Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Archives for 2012

10 Things the Thunder Taught Me

   Our Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team played an incredible season this year and also took our city, really our entire state and beyond, on a thrilling and memorable ride through the NBA Finals.

   Late last night they saw a bitter end to all of their hard work, losing the championship title to the Miami Heat, but they certainly did not lose any fans. They have, in fact, cemented their fan base with their dignity, talent, sportsmanship, and sheer entertainment value. I’d love to take a few minutes to honor them.

   Now, honestly, before this Thunder season, none of our friends and family would have dubbed either Handsome or me as an avid “sports fan,” but now I wouldn’t miss a game for anything and I already cannot wait for next season! Now, I ride the emotional roller coaster of every victory and every defeat, and now I am beginning to understand the plethora of sports metaphors that have eluded me all these years.

   For those of you who might not know, our team mascot is a buffalo. Kinda perfect, huh? Above is Rumble, the OKC Thunder bison who walks on two legs, sometimes on stilts even, and helps bring the crowd to boiling point game after game. He is a dancin man. Err, buff.

   And you all know Chunk-hi, our own little bison. He walks on four legs, never on stilts, but he also froths us up on a regular basis and can dance if the music is just right. Like Rumble, Chunk-hi prefers hip hop or rap. Loud.



   Oklahoma City home games are becoming widely known as unsurpassed in fan support. The events are always sold out and packed with entertainment;  the crowd is always ridiculously loud and energetic; and I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who regrets bringing this team here, who still doubts that we could support a professional basketball franchise, in terms of either money or morale. In a few short years the Thunder have become part of our civic identity, and we love them. We love them collectively as the tightly knit team that they are, and we love them individually. 

Hello Mr. Collison… Do you rebound ferociously here often?

   One of my favorite things to do during this Finals month has been to ask people “Who’s your favorite Thunder player?” Do you know what happens? No one can name just one guy. Everyone starts with one player, then adds another, then another, then another, often names in tandem. It seems that the Thunder plays so cooperatively with each other that fans have a difficult time separating them. I think that is awesome! At this rate, they can only increase in their connectedness and maturity as a basketball machine.

   Do you see the score and the timer? Handsome and I were at this game, you guys. I have searched my thesaurus for words to describe the feeling but sit here empty handed. The Thunder won by the way, 149-140, after two bloody, sweaty, screaming overtime battles. That guy there is Russel Westbrook. He is one incredible athlete and never boring to watch. I love how he celebrates on court!

   Okay, I have to share some things I have picked up from the Thunder this year. Some life-applicable things I see that the best of sports can teach us, even those of us who are a little late to the sports metaphor game.

  1. Positiveness: Head Coach Scott Brooks is known for his calm, positive, forward-looking approach. I have nothing to add to this. It’s simply the way to live, you guys.
  2. Focus: Brooks has also trained his team to view each game as solitary. Whether the preceding match was a win or a loss, all that matters is right now. Working to a certain extent with blinders on seems to serve this team very well, and I imagine it would serve us well too.
  3. The entire effort matters. We have watched the Thunder change the course of a basketball game in the final seconds, proving over and over again that it is never over until it’s over. OKC viewers have joked for weeks about how many nails have been bitten off and how many people are on heart calming meds during the games. Follow through, follow through, follow through.
  4. Learn to tune out noisy feedback, both positive & negative. This is a tough one, both to digest and to apply, but it might be the strongest bit of advice I have personally gleaned from this season. The Thunder certainly express gratitude to their fans on a regular basis, but they also make it clear that they are not playing for media service or talking-heads approval. They play for their coach, for each other, and for victory. Period.
  5. Hospitality counts. Oklahomans are a bit divided over this topic, but I have to mention the Charles Barkley thing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about and want to chat, let me know. My take away is that southern graciousness goes a very long way, in many directions.
  6. Study your opponent, then credit them. Nearly every Thunder game has been wildly different, because their opponents have been so different. Our guys start each game playing hard, then they begin to learn the other team’s game and adapt immediately. The Thunder flexibility and evolving powers are pretty impressive. They also finsh each game, win or lose, with honorable and appreciative comments about their rivals. How many of us can boast the same?
  7. Speaking of honor, Play clean & honorably. Our guys can walk away from this season with their heads held high, knowing they are watched under microscopes and still regarded around the globe as a clean, honest, noble team. Everyone can learn from this, no matter your walk in life. How you play is more important than the outcome.
  8. See today’s value and tomorrow’s potential in each other and commit to that despite (once again) outside noise. How many times do we hear post game comments from our players, highlighting not themselves but each other? And Coach Brooks’ adamant support of his relatively immature (but clearly talented) players is flat out inspirational. 
  9. Age is just a number. Thunder players are among the youngest and the oldest in the NBA, and they play together seamlessly. Enough said.
  10. No excuses. Even when supporters were making excuses for one thing or another, with the best intentions of course, the Thunder never did. I only ever heard them acknowledge errors and learning experiences, even when most people would have allowed them a public gripe session. To me, this is more testament to their incredible sportsmanship. It is also a needed reminder to us of the Oklahoma standard.

   Sincerest congratulations to head coach Scott Brooks, to all of his staff, and to every single Thunder player. You conducted yourselves as gentlemen; you played magically; and you gave Oklahoma another thousand or so wonderful reasons to be proud. We wish you all a happy, healthy off season and cannot wait to welcome you back to the spotlight! Thank you for all of this and more!


Your Newest Fan
xoxoxo

Why You Maybe Should Not Run

   I have been running, you guys. Remember the Iron Goat? This is a pretty huge development in my weird life, and it brings with it lots of notable observations and new trains of thought. Today while running around our back field I literally got the giggles as one thing after another seemed to conspire against me. Against the spirit of positive thinking, I’m going to share some of it with you fine people. Following are some totally logical reason NOT to run:

  • You have been over-hydrating all week and also drinking three tons of cranberry juice per day to ward off an odd pain in your back, so you need to pee every 90 seconds.
  • You are wearing yoga leggings that are slightly baggy at the hips so they scoot down every time you bounce. Which is every time you take a stride.
  • The horses occupying the field in which you are trying to run are so fascinated by your strange new activity that they stare at you until they have clearly lost all respect for you. Not that they had much to begin with. But still.
  • The songs on your playlist are so much fun that singing along with them costs you more oxygen than your struggling lungs can afford. Teach yourself how to Dougie some other time, lady. 
  • The abundant cacti are blending in with the prairie grass and the uppers of your shoes are thin fabric.
  • It has been more than 90 seconds and your neighbor just drove down the adjacent dirt road, waving at you.
  • I’ve heard that running can be addictive. Can I really afford one more addiction? Because we all know I am NOT sacrificing coffee. Or books. Or auctions and garage sales. Or gardening.
  • Sometimes, just sometimes, honey bees might swarm you.
  • If you sprain your ankle on those Oklahoma red rocks, your neighbor will definitely not be home any more to help or call anyone for you, because that’s just how things work.
  • What if I get too skinny? (LOL)
Run at Your Own Risk, Ladies
xoxoxo

Be Part of Savanna’s Good News Today

   Good Tuesday morning to ya! Perhaps you have a lot on your plate today, or perhaps you aren’t sure yet what the day holds. Maybe you need prayers said on your behalf. (If so, please leave that in the comments!) Whatever your’e doing, whatever your schedule or your worries, please take some time now and throughout the day to say prayers for Savanna and her family. Think positive thoughts, send Care Bear Stares, simply draw on every healing balm in your soul and believe with us that God is good and He wants her to enjoy her complete healing.

   Most of you either know this gorgeous child and her wonderful parents personally or remember our urgent prayer requests back in March. Savanna was accidentally hit by a bullet in her forehead and, of course, suffered severe brain injuries. But not only did she survive; she has far surpassed all of the doctors’ expectations and has been healing beautifully week after week. She has even been living at home, months ahead of schedule, only visiting the physical therapist on an out-patient basis! She can feed herself. She talks, laughs, and draws. She knows everyone. She is a wonder. The family has experienced one miracle after another in every way that they might need in such a horrific accident, and today we are expecting more.

   Very early this morning Savanna and her family drove to Oklahoma City and now are in the hospital again to have the bone replaced at the front of her brain, where it had been left off for healing and access.  The surgery is scheduled for 9:00 CST, so prayers leading up to that time and following are needed and appreciated.

   Thank you, friends! I know everyone who reads this little blog is good hearted, loving, and powerful. God is good. I may not understand everything about religion or His will or how some prayers are answered, but I know without any doubt how much He loves to heal and protect children. We’ve seen it so much. I am thankful ahead of time for what He’s doing for this beautiful young lady!

Anticipating Miracles…
xoxoxoxo

Five Senses Tour, After the Circus

   This morning I woke up to a painfully quiet, slightly disheveled house. 
Handsome and I crept outside for the first Hot Tub Summit in two weeks, 
and now I am close to tears. No, wait, I am in full blown tears now. 
For the past ten days or so the farm has been filled with other people’s offspring, 
and now they are all home where they belong. And I miss them. 
Every one of them, so much.  I’ll share more about our week together soon, 
but this morning I need to “reset” with a Senses Tour. 
Then I need to go clean this house. Like, for serious you guys.

See:  Matt’s Cool Whip hand print on the glass of the back door, evidence of a spectacular food fight. Several empty plastic two-liter bottles laying tiredly in the living room. Crumpled bed sheets on two well cuddled twin beds. Water-color artwork by Harley. Score sheet from a vicious UNO tournament. Mud puddles outside. Dried muddy footprints inside.

Hear:  Almost nothing. Even the animals are quiet this morning, possibly stunned into silence by the sudden lack of activity. I only hear the ceiling fan and the tapping of my keyboard. I no longer hear laughing, squealing, chattering kids. I no longer hear Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics playing in the background. I also do not hear the ice dispenser struggling to produce something it does not have. I do hear a few echoes of happy people.

Smell: Time for some extreme honesty, friends… The cinnamon-vanilla Scentsy I switched on this morning is not doing much to combat the ambiguous funk. I have a date with some bleach today. And some baking soda. And every cleaning tool known to man. Thank goodness for the overnight rainstorm, because I can walk outside for some fresh air and inhale that wonderful ozone fragrance.

Touch: Breeze from the ceiling fan on my shoulder. Sore legs from running and roller skating. Tears drying on my face. Slightly crunchy wood floors beneath my bare feet. Did I mention this house is getting scrubbed today?

Think: How many miles will I need to log on each of the next sixteen days to meet my Iron Goat goals? Will Sammy ever truly get her revenge on Matt? Do my own human chickens understand the truth of things? How far-gone am I, spiritually? I wonder if that basil is ready to cut yet. It is a flat-out miracle from heaven that I didn’t gain any weight this week.

Feel: A deep connection to my girls and the peace of a long view. Relief for some practical matters and high tension for some professional ones. Swells of love for these five young people who made a two-week appearance in our life. Excitement for an upcoming bee hive exercise!

We are very thankful to our friends and family who trusted us 
with their incredible sons and daughters these past two weeks. 
We had such fun, learned and remembered so much we had been missing, 
and basically loved every second. Talk about memory making!
I can promise you I will never forget this little slice of summertime! 
Now I’m going to go cry myself silly while cleaning. It’s therapeutic.

Kids are Amazing.
Appreciate Them.
And Also Keep Bleach Handy.
xoxoxo

Garden Update, Early June

   Hello there! Things are certainly growing around the Lazy W. Saturday morning I stole outside, barefoot, with a big mug of perfect coffee and snapped a few photos. Do you have a few minutes to walk with me?

   
   My youngest human chicken painted this “Welcome” sign a couple of years ago for a party, though I cannot remember the occasion now. I love it. I love the bright blue paint she used, and the polka dots, and I move this sign around all the time to have her and her natural hospitality near us. 
   The back door concrete corner is pretty much a landing spot for potted plants, seeds I need to plant (like the leftover wedding larkspur in that square metal can), and more. Much too much more. I can be a bit of a collector. The smallest clay pot here is loaded with seed-started scarlet Morning Glory vines that need to find a spot with lots of altitude.
   
   I have had a pair of hardy hibiscus for about three years now, and every year they grow fuller and bloomier. Wait, is bloomier a word? Here they are sitting in suspense near the pool ladder, loaded in tight little packages of red tissue paper, just waiting to surprise me with summer color.
   
   Sunflowers and zinnias. What a great summertime combination! For a long time I’ve been drooling over other people’s successes with these two classic mid-America natives, and now I have a tiny but cheerful spot of it in the east flower bed.  Yay!!
   And yep, I do leave a few weeding tools hanging around for impromptu clean up. Also, I love that scroll-ish little tomato cage. We probably snagged it at an auction. I think when gardening season is over this winter I’ll do something Pinteresting with it inside the house, for consolation.
  
   I always love flower beds. The vegetable garden, though, is where most of my learning is happening this year. Here’s where it begins…
   
   I know I show this old rusty blue bike wheel a lot, but look! Her Morning Glory vine is blooming! And it matches the paint!
   
   In the very front of this photo is a watermelon vine, thriving in the Oklahoma sun and sand. Its twin vine is on the other side of the garden gate, and they both whisper to me promises of red, juicy fruit. They seem happy to cohabitate with day-lilies and broken shovels.
Oh, I almost forgot. Beneath and between the watermelon vines are some tiny cantaloupe babies. Yay!!
   
   Truitt, the smart and adorable son of some friends of ours, Trent and Carrie, was here recently. I think he’s maybe about nine years old.  We were walking through the veggie garden looking for frog habitat supplies (he and his brother Tate had captured some tiny frogs near the pond) when he spotted these yellow wildflowers. Truitt asked me if they were weeds and then before I could answer, he said, “Really, who cares if they’re weeds? They’re still pretty. Everything is pretty in its own way.” 
   I am paraphrasing a little, but let me assure you that he thought he had only captured frogs that day, but really he captured my heart.
   
   Behind the very pretty weeds-slash-wildflowers is a single thornless blackberry bush, a gift from my sweet Momma two summers ago. The berries are ripening slowly, and since they’re not plentiful enough to harvest a bucketful for cobbler making, they are the perfect tart snack for passersby.
   
   One of the four raised beds is filled with only soy beans. They are thriving so far too, and I am really excited to scoop up those tender green pods for cooking and snacking!
   
   My one eggplant is offering up beautiful little purple blooms. The plant itself is thick and heavy, and around it is a necklace of seed-started baby eggplants. They are still tiny but growing every day. Handsome and I love us some eggplant. Good luck wishes accepted gratefully.
   
   Lettuce, grown from the cheapest seed money can buy. I keep cutting it with scissors and it keeps growing again thick and tender. This makes a really delish salad.
   
   
   Sweet bell peppers. These do not taste watery and bland, folks. These already smell heavenly and have the most profound crunch a pepper can have.
   
   Cucumber vines, filling up the big rusty cages nicely. Seri, a fellow book clubber, has promised me a fantastic pickle recipe this summer!
   Flat leaf parsley! This is so fragrant, so soft, and so fun to touch and dream about. Don’t you love the way your hands smell after combing them through herbs like parsley or basil?
   
   Corn! Sweet corn and more soy beans. The far south west corner of my veggie yard is just dug and scraped into a little corner of American effort, and I love it. More to come there, including weeding work. Try to ignore those weeds, I want to talk more about that some other time.
Sage. So colorful and, again, fragrant. 
   
   Another thing I love about gardening (there are so many wonderful details) is how certain plants co-mingle. It’s kinda sexy. Here we have rosemary and zucchini.
   
   Lift the leafy skirt and you can see young, sturdy squashes following the orange-yellow mammoth blooms. In the corner of this photo are some nasturtiums, grown from seed. I am so ridiculously excited to eat some of these peppery flowers in a salad!
   Okay, friends, I hope your garden is growing and you are learning things this year and enjoying the journey! Determining to spend time in my garden every single day, at different times throughout the day, has been the biggest mark of progress for me this year. Remember that old adage…
The best fertilizer is the gardener’s shadow.

Wishing you a beautiful Monday.
xoxoxo