In Which Rambo Wants to Say...

Rambo-Beenie wants to say that he's turning over a New Leaf.  He says he realizes he's not been as kind as he could have been, and he wants Poodle Counseling.  He regrets being growly-grouchy with guests, and he'll try to do better.  He just hasn't understood grace.  Grace makes you a people-puppy, it creates loyal, loving ways.

Rambo says it will be a long road, but he is willing to walk it, and he asks for your patience.

He says "Sorry."

We are very proud of him, and support him in his journey towards becoming a more generous, kind hearted doggie-soul.

Guess What Tomorrow Is?

September First.

That's all.  But that's wonderful.  Oh, how I love me some September.

  Soooo...to cheer myself upon summer's passing (funny, I've never needed cheering up about the end of August before)...and in honor of All Things Home and Autumn....and to remind myself of what I love about the Harvest Season - I usually do not mind the summer "holidays" being over - I want to share with you a tiny excerpt from the delightful book "Mrs. Miniver".  Such  a sweet, well written book every domestic artisan is bound to enjoy and resonate with...

"It was lovely", thought Mrs. Miniver, nodding good-bye to the flower-woman and carrying her big sheaf of chrysanthemums down the street with a kind of ceremonious joy, as though it were a cornucopia; it was lovely, this settling down again, this tidying away of the summer into its box, this taking up of the thread of one’s life where the holidays (irrelevant interlude) had made one drop it. Not that she didn’t enjoy the holidays: but she always felt — and it was, perhaps, the measure of her peculiar happiness — a little relieved when they were over. Her normal life pleased her so well that she was half afraid to step out of its frame in case one day she should find herself unable to get back. The spell might break, the atmosphere be impossible to recapture.

Yes, summer is three weeks from over.  It is back to our version of "normal life".  For this cottage - it means back to one more year of lessons, lesson planning, and some semblance of routine.  Back to meal planning, careful scheduling, fall wardrobe evaluations, and extra curricular obligations.

Oh, and it means college football. 

I'm pleased.

5 Tips for Beating Fatigue. No, I'd rather call this - Dime Day, in which Sheila Gives Her Two Cents, Five Times...

I am reluctant to call this post "5 Tips for Beating Fatigue".  Why, I don't know.  It sounds too all-knowing, I suppose.  So, this is "dime day".  This is where I give you my "two cents worth" - five thoughts, worth two cents apiece equals a dime.

I've read many articles about overcoming tiredness.  I've read a couple of whole books about dealing successfully with fatigue.  The articles especially sort of sound the same, and I began to wonder if the writers don't have "google syndrome"....you know, where you google something and then write about it.  Everyone starts to sound like everyone else on the world wide web.

Can't tell you how many times I've figured out that someone just googled something, and then thought they had the tiger by the tail, becoming a Mr. or Mrs. Let Me InformYou....a veritable fount of wisdom.   "The whole context of that  is thus and thus." 

Whole?  Really?  Hoo boy.  I've even seen people google their theology.

"Let's see what "research" I can do on grace..."

There is a hollowness to googled information, or any information merely "looked up" and not lived out...it lacks flesh and bone...it is two dimensional....and it doesn't ring true to the discerning ear.  Ask any high school English teacher or any college professor.

So yeah, Mr. or Ms. Google-It.  It may have been a lot of years ago, but I did read the book.  I've invested several months or even years into what I am saying - not sure how long it took you to google it.  Thanks but...I sort of knew most of what you are saying before there was google.  But I appreciate the....tip.

Obviously, there is a place for googling for information.  To be able to google for fuller, deeper resources on your subject is a fantastic time saver.  I love seeing all the books out there on, say, French interior design.  Or Swedish.    And so long as you are not pretending to have done actual research, by all means, google away, and tell me what you found!

That said, I didn't google any of this stuff.  Rather, I have lived it, and am still living it, however imperfectly.  Without further ado, here is your dime's worth!

1.  Drink plenty of water.  You'd be surprised how tired you feel when your body is slightly dehydrated.  Trust me, you can live in a state of mild dehydration, and wonder why you feel so whipped.

2.  Do something happy!  Do something you enjoy - each and every day.  Intersperse your work with small pleasures.  I schedule my happy interludes - right into my day.  My days can be pretty intense, between home schooling a challenging teenager, and ministry, and life in general.  My days can be extremely routine in their intensity.  That is a combination that makes for bone tiredness. 

So, when I make up my "to do list" each day, I write down and schedule in things that please me.  Every single day.  I don't just let it happen, however it happens, whatever it might be...I know exactly the things I want to do this week, and I plan them.   I plan them according to my whims and moods for the week. This is important.  This week, I plan to knit, bake some bread, plant some lettuce, take off to some thrift stores, and readreadreadreadread.  I keep a long list of small things that bring me joy, and when  I am stuck or peevish, I pick from the list and just do it.  This one bit of advice alone is worth ten dollars, not just two cents!

3.  Work.  Believe it or not, (most of you believe me, I know) this is key.  Don't spend the majority of your time doing whatever you feel like doing.  Avoid that sense of mid-life entitlement - or empty nest entitlement.  Or "the kids are finally all in school" entitlement.  Or "I've worked for years, and now I don't have to" entitlement.  There's lots of ways to feel entitled to slack off.   But it won't infuse you with energy. You were created for work - work that glorifies God.  Spend your day accomplishing!  Work and work some more, and work most of the day - and schedule in the things you enjoy around the edges and little breaks in your day.  Keep the big picture in your mind as you work - know that what you do in your work fits in with your dearest ideals and objectives.  Tiredness is not your enemy...mind numbing boredom is.

4.  Push through.  I am befuddled at the women who simply stop when they feel tired.  You have reserves of energy you have not begun to tap, if you normally stop when you feel tired.  If you push through the tiredness and keep working, the vast majority of the time you will catch a second wind.

And did you know you have a third, fourth, and even sometimes fifth wind waiting to be called upon?  Unless you are  sick or extremely sleep deprived, you  have energy reserves that are begging to be tapped.  Your human body has energy rythms that rise, peak, and drop off...only to rise, peak, and drop off again...and again...all in one day's time.  Next time you feel tired, try pushing through it.  You'd be surprised how conditioned we are to take breaks when we are weary! 

You can rest tonight.  And we can all rest when we're dead.

5.  B-complex vitamins.  Liquid form only, taken sublingually.  Wal-Mart sells a brand that runs about $6 or $7 dollars (versus twenty-something for other brands in health food stores) and it is the same thing as the very expensive liquid B's.  Works for me, anyway.

Well, I want to tell you to get sunlight, and to repair your strained relationships, deal with your emotional issues, and address your thought life...but I've limited myself to a dime.  Next time, it'll be "dollar day", okay?

Of Writing and Socks...or Scarves

Knitting is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while, then take up the sock again.
~Dorothy Day

Binding off a scarf I finished knitting this evening...
 
 Because of my Word for this year 2010.

How are you daily manifesting the presence of The Creator in your life?  

Product Reviews

I tried Crystal Light's lemonade this week, finally.  (I know - everyone but me has tried this product!)  I usually make my own home made lemonade, but decided to try the "Simply" brand ("Simply Orange" and "Simply Lemonade") and the Minute Maid brand, and then lastly, grudgingly tried Crystal Light.  Surprisingly Crystal Light is the best, next to home made.  And if you put some lemon slices in the pitcher, you get really close to home made goodness - and it is sugar free!

This book is fantastic.  Really.  Get it.  Entitled The Gentle Art of Domesticity, by Jane Brocket, this book is just wonderful.  Inspiring.  Simple, and all about the simple things in life.  Her color aesthetic is outstanding, although I could not decorate with the bright hues that Jane does, she really has an eye.  Oh - and her writing is superb.  Finally, a very well written, entertaining tome about All Things Domestic.  Move over, Martha.  Jane writes it better.  And does it herself.

 The Minky brand of retractable clothes line.  We finally put in a new one awhile back, and this thing is the best.  It stretches out a long way - mine is placed right between two trees in my back yard, anchored to first one, then the other, instead of those ugly clothes line poles.  Two trees with the clothes line between them is far, far more pleasing to my eye.  I leave mine up, but it can easily be taken down, and since it is between the trees, no one would ever know it was there.

 Be sure to wrap this end around the cleat at the bottom.  Otherwise, your line will sink, and you won't know why.

Then, anchor it in a tree, up to 40 or 50-some-odd feet away.

I could add another one, anchored to a branch behind this one, and have two going, but since I don't line dry absolutely everything (just most things, these days) this one does just fine.

This is sweet livin'.  There's that antique blue ticking table cloth of mine.  My beloved and best friend (one in the same) spilled a bit of Chardonnay on it last night.  I could have pierced him through, with my laser "angry eyes" on the spot.  But instead, I lept to my feet, found the spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some Shout, and treated the stain.  It came right out.

As I was putting the tablecloth in the washing machine, my beloved and best friend said dryly, "You forgot to yell at it."

(You know..."Want a tough stain out?  Shout it out.")

Such a funny guy.

Have a blessed weekend, friends.  God is good, all the time.

August's End...

Here we are, the last week of August. Can you believe...?

It has been a hot, hot month here in east Tennessee, with 90+ degree temps almost the entire time, with heat indexes in the triple digits.  Not exactly the sort of weather my garden and pots thrive on, but I have managed to keep everything alive, except a couple of stray, smallish pots of red petunias.  (And by the way...red just didn't do it for me this year.  I thought it would, but it didn't.  That's what I get for departing from my signature white and yellow!  Red is good for accent, but not for the main display...)

Hummingbirds are everywhere, now, hovering all around the cottage, sipping from the feeders, the Zinnia Garden, from the crepe myrtles, those bleh red petunias that haven't expired yet - see previous paragraph - and the butterfly bush.  Oh, how I love me some hummers.

Funny thing, life is.  I usually am in a hurry to see August go.  September is my favorite month of the whole year, and August has, in the past, been my least favorite.  But this year...I'm a bit peevish about saying goodbye to sweet August, heat index notwithstanding.  I've grown partial to those languid Southern summer afternoons, I think.

Note to self:  plant massive drifts of Rudbeckia next year.  Go whole hog.  It weathers the heat beautifully, looks outstanding and so "cottage-y", and is a can't-miss.  Five drifts of it this year were not enough.  I think it needs to be my "repeater" - the element of the garden that repeats itself, unifying the whole scheme.

So much to tell you about, gentle reader!  I want you to hear about how easy it is to make artisan bread at home.  I want to tell you all about the best fashion blog - one that unashamedly is pro-modesty.  I for one am so tired of seeing women, old and young, dressed skimpily.  No woman ever, evvvvver gets dressed by "accident".  It is always on purpose.  So.  What are we saying, girls, when our shorts are cut "up to there" and our shirts "down to there" and everything is tight and revealing?

Does pretty equal revealing?  Or is revealing just...well, revealing?  A girl with a great personality doesn't need nudity to get by.

Just sayin'.

If I could sit down with the teenage girl or the woman who is dressed inappropriately, and really speak my mind, I'd say something like this: "Methinks thou hast unresolved sexual issues, darlin'.  How about getting before the Lord and resolving them?  Hmmm?  For the sake of love for the Father, and respect for the body of Christ?"

Or, how about this:  "GROW UP, SWEETHEART!  WE CAN'T ALL BE FOURTEEN FOREVER!"

What else was it I want to tell you about?  Whew - that rant sidetracked me, butt good.  (Am I the only one who loves a great pun?)

Oh - more about living a hand-made sort of life.  I tire easily these days of anything deliberately impressive or deliberately charming.  I hunger for authentically inviting...real warmth of soul and surroundings.

Seems like everything I am trying to say wants to turn into a rant of sorts - I think "that time of August" is upon me.  Estrogen devils running amok in my brain.  Or its the homeschooling.  Yeah.  Might be that.

And it is only week one.  God help me, and give me dark chocolate.

What is your imaginary idea of the perfect girlfriend?  I have about a zillion best friends (actually only four or five) who are my "best", each one for a different reason.

Oh, and shoot me on the spot if I ever utter or type the word "bestie".  Gah.

Nevermind, there I go again.  I need my appointment with female hormone reset to hurry up and get here, before I kill someone for having bad breath.

Anyhoo, like a beautiful collage, when I take what I love best about each best friend, and paste it all together, I have the perfect girlfriend.  Which means, I already have "her"...she just exists in several bodies.

But she would give me dark chocolate right now.  And say exquisitely ponderful things (yes, ponderful with a "p"), and funny things, and she'd dose me with a beautiful Merlot.  She'd inspire me to love myself more, and take all the crap with a grain of salt.

Ew.  That last metaphor, I'm not sure about.  I spit it off the top of my head, which is another metaphor I find disturbing.

Dear reader, I need to go to bed.  Thank you, from my heart's bottom, for stopping by.

Vulgarity-not what it used to be

Today, when we hear the term "vulgar", we think of horrible language - swearing and the like.  At one time, the more common definition of vulgar was this ~

•common: of or associated with the great masses of people;
•common: being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language

So.  We see that vulgar also means simply common.  A bit uneducated, rough around the edges and unsophisticated.  (yes, I know that is an incomplete sentence.  I know.  It bugs me too, but since I know the rules, I can break them.)

Sort of like the Greek language in which the Scriptures were written - God made sure His very word was written in common vernacular.  "Vulgar" Greek. 

Only the religious object to the "vulgar" in that sense.  Even today, it is only.  the. religious. 

Religious high brows would never think of raising their voices or truly doing community with common people.  No, they exist to help and benefit the common man.  Self aware magnanimity, which is no real largeness of soul at all.

I ran across a quote today by Dorothy Sayers - somewhat of a heroine of mine.  She was an incredibly astute thinker.  In this particular piece, she was writing about the Latin language, and the way it ceased to "morph" and adapt to changing times, and thus became what some mistakenly consider a "dead language".

But the quote - Sayer's line of thinking - makes me consider other than just the Latin language.  Here is the quote:

"Contamination" and "barbarism" are one set of names for (the fact that language adapts to vernacular and even slang):  another name is "vitality".  Everything  which is alive tends to break out into vulgarity at times.  Only the dead and embalmed can preserve forever their changeless marmoreal dignity."

Know what else this makes me think of?  (My mind is forever at the mercy of its associations.  But that is okay - Robert Frost considered this an indication of keen creative intelligence...)

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children."

Very God laid aside His Great Glory...and "broke out into vulgarity" to become a man.  Alive...He is alive!