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Guided by prompts from WDC blogging challenges... and of course, life |
HI! I'm Jenn - and I'm all over the place (well, at least my mind is). In this blog, I have attempted to gather my thoughts on things prompted/inspired by WDC blogging challenges from "Journalistic Intentions"  , "The Soundtrack of Your Life" , "Blogging Circle of Friends " , "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" and, well, LIFE.    |
| Yesterday, tired and stressed after working so much recently, I decided to go fishing after I got off work. In Texas, if you want to fish in public waters, you must have a fishing license. There are only three places in the town where I live that sell them and one of them was pretty much on the way. I pulled out the brand-new rods that my parents had given my husband and I two Christmases ago, checked my tack, and determined what all I was going to have to buy in order to get a line in the water. No big deal, the fishing tackle store is on the way to the fishing hole at the lake too... One hundred fifty dollars later (bait, needed tackle, and license) my husband and I arrive at the place we would be fishing. My reel was already strung so all I had to do at that point was attach a weight, tie on a hook, and put on a cork. My husband's name for a cork is a Bobber. I don't know if that's a Canadian thing or just a "him" thing. Anyway, I was finally ready to put a minnow on my hook and get my line in the water and that's what I did. The minnow I grabbed out of the bucket was a lively little fellow, even with a hook going through his back. He swam my cork all over the place for I don't know how long. As I'm enjoying the peacefulness of the moment, I hear my husband cussing under his breath. I look over and he is still trying to string his reel so he can thread the line onto the rod. Maybe my reel was easier (and already pre-strung) because it is a close-faced reel, who knows. He prefers open-faced reels when he goes fishing. I can't use one of the darned things. I always, always get the line bunched in a bird's nest of knotted string when I use them. We didn't figure out until after we got home that someone had set the reel up for a left-handed person and he had been stringing it as if for a right-handed person and that's why it wasn't working properly. I don't think my husband had such a stress relieving time of it out there yesterday though. He never did get his line in the water. So, I'm sitting on this boat dock and am dealing with the water disturbances from all the boats that kept motoring by while my minnow swims doggedly in circles while attached to my hook. Finally my cork bobbed up and down a couple of times and then submerged completely. I got a bite! And it was a big one. My rod curved into a rainbow from the weight of the thing fighting me on the other end of the line as I set the hook and began to reel the fish in. I reeled and reeled and brought the fish closer and closer to the dock. Then the reel became hard for me to turn. I look down and I see a bird's nest of hair tangled in the reel handle mechanism. Determined to catch the fish, I kept reeling, which continued to make the tangled mess worse. Right at the dock - underneath the jetski that had been taken out of the water for the winter, I lost the fish. There was a popping sound and then a big splash as the fish popped free of my hook and hit the water. So, my husband and I both sat on that boat dock, unravelling our own bird's nests in our reels, only at least his was his line and not his hair. I was about ready to cut my long hair off just to get it out. I somehow freed my hair from the cogs and handle of the reel, I still don't know how. We left for home shortly after we both had untied our messes but instead of going home, we went to the bar. After all the fun we had undergone, we thought we both needed a drink! A Crown and Coke and a couple of Shiner Bock's later, and it really did turn out to be a relaxing afternoon. We'll attempt fishing again soon - but next time, I'll be sure to wear my hair pulled back in a pony tail or braid. |
| It's a nice crisp, chilly March morning. The thermometer reads 30°F but the sun is shining so brightly it is almost blinding. I won't venture outside for a while yet, as I prefer the warmth the house has to offer. Instead, I watch the world from my living room window. Birds and squirrels are gaily going about the business of gathering and eating their breakfast. Our old American flag is swaying in the wind from its perch on one of our porch columns and the windchimes are ting-ding-dinging as the wind blows them around. The cats and dog are inside with me and are likewise enjoying the warmth the heated house has to offer. The world seems quiet and peaceful right now, in contrast to the way the media paints everything when I turn on the news. I'm glad the chaos hasn't found its way here yet. Everyone deserves a place where they can have some peace, and in moments like this, that is exactly what I have. It has been a manic few days and I'm wondering when I'll crash. I doubt it will be today. I'm already feeling the pull to get up and get something, anything done. But, I'm going to try to sit here ignoring that pull and enjoying the peace as long as I can. Lord knows it'll get hectic as soon as I do get started with my day. May you all find and be able to enjoy that moment of peace in your day as well. |
| I woke this morning to a cold house and two cats at the back door begging to come inside to eat. The chill drove me to turn on the heater so now the house is warming up nicely. The cat thing is an everyday thing. Neither of them are roamers and prefer to stay within our yard or shed when not indoors, so we allow them to go outside when they want. And they are both spayed/neutered (there's one of each) so adding to the area kitty population isn't an issue. They like it outside unless the weather is bad or cold, they like to hunt and lay in the sun or do whatever it is that cats like to do when no humans are watching. But I'm sure they're going to be soaking up the heat inside for a while today. The high is only supposed to reach 51° F today so the cats will probably be inside most of the day, harassing the dog and annoying me. No biggie. I love the not so little furballs. The problem with my youngest still exists but it seems all of us old coots are in agreement finally. She needs to do as much of it as she can on her own. "She'll appreciate it more eventually that way" as my mom and mother-in-law both told us. My mom decided not to cosign for her either, but instead helped her find housing where she doesn't need a cosigner and would have a female housemate to share the bills with. Now, my baby girl is going to see just what she's made of. I know she can do it, we brought her up to be strong. Now if only she continues to believe she can do it, she'll be able to grab her life by the balls and make of it what she wants instead of letting someone else dictate what her life should be like. My oldest has agreed to let us throw a baby shower for her, with close friends and family. Since I was only held back from buying baby items because I didn't know what its gender would be, I am now buying baby stuff like a mad woman. If I see it and it's cute, I get it. Not all of the stuff I've bought has been girly though. The cuddle blanket is gray and white, and the stuffed animal attached is a panda. But I've also started getting things that every mom of a new baby needs like the thermometer, nail clippers, - you know, the baby care kit kind of stuff. I'm going to need a hamper to put everything in for her! And yes, I'm going to be buying more. There's still diapers, wipes, and clothes to get. Things are getting better on the financial front for us finally. With the relative warming of the weather, my husband has been getting calls from clients ready to have their lawn sprinklers turned back on. (Those that pull water from lakes and ponds have to have their systems drained and shut off before winter to avoid costly breaks to their pipes & pump) And with me working so much and getting a raise, we shouldn't have to live paycheck to paycheck soon enough. - Which is probably the reason I am able to buy little things for the baby here and there. - My dryer is still out, but my husband restrung the clothesline for me and with the better weather I am able to get that stuff done as well, without going to the Laundromat. Life is returning to normal, awaiting the next pothole in the road. |
| Life is like a unicorn turd: sparkle sprinkled rainbow feces, so much good and bad intertwined. The icing from the cake that landed on the floor upside down. The sweet and course all rolled into one. Good news, bad news, I'm tired of the news. My life is chaotic enough without the media making it any worse, so I've been trying to stay away from the news channels... In real life, highs are being overshadowed by uncertainty. I knew having kids wasn't easy. I've known that for a while now. What I didn't know was how difficult it would continue to be after said children reached adult age. I phrase it like this because I have to look hard to see emotional maturity in my oldest and I see my baby, at 21, struggling to find herself in the middle of a failed engagement, an engagement that has lasted since she was seventeen. My hands are tied with these two. Good and bad times are like the tides of the lake nearby, rolling in after some idiot on a speedboat exceeds the boating speed limit along a residential stretch of the shore. My oldest, who refuses to interact with family, is pregnant and living far away from any help we might be able to give her. She refuses to tell her grandparents or myself where she is living and her phone was just disconnected, so the only way we have to contact her is through Facebook or Snapchat (neither very reliable when important issues require haste). Worries about her and the baby run rampant through my head, especially since she has chosen to live in a city rife with crime far away from those who love her. Yesterday I received pleasant news from her though. They were able to see the sex of the baby on the last sonogram - I'm going to have a granddaughter. Unicorns and rainbows, here I come! Also in recent happenings are the trials of my youngest, who is finding the strength in herself to leave her fiancé of four years and try to remove herself from a controlling relationship. She's never been on her own before, having moved in with this young man right after she graduated high school. She doesn't want to come home to start over. She wants to stay in the college town where she lives and get an apartment by herself. I'm trying to be supportive although I, of course, have my misgivings. Her father, on the other hand, is vehemently against it. He thinks she needs to move closer to family - either closer to us or to her grandparents. He doesn't want to help her get settled and instead has told her she has to do it all on her own. I've tried to agree to disagree with him, but he is like a bulldog on this and thinks his way is the only way. It's been causing arguments between us because I can't just cut ties and let my girls fend for themselves if I can help them (to a certain extent). All the younger one wants is our support and her dad isn't willing to give her even that. He says he is worried she won't be able to make it on her own, that she is too small and timid and bad things will happen to her and she is too far away for any family to get to her quickly to help her if something does happen. Which way is better, trying to support their decisions or cutting them off entirely and forcing them to go it completely alone? We were raised to think differently on this and I'm afraid the headbutting has just started. Man! Isn't it supposed to be easier when the kids are grown? Now here's an additional thing to be thrown into the mix of sunshine and shit that is life, I was just promoted at work. I've been doing the work and working the hours already, so I might as well get paid for it. I haven't had a full-time job since I stopped teaching. I've worked the hours at my part time position, but I haven't been considered full time until now. I'm good at what I do though, so it should be a piece of cake (upside down), right? My parents and husband don't think I'm healthy enough yet to have that added stress in my life, but I'm willing to give it a go. I mean, what's it going to do? Kill me? My body is already on top of that one. I'm willing to give it a go. I can always step back down if my health gets bad again. Ups and downs and all over the place and then there are the pets. The cat who thinks he needs to gorge on his food only to puke it back up mere minutes later, the dog who thinks he doesn't get enough attention, the other cat who thinks she needs to be fed and petted 24 hours a day... and the lizard, who causes absolutely no problems, is quiet, and is exceptionally easy to care for. Never time for a mental day because the chaos seems to find me. Maybe I should take a day to go fishing, hiding out, and enjoying some time away from the world. |
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You're so right, they are definitely perceptive. They know when you need extra attention, and they know when to keep an eye out for you. They are definitely a blessing from God.
