Swamp Land

Ever get the feeling no matter what you do you just end up walking in circles?  Well, it's been one of those times for me lately.  Lots going on - a good amount out of my control - and no matter what I do, it seems I get nowhere fast!  It's days (weeks, months) like these that I fall back on my "SIMPLIFYINGMYLIFE" approach.  I seek out that one little thing that I CAN do something about.  Some days that means something as small as washing the dishes - sometimes it is something simple like dropping off a box of unwanted items at the local Salvation Army store.


The past few months have brought me to many "forks in the road."  Unfortunately, the paths before me have been covered in leaves, mud - hidden behind sheets of rain...you get the idea. It's like the paths are before me, but I've been kept in the "swamp land" and can't quite reach even the point of choosing which path I will take.  For much, I am still waiting on more information to be revealed, and that path will likely be chosen for me.


This place can become quite frustrating - especially when lasting longer than I feel it should!  However, I am slowly learning that struggling against it simply causes more frustration.  Instead, I am finding small measures of peace by accepting where I am at and taking time to clean up some of where I am, while waiting for the opportunity to move forward...even if just a bit...to see what lies ahead on any one of the roads before me.


Only time will tell which road must be taken, but until then...I do what I can, where I am at.

Truly Blessed!

My brain has been on overload the past few days with things to write.  However, my fingers couldn't keep up and the wires kept crossing.  That happens from time to time and I'm sure professional writers would love to have that "problem."  However, me, not so much.  It means I either write and re-write as the stories cross over or I simply wait.  Ha, simply!  I'm not sure the English language should allow "simply" and "wait" next to each other in the same sentence!  But, that's what I chose to do this time.

I had much to say and it would have likely sparked much discussion, but I waited.  It hasn't always been my strong point, but definitely an area I have been working on.

I have found an interesting thing happens when I wait.  Something comes running out front,  big and bold!  That's when I follow.

This morning I woke with the feeling.  It was a good feeling.  A lot has been going on lately and I have been wondering if I was on the right path with some of it.  Well, it seems I am.  It is apparent there will be some road blocks and detours, but what's a road trip without those?  After being on many wrong paths, it is really nice to be even on a portion of the right path for a change!

I posted on Facebook for everyone to look for the beautiful in the day.  We've all been a bit under the weather lately and we all needed some good and beautiful.  I must admit, I needed the re-focus, but I wasn't expecting so much to be set before me.  It seemed I was faced with "beautiful" at every turn today.

The joy of sitting and chatting over a cup of tea with a friend and the kindness of a friend loaning a movie and book,

A friend driving 45 minutes to help me with crazy house projects and the pleasure of spending the afternoon with someone who "gets me."

A very nice e-mail containing a very unexpected comment from a friend to say they care and to keep doing what I do.

I am truly blessed!

I have a loving daughter who has had to make the hard decisions in life and still keeps a giving spirit about her.  I have a caring son-in-love that loves my daughter.
I have 4 beautiful grandsons that love their Grams.
I have been blessed by the addition of a loving couple to our family that cares for another grandson and allows open access.
I have a smart and caring son that I'm sure will leave his mark on this world.
I have a small army of great friends that are there to cheer me on or cheer me up and a few close friends that know enough about me to run, yet choose to stay!

Now, if that's not enough to consider myself blessed, I have a great job with a great income, a roof over my head, food in the fridge and clothes in the closet.  I have a running car - without a car payment, I have a tank full of fish to calm me when stressed and I have a decent amount of my health left about me.

I went to sleep last night praying for a sign.  Well, here's my sign.

To explain the shift back

From 01 Nov 2011 - This is why I had to shift...

I jumped off the wagon!

The 'wagon' was feeling a bit stuffy and more like a stage coach or box car.  I don't do so well in boxes!  So I jumped and wandered a bit to figure out why I was feeling a bit out of sorts.

I said, "Self, what's your problem?"
"Well," said Self, "I feel a bit...stuffy."
(have I mentioned I carry on conversations with myself?)
"Okay, Self.  Can you identify the culprit?"
After a bit of mulling over the situation with Brain, Self replied, "It seems I am being forced down a narrow walk and I prefer romping over the fields."
"I see.  Well, Self, I propose we fix that.  After all, we aren't writing a book.  Not today anyway."

So, I guess realistically, the first part - the Balancing Your Blessings steps - had to be organized and in order to make sense and work well together.  However, the line is now done enough to turn into a squiggle, thus making Self much happier!  My apologies in advance if you feel like a ping-pong ball.

I'm off the wagon and up on my horse!  Let's get this ride going!

Upside down and shaken a bit - what I am not and who I am

Ever wake up to a feeling that your world has been turned upside down or shaken a bit?  What do you do?  Do you bury your head, hoping it will go away?  Do you stumble around trying to take care of some random piece of it?  Or, do you stare it down and make a plan to turn it right side up again?

I’ve woken to that feeling way too many times over the years.  I’ve tried the first two methods and finally made my way to the third one!  I now have a set of steps that are always helpful on getting things back on track.  You just viewed the first five steps of the finance portion of things.  I am not a professional financial advisor, psychologist or nutritionist.  I AM a single parent – on a single income – that has made a way of life out of learning things the hard way.  I’m about to embark on another one of my “adventures”. This time, I was challenged and I’m getting a bit brave.  I'm going public with it.  Perhaps you can glean something from my experiences.  Come on, let’s get going!

Okay - Feeling better!

Okay, I'm back "at home" now.  I feel much more "at home" with this blog and the contents!  I'll be pulling over another post or two of background information and then we will be rolling right along!

Since the last post

What have I been up to?  Driving myself crazy.  I had this "bright" idea to start a new blog.  It's going well, but I have realized that this one contains a good amount of information that I don't want to disappear.  So..what am I going to do?  Well, I'm going to move some of the posts from the new blog over here and delete that one, of course - lol!  Just hang with me for a bit as I sort out some of my brain cobwebs.

Where have I been??

Wow - has it really been since March? Oh well, a lot has been happening. So what has happened since the decisions made back then? Well, life's winds have blown and changed directions and blown again several times! I made a list of goals - set some dates and am well on my way to meeting several of them - either on time or ahead of schedule! It's going to be a busy day and my mind is way ahead of my body - I'll be back later to give a full update.

Flowers

Well, I'm a bit behind on some of our group blogging assignments, so here are 3 flowers I like. Wildflowers, Lilies and Tulips

Some of my colors

A friend challenged me to put up some color schemes that I liked. Here's one ~ obviously, I like the darker colors.