These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.
Brown paper packages tied up with strings.
These are a few of my favorite things."

I don't know about raindrops on roses, but these are a few of MY favorite things:

• When I wake up in the middle of the night and look at the clock and I still have hours left to sleep.  
• When I walk into the house and the M&Ms have not torn up the place. 
• When I finish a good book. 
• When I step on the bathroom scale and it has moved down a few pounds (or at least stayed the same).
• Climbing into bed with fresh, clean sheets that are all tucked in nice and tight. 
• When Trenty reaches for me at night while sleeping just to touch my hand. 
• Waking up and thinking it is Wednesday and finding out it is actually Thursday.
• Hearing a song on the radio that has some great memories attached to it. 
• Deja vu -- knowing I am on the right path. 
• Climbing into bed when my electric blanket has warmed it up for me. 
• Having a dream of someone I love and miss. 
• Bad weather outside, being inside all warm and tucked in. 
• Finding a great book just by chance. 
• Turning on the television and actually finding something good. 
• Waking up and not wanting to get up and start my day, but then getting up and doing a work out and knowing that was the right choice and the best choice, even though staying in bed for an extra 30 minutes would have felt so good. 
• Knitting something for someone who genuinely appreciates it and loves it. 
• Accomplishing a bucket list item. 
• Making plans that actually go through and work out. 
• A spontaneous thought that turns into a great day. 
• Getting goosies and knowing something amazing is taking place. 
• Looking into the eyes of those I love and seeing that same love returned. 
• Remembering  a song lyric after not hearing that song for a long time. 
• An unexpected text just letting me know I am loved and missed. 
• Seeing my children be happy and being the best they can be. 
• Returning home from the grocery store after really not wanting to go. 
• Clothes fresh from the dyer. 
• Thunderstorms. 
• A package in the mail. 
• New shoes. 
• Sunflowers. 
• A great song on the radio which compels me to get up and just dance. 
• Making a hard decision and going through with it. 
• My mom's tacos. 
• An unexpected call from my children, without bad news. 
• My sports team coming from behind for a great win.  

As I started this list, I thought maybe I could come up with like ten things if I tried really, really hard.  Then, things just starting coming to me.  Things that made me smile as I typed them.  I realized this list, though not infinite, could go on and on and on for a while.  The more I typed, the more I thought of.  One thought would lead to another which would lead to yet another.  

Though a few more than just a few things, these are some of my favorite things that make me happy.  

XOXO 

New Year, New You!!

Happy 2016!

I wonder how long I will be writing 2015 before it finally kicks in?

I hate the expression "New Year, New You."  Hate it!  Natalie and I joke about it around this time of year.  We will see people at Target buying sports equipment or new people at our gym or new people running with us and we look at each other, laugh, say the phrase, and laugh again.  A new year is a new beginning, in a way, I guess.  But, I don't think you should wait until the new year to do something.  If you want to lose 15 pounds, start today.  If you want to change your attitude, start today.  If you want to....whatthehellever, start today.  It is like resolutions, really...how long before you break them?  The ONLY resolution I ever kept was a few years back when I resolved to buying a new pair of shoes every month.  I LOVED that resolution and I kept it, all through the year.  Maybe it is purely my selfish nature, but maybe I kept this resolution because I got something physical out of it.  Twelve new pair of shoes...yes, please!!  This, however, hardly made me a better person or a thinner person ...maybe a happier person!!  All the other ones...eat better, be nicer, be more positive, don't be such a bitch, laugh more....blah, blah, blah...in a week I'll be yelling at someone for something minor making a big scene while eating a Snicker bar!!!!

I have learned a lot in the past year.  I have been through a lot in the past year.  I have faced things that I never thought I would.  I have grown as a person, as a mother, as a wife.  None of these things started with a resolution nor did they start with the new year.  Things were thrust upon me and I either let them get me down or I fought until it was good or I continue to fight for what I believe is right.

I am so thankful my family made it through the year with little loss and little heartache.  We lost my grandmother almost a year ago, but in reality, that was more a celebration of life than a loss.  We made it over the some hard bumps.  I am grateful to have the friends, who I have picked to be in my life, and the family, who, though not picked personally, belong in my life.  I am grateful to those I know I can count on and, though sorry for the loss, grateful to those who have walked out or been cast out of my life.  Everything happens for a reason.

I wish I could give credit where credit is due, but I cannot remember who said this.  I belong to a secret, private group on Facebook of Mormon Mothers with LGBTQ children.  Someone said this recently and I cried when I read it because it is me today.  It is how I live my life now.  And it is indeed regret for not living my life like this always.  This is my new motto.  This is my new outlook on life. This is who I am today and who I want to be always.  One of my Mama Dragon friends said:

I used to see things in black and white, now I see things in rainbows.  

I love that.  I love feeling like that.  It has little to do with having an LGBTQ child and everything to do with the kind of person I want to be.  I want to be a ray of sunshine, not a cloud of doom.  I want to shine bright, not be dulled and left behind.  I want to smile and have you smile back.  I want to make a difference in any way I can; whether it be letting the last piece of chocolate go or taking money from my pocket and handing it to you.  I want to support things that are important to me.  I want to wear my rainbow glasses and see the world as it was meant to be seen!

Happy New Year!

Remember -- New Year -- NEW YOU!!!!

XOXO

Carpe Diem

Just to brag on my wonderful, brilliant daughter for one moment.

It was Thanksgiving Day here at the ol' Wood household.  Trent had worked Wednesday night, therefore was sleeping much of the day, and was headed back in that evening.  Natalie was here and of course the M&Ms and myself.  I had decided not to do a turkey but a ham instead.  I really love spiral cut yummy ham so it was my decision that this would be what we would have.  A turkey, for three people, is far too much and I can't do that many leftovers!  Besides a few weeks before,  maybe like 6 weeks, I have cooked a great turkey breast and later that night, I barfed it up!  LOL -- I am sure it was not my cooking, just a little bug, but I don't think I could do turkey again that soon.  TMI?!?!

Any way, I had gotten up, not too early because the ham would not take as long as a turkey, but early enough to make some shrimp cocktail and some pink stuff and peel the potatoes...just easy prep work.

Natalie and I had decided earlier in the week that we would put the Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving Day.  Not a usual tradition around the Wood house. With Natalie's birthday December 4, I always tried to keep Christmas and her birthday separate, so we never put the tree up until after her birthday.  But I guess now that she is a big girl, that is not as important.  It worked out pretty great anyway because I had the day off and Trent was sleeping and I didn't want to shop (WHAT?!?!)

My mother called that morning and we chit chatted a bit.  I asked what her plans were for the day.  She asked what mine were.  We talked about her health and about Christmas plans.

Later that day as Jo and I were setting up the tree and decorating the house, we were talking.  She had asked what the Farmington family was doing for the holiday.  I told her.  A few minutes later she said, "You know, that makes me sad.  They have all that family over there and don't wish to spend it together and we are all alone over here and would love some family to share the day with. They really don't know how lucky they are and they don't understand all the time they are wasting."

That Natalie...she is a smart one.  I would like to think that it was because of me that she understands the concept of family so well.  But, I think it is just the way she is.   She knows loneliness.  She knows not having a house full of people.  She knows the yearning to be with family during the holidays as well as during times of crisis.  She knows that this may be the last Thanksgiving some are with us. She knows that there is just not enough earthly time to be with those you love. She knows to live life.  She knows the importance of telling loved ones they are loved, you never know when it will be the last time and your regret for not having said it one last time.

That Natalie...she is a smart one.

XOXO

Two Things...

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I wasn't going to bore you, or myself for that matter, with a thanksgiving thankful post, but I changed my mind.

This year has been a particularly rough one for my family.  The year just started off bad and got worse and then everything kind of turned around.  Trent got sick on December 18, spent time in the hospital until Christmas Eve when I begged them to let him come home.  I believe he was probably back in the day or two after Christmas.  He remained in and out of the hospital through January, February, March, and April when he finally had a surgical procedure.  He remained home, off work, until the first part of July.  During this time, I had to say goodbye to my Grandmama who had passed, who I didn't have the chance to see one last time and to say a proper goodbye.

I am not sure if anyone really knows how much my heart ached.  I made a post a while back joking about the things I learned while my husband was in the hospital, but really, there was nothing to joke about.  I also wrote a post about taking care of a chronic pain patient; that, as well, was no joke.

I am sure you would not have any idea how many tears I shed during this time.  I am sure you would not have any idea how sad and how worried and how frantic I had become.  I am sure you would not have any idea that I prayed almost every single minute of every single day.  You would not have any idea that I went to my old bishop of my ward and asked when do I start praying for other things.  I was praying for Trent to get better and to come home; I was wondering if I should be praying for God's will to take effect and take Trent 'home' sooner rather than later and to make the suffering stop.  I am sure you have no idea how I neglected my own needs during this time.  I am sure you have no idea how many fake smiles I flashed to people who asked how he was doing or how many lies I told that he was better or good or improving or how many tears I choked back so my weakness would not show through.

I really had no idea how close I thought Trent was to dying until a few months ago when we were visiting Garrick in Boise. I was talking with Garrick and Trent about the time a few months before when G had come home after T's surgery.  I inadvertently said, "...when you came home for dad's funeral..."  I mean, I knew he was close to dying and I knew the procedure was very risky and complications were likely, but to actually say "dad's funeral" brought it home, really, how my heart was hanging on to something my brain knew was inevitable.  To this very day, I get a cringe of pain in my heart and the tears start flowing when I think back to earlier this year.  The very thought of not having Trenty in my life....well, I can't even go there.

So, needless to say -- I am very, so very thankful for my husband.  I am thankful for all he does for me and with me.  I am thankful that I know he will be by my side for time and all eternity.  I am thankful that our Heavenly Father gave us more time to share.  I love you, Trenty.

I am thankful for my wonderful son.  I am so proud of him.  He has made very big decisions this year, some of which (actually probably just one of which) could have (actually did) caused him to lose friends.  He is strong and brave.  He is one of the most caring people I know.  I am terribly sorry that he had to carry a burden on his shoulders for so many years; I am so grateful that he has allowed me to help him with this, to relieve some of his burdens and take them on as my own.

I am thankful for my beautiful daughter.  She, too, has made big decisions this year.  Ones that will affect the rest of her life.  She will be soon going on new adventures and living life to the fullest doing the things that she loves.  She has gotten rid of baggage and has moved onward and upward.  She makes me so happy and I burst with pride when I think about her and her strengths and her talents and her generosity and her passion.  I am so grateful that she is in my life and for the happiness she brings.

I am thankful for my M&Ms.  Don't laugh!  I love my Maggie and my Moosie. There are nights that I find myself alone, but am I really?  I have two of the most caring, gracious doggies in the whole wide world looking out for me.  When I cry, they will rest their little heads onto my knees and let me know they are there for me.  When I laugh, they run around and share my joy.  When I leave the house, I know the very second I return and walk through the door, I will be greeted with warm, wet kisses and excitement that I have yet again returned. They are, as much as anyone else, my family.  I am so grateful to have those two knuckleheads in my life, sharing my bed and my sandwiches with me!

Finally, I am thankful for my friends and my family who have made their presence and love known to me this year, especially this year.  I am thankful for the ones who understand and stand by me regardless of what I think or how I live or what I feel.  I am thankful for Facebook for bringing friends from all over the world as close as my desk.  I am thankful for new friends as well as those whom I have known all of my life.  I can't imagine a life without these people in it.  I am so grateful that whatever paths we cross, my friends and family are here.


*
The second thing...words I hate saying and hate hearing.  Actually, you will never hear me utter these words....

     LOVER
     MOIST

I am kinda gagging just typing these words!!  Yuck!  I cringe when I hear them. I wont even go into the times they could be said in the same sentence.....*GAG*.

I am sure there are more words, but those are just the two I have recently heard and I just can't unhear them!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  May your turkey be moist and your lover be hot!!! ROFL  -- see what I did there?!?!?

XOXO

Velvet

Two Things...

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I've often said that I don't have a favorite this or favorite that.  I think my favorite thing is whatever today is.

Like for instance... Fall.  If someone asked my favorite season, I am not entirely sure I would say Fall...but today I would.  I was driving down a street today and in the rain (thank heavens for rain!) there were leaves falling from the trees.  The fall was not straight from the limb onto the street, but rather swaying in the wind and tossed around in the rain.  It was a journey for the leaf.   It caught my eye and I found myself mesmerized by the falling of the leaves.  I watched as they made their trek from the top all the way to the bottom.  I decided that Fall was probably my favorite season.

I remember as a child, we would go trick or treating and in New Mexico, where there are REAL seasons, Halloween was like smack dab in the middle of Fall.  We would traipse through the streets and while doing so, we would be kicking  piles of leaves that were accumulated at the curbs.   It was cold, too!!  I don't remember a Halloween where our wonderfully thought out costumes weren't covered by our winter coats.

Here in California, Fall is a bit different.  There really isn't a mild transition, it just happens like all in one day.  Like last week -- it was hot, like 85 degrees and I wore my sandal wedges and  jeans with a short-sleeved shirt when my husband and I went to the movies.   Like two days later, I had to put on a sweater and socks.  Just like that.  No warning.  Just 80 degrees one day to 60 degrees the next.  Green leaves upon the trees one day to dead leaves on the ground the next. There wasn't a subtle change in the leaves, like I would imagine New England or even how I have witnessed in New Mexico, but just one day green on the tree and the next day yellow in the grass.

Today, I am grateful for the Fall and for the changes.  It just might be my favorite time of the year...until Winter anyway.


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I don't know if it because of the internet or the way kids are being taught today or  maybe just the fact that I am old now and things tend to bother me more...but what has happened to pronunciation of words.

When I was in grade school, we learned that the word 'often' was pronounced without the "T" sound...off-en.  Yes, there is a "T" in the word, but it is one of those silent ones...or at least how I was taught.  Not anymore.  I hear the pronunciation ... off-ten.   I don't think that is correct!!

Also, probably. Three syllables -- pra-ba-blee.  Definitely not -- prab-lee.

Hundred.  Two syllables -- hun-dred.  Not -- hun-erd.   There are two "Ds" in the words.  Those letters, unlike the silent "T", make sounds.

My daughter has thought her whole life that she had Chester drawers in her room.  Granted, I don't know anyone who really emphasizes the 'of' in chest of drawers, but we should!  I think it tends to come out more -- chesta drawers or...Chester.

Another one...supposed.  A lot of the time supposed is paired with to... I was supposed to work today ....  I hear, suppost.  Really?   I was suppost to work today?  Really?

I realize some things are regional.  Like wash and warsh.  But some things are just like lazy I guess.  I mean, you save...what....like half a second making probably only two syllables.

I can't off the top of my head think of other words...but they are out there!  I know this because I often (off-en) find myself looking at people whilst I am out and asking myself, WTF are they saying? I know I must be wearing that look as well...that look that says, without saying it too loudly, dumbass.

I guess it's probly just me and that I let things too ofTen settle on that one, last nerve.  (Geeez...I almost want to cut my tongue out!!)

Anyway...that is my rant for this week.

And, there you have it my friends...my two things.

XOXO
(I am taking a Facebook break for a minute...I wonder if anyone will even see this?!?  I hope so, it was a good one (goodun)!)