Warmth, Messiness, A Beautiful Life

It was a day of noise, of messiness, of 70 degree weather, of windows open, of Spring in the air, of noise, of silence.  All summed up, a day of beauty.  A hard day, definitely; a day of learning, of getting it done, of letting it go, yet still beautiful.

Saw glimmers of what it would be like having a larger family, at least for a few hours.  Saw the personalities in children and "rolled" with each unique one.  Thankfulness throughout the day.  Reminders of how quickly time flies; how moments drag on.  Greatful for bedtimes and the hope of doing it al again tomorrow.

• first round of coffee
• a singular clover, reaching for sunshine
• laughter
• science experiments
• younger being a gracious host
• large enough house to "hid" from the craziness

 Singular Clover

As messy as Christmas morning!

Movie One Liners!

Probably the most frequent one for me is "storms coming up Annie, you better get home quick!" from Star Wars Episode 1.  It usually comes out "storms coming Annie" when the big, gray and dark gray clouds roll in, during the summer.  We had a few of those today. 

Today, it had me thinking of other one liners we say around here.  Some are:

• "this one goes to 11" from Spinal Tap
• "What is the ultimate number?" from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• "What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?" from Monty Python
• "Inconcieveble" from Princess Bride

I'm sure there are more, if we were all awake and bantering with one another about remembering favorite lines.  Alas, I'm the only one up, unable to sleep, jotting down odd thoughts from the day.

The good and thankful today:

• seeing our kids smile
• naps (whoops, that backfired on me)
• time to listen to audio book

 Short list today; hope your's is longer!

Yikes!!! A week!

I've had every intention of coming here every day to write.  Many days I had some great ideas, above and beyond just being thankful.  Cool ideas for photos, but didn't follow through on grabbing the camera and going.  Some days have been just flat out hard, really hard.  Days that were, "but by the Grace of God"!  Life's leveling out, feeling good, sleeping better, eating better, walking more, etc.  Amazing what all that will do for your well being.

Kevin and I spent a lot of odd times together today.  Shopping, cleaning the kitchen, walks, t.v., running errands.  Just weird life stuff.  I spent time clean up and cleaning out my desk today.  Found a lot of old photos and cards that were sent just because.  It was a lovely trip down memory lane.

Here is one that I forgot we had:

These are Charlotte's "baby pictures" we came home with

when we adopted her 5 1/2 years ago.  Her head has gone from

mostly black to a lot more brown!

One of Kevin's and my walks was through the woods and

down to the creek.  Took my shoes off and got in the

water.  Charlotte was happy to follow along.

It's times like this I'd love a 25 foot lead for her.  She'd love the water,

but is all hound and we have not done off lead training.

For the good and joy over the last few days:

• IRL friends
• on-line friends
• potato seeds sprouting
• walks
• rug cleaner
• two fridges (to thaw the main one)
• good food
• teen making brownies
• movies
• knitting
• naps
• fans circulating cool air
• Trader Joe Chocolate Crossaints
• Ikea Cinnamon Roles (for price, okay tasting)

199th post, but who's counting?

other things, in my life, by the number:

• 657 days this blog has been up and running
• 5,133 page views on "Joy Discovered"
• 35 published comments to "Joy Discovered"
• 10 countries viewed this blog
• 10 houses I've lived in (not including college dorms)
• 19 + a few months of mairrage
• 2 kids
• 8th car in almost 30 years
• 1 living pet (Charlotte is our 4th though)
• 14 years, this July, in current house
• 108 years, combined tally of our folks mairrage (57 & 51)
• 15 years 7 months out of the "work force"
• 3 states lived in
• 1 country, beyond USA, lived in

Sure, there is more I could count, by the number, but this seems like enough for now.

Another Show, Another Opening

And this go around it is "Suessical, Jr."!  Our favorite actor, is the Purple & Yellow "Who" Dad!  I laughed when I heard that, didn't know I had grandkids already.

Anyway, just a general shout to Northern Virginia Players.  What a great sense of community, family, and friendship these shows build in the kids and families as well.  There are folks you can laugh and cry with.  Folks you can call, in a pinch, when you need something.  Friends who go out of their way to help.

You can check out the link, above, to see past shows, and order tickets for Suessical, which opens tonight at 7:30.  Two shows tomorrow and 3 shows the following weekend.  You'll be amazed at the quality of the show, from kids 8 yo to 18 yo.  This will be a fun event for little kids as they'll see a lot of familiar Dr. Suess characters.  You won't want to miss out.

Thankfulness out of this:

• friendship blossoming for our kids
• seeing our kids shine in their talents
• seeing our kids extend themselves further than they imagined
• our kids being appreciated by adults
• random acts of kindness
• friendships blossoming for the mom's and dad's involved
• learning patience
• learning time management

Some Days Just Got To . . . . .

let it go!  Structure, order, to do lists ~ out the window today, if it weren't raining most of the day!!!!!!

Rained all day long.  Miserable kid all day long.  New pain inflicted by Ortho ~ check.  Desire for sleep all day long ~ check and double check.   Coffee pot cranking out the coffee, even late into the evening ~ check.  Van with minimal gas and early morning "mom taxi job" ~ check.  With all the men in bed, pandora playing, coffee beside me, maybe I will get semi caught up on computer related "jobs" I have.  If only it were paid jobs!  Guess you could say they are in that I get to drink my favorite coffee, listen to any station on Pandora I want, and wear pj's if I want.  The money would be good to though!

Can I finally find the good, when I can't hear rain and it's late enough in the day that the gray clouds aren't noticeable.  Yes, I can and here it goes:

• Kevin gassing up the van for me
• getting the most needed thing done for tomorrow accomplished first
• miserable/ortho inflicted kid laughing by the end of the day
• listening to Pentatonix "That's Christmas to Me" while working
• realizing I don't have to listen to their "Frozen" song!
• a dog that will come in to "Milkbone" when I don't want to be a door attendant
• kicking back (while working) and watching Netflix with the family

For the photo portion today, I am totally uninspired!

 Here is an oldy!  Someone turned 6,

9 years ago tomorrow.  Look at that blonde hair!

Friendship, Memories, and Blessings in Disguise

Today has been a slow day by all accounts.  Three out of the 4 of us rested/napped some.  We even went out for lunch, again today, as yesterday's lunch was comped.  Café Rio was today's selection; one of our favorite places.  Hours of fullness followed.  Great food though.

It's been a difficult week (or longer), to say the least.  Very hard to get through, but things are turning around.  I understand everyone has rough patches, some are the size of a hiccup, other's spell last a lot longer.  That is why I am thankful for a friend tonight.  She had a large gathering at her house this evening and included me.  It was touching that I responded very late and etiquette would say I should have just declined.  She graciously let me come, "just as I am" ~ mess and all.  It meant a lot to me.

So the memories aspect of the evening.  My friend, lives down a bunch of "country back roads".  As Christmas is just around the corner, it reminded me of driving to Wisconsin, to visit family.  The roads windy, sometimes you would get a fog and the lights (street lights, Christmas lights, or security lights) look amazing.  It was a little nerving driving down these roads, but the trip home was a bit easier, more relaxing.  I was pleasantly reminded of the radio show "The Shadow"; so much so, I pulled out some of the cd's I "wished for" a number of Christmas ago.  I am now, kicking back, glass of wine, and listening to one of the shows.

Enjoying a quiet moment before bed, enjoying the memories, enjoying friendship!

One set of grandparent's house ~

the reason I love Craftsman style house

Flooded by Memories today . . . .

Took a quick trip to Target today, without anyone, to only pick up a partial prescription.  It was a wonderful trip.  So many memories flooded my memory, it was like sitting with old friends, but just by myself.  Pandora was playing and "Faith Like a Child" by Jars of Clay came on.  It reminded me of the time around 1996, our church that we attended then, the youth group kids, but mostly a few of the girls who've grown up into lovely moms.  So hard to believe, these teen girls are all married and have or having kids!  Looking back, it's hard to believe it's been about 18 years!

Coming out of Target, saw a mom and little toddler boy, in a hooded jacket.  I can only speculate, but I am guessing the little boy didn't want to hold mom's hand, so she did what I remember doing with our kids, hold the hood!  Works and the child has a small sense of freedom.

Got to listen to a few other songs on Pandora on the way home!  One, 10,000 Reasons, by Matt Redman came on.  I hope to reach 10,000 reasons to find joy!  For the here and now, the today:

• fond memories of teenage girls
• same girls turning into proud moms of some great little kids
• moms of those same girls ~ are some wonderful ladies
• moms with toddlers
• music
• colorful trees