A Spirit of Gratitude: June 28

I Am Thankful For:

A rain shower to cool down the afternoon

A seed of an idea

Spotting a Brown Thrasher at the feeder

The Merlin Bird ID app

The grand kid reading to me

Perfectly ripe nectarines

Bunnies in the backyard

BBQ sandwiches

Blueberry pancakes

The Man of the House fixed the grill

Surf 'n Turf

Busy Days

Popping popcorn

Listening to the rain tap at the window

Waking up early

Going back to sleep

I Don't Know What to Read

I can't decide what to read next.

I'm finny in that I don't like not having my next read ready and waiting for me as soon as I finish the book I am currently reading.  It's an actual uncomfortable feeling for me.

It is true that I have what could conservatively be called a long to-be-read list.   I'll probably have to live to be over 200 years old in order to read everything on that list.  And I'm constantly adding books to the list much faster than I am reading and marking them off the list.  Most of those are novels, memoirs, or non-fiction books for pleasure reading.

It's my personal/spiritual growth reading that is currently challenging me.  The two faith-based books I would like to read right now are both wait-listed.  Not just "will be available in a week or two", but a "there are 20 people ahead of you" wait list.

I've added myself to the lists, but I can't seem to decide on what else to select for reading during the in between time.

Any suggestions?

Sunday Inspiration: Everyone You Meet

A Spirit of Gratitude: June 21

I Am Thankful For:

Roasted purple potatoes

2 bags of junk removed from my home office/craft room

Feeling God speak

Baseball games

Exciting last minute wins

The grand kid making me laugh

Shorts that fit

Father's Day

Banana pudding

Light blue toenails

Watching squirrels play

Happy meals

Benedryl

Encouraging news at the doctor

Taco Tuesday

Allergy eye drops

Hemmingway's Third Wife

Thanks to Netgalley, I recently had the opportunity to read the new novel Love and Ruin by Paula McLain in exchange for an honest review...

Love and Ruin is a work of historical fiction which tracks the relationship of Hemmingway to his third wife, the famed war journalist Martha Gellhorn. 

Ms McLain takes us along from their initial meeting while Martha is on family vacation in Key West following the death of her father, to the Spanish Civil War where Hemmingway has encouraged her to follow him as her mentor and wastes no time making her his lover.  Their life together in the lushness of Cuba, to the vastness wilderness of Wyoming.  I found the story of this relationship to be a tumultuous journey of passion, love, and personal and professional jealous between two childish, selfish, volatile people which could only end exactly as it does.

Ms McLain is a beautiful writer of great talent.  I only wish she could find more likeable characters to bring to life.

Sunday Inspiration: Happy Father's Day

A Spirit of Gratitude: June 14

I Am Thankful For:

Showing my routine who's boss

Clean stairs

A woodpecker at the bird feeder

Being done with all my errands by lunch time

Waffle fries

Spending the afternoon with the grand kid

Cherries

Air conditioning

Picking blueberries

Planning the week

Cardinal sitting on the street sign

An almost completed order

Blueberries on my cereal

Having no where to go

Books

Bird song

Lunch with my dad

What are YOU thankful for this week?

Sisters

No one in life can every quite figure out how to push every single one of  your buttons like your sister.

She can make you laugh until you pee yourself; or cry until you feel completely dried out.  She can encourage you and lift your spirits; or completely tear you down.  She can be your biggest cheerleader or your greatest rival.  She can be your best friend; or your mortal enemy.  Sometimes she can be all this at once.

Growing up - my sisters and I could be practically ripping each other's hair out one minute. The next minute we might be joining forces to create a united front.  (Often in an attempt to avoid getting in trouble for whatever had gone down during our recent spat.)  Once my middle sister and I got into a fight (If you think girls don't get physical when they fight - you never knew my sisters when we were teens!) In the course of the fight, she broke my glasses.  The fight came to a screeching halt,   At that point, we quickly became allies - working together in attempt to fix the glasses before our parents found out what had occurred.  We failed, by the way.  

There are times I am sad that my daughter will never know what it's like to have a sister.  There are other times when I think my daughter is incredibly lucky that she will never know what it's like to have a sister.  

Me (on the right) and my sisters - about 10 years ago

If there's one thing that is predictable about the relationship between sisters., it is that it can be entirely unpredictable.

Sunday Inspiration: Walking in Faith

Why I'm So Tired Today

I heard it just as I was preparing to go to bed.  An odd sound.  One I couldn't place.

Of course, I had to go investigating to find the source.

It was outside on the back porch.  A raccoon.  Helping himself (or herself) to one of my bird feeders.

And this little bandit was not willing to easily walk away from that free buffet I had left out for it.  I turned a light on it.  It sat there looking right at me while munching on a handful of suet.  (not really, as I was inside the sliding door and it probably couldn't even see me).  I knocked on the door, and I think I actually saw it shrug at that.  As if to say "whatever".  I even cracked the door open and tried playing the alarm from my phone to scare him off.  The raccoon apparently just considered it dinner music.  

This continued for a good 10 to 15 minutes until the Man of the House came out and opened the sliding door, at which point the raccoon finally waddled over and climbed down the side of the porch.  Although he must have come back at some point, because this morning my suet feeder was empty and the bell feeder was torn apart with seed all over the porch.  What a mess!!

I was all kinds of ready to go to sleep after that.  Unfortunately, that's when the male offspring experienced his second nose bleed of the night.  He had one a very short time before which had stopped - until he sneezed. 

(WARNING - if you are squeamish, you may want to stop reading now...)

When he sneezed, blood went spraying everywhere and his nose started gushing.  With some nasty little clots.  I helped him pinch his nose, lean forward so the blood wouldn't flow down the back of his throat and get the flow mostly stopped.  Then I had him hold an ice pack on his face for a few minutes before using some saline nasal spray. This all seemed to do the trick, as he had no more incidents during the night.

Between the raccoon caper and the bleeding nose incident - I didn't sleep very well.  Every little noise would wake me up.  And I think I had a few crazy dreams throughout the night.

And that's why I'm so tired.

By the way, if anyone has any great tips for getting rid of raccoons - or nose bleeds - PLEASE leave me a note in the comments!

A Spirit of Gratitude: June 7

oh my goodness gracious!  I don't know where my brain is this week, but it didn't even occur to me that today was Thursday until almost noon.  I mean, I knew it was Thursday.  But that didn't really register as meaning anything until I realized that I had not written my gratitude post for this week - and it's already half way through Thursday!  🙄

I Am Thankful For:

The Male Offspring turning 20

Homemade cupcakes

Finding the perfect picture

Writing blog posts

Laughing

Not having enough dirty laundry to justify washing a load

Waking up to the sound of the cat purring

The arrival of June

An entire day with no rain

Being proud of my handsome husband

Only eating 1/2 the piece of cake

Giant Jenga

4 days without a chip in my nail polish

Being 1/2 way to my step goal before noon

When the cardinals sit on the porch rail and complain that the feeder needs filled

Watching 2 bunnies play in the back yard

Take out for dinner

What are you thankful for this week?

Sunday Inspiration: What They Think

Currently... June 2018

I don't know what the weather has been like where you are located, but let me tell you - May was one incredibly rainy month here in western North Carolina!  We had over 20 inches of rain in the second half of the month. THAT is a lot of rain!!  There has been flooding and mudslides all over the area.  Let's hope that weather trend left along with the month and that June will be a bit drier.

Reading:  I just finished Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman.  Next up - Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.  I've been on the waiting list for this book for months and months.  I hope it's as good as I hear.   I have also been reading So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore for my personal/spiritual readings.  I'll be finishing that up in the next few days.  Then I'll be starting Everybody, Always by Bob Goff.

Working On: Making small improvements for my health and fitness.  I've been working to increase my daily step count, making sure I get more sleep, avoiding soda and increased my daily water intake.

Enjoying:  Binge watching through some TV series with the Man of the House.  Last month we completed Parks and Rec.  Now we're watching our way through Arrested Development.

Anticipating:  A little quality grand kid time.  School will be getting out in a couple of weeks and hopefully I'll be recruited for a some babysitting duties during the summer.  I don't get to see him as much since he's bee inn school and I miss that kid!

I'm also looking forward to my dad's blueberries being ripe soon.  I love going and picking berries and then having fresh, delicious, organic berries with my yogurt, mixed into pancakes and just for snacking.  Yummy!

Wanting:  As I mentioned above - I have been avoiding soft drinks for the last few weeks.  And most afternoons I find myself really, really wanting a Dr Pepper.   Thank goodness for flavored sparkling water, which helps take the edge off those crazy soda cravings!

Needing:  A pair of not-too-heavy hand weights so I can start doing some arm exercises.  I have a pair of 1 pound, but c'mon... that's nothing.  I thought I had a set of 3 pounds weights at one point, but if so - I have NO idea where they might be.

Feeling:  A little better than usual!  I don't know if it's because I'm getting more sleep, eating a little better, or moving more - but I really do feel as if I'm noticing a difference in my energy level.  I also feel as if I'm getting a little more accomplished each day.

What about you?  What are you reading, enjoying, anticipating, wanting, needing and/or feeling at the beginning of June?