Maturity

Some of our children have been very mature for their age--some not so.  I've never actually looked up the definition of the word, just knew in general what it meant--and how it could be applied to my kids at various times and various situations.  A couple weeks ago my sister in law sent me this, and I thought it was very well stated.

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Maturity is the ability to do a job whether you are supervised or not; finish a job once it is started; carry money without spending it, and be able to bear an injustice without wanting to get even. Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence.
Maturity is patience. It is the willingness to postpone immediate gratification in favor of the long-term gain.
Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or situation in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging setbacks; the capability to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat without complaint or collapse.
Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say "I was wrong". And when right, the mature person needs not the satisfaction of saying, "I told you so". It is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities; then they do nothing.
Maturity means dependability, keeping ones word, coming through in a crisis. The immature are masters of the alibi. They are confused and disorganized. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business, and good intentions that somehow never materialized.
Maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which can be changed and the wisdom to know the difference...

Snips, snaps & puppy dog tails

Snips of country life from the last month--
Snaps of this & that, and because I didn't see any snails--
Puppy dog tails--We now have 2 of them, and another temporary boarder that is (HOPEFULLY) soon going to her new home in the country.


From a morning walk.....

Because life is all about bends in the road....

 

 

 And it's good to pause and reflect sometimes...

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Dalayna and Wade brought us one of their dogs--He wasn't being a "proper" house dog....so he got re-located to the country, where he can live outdoors.  He's adapted quite well & loves Kaela's attention.

Benny showed up one day.  He hasn't left, also adores Kaela and is quite jealous of her attention
I love the sight of girl & dog (s) playing.  We've had too many dogs in town over the years that simply had to be kept on a chain.  Not my idea of a dog's life, and most likely not theirs either.

 The bird photos are more of Kara's photography that I'm enjoying finding on my camera!


I'm working on the morning sunrise thing.

Part 3 of the house tour

I seem to go in spurts--very jumpy spurts on the blogging.  Either I'm inspired, or I'm bogged down by too many things on my mind and on my lists to do.

I didn't get the graduation post done I started.
I didn't get the grandkids post done I wanted to do.

I didn't get finished with my house tour posts, because well....I just didn't, and I'm not done with my house either, although that probably won't happen for quite awhile.  I'll probably (hopefully) let you tour the rest anyway.

For right now--Here's the kitchen.  My favorite room in the house.

My sister left her sign above the porch windows.  I love it!

The walls, trim & Ceiling still have to be re-painted after they were damaged/replaced.  Haven't gotten that far yet.  You can't see it in these pictures, but the ceiling is bead-board (new) like the porch.

I wish you could see what this kitchen looked like when my sister bought the house.  I don't think I can describe it well enough to do it justice--  Maybe that will be a post for another time--especially if I can find some pictures to go with it!  I will say that it looked vastly different, and  I think my dismay was rather evident.

I'll give you a  really small outline.  a wall, a door, a window.  Two sisters with sledgehammers.  One metal wall cabinet.  One metal-white porcelain sink unit.--uh-huh!, I think that pretty much covers it!

You do remember I said the kitchen was my favorite room of the house now- right? :)

Blogging friends

I've been blogging now for about 2 1/2 years. When I first started blogging, like many of the rest of you I did plenty of blog hopping and reading different blogs from all over.  Yeah--spent a lot of time that way!

As time went on I established my favorite ones.  Maybe there was some connection of people, maybe something we had in common, maybe it was because I stepped out of my comfort zone and commented on their blog & they responded to me, maybe it was those who commented on my blog.

Sometimes for some reason you just "feel" a connection with certain people causing you or them to reach out a little further than causal comments.

Those of you who are around me hear me in conversation refer to "My blogging friend from ___"  I find myself saying this quite a lot.  I feel very fortunate to have gotten "acquainted" with quite a few bloggers and consider them friends!  But, the truth is, other than my family and very few others that I actually do personally know;  I have never met any of the other of my blogging friends.

Until this weekend!!

Last week I got pretty close....if you remember I posted about meeting some of Alison's family.

When I made one of my "house tour" posts, Patty made the comment "we're coming to visit", and I responded that would be awesome,  and then she said "Seriously"!!  I still can hardly believe it.

They arrived Sat. afternoon, and we had some friends/family out for a potluck for supper that night.  The question was asked, "when did you meet"?  uhhh, TODAY!!

We joked about the fact that they were stopping by to meet us on their way home to TX after visiting in CO!
Really they were on a road trip and heading on east & south, but they did go out of their way to come see us!

 

Can you think of a more appropriate place to have our picture taken together than beside the computer?!




We had some family and friends over for a potluck on Sat. eve,

We spent some time inside eating...

My younger sister--and our friends aka big Opps, I MEANT older! "sistah" Cyndie & Dan

The middle sister--Gay and Patrick.  Yes, she's the one who makes those delightful comments, and is the mother of THIS delightful blogger, my niece

 And with my mom

On the porch eating;

Alisha & Ryan, Derek,  Becky & Paul & Leon at the end

On the steps eating....

My friend Shelley from HERE; with her delightful mischievous little grandson

Outside eating on the play set;

Gay's youngest, Jackson, & her oldest grandaughter Felicity, with Kaela in the middle.

In a tree eating;

 

Her Grandson Latham--

And outside under the trees in the cool breeze visiting, too full to move

and the sun went down on another day of country memories

Andy & Patty--we are so happy you came to meet us, and spent some time with us.  We so enjoyed having you as our our first guests in our country home, having you in our Sun. a.m. gathering, sharing you with our friends & family--both here and Sun. evening at Russ & Lanae's too.
We hope you have a wonderful & safe rest of your journey "home"!

Words, Numbers and Generations

So I'm really bad. I had a whole house full of company Saturday evening and Sunday noon, and did not take any pictures myself. I have to rely on what my girls took.

Instead of photos, I'll have to give you words and numbers.

We had all our kids home except Jana and Laura. That's 10 kids-5 spouses and 5 grandkids. --That's 20

Wades parents, his grandmother, his brother, his sister, husband & 3 kids. --That's 9

Leon's Mom, 2 sisters, and 1 brother--That's 4

My Mom--1 and Jim's Mom 1----That's 2

1 single guy friend (Martin)--Add 1 more

Leon and I--Two more makes a total of 38
That's who all we had here for supper Sat. evening.

Sunday noon we were 10 less, -- 28 for dinner.

Barrett and Jessi with their 2 grammies and 3 of their great grandmothers.

Front, L to R--My mom holding Barrett, Wades Grandma Velma, Jessi and Leon's Mom; Edith.
Back, Me, and Wades mom, Ruth.

We might have missed getting alot of other pictures, but we did get a few special ones!

My view this morning

The rain quit, and we have sunshine! Yay for spring!

Jessi bear

 

Happy (belated) birthday--I hope you have lots of fun playing dress-up Jessi!