Monday and Tuesday

Every day I have the best of intentions to come in here and write some things down.  I envision sitting on the couch with my laptop and just allowing my thoughts and feelings to transpire through my fingertips, but dawn turns into dusk and those intentions are left behind, much like some of the tasks and chores not done that day.

It's been a beautiful glorious past week.  I've grown a renewed love for the life I'm living, and I find that I am enjoying the sunrises and the sunsets more.   I stare out of my windows throughout the day, completely in awe of the colors splayed across the sky.

Rain, sunshine, early morning, late night, it doesn't make a difference as I tend to find something beautiful about every single one of those moments.  See the trick is to stop, enjoy it and not allow anything else to cloud that moment, just let it be, let it swirl around in your thoughts and bring forth whatever feelings there may be.  Contentment, in it's purest clearest form!!!!

I've been busy the past 2 days, pottering, faffing, doing this and that, and letting life go by at whatever speed it chooses, which lately seems to be turbo infused.  I could sit and be frustrated as I so often was before, but I have taken to seeing it differently.  It just means that I need to make those times more productive, enjoy every single minute of every day and get as much in as I can.

Fresh lettuce in all it's beautiful vibrant green.  It's some of the best lettuce I've ever eaten too



A little afternoon pick me up when the exhaustion kicks in and you find yourself nodding off to sleep around 2:30pm



While the world seemed to come to a full halt to view the eclipse, some kept on with their tasks at hand.  When you live in the country and mowing needs done, you don't have time for interruptions, even if they come in the form of a solar eclipse





I finished my chores and sat down for a bit of crochet.  This is the Mandala 21 from John Kelly which you can find over on Ravelry.



Sometimes you need a bit of an easy, mindless, quick to make project to get you out of the irritation that is the big blanket looming in the basket.  My Mandala Madness is a work of love, and frustration, and everything in between.  After a quite irritating Part 14, I needed a break, I needed something that would keep me from chucking out all my crochet materials and giving up, and this was just what I needed.



In the middle of my crochet reprieve, my kids begged me to check out the Solar Eclipse.   Luckily for us, we have expensive amazing telescopes which we've had for almost 20 years now, and have solar filters so that we can get some sun photography.   I used that filter for us to enjoy the eclipse.



I wasn't too into it, matter of fact I was going to skip it altogether, but I had also said from the beginning that for me it was a "if I can see it, great, but if I miss it, I won't be upset either."

Was able to snap these two pictures at different times during the eclipse.  The one above was around 1:30pm and the bottom one was an hour later.



Some of my favorite and most intimated moments with God, are spent in my kitchen as I prepare our family's meals.  I pray, I talk to Him, I confess, I ask for guidance and I thank Him for our lives, our homes, our bounty before us.





After dinner, dishes and clean up.  I have started stepping outside each night and watching as the sun starts to set.  There's this calming lull that settles over the land, even the birds and wildlife know it's time to slow down and get ready for the much needed rest ahead.



I am so thankful for the life I have, the place I live and the chance to be surrounded by beautiful country land.

I woke up with a pounding headache, a headache that had settled in about an hour after the eclipse and just seemed to increase in pressure as the day moved on.  I fell asleep around 8pm, my body fully exhausted, Marley at my side, TV control in my hand.



As I woke up on Tuesday, the headache persisted, no doubt my body telling me to slow down and take it easy, and I've learned over the years to take cues from that little voice in my head, not to fight it and think I know better.

And so I did my quick daily pick up and clean of the house and grabbed my Mandala Madness again.  I figured it was the perfect time to finish Part 14, now that I was forced to slow down, to not be distracted by other things, and I could give it my full attention which was desperately needed to get through the very wordy part of the pattern.



Two hours later, I made the last stitch and felt an immense sense of accomplishment.



These 4 rows that tested my patience and ability to read patterns, almost defeated me, but I didn't let that happen, I pushed through, pulled rows apart, wound up yarn ball after yarn ball, did it all over again, 4 times.....but I finished it and it felt great to know that in the end, through my perseverance, I beat the obstacle in my path.



It's more beautiful than I could ever imagine, truly breathtaking.  I only wish that I had as much creativity and talent as some of these crochet creators do.  To be able to envision it in my head and put it into words. 



I'm about to get ready for the day and head out.  My Jasmine has a hair appointment, she's now about to color her hair to a deep blue. 

I used to get frustrated with her because I feel that she has the most beautiful natural red hair, but she's 18 and she's in that stage of her life where she is enjoying experimenting with color and changing things up here and there.  And so I let her do it, and I no longer go into it with a frown, I smile and enjoy the process with her, it's a bonding moment for mother and daughter.

As she gets older, these moments are waning, they're probably some of the last ones I'll have with her on a day to day basis before she sets off into the big world. 

Lesson of the day friends, enjoy life, don't sweat the small stuff, and treasure every moment you have.  Breathe in the fresh air, take in that sunset, watch the birds flutter above and thank God for every second that you're allowed to do that :)