I Feel Like a Bear...

...'cause I've been TAGGED by Loretta.

Here are the rules:

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write six random things about yourself
3. Tag six people at the end of your blog
4. If you are tagged, just do it and pass the tag along

Well, there are not six people left to tag because it took me a week to document my randomness. If anyone stops by and wants to play, just leave a comment with either your six or a link to your blog.

Six random things about me...

1. Entering my fifties was an extreme trauma for me. I was crushed by the realization that my life was essentially more than half over, that so many of the things that I would do 'one day' were probably not going to happen. With 53 rushing in this month, I find myself very content and mostly happy. I have begun to "do".
2. I hitchhiked to Atlanta when I was 17. That one is in the Top 5 stupidest things I have ever done! Maybe one day I will write a post about the adventure. Note to daughters, "Don't even think about anything so stupid!". (this might be news to them, ehem.)
3. I work in a beautiful yarn store a couple of Saturdays each month, for fun. I typically spend more than I get paid!
4. Fall is my favorite season and October, my favorite month. Go figure. My favorite day of the year is the first day that I notice the light has changed and the air feels and smells different.
5. Off the top of my head, these are my favorite fiction reads of the last 52 years. Just David, by Eleanor Porter (first read to the class by my 6th grade teacher), Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott (first real novel I ever read), A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle, LOTR Trilogy, by Tolkien, Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, The Stand, by Stephen King, The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, Zion Chronicles Series, by B&B Thoene and Zion Covenant Series, byB&B Thoene. I think these are in chronological order of my reading.
   
6. The plumber is in the other room lining the inside of my fresh air return so I won't get mold.

Is that random enough for you?

**Correction**
A random mistake - The guy in the other room was not the plumber. It was the HVAC guy.

Abandoned

Isn't it odd that when something catches your attention, you run into it again and again.

Yesterday, I was floating around in cyberspace and was drawn to a link to The Suitcase Project, which I found hauntingly fascinating. Long story short, suitcases found in the attic of an abandoned asylum, turned psychiatric hospital, held the stories of patient's lives before they were institutionalized. Some lived rich and full lives before they entered the hospital. All thought it a temporary situation. Most remained there until the end. Many were not even ill. They simply ran aground in life and had no one to help them get back on course. Go read some of the stories.

Then today, I went to see Belinda at upsidedownbee and there was Thrum Thursday post about Crazy, a book she read about the criminalization of the mentally ill in our country. And well, go read what she had to say. It's good, as always.

So, I've been thinking a lot about the people that get lost in life, abandoned by society. If the suitcase people lived today, they would probably be homeless. It makes me think about the value of the people that are put in our lives. There is nothing more important, after relationship with Christ, than our relationships with the people in our lives. We were created, after all, to be in relationship - with God and each other. It is a thing I need to remember as I stumble through life - I am not in it alone and that is good.

Speaking of....on Sunday I am going to pick up daughter #1 and we will travel to visit daughter #2 to deliver some needed bits of furniture for her new digs. And guess what exhibit is on display at a university library in #2's town? You guessed it....The Suitcase Project. Hmmm. Must figure out how to get them to let me go see it!

Random Ramblings

• Oxygen is showing the Olympic Equestrian events every evening. I really enjoy watching. If I had a "do over" in life, I might be there.
• One day you are cruising along down the road of life and the next day your world explodes and will never go together, just so, again. A co-worker is suddenly making decisions about what course of action makes sense to attack the malignant tumor that is growing in his five year old daughter's brain. Kind of makes EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM that me and all my friends deal with, well, not so big. My co-worker and his family have a positive and hopeful attitude. I am praying for miracles for them.
  
• I am working on turning my newly acquired 'extra' room into a studio. I have everything I need. Why don't I get motivated to unpack boxes and put everything in place? Maybe I am afraid of creating. I have what I have longed for, to have a place and the freedom to create, yet I am hesitant to run with it.
  
• I finally purchased a really good cantaloupe. Really good. That is one of my joys of the season.
• I must make a habit of taking my pooch out for long walks. We both need it. The weather is perfect. But I am in the mood to blog. Sorry, Abbey. Maybe tomorrow.
• I receive a daily email from Ransomed Heart Ministries (John Eldridge). A recent reading titled, The Power of Addiction, was taken from Eldridge's book, The Sacred Romance. Here is an excerpt,
  "This is the power of addiction. Whatever the object of our addiction is, it attaches itself to our intense desire for eternal and intimate communion with God and each other in the midst of Paradise—the desire that Jesus himself placed in us before the beginning of the world."

This really struck my heart. My life has certainly been touched by the addictions of others, the obvious ones. But I am asking God to make me aware of my addictions. The things that I run to instead of Him. Through the power of Christ, I can begin to run to Him instead of the temporary satisfactions that I seek.

These are just some of the things that are rambling around my brain lately.

I Didn't Know I Would Cry

Isn't she cute?, originally uploaded by candyknits.

My last little bird flew the nest today. She packed up her bedroom, loaded furniture and all, into her dad's truck and took off. What a bittersweet moment. She needed to go. It was time. She needs to be on her own. Try her wings. Find out they work. And me, I wanted her room. I need the space. My condo is not big enough for all her clothes. It is a one person space. So we come to this hard place where the change is. It is right for both of us but it is hard.

I took the afternoon off work and got home as the packing was wrapping up. They came in and cooled off for a minute and then they were gone. I looked around, into what was her room, and thought maybe I better leave too. Riding down the road wondering if she would ever live even near me again I felt my eyes begin to well up with tears. They surprised me.

I pray for her to fly straight and with a purpose. That is my prayer for both my chicks.

WORD.

Here's my Wordle.....

I Walked 2.72 Miles Today!

Thanks to Bee for the inspiration. She posted the tool below on her blog and I thought it looked like fun. So I started out by mapping the normal walk that my dog, Abby, and I take. Well, I lost all my exercise righteousness when I discovered that we were not even walking one mile! I will grant that one mile is better than no mile, but I have higher goals so I mapped a longer loop. I think that I will create several so that I don't get bored (or reported for stalking).


I thoroughly enjoy walking aroung the neighborhoods , imagining the lives inside the houses, admiring the architecture and the landscapes, and passing others who are doing the same thing. Abby needs the exercise and she loves the change of scenery after being crated all day. This needs to be a habit. I'll work on it.

Things are beginning to come together ever so slighly in my new condo. I am not good at finishing getting settled after the initial move. Well, I've had my "I'm not gonna look at the mess" time and now I am getting motivated to finish some things up. This weekend I started finishing up the paint job on the last six cabinet doors in the kitchen and.... I finally spray painted the door and drawer pulls and put them back on and I must say, they are lookin' good. I painted the cabinets white and sprayed the pulls glossy black enamel. I like it. I will post some before and after pics soon.

Right now I must find something to eat. Something healthy!

Tired Puppy

I feel the same way. I finally finished grooming her tonight. Gah! What a trauma for us both. But it is done and she is adorable. She is so sweet she forgives me as soon as I quit. Good dog!

It's bedtime for us both. I am going to compose a real post at some point. Promise.