Peaceful Day

Today has been such a peaceful day and it started with my very annoying alarm clock.  My alarm rang with my play list and I slept through the short list until the alarm had to ring and the alarm does not shut off for one hour after it starts. 

This morning was the first time in ages I had nothing I could think of that needed done.  I had done all my chores over the weekend.  I had written several pages for my journal and done my grocery shopping.  TV and reading did not sound like fun, so instead I went to see The Hunger Games for the third time.  I had to run by the post office first, so I made it 5 minutes before showtime.  However just like the last time I saw it the theater seemed to forget to start the film and we had a blank screen for 10 minutes.  The movie was once again fantastic and with very few people in the the ENTIRE movie theater (there were less cars in the parking lot than movies showing), it was very quiet as well. 

When the movie let out it felt so nice outside that I ran home and picked up the dogs and went for a evening walk in the local park.  Only a couple of people were in the park and it was nice and cool.  I could not have had a better evening.  I had plenty of time to walk and dream.  When I got home I was still not ready to go inside, so despite the mosquitoes I went and hung out in my backyard with the dogs.

The sunset was beautiful even seeing it above a privacy fence and rooftops.  I know they are a bit grainy but I was using my cell.

Vegas was having fun having me hang out outside with her.

Of course the second Memphis wants to play, she went under the hammock to play.

It was time to go inside when the pictures started to get really dark and the dogs were more worried about guarding me than playing.  Memphis especially tends to like to stand guard in the evenings and watch out for me.

Festival Weekend

This weekend was one of the local festivals that takes place on the square.  I have been to the festival the last two years and had been thinking of attending this year as well.  However all thoughts of the festival clouded over when I decided I wanted to spend some time writing instead.  I was almost at the street I turn onto to get to the library when it hit why the park and streets were all more busy than normal.  I found a back way to get to the library and by the grace of God I found a parking spot in the library parking lot.   

I expected there to be lots of people in the library and I was a little worried I would not be able to find a empty desk but while there was tons going on outside the library was relatively quiet.  I checked out all the student art work, grabbed a new Star magazine, and then headed to my writing spot.  The spot I love to write in is in between the stacks, but today it was teen central.  I guess a few teens were hanging out in the library while friends and family checked out the festival.  I ended up at desk near some college students, which is always nice since they are very quiet. 

I read my magazine first and found this tweet from Ellen very funny at the end of the magazine.  The world we live in today where a babies name reflects what is popular at the time.  Last year it was Bella and Cullen and now it is Rue.  **I like the Nathan Fillion quote as well.

I managed to write for two hours and complete two lessons from the book I have been working through.  The lessons for today were on learning to express your true feelings, even the negative ones.  It is something that is going to be EXTREMELY difficult for me.  I have worked hard for years to never show negative emotions.  The second lesson was learning to live with solitude and how important solitude really is for people.  The point she made at the end that when you are single is one of the only times in your life when you can truly enjoy solitude made a good point.   Some time in the future I will have a husband, kids, and hopefully my dream job and alone time is going to be very difficult to find, I should utilize my time while I have it.  She encourages you to practice now by doing down times or days where you don't turn on music or the TV and you cannot write or read.  She pretty much wants you to sit a listen to your thoughts.  I plan to start carving out some of that time now. 

This was what my spot looked like while I was working.  I had a sculpture in front of me titled "Sleeping", it was a beautiful sculpture but it was making me pretty sleepy as well.

The last couple of times I have written in my journal I have been pretty sure I would run out of ink and need to get a new pen.  I write several pages at a time and I have had this pen for several years (it is my journal pen, because it always writes).  The black at the tip is all the ink left in the pen and it is still going strong.  Maybe the next time will be when I finally trade out pens.

Lacy's Photo Shoot

Lacy was very friendly last night and posed in front of me while I was reading.  I have been working to make her more cuddly by having her sit in my lap in the evenings and I think it appears to be working.  She no longer hides out in her corner during the day.

Looking back

I couple of years ago I lived in a town where it seemed like the entire town was against me living there.   I had to move quickly and ended up moving the day before I started work and then living in a hotel for a few days while the utilities were being turned on in my house.   It got worse when my schedule for the school was all messed up and for several weeks I had a missing class in my schedule.  I also ended up being a traveling teacher with three classrooms and none of those were mine.  I ended up storing my cart in three different classrooms throughout the school year. 

 Next I had my house broken into right before Thanksgiving.  I had been out at a event to prevent child abuse and when I came home my cat and Vegas were acting weird.  I then noticed a broken window in my office and my laptop and two cameras were missing.  Luckily the robber did not appear to get farther than my office (it is believed Vegas may have scared him off).  I got all my stuff back because I remembered a kid hanging out in the vacant house next door but I was still extremely paranoid for months afterwards (the paranoia from something like that never really goes away). 

Next while teaching one afternoon I had my cell phone stolen and the students that stole it texted people on my list horrible mean texts.  Luckily since they did not know what people looked like they made assumptions that proved I had not sent the messages.  I had also gotten cell insurance thinking it was likely that my cell may be stolen at some point, so I quickly had a new phone.

After that happened we were getting ready for contest and the stress got so bad that my shoulder began to hurt on a daily basis.  The pain would start in my shoulder and eventually even the tips of my fingers would hurt.  I spoke to my doctor about it and we never could figure out anything else that was triggering the pain.

After contest we had testing and then would find out if we were one of the 16 teachers being placed in a substitute pool.  I ended up one of the 16 teachers. 

 My plan was to find a job in the area and continue renting my house since I was really not prepared for another move (I had moved only the year before).  However I had not anticipated the house's owner wanting to move back  and I would have to move out at the end of my lease. 

When I left this town I was of the opinion that I would never look back because it pretty much felt like the town was doing everything in its power to kick me out.

During the last couple of months I have been doing these lessons that have helped me move past any bitter feelings I have had from pretty much any moment in the past.  Living in this town was full of negative memories and I really needed to move past it, after all I left nearly three years ago. 

I have been back to the town twice this year for interviews, but that has been it since I moved.  You may think it is normal to leave a town behind but the first place I lived (after college) I have gone back to visit more times than I can count (I really loved living there), in fact I had a interview this past week and visited that area again.

I knew I needed to visit the town again of my own free will and just let go of the past, so that I can move on to the glorious future I know is waiting for me, so today I went back.  I visited a couple of places I use to spend my free time at and had a really good day.  It is amazing that after three years of being away I could still find my way around easily.  I was able to focus more on the positives of living there, than of the negatives.

I feel lighter than I have in a long time.  The bitter feelings and thoughts of the past are gone and I am really ready to move on and see what my future holds.

Weird feeling last night

Yesterday evening I got this very weird, ominous feeling.  I had been babysitting at the church and babysitting went pretty well.  I had my normal family of 5 and then the middle sister from another family.  They all played nicely and two of the older sisters and I played a great game of Apples to Apples in which I used the Hunger Games quote "And may the odds be ever in your favor."  ( I like to test one of the older sisters when I find out something new she is into).  The family of 5 was picked up early and I just had one kid for the last 30 minutes which was no big deal, she just watched a movie while I cleaned up.  I don't know if it was because it was quiet when I left but the rest of the evening seemed too quiet.  People were talking in the parking lot while I left but it still seemed too quiet.  I decided to stop at Target before heading home and again everything seemed quiet and this time very ominous.  The sky was crystal clear and I could see the moon and tons of stars which I usually find very comforting but last night something seemed just off.  The entire time I was in Target the feeling just grew and continued long after I got home. 

I have had this feeling for the last several months that something was not right.  I don't know what it is and I have tried changing things I can change but this odd feeling just will not go away.  The good thing is that I have gotten so use to the feeling that it no longer keeps me up at night. 

I am a firm believer in fate leading us to where we are meant to go and part of me thinks it is fate telling me that things are going to happen that I am not expecting and that this last year happened for a reason (then since I am also a optimist I also think things are changing for the better and that soon my wildest dreams will come true).

The Problem with being a Book Lover

I have loved reading since I was very young and during college I read at least one book every day.  I tend to read books that have a happy ending but I read a variety of books.  However storing those books is a bit of a problem.  I tend to like to read books multiple times so I own a lot of books.  I tend to compare myself to Rory from Gilmore Girls because I have books stored in nearly every room in my house.  I have a system and I know where to find each book in my house but they are in my office, kitchen, guest room, and they use to be in my master closet.  Friday, I picked up a small bookshelf from my great aunt's old house (she is in assisted living) and I moved it to my office so that I could take the books off one spot (my coke collection in now stretched out in that spot).  I had more room on it than I thought so I got all the books out of my master closet and added them to the shelf.  I did go through them and remove books I knew I would not read again.  The books on the top and shelved in front of other books are books I have not read yet (some I have owned for years).  I have a ereader so I have not bought many paper books in recent years so the collection should not grow much more.    Again this is not all of them on top of my personal collection I also have a huge collection for my students.

A Good Day

I finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy last night (I plan to start reading it a second time tonight).  I was extremely excited that my favorite character lived, so I decided to celebrate and go see The Hunger Games at the local movie theater.  The first time I saw the movie I barely shed a tear at any of the sad spots.  It may have been because I was exhausted from the Pioneer Woman signing but spots where I would normally cry saw no tears (I mainly cry when I see others crying on the screen,  Cedric's father seeing his dead son in HP is very hard for me to watch).  I guess since I have read the story and feel connected to the characters now I got a tad emotional today (though not as a emotional as the lady behind me a few rows that started sobbing).  The second someone on the screen was upset I was tearing up, but I don't mind crying because I think it is good for your soul.  The audience was a pretty good audience too, since it was mostly families. 

After I left the theater, I ran some errands and headed home.  I started doing my own version on the Dukan Diet a few weeks ago and so far I have been very successful.  So successful in fact that when I see carbs and sugar I tend to just look the other way.  Tonight I decided to fix a small steak with a veggie rather than stop for chicken or pizza (I was very proud of myself for resisting temptation).  I experimented with my sauteed spinach tonight and it turned out really well.  While I got dinner started I also spray painted my lawn chairs a pretty blue-gray, something I had been meaning to take care of for months.  I got lucky and bought the last two cans at Home Depot. 

I wanted to just relax the rest of the evening but it is Sunday and that means trash day.  While I was taking the trash and recycling out to the street I looked up at the tree in my front yard.  Last spring a large rat snake was found in that tree so I have been avoiding it (I cringe when I have to mow under it).  I noticed something sitting high up in the tree and when I got closer I noticed it was a dove sitting on a nest.  One of the reasons I hated the snake last spring so much was that it had eaten one of the doves that was living in my tree, seeing this one living in the tree, taking care of the nest, just felt amazing.  However taking pictures was not that easy. 

In the end I am exhausted and ready for bed (after all I have a interview tomorrow and need my sleep), but it was still a pretty great day.

V-Day Plant

A while back I thought my little Valentine's Day plant that my mom gave me was not going to live much longer.  But it got its second wind and looks beautiful today.

Spring Cleaning for Vino

I use to (full) clean Vino's aquarium once every two weeks.  Then after the snails all died and I started changing the filter more often I have only had to do a full cleaning every other month.  Today was the day to do a big cleaning of his aquarium.  I think the last cleaning was in late January.  When I do a big cleaning Vino has to go into the container I got him in while I clean every plant and grape in the aquarium.

Here is the aquarium sans water and ready for me to clean off the glass sides.

Here is the sink full of everything that goes into his home (the plants have to be real or silk so that they don't hurt his fragile fins, this also means more scrubbing for me).  While he is just one little fish I gave him a 5 gallon aquarium, I read that a Betta fish can live several years if given a larger home and varied diet.

Vino patiently watched from his spot beside the sink.  After nearly two years he has gotten use to this routine.

After I have the inside clean I put all the plants and decor back into his aquarium.  It is pretty colorful.

I keep jugs of water ready for Vino so that they are room temperature and already treated.  It takes more time and planning on my part but it means Vino has to spend less time in the cup.

Once the aquarium is full I get the filters turned back on I add Vino back to his home.  He adjusts quickly and usually is looking for food the second he is back home.

Let me take a second to explain the grapes.  I am very proud of Vino's aquarium because I found decor that would match my wine themed kitchen.  The two smaller grapes are salt and pepper shakers that now have bubble stones inside them.  The large grape is one of those containers that sits on the edge of the sink for sponges to go into.  It is open at the back but the snails are about the only things that hung out in there, Vino hides behind the plants or spends most his time in his floating log.

The very last thing I do to his aquarium is update the window clings to the outside of the aquarium.  I have different ones for every holiday and bought some Spring ones on sale the other day.  I think it gives Vino something different to look at during the day. 

~~~FYI it took 3 hours to write this blog post all because blog spot is killer slow today.  It is so annoying.

Doing Chores on a Whim

Today I lived my day on a whim.  It all started last night when I went out to mow the lawn at the last minute and then part way through decided I would rather walk the dogs instead.  This morning I got up and planned to get to work on finishing painting but I changed my mind and took the dogs for a walk instead.  They enjoyed the walk and got to meet some cute kids.  When I got home I made my lunch and then while I sitting in the living room eating I looked at my two bookshelves.  One sits in the kitchen and the other sits behind the couch.  The bookshelf in the kitchen has always been too tall and blocks the light switch.  The book shelf behind the couch at always been a bit off center because of the main bookshelf, mini bookshelves, and two cheese boxes.  I figured it was not a huge deal to move them and if after a couple of days I hated it, it was easy enough to fix.

So far I really like it.  There were more things in the living room and the bigger bookshelf works better there and in the kitchen I can now get to the switches.  I cannot believe it took two years to figure out this works better.

After getting this done I found out that I was not needed for babysitting this evening but I had errands I planned to to take care of anyway.  I started at the library where the book I had been waiting two months for was finally waiting for me.  I then took the time to write in my journal, before heading to the store. 

I also picked up the seeds to plant some new herbs.  Last year I experimented with having Basil, Mint, and Rosemary on my front porch.  All three of them were dead by the end of summer.  Inside I had started Basil by seed and it lasted all winter and is still doing pretty good. 

So this year when I came across two window type pots I decided to try my hand at growing a couple of other herbs by seed and have them also remain inside plants.  I am going to try Cilantro, Mint, Oregano, Chives, Catnip, and I have more Basil should this one start to die.

Tonight I planted the Cilantro and Chives in this container.

I planted Catnip in one of these last night and tonight I planted Oregano in another.  I still need to find Mint seeds.

While at Hobby Lobby I spotted some kind of realistic lizards.  I have heard that if you put a fake lizard, snake, or frog in a pot it will keep a live one from living there.  Since it was only $2.00 I decided to give it a try, the lizards always jump out a scare me.  So far I don't think any have taken up residence in the pots.

After I got home, I decided I still had enough light, so I would clean my grill.  I always do a big grill cleaning in the Spring and Fall.  It went a lot faster this time, but I have been doing a better job at keeping it clean in between cleaning.

To celebrate that the grill is clean I prepared my favorite marinade and put it on Chicken for tomorrow.

It is almost time for bed and I am excited by everything I got done today without planning to do any of it.  Living the day on a whim seems to have worked for my today.  I know I won't be able to do this everyday, but I think it is fun to do when I get the chance.

Memphis and the water

While we only got a little rain the other day, it was enough to really make the water flow over the rocks in the park.  Memphis has gotten the chance to swim in the stream I let him swim in and then at the other spot I gave him plenty of time to admire the water flowing over the rocks and under the bridge. 

Monkey's Swimming Stream

Memphis and the Watching Stream

On a side note ~~  The park's butterflies are multiplying at a rapid rate.  The part of the trail that I shot a video of before had at least double the butterflies today and the amazing thing is that despite Memphis catching flies and bees at home, he did not even try to catch the butterflies.  He must know his mama loves them. I have loved butterflies since a friend told me that when he saw butterflies for some reason he always thought of me.  I have this deck of cards about animals and it says that if a animal is always near you or gets close enough that you can touch it, then that means something.  The butterfly card says "Delight in life and embrace change as the source of your creativity." 

The reason I have not blogged in awhile

About 1.5 weeks ago I got it into my head that I was ready to paint all the trim throughout my entire house (well except for the two carpeted rooms).  I would start painting the second I woke up each day and paint until I had to leave for babysitting.  Then I would come home and paint until I was too tired to continue.  Here are some pictures of the chaos from the last week.

First up is the door staging area.  I was able to paint three doors at a time and I still have three doors left to do at some point this week.

My entire house has brushed nickel hardware now, so I painted all the hinges to match.

The living room and kitchen was like working a puzzle.  I would move things, then clean and paint, and then move them back so that I could move furniture from the next area.  I am glad I did it though, not just for the painting but to clean behind and under all the furniture.  I had not cleaned behind one of the bookcases since moving in and it really needed cleaned.  I also got the Easter decor put away and had my plants placed outside for Spring.  The living room looks less crowded now.

In the end I finished painting all the trim on Thursday while doing lots of other chores as well.  Everything looks great though.  The color is nearly the same, it is just brighter and makes everything look fresh.  I used frog tape around all the trim and that tape is incredible.  Everything has such a clean line when you pull the tape off.

Now I just need to paint the three doors in the master bedroom and see about fixing a possible leak that I noticed outside my house.

Meeting the Pioneer Woman

This weekend I headed up to Denton to watch my sister receive a reward and go to the Pioneer Woman book signing.  My sister graciously waited in line with me despite not know who the Pioneer Woman was at all.  My parents patiently waited in the food court area the entire time as well. We had some awesome people in front of us that made the time go by a little quicker.  We finally made it to the signing section 4.5 hours after we got into line, but it was worth it to meet a author of which I am a huge fan.   My sister took the pictures while my 3 books were signed.

She is probably the nicest person I have ever met and to top off the wonderful day my family went to see the Hunger Games after we left the signing.  We saw it at a theater that has cinema suites which is a theater with lazy boy type chairs.  After being on my feet all day at the signing those seats were a dream come true and the movie was awesome.  I cannot wait to start reading the books tonight.