Lazy W Marie

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

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Beauty Everywhere

   This week has been equal parts hard work and sweet romance for us. My week days have been split between enjoying rare time with loved ones; caring for these silly animals and lazily monitoring the llama drama; substitute teaching at some local schools; and reading. Also I have had the chance to browse some cool and unusual shops lately, like this one…

   My work is busy, satisfying, and fun. Handsome is working harder than three men every single day, and I could not be prouder of him. If only Oklahoma knew how much effort and expertise goes into turning on our lights an heating our homes. Wow.

   In most ways the hours certainly pass too quickly. Particularly the sunlit ones. Around the Lazy W we are very excited for springtime!

   A few nights ago Handsome and I, fighting the contagious germs all around us, succumbed to a mutual craving for all things comforting and made nachos for dinner then gave ourselves a two-person slumber party in the downstairs Green Room. 
Side Note: 
Our Lazy W “Green Room”has nothing to do with staging for television shows.
It’s just where we watch television and play games. It’s like a den. 
Or, if you’re Heather in Canada, a “snug.”  
But it is green. I mean, the walls are green. Everything else is normal.
I mean, green is normal, but you know what I mean.
   Despite being certified grown ups, we slept on the Green Room floor between a thousand layers of blankets and surrounded by ten thousand different pillows  We might as well have made a sheet fort, really. Then very early the next morning we rose an hour and a half before the sun did and carried hot, perfect coffee outside. We soaked up a nearly silent Hot Tub Summit. The farm, seemingly the entire world, was asleep and ignoring our hushed exchange. Handsome and I braided together our hopes and plans. We talked about his career and my book club. We worried about our parents a little, though we know worry is a mistake. And we built up our defenses against the coming day.
   We have had time for a few projects lately, including this little diddy whereby we have immortalized our most beloved cities on a bunch of reclaimed wood…
   I’ll try to tell some of these stories eventually.

  When I relay our excitement for springtime, I mean it in every sense. I am chomping at the nest-feathering bit to get some extra pretty things accomplished around here!! From deep cleaning to sewing and from decorating to gardening, my project list is growing by the minute. Pinterest can’t even keep up.

   Here are a few things I’ve seen with my own two eyes lately, projects that are DAYS away from becoming part of our own home:

   I adore this eclectic plate display… Notice how it includes both fancy and plain castoffs. Just like the best parties.
   This mixed-up style of container gardening has me enraptured. I love the formal, clipped miniature tree surrounded by a collar of that free-form spilling flower, perhaps allysum. So pretty. Add white lights, and it’s elevated to gorgeous! 
   Also, this used book store which specializes (magically so) in COOKBOOKS has me ridiculously inspired to add even more sparkle and color to our nest. It also reminds me that collections can be out and on display. More white lights too!!
   There’s so much to do you guys. I crave to see things as beautifully as I feel them. Which is very. I intend to use these glorious little swells of time and energy to make stuff happen all around me.

   What about you? What are you reading? How are you spending your time? What projects do you have up your sleeve, and which ones do you barely dare dream about?

  
   Hope your weekend is grand! As I hit “publish” Handsome and I are aimed happily at meeting my dear ol’ Dad, little brother Phil, and Uncle Chris for dinner in the city. One of several fun, loving events we’ve enjoyed this weekend!

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
We must carry it with us or we find it not.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
xoxoxoxo

My Word for 2013: STRENGTH

   Happy New Year friends! Happy first Thursday of the fresh, clean, brand spanking  new set of months and moments! Happy cold, frosty morning (if you are in Oklahoma) and Happy Another Chance to Try Big Things and Chart New Territory. Do you feel the energy? Much more than caffeine, I feel it. I feel the pulsing, sparkling sense of possibility and hope all around me.

I’m a spring and summer person for sure, 
but this year is the farthest I have ever felt from a “winter of discontent.”
My heart is so full, my mind is so stimulated,
and my spirit is so encouraged… that where dormancy is evident,
I see only possibility, only life building up her wonderful stores.

   My personal resolutions are too many to count, and since last year I fell into the tantalizing habit of calling them reVolutions, they evolve anyway according to need and passion. So to mark the first of the year, and as an homage to the deep and communal love we all share for words, my word of the year is…

STRENGTH.

   Strength, in so many manifestations.

   Strength of body, because in two weeks I begin training in earnest for my first half marathon, which will happen in late April.

   Strength of spirit, as I flex repeatedly against that Worry Door and face new challenges and pains resolutely.

   Strength in finances, domestic pursuits, and daily goal tending. Strength to keep my promises. Strength to maximize the potential of our fabulous little book club.

   Strength to bend but not break… Strength to grow and bear fruit… Strength to admit my faults and overcome them. Strength to trust more fully, love more freely, and give of my true self (not my competitive, imagined self) more generously. Strength to hang on tight and let go gently, and strength to know when to do each.

   The possibilities for 2013 are endless!! I shudder almost to articulate them, though, because the year is so young I still have that waking sensation you get between dreaming and living when you can still enjoy the vision but dare not focus too hard on it, or it evaporates.

   Thank you to everyone who has been nibbling around this digital Lazy W this past year! I appreciate all of the comments, the emails, and funny, smart, touching interactions. Sometimes I cannot believe how many wonderful people I have met “here.” Thanks to those of you who have visited the dirt and hooves Lazy W this year too, and helped Handsome and me make so many fun memories. Our home is richer for the time spent with you. Also, thanks to those of you sharing your own wonderful stories. I treasure these connections so much.

   So, cheers to the close of a rich, wonderful year! And cheers to the startlingly gorgeous beginning of a new one! Love to you all.

“Only those who risk going too far
Can ever possibly find out how far one can go.”
~T.S. Elliott
xoxoxoxo 


Little Joys Like Sardines

   This week has been as busy and hard working as ever, but it has carried with it a sheen of pleasure that warrants a little attention. If life were always this joyful, this satisfying and easily understood, then I would quickly become an unbearable grinning idiot to my friends and family. Already, these past few days I have caught myself giggling aloud when no one is around to hear me. That’s how good life is.

   Last weekend after the Christmas parade we attended in Cow Town (What?? I haven’t posted that story yet? Oh gosh, that is how busy I have been!), Handsome and I brought home a gorgeous White Pine tree and have been decorating it piecemeal ever since. While last Christmas I used a wild Red Cedar from our forest and decorated the house plainly, organically, which was our mood at the time, this year I brought out only the bright colors and sparkling mesh and ribbons and tinsel, only the cheerful, jubilant stuff that matches our mood this year! I absolutely love it. It might stay up until July. Or until it’s time to start vegetable seedlings indoors and I need the real estate again.

   Daily, between normal chores and running in only two-mile increments, I have been knocking out long standing projects from my massive to-do list. This is such a relief, you know? I can literally breathe more easily.

   We have made connections with friends this week, old and new, silver and gold, spending little slivers of time with fun people and making memories. The animals are all fluffy and warm ahead of the upcoming cold snap. All is well. Now, one day this week Romulus did chase Daphne so hard that she tore down a fence to escape his wrath, making it all the way to the road before slowing her run, but our wonderful neighbors helped keep her still until I could get outside and bring her home.

   Whew! Naughty, naughty llama.
   Llama drama.
   Momma llama drama.

   The bees are on the road to recovery after an invasion by wax moths. What? I haven’t written in detail about that either? It really deserves a post of its own, as this is interesting stuff, if you’re the least bit into bees. Which you should be. Maybe tomorrow. Anyway, I am relieved and grateful and encouraged about this whole process. Good stuff.

   Thursday night I was able to attend my nephew Dante’s high school band concert and hear him play saxophone. It was wonderful. He is so good and talented, so smart and sweet, I feel very lucky to have him in my life. And he somewhat reluctantly allowed me to meet his pretty girlfriend, so that is a milestone I won’t soon forget. I may or many not have taken an excessive amount of photos that night. And, unrelated, he may or may not invite me to future vents. We’ll see. LOL

   Professional momentum and stressors are ever present for Handsome, but he continues to weather storm after storm and accomplish things that only embolden my pride in him.

   My youngest daughter asked to spent another day at the farm this week, right on the heels of that last delightful visit, and we had an even better time together than before! We baked, cooked, baked, discussed writing and spirituality, played the piano; we had lunch at home and another tea party and read aloud to each other chapters from Where the Red Fern Grows; we played with the animals; she helped us repair the fence felled by Daphne. We talked about fun, easy things and a few hard things, and we reached a golden, glittering understanding. We hugged and laughed and just loved. Love, love, love. That’s what it’s all about.

   I spoke briefly but meaningfully with my rather legendary Grandpa Rex this week. Just thinking about him makes me smile!

   Friday night our famous little Dinner Club With a Reading Problem convened to discuss Little Women and celebrate Christmas, We decorated cookies. We ate gluttonously. We shared our lives with each other and laughed some more. I love my book club girls so much, and I know they love me too. Kerri collected coats for delivery to New Jersey, where a colleague of hers is still recovering from the hurricane. We signed cards for all of our guest authors from this past year, and we made excellent plans for projects in early 2013. Stay tuned, folks… Book club has amazing things going on!

   Then yesterday Handsome and I accidentally slept late. Very very late, possibly thanks to an ongoing battle with some mysterious physical ailment. We rose with barely enough time to snag a few truck stop donuts then ready ourselves for a day of family visiting and Christmas shopping. The bulk of our day, after that, was spent soaking up love and laughter at my Aunt Marion’s house. She is so special to me, always had been, and she and Uncle John were giving their six year old grandson a little birthday party to which we were invited. What a day!

   More cuddling, more love, a couple of fun movies last night, and Handsome and I are still running on full. I walk around constantly with happy butterflies in my stomach, excited about what we will experience day after day. Is this the Christmas spirit? I think so. I hope it is strong in your home, too. If you need a dose, we have lots of extra. Come on over!!

“It is Christmas in the Heart
That Puts Christmas in the Air.”
~W.T. Ellis
xoxoxoxo

 

A Few Animal Updates

1.   The llama was skunked last night. Or this morning. Or this afternoon. Or possibly all three, judging from his stench, which I caught on a stiff breeze while photographing him today. His pasture-mates are clean as whistles, though, so hopefully this means that Sir Romulus has finally accepted his role as varmint-dismisser. I absolutely swell with pride to imagine him scooping his long, noodly neck really low and trotting aggressively after a black-and-white intruder. Good boy, Romulus. Good, stinky, untouchable boy.

I can’t even cope with how beautiful his eyes are.

2.   The chickens still have not provided me any more eggs. Well, I have collected exactly ONE EGG this week. If by some chance you have been watching my little egg counter on the sidebar over there and wondered if I have just forgotten to update it… No. Just no eggs. Do you know how embarrassing it is to buy a carton of  snow white eggs at the grocery store? I feel like such a fraud. Like everyone there knows. Watching me examine eggs as if I have a choice. Judging me. Calculating in their heads how much money I have wasted on chicken scratch this month. Anyway, the feathery ladies do not appear to be molting; they have plenty of sunshine and fresh water; and only two roosters are around to “bother” them. Hubba hubba. So I know in my calcium-deprived bones that a giant clutch of eggs is somewhere on these nine acres. Somewhere. Not in the barn or the coop, but somewhere I will find them. Eventually. Or I will find a little nursery school of fresh baby chicks, which are only slightly less delicious.

An old photo, from more productive days…

3.   But Mia’s love is still going strong. I sat in the sunny front yard today and fed him and his downy compadres a bag of stale bread, and he cuddled and honked me properly. I happened to be listening to music via headphones at the time, though, and apparently he objected to this. He started pecking at my head and really zeroed in on my headphones, almost in perfect beat to Ice Ice Baby which is the song that was playing at the time. The thing is, Mia is simply too young to appreciate fake rap from that era.

Stop! Collaborate and Listen! Mia’s back!

4.   My friend, neighbor, and fellow book clubber Seri surprised me today with a tray of made-from-scratch sweet potato biscuits! You guys, they are so good. So soft and pillowy and sweet, just the exact thing I needed for an afternoon pick-me-up. But I tore off a little corner and offered it to Chunk-Hi and he not very politely refused. He really likes crunchy treats, we should always try to remember. Oh well, more for me. Thanks Seri!

Crunchy stuff only, please, Momma.

5.   Our parrot, Bobby Pacino, is not only learning new words lately; he is also assembling his growing vocabulary in terrifying fascinating ways. I knew it was coming, because in the days leading up to a burst of new words and phrases, Pacino always sits quietly on his perch, eyes lowered, one claw massaging his throat. I really need to write down every single thing he can say, because it’s pretty impressive. This week his new thing is “I don’t appreciate it, OK?” We’ve heard worse from him, unfortunately, but for some reason this sentence just cracks me up. The thing is, he says it with such appropriate disgust. His inflection, you guys, is spot on.

Someone told me… If you have a parrot 
and you aren’t teaching him to say
“Help! They changed me into a parrot!”
Then you’re wasting your time.

Oblah-Di, Oblah-Dah!
xoxoxoxo
 

Sunday Evening Five Senses Tour

   Hi you guys! I am surprised and frustrated to see that an entire week has passed since writing anything. For months now but especially this past week, every day has been filled with activity from before dawn until the latest hours. So I really shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of writing; it’s just that time has passed so strangely this week. The days have run together and I have lost track of their passage. 
   Some of the hours have been incredibly sad, truly grief stricken, and others have been just plain stressful. But some slices of life around here have been very peaceful and happy too. Deeply joyful. We have so many blessings to count and celebrate. Truly. I feel like ending the weekend with a 5 Senses Tour to sort of take inventory and catch my breath.
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See:  My husband working across the room on some family photo and paperwork scanning projects. He’s already getting tanned for the summer, and his green eyes glow bright and clear against his darkening skin. He is so gorgeous, and I love watching him concentrate. I love watching his eyes focus, his arms flex, and his jaw set firm. He keeps looking over to smile and wink and air kiss me. I can also see the X Men movie playing on our bedroom television, a basket of clean folded laundry, and my hurriedly painted toenails. I see luscious green pastures through the windows. And here is a new book I just started, on loan from a book club friend Desiree…

Smelling: This evening we have the air conditioner on for the first time in months, so can I smell that familiar mechanical frost, that artificial fresh-stale scent that tells us summer is close. I can smell my perfume, which today is euphoria by Calvin Klein. Seems appropriate. For all of our pain or confusion in life, we are simmering in love. We are euphoric more often than we deserve.

Hearing: The ceiling fan, the hum of the air conditioner, X Men, and an occasional rooster outside.

Tasting: Iced coffee. Sweet, creamy with half and half, perfectly dark and strong, and very very cold and wonderfully refreshing.

Touching: Clean bed sheets, new yellow cotton shirt I snapped up at a garage sale yesterday (it is incredibly soft), light breeze from the ceiling fan, and the annoying burn of a scrape I got on my shin earlier, from running into a dead sunflower stalk. That thing was like a steel pipe you guys, seriously! Ouch. Watch out for those things. I might need stitches. Not really.

Thinking: In church this morning we heard a lot of good messages, but one has been echoing in my head all day: “God doesn’t answer needs; He answers faith.” This will naturally spark a lot of debate and conversation with people, as it has in my own troubled mind, and as always I welcome your thoughts here. But so far the statement seems to be consistent with my life: Those prayers which remain unanswered are probably the ones where my doubt is strongest. Kind of a cruel paradox, but if it is true then it bears with it clear direction: Trust God. Also, I met a fascinating woman today who started telling me her life story in just about half an hour, quite by surprise, and I am so glad for this. She’s on my mind tonight. I am thinking about the garden for sure, excited to join the early warm climate with some growing projects of my own. Thinking of local honey. Thinking of camel rides with my friend Marci. Thinking of how differently people navigate grief. Wondering what the girls are thinking about. Hoping my Uncle Chris is doing alright.

Feeling: Very grateful for the love in my life. From passion, romance, and truly wonderful friendships to family ties and  new acquaintances, love is abundant. I feel it all around me and all through my daily life, which is amazing. The power of Love to overcome my anger, fear, and bitterness is nothing short of awe-inspiring. I miss the girls more than I can put into words. Their beautiful faces and sweet voices and memories of their skin are never far from the surface, so I am always on the verge of tears to mention them. But even that dark feeling is being slowly overcome by Love. I feel hopeful. I feel happy for the past and excited for the future. Content in the present, confident that they are not just alright but thriving. I feel so proud of Handsome for his talents and work ethic, for all of his accomplishments at the commish lately and for everything on the horizon there. I definitely feel sad that our family has lost our grandmother, regretful that I didn’t see her more these past few years. I want more than ever to spend extra time with my Grandpa Rex.

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   This sensory inventory could go on for hours, you guys, but I will close up now and work on something else. I have book reviews coming, in addition to everything else I’ve been meaning to write. Thank you so much for stopping by the digital Lazy W. How is everybody else doing?
Life is Beautiful
xoxoxo