On Slowing Down?:

I don’t know how I use to get anything done.

Once I had more than enough time in my days.

My house was cleaner. My life had more time in it for fun, games and the internet. I wrote stories, made dolls and all their stuff, (Houses included.) played video games, took care of two dogs, baked, cooked, canned, gardened, visited friends and was visited by them, I sewed clothing, knitted, made lace, and crafted.

Yes, I know I have a puppy in the house. But I don’t spend all my time throwing a ball across the floor.

In fact the dog spends a good deal of time outside following Mountain Man around in the woods.

I used to take care of two sick old dogs, 24/7 before the puppy and still get more done in my days.

We hardly go anywhere any more, none of the old friends come to visit, Even family doesn’t get around as much these days.

And still I’m not keeping up with my chores like I once did, I owe my brother a phone call for three, no four, weeks now.

I tell myself that I’ll call or get on the computer as soon as I’m done with the chore at hand. But I move on to the next thing that needs doing and I look at the clock and the day is gone. I’m crawling into bed and telling myself tomorrow I‘ll blog.

I sure hope it’s the summer blahs and not just old age slowing me down. I have a lot of things I want to do!

On Not too Busy to Blog a Few Time a Week:

Well, I’m taking a few moments out of my busy days to blog.

I’ve knitted half a sweater, made five gallons of lentil soup and 2 quarts of sour apple preserves and canned it all for the winter months. I’ve cleaned out a chest of drawers. Lost a pound. Weeded in the garden. Read a book, fiction, fantasy, just for fun. I did play a few video games also.

I’ve been organizing photos, both old and new. Needed for requests from my daughter. Now that she is a mommy she wants her own copies of her childhood photos and her child’s ‘grandma’s house’ for the kiddy.

I’ve been airing blankets and feather beds. Patched holes in the walls from moved picture hangings. Sewing split seams, missing buttons, patching holes in work clothes, and making doll clothing for grandkid’s snuggly baby toy. (He would have to fall in love with a naked doll at a second hand sale that he won‘t sleep without.)

I’ve also been watching a lot of old TV re-runs while I work. Listening while I work is more to the point. Did I really sit in true belief, watching them for the first time as a kid? Westerns, Burns and Allen, Dennis the Menace, army/navy comedy shows. All in Black and White.

Was I a gullible child or just a bit too innocent back then? Or did I just want to believe that there where ever so many different paths out there for me to choose from? And all of them, though not free if troubles, all troubles could be handled in an hour at the most. (That was unless you fell in love with the leading player. Then you were doomed.)

I wore my green fairy wings one day because the breeze made me feel like flying when I hung the laundry on the cloths line. Funny how wearing wings make the house work lighter.

I’m wanting to write a few stories if I can find the time to sit at the computer long enough. I took notes of story lines that I came to me while I was away. But most of them are book length and I’m feeling short storyish since I came home. Too busy for more at the moment I guess.

That’s it for now. Gotta’ get back to cooking dinner.

On Vacation Timing:

I’ve been busy. More than usual for this time of year. Missing a month or more of a part of my year set me back.

I remember August as a kid. My father always took his vacations in August, so that is when we went. It was the time of year to do day trips, or camping, swimming, and not doing the normal everyday things in life.

When I was the mommy, I’d make our vacation plans for August.

But this year I don’t have a day to spare.

Gardening, harvesting, canning, home repair, visiting relatives for work/repair days at their homes, volunteering, meetings, wood gathering, wood splitting, wood stacking and getting things ready in and outside of the house for winter.

Over scheduling! Calendar Full!

I’m just glad I don’t have kids to get ready for school.

Yes, I know that I can do some of those things next month if I choose to. But next month has its own things to do. So this month I try to catch up so when September comes I’m ready.

I’d rather not procrastinate. I sat for too long last month. Now I want to get things done. No vacation time, but I don’t mind now that I’m back home.

On What I Learned While On My Forced Quiet Time:

Well, I could have just brooded about my situation while being stuck in Nowhere’s Ville, Normal Town, USA.

But I chose a better route. I looked within and found some things that I had been missing. I generally don’t do good with too much time to think. I can work myself up to a panic if I let myself.

I watched the trees in the breeze and found faces.

I hadn’t done that since I was a kid. Its kinda’ like those puzzles where you find the hidden pictures in the larger picture. (Find the hidden cup, bat, phone, and dog.)

I found baby faces, old faces, lady faces, man faces. Faces that looked like they were talking to each other and faces that looked like they were talking to me.

It was like having my own group of friends come to see how I was doing, while I sat quietly waiting for the woman I was helping to finish napping.

I would think up conversations for them. The old fisherman with a beard would say, ‘How’s the day been treating you?’ And the Lady with a hat would answer, ‘Middlin’ good. Just like my friend watch us out that window down there.’ The baby would just smile away.

The older woman, in the next tree over, asked me questions about my self growth. How are you feeling about your life path these days? Are you good with your God? What do you want to accomplish in yourself before you get home? Having busy work doesn’t make you accomplished, does it? (Along with others.)

All good questions and I was glad for the time to listen and think on them.

No panic, no self doubt, no self incrimination. Only finding parts of me that I had lost. Gaining perspective. I’m a better, healthier person for doing it.

I also found some silly parts of me that I just stopped having fun with a long time ago. And you know what? It helps me be a better grandma now that I’ve found them again.

So I didn’t have a half bad time will I was away. And I got some really good self learning in while I was at it. Better stuff than money can buy if you ask me.

On Hats:

I missed the ‘Hat’ thing that a lot of you were doing on the first of the month. So here is a belated hat picture of one of mine.

I have more hats, but they will have to wait for another day. My camera is on the fritz and I had to dig through my pictures for this one.

On 'Helping' Others:

Although I like to help others, I’m no saint. I did go with an eye toward my own comforts and considerations. She had a nice comfortable bed for me in the corner of a home office room. And the paycheck was going to help out. So I packed mostly just my vanilla/normal clothing to work in someone else‘s home for their comfort.

I was once a nurses aid, in three different nursing homes no less, back in the day. So I knew what to expect on the whole. I also knew that this person did not have all the funds or insurance coverage to go into temporary nursing care or be able to take care of herself at home for that time, even with a visiting nurse.

I was ‘hired’ to make and server meals, do a little ‘light’ house cleaning and the personal care and cleaning of this woman until she could resume doing these things for herself again. And I was not offered a large figure for doing this.

She had no computer, DVD player or even a TV, only a radio and some cassette tapes of general oldies pop music. Books of Christian novels. And an anti social cat.

She thought she could rent a computer for me and had no idea that it needed to be plugged into an internet hookup of some kind. (And since Gladys, my laptop computer, died with a thump to the head on the floor one day. I was without my laptop to play with, have my own music, or write on.) And frankly I was hoping that the paycheck would go some way toward buying me new one.

Don’t get me wrong here. I would have helped her without the promise of money. I just would have been happier knowing I was doing it from a point of giving and not as a job. I might have also seen to my own comforts a bit more. And I would have resented the extra time spent there a little less.

She was a light sleeper and I would stare quietly out the window for hours so she would not be disturbed by my leaving the room, for example.

You all know how it is. There are things you would do for money that you wouldn’t do else wise. Or at least you would have a different attitude about it. That was my dilemma after the first few weeks when I realized she couldn‘t pay all her bill much less pay me.

I would have been happy to wash her floors on my hands and knees for nothing given the choice. But to do it for cash and getting none, hurt me more then I’d like to admit.

She is a sweet old thing and I liked caring for her. (It was my choice to leave without serving her a bill for moneys owed. Knowing she didn‘t have it.) But I would have packed some more of my Lady Euphoria clothing and makeup, and been more comfortable in my own skin knowing the outcome.

On Glad To Be Back:

Well, as some things in life pull you around, I was AWOL.

A family friend suddenly needed someone to take care of her after an operation. I was to be paid and told that I would have internet access. None of that came to be.

This family friend wanted to do these things for me, but couldn’t manage it with her meager finances. I didn’t press it. She didn’t heal as fast as expected and time wore on.

I was glad to help, and it was a nice place to spend time in under the circumstances. I did a lot of reading, knitting, and got to see Mountain Man at times, but not much more for myself.

She is doing well now. I’m home and here to say that I missed you all a lot.

I did make a pit stop at my daughter’s house and played a few days with the grandson. He is doing well and is a very happy little boy.

I hope not to have to go anywhere for a while. I’m happy to sleep in my own bed, play with my own toys and hear my own music again. Not to mention eat my own food made the way I like it.

I hope that all is well with all of you. I’ll look in on the blogs of those who have them when I get the time. But know that I was thinking of you even if you don’t have a blog I can read.

Happy day! I’m glad to be back home.