Month: January 2024

The Thankful Challenge – Recurring Themes P1

A 365 Day Challenge to focus on being thankful. Week 4 – Day 1

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Do you ever have those moments where the same phrases or ideas keep appearing in your life? You are not looking for them, they just keep showing up. Whether it’s a speaker at a conference, your daily devotion, reading a friend’s social media post (cheesy or otherwise), or maybe it’s just an inspirational poster on the wall (Hang in there Kitty!), those recurring moments keep coming around again. It’s almost like a kid on a carousel, waving every time they round the bend to make sure you notice them. If you are looking away or not paying attention even for a moment, you may miss the kid on the carousel, you may miss the recurring theme.

Sometimes it takes me a little longer to recognize the recurring theme. Other times I think I am blocking it out, especially if it is something that makes me uncomfortable or makes me look a little too hard at my current place in life. Often I think those recurring themes are intentionally calling me out waving as me as if to say, “Pay attention!” with flashing red arrows and fireworks in the background.

The last few years (yes years) one recurring theme kept showing up over and over again. At first I ignored it and “wrote” it off as coincidence but the recurring writing theme, that kid on the carousel, kept on waving! “What if you can write a book in a month?” “Why do you hesitate on what brings you joy?” “Face your fears!” Then as I was working through one of my daily readings and the accompanying video, I heard, “How many books are buried because people were afraid to share their writing.” That one hit me to the core. I am not planning on “going anywhere” anytime soon but it shook me.

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The recurring writing theme finally shone like the sun, impossible to ignore. The kid on the carousel finally seemed to be making some headway. While I had been cataloging all the reasons why I couldn’t write or shouldn’t write, I was also subconsciously compiling a list of reasons why I should write. I don’t have time to write/I’m sure you can carve out some time each day. What if people won’t read it/but what if they do. I haven’t really written anything in over 3 years/there is no time like the present. It was a strange struggle. A battle royale in my brain and I wasn’t entirely sure which side was winning…until finally, the word “WRITE” was emblazoned on my mind.

I could not ignore it any more. The “prose” finally outweighed the cons. The dizzying carousel ride had come to an end and the frantically waving (and now motion sick) carousel kid was thinking to themselves, “Finally! She listened.” Sorry it took me so long, kid. I am thankful that, even though I was stubborn and didn’t pay attention as well as I should have, the kid on the carousel kept on waving. I am thankful for those recurring themes that won’t let go, those divine interjections into my life that keep making themselves known. Thank you for not giving up on me.

The Thankful Challenge – Tomorrow Morning

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful. Week 3 – The One and Only Day

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Well here I am, 24 minutes left on this Saturday night with two unfinished posts and rushing to write something, anything, so the week does not go without at least one post. Sometimes it’s like that. I have so many things to be thankful for but I have a hard time putting them into words. This week, I was trying to force my ideas onto the page but the words would not come. If the words did find their way onto the page, they were jumbled and not making any sense.

This week, I was distracted with some things at work, I was having a hard time focusing, and my procrastination was getting the better of me. It was the perfect storm to work against my best intentions of productivity. I apologize I have been slack on my posts this week. Hopefully the two unfinished drafts from earlier will give me a leg up to start this next week!

Tomorrow morning is going to arrive without any repercussions for my inability to produce a post this week. Tomorrow doesn’t care one bit about what I did or didn’t do the day before, the week before, or the month before. Tomorrow isn’t going to judge me for how productive or unproductive I was.

In the morning, the sun lights up the sky as if to say, “Join me! Don’t let the day escape you! You can do this!” And you know what? I will try. But if I still don’t have the most productive day the Son will offer the same encouragement the following day and the day after that.

So tonight, I am thankful for all the tomorrow mornings that bring with them a renewal, a chance to try again, and the opportunity to see what the day will bring. Each morning brings with it another day to focus on all the reasons I have to be thankful. I hope you find the same renewal with each sunrise.

If you have a moment, please let me know about your favorite part of morning. I would love to hear from you!

The Thankful Challenge – Shadow

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

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As the challenge goes along, I don’t have a great system for organizing these posts. I take them day by day and look for things to be thankful for each day. It keeps my mind churning and looking for the good in all the situations. Sometimes that little nugget of gold is a little bit harder to find than others. Or sometimes it reveals itself at the resolution of a stressful situation.

This past week, the second was true for Tuesday night into Wednesday. We are still not sure what happened but our sweet Shadow fell ill on Tuesday evening. He was fine all day and then at supper time, he wouldn’t even approach his food bowl to eat. He stayed on the other side of the room and would walk away if we tried to approach him with any of his favorite treats, like bananas. Shadow loves bananas so much, sometimes I think he is part monkey. If you are eating a banana around Shadow, you better hold that yummy goodness as high as you can or it will be removed from your hands faster than you can say lickety-split. When he wouldn’t even entertain the thought of scarfing the banana down, I knew something was really wrong.

He was walking around panting and very uncomfortable. I was worried it was twisted stomach, which is not uncommon in big dogs, but he hadn’t eaten since the morning. He finally laid down, a good sign, but was still very uneasy. He couldn’t get comfortable until he finally rolled over onto his side. He was shivering with every breath. I’m not certain if he was shivering because he was cold or because he was in distress. We covered him with a heated blanket and he finally seemed to settle down. As the evening went on, he was having trouble standing up and he kept looking at me with pain in his eyes.

I was worried we were going to lose him Tuesday night. Everything was happening so quickly, the same way it did when we lost one of my childhood dogs. I called the emergency vet but they didn’t seem to think it was an urgent situation. I wasn’t so sure but wanted to trust them. I was told to monitor him and let them know if anything got worse. He slept in the room with me that night. I kept waking up through the night to make sure he was still breathing. Usually I can at least hear him breathing but this time I had never seen him so still. He didn’t move throughout the night. No puppy dreams, no kicking his feet, no whimpering, nothing. I was preparing myself for the worst.

As the daylight came I could see his chest rise and fall and knew he was still with us. He lifted his head to look at me as if to say, “I’m going to be ok”. He was fighting back from whatever had gripped him the previous night. It was a slow start to the day. Shadow was still very weak but he was gaining his strength back. For breakfast, he ate a little bit of chicken and rice and was very happy about it. His tail started to wag again instead of being lowered in pain. We went on a very short, controlled leash walk so he didn’t decide he needed to take off after the deer. All seemed to be getting better with every step. After a quick trip to the vet, they didn’t seem to know what had happened either but said if it happened again, call them right away.

Even though it was a very long and scary night, without much explanation of a cause, he was getting stronger and better with every hour of the new day. It took a few days for him to be back to his old self but he has been standing in his resilience ever since. I am so thankful Shadow made it through the night!

Shadow is a Great Dane/Lab rescue. When we adopted him, his name was Patrick but we decided Shadow suited him much better. He has truly been my Shadow since he joined our family. He follows me around the house wherever I go. Sometimes he anticipates where I am going next and leads the way. He knows my patterns and has picked up on cues for when I am moving from room to room. He loves playing outside and sometimes does a sneaky hide and seek when we let him out at night. He is all black and when the moon is not bright, he can be difficult to see. He is a quiet dog, he doesn’t really whimper or bark (unless he sees a deer then all bets are off). He is the sweetest boy and loves to snuggle like a giant 75lb teddy bear. I am so thankful Shadow accepted us as his family and am especially thankful he is still with us.

Oh the Places the Clutter Will Go!

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There’s clutter here. There’s clutter there. There’s clutter darn near everywhere.

It’s on the desk. It’s on the floor. There’s even clutter by the door.

The clutter seems to multiply as each and every day goes by.

First at my feet, then at my knees, then swimming in the clutter sea.

In piles and piles of this and that, I finally found my missing hat.

If there was more time in the day, I could sort and sweep the clutter away.

I’m sure I’d find more treasure troves in my giant clutter groves.

For today, a slight departure from my year long Thankful Challenge. This was a fun little blog prompt from WordPress so I thought this would be my post for the day. The prompt for the day, “Where can you reduce clutter in your life?”

Bloganuary writing prompt
Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
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The Thankful Challenge – The Calendar

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful. Week 3, Day 1

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I love this time of year. It seems everything is shiny and new and everyone has a fresh start as they open their new calendar. Nothing is written on the calendar. It is not busied up with pencil marks or all the tasks you have to do for any particular day, week, or month. The calendar is a blank slate waiting for you to write those notes and appointments as if to say, “This is my destiny”. Ok, ok, that might be a little dramatic. Let me try again. You get to write the first markings on the calendar telling you where you are destined to be on any given day. You are literally writing your future! Alright, still a little dramatic but that’s just how I’m feeling right now.

If you are a digital calendar person, you scroll to your new calendar or click on your calendar app. I understand that as well. My daughter keeps me up to date on her schedule as we share a digital calendar. I enjoy seeing the little notifications pop up when she adds something to the calendar. Clicking the accept button on her notifications brings me joy. It makes me happy that she is keeping me in the loop and that she wants me in the loop.

The new year brings with it so many new opportunities. Even if it doesn’t really bring all these new opportunities, there is the illusion that new opportunities are there. “New Year, New You!” If I had a dollar for every time I heard that in an advertisement recently…I’d have like 10 dollars. (That’s one of my hubby’s jokes.) But really, I’ve heard that saying so much I think I’m beginning to believe it myself. What if I can be a “new me”? What if I can write this blog and be considered an actual writer in this new year? What if I can start a vlog to go along with my blog? I’ve been thinking about it for a while but for some reason a switch flipped when this year rolled around and I’m so excited to get this journey started. Truly, I am still my same self from December 31 to January 1 to now but the promise of great things in the new year has me all excited and it all started with the flip of the calendar.

Is it trivial to be thankful for and excited about flipping through the pages of the calendar and checking off accomplishments as I go? Maybe…but I am! This year, I want to write down and check off so many things as the pages of the calendar flip from week to week and month to month. What can I accomplish this year? Will I have enough time to do everything I have planned? Will I ever get my desk cleaned off so I can actually write at my desk? And how can my handy dandy calendar get the assist? First note in my calendar…clean off my desk! Dear Calendar, Thanks for the reminder.

The Thankful Challenge – The Storm

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful. – Week 2, Day 3…and 4

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Do you ever have those moments when you know the proverbial storm is coming and you think you are prepared but it turns out you just kinda weren’t? Well on Tuesday there was no proverbial about the storm that hit our area and I was definitely not prepared. Yes, the local weather stations had been predicting the impact of the storm would be rough but I didn’t expect it to be quite so bad. I thought there might be some sensationalizing about the storm. (It happens sometimes.) Turns out there was no sensationalizing. The meteorologists were spot on this time.

It was drizzling all morning and the winds were steadily picking up as the day meandered on. Eventually the rain decided to show itself in a big way and was coming down in sheets (and sideways) but it seemed the heavy rain moved on pretty quickly. Then the winds blustered and gusted their way into the evening hours. The wind was blowing so it was changing the pressure in the house. Doors were closing on their own and the windows were shifting in their casings. It was unsettling.

We have A LOT of trees in our yard which is always cause for concern when we hear “high winds” in the forecast. The trees were creaking and the wind was howling. If you’ve never heard a tree creak, the sound is very eery. It’s like the creak of the floors before a jump scare in the movies. You hear the creaking and hold your breath until you hear the crack of a limb or the thump of a giant branch on the roof. If you are fortunate, you hear nothing. The dread is there in the back of your mind, cautiously waiting for a limb to come crashing through the window (which has happened before on an otherwise calm day). Wind gusts were up to 55 mph and the trees were moaning and straining with every gust.

Night fell and the lights were still on. I thought we were going to be lucky this time, escaping this storm with only a tiny little leak in the roof and some branches to clean up in the yard. Then it happened, the lights flickered, on, off, on, off, on, then blackness. SERIOUSLY!?! I thought the storm was on its way out and we were home free. My daughter and I stood in blackness on the stairs waiting and hoping it was just a little blip and the power would be back on momentarily. No such luck. Time to find the flashlights.

We looked at the power outage maps and the number of people without power kept growing and growing into the thousands. There were people without power all around us. People, just like us, going to their lantern and flashlight stashes so they could find their way around in the night. Understandably, the power company was not sending anyone out to work on the lines until the storm had passed. Thankfully, it was approaching bedtime so we decided to turn in early. Surely the power would be back on when the sun came up.

The wind was blustery through the night and eventually the storm passed a few hours before the sun decided to show its face. The bright, still a little breezy, morning was a welcome sight but no power. This was going to present some challenges for the moring. We are beholden to our well and our well pump to supply water to our house. When the power goes out…so does our water. Take a moment to think about all the things we do with water every day. Yeah…if you know you know. There was no flushing, hand washing, or showering. We usually fill the tubs with water so we can at least take care of the essentials but this time I was scoffing at the storm and did not have any back up water supplies other than a few water bottles. It was turning into a bit of a mess. I did have baby wipes though. I ALWAYS have baby wipes. They can be useful in many different ways, this time more than most.

We took another gander at the outage maps and it looked like the number of people without power was dwindling all around us. Surely we were next. We all took our shower things and a change of clothes to school or to the gym to take advantage of water elsewhere just in case. I was at the gym when one of the neighbors told me the power had returned. Thank goodness!

I know this doesn’t sound much like a thankful post so far but I am very thankful. First, I know we were fortunate only to lose power in the storm. The other inconveniences turned out to be just that, inconveniences. Once the power was back on those problems were in the rear view mirror. That was not the case for others. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that had more damage and injury.

I am thankful for the people from the power company that worked tirelessly to bring the power back to the thousands of people. I think we were some of the last in our area to get our power back and we were still only without power for about 17 hours. Truly incredible that everyone’s lights were back on so quickly. The lineman have skills beyond skills to do what they do with high voltage wires while high off the ground!

I am thankful for my husband bringing my daughter and I dinner because we had not eaten yet when the power went out. I’m also thankful he arrived home safely from his work meeting. The neighbor that checked on us to make sure we were warm enough and had what we needed is amazing and the best neighbor! I am so thankful for her! 

Sometimes it is hard to see the silver lining or to look for the bright spots in our days when they are not going the way we planned. My goal for this year and for this “Thankful Challenge” is to do just that. Look for the happy coincidences. Find the sunny side when things aren’t going my way. Cherish the moments when things are going my way. Find as many ways to be thankful as possible. What are you thankful for today?

The Thankful Challenge – The Little Moments

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful. – Week 2, Day2

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When looking for things to be thankful for, I sometimes find myself looking at the big picture. I focus on the stand out moments instead of looking for the details in the smaller moments. There isn’t a wrong or right way to look for ways to be thankful but I do think we sometimes miss out on the joy of the little things because we are looking for the big life changing moments. Today I want to focus on some of the little moments.

I am incredibly thankful for the time I have with my kids. They are growing up so fast, with one already in college and the other one soon to follow. I don’t know what I will do when they are both out of the house. For now, I will cherish each moment I have with them. There are definitely big moments in both of my kids lives but I love the time I have with them in the little moments, time spent playing family games or car rides to and from school. In all honesty, I thought I would be relieved when I didn’t have to drive my kids to school anymore but when the time came, I realized that was our very special one on one time. We could talk in the car about whatever, a lot of times leading to hysterical laughter.

My oldest is off to college now. Can someone please tell me why is it so hard every time he leaves home to go back to school and does it get any easier? I miss him so stinking’ much! I do cherish every single time he calls from school. Thankfully he does call me a few times a week so we can keep in touch. I know I am a lucky Mama. I’ve heard a lot of stories from Mom’s with kids in college that never call home. If you are a college kid reading this post…call your Mom. She misses you!

When my daughter was little, we had a live skit we would do in the carpool line each morning. We had a tiny following but we had fun. I’m a little biased but I thought we were pretty hysterical and creative. When she moved up to the next school we had to stop doing the skits because her bell schedule changed and our morning live skits were no more. I still go back and watch them sometimes. I am thankful we had that time to spend together in the little moments while waiting for school to open.

As we move forward through the days, weeks, and years, I will continue to look for the little moments nestled in between the big moments. If we are only ever looking for the big events for joy, we miss so much of life. Life happens in the little moments. Do you have any favorite little moments?

 

The Thankful Challenge -Reconnecting with Friends

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful – Week 2, Day 1

Well, I made it through last week with my posts…sort of. I started this challenge on a whim without much preparation so I am working it out as I go along. I learned a lot from last week and I am certain I will learn even more with every passing week. Aren’t we all a work in progress anyway? Moving forward I will plan for 5 posts per week and I’m toying with the idea of adding a weekly video as well. Crazy, I know. I’m not entirely sure what has a gotten into me. This time, I did think about the vlog a little bit before I put it out in the world. (A whole couple of days at least.) I haven’t committed to the vlog yet but I would appreciate your feedback. What do you think about a weekly video to go along with “The Thankful Challenge”?

I started another thankful post for today but I wanted to clean it up before posting. It was another one of my midnight musings and a bit of a mess. I think it will actually take more time to fix the other post than it will to write this entire post. Sometimes my brain just needs a fresh start. Regrouping!

**Reconnecting with Friends**

Recently I joined my old gym again. (Not a New Year’s resolution kind of thing. Although I know the timing is suspect.) I’d been a member at this gym since just after the branch opened. When a certain pandemic (that shall remain nameless) descended on us, we dropped our membership and joined the thousands of others setting up home gyms with weights, bands, and a spin bike. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the convenience of having equipment at home and the spin bike was/is pretty fantastic. It was a good way to get through the quarantine especially for my kids when the school gym was not accessible. I didn’t realize it at first because we were all so secluded, everyone was staying at home, and we were all hyper focused on staying healthy. I didn’t really expect to see anyone. As time went on though, I realized how much I really missed my friends. (However, I did selfishly love having my kids at home with me all the time.)

As we were emerging out from under the giant shadow of the pandemic and life was sort of getting back to normal, I decided to try joining a gym again. I tried a different gym because it was a little cheaper and I wasn’t sure I how much I would be able to go. It was fine for what it was but there was still something missing. I decided it was time to leave that gym and go back to the place where I knew I would fit right in.

Last week I walked in the front doors of the gym that was my home for at least 10 years before the pandemic forced me to leave. Walking in those front doors felt like home. So many of the people I knew from before were still working there and they greeted me and welcomed me in. I got to see some of my friends from the gym and each day I go to workout I see another person I knew from before. I didn’t realize how much I missed those connections until I was able to reconnect. Even though it has only been a week, I am so happy to be home.

Today I got to see some of the fabulous women from my workout group. Those happy meetings made for a wonderful start to my morning. The women I used to workout with were always such a positive group of women. Never any judgement just an incredible support system as we all moved along our fitness journeys. I hope as the days go on, I am able to reconnect with more and more of the women who helped me through some of the toughest times and cheered with me through the best of times.

I cherish those friendships and I regret losing touch when everything went haywire a few years ago. I am so thankful I now have the chance to reconnect with my friends from my gym community, my peeps.

The Thankful Challenge – Day 5

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

Ok, I made it to day 5. Woohoo! I know it seems silly to celebrate such a tiny milestone but we have to celebrate the little victories along with the big. Some baby steps that will hopefully lead to leaps and bounds.

Yesterday I wrote about Mom. Today I think it is only fitting to follow it up with a thankful post about Dad. I’m so thankful I had two wonderful parents who loved me and always wanted the best for me. I know that is not always the case for everyone. Dad is no longer with us but there was never a dull moment when he was around.

There are so many anecdotes and stories about Dad, it’s hard to narrow it down. I will say that he provided for us and worked insanely hard to make sure we had everything we ever needed as well as some things we didn’t necessarily need. He loved to travel and wanted to make sure we had experiences that would last a lifetime. We had some really entertaining and adventurous family trips, all in our Econoline high top van. Dad loved loading up and jumping in that van for an outing. I can still see him sitting up in the drivers seat, whistling along, as we headed down the highway. We listened to the Kingston Trio A LOT. It was one of his favorite bands. I still listen to the Kingston Trio because of Dad. Listening to his music also helps me remember some of the very vivid memories I have of my Dad.

When I was a kid Dad loved playing in the ocean with us. I don’t know how many hours he spent holding onto me while I floated on rafts in the ocean. I was a little nervous about the fish and, in full disclosure, the seaweed. I would lose my mind when the seaweed brushed across my legs and would go running for the raft. I spent hours on those blue and red rafts (if you are a 70’s/80’s baby you know the ones I’m talking about). Dad held onto that raft and never made me feel silly for being a little afraid of the ocean critters and things drifting in the water. My brothers and I always had the best time in the ocean with Dad. He transferred his love of the ocean to me and to my kids as well. It is my happy place and I always feel a little closer to Dad on the beach.

On a side note, I was looking for a picture of the blue and red rafts to add to this post. I saw one of the rafts marked “vintage” and now I feel old. It was also for sale for $59.99. What in the world!? I don’t even know how someone owns a raft from that long ago that survived this long. We went through those rafts like fish went through the water and they were only about $5 each. The new $59.99 price…must be a victim of “inflation”.

Even though Dad has gone on to Heaven, his memory is still very much alive here on Earth. When we get together as a family, there is always some fun story of Dad that finds its way into the conversation. The Dad stories are the best and always get us laughing. I think about him every day and miss him terribly, but more than that, I am so thankful that he was my Dad!

The Thankful Challenge – Day 4

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

Want to know one of the fun things about my midnight musings? You get to see the inner workings of my very tired brain. It’s always a fun time when I try to make a post when I really should be snuggled down and fast asleep. I probably should go back and check the posts to make sure I didn’t make too many typos (or say anything too crazy) but maybe I will do that another day. Today I am trying something a little different and writing while the clock still says “a.m.”.

Today, on Day 4, I want to give a huge shout out to the most influential person in my life, my Mom. She has been my inspiration, my confidant, my friend, and my biggest supporter to name a few of the qualities that make her the best. It’s amazing to think God could put so much goodness, kindness, and compassion into one person. She has a spirit of helpfulness and giving that I think may be unmatched. I wish she had kept track of her pie giving when she first started taking pies to people that were homebound or recovering from sickness. I’m pretty sure the pie count would be 500 or more. Did I mention she makes a mean lemon meringue pie? It’s not the thing I am most thankful for about her but it is definitely up there on the list. I’ve tried a lot of lemon meringue pies in my time and no one makes one like my Mom. She also makes a fabulous coconut pie, and pecan pie, which are also fan favorites, but I would arm wrestle someone for the last piece of her lemon meringue pie!

Oh goodness, sorry, I got going on a pie tangent and couldn’t reel myself back in. It happens.

I am one blessed woman to have a Mom like my Mom! We talk and text a lot, sometimes about really random things. She has a great sense of humor and tolerates mine. She laughs at my jokes and comforts me when I am not in the most joking of moods. She has never ever given up on me even when I wasn’t the easiest to love. And she has supported me through everything, even when I moved across the country to pursue one of my dreams. As a Mom with a child that just left for college, I know those years apart were not easy for her but she never made me feel guilty about being so far away.

Mom has supported me always and in every way. Now she does the same for her grandkids. Whatever the weather, if she tells them she is going to be there, she is there. Scorching hot track meets, check, torrential downpour football game, check, freezing cold regatta and cross country meet, double check. She has been there for my kids the way she was there for me and that is something I will never forget. I want to support my kids and be the best Mom I can be for them because of her.

I could go on and on and I will likely revisit Mom stories later in the year. There is one thing for sure, the bond between a Mother and daughter is so special and I am thankful God saw fit to put us together! I love you to the moon and back!

I would love to hear your favorite stories about your Mom. Please leave a comment to let me know one of your favorites!