I'm Going Home

I am going home and a really important work is about to begin within and around me.

I'm stopping work and committees and obligations outside of my home for a time, and I'm going to use my time to become well-and-truly healthy and STRONG.

I envision me out with my kids and Mike -- hiking atop the mesas and plateaus, with the horizons stretching forever, drinking in the clean air and sun. I see me digging in the earth of my garden again and preparing healthy, clean foods for us all. I envision breathing deep, enjoying the quiet as I'm industriously and mindfully working to care for myself, our family and home; I envision exploring and new adventures and the peace of knowing that I am engaged in the most important things.

I know that as I become well, I will know where I am to go next.

This time is a gift: I have the support of my husband even though losing a second income for a time will be a pinch; I have a sure knowledge -- a spiritual confirmation -- that this is the right thing, the ONLY right thing, for me to be doing right now, and nothing else I keep trying to do will work because only this is right for now. I am not afraid or worried about the choices I'm making, the job I'm giving up or what the future might hold if I take this break. I am refocusing my life and I am excited and serene and anticipating and grateful all at once.

My body will become healthy and strong and able to carry me from morning till night, able to take part in everything I want and need to do as a woman, a wife and a mother.

I know this will be a beautiful time and a lot of hard, rewarding work will be done, and I will see the blessing and the growth even in the moments that test and challenge me.  I will live with ever-present gratitude as I watch my life and that of my family transform into something healthier, stronger, more full of light and special moments and learning; something beautiful. New patterns will emerge that will bless our lives and prepare our children to embark on their own healthy lives.

And I will be well and strong and know myself. And when I am and when I do, I will carry all that goodness and health into the next phase of my life when I will be well and truly living every day.

I am coming home. I am freeing the strength that is already within me. I am claiming my worth and will seek my Heavenly Father's help in understanding what that worth is.

And I know already that I will always look back on this moment and say, "I already had a good and blessed life, but THAT was the moment when I began taking care of me and I really began to live, and everything changed."

Love from the farm,

Teri

Awww Shucks, I Have To Shop

My relatively young chicken wellies have bitten the dust. I bought them from the scratch and dent gardening supply house at a slashed price last season because the printing wasn't flawless, and I thought I could live with that. (There were a few unnaturally elongated chickens along the bottom of the boots. It didn't bug me much. I didn't notice it every time I put them on. Really. It was fine.)

Apparently, the rubber wasn't as quality as a typical wellie, either, because the darn things sprung a big leak right on top of my right foot last month.

Awww, darn it.

I guess that means I have to get BRAND NEW ONES!!!

I'm the queen of wear-it-out, but I have to say I'm tickled pink that I have to find new boots. I mean, I HAVE to; I can't go sloshing around the muck in flippers all winter, now can I?

Hmmm, tickled pink.

Pink.

Pink?

Or maybe orange, being that it's so on-trend?

I could go with pretty flowers for my pretty (theoretical) garden...

This is a nice green, though, and says I am all business...I not only have a green thumb but green toes, too.

This green is OK, too, but I'm not loving it.

 

But, there's something about these that I love. What is it? I can't put my finger on it, but I love them. Is it a little touch of Dr. Seuss in my garden? Is that it?

 

And these...well, what can we say about these?

 

 

We can say that I am fairly certain they will never plant their fancy bootys on my soil, fetching though they may be, that's what we can say.

 

 

And still I keep coming back around to these...Seriously. I'm finding the pink irresistable. 

 

 

 

What do you think?  Pink? Stripes? Orange? I hate decisions.

Quick, I gotta get some fellers ordered. The rainy season is just around the corner.

Thank heavens for faulty workmanship. ;)

Love from the farm,
Teri

A Quick Year In Review

OK, it hasn't really been a year since I've just shared a little about what's been going on around here, but it sure feels like it. So, we'll tell our stories in pictures.

And, sorry to those who snorted your morning beverage out your nose when you read the title of this little rumination. You and I both know that there's never anything quick about my musings. Sorry about that.

Here we go.

In no particular order.

Karlie and friend Kallee have been having lots of county fair fun this week. Kallee's pig won several big awards in the 4H competition and was sold at auction for $5 a pound. With a 309 lb pig, that's a nice little chunk of cha-hing for this 12 year old. These two and their aviators, along with Macy and Kallee's little brothers were loaded up to go on a picnic with my Mom today.

Awww, there's my girl's eyes. So cute our newly crowned 12 year old! Yes, our baby is 12. I don't want to discuss it.

We can, however, discuss the cake she chose for her birthday. Darn Pinterest. (Just kidding, Pinterest, I love you. I do. Don't shut me out. Please. But this creation was just so over the top chocolate and sugar craziness and she never would have known about it if you didn't exist. That's all I'm saying.)

It was funny the number of people who said, "Tell me the CAKE isn't chocolate, too." It wasn't - it was yellow. But, honestly, under 2.5 POUNDS of M&Ms, we could have just filled in a funnel cake center with pure cane sugar and come out about the same on the nutrition label. What you can't see is that the cake fell apart because of the weight of the frosting. So, there are big vertical crevices crossing the cake...which, of course, we filled up with M&M's. I wasn't kidding about the 2.5 pounds. We had to tie the ribbon around the KitKats to hold it all together. That's not a delicate ribbon with whimsical lollipops adorning it, that there's a girdle. The girls who ate this at the sleep over were very quiet the next day. Very quiet.

Let's pause for a gratuitous puppy love shot before we move on. This sweet thing is underfoot these days, along with his two chubby brothers. Oh. So. Cute.

OK. On to Bijou.

Bijou climbed this tall electric pole on our property last week. We stared up at her for awhile and wondered how she was going to get down. Then we had to quit staring up at her because it was raining in our eyes and open mouths. Some time later, she came down. We're not sure what that little pilgrimage did for her.

Bijou is an enigma.

Adam is still in South Africa and having a fabulous time. See? In his cartoon of himself? That's a good time face and arms if ever I saw them. It's made it much easier having him away knowing he's feeling like that. He surpassed the one-year mark on Aug. 30. He's turning 21 this week. Now THAT's impossible. Really. Not possible. I remember when he was wee. Now, he's nearly 6-foot-three. (There's a folk song in those two sentences, I can feel it.)

Some people may look at our little weed patch and see...well, a weed patch. I see pretty flowers near the woodpile and the wonder of nature and signs of the Creator and...who am I kidding, we're a 2.75 acre weed patch with dollops of scrap metal and rusted feed barrels. We have a little work to do on our patchy little homestead.

Onto funner things. We have a new layer...I just read a blog yesterday by a lady who said she read a blog where a lady called these little eggs "fart eggs."  I laughed, but then I decided that I really like the soft, warm fuzzies I feel when I see these teeny eggs and realize one of our little chicks is growing up. So, I'm not going to think of them as fart eggs. I am not a 10-year-old boy. I am NOT.

Now, today is Miss Macy's birthday. She's 14. I'd lament her age, too, but I suppose that's wearing thin. Let's just say she's fabulous and I celebrate every single day we've had with this girl. (That's because my memories of the first 6 months of her life that she spent SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS EVERY WAKING MOMENT have grown fuzzy and I don't grind my teeth anymore.)

Nope, she's a quirky, witty joy.

She participated in the Jr. Miss Pageant at the county fair this week and earned a third-place trophy. Photos to come.

Can you read it? It says "Tanner Ave." There are lots of Tanner references around these parts. This street is in a nearby town. Apparently, Tanner was the family name of some important regional figure, at one time. My favorite ode to Tanner is "Tanner Wash,"  a (usually) dusty, wide wash that crosses under Interstate 40 west of us. Whenever we pass the sign, I like to bark the command, "Tanner, wash!"

Oh, it never gets old -- I chuckle every time.

Oh, all right, it's gotten old. None of them chuckle anymore. Not one of them. Fun suckers.

Hey, we got a new stove! A pellet stove. It's supposed to keep our whole house toasty. I'm a sucker for wood stoves -- they're romantic and nostalgic and crackly -- and I'm trying to muster up similar romantical feelings for this utilitarian object. I like that I love so many of our "tools" around here - wood fires, kitchen gadgets of all kinds, beautiful Dutch ovens, cozy quilts, the works.

I want to love this too but I haven't gotten past the fact that we'll buy sacks of little pellets and pour them into the back for a quiet fire, which is just so boringly functional. Oh well, Mike found some beautiful rock slabs he's going to use to fashion a foundation for this, and eventually we'll do some kind of rock wall backdrop. I know he'll make it look great.

And, we still have our fireplace in our room, so I can have crackly whenever I really need it. The pellet stove will be a wonderful way to stay warm this winter and I'm grateful for it.

We've had some gorgeous late summer storm skies here. The evening I snapped this the sky was gun metal grey and on the move...then the sun just hit that point on its way below the horizon that shot a burst of rays that lit up the barn to this crazy golden hue.  I love the big dramatic skies we get here.

And, I love this girl...even if she is thwarting all my desires and growing up on me. Dang it.

I just glanced back at these photos and thought of you poor people! If Adam were here he'd make me Photoshop all these pictures to fix the lighting and color and I'd crop them and everything. You're getting straight from the Droid to the blog and that's not very nice. Sorry!

Still, it's just a glimpse of some of the stuff that's been going on around here.

And just so you can rest assured some things never change:

We still have the girls and the old grey barn. So life is still good.

Love from the farm,

Teri