Octoberfest

Today was Octoberfest in LaVeta. I love the quaint little town. Since my good power chair is not working, I knew I would not be able to walk around but son was so excited and I wanted to go for him. When we got there it was already being set up and we were lucky to get a parking place across the street. This is a little town and parking is scarce.

Entering LaVeta

You can see them set up in the distance. How about those mountains.

Next will be pics of the vendors and stuff. Someone was singing the National Anthem here:

I so loved this above. I might make it a screen saver.

This next picture is of the German Band. After Lunch they had rock and roll.

loved the wood carvings out of cedar.

And this woman had the Best honey. And she explained that the darker honey is from the wild and where there is not as much water. Oh were they good. She had little sticks for us to sample with.

And below, what a sensory delight. Some of the best smelling soaps I have ever smelled.

Beautiful jewelry was everywhere.

And such beautiful stained glass things. I loved this.

And the horsehair pottery below. Son was so thrilled cause he saw his bear there.

Son looking at wood carvings below.

And here is where we found the luscious smelling jasmine candles. OMG my room smells so good now. Aroma therapy is good for pain.

I loved this:  Recognizing our Military

Lots and lots of booths

And lots of cooking and good smells. We stopped and got a German Beer Brats with sour kraut. I took a bite I was so hungry before I thought I better take a pic of this. LOL

Today was not the day I had hoped but you know what, my happiness is up to me. I was sad that I could not ride my power chair all over and look and sat most of the time. And I could have let myself be miserable and miss all that I could see. We might be disabled, but we are also survivors and we are also Happy survivors. I chose to take the good I was going to get even if it was not all I wanted. Sometimes we don’t have to have it all. It is like that brats up above. We neither one of us had breakfast and we were starving. We counted quarters and bought two and two cokes. And boy did they taste good. And we would have loved another one, but one was really enough to make us happy..

A Little Fun Thrown in the Midst of Work

Non stop work can wear you out and son and I both are worn out. If you can not tell by now, I am intrigued and fascinated with the pioneers who came across these mountains…my mountains. They were a strong lot and they say only the strong survive. But, they also knew there came times when they had to stop and just totally relax and have fun. And so, they would sit around the campfire, playing music, dancing, laughing and eating…bringing some relaxation and joy into their hard lives. Well, son and I know we need to have some relaxation even though we are not at a point we can slow down. Last nite, we cooked spaghetti, green beans and garlic bread and went and ate with the guys and then watched a movie together. There was a musical event going on there to at the pool with strobe lights and music blaring. We had a great time…I was exhausted when we got home and woke up feeling kinda like I was mugged ..LOL  but I am glad we went. The pool area is set up with tables and chairs and the music area is down at the far end.. This was before things started.

We had a great time. Watched an old black and white movie of Mae West’s. I love those. I wish I had the old projector and movies like that. Oh, in unpacking, we found my darkroom stuff. I don’t know where we can set that up here, so we will just have to see.

oh and of course, the guys were dressed up for the music event…sitting outside enjoying the breeze.

Today, son and I realized we needed to get part of the house cleared so that it felt like we were done at least in part of the house. So, we worked on the living room and dining room. Then we cleared the dining room table and set up one of the jigsaw puzzles. Son and I both love to do those and he does especially. He found himself a couple of times today, sitting there for an hour at a time working on the puzzle. Perhaps that is our campfire with music and dancing like the pioneers did.

It was fun today going through a few more boxes. We found things we had not seen in over two years because so much has been packed up for since we first put the house on the market. I loved when he found the glass painted window I found. We hung it over the kitchen window and it is pure “country art” and son is going to put some small LED lights behind it since the window is covered in redneck tint, so that it will show like a stained glass window. I loved it..reminded me of the rough drawings of Grandma Moses.

And poor Jack, who looked like this yesterday…this is his torn lip..

and his paws and legs, after having been cleaned up. This looks good…he scared me half to death.

has gotten the royal treatment today like this…now is this rotten or what..but he so deserves it. He has been real clingy but tonite acts a little better but his mouth still looks pitiful.

But for now..how about some pictures I took of the mountains when we first moved out here. Depending on where you are riding, the mountains are solid rock and they are green and colorful with trees. Hope you enjoy.

And last nite when we came home from the Rio, we snapped these two pics. One was my mountains..”the breast of Mother Earth” and the other was looking over our house. Really cool pics.

And for my friend Sassy, I wonder do you see anything above our house.

  So, it has been quite a weekend so far. And I am ready to crawl into bed and close my weary eyes and turn on Julia and Julie..the never ending movie. One day I will see it all the way through. Maybe I should start in the middle tonite.

Middle of the Night Ramblings

I have begun to feel like one of those underground people who never sees daylight. My poor eyes, from the blasting of the swamp cooler throwing and keeping stirred all the dust and debris that was in there and not having the water filter hooked to it, look like a mole’s eyes…all squinty and painful. Though I will have to say they are getting better and I am thankful for that.

Son picked up the water pads and line for the swamp cooler at Pueblo yesterday and that will help a lot and make it more bearable until our fabulouso air conditioner arrives. I am amazed that people steal the plumbing and pipelines out of homes when they leave them. What is it with this?  Have we lost that something called respect of self?

I think about the ranchers out here and the dust storms, especially back in the days of doing all the work on horseback. I remember seeing the movies where they had their kerchief’s tied around their faces to protect them from the blowing dirt. What  a hard life it was and still is but they are a determined bunch. They were living their dream and taking in stride all the setbacks and problems that came up.

Dreams take a lot of work. Seldom do they just land in our lap and we can rejoice. It is like trying to win the lottery to think that way. And I learned something along this dream path. Don’t ever let anyone diminish your dream. We don’t need others to validate our dream for us…we just need to believe in it. What we like or dream of may not be someone elses dream. I was asked why we wanted to live out in the middle of no where with no convenient stores, facilities, etc. To those friends, it was impossible to understand for they hated the cold, liked having stores within easy access and did not like the quiet country life. And that is ok. It is our dream and we are the ones that have to live it.

Dreams are like a fire. You can’t just set the fire in your fireplace…you have to tend to it, refuel it with more logs, clean it up some, change how brightly it burns for if you don’t…it will die. The same is true of our dreams. If we don’t keep providing the “fire” to it, it will die out in our hearts and soon we will decide it is not worth the effort. And yet, we will still wonder and yearn for it. Sometimes we let years go by before we realize that we really and truly do want this dream and we start fanning the fire on it once more.

I was so proud yesterday, for while son was making the journey to Pueblo with the long list of all that needed done, I was busy going through small boxes in my huge bathroom and cleaning out or putting in the box to give away. We do our trips to Pueblo like those ancestors did years and years ago on the buckboard wagons. They would make one trip to the “big city” to pick up supplies and try to get all their stuff in one trip. We do that to save fuel. I just can’t make those trips for they are too hard on me, so son and I make the list and he goes and runs to all the different stores and picks up what we need and comes back with a van load.

Yesterday, he went to the grocery store, the hardware store, Home Depot, and the Habitat place. He calls to check in on me as he rushes from store to store and told me that the Habitat place there was a total disappointment. We were hoping for shingles that a contractor might have had left over but son said that there were none. He also said it was a good thing for this store was charging as much as the hardware store. I thought the Habitat store was to help people. He said if you could buy it for five dollars in the hardware store, it was four dollars and ninety cents in the Habitat.

We are in this for survival and not for the aesthetic looks of things. Beauty is a wonderful thing but if it takes away from your survival, then it is just a luxury we are not willing to spend the money on. I wish someone had an answer for me on this though. We bought these blinds..and I loved them. They are the wide slat blinds. And yet in my bedroom window only, the sun has melted the blinds not once, but twice. What’s with that?  Is the window defective? Is the sun that powerful and if so, why not all the windows?

Yesterday, when we saw it happened again, we knew we had to do something different. Son was gone to Pueblo and my bedroom was heating up. And before anyone one gets any cute ideas, the steamiest thing in this room with the physical shape I am in, is the shower. Lol.  Seriously, only one other time have we seen this and it was on son’s mobile home back east. Only one window and we finally bought dark cling material to stop the sun’s rays from coming through.

The room was getting hotter which makes it harder for me to breathe and so, balancing on forearm crutches, I snatched those five foot blinds down and threw them on the floor in my bathroom and proceeded to put red neck tint (aluminum foil) up on my window.I knew it would not look “classy” on the outside, but at this point..survival is the name of the game…not pride. While in Pueblo, son bought a few sheets of the styrofoam insulation with the aluminum backing. And people will just have to get used to the idea that we use metal curtains, for those pieces will be cut and stuck flush to the window to stop this blaring afternoon sun. And with the foil backing, I don’t think the sun and the window will melt anything anymore.

I know my guardian angel must be at work for I am still in awe that the melting blind did not catch fire. This is another area that is part of my world. I believe in the angels and the spirit world. It is ok if no one else agrees with me or likes it or even believes me when I talk of the spirit clouds. We are not cookie cutters people, we are individual..hand pressed..hand made people with imperfections that make us simply delightful. I think this is what is meant in the Bible when it says “be ye as a child”.  It means look at the world with all the awe, joy, trust, love, acceptance, forgiveness..that these precious children have in them. Children don’t look at the clothes you wear or the house you live in..that look at something more important..they look at what you are..how you treat them..the smile in your eyes..the love you have in your heart. And they accept you, whether you have on brogan boots and levi’s or a tuxedo or evening gown.

On his last call to let me know he was about to head home, we decided he should pic up something for supper since I was exhausted and so was he. He brought our triple box we like from Wally World. It is chicken made three different ways..BBQ, this sweet and hot spicy chicken and chicken nuggets. I was starving by time he got in with the packages and so was sitting on the stool in the kitchen while he unloaded, nibbling straight from the box.  OH YUM!

And Jack, bless his sweet heart, is doing better. We are back making his soup again. I really have a thing about the dogfood industry and seems like Jack’s tummy can not handle what they make. He has “old man tummy” and so gets upset easily. So, his homemade soup with a dash of wine seems to do the trick. He was actually doing his prance in the pen slinging his head, daring his buddy across the field to come on over there. LOL. Here he is snuggled in his hut.

Well, the hearing with the Judge and the social workers back in good old Montrose is Thursday. I am not able to go back over this mountain so the lawyer is coming to my house and we will have a telephone conference hearing. These people act like they have a vendetta and I hope we are able to make the judge see that. They even admitted that when they heard the house sold, they went and “looked up on the real estate sites until they found our house to see what it sold for”.  Now, how many social workers take the time to do that for each case they have?   This is where that one who told me she controlled me decided that I had all this money that I did not get. And their reason for cutting my benefits was I did not ask for them to be turned back on?  Ok, I am a little dense here, but if you tell me you have turned off my program, how am I supposed to know that I am “supposed to ask you” to turn it back on?  Is this part of the “control you” thing?

Well, not even these people, who are supposed to be advocates of the disabled and elderly, can diminish my dream. I have had to hold off on the heart tests until the twenty-first and now I find out that even with the hearing, it could be six weeks before they turn the benefits back on, so I will have to transfer again. These people do not care. They are angry and I don’t get it and they want to extract the last pound of flesh from me. Only they are going to find it is not going to taste as good or feel as good as they think it will.

And so now..even with squinty mole eyes, melting blinds, and vengeful social workers…not even all that can stop me from moving forward with our dream. And one day we will be totally unpacked and can work on the other dreams we want…like I dream of seeing my other son and sweetpea, of learning sign language since I am hearing impaired, of doing my artwork again, of learning to play the drums (son says please can this wait til he has an out building for the drums..*giggling*), of finishing my novel, of planting my seeds, of having grass in my yard, and all the other dreams swirling through my head. For, in spite of those that knock me down..I got news for them…this hinny is part dupont and part goodyear and like the phoenix rising from the ashes…I bounce back.

And now, some pictures from our visit with the guys at the motel. Sure do miss them and miss breakfast with them. And most of all miss seeing my mountains up close.

And while we were there, these drove up. Oh, now that is a dream too. I love these old cars.

And last but not least, my mountains. People say about Rome, Italy…”oh Roma my Roma”….I say  ”oh mountains my mountains.”  :) So here are my mountains and below that the moon at supper time out my back door. looks almost like a face, does it not?

A Very Frustrating Day

We have spent most the day with the internet going off and on, off and on.  We have already had the cable people out here once and they told us it was a system problem. Today was the worst ever. By noon, I think we had been “off”  fifty times. The guy called me from the field and said he was working on it. Son had already talked to him once. I answered the next time and told him I was beginning to regret using this company and he assured me he was working on it all day and all weekend to find the problem. He had me call him every time it went off and every time it came back on. He said I was faster than the system monitoring device. I felt like I was dating the man after about the twentieth call and we continued this up until about 8 last nite.

While I was monitoring the computer and calling, son brought in another load of boxes and more concrete statues.  He was busy unpacking and I was busy being the relay person and getting very frustrated that I could not get on my site. But it was exciting to have things brought in and see things we have not seen in over a year for we have been packed up that long waiting to sell and move.

Son and I both are very eclectic in taste and nothing in our home is like the soap opera houses where everything is beautiful and matches and looks perfect. What good is perfect if there is no joy or life in the home? My glasses do not match. I like that. I like having a different style glass every time I get a drink. Our pictures on the wall range from Norman Rockwell, to paintings by family members, to signed prints from historical societies, to copies of famous artists like Rembrandt. Did I say eclectic?  lol

We both are collectors. I collect old dolls, vintage jewelry , and that kind of stuff. Son collects magazines, cooking items like brown stoneware dishes, and that kind of stuff and we blend it into a very eclectic household.

I was thrilled when he brought in a box as I sat here watching the computer and said “look…your big raggedy ann and andy dolls. I bought them at a yardsale for five dollars each. They are vintage/antique and a lady in a shop I know offered me three hundred for them. They are originals and their clothes are too and are three feet tall.

 Son was busy in the kitchen unloading stoneware, bottles and mixing bowls and finding places for them.

The dining room, as you can tell is minus the table but getting closer to being done. The corner cabinet will be here soon. It will be a hard one for son to move on his own as it is heavy and wooden. He wants to put his great grandparents red and white dishes in it to display them. Right now they are under the wine rack. It felt good to hold them in my hands again for it was like feeling them here with us. And for some reason, I grew teary as I thought of the pioneers who crossed these mountains and had to throw out things like their great grandparents dishes or rocker. Not huge things but so sentimental.

My beautiful deep red and black dishes are on the safe shelves and really look great there. I can’t wait until we get the breakfast nook table here and can bring the stone table into the dining room.

I love the old vintage/antique metal trays. I think they are beautiful and a lost art.

And I so love these kitchen cabinets and having a place to put pretty items on top. If you look under the cabinet and in the back of the picture you will see all the junk that has been pulled out and is going back to storage. Son had the counters coverd with things but finally got them in cabinets and put up.

Son bought me this little shelf in the shape of a dog. I think it is so cute and holds some of my little nick nack items I like to collect. I love the little figurines…the old ones.

As you can see, we are definitely not rich. We just like to make our home special for us. We don’t do it by what the decorating books say but by what gives us pleasure to see. I want to add a picture to this post in the morning of the new statues, especially the beautiful painted one of Mary. it is nice to see them in the yard. So, check back later and see if I got it on.

Son has almost emptied one of the storage units. If we can do that and get it down to one, we will be very happy. Below is a box that feels like it is made of stone. I keep my sage and burning bowl in there to burn to remove the negative and keep the positive in this house and our lives. What peace this house has now. I love what it says on top…for faith is what it is all about. Have faith in yourself and in your dream and step out and go for it. When you reach the point on the big life changing dreams…that you are willing to give it all up to live a more simpler life for example, or for what ever that dream is…then faith will carry you the rest of the way. Remind yourself often…possessions are just that…things…and can be replaced.  But the dream of your life…is worth giving it up for.

The box says on top:

FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS

HOPED FOR, THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS 

NOT SEEN

If you have to have all the answers before you will step out with your dream….you may never get there. We moved out here and over the mountain this time with the faith that God would provide our needs and that need was a home…and He did.  He does not provide all our wants…but He does provide our needs. I have seen that too many times through the years when things happened and I had no answer for how ….I just knew it was Him. People asked us…you are moving over this mountain and don’t have a house to go to yet?  And I told them no we were doing like the baseball field….if we go..the home will be there.

A Day of Surprises

Yesterday was one of those rare days where it seemed like everything was coming up roses. It was a day of accomplishment as removing that grungy stove hood and installing the new one was completed. Son and I both were dousing ourselves with GERM X because that thing was so nasty. *shudder*   And we finally got it off and into the box the new one came in and out the door. Then we had to scrub the surrounding area. Son also had to rig the exhaust tube as the size of the tubes did not match. Here  is the old one:

And here is the new one in progress. OMG, when son pulled it down this whole nest of stuff fell on the stove.  He had to enlarge the hole so that the wider tube would fit and go get additional parts to change from one size to the next. Just the pieces cost 35 dollars and son was shocked.

AND here is the finished product.  I love it. I woke up this morning and went to get coffee and just ran my hand across the hood thinking how nice. And then realized…my hand did not stick to it nor was it gunky. And son says he can now see what he is cooking. LOL

Yesterday morning I was talking to a friend on messenger when she asked me what I was doing. I told her I was sitting here talking to her. She said..well I sent you a package and the tracking says it is at your front door. Squealing with delight, I hopped up (haha now that is a visual on crutches..giggling)  and went to the front door and sure enough, there was a package. I had to slide it back to my room cause carrying is impossible on forearm crutches. When I opened it, I cried. There inside was this absolutely beautiful blue quilt with “work the Dream” at the top and pictures of my mountains for the squares. It was soft and you could see the care put into every stitch. I was messaging my friend, Sue Gottscho from Florida, all but sending squeals across the internet. It was such a sweet and caring thing to do and touched my heart in a way that is hard to explain.

Have you ever been doing some kind of work, whether paid or volunteer and you start to feel unappreciated and wonder if all the work you had been doing for months had been for waste and was unappreciated?  That is how I have been feeling lately. I am the kind that will stand up for what I believe, even if it is in disagreement with those over me. Being against a concept is not the same thing as being against the person but not all feel that way.  Anyway, the note Sue put in with my quilt told me that I inspired her and those words were like balm to a wounded heart. I wish I could truly put into words but I think you all get the idea.

So, here is my gorgeous quilt with close up of some of the squares. I love my mountains out here. And yes, my heart still wants to be in the mountains, but my mind knows this house was a gift from God and we are letting him lead. A big thank you to Sue for my quilt and for the timing of it. Many hugs friend. I have a rod in storage to put it on but for now it is penned to the wall.

You might recognize this picture and she put Work the Dream on it.

And this picture

The angles of the squares are my photo taking, not Sue’s work.  I was trying to balance on one crutch and take the pictures while it hung on wall.

and of course my real mountains….:)

And last but not least, it is so nice to put things up that make it more home like…like on my kitchen cabinet.

And for my friend sassy…a subliminal message.  Ok ok..not so subliminal. hahahah

OMG son is so excited over the new hood and seeing what he is cooking, he is out there cooking breakfast and look what he brought me. We may need a diet plan for this new hood…giggling.

And here is Jack, who wants to share breakfast, laying between bed and my command central.

Wow, I Didn’t Remember We Had This….Opening Packed boxes

The morning started off with us sitting outside to sip our coffee and eat toast. It was so funny as no matter where son went, Jack was begging for that piece of toast with jelly.

 And, after he decided he was not getting any (which he wasn’t), he and the neighbor dog across the field behind the house decided to have a conversation. Poor little dog is in a kennel cage. He runs in circles sometimes.

We knew we had to stick close to home for the Bresnan man was due between noon and five and I wanted that internet fixed. Turns out, they say it is a system problem and they are “working” on it. Then the cable guy started working on the DVR box, which the one he brought in was also defective. So, we are rescheduled for Monday. This poor man stood here for a couple of hours, waiting on the main office to call him back so that he could proceed. They are much slower on this side of the mountain. We had excellent service and care on the other side. So, the internet is still going on and off, on and off and we have no solution.

Son has started bringing boxes over so we can start putting things up. Today we hung some pictures and what a change it brought in the house. Things are going slower now and it may take us all summer to get things put up like we want but at least we do not have to rush. It was so nice to have some of our possessions and see familiar things. That really make a place feel like home. Son brought over a few of my outside statues and he said he had forgotten how heavy these concrete statues were. He called them hernia boxes. Lol

The dutch boy and girl came from a vintage shop. They are very fragile and suffered from the journey over the mountain, but I plan on fixing them. The St. Francis statue is quite big and I left the dolly handle showing to show how tall it is. And this boy and girl in rain coats has an umbrella packed in a box that goes over them. It is really part of a fountain and son hopes to get it set back up as a fountain too.

It felt like Christmas to open some of those boxes and see things I had in my bedroom on the other side of the mountain. I love dolls and collect them. I like the older and unusual ones. The Little Lulu doll is like one I had as a child. And I especially love the little things from my sweetpea from her little note to me and her pictures. I sure to miss her.

But it also felt good to put things on the walls and to have things on the chest of drawers and tops of things. Although my room is not totally set up like I want it  yet, it felt like I was in a real room instead of a white box. That is a super thing for now, for feet and legs are swollen and I will be laying here with them up in the air for a few days.

Oh, and the new hood for over the stove came. I am so excited and so is son. The only thing we are not excited about is that the one we are taking down is covered in so much grease and grime we hate to even touch it.  Tomorrow (which is actually today as it is three thirty in the morning) son will install the hood.

And I patched the first hole in the house. I am the sheet rock and mud person. I sit on a stool to do this work, but was so proud of how it came out. And a big thank you to my other son back east. I know if he were here, he would be helping get this done, but he is miles and miles away from us. So, he helps by phone and told me a new way to put the piece of sheet rock in such a large hole. There was a lot of violence in this house. You can see the kicked and punched holes all over. Here is my first patch of one of the big holes. The patched place is above the trash can and towards the curtain.

Some are child height and some are adult height. I literally could make a fist and put my hand beside some of these holes and the outline of the fist is there. To tell you how many holes there are to patch, we bought a five gallon bucket of mud to use. My bathroom alone has four holes with little stuffed animals sticking out of them. The dining room area has three or four big (and I mean big like a basketball) kicked and punched holes and the living room has a couple. I could keep going but you get the picture. We had to replace the door frame into my bedroom, the master bedroom, for it had a deadbolt and the door had been kicked in at some time. A few of the hollow inner doors were kicked in and broken. For now, we just threw them away and will replace as we go along. It runs into a lot of money when you start repairing all of these cosmetic things.  The kitchen counter has places that looked like someone hit it with a hammer. We saw this new treatment you can put on formica counters to make them look like granite, etc. We are going to do that down the road.

Son and I are amazed at the peace in this house since we saged it to remove any negative energy. This is such a quiet and peaceful place and the more we get done, the nicer it is. Is it a mansion?…no. But it is ours. And it is a nice home. I have enjoyed seeing son come in excited about meeting the neighbors. It is good for him to get out and meet people and have other interests than taking care of his disabled and sick mother. I believe he has met several of the neighbors, visited at their houses and really enjoyed himself.

I love laying here and listening to the tinkle of my chimes and now the melodic bamboo sound from the bear chimes I got.  The room is very much my room now and one that I can relax in and is my sanctuary of peace. Jack has the chimes over his hut but he seems to like them now that he has determined they are safe. With the fan blowing in the room, the soothing sounds play all the time.

And of course, I must show a picture of my mountains today. We were riding out to see the guys at the Rio and quess what we saw walking up the street only a few streets from our house?  In the middle of town no less.  A DEER! I told son with our feeders outside, we are liable to wake up one morning and see one in Jack’s little penned in area. And that would be so cool. I was so mad at myself that I forgot my camera and didn’t get a picture. We rode out to see Leroy and the guys and pick up a present from my friend sassy….a crepe myrtle tree. I was so excited. It is now planted in front of the porch and one day in the near future will make shade for that porch plus lovely color.

 

I thought I had taken a picture but will have to do it on tonite’s blog. Son here is always trying to make things easier for me. Because of the heat it puts off, my oxygen machine sits around the corner in the LR. This means I have this long hose that keeps the door from shutting unless I drop it to the floor and then shut the door. Son took a piece of pvc pipe and drilled a hole at the top of the wall near the ceiling and put it in so that the hose from the machine comes through the wall instead of the door and the excess is looped behind the door where I can take it down on those days I need oxygen on during the day a lot. Now, how smart and cool is that?

And now I am getting sleepy again and think I will lay back down. It will soon be morning and another day at the Blu Moon Inn will start. Don’t you just love the name of our house. I picked it out.  I have a lot of paperwork to get together and to fax to the lawyer as the hearing is the sixteenth of this month. I am hoping justice will prevail and that those people who acted so horrendous to a disabled person are reprimanded. My lawyer is making the five and a half hour trip back there to be in the hearing. He was livid.

And I am exited cause I have a package coming today.  Someone told me they shipped me something they made and it will arrive today…so that puts a smile on my face.  While son will be hauling stuff again, I will be here looking at my sausage toes, laying on this bed with my feet up in the air.  But don’t worry…I am part goodyear and part dupont. I bounce back. Life is too short to spend it filled with worries and frustrations. It is also too short to spend it letting others hurt you….life will be filled with pain, sorry, hurt, betrayal, and ugliness…it is a fact. What you do with it..is up to you.  I choose to not let it invade my personal space anymore. And I do not let my health nor the pain I live with daily keep me from living life. Every day can be an adventure and when you are following your dreams…what an adventure it is. Some thought we were crazy to sell our house, pack up and move here but we would not change it for the world. This little sleepy town is exactly what we wanted. There is still community spirit here and yet still privacy..even being on the edge of town. And I can still see the tips of my mountains. The dream is unfolding daily. What about you?  Gone after any of your dreams yet?  Every day that slips by is one day less that you have to live it.

 

When Do You Make The Step?

Dreams come in all sizes and packages from those of the small child to the small ones of adults and the lifelong dreams we have. Today I was asked when do you know is the time to step out and go for the dream.

Going after your dream is a scary thing. We sit an imagine all the scary things that can happen especially if it is a life altering dream, like moving to Colorado was for us, or selling the house and moving over the mountain was. All the what if’s hit you in the middle of the night. What if we lose everything? What if we make the wrong move? What if we fail? What if…what if…what if.

Someone once gave me a card that said “Go for your dream, for if you don’t you will spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened had you done so.” That card led me to get my CDL..which is a commercial truck driver’s license. That dream was something I just wanted to do and was terrified for fear I would fail.  That same card led us over the countryside and into the Rocky mountains and eventually led us to here, at the base of my mountains.

I realized with dreams, the major question is “how much are you willing to give up to have your dream?”.  Are you willing to risk losing your financial security?  your home?  your possessions? Are you willing to risk the possibility that you may have to start over or live in something that is not quite what you planned to get there?

By the time I reached my fifties, I had realized that possessions are just that…they can be replaced and the longer I live…the less I find I need. Give me my computer and my room and I am good to go. Son here is the same way..we each would have been happy in our own one room cabin in the woods.And by the time I reached my sixties, I have realized that I need less and less material things.

We start off wanting everything…the home, the car, the fancy furniture, etc and we go through life upgrading and investing more and more money and time into these things. And yet, the one thing I hear people tell me is “I remember how happy I was when we lived in that tiny bungalow starting out and life seemed so much easier.”  And it was easier in the sense that we owned less possessions and possessions are a burden and a financial strain. If we put as much time and money into relationships as we do possessions, the divorce rate would probably be nil.

So, how do you know when to step out on faith?  I think that is the crux of the problem. We say we have faith but we are afraid to step out and faith is doing it not being able to see what will be down that road. We have faith in God even though  we can not prove His existence because we believe and when you believe your dream so strongly….you will step out and make the step.

Son and I decided to move to Colorado and it took us 8 months to get the money up to pay for the move and for his flight out to find a house to rent and a job. We had picked where we thought we wanted to be only to discover when he got here that it was not as it seemed. He called me and said he did not have that gut feeling about the little town and what should he do. I said “pray son and I will pray and in the morning, let God lead you.”  And that is what we did and he got up the next morning and said “I think God wants me to go here” and that is what he did. When He got to the town, in one day he found a house and a job.  I have learned that when things fall into place…it is the Lord leading. When we beat our heads against a brick wall to get what we want…it is us leading.

We wanted the house to sell so desperately and the marked crashed. Nothing we did sold that house and two years went by and we both began to wonder was moving to this area what we were supposed to do. And it took us reaching the point of realizing all things happen in “God’s time” not ours and we said “ok God…you lead and we will follow”.  And the rest is history.

The house showed one day and in three weeks it was sold, and we were on our way. We came to a motel that had old friends that took us in and treated us like family and watched over us while we found a house and the right house just opened up and we now own our home and are fixing all the cosmetic things and living here at the base of my beloved mountains. Everything seemed to fall into place with ease….and I knew who was leading then.

Don’t throw your dreams away because you think you can never do them. You may have to adjust them a little, like we did with this house but you can find a way. Get out and do those things…step out on faith. Plan and work for that dream for it is the most delicious wonderful feeling in the world to feel your dream unfolding for you…whether it is something as simple as taking up painting, writing a book,going back to school,  traveling to a certain place…whatever. Dreams and hope are what keep us going and as long as we have “hope”…we can have dreams.

 

Step out on faith and know that your guardian angel is watching over you and have faith in what you want to do…and just do it.

Home–My Sanctuary and Yours

It took me many years to realize that home should be for the ones who live there, not for how it looks for visitors. Most of us have probably done the “decorating” to make it look great for those who come to visit and don’t always think about our own needs or comfort.

I learned this when I had to make my house more handicapped accessible and room for a scooter to move around and I started removing furniture to make it easier for me. Yes, I had friends that said ..*where is your couch??”  and acted offended that we did not have it there for them. At first, I felt guilty and then I realized this is my home and it should be set up for me.

Well, today was one of those enlightening moments.  We had hoped to replace the sliding glass door as it is a heat magnet. I have been having trouble with my breathing because my room is on that end of the house and we can not get the temp down below 80 degrees, which is too hot for me.

This morning a friend reminded me of what we call “redneck sun block”  for the windows….plain ole aluminum foil. Well, son and I decided that what happened inside the house was more important than what it looked like outside the house and so…needless to say…the sliding glass doors are covered with foil…and man does it work. Dropped the temp in my room five degrees instantly.

 And this is my favorite one….Jack likes to pull the tissue off the roll, so I had son put the holder up high. Is easier for me and takes.care of the jack sitch. LOL…my home…my bathroom.

while I have you in my bathroom…LOL   look at my lovely garden tub. One day I will have bars for it so I can use it too. Doesn’t it look pretty.

This is just a peek into my bedroom at Jack’s hut. He is so funny. He likes to be inside something only does not like walls around it. So, we fitted a cover that looked nice but he could go out the side too.  Got the vintage rug down and going to put some colorful window scarf across the top of the window. Also going to paint my hospital bed so it does not look quite so institutional.

Today is one of those days that feels like Christmas. Son installed the new command central with dual monitors and my tv is on a swing arm and tilts down, making it easier to see laying here on the bed.

He found this neat bracket that not only swings out but tips all angles to put the tv on.

Might be disabled but there is usually a way to do something if you are creative enough.  I remember once my son telling me he had never seen anyone use a power chair like me…that it was almost like it was part of me. I told him..it is. Between son and I, we are pretty creative at figuring ways for my life to be productive and as as less pain as possible.

Here is Jack on the vintage rug that he thinks we put down just for him.

Our little breakfast nook. As you can tell, we have one window done with redneck window tint…LOL..and the other not. Still working on that. But I love the little nook. Son is putting my old computer there to use for artistic things.

And I say thank God for crock posts, a chunk of meat and some vegetables. For these two weary..new home owners…are exhausted.

We decided home was for the owners and we fix it for our comfort and ease not our visitors. Visitors are wonderful, but they are just that…visitors into our domain. So, beware if you come visit at our home…cause we be part redneck. LOL

There Are Dreams And There Are Dreams

Son staggers to the bedroom door, his eyes half-open and says “do you think exhaustion causes weird dreams?”   I told him I definitely did. He said he dreamed that I made him put up these hideous yellow colored awnings on the windows and then stick all these tacky broken purple and pink flamingos in the yard and that he was arguing with me the whole time saying ….”it’s fugly mama. it’s fugly.”   LOL   As he walked off, I casually said  ”BTW, son, the flamingos are in the shed”. HA HA HA.

Dreams come in all sizes and we dream from the time we are little. As kids we dream of what we will get for Christmas, of that special doll or bike or whatever. As adults, our dreams take on what we desire in our hearts for our lives. This house was a dream. Yes, we have some working against us on our dreams…the social service people from where we moved..and that is ok. Justice I believe will prevail at the hearing on June 16th.  But we had and still have other dreams that go along with this.

This can below holds a dream. I carried this can as if it were treasure over the mountain. Made sure it was not in the heat, kept protected and rode in the van.

Does not look like much inside, does it?

The can contains packets of seeds…Heirloom seeds. Each pack contains a different variety and it is our dream to plant our garden with these. It is time here to start planting. We don’t usually start until after the end of May.

Heirloom seeds are not touched by genetic altering like plants we get today. Every tried to grow plants from the seeds of the plants we buy today and get those deformed little plants that do nothing?  That is why.  With Heirloom seeds, they will reproduce from the seeds and create plants like the first ones you plant. We harvest the seeds just like we harvest the crop.

Many people do seed swaps because finding these seeds is so hard. We bought ours this time from someone who specializes in heirloom seeds and we were lucky to get them for they are hard to get and she lets you know that after a certain time, the seeds are no longer available.  I want heirloom flowers too. I used to have many back east where we lived but when we moved here, my seeds got lost.

 I have other dreams too…both son and I do.  We both dream that all the work and moving will be done soon and we can relax. I also dream of simple things like finishing my other blog, learning on the Rosetta Stone program, setting up my art easel, planting my flowers and seeds….we all have dreams. What are yours? It is dreams that keep us going.

Now, to show you how creative we can be.  I can not stand the unfixed holes in the sheet rock. I imagine all sorts of bugs and critters crawling through.  *shudder*…So one day, son comes in and asks me why he sees dinosaurs sticking out of the wall and other critters. I told him that it is my new decorating theme. LOL

Well, even dreams need help sometimes, don’t you think?  Lol

Poor Jack…he is indignant.  ha

Middle of The NIght Ramblings

I woke up a little while ago and did the usual bathroom jaunt and was laying here trying to get settled down again. It was about three fifty in the morning and so I was not exactly ready to get up. When suddenly I heard a noise that sounded like a metallic sound and Jack jumped up and ran to the door wanting out of the bedroom. I keep a child’s gate there to keep him in the room with me at night. I sat up and listened again and then eased out of bed and peeked out my bedroom door. Jack went immediately to the back door and was doing his intense looking, so I eased across the living room and down the hallway and woke son up, telling him I heard something and Jack was guarding at the door. And believe me when I tell you that “easing across the livingroom”  on Canadian crutches is quite a feat.

We got back to the sliding glass door, which has one of those protection bars waist-high, and quietly opened the door and let jack out. Son went around checking the house and as I sat on the stool at the door watching, a car was easing down the road up from ours with only the parking lights on. It would move a little and then stop, move a little and then stop. And we had a good view of it. Son figured it was the cops checking.

After we had checked everything, and the house locked back up and son went back to bed, I came back into my bedroom and laid here thinking. The pioneers cross my mind a lot in this area of land, from the people here who are weathered, rugged ranchers to the land itself. And I thought about how scary it must have been living in a covered wagon with only the canvas between you and the outside and any critters or unlawful people.  Now, I am here to tell you that is not much protection.

I feel safe in this house…safer than I have felt in any house we have ever lived in. The one back on the other side of the mountain took me a year to develop a feeling of safety,  but I have felt this here from day one, even when we had to park the van to keep the door from opening on the side until we could get secure locks. I am not so sure I would ever feel safe in a covered wagon. That is too much like living in a tent, and we all know how safe that is.

Someone recently had a house fire and many possessions lost and a friend of mine made the statement that it brought a realization that we kept too many possessions. When we moved over the mountain, it took us two u-haul size trucks to bring our possessions. After we got it all here and in storage, son and I both said…you know, we need to get rid of a bunch of this. This is one reason we are bringing things in slowly so we can clean out and not be cluttered.

And my mind once again turns to those courageous settlers who came this way before any of us did. I can not imagine picking out the most treasured things and keeping the pile small enough that it would go on the covered wagon and not overload it. And many people, had to throw out some of these possessions…a special rocking chair, a chest, etc…when they hit  really rugged terrain.

We have son’s great-grandmother’s rocking chair..it is just a plain old wooden rocker..small that I refinished and it means a lot to him because Mimi (the same name my sweetpea calls me)  sat in it. Nothing fancy to it, just a small bare bones wooden rocker that was getting brittle and dry  and falling apart was thrown in the trash when my parents moved into assisted living. Son asked his granny about it and she told him it was an old rocker that Mimi had at one time but was falling apart and not worth saving. We took it home, re-glued it and I refinished it with a lustrous sheen and while it is so small that it looks like someone about eight pounds dripping wet might could sit in it, it is a treasure to son. So, I can picture it tucked away in a covered wagon coming west. Right now it sits in storage or I would show a picture.

Do we place so much emphasis on possessions that we forget the most important things, like family and love and sharing our lives? Son and I opted to live a more simple life with less stress and yes less possessions and the peace and serenity we feel is beyond words. This house that the Lord bestowed on us is a gift that no words can explain. It is not a fancy house, it needs and needed a lot of cosmetic work and each part of that work cements this house with love. It is a small house and one that I can maneuver around easily. And yet it is set up so that two generations can live here and each have their own “space” and privacy. Amazing.

Oh, unpacking I did find one thing. I found my tin with all my heirloom seeds. I carried those across this mountain with the same feeling of the ancestors who carried rootings and seeds to bring to the “new land” to set up their homesteads. And those seeds will make our garden. Heirloom seeds have not been genetically altered and will reseed and produce good plants. They are my treasure and you harvest the seeds just as surely as you harvest the crops. I will show a picture when I get up.

And now, I will try to snooze a little more before the coffee pot goes off in a couple of hours. I am laying here listening to the hum of my fan and the soft snoring of jack in his hut. And I am watching the glistening reflections on my ceiling from my feathered chimes and my beautiful stained glass chandelier. And I am thinking…like the street callers of old…”five AM and all is well!!”