My big fear

What are you afraid of?

I used to be really afraid of the dark.  And even now, if I'm alone, I sleep with the light on.

But it's heights that always get me.

So where does my sister want to take me for my birthday??  An adventure park where you are up high!

So we had to wait for a few months to go...because Covid had shut everything down around my birthday.

But Trinity Adventure Park finally opened and we made our reservations.

My sister always pushes me to do things I'd never do on my on...ahem....Trapeze!!

And I go, because she is my sister and we've only got each other.  And I know she really wants me to try something new!

So when we get there, I see several levels.  A lower level (that's still pretty high), higher level and somewhere up at the top is the highest level.  We got all trained on how to hook and unhook, clip ourselves in and such.  And off we went.  

I managed to go over the first obstacle ok. 

Then came this log.

I froze.

I don't know if it's because I felt like I would fall off, or the ropes were hard to hold or what?  But it took most of my effort, and some deep breathing to make it across.  I had some tears when I got to the platform, but I actually did it!  The rest of this level, I did pretty good.  I surprised myself!  It's amazing what you can do with everyone encouraging you.

Well, we finished the first level, got back on the ground and took a rest.

Then we were going to the second level (I really think we skipped a level but oh well)

First, we had to climb this crazy ladder!  It was so spinny and turny and it took all my upper body strength to climb it.  It was no joke!

My niece and her friend were rock stars on the course!

Everyone was ahead of me, and then I came to these pogo looking sticks with pegs for feet, and pegs for hands.  There were about 7 of them, and they all dangled and swung around.

I froze again.

What got me this time, was I looked beneath me, and there was that log (where I froze the first time).  My mind immediately started talking to me and saying, you were scared on that one way down there, what makes you think you can do this!  and look how they swing around.  There's no way you can do this.

My sister going across the pogo sticks!  The log I froze on is below that!!

Our minds are powerful.  

I stood there a long time.  Tears and everything.  I finally got the gumption to get on the first one.  And just talked myself out of it.  I just couldn't get past it.

The staff were so kind and came up and rescued me. So embarrassing....

So fear is real.  Sometimes we can conquer it.  Sometimes we can't.  Sometimes we need a little encouragement, sometimes we need a whole lot.  Sometimes it doesn't matter who or what the encouragement is..we just talk ourselves out of it.

Maybe next time, I'll get a little more brave and do a higher level.  I'm excited I did the first one!  I mean, you gotta start somewhere right?

What's your fear?  Where will you start?

Dance like no one is watching! Dance in the rain!

So things are starting to open back up.  And with that comes LIVE MUSIC!  It's one of my favorite things to do on Friday and Saturday nite!  Go hear a live band, local bands, some kind of tribute band!  It's so much fun just dancing with my hoop.

My hoop has made me a different person.  You see, I'm an introvert.  I'm not a "Look at Me" type person.  AT ALL.  

But somehow the hoops brings out my creative side!  It's freeing!  It helps me dance like no one is watching. 

I love this about my hoop.

I love that it's my circle of fun.

My circle of safety.

I can dance and move in my hoop and shut the world out.

Even though they are watching.  

I want people to be encouraged.

I want to bring a smile to someone's face.

I want the band to know--y'all are ROCKING IT!! C'mon!!

So breaking out of my comfort zone, I grab my hoop and start to dance.

Even last weekend, the rain came in.  Everyone ran for cover and I just stood there hoopin' and dancing in the rain.  THE BEST FEELING!!  

So even though I never thought I'd be THAT person in the crowd.  I am.  And I love it.  

And I look forward to every weekend.

Does your comfort zone need to be pushed a little?  What's something you thought you'd never do but find yourself doing now??

Peace and love my friends.

💓💕✌

New kitchen & bath!

We are redoing our kitchen and bathroom! or should I say--having it done!

We've done it before for rental houses and houses we were moving out of.  But we've never done it for a house that we are living in!  I'm so excited to actually enjoy it!

We are getting new cabinets, backsplash, counter tops, and all new flooring throughout.

Seems self indulgent.  The ones we have work fine right now but it just needs updating.

After 30 years of marriage, I guess it's ok to splurge a bit. 😜

These are the "Before" pictures!

We go this weekend to pick out all the things and then comes the hard work of getting everything moved around!  haha!  

I'll keep ya posted on the "After" pictures!  Hopefully in a couple of months!

What the world needs now

I haven't blogged in a while.  It seems the world has gone mad.  First covid-19. Now the riots.  Economy on the brink. Chaos. Fear.  What is happening to people?

I heard a song on the radio the other day...

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.

So true right?

What is love anyway? 

It's the commitment to the good of others.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love of self pervades society.  There's too little real love out there. 

They will know we are Christians by our love.

Perfect love casts out all fear.

Praying for our world today.  They need the Lord so much. 

49 of my favorite things on my 49th birthday

49 of my favorite things (in no particular order of course...)

1. my kindle
2. my hula hoop
3. dancing with my hoop and hubby every weekend
4.  the trips I take
5. my ever optimistic hubby
6. watching and listening to my kids
7. playing and loving on my grandkids
8. the moon
9. my mini essential oil bag for my purse
10.  just mini and tiny things in general
11. a big old glass of unsweet tea in the summertime
12.  my swinging chair on my balcony
13. doing yoga trapeze
14. the sunset
15. my rosemary growing on my balcony
16. my cool steampunk top hat
17. all things Charlie Brown
18. walking, hiking, exploring new trails
19. Chaffles
20. my big funky earrings and bracelets
21. coffee...just coffee
22. puzzles
23. daisies
24. hummingbirds
25. It's a Wonderful life
26. reading books
27. sitting on the floor
28. dark dark chocolate
29. my yellow pointy toe flats
30. having my mani/pedis every 6 weeks
31. my chiropractor (and all the past ones I've had!) love chiropractic
32. maps and studying maps
33. musicals and watching plays
34. old black and white movies (especially mysteries)
35. fringe
36. yarn and knitting (I haven't in a while though!) but yarn! all the yarn!
37. Runny Babbit book
38. thunderstorms and lightening
39. kites
40. scarves
41. Haikus
42. tea cups with saucers
43. Eating keto
44. Starry night painting
45. all the skirts!
46. natural healing and wellness
47. unschooling
48. succulents
49. Puns!  ...ok here's one.. Bad puns are how eye roll! 😂😜😹

Crazy Times

So this is the first time in my lifetime anything like this has happened.  The world is shut down.  Weird.

We are all trying to be content in these times.

How did our grandparents do it?  No entertainment, no Netflix or Prime.

I'm reminded of my grandparents.  We used to go to their house in the country for weeks in the summer.  And we had a blast.  We just made up stuff to do.  We rarely turned on the TV.  It only came on to watch Mutual of Omaha on Sunday nights and Hee Haw.  Other than that, we entertained ourselves.  With no internet, tv, or movies.  Imagine that.

We made up games, we cut out magazines, we made mud pies out in the woods.  We played with the neighbor kids that lived down the road.  We rode our bikes, listened to the radio, tried to ride our roller skates on their old tar road. (that was tough!).  My grandma would let us play with flour and water on the kitchen table and make dough balls and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.  We took walks down to the railroad tracks and picked wild flowers.  We played school, and tea party, and made up our own songs.

We had so much fun and never thought one second about being bored.

So, now as an adult, as I sit here in this weird world where everything is closed.  I've found myself thinking.. there's nothing to look forward to, every day is the same, i can only clean our condo so much!

So what can we do during this time?

One thing we've been doing a lot of is walking.  We walk in the morning, we walk at lunch, we walk after work is done, we walk on our breaks.  Short walks, long walks, random no where to go walks, walks to our local restaurants to get a coffee or lunch, walks to just get out and get some vitamin D.

I've cleaned, organized, and cleaned out stuff.

We listen to sermons and podcasts and music.

I'm drinking a lot of tea and coffee.  Ha!

We dug out the old school WII and started playing some old games.

We've taken our speaker up to the pool and just hooped it up and had a great time dancing.

I need to find some good books to read and start that again.  I need to find a place to work my puzzles! (our dining table is covered right now in our work from home computers!)

I dug out my knitting that I haven't done in years.

A friend texted me yesterday and asked about revisiting our Philippians memorization. I had gotten up through halfway chapter 3 a few years ago!  I will work on pulling that back into my memory banks!

There's lots to do.  We just gotta have the right attitude.  (Which is super hard for an Eeyore like me).

Hang in there folks, be safe and healthy. Don't go berserk.  Don't freak out. Enjoy your time with your kids if they are home.

Who knows how long this will last..but we can still enjoy our time!

How are you all surviving this crazy time?

Something to lighten up your Friday

It's been a bit of a heavy week, so just to lighten things up--here's a few true funny stories that really happened to me!

One day I was poaching an egg in the microwave.  I pulled it out of the microwave after it was done and I was standing there face over it looking at it.  When all of a sudden the egg explodes!  Right in my face! BURNING HOT!  Larry, being the quick thinker that he is, was standing at the sink and he pulled the sprayer out and sprayed me right in the face. Well, it cooled me off, kept my face from burning.  But now I was standing there in my pjs, covered in egg and soaked head to toe.  I just died laughing!

Another one..this one kinda recent.

As we were walking back to the hotel in Amsterdam, it was cold and I had my hands in my coat pockets.  There was a small little bump in the sidewalk.  Just enough to catch my shoe.  As I was falling toward the sidewalk, hands in pockets, I thought -Man I don't want to hit my face-so I turned ever so slightly and landed rather ungraciously on the sidewalk on my elbow and knee.  I wasn't hurt bad but still... had to laugh.


One from my childhood. 

My sister and I were so excited that the snow cone man was coming down the street!  We ran to get our change and ran out to get our yummy snow cones!  As we were walking back to the house, my sister was just eyeing her snow cone and just couldn't wait to dig into it..  the newspaper guy just happened to be driving down the street right at that time.  He threw the paper into our yard and it hit my sister right on the back of the head causing her snow cone to just fall right into the grass.  Poor thing!  You can't really wash a snow cone off either.  Was that newspaper guy aiming at us?? 

Ok..one other.

For some reason, things fly out from the sky and find me.  We were all sitting in our backyard one time, playing a game at a table when all of a sudden a baseball flew down and landed right in my stomach!  No one else saw it fly down but there I am on the ground! And then, another day, we were at a playground when a bicycle helmet came flying out of nowhere and conked me on the head. Ha! Still don't know where that thing came from.