You're a daisy if you do...

A mural of our little town

It's bill printing time at the clinic again, and that means collections calls.  Grrrrrr!!  This is beyond a shadow of a doubt, my least favorite aspect of my job.  I absolutely detest having to make repeated calls to clients who are frequently falling behind in their accounts.  That is, if they bother to pay their bills at all!  What is it with people who gladly accept your help, in this case, veterinarian services, and then never pay their bills?  I will never understand how some people can merrily skip through life treating their bills like they're someone else's responsibility.  It's like trying to get blood out of a turnip.  Seriously, it is that difficult at times!

So, in keeping my sanity, and my positive outlook on people, humanity in general...I'm taking a little break.  A little blogging break.  Jen over at "Muddy Boot Dreams" posted a question (three questions actually) about the importance of blogging in ones' life, and just why people blog in the first place.  That got me to thinking...a dangerous thing, I know.  :)  Very interesting to read everyone's responses, and how a similar thread kept recycling over and over.  I'm not all that different from most bloggers.  So, here goes:

I blog because I originally and probably most importantly, wanted to keep a journal of my life.  I want to keep an account of all the things that can happen in my life on a daily basis.  The milestones yes, but even more importantly, the little things, those special little things that cause me to pause for a moment, to smile and be thankful.  Those little moments in time, that if not recorded, may very well end up being forgotten over time.  I want to remember, and this gives me a place to look back over the days, the months, and even the years and reflect.  Smile once again.  And yes, sometimes cry again.

Secondly, I want to connect with other people.  People out there in our world that live far away, and most likely, I never would have known at all, had it not been for blogging.  There are so many different people out there!  People with passion, people with families, lives so different from my own, and then again, a lot of them who live quite similar lives to my own.  I want to reach out and touch someone!  I love reading about so many things that these ingenious and creative people can come up with.  Amazing, really!  I want to know that I'm not so very different from others; and that no matter how bad my day may seem, or how lonely and disengaged that I can feel on some days; I'm never really alone.  I can reach out to someone and receive a friendly "cyber hug", a reassuring kind word, some encouragement.  I can share smiles and I can share tears, accomplishments and disappointments.  For everything that happens to each and everyone of us in this life...we share so much.  And in that way, we are friends.  And who doesn't want more friends?

And thirdly, how important is blogging to me?  At first thought, my answer was, not really important.  After all, I don't write here everyday.  Sometimes I can go for weeks, and yes I've even skipped a month or more before...but I always return.  It's cleansing to write.  I usually have no idea what I want or need to write about, but find that once I begin, the thoughts just keep coming...and I can get overzealous and write more than I ever thought I could.  I've always been an avid reader, and I get a great deal of pleasure out of reading other people's thoughts, their choices of words, their opinions.  I learn when I visit other people's blogs.  I get ideas that I never would have come up with on my own.  I guess it boils down to perspective.  Blogging and visiting other people's worlds gives me valuable insight and a different and sometimes refreshing perspective that may, or may not be very different from my own.  It's like a lesson in humanity.  Sometimes I gain courage to try something new, validation for my views, permission to be different from anyone else, and know that that's alright.  Overall, blogging gives me the feeling of being a part of a very large "whole".  And that, my friends is a good feeling.  So in retrospect, I guess it's fairly important to me after all.

One of the many wineries in our little town

We're all in this thing we call life together.  And nobody's getting out of it alive.  So make the best of what is.  Throw caution to the wind! Enjoy your life...expand your horizons and be thankful that God decided to wake you up this morning.  You've got another chance to make a difference.

Think about why you blog...You're a daisy if you do!!!!
(name that movie)  :)

Blessings all,  C-ingspots
Keeping all of our East Coast friends in my prayers...

Here's that load of wood we got last Sunday - firewood is a beautiful thing!!

And that pile of gravel there, is all nicely spread over our parking area and our pathway to and from the barn and our house.  So, hopefully that will mean less mud in our house this winter!!  A girl can only hope...

Until next time...
Lorie

Land ho, it's been a gullywasher!!!

Whoowee!!  This past weekend was so wet, I do believe that we've made up for the last 4 months of dry weather we enjoyed in one fell swoop.  Much more and we'd be searching for higher ground, I do declare! So, if any of you webfoot Oregonians were fretting and fussing or harboring any concerns about a drought...rest assured, I believe we are out of the woods for the foreseeable future.  And then some!!

We didn't let a little ole rain stop us from making progress on that "to do" list though.  No siree!!  We took the dogs to the local "You Do Doggie Wash" and they got their quarterly buff and fluffs, mani-pedis and they are sweet-smelling and silky to touch!  Annie is positively glowing with knowledge of her beauty and grace.  I love how they seem to feel so much better, knowing that they've had a special salon treatment.  You know it just doesn't matter what the species - girls like to feel pretty.  I'm sure of it!  :)

Afterwards we went out for a relaxing lunch and watched the rain come down in torrents from our window with a view.  Seriously it was a gullywasher and then some.  Impressive!  Even by our standards.

Before we left, we had turned the horses out after they enjoyed breakfast in their stalls.  By the time we arrived back home, in the mid-afternoon, they were more than ready to come back inside their warm, cozy and dry stalls.  So, they had a light flake and spent some time relaxing and drying off while it continued to rain and rain and then rain some more.  I'm so thankful for our barn!!

The next morning the rain had slacked off, and the weatherman was predicting a break from the rain until early afternoon.  So, we decided it was now or never to go get another cord of firewood for our woodshed stash.  We worked in a light rain for a little while, but overall it was pleasantly dry and quite warm.  We packed the truck with the wood and were back home in about 3 hours time.  We managed to unload about half of it before the rain started again - in earnest!  We decided it was a good time to park the truck in the shed and head indoors for a little break.  I enjoyed a nice, warm shower and got dressed in cozy, warm lounging clothes.  We decided we'd done enough hard work for the day and settled in for a little football and a movie on tv.

Nothing exciting, but the weekend was quiet, laid-back and it always feels good to accomplish something.

I might complain occasionally about our weather, and especially the quantity of rainfall that we get; but I'm also very thankful that most always, when compared to so many others, we don't really have anything to complain about at all.  While up North on our West coast, there was an earthquake and the scare of a Tsunami, and on the East coast, Hurricane Sandy...we're blessed.  I'll be keeping everyone back east in my prayers.  Prayers for protection and prayers that the hurricane is nothing more than an overblown, over-rated windstorm...with a little rainfall.

Blessings, Lorie @ Cingspots

*quack!*