime, I have been struggling with the whole view of "Why the heck am I putting myself through this?!!"  I talked to one of my co-actors.  She and her family have been involved in theater since...well at least 8 years that I know of.  She didn't answer right away...here is her response and I think it is lovely.

"I've been thinking about what you asked me last night. You asked for my insight on why we do theatre when it can be seem like punishment at times. Well, to me it's a lot like childbirth. You are giving life to something very special. It may be a painful process, but the end result is worth everything. The experience stays with you and makes you a better person and you get to work with people in a way that you wish the whole world could grasp. The cooperation and determination it takes by a bunch of volunteers to do a show would be a good model for our government to follow. The results would be lifechanging and ongoing. Theatre gives young people an outlet that helps them see their self-worth and can save lives. They realize that they are an important part of the big picture. Those are a few of my thoughts. Hope it helps.
May"

Misty Morning

Oh the beautiful, quiet morning...rain drip, drip, dripping from the two-story tall cherry tree leaves, the grass over-grown due to lack of time and flexibility glistens in the misty rain.  The chicken sisters are out having their morning walk-about...scratch, scratch, scratch, peck, peck, peck, mutter a little..."What have you found? Anything good?  Will you share with me?"  "Oh Mama's coming!  She is so tall...and a little scarey.  But she usually has something good for us to eat."  "OH baby slugs!  They are the best!"  Difficult to break up the amazing slug maternity ward that has set itself up in the potato patch, but gifting them to the chicken-sisters reminds one of the circle of life in the garden.

Too long

It has been too long.  I haven't written here since Mother's Day.  And today is Father's Day.  And by the way, it is also my son's 8th birthday.  It is a day of remembrance for me.  A day where I remember my Dad, who I have been spending a lot of time with lately.  A day to remember my father-in-law who passed more years ago than my son has been alive.  And to think of my husband and the awesome father he is.  And it is interesting for me to also be thinking about my son, how he is growing and what a wonderful Dad he may become in the future.  But mostly I am thinking about his birth and what an amazing and awe-inspiring day that was.  I could ramble more about that in great detail, but what I really want to say is that I was THERE and I was so honored to be truly present as I watched a miracle unfold.  The golden chord of life continues to awe me as I watch him grow. 

Life has been a bit of a challenge lately for my family and I.  My mom is 86 and she took a tumble about three weeks ago.  I am very thankful for my large family at times like these.  Several of us took turns staying and helping.  It hasn't been easy for any of us.  It has been a challenge to keep work going and to keep life in general going.  It has been tiring.  Thankfully Mom has made use of her stubborn streak and she is soldering on.  She made it up and back down the stairs the other day.  That is a miracle too. 

Our garden is growing in spite of the June-uary we have been having.  Not much sun.  A lot of rain.  We ended up planing tomatoes, both the starts that we had and the starts that we got from the market, peppers, celery, some different herbs, carrots, lettuce, potatoes, onions and three kinds of squash.  We also have strawberries and blue berries almost ripe.  I think that there is also a raspberry plant going strong.  I don't know much about them...I think the woman who lived here for a while planted this.  I like rasberries though, so I think I should learn more about them. 

Our chickens went through a tough phase.  One of them stopped laying and wanted to hatch everyone else's eggs.  She lost most of her feathers on her belly and overall she just looked bad.  It was a good think too because it made me realize that the feed that we had bought, that the store said was chicken feed really was not.  It was ok for chickens, but it didn't have the calcium needed.  Once we changed them back over to the better feed and let them run around for a few days in a row, things seemed to take a huge step in the right direction.  They are all laying again now and all is well. 

Our cat was ill too.  We tried all sorts of ways to help him without meds from the vet.  But we finally broke down and used the heavy guns from the vet.  The cat is so happy that he is darting around the house.  Glad it worked and that he is more/less back to normal. 

The three of us auditioned for community theater this summer.  It is the musical of Anne of Green Gables.  It was my first real audition even though my husband has been in many plays with them.  I got the role of Marilla, the spinster who adopts Anne.  It is a challenge for sure, but it is a lot of fun as well.  And both my husband and son are in it as well.  Good family fun!  Hard to keep things going at home, but worth it in the long run...I hope.  :-) 

I have been doing a lot of reading these days.  It is funny how I spent all winter reading about gardening and now that I am gardening, I am spending a lot of time reading fun books.  I am reading a lot of Terry Prachett books.  I like the ones he writes about Granny Weatherwax.  She reminds me a lot of Marilla in Anne of Green Gables.  Maybe I am doing character research? 

Counting my blessings today.  With that I should say that we are one month away from paying off our car.  And less than six months away from paying off our second car.  That is just exciting!!  It has been hard work, but totally worth it. 

Oh yeah and our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) started up again.  Loving all the fresh veggies!

All right.  I had better get back to my day.  Hope you have a good one!

Growing

Wow!  This blogging site has a new look.  I am sure that I will get used to it, but for right now, it is a a little confusing. 

It is almost Mother's Day.  Besides being an awesome day to celebrate what I consider one of the best jobs in the whole world, it is the day that around here we need to get our gardens growing (going?). 

I am sorry that I have not been on here much lately.  My job (I would like to use different words about this...my money-making job, my day-time hang-out...) has been ramping up and I have been busy with just trying to keep my head above water.  And then, you know, my REAL job of taking care of my home/animals/garden has been busy with Spring springing as well.  We have worked on the yard and it is looking so much more loved.  I think getting a new weed eater and taking it to every nook and cranny in our yard has made a huge difference.  The type of yard care that I have been reading about talks about leaving some grass long and leaving different areas wild for the birds and wildlife to hide in.  I think that is a great idea, but I think it has to be PLANNED wildness.  Not just "oh, my grass and weeds got too long in that area" kind of wildness. 

I wish I could take a picture of the peacefulness of my back yard right now, here in the early morning hours.  But I know it would not do it justice.  The picture would not give the FEELING of peace the way that I feel it right now. 

Here is my word picture for you...two cats sitting on the windowsill looking out.  They trill every once in a while...quietly, as they watch birds flying by.  On the other side of the pane, my dog is stretching luxuriously as she gets up from her morning rest on the ramp outside the door.  She is wondering what is going on in the other part of the yard and around in the neighborhood.  She is going to take a look.  Further out in the yard is a Adirondack chair, waiting, beckoning.  It is sitting in the middle of a green lawn that is not perfect, but is natural and lovely.  And behind the chair, the neighbor's tree's green branches with delicate leaves cascade over the fence making a lovely frame for my picture.  (I found this picture on the web after I wrote this.)

Garden - My plant starts...some of them lived.  A lot of them died.  I learned a good lesson.  I took them out on a lovely Spring day and I left them out...too long.  I didn't work them into it by hardening them up.  I knew about that idea, but I guess I didn't know enough about it because I figured that as long as I brought them in before it got cool in the evening, then they would be fine.  Well, the peppers and the cucumbers seemed to fair ok, but the tomatoes didn't like that at all.  So...now we have a lot of pepper plants, but I think we are going to have to go buy tomato starts.  Boo.  Oh well, better luck and more knowledge for next year. 

Community - We have begun to build a bit more community in our neighborhood.  My son got the courage up to ask the girl and boy across the street if he could play with them.  Since then they have played on a pretty regular basis.  Not every day, but at least once or twice a week.  The children are younger than my son, which makes it a good challenge for him.  There was one day that I learned that we shouldn't ask them over when they and we are tired after a big day.  Of course we did that and it was more than a little bump in the road.  But thankfully, children are so beautifully resilient that it is almost water under the bridge now.  They are great kids and they and their parents add a beautiful dimension of home to our world. 

Learning - I went to this great workshop last Saturday.  It was based on the Strength Finders philosophy that has been created through the use of the Gallup organization.  They do polls on everything under the son.  As I am a vocational counselor, I have used and taken many different personality-type tests and have studied many philosophies on the subject.  This one seems to be right on for me.  It was a gentle test to take and the results were much more personal than I had expected.  It presents you with your five top Strength themes and then encourages you to strengthen them further.  What I love about this is that the idea is that we spend too much time/energy trying to fix what is broken instead of strengthening what is already really good about ourselves.  If you are interested, I researched the way that someone could start this research on their own.  It is with a book called Strengths Finder 2.0.  It is about $15 right now at Barnes and Noble and it comes with a passcode for you to go online and take the test too.  Very helpful and very intriguing information. 

Lots going on today.  I had better get to it.  Thank you for sharing my tea time with me.  Happy Mother's Day!!

DIRT

OK, so why am I getting so excited about dirt?  I mean haven't I always known where dirt comes from?  It is the breakdown of organic materials over a long period of time.  I learned about nursing logs when I was in grade school.  A tree roots itself in a downed log and the log breaks down and as it does it feeds the baby sapling.  It is the circle of life and all that. 

But dirt!  Free dirt!  Free composted stuff!  That is so cool!  I came home early today, well because I could.  And I started to mow the lawn.  The rain got too serious, so I had to stop that.  I looked around for something else to do.  So I started trying to get all the branches and stuff off the roof of our shed.  It has been a tough winter and we are still trying to dig ourselves out.  Well, over the head work is hard to do for a long time.  So I started moving some branches into a pile...you know, cleaning up a bit.  And I found...another completely finished compost heap!  Wow!  I decided not to use the contents, but instead to seed another pile and add some of it to my already started pile.  SO, now I have two piles going.  Two compost piles and two worm bins.  Lots of compost making! 

Dinner's ready.  Have a nice evening!!

Building Community

I often wonder why it is so difficult to build community.  And then I remember that we are all so busy.  We work all day and then we barely have time to eat, keep house, go to all the meetings that we have volunteered for and find enough time to sleep.

BUT, there are times when it is right to follow my gut and just reach out.  I found an old address book today.  It has been in my stuff for a very long time.  And I found one name in particular who I have been trying to get back in touch with for a very long time.  I have tried to connect with her on Facebook, but couldn't find her.  I have Googled her many times.  I have looked her up on Dexknows.  All of that failed.  And I couldn't find a phone number today either, but maybe...just maybe after 20 years a phone call would have been too much of a surprise!!  But I was able to confirm that she still owns the home.  That was a bit tricky, but I figured it out and was able to confirm it.

And then I sat down and wrote her a little letter.  And I invited her to reconnect with me.  What do I have to lose?  Really?  I mean, if she chooses not to, then I can either choose to be disappointed, or I can choose to be proud of myself for trying!  I believe I will do that latter.

Is there someone in your life who you would like to reach out and reconnect with?   Listen to your gut...it just might be the right time.

Our new bed is in!

Thanks to my sweet husband, we have a new raised bed!  Pictures to follow!

The chickent got moved to a dirt area of the garden and I am finding that they are very happy to wallow in the open dirt and old leaves that were there.  So fun to see them. 

Thats all for now.  Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Recycling at our house

Good morning!  How are you doing this lovely Spring day?

Thought I would take a quick minute and talk about recycling.  Over the past couple of years we have started eating more and more whole foods and less and less prepared foods.  I can honestly say that most of the food in our cupboards now is organic.  It has been a huge transition, but I think that we all feel better for it!

SO...what I found was that there is so much more organic waste when we eat this way.  We started a worm bin (yes red wigglers and the whole thing) many years back.  I have to say that I am the example of "It just isn't that hard to keep these guys alive!"  And why I say that is that we went whole winters without feeding them anything.  But they came back in the Spring.  I wouldnt' suggest doing it that way, but it is true.

In any case, we started a worm bin like this one: http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm

I think they went a little crazy with the holes, but whatever.  In our town, we are no longer able to recycle our shredded paper in our recycling bin, so we use shredded paper in our worm bin for the bedding.  We have a container in our kitchen where we store the veggie left overs, the coffee filters and the tea bags and egg shells.  Then when it fills up, I take it, the shredded paper and a pitcher of water out to feed the worms.  I dump the organic waste container and then spread it out, cover it with a thin layer of shredded paper and dampen it with water from the pitcher. 

So many of the worm farmers try to tell you that it is very difficult and you need to do do this or that, but really it is that simple.  Just make sure not to pour too much water in at once because the worms can drown. 

By the way, we have our bin(s) outside.  And we feed the worms with anything organic that has started to go off.  We feed everything else to the chickens.  We have chosen not to feed the chickens meat though.  So...my dog is the recycle bin for meat.  She thinks that's neat! 

Then...we use the worm castings in our planting beds.  We use the chicken manure and the hay in our compost pile and will eventually use that in our planting beds too.  I am thinking we are going to need more planting beds!! 

Spring has Sprung!!

Hello there!  It has been a long time since I wrote on here.  It has to do with preparation for Spring!  I spent much of the winter reading voraciously about how to get our garden going.  I spent a lot of time on Pinterest learning how to do it inexpensively as well. 

I also got to meet an author of Backyard Homesteading!  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/backyard-homesteading-dave-toht/1101007305?ean=9781580115216&itm=2&usri=backyard+homesteading  He is from our local community and he even signed my book.  Too cool!  The book is really well written and there are a lot of pictures too.  Love that! 

So, as I was asked for an update from my niece on my gardening, I decided I would!  I am posting a few pictures too.  As you can see, we are learning that things don't have to be perfect before we start!  That is a huge lesson to learn!  If you wait for everything to be perfect...YOU WILL NEVER START!  So just start somewhere and let nature take its course. 


Here is my update:  Our chickens have completely prepared our new raised bed area.  They are hard to see, but they are on the right of this picture.  This weekend we will be moving them to a new scratching area and then framing the bed and getting some soil.  It will be lovely and full of manure, but only under the soil, so eventually the soil will eat up all the manure and straw. 

We are working on getting rid of all the grass between our beds.  We will probably put cardboard down and then cover with wood chips from our apple tree that split in two during the ice storm.  Yes, some of the chips will be saved for smoking too.  I heard that apple woodchips are lovely for smoking meat and such. 

Our worm bins are CRAZY-full of worms!!  I dug all the way to the bottom of one and couldn't find anywhere where there was a scoop without worms!  I think I am going to need to share some soon so that they don't get over-crowded.  My other worm bin is just starting, so I can probably put some in there though too. 

So far we have planted a full bed of potatoes of different varieties.  It is the first time that we have planted potatoes, but we had a lot of organic potatoes from the store that sprouted so we thought, what the heck?!  We put them in at a good time too because it was a beautiful weekend and then it has rained since then, so we haven't had to worry about watering. 

I also grew a celery plant from the bottom of an organic celery that I bought at the store.  I started it in water and now have transplanted it to some soil and worm castings.  It is very happy.  I lost the other one that I tried.  The trick is to take it out of the water and put it in soil before it starts getting gooey. 

We also started a lot of seeds...I think on this, we have done what every new gardener does.  We believed them when they said to grow extra because you are going to lose some.  Well, we did lose maybe ONE.  That has left us with...hmmm...I think 18 cherry tomato plants, 18 Roma tomato plants, 18 cutting tomato plants, 18 regular cucumber plants and 18 pickling cucumber plants.  Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that we planted 18 pepper plants...they didn't come up as quickly as the others, so we planted 18 more.  Holy Smokes!!  I think we will be able to off them to our friends and family.  Part of me says that I should just have the chickens make me a long bed and I should just plant them all.  Then we would have a serious jungle!!  (This is only part of them!)

Anyway, we have repotted about half of those in a mixture of worm castings and soil.  Need to do the rest this weekend.  You have to understand that we have a very small home that doesn't have a lot of growing area inside, so I am resorting to leaving two lights on in my laundry room to make sure they are getting enough light.  Not so good on the electric bill.  Will have to figure out a better way next year.  I have found some really good, inexpensive ideas on Pinterest. You can see my Organic Gardening board here if you are interested:   http://pinterest.com/pegathea/organic-gardening/

Let's see, what else?  We have decided that we are no longer going to buy ice cream from the store.  The only ice cream we can have is what we make!  We decided to go with and electric ice cream maker...maybe one day we will go with the hand cranker...anyway, tonight is the first night we are going to make some.  Tonight it is organic strawberry!  It is not quite done.  I took a taste and it tastes heavenly!  We are going to have a get together here in a couple weeks, and we are hoping to make ice cream for it.  Doesn't that sound great?  Maybe we could have an ice cream making party sometime soon too! 

...Later...the ice cream was lovely!!  We found that a little bit goes a long way!  And the strawberry chunks are a bit hard on the teeth.  Probably next time we will just puree them. 

That's all for now.  I hope you are enjoying your Spring so far.  Love to all.

Building Community - SyracuseCulturalWorkers.com

Thinking about what I would like to write to you today.  And I am feeling a bit at a loss for my own words.  It has been a long week trying to catch up at work from the two days off and today is my sister's memorial service - life celebration.  So...I would like to share something that I am finding really beautiful and really challenging.  I have listed the author's website in my title so as not to infringe on their copyright.  Enjoy.

How to Build Community

Turn off your TV

Leave your house

Know your neighbors * Greet people

Look up when you're walking

Sit on your stoop * Plant Flowers

Use your library * Play together

Buy from local merchants

Share what you have * Help a lost dog

Take children to the park * Honor elders

Support neighborhood schools

Fix it even if you didn't break it

Have pot lucks * Garden together

Pick up litter * Read stories aloud

Dance in the street

Talk to the mail carrier

Listen to the birds * Put up a swing

Help carry something heavy

Barter for your goods

Start a tradition * Ask a question

Hire young people for odd jobs

Organize a block party

Bake extra and share

Ask for help when you need it

Open your shades * Sing together

Share your skills

Take back the night

Turn up the music * Turn down the music

Listen before you react to anger

Mediate a conflict * Seek to understand

Learn from new and uncomfortable angles

Know that no one is silent though many are not heard

Work to change this. 

More on Winter Storms - No power

No power for 34.5 hours.  When I write it down, it doesn't seem so long.  But it felt pretty long.  By the time the power came on, the house was good and cold.  Looking back now, I found that we were pretty well set up.  We had water.  That in itself was a huge blessing.  Where we lived before, if the power was off, the water was off.  And then to find that we has HOT water.  Wow.  We made sure that the dishes were washed as soon as they were used.  That kept our hands warm and it helped the kitchen stay a little warmer too.  And then we had our gas stove to cook on.  Triple blessing.  And then we realized that we could keep our cell phones charged in the car.  That was great too. 

We dug out our camping gear and we set up a lantern for the evenings and we have a little camping heater that helped keep us a bit warm.  And then we all dressed in several layers.  I was very thankful for Tim's big socks.  I think he will be getting a few more of those, as all three of us had to share the ones that he had.  :-)  They were the BEST for keeping feeties warm.

The one thing that I was most surprised about was that nothing dried.  NOTHING.  My coat is still wet from two days ago.  My gloves finally were dry about an hour before the power came back on. 

I am also surprised that I feel like an electricity hog now when I am using a computer, the washer, dryer, the furnace and a light at the same time.  And I mean, who needs to light a whole room when I can get by with a candle?  So that is what I decided to do...write this by candlelight. 

The one thing that we found was that we would have liked to have some way to charge the laptop.  We will be looking into charging it in the car as well.  We had enough power to watch two shows the first night and then we went and charged it up at a coffee shop in Lacey yesterday morning, so we had enough to watch another show last night.  It is funny though that the series of shows we have been watching as a family lately is a BBC series called "Victorian Farm".  This group of people restored and lived on a farm for a year as if they were in that period.  It was a very enjoyable series and we learned a lot from it about how to live without a lot of the things we take for granted. 

I also found that not having a washer and dryer was tough.  I hadn't caught up on my laundry prior to the power outage and there were clothes in the washer...that was a quandary.  But I think it taught us too that we can wear fewer clothes and change them less often.  I mean really, even when we are working hard, it is rare that we should have to change our clothes every day. 

As a rule, we keep our house at an even 55 degrees at night.  It is funny, but I am finding that very comfortable now as I write.  And doing that not only saves electricity, but we were totally set up for our cold nights without power.  We had enough blankets and the animals all just came in to sleep with us in the warmth of our room. 

My guys missed the computer and their time playing games on it.  For me, I found that I missed the connections that I have through email and facebook.  But I also found that I enjoyed the dark.  I enjoyed having my family congregate in one room and chat.  I enjoyed going outside and finding the neighbors who had the scoop on the neighborhood.  I enjoyed the creativity and the pace of it. 

It has warmed up and it is raining now.  With the amount of snow in place, there will be issues in this area with flooding soon.  I don't think that this will affect us, at least at home.  Because of the ice storm after the snow, there is so much tree damage.  We ourselves lost one big tree and at least part of a small tree.  There will be a lot of clean up to do once things all pan out.  But for us, there is no emergency.  The trees fell away from our house and fence, and we are counting our blessings once again.  I will be hoping that I will be able to find someone who can use the wood from our big tree. It will be sad to see it go, but...there is something about new beginnings...the rhythm of life. 

SNOW and lots of it!

Ok, I have to admit that I wasn't that excited about the news of pending snow.  I didn't really believe them.  We haven't seen any snow since...I think since November and that was just a sprinkling.  It didn't stay long.  And that is pretty much the norm here.  Not much snow.  I don't think we had much at all last year, although we had a lot of rain.

SOooo...boy was I surprised when I saw it start snowing.  And then it kept snowing.  I made it to work yesterday.  The roads were clear and it wasn't too bad.  A little slippery around here, but the main roads were clear.  But my office development was pretty snowy and we got stuck on the hill going in.  That was fun.  A couple more tries though and we made it up the hill.

It continued to snow most of yesterday, so I left at about 2:00 PM.  I wondered if I could get my car out if I left it there for the rest of the day.  And I was right in that it was hard to get it out when I left.

But the reason that I am writing this isn't really because of the road conditions...it is because when I woke up this morning...there was A LOT more snow!  I was like a little child!  I couldn't wait to get out in it!!  As soon as it was light out, I got all dressed and got out there.  First I did the things I needed to do...like clearing 9 inches of snow off the top of the chicken coop and making sure that they were fed and watered, and no eggs were freezing.  By the way, the 9 inches was just what accumulated overnight.  I went out and brushed it off before I went to bed last night.

But when I was done working on the chicken coop, my dog and I played and played.  She was shocked when I fell backwards in the snow and just laid there, taking it all in.  :-) Then we took a nice, long walk in the snow. 

I had to work today.  I was thankful that I could work from home.  It was cozy and my husband and son were here because my son's school was closed due to the snow. 

When the snow stopped falling, we had about 18 inches.   That is a lot!  It was hard to work.  I kept watching the snow coming down...my son and husband got out and built a fort...I wanted to join them.

Finally I gave in and asked them to take a walk with me.  We walked to the little store at the end of our road.  In all the time that we lived here, we have never been in that store.  Carl got to ride on the sled the whole way.

On the way home...we realized that there is a sledding hill...a big one...just a couple blocks from our house.  Oh my goodness!  You know, I don't remember ever going sledding before a couple years ago.  And that slope was nothing like this one.  This was the fastest and biggest slope I have ever been on.  I would have gone again and again...but the dudes were pretty frozen by that time.  Thank God for my pink farmer girl outfit that keeps me very warm.  Anyway, I went once by myself.  THAT WAS FUN!

And guess what...school is closed again tomorrow.  I need to work again...but maybe I can find some time to go sledding once or twice.

Hope you are staying safe and warm this Winter. 

Walking in the Dark

Good morning.  How are you doing today? 

My body has been aching to get out and MOVE.  This weather keeps me a bit strangled.  I mean...my yard is only so big.  There is only so much to do with the chickens.  Our garden beds are already taken care of for the winter and really...there is not so much to do in the house that is physically challenging and still makes me feel like I am using my time well.  SO...the other day I got home from work a bit early and it was still light out.  The minute I got home (I had met with an attorney that day and I was in a full pants suit and in my cowboy boots with a long, winter coat.) I hooked the dog up, put a reflective vest on and grabbed my flashlight.  It felt good to walk.  The air was cool and my body felt good to be out.  I got to the place where I was feeling like it was a good walk.  Belle got a lot of sniffing in and I still felt like I was ready to go home and be a normal human being.  And I turned around to go home. 

Now let me paint a picture of our neighborhood.  It is DARK.  There are no sidewalks and there are areas where there is a lot of tree overhang, making things even darker.  I was in one of those areas when I heard someone come running up behind me.  I have been walking in this neighborhood before and have been overtaken by a lot of "runners".  Ummm...but when I turned around to look...this one was fully clothed...and not in running gear.  Hmmmm...

He yelled, "Hey!  Are you Scott?"  Hmmmm..."No."  And then Belle and I came out into the open where the light was better.  It was such a weird experience.  I should have been afraid. I should have felt something.  But I was about three blocks from home...and I recognized the guy.  He is a big man.  But he lives about a block and a half away from me.  But tonight he had really weird energy. As a matter of fact, I have met him three times.  One time he did not have weird energy.  But the other time I had met him on the street (in daylight) he had weird energy then too. 

So here on the street in the dark...hmmm...not that great.  I cannot remember much of what we talked about, but he was shocked that I was a woman and out in the dark.  I was shocked when he asked if he could walk with me.  Ummm...no, I wanted to say.  But did I?  No.  I said ok. 

He eventually introduced himself and I introduced myself.  I shook his hand.  I told him that I know where he lives and that I had met him before.  He responded with, "That must have been when I was on a binge."  And then, "Well then, if anything happens, then you know you can call the police and tell them where I live."  Strange answer for a strange walk.  Luckily I don't live on the same street as he does.  And I was able to take my leave.  He stood and watched me walk away.  And then he yelled, "Hey, have a good evening." 

I am torn.  I should have been afraid.  And honestly, I felt afraid after I got home and told Tim the story.  But I felt a loneliness that I couldn't disregard.  I want to take back the night.  I want my big dog back to help me.  Belle?  She has met him before.  He likes dogs.  She likes people.  He actually helped me catch her when she was being a wild thing right after we moved here.  He wasn't drunk then.  He was tonight.  So I remain torn.  Do I stop walking in the dark?  Do I find a friend?  Do I say hello when I see him?  Is he dangerous?  Should we bring him some eggs?  He is our neighbor.  What good is living in a neighborhood if you can't be neighborly.  I struggle.  I struggle with our society. 

You know, honestly since I moved back here 3.5 months ago...he is the 5th person in our neighborhood who has spoken to me.  And one of them was a very fearful child who tried to smile at me as she ran by to catch the bus.  We all sit in our houses and close our curtains.  I know that the weather isn't really conducive to being outside and saying hello.  But...I get the feeling that there is a problem.  Is it with me?  Or is it with the way we as a society has decided to live?

Love and Gratitude - Action Verbs

I am contemplating Love and Gratitude today, both action verbs.  I am reading a book called "Kisses from Katie."  Wow.  What a book about love and gratitude.  She knows how to LOVE and be GRATEFUL in ways that I have never seen.  She feeds where it is needed, she clothes where it is needed, she gives meaning to the word LOVE.  If you have any interest in feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, this girl does it up right.

My sister Patricia passed on early in December.  It was a sad, sad, and beautiful day.  I wasn't there when she passed, but her loving husband was.  He told her that he loved her three times before she passed.  He said he wasn't sure why he had to say it three times, but he did.  Her loving family members were all camped out in her home and they woke to a new reality.  They were in love and they were so loving to all that came to grieve.  They kept her body there until late in the evening.  It was a true wake.  Not for days, but for a day.  For as long as the government would let them wake her.  Carl and I were there most of the day.  We shared in their love and we gave love where we could.  And then they had a bonfire and lit fireworks to celebrate her life and her death.  My sisters and I sang with her body and rejoiced and cried.  It was beautiful and heart-wrenching. 

This is a link to Patty's favorite song:
Calling All Angels Link

As you see, I haven't been able to write much since then.  I have written in my journal a few times, but not much more.  I see things differently since she passed.  I feel things stronger.  I am more alive because I have been given the gift of life now...if only for a little while. 

My parents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last night.  (My sis would have been 64 this month.)  They invited my little family to share a meal with them partly because we had given them a gift card and told them to invite us when they planned to use it.  It was a lovely, peaceful time.  And my other sis and her husband came to have dessert with us too.

I love better.  I love bigger.