Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

It is time to visit again with Patrice. She says it is too
cold to visit on her porch so we will be going inside.
It is too cool on my porch too. We might have beautiful
sunshine but we are having freezing temps. It has
made my chickens feathers sure grow in fast.
So now on to the questions

1. Have you ever had a blog slump?

Oh goodness yes!! It is terrible when it happens. It is usually after I have been really busy or I get too tired. My brain just refuses to work.

2. What's your favorite way to serve hot chocolate (cocoa)? Marshmallows on top? Whipped Cream? A cinnamon stick?

When I have my grand children come over they get to have hot chocolate at my house with lots of whip cream and sprinkles on top.

3. How do you handle it when you see someone you think you know, but cannot place? Do you approach them and ask, shy away, or just go home and hope you don't think of it at 2am?

I am one of those people who can remember people that I may have just met one time. I can tell you when and where it was and who I was with. IT is weird. Some of my kids can do it too. The only time it has happened when I saw this lady. I knew I knew her and I knew I really liked her. I couldn't place her at all. It took my brain two years but finally one night I woke up from a sound sleep and I remembered where I knew her from. We were going to take belly dancing classes together. I chickened out, :) I should have done it.

4. What was your position in your family? Were you the oldest, a middle child, the youngest or an only child?

I was the oldest of three children. Then after my Dad remarried, I not only got a new family but I then had a older brother. That part was just like the Brady Bunch. I really enjoyed having a older brother and younger ones as well. I always said I lived in a home with 3 children and then I lived in a family with six children and six was lots more fun. I always had someone to go run around with.

5. How do you handle accumulated possessions (stuff)? Are you a pack-rat, a minimalist, or somewhere in between?

I have always been a person who threw stuff away, or I always gave it away but then something happened, I need to give away about a ton of books, but find it really hard to do so, so I am always afraid of turning into a hoarder. So I need to get on the stick and do some major cleaning out.

Thanks to Patrice for her lovely questions this week. As always they
make me think of things I haven't thought of or she keeps me jumping with
new thoughts.
I can't wait to come and visit on your porches today.

What To Do With No Internet

Today at 11:00 A.M. our internet went down. My husband
came in the door at 5:30 went to the little box that didn't
have any green lights on it unplugged it and plugged it in and
the internet came back. ( We tried that all day.)

I found out some interesting things. I talked to my kids
more today than I have for years. We hung out all day.
They practiced instruments. They wrapped Christmas packages.
We spent all day in the same room. They watched me cook dinner.
They played with the dog.

I had thought of Oh no , what if it never comes back, I might have to
use the* gasp* the telephone to talk??? Who does that? Not me. I text,
but talk???

My friends all live in my computer. My friends all live in other states or
cities or countries. I have a magic carpet that allows me to have
friends like that.
I would hate to loose what I have but it is a scary thought.

So if I am gone for awhile you will know that my internet is down again
for the millionth time. My husband as I type is sitting next to me on
the site and boy, people are mad and it isn't just us. I am glad I am not
working for their tech support.

So just so you know, I hope your Monday was great.
Mine was just very different.

~Kim~

Being Thankful for Hard Things

Being Thankful for Hard Things

It was two years ago, that my Mom changed her residence from
this place we call home to a better place. Where there is no more pain.
For that I am thankful.
I always wished I was a person who could just
roll with the punches and move on and " just get over it."
I am not, still, trials come and I think too much and I remember...
I remember the laughter and the good times and the things we
did. I try to move on but It seems as if I must for a time dwell
in these lands.

I was thinking today, about being thankful for the hard things.
It is hard to be thankful when someone you love is in the middle
of a personal crises, and all you can do is stand by and watch.
My least favorite place to be. So this morning as I was praying
and trying to be thankful and try and see the good in this
situation, as the song says, I started trying to "count my blessings
one by one."

What I thought about is without hard things, I never notice the beauty
of the early morning sunrise. I never notice the red of the last leaves,
that have fallen as they lay upon the grass.



Without the hard things, I don't notice the little ways that people around
me show me love. It is only when someone I love hurts, that I see the love
I live with every day but take for granted.



Without clouds, we would never get rain. Without rain,
we would live in a desert. Then we would never see the
green of life. Rain brings cleansing and refreshment. The
same comes I think from the trials that are allowed. Then
I experience the sweetness of the joy of the evening sunset.



I think trials narrow my vision. One of the many
quotes I have used in my trials are these.
"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." (Elisabeth Elliot)

Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they
shall sorrow no more at all. (Jeremiah 31:12)

I have not yet learned to find joy in my sorrows.

When I feel disappointed in someone, It's usually due to my
expectations rather that their actions.

Anxiety is the opposite of peace. To overcome it I must remain in
the presence of God.



So today, I am thankful for the hard things, because they
seem to make my vision clearer, my loved ones more dear.
They make laughter more vibrant. The trials make
the touch of God more real and His Word more alive.
Trials cause me to run back to God from the places I have
strayed. They make a touch, a word, a smile, seem to be magic.
I have come to realize without the pain of life, I never know joy.

So today, I am thankful for hard things, because in them I find
the joy of life.

~Kim~

A Chicken Post

This is my Silkie Hen. She is a bantam. I only have one.
When the kids were young we tried over and over to get
Silkie hens but all we ever got were roosters.
Then the year I got chicks I got two silkie hens, a white one
and a gray one. I just loved the gray one best.
But something got into my coop and killed my gray one.
I have tried over and over to get more hens but all I have
had has been more roosters.
Until today.

I am on My Pet Chicken's mailing list and they had the
availability page up for ordering chicks for 2012 so I took the plunge.
On or about May 7th I will be getting 8 Silkie Bantam Chicks. I ordered
an assortment.

Blue ones like these.

Aren't they pretty? This is the color of the one
I liked so much.

Maybe some black ones.

Maybe a Partridge color. Maybe one of each, I don't know, but any-day that chicks are coming is a good day. I won't get mine until May 7th. Which is good, I wanted it to be a bit warmer because they have to travel so far across the country to get to me. I can always buy bigger breeds at the feed store. I might buy some more Cuckoo Marans this year. I lost 10 hens in 2011. I can get some more replacement hens. The last time I went to the feed store, they had silkie chicks but they were all roosters. This way if I order them I can get hens. I don't know but knowing that I will be getting chicks in the spring, just makes it feel like 2012 will be a good year. We also get a new baby in March so there is so much to look forward too. Isn't it funny to think I just ordered chicks that aren't even an egg yet? Have a great weekend, ~Kim~