B12 - Little Miss

Look at this child!  Isn't she absolutely beautiful?!

Yes, I think so, too.

Today is Little Miss' 3rd birthday.  I first met her when she was 4 months old.  A month later, her Grandpa and I were married. 

I absolutely love this little girl.  She is precocious, head-strong, extremely energetic, nimble, hilarious, exuberant, strong, frighteningly fearless, compassionate and quite very loving. 

She calls her baby brother "Brudda", and hugs & kisses him with abandon.  But.  Let him interfere with something she wants, and she's quick to scold him and let him know of her displeasure. 

She gives the most absolute tightest and longest hugs.

She can chat on the phone for minutes and minutes . . . when she wants to; when she doesn't want to, then that's that and no conversation will be forthcoming.


She loves pink and purple and all things frilly and girly.  She changes clothes multiple times during the day, and loves to walk around in my shoes and the shoes of other adults. She loves to have her fingernails and toenails painted - in wild colors.

She's a nature girl and loves the outdoor like there's no tomorrow.

As girly as she is, she is also quite the tom-boy.  BTW, adult shoes . . . one of her favorite pairs that she enjoys tromping around in are her daddy's boots.  Yep, yep.

She also loves to dig in the dirt, ride lawnmowers and climb on tractors.

When she was about 15 or 16 months old, I watched for almost an hour, while she dragged a bucket of water to pour into a small dirt pit so that she could make mud.  At that time, she also learned how to operate the spray nozzle of a garden hose.  This helped her make more mud in shorter amounts of time.  She then proceeded to sit down in the mud pit and cover herself from head-to-toe in the thick, brown, gooey mess.

She squeals with delight at the most amusing things.

She sings herself to sleep . . . at the very top of her lungs.  Sometimes such naptime preparation can extend through the entire naptime.

She loves trains.  Chugga Chugga Choo Chooooo!

She can scold you with just a look one minute; and the very next, be giggling and laughing with you . . . or, perhaps, at you.  When she's laughing, her eyes twinkle like a million stars.

She watches and observes.  Everything.  And from that, she learns.  Then, she does what she has just learned.

She absolutely never ceases to astonish me.

*~*~*~*~*
I'm so very thankful that this little bundle of energy is part of my life.  I am most thankful that she's my granddaughter.

Happy Birthday, Little Miss.
I love you so very much . . . you little monkey!

*~*~*~*~*
Thanks for reading, y'all!
Be blessed,
Sharmie 

B11 - Veteran's Day

I'm very thankful to be an American.

I'm also thankful to have been raised with an deep and sincere appreciation for our nation's military.  My dad retired as a Naval Lieutenant Commander when I was around 4 or 5 years old; but the military continued to be a part of our lives.

Dad was a fighter-pilot and served in three wars:  WWII, Korea and Vietnam.  He did so proudly.

As a quirky tidbit for y'all, one of my earliest childhood memory is of my "polishing" my dad's "dress-white" shoes with Kiwi white shoe polish (more accurately, its "Scuff Cover" product).  I absolutely loved "painting" his shoes . . . and I always tried to make sure that the shoes were beyond "inspection-ready."  I loved seeing Dad in his dress whites, complete with his various ribbons depicting the medals that he had earned.  I still have those ribbons. There ya go.

Dad died when I was in my mid 20s.  He had a military funeral and is burried in a national cemetary.  At his funeral, I was presented with his flag.  It's one of my most treasured possessions.

*~*~*~*~*
While today, November 11th is the actual Veteran's Day for 2012, tomorrow will be the observed day.  There will be parades throughout the country, along with various other memorial celebrations.  I hope everyone who is an American has been able to take some time today (and will also be able to do so tomorrow) to reflect on how important our military is.

I encourage y'all to thank the military personnel you encounter throughout the day; both those in your circle of family and friends, and even those whom you do not know.   The sacrifices that these men and women willingly give to their country are often beyond what we civilians can really ever fully comprehend.

Have a Blessed Veteran's Day,
Sharmie 

B7 - Leftovers

It's been a looonnnng day.

Day 3 of the roofers.  Lots of noise - from them, and also from the puppy girls because of them.

Additionally, I was zoomin' all over the house today (mostly in the kitchen), doing this, that and a few other things.  I started this zoomfest at around 7:30am and didn't stop to take my first break until around noon.   The afternoon was similiar to the morning, except not quite as busy. 

My ankles, legs and back hurt - and, I'm tired. 
There ya go.

Tonight, on Day 7 of my 30 Days of Thankfulness, I am especially truly thankful for leftovers.  This means that I do not need to cook dinner tonight, except for the squash that I'm steaming on the stove right now.  That, along with the meatloaf I cooked a few days ago - and dinner is served.

Leftovers also mean that Tex and I have more than enough to eat.  It's a sobering thought that there are many people who do not share this in common with us . . . that what should be a basic part of everyday life for anyone is, instead, often a luxury to them. 

Thanks for reading.
Y'all be blessed . . . and may each of us truly realize just how deeply blessed we really are.
Sharmie

B6 - Despite Too Much

A few months ago, a storm pelted our house with hail; and consequently, our roof sustained some damage.  It needed to be repaired, but not immediately.  This worked out well for the company we selected to re-roof our house; as they were slammed with a customer waiting list over the summer, and asked if we could schedule our roof for later . . . later being, well, now.

Today was the second day of their walking around and pounding on our roof.  The pounding periodically excites the puppy girls, which then creates even more noise via canine barking . . . afterall, Lizzee and Echo are only trying to protect their domain, doncha know. 

Tomorrow's going to be interesting - the roofers are going to be here again, and I've got mucho stuff to do throughout the day.

For a variety of reasons, I've not gotten a lot of quality sleep the past few days.
. . . And, in case y'all didn't know, it's kinda hard to take a nap when there's loud banging just a few feet directly above your head.  There ya go.

Additionally, today's been a busy day; and bedtime isn't going to happen for several hours.  Tomorrow is going to be another busy time . . . as well as the rest of the week.

Whew!  I'm looking forward to Monday!
:)

BUT!  Despite my being tired and despite the next few days promising to be hectic, I do know that it's all going to be all right.  I also know that I can rely on Our Lord's Strength.  AND His Joy throughout it all.

That's a huge Praise / Blessing / Thankfulness!

And now . . . I need to go punch down some dough and bake some dinner rolls . . . to go with the Vegetable / Beef soup that has been slow-cooking all day.

Here's to y'all's stamina - keep it going to get you through what you need to do.

Thanks for reading!
Y'all be blessed,
Sharmie

p.s. - Tex and I crawled into our new waterbed last night . . . and it was good.  We both agree that we might have over-filled it just a tad, so we're going to take care of that.  But big kudos to my Sweetie - because of him and everything he did yesterday, we didn't even have to miss one night of our treasured and much-appreciated waterbed! 

B5 - A Leaky Waterbed

Our waterbed burst this morning.  Just as Tex was getting out of bed, a spot on top of the mattress tore.  It was a significant tear and not one that could be repaired.  Water immediately came forth and started soaking the sheets (along with the vast majority of all of our towels as we tried to contain the leak to just the surface of the mattress).

Tex is currently looking online to find local waterbed sources, so we can buy a new mattress.

We have just finished draining the mattress and have put up all of the tools and equipment that we've been using these past 4 hours.

Yeehaw!
:)

There is an absolute multitude of blessings that I am thankful for regarding today's wet adventure.  The following are just a few of them.
Get ready; here we go:

(1) The mattress decided to burst this morning, at the end of our sleep; versus last night, at the beginning of our sleep. 

(2) The mattress went to its watery grave while we were at home; we didn't have to come home to a big, wet mess.

(3) Tex takes these kinds of things in such stride. He simply does what needs to be done at any given time and then goes on about his life . . . C'est la vie.
Man, I love that man!

(4) Tex was able to call work and tell them that he didn't know when he'd be in to work today (or even if he'd make it to work).  He simply told his boss what had happened and that was that; no hoops to jump through or anything.

(5) He has plenty of comp time to use to offset this surprise day off.

(6) The co-worker that usually rides with Tex called this morning, just minutes after the Titanic made its appearance, and told Tex that he (the co-worker) needed to drive himself to work today.  This completely solved a potential problem of what to do about that and made it a moot, non-matter.

(7) We now need to buy a new waterbed mattress.  Thankfully, we are able to do so at this time.  God's Provisions is always a huge praise!

(8) Tex had most of the tools on hand to do this unexpected project.  The only thing he needed to buy was a water pump accessory to go on the end of his drill, so that we could drain the waterbed without having to rent or buy a water pump.

There are so many other blessings surrounding our now dearly-departed waterbed mattress, but I'll stop here. 

*~*~*~*~*
I'd love to hear about your similar experiences - where something not so good was covered in an array of blessings!

Thanks for reading; y'all be blessed,
Sharmie

B4 - My Imperfection and God's Perfect Timing

I woke up yesterday morning thinking I knew what my thankfulness (Blessings) post was going to be.

Instead of posting my blog post right away, I decided, instead, to make a reply post in an online group that I have recently created that focuses on living healthy.  There's an over-abundance of mainstream mis-information "out there" that people are mistakenly believing.  One of those myths came up in the group yesterday, and I felt I needed to address that then (and not later).

After that, the rest of the morning didn't go quite as planned.  The underlying reason for choosing what I was going to write about, here, in Swirlings presented itself in an onslaught of unexpected tears (mine).  Yep, yesterday's post was going to be a continuance of my 30 Days of Thankfulness; and yes, the reason for that particular thankfulness is, indeed a heavy-hearted one.  This is a point that I want to make sure does not slip by without mention . . . it IS possible to be thankful for things even when those very things are filled with sorrow.  That, in itself, is even another blessing!

Tex was very caring and patient during this unexpected tear-fest.  I love that man so much!

By the time we started getting ready for church, we definitely had to hustle our bustles.

I decided that I would write my blog post after we came home from church.

But.  That didn't happen, neither. 
Instead, I decided to just relax a bit and visit the ozone for a while, before Tex and I left for our afternoons plans.

I still thought I would get the post written before day's end yesterday.  I figured I could write it after we got home in the evening.

Nope.  Obviously, nope, or else there would have been a post made yesterday, here in Swirlings.  Right? 
Of course, right.

By the time we got home, I was pretty tired.  I think I was in bed by 9:00pm.  Daylight Savings Time ended yesterday morning; and so, maybe I was tired because my body was thinking it was 10:00pm.  Yep, I'll go with that.

*~*~*~*~*
The above directly points to my imperfection; specifically that I did not get my Day 4 Thankfulness posted by the end of Day 4.

Now.  Let's talk about God's Perfect Timing, shall we?!
:)

His Timing IS Perfect.  In fact, it always is.

The sorrow that was weighing so heavily on my heart yesterday . . . that sorrow is still there (in part), along with a heavy dose of concern.  But, in the midst of everything, there is Our Lord, and I trust that He is Sovereign.  Over everything. 

I truly believe that it was far better for me to talk with my husband about the matter (even while doing so through many tears), versus making a blog post.  I also believe that this was part of God's Perfect Timing for me, yesterday; even though by doing so, I then did not have time to make a blog post first thing yesterday morning.

Later in the day yesterday, His Perfect Timing manifested itself once again, in the form of a phone call and specifically what was said in that phone call.  It was a confirmation of one of my concerns, and it all ties in with what I am so obscurely writing about.  Being obscure is ok, though ; it's not the specifics that is the point of this blog, it's the blessings that are behind the specifics that are important right now.

There are two such blessings: 
(1) Realizing that my imperfection is, indeed ok.  I've never had a problem with the actual knowing that I am imperfect; I just cannot honestly say that I've always been ok with such personal imperfection.  There ya go.

(2) Knowing that, even in the midst of sadness and concern, God is still God and that He is still Lord over everything.  I know this; I always know this.  In fact, I often remind people of this very fact.  Yesterday, He blessed me in unexpected ways that were very needed and timely reminders.

How has He done this in your life?

*~*~*~*~*
Thanks for reading!
Y'all be blessed,
Sharmie

B3 - Home Sweet House

I grew up in a house; somewhat out in the country, but not completely.
Our neighborhood consisted of 1 long street and 1 short street, both streets formed somewhat of a curvy T.  The house wasn't small; but neither was it large.  It was just a nice, comfortable house; and with the house, came a big yard.

When I decided to leave home and live on my own, I moved into an apartment.  Several of them, in fact.  I moved around a lot for a few years.  Actually, I would move back home for a while, move out, move back home again, move out, rinse, lather, repeat.  It took me a few years to get a grasp on things, doncha know.

Zooming closer to somewhat current time, when I lived in Jackson, I resided in apartments, one-room studios and even motel rooms.  There ya go. 

Interestingly, the longest I lived in a motel was slightly over a year . . . a wing of rooms had been renovated into small studios (to even include cute and functional kitchenettes).  This wing was reserved for anyone who worked in the county.  That should show you how hard housing can be to come by sometimes in Jackson. 

The next longest stint of motel living ran for about 9 months and was specifically attached to a job.  In fact, it was my first job in Jackson.  It was also my first home there, as well.  I had spent the summer working in Grand Teton National Park; and once the summer job ended, I mosied my way down to Jackson in hopes of finding a place to live and starting my life as Southern Belle Hippie Mountain Woman.

But, alas . . . after 2 weeks of searching, I still had not found anywhere to live.  I was pretty dejected and started making plans to leave Jackson.  I went to check out of the motel that I had been staying at for those 2 weeks; and the owner, himself, was at the front counter.  Long story short, he found out my plight and offered me one of his older motel rooms at an employee rate if I would take a night audit job at the motel.  Deal and done.  The job and the accommodations were offered only through the winter; but at least it kept me in Jackson and got me going.  However, a kitchenette was not part of the ammenities.  That's when I learned about crock pots and two-eye electric burners.  Yep, yep.


*~*~*~*~*
Bringing all of this to today, Tex and I live in a house.  Not quite as bit as the house I grew up in, but still quite comfortable and nothing to sneeze at.  In fact, we are able to have an office for Tex, a studio for me and a guest room for, well, guests!  Sometimes that room is home to an out-of-town friend; sometimes it is where our grandkidlettes sleep when they come to visit.  It fills my heart with tremendous joy when that room is being occupied.  Tex and I both truly cherish all of our house guests.

And, let's not forget the kitchen (my second studio)!  Throughout the year, we are able to have friends over for dinner or perhaps a party . . . oh be still my heart; another opportunity to cook for and feed and entertain people - one of my passions, doncha know.

Taking this virtual tour outside, our yard is significantly smaller than the 6 acres from my childhood; but nonetheless, we do have both a front and a back yard.  The back yard is fenced-in, so the puppy girls can run and romp to their heart's delight.

I can grumble about the yard when it needs to be mowed (Texas heat and humidity, anyone?) . . . but I truly do enjoy living in a house and having a yard.


*~*~*~*~*
That's my blessing / thankfulness for today; 3 days into 30 Days of Thankfulness.  I am truly thankful that I live in a house . . . and not just any house; but the house specifically known as Tex and Sharmie's.
:)


*~*~*~*~*
What are you thankful for today?  I'd love to know.  Please feel free to leave your comments below.


*~*~*~*~*
Thanks for reading!
Y'all be blessed,
Sharmie

p.s. - The photo above is of one of our rose bushes in the front of our house (and was taken earlier this year).  It's the closest I could find of a picture showing even part of the outside of our house showing (and with today being a busy day, taking a current photo does not really fit in with the scheme of things, doncha know).