Serendipity

I believe in serendipity - do you?  This morning I was just thinking about how I use to write in my journal at least a dozen times in any given year(although unimpressive to many - sufficient for me)...but then came Blogger, Facebook and Instagram (let's not forget MySpace), awesome and powerful, completely connected to the world...but somehow, looking back through all of those posts, I feel a bit disconnected...it is not the same as thumbing through my journals...I believe it is because it (social media) all lacks some substance, both physical (the feel of the ink on the rumpled pages) and the Metaphysical (as in the noun) truth...connected to the world but not to myself...those were my thoughts...then in my feed I see that someone else has the same thought, but she connected her mind with her keyboard and serendipitously (yes it's a word) offered me what I already knew but had lost sight of...

Anna Guest-Jelley 

4 Tips to Tell the Truth About Yourself and to Yourself

...a life with social media is complicated, I've always struggled with the notion.  How do some perfectly normal people just not participate and how do those of that do, balance it all (1st world problems - I know -she's right, honesty sucks sometimes)...I long for the days of getting up in the morning and not checking my feed, but checking my heart and feeding  my soul and then telling myself the truth.  I have many beautiful journals waiting to be filled (it is a habit to buy them) I need to take the time and get back into the habit of filling them...perhaps reviving my blog will inspire me to do so...

A New Day

Good morning! I'm just sitting outside listening to the soundtrack of the sunrise...howling coyotes, roosters and a few sparrows battling over the breadcrumbs I threw on the ground earlier. I'm trying my hand at mobile blogging this morning, I use my precious iPhone for everything else why not to get back to blogging right? It's a new day and I have so much to tell...I am no longer on the path to being a nurse; I found out quickly while in CNA training that nursing, though noble a career, is not what I thought it was. So now I am back to what I now know is my true calling ( maybe I was a little burnt out)...teaching. Now granted, I am not jumping in the deep end just yet, for fear of drowning again, but I am wading. On this beautiful Sunday morning, after a quick once over of the humble abode, I have Algebra homework and a paper to write... yes I am a student, still. I believe that is what this life change was all about, the journey, not the destination ( although a general direction is nice to set the compass) but most certainly not the path...I know in my heart to be a better teacher, a more self actualized person, I need to invest more into my
education. So my major has changed from Nursing to Special Education. I am attending an awesome school - Western Governors University - completely online and fabulous! But to keep me fresh and in touch with the staff and students that I cannot seem to put behind me, I'm also substituting at my old school! I am so excited - they start next week and while I wish no one ill, I can't wait for my first call!
I'm sure it will be different, a lot has changed about the school in a year, but much like my pics this morning - its the lens that makes the difference.  Tata for now!

PS, if you get a chance - hop on over to one of my former kiddos blogs- Blunders & Blessings and give her some bloggy love!

Tunes on Tuesday #4

Just popping in for few..I didn't want to miss Tunes on Tuesday...The song and artist I am sharing with you today is fabUlous!  The song means a lot to me at this point in my life...before I was in the passenger's seat of my life...sort of along for the ride.  I was content with that, I have a good life and I choose to not dwell on the bumps in the road or the road blocks. But I as approached the big 40, my health was starting to fail, I wasn't as young in my body (and I think my soul was beginning to age a little) as I am in my mind...something had to give. I needed to get in the driver's seat and pick a direction and realize the road blocks were just detours and I was able to enjoy a lot of nice scenery along the way.  So what's this school thing all about?  I have been asking myself that all week because it's a hard week...they are only going to get harder. I didn't choose to go in the direction of teaching, I was just driven there by a matter of circumstances and as a result I was never really going to advance - cruise control was set on 60-70 hours a week for the next 20 years. Whoa! Put on the brakes!  Let's look in the rear view...what's behind me...ah yes....tiny little babies in need of a lot of attention and skillful caring and deciding how much I want to work, and enjoying life with PC and our family...okay left turn (we never make left turns). If I steer well and keep my eye on the road, enjoy the scenery along the way, but not take the wrong exit, I know my destination will be a good life complimented by a rewarding career. Not the other way around. 

Missy Higgins didn't really become popular in the US until 2008 or so...but I have been listening to her for about 6 years..I accidentally found in ITunes.  Most of her songs are melancholy in nature, soul-exposing is probably a more accurate description, but I have never been disappointed by her yet. It's on my list to see her live in Australia,one of these days. If you are listening to her for time, enjoy!  If not, I don't have to tell you, you already do.  Off to make some biology notes for my big test tonight!  Ta Ta for now!

What I'm Thankful For Day 4 and Outdoor Wednesday

Short and sweet this morning, I have a lot on my to do list and most of it is algebra, but some of it is fun stuff like putting the Halloween Goodies away, folding some laundry, doing dishes, ordering firewood, and shoring up the Thanksgiving Dinner plans. Fun?!  Dishes, laundry?  Yes lovelies(Momma is rolling on the floor laughing)!! This morning, as I was sipping my coffee in my big chair, meditating on the day, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of Contentment. I am Content.  In all the simple everyday chores, there is love and there is life. Oh sure, not the passionate love of a movie kiss or the exciting day of strolling the streets of Paris, but real love-the kind that endures and aches and real life- the kind where if I am not careful, I will forget, I have but one life and this moment right here is everything.  I am alive and aware of the gift that I have been given..this day.  I am so thankful to be here another day to see Bubba's smile, have a chat with Baby Girl,  Laugh with Momma on the phone and cuddle with PC at the end of a very perfect day.  What are you thankful for today?  Hop on over to The Bz House that Love Built and link up or share it on Facebook!

It's Outdoor Wednesday over at A Southern Daydreamer, so I thought I'd share a shot of the Sunrise I caught a few days ago, after all that was a bit of my inspiration this morning.  I have to go put up the ghosties and cobwebs!  Ta Ta for now!

Tunes on Tuesday #3 and What I'm Thankful For Challenge Day 2

Today I am combining my Tunes on Tuesday with The What I'm Thankful for Challenge hosted by Cheryl and Brian over at The Bz House That Love Built.  You get a bonus song today because these songs mean so much to me because they mean so much to WHO I am thankful for today. I have mentioned her in many of my postings, she's my inspiration for blogging,  my hero, my co-conspirator, my goto girl, my friend, My Momma. 

 I am so thankful for the time she was living with us, we got to know each other as woman to woman not just mother to child and I deeply miss our time together (she's crying right now - sorry Momma), and can't wait for the day she comes home, so that we can have a little more fun together...we were just getting started. I am thankful for the giving heart my Momma has, she is the caretaker in this Act of her life, and I am sure when the curtain closes on this Act, she will want to come home and pick up where she left off in this play. But maybe we will just keep her in the green room for a year or so and feed her strawberries and Dove chocolates :), then she can make a grand entrance into the next Act.  If there is anyone that can make something beautiful from a pile of discarded mischiefs it is My Momma...I should know. Thank you Momma!  The Tunes? I almost forgot! As a child growing up, there is a soundtrack that I hear when I think of her and I and BB Brother, we didn't have much, but for some reason I never noticed when we were together, I just remember laughter, magic and John Denver.  Please enjoy! 

John Denver - Sunshine On My Shoulders

Now I have math homework to suffer through! Ta Ta for now!
PS- If I don't blog tomorrow it's because somehow she managed to kill me from 2000 miles away for putting her picture up here...isn't she booteeful!!

What I'm Thankful For Challenge Day 1

Over at The Bz House That Love Built, Brian and Cheryl are celebrating November by issuing a challenge for bloggers and non-bloggers alike to post everyday during the month of November what their reasons to be thankful.  So I accepted the challenge, let's see how I do with the everyday posting...

PC and I were talking the other morning about some of the things that need to be finished around the house, we moved in 5 1/2 years ago with just a few things left to do and as life took over other projects crept up and here we are still with unfinished cabinets in the master bathroom, can lights that need to be placed in the game room, and now our kitchen cabinets need to be refinished...and that's just the inside.  Still when people come to visit for the first time, they tell us what a beautiful job we did on the house.  We humbly say thank you and start to point out all of the flaws and tell a few stories of the nightmares we had during construction and then finish with the all too common today, one liner of "It's pretty but we could do without the payment". See, we got caught up with the rest of Southern California and decided we needed a new house, when the one we had was perfectly fine. There are many factors why we chose to come out to the "country"; to be close to our whole family who were also caught up in the construction frenzy, to be in an area where Bubba and Baby girl could ride dirt bikes and quads, to have enough land that PC could build his giant steel building, and to also build a house for the experience.  All in all we are happy here (except for once a month, when that check has to be written), we have had many gatherings, PC's building is everything that he dreamed it would be, as is the house everything I dreamed.  However, after you live in a house, even one you designed yourselves, you say "we should have put this here" or "we could have done this," or "I wish we would have..." Would of, Could of, Should Of...That's what I am thankful for today, as I putter around my too-big- for-our-own-good home. I am thankful that it's not perfect, that there are improvements to be made and lessons that were learned.  I am thankful for our ability in these times (and especially with the life-style change we are going through because PC supported my decision to go to school) to be able to write the check for the payment that we really should not have gotten ourselves into. I am thankful for the man (PC) that has the know-how and ability to make all of those improvements. I am thankful that as PC and I talk about the future, we realize that this is just a house and that our Home is wherever our hearts and love are at the time, so that if ever our situation changes, we could sell this house, cherish the memories of it as we do our other two Houses and make our new Home wherever we choose.   Would of, Could of, Should Of...these conversations usually get on my nerves, because I see them as a way of living in the past, bellyaching about things that cannot be changed, but today I am grateful for all of those conversations between PC and I because today I feel a sense of security in the knowing that as long as we are together we are Home.
Want to join the challenge?  Go check out The Bz House That Love Built and post what you are thankful for.  Thanks for stopping by, I have to go post my Menu Plan on My Dream Kitchen, c'mon over and visit it me there!  Ta Ta for Now!