Category: Thoughts + Inspiration (Page 9 of 18)

Sunday’s a good day to remember what we’ve been grateful for over the past week, don’t you think? I’m joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition, and here’s my list:

– A Monday morning bath… oh heaven, heaven.

– Laughter and how it’s like an instant happy pill.

– How much my Hubby makes me laugh — and just melts my heart in general — on a daily basis!!

– Reading a funny book. The books I love to read are all nonfiction that I can learn something from, and I recently borrowed a library book called The Wild Life: A Year of Living on Wild Food by John Lewis-Stempel. It was nonfiction and very interesting, and also happened to be really funny. I’d forgotten what a treat it is to read a funny book — I think the last one was back in 2004 when I read Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks during lunches in the dining hall of my dorm — it was hilarious, and almost the only enjoyable part of that one-semester University experience!

– Interlibrary loan!

– Finding a local source for pastured chicken (for Colorado folks, it’s Cottonwood Creek Farms).

– Going to the farmer’s market again and getting 6 fragrant & delicious organic French melons and two 5-lb pastured chickens for $15 apiece. $3/lb is incredible for local pastured chicken, compared to Whole Foods who robs you at the rate of $6.99/lb for non-organic, non-free-range, non-local, non-pastured chicken parts! I’m so glad we’ve found the Cottonwood Creek folks!

Hubby's lunch today -- organic French melon filled with grassfed cottage cheese!

– Garden work done, errands done, getting lots of loose ends taken care of around the house.

– Eating our garden produce! Especially those cucumbers…

– Raspberries. I could live on raspberries alone.

– The evening sun streaming into our apartment through the west windows. It’s my favorite time of day in this place…so warm and inviting.

– Having so much less stress in my life! Priceless.

– Not having the energy for cooking to be my creative outlet yesterday, so instead, making this:

– Getting a dreaded doctor appointment over with. My primary doctor referred me to a neurologist, so I went there on Thursday. I hate doctor appointments, especially with someone new I’ve never met because I don’t know what to expect. I don’t particularly enjoy discussing the details of my health with a total stranger — who may or may not even be listening — and feeling like I’m on stage, trying to say my lines as fast as I can before the light goes red. And I usually walk out only to realize I’ve forgotten to tell them something important! And because of a previous awful experience with a doctor who treated me incredibly badly, this appointment had really been hanging over me. I took lots of flower remedies, grounded myself, asked for ‘help’ in getting through it, wrote my symptoms on a 3×5 card so I wouldn’t forget anything, and made sure to put my energy very much on guard just in case. And as it turned out, I didn’t even need to do all of that — the nurses couldn’t have been any nicer, and the doctor was very good and listened with his full attention to what I was saying, and asked if he could keep the 3×5 card. I was so relieved when I left, that I’d been heard and respected, and very glad to have gotten that dang appointment over with. The doctor ordered MRI scans of my brain and spinal cord, and I’ll get those Thursday. I hope I get to peek at them; to think…what magic we have now, to be able to see the innards of your own brain on a computer screen!

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What blessings have you appreciated throughout your week? Leave a comment!

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Sunday’s a good day to remember what we’ve been grateful for over the past week, don’t you think? I’m joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition, and here’s my list:

– Having such a wonderful, carefree vacation day swimming at a lake.

– Watching a rainstorm with tea on my parents’ porch.

– Lying against my Hubby while writing in my journal, and feeling so content.

– Getting lots done this week. Lots of stuff crossed off the ol’ to-do list.

– Really sweet emails from blog readers! Thanks you guys!!!

– Moments of synchronicity. They’re always an assuring sign to me.

– Incredible hibiscus blossom in my Stair Garden this week.

– Having all the windows open in the evening and hearing the crickets in stereo.

– Getting some cleaning done. I enjoy a clean house so much, too bad it’s so hard to keep it up.

– Thinking about the hard questions…where I want to go with my life, what I want to do long-term, and what I want to change in myself right now.

– Cool nights where I sleep so much better.

– Hot days that remind me what season it is!

– Sitting by the window at twilight.

– Plowing through books I’ve been wanting to read for so long.

– Sleep — the master Reset Button.

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What blessings have you appreciated throughout your week? Leave a comment!

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Sunday’s a good day to remember what we’ve been grateful for over the past week, don’t you think? I’m joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition, and here’s my list:

– A lull in my moneymaking work, coming at just the right time.

– Feeling more stable after a very rocky, up-and-down week filled with fears and hopes for the future.

– Having the time for plentiful reading, thinking, and journaling. While I was working full time, I used to ache so deeply for time to do these things. I now have that time. And after feeling like a trapped animal for most of my life, doing things I hated against my heart’s desires, this is a major triumph! Creating, slowly, the life one dreams of is so…satisfying (and scary and liberating and many other things too, but very very satisfying). I’m enjoying every second of this freedom…

– First garden tomato! (Finally!!) A “Pink Beauty” heirloom, and really delicious!

– Having my latest batch of kombucha turn out perfectly!

– Getting up early and reading outside in my “stair garden” on these incredible summer mornings. The stairs outside our door are the only (somewhat) private outdoor space we have. I have a huge need for private outdoor space, and what my heart yearns for and what we have are so vastly and laughably different, but at least I have those stairs! In an apartment building, I’d have nothing!

– So grateful that at my parents’ house, there is private outdoor space!!!

– My trial loaf of “artisan bread” baked in my dutch oven turned out amazingly well!

– Purging belongings which I no longer connect with and no longer need. It’s a long process, and one I’ve done over and over…each time letting go of a little more. I wish it were quicker and easier, but it’s a job filled with lots of emotion and difficult decisions. However, my desire to pare down is strong, and seeing the giveaway box fill with things gives me inspiration to keep going. Thinking about the new life I’m about to give my things helps ease any feelings of loss!

– The most perfect summer night last night, I’ll never forget it.

– Going on a picnic with my parents last night to the local botanic gardens, and eating my mom’s amazing dinner (Northwoods grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, salad, my ‘artisan bread,’ and fresh papaya and strawberries for dessert!!). The place we were going to sit had just finished up with a wedding reception, and my dad asked if we could sit there. The bartender said sure, and so we put our own table cloth on one of the tables and ate amidst the most beautiful setting! Like our own private reception on the most perfect summer’s night. What a treat!

– Last night at 10:30, sitting out in the stair garden in the balmy night, with candles.

– That I have the money to buy the things I want from the store. This week I bought… organic butter lettuce, milk, hearts of palm, kombucha (my homemade batch wasn’t quite ready yet), organic blackberries, plums, and nectarines, and two fun treats after this challenging week — raspberry sorbet, and dulce de leche from Argentina (which I guess I didn’t get enough of while we were there!).

– The past couple of days, having enough energy to do what I wanted to do. I have such a new appreciation for this!

– A nice day at home today, doing domestic things like making kale chips and cookies, doing laundry, addressing piles in the living room, and just hanging out with my Hubby.

– The new window air conditioning unit our landlord installed in our apartment!!! It’s so luxurious to have air conditioning.

– Support from loved ones!!!!

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What blessings have you appreciated throughout your week? Leave a comment!

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