The Mountains Behind Us

Are you a mountain climber? Of course you are!!! I am speaking metaphorically of course. You may have actually climbed real stone mountains but I am talking about those things in your life that you have accomplished or overcome or struggled with, etc etc. They are just as hard to climb.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by things in my life that I feel that I need to do. You know those things you feel like you should do or feel like you have to do etc etc. It seems like when we look at the big picture with everything that needs to be done it looks like a mountain. I usually stare up at my mountain at around 2:00 AM on the mornings I can’t sleep. That mountain seems so ominous!!! It’s usually better once I get up in the morning and have had my coffee, it doesn’t seem quite as hard to tackle. But it’s still there.

But have you ever stopped to think about the things that you have already done in your life? The mountains you have already climbed? I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit for those things. Think about it with me for a minute:

You were born, you have learned so many things. You have helped so many people during your life whether you realize it or not. You’ve applied so many of those things that you learned to your life and to other peoples’ lives. You’ve climbed a mountain.

You have had relationships. Maybe you’ve married, had children, grandchildren, You have been a son or a daughter, a sibling, a partner, a mother a father, a lover a friend, you have loved. You have hurt, you have been joyful, you have lived. The things you have learned, mentored, and taught the people you have known and loved is astounding!!! There is no measure. You’ve climbed a mountain.

You’ve nurtured, fed, clothed, cuddled, survived. You’ve climbed a mountain.

You’ve overcome obstacles that limited you in many ways, physically, mentally, emotionally. You’ve climbed a mountain.

You’ve worked, supported yourself and your family. You have given your knowledge, earned money, helped your family, friends and co-workers. You have grown and matured. You’ve climbed a mountain.

You have been happy, you have been sad, you have mourned, You’ve lived. Each day that you are here is in and of itself a mountain that must be tackled and taken step by step. This is a mountain you have climbed and continue to climb.

So I say when you are lying in bed, or wherever you may be, and you have something weighing on your mind. Think about all the things you have done in your past, and all the things you are doing right now, and know that you will get through you are climbing a mountain.

And even though you still have a lot of mountains to climb you have so very many that you have already conquered. Those are the mountains behind you and they are to be treasured.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

This is the Berchtesgaden Alps in Southeastern Germany, near the border of Austria. 2019.

Weekends and Clearing the Clutter

Happy Monday. I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning with an overwhelming urge to knit. It hits me like that sometimes. So I got up, got coffee and started a new scarf with some of my Christmas yarn. I like to knit scarves because they don’t usually require patterns or a lot of thinking. I can just knit away and it is so soothing. There is something about making a stitch over and over methodically that makes me happy and peaceful. Lord knows we can all use some peace in these crazy times.

Do you love the odd color of these knitting needles. They are really old. They are part of about 25 vintage sets I bought at a thrift store a couple of years ago. These are size 8. I cast on 20 stitches and am just doing a straight knitting stitch. This is called Garter Stitch. The yarn is just heavenly to work with. The weight is just right for a scarf and it just seems to knit itself.

***The yarn is a light weight and you can see it is made of several different fibers. I think that is what makes it so nice to knit. I love the color.***

I am also STILL working on this cross stitch for Valentines’s Day. I started this last year for Valentine’s Day and didn’t get very far with it. I picked it back up last month but I still have a long way to go. Maybe one of these years I will finish it. LOL

I had a good weekend. On Saturday morning I finally took all of my Christmas decorations down. I put my Santa collection away for the year. Of course as I was putting the things away in the basement I was reminded of how badly cluttered my basement is. Well it has been that way for a long time. It’s not like I just noticed it. It seems like through the years it has become a catchall for EVERYTHING!!! I have the back of my basement organized by holidays, Christmas, Thanksgiving & Fall, Easter, Valentine’s, etc. So I started working on that. Two hours later I had five garbage bags, the big ones not those kitchen sized ones, full of junk ready to go to the dump. Since the convenience center closed at noon on Saturday I had to get going.

I took the garbage to the center on my way to buy groceries. I also had a few things to pick up for my mother in law so I did that and drove them over to her. I got back home and did a little more in the basement. I decided that the basement will be an overwhelming challenge and if I’m not careful that might cause me to procrastinate. I am going to try and work on it a few hours a week until I have it back in order.

The basement isn’t the only place I am trying to clear out. Clearing clutter is on the top of my list to do for this year. Every Wednesday for the past two weeks I have been taking two huge bags of clothes to a local area ministry. The first week you couldn’t even tell that any clothes had been taken out of the closet. That’s sad. The second week you could see a difference. So that is a bit of an accomplishment. I hate clutter it makes my brain hurt. I fell like clutter makes life unrestful.

Last week I lost my glasses. Well a pair of glasses I should say. But they were my all time favorites. I have several pairs of glasses because I like to switch them out and wear different ones. I am also very hard on glasses. I fall asleep in them, I drop them, I sit on them, I lose them. I usually order them from Zenni Optical and they are fairly inexpensive. But the glasses I lost were my favorite wire frames that I wear around the house all the time because they are so comfortable. And of course they were an expensive pair I had gotten from my eye doctor. I had been outside taking snow pictures and I had my cell phone in my pocket and my big camera in my hand. I was grabbing the cell phone out at times to take pics and I had my glasses in my pocket and well you can probably see where I am going with this.

After I got back to the house I missed my glasses and started looking for them. I need them for distance since I am nearsighted but I can still see pretty well without them. I looked all over the house. I went back outside and retraced my steps where I had been taking pictures. I even went through the garbage and no luck. I figured they would wind up somewhere strange one day when I least expected it. Well they did. Mark actually found them a couple of days later, on the road at the top of our driveway. The snow had melted so they were easier to see. It looked like they had been run over. At least I know what happened to them. I will quit looking for them everywhere.

I you haven’t ordered from Zenni you should try them. You can load a picture of yourself onto your computer or phone and then choose to try on as many glasses as you want. You will need your prescription and there will be step by step instructions on how to place the order and fill out the order form with the prescription. I have never been disappointed by them. It is a great way to get to switch out your glasses and try several different ones. I got both pairs for under $100.00. I don’t have bifocals but ***those are also an option. The cost may be a little more for those.***

How was your weekend? Have a wonderful week.

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!

The Winter Light

A cold and cloudy day today. The temps will barely make it to 39 degrees F. We are actually having snow flurries right now. I am one of those odd people who loves winter. I like wearing warm snuggly clothes and snuggling with the fur babies when I get home in the evening. I don’t even mind that it is usually dark when I get home from work. There is just something so cozy about all of it. I love the winter light. It is so different this time of year. On a sunny day the shadows are more pronounced and the light of day just has a different tinge to it. On gray days, like it is today, the entire day looks like it is dusk and night will be falling soon. Maybe I am a vampire. I think I really like the slower pace of everything in the winter. You can’t do that much outside so it’s almost like you get to hibernate inside for awhile.

I love working on projects in the winter. I usually have two or three knitting projects going as well as a couple of different books I am reading. I often have a jigsaw puzzle out so that I can place a few pieces here and there when I get a chance. Kitty Kitty also loves the puzzles. She is fascinated by all the different pieces. I have been working on tapestry earrings and I love making them. I admit the first few pairs I made looked horrible. I may have acted like a big spoiled brat when I threw the first pairs in the floor proclaiming to my husband that I would never get the hang of making them. He reminded me that I had acted the same way when I was learning to knit socks. Patience is not one of my better traits. I will show you those tapestry earrings very soon.

***Kitty Kitty is obsessed with all the puzzle pieces.***

***I just started a new pair of socks. I love the colors.***

I love baking in the winter. I made a few loaves of sourdough bread last week and two loaves of banana nut bread. My nephew, Tyler, loves the sour dough bread and had been hinting that he wanted some so I had a good reason to make it. There is just something about baking in your warm kitchen, with the winter light shining through the windows, the warmth from the oven, and that wonderful aroma of baking bread, or whatever you have in the oven, that is just heavenly.

***Just look at this beautiful yarn a good friend sent me for Christmas. I can’t wait to start knitting it.***

Yes the colors are muted and gray and that is okay with me. Time to recharge and regenerate and get ready for the year. I think with all that is going on in our nation today it is good to be at home and get back to nature and nurturing and things that are comfortable for us.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!! How are you? and how is your new year going so far?

I am sitting at my desk drinking coffee and looking at all of the Christmas decorations that need to be taken down. Mark doesn’t like to take down the decorations until after New Year’s Day. That is o.k. with me but it doesn’t always work out with my schedule and days off and getting everything done. I love to get all of the decorations down and get the house back to normal. I love Christmas and the decorations but when Christmas is over it is over. Time to look to the New Year I say.

I don’t like making new year’s resolutions. For several years I picked a word for the year that I would try and focus on. My word for 2020 was “Discover.” And wow what a discovery it was. I was thinking more along the lines of trying new things and discovering new places and it wasn’t really that type of discovery at all. But you know what? that is ok. It was a different type of discovery and some things I needed to discover.

I think the most important discovery I made this year was about gratitude. I have been so grateful that my family has been safe during this pandemic. I am grateful that I was able to keep my job and that the company I work for is still going strong. I am grateful for the time I had to reflect on things that were really important to me. It has been a humbling year and it makes you realize that things are not to be taken for granted and that life is so very precious and that your day to day existence is one to be treasured.

I decided that my word for the year this year would be “Present”. I want to be present in everything that I do. I don’t want my nose stuck in my phone so much that I am missing wonderful and beautiful things around me. I want to enjoy everything and everyone that I can. I want to listen and learn more than ever before.

Because taking pictures is one of my most favorite things to do I did a recap of some of my favorites through the year.