Sieze the moment. The day.

"Too bad my to-do list is still longer than my life expectancy."

I saw this today on someone's facebook comment.  It really does sum up the way I feel, however I have to admit that honestly It really is more true for me to say;

"Too bad my WANT to-do list is still longer than my life expectancy"


I don't suppose that's altogether a bad thing.  It's not like I don't have plenty on my "NEED", or "MUST"- to do list--I certainly do but I realize also that alot of those things don't matter so much whether I get them done today or tomorrow or next week.  Life happens, the dust comes back, the windows will need washed again,  There will be another year for a garden to feed my family the "real- the fresh"

Today our oldest grandchild turned 6.  In the blink of an eye.  Where did the time go?  What have I accomplished in those six years.  Not near as much as I wished, naturally or spiritually--and  it's no one's fault but my own!  Three years ago in September I started blogging.  Yesterday as I was working on exporting my Finland journal posts to their own blog I was flipping thru those 3 years of posts.  Wow!  I can say alot has happened in 3 short years--A lot of living going on.

Nope, the real issue is what I WANT to do.  I've always said that I will never be one of these "old" people, sitting all day with "nothing to do".  (I also have determined I will never be one of these "old" people who have to clean their already clean house just to keep busy--OR SOMETHING!)
*Now if any of you readers are "older" than me--please do not take offense here. Neither am I discounting a clean house! 

Don't get me wrong--I like a clean house.  I like washing my windows so the sun sparkles thru them.  I enjoy my furniture & corners dust free.  I like my dishes done & my sink shinning.  I like things in their place--I enjoy a reasonably clean house.  It makes me breathe easier, gives me space to think, to create, and to enjoy my home.

So what is on my "WANT" to-do list?
Scrapbook
Sewing
Organizing
Decorating
Creating
Baking
Cooking
Canning
Reading
Quilting
Playing with my camera.
Antique browsing/shopping
Spending time with my grandkids
Enjoying the seasons--whatever they are.


Seizing the moment.  Yeah, that's really what I need to work on the most.  Making the most of every moment, every hour, every day, week, month & year because they go so swiftly.


All right--so I really have done all of those things on my list.  Even in the middle of raising 12 children.  All of those things are on-going, and maybe a few of them won't be so appealing to spend my time at in years to come.  In the mean time-

I'm off to enjoy my day.

And the next thing on the list is cleaning the tub.


HAPPY MONDAY!  HAPPY NOVEMBER 1!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET KYRIE!

Today I remember.

Saturday, Sept 11


That famous day we all remember as 9-11.  Hard to believe it's been 9 years now.  I liked someone's post who likened it to the day in their parents generation known as "Pearl Harbor day".

There's some other distinct days I remember as well in my life time.

When the news came that President Kennedy was shot
When man first walked on the moon
When the Challenger crashed to the earth
When the "wall went down" in Germany
The bombing in OKC
The shooting at Columbine school

Maybe I missed a couple, (and I couldn't tell you the dates) but those are the outstanding ones that come to mind.
Although all those are noteworthy, I believe the difference in this one was the mass-wide spread effect it had on the US.  Partly because it was not only 1 place, but 3 different areas. Not only that, but the date "they" picked also.
We in the US have known such peace & prosperity compared to so many other countries. Regardless of some of the horrible tragedies that have occurred that we all can point to & remember, (and I don't mean to be-little any of those)....
we are a peaceful, non-violent country.

Sept 11 is my Niece's birthday.  Today she is 16.  Two more days and we will have a 16 yr. old at our house again, and once again I'm amazed at how very quickly the days and years pass by.
This is the first year the girls haven't celebrated their birthdays together.  My sister moved near by when the girls were 2, and they've grown up together.  Rebecca is in AZ this year, so any duel-celebration will have to be post-poned until she comes for a visit in Oct.

This is a beautiful sunny "fall is in the air" Saturday.  It was the first day in weeks that I enjoyed sleeping in, and although I woke at my usual early time it was luxury to be able to roll over and relax, knowing I didn't HAVE to get up.
It was also the first day in weeks that I got my morning coffee brought to me in bed also--another luxury :)

Meshayla was up early, as she wanted to post on Rebecca's facebook wall her birthday greetings.  The girls were born 2 days apart, but exactly the same time in the morning.  (How crazy is that!)
When Leon brought me my coffee he said Meshayla was heading to "the woods" and when I looked out my window I saw not just her, but all 4 of the kids in their out-door working gear, heading out of the driveway towards the woods.
(Poor dogs left behind, tied to the tree.--When I came downstairs the note that awaited me was "please untie the dogs now that we're gone")

And a long post, much rambling later, as I saw them headed off on their early morning trek what I was remembering was my sister and I, around the ages of  8 to 11 quietly sneaking out of the house early Saturday mornings on an "adventure".

Scouting the streets of our very small town for pop bottles to take in for cash.
Heading across the open pastures, down the canyons of the near-by country side.
Discovering culverts under the highway to explore. (I wonder why we always went one direction out of town and not the other?)
Walking miles of railroad tracks both directions out of town, but not being brave enough to cross the high rail-road bridge in one of the canyons.
Exploring abandon houses & old stores both in our tiny town and in the country.  (I don't ever remember seeing No Trespassing signs or some area being roped off in those days!)

I don't remember mom ever worrying about us--maybe she should of--but here we all are today, safe & sound.

I'm thankful for those little memories of freedom.
I'm thankful for the freedom that my kids now have to roam a bit more freely in the country than town.
And in spite of the small annoyances that we all can experience,
I'm thankful beyond measure that we live in a free country.

GOD BLESS AMERICA,
May we continue to be free and appreciate each & every bit of freedom we have.

Back to school

 I have some other things I want to post, but this is what ended up on here tonight.  The others hopefully will get posted soon!

Tonight I found this--

http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2010/09/ten-important-things-ive-learned-about-blogging/

I really liked it.
It expressed my feelings on blogging very well.
Hmmm, then what is my problem?
My blog has gotten so stale I didn't even want to go visit it myself I guess.

Anyway, I hate it that I've gotten so behind again

I can hardly believe it's the end of summer.  School started the 17th of Aug, and as far as activity that marks the end of it for me!

Kara's first day of school--starting middle school.  The 6th graders went a day ahead of the other grades.

First day of school for Kaela--going in to 4th grade.  No, we didn't get the door re-painted this summer :(

We love our  school!  We've felt so fortunate to be able to choose where to go, and have the opportunity to attend a very small school in the country. This is where we put the kids when we went into public from homeschooling, and it's been wonderful. We're happy we can continue to opt in since we've moved too.

The time has come

"The walrus said..."

Now really, I have no idea where that saying came from, except that I remember my grandma Ruth saying it!
Anyway, it popped into my head when I was starting this post, so that's what I wrote!

3 years ago, the first of July our Daughter Laura went to Finland to live and work.
Without today's technology of cell phones, skype, internet--e-mail, blogging and facebook, I can hardly imagine how difficult it would be to have any of my children go so far away.  When I was a kid, "over-seas" was very very far away, and rather un-amaginable.
Today's technology and the ease/frequency of travel makes it a whole different scenario.  While it was still difficult to see her leave, I know it was no where near close to years ago when travel & communication was a very long and difficult process.

This was a couple months before I started blogging, so I'll post the pictures from then.

 Our family--at the airport to see her "off"...

Some of her co-workers who came

Goodbye's are a bit hard at best, and there's alot of distance & time with this one!

At least there was a smile for the last view before the gate!

*******
Last summer our 14 year old daughter went to visit her for 3 months, traveling by herself. (See here) I don't think I ever would have been able to send her alone without the technology!  She flew from Denver to Newark, NJ, and I saw her on the plane in Denver.  Laura was in communication with me via cell phone at the same time as tracking Meshayla's flight progress on the computer.  From boarding, to take off, to progress in the air. 

Meshayla called me as soon as they landed in Newark, and I talked to her as she went from her arrival gate, to her departure gate, both of us looking at the maps of the terminal that we printed off the computer.  She hung up after telling me she was on the plane, and Laura called to tell me that the plane had taken off.  She sent me updates via facebook telling me of her progress as long as it was available, & then called to tell me that the plane had landed, and Meshayla was safely on the "otherside" and by her side.

We worked it in reverse on her flight back home 3 months later.  Pretty much kept the whole "traveling on her own" thing bearable.  (And yes Lynisha and Relyssa, I know...I STILL had some moments...)

Anyway....a little side tracked with where this post was suppose to be going.... 

It's MINE....For the very first time, I have a passport.  Travel in my life has been very limited & I've never had a reason to get one before.

After much talking, persuading & figuring out plans, *I* am going to visit Laura!  Leon can't go as he dosen't have time off from his job available.
I applied for and got my passport in record time, still didn't know for sure who was going to go with me, I was NOT wanting to go by myself, and I was thrilled when my friend Ruthie said how much she'd like to visit over there, and I said "Would you like to go with me"? and she said "YES"!

(Raimie w/baby P. Gay,-- me, and Lynisha with our friend Ruthie.  We spent the night and had Sunday morning and noon with her on our way home from our trip to Longaberger country Ohio.)

I leave the middle of Sept, and will be gone for 3 weeks.
Now I have my work cut out for me.  Arrangements for kids.  Laundry done up.  Bills paid.  I have a convention to get ready for first, and then last but not least......
The all consuming question of WHAT CLOTHES DO I TAKE?

Summertime and the living is fine

No new blog posts on here do not indicate a lack of things to post about, but rather either I'm too busy "living" them, or my head is simply too full of things, and I can't seem to get my thoughts organized enough to put down.

After the grandkids were here, Meshayla and Morgen got invited to go camping with Lynisha and Jim, and so we arranged for Kara and Kaela to go to their older sisters (Jeanne's) at the same time.  One week turned into two, and during that time I spent working on house and yard projects that needed done and I couldn't seem to get done in the middle of cooking, cleaning, and well, you know, just "every day life with a family".

I wish I could have gotten more done, but that's the story of my life.  I have to say I did enjoy some "down" time, and simply "him and her" time with my husband!  By the middle of the 2nd week tho I was missing the kids, and wondered what in the world I was thinking, as I realized that I was going to be gone all the next week, and they were going to have to stay another week.  That one kind of slipped up on me unexpected like.

Being "kid-less" for 3 weeks at a time was the first time that's happened since our first was born a year after we were married!  I will say that I am NOT ready for "empty-nest" around here yet, even if I do enjoy some breaks now & then!

Since it was going to be another week without kids, Leon and I went out to Sidney to spend the weekend with them and have a little bit of birthday celebration for Kara and Kaela who had turned 11 and 9 while they were away from home.

 When do you think I'll learn not to take pictures facing the light? I don't know either, but it sure irritates me that I don't think about it!!

 Banana cream pie and brownies for this birthday treat.

 This little missy enjoyed her banana cream pie, and her first birthday is just around the corner!  I think she was getting in some good practice for it!

Sharing the love

I got some snuggle time with this little dolly when I went to meet Lynisha to pick up Kyrie & Trey.
Jeanne & Lyrah came along to meet us in North Platte & we enjoyed a meal together at Whisky Creek.

"Little Bit" isn't so little, look at those delicious rolls!  I'm looking forward to when she's old enough to visit Grammie & Papa too!

Kisses, Hugs, and I Love You's--We're ready to go to the farm!

Did I mention how cute my grandkids are?

While the kids were here our Cat had kittens.  No, not Sam.  This cat is Samantha--
A formerly wild and scared cat that showed up at my mom's place some time ago.  When we moved Sam to the farm, we were going to bring Samantha too  (Don't ask me WHY she got named that--sounds a bit like "boy cat & girl cat" to me!)  Whatever!
Anyway, Samantha disappeared so we left her until several months later she showed up again & with some effort "we" managed to get her in a cage & brought out here.  She was still pretty wild & now very scared! AND expecting kittens!
We put her in the barn & closed her in, fed her & left her alone.

I wouldn't let the kids pick up the kittens for a while, but the day they were leaving I thought it was too bad if they had to go & not get to hold them.

Trey wasn't quite as enthusiastic in his loving the kitties as Jessi!

We have a darling little calico kitten too  (Mama is a calico)  But I didn't get a good picture of that one.  Hopefully later.  There's (only) 3.  Thank goodness

So soon it was time to say goodbye......

And I took Jessi & Trey back home, and Jessi on to meet up with her Memaw & Papa for some more Lovin'!

Slumber-less Party

The kids wanted to spend the night in the tent, so finally after several days I conceded.  After all, why not? I could have the house to myself, right?  A quiet evening, because they were so excited to be out there they headed out early.

RIGHT.

What's a little dragging all the sleeping bags, pillows & extra blankets out,
Some books to read
A million trips into the bathroom--
A dozen or so trips each in to get a drink
Don't forget the mosquito spray

ahhhh!  Quiet.  For about 3 minutes anyway, till it started all over.

Meanwhile, out in the tent.....

You don't think they really slept out there do you??
The next morning when I got up I found two of them asleep in the upstairs bedroom--the rest of them were helter skelter all over the living room floor.

At least they waited till I went to bed to drag their mess & bodies into the house, believe it or not I didn't hear a thing!