Rantings on the last day of the year

Every day at work I am exposed to a woman who is constantly in a “down” mode. She comes in the office and sighs (very loud) and tells everyone how sick she is, how much she hates her kids, and how unfair her life is. From an outsiders view her life doesn’t look so bad. She has 4 young children, lives in a brand new house (less than 1 year old), is married to her HS or college sweetie (they were together for 10 years before they got married), and they have enough disposable income she buys ridicules things for her kids. OK, my problem with this is ……… I hear her say (daily) I wish I would just die. WOW, is your life THAT bad you have to say something like that? Is your husband so bad you REALLY wish he would be taken by aliens? I will admit that sometimes we ALL feel down about our lives and think everyone else has it better, but not ALL the time. She complains about her kids and says she can’t wait to get away from them (Oh my goodness, why did you have them?????) Her sister came to visit over the holidays. For a week I have heard her say DAILY how stupid her sister is, and complain about her staying in her home. I would be so happy to have ANY of my sisters come stay with me. I would be so happy to have my little sister even accept the rest of us and let us again be a family. I think my co worker is on a destructive route ….. But who am I am to say that. I have 3 sisters, two are wonderful and love me NO exceptions. One who will not talk with the rest of the family. I grieve daily for my little sister and her family. I am sad my co worker lives such a sad life ….maybe someday she will understand the true meaning of life and enjoy what she has been given to her


On that note, a friend sent the following email about changes he is making for the new year. I want to share ………



Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.  (does is count that I eat my canned soup 90% of the time for lunch??)
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..   (Yep, I am doimg that)

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy

5. Make time to pray.

6. Play more games ( we bought some games for Christmas)

7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day

9. Sleep for 7 hours. (I have been doing that in the winter time ……)

10. Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.



Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about. (OK, so negate the blog)

12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.

14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does. (I have to really work on this one)

15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

16. Dream more while you are awake

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..

18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness. (Phil tells me this all the time)

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more.

24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree... (But, I LIKE to win)



Society:

25. Call your family often.

26. Each day give something good to others.

27. Forgive everyone for everything..

28.. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6. (I love doing this, just need to find more time)

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

30. What other people think of you is none of your business.

31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.



Life:

32. Do the right thing!

33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful. (I have really been working on this in 2009)

34. GOD heals everything.

35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change...

36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

37. The best is yet to come..

38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

OK. for 2010, I THINK I need to move more.  I need to be more in touch with God, and I need to let the past go more.     There are probably more things I need to work on but those are on the top. 
Happy New Year
I hope you are able to work on your "top list"

Christmas Blizzard

Winter is here with a vengeance. The forcasters predicted this was going to be a terrible storm, and it is proving to be true. Wednesday it rained, Thursday it rained and rained and froze. Thursday afternoon it changed from freezing rain to snow. Our driveway was covered with about ½ inch of ice …….. then snow! Phil went out last night to plow before bed, but it was snowing and blowing so hard it didn’t really help. This morning we got up and the driveway is totally drifted in with snow. The back porch had about 2’ of snow in front of the door. In back of the house is a drift about 5 - 6 feet deep and to get to the barn the smallest drift is about 3’ deep. The plow is not strong enough to move the snow. Even with the extra weight, it gets stuck. Phil was not able to feel his hands or feet by the time he came in to get warm. I am thankful I have a lot of PTO at my job …… and the last 2 storms have hit close to the weekends.


Today is Christmas. Tomorrow we hope to find someone who can dig us out again. I sure hope this doesn’t happed every 2 weeks all winter long!!

MORE winter weather

More snow is on the way! Good grief winter started only on Monday. This will be our second major storm in as many weeks. Last time the airlines put Phil in a hotel for 2 days so he was able to get back and forth to work. They offered to put him up again, so he would be there over Christmas. He said no. He is probably not going to be able to get to work tomorrow and Friday. I don’t think I am going to be able to get to work tomorrow. Right now we are simply getting rain. The temperature is holding steady at 33 degrees, as it has been all morning. If the temperature drops only one degree, the roads will be a nightmare!!! Tonight the temps are supposed to drop to the teens and the freezing rain will turn to snow. We are supposed to get about a foot of snow, and then the conditions will become blizzard like. The winds are going to gust up to 40 MPH. Our roads will be a mess. Phil said he would plow every hour if he has to, to make sure we are able to get out of the driveway this time! We need to get a tractor with more power. We need a blade that will move more snow than we are able to now. Every year we seem to be a little better prepared. I wonder how long it will take to be REALLY prepared. I worry so about losing power. How will we heat the house if we loose power? How will we flush the toilet? How will we cook? We need to get a windmill and/or solar power to take care of those problems. At the very least we need a wood stove to stay warm.

Relationship thoughts and Winter Solstice

I was listening to Dr Laura on the radio last week. I don’t get to listen to AM radio much anymore. She was talking with a couple having marital problems. Her solution was brilliant and I think it is something that all married couples should do. She said for the next month she wanted them each to think only about the other persons happiness. They had to work at making their partner happy every minute they are awake. The outcome of doing that …… they will start to think about each other in a more positive manner and because they are working so hard to make the other person happy they will be happy in the end as well. OK, so I am thinking if all married people (LISTEN JOANN) would work hard at making their partners happy, there would never be a reason to divorce or cheat, or even yell at one another.

For the most part Phil works very hard at making me happy. I have a difficult time accepting the kindness. I had never been subjected to that kind of treatment. I think I tend to be moody at times. It is something I am working at; I hope it won’t take forever. I know I am much happier in the summertime. The lack of daylight affects my moods in a big way. I always dread this time of year because of that very thing. Phil’s friend sent an email the other day that made me smile. She said be happy because it was the winter solstice and starting today we start gaining a few minutes of daylight each day. YEA, in no time the sun will be warmer, the snow and ice will be gone. I will be able to think about planting again, and see God’s miracles growing around our home. Spring is just around the corner!!!!!

Thought on decorating

Phil came home from work Sunday with a Christmas tree. It is a cute little tree about 4’ tall. It is full and fluffy. Caelum and Phil cut the bottom limbs off and put it into the holder. Olivia helped him sting the lights. The girls and Phil decorated it all by themselves. It is a very pretty tree, full and decorated so nicely. We have so many decorations packed away downstairs …. We haven’t even looked at them since we moved out here. I wonder if I should spend some time going through all of the totes and giving some of the things to the girls ……. Some things probably need to be thrown away. Others need to be saved maybe the grandkids will want them when they get older. I have homemade decorations from all the kids, some have lost their tags so I can only wonder which kid made it. A few are from my childhood. It is pretty amazing how many memories can be packed away in totes.

Ramblings of a grandma .......

Brandon dropped the kids off Saturday evening; they had been at his place since the previous evening. Caelum said a quick hello and went outside to play in the snow. The girls came in to see Grandpa (nope, not me, he is the favorite)


Unfortunately Phil had to go to bed early because it was a work night. We had dinner together then off to bed. The kids always expect to do something special when they are here, so I decided to make some cookies. I had a pouch of cookies in the cabinet …. I picked them up on a clearance aisle … I don’t buy things like that. The girls mixed it up and baked the cookies. They were eating them and GRANDPA woke up to use the bathroom. Normally he doesn’t even talk to me, just goes back to bed. The smell of fresh baked sugar cookies woke him up instantly. He and Olivia had a tickle fest then they ate cookies. Those girls do love their grandpa!!!

As we grow older we learn different things. One of the things I have learned is that I need to check my blood pressure on a regular basis. Saturday I got the blood pressure cuff out and pumped it up. Both Ruby and Olivia had stories to tell me. Kids should NEVER put their arms in those things because if they do they will get squeezed off. Those things are for testing your blood, but only if you are a grownup. I finished taking my blood pressure and was folding it up to put it away. Ruby said ……….. So do you have enough? I was taken aback …. What do you mean? She said “you measured your blood, do you have enough?”

Sunday morning we all went outside to play. The snow was still deep. Caelum had been working on building a fort. I was amazed at how deep and heavy the snow was. I pulled Olivia around on the sled for a while, but it was to heavy for me to do that for to long. We were all happy to get back inside.

We spent the afternoon working on presents for “mom”. What fun we had. The kids love their mom so much; they just want to make her happy. We are so slow (one grownup for 3 kids …it takes a while) but we did a great job. We didn’t have time for the kids to take their presents home ….. We will have to wrap them on Christmas day when we go over. I can’t mention what we did, just in case mom reads this. I will say that my carpet may never recover!!!!! We really need to start earlier next year. I was leery of starting early because the girls can’t keep a secret. Maybe they can next year!!!!

More farm tails

Phil called me at work today, obviously excited.  He had been out plowing snow and said he saw a coyete run out from under the front porch.  The animal loped down the driveway and away from the house.  He thought the animal might have denned down under there.  I (being all wise about such things) told him that was impossible because the cats would be dead if he had been living there.  Then I asked him if the cats were still around ... they were sitting on the front porch.    I went out to the porch after I got home to see if I could tell if the animal had been living under there ......... all I know is that it smells bad!  Phil was concerned that the coyote may have killed an animal and took it under the porch to eat it.  The dogs were under there (after it left of course) and came out licking their lips. 
It is not a few days later, and the cats are still here ........... and I don't think Phil has seen it again.  I know I would be frightened if I was leaving for work in the dark one morning and came face to face with it.   I hope it goes back to the woods where it came from ..........