There is something so...beautiful about drying clothes on a clothesline.  This isn't mine.  Mine is not this picture perfect.  But it is warm out today and I took the time to put one load of laundry out to dry.  Honestly, I would have put more out if it hadn't taken me so long to clean the lines and if I had more clothespins.

You just don't see people using clothes lines much in this part of the United States.  It takes time and preparation if your line hasn't been used much lately.  It was so funny to think that all the years that I lived in Japan, I didn't even have a clothes dryer!  I didn't have a fully automatic washing machine until the last few years I was there also.  So on the weekends I would wash my clothes and then hang them out to dry on my balcony.  They smelled so good when they were taken in.  Also, there is an art to making sure that they don't come out all wrinkled.  My host family Mama showed me how to fold them square and then slap them in between my hands to get the wrinkles out.  They used an iron a lot more than I like to also.  So I am extra serious about the slapping business!  :-)

Chickens were out on a walk about today and my husband spent much of the day pressure washing everything in sight.  I was busy scrubbing the shower.  We also decided to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)...it is a box of vegetables that we will pick up at the Farmers Market every weekend.  It supports the local farmers and we get a variety of vegetables for our table weekly.  It is usually a good deal and it forces us to get creative about using different kinds of vegetables than we would would normally use.

We did start a garden this year...but the chickens got into it and ate all the leaves of everything.  I should share a picture...but it was just too pathetic.  The chicken egg yolks are BRIGHT orange though!  All those nutrients...Yum.  I do have to say that they plants are growing back...little by little!

We are all well.  Summer feels like it is here.  I think it is 90 degrees out there today.  We still have one of our old chickens, Penelope.  She was just out having a lovely dirt bath.  She is the head of the roost now that she has two younger hens in the coop with her.  She also started laying again!

Just wanted to say hello on this lazy Saturday afternoon.

Hello. Hello... Hello....

Hello.  Hello...  Hello....



Hi.  The last time I wrote in here was today, one year ago.  My link showed up on my FB page.  I hadn't forgotten about this, but honestly it has been a tough couple of years and I didn't know if I wanted to write in here anymore.

Today is the Winter Solstice.  Lots has been going on in our little home over the past few months.  I made the mistake of saying to someone that all our animals have been healthy lately.  Hee hee...probably the next day, I come home after a lovely day out with my family and my husband greets me at the door.  He told me that something attacked our oldest chicken Penelope and she had passed.  I was upset, but she has lived longer than any of our other original chickens.  She had a good life, I thought.

It was stormy out, so my husband got ready to go out and bury her for me.  And boy was he surprised to find her standing at the back door when he came out!!  I think he calls her zombie chicken now.  In any case, she had been attacked by something.  It was so late I couldn't really figure out what to do with her, but I knew that she could not be put back with the other chickens.  So I enclosed her in the secure run-around pen that we have, gave her some water and food and a box with straw to snuggle in if she got too cold.  She woke me up at 3AM, letting me know that whatever had gotten her was back to finish the job.  She was safe, but very distraught by the time our dog and I got out there.  As it was still pitch black, I hung out there raking with my head lamp on in order to discourage the thing...still not sure what it was...not to come back.

Once it got light out, I gave Penelope a good bath (have you ever seen a chicken in a bath?  They really like it once they realize that they are not going to be cooked.) and cleaned her wounds with hydrogen peroxide.  I read that on the web.  She was pretty beat up with most of her feathers off her neck and a puncture wound in her side.  My husband helped me get our dog crate out and filled with straw.  We put her in the dog crate in our laundry room.  The first thing that my husband said to her  was, "I know you have been wanting to get in the house for a long time, and see, you finally made it."  Penelope has always liked to sit at the back door and she tried to come in when we opened it!

I am not sure what day that was, but it felt like she was out there for a while.  As of yesterday, she is back out in the coop with the other girls - Ruby and Rosy.  These names are thanks to my young friend, who wanted to name them.  We got these girls as grown ups a couple months back.  They and Penelope seemed happy to see one another.  That was a relief.

In the meantime, while Penelope was still recuperating, our youngest and most feisty cat Yoshi started yowling.  We couldn't figure out what the problem was.  I honestly have never had cats before his older sister and brother.  He kept eating and drinking, but now that I think of it, his belly was very rolly-polly.  We brought him to the vet and found that he didn't just have a urinary tract infection, but he was completely blocked.  He had to stay at the vet for five days!  We have been asked to continue watching him very closely and he has to eat special food, but he is doing so much better!

My beautiful Mom passed in March.  It was as lovely a death as I could have asked for.  But it was hard and continues to be hard all the same.  We made it through Thanksgiving...but for me, Christmas is a lot harder.  So many memories all wrapped up.  I am so thankful though for the time that we had with her after her stroke.  It was a trying time, but a beautiful time as well.

Let's see, it has been raining like crazy this fall and winter so far.  Our back yard is a messy, muddy muck pit.  The front yard is just as bad, as there was NO rain this past summer and the grass has mostly died in the front.  I am tempted to do some gardens out there!

We did have a garden this year!  That was kind of a miracle.  The things that grew well were lemon cucumbers, tomatoes and the berries - blueberries and raspberries.  The sun was hard on the leafy veggies this year. Will try to do a more shady spot for them next year.  We did use chicken manure in the boxes and the rhubarb especially liked it.  It is fun to talk about gardens when it actually snowed for a bit today!

My husband got a bit interested in the garden this year.  He fenced it off, so the chicken (we only had one at that time) would stay out and not eat everything in site and so our dog would stop making a race track over the garden beds.  Then when the weather turned, he gathered cardboard, cleaned the beds, covered them with cardboard and then with leaves.  They are sleeping soundly and preparing the wormy-goodness for next year.

My husband made points with me today too...I came home to beautiful twinkle lights all around the living room.  He spiffed the place up too.  I was so tired after work that I just laid down on the couch and reveled in the beauty all evening. Christmas is coming!

Beginning again

And so it begins again.  I haven't written here since March of this year.  It is now December.  I think I gave up.  I think I wondered what this is for.  But I have decided that if it is for nothing else, it is for me.

Today is the Winter Solstice.  The shortest day of the year.  I am glad.  I am looking forward today.  Waiting for a little more light every day.

I usually hate moving out of summer and into Fall/Winter.  But this past year, I prepared emotionally.  I did well.  I began to look for the good in it.  I reminded myself how very blessed I/we are. I reminded myself that my Mom is still here and she still gets to laugh and enjoy.

My Mom had a stroke at the end of April 2014.  It has been a rocky year since then.  And because of this, I didn't plant a garden last summer.  I bought plant starts.  I set them outside.  I let them fry in the sun.  But I didn't cry about it.  I just moved on. I got a few potatoes who decided to volunteer.  That was fun.

I read up on how to prepare my garden for next year.  I have since covered by garden beds with cardboard to kill the weeds and then with leaves.  I will eventually cover them with wood chips (the kind that come from chipping up tree branches).  I have chicken manure to spread on top of that.  I watched a really cool video on how this helps with water retention.  It is going to be a experiment this spring/summer. It isn't pretty at this time of year, but I have decided that it ok. 

Sometime during this year, we had to put our big dog down.  It was a very sad story and I have decided that I do not want to share it.  I am still in mourning about him.  He was such a neat dog.

Also, one of our sweet bard rock chickens passed away more recently as well.  She went quietly, but it was a big loss for me.  The weird thing is, that the other two have now started laying again.  They took a nice, long break and decided to start laying again in the middle of winter.  Funny.

In the interim, we got a new kitten.  What a little hellion he is!  His name is Yoshi.  His favorite thing to do is chase my 19 pound cat around the house.  With that in mind...I will share more about him some other time.  

I have been reading a lot about people living in tiny homes.  Our home is not really considered "tiny" at 1000 square feet.  I wonder what our house would be called...moderate?  In any case, I have been feeling a little cramped this winter.  We have really worked on clearing out the living room and making it more livable.  That has been a blessing.  I saw something in one of those tiny houses that I thought would work in mine.  I asked for shelves high on the wall in my bedroom for Christmas.  So far we have put two of them up.  It makes it really nice to be able to have some stuff up where it can be seen and not so jumbled up.  I think open side tables really give a feeling of spaciousness too.  I also asked for black-out curtains in my bedroom.  I finally found some that look like they might work.  I am hoping to get them up soon.  I wake up really early every day and for some reason, even early on the weekends!  So I am hoping that getting black out curtains will help.  They are a lovely lavender color that matches my bedspread.  I hope my husband won't mind the girly color very much.

There you have it.  My first post in 9 months.  I have missed writing.  And I have missed you.

Sleep

Sleep...who needs it anyway?  Well, I would LIKE some more.  My husband deals with serious neuropathy in his feet.  He wakes me up all the time.  And in the morning, I just cannot get back to sleep.  He is not diabetic and no one can tell us why he deals with this.  It could be the cement floors that he has been working on for years and years...or a number of other things.  But more than what has caused it, we can't figure out how to get rid of it.  We have tried a number of things.  Let's see...medications, acupuncture, supplementation...and on and on.  This and that.  That and this.  I really feel for him.  Sometimes it doesn't hurt at all and then sometimes it hurts a lot.  Last night was one of the latter.  But enough of that. 

Today I want to talk about animals.  My son has been waking up and commenting on the birds.  We live near a very wild greenbelt and the birds love it there.  One day he said it must be Spring since the birds have all come back.  It is neat to see that my love of nature has rubbed off a little on him.  And as I sit in my office at work, I can hear the frogs singing outside my window.  When I go out to put the chickens to bed, I can hear the songs of the crickets.  And on my drive to work almost every day I look up on the light pole in this one section of road and I see a red-tailed hawk sitting there, just watching the world go by. 

I am going to be going out to take care of my friends' animals this weekend.  They live where we used to live, out in the country.  I am looking forward to hopefully see Blue, the resident Blue Heron.  He mated one year when we lived there.  I have to admit that there is nothing more beautiful than seeing two adults and a baby Blue Heron winging their way across the sky. 

I am watching Spring come in.  I know I need to do something in the yard/garden.  But I have been so very busy at work these past few weeks that I have just not had the time or energy to do anything.  Maybe today I will just throw some seeds in and see what happens.  :-) 

Thank you for having tea with me this morning.  Have a good week. 

Signs of Spring

Good morning!  I cannot believe that it is Saturday already.  What a whirlwind week!  I have been chasing deadlines all week, between running here and there on outside appointments for work. 

I have to admit though that yesterday I was thrilled to be on the road!  What a beautiful day!  The sun was shining and the drive was just gorgeous. Then I got to visit a small farm.  18 horses, a lot of dogs and PUPPIES!  I was invited in to sit at their kitchen table as we talked.  I could live in that home.  Puppy barking and dog dishes.  The lady was embarrassed because the house wasn't perfect, but I felt right at home.  Of course I had two dogs run up right away to visit. Such fun.  I will attach a picture of the puppies as soon as I get it uploaded. 

And the people...they were so warm and welcoming.  It was such a good reminder. I could tell they work hard.  But they love what they are doing.  It was very evident. 

And so, that lovely drive and then visit, and the fact that I am finally over my cold that lasted for five weeks, really made me start looking for signs of Spring.  I found that our little daffodils that are in a pot on our front porch have started to bloom.  Next to our porch is a little patch of herbs and the chives are showing their heads.  There are BIRDS!  There are lots of birds around here.  We have a crazy, wild green belt behind our house and the birds congregate there at this time of year.  So lovely to hear their song first thing in the morning. 

I think it is time to start looking at the garden and getting a few things planted.  

Who needs sleep?

Good Saturday morning!  Thank you for being here with me.  It is early.  A variety of things woke me up...one right after the other....  But one of them you might think is funny...or maybe even two of them.  The dogs must have been being extra good before my husband went to bed, because he decided to give them each a treat. We get these big bags of weird pieces of cow that have been dried and the dogs love them!  They are not a quick treat though. And I have found that they don't eat them when we are not around.  I don't think my husband knows that though.  Here is why I think that. 

It is very early in the morning and I wake up to the dogs barking very loudly. There has been a bit of a turf war at my house these days between the Cats and the Dogs.  So I hear the Dogs barking and think, "Oh no, not another turf war!"  I jump out of bed and find my big dog Sampson slinking out of the living room. I look over into the kitchen and I find my littler dog Belle is sitting in the middle of the kitchen with two very large treats (one of them being part of a cow hoof). She is not eating them.  She is not licking them.  She is not smelling them.  She is protecting them.  She has taken Sampson's portion and decided she would protect her booty.  I didn't think too much about it until my big dog gets all the way into the kitchen from the living room and growling and barking ensues.  By this time, I am awake enough to figure out why I have been woken up.  I put the treats away, let them know that they can have them back later when everyone is up and they can chew them to their hearts' content and crawl back under the covers.

Just as I am falling asleep...barking.  Ok, who needs sleep anyway?  I get out of bed and go to the door.  Both my dogs are sitting in the hallway as sweet as can be...staring at me.  Both of their tails are wagging and they are just staring at me.  When I start asking them what is up, my Belle starts talking to me in something between a growl and a bark.  She talked to me for quite a while.  I am not sure what she said, but she was very determined to let me know her mind.  This is VERY unusual.  Belle is not that interactive.  She is more of a 'hey, you are here, I am going to curl up right here next to your chair' kind of dog.  I am guessing that she was giving me a piece of mind about putting a kibosh on her fun with the treats.  Ok, this time I let them out to have a runabout.  Can I sleep now? 

I crawl back in bed. What could happen next?  My stealthy black cat sneaks up on me...ok, what she really did was walk the length of my body.  I asked her politely to get off, so she decides to jump on my sleeping husband.  Now this cat is usually a foot sleeper.  She is very polite about it.  She is very quiet.  It it a full moon?  This happens again and again.  She walks up and then I push her down, she walks up and then I push her down.  And then finally I don't push her down and she decides to lay down as close to my face as she can, but right on top of me.  Needless to say, I am blessed to be loved by animals, but today I really would have loved a little extra sleep.  :-) 

On the flip side though, I am awake.  It is Saturday.  And life is good!  I hope you have a beautiful weekend.  May God bless and keep you.  And if you have any little furry ones in your life, give them a little extra love for me.  And if possible, could you whisper quietly to them to spread the word that even Mamas like to sleep in once in a while? 

Hope

I got teary-eyed during our Financial Peace University class yesterday.  Did I mention that my husband and I are teaching this class at our church?  We have about 70 students and then we break out into small groups and have discussions. 

Yesterday we were talking about debt and the hopelessness that people can feel.  Dave Ramsey talked about his sister's goat "Practice" and how his sister was a goat-roper. She used Practice to practice with and Dave talked about how they practiced so often that they wore a bare spot in the field.  Eventually the goat would stop just before the bare spot and then later he would actually lay down.  He lost hope when he saw that bare spot.  Dave Ramsey says that he is the one who got to the other side of the bare spot and he is here to let people know that there is hope that they can too. 

This video presentation has so much meat to it and it is interspersed with funny stuff.  But I always get teary-eyed when he talks about the goat.  For me, this is why I volunteer my time to teach this class.  It is about sowing seeds of HOPE.  Hope for the future and hope for living life a better, more balanced way.  We, and especially I, felt so helpless and hopeless with regards to money when we started working the Dave Ramsey program.  I had read so many books about money...but I had never found one that actually gave me step-by-step instructions.  This program is so black and white.  That is what I love about it.  Just put one foot in front of the other...and soon you'll be walking out the door. 

Ok, I have to admit that it does come with hardships.  It is not all fun and games and sometimes, when Murphy comes calling...it is downright HARD.  But whenever we have to move aside and get off track to deal with some emergency or another, then we have a plan to go back to.  We have HOPE waiting for us. 

Writing

It snowed.  I was so thankful that Carl had his friend over. As soon as the snow started to stick, they dug out their winter clothes and got out in it.  It was pitch black dark and they were out in it.  Love that.  Then they slept and got up early and went out again first thing in the morning.  The neighbor kids were watching out the window for the longest time and then they finally got permission to come out to play as well.  They were all out there until I had to call them in for breakfast.  Of course I had to go out too.  I love the snow.  I love it especially when I don't have to drive in it. 

I was up early today.  I have had a terrible chest cold...whatever for several weeks.  Today I was sitting up gasping for air even before I was awake.  It was scarey.  I feel like I now know what it feels like for someone with asthma.  I am going to see the acupuncturist today and then I will get in touch with my doc too. I have to admit that I was very thankful for my inhaler today.  I haven't had to use it as regularly lately and I guess that is a good sign. 

Yesterday was a tough day.  It was my first day without my best friend from work being there.  I missed her smiling face.  She has a way of knitting the individuals in that office together.  Not to mention our morning chats.  We always solved the problems of the world during those morning chats. 

I am just letting my thoughts stream.  I have missed writing on here.  I kept thinking that I need a direction.  But for now I just want to write about whatever comes into my head.  If you don't mind, I will just keep doing that.  Have a great day!

I NEED to write!!

Hello!  I NEED to write!  I NEED to write!  I am not sure why, but I am drawn to writing.  I have trouble with my hands and arms from overuse at work, so using a pen and paper is tough.  Writing with a keyboard seems so much easier.  But then...what to write. This blog started because I was yearning for community.  Yearning for something that I believed wasn't part of our culture anymore.  It is strange, but after all this time, I just don't believe that anymore.

Community is changing.  Yes, community is changing.  But I am finding that I have so much community.  I am involved in and with so many people, but in different ways than in the traditional sense of community.  Facebook is one of my communities.  Work is another.  My neighborhood is another (both online and in person).  My place of worship is another.  My financial awareness class is yet another.  My animals are another.  I am learning that I can find community wherever I look these days. Why couldn't I see it before?  WHY couldn't I see it before?

Speaking of Facebook.  It is funny how many times I have considered getting off the whole thing.  But I find that it is a quick way to keep in touch with so many people throughout the world.  I care about these people.  I want to be a part of their lives even when I cannot BE there.  Is that wrong?  Is that weird?

I went to a double retirement party this week and then I had to say good-bye to a very good friend of mine today.  She found a new (and wonderful) position, and this meant that she would be leaving my workplace.  I will miss her! 

Lots of Life in One Place: Sustainable Living in December - Stillness

Lots of Life in One Place: Sustainable Living in December - Stillness

I wanted to write this morning about the cold and the soil and what my yard is doing.  And then I saw this post and I thought how beautiful...and simple it is.  So I wanted to share. 

Love to you and yours on this chilly Sunday morn'.

Ckickens making Happy!

What a beautiful day!  It was cool and clear out today.  The sun was gorgeous!  And my chickens got to run around the yard, not once, but twice today.  They were in heaven.  I was talking to someone and I told them, I was so thankful because my chickens got to get out today and "make Happy!"  That is just what I think of them when they are out there scratching and pecking about.  They are making their own happy! 

November 2013 - Working on the leaves

Where has the time gone?  There have been so many times that I thought about posting here.  But honestly, life got in the way.  Yesterday, I spent the day in the garden with the chickens.  We have two huge, old cherry trees that decided to dump all their leaves at once this year.  It was kind of them.  It seems easier to deal with one load of leaves, instead of several dumps of leaves.  I started out just working to pick up as many leaves as I could to cover one raised bed.  I think of the leaves protecting the soil, allowing for more worms to make homes, keeping the bed warm, like a blanket.

But then I started weeding...I have to admit, I have never liked weeding.  So I asked the chickens to take a turn.  Needless to say, they didn't do very well.  They were more interested in the bugs available.  I figured out the hierarchy for chickens...bugs, yummy and big things that look like caterpillars but are really crane fly larvae (at least per my Mother-in-Law), then worms, THEN anything green.  They did do a lot scratching though.  That was at least fun to watch. 

Anyway, while they were busy in the garden, I decided to take out the leaf-blower.  Now I have to admit that the leaf blower is not my friend.  It is LOUD.  It doesn't go with my idea of what gardening should be.  But when there is a yard full of leaves and not enough time, energy, or arm energy left, then one has to resort to extreme measures.  And I have to say, when I was done, I was satisfied.  I blew all the leaves over to the bare patch in our yard where the chickens were all summer and onto the dog running track right next to the fence.  I also uncovered the other dog running paths.  I think I will use straw to cover these.  It is a little slippery for a while, but it is pretty. 

My husband came out and fixed the gutter downspout that the dogs had knocked off. And then he proceeded to take care of a big hole that the dogs had dug.  He didn't seem to be having much fun.  So I asked him if he likes working in the yard.  He said no.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as we have been married for a long time.  But maybe this was the first time that I actually ASKED him.  And as they say, 'This changes everything.'

Why?  Well, I am from a big family.  I believe in team work.  As a matter of fact, I don't like doing a lot alone.  And I realized yesterday that part of the reason the garden wasn't that great this year, was because I kept waiting for my husband to take some initiative on it.  I was busy with the summer play, as he was as well.  But...I guess I thought....  Well, as you can see, whatever I thought, it was wrong.  And in a way, it was freeing.  It reminded me just when I needed reminding that...there are just some things that are things that I like to do.  And that is ok.  When I need help, I can ask.  Just like I did yesterday.  But I can't expect him to enjoy it while he is doing it.  It is just not his thing. 

And today, I know that the gutter is going to work properly, the hole next to the house that the dogs dug a while ago is filled, the grass can breath, the chickens have full bellies, and I not only got a lot of good exercise, but I enjoyed myself doing something I like to do.  I may not be perfect at it, but I like to do it. 

Lovely morning in the Northwest

Titles are hard for me.  Often I don't know what I am going to write until I sit down to write.  I can just feel something bubbling at the surface waiting to be said.  Maybe I could start writing the title at the end of the entry.  Think I will try that today. 

Well, it is another gorgeous day here in the Northwest.  Wow.  The birds are up singing now at 4:30 or maybe earlier.  That is when I often hear them.  And it is almost full daylight at that time too.  Today, in spite of the cat jumping on me at a much earlier hour, I luxuriously slept in until almost 7:00.  Ahhhhhhh...that was nice.  What woke me up was pretty nice too.  I woke up the impatient chickens yelling about the fact that all other birds were up and singing for a long time and they had not been let out yet.  It was a lovely sound actually. 

Thinking about the chickens, who are happily out pecking about our yard by the way, makes me laugh.  We now have three girls, having lost one recently to stress...more on that later.  One of them has decided that she is the rooster.  She has been crowing like a rooster every once in a while.  She flaps her wings and gets really big when she does it too.  It makes me giggle.  (I have to admit that the picture above is not of our chickens or our backyard.  But it was a good stand in.)

I have to admit that at this time last year we had our garden all planted, the grass all mowed and we were on top of things.  This year...not so much.  And on top of that, we did not participate in our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year either.  I make is sound like we are deadbeats.  But it really isn't true.  We have been working diligently to help people get a handle on their finances and to help them get a plan to get out of debt.  It has been exciting!  But, it makes me sad to see our garden.  And I miss our CSA people. 

Ok, the CSA was a serious decision though.  Throughout the winter I have studied more and more about the differences in organic and otherwise produced food.  I have also been looking more and more into GMOs (genetically modified organism) and the effects that these have on people.  And really, we have decided that this is not for us.  I realized that even if the farmer doesn't realize it, they can be buying seeds that are genetically modified.  Our sweet CSA family's farm is not organic, the fruit that they get from Eastern WA is not organic and the seeds that they get are from big retailers.  I love their family.  We have bought from them for several years.  I love that they are a small, family-run farm.  I love that they produce within an hour of where we live.  But, I just couldn't get past the other stuff this year.  I plan to write them a letter to let them know.  But I need to do it once we have decided who our next CSA provider is going to be. 

And by the way, our yard is trashed.  I like to think of it as natural.  But one good-sized dog and one giant dog is just too much for our poor backyard.  There is a patch of absolutely no grass right now.  And there is a patch of seriously happy dandelions too.  Can we really eat these?  Because if we can, I know what we will be eating all summer long!  They are HAPPY!  That chicken poop makes them VERY happy!  Tim just says the yard is trashed. 

We are finally finding some down time in the midst of the crazy schedules of financial coaching/teaching, baseball, and work...oh yeah work.  That needs a little more time and attention than it has been getting.  It is going well in spite of it all though. 

In any case, Tim mowed our front lawn and then weed-eated.  We still have some weeding and such that needs to be done, but it looks a lot better than it did yesterday morning!

And I did get out in the wee hours just before night and worked on getting the garden beds in shape.  I know that not disturbing the beds is the best option for gardening.  But I have to admit that there are two dogs who really like to dig in the beds.  And I had to work them to get the soil back where it was supposed to be.  My goal was to have the chickens help...they are great scratchers and movers of dirt!...but they wouldn't cooperate.  They kept running into a different bed and only digging in one corner. Guess all the lovely worms lived in that corner only.  :-) 

Well, I rambled here and there today.  But while I did, I kept sneaking peeks at our lovely, overgrown back yard.  And I listened to the birds out there loving it.  And I pet the dogs once in a while when they came up to see what I was doing.  Over all, I would have to say that this has so far been not just a successful morning, but a very pleasant one.  Hope yours was too. 

Community and my dog

Good morning!  It is Saturday!  I bet you didn't know that birds start singing at 4:30 in the morning these days!  Even with earplugs in, they sneak their little songs into my brain.  They say, "Wake up!  Wake up!  The morning has come and you are missing it!"  I fought it for a while, but...really who can fight that beautiful invitation? 

I have so much to say this morning that I have a feeling it will all come out jumbled.  I was walking to the laundry room and I stopped and looked out the window at my dog.  He was sitting there so regally watching the morning break.  It made me think of all the mornings he sat and watched come and how many of them were with an empty stomach and a lonely heart.  If you haven't read prior posts, he was a rescue.  He was in an outdoor, uncovered kennel for 10 months.  His people moved off the property and asked the farmer down the road to feed him.  I brought him to the vet the other day for some tests.  It really hit home how little he was fed when they had a hard time finding a muscle to put the needle in.  He is such a love bug.  It is hard enough to think of him alone for months on end, but then to realize that he wasn't fed on a regular basis...that is just too much to think about.  I took a picture of him sitting out there.  It isn't the best picture, but it...it shows to me that he is really home.  He doesn't just have food here.  He doesn't just have a couch to sleep on at night (ok, if Belle lets him).  He has a family who loves him.  He has a yard to patrol.  He has toys to play with.  He has a sister to romp with in the wee hours of the morning.  He has a HOME. 

I wanted to let you know that I gave my Mom entry to both my Mom and to my friend who "must be 90".  They were both very touched and so gracious about my writing.  I am so blessed to have older, wiser and loving women in my life. 

Community - Community!  As I have written many times and I think I included in my intro on myself, I started this blog looking for community.  I was lonely.  I felt like I didn't have time for community.  I felt like I didn't have anything to give in exchange for building community.  I HAVE COMMUNITY!!  My husband and I stepped up and started teaching Financial Peace University at our church.  I have been amazed at the number of people who God has brought into our lives through that!  We are enjoying the camaraderie and we are enjoying the chance to teach together as a couple.  We are enjoying seeing people's lives change because of what we are doing.  It is neat too to be so connected with people on a larger scale.  And I am finding that the more we commit to that and to making the changes in our own life that we need to make finances a priority, other parts of our lives are affected.  My work life is empowered.  My ability to reach out to people in need is empowered.  My self-confidence has seen a huge shift too!  Gotta love that! 

We made 5-gallon buckets into worm bins with the cubscouts!  That was fun!  It was my idea too.  I have so many worms right now that it is crazy!  I have three worm bins and I already gave one away.  It is a lot to take care of and make sure that they are fed on a regular basis with us being as busy as we are.  So I thought about how to share that with our scouts.  It was so fun to talk about recycling food and how important it is.  We also talked about using the "poop" as fertilizer.  The boys got a good giggle out of that.  The parents were a bit squeamish at first, but then they actually started asking questions.  I figure that even if those worms die, it was worth it to be able to share the message.

I have been thinking a lot about bringing a bucket into my work place.  We waste so much food there it is crazy.  Maybe that is where my bucket will go.  I could hide it under my desk.  Tea bags, banana peels, orange peels to some extent, apple cores, etc.  It is a lot smaller than the bigger bins that I have too, so it is easier to harvest the fertilizer.  Hmmm...I wonder if I have talked about worms in this blog?  I will have to check it out and do a more in-depth entry about them.  They are such a cool part of our efforts to recycle as much as possible. 

I just went out to let the chickens out for a romp in the yard.  I feel very contented and happy.  I hope you have a beautiful day. 

I see you

Hello.  I see you.  I am not going to write your name here because I don't think you would want your name written.  But you know who you are.  

Today is your birthday.  We are birthday buddies.  My birthday was just a few days ago.  It is fun to share my birthday with you.  I hope it is fun for you too!  

I just want you to know that I see you.  You are a very talented person.  You love God dearly, as you do those closest to you.  It has been fun working with you over these many years.  Watching you learn to trust me.  I remember when I first met you, you told me that you didn't have any friends.  This was your choice.  You said that people were not trustworthy.  But I saw a crack starting.  You let me in enough to tell me that.  

I know that we have had our share of disagreements.  It has been a challenge for both of us sometimes.  But I feel like those times built our trust a little more each time they happened.  I am different than most people who you have dealt with in the past.  I don't like to let things fester.  I have learned from my experiences in the past that this doesn't work for me.  Thank you for having the patience to work through those things.  

It has been so good to watch you on your financial journey.  I am often envious of your ability to catch onto a thought and then move quickly in that direction, when it takes me a little longer to do that.  But you are an inspiration.  I know I will get there some day!!  

And you take such good care of your body.  It is fun to walk with you on that journey.  Again, your commitment is awesome.  You find something and move forward.  And thank God for Dr. Oz!  :-)  

Happy birthday you.  I see you.  I admire you.  I have watched and I will continue watching your adventure.  Thank you for sharing yourself with me.  And for trusting me...even when you thought you wouldn't.

 

Hi, I'm here.

Hi.  I am here.  I am doing it.  I am living life.  I started this blog a long time ago.  I read through the entries and my life was so different then. I was afraid.  I was searching.  I was desiring.  Don't get me wrong, I am still doing those things.  I am just doing them differently.  I have so much less fear.  Worry, yeah still got that.  What ifs, yeah still got that.  But less fear.  Or maybe even the same amount of fear, but less of the feeling that fear is there, so it is going to stop me.  I am not letting it stop me anymore.  I am not letting the way that other people think about me stop any more.  I am not saying that it is easy.  It is not easy. But it is GOOOOOOOOD.  Yeah good.  Deep thoughts for the morning. 

My Mom, my beautiful Mom is turning 87 today.  Ok, well she really turned 87 the other day, but we are celebrating today.  Maybe this is part of the reason that I have been working on learning to "punch fear in the face" (part of Jon Acuff's new book's title).  I find that other people's birthdays tend to affect me more than my own.  Ok, well I have to admit that my birthday affected me a bit more than usual this year, but more on that later...or maybe another day. 

In any case, 87 is a good age.  I have another friend who is...she must be 90, because she told me the other day that I am half her age.  I explained to her that I actually turned 46 this year, so really I am a little over half her age.  But it was a moment...a moment that both of us wondered at.  She, at being 90 and me at being half her age.  What wonders will come in the second half of my life?  And she looking back at her life at the same time.  We talk once in a while, when I can find time in my extremely busy life.  She says things like, "Peggy, why am I still here?  What am I supposed to be doing?"  And then I look at her and think, 'I hope I have as much relevance now as she does.'  I watch her.  I learn from her.  I think how lucky I am to have someone so amazing, smart, and with the wealth of experiences she has had in my life. 

And I looked and realized I veered away from my Mom.  My family matriarch.  My MOM.  I find it hard to talk about my Mom.  She is such a part of me.  She is my friend.  We talk daily on the phone and have for years.  She is the one who I called to tell that I was on my way to my sister's house for my last visit as I knew she was slipping away.  My Mom was the one who told me between tears that my sister had passed that morning.   She was the one who I told that I would go find my Dad at church and let him know.

My Mom has always been my safe place.  She was the one I came home to when I was sick as a child.  She was there for me.  She would tuck me into bed and give me a 7-Up to settle my stomach.  She was the one who greeted me in the morning.  I always felt like she had been up for hours just waiting for me to come down.  It is interesting to note that I don't remember much about morning breakfasts at our house other than coming down, smelling the coffee, and seeing my Mom at the table.  She would always get up then and help me get my breakfast.  Weird that I don't even remember what kinds of things we ate. 

I am truly celebrating my Mom's life today.  I am doing it quietly, in my own way.  She may never know how much she means to me.  But she means so very much.  I love you Mom.  I thank you for the life you have given me.  I thank you for the example you have been for me.  I thank you for the hugs, for being my safe place.  For being my platform to jump from.  I thank you for the love you have given and continue to give.  I hope you know deep down somewhere how very much you are admired and loved. 

It is funny, but I didn't sit down to talk about my Mom.  But I did sit down to write.  I have missed writing.  When I opened this dashboard, the second thing I saw was a blog post from another writing saying how important it is to write every day.  Do you ever just get messages from the universe?  From God?  Well I do and that felt like one of them.  I may not be here every day, but I want to write every day.  It feels good.  It feels write (oops!  I mean right.). 

The big guy

Wow.  We picked up a dog the other day from the rescue society who we work with.  He is part Great Pyrenees, mixed with something else.  We named him Sampson.  I didn't really realize how big he is until we got him home.  The lady who had him has four Great Pyrenees, so he looked normal-sized at her house.  I should have known when he took up most of the room on the back seat of the Saturn on the ride home.  But still I didn't realize how big he is until he got home and I compared him to my dog.  I thought she was a smallish-normal-sized dog.  But she is tiny in comparison!

He is about 85 pounds right now and he is under-nourished.  I can feel all of his bones.  You wouldn't be able to notice just by looking at him thought since he has so much fur.  It is amazing how much fur he has! 

We picked him up on Saturday, so today will be five days.  Today is the first day that he has been left alone.

I have to admit we have had some problems with him.  He has been in an outdoor, uncovered kennel for about a year with no one on the property.  I guess the owner had the farmer down the road feeding him every few days.  I would think that he would be very wild, but really he is very kind.  He needs to learn manners about dog interaction about people interaction, but he learns fast.  He is not house trained, but he has only gone once in the house.  He has learned sit and come.  He walks well on a leash...not great, but well.  He isn't aggressive about food.  We have been putting a doggy diaper on him every time he comes in.  He hasn't been bad about that either.  He gets to listen to the radio all day long.  :-) 

We are not sure if we will be able to keep him or not.  But for now we are keeping our hearts open to the possibilities and giving him all the love that he should have had over the past year and a half of his life.

This picture isn't him, but it is about the size he is.  He has more golden color on his back and a mask of golden, white and black on his face and head.

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.