If wishes were kisses

Monday again. Boy, weekends sure do fly! It's raining again and our sunshine which was around for at least part of the last couple of days has disappeared, and grey skies prevail. I read on someone's blog that they have a small peach on their tree and blossoms on their zuchini plants...well, they obviously don't live in the greater pacific northwest!! I can't even imagine such an early growing season - well, anything other than grass or weeds that is. Somehow, it just doesn't seem fair! (snarle)

We stuck fairly close to home the entire weekend. We didn't even go to church, but enjoyed a quiet Sabbath at home and just relaxed. It was nice. The house was cold enough that a fire in the woodstove felt mighty good, and once again we were thankful for our little stove. Our supply of wood is completely gone and we've been burning up old scrap lumber that we've stockpiled over the years. We're also completely out of pellets for the pellet stove. We're gonna be up a creek without a paddle if our weather doesn't warm up soon. I'd like to get our next winter's supply of wood soon if we can, just to be prepared and have one less thing to have to remember to do later. Like my hubby is always saying..."all it takes is money"...There are so many things on the "need to buy" list that it's disheartening, and that list just seems to keep on growing. Oh well, one day at a time, or maybe that should be, one thing at a time. Somedays I find myself wishing for not only more money, but more time and definitely, more energy. If there were only 2 of each of us, we'd make headway a whole lot quicker. Oh well, it's just not worth worrying over. I keep telling myself...worry about nothing - pray about everything. My new mantra.

Sunday was a work day for us. We tackled a long-overdue clean-up project that we've been putting off for a long time. It was one of those fenced-in, catch-all spots near one of the outside barns that was a real eyesore. With Harley's worsening vision, we thought it was the right time to get the job done. It looks so much better now. All the debris is in the back of our truck awaiting a trip to the dump and our burn pile has easily doubled in size. We also have the raised garden bed all cleaned up and ready to go, cleared the apple orchard pasture of the windfall from winter and got the lawn mowed and edged. We took an afternoon trip to Costco and stockpiled for the freezer and the pantry as well. The one area that was ignored was the house. As soon as the sun shows up, the inside is all but forgotten and we're outside playing catch-up. Like I've mentioned before, when both of us work 40 hours a week at an away from home job, have animals to be cared for daily and try desperately to honor the Sabbath...that leaves Sunday for the one day a week to try and accomplish everything that needs to get done. It ain't easy!

My list of warm weather projects keeps growing in size as well. Firstly, the winter's supply of hay needs to be paid for and promptly stored away in the barns. We're down to about 1-1/2 tons and hopefully, that will last until we get the new crop. I'm thinking 16 tons of local grass hay should do; and since that's about as much storage as we have available - that will just have to do. Firewood - I'd like to get/chop whatever about 3 cords and get 1, possibly 2 tons of pellets. I'd like to build 2 or 3 more raised garden beds - one for strawberries and the others for whatever we decide to plant. We'd like to replace the kitchen flooring and paint both the walls and the cabinets, and replace the sink. Of course, if we replace the kitchen flooring we want to include the mudroom, the nook where the woodstove is, and the laundry room. Matching flooring for this entire area would be a nice improvement. And, we need to repaint the exterior of our house, remove the moss from the roof and clean and restain the deck. I'm getting tired just thinking about all of it...never mind having to pay for it all. See what I mean? The list just never seems to ever get shorter, and there's never enough money to even get close to paying for it all. I guess I'm whining, but it seems discouraging at best.

In between all the projects and jobs that have to be done, we still need to enjoy some downtime as well. Remembering to take the time to be thankful for what we do have, realizing that it could always be so much worse, and enjoying the life that we have been blessed with is equally important. Not one of us knows how much time we have, or what will happen "tomorrow", so it's vital that we enjoy our lives, our families and our friends. And for those of us with horses...use and enjoy them when we can too. God knows we do enough laboring just to keep them, it's kinda nice to get to go riding every once in a while.

Some of the best things in life are the simple things...warm sunshine, sitting on the deck with someone you love, sipping a cool drink and listening to the music of nature on a summer evening, watching the dogs play, taking a nap, laughing with a good friend, taking a walk in the woods...so many things in life to savor...all I wish for is more time in which to enjoy it all.

If wishes were kisses, I'd be a pretty happy gal...

*sigh*

but then, kisses are pretty good too. :)

Blessings from cingspots