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Showing posts from 2016

December Diatribe

Friday I really should not be writing anything today. My to-do list is a mile long – and those are just the starred “must, really, really get done today” items. But if I wait until I actually have time to write it might be Feb. before I get back on here. This has been the hardest December I’ve had in many years. And it’s not even because Paul is dead. I have just been so stressed and so busy and so sick. Add in a church Christmas program, a school program, weekly therapy appointments for a couple of kids, Christmas shopping, some sick kids this week, decorating, preparing meals for hunters, scouring up layers of clothing for my hunters, butchering next week, several finals and papers, all due at once, and I’m a candidate for the looney bin! Next year I am starting earlier. Like in July. I have been to two different doctors in the past two weeks. I was grocery shopping a week and a half ago and finally thought to myself, “I just can’t do this anymore.” I checked out and went s

My Weakness, His Strength

Sunday I had intended to hang my Christmas fence garland this afternoon, but it is pouring rain right now. Maybe I’ll wait. In the meantime, I have Christmas music blaring all over the house, thanks to the kids. It’s a little disconcerting to have Toby Mac singing about Christmas, a singing reindeer playing “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer” and my snow globe trilling about wishing us a Merry Christmas – especially when they are all in the same room with each other. So yes, Thanksgiving is over and it is officially the Christmas season. And – I’m doing ok. Normally, this time of year puts me a real funk. Around the first or second week of Nov. I noticed I was feeling a little more heavy-hearted and then it occurred to me that the holidays were approaching and it suddenly made a little more sense as to why I was feeling that way. But I’m doing all right now, I feel. Maybe this will be my best holiday season yet, post marriage. We’ll see. Ellie…well, her goodness that I wrote

Mattress Toppers, the Election, and Flowers that need Tending

Monday and Tuesday I am dizzy today (I think it’s hormone-related – gotta love this stage of life!). But I’m also well-rested. I slept for 10 hours straight last night. I was so tired I didn’t even hear Will when he arrived home in his mufferless car (“It’s not that bad, Mom” he always says. Um yes, yes it is, really). Some of that’s because I had to get up at 5:15 the previous morning. More on that later (PS: didn't get to it this post - next one). But I think I finally got my mattress topper situation figured out. I ordered one that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I ended up returning it because I discovered that memory foam makes you hot at night. Well, I can’t have that, right now especially (reference my earlier comment about this particular stage of life). I really liked that pad because it also came with a fluffy topper. But I sent it back – in two boxes because memory foam is impossible to squeeze into small areas once it’s been set free. They must have m

Seeking the Sun

Tuesday November is both a “blue” and “brown” month for me. It’s blue because I experience synesthesia (it’s a real thing – look it up) and brown because that’s just what I think of when I think of Nov. It’s kind of the bridge between glorious orange and red October and the white and green of December. But today it’s not brown. It’s sunny and pretty. It’s also supposed to be 73 degrees, which is actually annoying because by this time of the year I like to have all the summer clothes packed away and instead, I am tripping over two seasons of clothing still in closets and on dressers. Halloween is over. Half the birthdays are over. I am relieved. Ellie did not go trick or treating last night (that was fun explaining THAT to the neighbors!) Nor did she carve a pumpkin last week. And I had plenty of pumpkins. Out of the 5 seeds that sprouted, I harvested 12 pumpkins. I think David carved 3. Last night I ripped up my vines and carried them to the burn pile. It was interesting

Godliness or the Generational Gap?

Monday Mid October and it’s supposed to get up to 85 degrees today. Ugh. I turned the AC back on. Lizzie has outgrown all her summer tops and I hate sending her to school every day in shirts and shorts that are straining at the seams. Bring on the cold weather! I did get to use my electric blanket one night last week – on low. That was nice. It’s just kind of a schizophrenic time of year, I guess. I spent some time at the mall a week or so ago. As I walked through, I noticed that they were playing Christian music over the loudspeakers. Huh. Then, it occurred to me that any more, there’s not a whole lot of difference between secular and popular Christian music, so that could be why. Later, I was in Dillards and I heard hymns playing. I thought to myself, “Wow – now that’s really nice!” I was enjoying them for quite some time before I realized the hymns were coming from my own pocket. My music on my phone had accidentally turned on and it was Anthem Lights singing one of