Something bright for a dull day

It's been amazing here lately. Remember back when I was loving the grey days? Well, we've had grey days ever since. In fact, last Saturday we had tornados, as you probably already have heard. 14 of them to be exact, and still counting. Yup. But I think they sucked all the sun out of this place along with the warmth. We are at a couldy 63 degrees today, which is chilly for this place right now and tomorrow has more thunder storms in tow. Last Easter we were outside taking easter pictures on the green grass next to the green plants in the warm sunny weather. I think we'll have to get more creative this year. And I told Matt I didn't want to move to Seattle for the lack of sun! I guess we really should enjoy it while it's here though, because in a couple of months we are going to be BEGGING for that cooler weather to come back! On the bright side though, look what I was still able to find. Looking at this it doesn't seem to gloomy after all does it?!

Looking out and up

I was just thinking about something. Fancy that! I think I"m okay with getting older. Really.

Probably starting around in high school, we seem to want to make ourselves different. We want to find ourselves. We want others to see what it is that we have found about us. So we wear the goofy headband (to stand out), we wear the newest trend (to show we are ahead of everyone else), we wear what's not in style (to show we don't care), we act spoiled, like a clown, reserved, we get the good grades, we get the bad grades, we skip out on class, we become teachers pet, overly involved in activies, or not involved at all.... you could metion just about everything and anything here. Why?

We long to find who it is that we are. We also want to show this off, because somehow in doing that, we think it will further define who we are. But notice how that doesn't ever seem to stand up in time? If only we knew all these "masks" were having the opposite effect. The harder we try to show who we are, the less we really are showing. However there is something that happens through the years to all of us. Atleast those of us who are willing to let it happen.

We find ourselves. Our true selves.

Somthing only time can help us to accomplish. It seems that most of us find who we really are, long after those years in which we knew. We relax. We aren't so worried about showing who we are, allowing what inside to venture out. Look at all those men and women out there you admire. How old are they? 20? Usually not. Try 30, or 40. 50 or 60. It doesn't matter. It seems the more time, the more sure of who they really are. There are always those who were able to find this in themselves after a short amount of time here in this life, but for the rest of us, time is on our side. Really. Every year draws us closer to that moment of meeting, when the surface meets the inner you. I love every year, as I let my guard down and realize more and more of who I really am.

It's amazing. And I can't wait until I watch my daughters find out who they really are, and share it with the world. This is after all a big part of what we are here for.

Bubbles and bubbles and bubbles and bubbles

Have you ever seen those bubbles that don't pop? They have some type of plastic in them, so when you blow them, they don't pop like the regular bubbles do. They form their bubble, and stay there. They will stay for days if you leave them alone. You have to actually poke one, or smash it to get them to pop. They are great. My kids absolutley love them.

Especially Ase.

She loves that she actually able to catch these ones. So being the good big brother he is, Bug asked if he could blow some bubbles for the girls. "Sure" I replied, glad to have them entertained while I did the dishes. Next thing I know, Ase is repeating "Uh-Oh" in a very concerned fashion. I walk out to see what is going on, and could do nothing more than grab the camera... then the vacuum. The entire rug in the family room was covered with bubbles. I had a hard time getting any pictures with the lighting in the room, but you can see there are more than just a few here. This is what the entire rug looked like. It was crazy. Luckily I did find out the white film they leave behind does vacuum up. Otherwise we'd all still be sitting there picking it out. Whew!

The best part about the whole thing though, is I snapped this picture of Ase. I love her big brown eyes. It's hard to capture what they really look like, and I think this might have done the trick!

One last cup?

It was just one of those days. The days where you don't do anything.

Literally.

It's now way past bed time and the only thing I've done today is feed the kids 3 meals. I won't say they were great meals. But they were meals. No showers. No baths. No getting dressed. No cleaning. No venturing outside of the house(heaven forbid someone saw me like this!). No answering the phone... unless you're one of the lucky ones. Nothing. Lets just say I can count the things done on one hand. So what made this day turn out like this. I know we are the ones that are in control of how our days go. So why did I choose this today and what does it mean? There has to be something hidden deep in me that would explain this. It would be nice to know, so I might learn how to possibly avoid these days.

I can't imagine all the things I could do if I were one of those ultra motivated people. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones who have 7 kids, a job they work from home with, the time to volunteer for everything, manage to have a to-do list with only 3 items on it, showered, worked out, eaten 3 full meals, and will still have sex before they go to bed. Hair and make-up always look great, they never forget a birthday or appointment, and will call you back withing an hour of leaving them a message.

Nope. That's not me. You aren't my friend because of any of these traits. You are my friend because, well... I'm me. I do have a day or two where I pull this off, but that's all I can manage. That's okay. I don't know that I'd want that life. I just wish I knew what caused these days. Maybe I'll try to figure it out tomorrow. Or maybe not. It'll be awhile before I get that far down on my to-do list! Until then, I'll be the one who knows how to sit down to a cup of hot chocolate, the final one until next winter, and not feel guilty about it. Anyone want to join me? No guilt here, just a good relaxing time of doing nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Until the next day of nothing - enjoy.

Perfect and perfectly Grey

Today really was one of those perfect days. Not because of what was there, but maybe because of what wasn't. Many times I kept finding myself just sitting out on the front porch and just being. Not anything in particular, just being. Days like today seem to almost always bring these feeling out in me. Nostalgia. Who knows what for. Something in the past, or something in the future. Or maybe, it's just nostalgia for the exact moment your are in.




The sky was grey. Really grey. There wasn't any color to it. Even the clouds took on a hue of grey, with enough contrast so as not to blend in with the sky. Any they were traveling very quickly to wherever they were going. But it didn't seem to matter any, because there were always just as many to follow behind and fill the what would have been left as empty sky. Down on the ground there wasn't any wind at all. It was calm, as if everything were in a deep and peaceful sleep. The air was moist and cool, but not at all cold. And the ground stayed wet all day, although barely a drop of rain fell upon it. In the distance you could hear a low rumble. Distant enough to make you wonder if it was just a plane passing through, or maybe it really was thunder after all. It was all perfect!



I tried to take pictures, because I just didn't want to let this moment pass. I wanted to be able to hold on to it. But Grey with grey with grey just doesn't translate the same on film. Unfortunate really. I did come up with a couple I liked (the first one is one of my favorites), but there aren't many. Maybe if I really knew what I was doing with the camera I could have come up with something cool, but it is what it is! Either way, I love these days. And to top it all off, inbetween my wanderings on the porch outside, I cleaned. I really cleaned. Bleached most of the house down. It felt good. Half the main floor is done. Tomorrow I will conquer the rest. Too bad there's supposed to be snow. I think I might enjoy another grey day to go along with it all. Sigh. -but that's a content sigh non-the-less! Funny how much the weather really can and does affect us "weather" we like it or not....lol!

Spring in February

These are one of the reasons I love living in Georgia. I mean, really. Most of this country has no idea how good it is to move on from winter to see the flowers in February. It's been 70 degrees outside the last couple of days.

Never mind we are going to have a snow flurry tomorrow. Even those are pretty feeble here. Winter is great, for a month. You hunker down, pull out the sweaters and blankets. Start the logs in the fire, and pull out all the mugs.

But after about a month of that, or less with kids, you're done.




And it seems that around here, when you get to that point and say "I'm done" someone listens.

The sky opens up and starts to pour out the sunshine. The flowers start to creep out the the buds start growing on the trees. Now is the time you will see all of us out here doing our gardening, getting things ready. Blowing the sprinklers out just in case they ever lift the ban on outdoor watering. Doing the final trim on the dogwoods so they'll bloom just perfectly. I love it! Ahhh! Makes me want to actually get out there and do yard work.

Who knows. Maybe I'll be posting pictures of the outside of our house for once!




And of course the kids love it outside too. They can't wait to get out there and play every day. And lucky for me they are getting old enough they can do just that while I visit with friends, or do actually get my hands dirty. Spring is just so inspiring. So full of life. So hopefull.

Really, for me, it's just a breath of fresh air!