small steps

My garden goals for next spring.

  I've been making a little progress with unpacking.  Little steps forward, but then sidetracked with something that catches my eye here and there.  An idea.  Something to add to a list.  Doing too much, tweaking my back, and being forced to stop for a few hours ... or a day.

  The previous tenants were smokers ... and apparently smoked quite a bit in the bathroom.  I spent a few hours cleaning nicotine off the bathroom ceiling and walls.  Bleh.  Glad I finally got it done though, it made a world of difference in how the bathroom looks and smells.  I still plan to repaint the walls, but now probably won't have to paint the ceiling.

  I unpack, organize, rearrange, unpack, change my mind and rearrange again.  I'll be really glad when it is all done, but I'm trying not to rush it, and really hurt my back.  I see an acupuncturist at the end of September, which will be a new experience for me, but I can't take my arthritis medications anymore and need to figure out something else.

  My backyard is so huge I could almost have a small farm with mini Highland coos, mini goats, and fancy chickens if I wasn't within city limits.  It goes back to the big yellow building even though it is fenced just behind the small yellow shed.  The shed, fence, and all of the surrounding weeds will get cleared out at some point in the future.  I'd like to do a labyrinth garden for herbs and flowers, and planter gardens for veggies.

  Instead of farm animals, I'm going to look into fruit trees, to help pollinators and for the birds and wild animals ... rabbits, deer, but hopefully not bears.  I've seen deer on the street, but not (knock on wood) bears.

  I'm ready for cooler fall weather to start and have enjoyed the occasional nights and mornings when there has been a crisp snap in the air.

                   Stay safe.  Be blessed.

                        Ci

thoughts ...

Image Source: WeHeartIt.com

 I'm trying to get back into some of the good habits I had last fall and over the winter with my morning meditations, readings, and journaling.  I'm not sure if it was the stress of starting a new job, beginning to get sick again, or what caused me to get out of those habits, but I miss that quiet time.

I've also started a new mindfulness meditation journal that asked what three things made me happy.  #2 on the list was blogging, something I had also fallen away from lately.

This morning I was reading from 1 Corinthians 12 & 13, and thinking about God's gifts and promises.  Pastor Garrett has spoken many times about God's promise to replace all we had lost, and I realized this morning that I was misinterpreting what that meant.

I thought that it would be those material things I had lost in this life ... a vehicle.  Finances and savings.  Heirloom jewelry.  KitchenAid mixer and other appliances.  Fancy Princess House dinnerware and crystal.  Pampered Chef baking stones and cookware.  Mementos from my childhood and travels.

Things of this life and world.

But this morning I realized that the promised return of those things was not for "this" world, "this" home, or "this" life.  For my "home" is not here, it is not of this world.  My reward and promise come from the knowledge and promise of an eternity with Him.

I have no "need" for a vehicle when God has provided me with friends who are willing to drive me.  I have no "need" for jewelry when I am beautiful in His eyes.  I have no "need" for lost name-brand appliances, baking, and cookware, or fancy dinnerware and crystal glasses.  In truth, those things were bought to impress old friends of 40 years ago who are no longer even a part of my life now.  God has blessed me with new friends whom I do not need to impress because they love me just as I am with what I have.  I haven't lost those "mementos" because the memories are still in my heart and memories, and God continually blesses me with new ones.

Thank you, Abba, for always keeping your promises.

all the latest ...

 

This month has been beyond hectic.  I took the first week off to pack move clean like crazy but also had a doctor's appointment and a CT scan to see where I was from last year's scan.

I finished ten days of super strong antibiotics, one of which made me more and more nauseous as the day wore on, effectively canceling most of my evening participation at church because honestly if I'm gonna throw up, I want it to be in my own toilet.

The CT scan showed that my lymph nodes are no longer enlarged, my pancreas that had been enlarged from the pancreatitis last year has shrunk, and apart from normal aging wear and tear on my joints and spine, there were no surprises.  My blood pressure has even started to be on the low side.

The bottom line is that y'all are stuck with me and I'm going to be around to annoy my little brother for a few more decades.

I did, unfortunately, miscalculate my available time off and I will get hit with a paycheck showing 18 fewer hours this week than I was expecting.  I'm racking up the overtime while it is available right now to get back on track.

As far as being unpacked and organized ... bwahahahahahahaha ... not.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to make sizeable dents in it now that moving doesn't make me want to ralph.

I have been able to identify four individual hummingbirds that visit the two feeders outside my living room and office windows.  They appear to be parents (larger) and (smaller) children.  This > is the feeder outside my office window that can be very distracting at times as the four of them zip around and fight over it.

The girls love that they can sit in the window and sleep near me while I'm working.  They still both curl up together and snuggle at times.

Charlie is pleased that he has two window seats where he can guard the house.  I'm thinking I need to get more rugs and stuff on the walls to keep his barking from sounding so loud now that we are all in a single-story house.  Or get used to closing my office door when I'm working (something the cats don't always appreciate).

Last week I did get up to The Schoolhouse Rooftop to catch the sunset and listen to the husband of a friend of a friend play acoustic guitar and sing.  We've had rain quite a bit lately, including that night, but it was beautiful that night with lightning in the distance.

surfacing ...

 A lot has happened in the last few weeks ... where to start?

I started to get sick again like last year and decided to test the house for mold.  I'd been told that the owners did not do adequate (any) clean-up of the crawlspace under the house after the 2016 flood.  The house did test positive for mold, and I just tested positive for one of them [penicillium-chrysogen].  

I started sleeping in the new house the night after the test results in mid-July.  The landlords at the previous house are not accepting responsibility for failing to clean the crawlspace after the 2016 flood here when there were three feet of water inside the house.  I spoke with a personal injury attorney about what negligence and personal injury claims on their property insurance would look like, and he was not encouraging based on current legislation in this state.

I have three Roses-of-Sharon shrubs growing in front of the new2me house, and they are now blooming.   I'm looking forward to spring to see everything that comes up.

The next several weeks will be spent unpacking and getting organized in the house.  I have so much to do!