Frantic Friday

Greetings and Salutations!

I'm feeling a bit giddy, as I have just spent most of the evening cooking 5 pounds of bacon and baking 3 dozen muffins for a potluck/speaker meeting tomorrow morning. I posted the picture above all in good fun...honestly--I thought it was a badger. Then I looked closer (and with my glasses on) and saw that it was an overweight CAT. lol

I got out of the house today, and almost didn't get back in. The little car did not want to come up the driveway through the piles of snow. It got a little hairy as I kept slipping backwards to the street. yikes! BUT--little Caylee got her stitches out, I got some groceries. I got off the homestead for about 2 hours, which was a good thing. Haven't been out much the past 2 weeks.

Tonight there was an edition of Sound Stage on public television from Chicago, featuring BB King. I love that man!!!! He called Terrence Howard (the actor/musician)up out of the audience and they made beautiful music. Terrence is a wonderful singer. I think I'm gonna look for one of his cd's... It was really great. We got to se BB King at a lovely small venue in Asheville, NC in 2004, just before we moved. I hope I get to see him again soon--he knows how to put on a show!

Not too much to post, except to say that I'm glad to be here. I am bone weary and need to get to sleep as I have to be down at the club by 8:30. That means I have to be up by 6 to get all the animals taken care of and myself dressed and hubby out the door by 8 to make it there. When you live out in the hills, ya gotta make plans. lol

Down to 16 degreesF right now, but tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid 40's. Hallelujah!

Count your blessings, boys and girls...

Namaste.

Thursday at the races...

[My little darling, Leo de Catrio]



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It has been some kind of a day today...from the beginning to the (almost) end. I woke up this morning thinking about a couple of women I sponsored who have gone AWOL. One I haven't talked to in several weeks and the other 2 it's been a month plus. One is a youngish chronic relapser and the other 2 are older women. As the day wore on, I was contacted by all 3 of them. 1 drank a couple of drinks, but didn't get drunk. Does that mean anything? (lol) 1 is obviously using and told me I didn't make her feel special enough, and this wasn't helping her. (LMAO) and the other is a woman who relapsed after 20+ years, and knows what she needs to be doing, but refuses to do it. SHE called to check on me and see how I was doing. :)



I was talking with a close friend tonight and said, I told them all I'm not that kind of sponsor. I don't chase after people. If you want this--fine. If you don't --fine. What do I care? This isn't for people who need it, it's for people who want it. If you want it and are willing to do the work, I'll go to hell and back for you. But don't waste my time ...I'm a busy woman. If you don't want to stop drinking, then go drink. Have a ball.



She was laughing her head off.



I told her that that's just the sponsor school I went to. And when I was new, I was 10 pounds of crazy in an 8 pound bag too. But I never for a minute thought somebody else was going to do this for me. And even today, I don't live in that delusion, ever, that maybe it could be different. Because alcohol takes me places I don't want to go. And believe me, NOBODY wants to go there with me. lol



All this made me very grateful. So grateful, in fact, that I signed up on a new-ish site called 365 days of Grace in Small Things. And every day you write 5 things that grace your life, that you are blessed by. I thought it was such a grand idea, I sent it to everyone I know! Just another way to do a daily gratitude list... This is the stuff that changes the world....

All told, it's been a really super day. I was blessed to get some exercise to EXORCISE my cabin-fever demons by walking the babydawg out in the snow around the house a few laps. She was such a delight to watch as she jumped into snow drifts, dug holes in the snow (no doubt looking for snow monsters), and just lookd absolutely ecstatic about being out there with me. Tomorrow we go get the stitches out. The doc wants a look-see, just because the gash was so bad. It has healed nicely. A blessing!

I fixed baked chicken and stuffing with butternut squash and pickled beets from my garden for supper, so the oven running warmed the house up even more while it filled the place with mouth watering aromas. Twice blessed there. We had a relatively healthy supper and filled our tummies. So--thrice blessed!

I'm getting sleepy, so I need to finish up here. We are having supper with the neighbors tomorrow, unless something changes. They are retired and such lovely people...he has hurt his back. He was doing better, but today when I called to see what I could bring, she sounded worried about maybe having to call it off. I said if she did it would be fine, we'll do it another time. (This is the rescheduled one now, lol. But they are in their middle 70's I think at least, and these things happen.)

Wishing each and every one of you a day filled with all the blessings life has to offer:

Live simply
Love deeply
Speak Kindly.
And leave the rest to God.


Namaste.

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.

Tittilating Tuesday.

A day full of the blessings of home and hearth. (Well, mostly.)

It took hubby an hour and fifteen minutes to make the 25 minutes drive home tonight. We have lots of ice and snow and folks are driving slow. We're not as bad off as parts of Missouri, Kentucky and Arkansas...they've declared states of emergency due the ice and power outages. So far, knock wood, we haven't lost power.

I called and cancelled my chiropractor appointment for tomorrow morning at 8 because there's no way I'm leaving my nest. lol

It's about 18 degrees and still snowing, but has slowed down and is supposed to stop any minute now. I have everything tended to and am about ready to go climb into my sleigh bed with the big quilts and warm hubby in it. I swear, the man is like a furnace. lol

I am blessed to have a semblance of sanity in my life today. I am blessed to be able to tell the difference.

I am blessed to have some prayers to say and a Great Spirit to say them to.

I am blessed to be learning some really important lessons these days, about life and love and the world.

I am blessed for all the usual reasons and by all the usual suspects. lol

Sleep beckons....

Namaste.

Monday's Mix

[ Little Caylee, battle scars and all]. click to enlarge

{WOOHOO!!!!!! This is my 100th post on this blog !!!!}

A cold and snowy day today. I stayed in mostly, except for a couple of jaunts out to haul garbage to the road, take puppy out on the leash (which she is tolerating much better since deciding that I'm not just trying to hang her) so that she can go potty, feeding chickens and getting the mail. The worst of the storm is coming in tonight, dropping another 3-5 inches on us probably. I seem to live just above the line where the moderate weather ends and the crazy begins.

Of course, I don't have to drive anywhere or do anything I don't want to (much) so the weather doesn't affect me like it used to, from that point of view. As soon as hubby walked in the door, I sent him back out--to the store to get a couple of gallons of water and some dog food, cat food, and bleach. While he was gone, I got the cornbread ready to go into the oven and it was done just about the time he was ready to eat. lol Now I have everything I need and if I can't get out for 2 or 3 days it won't matter.

We watched some tv and hubby was off to bed early. He worked really hard today and he gets up at 4:30, so 9PM is a long time to be awake. I got his lunch made for tomorrow, but haven't cleaned up the kitchen yet. He was heating water for his bath and I had to wait. No hurry....if I don't get it done tonight, the Brownies can sneak in and do it for me...lol. I almost NEVER go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink. Tonight may be the exception....

I got hooked into reading some foodie blogs this morning, and before I knew it, 3 hours had flown by. OH my!!! There are an amazing number of blogs out there...on any subject you can imagine. Homesteading and cooking and recovery and art are my main interests. Oh, and Gardening, of course. If I'm going to keep spending this much time in front of the computer I'm going to have to get a new chair! (This one is almost shot). AND new glasses, as today I was really feeling the eye strain. I've needed new glasses for awhile, and was hoping to be able to wait for some insurance...

I'm grateufl to know that I can make it through the winter sober, that I can live happy, joyous and free, and that I can keep my side of the street clean most of the time. There's a little skirmish going on around here between some AA folks, and I just have to remember what my old pal Art used to say... "I ain't got a dog in this fight." I'm sure that it will conclude and heal, these things usually do. The difference is that today, it's none of my business. And I have learned to keep my mouth shut. "Twasn't always the case...lol

Love and tolerance of others is our code. AA taught me that.

A drink will make nothing better. AA taught me that, too.

What other people think of me is none of my business. In the end, it's all between me and God. Which brings to mind this: (It has been attributed to Mother Teresa as well, but Keith seems to have the copyright.)

The Paradoxical Commandments by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

And THAT, as they say, is a wrap!

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.

Saxicolous Saturday..

It has been one of those days when I feel like I'm living someone else's life. There's an old song that goes..."these must be somebody else's blues..." or something like that. It's kinda how I feel.

The word in the header, saxicolous, means, growing among rocks.

That describes the feelings of being uncomfortable in my own skin, to me. And I don't know why this happens to me every now and again. I used to feel like this all the time, and now that I don't...well, I don't like it. And all I can do, pretty much, is hang on until it passes. Or take an action-change a feeling. But this one is different, and somewhere inside me, I think I need to sit with it and see what it is. It hasn't been a horrible day, nor has it been so uncomfortable that I want to drink it away. Just off kilter. In a place I don't belong. Growing among rocks.

I sat for awhile today, pondering it all. Once I was able to quiet my mind, I immediately thought of something that I used to have growing around my home in California, up on the far north coast, near Oregon. It was a beautiful little plant called Rose Moss. It looked more like a succulent than it did a moss. Little colorful flowers. The stuff grew on rock walls and in cracks on sidwalks. And I thought, Rose Moss is okay. It's just got different needs than lots of other plants. It's quite lovely, in its own spidery way. And it is certainly a sight to behold, just growing there, thriving among the rocks.

So, maybe the message is that it's all good. Doesn't matter where you are, or what's happening in your world. That there is a place for everyone and everything, and beauty in it all.

This place of discomfort is maybe just another view into the myriad of me's that reside here. It's also a vehicle that slows me down, keeps me home, and makes me look at myself. More than once I've done a 4th step after an episode of this (for lack of a better description). It never lasts terribly long, a day or two at most. And I come away with a little more insight into what goes on in this brain of mine, and what I want, and what I don't.

Feeling blessed in a blue-sy kind of way.

Feeling grateful for the people in my life who love me, warts and all.

Feeling like I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight.

Namaste.