Gratitude Came to a Halt

Well, I couldn't do it. I'll have to start again, maybe when I'm not starting a new job, trying to move, getting ready for Christmas.  :(

It's not that I'm not grateful, I am. It's that I'm allowing all the above stuff to come between me and being disciplined enough to gratefully blog each day for thirty days. Maybe I should practice blogging straight for thirty days before attempting to earn the gratitude badge.  :(

Eh.

Gratitude Day Fourteen

Tonight I am ever so grateful for the things that we take for granted that make housekeeping so much easier. Electricity for light, for the computer, for the tv that keeps me company and the radio that accompanies Tim, propane gas for cooking and heating, running water that I can use to wash my dishes and my clothes and my body.... If we were living a hundred years ago, I would be trying to clean up supper dishes by oil lamp, heating with a fireplace or wood stove, and not looking forward to washing my clothes by hand tomorrow.

Life IS a lot easier with all these conveniences.
When I talk about wanting to get back to basics, make my own soap, milk a goat for family consumption, grow a garden to put up my own food, it's not because I want things to be more difficult, or have a lack of appreciation for the conveniences of today, but rather because I want my family to eat healthfully, to live in health, I don't want to forget times gone by, nor the sacrifices our forerunners made for us, and sometimes it's just more fun to do things in an old-fashioned manner.

<And today was a lot better, after I had a nap. lol>

Gratitude Day Thirteen

Today I am really really grateful for the internet. Actually, not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for that and the power necessary to run the thing. It is my delicate string-line to sanity.

Most days I feel pretty decent and pretty well connected, but there are those days and sometimes days in a row, in which I do not feel well connected; I feel off-kilter and decidedly off balance, and the internet allows me to touch base with friends, loved ones, complete strangers, even, and this helps me to balance my emotions once again.

Today is turning into one of those slightly sideways days, and tonight (it's past 10pm) I'm really glad it's just almost over, and tomorrow's another day.

Gratitude Day Twelve

<This is a bit of a cheat because I just posted last night's gratitude, but as I mentioned, I had a friend over til way late, so I'm just now posting for both today and yesterday!>

I woke up this morning in a lot of pain. Part of it, surely, was the fact that I had overdone it yesterday, and gone to bed quite late...close to 1am.  It's 8:33 right now as I write this, and I'm in bed. That's more normal for me! lol  Another thing that is not normal for me is to feel much gratitude at all for modern medicine, but without it, I would not be able to hobble into the bathroom in search of ibuprofen first thing in the morning to help me feel better, or at 3pm to find the bottle of Excedrin migraine, and experience relief.

The problem I have is that I believe that most of my daily dose of pain is brought on by modern food production and preservation methods, so I find it rather difficult to be grateful for the medicines that are so affordable and close at hand because I feel I caused the pain myself, or we, as a society, did.

Still and all, I need to be grateful for these things, and more cautious with my body, what I put into it, to what I expose it, and then perhaps I will need fewer modern meds.  Wouldn't it be NICE to be able to go search out a willow tree and harvest a little old-fashioned aspirin when one had a headache? But wouldn't it also be a bother to have to go down to the creek with the harvesting tool and basket in order to get a little remedy?  I mean, it's super nice to walk into my bathroom (which I'm grateful is indoors!) and just pick up a bottle and swallow a pill; whether or not I caused the pain in the first place, whether the cure is worse than the cause, those are debates best saved for another day.

In Gratitude,
Rebecca at Ruby Lane

Gratitude Day Eleven

Last night when I went to bed I was thinking about Timmy and what a neat kid he is.

Yesterday I cooked him some scrambled eggs and sliced up some sausage to go with them.  Normally he won't eat eggs, but we've gone gluten free, recently, and so anytime he can get me to cook for him, he's eating!  Anyway, when I brought the pan over to him and starting scooping sausage into his bowl, I asked him how many. He said, "More."  I kept scooping.  And scooping. And scooping. (There were two links cut up.) I kept thinking at any point he would say, "That's enough." But he never did. I got to the last three and with each one he said 'more' til I did the last one and then he said, "That's enough."

I laughed so hard I thought I'd cry.
I don't know why certain things hit my funny bone like that, but he's such a straight guy that his sense of humor nearly always catches me off guard.

I'm very grateful for Timmy.

<This was last night's post.  I had unexpected company, and we talked til past midnight when she finally went home, so I did not post last night! Shame on me...>

Gratitude Day Ten

I'm bound-n-determined to be grateful for 30 consecutive days whether I feel like it or NOT!

LOL

Today I am grateful I didn't have to spend all day in pain like I spent all last night. I went to bed with a headache, which rapidly turned into a migraine, and I was unable to pinpoint its cause.  In the night I got up and took some Excedrin Migraine and two Aleve thinking that if my neck muscles could relax I'd be feeling better, and in the night my head somehow began to feel better. All day today I have felt as though I'm on the verge of a headache, though not like it was last night. Plus I've been super tired... could it be from taking two Aleve at some early hour of the morning? Very possible.  I get really tired when I take Aleve or Benadryl.

I took the day off. Normally I would push myself to do things I know I should do, such as finish cleaning up the apartment and repaint those walls... but I was just so exhausted from the move, the stress, the concern over money, that I just could hardly move. I took the day off.  Tomorrow, however, will be another thing entirely.  I have to get back over there and finish cleaning so that I can paint so that I can get (hopefully) our deposit back!

It's the only time in... YEARS that I have stayed my entire length of the contract, given appropriate notice and left the place clean and tidy. Now normally, I do leave a place clean and tidy, but I don't always stay as long as I think I will, and I certainly don't always give notice... I really believe my gypsy lifestyle has a lot to do with being bi-polar. Not an excuse; just sayin'.

So this time I did, and I'm very content within myself that I did what I was supposed to do, and that makes me feel good inside.  Now, to get on with really stretching out and living, in our new lovely home!!

Gratitude Day Nine

I skipped a couple days. Actually, I didn't so much skip, as miss.  I missed a couple days... BUT in my defense, I didn't actually have internet during those days because we were moving!

Now Ruby Lane Farm has a home! And for this I am grateful!!!
:D

I'm grateful for the additional SPACE we have here!
I'm grateful for the animal pens that are already in place here!
I'm grateful for the cats that already live here because it means we do not have a pet deposit, but there are pets available to us!
I'm grateful that Timmy is already settled in and seems so happy to be here!

All this and much more!
:)

So, as you can see, no shortage of gratitude here!
Happy Holidays!
Rebecca