Lazy W Marie

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

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New Every Morning! (re-inspired by lifeingrace)

   I am, like so many women, more specifically like so many women in my life (which is maybe why they’re in my life to begin with) heavily prone to writing lists and getting delightfully giddy at the beginning of a project or adventure. I tend to foam in my accident-prone mouth at the sight of blank paper, crisp, early sunrises, and January, which is pretty much our cultural embodiment of new beginnings, followed closely by Easter and spring garden planting.
   I have also had divided success with past lists, though, maybe because the lists are so great in number. Thinking the sensible thing to do this year was control my natural urge to change the world (or at least my red dirt covered corner of it), I thought and thought about everything I wanted for 2012. I tried to see through to the core of why these good and worthy goals haven’t been reached already, about why the same  wishes cling tenaciously to my Long List. I managed to boil it all down to the Lowest Common Denominator, into one articulatable “resolution,” though some would argue this is too broad to qualify: 
“Time Management.” 
Yawn.
   Then something wonderful happened to shatter the clay around my mind and loose a myriad of vivid feelings and ideas that were swirling around insistently anyway.
   What happened is that tonight I stumbled on an electrified post by Edie at lifeingrace, her thoughts and encouragement about writing New Year resolutions. The best part is that she (or perhaps a friend of hers) coined them reVolutions. I can’t get over how cool this is, you guys. Please go read her post as well as her very colorful list of personal reVolutions for 2012.

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Are you back? Or did I lose everybody 
because you’re off writing your own electrified lists? 
If so, that’s cool.
xoxoxo
This less photoshoppy list belongs to moi. I couldn’t wait.
And it just so happens that my new not blank anymore planner 
offers one large lined page just for personal notes.
This passionate brainstorming session was kinda meant to be.
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   What I liked about the switch that flipped here is the freedom, the encouragement to be truly wild with my wish making, my list writing and my hope forming. This is passionate, crazy-bones brainstorming, friends, and I groove it in a big way.
   Hopefully, better time management will underscore a lot of my new habits in 2012, sure, but the coming months are bigger than one goal. Life is rich and complex whether I lose 18 pounds or not (though I do hope this is the last year I fiddle around with that). Every day is beautiful and exciting far beyond the exact condition of my baseboards or compost pile and the exact number of times I post on my blog.
   Tonight’s reading and subsequent writing has me thinking BIG, you guys. Big in EVERY direction, and nothing on my hotly scribbled list is outside the bounds of love. None of it will do anything but add to the quality of life both for Handsome and me and for our friends and family.
   Here’s to lifeingrace for her inspired post on reVolutions that got me thinking about the whole list-making tendency on a spiritual plane. Thank you for the very C.S. Lewis-y phrase, “liturgy of life.”
   Here’s to early January in all of her blank-notebook splendor.
   Here’s to the power of Love, to the hidden but ever present designs and patterns in life that we sometimes fail to notice, and to the limitless creativity and renewal available to us through God.
Happy New Year *AGAIN* from the Lazy W
xoxoxo

Unnecessary Fear

   Earlier today I was working alone in the barn, raking soft, sweet hay into enormous piles for the horses and buffalo to eat. The air was comfortably chilly, and the absence of electronics there made the quiet feel like a safe blanket. My mind had been frayed this morning from a series of sad memories and difficult exchanges, and my concentration was suffering.
   Thankfully, work abounds, and physical activity does wonders for my mental clarity and sense of peace.
   While I raked the hay and sorted out my thoughts, I was happy knowing the animals were all satisfied by their breakfasts of either sweet grain, kibble, fresh eggs, or kitchen scraps, and they milled around their respective pens quietly.  The farm was sunless and still, though low, quilted clouds hinted at weather changes.
   Then, without warning, I heard the loud, rapid drum roll of sleet crashing against the metal roof and siding. Our two barn cats were startled so badly they jumped down from their elevated eating perch and found shelter beneath my pink four wheeler. Admittedly, I was startled too. 
   In that quick moment I thought to myself, How long is this storm going to last? Am I dressed warmly enough to stay in the barn all afternoon, if I get iced in? Should I do something for the geese, who are too stubborn to seek shelter? Do we have any cars parked outside that will suffer hail damage if I don’t move them? I wonder if it’s icing where Jocelyn & Jessica are, and if I send them hats and gloves, would they wear them?
   So after three or four seconds of jumping to the most dramatic possibilities imaginable, I walked over to the west doors and took a peek outside. Despite the aggressive, unruly noise of ice hitting the barn, all the precipitation I could see in the middle field was finely textured wet glitter. It was dusting Daphne, our black mare, and moistening the field. but it was nowhere near the frozen storm I expected to see. My nervousness settled instantly, and I had to laugh at myself.
   The barn had served to magnify the sound of the ice, and I allowed that sound to scare me. The metal roof and siding could do nothing to magnify the ice itself, nor the danger or inconvenience the ice might pose; it was only my perception of the danger and inconvenience that affected my nerves.
   In light of my frayed state, this was a revelation. 
   The way I feel is not necessarily linked to truth. The way I see things is not necessarily based on facts. “Facts,” wherever and however you collect them, can be distorted and can be misleading.
   And while women especially want to be able to trust our feelings and instincts, sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes what’s going on in our immediate surroundings can trick us into fearing the worst about what lies beyond us.
Wishing you a warm, dry place to hide in your next storm
and wisdom to correctly understand that storm.
xoxoxo

I Like to Eat my Turkey from a Big Brown Shoe

   For days now, strong ideas and long strings of words have been swirling delightfully through my mind and body. I have slept soundly every night and woken up refreshed every morning, already surrounded at dawn by the warm winds and bright colors of philosophy and possibility. In every corner of my house I have been ferreting away notebooks and slips of paper scribbled up with eurekas and scriptures that have never felt so real before, with observations about the universe at large, questions posed about conflicting ideas, recipes that feel important to me and so surely I must share them, and overly edited photos that tell long, interesting stories (at least to us).

I found this on Pinterest. You. Are. Welcome.

   But I haven’t taken the time to write this week because things have really been hopping around the farm, precluding me from focusing on any one idea and polishing it into something presentable. 
   We have had a large predator here (probably a bobcat or cougar but almost definitely not Sasquatch) and sadly have lost our Tom turkey, a pair of guineas, and at least one rooster. This means that now all the birds, cranky geese included, have been penned up 24/7 for their safety. This means that they are restless and extra noisy, but in a far removed way. This means that I desperately miss them walking around the yards and gardens. Their soundtrack and fluttering presence are both features of daily life I have come to need. This means that I now spend an extra amount of time in the chicken coop every day talking to them, petting them, and generally listening to them. 
   I have also been fortunate to receive several Green Goose orders this past week, so a chunk of every day is spent sewing. This means that my sewing room looks like an F-5 tornado hit. Thank goodness I have not yet acted on the impulse to replace the solid door up there with a windowed farm house door that is partly wrapped in chicken wire, because nobody needs to walk down the hallway and see that chaos.
   Thanksgiving is tomorrow, of course, so I have been following a torrid series of cleaning chores, rearranging impulses, table settings, cooking, and extra cardio, lest we arrive at the first of December having taken two steps back instead of one more forward. Speaking of stepping forward, I kept to my goal of not buying anything at all new for autumn decorating. Except for two things. But these baby pumpkins were grown here, which pleases my soul. 

   The big animals are all busy growing their winter coats, too. This requires me to touch them a lot more than normal and inhale them deeply, up close and personal.. These are important and time consuming tasks, you guys, and they’re further reasons why I haven’t been writing.

   
   Below is a glimpse of the Thankful Tree which I will be forcing my guests to decorate soon. We will write on paper leaves the things for which we are thankful and hang those leaves on this branch. Friends and family will either love it or hate it. Okay, I will love it and they will love it a LOT. By the way, I have been getting lots of emails from PW begging me for photography advice, because clearly I have mad lens skills, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. She’ll be fine.
   But the main reason why I’ve not been writing much is just sheer, perfect, mind numbing shock that People magazine has yet again selected the wrong man for their annual crowning of “Sexiest Man Alive.” Bradley Cooper? Not disgusting. But also not sexier than this guy…
   And he has so many incarnations…

   When will we resist the mainstream? 
   Anyway,  there’s a lot going on. I am so happy to be on the brink of Holiday Season 2011. Good things are happening. Love is stronger than ever. Hope is rising and building just like we need it to. 
Wishing you and yours all of your favorite dishes and twice as many blessings!
Happy Thanksgiving from the Lazy W
xoxoxo

Inspired in Stillwater

   Yesterday evening I had the slightly unusual pleasure of going with Handsome to a work event. An actual work-work event, not a social-work event. Although there was a delicious barbecue meal served and we did enjoy a little socializing. But technically it was work for him, a co-op meeting about smart energy sources and asset management in our great state. 
   I always enjoy seeing him in the context of his job, and last night was no exception, He shines. I am so proud. As an added bonus, I was freshly inspired by the speaker to learn more about the energy discussions that are taking place all around us. You may or may not know that in many ways Oklahoma is something of a benchmark for this wide reaching global issue and that our citizens, our professionals, are considered the go-to experts in the oil and gas industry.
   Before I begin to stutter out my pedestrian understanding of these important topics (this might take a few days), allow me to share a few personal notes from last night:
  • I wore a bright red sweater to a semi-political citizen gathering in Stillwater, OK. Raise your hand if you grasp the seriousness of this error. Thank goodness for my favorite threadbare denim jacket which protected most of my vital organs.
  • After ten years of marriage I still get butterflies when I hear my guy introduced by first and last name, and I get double butterflies when I am introduced as his wife.
  • Life lessons can be found anywhere you look, even town hall meetings. That place was oozing with inspiration last night. 
  • I am so proud to be a native Oklahoman. And on that note, today happens to be the anniversary of our statehood!! Happy Birthday to us!
  • If you are willing to spend time identifying problems, please also be willing to spend time seeking solutions. This, of all the meaningful anecdotes shared by the speaker, spoke the thickest volumes to me. I plan to annoy you guys for the rest of the month with expansion on this idea.
   Okay, that’s it for this morning. Hopefully I have properly whetted your appetite for energy information. Hopefully you turn off the lights when you leave the room. Hopefully you say Happy Statehood Day to the nearest Oklahoman. Hopefully you have the sense to wear local colors to local events.
Have a fantastic day everyone!
xoxoxo