Wunnerful Wednesday

[Lucy in the snow with diamonds....] click to enlarge.

A full day of walking the puppy in the snow and being a domestic goddess.
Watching that pup frolic in snow up to her shoulders had me laughing and experiencing that moment of clarity about living in the present. It's how animals live all the time, and we could do well to learn a few things from them. She has to be on the leash every time she goes out, because otherwise she's running a hundred miles per hour. She's supposed to be on bedrest, but I kjeep taking her out to go potty. I have puppy pads in here for her, and she uses them sometimes, but she acts like she's done something wrong every time. lol We had her housebroken for probably 2 months before she got hit. So I'm sure she is having a hard time peeing in the house again--pad or no pad. Bless her little heart...

I made a lovely lentil soup for supper. Put it in the crockpot and it cooked up like a charm. I had some leftover bbq'd country ribs from the other night, so I cubed them and threw them in, along with some other stuff. Made a loaf of bread, too. It was a good hearty supper for a cold winter evening. Not a lot of leftovers, but some, enough to put a small bowl into hubby's lunch for tomorrow with a peanut butter sandwich. That'll hold him over til supper.

I was in my pantry searching for something today when I noticed that the latest stray cat that adopted us, Muffin, seems to have built a little nest in there. She was so starving and scrawny when she came and I thought she was just fattening up. Now I suspect she's pregnant. Ai yi yi...we do not need kittens.

Anyway, I was looking around at all the good wholesome food in there, and I realized that I really do have a lot to be grateful for these days. Without exagerrating, I'll bet there are a hundred meals in there. Is this over the top ??????

I am blessed to be well fed. I am blessed to be educated in more ways than one. I am blessed to be a child of the Universe.

Today's blessings number in the tens. How do I pass it around? How do I share the bounty and prosperity?

Life is a banquet...


Namaste.

Suddenly Sunday

[The back yard...]

This weekend went FAST! lol. I was up early this morning and stayed in most of the day. Our water pump isn't working and I haven't been able to do laundry for a week, so we loaded it up and went into town to use the gigundo washers and dryers. It wound up costing about 13 dollars was all...and there's something nice about getting it all done at once. Of course, I usually do only 2-3 loads per week, and can do other things here at home while it's washing and drying. I'll be glad when it's warm weather again and I can start hanging them outdoors once more. It's extraordinarily satisfying to me...hanging clothes on the clothes line and the smell and the feel and everything about the laundry experience shifts.

Dear husband goes back to work in the morning. And I'll get some housecleaning done. I like a tidy house...even when I have to redo thing s again and again because I have puppies. lol I think I will make some ham and beans and buttermilk cornbread for supper tomorrow. That means I have to get them soaking tonight. That's a highly satisfying dish that serves as a nice high fiber/low carb comfort food. I think I have a hamhock in the freezer. And I know I have several kinds of beans....great Northerns, pintos, black beans, adzuki beans, and butterbeans (limas). I'll just have to pick one...

I'm feeling especially blessed again today. Plenty of food in the pantry, plenty of love and understanding in my life. Plenty of [clean] warm clothes. PLenty of time to appreciate my llife. Plenty of energy to get things done. Plenty of gratitude to keep me being grateful, not hateful.

Time for bed....tomorrow will come early. The yards and roads are all pristine white with new fallen snow and all's right with my world...

Namaste.

Manic Monday

I'm so emotionally exhausted, I'm ready to drop.

Brought the puppy home from the vet, set her down on wobbly legs in the yard to see if she could pee. She did, and then looked at Pat and took off like rocket! We searched high and low, and I was so worried about her that I spent the last hour, from 9-10 PM bawling like a baby. She was MIA for over 4 hours...neighbors were out helping us look...and all I could think was she was so doped up from the surgery that she was probably disoriented and couldn't find her way home. I was also very worried about her running through the woods and brambles and damaging the stitches on her little tummy. One good stick and she could have bled to death. And the temps were dropping at an alarming rate too and it's supposed to snow tonight...I was crying and my poor husband was holding me and I just kept saying , she will die out there tonight...

And of course, that's when she came walking back into the yard. She's a little worse for the wear, but mainly seems fine. No broken stitches, no excessive bleeding.

I am one grateful girl right this minute.

Today was the service for my sponsor too. That may have been some of the tears that fell so easily.

I was thinking (after the fact, of course), about what a blessing it is to have emotions and be able to express them. To feel that much love for anything or anyone. And to have gratitude when things come to a good end.

And to not have to think of drowning my fears (real or imagined) in scotch. To actually have other solutions to the "big deals" in my life.

I am especially blessed tonight. I need to go to bed and get some sleep...now that I know I can!

Namaste.

Wednesday's puppies

I feel especially blessed to be the caretaker of these 3 dogs at my house. Lately, due to the addition of a new baby puppy, I feel more like a referee. The baby is getting along famously with the lab mix, Lucy. Molly McGee, the Jack Russell Terrorist, is a cranky and bitchy 2 year old that growls every time the puppy comes near her. And is she would be that way all the time it would be okay, but she alternates between playing with the puppy and hating its guts...so the puppy never knows how to respond to her. Sigh...

This year has been really bad for bugs, with all the rain we had. We dose these guys with topical flea stuff from the vet, but the 2 older dogs go in the pond several times a day and it weakens the strength of the stuff (I don't care WHAT the package says). We put flea collars on them as well. And still we have fleas. We put Advantage on the puppy and she still has fleas. SO, we either have super fleas out here, or the stuff I'm paying through the nose for at the vet is old or something. It's one thing that makes me look forward to winter....

I am grateful for my newest sponsee, who has been calling me regularly. Just got off the phone. Talking to newcomers always helps me really see the blessings in my own life, so thanks to ALL of you. lol We talked about how hard it is to ask for help, and how we are affected by stress and how starting a day with your head spinning is not a good thing. Just basic life stuff. I love going through the steps with new women too...it is so good for me.

I am blessed by the way the puppy snuggles up to my neck when I hold her. I'm sure it lowers my blood pressure by 30 points....just that simple act of love and trust.

..."when we accept that we always exist in a state of grace, we are able to live our lives more graciously. Knowing that we are graced gives us more hope, makes us more generous, and allows us to trust that we are taken care of, even when we are going through difficult times. Grace is our benevolence of heart, our generosity of spirit. Grace is unconditional love and the beauty that is our humanity. When we know that we are blessewd with grace, we cannot help but want to live our lives in harmony."