A new month

Here we are...on the first day of the 8th month.  It's a Sunday.

 I made a breakfast of sausages and eggs and toasted homemade Italian herb bread.  I am home alone, and just finished tending my hens...cleaning water bowls and putting food and fresh straw down. The newer chooks are getting ready to lay...I have to make some new arrangements inside that coop, as the Rhodies are still being territorial about the coop and nesting boxes, even though they aren't laying.  sigh...life in the country....lol

  I have been busy as a bee...canning and drying and freezing. I have a dehydrator filled with onions and tomatoes that needs to be emptied and more onions put in. The price of onions finally came down to halfway manageable, so I bought several bags to dry. The Irishman said he heard something about a frost in Florida that caused this problem, they were up over a dollar a pound, which is about 3 times the norm.  I have some onions in the garden too...

 

 This is my sweet potato bed...it's gone crazy. Can't wait to see how the harvest turns out. Everything looks good...I haven't dug around in there to look yet. Maybe this afternoon after I get back.

  Time for me to get a move on. Can't believe it's after 11 o'clock already, and I have to leave here by 12:15. Oh well. The vacuuming may NOT get done this morning.  lol   

   Namaste.

Fridays Fun

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina...

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Ah.....a minute to myself. Wanted to write a Flash Friday, but think I will do it on the other blog...Akannie's Weblog


I want to write today about the magnificent blessings in my life. About the way I have been changed from a person who was never okay...never satisfied. Always discontent, always irritable...always on the run. If I wasn't on the run physically, I was on the run emotionally and spiritually. I couldn't sit in one place for very long, and every where I went, there I was. I was never good enough, in my own mind, and certainly never enough in the lives of the people where I inserted myself. I have had a couple of really fulfilling days lately, and I feel the need to talk about this a little.

I truly believe that I can have experiences and never talk about them to anyone...and not feel that they are valid. I can share the miracles that occur in my life today, and in the sharing, the magnitude of them cannot escape me. It's at times like this that I really believe my Creator speaks to me...and cares for me....and takes care of me. I learned all kinds of things in early sobriety about going to any lengths and getting out of my own way, and putting in a teaspoonful and getting back a truckload.

What is a life?? An event of constant change and joy and sorrow. It's learning how to not anticipate the worst and (GAD!) even be hopeful that things are going to be good. It's learning to be useful and happy and free of the tyranny of my own mind. It's being open to the possibilities of life...admitting that I don't possibly know what's around every corner and what extraordinary things might be on their way to me. And finally...feeling that I am still on the journey. That I can be hungry enough for the good things and keep trudging. That I can be awestruck by magic and mystery and delighted by things like a sweetpea growing up strong and green after a frost has all but killed everything else. That mums thumb their noses at weather. That kittens love to jump and chase butterflies.


I realize how blessed I am today that...

• I can read and write.
• I have food enough in my house to feed Cox's Army.
• That there are days when the people in my life blow my phone up with their calls.
• That people trust me, because I am trust worthy.
• That I can be counted on to be a balance of truthfulness and loving intention.
• That I found out that LIFE IS NOT A RACE --just in time.
• That I am in love with my life and with my sobriety.
• That I have a family that didn't know me when I was at my worst.
• That I have a second family that did know me then...and loved me anyway.
• That I am slowly learning some discipline.
• That no matter how old I get, I can still learn new things.
• That I am on fire with NaNoWriMo this year!
• That it doesn't matter if my hair is grey and my skin isn't 24 anymore.
• That you love me. And I love you. And that helps me love me.

The class was extraordinary last night and the potluck was wonderful, and the people from the other potluck (that I missed) were raving about my food!

Life is a beautiful thing.... I am going to go clean a closet and move some things around. Already spent party of the morning on some 3rd Step stuff and will go to a meeting tonight.

Life's a dance...when you know the Steps!!


Namaste.

Wednesdays wandering

LOL...Remember this? I had to post it again when I saw it in my pictures because it never fails to make me laugh out loud.


The end of a productive day. I am grateful that I am a list maker...there's nothing so satisfying as marking a line through things I have accomplished in the course of the day. Today I cleaned carpets and changed sheets and dug potatoes. I did a little grocery shopping too. And now it is late and I am ready for bed.

I got a call at about 11PM...a sponsling wanting to know if I had a recipe for a Gooey Butter Cake. LMAO...she wants to make one in the morning. I didn't, but I do have a computer, so I found a recipe on Paula Deen's website that looked pretty good. While I was at it, I looked up the recipe for gooey butter cookies as well, and printed both of them out for ME. Nopt sure when I'll make them, but at least I have the information. lol

Tomorrow will be a full day....the speaker /potluck is at 6...a Mexican Fiesta! I only have to chop tomatoes, lettuce, onions...bring sour cream and shredded cheese. Because it is one of my sponslings' birthday (4 years Yippee!!) I will also be baking her a cake. So...I really was going to bake it tonight, but I'm too tired, so it'll have to be first thing in the morning. And then while it is in the oven, I'll finish straightening up the house a bit and get some French Onion Soup going. Have a sponsling coming at noon to do a bit of step work for a couple of hours, and then we'll go on to the meeting. We'll have some soup and bread for lunch. As weird as the weather is for this time of year....I love it because soup's a perfect meal. Today was about 72 again.

My sister is coming from Florida this weekend. It was supposed to be Friday, but now she's changed it to Saturday. It will be what it will be. One of the best gifts I have gotten from sobriety is that my happiness is never contingent on someone else's actions. LOL. I think I will get one of the turkey breasts out of the freezer (I bought several when they were .99 cents a pound!!) and put it in the roaster on Friday night. We can have sandwiches or whatever...whenever she happens to arrive. Voila! Problem solved. lol

I am feeling a lot of gratitude today. (And not just because we have water!!).

• Grateful that I have a house that's just the right size that I can manage!
• Grateful that I have family that loves me.
• Grateful that I have food to share, an expression of love for me.
• Grateful to have a social life.
• Grateful that I have hobbies, and that my life is NEVER boring.
• Grateful that I don't have to drink today (this is huge!).
• Grateful that I know that I can do ANYTHING for 24 hours.
• Grateful for the 5 gallon bucket of lovely fingerling potatoes I dug in my garden today.
• Grateful to live a life of elegant blessings and grace.
• Especially blessed to have found friends in recovery who blog!!
• Grateful for the good nights sleep I am heading off to.......

Namaste.