Lazy W Marie

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

You are here: Home / Home

Friday 5, Fun Stuff This Week

Happy Friday!! What is going on with you? So much here, as always. But even more than normal, my summer days are packed and I am pretty darn happy about it. This past week these five cool things have happened:

#1. We started the week watching a Thunder basketball game with friends and Tiny T tagged along. He took a ride on Buster and together they pretended like they were the Never Ending Story. Who am I to argue? Because the Thunder beat San Antonio, and I’m not saying Tiny T didn’t help. #WeAreThunder!!

 

Tiny T is on the job. "Atreyu! I pity the fool who surrenders to the Nothing!"
Tiny T is on the job. “Atreyu! I pity the fool who surrenders to the Nothing!”

 

#2. I attended my first meeting with the Horticulture Society of Oklahoma and had such a good time! Gardeners are fun, happy people. They really love life, you know? We learned about the Proven Winners campaign, and I added about a gazillion plants to my ever-growing wish list. I also finally got to meet the sweet and effervescent Jeannie Brooks! Such a happy night. I’m looking forward to more fun with this group, including a trip to the Stillwater grounds where they test plants and gardening techniques and also film television segments for Oklahoma Gardening. When shall we go, Jeannie? On Wednesdays only? : ))

#3. I drove to the Myriad gardens in downtown Oklahoma City to record a video segment for the “My Aha Moment” campaign. Have you heard of it yet? The Mutual of Omaha is traveling the country asking average people about turning points in their lives, moments when something clicked or crystallized so well that everything changed for the better. How often do we get invited by strangers to celebrate the amazing parts of life? It was so worthwhile, even if being in front of a camera is on my top three list of scary things in life. After frogs and hair in my food. To recap…

Top Three Scary Things in Life:

  1. Having frogs touch me. Especially sit on me. It’s the stuff of nightmares.
  2. Finding hair in my food. You might as well kill me. Because I will starve myself to death anyway.
  3. Hearing the words, “Now smile for the camera!” I mean my god. Hate this. I freeze up so badly.

So anyway it was pretty amazing to hear myself say words like, “You have to focus on the good and imagine good things in your life for those good things to grow or happen.” I type this message for you guys all the time, but I don’t verbalize it much. It was cool. And the young woman named Sam who interviewed me was super sweet. I mean, she made me cry a little, but that is probably her job.

 

My "Aha Moment" was when I realized that imagination is as powerful a force as gravity.
Look for Aha Moment stuff in the media. People are amazing!
Look for Aha Moment stuff in the media. People are amazing!

#4. I went to the orientation meeting for the Master Gardener program at out county’s extension office. They described the curriculum, asked us to submit applications explaining why we would make good candidates, then set appointments for interviews. INTERVIEWS. Do you know how long it has been since I have sat through any type of screening process? One million years. It was kind of exciting, I have to admit. So the next step with that is a half hour in late June, when I will try to convince the powers that be that I am worthy of learning all there is to know about Oklahoma agriculture. This is a pretty fantastic program, I am really really really excited. 

#5. The gardens here have seen lots of good progress this week, and the long, gentle rainstorms day after day have turned the W into a verdant paradise. I am so grateful for the precipitation and mild temperatures. All of my vegetables, herbs, and flowers have enjoyed such a boost from it all!

 

 imperfect garden pink raccoon

 

#6. Running has been on the back burner this week. Just like last week. And half of the week before that (I am doing elliptical work and yoga instead). So I did not meet my goal of “100 Miles in May.” But I feel amazing physically and am so rested and full of good, wholesome food that NOW I am ready to run again. The reset was successful. Bring it, June.

So those are five SIX wonderful features of my week! I lead a charmed life, for sure, and it seems like month after month my heart deepens with gratitude and swells because I just can’t believe how lucky I am. And I know deep down that one day (maybe soon) I’ll get to share more of this magic with two incredibly beautiful people who need lots of prayer. Thank you, friends, for praying for them. They need it, and it will work beyond our wildest dreams!

What amazing things were unusual about your week? Please share!

“If you surrender to the wind you can ride it.”
~Toni Morrison
XOXOXO

Rest in Peace Maya Angelou

To mark the passing of great American poet Maya Angelou, I’d like to share with you my favorite quote from her. It has thrummed in my heart for years, inspired my pursuit of beauty in daily life, and helped me focus on what matters most and what is truly fulfilling.

“Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.” ~Maya Angelou

 

heart shaped rose petals

 

Wise words from a lady filled with nourishing turns of phrase.

I hope that whatever you are facing that threatens your survival, you are able in fact to thrive. I hope you find ways to reassemble your broken pieces into something even more beautiful than before. Glean both gentle inspiration and bold strokes of electric genius, at just the right times.

Do you have a favorite quote or poem from Ms. Angelou? I’d love for you to share it here.

Sending much love from the Lazy W.
XOXOXO

 

 

 

 

Grape Fruits & Good Thoughts

Have you eaten a ruby red grape fruit lately? I bought a big bag of them last week and have been enjoying one per day ever since. Each one is massive and almost completely edible, even the white fleshy membranes. So tender. They are juicy beyond belief, like biting into the ocean. But a sweet, tangy ocean. They need neither salt nor brown sugar to temper the powerful flavor, because they are naturally perfect lately. When your teeth grip the pink, webbed meat and fruit juice splashes in your mouth, you can literally hear the vitamins collide with your blood cells (it sounds like sparklers on the Fourth of July), and within minutes your future seems brighter, stronger, more likely to improve. I ate one this morning and my bank account instantly went up by like forty three bucks.*

 

grapefruit

 

I’m a pretty big believer that regarding physical health, what you put into your body matters a great deal, as much as or possibly more than what you do with your body. I believe the same about our minds. What we are able to do with them comes a step after what we allow to seep into them. Or at least, the two are so intertwined that we might as well consider mental input-and-output as one. An infinite circle of thought, whether healthy or toxic. And we all know by now that thought is the beginning of action, is the beginning of habit, is the beginning of path and character, etc…

 

What do you allow into your body, your mind, your home, your heart?
What do you allow into your body, your mind, your home, your heart?

 

That’s about all I have right now. Just some encouragement for you to make conscious choices about what kinds of mental influences you allow in your days. Beyond positive or negative: What schools of thought are your entertaining? What social attitudes, spiritual leanings, and life approaches are regular parts of your thinking diet? I know I have to stop and ask myself these questions once in a while. Unexamined ruts are no good.

Also, buy some ruby red grape fruits. They are spectacular right now.

Eat well, listen well, move better, think better
XOXOXOXO

*disclaimer: this is a lie

Friday 5: Animal Captioning

Happy Friday!! How about a Friday 5 at the Farm? Today, let’s caption stuff.

Anyone with animals, if they are being honest, will admit to spending plenty of time speaking for those animals. Whether you have dogs and cats, horses and llamas, or even just a pet rock, you probably watch your beloved non-humans live their domesticated lives then provide your human spin on their thoughts. I bet you even use a special voice for each animal.

The only exception to this might be if you have a parrot. Parrots tend to speak for themselves, whether you like it or not.

Trust me on this.

Around the Lazy W, animal-captioning is the cheapest and most abundant form of entertainment. I mean, clearly, we have a bevy of critters who need us to interpret their thoughts, right? Handsome and I catch ourselves speaking through the farm animals like it’s second nature. It’s always hilarious and only occasionally disturbing.

So. Tonight for Friday 5 I’m gonna share five farm animal photos and the thought captions I’ve thought up for them. Then I’d flat-out LOVE IT if you’d try to read their thoughts and write new captions. If you happen to know these animals and their personalities, either by visiting the farm or by reading this blog, then you have an advantage. Go wild. Be smart. Be hilarious. Be inappropriate. Be thoughtful. Have fun!!

 1. Ethel & Chicks

ethel with chicks and captions

2. Dulcinea at the Bee Yard

llamas guarding honey with caption

3. Big Boys Discussing Thunder B-ball

chunk dusty ibaka caption

 

4. Pacino & His Baby

pacino with chick for edie corrected caption

5. Romulus the Heartsick

rom diddly caption

So there you have it. Five photos, five captions by me. You can do so much better! Let me hear it.

Happy Friday, friends, and happy weekend!

XOXOXOXO

Happy Mice are Running Mice

I read the funniest article yesterday about an experiment performed on wild mice and other rodents, an experiment to answer the question about whether these creatures would exercise at will, given the alternative of freedom. (I did not realize this was a burning question in the scientific community, but what do I know?) You understand what I mean, right? Do mice traditionally run on treadmills just because they have to, given their laboratory setting, because they have nowhere else to go, like the proverbial hamster wheels? Or do they run for pleasure?

mice like to run too
I am trying so hard to stop eating tortilla chips at every meal of every day of my life. It’s gonna be a process. Salted cucumbers are a decent stand in. Light a candle for me.

I bet you see where this is going. Because had the test results pointed to LAZY MICE, I would not bother to share it with you.

Well, friends, the mice ran. They ran their little mouse hearts out! The treadmills were positioned in open fields, near well populated forests, and the undomesticated little sweeties had every opportunity in the world to do anything else they wanted to do. Like, forage for example. Or sleep. They could have had mouse-battles with sweet bowstaffs. They could do anything besides run, but over and over again they chose the tiny mouse treadmill. The scientific consensus was that the mice literally ran for pleasure.

Bam. There, it’s official. Running is fun!

Honestly I wish all my friends and loved ones could feel the deep and lasting high I am always talking about. After a while it’s like your bones are literally glowing. But running might not be for everyone. The thing is, is (hi Jon!) that you don’t absolutely hafta run to be happy or healthy. But to be happy and healthy you do have to find something physical to do on a regular basis. Find activities that get you gross-sweaty and also help you bliss out, then do them over and over again. See where that leads you.

As for the running-addicted mice, I just want to know how they figured out the myriad settings on the treadmill. Because WOW those machines are too complicated!

Be like mice and run happy.
XOXOXOXO