When you have need...ask

 Daddy man came home with a load of lemons today. He had taken the children (plus one) over to a nearby empty dirt lot to film and shoot the air soft guns. A woman spoke over her back yard wall and offered lemons to him. He delighted that "his wife loves lemons" and picked what she offered.
Now just the day before yesterday I saw them for 3/$1 and they were small. I was shopping and stopped in thought at the shopping list and asked God for some.

 Simple syrup is a staple in my refer. So within 5 minutes lemon aide for the family. They all were amazed at the fast offering. So after an hour or so we had another batch of simple syrup, lemon juice for recipes, lemon zest to freeze and more drink for the afternoon.

 ...and yes, a sink yet full of beautiful pesticide free lemons. To zest a store bought lemon is a no no for the wax and such is a rich poison of sorts concentrated in the rind.
After washing, air dry, zest and let the lemon rest to dry a little and it will be much less slippery to juice.

 Use this for pie, curd and also recipes for chicken or fish.

 The lemon juice is in a spray catchup re-purposed container and the zest is in a dispenser made from an infant/toddlers snack container. A pinch at a time is easy. When frozen the zest will be a dryer texture. Do not press it into the container and it is easy to pinch.

The last several weeks have been full of these wonderful offering.

A book I needed was on shelf with the invoice accidentally left inside. The manager gave it to me from the online site, used her id and it came to me at 2/3 costs. Again I had prior asked for the very book.

We needed some binders and such for the kids home school. When at the Jr High withdrawing Dove I was able to purchase at a greatly reduced cost and support the school at the same time.

We were also blessed at years end with a wonderful Christmas. It would have been a much different type of holiday had I not opened up to be willing to ask the Jr High if we qualified for reduced lunches. The $20 a week was too rich. Although we did not qualify we were called and sponsored a bit. IT was strange and humbling to accept. Being the one who receives is much different than giving.

Ask for your needs
Your Father knows what you have need of. Asking humbles us and Lifts HIM up. We all need to be needed even God

Good Morning

Well hi there
Happy New Year!
Everything is awesome here just really crazy. Dove has come home to do on line school so it is a time of huge transition. She is doing all the prep testing. With paperwork to in roll and like wise withdraw every moment is well used up. We are also setting up the ymca k12 time it is a 12 hour attendance a week with at most 9 to 1 ratio at the Tempe y just 5 miles away. This is free to the kids as it will give time with other kids and me work out time for my membership will be at a reduced cost.
I have been speaking to a lawyer and I do not qualify for the disability. One must work for 5 out of the last 10 years. It is an issue at 65 that I will fall under Steve's s.s .
Teaching will be a good 6 hours or so work for me with prep time and such. We are so happy the kids are doing so well. School started on Tuesday.
Allergy shots went well on Monday now that I got off of the meds for my back. I can not do both. My back is better so that is good too.


Doing this with sleeping issues he must not have woke me.

We moved the freezer out to the garage and got rid of the other refer. I LOVE having my window back it was a huge task. Still have a tree to get down.

We start our day at 8-8:30 and school from 9-2 or so. The lunch break is watching science or history documentary

On line home school, virtual corriculum

This was a wonderful morning to start a day with. Maple brown sugar muffins for all.

With the start of a new year comes a start of a new semester. Last semester Dash was here with me doing his online K12 5th grade. He passed with HONOR ROLL! Dove was at the Jr High her grades were good too. A's and B's mostly with one C. That one A in math was very hard won with a promise of being able to do an elective this next semester. She however was still not allowed to do one and has once again two math classes assigned. This is a class with another student tutoring her.

Dove came to me asking once again about K12. Once before we all but had the registration complete and her girl friend talked her out of it. This time she is VERY serious.  Dove will get some sound testing next week to get a proper base point to her math abilities. This will be so good to give her a nice strong foundation she does not have at this time. I showed her all about her duty and responsibilities if she stays home and she wants to do it. She was accepted and will begin on the second. To my amazement I am so HAPPY! We will be doing full time school the three of us at a good 5 hours a day. I will have added duty but added freedoms as well. We will look into the YWCA membership as we become able. This giving opportunity for extra alternative classes and exercise for all of us.

Once again I will be full time homeschooling both of my children. This thrills me. It is a lot of hard work and takes great patience to do. The added curriculum right at hand, books delivered gives a  wonderful ease to it. The best of both worlds for us. We will have the AIMS testing off site in the late spring.
Even with the hardships of the knee replacement we finished out this semester well. Now that I understand the process and know how to do all the tasks required for attendance and daily plans it will be a lot easier. I am so startled at how VERY happy I am.

december update

;

The year has filled up and finished out with best friends in Jr High for Dove. Semester finals for both kids. Dash with his K12 home school distance computer classes we worked real hard. I say we for it is a good 5 hour job for me each day and then some. I suppose it need not be but we take education very seriously around here. They both finished off well, Dash had an extra three days of winter break.

This is my favorite coffee creamer and coffee gets me through may a long mornings around here. Insomnia is a mainstay with all the medications that are detoxed within four months four medication one was done twice. Pain a way of recovery for my knew knee and back issues. Naproxin in my 4th  week now to avoid injections in my spine. The steroids are not good for my immunity.

 Decorations were few this year for exhaustion have really left Steve and I as minimalist.

 Alas you know we must all get ready for that fat red man who brings us free stuff and steals all of our cookies. That is Doves description her humor is sweet but stands corrected with the heart of what Santa was all about.

 We had Dash's Adoption day number 10 on the 13th. It was a huge splurge but his heart to go out to a Carl's Jr fast food. Good grief what a rip off of ones cash. We just watched and rejoiced in his celebration. His heart mattered more.

A wreath at the door was all the welcome for the lights were too much this year. I know it is only four months out from my new leg but it seams an eternity. We are regaining strength. This break from teaching Dash is a refreshment to me. 

 Christmas Eve this dear one opened her home up till almost midnight with the laughter and conversations that covered the months apart. Our nieces spent time with our kids and the four of them were just delightful to behold. Our kids almost a whole generation younger were mesmerized by the evening with cousins.
Oh it was so so wonderful an evening!

 A photo shop game

 Dash slept on the sofa and morning came soon.
Once Willy had his bone we began our exchange. We were so grateful to the divine and human generosity of our provision.

 My darlin gave me a set of head phones that are cordless so as to be able to have music during the day while Dash is doing school. Oh the silence my son demands to concentrate. This is really sweet. I hope that the difference will keep me going on chores during the day. The lethargy has left my tasks so needy.

 This sweet man and I will be taking a partial early retirement to add to our income in March. We will work no less but it will be on his former employer of 27 years. It is really going to set us to a lower stress. Raising kids is expensive, us retiring on paper only years fly in life.

 Steve's brother took us all out to Christmas dinner. What a wonderful weekend is being had by all. Getting too tired to write more. Just needed to say...

Merry Christmas to one and all.

I stand amazed at the kindness that came and made this season turn around for us. It has strengthened our faith and built our humility and willingness to receive. We are refreshed.

On my IVIG my numbers are doing well, the infusions are working to keep me infection free. He will renew my strength one day I just know it.

Good for a laugh

Oh my my
This one just has to be shared. I know many of you would wish I shared more. Dash has now finished his mid term testing and I have two weeks off from teaching. Teaching is actually a good 5 hours a day.
Dove has three more days of school next week.

Returning from taking her to school this morning Dash spoke up

"I know what I wish I could get for Christmas..." he said. So my ears perk up to listen as my mind slows. Turning onto my street he continues. 

" I'd wish I could get a pooper scooper, but I'll wish for it for my birthday"

Laughing with great control as to not just bust out in a roar. He continues that it would be so much easier than  the shovel. 

Dash is very VERY sensitive to laughter so I am holding it in even now.

Mom I wish I had a pooper scooper

It has been a real intense time of teaching and healing of Dash's heart. He is learning study skills that help overcome all of the lies of the enemy of his soul. With Dove at 14 she is in constant need of all of me that is left over. These are very busy years for us. To sit here while the bread soaks for french toast is a treat for me in itself. We are well all of us that is a joy! I have deliveries this morning. Infusion is on the morrow they are a bit late delivering due to the season no doubt.
 A sweet way has been made for our Christmas to be a bit brighter for the kids. My heart is lifted being able to get them a couple of extra things. It is a wonderful thing to live with a grateful heart. Steve and I have been on a mission to renew our minds and one way is to speak of all that we are grateful for . If I were to wrap up all the things we have to find gratitude in we could not fit it all under even the White Houses' Christmas tree.

We are in love and that is the richest of treasures. Thirty years in March, that is just stunning to think how fast the years fly. Like a vapor, a sweet savor of all the spices life offers. Raising our kids and seeing them mature into young people with minds spirit and souls of their own. Oh we falter so but trust and pray and hope all the more.
I have to go make breakfast. With Dash home 24/7 I cook all three meals a day. He is a full time fullness of every moment save so very few. He is really coming along so well though and it leaves me humble and exhausted. The charter k12 is working out wonderfully.

Last night I took Dove and her best friend to the concert at the Jr High. It was a band concert. The jazz band is the only Arizona state one! They are going to Washington D.C.. They were great. The girls had a chaperoned escort, I hid out so as not to be present :). I really enjoy going to the school musicals. Poor mans symphony gives me a bit of culture. It is so good to have the exposure to the arts.

Well better get to cooking.
Enjoy your morning and be careful what you wish for. You might just end up cleaning the dung up.

Memoir

A Tin of old beads

          Life was mundane back then for a child of nine or ten. I can smell the fuel as it wafted through the sliding glass door. After school and in the summer time my hours were filled with that smell of gasoline. I recall that it seamed everything smelled of it. There were times that it would even fascinate me to pick up the stock of candy bars and intermingled with the wonder of the chocolate was the diesel pungent a poison of memory. He is still in my mind sometimes standing above me like the character Poppy the Sailor Man, elbows skinny against the massive forearms that threatened me daily. That worn tired face of a man aged to be burdened with such daily labor. “Mucking the stalls’ of the car wash out back he would lift those massive grates and grasps the two handles of the post digger, those scoops of goo.

          He wore coveralls that are what the jump suits were called back then. He was naked underneath them except his ‘skivvies’ he called them. He was not a man to have pants and a shirt like other fathers. This man was my step dad. He adopted us three my sister brother and I when was only 6 years old. He was an old merchant mariner retired. They lost everything though in the move from Washington State to Utah. At least it seamed so. Mom got the job with the Flying J gas station. So early to rise and daily to the grind the two of them ran the service station on one of the main drags in Ogden Utah. That is where this story began.

           Each day the one or the other or most days both would be found there. Mother and Father absent the home, or rather the home exchanged to the smell of the service station. I remember the house but the days at the station seamed more. It was my sitter, my nanny as it were. Filling the soda in the cooler and counting the penny candy. For a dime one could have a bit of a field day. Candy bars were a quarter not much more and yet fewer choices then the penny candy. It was dusty cause it was kept at the bottom of the display where the children like me could sit on the dirty linoleum floor to count out the booty. Tootsie rolls, bit o’ honey those were some of my favorite. There were the tubes of candy coated cocoa all colors like jewels. I could just sit for hours and look at it. Often I did. For inventory would have to be held. I wonder even now if mom was just finding a way to keep me occupied, however I do recall the inventory late nights. I would be cold and tired. They had to keep me there until one or the other would ‘relieve’ the other to go home and fix supper. Then a plate would be left to warm. Very few meals had them both together. Sometimes the warm plate would be taken to the stall and we would sit and visit while the ‘on duty’ parent would eat a bite or two between customers.

          Oh the hours, the family extended became the regular customers. It was the way then that the customer was always right, this until they would walk away and we would speak of the annoyance. Many a day someone would be rubbing the top of my head kindly. Looking up to those warm smiles often were highlights that made me feel that I belonged to a greater circle of life. Some folks were downright creepy, but they were few. This was during the 1970’s when gas was less than fifty cents a gallon and that seemed high. Names like Nixon and words about war would buzz around my head. Current events were hashed and rehashed (spoken of over and over) all day long. This is I think where my interest in the world around me began. Wanting to be included in those conversations, wanting to understand what the fuss was all about.

           I was born in 1961, the last of a quiver full of kids mostly by different fathers. One even had a different mother. One of the eldest had a different biological mother and father. So the mix of mutts so we were called left me always a lesser citizen than most. So it seemed to me when the crisp suits came in. Those were the men who just pulled in to use the urinal and a fast “fill er’ up’ would ya? Those who had fine dresses and fancy hair in ribbons were like China dolls to be admired. My hair was a mess, cut of as to ease of care for a mother who had no time to care even for her own self. Mother who wore what was a weight of care upon her bones as a suit of obesity. Now there were others like me who knew that air of superiority. They were the Native Americans, mostly spoken ill of and expected to be intoxicated as if that were their lot. They were poor often as a white man might see it poor, but even I as a child saw a sort of wealth lost and over looked. I never saw color as a bad thing. I saw it in the eye. It was where I took stock of a person. Did they look me in my eye as a lesser? Did I see a pity that was not disdain, which is often how my dad looked at me? The best was when they were distracted but when they looked at me a natural smile would come over them as they liked what they saw in me. It made me feel beautiful they became beautiful too. That was the way the elder woman looked at me that day.

          I was sitting on the floor counting the penny candy. It was warm as I remember and the cool floor felt grimy but somehow refreshing on my legs. She was there her presence like a tangible kindness. I think I was admiring the colored balls of candy in the plastic wrapped tubes. Maybe it was the beads on her soft shoes and the tassels of leather that fringed the ankles but she saw my eye catch the colors. I smiled. A natural smile as when one finds deep pleasure and the depth of beauty becomes a pool. I just dove in unashamed and reached out to touch them. No words or few. Just soul to soul appreciation. It is not a memory of words spoken as it was of hearts melting in a flash an instant of time. Even now the memory is one of an Ora not so much actual recollection. I wanted to see her again. As it was with all of the customers a pattern emerges. On a particular day at a regular time almost expectantly they would return to fulfill the appointed lot. So one day she would return.

          ”I have something for you” her voice came to my ear, reaching out to me was her aged hand. It was so skilled hours were written upon it in ages of day. These were hands of use and purpose. Not like the China dolls hands they were for luxury. I wish I knew her name. It would be one like Mina or May. She was as a woman of sage, wise and knowing kind gentle even quit present within her own eyes to me. When she would look at mother or others she was sheltered withdrawal behind those walls of safety from the storm the onslaught of demeaning nuances left by slanted smirked judging faces. In her hand was an old tin can. Black painted worn with a lid that lifted off a good quarter of the way. Now it was only five inches tall perhaps two and a half inches around. It shook as a rattle muffled but musical in a way unlike any sound I knew of.        The old tin was cool to the touch and a little heavy for its size. Eagerly I watched as she showed me how to pull up the sliding lid. It might have once been full of baking powder when it was new. Once those containers really were made out of tin, not like the cardboard with plastic lids one finds now days. She must have painted it black or all the letters had long worn off. It showed the use I had that old tin for 40 years or more, now I think it gone forever.

In that tin was found treasure. To a child yet even this woman the treasure served for a life love of beading. It contained her long life of beading, for it was her scrap bead tin. Once before this generation that tosses everything into the trash bin, folks saved. We saved everything for ours were the parents who lived or better said survived the great depression. They learned hard lessons on the waste of the land and the effects there of. She had saved every one. Now these were very tiny beads called seed beads for just reason. The colors were as endless as the variety. These beads became the story of my life. Tossed away by others but never by a true artist a creator of beauty saved everyone. She saw the value in me as well for to me this Elder gifted such a treasure. Given to me with a knowing a soft face tanned with time into softness. Suede that made rough those weathered raw hides worn by my parents and most other people in my life. It was then that I hoped my face might stay soft as to my countenance. Time makes it hard to stay so. Trials often make lines look unkind.

Childhood in a flash a young lady

It is a wonderful cloudy day .

Along with the sunshine hiding behind the clouds is the passing of the summer desert heat. It will be a long time coming and with much delight brisk air will kiss my cheeks every morning as I drive Dove to Jr High. She is so beautiful now. Donning high heals for the first time my little girl begins her journey into becoming woman. Lady I tell her for any girl can become a woman but to become a lady is the goal.

 Today she has these shoes on, the black color block ones. They fit her! Well almost with a little wedge at the heal and a pad under her toes. The years a flash and a blur and after you wipe the fog from you eyes she is grown into a beautiful young lady.

Sometimes being a lady in a world of men and women is a hard thing. Boys and girls will make it a challenge too. Lady is a term of character to me. It is a supreme complement to a girl young or old. Seasons pass and the little girl in heals becomes a "lady" in training. Training began so long ago when toys and mommy's shoes were play things.

 

 Thanksgiving Day

Mid Terms at 50!

Are you smarter than a fifth grader? I am wondering about how smart one must be. Dash is at Mid Terms and is doing great! I have learned or learned again so many things that I had forgotten. It takes a good 5 full hours of my day to see to Dash with his K12 on line public school. We are a pair doing well together after a very rocky start. Now that the road is smother it is a real pleasure. Math is the only subject posing a problem for now. Steve spends a good hour or so EVERY night doing the daily math lesson with him. He has real learning disabilities that are so challenging. It seems to be stress like related amnesia. At least I wonder about that. He forgets every thing he did the day before and every day it has to be retaught. Steve is a saint to do it.
Dove needs help too and she gets a lot less of it unfortunately. We are working hard to get her to speak up and ask. Balance is a real obvious effort each day. Dash may finish the first semester a few days early. With extra time earned he will get between one and four days extra off. We will see how the next two weeks go.

I am well, spent most days with little left to blog. Our design for the studio is wonderful. I love it! It is helping me to reconnect with my own heart. Been sorta wondering and just walking in a fog now for so long. Friday I will see the spine surgeon. The very thought of facing it is so overwhelming. The pain is so unbearable without the nerve and inflammation medications that they are now a must. I hope that it will be a non-surgical fix. I have just really emotionally gone flat line, too much to even think of. I love my new knee, due to my back I am not even able to walk around the block! Ooo that just makes me mad. I'll just keep my heart alive and focus on beauty in all that is around me and within me. I know I am blessed beyond measure. I think once the unknown clears as to my back, life will enter into direction. What ever the future holds knowing will help.

Choosing the best Turkey for the money

Good Morning
The butcher taught me a trick this morning. When choosing your turkey pick a hen not a tom. Look at the bird if it is more of a 'v' shape that one is the tom. If side by side the hen will have a wider curved appearance. The hen is more meat per pound. He said he can't tell everyone or he would be stuck with a lot of toms to sell off.
I got my bird for free to use later.

Tomorrow

'Thankfully' I rest with the pleasure of family and friends.

May beauty wrap you up too and rest refresh you. Take time for the young ones as well as the elders. Laugh if you burn a biscuit or scorch a pot. Be silly and except the turkey and yourself just as you are. Perfection is found in the heart free of pretense. Remove all fear over concern what others might or might not think of you. You are beautiful. Your efforts a gift that I appreciate as I hope and trust those who receive them ought. Each little detail is seen. God sees it. Others might and neglect to speak it. When you notice them in others speak up.
Remember you can not read others minds so do not assume. They can not read yours so speak out.
Happy hearts of gratitude be calm. Remove the fret and enjoy the fruits of your labors.

A different thanksgiving dinner

A very strange Thanksgiving this year for us. We are going out to a restaurant with the Grand Parents and My husbands Brother. They are serving the turkey and all the fixings. This year it is the best we can muster. Strange though not to even have this place decorated.

web sight for restaurant
I want to tap into some joy, some thankfulness.  I hope to play and laugh. Maybe I'll try to help and pull a few things down from the attic.

So very much to be thankful for. We have love, health and faith. Beauty surrounds us.

Hope your day is wonderful.

What have we been up too?

"He, who every morning plans the
transactions of the day, and follows that
plan carries a thread that will guide him
through a labyrinth of the most busy life"

- Victor Hugo
 

 Hello,
Each morning I am greeted by this little beauty. Usually to part her hair for her, or to put her eye shadow on. What an honor to do so. It is so sweet a time. This morning there was some expectancy for she has a crush on a boy in her class. A real nice kid who has brought a lot of laughter to her days. They sit near each other in several classed.
 One day this week I had a real scare. There was early out. I sat awaiting her and she was now where to be found. The staff at the Jr. High was wonderful. She had gotten a ride from a mom without my permission. The mom later apologized. Dove learned a good lesson and I gained a few gray hairs and a crown for forgiving the mom. That was really a dumb thing she did. So Dove knows now to go to the office if I am ever late for her.

 Dash is doing his K12 here at home distance learning. Today was art. Early American Indians. He is making a shirt example of the planes Indians. What a fuss and fit! His hand give him issues yet. The fine motor thing really hinders him (us) when he gets angry.

 This is the product of my efforts this week. It is still in flux. See the work that stack of filing might just take two hours to get done. However the filing cabinet is now ready to receive it. It had to get a transfer of the files and the drawers so the novels paper work will be at hand.

 This is the wonderful chair that Steve got me. This is the best comfort ever felt. IT matters to me because next week I have a MRI for my lower back. I think injections will be in order and hope that no surgery is called for. The stinosis is getting really bad in my lower back. The Doc put me on a pain medication of 100 mg of Lyrica and 100mg of Tramidol every 12 hours. The nerve pain in my legs is better and the butt pain is much calmer. Too easy to have a pain in my bum haha.

 We were able last week to replace the canopy on the garden gazebo. It went on real easily. It had been washed with a UV protectorate. With it wet still the fabric really relaxed. The other one was town up so bad. It was an embarrassment being as the neighbors are in two story houses.

 Last week end we also cleared the garage out. A full long bed truck load to the Goodwill. We had these and were able to put them on the Creigs listing for free. We still have the desk, but Steve will not have to lift those heavy things again. The two separate men were grateful for the free stuff.

 Those bags are full of Doves Sweet Streets house collection. She is going to try to sell it. Dash also got his Train set out and photos were taken to list it as well. Another job to do is to get that all set up. I am so busy it would just tire you out if I told you.

 The kitchen has been a big project for me. I want the island to keep clear and clean. BIG task here. So far a week has gone by with dishes done before bed and kitchen clean when I wake. OH how good it is to gain back my lifestyle after the months of letting it go so as not to go crazy. My strength is good when I sleep.

 My sweet SILove gave me the image of Steve and I as young lovers. It is in the center of the wall there. We need so to go get family photos done. For years we just have not had the budget. I plan to print some that we took. The family is so good to see up there where they belong. It is the ending of the household feng shui. The redecorating has taken a good 8 months to get this far. I love the main rooms now. Just the kids rooms are left to do.

 A mirror placed on the side of the refer really helps me handle to absence of that garden window. It is a real savings of utility to have the units in house. I do so miss the window.

Using the computer cart facing south is also an option to me. I do not like my back to the entry of the room however. The file cabinet and the printer is right there to do research for novel.

 Lots of work to do yet over here. It was fun to make Doves necklace and ear rings this morning. I am looking forward to getting back into jewelery making soon. I now can sit for a while. The new chair could even be pulled into service if sitting there.

 The light yet has to get shifted into place.

We will hide all the wiring up under the table by and by. Loads of little things like that to do.

Speaking of 'to do' My timer went off to go get Dove.
Enjoy your day as you can see my life is full and rich. Teaching five hours a day with Dash and then the other duties of home and heart. Not often a dull moment. OH but when sleep is gifted me all the things I can get accomplished make a happy heart.

Is your heart happy today? I do hope so. Read Psalm 91. I just been thinking about abiding and not just standing in the doorway of His shelter.

 Love has a way of pulling the corners into a smile.

Life with the passage of my fifth decade has called into thought the years yet to come. Questions asked has left me seeing that a new direction is at hand. The wonderful studio has been kept a sewing center for many years. Sewing is a skill and a talent practiced most of my adult life. With a Professional Seamstress for a sister, and a Mother in Love I have been greatly encouraged to pursue this art. An art, that is not for me, a passion. Rarely in my life has sewing really thrilled me like those things that set a fire. It has been warm never burning. So with great stillness my heart searched has reveled to me that it is a side hobbie and an industrial skill to help my family. Listening is a real act of love toward my heart.

Clutter is so stifling. Our garage has accumulated a large collection of unused items. In the passages of time all manner of once treasured things have now become a weight. We are going to continue to weed through things to lighten our load. The fabric in the bins is mostly from when my sister shut down her home to move out East. Her loss will get returned to her. That will open up those bins to store my own fabrics.

We moved the bike and now Dash has that window for his computer. Tucked in a nice snug space with windows to brighten his days. More images to come. This act of kindness really gave me wings to clear out stuff. My husband and I are so in love. His kindness overwhelms me. We had a chance to have a date yesterday. He insisted on getting me a new pillow. Mine disappeared, we think that one of the children took it to hold onto my scent. The woman at the store mentioned it. We remembered that years ago the kids needed a shirt or fabric I rubbed on myself to console them. It was the way we kept them calm. We are pretty sure that is what happened to it. The age that they are makes them embarrassed to admit it. That's alright, I now how that feels and how good it feels not being exposed.Very good trick for dogs too if your going away for a few days trip. We found good pillows finally at Dillards. Steve insisted on a GOOD down pillow. After last night the gratitude in seeing why he would not skimp on it wells within me. It actually silenced the cpap machine. The other pillow amplified it through the poly fiber.

Dash is doing much better, yesterday he was stressed over math. He felt bad about crying. Gently reminding him that he was tired and had had a full weekend helped. He is now giving word to feelings, much better.

j

It is so wonderful that the bike was not sold. It is used daily more than once.

It is raining here this early morning. Seven a.m., Steve's alarm went off and woke me. Felt good to get up even though little sleep met me last night.  It is a good day to be loved, to smile and dance. This morning will find me fetching a new leg brace for the left leg. I am so happy not to have to do the other total knee this year. I'll post more images as the studio progresses. It is slower going these days. That is one reason I really want to consider what it is I want to do with my days .