Taking a Day Off

Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.
~W. C. Fields

I soooooooooooooo needed this time off!

Tuesday mornings in the summer are our free movie times at the nearest theater, but this week the Princess and I agreed that Diary of a Wimpy Kid did not sound that appealing to us...maybe because she is homeschooled and it much of it seemed to be schoolyard situations. So, we had planned to go to another theater just a bit further to see a movie for just $1. I had the name of the movie, The Tale of Despereaux, and the place marked on my calendar, but I did not look at it as I should have, because if I had I would not have went to the nearest one. Then I could not remember how to get the one to which we needed to go and took the long way there. I amazed that we made it just at 10:00 AM but I was certain the theater would be too full to find a decent seat. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised this was not the case. We had no problem finding a seat and the movie started a few minutes late so we did not miss anything!

Now this is the part I found the most interesting of that entire morning, since feeding the rabbits in the morning and running behind time, I had been singing and humming parts of "It Is Well with My Soul" by Horatio G. Spafford. Now I have a personal expectation of myself to be not only prepared and organized but to arrive where I need to go on time or, in this case, well ahead of time. When I fail myself on this and start watching the clock, I get rather frazzled and bad tempered, but there was that song and somehow I realized it will just be what it will be, but I can just decide to enjoy it as it is or make myself and my daughter miserable trying to get there. I must have apologized to her five times thinking the theater would be too full to get in by the time we would arrive...but I held tightly to the peace in my heart.

After the movie, we went to a Goodwill store across the road. Sarah found a little book about letters from pets to God that her piano teacher had shown her months ago, I found a children's devotional we can use, and practically brand new, white, short heel shoes...very good shoes with supportive padding inside to make them quite comfortable! Not only that but they were half the normal price, so we left paying just over $5.

Then we went to eat out at Chik-fil-A, which I very rarely do...eat out at all, I mean. We split a sandwich, fries, and milkshake, as it is just enough for the two of us. Afterward we went to K-mart because I would like to get some denim capris having only one pair, not so decent, left. Instead I left with two pairs of plain jeans on clearance for $10 each and three gourmet lollipops: strawberry cheesecake, pina colada, and candy apple.

We stopped at the farmer's market on the way home, but the beekeepers were not there and honey was the only thing I really wanted to get. Most of the people there this time had items that we are getting from our own garden.

Speaking of my garden...our cucumbers love the climate and the place I have them very much, apparently. I was concerned they would not get enough sun, but the leaves are huge and dark green. I planted two pickle-sized and one regular, which are grabbing the wire supports as they grow. We have begun harvesting the small ones and had one in our salads for dinner. I do not particularly like cucumbers, but either these are tastier than the ones I have had or there is just something mentally different about growing our own. We also have grape tomatoes and cucumbers and lettuce ready for our salad tomorrow night too. Some things did not take off as well as we hoped, so I need to experiment a bit, and I did not plant as much as I wanted, but we have a good start and are learning as we go.

This morning I did some heavy work cleaning the rabbitry. We needed to dump the manure out of the trash can we had been keeping it and start a compost pile, but my husband is again away. So, I do not have it where I would prefer to be, but I was not ready to clear that edge of the woods today. We can always take from the one and add to the other once we get the area prepared.

I am planning to rest today. Yes, I am! I decided to take two weeks off of homeschooling and planned to do so major cleaning, one room at a time from top to bottom. I did get the master bath done on Monday. I was hoping to do more but people actually called me, which is so rare that I think it might have been a sign from God, and when I called my aunt earlier she actually was not busy so she could talk awhile, again very rare! On that day I thought about my purpose; the whole reason I took two weeks off was to switch gears, change my routine, and do some things I cannot really do when we are homeschooling, which would include relaxing. Yes, I am giving myself permission to relax today. So, I am not pushing myself on this, but I do want to get every room in the house done. I have to say that washing down the woodwork and doors did make the bathroom look so much better, but what it really needs is painting. (Have you ever notice that the room you just cleaned is the one in which you want to spend the most time?) I may get to the guest bath later today or just the hallway although it would be really nice to get both done. I would like to get the bedroom done before my husband returns on Saturday night.

Tonight the church has a game night with finger food, but I have so much extra stuff to do in the evenings when my husband is away that I often can barely get the Princess to bed before 10:00 on a regular night, let alone a night of games and food, and tomorrow is our errand day. Sometimes it seems to take so much more effort to do something fun, I just may pass on this one.

~ My Lord, thank you for the peace you gave me when I normally would not have it. Thank you for helping to see that I need to allow myself to relax now and then. ~

Trying Some New Things

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit

Sometimes a person needs to step back from a situation to gain a different perspective, so she can enthusiastically to move towards the same goal but also get out of the rut. That is my plan for the next two weeks. I will be cleaning so that I will feel better about my home, but that is not all....

Even though I believed I could not fit one more thing into my life—really it is quite full—I decided to try to squeeze in a few more, because―as I am sure you surmised from my last post―I am in need some changes, some time to go off the main highway in another direction if only for a change in scenery.

I signed up for BookSneeze®, from which I can get free books in print or e-book form to read and the only requirement is that I must review them on my blog and on a consumer site. The books are published by Thomas Nelson so they are Christian. The first one I chose is a fiction about the end times called The Seraph Seal, actually it is more sci-fi, which is very appealing to me. I almost did not get it because it was only available in e-book and I did not have an e-reader, but I found that Barnes and Noble have a free e-reader program for computers call Nook for PC and they also offer free Nook e-books. I downloaded the app and it is working quite well!

I also signed up for BzzAgent which allows me to try different products and services often for free or reduced prices. Again the requirement is to review whatever product it is. My first "campaign" is an online monitoring service to help protect children. My daughter is not allowed to do browser searches alone yet, but I will be setting it up on her computer and testing it out this week.

For today I am off to begin cleaning house one room at a time from top to bottom with the child! Wish us well in your prayers, please. Tomorrow is a free movie in the morning, if the Princess can maintain a positive mood today, and the farmer's market. Wednesday is game and finger food night at the church, although I fast that day. Thursday is errands and piano lesson. Friday its the horse barn. In between all that is time to clean, read, and enjoy other pursuits without any pressure, even from myself.

~ My Lord, I am thankful for this break in our routine, which has been not that routine of late it seems. Please help me to find peace and rest not only when I read but even while I do the house and garden work. ~

Training My Dragon

We are all fallen creatures and all very hard to live with.
~C.S. Lewis

I suppose the plus side of not having TV service and not going out to see movies is that when the nearby theater offers free G-rated movies, it is a really special treat for the Princess and we have not seen them before. Yesterday we met a friend with her grandson to see "How to Train Your Dragon." The Princess and I both really enjoyed the movie!

The theater was packed, and I do mean packed, even though there were several theater rooms showing the same movie. Hundreds of families and busloads of daycare children all converge like ants going into an ant hill. I do not like crowds, but I appreciate that I do not have to be there at all and it is free, so I try not to complain, but....

During the movie a few people had their cell phones on and I don't mean that their cell phone rang and they talked, I mean that the panel was lit. In a dark movie theater, those lit panels are like flashlights and I found them quite disturbing. I ask one girl three seats down to turn hers off and later someone in front of me turned hers on. For the most part, though, I enjoyed the movie without distraction, evaluating the experience as one that I could tolerate nearly every Tuesday for the summer for the love of my Princess. You see, I think there is always a price to be paid for something free in one way or another and unfortunately that is more often right than not.

Saying good bye to our friends, the Princess and I went off to get our own dragon, our mini-van Dragon Heart, to go back home. A church van was parked beside Dragon Heart with teenagers just standing around it. Doors were open but they were not getting in, just hanging around as teens do without direction. It was not necessary as vehicles where shaded by the shadow of the building and not hot. As I got around the back of their van to view my own, I saw one teenage boy, taller than I, holding the front door open of their van while leaning his entire body on Dragon Heart.

I said "excuse me" politely, but loud enough to be heard to the number of girls and the boy standing between the vans, so that I could get to the driver side door. There was plenty of room between the vans and the girls moved over easily so I could get by. As I approached the door, I said "excuse me" twice more and a bit more sternly each time before the boy got his body off the side of my van. A woman came around and said that I did not have to say it that way. I said that the boy was leaning on my van. She again said that I did not have to say it that way and that he did not mean to. A number of things went through my mind, because it was so very obvious that the boy was quite comfortable and quite purposely leaning on my van, and I said again that he was leaning on my van and this was not the best witness for their church. I was rather surprised that latter part came out of my mouth, as it is not like me to say such a thing, so I decided that I should just not say anything more at all and I did not.

After voicing a few more words defending the boy and beginning to scold me again, the woman stopped and told me to just go, which is exactly what I wanted to do so I got in my van and made sure that all the teens were out of the way while a huge man came around the back of their van to the side and, although there was a good space between the vans, he was a very big man who just stood there making it difficult for me to turn backing up, so I could go toward the closest exit. I decided to back up turning the other way.

Now, my husband and I were youth group leaders for a few years, in your younger days, and I know teens are not always as courteous as we would like them to be, so this could have happened on any one of our outings. I also have to say that I do have a pet peeve about people not respecting other people's property and just because my van is parked next to another vehicle does not give people the right to smack their car door into it, which happen two days ago while I was still in it, or to lean on it when I am not there.

I thought about all this as I was driving away trying to figure out why I was so disturbed by how it was handled (and why I would ever say what I did) and it came to me that they did not meet my expectation. You see, I believe that expectations are always the root of people being upset or hurt and when I take that perspective, I can step away from my emotional responses and see the root of my feelings as well as the feelings of others.

I realized that had the situation been the other way around, I would have been the woman coming over to apologize for the teen and expecting him to apologize also. I suppose part of me expected them to do the same. I accept that teens can to be inconsiderate at times, but for a Christian adult in charge of a teen church group to defend a boy when he is in the wrong...what is that teaching him? I was so not getting that one. I may have been stern, but only after I was disregarded.

Now, I am not one to talk in terms of skin color usually. People, to me, are just people. There are different cultures and I think that makes people interesting, but I do not make judgements on color. I have, at times, been on the opposite side of that where my color was a factor and this could have been one of those times. I could not help but notice that all the people associated with the van were black and I wondered if I had also been black would they have treated me the same way because then I might be the right skin color to be invited to their church. Then I asked myself if I would have treated them the same way if they were any other color. Yes, I know I would have because it was all about what they did. Would it have happened differently if my husband was there? Probably the boy would have moved right away, just because my husband is a big guy and people tend to pay attention to him more. I, on the other hand, being on the more petite side and in a long denim skirt can be ignored more easily it seems. I did not feel threatened, just insignificant.

I told my husband about it right afterward because he had called me while we were watching the movie. He had a flat tire and the jack broke, but by the time I had gotten back to him, he had it resolved and was getting two new tires. We knew we needed them soon anyway.

Later in the day, he and I both talked to other Christian friends about it. I talked to a friend of mine who is white and married to a black man. My husband talked to a black man he thinks of highly and used to work with. Surprising us, they both said the same thing. They said that attitude is common with "all black" churches. Although I have listened to speeches of activist black pastors talk about whites as if we are an enemy, I really believed racial tension was uncommon these days, perhaps because I have never been to a church that makes distinctions between skin colors.

Why was it acceptable for the teen to lean on my car at all, not move when he could clearly see I was the owner, a chaperone to scold me for rudeness but say nothing to the boy, and a large man to try to intimidate me as I was trying to leave? Was it because my skin color did not match theirs? That thought really saddens me, but not as much as the thought that I needed to train my own dragon, my tongue, because I did not like that one thing I said.

~ My Lord, I wish I had handled the situation differently. Perhaps I could have just stood back and waited for them to acknowledge me before I tried to get into my van. That would have been the less confrontational way to handle it. Better yet, I could have prayed first...why didn't I pray first? My Lord, help me to be a better witness for You and train my dragon tongue. ~

Taking a Break from the Regular Scheduled Programming

So why do people keep on watching? The answer, by now, should be perfectly obvious: we love television because television brings us a world in which television does not exist. In fact, deep in their hearts, this is what the spuds crave most: a rich, new, participatory life. ~Barbara Ehrenreich

Do you remember that a few days ago I wrote a post about how I crave simplicity in Here Am I? Well, I felt compelled to simplify and so....

No more television service until further notice. That's right! I had our satellite service turned off...again. I think the last time was two years ago for about three months while we financially recuperated. I put in for all of the 180 days of suspension they allow, but I will most likely have it turned on again in about two to three months. There is just so much to do and so much daylight to do it in right now that I now longer need the distraction and temptation of unproductive entertainment. In truth, we really do not watch much television and when we do, we shouldn't watch as much as we do...and when I say "we" I mean mostly "me"!

Sadly, I am the one likely to go through the majority of the withdraws, but I need to get out and do, not sit watching others do. I used to have this rule that I would not watch TV unless I was also doing something productive, like cross-stitching, crocheting, hand stitching or whatever. In truth, we have plenty of movies on DVD as well as the ability to watch some of the newer episodes online, and these episodes will be repeated again about the time we will again have it back on.

This will save us $60 a month during the months when our electrical bills are the highest because of air conditioning, so it is a good thing...and that is what I will keep telling myself over and over, as I deal with the urge to turn on the box for the next few days.

~ My Lord, thank you for simplicity. When we do turn the TV service back on, please help me to use it more as a tool for education than for entertainment, and to make wise and productive use of the time I watch the movies we have on DVD until then. ~

Fishing Rodeo at Cave Spring

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. ~John Buchan

My husband flew back home from Texas Friday night too late to eat out, especially since we had plans for leaving early Saturday morning for the children's fishing rodeo at Cave Spring. We have gone to this event for a few years that is always the day before Father's Day even though the Princess has yet to catch a fish there—still she loves it!

The rodeo has the younger children fish first for 45 minutes and then there is a 15 minute break before the next group. There are four groupings of ages: 3 and 4; 5 and 6; 7, 8, and 9; and 10, 11, and 12.

It sounds like a fair arrangement, but it is really sad when you see that the adults are the ones who take the fun out of it. People were advised for only one parent to be inside the roped off area for each child and they could cast out for the child, but then the child was to do the fishing, mostly. The first groups being so young, of course, have to be helped a great deal more, but when the children don't even touch the pole...? There was a five fish limit and one, obviously, well-experienced fisherman had his limit in a few minutes and left with his wife and his three or four year old, who look as clueless as to why they were leaving as to why they where there in the first place. Although the only one to snag his limit for the day, he was not the only culprit to break the rules, so most of the bigger and easier fish to catch were cleared out in the first two hours. We had a very tasty, eye-catching bait that the trout attacked well, but what was left in the third hour was small enough and my daughter a bit inexperienced enough that the fish were fed but not caught.

This year our pastor came to the event with his six-year-old grandson. His grandson caught a small fish which they threw back in. He did not catch another and was rather disappointed. Later on we met up again at the stream where we waded a bit and let the children play. Eventually, my husband and the children decided to rebuild the small dam. At some point, my daughter slipped coming down the bank and assured us she was all right even as the mud thickly covered her bottom. Not to worry, as Mama was prepared for such things with an extra set of clothes.

As things were winding down, the Princess suddenly was in tears...and we later found out she had found a snail shell, which was flipped out of her hand by the pastor's grandson, just being a typical boy. The Princess, as you may recall, has a thing for snails, since they were her first pets, but the children all thought they were just the shells. Another boy collected six shells just to give to her. When she showed them to me, I showed her that the shells were occupied by living snails that needed to be in the water to survive, so she happily put them back quickly. However, that was not the end of it.... It being that age old struggle between boys and girls just because they are of differing genders.

Clouds were rolling in and it looked as if we would get our regular scheduled afternoon rain as has been common for the last two weeks. As we called to them to come out of the water and get ready to go, the pastor's grandson and my daughter argued intensely. As we were drying them off, both were snapping at each other as if we were not there. Just when we thought we had them calmed down, one would say something and the other would go back into the argument. It was like trying to stop two cats from tearing at each other without being scratched yourself, accept it was only in words. It actually got to the point it was just funny, especially when the boy called her "Mister Nine-Year-Old" several times with that I just dare you to say something else back to me attitude. The last time our pastor said, "That's Miss Nine-Year-Old." Sarcasm always gets me and with that one I really had to hold in my laughters, as the Princes would say, and I was busy enough right then putting my hand over the Princess' mouth to stop her from saying anything back...again.

The pastor took his grandson to the car to dry off some more. After the quarrelsome duo were apart for a few minutes, we talked briefly with the Princess about how she was the older of the two, although they were nearly the same size, we suggested that she should go over to apologize, which she did and then he did as well. Today they were happy to see each other in church. Sigh...things with children are so simple!

Back to Cave Spring
Cave Spring is a very small town with a population of about a thousand people and is known for being the location of the Georgia School for the Deaf. It is just about everything I could possibly want in a small town: friendly people, a gazebo on the square, family owned and operated restaurants and other business, antique shops, a bank, a public library, churches, even two shops on the square selling fudge (with a little recent history of some rivalry), a stream of cool, clear water (when I say "cool" I actually mean brrrr!), and a park within a block of downtown. In that park is an Bed and Breakfast Inn, a swimming pool (in the shape of Georgia, no less), a pond stocked with rainbow trout that is allowed to be fished only for the annual children's rodeo, and a rather small cave that was carved out by a cold water spring.

It is this spring for which the town is named. It is cold, clear, mineral water that has been tested for its purity and it has a temperature of around 56 degrees as does the cave itself. For just one dollar, a person can tour the cave, but if you would like a drink of the cool water...that is free! In fact, people bring empty jugs to fill with it as it flows out to the pond. This spring is the town's water supply, but has to be chlorinated by law...sadly. However, residents also come to get the water as provided by nature without the chemical additive and some people claim they believe that is why they are thriving in their eighties and nineties.

Cave Spring is just a bit more than an hour from our home (in the opposite direction of all the other things we do an hour from our home, of course) and we try to go there at least once a year, but we did not make it at all last year. I love stopping by to sample fudge and, on our way out of town with a $5 budget, we stopped in choosing Amaretto Chocolate and a smaller piece of Creamsicle--both yummy!--but I was looking forward to the Key-Lime that they did not have this time. Oh, well! It was still a lovely day. I love sitting under the shade of the trees in the park and wading in the creek on a hot summer day. I love talking with the townsfolk and hearing their stories. I love going to the shops; we did not do that this trip, but there will be another. I just love Cave Spring. It seems I always leave a piece of my heart there with each visit.

~ Thank you, my Lord, for one more lovely memory for all of us. If I may ask for a special blessing for the town of Cave Spring, then I would also ask that we can visit it again soon. ~