Getting Thankful

It is one of my favorite times of year. I love the fall with all of it's colors and gorgeous scenery and I love the spirit of Thanksgiving. I try to sit back and be thankful at least a little bit each day, but this time of year, people tend to kick it into high gear and really think about all of the wonderful things in their lives. I thought maybe I'd take a second to list off some things I'm thankful for:

Epiphanies

Having people in my life like Jess, Al, Maple, Harvest and Paul

Steady employment

At least one more holiday with my family complete

My baby sister being home

My amazing dogs who snuggle the bejesus out of me every night

My horses who stay fat and happy and are now all fuzzy and snuggly

Caroline, her incredible perspective on life and the healing sense of her homestead

Working with people I enjoy and can laugh with

Parents who are incredibly patient and forgiving

Family who loves and accepts me for who I am

Being loved and understood by someone at such a deep level

Loving and understanding someone at such a deep level

Fitting in with a group of people and a family

Health

Time to write

Horseshoe nails and tail braids

Good students (there are a few!)

Old students who come to visit or text me all the time

Feeling good about myself

And many, many more things as well, but I've officially run out of time. The kids are coming up from the cafeteria and I need to go be a responsible teacher-type person.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Achy Breaky Head?

Good grief. Migraines seem to be plaguing me these days and it seems like they are changing a little. It used to be just intense pain in the head and nowadays it starts with a nice visual issue. I was sitting at lunch today, enjoying a good book and the company of Bethany when all of a sudden, I couldn't really see too clearly! I knew then it was on the way and prepared for the worst. Thank goodness I had my Accelerated reading class next. They've helped me through a migraine before and they did it again today. They offered to take over and let me leave, and tempting as it was, I did remember my legal obligation to actually watch the children. Gotta love stress. I think I might have to break down and get a "real" prescription to deal with this crap... no more Excedrine for me.

On a lighter note, I actually have the Mac today hooked up to real internet and I think this means that I'm going to post a little poetry. I've been writing like crazy... a couple of hours a night really, which is amazing. I finished up a 250 page journal the other night that I started on August 29th. I have been prolific and I love it. Let me find something good to post....

A tide

swells

inside me

at the very thought

of you.

One

amazing day –

just a prelude

to a lifetime of

amazing days

and the feeling of pure sunshine

dribbling down our chins.

I like this one. Hopefully you will too...

Favorites

Everyone has favorites. Favorite days, favorite months, favorite holidays, favorite people, favorite friends, favorite colors and many, many more. I have lots of favorites myself. I've been discovering more every day.

The most recent discovery is that I seem to finally have a favorite color. I never used to. Black was my thing. It is the absence of all color. I was even afraid to get a tattoo in color for a long time because there was just something about colors that affected me. I couldn't wear certain colors on certain days because they just made me feel off.

Eventually though, I got brave and got a gorgeous tattoo of a green oak leaf (Thanks Jess!). It worked for me, and I got two more green oak leaves and a brown one. Green and brown are fantastic colors. They are real and natural and everywhere I look, there they are. There's more brown than green right now and that seems to be just fine with me. I bought a brown car. I have multiple brown sweaters. I love the color brown. It might seem blah and boring, but I think that brown is my favorite color. Don't get me wrong, because I still love green, but there is something about brown that just makes me feel so good. It's warm and comforting and the color of earth.

I know I've mentioned it before, but I love dirt. I love the feeling of it on my hands and under my fingernails. I love the smell of it and the amazing powers and capabilities it has. So much life can grow from the soil. If you tend it and cultivate it, you can do incredible things with a small plot of land and some hard work.

I spent part of Monday planting garlic. The soil was tilled and fertilized and now, in the Spring, four and a half rows of different types of garlic will sprout and grow. Plants really don't require too much. Space to grow, nourishment to get them going, sunshine and water, maybe a little love and encouragement and BAM! you've got growing goodness. What could be better?

Full to the Brim

These days I am feeling full to the brim. So many things are going on in my life and luckily for me, many of them are good.

Good friends, wonderful family, lots of fun and lots of laughter. I'm not sure I could ask for anything more.

I think that pretty much sums it up for today. I am so thankful.

Long Time Gone...

Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted. Things have been a little wild whirlwindy in my life since, judging from the date of my last post, August 16th.

Lots of new, lots of different, lots of changes and they are all good things in the long run. Not necessarily the easiest, but definitely all for the best.

Last weekend at a particularly fantastic wedding I attended for a particularly fantastic friend, another friend was giving me a hard time about not keeping up on the blogging so I figured I would get back into it. My living situations have changed and blogging at home is hard due to a distinct lack of decent internet access (they still DO have dial-up in some locales), so I'm going to have to steal time at school, or haul my computer around to places with wireless. Either way, I am betting I can handle it.

In short, over the last three months, I have done a whole lot of getting back to my roots and getting back to myself. Over time I let myself lose sight of a bunch of things I have always really wanted and the loss of those dreams was really starting to kick my butt. I wasn't happy. At all. In fact, I was very sad. Thanks however to good friends and, I would say, cashing in some good karma I must have built up over time, I am back on the right track and loving it. I'm not exactly where I want to be yet, but I am getting closer every single day. I'm back to having calluses on my hands, dirt under my fingernails, hay stuck in my hair and shoes that smell like horse pee and I'm loving every second of it.

Getting down and dirty (get your mind out of the gutter!) is what I like to do and I am back to doing it regularly.

Holy Depressing-ness

Wow! That last blog post was a downer huh? I'd say (with pretty much utter certainty) that I was not having the best of days that day. Luckily I can say that today has been a much better day. It was hot and sticky (that's what she said), but I got a huge amount accomplished. 

Four hundred more bales of hay are in the barn and ready for Wintertime. Technically about 750 bales went in today, but I only partook in the putting in of 400. Weak, I know... and the excuse, even weaker. I had to grocery shop this afternoon. It was a successful trip though, especially because I found (in my opinion) the best thing ever... Chubby Hubby ice cream. God bless the soul who suggested this concoction to Ben & Jerry's... vanilla ice cream with both a peanut butter and a chocolate swirl, completed by chocolate covered, peanut butter filled pretzels. I dare say there is no more perfect a food. 

In between the hay and the grocery getting, I managed to sneak in a visit with Jess and Al. I was lucky enough to hang out with their kiddos for the majority of the day yesterday and I have to say, those two girls make me re-think my opinion of kids under 12... I like both of them. A lot. They are awesome and smart and fun and they like to actually do stuff. Just yesterday, they cleaned three entire horse stalls, before going for a ride, without a single complaint. How awesome is that? Pretty darned awesome. Hopefully I will get to spend another day with the girlies before they head back. They are both turning into pretty amazing little horsewomen. They can brush and clean feet with the best of them and that's saying a lot for 7 and 8. 

As a special extra bonus during the visiting... Krystle stopped in so I got to see her too! 

I am off tomorrow for the southern reaches of the state to spend some quality time with my friend Megan because she's awesome. She told me that tomorrow is slated to be the hottest day of the summer, so we'll have to find something cool to do. 

Red ones and blue ones and green ones...

Do you remember that part in Of Mice and Men, where Lenny is begging to hear the story about the rabbits on the farm that they're going to have someday? He just keeps asking to hear about the rabbits... the red ones and blue ones and green ones, because he desperately needs something to look forward to in life. He asks George to tell him the story periodically and the last time is just before George shoots Lenny in the head. I'm not asking to be shot by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd really love to have someone tell me about the rabbits. I am in desperate need of something to look forward to...