Spring Fever

It is snowing as I type; the flakes look as if they are dancing as they float through the air. We are just on the fringe of a major snow storm. While the rest of our county will only see a dusting, we could have the full eight inches forecasted for today and tomorrow. My pansies look hopeful, but limp. Sigh.

Spring break for me has typically been a time to catch up and clean. This break is no exception. This morning I worked on the information for taxes. I have a terrible system. It is called "a box." Works. Sort of. But, then there is the day spent sorting, tabulating, and crying to straighten it all out. Filing doesn't work for me. And, I am terrible with a ledger (after all, I teach English, not Math) and just the though of it makes me break out in hives. So, I have hit on a new cunning plan for this year. I am setting up a binder with plastic page protectors in categories with a ledger sheet in front for each. When I come home with a receipt, it will go in the correct pocket and be entered in the ledger. The notebook is going on the bookshelf at the front door where I am in the habit of using "the box." Since I love, love, love notebooks (it is the teacher in me, I know), I think this will work. We will sort it out at the end of the year and see how it worked.

So, in my effort to get it all arranged and work through taxes, I have gone through all my warranties and manuals and put them in notebooks by category as well. As good as I could get was to have all the outside stuff in one and the inside in the other notebook. It is then sorted by type / room (all kitchen stuff together and so forth). Much, much better already and, I hope, cleaner. And, I have cleared out all the manuals for things that don't exist any longer (why didn I think a rice cooker was a good idea? One use and that one was gone... goo all over the counter from where it boiled over. Bleh.)

Next up is to print labels for the linen and cleaning closet baskets. That was cleaned on Saturday and I spent yesterday playing with my Cricut making label backings and with Excel making labels to attach and then laminate. Ah, that is the joy of organization ---- the great toys!

How are you dealing with spring fever?

Safe -- And Spring! All in One Day!

Happy, Happy Spring!

Pansies are Nature's Most Perfect Flowers, aren't they, with their pretty faces smiling at one?

Joyful news! The Airman is out of danger and back to a somewhat saner world (Thank you, Lord!). I don't think it will ever be completely sane, given what he does for a living, but that is okay. At least people aren't shooting at him anymore. Trust me; the irony of this being the first day of Spring and feeling like I can live again is not wasted on me!

So, on the agenda, my dears, for this coming week of Spring Break (Thank you, Lord!) is a lot of soap making -- I have some new molds that I can't wait to use -- journal making, dream pillow making, and some good clean reading that I don't have to do! Sprinkle into that mix a little heavy duty cleaning and a good snow storm in the forecast and you have, my friends, the making of a super Spring Break. I don't have to go anywhere or do anything except breathe! I like it! Yes, yes, I do!

Since last we spoke, Miss Clarice surprised us with triplets --- but, sadly, one died at birth. The other two, Chloe and Coty are darling little guys. Miss Chloe will most likely stay with us as she is a full Alpine. And, gorgeous beyond all words! And, Miss Cissie, the hussie, presented us with Ceafus. He is a cutie pie who springs around and has this charming habit of waiting to be petted and hugged... and carried! Lazy to the bone, that boy is. I'll try for pictures this week to share... just like a bragging M'Dear (I refuse to ever be called "Grandma"!)

Mr. Louie, the buck, has turned to some nasty behavior as of late. He has taken to head butting us to the point that we have to carry a small stick or switch to keep him from doing it. I suspect it is because he is in rut and the does are not having any part of it. And, Moe and March have managed to master Houdini's escape tricks and will NOT stay in their fence. So, he has no one to impress with his masculinity. Oh, add that to the Spring Break list. Rats. Fix fence. Done.

Life is very busy these days with teaching and farm. Teaching, mostly, truth be told. I foolishly accepted one more class than I should have. This has resulted in seven classes (two extra) and 181 students. It feels as though all I do is read email and put out fires... but we are only four, count 'em, four weeks from end of semester (after break). And, given so many folks are out of work these days, I am grateful for my job. (*Repeat until you believe it!).

The goats are calling and the chickens are, too! Off to the salt mines, er, feeding!

Have a glorious week!

Possible

In ten days, my Airman will be on sandless ground. Then, I will begin to breath, sleep, and live again. This has been the longest six months of my life. At least when I was pregnant with him, I could feel his movements and knew Just Where He Was. These months, I haven't. It has been tough. I think that is part of why I have shut down for nearly the past year. I haven't been able to bear anyone asking about him because I would force back tears. Is that understandable?

The Airman said that seeing the two HumVees in front of you hit a land mine changes how you see the world. It changes for the Mum of said Airman as well. I have always seen life as a series of ticking boxes: house, check; husband, check; college, check; job, check; check, check, check. I have a tendency to be too busy... to try to do too many things in too short  a time. Thus, nothing is a pleasure. It is a check mark. It is D O N E.

My Airman has taught me that it is the moment that matters. To slow down and really savor what one is doing Right Now. To stop and look at the frost on the windshield before I scrape it off; savor the berries I pop in my mouth; sip my tea; and, just be. I have learned to say "no" to the things I don't really want to do. It isn't because I don't want to be with someone, see something, go somewhere. It is that I want to be more focused and less rushed. Less busy. And I have started, when someone says, "I know you are busy..." to stop them right there and say, "yes, I am, but thank you." It feels good.

In 21 days, hopefully, my Airman will be flying through this continent long enough that I can see him somewhere, hug him a million times, and try not to cry while doing it. He hates for me to cry. "Ah, Mum, be cool. It's not that big of deal," he'll say. And I will reply, "Hush, sir. I am busy savoring the moment."

Mr. Brown

It seems we have a new family member: Mr. Brown.

Mother and I rescued him this morning from the roadside where he, apparently, had been waiting for someone to come back for him. Daddy had seen him there before which is why we assume this is the case. He had not moved more than a few feet in days.

A lovely golden brown, Mr. Brown is a hounddog of some sort and should weigh about 70-80 pounds. He weighs 36. He couldn't stand or walk. I carried him to the car; on the way, we became best friends because he peed on me. A lot. On my new coat.

The vet checked him out and he seems healthy, just starved. When left, he was still eating and drinking, drinking and eating, and stopping to wag his tail at the vet techs taking care of him. He will be at the clinic for a few days. If his kidneys are okay, he will most likely join us at Lazy Bee Farm. That is, if Moosie and Anabel agree. They make the final choice.

I do not understand why people get pets and then decide they cannot or do not want to care for them. Moosie was 50 pounds underweight when we got him; Anabel was abused and anti-social. Waldo, the cat, was dumped on my friend Donna. And Mr. Bunnie was set out probably because he was no longer the cute little Easter bunny some kid got. Wookie was a four week old abandoned kitten.

There have been times when we have had up to ten cats, all spayed, neutered, and immunized, that became part of our family when they had been set out. The worst case was a Momma and her pups, all eight of 'em, that were set out here. We couldn't keep them. Just too many dogs, but we did find her a foster home so she and the pups were cared for until they got their forever home.

I fear, as times get harder, that more animals will be set out. As it is now, there are horses being set loose in our local federal parks, goats dropped off in fields where there are other goats, and, even chickens showing up yards. This is far and away, to me, demonstrates how difficult times are; it is bad enough to find a dog or cat, but farm animals? What is this world coming to?

Anyhow, welcome to the family, Mr. Brown!

Creating

 Having way too much fun these days with finding and finishing projects.

These little guys were up in the wardrobe...

I remember buying the cheater cloth and thinking I'd make them...

oh...

a few years ago!

So, I have stitched up the little pillows...

 

And then I stitched up two little banners from the smaller pillows...

 

 

And rummaged through my buttons and found these cunning guys...

Lots and lots of heart buttons in the stash, some vintage and some not...

 

And then I decided it was time to commit

to a project I have wanted to do for some time...

knit through Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitter's Alamanac" in one year...

So I have cast on the January project, "An Aran For You", and started it.

This is some wonderful

local natural Corriedale worsted that I bought at SAFF,

oh, about the same time I bought the cheater cloth...

enough said...

 

 

And, I finished this darling shawlette from my very first handspun.

This does not favor to the cherry red yarn,

but, for some reason,

the camera doesn't want to show that pretty, pretty colour.

 

And, I am listening to this guy. Remember him?

 

 

I feel so productive and homey! What are you working on these days?

Rest in Reason.. Move in Passion

 

Last year I whined A Lot.

This year, I am not.

 

I read something that has really stuck

with me:

Don't set goals.

Do what makes you happy.

Do what you have a passion to do.

 

That really made the most sense

of anything I have read in a long time.

 

The word for this year?

 

I think you guessed it.

 

Passion.

 

Rest in reason; move in Passion.

     ~~ Khalil Gibran

 

Our passions are the winds

that propel our vessel.

Our reason is the pilot that steers her.

Without winds the vessel would not move and without a pilot she would be lost.

   ~~ Proverbs

 

It is the soul's duty to be loyal

to its own desires.

It must abandon itself

to its master passion.

  ~~ Rebecca West

 

Here's to a Passionate New Year!

 

 

 

Am I the Only One?

Everywhere I look, people are excited, decorating, happy, celebrating, spending too much, shopping, shopping, shopping... And me?

I sit.

And cry.

And eat.

Christmas has never been a big favorite of mine. Too much pressure to "be perfect", whatever that is. Yet, when the Airman was growing up, it was a wonderful time. I couldn't start soon enough. We baked. Decorated. Went to movies. Watched movies. Walked. Talked. And just had a marvelous time.

I miss that.

I have no desire to decorate, bake, shop, eat (more than the coffee ice cream with chocolate bits that I had for lunch), or do much of anything else. In short, I am blue. More than blue; I am a dark hole with no bottom.

Don't get me wrong. I really do want to feel all this blustery excitement, but it just isn't in me. Instead, I want to crawl into my unmade bed, wearing the jammies I have worn for two days, and pull the covers over my head and wake up in spring.

I have really tried. Truly. My shopping is done. And that is all I have in me.

Being blue isn't a new thing for me; heck, let's face it. We all have it. But this dark hole is harder than anything I can see my way out.