Catching up Tuesday...

 This is a coral bell. I love these guys, they are hardy perrenials that even these brutal Illinois winters cannot keep down. Years ago I had one in an old pot at the base of a tree, and I never did anything to it, yet it persevered. My kind of plant.

  Had a hectic day yesterday, as I got involved in a family crisis. It was a day of run run run and I'm not sorry I did it, I just hope it can work out. My brothers family.  He moved out of state a few years ago, and a call from him in the early morning sent me running. It's what family does.

Today I am heading into town to buy a few groceries...some organic milk and some odds and ends, and I am getting my haircut too at 11. I've got a load of laundry going and will try to get another one done between shopping and haircuts and cooking my beloved a nice dinner. He's been  "feasting" (as he calls it) on leftovers for several days. He loves chicken fajitas and beans and rice...so that is what I will fix him.  Halfway healthy, and cooked with great love.

The weather does NOT feel like May. It is chilly and sunny at least....we will be planting the garden soon, in increments. The potatoes are ready to go, the lettuce and stuff can go in if we cover it a bit to warm the soil. That's the main problem right now...the soil is too cold still for germination.Things are looking good out there. My husband has shovelling more manure in and turning over beds...leaf compost will be the final dressing.  He's worked a little fter work each night, and on the weekend. When it's not raining...which it has been doing a lot.

I'm glad to see my Louisey back online...I miss you woman, when you go away.  I am blessed to watch the goins on at Miz Moon's...her fabulous family and friends and all the love dripping off her blog. Judy is crazy busy this time of year...my gardening mentor. And my all time hero, DJan...climbing every mountain and fording every creek that Washington state has to offer, not to mention jumping out of airplanes (my all time secret wish)...I wanna be like her, but I can't, so I live vicariously through her blog. and Sarcastic bastard. I love you. You make me laugh and think and something about your absolutely uncensored mouth tickles the holy hell out of me.  I roll around here laughing and thinking "Oh no she didn't !!!"  You make my days....

  I may actually get some stuff done today, if I get myself away from here.

  Here I goooooooooooooo........

Namaste.

Wednesday January 13, 2010

It's been a day of laughing a lot. First, I started reading a book by an author that I normally wouldn't be caught dead with. She's cashing in on the latest craze of demons and magic, and I was given the set of 3 books to read by someone who reads that kind of stuff all the time. Now, this writer is a romance writer, and a VERY prolific one at that. I don't know why I am such a snob about this stuff. This woman has written over 150 books. I have written, well...none. Anyway, I was laughing to myself about the absurdity of me even worrying about what I read. I am a voracious reader and will pretty much read anything that isn't nailed down. I have been like this all my life. And this stuff is really vaguely interesting. So....


I have been entertained by all these animals at my house all day today. I've had cats doing tightrope acts across the top top of my kitchen cabinets, dogs chasing frozen smashed plastic milk jugs around the yard, a cockatiel that kept trying to out- talk me the whole time I was on the phone today, and a kitten that got his big fat kitten head stuck in a drinking glass, trying to steal my iced tea. I laughed my self silly with that one.


I tried to get up the energy to go to town for a haircut and I just couldn't do it. I started looking at my hair in the mirror and thought, what the hell? I could probably cut it myself. Granted, when you are talking to yourself in a mirror, it's generally NOT one of your more stellar decision making moments. I grabbed the barber scissors and started hacking it off. Then I pulled out a razor comb and ...well, you can guess the rest. I took off about an inch or more, I think. It's not horrible...and as is usually the case when I get a haircut (no matter WHO cuts it) my first thought was, well--it'll be great in about a week.

I was looking around my living room tonight thinking...what is the deal with me???? Because the thing is this: I really don't care about stuff like I should. My house is decorated in yard sale chic. My pets (as babies) have chewed the edges of tables, clawed upholstery to ribbons, peed on my carpets...they sleep on the furniture, they climb across the cabinets, and they drink out of the sink. (well, the cats do--not the dogs. lol) Between last night and today, I cleaned up cat puke twice and dog puke once. The cats have scratched up my beautiful dining room table chasing each other up and over and across it. I would no more consider buying new furniture that animals couldn't sit on than I would fly to the moon. I look at little teeth marks and remember Molly chewing when we first got her, as she tried to get used to new owners and a new home....where little Caylee cut her teeth. The floor is littered with dog toys, and they have their own toybox. I don't care if my hair isn't perfect or that I NEVER wear makeup or that I tell people if you don't want fur or feathers on your clothes, don't come to visit me. I live in a comfortably shabby home, with coverlets and throws on the furniture to keep the staining at a minimum, curtains and drapes that have claw marks in them, and stains on the wall where we throw the dog toy down the hall and the Jack Russell Terrorist flings her little body against the wall like a racquet ball player. There's enough fur under my table somedays (usually vacuuming day, which is every other day here) to make at least 3 new dogs or cats at any given time. And I wouldn't have it any other way.



So, I laugh at my haircut, finish the dishes and turn out the lights. The animal food bowls are all filled, the cat boxes are all scooped, and the Kelley house settles down for the night.


It's enough to make a girl pee when she laughs....


Namaste.

Wednesday Morning...

THE EAGLES ARE BACK!! It's that time of year here along the Mississippi River, and the eagles have returned to the nesting grounds. It's a thing of beauty...

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The mercury dipped below 30 degrees for our first hard frost of the year last night. I can feel every bit of it in my back this morning...lol. It's crisp and sunny out there though and should be a beautiful day in the mid to upper 60's. I'm on a house cleaning tear and hope to get some carpets cleaned today, if my back holds out.

I woke up yesterday with a resolve to do something about this mop of long grey hair. It's only been long for a little over a year, but I am sick of it. So, I went in and had about 12 inches cut off and I feel like a new man. Well, you know what I mean. lol However-- I had hoped that cutting it would rid me of some of the grey, instead it looks like she cut MORE grey into it. Sigh...I might just have to color it now. I just got tired of feeling like I look like an old woman.


Been staying busy with sponslings and such, trying to catch up on my woefully behind NaNoWri Mo word count, and keeping my house so that the health department won't condemn it. lol I am writing everyday, but sheesh!! But not giving up. So...if my posts are a bit spotty this next month, rest assured that I am at the keyboard pounding away...just somewhere other than here in my blogs. But I'm going to try and stay connected as best I can. On top of this, of course, it is the beginning of the holiday season and that's another whole story. I have lots of artsy fartsy stuff to do as well. Good thing I'm a talented multi-tasker! (Imagine-it used to be considered a BAD thing that I couldn't just focus on one thing at a time!! lol) Plus, I'm reading two new books. And writing to an AA'er in prison as a penpal thing. And Sunday is the District meeting, where I'm supposed to have come up with an idea for a workshop for the beginning of next year, and haven't even thought about it. Sigh.....no rest for the wicked, my grandmother used to say. *wink


Turned on my 'puter this morning and got 2 simultaneous IM's...one from a sponsling and one from my darling girl in Oz...so instead of getting to work, I spent a lovely half hour dually IM'ing these two beautiful sober women to start my day with love and gratitude. I am indeed especially blessed.

Especially blessed to:

• Have a life that I once only dreamed of having.
• Have the kind of love in my world that I always craved and never had
• Know that those feelings of uselessness and self pity have disappeared.
• See that even though it's 30 outside, it's toasty warm in here.
• Realize that my fresh pot of coffee is done.
• Be able to wake up sober.
• Be 12 inches shy of hair!
• Have a plan, and be able to stick to it.
• To know that I don't have to be perfect, and that my best is good enough.
  
• Have a great Oreck vacuum cleaner to clean my furry floors with.
• Get to wake up and "visit" friends in faraway places like Africa and Australia and Canada.
• Have another chance at a better day than the one before.

Alrighty then...I'm off into a new day...hope yours is the best ever too.


Namaste.