See her...

See this lovely lady...she is wise. (Even that is not a big enough word...) She gets things far beyond her years and really brings me back to what matters. I asked her why she was so excited for Christmas...reminder here she is 9...she doesn't list off all the presents or things you might expect...she says to me, "I am excited to go to Grandma and Grandpa's and see their faces on Christmas morning. I love everyone's face on Christmas day they all seem so happy." SHE IS NINE!!! And when she saw Santa this year she told him..."You are magic and I think you would know best what I should have." I am amazed by her and am grateful that she reminds me of what is important.

Today I had my girlfriends stop in for tea or coffee and we sat on the comfy couch and giggled and vented and just rested for a while and of course we ate!!! We all just needed the time to sit and it was good for my spirit. December has been a test for me and I have pretty much failed most of it or have yet to see my lessons I have been supposed to learn. But I am making it through and with a few more obligations and a 6 hr. drive in my future I will get time soon to sit and be a slug...I truly look forward to some time on the couch with some books or even some good ole chick flicks...but till then wishing everyone a very Peaceful Yule. A Merriest of Christmases and very safe travels and some sitting time!!

Bah Humbug

Tis the season...I am trying to be excited. Trying to seize what is good and find some spirit deep down in my being. Alas, I am not finding it. I am exhausted... I know we all have that feeling from time to time especially as women and mothers but this is just beyond that. This is to my core fatigued. I would really like to spend this season this year in my jammies sitting on my couch eating popcorn and watching bad tv. But I am trying. I am putting on my happy face (not well I have no poker face) and plowing my way through the month that is December and the holiday that is Christmas. I am beyond sight of what the season should be and how I should feel. I am just really off... even the gifts I am making are getting done in bits not together for completion and delivery. I haven't even had anyone in for tea or coffee this season and it makes me sad. Working all the way up to our departure to Indy and adding a day of overtime to that mix are not helping me relax and make peace. And having a minor fender bender in the bad weather that was Sunday are all hanging heavy...so I am sorry December but I will be ok with your passing. New Year has always been my favorite I look forward to the possibility. And at some point I will breathe and relax and feel this unexplained weight lifted from me...and if I knew it what it was you better believe I would be working on it...till that discovery Happy Christmas to you all may you enjoy the comfort of family and friends this season!

I was looking around at some blogs today and came across Thrifty Decor Chick...and she is having a share your Christmas tree link up and I so loved looking at all the trees on there I thought I would play along. I love our ecclectic tree. Every ornament reminds me of something special. We try and buy one on any trip we go on so there are many small little places that would have slipped from memory had there not been a little reminder to hang on the tree. Our tree is more scrapbook than decorator showplace but I love seeing those ornaments and sitting in the big purple chair to watch them all while I have a cup of coffee. I put my most favorite ornaments over by the chair so I can see them more!! http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! May you all be surrounded by things that make you realize how important you are in this world!!

I am thankful for so very much: = My Irishman who understands me and is my partner in every sense of the word in this big crazy world.

= My ladies who have made me want to do more and better things in this world just because I share it with them.

= My parents for meeting, liking each other, and thinking it would be good that I was here!

= My home. I count my blessings everyday that I am lucky enough to have this great old house to live in and make memories in.

= Food. I am grateful that we have so much healthy, well farmed, and locally grown food to keep us strong. And that my family shares a love of meals and cooking together and that given a choice they choose my food over anything else!!

= My Body. That it is this amazing thing that helps me accomplish so much in this world. That it is strong and still learning and trying new things.

= Books. I am ever thankful to all those who put words on paper so that I can travel and learn and have new experiences and that my children can have such grand adventures all from the comfort of our house.

= My Friends. That I am surrounded with people who lift me up and push me to grow and see my good parts even when I am doing my best to hide them.

Oh this list could continue for quite some time. I am a very, very lucky woman. May you find yourself wrapped in gratitude this holiday!

Water...

This is me and I NEED to be near water!!

It touches my soul...

It makes me a nicer person...

And it brings me peace to my very core...

Now I am wrestling with not if I will live by water but when and how and where...I will. I am putting it out there Universe now listen up and hand this over to me I need it! It makes my heart hurt to think I can't be on or near water right now...but I am looking at my options and trying to figure out what in my big head full of dreams is our best option as a family. But there will be WATER!! Oh yes there will!

My daughter says...

So my sage 9 year old says to me...you aren't so much a blogger you know. You are more of a facebooker. This is true and it stung. I would much rather my astute young person know me as a blogger than a facebooker. I would rather she associate me with original ideas and creating. But I want to tell you how many thousands of thoughts and ideas I have for this little blog of mine and how overwhelming are the stories I would like to weave and how no matter how many photos I take I never seem to have the one that matches the ideas in my head. My young sage is ever so correct though that I should just type. The photos are just eye candy. The meat is the words anyhow. So in an effort to find my voice again I sit today on this cold threatening snow day, blueberry muffins for a bake sale in the oven, Ray Lamontagne on the stereo, incense piping away trying to think of all the things I was meaning to create here...and wouldn't ya know they all went running from my head?

So let's just start with the obvious...above are photos from a class I took at our Nature Center. It was a wood stove cooking class.

Let me just start by saying, I do not have a wood stove and it would take some major home renovation for me to have one. Every time we go out there to visit the Homestead they are cooking or have something going on their little stove and I am always drawn there like a moth to a flame. Asking questions, fascinated, and the foodie in me dying to get my hands in there and give it a go and cook! So when I saw registration for this class I took some leave from work and signed up, I got the last slot is that meant to be or what. I have taking various cooking classes before and I wrongly assumed this one would be similar, you know a tutorial with some sampling at the end.

Oh, how very wrong that was, you do know what they say about assumptions? We hit the ground running at 9:30am we got a brief down and dirty this is how to light and keep the stove hot, these woods have this effect, and here is your menu for the day you will be making breakfast, snack, and dinner for guests. We were all stunned. What? Right now? Just cook it?? Me?? So me and the other 5 ladies jumped in and got to work and let me tell you how very much work that day was. I have never known such a tired. A good tired. An I worked hard all day on my feet tired.
We were responsible for all prep, all cooking, all mixing, all water fetching, all washing of dishes. Let me tell you now our cabin was pretty authentic no electricity and no running water. This was really an eyeopener to gratefulness for modern convenience! Hot, clean, running water is one of the best modern day marvels ever the second would have to be electricity!

I can't wrap my head around what pioneer women went through. There were 6 of us and the 2 instructors and all we had to do was cook. We were not working in gardens, minding children, mending, doing the wash, etc... and we still couldn't manage to do it all gracefully and smoothly. How ever did they balance it all?? How?!!

I must say though that that meal was incredible. We ate and we chatted and we bonded and we were made appreciative of what we do have. And what an atmosphere and such an awesome evening shared with my family who got to come and have dinner the old fashioned way.

I can't believe I signed up for such a day of work and paid to do so!! We didn't get home till 7:30pm!! But it was worth it for the memory and perspective. Let's just say the next night I wasn't so slow to make dinner. It seemed so very simple and easy in comparison and truly left me feeling so very thankful and blessed for what we now have.

Busking in the Kitchen

So after dinner there was busking in our kitchen. Two little ladies made signs and sang to us for money. Ella even asked for a cup for her money and has been crafting more signs with higher demands this evening. But it made me smile to have them singing away in the kitchen and for the bargain basement price of twenty-five cents a song! There were even a couple of originals
performed.

And for their troubles there was Vegan Chocolate Cake with buttercream frosting.

Transitions

Transitions...I seem to finding them everywhere. Some really good bringing peace and contentment. Some I am fighting and digging in my heels with the utmost resistance. And some are just making me feel lonely and sad. I know this is life. And I know all the stuff going on isn't really much on the radar scope of life just blips. Little bits of life nothing compared to the stories of some but right now I have enough little blips to keep me hanging on.

And today a very dear friend of mine is retiring. I am happy for him. Glad he gets to relax and explore and move on. But I am really very sad. He and I have been friends for 16 years. We have been through so very many big life things together not to mention surviving that place called work. And today the person who has talked me off the proverbial ledge more times than I can count, is riding off into his sunset. It just feels like a loss.

So I am still here. Treading water and trying to find an even keel but right now I am not doing this gracefully I am tired, I am edgy, I am on the verge of tears...but I do know this is all good and it too will all pass and when I am through it all I hope I will have learned something from it and can find a bit of peace.

Where have I been??

There was David Gray and Ray Lamontagne

There was coffee with a view...

There was a Drive in Movie...

There was swimming...

There was building...

There were picnics and music
in the gardens...

There was tomato canning!

There were great eats...

There were train rides...

There were naked cowboys...

We went to New York...major goal for trip

was to see the Intrepid which we gratefully

did it was incredible!

There have been S'mores

There was blueberry picking

There was some porch reading...

(not nearly enough of this)

There were camps...

There were visits from Dear friends

There were celebratory tea parties...

There were Lego exhibits

And Museums...

Jack Johnson...and concerts...

Boated with friends...

B and I Relayed and she sang...

Bandanas for Relay...

4th of July spent watching things crash...

E and one of the things that crashed

love us some figure 8!!


So as you can see life has been full. Very full!! In a good way but I must say I might have just packed a little too much into my days this summer. Just a tiny bit...she says laughing...

But this summer brought beach time, and I am so in love with the beach that I didn't say no and still feel like I didn't get enough in. Not enough wasting away by the water for me ever!! We got to wander with friends. We got to giggle a lot!! We got to hear a lot of live music in case you forget it is important to support live music so go out and see bands and cheer and say thank you for sharing yourself. We got to reconnect with family. We got to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We took advantage of what our local farmers have worked so hard to produce and our freezer is thankfully stocked for the winter ahead. Encourage farmers to farm food!! Find your local farmer's market every place has one somewhere. Go out and buy! You can't beat fresh picked produce for dinner! And many markets have happy chicken's eggs, and healthy farmed meats! Right there on your doorstep! No excuses. Hook up with a CSA or a u-pick and fill up your pantries and freezers! I canned for the first time this year and am looking forward to more next year. We read LOTS!!! We dined on the porch. We swam. We watched the world go by.

And now we get ready for the beginning of another school year and getting back into our schedule. I have read several articles lately about how September should be the New Year. How everything feels fresh and goals get set. How the scent of fall makes you want to turn inward and begin to make change. I love this time of year although it makes me a bit sad that my time with my girls gets to be less. Our adventures get more spread out as my work schedule and their school schedule do not always mesh. But FALL!! Oh how I love fall!!

I have had a goal every summer to have a dinner party with friends and have yet to achieve it...hmmm maybe fall??? Harvest party? Yeah I haven't been busy enough!

Hope everyone enjoyed their season and are all ready for the "New Year"!

made a change

I have been a blogging MIA so I am letting my guest blogger the Lady B have a go at filling you all in! I will be back soon!

Well your probably wondering what do i mean when i say made a change. Well i recently joined
relay for life and my mom is a co-captain . cool huh! it's really a good feeling is really good .you can really make a difference if you try.and if i may I'd like to point out that I'm 9 and I can make a difference .well the way i did that was i had a bake sale and i raised $ 120.92 wwwwwwwwwwooooooooowwwwwwww!!!!!!!!! my same thoughts too.



and that's the scoop on how we made a difference