Category: Life

Keepin’ it real, the struggles and the joys.

Health, Life

Keep Walking

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My old walk- so peaceful! I walked many a troubles away here.

This morning I went on a walk.  There is a fairly quiet loop that is about 2.5 miles that I can just go straight out the door and begin.  It’s a great way to get out and moving. I am trying to make a concentrated effort at self care lately.  It’s awkward to be 36 and just learning these things but here we are.

Anyhow, I fell asleep and left my phone in my purse so I had no music to walk to.  I am too cheap to buy something to play music when my phone works just as well so I set out with empty pockets and nothing but the sounds of the world around me.  To be honest, I did take my mace.  I am not paranoid or afraid of being attacked, in fact I would feel sorry for the attacker…I have horrible (excellent?) reflexes when I’m startled. There is a cocker spaniel on the corner that likes to pretend she is going to rip my leg off. She hasn’t yet but I like to be prepared in case she decided to maim me. Ironically, said spaniel also shares a name with my daughter…

As I was walking I just wanted to be as alive as possible.  Sometimes it’s good to move on the inside as well as the out.  I began to sing as I walked. I hope my neighbors don’t think I’m totally crazy.  There is something freeing about singing outdoors and often when I practiced for a recital I would go outside and walk as I sang.  I could open up more when it was just the sky above for an audience.

We used to help in my grandparents’ hay field as teens and my favorite time was when the bales were being loaded.  Often my sister and I were the only ones in the huge open expanse as the boys went with the full truckload to the barn.  We would roll the bales into small stacks of 3-4 so the boys on the truck could make fewer stops to collect.  Occasionally we would buck bales too but I could never get much higher than the tail gate with a 50 pounder. My sister was pretty impressive though- but she also did shotput in high school.  While the truck was being unloaded I made like Maria in the Sound of Music and enjoyed being as loud as physically possible. I was far enough away from my sister that she couldn’t deck me so that was good.

Recently I had a frustrating day and I just wanted to march myself into our back field and to sing.  We had horse boarders at the time and they were having a rodeo lesson.  We had a college rodeo students hanging out at the round pen.  I stomped back in and my husband  was confused.  “Back already?” I explained that my song therapy only works if I am (more or less) alone.  So if you see a lady walking on the side of the road singing to herself please just wave and go on by.  She most likely is not very crazy and harmless- except for the mace.

Kids, Life, Sunday School Bus Adventures

We be bussin’

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We (the hubs and I) have been a part of the bus ministry in our church for a few years now.  It is a labor of love.  There have been times when I felt it was a waste of gas and times when I felt I was winning the world.

Anyhow, a couple of Sundays ago we had a fun surprise planned and here’s what it looks like:

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20171001_123719.jpgBasically, we work for smiles 🙂

Farm, Life

Living the Dream

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We went to the farmers and merchants banquet last night. My husband was helping out up there and we got to get a look at who is getting things done here in our little valley.

As the awards were given out it was fun to hear the stories of all the farm projects people had going on. The “Ag Woman of the Year Award” was given to a sweet little lady who began farming with her husband when they were in their early 40s. It was inspiring to hear how one couple (along with kids and grand kids) began.

My husband commented, “That’s us!”. While I am not yet 40 *ahem!*…(thanks hubs) I had to agree. We have a sweet little hobby farm with a lot of potential. While we haven’t narrowed the focus yet on which avenue we would like to pursue yet we have lots of fun dreaming.

There are a few ideas brewing right now and I am fascinated with the idea agritourism. I know if we keep working at it we will hit on the true purpose for our little farm. For right now I’m just trying to enjoy the journey and not get into a hurry. All in time.

Family, Life, Love

Us

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…to borrow a few words from the man who knew how to use them. Things have been difficult lately with dad’s swift decline but some beautiful moments have happened and that is what I am so thankful for. Every day that we live is a gift. Every.single.moment. Live fully and love with everything you’ve got. It’s so worth it. You cannot put a price tag on the most precious moments of life. They are irreplaceable. Treat them according.  When in doubt, love.

DIY, Life, Random

Handy Hints – Life Hacks

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20170622_114537.jpgI love life hacks- those odd ball little tips that can cut your chores in half… the more the merrier! Here are a few that I have employed in our household:

Use a straw to hull strawberries. You can see this hack in action 🙂  It works!  We got a flat of them and my helpers had so much fun helping me they had those berries done in no time! Extra bonus- they get to eat the strawberry “worms” that get pushed out of the other end of the straw and I get free entertainment!

Dryer sheets- keep them in the bathroom to scrub the bath or the toothpaste splatters off the sink. Wet the sheet, scrub and rinse surface. *BONUS* Smells fab

Wet wipes- stash some at the kitchen table.  Grab those spills and outfit messes before they get a chance to do real damage :/

Old (water proof) sunscreen- this stuff may not have the SPF power that it used to but it is still handy to coat hands when you have piles of hand washing or any other chore that requires hands to be soaked for long periods. Also good for long winters when frequent hand washing dries skin. It has more staying power than most lotions and will last through a washing.

Email- if you need to remember an important date email it to yourself and invite your spouse.  This will give  you an extra little insurance.

Text- same deal as above.  My friend has a running text with her hubs for the grocery list. They both chime in and add on items as they think of them so when it’s time to shop they both have the list at their fingertips.  Beautiful idea.  Whoever is available can do the shopping or they can both go and split the list in half to divide and conquer. Brilliant!

Specific Containers- designate a container for specific places.  I have a school bag.  It travels from home to school but that’s it.  It is not allowed to be anywhere else.  It keeps me from searching for that *one item* that I need for class tomorrow.  Repeat process for the library, running errands, pool or any other task specific activity.

Photo shelf- I had my hubby make a plain board shelf with a small 3/4 edge on it.  He added some cute brackets and I stained the whole deal.  I can rotate every single framed print that I own (or any other small display item) without redecorating the whole house and making new holes in the walls.  This is super easy for seasonal changes too.  I can just remove the pix and replace with any of the other 5 million I have stored away.  My favorite thing is to add silk leaves for fall, fake pine branches and twinkle lights for winter and silk flowers for spring and summer. Extra bonus- no crooked photos!

Suitcases- I have a suitcase for fall decor.  The suitcase is a nice mellow gold color and it reminds me of fall.  I can pull that baby out and whip out fall decor in minutes.  I just stand my sweet little suitcase nearby and as it matches the season I can keep it in plain sight! Yay! I hope to have a spring/summer suitcase too.

Keep a bucket of hot water handy on those heavy cleaning days.  You could also just fill half of the sink with hot water.  This works well for days when I am speed cleaning and I can just toss whatever needs washing in there and let it soak. When I go to wash it everything cleans up easily.  You can also take the bucket with you from room to room and clean up whatever needs a good scrubbing.

I recently had to clear the frost from my car windshield but was out of washer fluid. I have done a vinegar/water solution in the past but my eye landed on the “sore muscle soak” solution I bought to help sore feet on our camping/hiking trip.  It was a dollar tree item so it was cheap and we had already gotten our use out of it.  Plus, it contained the ingredients I was looking for, alcohol and salt.  I thought, why not, so I diluted it with water and added it to the reservoir. It worked pretty well! Considering it cost 50 cents I was pretty happy.

Hope you have a beautiful Saturday!

Life

TBT or The Years Flew By

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I cringed a little when my daughter pulled out this picture. Apparently, daughter 2 had been packing it around and showing it to all her friends. I’m not sure how many have been afflicted thus far…

I remember my mom taking these photos.  As I look at them now I’m thinking why did she let me paste all that gunk on my face? Oh boy! :/

Anyhow, I loved sports and cheer leading was my favorite. It was physically demanding but super fun. And very girly. Plus, you very rarely got hurt. Squad members each had a specific job. Some were strong bases and some were light flyers. Others would spot behind so there would be a set of hands ready to catch you if you fell.

I usually drifted back and forth from spotting to base and occasionally would “fly”. I remember one home game I was standing on top of my friend’s shoulders for a cheer.  I heard somebody give the “down” command (we had a verbal command for everything) and so I began to bend down to reach for her hand so I could step off her shoulders.  It sounded like somebody from the crowd had called it and since I was pretty much a whole person taller than my friend the range of sound was different for both of us.  She didn’t hear it. So as I was bending down she was forcefully pulling me upright again.  It must have been a sight as we struggled against each other :0

When the cheer finally ended she was a tad bit upset… but I stayed upright the whole time and nobody got hurt.  If I could just locate the joker who called that out it might have ended differently!

Family, Life

Silver Linings

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IMG_0333So yesterday I had prepared a post with some fun little crafts in it and today it seems to have disappeared. That has been happening a lot lately.  I think I’ve got maybe 3/4 of my life kinda going in the right direction and then….whoops! I’m not talking about forgetting appointments or misplacing important items. (although I do that pretty much on a daily basis too)  I mean the way we actually LIVE.  Like the condition of our spirit and how we respond to life’s ups and downs and…how we deal with changes we need to make within ourselves.  Ok, so I mean me. But while you are here reading this I am sure you can relate.

Normally I am a pretty content person.  I really don’t need much. We live on a small income and we do a lot for ourselves rather than hire it out.  We typically have too much month at the end of the money but we always have the things we need.  Miraculously, we have never NEVER been without.

My husband was out of work for the better part of the year when my third child was born. He traveled to any training that the National Guard had going on.  They pay for training and they used to pay food and lodging as well.  He spent time working all over the states and even got to travel to Korea.  That one was actually pretty cool.  Even though I really hate being a single parent for weeks and months at a time we were taken care of.

We had a mystery gasser…no, not the kind you are thinking of.  We had been in the middle of the coldest part of winter.  Our propane was running low and we had no money to fill it.  It was nearing Christmas and I was huge with my February baby. Out of nowhere the propane delivery guy has pulled up and is filling our tank. My husband tried to direct him to the neighbor’s thinking they had the wrong house number.  But, to our surprise it was 100% paid for by a mysterious benefactor.  Thank you, whoever you are.

To say that we are well off is untrue but to say that we have not been well taken care of is also untrue.  We have had a series of bad events it seems but in the midst I am trying to remind myself of the good and the blessings we have already received.

The hubs and I are going to NC next week.  It will be nice to hang out in warmer temps and have time without the kids.  The reason we are going isn’t all that fun though.  My father in law is dying.  He is a very sick man.  This may be our last visit with him.  We had tried to help out with his care as much as we could but the distance across the country was just too great.  My heart breaks but I know my husband needs me now.

Sometimes nothing really can help or fix a situation.  I find myself weeping at odd moments and wondering what people must think of me.  Truth is, I don’t care anymore.  I will do what I need to do to stay strong.  Sometimes our strength only comes when we are broken.

I leave you with this song.  Why Not Trust God Again by Kurt Carr.  It has never failed to speak to the situation at hand and fill me with hope to keep moving forward trusting in the knowledge that God is already handling my tomorrows.

p.s. I’m still figuring our links so don’t shoot me if it doesn’t work, thanks 😉

Life

Study Time

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I bought this bible not long ago. It is a “beautiful word” Bible. Honestly, I got it because the artwork is fabulous and it is cloth covered in a lovely floral fabric. I also held a secret hope that it would make me a better “studier”.

I have often been drawn to the combination of scripture and art. The words somehow become more tangible to me. One thing that helps me (that I haven’t done in a while…) is to print a few verses out in fancy font and either frame them or mount them on pretty scrapbook paper. I’ll put them up around the house so that I have reminders at every turn. I am not a still person and I need to be actively engaged so bumping into the Bible as I go through the house works for me.  If there is a particular area I am working on I’ll occasionally write it on the mirror so that it is visible everytime I fix my hair or brush my teeth. I really wish I could study like a normal person but if I’m not in a “class” of some sort it’s difficult. Y’all can pray for me!

I also like to memorize along with my students. They get 1 scripture a week and so I can count on committing roughly 30 ish scriptures to memory every year. This is helpful because I can’t lose them and I will never have to look them up! Its a win-win.

Another thing that is sometimes helpful is amazon music. They have bunches of music and even some scripture set to song. It isn’t my favorite way to “ingest” the Bible but it’s sometimes fun for my kids and students.

Well, I have to get back to my reading now, have a great Monday 🙂

Kids, Life

Making a Difference 

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I am a teacher. I have a small first grade class. They are few in number but have plenty of personality. I find myself thinking of all the kids that have come through my classroom.  My son was in my very first preschool class when he was 4. He’s 15 now so I’ve seen plenty of kids come and go during that time.

For most of my students I am the rule keeper, to motivator and cheerleader. I am the one who presents the task and guides them through the process. To some I am a constant and a routine that they take comfort in. To others I am the smile they crave and the only “good job” they will hear that day. I don’t take it lightly- although I have relaxed significantly as time wears on and I lose the spunk I once had.

It is an important job. We teachers shape the future. The kindness we give and the effort we put forth can make their day and influence their lives.

I’m not tooting my own horn- so often I feel as if I should be doing something more productive with my time. I just get a bit contemplative when I consider the fact that to one child I might be the difference maker. That is what keeps me going.

Life, Random

Vunerability

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My “never-shys” know no strangers! Love these buggers…though they have grown so much since this photo was taken 😦

There is something to be said for going out of your comfort zone.  It’s a freeing experience.  It also shows people that you really care enough to get yourself out there and potentially get a door slammed in your face.  It’s pretty cool to have a cause and to care about it enough to make yourself vunerable.  Ugh, Vun.er.a.ble …not sure that I like the sound of that word.Yep, I am certain I don’t like that word.  Here’s the funny thing though.  If I can’t embrace it I am stalling everything.  I am immobile.  Paralizing ones self is never a good idea.  And yet, I perpetuate the cycle because I feel uncomfortable stepping out of the parameters I have set for myself.

Hmm…

Hey vunerable!  Maybe we could be friends.  Yeah, I know I don’t like rejection and it hurts when I am not accepted.  I know that I can be sensitive to other people’s opinions of me but I think we should try again.

How about it?