Random Musings

I'm one of those weird people who like a very flexible schedule. As in, I want to have a to do list for the day, but no set time those things have to be done that day. My husband is super-organized, and prefers to knock out the least favorite chores first and have a more "gelled" schedule. I figured it would take us a week or two to mesh our two versions of scheduling together. We're not quite to the end of week one yet, and I've been reminded that both flexibility and schedules are paramount in the SCI life. Life with a spinal cord injury means mornings and evenings are not flexible...at all. We can switch things around as in who gets ready first, or whether or not I get ready before or after breakfast, but that's the extent of our flexibility. Evenings are the same way. Every other night our routine, should things go well, takes about an hour and a half. Non-bath nights we can both be in the bed within 30 minutes.  But on the nights things don't go wel...

Besides the trees budding and the different flowers blooming, I always know spring is on the way when the egg production picks back up. We had a surprise recently when we had the tiniest of eggs in the hen house. I don't know if it's from the youngest hen we have (who's barely a year old), or if it's from an injured hen. We've had two this size in the last month, and neither one have had a yellow part.    Sooo sleepy. Wish I had a video camer on it so you could see it topple over.    All four of them: two Auracaunas (lay colored eggs) and two Wyandottes    I think I may wind up with another "Hawk". Don't you just love that look?   And guess who found the food first?

So you don't want to play with me, huh? You think you can get away with going to Raleigh two days in a row and then stay inside 3/4 of the next day doing housework and when you do come outside you only play with me a little bit before feeding those squawking things. And you think that's going to cut it? I'll show you.  Your grill cover...you just thought I chewed on it before.  And your camellia bush that is finally blooming? I'll not only prune the bottom half of it, I'll knock of most of the blooms as well.  And that huge flower pot that took two bags of dirt to fill and has held your dead tomato vine for all of my life? I'll not only finally mess with it, I'll empty it in the driveway and attempt to drag all my toys through the dirt after it rains.  And then I'll chew apart the connectors on the hose pipe...just for fun!    But this?  This I do not understand.   You bring home these little squeaky th...

I'm starting to feel like I'm expecting...I keep hearing horror stories. We are excited to be entering a new chapter in our lives, while at the same time a little nervous. (Okay, maybe I should insert a disclaimer here and say that I'm nervous and excited while my husband is his normal calm self.) No matter where we go, someone who knows this date is approaching feels the incessant urge to tell us about some poor housewife who almost goes crazy with her husband at home all day long and either gets a job or makes him get one. We smile, laugh, make a joke, and I inwardly sigh. Do I expect there to be some adjustments down the road? Of course. Every stage of life brings some. But I also expect to enjoy this. I'm looking forward to having Bobby at home, to having someone to pester  give me feedback on ideas or tell me whether or not I have the right color of thread. The reality is: my life probably won't change all that much. I'll still be a caregiver and housewi...

I know this is not the way to end week one of "healthy" eating (healthy by my standards, anyway), but tomorrow night we are celebrating VDay/aka Naomi's birthday, by going to Meadow Restaurant. It's this little "town" about a 35-40 minute drive away, and it has no traffic lights. None. But it does have a major four way stop intersection that holds a gas station, small shop, fire station, and a school. OH. and the restaurant. It's small. It's a non-descript brick building with an old plastic sign out front. I'm not even sure the sign lights up. The parking lot isn't paved, and there's nothing elaborate about it all. But the food. Oh my word. They have a very small and modest fruit/salad bar. A vegetable bar with all  your southern veggies: black-eyed peas, green English peas, boiled potatoes, collards, fatback (which Bobby likes), stewed tomatoes, fried apples, and then at the end will be either rice and country style steak or meatloaf...

I'm trying to reserve my quilting page for actual FINISHED quilts. Since lately it seems I keep working on quilt tops and not quilting, that page hasn't been updated in very long time. Hopefully by this spring that will change drastically. Every quilter has a favorite type of quilting to do. My first love is piecing, and I somewhat enjoy the the challenge of a difficult pattern. I have a quilting buddy that hates piecing and prefers the more modern quilts (where you saw strips in different designs). The traditional piecing makes her cringe, mainly because she hates triangles. She hates them so much that she gave me an entire kit she had bought years ago and started. I finished the top and gave it back to her to quilt, but she laughed and said no. So it's in my stack of quilt tops to be finished. While I would have chosen the star pattern, I would have never chosen these fabrics. The entire quilt was green, pink, and brown prints. Sometimes I had to get help from ...

Since my last post, a LOT has happened. On Wednesday we received word that a friend of ours lost her husband. I've never met him, but we were among many who prayed for his salvation. He grew up in a pastor's home and wanted absolutely nothing to do with faith. His wife didn't grow up in church, and found Christ, after marriage, to be the missing piece in her life. Within a few months of his cancer diagnosis, he came to Christ. So I hurt for my friend and her loss, but am rejoicing that we know where her husband is today. His funeral is tomorrow, and I can assure you that the wife's church will be rejoicing to an answered prayer of over 20 years. On the other hand, my heart is still hurting for a family in our church in a similar situation, but with a different outcome. It's definitely a double loss for them. Thursday - the insanity began. We returned to healthy eating (by our standards - making sure we eat the required amount of fruits and vegetables and les...

Last evening we got home more than a little late from church (and stopping to get gas and pick up a pizza), and while I'm throwing slices on a plate, Bobby returns a phone call from the answering machine. Turns out a family friend who walks our road regularly spotted a "box" that had jewelry in it on the side of the road, and he picked up the jewelry, thinking it might be mine from the robbery last summer. We wolfed down our food and headed over, only to find out it wasn't. It really wasn't a big surprise. A box of your jewelry isn't likely to turn up on the side of the road seven months after it's taken. So this morning I called our investigator and left her a message. I didn't really know who else to call. (Have you ever seen how many phone numbers/departments there are for the county?) She forwarded the information on to the proper person, and he came out to pick up the jewelry and go look for the box. I hope they can identify who it belongs to and ...

I cannot believe this is February! Where has the time gone? Today begins the countdown. The bar in our kitchen is covered with binders and notebooks from years past CLE ( continuing legal education - lawyers have to get 12 credit hours a year to keep their law license, and at least three hours have to deal with substance abuse since 75% of lawyers are alcoholics ) conferences. For most of January I would try to visit Bobby's office once a week and leave with an armload of stuff. We've cleaned out the bottom shelf of one bookcase. We've now got 21 days to clean personal stuff off his computer, his desk and counter, and the remaining two shelves. I guess his pictures and a plant that he's had for 20 years will go home with us on his last day at the office. Does anyone need 1 or 1.5 inch binders that have stuff printed on their covers? I have a feeling we're going to have quite a few of them ( which is the understatement of the year ). Meanwhile my brother-in-law ...