So many things

I have had such a full section of days since i last wrote that i am sad for all the good blog posts i didn't have time to write.  Boy how life can speed up on you before you know what happened.

We were already ramping up for a big labor day weekend, wherein we planned to get our first big start at remodeling our bathroom.  Then (right now i can't seem to remember how many days ago all of this started) my resident super hero learned that his work would be shipping him off to the far side of Houston, for a month, beginning the day after labor day. 

This fancy tidbit of information commanded a change in urgency for our bathroom plans.  The bathroom plans, combined with our intensified need for two working vehicles, has resulted in a lot of lost sleep and an incredible speed by which we have spent ridiculous amounts of insurance money at near lightning speed.  (Repetitive but true). I'm dizzy, and tired, and getting poor.  But i am not even a little bit bored.

I'm not sure i can remember bored.  Not while living with a super hero.

Which brings me to something important. 

My car-fixing-bathroom-gutting-money-spending super hero nearly used up all his super powers this weekend in his effort to ensure that i would not be inconvenienced while he's out of town.  Sweet wonderful man.

I love him.

And i am periodically moved to tears by how much he loves me.

And i am really really blessed to be able to say such things.

So many things.

The End of Lamentations

I realized today, this morning, during the upside of a long commute, which is the time for your mind to hear and clear, that i have forgotten an important lesson from my past.

Eight or nine years ago, we were living in the house that lovingly referred to as my "dream rent house."  I loved the floor plan; i loved the location;  i loved my plans for it; etc., etc.

This was the first "place of our own" after our first Texas rent house burned all the way to the ground, and i was well attached to it, so when my husband started mentioning thoughts of leaving this home, i rebelled loudly...on the inside, of course.  Well, probably a little on the outside to.  Yeah, maybe a lot on the outside.

After the insecurity of losing our home and depending on others for so many months, i had placed my trust in a location and a situation, things which, i should always know, can never be trusted.

In my distress, i began to bring my worries before God, who reminded me how temporal this world is and how finding satisfaction in things and earthly situations will always disappoint.

During this time, i even had a dream about having a house, full of beautiful, costly furniture that was a blessing and a gift from Him.  In the dream, i was told to hold these things loosely, as with a cupped hand, ready to give or just release.

But lately i have found myself in lamentations, not the book, just the state.  I have lamented not being home with my chickens and my things, i have lamented having no time to bake bread or can preserves.  I have lamented the many hours spent away from my home and the subject of many of my "humble ambitions." 

Today, i remembered a plaque I eventually nailed to the wall of my "dream rent house."  It had a picture of a little spindly flower in a pot, and it said, "bloom where you're planted."  This was my reminder that God wants me to flourish in every situation, and today it is my reminder that He doesn't want me to waste my time wishing i were someplace i'm not right now.  He wants me to bloom wherever i am.

So even though it's pretty hard to be any more than just a wannabe farmer right now, i need to make the most of the time i have wherever i am, or i may someday lament the time i wasted, and the opportunities i missed while i was wishing i was someplace i had already been.

What's on my mind.

Yesterday we crossed a big milestone in our insurance adventure.  We got paid.  Very big deal. In order to get paid, we had to cross through the wilderness of downtown Houston in our not air-conditioned car in 103 degree heat, etc., etc.  We had other plans and brands this weekend also, and basically this is the first rested few minutes I have had at my house this weekend.  I am pooped but happy to have accomplished important things on our goal list. 

I made another break-through.  After our clothes were delivered from the cleaning company, I was determined that there was no way I was going to keep so many items that I haven't missed for the last month, in my house, to just take up space.  So last evening, after we got back from our adventures, I went to work unpacking and sorting.  It went much faster than i anticipated, and I now have 2-3 boxes of clothes and shoes to donate and a giant  pile of items that should only have been kept as rags to begin with.  I'm not quite finished, but I made a ton of progress, and I feel much better.

When I get a few minutes, i think i'm going to create a review blog.  Mostly, my deal is that when I have experiences with products or services, I generally have something to say about them, and I want the interwebs to benefit from my experience, but I don't really think that you, my farm and life friends, are necessarily interested in my critical review of every product i use or service i try.  So a sisters sort of site seems in order.

So. since i clearly don't have enough to do right now, i'm wanting to go ahead and create this new blog, but i'm having trouble deciding what to name it.  Any ideas?

I considered "Humble Reviews," but, let's face it, reviews don't really lend themselves to humility.  I thought of "Beth's List", but i'm sure I can be more original than that. 

Unsolicited Opinions

The Hard Truth

Does Beth Like It?

Can YOU Handle the Truth?

I just can't decide.  Not a good start for a reviewer/critic, I guess, but it is what it is.

I would love love love any opinions or ideas from y'all about my potential review blog's potential name.

Fire away, please.

Stronger, wiser, and funnier

Do you remember how I told you that trouble makes us stronger? It's true. Though I have to admit that i'm almost ready to lie back and take a break and admire my new muscles. Our most recent trouble inspired change ... lots of it, and I am very excited about that. Also, I think that this new adventure is teaching me and my gun stinging super hero more about being partners, and we're taking new steps forward. Pretty awesome. Right now, i'm sitting in a room full of boxes and bags of recently cleaned clothes and shoes and whatnot that i'm frankly not sure what to do with. Did we really have this much stuff in our little house? Where did we put it all, and what did we use it for? I see a big donation to something in our future. We're facing a remodel/restoration, repairs of cars, record heat and drought, and yet i'm at peace and looking forward to how i'll grow and change and learn through it all. This is new for me. It's amazing how God changes us, and I am forever grateful.ready

Testing

Testing 123

dusty rain and other wild anomalies

Yesterday, we had rain.

It was quite an event.

The t.v. was on when it first started raining, and my husband heard an unfamiliar noise and ordered the television volume off, so he could listen. A very tiny moment later, he was outside, examining the air. What is this stuff falling from the sky?

It didn't rain super extra hard or soaking, but it rained. The cat hid, the baby chicks ran for cover, and we rejoiced.

Funny though, my husband noticed. The rain was stirring up dust. The ground is so dry that when the rain drops hit the ground, instead of creating mud, it just stirred up the dirt a little.

How sad.

But, i've noticed, we sure are a lot more grateful for tiny showers and big storms these days. Sometimes lack is a blessing. It helps us remember how much we're blessed.

Just to set the record straight

I was chatting with my loving mother a couple of nights ago, and it came to my attention that folks living in non-Texan places might have heard a rumor that it has cooled down here in Texas.

I'm here to set the record straight.

It is HOT.

At the end of the day, your body tells you when you haven't had enough to drink, because you start to wilt.  And if you dare do something crazy, like go for a walk between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., you just might put yourself in the hospital.  It's crazy hot.

This afternoon, i opted to treat myself to a Dr. Pepper instead of water on my way home from work, and i feel it.  So now i sit and sip on icey cold tea and just give my body a chance to recoop.

Believe it or not, though, there's a rumor we might be on our way to some cooler weather.  It was only 96 in the heat of the afternoon, and one small area in houston actually saw water fall from the sky.  It caused a traffic jam, and i heard someone caught pneumonia from the cold weather, but we're hoping the cool will come back anyway.

Is it really too much to ask for temps in the 90s?

Really?

That is my Friday evening, dehydrated rant.

And for all of you in the U.S. who are experiencing weird weather, including way too much rain instead of too little, we're all in it together.  I haven't forgotten you.  Maybe i just wish someone could get a big spoon a stir the pot a bit so we could get some rain, and you could get some dry.

Let's keep praying.

Good night y'all, before i  start rambling.

I know, too late.

in stride, or something

Dear blog readers,

I still love you. My recent absence is no reflection on you or my affection for you. Instead, i have been overwhelmed by insurance adjusters, big decisions, broken down cars, extremely persistent very very VERY hot weather, and shockingly inadequate computer function, which have joined together to keep me from blogging, and have very nearly succeeded, until now. Now, i will blog.



The last time we talked, my kitten had made a feeble attempt at burning the house down. This is the faultiness of kittens: they haven't been around long enough to realize who they're messing with. Poor kitty. He couldn't have known how much experience we have with fires. Who would?




Well, nearly four weeks later, we think we might be at the brink of getting some money for fixing our house. It seems that getting the money will involve at least one road trip among our unexpected complications, but we're figuring it out as we go and taking it in stride. Or something like that. I'm not sure i know exactly what "taking it in stride" really means, but folks have used this expression about me in my past, and now i think it sounds cool, so i keep it around as a go-to expression wherever i think it fits in.





Updates? Well, i spent a week with my wonderful friends after my car broke down, at the end of which, my hubby and i borrowed said wonderful friends' vehicle to go search for our own. We bought a dependable vehicle for way less than it was worth, and we're back on the road. Well, i'm back on the road, my husband is back on the bike until he fixes my other car - the one with air conditioning. In any event, i can live in my own house and also attend my place of employment, and we're pretty happy about that.







The car: my husband re-invented and built the non-existent tool meant for loosening the impossible bolt and found the non-existent replacement impossible bolt for use at a later date. However, all the re-invented tools and power tools and leverage instruments at my husband's and his friends' disposal could not loosen the impossible bolt from its place, where it undoubtedly intends to live forever, in my car up on blocks, on my front porch.



We might be a redneck.




There are plans to redeem my little car, despite the stubbornness of the unsuspecting impossible bolt, and i have hope and faith that i will once again drive my happy, tiny, gas efficient, air conditioned honda.




Partly because my wonderful husband will eventually grow weary of riding his bike home from work.



I assume.




The house: tonight we went from playfully flirting with, to becoming engaged to, the notion of making the most of the insurance money we will receive by doing the labor ourselves. Well, i'm playing a little fast and loose with the words, "we" and "us" and "ourselves." What i mean is that one of "us" will do the labor, while all of "us" enjoy the benefits. You get my meaning. Stay tuned for pictures of the great job "we" do in the somewhat near future.



Inadequate computer function: Another change during this season is that we have decided to pull the plugs on our land line phone and dsl and desk top computers, in favor of the exciting world of wireless communications, i.e., android smart phones. Sadly and happily, our phones can access our emails faster than our computers most of the time, and they take up way less space, so we're going to stop wasting money and space on all this computer business. Hoping that works out ok. I'm ready for a change.




In fact, i'm so ready for a change, that i am constantly looking for things to throw away lately. This is going to be an interesting year.



O.k., loves, i've probably rambled on enough for now. If it is within my power to do so, i promise not to wait so long to write next time.




Beth