That's About Right

Yesterday's word of the day.

Yeah. Totally. Once again, the sheer amount of work that has been coming through the office doors has us scrambling to get the regular stuff done, let alone add anything new. And not even the thought of a truckload of donuts makes it better.

Baby steps, I tell myself. Sit and blog in between tasks. Break things down. Slow. Slow. And it all gets done.

Breathe.

The lawn got mowed. The back was really long and the mower complained, but it got done. I needed to organize the plants. Everything was just left from when it was potted. I'd walk onto the deck and think, "I need to get these organized" and that's as far as things went.  Mow the lawn and organize the deck.

This is as much as I ever want, from now on. I have to pot the white geranium in with the geranium at the far left that is tipped over. It's white, too. The rose geranium is going in with another but I don't remember what color that one is. Once everything starts blooming, I will have a riot of color.

I can't remember if I'm to sheer off the pink flower for more blooms. It's going gang busters, that's for sure.

The alyssum seems to like this pot, as do the datura and the primrose.

I moved the cat house. Something is using it during the day. It might be the cat. I could see it being put out in the morning and not really having a somewhat safe place to go during the day. I can rest a drink on the top when I'm out there reading or crafting or just sitting. The pansies will die off during the summer but, for now, I love their colorful faces on the table. I need to get three more begonias for the pot under the chair. That pot is to go on the front steps.

I need to paint the front steps and waterproof the deck. I need to empty the dirt from all the pots I'm not using anymore, box them up and ship them to my cousin who said she'd take them. Pilchard was irritated there is only one chair to sit in on the deck so I need to figure out how to bring another chair up from the basement so she can sit near me when I'm out there.

For now, this is my peaceful place. Even though I feel whelmed, I have a spot to go to just be.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

Dona Nobis Pacem

I stumbled across this on other blogs I follow so I'm adding this to my blog today.

We're supposed to blog about peace and this is kind of an apt subject for me. So much has changed in my life since embracing "living with gratitude", which could also be "living with peace".

When we say we want "peace", the immediate thought is a world without war. That kind of goal, while nice, is too big for us to accomplish. Seriously. Unless humans get a personality transplant, there will never be a time of no war. But, changing yourself to reflect peace, now that's much easier to do. If enough people embrace peace, live with peace, live peaceful lives, then the overall goal of a world without war slowly become a reality.

So, I'm adding my small voice to the blogosphere today. I caught the girls sleeping near each other yesterday on the bed. It was no small miracle that I didn't notice them because they were at peace with one another. If these two can get along, we all can.

Peace.

Beverage:  Lady Gray tea

Deb

The Bad, the Good and I Took A Nap

This weekend was filled with events. The best way to view this is from the bad point first and work forward.

My camera broke; this one, here, to the right. I was setting up a photo for my blog post on the Printer's Row book fair. I had the camera on the ottoman behind me as I worked to get things arranged on the recliner. The girls were in one of their "chase me-chase you" moods". It's rather funny to watch. There's some hissing and spitting as Pilchard chases Mija into the bedroom. Then, Mija turns around and chases Pilchard back into the living room. They seem to be having fun so I don't break that up.

Saturday, Pilchard was being chased back into the living room and she collided with the ottoman. Now, 13 pounds of cat colliding with 5 pounds of wicker ottoman and, well, you can imagine what happened.

When the thing tipped over, that scared them enough that Mija dashed under the bed and Pilchard ran behind the TV. I can't really get mad at them. They didn't know. But, I am without a camera until the end of the month when I can afford a new one. I really, really liked this one. It was compact, fit in my purse, went everywhere with me and took very adequate photos for what I needed. Since it broke on Saturday, I've had several occasions where, "Oh I need to take a photo of that" come up and I can't. Plus, this is an unplanned expense at a time when I'm trying to save up for a trip west at the end of July.

But, this is minor in life. I took a raft-load of photos at the book fair and I never finished blogging the theme for last month, old photos. I'm sure in the 6600 photos stored in my Mac, I have something I can use to illustrate a blog post. Not having a camera is an inconvenience, but I did very well when I had a camera that shot only film. I wrote long letters that didn't include photos. This is not the end of the world.

The good was a great time at the book fair on Saturday. I'll have a separate post on that. I didn't spend all the money I had budgeted for the event. I didn't find any books that jumped out at me as "Buy Me! Buy Me!" but I had much fun wandering around and poking my head into stalls. I did come home with one treasure and I handled the heat and the amount of walking required fairly well. I prepared and enjoyed the time I spent there. I have always wanted to attend the Gold Coast Art Fair which is at the end of June. I think, based on how well I did with the book fair, this will be the year I go.


I came home and, after the camera fiasco, decided the best course of action was a nap. Naps are wonderful things. I stretched out in the recliner, turned on the AC and fans and the girls and I drifted off into blissful sleep. I didn't sleep very well Saturday night so Sunday late morning saw us stretched out again in the recliner. I didn't get the outdoor furniture scrubbed. I got the closet sort of organized but the box on the kitchen table didn't get unpacked and moved. Instead, I did laundry, did cross-stitching and did a lot of "me" time. I set aside the "shouldda's", set aside the anger at myself for not setting the camera somewhere safer, set aside the slightly fried feeling after being out in 90 degree weather and just spent time sitting without guilt. Life is to be lived and sometimes that simply means just being and a nap in the recliner.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Sunday Stitching

Part of the day yesterday, was devoted to just sitting and stitching. I got most of the dusting done; washed all the rugs in the living room and ironed the Hawaiian shirts I'm wearing this week at work. I gave myself 2 hours of uninterrupted time to just stitch as I wanted to bake and fix a decent dinner. Pilchard curled up next to me. Mija jumped up onto the back of the recliner and we all just sat. I had the windows open and listened to Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis. But once that was done, I didn't put anything else on. I just listened to the sound of the birds, the lawn mowers, the cars passing by, the people out for walks or bike rides. It was very pleasant.

I made quite a bit of progress on it. I have to fill in some more medium copper in the big blob in the left middle and then what's left to the sky is the light copper. When that's done, the item in the center is completed and the dark green grass at the base is last.

I'll be done by the end of May and it can go be framed.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Relaxation = Stitching

My computer mouse is not working properly. For an online gamer like myself, this is not a good thing. I use the mouse for 75% of my gaming activities from combat to simple movement. When movement becomes hop stop hop stop, I'm fairly worthless.

It also affects the whole browsing experience. There is something wrong with the front two buttons of the mouse. Clicking on the scroll bar on the right side of the screen will, sometimes, result in being stuck. All I can do is frantically click while the bar goes up and down and hope the thing will release its grip. Or, other times, it won't grab the bar at all. I was clearing photos from my desktop after uploading them to Flickr and the mouse grabbed everything on the desktop and moved it to the trash. After screaming, I carefully removed all the icons and folders one by one and put them back on the desktop.

Monday night was terrible. I couldn't do anything in the game and just simply navigating through some of the news web sites I read was a huge chore. You know how frustration feels when it builds and builds? That's what it was like. I tried everything I could think of, but neither right nor left clicking worked to get into or out of screens. When I felt like crying, I knew I had to turn off the computer and go find something else to do.

Cross-stitch.

I plopped down in the recliner with a mug of tea. I turned on the light and the bulb popped. Why is it that when you are stressed and at the end of that proverbial rope, little things, like light bulbs quitting, happen all the time? It's a 3-way bulb and I don't have any in the house. No matter. I stuck a 60 watt in the lamp and will get a 3-way later.

I sat there and stitched. Pilchard wanted the lap a couple times and then became content to simply sleep next to me. Mija jumped up onto the back of the recliner, sort of near my head, and purred herself to sleep. I concentrated all my frustration into those little "x's". After a couple of hours of stitching, the light yellow and light blue are completely done and I'm on to just yellow.

I know it still doesn't look like much when you don't know what I'm trying to stitch. As I worked, cats within scratching distance, I felt peace return. No, the mouse doesn't work. I spent the weekend performing computer maintenance which did nothing to help the mouse issue. I had to ask my more tech savvy friends for advise before calling the manufacturer. But, Monday night, I just needed to relax. I needed to de-stress. I needed to calm down. That's what cross-stitching did for me.

This is the 10th day of work on this. I might be half-way done. The yellow that I've started will be the most used color on this design. It's to be a rainy weekend upcoming. We desperately need rain. It's so very dry. Rainy weekends are perfect for afternoons spent stitching. Expect more blocks of color next week.

Beverage: Lady Gray tea

Deb

Quiet Sunday

With my taxes done, I can sit back now, secure in knowing I don't have that hanging over my head. It's funny how sitting at my chair typing in all the numbers which allow me to see that things haven't improved over last year could be so satisfying and bring such a sense of accomplishment.

I was going to order  pizza. I haven't had a delivery pizza in several months. I felt that was a good reward for getting my taxes done. But, there was a nagging feeling that the $15-25 spent on delivery pizza could be better applied elsewhere, regardless of how good delivery pizza tastes. Enter the co-worker with the "oops".

He accidentally locked himself out of the building on Sunday. He worked Saturday and was dropping things off on Sunday and doing his time sheet. He forgot to unlock the back door to the office so, when he went to get something out of his car, the door closed behind him and, yep, that will lock you out. I live closest to the office so I got the call. I got dressed and decided, while I was letting him into the building, I would get a few things from the grocery. It's right there.

Pizza money went to buy cat food. That's way more important than pizza. I put everything away, started a load of dishes and looked around. Peace. It was peaceful. I have a million things clamoring for my attention but I felt peace. I collected the materials for the next project, sat down in the recliner and proceeded, in between batches of dishes and the need for ear scratching, to stitch as much as you see here. It doesn't look like much at the present time, but it will in the next few stitching days, take form. This is a Christmas present.

It was so nice yesterday to get lost in stitching with the occasional getting up to wash another load of dishes and the scratching of ears. As I work on practicing gratitude in daily life, I am grateful for a day when I could easily shove aside all those "I need tos" and just be. It tells me I can be grateful for things and not concentrate on the laundry needing to be done, the windows needing to be washed, the stack of stuff in the office needing to be sorted. All those voices can drown out the one biggest need, to be grateful that I have what I have. That's what I got out of yesterday. Peace, quiet and the realization that I am happy doing the things I like to do.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb