Friday, August 19, 2016

What's going on?

Here's what's going on in my world this week!

We are headed toward fall.  The season of green leaves is so short in northern new england.  There are already touches of yellow and red here and there in the woods on the wink.  We will still have warm weather (well, warm for us) and some humid days, but the wild sprint through summer is almost over.
When the crickets start to sing, you know it.  The stores are full of autumn and I even bought a few things myself yesterday at the Christmas Tree Shop.

Home:  I have been plugging along on some organizational things.  Mostly still getting paperwork under control and streamlined.  With the cooler weather coming I am planning on painting the master bedroom, already bought the paint.  Then this winter we will think about replacing the 18 year old carpet with new carpet.  As I have gotten older allergies have gone away and Jeff says he prefers the carpet over wood.  So this decision will be his!  We are having house guests for the next week, so I am putting off starting my big photo organization project until after Labor Day.

Work:  Things have been much better with my client.  So many things have gotten under control and it is more like it used to be.  It was a wild ride for a few months there--I almost gave up and quit--I'm glad I didn't.  I'm getting used to working the four days (20 hr)  and I won't mind picking up a little more until winter comes.

Garden:  All I am picking so far is flowers (glads and zinnias)  and green beans.  There are a few summer squash growing, but I know next year I have to hand pollinate.  cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers had a late start, and then not enough rain, but I will still get some through the next month or so.  The cucs actually look really good right now.   Picking wild black raspberries by the handful up along the driveway.  This year there is a ton of them, but there is also a wasp nest near them so it's a bit sketchy to pick!

Family:  The littles are all growing up.....sniff, sniff.....and running around like crazy.  Their favorite thing right now is to race each other across the back lawn (and I was thinking of turning it into gardens)  oh well.  They also love to go on "bear hunts"  up the trail out back.  One of our favorite books is "Going on a Bear Hunt"  Little baby girl is so cute and so snuggly, and is becoming more independent.  Looking forward to the next grandchild coming in February.

Misc:  I just purchased Horizons Preschool curriculum (alpha & omega) for Ethan to work through this year.  I will continue to put together book packets (books and activities that go along) and his parents will make sure he touches all the bases he should.  I like the Charlotte Mason method of learning using good books.  This will be a good introduction to homeschooling for his mom and dad.  I didn't home school the very early grades with my kids, but I did use the Lifepacs from A&O and I really liked them.

well, there you go!  Have a great weekend!

Monday, August 15, 2016

A letter to young mothers

disclaimer:  this is written to stay at home mothers, not career women.

Dear young mother,

Don't let your kids biggest memories of growing up be of riding in the car to this activity and that activity, this adventure and that adventure.  Kids biggest memories of growing up should center around their own backyard.

No wonder the current generation of mothers is so concerned about car seats and what not!  Their kids spend endless hours strapped into them being carted all over God's green earth!

Stay home!  That's what kids want to do!  Make your adventures happen at home and make memories at home!
Stay home!  You are paying lots of money to own a home.  Live in it, love it, embrace it, and create it!!

When all of the fun times and adventures happen away from the home, then kids will be bored at home.

Stay home!  Build forts, set up a pool & sprinkler, make cookies, do crafts, etc.  And in those quiet moments when the kids are occupied in some imaginative adventure then you should.............

Get to work!  Get your housework done in bits and pieces, but get it done!  Dishes, laundry, wiping down, sweeping up, do it daily then it won't build up.  Cook big and less often.  Make a menu and shop once a week then stay out of the stores!  Spend less money that way!

A husband who works all day deserves to come home to a restful and tidy home and a meal already prepared.  This is not 1950's nostalgia, it is still 2016 reality.

You are young, you can do it!!!  you have it in you!!! I have faith that you can do it! If you get your days into a rhythm there will be harmony.

Kids do not want to be dragged around and neither do husbands.  They want their home to be their sanctuary and it is your calling in life to make it just that.

Yours truly,

Old mother

Friday, August 12, 2016

what's going on?

I thought it was time to just do a daily life kind of blog post and not an opinion piece.  Although I love to voice my opinion!

So I'm going to try to break it down into categories if I can.

Home:  I've been trying to stay home as much as I can.  Home is my sanctuary.  The last few months my job has been very stressful and very overwhelming.  This may seen  funny to some people,  considering I only work part time (20 hours), but it's the type of work I do.
So we haven't been running around on the off days and we've mostly been staying put in the evenings.

Work:  Where do I start?  For the longest time I worked my 20 hours in 2 days.  In April it changed to 20 hours in 4 days.   Then circumstances arose that have made the last few months with my client very hard to deal with.  I'm hoping that we have peaked at the worst of it and that we are going to get calm again.  This week has been the first good week in months.  I would love to cut back to 10 hours a week, but I just don't see that happening right now because staffing needs are so great.

Garden:  I've identified another mistake I've been making since we moved here.  It could be contributing to my poor gardening skills:  I've been storing my shredded leaves under a couple of pine trees.  (palm to forehead)  Have I been screwing up the PH?  maybe.
Otherwise, I'm happier with the garden than I've been since I moved here and built it.  It has been a struggle to spend enough time out there.  I still don't, but I've spent more than normal and the results show.
 *We expanded one bed and built another one.  Now all of the available space in that area is used.
 *We have been collecting cardboard and lining the paths and putting down straw, so weeds are less.  * It has been a dry summer here in this part of Maine and I water each day, but I know it's not enough and I have even begun to water less because if the dryness continues I don't want my well to draw down.
 *We did plant a row of high bush blueberries & the raspberry row we planted last year gave us tons of pickings!
 *summer squash seems to be a bust again this year.  There are just not enough bees in the middle of the woods.  I've planted a lot more flowers, but it's not enough.  So I either have to be a bee keeper or pollinate the plants myself.  I don't see either one happening in the near future so I will just buy my squash from the farmer down the road.
 * I've grown some greens to feed the chickens, but I've been shopping the farmers market to feed me!

Family:  Our family is expanding!  Grand baby #7 will be coming along in February! Joe & Luke will be welcoming a new brother or sister.
  AND our daughter and son in law are buying a piece of land 2 miles from my house, on my road, and I am beyond happy about this!  I can walk there & back!!!  I can get skinny?????  hahaha, that won't happen because my daughter will feed me when I get there!

Anyway.....that is a little glimpse into my world.  Have a restful weekend!

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

social media = a distracted life

I signed out of facebook a week ago.  (deactivated)
I signed back in last night, looked around for about two minutes, and promptly signed back out. (deactivated)

Now, to be fair, I have another facebook account that only has three friends on it.  My daughter and two daughter in laws.  We use it to do bible study.  So, I can peek at pics of my grandchildren (which I don't really need to because they live right here) but not click like, not comment.  The downside to this is that the sidebar of trending topics is still there screaming a few lines of wordly filth at me.

What I've noticed this past week is that I'm praying more.  Now that's a biggie!!!!
My thoughts are clearer and I feel a lot calmer.  Reading all of that stuff on facebook world was causing me to have a jumbled head and an anxious heart.

I've already begun to fill up a notebook with future blogging posts and topics for posts to ponder.
I had accomplished a ton of stuff in the past week as far as my crafting, home organizing, gardening, and chickening go.

To sum it all up:  I feel soooooo much better!!!!

Am I abandoning facebook?  No.
Am I going to stay away longer?  Yes
Am I going to unfollow everything?  Yes
Will I clean up my friends list?  it's already in pretty tight shape, so I don't know.

I've been listening to Rich Mullins on Pandora Radio.
I wrote this line from a song down in my bible study notebook:

        Save me from those things that might distract me

the song goes on to say, I think:

       take them away and purify my heart
     
this is the goal.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

being responsible with alcohol

When I was growing up there was a shelf in the kitchen that served as the "bar"  It was loaded with alcohol at all times.  Whenever company came drinks were dispensed.  It then grew into daily drinks by our parents of their favorite spirits:  mint creme and amaretto, as I recall.  I don't remember beer being a staple, but I have memories of it being around and sips offered to children in the summer.

It is then surprising to me that only three out of six children grew into having problems with addiction; either at some point in their lives, or for their entire life to date.  The lack of parental guidance in all areas of life combined with the free acceptance of drinking alcoholic beverages on a regular basis played a significant part in the total dysfunction of the family.

Now I get personal.  I didn't drink anything alcoholic until I was eighteen years old.  I did not then go overboard and party like a crazy person, but alcohol was a pretty steady part of my life for the years that followed.  Looking back on my life now I can clearly see how I used alcohol to handle the stresses of life.  Hard day at work:  Have a drink!  Difficult day at home with the kids?  Have a drink! And I'm talking about beer or wine here.  Seems innocent enough to just take the edge off a little, doesn't it?

At some point I began to hear God speaking LOUDLY to my heart: "Karen, you have a pattern of reaching for a drink when you have a stressful day.  You are turning to alcohol instead of turning to Me."  I also continually heard Him saying "I want something different for your family."

That is when I made the decision that no alcohol would be kept in the house or consumed in front of the children.  Pretty extreme.  But necessary, and I have never regretted that decision.  When the kids grew up I loosened the reigns a bit because they had made it through the teen years without developing bad habits.

I now wish that I had kept the same strict guidelines for a longer period of time.  I now keep some alcohol in my house but I rarely to never have a "stress drink".  When I do I recognize it and acknowledge it as wrong behavior and worthy of re correcting.

There is no daily drinking in my home and usually weeks go by without an alcoholic drink.  But it is a tightrope walk and I must walk in a responsible, careful manner.  I enjoy an occasional beer or a glass of wine, or a cocktail.  But that is the key word right there:  occasional.

It is when it becomes a regular feature of your life, even one beer every day may indicate a problem.

What is more important is what message we are sending to our little ones.  Do we want them to think that drinking beer every day is okay?  Its not and I don't want them to grow up thinking that.

Having an occasional drink while not in the presence of children is okay.  It's called self control and its called responsible parenting and grand parenting.


Friday, August 5, 2016

old ladies and social media ineptness

so, just when i think i have this "privacy" thing under control on facebook, and i feel confident "juggling" who sees what...............

i slip up and a few people see a post that wasn't meant for them to see.

one of these people was my son.  it wasn't anything bad, this thing i posted.  it was the ultrasound of my 7th grandbaby.  i was going to share it with the people i had already told about it. (posted that without any trouble a couple weeks earlier)

but i was careless.  it was only up for 10 minutes, i didn't tag anyone, but then someone tagged a comment and that's when i realized my mistake.

however.......................

by then my son saw it and instead of texting me, he tore me up on facebook.  (disrespectful children is an end times sign, isn't it? )

so an old lady momma made a facebook Faux pas and a son broke his mothers heart.  i know that's an over exaggeration........children break their mothers hearts over and over and over again.......and if they have a good momma they never even know it.........just ask the dads......they will tell you straight up the truth.

now.....

the rest of this post addresses the disrespect part.  we didn't do the best job we could have in teaching our kids some things.  mostly because we were still learning.    but speaking in a disrespectful manner was never tolerated.  i don't even remember it ever being an issue when they were growing up.

when i saw his words on facebook, i saw a little boy throwing a tantrum.  and at the same time that i was getting all upset over his tirade, i was forgiving him because that's what mommas do.  he has so much to learn in life and i for one know that.

its been a lot of years since we had any influence on his life.  we weren't done raising him yet when he moved from our circle of influence into another circle of influence.  it happens when kids grow up. so  i won't totally take the blame for his disrespectful attitude.  i will share it with the influences he has had for the last twelve years.

as a mom of grown and married children i don't always like what i see or hear.  and for every one thing i may mention, there are probably ten things i'm holding in.  respectfully.

well, back to my social media ineptness.....

i have deactivated my facebook for the next week....at least.....i'm hoping i can break that dirty fb habit.  i won't delete it because i have some awesome friends there.
but i'd like to do something else with my computer time.....like blogging!

Thursday, August 4, 2016

we are all slaves to the media

michelle obama.......i even hate to write that name.......slaves built the white house.
why the controversy?
does she think that americans,who should know their history, wouldn't already know that?
and that the rest should just make that assumption?
it was the 1800's and it was in the south.
..............so here we go again............if not for the slaves we would not have a white house in d.c..........................................i can live with that.
how long, as a country, do we have to pay for the sins of our forefathers?
forever?
or until the roles are reversed and people of lighter skin color, those of european descent, are made into slaves?
(historically speaking its already been done...check your facts on this one)
now, i admit i live in a white world.  it has way more to do with culture than skin color.  i would venture to say that it has everything to do with culture and in no way is related to skin color.
what's wrong with that?
i'm white.  (although i prefer "pinkish")

barak obama......another name i am loathe to write or say.....
turned out to be a divider and not a uniter.  it's a shame because unless we can get back to where we were and continue to move forward in a positive direction, then we are doomed as a country.
the country, and by that i mean people, that i live in does not want anyone to be subserviant to another.

we let examples of bad behavior fuel the hate all around us.  it's sad.  i've never seen people so paranoid, and angry, and scared at the same time.  (this is on the media because all is well on the wink)
when you hear things coming out of thse BLM protests like "kill the whites!"  "kill their children!"
gah!!!!!!!!!!  what did i ever do to you?????
i'm at the point that no matter what i write or say, it will be misconstrued as rascist.
i just want to live in peace with all people as much as it depends on me.  just like scripture says.

therefore, i work hard to take care of my family and home and i'm too busy to stir up strife.
i suggest all those protestors do the same:  go home and work hard at something.  raise your family and have pride in your accomplishments.
that is what the majority of americans are trying to do.

if not for the media this all would work out. the media stirs people up.  it creates controversy and nothing ever gets solved.

let's all just tune out for a while and see what happens.