Friday Morning

Its Friday morning and I am cleaning house.  Well sort of, I am on the computer now. I have plans though.
I have jury duty on Monday. All day. At the courthouse. Sitting. Watching people. I am supposed to get there at 7:30 A.M. The courts won't even be open until 9:00 They don't send a bailiff to get you until 10 ish.
Then you and a million other people walk behind the Sheriff deputy like a bunch of ducks walking single file and then you wait outside a courtroom until the judge and his lawyers decide to call you in and then you wait some more. From 8 to 5. When I was a kid, your service times were a whole week. Things are better now because it is only one day. Then I will be good for a year. I am so glad I am getting this out of the way now. I am trying to be a good sport about it.

I am going to be able to get 10,000 steps easily by just walking back and forth to the court house from my car. I am going to take my lunch and have a picnic in my car at lunch time. I am going to take a couple of books with me and my headphones and listen to audio books as I wait. I might even be like Charles Dickens and write character sketches while I wait.  I am going to look at this as a adventure and not something to be endured. I figure that me and a million other people don't want to be there either so I can just be happy about it and see who God lets me see or meet that day.

A bunny we saw at the beach.

Well, now that I have whined a little about my day on Monday. I need to get to cleaning my house. Because you know, I might never come back from there and someone might come in and say I was a dirty house cleaner. I have my menus made out and my crock pot ready to go, because some one might starve while I am gone. My brain drives me crazy.

Have a lovely weekend, we had lovely rain yesterday and cold today. It feels like winter.
I love the seasons.
~Kim~

“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”  Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart.

A Trip to the Beach

 

In my whole life, I have never gone to the beach in January.  Everything is brown and the wind blew and it was cold. Except it was very clear and the sky was nice and blue. It was so nice to get away and plan for the coming year. I didn't realize how much I jump up and run off when I am at home because there is always something that needs attending to or taken care of. Ron made lists of things we need to do and get done. So once its down, since we are both about lists this works for us.

This is a nature preserve. We love to walk here. There aren't very many people and the wind and the crash of the surf is about it. As far as you can see is unspoiled land. Not to get all tree huggery on you. Its just nice there are a few places like that.

 

The elephant seals are coming in to have babies this time of year. They are huge and when they get up on those rocks they just kind of blubber around. That was what I was thinking as I stood and watched them. They do make sounds kind of like pigs. Then they sleep. All afternoon.

It is possible to go on vacation and stay on Whole 30. Much harder than I thought it would be. I cooked before I left home and brought food and we managed to not go out to a meal one time. It was hard but I feel like we made a huge break through. It can be done.  We start our fourth week on Monday. I finally made it though the wall and I think I will stay on it longer than 30 days. All of my anxiety is gone. For the first time in 37 years, Ron and I went on a trip and I didn't have a single panic attack. You have no idea how incredible this is for me. I sort of thought it might be a fluke, but then I rode in the car home and again no anxiety or panic attacks. This is what it is like to be a normal person. It felt so good.

As I walked this morning, I felt my head finally clear and I felt my creativity flowing back into my mind. I guess that is why its good to get away from the house. There is always so much vying for my attention.

I dyed wool last week. I finally got my pictures uploaded. My regular camera won't work so I had to use my I phone.

 

Not the colors I was hoping for, but nice colors just the same. I do enjoy dyeing wool. Now to spend more time hooking for awhile.

 

I think the road ahead is a nice one. Thank you for stopping by to be apart of this journey we call life.
There are so many good things in life. There are hard days and not so hard days. I am thankful for them all.
They help me to value what is good and to be thankful for the hard and to see joy where I find it.
Bless you today,
Kim

“Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream.” -Josephine Nuese

All in a Days Work.

Do you remember that from Readers Digest?  I always loved the jokes. When I was a kid, and I had to stay with my Grandma I would read those and just laugh and laugh. Its week three on Whole 30. One more week to go. This isn't as hard as I thought it would be, and no, I still don't feel great. I thought by now I would have so much energy and pep.  I still have to push myself to do every single thing. That aside.

Its raining today.  Not rain like the one that caused the mud slides. Just a nice ground soaking rain.
Then the second storm is cold so we will get snow from the second storm, well not us, but the mountain communities. We just get cold. Which is very nice. Our oranges and lemons and grapefruit are the very best we have ever had. Last year Ron had bought this stuff called Blooming Minerals. We used it on the fruit trees and on my tomatoes. Just to see if it changed flavor. It did. Not to mention the trees are loaded still. I picked bags and bags last week to give away and my trees still look like I haven't picked a single thing.

The old neighbors moved out. So the guy who owns the house has had a crew over there cleaning and repairing the damage that was left by his renters. There is a gal that does lots of that clean up for him and she is by far the hardest working woman I have ever seen. I watched her use a 10 pound sledge hammer on cement for two hours and then load it in the bucket of a tractor while the guy in the tractor sat and watched.

One day I saw her walk to one of the blood orange trees and pick and orange. The next day when I was outside getting the mail, I said, " You know you can pick all of the oranges you want." She looked appalled at me and she said, " What kind of oranges are on that tree right there? (It was one of the blood orange trees.)  I told her and she said, " I peeled that orange and it was blood red, it even tasted like blood! Did you put dye in there so people wouldn't take any?" I laughed and said, " No, that is the way they are supposed to be and she said, " I took it over to the guys and showed them and they wouldn't even touch it. No, no more oranges for me!!

I wish I could share some with you. They are just wonderful and so yummy.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. I am going to read, and sew and all of those things that I get to do on a rainy day.
Thanks for stopping by,
~Kim~

Second Week of Whole 30

 

Thank you so much for all of your kind thoughts and words.  As I write this morning it feels as if I am high up in a tree house. The wind is roaring around the house and rain is blowing sideways. It all feels very cozy and warm. I do love rainy, blowy days.

The second week of Whole 30 is going much better than the first. Getting off of sugar and flour was rough. I felt like I had the flu all week, then on Sunday morning, I felt like the lights came back on. It is amazing how fast my taste buds change once the taste of sugar is gone. Everything tastes good. One thing I have noticed is I haven't been able to eat oranges or citrus in years and now I can. I guess that is why they call it a reset. My memory has returned no more brain fade.

 I just love photographing raindrops. Okay back to Whole 30. I think having a goal of only 30 days helps with my mind too. Of course, Ron being so excited about it and helping me and cooking too has been really fun. I am making Minestrone soup tonight. Its a good soup night. It is a good sewing, hooking day too.

 I am doing my January reading of Christy by Catherine Marshall. I still remember when I was 13 and my Dad had taken us on vacation. They were getting ready to build that new road and Route 66 was going to be bypassed. He wanted us to have the whole experience of Route 66 before it was gone. We stopped at every gift shop, every snake pit and all of the other oddities that was on Route 66. We walked into a gift shop and I was looking around and I went over to a book rack and there was a paper back book called Christy. I picked it up and bought it and walked out to the car. I don't remember any thing else except my nose buried in that book. Last night while reading it, I realized that it was the beginning of me and my relationship with God. Miss Alice in the book, because for me what I wanted to be as a Christian and a woman. I think when they describe her cabin, that was the very first idea I had about hooking rugs, dyeing wool, using a loom and being a herbalist.  There is always something about reading that book that reminds me of  a simple life. I still want to make that quilt that Fairlight describes of the three phases of the moon and stars that she sees out her bedroom window.

 
 Time for me to make my trek out in the wind and rain to let my hens out of their house. The sun is up enough to see. I hope this second week of January has been a nice one for you.
Wishing you the best,
~Kim~

“What do you do when strength is called for and you have no strength? You evoke a power beyond your own and use stamina you did not know you had. You open your eyes in the morning grateful that you can see the sunlight of yet another day. You draw yourself to the edge of the bed and then put one foot in front of the other and keep going. You weep with those who gently close the eyes of the dead, and somehow, from the salt of your tears, comes endurance for them and for you. You pour out that resurgence to minister to the living.”
― Catherine Marshall, Christy

Whole 30

 

This December, I enjoyed myself. I ate lots of things I don't normally eat. By the time Christmas day arrived, I was sick of food. Sugar and flour. I got the bright idea that we would do Whole 30. I mean, what is 30 days right? I can do this! That was Monday. I went online and I got four menus with grocery lists. I went to the grocery store and bought every thing for a week. All of the fresh vegetables is fun. I do like trying new things. That's is nice positive part.

Now today is the fourth day. Four days without sugar! Flour! Having coffee black every day is such a drag, so is tea. I love honey. Today was by far the hardest.

 

I am so sad, depressed and grumpy. I keep waiting for all of the positive, and upbeat energy to hit. I knew the withdrawal would be hard, but sheesh this is crazy. I wanted to reset my system. I just had no idea it was going to be so hard. Its nice because Ron is on it with me and the boys are on it too. So we can keep each other laughing about it. We even made Ghee. That is pretty interesting. Today I had a orange, I have to tell you it was like the best thing I have ever ate in my life. So its beginning to work I think. Once I get past all of the whining and whimpering. I actually hid in my bedroom today so I could stay away from the kitchen and all of the food with flour and sugar I could make.

Freddy the best chicken in the world.

So anyway, that is my New Year goal. Make it to day 30. I think what is really good for me is I have to make every thing from scratch. I like that. I had got just a bit lazy. This way I am trying new recipes. Do you know what food I found I really like? Sweet potatoes. I never knew I could do so much with them.

I just thought I would share with you. This has been a nice week. The terrible neighbors moved out. Yay!! I got my jury summons today. Not yay. I am just going to accept it and move on. Tell myself over and over all of those things about a free society I learned about in Civics class.

Aw January. Always such an interesting month. Stay warm all of you in that cold blizzard. I hope it warms up soon.

Bye for now,
Kim

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. ~Ellen Goodman