TGIF (late): Following by example

Thank God It's Friday (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There's this blog I read, Witchy Rambles.  I get it in my inbox whenever Cin makes a new post.  I honestly can't recall if I've ever commented on anything there, or her FB page, but I do pause to read them when they come to my inbox.

It's 2:30 am where I am right now, and really, I suppose I should be getting ready to curl up in bed next to Draco, but we just got home from Witchlet's and although we're both tired, neither of us seem quite ready for bed yet, so I started going through my email and found the post Cin did today.  You can find it here, TGIF: Simple things.

Even though it is technically Saturday, not Friday, and most of the people who read this will see it later in the day, I was so moved by her post, that I decided I just had to jump on board because it is such a lovely idea.  It's not a "sign up for blogger meme" or anything like that, just something she decided to do, but I believe that it would make a wonderful meme if she ever decided to make it one.

So many times, we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern life, that we tend to forget to be grateful for our blessings, both great and small, and although I mentioned in a previous post that I don't make New Year's Resolutions anymore, and "Attitude of Gratitude" was one of the things I wanted to work towards this year.

You see, I can tend to be a bit of a pessimist when life gets complicated.  I get overwhelmed and it seems like everything around me is doom and gloom and all I see is the bad.  A lot of my life experiences have been negative, so I find that when I write about my past, and occasionally about my present, it's in an attitude of complaint over the things that are not going well.  Cin's post inspired me to look closer at my life in an effort to try to focus, at least one day a week, on remembering the positive things in my life, and being grateful for them.

After all, the energy we put out there is the same energy we pull to us, right?

So, on Fridays, I want to start doing a post like what Cin is doing over on her blog.  In the spirit of gratitude, here is my TGIF post for this week.  Remember, you can find the post that inspired mine over at Witchy Rambles.

At this moment, I'm grateful to my sister of the heart @TimberLeaves, for introducing me to blogging many years ago when it was still in its infancy.  Because of her, I have owned several blogs, one of which at one time held some popularity and interaction regularly, and I have "met" some amazing and inspiring people via their blogs.  I have come to respect writing in a way school never taught me, by being part of the Bloggerverse, and although it's been an experience littered with joy as well as pain, it's one I would trade.

I am thankful that because of blogging, I have a voice and an outlet in the world.  I haven't been using it the way I always wanted and meant to, but I think that with this new-found gratitude, that may very well change.

I am thankful for my husband, who is always there when I need him, who always manages to come through for us somehow, even when it doesn't look promising.  He works hard to take care of us, and because of him, I am free to sit at home and be a wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend and blogger.

I'm grateful that I posses skill in the kitchen and can still pull off a from-scratch homemade dinner like I did tonight (recipes to start to be posted as soon as I get my new blogging schedule worked out).

I'm grateful for my family and the people who love and accept me unconditionally, even if they don't always agree with me.

For the heart-to-heart Witchlet and I had tonight that seemed to bond our relationship even closer as we finally were able to relate to each other as mutual parents.

I am also so very grateful for my granddaughter.  I got to spend some time enjoying the feeling of her moving tonight.  It is a truly humbling experience to feel the stirrings of a new life inside the the life I created.  It's a feeling that leaves me at a loss for words because it touches my soul so deeply.  Watching the growth of my daughter's stomach as my grandchild has grown inside her has given me such a profound experience as a mother.

I'm thankful for late-night foot rubs, hot baths that smell of roses and gentle whispers in the dark.  I'm grateful for a glass of good wine at the end of a long day and the exhausted satisfaction of a clean house.

I'm thankful for the future and all the promise it seems to hold, even if I have gotten somewhat impatient waiting for everything to come together.  I have high hopes for our transition into the RV and am looking forward to learning a new type of lifestyle that I think will be satisfying in so many ways.

I am thankful for the guidance of the Goddess in my life.  For the times she has challenged me, rewarded me, and punished me.  In every challenge, regardless of if I passed or failed, I learned something valuable about myself, my relationships, my family and the world around me.  Under her not always gentle hand, I continue to learn and grow.

I'm thankful for finally being able to realize fully that my life, and my path, are truly my own.  I have often been overcome with guilt thinking I'm not doing this or that right because of someone else's views or opinions and I am learning to overcome that obstacle to personal happiness.  I cannot live my life for others and those that ask or expect me to, don't truly care about my happiness and I'm starting to weed that type of people from my life.

As for my path, it is mine alone to walk.  There are no set boundaries, rules or guidelines to what is "right" or "proper" for the way I celebrate my spirituality.  That is between me and my Gods and no one else.  It's ok to be me, and to do things my own way.  That has been a hard-learned lesson, and I'm grateful that I'm finally starting to get it.

To be quite honest, the last few months have been particularly stressful in so many ways and for so many reasons.  There has not been much gratitude in my attitude lately, and today was not a great day for me for a number of reasons, but sitting here, thinking over the things that I do have to be grateful for seems to have lifted a weight I didn't realize I was carrying until tonight.  I think I could even get used to this whole "To Blessed to Be Stressed" attitude eventually.  ;)

This is a weekly post that I believe I will find myself looking forward to immensely and again, I'm so very grateful to Cin from Witchy Rambles for her post today that inspired me to write this one.  Make sure to stop by and give her a visit.

Roll with the punches

We just never really know what may be around the next corner, and sometimes, even when we think we have things all figured out, we realize that we don't.

Our holiday visit to Tiger's brought exactly this situation.

English: Jayco slide out kitchen area (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Naturally, we didn't think our family would be overjoyed about our plans to travel extensively, but what we didn't know was that Bear had already talked to his job about getting Draco hired on.  I'm still not certain why he did that in December, when we weren't planning to do anything until February-March, but he did, and what was done was done.  Tiger informed us shortly after we arrived that Bear was very upset that if Draco decided not to take the job, that it might make him look bad at work, and I can understand why.  We discussed the situation and decided to split the difference between our original plan and the new plan.

We are still buying the RV, still intending to live in it full-time, but we will be settling down close to where Bear and Tiger live and Draco will try for job welding with Bear and we will travel when Draco gets vacation time.

I'm really not as upset about this most recent change in plans as I feel I should be.

It's true, I was excited about living a more carefree life and seeing the world, but I suppose as I've gotten older, my ability to roll with the punches life sends me has improved.  It's probably a good thing, because the last few months has felt like a damn roller coaster!

Honestly, I was also looking forward to finally being closer to my sister and the rest of my family and it was a sacrifice.  One I was willing to make for Draco, but still a sacrifice.

Honestly though, he seems to be content with the idea and as long as he is happy, I will be happy as well.

So, Draco spent part of the holidays parked in front of Tiger's computer (we didn't take one with us), daydreaming about future RV upgrades, and even found us a few we both liked that were fairly reasonable.  Looks like once we get this RV set up and ready to go, we'll be saving our asses off to upgrade to something nicer, and bigger!

In other news, Christmas with family was a smashing success and we had a blast!  Even though I'm sure most, if not all, of our Christmas was bought before we decided to buy the RV, most of our gifts will be perfect for the new place!  I'm so excited to get it paid for and all set up!

Of course, it will be a little bit of an adjustment going into such a small space, but honestly, we've been traveling light for about 4 years now, so we really don't have a whole lot.  Most of our possessions seem to be in the form of craft supplies, and that's only going to get worse, lol!

Well, I think that about catches things up for now other than our roommate had her phone stolen last night at work.  Hopefully she'll come home with a replacement phone since she's gone to the police department to file a report and on to her phone company to report it stolen.

Blessings,

Holidays

Thanksgiving Dinner (Photo credit: chuckwaters83)

I see it's been a little over a month since the last time I posted here.  I figured I better get to work on changing that.

I'm still having time-management issues.  I discussed with Draco this morning how overwhelmed I often feel and he says he's going to start helping more.

I changed schools, kind of spur-of-the-moment last week.  I think I like the one I'm using now a lot better.  I'll let you know how I feel as time goes on.  I started going to the Magical Circle School and I'm actually really excited about it.  I like the way the school is put together a lot better than the other one.

I did get ordained the first part of the week as a non-denominational minister (Reverend) and I've been pretty excited about getting that part of things done.  I will still be moving through the degree program with the school I joined this week, but that is a process that will take years to complete.

I managed to pull off a Thanksgiving dinner for 12 on the spur of the moment and we have our dinner with the kids planned for the 21st, which gives me 2 weeks to pull that one together.

The holidays will be a little skimpy this year, but it's a rough year financially and I think Draco and I have developed a better game-plan for pulling them off next year.

Things have been stressful, but we're managing to maneuver our way through the holidays.

How are you surviving the holidays?

Blessings,
Fae

News from The Lair 4-21-13

We have just returned from another lovely weekend at Tiger & Bear's house where there always seems to be laughter and love, in abundance.

Friday night, we all stood around the kitchen island and got insanely wasted while we discussed everything from religion to breakfast foods after dining on the best sub I've ever had.

Saturday, Aunt Hippy & Uncle Boomhower came and helped us celebrate Draco's impending 40th birthday (tomorrow) while we chowed down on Tiger's fantastic cooking. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, Aunt H's amazing deviled eggs, cornbread (with and without cracklins), pink salad (Draco's specialty) and divine from-scratch German chocolate cake. Oh.My.Goddess!

Today was full of last-minute packing, teary eyes, long hugs and a two hour drive back to where we stay through the week after being served one of my favorite breakfast foods in the world, along with biscuits and gravy. I'm not sure what to call it, but it involves potatoes, cheese, onions and is heavenly with ranch dressing!

They say home is where your heart is, and our hearts are two hours away, so it's getting harder and harder to call this place "home".

We talked on the ride back and we both agree that we're living weekend to weekend now. Home is where they are, to us.

Draco, as I mentioned, celebrates the big 4-0 tomorrow, but most of his day will be spent at work. It's a bummer, but for us to pay our bills and still go to Tiger & Bear's on the weekends, we need full checks.

Now, we're back. I'm getting a good soak in while I write and Draco is on his X-Box. The weekly grind begins again tomorrow but our day is done today. All we want now is a little dinner, hot coffee, the comfort of each other's company while we miss our family and our games.

Hope you all had a blessed weekend and I wish you all the best as we head into another week.

Until next time, Hatchlings...

Blessings,

Drakina