Spring is in the Air!

Spring is in the air! Well, except for the 1-3" of snow we're expecting tomorrow night - lol! It just hit me today and I'm so glad - I don't really know how it happened, but something just kicked in.  I had a long talk with myself this morning about where I'm headed and what I'm doing and how I've been feeling and decided there needs to be some changes. It's been a long winter (for everyone, I know) and I for one have decided I'm digging out - emotionally and physically. The long cold (albeit beautiful) winter is passing on now and spring is on it's way. Springtime - when I get to clean out my garage; springtime - when I get to re-arrange and open up my 2nd business room; springtime - when I really should do a deep cleaning of my house and get my carpets cleaned; springtime - when I'll look at and evaluate all the areas of my life and see where I need to pull myself into balance here, and stretch myself out to balance over there. I recently had an uneventful birthday (you know, not a "milestone" number) and it helped me to realize that no matter how old I get I still need to evaluate my habits and actions, my feelings and thoughts, my goals and relationships and make sure everything is still holding true to my inner self and heading into the same direction. Alot of work? perhaps. Worth it in the end? Yep! Happy springtime!

Lent

Here it is, Ash Wednesday already! Now I do not attend a denominational church that practices lent, but for the past few years (actually more than that, I guess) I have done my own lent tradition of "giving up" or "sacrificing" or "refraining from engaging in a certain activity" in exchange for spending that time reflecting, praying, reading or, in the case of an activity, trying to replace it with a more appropriate one. Perhaps some of you remember a few years ago when I gave up road rage for lent - what fun that was! lol! I don't know that I could say I felt like it was an immediate success; however, I do feel compelled to report to you now, whether it be because of that 40 day stint of trying to control myself or whether it's just that I've mellowed with age, my road rage now seems to be under control most of the time.

This lent season, I am giving up what has become my almost every night "before bed" habit of playing a few computer games - it seems to turn into a half hour, an hour, sometimes a couple hours - then I'm exhausted the next day because I need more sleep now than I used to - lol! So my plan and intention is to replace that habit with a more productive one; i.e. reading, meditating, praying, journalling - something that would be calming and hopefully productive. I think just the plan to "break" a habit or pattern and replace it with something else in my life is a positive one. Nothing wrong with playing computer games - in fact, some of them are good for my brain, I'm sure. However, there comes a time when it's just wasting time - I mean, really, what difference does it make if those candies get crushed or not?????

Here I am!

You thought I went missing, eh? Nahh - just regular life. You all know the story - long lists of laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, working, babysitting - yep, that's about what I've been doing since I talked with you last! Time flies!

Last night some of my family got together to celebrate some of our February birthdays (busy month of celebrating for us!). Anyway, one of my nephews who will turn 7 years of age this Wednesday, asked me a deep question. I don't know why he asked this question - what was his motivation or why he was thinking about this, but he did, and he was intent on my answer and I failed time and time again! The question from this almost 7 year old was, and I quote, "if you could go back in your life to one day, which one would it be?" His rules were simple - it had to be an important day. Wow. I said I didn't know, that I'd have to think about it and get back to him - unacceptable. So I said there were many important days in my life, after all I was alot older than he - unacceptable. It quickly became evident that I was going to have to dig deep and answer this question with some sense of seriousness or he would be forever disappointed. So I told him that the day Barry was born, the day Mallory was born, and the day Tanner was born were all three very important days in my life. He responded by saying, "no - it has to be a day that was important to YOU!" I explained to him that the day someone is born is not just important to the person being birthed, but also to the mom - the person doing the birthing, and, for that matter, that day was important also to aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters, and grandparents - that, as a matter of fact, the day he was born was also important to me. He seemed totally unimpressed with my answers and moved on to a game of checkers! So now, of course, I'm thinking about all this. Hmmmmm...would I ever actually go back to a certain day and if so, for what purpose - to change something? to experience something again? Food for thought from an almost 7 year old.

Yesterday...fun day!

I know you probably won't believe me when I say I don't get out much because those of you who know me well, know in my younger days, I was never home - out and about all the time. But now I really don't get out too much. Between work and other obligations, I seem to not have much spare time. Anyway, yesterday was a fun day out. A couple of my friends and I went to a drum circle at the Guitar Center in Peoria. Then we had to eat (of course!), then we needed to run by Walmart (for a "couple" things), then into Hob Lob (since we were right there!), then to Big Lots (because they closed the one in Bloomington). By then we were worn out and needed a rest and a snack at Culver's. All in all, a great, fun day. Nice to be out and about, nice to catch up with and visit with friends, and nice to just be out of the house for the day. The drum circle was fun, and, of course, I found a drum I'd love to have.........

I had intended to do some photo documentation, but sometimes life is happening too fast to document. Here's the only picture I took all day. Two friends trying on sunglasses! Oh well, you'll just have to close your eyes and imagine the drumming, the shopping, and the eating! lol!

Summer is here!

Today is the summer solstice - the longest day of sunlight for us here in the northern hemisphere. But could it signify more? Take a little deeper look with me (you know how I love to analyze and re-analyze and then analyze some more!), and maybe you'll find a thought that relates to your personal life. Many different peoples and places celebrate the summer solstice in different ways - one I found interesting was the dancing around a maypole. Whole communities doing this. Interesting, traditional, and I think, kinda fun. Anyway, this day is giving way to warmth, sunshine, a  new season of crops and plants growing - we flourish in the growing season. We pull the weeds out and encourage our plants to grow and produce. So today might be a good day to evaluate other things in your life. Are there "weeds" in your life - things that no longer serve you and the goals of where you are headed? Today would be a good day to let go of those things. It's a day of new beginnings - start that diet, start that exercise program, set that goal, stop that habit - whatever it is you'd like to change, today might be a good day to start it. If you think all my ramblings are just that - ramblings of an over-analytical woo woo woman, so be it, but at least get out and enjoy the sunshine - it's here for the longest time today, waiting for you to come out, enjoy it, dance in it, swim in it's warmth and brightness! Enjoy this nice, looooooong, sunshiney day!

Beautiful night for a ride!

Last night I got off work around 7:00. As I walked out to my car, I decided it was a beautiful night for a ride. So, I got in my car, drove through and got a sandwich, of course, and headed on down the road. I rolled down all four of my windows, blasted my Syrius radio (whatever the heck that is - it came with the car!), and  away I went. It was so fun! I drove on back roads, smelling newly cut grass, trees in bloom, manure from the pig farm (yuk)! On the way home it was dark and the moon (almost full now) was out and very bright. There were a few clouds, but not many. I just found myself amazed at all the beauty around me that I miss everyday by being constantly inside. I made myself a promise to go for drives a little more often and see what I've been missing out there! The prize for driving all the way to Bloomington? Pictured below!

View From The Corner

Last weekend was the annual Tremont Turkey Festival. As most of you know, I was born and raised in Tremont, raised my children there, and currently a portion of my grandchildren live there. I love small town life. The festival was always a huge deal when I was growing up and holds many fond memories for me. Aside from all the benefits to the community financially, it's just a very nice, family friendly weekend. These days I participate in the festival by renting a booth in the handmade crafts section to sell the stone jewelry I make as a hobby. My cousin, Karen, is gracious enough to help me on this endeavor and we really do have alot of  fun and laughs. This year the weather was fabulous, and since our spot is under a tree (I don't have a tent), we weren't really even in the sun that much. We're actually almost exactly on the corner of all the happenings! I don't have time to snap many pictures during the weekend, but here's a few to let you in on some of the fun. Of course, it would be indiscreet to take pictures of all the things seen (and now not able to be "unseen" by our eyes) that a festival seems to naturally bring out. Suffice it to say there were old people, young people, scantily clad people, people dressed in all (and I do mean all) types of clothing, etc., etc. Of course, we can also see the bed races, the end of the 5k, and hear the music from our vantage point. Several of our friends and family came by to visit us and that always adds to the fun and excitement of the yearly festival - seeing people from our high school who come back in town for the festival, as well as others we rarely get to see. Do I make much money? Ahhh - a little; but net profit after the rental fee, the new displays I bought (since the show at Derby Days was so windy some of mine fell off the table and broke), the tie dye clothing I purchased for my grandkids from another craft vendor, the purchase and consumption of several turkey sandwiches, strawberry shortcakes, beans, chips, etc.....well you get the idea. Any money made is just a sideline plus, but it helps maintain my weekend. In a nutshell, I would say our view from the corner was priceless.

Here's Karen with the "Wolf" from 104.9 fm radio.

Here's my niece, Emma, with her turkey facepaint.

Here's my niece, Maria, with her rainbow/heart facepaint. When I asked her about her brothers, she reminded me that there really isn't anything boys would want painted on their faces. 

Here's Regina and Karen wearing the beautiful halo type headpieces I bought and made them wear. They were really happy about that - lol! And just for the record, I bought one for myself and wore it too - in fact, I wore it until I was driving home and almost got whiplash when I turned to look out my side window!