For Today...

For Today...

Outside my window the sun has come and gone and temps are well above freezing. Here in Ohio after the month of cold and snow we’ve had I call that a heat wave.

I am thinking about upgrading to DSL and saying good bye to dial up. I've put it off but Verizon has a deal going on now that is almost too hard to resist.

I am thankful for...the past weekend and the opportunity to see daughter, SIL, sister, BIL and my 4 year old great niece who was by all means the life of the party Friday night as she sang (quite exuberantly) the lyrics to Tom Petty’s “Walls”.

Sometimes you're happy...
Sometimes you cry
Half of me is ocean,
Half of me is sky
But you got a heart so big
It could crush this town

And I can't hold out forever,
Even walls fall down

From the kitchen...not much happening there just yet. I do know I will be making homemade pudding since we have vanilla wafers and ripe bananas.

I am wearing...cream colored jeans, a blue striped top and my multi-colored charka shawl.

I am reading...right now about 6 different titles. Really!

I am hoping...to get to the library this week or next and renew my card. It’s been years.

I am creating...a deep Iris afghan for my living room.

I am hearing...The computer hum and Tom Petty in my head. :)

I am celebrating...my first sale on my homestead hippie store!

Around the house... the focus is on laundry today despite the fact that the house is in need of cleaning. I got a little too lax over the weekend. But today laundry is the priority as I had curtains and rugs to wash as well as the regular loads.

One of my favorite things...having mornings when I awaken without pain…always a good day when it happens.

I am looking forward to...more of this warmer weather this week and getting some organizing done and things caught up around the house.

I am wondering...why I can't simply copy and paste from Microsoft Word to blogger without having the font style and size getting all fubar. This is why sometimes my words are in several different fonts and size. Grrr.

A few plans for the remainder of the week...hoping to get a little sewing done, spend time outdoors and do some walking (if the rain holds off) since the weather forecast is warmer this week.

give a dog a bone...

...and this is what happens...

just pictures

That's all, just photos I've taken over the past few days. Life is busy so I haven't spent a lot of time here but do want to say hello and extend a big warm welcome to my newest subscribers and followers. Thanks for being here and finding my ruminations at least slightly entertaining. :)

Blue Jays outside the kitchen window

you are not a potato Oden!

Look who I found on the bakers rack...

and then he noticed me...

After the snow came the shoveling...

and after the drifting came the plowing.

These last two were taken from the car on our way into town the other day.
I'm not giving up...still holding out hope for spring! I know it will come eventually...
I believe, I believe, I believe!

it doesn't take much

Well, for the most part that is. This is his end of the kitchen counter. After nearly 30 years of togetherness he's gotten pretty good about keeping his "stuff" in one area rather than scattered around the house. It took training mind you. There was a time when he wouldn't pick up his socks and underwear off the bedroom floor. I even went so far as to set the hamper right next to his side of the bed...and still I had to confront him about it.

But over the years things do change. Now he's such a big help I often wonder what I might do without him. He even vacuums the rugs now, often without my even suggesting it. Somewhere down the line he took over cleaning the cat's litter box, too. I think it all started with cobwebs. Yes, cobwebs. You see, I am really bad about noticing cobwebs. I don't generally look up that often I guess and I certainly don't have height on my side. But Coop, he notices details...like cobwebs. Maybe he just got tired of pointing them out to me and finally decided to take matters into his own hands. Or maybe it was me saying something like, "well if they bother you so dang much then maybe you should do something about them." (really, I'm not a sarcastic bitch...all the time)

Whatever the case may be, he began helping around the house more and more as the years went by. He's a good man in so many ways. Those who knew him many, many moons ago may not share that same opinion, unless like me, they have stuck by him and and witnessed the changes and the man he became over the years. I saw beyond his bad boy ways way back when and knew the loving man he was underneath. I loved him then and even more so now. He's proven time and time again who he really is. He's smart, innovative, strong as an ox, gentle as a lamb when the need arises and most of all I know this; there is nothing, nothing he wouldn't do for me (or others as a matter of fact) if asked and it is within his power or ability to do. You can't ask for more than that.

We have shared our lives for nearly thirty years and today we celebrate the promises made exactly 27 years ago when we said "I do". No special celebrations or gifts here, just a "Happy Anniversary" wish spoken to each other this morning. We have each other and that is gift enough.

Friday Funny

Since you enjoyed my last Friday Funny I've decided to make this an ongoing feature here at the homestead. A laugh, a smile, some good clean fun is always good for the soul. Here's today's funny...

When I was a young minister, a funeral director asked me to hold a grave side service for a homeless man with no family or friends. The funeral was to be at a cemetery way out in the country. This was a new cemetery and this man was the first to be laid to rest there.

I was not familiar with the area and became lost. Being a typical man, of course, I did not ask for directions. I finally found the cemetery about an hour late. The back hoe was there and the crew was eating their lunch. The hearse was nowhere to be seen.

I apologized to the workers for being late. As I looked into the open grave, I saw the vault lid already in place. I told the workers I would not keep them long, but that this was the proper thing to do. The workers, still eating their lunch, gathered around the opening.

I was young and enthusiastic and poured out my heart and soul as I preached. The workers joined in with, "Praise the Lord," "Amen," and "Glory!" I got so into the service that I preached and preached and preached, from Genesis to The Revelation.

When the service was over, I said a prayer and walked to my car. As I opened the door, I heard one of the workers say, "I never saw anything like that before and I've been putting in septic systems for twenty years."

Have a great day friends and if you want some added enjoyment check out kittens, kittens, kittens. This blog is nothing but pure viewing pleasure.

it's not too late...

...to get on over to Rainbow Tree's blog and enter her giveaway! It ends the first week of Feb. She's got a stash of really nice items to bestow upon the winner and besides, she's my kid. : )

monday meanderings

The sun shone this morning bringing once again the illusion of warmth. It is warmer though. I think we hit 20 today, a heat wave compared to the single digits and below zero chill we've been experiencing. I can handle 20. The sunshine was enough to melt most of the remaining several inches of ice that has covered our small road for the past week and a half or more. I can see pavement!!

I'm sitting here listening to Cat Stevens on the stereo, one of my all time favorites, although out of respect I should refer to him as Yusaf Islam. I just caught a yahoo news article here about him. Seems he's recorded a George Harrison song on behalf of the children of Gaza. All proceeds will benefit refugees. I always knew he was a good guy despite the rumors that circulated about him from time to time because of his conversion to Islam. Only one with a good and true heart could have written the poetic music he has gifted us with.

Hearts are a good thing to follow. Life is just too short to live according to another's thinking. I think the world would be a much finer place if we stopped wasting our time and effort entrapped by others dogma and opinions. You are the only one who truly knows what matters to you.
And besides, like Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." Ain't it the truth? :)

I've just been thinking about the subject of following your heart lately. Maybe because I see my share of unhappy people in my little world who are caught up in others lives so much that they don't have much of one. They wear fear instead of love, and anger and blame in place of response-ability. It seems they are miserable and determined to not only stay that way but make others feel the same. What a shame. Maybe, just maybe if they would learn to go within and find their heart and follow it rather than feed off chaos and drama... maybe if they would find what they love and what feels right instead of focusing their energy on what is wrong (thereby creating more of the same)...maybe, just maybe they would create something positive and feel the effects of something akin to happiness. Odds are they would. Just my thoughts on what I see at times. But, to each their own. Just don't hate me for living my life or be jealous because my life is what you wish yours were. Everything is a choice and a result of the action you take. Even inaction is a choice. If my life is an example to others of what they strive for, yay! But don't react be becoming jealous, respond by becoming real. Authenticity is a blessing and following your heart is good medicine.

Ok, I''ll get down off my soapbox now. I will go about the remainder of my day now, hang some laundry, love on my fur babies, cook up something warm and hearty for dinner, take a warm shower and throughout the minutes and hours be ever so thankful for all the goodness in my day and in my life.