Home is where your heart is...........

It beckons. It calls. It woos. It charms.

                   It is sanctuary. It is safety. It is comfort.

                                                               It is home.

I have always been a home body. I love to travel, don't get me wrong, but for me? Travel IS exciting, but there is nothing like the feeling of coming back from your travels to a place of your own.........a place you call home.

I can live anywhere. I have lived in large houses. I have lived in small houses. I have lived in fineness and I have lived in a hovel. Through it all, whatever it looks like on the outside, wherever it is situated, home calls to me, through the family I have there and my collection of time worn objects and books. Things that provide comfort and continuity. THESE are what make a home for me. For me, home truly is where my heart is...................

I move in a few short months, (if everything goes as planned), and it won't be a mansion and it won't be a hovel, but it will be home. Since the advent of Pinerest, of which I am absolutely a devotee, if not a fanatic, I have saved and pinned numerous photos of things that to me, encompass a retreat for the senses. So I am sharing a few of my Pinterest pinned dreams for this new home with you. Just because............

Entryways are always so important! So don't forget to plan a lovely beginning to your home.

(I love the tile in this entry.......especially since I have 3 HUGE dogs! Easy to clean!)

 

I want light and air..........I don't want to ever be in the dark!

And lovely wood floors that feel so warm!

white~white~white! Fresh and clean!

 

It the details that give a home it's charm..............

 

The ambiance and aroma of your signature scent............. 

Am I the only one in the world who says excuse me when I step around or over my dogs???

 

The familiarity of my friends called 'old books'...............

and the warmth of a fireplace whether filled with candles

 

or a blazing yule log.................

 

I want a place to cook..........

 

a place to serve................

filled with hospitality in soothing patterns, textures and southern cooking..........

bright and sparkly and white..............

 

A place you where you can come in from doing THIS..............

or this.........

 and this.........

or this...........

 

And when you are finished you can get clean......

relaxing with a long soak in the tub....

 

so you can kick back in a comfy sofa.....

and put your feet on the coffee table without worrying if you will 'mess' something up!

 

So at the end of a long day of work and play...............

 

you can swing on the back porch and  relax

 

Before you curl up and drift off to sleep!

 

Most of all my prayer is...........

 

 

 

W.T.F.?????

 

 

Rules for making yourself appear as an Ass

(And a scary Ass at that.)

 

1. Fall in lust with your therapist, whom you have only seen THREE times. (Who really isn't all that great looking, but you think she is because you've lived out in the boonies for so long a dried up cow carcass would do.)
2. Send her flowers and say 'Thanks for all the hard work you do' and then follow it up with some comment that alerts her to your inappropriate thoughts
3. When you get changed to another therapist, pretend you don't know WHY this happened.
4. Ask for her phone number when you catch her in the hallway alone.
5. When she says, "Yeah, I can't DO that", ignore that answer.
6. Hang around the therapy door and look in the therapy room 400 times on the day you leave.
7. Call her at work after you have been discharged and ask to speak to her.
8. Come back into the facility to "visit your old room-mate" and hang around the therapy door looking in the therapy room.
9. Send her flowers with a note that you "MISS" her and ask her to call you.
10. Show up the facility, come to the therapy room with a 'take and bake' pizza for her.
11. Show up at the facility, come to the therapy room with a tennis ball, (?), and a note with your phone number asking her to call you.
12. Show up at the facility and drive around the parking lot looking for her truck.

 

Yes. This is happening to me. I am a tad freaked out. I am NOT looking for a man, but if I were? THIS is what I would look for. You would have to be SO sold out for Jesus, that when I looked at you all I could see is His love and your devotion. THEN, maybe, I would consider a relationship.

 

or.......................................

 

 

But not really.



One may live without bread, not without roses~~Jean Richepin

Shakespeare once wrote...............

          What's in a name? That which we call a rose
                                 By any other name would smell as sweet.

I have to agree. Especially since my two favorite catalogs in the world arrived today!

Jackson and Perkins Roses and David Austin English Roses! Yayness! And I bet you thought it would be catalogs that are all about horse tack. I love those also, but my rose catalogs? Have the ability to set me dreaming. I LOVE roses! I love gardening!

 

 

In April, I will be moving to the new house and with that house is an already set up garden area. I have plans to expand that greatly over the years and a must have for me is always plenty of roses for cutting and sharing. In my most humble opinion, one can never, EVER have too many roses!

So I am dreaming and scheming and hoping........................and trying to decide which to order first. Not an easy decision, except for the fact that I am not made of money and so I can only add a few each season! But I thought I would let you in on some of my favorites..............

From Jackson and Perkins I have drooled over, CHOSEN.............................

Summer Nights

Double Delight

(This rose has the most amazing fragrance!)

April in Paris

Bella'roma

(This is touted to have a lovely fragrance!)

 

And one of my all time favorites, a hedge rose that is such a prolific bloomer that it shows its flowers from spring until the killing frosts.....

Simplicity Hedge Rose

 

Loveliest is the fact that now Simplicity comes not in just the stunning pink, but lavender, yellow and also red. I am not much for red roses, but I plan on getting a hedge going around the morning patio in pink and lavender! These roses are perfect for drying for crafts as well!

 

From David Austin English Roses, the choices get harder. I LOVE all roses, but ENGLISH roses are invariably my favorites. I love the lushness of them and the colors are phenomenal! So from the ivories and whites, I chose...........................

 

Windermere 

Glamis Castle

Crocus Rose

 

From the pinks.........................

 

A Shopshire Lad

Harlow Carr

Heritage

The Generous Gardener

 

From the Apricots and Oranges.............................................

 

Crown Princess Margareta

Grace

Lady of Shallot

The Lark Ascending

 

And from the Yellows...............................................

 

Teasing Georgia

Graham Thomas

Golden Celebration

 

Did you know that in the Victorian times, when they made Tussie-Mussies and sent them out to their loves, a YELLOW flower was not a good thing? Yellow actually symbolized INFIDELITY! Yar. I would not want a yellow flower in my bouquet, thank you very much!

 

I know I cannot purchase all of these at once, and there are certainly HUNDREDS more I want too, but the first roses will be selected from this group. I can hardly wait! I have missed having a garden while living in Colorado. The growing season was different from what I grew up with and I could never get it just right.....................too early.......................too late. I like Arizona gardening where if you are willing to water it? ANYTHING GROWS!

 

So happy gardening, my friend. Or at least happy DREAMING of gardening!

The innocence of a real man...

 

 

 

I hope they always retain this. I hope life does not harden them and steal this away. I hope they always remain committed to Jesus and stay REAL men.

God and His Masterpiece painting....

Coming home from work yesterday at my favorite bend in the road.....

 

Absolutely STUNNING! Thanks for the beautiful show Father God!



The upside of snow...

The New Year blew in snow....

I woke up New Years Day to this scene...

 

And this...

 

 

Scarlett and Rhett were not sure if we were in Arizona or Colorado!

 

 

After an initial checking the scene out...

 

 

The fun begins!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Where DID that ground go???

 

We LOVE snow!!!!!

 

 

Thanks for the snow, Mom!!!!!

 

 

I didn't have the heart to tell them I didn't ask for snow. Look at those faces? Could you?

 

Happy New Year, my friend. I hope you find the joy these guys found in the snow!







Welcome to a new year.............

Yesterday, it snowed. A LOT. In Arizona!

I came home early yesterday, as I got in early to work anticipating a heavy patient case load. Lo and behold, an extra therapist showed up so that left me 2 patients less to see, so like.........YAYNESS!!!

But coming home in blizzard conditions and feeding horses in the snow, brought back bad memories. As I trudged back and forth, getting blankets on the old girls, hauling hot water for soaking the pellets, dragging the wheel barrow instead of pushing it through the ever mounting snow........



I guess it was inevitable that I would dream those dreams when I fell into bed last night. It is 5 pm on New Years Day and the sadness and icky feelings are still with me.

I have never spoken too much about the reasons the marriage did not work. I don't think it is at all classy to do such a thing and I have seen so many people trash the other involved when a relationship comes to an end........so very sad. There is always 2 sides to every story and how can anyone be certain of what another's' reasoning was when they did what they did and what their motives were?



I don't think anyone but God can know those things. But what I do know, is that the breakup left me feeling used and worthless, sad and at times, angry. Angry because I moved all the way to Colorado and put everything I had into a relationship that had obviously so little value to the other party involved. Sad, because I trusted and proved my trust by changing my entire life for this relationship and for what? Everyone, including God Almighty says, forgive and forget. But it isn't that easy and forgiveness is something that happens every day in my world. Forgetting is even more difficult because memories happen every day.

That last year in Colorado was bad. The whole situation left me in a position where over 1/2 of my paycheck was paying for health insurance that wasn't my own, resulting in having little left to support myself. I found myself a small and VERY rustic home. It wasn't insulated, it had no central heat, no stove or refridge, no gas and no running water. It hadn't been occupied for a good 4 years and was rat and mouse infested, it needed cleaning up or rather, mucking out before I could even THINK about moving in. I spent a MONTH cleaning with a face mask on for fear of contracting hantavirus, which had already claimed the life of a Denver man earlier in the year. What it DID have was electricity and a wood burning stove, (not hooked up) and 40 acres of dead pine trees for firewood that the owners were more than happy to have me cut and use. I skipped eating for a week and bought the stuff to hook that wood burning stove up, and thanks to Ace Hardware guys and their advice, I had a working wood burning stove.

I have always been a pretty independent person, so it was a humbling experience when friends pitched in and helped me out. Beth and Kevin hooked up the water situation to a reservoir tank, so that although I would have to haul water to the tank, I would have water for the house. Kevin did plumbing work to enable me to have running water, although I did not have a water heater and would have to heat water. Annemarie, Tony and Richard helped me move horse panels, horses and what household items I had. Beverly helped me clean. And clean. AND CLEAN. Kevin and Gary cut wood for me. Not once. But TWICE. Cords and cords of it.



It snowed a LOT beginning in October and lasting until March. It was COLD. I moved all my dogs, cats and birds into the one room with the wood burning stove and I slept in my big club chair, taped off the windows with black plastic to keep the cold air from coming in. I heated water on the wood burning stove and cooked on my little electric hotplate. I hauled water in my pickup for 10 horses, 3 dogs, 3 cats, Noah and Stimpy and myself. I trudged through snow that was at times 2 feet deep to feed and water twice a day. Luckily for me, the facility I worked at offered employees lunch for a buck a day. Each payday, I bought a ten dollar ticket and ate my biggest meal a day there. I shopped strictly at The Dollar Tree and lived on beans and rice. I washed clothes in the sink and when I could afford to, at the laundry mat. I determined to move BACK to a warmer climate and prayed. I put in one application and before I could put in another, I had a job waiting for me in Kingman, Arizona.

My little family and I live in Kingman, Arizona now. We have heat and running water. We have a stove and a fridge. We have dog food and cat food and hay and people food too. I have a job I LOVE going to and friends across the street.

It rarely snows here. So maybe I won't have to remember.

Welcome to a new year and a new life.