Journey to Excellence

What makes you feel accomplished? Explain. Monday would be what I would consider a perfect day of accomplishment. First of all I had nothing planned. So I got up when I wanted to get up, which was at 7:00 a.m. I could have gotten up earlier; I could have slept in later. But I woke up naturally and felt ready to get moving. All day long I worked steadily at things I enjoyed, but things that also needed to get completed. I wasn't on any kind of schedule, but instead did tasks as I felt led to do them. I went to the Amish greenhouse to pick up a few flowers. I came home and planted flowers, worked in my garden. Then I did some power washing on our house. I grilled burgers for dinner, enjoyed a glass of wine, watched a KC Royals game, did some reading before bed. By the end of the day my muscles were tired, my head was clear from all of the outside time, and I felt like it was a day well spent. That, to me, is accomplishment. If you had your own talk show, who would your fi...

Today's Tuesday Coffee Chat topic is simply this: Get something off your chest. This summer I am coaching Brynne's softball team with the help of my son-in-law Collin, Kyndal, and another parent. When I took on this team, it was at the request of the players and some of the parents. I had been the dugout mom of their team for the past couple of years and had coached one game while the coach was gone. I have been involved with these girls in all of their sports for the past four years. We live in a small town so everybody knows everybody and our paths cross often when it involves our kids. Now, I took on coaching the team with some knowledge of softball. I mean, I played as a kid and have been involved in several seasons. But I am not a skills coach. Most of the parents, and kids, understood that at the outset of the season. Do you want someone ultra organized? That's me! Do you want texted reminders and good communication? That's me! Do you want cool unifo...

I am doing a little Flashback Friday today, as I am seriously behind on blogging our family life. Last month Dawson and I went on a mother/son trip. I had originally purchased him and I tickets to the Game of Thrones live concert, but our event was cancelled. We were seriously bummed! So I started looking for something for us to do together, and came upon a Groupon for Turpentine Creek Animal Refuge in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Dawson is very much an animal activist so I was hoping this might be something he would really enjoy. We stayed two nights in the Siberian Suite. (If I was going to choose which place to lodge at the Refuge, this would be it again and again.) This ended up being the trip of a lifetime. Directly outside the window of our suite were two large tigers, Montana and Poncho. Out the front porch was a lion and liger pair. We could see panthers, other tigers, and bears from our suite. Dawson and I arrived on Sunday evening and settled into our super cool ...

What color is prominent in your home? Are you glad about that or wishing you could cover it up or remove it? I have a few basic colors in my house ... pale gold, red, green, and black (cabinets, leather couch, etc.) I absolutely LOVE my colors! They remind me of fall, which is my favorite season, and make me feel warm and cozy. Even if I was going to be moving into a completely new house, I would choose these colors all over again. Even when they are out of style, I do not think I will be able to part with them. What's something you'll NEVER do again? Oh my. There certainly are a few prominent things. I will keep it light, though ... I will never watch a scary movie again. I value my sleep way too much to fill it with something that will keep me awake, especially in fear. Tell us a couple of ways you fit the stereotypes associated with your gender, and a couple of ways you don't. I am a nurturer, and I believe a woman's place is at home taking care of he...

What song reflects your mood right now? I can't seem to find a song that truly reflects my mood, so I wrote my own lyrics. I am open to collaborating with any musicians who would like to write the music. I'm so tired I could bawl. I have absolutely hit a wall. I'd love to read while curled up in bed, but we have a late softball game instead. My grandson who is usually perfection has been fussy this week with an ear infection. I care for him, usually, on Thursday and Monday, but his other caregiver is gone until Sunday. I am off tomorrow so you think I'd be glad, but I have to go have a mammogram ... Rad. The dogs are so needy, they whine and whine, I can't pee alone because they barge in each time. Everyone needs something, they push and they push, and all I want to say to each one is, "Shush!!!" "Leave me alone, let me have some peace, or you may find a monster I release." This, too, shall pass, I know it to be true. ...

Although I haven't posted about it, we did officially end our school year at the end of April. The last couple of weeks just kind of flatlined as both kids were sick, Eli with an upper respiratory infection and Brynne bookending that with two bouts of stomach flu. It didn't feel like we officially ended anything: we just quit ... hours completed .... done. Bennett started joining us for school two days a week while his mama is at work. He liked astronomy. Brynne did continue to work daily on Study Island in the subjects of math and English because she was going to be sitting for the state MAP test with the public school 6th graders. She did sit for that test starting May 8th, her first standardized test ever. She also got a small taste of school because she got to stay for recess and lunch with the other students. We live in a really small town so she pretty much knows everybody, but it was good for her to be in that environment for a few days. It didn't scare her o...

  May 17th is National Pack Rat Day. (Sidebar-should we be celebrating this? Hmmm ....) Are you a pack rat? Even if you're not a full fledged pack rat, most people have one thing or another they struggle to part with. Tell us what's yours. Yes, I'm a pack rat. I just can't get rid of things I think I might need in the future. I mean, I held onto a particular pair of shoes for years and then the second I got rid of them they came back in style (or a version of them) and I had to buy brand new again if I was going to wear that style. I am not a hoarder ... yet. No, really, I'm not. I do get rid of lots of things, especially clothes. But I do hold onto lots of things, especially clothes. My problem is when we have too much storage space, I store things.  Having a full basement for storage is not, necessarily, a good thing. What are two things you know you should know how to do, but you don't? Change a flat tire. Bake a good homemade chocolate chip cooki...

My fingers have not touched the keys of my laptop in quite some time. Sickness hit our house, life happened, things got busy, and blogging was the first thing to go. It happens. At the end of the day I have either been too tired to touch the computer or not able to sleep but not wanting to talk about what was keeping me from sleeping. I am hoping to do some catching up in the next couple of weeks. The kids have been busy doing some great things. And we finished our school year. And we have made some life decisions. I want to be able to look back on these days someday to see what we were up to in the Spring of 2017. Because all of these things are important, no matter how big or how small. I can't think of a better way to get back into my routing of blogging than to participate in this week's Tuesday Coffee Chat with Ink Interrupted. Today's topic: I'm not jealous! What gets you turning green? There was a time when I lived in a constant state of jealousy. Eve...