A Sketch a Day

Day 1

Silver Linings

Not every gray cloud has a silver lining; some only hold rain. No, I'm not being philosophical; this musing is based in reality. I was painting a lamp yesterday outside by the woods. Sure, the forecast that flashed up on my phone called for rain but they are never right....until they are. The paint job looked terrific but it was drying very slowly because of the high humidity. So, I left the lamp sitting outside to dry while I went inside to do other chores. It wasn't until I heard rumblings of thunder that I thought to check on the lamp. Thankfully, it was just sprinkling but the lamp and shade were covered with droplets. I tried wiping....big mistake. The towel took off still wet paint with the water. I got some canned air from the office and blew off the remaining beads of water and touched up the paint as much as possible. It's no longer perfect but I'm still liking the new color and it's  the perfect little lamp for the bedside table. Excuse the spots on the wall. My husband did that but the walls will have a new coat of paint this weekend. 

How to Lose Weight Without Trying

As many of you know, we've had a lot of our stuff packed away for years-long story. Well, I'm finally going through all of that stuff and it is like a treasure hunt. I'm finding great things I'd forgotten about having or having gotten as a gift and it is like my birthday and Christmas all wrapped up in one. Then there is the stuff that makes me wonder, what was I thinking? Why did I even bother packing this away when I could have tossed it years ago? It's an adventure but the finding and the tossing are making me feel much lighter and I haven't lost a pound. lol

One thing I found was this beautiful little vase that a friend gave me years ago. I'd completely forgotten about it but it was a wonderful surprise. I know exactly where it's going once I get all of this work done. Right now, it's waiting patiently with my other vases on an old dresser.

.

How Cute Is This?

This arrived in the post yesterday just as I was needing a boost. Isn't he the cutest?
I ordered him from amazon.com. If you want a hunny bunny, too, here is the link.

CLUTTER!

Clutter is ruling my life....or more accurately, RUINING my life!

It's everywhere I look: my desk, my office in general, my kitchen shelves, my closets, my email inbox and most certainly, my mind. So many thoughts, so many things that need doing, so many worries, so many little, niggling problems, they clutter up my mind until it is difficult to think clearly much less come up with a solution. My life has become filled to the brim with mostly useless clutter and it is overwhelming! There has to be an answer to this mess but worrying about it, just clutters up my brain even more and offers confusion instead of answers.

I read an article on organizing your kitchen. I hadn't realized what a mess mine is until I saw the neat, frugally decorated kitchens pictured in the article. One suggestion that seemed feasible to me was to clean one drawer out a day. Suddenly, what had seemed an impossible task, sorting and organizing an entire room at a time, became doable. I can clean one small drawer, or shelf a day and it won't take that much time and effort. Also, like dollars spent, that one small task a day will add up over time. So, I have a plan.....I will make a list of  things that need doing, clearing and in no particular order, small tasks in each area of our home and I will try for a month's time, thirty days, to click off one each day. I will record this task on my calendar only after it is done. Seeing that list of things "done" every day will boost me up and make me feel lighter as time goes on and it will encourage me more and more each day to tackle another small task the next day. It will also be much easier to let go of things and either donate or throw away what we don't use or need if I do it in small bites.

At first, I thought, it is going to take forever to get everything that needs doing done at this rate but I was wrong, it may be slow moving at first but it is still forward progress which is more than what's happening right now. Now, I simply look at it and then turn away because, as a whole, it is too overwhelming, insurmountable. So, slowly will get me to the finish line much faster than expecting too much of myself and never starting.

A Few Random Thoughts on a Few Random Things

MELATONIN:

As those of us who are a "certain age" know, sleep can be a fickle friend. There are times it plays hide and seek with you all night long, giving you a few minutes here and a few minutes there and then leaving you searching for it the rest of the night. There are times it is combative and wants to fight, it will jerk you away from your dreams just as you were floating away and then start punching you painfully in various parts of your body. There are times when it just disappears and abandons you all together, making you feel like a jilted lover. Ironic as it seems, these battles with sleep, leave you exhausted and thinking constantly about that you can not have. As my husband often says, "I'm so tired that I can't stand myself."

My doctor offered me a solution, melatonin. I was skeptical; part of me tends to think of herbal cures as snake medicine no matter how much some friends swear by them. I discovered though that this natural cure was a miracle worker. Just as advertised, I take it and 30 minutes later, I'm dozing off. And it appears to be a sound sleep because when Bodie, our dog, wakes me up every night barking at the bedroom door because (as he says) he needs to pee (when all he needs is to sniff the air and peer about for all those noises in the night), I am so sluggish as I stumble through the house to do his bidding. Falling back to sleep after those nightly journeys into the darkness use to be a problem but now, I drift right off. In fact, it almost feels as if I've been drugged which is the problem and the reason this high praise is turning into a complaint. Yes, it puts me to sleep and keeps me asleep but if I do not get the required eight hours (uninterrupted), I am sluggish the entire day. And who has time for eight to ten hours sleep a night? I was just wanting six max so I had the energy and stamina to finish the eighteen hours of tasks I have in a day.

So, what is the answer? I'm going to try staying on the melatonin for a month...I still have a week to go. Then, I'm going to see if I have trained my body to fall asleep on its own. If that doesn't work, maybe taking the melatonin every other night will. Who knows? All suggestions for a solution are welcome.

STRONG SUITS

We all have those things we are best at. I'm just becoming aware of this and all because my husband, Steve, seems incapable of learning how to use the new universal remote or the Roku. He can turn the TV on and change the channels coming from the antenna but finding the local news on Roku, no. He just hands the remote to me and tells me what he wants. This perplexed me so much. I mean, my husband is a very smart guy. It amazes me how quickly he comes up with solutions to all sorts of technical problems and how repairing any piece of farm equipment or figuring out the exact chemical mix of nutrients his hay fields need seems second nature to him. Then I realized something, how often do I  turn to him with a problem or something that needs to be fixed that I most likely could do myself with a little effort but why bother when it is so easy for him? We all have our strengths and, in any relationship or marriage, I think we quickly learn who is best at what and suddenly, that becomes their permanent job. I'm not necessarily talking about those activities that society has declared "gender specific" but more what each individual is best at. Of course, I've often wished that I wasn't the one so "skilled" at washing dishes.

STRESS

Stress....or as I like to call it, the root of all evil. I will be going along, singing my song and feeling like I finally have my world on a string and BOOM! Something happens, something unexpected and often, seemingly unsurmountable pops out in the road of progress I'm on and snarls at me like the Big Bad Wolf at Red Riding Hood. It shows all of its teeth and it's bigger and much badder than little me; I just stand there shaking in my Mary Janes....well, now days, tennis shoes, crocks or boots most likely. I am frozen with fear, stuck in place and wanting to run but there is no place to go. I'm not talking about real problems like health or death. Those are the ones that often are unsurmountable. What I'm talking about are what I call "grown-up problems." It seems in my case, most of these concern money or time, both seem on short supply. That's when stress raises its ugly head, smirks and pretends to be there to help you. They say stress comes from those cave dwelling days when we needed to be told to either stand and fight or run. Today, it too often tells me to hide. I hide from my problems at least for awhile. Well, first, I cry and then I hide and then I think which seems useless at the time, more like simple worry. But in those times of what appears to be another grown-up problem, depression, when I don't want to leave my bed much less the house, I seem to eventually come up with a solution to those unsurmountable problems. So, even though it is unpleasant and I usually feel like a completely lazy failure during the process, there is a purpose in the madness. During my latest bout of stress induced lethargy and ennui, I realized that the "stress" (yes, lets call it that) is often the fertilizer that makes good things grow. In other words, there are silver linings in those dark storm clouds that threaten to destroy you. Once you weather the storm, your life comes out better in the aftermath. I'm in such a situation right now. Something happened that seemed horrible at the time, seemed overwhelming and yes, unsolvable. After a few days accomplishing little but worry and thought....and a whole lot of prayer!......, the clouds cleared and I saw, not just a solution to the problem, but hopefully, some things I've been wanting for a loooong time on the other side of the storm. I won't or can't go into the details of the problem but let's just say, life will be better not only once we work our way through it but during the process. I've always said that it is the hard times that make us grow, teach us lessons. No, they aren't pleasant and neither is the stress and worry but the other side, we will be better for it.