Sugar Crystals: Celebratory BLOG CANDY !

Sugar Crystals: Celebratory BLOG CANDY !

The Present

Every emotion I possessed was tapped this past weekend and the adage of today being the "present" really seemed to hit home. Friday I had the great opportunity to help at the school with the physical fitness test of seeing what time our children could complete a one-mile run. Let me say, I think most every child could do this but boy did the kids have the lazies that day. My "present" was a note to make sure we are out doing more physical activity together. Just after, I met a sweet friend for lunch at a super yummy resturant. She much like myself is getting used to life without her husband, however her is still alive. We shared tales on how to keep the lonelies at bay and tales of our children. We were about to wrap up and I heard a familiar voice cry my name. I looked over and several of my buddies from my last job were enjoying a Friday lunch together. So I hunkered over and joined them after my first lunch. Many funny tales were shared about the times we had during my stint there. What an awesome "present"! As if I could stand any more fun for one day, I headed to my "sister's" for a cooking party and enjoyed way to much delicious food and lots of great laughs.

Saturday was the official food testing for a good friend's wedding coming early October and since the father of the groom had prior commitments, I was the honorary "spousal alternative". We enjoyed many tasty vittles and surprisingly the veggies were my favorite. (Still hope for me...) I had the chance to meet the bride's parents and the maid of honor all in this swanky hotel. Woo hoo. Now I just have to loose the weight I promised myself and then we are all ready to get those two married.

Sunday we met Grandmother Marilyn at Coralridge for lunch and shopping and had a fun time. She spoiled Trenton a little extra as tomorrow is his big 13th birthday. Seemed like time flew by before we needed to head for our grief group in Hiawatha. As we were making small talk, somehow conversation led to me stating one of my friends was in the "house" as they call it. When we finished our meeting, arrangements were made for Trenton and I to visit with him. He looked good and we had a nice chat and did a bit of reminiscing. I could tell Trenton was having a hard time by the number of potty breaks he was taking. My "present" was being able to ask my dear friend if he was ready to step to the other side and he said he was ready. I did ask him to give my sweet husband Jeff some love when he arrived. He smiled and said he would do that for us. Clearly, I count this as the best "present" I have had for a while.

We do tend to forget our present is a present. Any of us could meet with our destiny today, tomorrow or next week. Are you in a place that should that come your way it would be a present? We are here for such a short time and have so many chances to make it count. Plant a tree, a flower, say a nice comment to a friend or visit a shut-in. Make today count as it is a special "present" from God.

Becky

And he turned over the land

Today the phone rang a little early and it was my Father who was planning a day of fix and prep work here. We plan to have hay on the entire farm this year, so we need to get the seed planted on the end that was beans last year. Dad brought along, Dylan, my uber-handsome nephew to help out since he had the day off. After a few attempts, the tractor rumbled to a start and Dylan hooked it to the disc. After a couple of bites of lunch, we got serious about turning over the ground. Dad headed to the garage with Trenton two steps behind to change the oil in the lawn mower. Love men working in the garage with all the comments, cussing and other testosterone laden events. I was summoned to find some stone thing to sharpen the blades of the mower. Keep in mind unless I tripped over this device, I wouldn't have the first idea of what we were looking for. So I went out and thank goodness it had already been found. I cleaned and put a few things in their place and then swept a bit.





Trenton relieved Dylan from his disc duties so they could head home for chores in their own back yard. Here is a snapshot of Trenton running the tractor and disc. Tomorrow we will toss on the hay and oats and hope for a good growing season.



Thanks guys for all the hard work!!

Becky

Been walking - day two.....omg

Ok, I promise I have not been drinking, but you will not believe what happened to me today.

I went and picked up the little kids the fun-colored play balls that I just loved as a kid. I had been looking for these and happened to find just enough at K-Mart. The cart didn’t really hold them so I had a couple under each arm heading to the checkout. As I approached an old fellow with a funny look on his face, I asked him if he wanted to play with my balls? He chuckled and said he was good and I headed to the checkout.

All went well and I headed out to the white buggy to load my fancy balls. Some wind caught one sitting in the kid seat part of the cart and the ball fell to the ground. So I walked the way of the ball and the darn thing took off like greased lightning. About that time a gal walking towards me said hey two balls just fell out of your cart! Snap! She went for the doubles and I headed for the single with a ball under one arm and my bags of goods under the other. Those balls really fly as I went from K-Mart East to Sherman Williams and was still tracking it when I got to Blockbuster video about two blocks down. I saw my ball head across Collins Road and decided the game was over. I headed back to the car and hoped my friend had better success in tracking then I did. Oh no, she saw hers last heading for Michaels about three blocks away. Well I thanked the gal, we had a great laugh and I headed out to see if I could find my balls. (OK – new fitness program began yesterday with the renegade llama and now I lost my darn balls.) After driving around I did locate one next to Collins Road, hopped out walked down into the ditch and put the ball in the truck. In case you don’t know, lunch time on Collins Road is busy and it is one of the most heavily travels roads in Iowa. Needless to say, many people had lunch and a show today if they were anywhere near Lindale Mall. Sadly I have to report I was unable to find my two missing balls. I only hope they went to a good family with a couple of kids that will love and cherish them.

I bought the two older kids Frisbees and I had enough walkng for today. Grrrrrr. Perhaps I will stay in bed tomorrow……

Becco the chaser

Been walking?

As I was driving home today from spending some time in town, I thought it would be a good day for a walk. Sun is out and the wind is under gale-force strength for a change. Parked the buggy and then fed the cats and headed over to feed the llama. Of course, all this transpired while I was chatting on the cell phone. Jimmy, the llama, was in his little pen to keep him out of the nasty winter weather we had over the weekend. Time to walk him over to his pasture and let him stretch his legs. Jimmy will usually follow his full feed scoop of yummy food anywhere, but today the few bright green sprigs of grass distracted him. He walked around and checked out the hoop buildings and then headed back towards his small shed. He made a pit stop at the flower area with the rocks around it to munch the weeds there. As I walked up behind him, he headed down the driveway. I figured this would be no big deal as we have used him as a "lawn-mower" on several occassions.

Oh my, was I ever way off..... Mr. Jimmy spotted the street and headed out like a full bread race-horse. Crap! So I cut through the hay field and saw his old black hiney heading for the horse farm at the top of the hill. Guessing he has made this journey before because he took a hard right at the driveway and proceeded to rile up six different pens of full grown horses. Here is me slowly walking up the hill wishing I had on walking shoes and something to catch him with. So when I arrived at the neighbors, Jimmy, had put himself in an six foot wide alley way between four pens of horses. Ha! So much for Jimmy having superior intelligence. David, our neighbor, parked his truck at one end and I went to corral my naughty 20-year old llama. I caught him on the third try and headed back for the farm. We had to be quite a site walking down the road...chick with bright blue scoop and her llama on a leash. Yep, got quite of few waves and grins.

My guardian angels must have been preparing me all day as I had a jacket and that is not my usual style. I planned to go for a walk and in a very odd style, definitely got my 30 minutes in and then some. So have you been out for your walk today??

Becky

Spring's a mixing

Over the winter I had agreed to help my Sister, Deb (above), with the Spring craft fairs and low and behold today was the first one. As most of you who know me can imagine, I was fiendishly busy last night! Several flower arrangements with tulips, daisies and roses were put together to hopefully grace the houses of those wanting a touch of beauty in their houses. I had discovered these cute Easter baskets that I had been working on and finished putting the glue one those just before midnight.

Good news, I did wake up on time and Trenton helped me load the family truckster and hit the road in respectable time. We picked up our neighbor boy, Spencer, and brought him along so the day wasn't so long for my fellow. I should have known it would be a day to remember when Deb called at about 7:30am to let me know she was running late. I couldn't help but tell her a story that I too had just crawled out and was heading for the shower. Tee hee, she was relieved when I let her know we were only 20 minutes out of Independence. We arrived and set up on a super great weather day. The boys located the activity area and went on their way. Deb arrived with her daughter, Mel, and we got down to business. With a tight econony, we sure had a lot of lookers and even a few buyers.

The day was near the end when Trenton and Spencer came in trying to tell their stories as I was counting back change to a customer. I asked Mel to help the guys out and they all headed out to the lobby. Soon Melanie was back wide-eyed and told me a story I had to check out. The guys had been skateboarding in the correct area when a middle-aged woman drove up and wanted to use a skateboard. Ok that doesn't happend every day and she helped herself to some kids' board and took a spill on the concrete. Believe it or not, that is the good part of the story. Next she said she was hot, so she began taking off her shirt and headed for the building. As she approached the building, she disrobed even further. By the time she entered the craft fair, she was in her birthday suit. She then headed for the restrooms (the building is a community center used as a workout location as well) so she took a shower and then went back out in the the hallway. Holy moly. The young gal at the front desk was freaking out and rather than dail 911, tried to help out. Trenton finished this story much like the 12 Days of Christmas song... three policemen, two squad cars and a crazy lady loaded into an ambulance.

Guess you can figure out what we discussed on the way home from Independence? Sad statistics indicate many homeless people have one form or another of mental illness. Trenton, Melanie and Spencer even got to tell the tale to the police because the poor old beaten up car happened to be stolen as well. Heavens, there is a gal that could use a few extra prayers.

Well, I am going to close as tomorrow we have a visiting priest and we need to take treats to church. Bet when he sees me, he will know he has his work cut out for him.

Make tomorrow a special day and share some love!

Becky

Happy St. Patrick's Day to my prince

Did you wear green today? We made it through the day without a pinch. Trenton even has green bands on his braces. Yes, I did say braces. Trenton had his braces installed yesterday and is missing his favorite foods. Poor chap is really sore and quiet.

Please indulge me while I reminisce a moment. Today was the 21st anniversary of my first date with Jeff. We certainly did have some great adventures in our years together. We painted the town, several colors, lived in a tiny slab house in town, moved to a tiny farm in rural Iowa, raised hogs, goats, cows, llamas, cats and still working on a couple of prize kiddos. We had our great triumphs and many scraped knees. We always seemed to be able to buy high and sell low. Something to be said for consistancy, right? Many, many years we both worked in town and then came home to more to get done. The American dream in the form of a couple of "in love" rookies at life.

Cancer brought our dreams to a dramatic end. There will be no retirement on the road in a rv with white hair and lots of laughs, no walking kids to graduation with a parent on each arm, no wishing your sons lots of love and happiness as they marry their bride. Jeff was so brave and undaunted in his fight for life that he left us all with so much more - faith. I can truly say the last year has been the worst year of my life with Jeff's illness as well as mine. You can't put in words the strife that overcomes one as you lie down at night and stare at the wall wondering how you came to this point, where do I go from here, and then the tears begin to stream down the cheeks. Life is unfair and even sucks at times, but then you see the glory of a sunset and decide tomorrow is well worth living.

Kind words and prayers from friends have kept us all going in this challenging year. Sometimes your calls and notes have been the light for that day. God has us under his wings and we have all grown through this adventure. Perhaps it is like the seasons: Spring seems more lovely after a difficult winter. I pray our Spring has arrived and days will start to come more easily for the three of us.

Today may well be your last and although moving to eternal peace is glorious for the departed, be sure to leave your sparkle for those carrying on. We get too caught up in the daily trivial matters often to remember our real mission. Love with all you have in you today and always.

With gratitude,

Becky, Dalton and Trenton