MY LOVE OF MOWING GRASS!

I mentioned that I was thrilled to be able to take back the yard work detail here at the homestead.  Most people were happy for me and hoped that I just took it easy and didn’t over do it.  Some were wondering about my willingness to mow while hubby was doing it.  Here’s my story.

Hubby and I have been married for almost 46 years. For most of that he has been a police officer. That meant that he worked rotating shifts, holidays and weekends. I have a cousin who is married to a fireman. That means that he works 24-36 hour shilft away from home and he too works weekends and holidays. We learned to take over and do things that were maybe considered “man work” but we didn’t think of it that way, we just did what needed to be done.

We started getting each other tools for birthdays and Christmas and even got each other tool boxes. We either could not find our husbands tools, or we didn’t know how to use them, so we started collecting our own. We leaned to make simple repairs at each other’s house and it was fun.  We started mowing the lawns because our men were either slipping or working and hubby discovered he couldn’t  breath when he mowed. I discovered that our kids never showed up while I was mowing to complain about anything because my answer was always the same “here pull some weeds, it will all be fine” I was left alone to think, pray, daydream, ponder what our yard would like or just listened to the quiet of mowing. I like it a lot. So it became my job which I loved.  Having to give it up hurt my heart. I’d been doing it for most of our 46 years together.

My heart is so glad to have this task back! I walk behind the mower and once again I find myself daydreaming, praying, and thinking about what the yard will look like after all the TLC it’s getting. My heart is happy again.

So enjoy what your heart is happy about.  Thank God for a happy heart!

Mow over Hodgepodge!

Thank you Joyce for the questions, here are my answers.  

1. Describe your 30's in one sentence. If you're not yet 30 tell us one thing you hope to accomplish once you hit that particular decade.

The best of times.  

2. Is it harder for you to exercise or eat healthy?

Exercise, for sure.  

3. June 7th is National VCR Day. Huh? Anyway this reminded me of something I saw on Facebook listing household items we no longer have and the VCR was on it. I couldn't put my hands on that list, but found another list here of 21 items we all had ten years ago, but which are now obsolete-

bookshelves (WHAT!!???), drip coffee makers, alarm clocks, file cabinets, desktop computers, printers, printed phone books, answering machines, fax machines, paper shredders, a Rolodex, CD racks, CD burners, china cabinets, home phones, entertainment consoles, DVD players, calculators, takeout menus, incandescent light bulbs, and cable TV

Your thoughts? How many on the list do you still have? Still use?

Bookshelves?  Yes we have lots as we have lots of books. 
Drip coffee maker?  Not any more.
Alarm Clocks? Yes we have 2 old ones in our offices to keep track of the time.  
File Cabinets?  Yes, Where else do you keep the manuals of all the things we buy. 
Desktop computers? Yes, Hubby likes the really big monitor.
Printers? Yes.
Printed phone books? Every fall the town sends us a new one, I'm always surprised to see how small it is and it covers a few towns around us.  
Answering Machine? There is one attached to our land line so yes. 
Fax machine? Our printer is a fax machine as well,  I can't figure out how to use it so yes we have one but we don't use it.  Most things can be set via email right? 
Paper Shredder? Yup, still have one and still use it.
Roledx,CD racks,CD burner, China Cabinet? Nope, none 
Home phone? Yup still have it but most people call our cell.
Entertainment consoles? No. 
DVD player, calculators? Yup, still have them.
Take out menus?  Yes but we don't use them as much as we use to.  We use on line ordering most of the times.
Incandescent light bulbs? I think we still have some in the house.
Cable?  Yup we still have it. 

4. What's something you see disappearing in the next ten years?

Keys, both car and house. It will all be some sort of scanner.

5. How did you celebrate your birthday this past year? Is that typical?

I celebrated my birthday with a beautiful card, a nice meal for both breakfast and dinner, (no cooking and no clean up) a sweet card and the day to play in the yard. No one to bug me. Our children called me to sing Happy Birthday over the phone and talk for a bit about life.  It was lovely and yes, that is the typical day for me.  I love the ease of being home and and it's quiet and I can play in the yard, in the dirt.  

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I love to mow the lawn, I love the smell of freshly cut grass, the different patterns that I can put in the lawn, the peace of no one interupting me for something.  For the past few  years, I've not been able to mow and so Hubby has been doing it.  He doesn't like to mow but did it for me every month without grumbling for a few years.  He loves me.  I tried to mow a few weeks ago but the pull cord was too hard for me to pull and the mower was a bit too heavy to push. 
Imagine my joy when Hubby got me a new electric mower!!  I love my little green machine.  It starts with a push of a buton, it pushes easily, has 5 different heights to pick from and is a lot more quiet than the gas model.  I can get out to mow at 6 am if I want and not disturb the neighbors. 
I am such a happy girl! I can walk and mow and pray again.   Have a nice week everyone. 

Summertime and the livin' is easy!!

It looks like we, here in the upper right hand corner of the USA, have skipped Spring and have jumped right into Summer.  Our nights are in the 30's and our days are in the high 70's- low 80's!  Oh my!  There is green everywhere and I for one am loving it!  But I must stop what I'm doing and join Joyce in the Hodgepodge this week.  

1. What are your ingredients for a perfect Saturday?

Sleeping in late (for me that would be 7am) then out to brunch with Hubby. Perfect weather to play in the yard and then out to a lake or some body of water with Hubby and  the Littles (the dogs) so that we can sit by the water and the Littles can walk around in the water. Then an easy dinner and then relax the night away.  

2. What skill do you wish more people took the time to learn?
Oh please, learn how to invest your money for the future. Learn life skills like how to sew on a button, or cook a simple meal, balance a check book, and say Please and Thank You!!

3. What's something you ate as a child you can't stand now as an adult?
New England Boiled Dinner! We had this pressure cooked meal in the fall and winter and it may have been easy to prepare, but I really hated it!  I swore to myself that once I was out of the house I would never again make or eat this meal.  I've not had it in almost 46 years since Hubby also dosen't care for it.  

4. Something parenting has taught you? If you're not a parent tell us one important lesson you learned from your own parents.
Just because your children have your genes, they do not necessarily have your personality.  They are truly their own person and you need to let them be themselves!  Don't try to make them into a mini verson of you.  Enjoy the person who God is turning them into.  You will be surprised, pleased, honored, and blessed at the people they become.  

5. Share a favorite quote or saying about mothers or motherhood.

"Every wise woman builds her household, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands."  Proverbs 14:1  We have so much more power than we realize we have.  This quote is for woman in general, not just those who have children.  I love that. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

As I said above, we have jumped right into Summer so I've been spliting my time between gardening, refinishing our dining room chairs and resting.  I love to garden and I love to refinish wood furniture, but my white cell count was too low this week to begin another chemo cycle, so I have to rest and grow more white cells so that when I have another blood test on Monday I'll have enough white cells to begin another cycle which of course kills my white cells.  What a  strange state of affairs this is! 

So on any given day you will find me Here:

Working on the plants behind the sitting area...

...or the flower boxes...

...or in the containers we have.

Or Here:

The chairs are becoming a nice dark red color.

Or even Here:

Resting/growing white blood cells!