Reminiscing

I remember when our son was finally old enough to have a job. He worked every shift he could & saved almost every dollar he made. He had a goal in mind and that was all that really mattered; some of his friends wanted to start a band & wanted him to play electric guitar, so he did some comparison shopping & found an guitar that he really liked and started saving up for it.

He bought it & used it often, he even had his Senior portraits taken with it. Eventually, he decided he wanted a white guitar, and bought one (which he later loaned to someone who stole it from him) and used it even more. I'm not sure how many different bands he was in here, before things got bad with him & he left, but it was more than a couple. He uses a different guitar these days, but he still owns that first Epiphone, and I'm sure it still holds a place in his heart.

These types of memories would have made me sad while ago, but now that we're getting back to a place where he's more like his old self, it's a lot easier for me to remember them. I'm really hopeful that the memories of our daughter will someday be safe for me, too, but right now, it still hurts too much to remember when she was happy & carefree.

Longing for Spring

I went out yesterday, while taking Tiny out to potty & raked one of the back flower beds/garden plots that hadn't had much done to it last year. Our daughter had planted onions in it & I noticed that they were greening up & reaching for sunlight, so I thought I'd give them some. I intend to fill all three beds with various mints, but don't know if seeds can be bought for mint. The beds are very hard to get into to plant any seedlings, although I'm sure Troy would do it for me if that's what I wanted. At any rate, I plan to do a little research on different types & see if that will be a good place for it.

I'm so ready for Spring, planting and longer days. I miss being outside, in the warmth & relaxing in my yard. I miss camping, grilling and smelling the grass, trees & warm earth. I know that Winter is necessary & I would hate living somewhere that we didn't experience it, I'm just ready for it to be over & hoping these next 7 weeks pass quickly, so I can get on with my planting & relaxing!

Funny!

I was on Pinterest the other day & saw the funniest, most appropriate picture for our group of friends. It was a picture of a merit badge; like the ones you get in Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts? It said "Asshole Merit Badge" around an image of an "a" in a circle with wings. The reason it's perfect is because occasionally, when we're all spending a lot of time together, someone will say something extremely snarky, and another will look at them & say, "I guess you just earned your title." the title being "Asshole" of course.

If I could afford it, I'd have some of those made, or barring that, custom pins with the same thing on it & hand them out to my friends as they earned them. I'm sure it would take no time, at all, before we were all proudly sporting them around town!

A Small Dilemma

When we moved into this house almost 2 years ago, we also emptied our storage unit & moved everything over here to sort & dispose of at a later date. It's long past that later date & we need the space that junk is using up. So, should I carefully go through everything & decide what to do with it, either donating the good stuff or grabbing some cheap yard signs and sell them, or do I just load up the truck & haul it all off. One option reduces the load in the landfill, the other saves me time & is probably more likely to get the job done.

The more work a particular job is, the more likely I am to keep putting it off until I have no choice but to do it, which would be never, unless we end up having to move. I guess I'll stew on it a bit & see what plans feels better in the end.

Crazy Weather

The wind is blowing like crazy here today. Part of the time it blows & rains, then the sun comes out, the wind calms & the sky is blue. Then it starts all over again. It's definitely cold, I can feel it in the house, and really ought to get out of my pajamas & into something I'm not freezing in.

I have a bit to do today, I'd like to cut out the homemade swiffer pads I have the leftover polar fleece for & maybe make a couple of mop pads for the O'Cedar mop thingy I own out of a couple of old kitchen towels I'm not using. I ought to wash the bath & hand towels today, too, while no one else is using the washer & dryer. I'm obviously putting off a very simple sewing task by filling my day with chores that I hadn't really even planned on doing today, even though one of those chores also involves sewing.

I guess the weather isn't the only crazy thing around today!

Hearts & Flowers?

I have to admit, I'm a fan of Valentine's Day. I like the sentiment behind it & have never thought of it solely as a day for lovers. I use it as a day to shower my friends, children, grandchildren & husband with tokens of my affection, a day to remind them that they are precious to me.

I know that it can be a stressful day, from trying to find the perfect gifts for someone, to being single and feeling completely alone in the world. I get that, I do. Find other ways to express your love for people, get out of the "day of lovers" box and plan ways to show other people in your life how much they mean to you, and take extra time for yourself, too. You are important, too.

If you're single, spend the day pampering yourself, then go out for dinner, drinks or dancing with your other single friends. Don't waste time and energy being resentful of the happy couples out there, be happy in your own life and situation; it's where you're meant to be right now or you wouldn't be there.

If you're in a relationship, take the stress out of the day by setting some ground rules about how you'll celebrate the day & a price limit, too. This is a day to show your love, not go into debt and it shouldn't be about buying an extravagant gift. Plan a date night together, maybe not on the actual day, as most places are very crowded & you feel rushed to get in & out. Fix a favorite meal at home together, watch a favorite movie or play a game that helps you bond and get to know each other better. Take the focus off of the material aspect, and put it back where it belongs; on the emotional.

Buy or make your children a small, but special treat, so that you can begin to teach them about the real reason we celebrate the day, so that when they are older they don't feel so much pressure and conflict about it. Valentine's Day doesn't have to be a horrible day, it's all about your attitude.

A Sad State of Affairs

What's wrong with people in this country? We have millions who have no healthcare, no insurance and no way to provide for themselves. My best friend is diabetic, with dangerously high sugar levels and can't even go to a doctor. What will eventually happen is that she'll end up having to be admitted to the hospital, go further in debt & never be able to pay the bill.

So instead of trying to solve the real problems in our country, people are bashing on Paula Deen for admitting she has diabetes & taking an endorsement deal from a pharmaceutical company? She didn't have to tell anyone about her diabetes, it's her personal business & her's alone. It isn't the way she cooks that caused her diabetes, there is no proof that high fat diets cause diabetes, or that obesity itself does. Do fat people get diabetes? Yes. Do skinny people get diabetes? Yes. Does eating fat & sugar give you diabetes? No. Should any of this matter to us? No. It's her life, her business & her career, we don't get to choose or judge.

Let's fix the real issues in our country & help the people who are dying because they can't go to a doctor & stop playing food Nazi with everyone out that who doesn't eat like you think they ought to.

Another Year...

It's my birthday today - the big 46, I guess I'm closer to 50 than 40 now, it doesn't feel any different, just a different number to get used to telling people. I spent a little while with my daughter earlier, taking her to her PO appointment & then later driving her & her roommate to another friend's house. I had lunch with my younger son, which was nice, I haven't had my Mexican food buddy around for awhile.

My husband is taking me out to dinner when he gets home from work, so all in all, it feels like a pretty successful birthday.

That Time of Year

I've been sitting around waiting for Troy's W-2 form & my 1066 to get here so we can file our taxes & see if we're getting anything back, or paying in. I hope we'll get a little back, so we can have a little more fun on our Las Vegas mini-vacation, but if not, we'll figure it out. I really just want to get it over with. I've actually started filling out the forms, but, of course I'm at a standstill when it comes to money earned & taxes paid. I did enter all of the information for my small office here in the house, but wasn't able to take anything as a deduction for it, which is fine. I'm nervous about it, but we'll manage either way.

We've had beautiful, warm weather on & off, with the off parts being bitter cold or snowing. This is typical for us, but usually in December. This year, the entire month of December was bitterly cold, with one snow storm after another. January has been more like late February or early March, I'm not complaining, not at all, but it is odd & I'm left wondering what the rest of the winter will bring us.

I'm getting ready for our Imbolc celebration & I'm actually kind of excited about it, I don't know why, but I definitely am. I have some beautiful red & white fabric for a new altar cloth, all I need to do is hem it & it's good to go. I'm very happy about my altar plans for it & am thinking about drawing it out to see how it might look before I get it all set up.