Water, Water... Water?

 
Monday marked the first week of summer school. *groan* *blech* *moan* *complain*  Actually, I should not really be complaining.  I am only taking one class and I have been really diligent about working every day and getting things posted super early.  What can I say, I like having a buffer -- a big buffer!  But, to be honest -- and I know you have heard this at least a dozen times -- I do not like school!  It is a means to an end, and I am so excited that the end is finally peeking over the horizon!

So, every morning this week, I have woken up and hit the books.  Lydia and I have to share my laptop for the classes we are both taking because she has an older version of Microsoft Office on her computer.  I take the morning shift and she takes the afternoon and evening shifts.  (Her class has waaaaaaaay more busy work than mine.)  It actually works out quite well, since it leaves my afternoons free for exercising, laundry, cleaning, and cooking.  Today, though, my daily schedule is all out of wack since we have no running water.  There is an external leak near one of our neighbors, so everyone's water had to be shut down to fix it.  It is amazing how much you cannot do without water.  My first thought was, "Okay, I'll delay my exercising till I can shower.  No big deal.  I can wait."  But as I wandered around the house preparing to do my usual regime, it hit me: no doing dishes, no washing laundry, can't clean the bathroom, cooking will dirty up the kitchen which I can't clean.  What can I do?!?!  I can vacuum!!!  Afternoon list: 1 - vacuum; 2 - pray for restored water!    To top things off, when I was making my meal-replacement shake, I did not check that the lid was properly snapped down.  Yes, it sprayed everywhere -- on me, the counters, the floor, and no water to help clean it up.  It really makes you appreciate the little things in life.  It also reminded me of all those who do not have access to clean water.

World Vision is one of my very favorite charitable organizations.  Their site states that they are "Building a better world for children."  One of their projects is bringing clean water to communities lacking in this precious commodity.  You can read about their Clean Water Fund and donate HERE!  So, while I sit here in my shake-splattered shirt and greasy hair, I think I'll make a donation, then pull out the vacuum cleaner and count my blessings.  Have an amazing and blessed day, everyone!!!

 

The Legend of the Uterus (Dun Dun DUN!)

The Awkward Yeti has become part of our daily-dose of laughter since Lydia scooped up the book "Heart and Brain" at Barnes & Noble a few months back (it is also conveniently on Amazon if anyone is interested, just follow the link!).  I am now subscribed to The Awkward Yeti's Facebook fan page and Instagram.  I can't call myself a true fanatic since I do not own a t-shirt yet, key word being "yet."  This particular comic had us girls in stitches.  We think it is a fairly accurate representation, though we agree tea and cookies is our preferred sacrifice.  Sadly, I don't have any cookies, the last one was consumed yesterday.  So I am sitting here with cinnamon tea and a laptop instead, far fewer calories and just as distracting.  I have always been happy being a girl -- most of the time.  But like with anything there is always good times and not-so-good times.  That is why God made sisters and girlfriends, so you have someone to complain to when when Aunt Flo (or is it "Flow?") comes calling.  Also, if there is a no one around to suffer through your grumbling, there is always the internet!!!  Happy Friday!!!

  

Breathe

          What a day, what a week.  It isn’t even Friday yet and this week already feels about a million days long!  Okay, I may be exaggerating slightly, but I have reached that point where I am ready to be done!  I am ready to sweep the problems of the past under the rug (stomp on the rug!) and look forward to a fresh clean weekend ahead.  Actually, I will be probably be working quite a lot over the weekend, but I find my DLC job is quite fun most of the time.  Granted, bad parts which need a lot of reworking can be very frustrating, but the mechanical nature of assembly allows my mind a lot of freedom.  Lately, I have been indulging in books-on-tape while I assemble.  I just finished The Boggart by Susan Cooper -- five stars from me!  And, I am currently in the middle of Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter.  I should start playing the glad game the young heroine is so known for.  I am glad this week is almost over.  I am glad for the beautiful spring weather.  I am glad for fun diversions, like Rachel and her giant frog Naveen.  I hope you can see the video.  I need to film him during the day when you can actually see him.  His tiny counterparts are filling the warm evening air with a lovely chorus of croaking.  I am glad for evenings.  I love evenings.  Lastly, I am so glad tomorrow is Friday.      

Egg Injustice

          About a year ago I went through the exciting processes of registering our little egg enterprise with the great state of California. I crossed all my T’s and dotted all my I’s so I could properly and legally sell eggs.  I knew from the beginning I would never make a fortune selling just a few dozen eggs a month; but, if I ever decided to expand my flock or sell in a store all the paperwork would be done.  I have not sold any eggs in months.  The joy of blessing our friends with eggs far outweighs making a few dollars.  So, when a letter from California’s Food and Agriculture arrived yesterday, I casually opened it assuming it was the reminder to send in my eggs-sold fee.  I do not have my paperwork in front of me but it is something like $0.15 per 30 dozen eggs.  Since I have not sold even close to that, I owe nothing.  But that was not what this letter contained. 

          Becoming an egg handler involves filling out the paperwork and sending in a $10.00 one-time registration fee.  Imagine my shock when I opened the letter and read that the (previously non-existent) renewal fee was $50.00 ANNUALLY!  The new egg-handler fee is $75.00!  I gasped!  Then I fumed!  My own answer was simple: No!  I thought of the countless small farmers in our area and around my state who will feel the bite of this fee, this taxation, every single year!  This is wrong!  This is one more way to bleed the small entrepreneur dry!  I will not re-register.  Fairytale Farm will become a shredded piece of paper in the government’s glut of garbage.  I will continue to raise high-quality eggs, I will continue to freely share those eggs with friends, and I will continue to pray that my nation remembers its purpose: to represent the people, not oppress them.

          As of April 1^st, my legal permit as an egg handler will be void.  I wonder how many others will share my fate?  I wonder if those men and women who sit in offices writing rules ever stop and consider the affect of each increased fee?  Do they even care?     
     

Our First Egg (September 2009)

        

Wishing I Were There

Dragging

          What to write, where to begin… some days just drag, and even though I was able to accomplish quite a lot it still feels like a wasted day.  But, the evening is still young, plenty of time for my sagging spirit to turn around.  Tomorrow will be better.  

   

Lost Time

           Time is such a precious thing.  A couple weeks ago I lost time, well, I lost my watch actually.  I looked everywhere that made sense (and a few places that didn’t), and because I was house-sitting I had multiple locations to comb through.  I began faithfully wearing a watch about a year ago so I would not need to be dependent on my phone as my time keeper.  I gave up looking for my watch after about a week, but the habit of glancing down at my empty wrist was going to be a hard one to break.  But, time turned up again, wedged between the dryer and laundry-room wall; still intact, and still ticking.  My best guess is I stuck my watch in a coat pocket, and it fell out before actually making it into the washing machine.  So, once again I am willingly shackled to my watch. 

          I know for a fact time is constant, but depending on how life is going time seems to speed up or slow down.  I remember the agony of waiting for time to go by as a kid; waiting for events to start, waiting for friends to arrive, and waiting for holidays pushed my patience to the max.  Now I face the opposite problem, time is going by so quickly!  I have never been a big fan of birthdays, just one more year to add to my age.  But with 24 quickly closing in, and a few silver threads showing up in my brown mane, I am feeling a bit more time conscious.  I have experienced enough loss to realize how precious time is and how easily it can be taken away.  I hate wasting time (and I am pretty blunt about vocalizing when I believe things/people are wasting my time), but I also know we should not race through life so busy we forget to stop and actually enjoy it.

          So, as I tack on another year, I am adding a new resolution to my life list, make time a friend.  Recently time had become an unwanted enemy always moving too fast or too slow for my liking; no more!  Whether I like it or not, time is a constant companion, so I need to call a truce and stop fighting with it.  After all, fighting time is such a waste of time!                            

Hot, Busy, Busy, Hot

          Hot.  The days are hot.  I can deal with hot days, what is hard is dealing with hot nights too.  Tiffany is out on a house-sitting job for the next couple weeks, so I am back to being alone in the house.  The only good thing about having the house to myself is being able to run around in a t-shirt and underwear without giving it a second thought.  Though I have a feeling I would not get much of a response out of her even if I did run around in my unmentionables while she was here. 

          Anyway, it has been a super busy week.  Dad and I have been working really hard (at all hours of the day and night!) to get out a shipment of mounts for the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) in Italy.  We shipped off twenty-five mounts today, but we encountered some last minute issues with mount number twenty-six so it will be shipped off later.  Definitely the most labor intensive order I have ever helped fill.  The mounts needed to be built as cleanly and uncontaminated as possible so we spent the majority of our time running around in blue gloves like a surgeon trying not to touch anything or breathe unnecessarily; I drew the line at wearing a mask, I can deal with sweaty hands but not a sweaty face.

          Today was spent helping friends prepare for their sons graduation party tomorrow.  We will also be on hand to help tomorrow too.  I hope the Lord sees fit to send a cool breeze our way regardless of the predicted high temperatures.  The one good thing about this hot weather is the pool will be ready to swim in soon.  Looking over my calendar things really do not slow down till the end of next week.  I even have an unexpected eye appointment Tuesday due to some silly rule about not being allowed to order new contacts if I have not seen the eye doctor within a year.  I mean, I went four years ago after all!  *Sigh* always something to do.

          So depending on where you are in the world, stay cool or stay warm.      
          Happy Friday!   

School is Out! And the Spiders Are In!

          School is over!!!  What a feeling *sigh,* what a relief.  The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and the spiders are moving in . . . wait that is NOT one of the pleasantries of spring.  One of the downsides of spring, actually any weather change seems to bring on onset of bugs into the house, but spring is one of the worst times.  Wednesday night this big one . . .

. . . gave me quite a scare.  Not one of those running and screaming scares, more like a stunned scare where you forget to breath.  At home dad is alpha spider killer, but when he is unavailable I get to substitute as the great spider killer.  I know Tiffany hates spiders, so I will get to be Alpha spider exterminator in this household.  *gulp* Now this particular spider, as you can see, has cleverly wedged himself between two doorframes making just reaching in and squishing the thing a little harder.  I ended up wrapping a tissue around the handle of a screwdriver and giving the thing a quick smack.  It did the job (ewe!), but I did feel a little guilty, I mean the guy only had seven legs.  So, beware spiders, I have a screwdriver, and I am not afraid to use it.    

Cakes, Complaints, & Cousins

          Today I took my business class final (Woo Hoo!!!  Yay!!!  Done!!!).  So, now I am down to my accounting final (whoop-de-doo).  Actually I am not super worried, and after a couple hours hitting the book to refresh tomorrow, I should be ready!
          I am just so glad my Business class is done, so much busywork; so many little assignments, lots of reading, an oral presentation (ahhhhhh!), and just a lot of time.  There was something to ease the pain of taking the final, the teacher brought in two cakes, carrot and red velvet, he purchased from ilovedaisycakes.com.  We watched this small company pitch a business plan to the sharks of “Shark Tank,” and come away with a $50,000.00 loan to get Daisy Cakes growing.  I will not bore you with too many details, but the cake was dry and the frosting sickeningly sweet; for $48.00 per cake, I was disappointed.  Enough complaining! My final is over, the textbook is returned, and all I have to do now is worry and wait for my final grade . . . ugh!
          On a much happier note, as I was zipping home from class with the window down and the Carpenters singing away on the stereo, I saw my cousin Tiffany merging behind me.  I did consider waving but I decide against it, no need to make a spectacle of myself after all.  But, it turned out we had the same destination, she was coming to hang curtains!!!!!  My new roommate is my lovely cousin Tiffany, and she will be moving in Monday!!!!! 
          I have been super excited and it has turned me into a cleaning wizard the past few days.  I got the rest of Tiffany’s areas evacuated and cleaned, cleared out the hallway which should have been done a looooong time ago, I had created quite a tripping trap.  My biggest task has been the kitchen; cleaning, reorganizing, consolidating, and evicting spiders has been hard work, but very rewarding.  There is still more to do, there is always something to do, but that’s life!  
          Tonight, as I sat relaxing in the hot tub, I was so thankful that no matter how hard or stressful life gets, there are those moments when everything feels wonderful, and we can just sit and enjoy it.  "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  Matthew 6:34.  Have a beautiful day everyone!

Springing Forward

It is here!  Daylight savings time!  That beautiful day that messes up our internal clocks and makes time feel odd and out of place for at least a week.  Actually, it will be nice having longer sunnier evenings, and thankfully I have a pretty free calendar the next week so I have plenty of adjusting time. With the clocks moving forward and the spring equinox less than two weeks away, I should probably take down the snowflake decorations, maybe then we will actually get some snow! 

       

Hmmmmmmmm

I spent my morning studying for a test, discovering I left my scantrons at home (I'm house-sitting and taking care of three dogs) I had to spend a whopping $0.43 for one at the bookstore.  I got to class, settled down, started going over my notes, when someone from the office arrived to let us know the teacher could not make it so class was canceled.  On the bright side I got to go home and have dinner with my family, on the downside my business class will be playing syllabus catch-up for a while, and we are already behind in the lecture schedule. 

     

Foolish Moment #7098216384 . . . But Whose Counting?

Tonight when I left my accounting class I hurried down to my car climbed in and drove away, without my lights on!!!  It took me a bit to realize this since there were lots of street lights, but I felt like quite a fool when I discovered it.  I got into the habit of turning them off manual since when we first purchased the car the lights did not always shut off automatically, but you think I would remember to turn them back on again!  Maybe a three-hour evening accounting class is not the best thing for the brain.  I am very thankful for guardian angels, though I have a feeling mine was giving me quite the eye-rolling tonight.

 

Bay Leaves & Cashmere

Bay leaves and cashmere, what do these two things have in common?  Nothing actually, but while serving out the stew before dinner I kept finding bay leaves.  Bay leaves reminded me of a bailiff (no rational reason, they just sound similar), which reminded me of a sheriff, which led to the sheriff of Nottingham, and Robin Hood, and the Disney movie Robin Hood.  Thoughts can be a funny thing; one word can trigger dozens of memories and ideas instantly!  Whenever I think of cashmere, for example, I have to remind myself it is not perfume.  When my Grandma P would visit after getting off work, she was often still bedecked in pearls, heels, and a cashmere sweater.  Now being good grandchildren, Matthew and I would run up with a shout and give her a hug.  Without fail she would hug us back gingerly and say “Oh, careful honey I have on cashmere.”  I had no idea what cashmere was, but for some reason I believed cashmere was perfume, probably because along with the fancy outfit she was always drenched in fragrance.  It was YEARS before I learned cashmere was a fancy type of wool, and I still have to do a mental double-take whenever I hear that word.  Oh brain, you are a funny thing; on that note, platypus.