Living Life Beautifully

Today was one of those days.  I can't ever predict when I'm going to have a day that I'm down in the dumps.  I wake up in the morning and there it is.  Trying to push myself out of it is a long tedious process.  Most days it gets noticeably better when my husbands truck drives onto the drive.  Just the sound of it can make me think, "thank goodness". It is beautiful outside today.  I went out at about noon and sat on the back deck steps to read my different bible plans.  The black stray cat was there to keep me company.  He likes the back deck. I am reading several plans on my bible app.  In fact, I think there are 5.  For some reason, today's readings were not what I needed to hear.  Everything seemed to talk about accepting the fact that you are unworthy, have no willpower, must lower yourself, should not have any pride.......   Wow!  I'm not sure that is what God's plan is for us.  I read so many posts from...

I found this draft today.  Not sure when I originally wrote it, but thought it was worth posting as proof that some days are just normal mommy days.  :) I don't really know if I have much to say, but I haven't blogged in a very long time....so here goes nothing much. It is beautiful and sunny outside.  My house is a mess with, probably, 12 socks down the hall from Miss Maggie, who loves to carry them from the laundry room hamper.  If she can't find one in the laundry room, she will go into the boys rooms and pull them out of their drawers or sock basket.  She loves my red fuzzy socks and will go out of her way to dig them out of my laundry basket if she can remove the lid. I need to vacuum.  I have enough pet hair on the floor to make a small creepy looking cat, if I wanted to, which I don't.  There are dishes in the sink, dirty laundry filling every hamper and every plant outside needs watering.  So I'm avoiding doing all my chores and have ch...

Yesterday I spent the day with my husband shopping in Fredericksburg, looking at all the new craft ideas, meeting people who are vendors for a living.  It doesn't look like the most glamorous job, but the people are so very nice.  The amount of work that goes into setting up the huge booths at the outdoor market, is amazing.  Being someone who has always been crafty since learning to crochet at 7 years old, I am always appreciative of the work that goes into the things that others make.  Nothing pays you for the time you put into it.  You are basically sharing something you created for a little above the cost.  Every time we make the trip, I try to support a vendor.  I used to go up once a year to buy a handmade purse from an elderly lady and her husband who sell them.  (Now we go whenever the large bottle of vanilla runs out) The husband would cut out everything and the wife would sew them.  That was how they made their living.  I loved...

I was blessed with some sort of virus for the weekend that kept me in bed for a couple of days.  I feel much better now.  It's funny how a virus that keeps you in bed when you are a mother and housekeeper, feels a little like a vacation, as long as you don't feel like throwing up. I was blessed with the fact that our TV plan gave us free premium channels for the weekend, making it much nicer to be stuck in my room. :)  I was blessed with the fact that it was raining all day on Sunday, making it nice to chill out in bed and listen to the rain.  I love the rain.  I can just hear the trees celebrating. I watched a few movies that based their theme on enjoying life and not spending your life working so hard for material things.  Spending so many hours a week for a home that you have very little time to enjoy because your working so hard.  Money is like fire.  It can warm you and can destroy you.  I'm reading a book called, "the time keeper" by ...

I went to lunch with my husband on monday to celebrate the first day of school.  We went to the Grist Mill and ate way too much food sitting in the dining area over looking the water.  As we were talking I noticed a couple walk through that obviously had money and were married.  The woman was a perfectly manicured with makeup and not one hair out of place, she had her expensive clothes and purse, and the grumpiest look on her face.  The husband looked exactly the same.  They probably live in a beautiful home and drive amazing cars, just based on how they looked and acted.  I felt kinda sorry for them. I have lived a huge chunk of my life thinking i had to be one way and trying so hard to make myself what other people thought I should be.  You are raised by your parents to be like them and they fuss and mold you and judge you if you aren't up to snuff.  They want you to be the best for your sake and so you won't embarrass them. I remember when i ...

I'm sitting here on the back deck with my hot tea, and about three cookies that I will allow myself   ;) , reading a journal by a woman who, at the time, was finding herself through a midlife crisis. (if you want to call it that) I'm reading her words, and how familiar they are to some of my thoughts in the past few years, and I read "holes are holy. Miracle vessels were you go in one thing and come out another."  That one line is so very powerful to hear. It is so true when you think about it. Life takes you through things and changes who you are. If it's a huge hole, then you learn a lot, if it's a small hole then you learn not to step in it again, if it takes a LONG time to get out of the hole, then you are probably going to be forever changed. THAT.... WAS THE FIRST PART OF A VERY LONG BLOG POST I TYPED UP EARLIER. SIGH...........   Now....... after this paragraph, I kept typing up this "Im doing much better now" page of self analysis...

I was talking to my cousin this evening, over e-mail, about what lessons God wants me to learn with some of the things that have happened in my life.  I am pretty hard on myself, so it's not hard for me to imagine all kinds of issues He would want to correct about me.  If I were to write my own list, I would say that I wish I were less sensitive. I wish I didn't break down into tears as often as I have in the last 6 years, since my parents divorce. I wish I didn't feel I had to fix things. I wish I weren't so hard on myself. I wish I was more outgoing. I wish I was not so scared of situations and people. I like that I think people are good. I like that I forgive quickly. I don't like that I take everything personally. I think I talk too much. But I love that I listen well. I love to hear someones story.   When I say, "how are you?"  I want to hear the truth.   I've been through a lot of things and maybe something I've experienced can h...