Thursday, April 02, 2015

From The Pages of My Lately Life


“Life finds its balance. Children grow up. Second chances come along. In the meantime, I could choose to savor this moment. What good would it do to allow annoyance to interfere with gratitude?” 
― Katrina KenisonThe Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir


*****


The refrigerator repair guy just now left. 

I remembered how pleasant this owner of a small business had been two years ago when our freezer drain became clogged (as it had again), so last night I dug (literally) through our Important Receipts Drawer for his number, called him this morning, and within 20 minutes he knocked on our backdoor.

Again, we had just as friendly a conversation while he worked. And because I'd emptied our freezer ahead of time and hadn't waited as long for the problem to build up, the cost was ten dollars less.

And just think! Today we will reach 60+ degrees for the first time this year, the sun is brilliantly shining so I'll open windows, wipe down the patio furniture then sit outside and read and then late Monday night, Tom will arrive home after being gone 8 weeks.

So much to celebrate!




*****


But oh, the temptation to bash-in my printer.

I've fiddled with it for days and the darn thing won't print my coupons correctly and Tom's not here to fix it and it's a new month which means new coupons and our local Facebook coupon page is bursting with fantastic deals, all of which I am missing.

Oooo ... what a huge test for this coupon queen!

But I mustn't forget this: on Tuesday when I shopped, I found three sets of 'peelies' , you know, coupons stuck onto the fronts of products. So that meant I was able to use 5 coupons I'd not planned on using--and I was giddy-ly grateful, as though God had opened my eyes to see those little coupons waiting for me there (probably because He felt sorry for me regarding the whole printer fiasco).



*****

Something better? I'm working on a new writing project.

See, every blue moon, kind souls email me that you're re-reading my entire blog. Oh dear. To slog through over 3,000 of my posts, many of which seriously need deeper, now-that-I-know-better editing!

You brave people.

So to give you a break, here's what I'm doing: I'm creating a new blog, one with just 300 (or less?) of my 'best of' posts from As I See It Now, posts up to only the day we moved away from the farm. It'll have chapters so you can read forward rather than backward (as you 're-readers' do now). The posts will be better proof-read, edited and more to the point. Well, we can dream, anyway.

I'm giving myself another month to complete this task and ok, it's still not a 'real book' as some of you have asked me to write. But it's a project which comes closer to that reality.

So there you go.


*****


This week I watched Into The Woods and surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying it.



*****


“One thing we've learned this summer is that a house is not an end in itself, any more than "home" is just one geographic location where things feel safe and familiar. Home can be anyplace in which we create our own sense of rest and peace as we tend to the spaces in which we eat and sleep and play. It is a place that we create and re-create in every moment, at every stage of our lives, a place where the plain and common becomes cherished and the ordinary becomes sacred.” 
― Katrina KenisonThe Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir



“I know I can't make time slow down, can't hold our life as it is in a freeze frame or slow my children's inexorable journeys into adulthood and lives of their own. But I can celebrate those journeys by bearing witness to them, by paying attention, and, perhaps most of all, by carrying on with my own growth and becoming. Now it dawns on me that the only way I can figure out what I'm meant to be doing is to try to understand who I'm meant to be...I will not waste this life, not one hour, not one minute. I will not take for granted the blessing of our being here...I will give thanks...” 
― Katrina KenisonThe Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir




*****



Free Kindle books:



With Every Letter

The Curtain

Georgia on Her Mind

Strength in Strangers

7 comments:

  1. Can't wait to check out your "new" blog, Debra! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Debra,
    I am one of those souls reading all past posts. Thank you, thank you for selecting the 300 or more best posts. I have to say I have loved reading all of them so far and I'm only half way through. It would be nice not to have to read backwards. Sometimes when I'm reading I think "I have to remember this" and then go on to the next ones and then forget where it was located. I wish when I started reading the posts that I had bookmarked my favorites. I just didn't realize how much I would enjoy them. It will be fun to see if my favorites are the same as others. I may just have to start reading them all over again. Your teachings on God's presence in our lives has changed my life. I am so grateful for for you and consider you a friend.

    J. lynn

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your new blog sounds wonderful, it will be like a book. So happy to hear Tom will soon be home!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm glad Tom will be home soon. You have done well with him gone. Kudos to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Debra, I'm one of those readers who read every single one of your blogs and enjoyed them, thoroughly!! I think your project sounds wonderful. Loved your Katrina Kenison quotes. It always amazes me how she captures the essence of what matters most in this life. It's what you do well, also.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tracy--thanks! I think it may be ready sooner than I'd estimated. :)

    JLynn--thank-you so much for your encouraging comments here and in your email! It's words like yours which keep me writing. It's so brave of you to read through my whole blog! :) Thanks again...

    Elizabeth-- I think you'll like the new 'book design.' :) Thanks for reading here so faithfully and I'm continuing to pray about your latest diagnosis. Thinking of you...

    Jan--thank-you so much for your kind words! I appreciate them.

    Pam--another very brave reader! :) Thank-you for being sweet. Have you read Katrina Kennison's book, The Gift of an Ordinary Day? I've been considering buying it...

    Thanks, Everyone! Blessings, Debra

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1:47 PM

    Debra, what a great idea - to start the new blog with the "best of" posts!!! Love it! Can't wait to visit the new website when it happens :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments-- I love to read what you are thinking! If you are unable to comment, please contact me at gladone4@protonmail.com. Oh, and please be kind. Thank-you.