Meditation Monday: The Still Quiet Moments

Maestro, as his nickname suggests, is very into music of all (most) kinds. But there is something about a good, quick tune that gets you pumped up when there is a lot of heavy, boring work to be done - like cleaning up the house, laundry, schoolwork, etc. But it's tiresome and just a lot of work from a kid's perspective, so we crank up the tunes. Today, Maestro had on a pop music station.

So few of the songs are appropriate for us to listen to that he ends up changing the station every second or third song. Well, that slows down our work considerably! I prefer to listen to Dave Ramsey podcasts while I work - it is inspiring for me to hear about others who are also struggling to become debt free. 

Or I listen to talks and lessons by people who have reached a point where they earn a full-time paycheck doing what they love and helping others - usually people doing Young Living as a business. I'm on my way, but not there just yet. My goal is to be there entirely by 2015 when the White Knight can retire and paint, create and "Art" full time - it's what he loves and his work is so beautiful. I'd like us both to do what we love full time. 

Just Do What You Do

I'm working on a song about staying at home with the kids - I call it We Didn't Mess the House Up and is sung to the tune of (what else?) We Didn't Start the Fire. It is a work in progress and not at all finished, but I'm willing to share a small part of it here:

A Journey of Fifteen Years

Wow, how time flies by. When I was sixteen, I was "sure" I would never have kids of my own. I was too enlightened for that - there were so many kids in the world already who needed love and a family, so I was going to adopt.

14 candles on the cake - but it makes the point

When I was eighteen, I added on the aspiration to join, and remain in, the military for twenty years and retire.

When I was nineteen, I met a guy who was "nice" and who made me laugh - he was the best friend of the guy I was dating at the time. He had always said he would "never" join the military, and especially not the Air Force.

Moms Vs. Dads (In the Mind of a Teen)

Yesterday, Maestro came to tell me about a sort of "Sci-fi Documentary" he had watched. It involved, he said, the idea of Neutron Stars and what would happen if one were speeding towards Earth, and how would we earth-dwellers deal with it.

There is nothing like

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The conversation started out like this: 

Maestro to Mom: "I watched a sci-fi documentary this morning and it was about Neutron Stars. You're probably familiar with those, but in case you're not it's... " and he went on to explain them in pretty decent detail. 

Quick Five Friday - Holy Week, Hair Carnage, & Sweet Smiles

It is Holy Week in the Orthodox church. That means we are at the end of the 40-day fasting period that is Great Lent; we are building ourselves up for the excitement of Christ rising from the tomb on the 3rd day; we are getting ready to rejoice in His resurrection. It also means we're in church a lot this week. A whole lot. 30 hours, if you go to every service. With the White Knight out of town, we haven't made it to all of them, but I've done my best. It makes such a difference to go to every service leading up to the joy of Pascha (Easter). So while I am busy with that, I leave you with a few pictures for the weekend.

The girlie is on a haircutting kick - hers, other kids, etc. so I bought ten
Barbies at a yardsale to let her cut to her heart's content.
These are the first victims... er... models.

Post-Friday Monday Round-Up

I didn't get to the Five Friday round up thing this week because I had so many reviews due in last week. Whew! It was hectic trying to get all of those in, but I did it! So I am doing my Fast Friday Five now instead. Before you go today, please go to the bottom and look at the five pictures there. I had new head shots done last week and am trying to decide which to use. Give me your thoughts in the comments? Thanks, All, and have a great week!!

1. We have reached the point in the garage where we're doing the last few boxes of papers. Oh, loathsome papers! So I am determined to get them knocked out as fast as I can to get it over with. THEN I have to figure out what I'll do with those papers I have to keep. Yikes! Really. I have A Plan (insert echo here... PlanPlaPLP...) My grand plan is go through it all once and get out everything that can be thrown away or shredded. Then I'll have to go through again to figure out where to put the stuff that's left. I know - it's more time consuming this way. It would be better to "touch it once and then deal with it." But I'm more of a whittle it down sort, so I have to do this in stages. But at least we're nearly done.
   

   

   We took a break to go look at a Civil War
   display at the nearby library. It was a 3/4-
   mile walk each way but worth the time. The
   gun closest to Bruiser there is original and
   the barrel is longer than my arm! It was huge!

Sharing My Joy

Oh. My. Goodness! Living in this place is like being at an air show Every. Day. It have long been a fascination and a dream of mine to fly, and one day, I'll make the dream of a pilot's license come true. But when I was a girl, I always wanted to fly the jets - even before Top Gun made it "cool."

We live near a place where the jets fly around frequently and I am in Heaven. I run from room-to-room trying to track them down in the sun. I don't care how geeky that looks. I even think it's good for the kids to see enthusiasm in something, to see joy and excitement and to share that.

What gets you passionate for life? 

What makes your heart jump? 

What JOY do you find to share with those around you each day? 

When I was younger, I was moved one day - by what exactly, I don't know - but I threw my arms out from my sides and enjoyed the sensation of the wind and the joy of the moment. The friend who was with me at the time asked, "What are you celebrating?"

I had no response then. I was embarrassed for my moment of child-like joy and revelation (I was 18 and that wasn't "cool.") Now, how I wish I had said that I was celebrating LIFE and the JOY of the moment. That friend, though we are no longer in touch, would have understood. I pray to show my kids that having that kind of love for life and joy is "okay." And if someone else doesn't like it, does that person's opinion matter?

I'll get pictures of my plain-jane house up before long (when it's no longer plain), but for right now, you'll find me on the porch, soaking in mild weather, cup of coffee in hand and enjoying the noise and excitement of my own little Air Show.

I'll Be in the Kitchen

Moving status update: 

We're about 2/3 of the way packed.

One room that has remained largely out and unpacked is the kitchen. Jeff has talked about how much is left in there and what all is left to be done.

I suppose there is a reason for that. I packed a lot of the kitchen six weeks ago - but nothing since then. My kitchen... I start to pull boxes into that room, and I find some reason to deflect to another room to pack first.

Happy Birthday, Buttercup!

Happy Birthday, Buttercup! 

Purple: a stunning color on you, and your 2nd favorite, after blue

Buttercup is dictating the color choices on the post today because today our "Lonely Only" (Girl) turns 3. She is so spunky, smart and articulate - and such a great joy to have in our lives. I wrote her birth story out last year, so this year, I'm writing a letter - mostly of advice - but really just in a vision of the kind of Lady she'll hopefully one day be.

Dear Girlie,


In spite of not watching TV, you get your "screen time" in by doing "Letters" on Microsoft Word, watching Starfall or Netflix videos or sneaking off to steal time on your brothers' Nintendo DSs. It cuts down on how many commercials you see, but somehow "princess" has started to creep into your vocabulary. We're working hard to change princess into Queen. 

Living Intentionally and a Link to a Giveaway

I have goals and dreams, most of us do, I suppose, but I seldom write them down. I sort of take it for granted that the events taking place in my life are leading me, slowly but surely, through and to those things I am meant to achieve in life. When I was younger, all I ever wanted was to join the military and get a pilot's license. I joined the military at 18, married at 22, left the Navy at 24 and largely feel like my life has been an every-day gift.

Having that attitude doesn't require anything of me really, except that I show up and be open to going along for the (sometimes wild) ride. But that attitude also means I am not living my life intentionally. If I don't live my life with a thought to my goals and dreams, then I am not really living my life to its fullest potential. In short: I am letting big chunks of life pass me by as I float down the lazy path of the slow part of the river. 

There is nothing wrong with taking the come-as-it-may route, I get to see the forest for the trees that way. Heck, I even get to see the leaves of the trees that way - and the occasional Leaf Bug hiding in those leaves!

But this post is about changing that dynamic somewhat. This post is about making a "bucket list," but since I am not fond of that term, I'm using one I saw on another blog: "Life List"

Living Life Backwards - A Different Perspective

I posed this thought to my children the other day:

What If...

parents knew how old a child was going to be when that child was born 

and

as a result, we counted our years down instead of up.

Would you live your life more fully, knowing that your days were "numbered" and life had a clearly-defined ending? Would you live in fear of what was coming and try to play it safe - perhaps in the effort to "escape" the inevitable?