The 2012 Wrap-Up

I wish I could wrap up 2012 with a whole list of great things I accomplished. What I see from where I stand is a whole lot of things and roads I traveled that didn't go very far. If I could say one thing about 2012 I would say it was filled with challenges and I expect 2013 to be the same.
This last year I spent lot of time being really mad at God. I fought Him and I yelled at Him and accused Him. There were times I thought that this relationship I think I have must all be in my head. I prayed and begged and pleaded. All to a ceiling in my house. The prayers bounced off, and the heavens had a sign that said, " Move on no prayers answered for you." That was how I felt. The emptiness in my soul was a wide as the Grand Canyon.

 I felt this barren inside most days. I felt abandoned and all alone. I know simple rules that faith is not about feelings. Faith is in the person of Jesus Christ, The Bible and reading that Book over and over even when I didn't feel it. It is praying even when I don't want to and it is getting up and doing the right things over and over again and it is about never giving up. Then remember when that letter came? I met my Waterloo. Who I am and what I am came spewing forth. I was bumped. Need I tell you the ways I plotted revenge? The conversations I had in my mind every day and every night. I thought I would loose my mind. I begged God to let me forgive and move on. I begged God because some one else had taken over my body and who I thought I was was just gone.

Then as so often happens. I gave up and I said, Okay, Lord, not my will but yours and I will obey. So I did a few very simple things and on that day, it was just like magic. The trials came to an end, the prayers I prayed and I thought were not heard began to tumble like dominoes just falling in to place with the gentle clicking sounds as they all fall in a row. So I close the year with that long list of prayers with a date and an answer beside it. Most of them answered with answers far greater than I expected and with much better results than I dreamed. I became so humbled and ashamed at my lack of true faith. I have seen things in me that make me shrink back in shock that I could be so hateful and evil. I realize that it is only Jesus in me not a different set of circumstances that even gets me though the day.

I will say I have learned so much. I also will say standing here now and looking back. I am thankful. I know without a doubt that when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with me. Even though I am not real wild about the rod, I know there are times I need it like I need His staff to guide me. I know that He is the good shepherd and that as a sheep, I know my shepherds voice. I know that when I stray, He finds me and carries me gently home. Yes, in 2012 He has led me down paths I did not want to go. He never left me nor did He forsake me. He has continued to expand my vision and has shown me His mercy.
I think the best lesson I have learned in 2012 is that " I must trust God---my times are in His hands. His timing is never late."

 

The verse I claim for 2013 is this from Isaiah 58:11

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Thank you for reading my words today. Thank you for being with me through this year of my life. I think 2013 will be a year of relinquishment for me. It will be giving up and opening my hands of all that I am so that when I was young and God would bless us with one more baby and I would think I couldn't do it one more time and somehow I did. How little did I know that He had so much more in mind than I could ever dream. 

 He took my life and He restored all of the years the locust had eaten and He continues to give me more than I ever deserve. When I looked at the photo, I saw what God has done with a very unwilling servant. Just think what He could do with a willing one.

I wish you blessings and peace and joy and love in 2013

~Kim~

Odds and Ends

I have a small bit of fever few that has survived the frost and the cold. It is looking a bit battle worn but when there is no flowers to speak of I will take anything I can get. Even these seem to lift my spirits. It is snowing all around us and the weather report said we would be getting, "showers around." I am glad I am not traveling today.

I wanted to show you the present my son made for his Dad this year for Christmas. Our son among other things is a machinist. When he was a little boy he would make swords and things in the garage with just a grinder and a hammer and he would use old scooter parts to make what he saw in his head. He became a welder and then he became a machinist. He has a lathe in his garage and he makes beautiful things. This is one piece of aluminum and he made this design It is four sided and each is completely uniform. My husband is so proud of it. Well we all are proud of it.

Here is another view of it. My husband is going to take it to work to put on his desk  I am always so thankful that my kids can express themselves artistically. It always makes me sad that they have removed that art programs from the schools here. I just feel that if people can do something creative, it helps rest the mind in a good way. 

I finally finished a counted cross stitch I was working on, not before Christmas but at least it is finished now.

This is from Pineberry Lane. I don't know what I will do with it but it was a nice pattern to make. I never had to rip out anything, now I can see. I thought my seam ripper was going to have to be permanently attached to my hand.

My daughter has some pictures of Christmas Eve if you want to visit her blog. netraptor.org She remembered to bring her camera and I was so busy I never had time to even think about pictures. When I look at the pictures it just amazes me how our family has grown. There is a tiny bit of me in a picture cooking clam chowder. :)
So that is it for today. It is so nice to have a stormy December after not having winter last year. I am enjoying ever bit of it.

Have a lovely day,
~Kim~

It Was The Day After Christmas

It was the day after Christmas and all through the house, not a ornament nor tree was found in the house.
Yep, I got up this morning, while my husband was cooking breakfast, and started putting every thing away and cleaning and it was nice having him home because we got the tree down and out in the shed all before 10:00 AM
I moved furniture back to it's places and now peace reigns. We had a lovely Christmas and I did really think this year, I might be able to just let things be but I am not. I am ready to move on. Knowing that we have a wedding here May 18th, 2013 has all of my attention. My husband is planting flower seeds and we have snap dragons coming up nicely. The seed catalogs came in the mail and I turned to the flower seed sections because her colors with be magenta, white and purple.

Anyway, I finished rugs and I wanted to show you the picture of the rug I made for Meg.

I have a note card with this design on it and the original art is done by a lady named Dotty Chase, who is an American Folk Artist. I love her art so much. It just speaks to me and the way I like things to look. She reminds me a lot of Warren Kimble. who I like a lot too.

I finished binding the other rugs I did earlier in the year. I think I got over my fear of binding rugs. You know with my new glasses I feel like a new woman. I feel like I can do anything again. I didn't realize how depressed I had become. So anyway I feel like dancing again and singing. Not a single headache now for almost a month.

Okay back to rugs.
I finally finished the crow and pumpkin rug.

I really like this rug. I was wondering how do people who make rugs, get to the point where they sell them? I feel like a hoarder. Oh this pattern came out of the magazine Primitive Quilts. I believe it is in the first issue.
I am going to make this as a quilt someday. I am getting the craving to do some quilting again. Now that I can see.

My next rug is the one that I had my daughter copy the chickens from a pot holder I had. Now I have some serious love issues going on with this chicken rug. I put it down briefly in front of the wood stove when we had people here for Christmas Eve. Only briefly. After everyone left I picked it up and put it on a bench I have. So it will be there a while until I can find somewhere that it will be safe. I am feeling a bit like Gollum and "His precious." Over this one.

My brain is going crazy again and I have rugs that I want to make dancing jigs in my head. I would like to finish up the couple I have that now I can work on and I would like to try and finish them before the New Year. I have to get as much hooking done as  I can because I know that once we shift into full panic mode of wedding preparation there won't be much time for hooking and sewing.

Thanks for stopping by today. My husband got a few phone book size programming books for Christmas so I hang out with him on the computer or sew when he is on the computer and I thought it would be nice to do a post.
It has been a lovely week so far.
~Kim~

A Merry Christmas To You

I am wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for making me laugh and cry. Thank you for sharing your lives with me, and thank you for always giving to me far more than I ever deserve. I hope your day is filled with blessing upon blessing, and each moment is filled with love.

I am leaving you with one of my favorite winter poems today.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

 

 

~Kim~

A Moon Light Stroll

It has been cold here. In fact walking in the morning and at night the ground is frozen. The leaves are raining and one morning I will get up and the ground will be filled with gold. I don't know if you noticed but last night the moon was beautiful. It looked more like a harvest moon. It wasn't even full yet. It was about 30 degrees when Sasha decided it was time to go out. I get out of my warm bed and go outside barefoot and no coat.
I try to pretend I am a Indian who has just left the sweat lodge and I am jumping into the icy creek. For my health you know.

The cotton woods make this lovely sound now and they shimmer in the light. When they get frozen though, it sounds like water spraying. The ground is frozen like I mentioned and last night it sounded like a water pipe had broke and water was spraying out in the back. After the water heater escapade of last week, the water hose on the back of the fridge broke and my kitchen got flooded this week. I am jumpy about broken water pipes right now.

That beautiful gold tree right there is the culprit. As I stood out in the cold, I knew I needed to go check. As I have mentioned I am a coward. Not to mention all of the animals that have decided this is a good place to live. There are cats, foxes, possums, skunks, and an occasional raccoon. When eyes look back at me at night when I have a flashlight in my hand, well it just freaks me out.
I hated to do it but I went in and woke my sleeping, warm husband out of a sound sleep. I said, " I think there must be a broken water line in the pasture." He got up put on shoes and a coat and I did too. He took the flashlight and we traipsed outside. The air was cold and crisp and crystal clear. The moon was starting to set and you could see hundreds of crisp clear stars. The big dipper was over my head. The ground was frozen under my feet. We walked out to the back and because the moon was so bright and the light from it was reflecting off of the frost it was very bright. We looked and no water. Just the sound of the frozen leaves

bouncing and twisting and making the shhhh sound in the tree. We just stood and listened. Then we realized we were freezing and we went back to the house. Now wide awake.
I am so thankful today that there was no water. That even at night the sound of the wind in the trees is beautiful. I am so thankful that even at night there is beauty all around.

Thanks for stopping by today, I am glad the Mayans were wrong. I knew they were. They used a 360 day year calendar. I expect it will be a beautiful day.
Blessings to you all,
~Kim~

Chats on The Farmhouse Porch

This is one of the views from my porch today. The pasture next door. Everything is covered in frost so it is much too cold to visit out there today.
I hope you are all having nice days and all of your Christmas shopping is finished. All I have left to do is the baking. Okay onto this weeks questions:

1.What would you like to see under your Christmas tree?

This year is different, we have a new a new grand baby this Christmas and Nik will be spending his first Christmas with us. This year has been a challenging year for us. We have been so blessed though, because of  the wonderful gifts God has given us. As we begin to close 2012 and make plans for 2013 I am reminded that the gift I want most under the tree, is that all who enter my home would feel like they have finally come home and they would feel love and acceptance and that the Holy Spirit would comfort them as they are welcomed into our arms.  If there is one thing that I desire, it is that God would continue to fill  me  so that I will not grow weary and tired of doing good. 

2.What is your best color for clothes?

Oh, I don't know anymore. Stuff that doesn't show stains. I spill things and drop things and get my clothes so dirty anymore. I can wear a white shirt about five minutes now before I spill coffee on it. I guess black.

3.Tell me your favorite kind of cookie.

My Sister in law makes for me every year, this kind called Reindeer food. It is just oatmeal and chocolate and peanut butter. You cook it on top of the stove and they are unbaked drop cookies. I love those things. I only have them when she brings them Christmas Eve. They are simple to make but I never do make them because I would eat them all by myself. I have to admit I have become a big fan of soft molasses cookies. I am crazy about molasses now.

4.What's in the middle of your dining table right now? (flowers, a lazy Susan with condiments, Christmas decorations...)

I have a snowman table runner and a ceramic snowman my husband's Grandmother made for me the first Christmas we were married. I think of it as my first Christmas decoration.

5.Please help me spread Christmas cheer to my buddy, Wendell. Please a wish for him here. :)
I hope you have a great year Wendall.

This week is just flying by. It does feel like Christmas though after not having cold weather last year. I am enjoying each day of cold, crisp weather.

Thank you so much Patrice for this week's questions

~Kim~

The Saga of My Glasses

I got my glasses. It has been a love/hate experience. I got my sunglasses and it was like " Wow!!!" I can see.
I could see distance, I could see every thing. I could drive and not be afraid I was going to cause a wreck.

Then they called and said my glasses were in. I went to the place with the same joyful anticipation. I was already dreaming of all the things I would be able to see and how much fun it would be to go shopping by myself and not have to have a kid with me to read labels. Or my husband who is always so patient.

I got progressive lenses. You know when I was there and they were throwing words at me, I shook my head like I knew what they were saying. I was expecting the kind I get at the drug store. They aren't. I have to move my head around like a ostrich. I have to move my head up and down and sideways. I can't see a leaf on a tree unless I am a foot from the tree. Distance. Forget it. Drive with them, they are like my normal eyes without glasses. In fact, I can see better without them.

Now the good part. I can sew!!!! They are great for sewing. I can sew for hours and never get a headache. I can read recipes. Last night I did counted cross stitch for 3 hours. I never even had to rip anything out. It was wonderful.

I can't see a thing if I am in front of the computer with them though. I can't read either. I have to fall back on my drug store glasses for that.

So I am happy that I can sew. I am happy that they fixed my headaches. I might even grow into them. I am supposed to wear them all day. I can't yet but I hope that I can soon.

I will take a picture soon and show them to you. I like them. The other night, I was able to hook a rug and watch a movie. I have never been able to do that before. So in a way, it is like the world opened up to a new level for me.
So life is good,
~Kim~

When My Field Of Dreams, Turns to Gold

I love this time of year in my field of dreams. The cotton woods turn bright gold. The sun hits them in the early morning light. The breezes cause the leaves to shimmer. For a day or so the gold against the sky is breathe taking. Then the trees begin to rain leaves and by Christmas the trees will be undressed and asleep for a few months. Such is The Field of Dreams.

This week I worked on a few things I wanted to share. First my little rug that I gave as a gift yesterday so I can show you a picture.

I am sorry this is so dark I didn't realize it until I took the pictures off the camera, and of course this is the only photo I have. Fun little project. Though I was trying to figure out why this is the design I have made this Christmas season.

I made bath salts. I really need to work on the spiral thing in the jar. I got the recipe last year from The Letter 4 It smells wonderful. I will be making a lot more of this.

I made these which are wonderful and dangerous. They are salted caramels. When my husband took a bite he said, " Oh these are turtles."

That is a better picture I got the recipe here. 
I know why I don't make candy very much. I am a klutz for one thing. The first step is to take two whole pecans and put them on parchment paper. I bump them, I knock them into the next row it took me so long to get them on the paper I wanted to scream. Note to self, never try and make candy when I have to be somewhere else at a different time.

Then you are supposed to take caramels and unwrap a square and put them on top of the pecans. My caramels were cold, so I put them in the microwave. Just for a couple of seconds. This is important. They get hot if you do it too long like my first batch. I burned the heck out of my fingers. I was in a hurry so I just powered through the pain. I got the caramels on top of the pecans. You are supposed to put them in a 325 degree oven for five minutes. While that was happening you are supposed to take melted chocolate chips and put a dab on the parchment paper.  Now take hot pecans and caramels and put on top of the melted chocolate chips. Both are hot. Have I mentioned I was in a hurry? Silly me, I thought I could use my finger to scrape of a dab of HOT-melted- chocolate chips onto the parchment paper.  Do you have any idea how hot melted chocolate chips get that have been microwaved with butter? Trust me, very hot. So now the only finger that I don't have burned is my ring finger on my left hand. I don't know how I missed that finger but I did. I have also burned my tongue trying to get the hot chocolate  off of my fingers.

My kitchen was a mess with melted chocolate, caramel papers, and parchment paper with scattered bits of turtles everywhere. I got the turtles off. It was a good thing my husband came in for a sample. Because the first one tore apart and I said, " Oh no, how am I going to get these things off?" He said, " Isn't that why you put them on parchment paper? to peel the paper off?" Duh!!! It worked beautifully.
I don't do fussy food. I don't have the patience. But when they are bagged up very nice and look very festive.

Last night the kids were eating them pretty fast so they are very good. I ate some just to sample them. I might try this recipe again but not when I am not in a hurry. I think I would put the dab of chocolate chips on the parchment paper first, then the pecans, then have the caramels warmed. I might even make my own because I detest unwrapping those little squares. That is when I need little kids around. I like it better when my kitchen is filled with people when I bake. It was quiet and boring. I needed people to sample and all I had was me. After years on Weight Watchers, I don't sample anything.

I want to leave now with this thought today:

If God is almighty, there can be no evil so great as to be beyond His power to transform. That transforming power brings light out of darkness, joy out of sorrow, gain out of loss, life out of death.
"from a Lamp for My Feet, pg. 72"

" Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all."
Jeremiah 31:32

~Kim~

Happy Friday

Happy Friday!!! I am so glad it is Friday and it is this Friday. Not yesterday and not last week. I have to say that I begged God to not be on jury duty last week. Begged, promised, pleaded.  Last week my husband quoted this to me. " A thorn in the flesh was given to me...I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me."
ll Corinthians 12: 7-8

Then I read this: It's a mercy of God that He says no to many of our prayers because He loves us, and He knows that the prayer we're praying would lead to disaster." 

It was good that God said No to me. It gave me back my vision of being thankful again in all things. It showed me the little things that I had been taking for granted. He showed me how to stop, slow down and gave me eyes to see all of the blessings. You see I had gotten myself to a place where I was complaining more than I was praising.

Last week, I took time to sit and hook a rug while my soon to be married daughter to knitted. We drank tea, and coffee and listened to music. We both knew we had things to go do, but knowing that after a week at jury duty and things didn't get done but the world didn't stop spinning. So we made time. Next Christmas she will be in her own house, doing her own things so gone will be this time we shared this week.

 Every thing yesterday with the hot water heater went smoothly. It was all in and we had hot water by lunch time. We did have to have a plumber come out because the turn off valve broke and my husband had never seen anyone "sweat a valve," before. He knows now. The nice man who came last year came this time. My husband asked how much it would be if he did the water heater. My husband and the boys were very happy by how much money they saved by doing it themselves. I was so thankful about that.

Today is hack-roses-back-to-sticks-day. Poor things but it is that day. I always think while I am doing my roses that God has to keep doing this to me. He chops back the vine that isn't producing flowers. He cuts those limbs that have become full of thorns. He sees the little buds if given the chance could become a beautiful bloom, but in order for it to turn into a beautiful rose, He must continue trimming, and cutting and shaping. So He continues to give me trials, and keeps me going in the direction He has for me. I know that I need to keep my eyes on the prize rather than my own comfort.

I have always longed to be as Mary was when she was told she would be the mother of the Son of God.

" I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. " May it be to me as you have said."
" Luke 1:38"

I wish someday, I could have that kind of faith.
Have a great Friday too,
~Kim~

Ho, Ho, Ho

Do you ever feel sometimes like your life is a episode from I Love Lucy? Do you remember yesterday when I told about my bedroom smelling like I washed a sheep? I finally checked the rug I steamed and it was so dry but I could still smell wet wool. Last night, I was going to take my shoes off and put on my house shoes, I never do that normally. I wear my shoes until I get into bed at night. It was raining and the wind was blowing and it just sounded cozy. No one was coming over last night so I though I was safe. I took my shoes off in my closet and my feet got wet. Ron was taking off his boots and I looked at him and I said, " The carpet is soaking wet!!!" We both dropped to our knees and sure enough the carpet in the closet is wet almost to the door way. We looked at each other and both said, " The hot water heater is leaking. We went to the door of the office and sure enough water was pouring out the door onto the porch.

This is the place outside on the porch where the hot water heater is and the unit for the forced air. The water has been running down that wall into my closet which is on the other side. My husband grabbed a hose and hooked it up to drain the hot-water heater so it drained all night. The hard thing is getting that heavy thing off that bench thing it sits on.

Last year it was December  23rd when the other hot water heater broke. This water heater is for our room and the guest room. So it doesn't get used as much as the other one. When we built this house we thought it was over kill to have so many air conditioners and hot water heaters but I am glad now. I can still do my laundry today and the kids still have hot water to take showers with upstairs and I have hot water in my kitchen. 
I am thankful I have boys to help their Dad today and we don't have to wait for a plumber. Or pay one. I am thankful that it was just a year ago so we still remember what you have to do to change one out.  I am thankful it is the 13th and not December 23rd and I am thankful that most of the water went outside. I was wanting to clean and reorganize my closet anyway so I will get that done. It is just sooner that I was planning. I am also thankful it happened this week and not last week when I was on jury duty. Not to mention I am so thankful my husband is so handy. Thankfully, he was able to take today off. It is only 42 degrees and it has stopped raining.
Next December, we should be good on water heaters.

Well, I need to get off because I can hear my husband trying to move that heavy thing by himself. It is early and he always wants to let the boys sleep.

So while I feel like my life sometimes is a bad episode of a sitcom. It does always work out in the end.

Have a great day,
~Kim~

Total Random Thoughts By Kim

This has been such a weird year for our fruit trees and our garden. It was so hot for so long. This is our orange tree. Just a simple navel orange tree. Somewhere it got the wrong signals and here it is with green fruit and it is blooming like crazy. These oranges should be turning orange. It does smell wonderful though. The cold makes the orange blossoms smell like the best Christmas smell. Maybe it brings back the memories of oranges in the toe of my stockings when I was a kid.

The lemon tree is loaded too. My mouth waters every time I look at these lovely little lemons. It is a Myer Lemon Tree, so they are almost all juice anyway. But even they have got the wrong signals too.

I loved the color of the lemon blossoms. I think it is such a perfect color for Christmas don't you?

This is a pink grapefruit tree. I think this will be the first year we will get very nice grapefruit off of this tree. There really is nothing better than picking ripe grapefruit off the tree when it is cold and frosty and eating them. A bit of heaven I think.

My hens have all finally feathered out. They looks so pretty and healthy. Their combs are nice and pink again and their beaks have color. When hens are laying they loose the color in their faces. Their beaks get almost white and their combs get pale too. It is so nice to see them looking so plump and healthy and happy.

I know you can't see this very well, but it is the hen going in the gate with her little fluffy bottom showing. I just love it when they get there new feathers and they have the fluffiest petticoats.

Yesterday the eye doctor called to tell me that my sun glasses were in not my regular ones yet  though. I drove down and I was scared because the glare yesterday was so bad. They gave them to me and I put them on. All I can say is I must be just as blind as a bat. I could see. It was amazing. I could drive and not be afraid and I could see everything. I got home and I could see the Christmas tree and the individual lights on the tree. I walked outside and I could see the leaves on the trees. I even kept the sunglasses on in the house just because it was such a wonderful experience to be able to see. I hope my other glasses come this week.

I have been hooking this week. Trying to get finished with what I was working on for Christmas. Yesterday I started steaming the rug I had finished. Yesterday though my room smelled like I had been washing sheep all day. This morning I was taking my shower and I thought, " That rug really stinks what am I going to do? I can't give it to anyone smelling that bad."
The smell was horrible and it was getting worse. Then it dawned on me. It is a skunk. I won't tell you the words that crossed my mind but there was lots of colored expressions of how I really feel about skunks.
When I get up in the morning I let the cats out for a bit. So my thought was one of the cats got sprayed.
I went outside chasing my cats and sniffing them to see if it was them. They thought I had lost my mind. They would look at me with big eyes and mad expressions as they ran away from me.

The inside of my house smells like skunk. I finally broke down and opened a window and I have lit candles so now the inside smells like a apple/cinnamon/ skunk house. With a cold breeze blowing through. The skunk got hit and somehow the smell went right into my house I think due to the prevailing wind.

I hope you are having a nice week. I have another rug to finish up today. Sorry I can't show you pictures yet but I will after Christmas.
Have a lovely Wednesday,
~Kim~

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

It is the day when we stop by to visit with Patrice. It is a little cold out on my porch this week. We have a storm coming for the next couple of days. This one is coming down from Alaska so we will be having some lovely cold weather. It was so hot for so long I find myself just loving the cold.

Now on to this weeks questions:


1.    What's your favorite ornament on your tree? If you have no Christmas tree, please tell me about something pretty in your home that you enjoy.

Most of the ornaments I have are from friends and family and the ones the kids and I made. When they were small I would cut out shapes on my saw and then they would paint them for the tree. I think those are my favorites.

2.    What do you do when a telemarketer calls?

I just say I am not interested. Most of the time  though, they are automated so I never talk to anyone, I just hangup.

 3.   What was the last kind of candy you had? Admit it- you had one tiny little bite. We understand:)

I haven't had any at all. Isn't that weird. Chocolate makes my headaches so much more worse that I have just stopped eating it. Not to mention in the back of my mind is the wedding pictures that I am going to have to be in in just 5 short months. It has done wonders to make me stop eating things I shouldn't, :)

4.    Do you send out Christmas cards? If not applicable- do you use snail mail?

Yes, but I haven't got to any card writing yet.

5.    Please finish this. I sometimes wonder___________________________.

 If we just couldn't go back to the way Christmas was when I was a kid. The focus was on the really nice dinner on Christmas Day at my grandparents house. It was much more simpler and less stress. Now my schedule looks like a crazy woman lives here with all of the notes about what is going on and who has to be where at what time.

Thank to Patrice for a bunch of nice questions this week.
I hope you are having a great week.
~Kim~

Monday Morning

It is finally Monday, I hate to say normal because I never know anymore what is normal. At least it seems normal so far. My husband and I got up yesterday morning and we decided that before we went to bed last night we were going to be finished Christmas shopping. We were not going to come back home until we were finished. We did it then we came home and got every single thing wrapped and put under the tree.

We finished up the online things and except for the stockings I am finished. I think sitting there at the courthouse lit a fire under me. All I could do was sit there and think of all of the things I had not got accomplished. I didn't care how tired I felt this weekend I was going to push through it. I told my son while I was at jury duty if he would finish all of his school on his own, for the next two weeks, we would take our vacation today.

When I got home on Friday night he brought me his work and the lesson plans and he had done it all. So as of today I am on vacation. Which doesn't mean much except I won't be going upstairs to do school. Now I can bake and clean house and sew and all of the things that I normally put off in a normal week. I can walk to my hearts content and not be rushing because I need to do school. In a normal week when I am doing school I do this sprint thing all day long. Now I can just be on half speed.

It is so nice to be home and the weather here is going to be winter like all this week. For us, it will be cold and there will be snow in the mountains. We have fog today. You know how some of you that live with snow in the winter.
Well it doesn't feel like December because you don't have snow on the ground? Well it is the same with me and fog. It doesn't feel like Christmas until we have fog. The air is damp and wet and it smells like Christmas to me.
I am so thankful to be right where I am right now. I feel like I have just a lovely week before me.

Thank you for stopping by today,
Kim

Just Saturday

Today has been getting things done that I couldn't get to after my stint on jury duty. I got excused late yesterday afternoon. I am so thankful. So was everyone else who didn't get picked. Everyone almost danced to the parking lot. The people who did get picked were making plans next week to go out to lunch and do things together. They were making the best out of the task at hand.

I met lots of very nice people. People who cared very much about justice. The judge was very concerned about the law and doing the right thing. I might get cynical but it was good to be around so many positive, upbeat people.

At the first when we went into the court room, the judge asked for a show of hands for the people that it would be a hardship for to do jury duty until December 21st. I would have loved to have been able to come up with an excuse, but I thought saying, " I haven't done any Christmas shopping  yet." Sounded very weak and selfish. So just stayed silent.

 

One of the things I noticed one day walking into the courthouse was a plaque on the wall that said that the courthouse was built in 1957 and finished in 1959. I think people must have been lots smaller. The chairs you have to sit in are so close together and so small. If they call your name to walk to the jury box you have to climb over peoples laps. 

As I was leaving yesterday, a young man stopped at my car and started telling me that he had spent 3 nights sleeping in his car. He lives in a mountain community and he was afraid that he would miss jury duty so he just stayed down here and wore the same clothes for 3 days. I felt so sorry for him. He said he was so excited to get to go home. 

One thing I noticed I hadn't noticed before was how I phones, I pads, and  Kindles have made it so people are in their own worlds but don't interact much with strangers. I did my share of texting mind you. I also didn't visit with other people like I would have done in the past. I wanted to sit and watch people which I did. But I can only do that for so long and then I just have to talk to people. So I did meet some lovely, sweet and kind people. 

I always say I won't start December eating aspirin like M and Ms but I am off to a great start. I know if I had been picked as a juror by the time it was over I might have lost 10 pounds. All the walking and I was so sick at my stomach there was no way I could eat. I was up every morning no later than 4:00 A.M. to try and get my things done before I left. I would come home for lunch too and make sure every thing was okay. It always was too. 

I don't know if I am just a garden variety kind of nut or what. It wasn't that bad, it really wasn't. I had to look very hard at all of the good that is around me. I would get so off base by circumstances that I would panic. Sitting and waiting while they called names and never knowing when yours might or might not be called was the worst kind of torture for me. Watching them excuse people, then waiting to see who the next people who would be called and then in front of all of those people to have to share about your personal life to me is just a nightmare to me in my brain. Even though I tell you all of this junk all of the time. 

But it is over now for a year. I started Christmas shopping this morning. I did my grocery shopping and laundry. So getting up at 4:00 A.M. is a good thing. 

So I am back and God did part the Red Sea for me. I now have time to do all of the things I wanted to get done. Now I can watch the trees change color and go for walks and have time to watch the leaves fall. Not to mention sew again. 

Have a great day,

~Kim~

Jury Duty

I didn't want you to think I had suddenly took off for parts unknown. I am in the second day of jury selection. So I am sitting in a courtroom with 80 other people. It takes a long time to question each one. I expect to be there all day today. The walk to the court house is about a mile from where jurors have to park. The leaves are all still red and yellow. The street is littered with color. I got to stand and watch a train pass yesterday while I waited to cross the tracks. The judge really cares about his job. The people are very nice and no one wants to be there at Christmas time. The attorneys look about 12 and 15 They aren't of course, but I feel ancient.
If I get picked for a juror, the trial won't be over until December 21st. I am trying very hard to be a happy camper and as I read today, if Moses didn't step down to the red sea, he wouldn't seen the miracle that God would do, so I am trying to have that attitude.

Well, time to assemble my things and go to the courthouse.

Have a lovely day, and I am glad it is Friday.

~Kim~