On the drive in

Yesterday it was 109, today we only got to 106.  This was the start of it all.   Sorry for the not so great pics.  I have not mastered the point and shoot while driving technique.

Standing in the need of prayer

My heart is so very heavy.  My son is walking away from his son, emotionally and to some extent physically.  Why??  How??

Standing in the need of prayer!

Feelin good about uncluttering and then...

This morning, I was sweeping the carport and porches, feelin' so good about all the uncluttering and cleaning that had been accomplished and then...  God spoke.  He asked when I would be uncluttering my heart. 


OUCH!!!

I feel good

Tomorrow, I tackle the kitchen, the last room in the house.  I have moved furniture to vacuum, dusted the baseboards, wiped down every surface and cleared more clutter. 

OK, so I was not completely truthful.  I still need to mop the floors in my bathroom and the laundry room. 

It feels so good to have a cleaner, less cluttered house.  The kitchen will take more time as my mom believes no shelf or countertop should have any unused space on it.  I can't stand the clutter.  So tomorrow, a lot of the crap she keeps cramming into the cabinets and on the countertops will leave the house. 

There is still a lot of stuff in this house but it's dwindling. 

I FEEL GOOD!!!!!!

Lessening the load

We were triple digits yesterday so it was a good day to work inside.  Books have been thinned out, as well as the cds, dvds and office supplies.  My car is loaded with goodies for the thrift store.  I still have more stuff to go through, mainly piles of paper and then finish cleaning my room before Roo comes in July.

While I know I still have too much stuff, the dusting load has lessened.

Since most of my yard is mulched and spotted with plants, there is very little mowing.  A very important wire broke on my lawn mower and the cost of repair was not worth it. I am looking at getting a reel mower which will take up much less space, require no gas, oil, spark plug, filter, etc.  The only area I mow will take about 10 minutes with a reel mower.

Anyway, we did what we normally do with stuff too big to haul off, we set the lawn mower at the end of the drive with a free sign on it.  Within 10 minutes, a couple drove by my house, stopped and loaded the mower in their SUV.  Then a funny thing happened!  The woman took a picture of the man with mower while he sat with in the van.  Guess they were proud of their freebie.  I know I was glad I did not have to figure out how to haul it away! 

I am hoping to finish making the feed bag totes for my friend.  She gives me farm fresh eggs in exchange for me making the totes.  Love the barter system.

Guess I best get on with my day.  There is a couple of things I would like to get done before heading to church.

Sunrise

Captured this mornings sunrise through the trees.

I should have opened a bookstore

The trunk of my car and my backseat are full of books, most going to the church, the rest to a local thriftstore that supports the abused women's shelter.  There are several hundred books in my car and I still have about 400 books in my room.  I think I way underestimated the number of books on the shelves.  These books do not include the ones in the living room, my mom's room and Waylon's room. No wonder I greatly dislike dusting them.

With all these books and the close to 1,000 I donated to 3 different church libraries, I should have opened a bookstore.

Changes on the horizon

Waylon gets Roo the whole month of July.  Yippee!!!!   Which means, by the end of July, this MoMo will be a zombie but perhaps a thinner zombie from all the playing with Roo I get to do.  Having Roo will also mean less time to blog, clean, sew, etc.  Not complaining one bit.
I am in a cleaning/uncluttering mode.  I love books but what good is a book that merely collects dust when someone else could be enjoying it.  I will not be parting ways with my Richard Paul Evans, Charles Martin and Kay Arthur books.  No sirreeee!  I might even keep my Tedd Dekker and Frank Peretti books.  The other 500 books will be donated to the church library, which is just getting started .  At least I can go periodically go visit them.
I have kept every Bible study but only a couple have I gone back over.  Definitely time to toss 20 years of Bible studies.

Office and school supplies are being given to the Food Pantry for families in need.  I will keep what I know I will use, not what I may one day use.

I have quite a few cd's, most given to me, that just sit on a shelf.  Time to part with most of them.  Same goes for the dvd's.

While I would love to get all this uncluttering done this weekend, I have offered to help Davey remove his deer stands and feeders off the lease.  His health is limiting his ability to hunt.  Truthfully, there is no rush on the uncluttering but I am in the mode and I never know when the mode will end.

I think part of this uncluttering mode is coming from the fact I am starting to clean out the office and pack things away.  I still have a job but my boss is not sure how much longer we will be in business. 

Gene is a "contract" regional manager for food brokers.  We have the West and Southwest US.  Our 2 remaining clients have hired marketing presidents. Both are named Scott, both are young, and both are micromanagers.  Both Scott's want younger regional managers and my boss, who is almost 68, is one of the youngest.  Add his age to the fact that we are the only contract manager left for both clients and the handwriting is on the wall.  There are not many contract managers left in the US.  Due to changes in the food industry, most companies can now have a regional manager on staff cheaper than they can hire a contract manager. 

Back on track! All of this is to say, I am preparing to have a major life change and uncluttering is something I need to do, both mentally and physically.

And speaking of work, gotta go!

My boys!

I love my son and grandson!

Waylon and Roo (Devon)!

We caught a thief

We caught the thief red handed!

A baby is on the way!

One of our returning does, Preggers, is pregnant.  Preggers is now 2 years old.  I have watched her grow since birth.  Obviously, not everything in Texas is bigger. 

Preggers lost her twins last year, her first ever babies.  Not sure if the loss was due to the drought conditions, which caused a lot of fawn deaths or her young age, 1 years old or a combination of both.   She is the smallest doe that comes to feed on the corn we provide for the deer during drought conditions. 

Just so you know, Texas does have some bigger deer in South Texas. In the part of theTexas Hill country where I live, the deer are small.  The average doe weighs about 75 lbs.  My boss hunts south Texas where a doe averages 175 lbs.

Although we continue to be in drought conditions, we have had rain this year, which means grass for the does to eat.  Conditions are much more favorable for the does and their fawns this season.  I pray her baby or babies live this time.

A Picture of Faith

After sharing about my little carolina wren yesterday, a dear friend shared a story.  With her permission, here it is.

Three days a week I work at a location that takes my drive to work past a street light that I have been observing in passing since last fall.  There is no visible sign of a vine on the ground.  On top of the pole is a small bush.  It has survived all the weather.  Sometimes it looks as if it may die, but now there is new green.  I think of the posters of various words used in workplaces.  I first thought of perserverance and now I think of faith.  Three days a week I look forward to driving by and seeing Faith at the top of a streetlight pole on a busy Houston street.

I love the visual!!!

The Little Carolina Wren

I hung a bright, colorful Butterfly windchime on my front porch. Last night, I saw something that just took me by surprise. Too bad I am not fast enough with a camera. A little carolina wren was hitting on the chimes, making them sing! My first thought was that she accidently hit them but she kept doing it. Many times I see her sitting on the Butterfly and am surprised she doesn't fly away when it starts twirling from her weight .  Of course, as the butterfly is twirling, the chimes are singing.

 

I have come to the conclusion that the little bird loves the music of the chimes.  She is my own little Jonathan Livingston Seagull wanna be.  I am so proud of her.

3 Little Piggys

Left Creedmoor at dark thirty this morning.  Turned a corner and found 3 little (actually adult size) piggys heading down the 2 lane road.  They moved over into the opposite lane but kept going in the same direction as me.  They trotted down the road for about a mile until a car coming towards me forced them off the road and into some guys pasture.

Were these 3 piggys going to market?  With all the freedom of the open road, were they in hog heaven?

Even with my headlights shining on them, all you see is darkness.  Would have made a cute video.