2014: The Year of Fulfillment

Last year, instead of making New Year's resolutions, I came up with a word for the year. For 2013, that word was "reconnect." I will admit, I didn't always keep that word in mind throughout the year. I know I should have written it down on Post-It notes, on my dry erase board in the kitchen, maybe at the top of each page of my calendar, just to make myself more mindful of what I should be focusing on.

I did reconnect with a few people and things and I feel better for it. My reconnection with my faith in God has really made the biggest difference out of everything else. I have been able to give things over to Him, instead of holding them inside and stewing over them. I have also made new friends, and reconnected with old ones, because of my renewed faith. I couldn't ask for anything more than what God has already given me, although I know he has great things in store for me in the years to come.

And that brings me to the word I have chosen for 2014. FULFILLMENT. This word is defined as "satisfaction or happiness as a result of fully developing one's abilities or character." 

I have spent entirely too many years of my life doing things because I felt like I ought to be doing them. I have worked jobs that were not helping me to move forward towards my goals and life dreams. I have ignored my passion for the sake of a paycheck. 

This year will be different. I will focus on those hobbies and tasks that fulfill me. Writing, painting, drawing, baking, photography, volunteering. I will learn more about each of these, with the goal of improvement and development always in mind. And I will share my talents with others, to help them reach their goals as well.

I will also continue to focus on deepening my faith, on finding ways that I can continue to grow as a Christian, and finding ways to show God's love to those around me.

I realize, as this year begins, that it is easy to say things like this on January 1. The whole year lays in front of me like a blank journal and I just need to pick up the pen and get to writing. I'm planning to document my progress throughout the year. And I'll not be afraid to admit if I make a misstep. I will share those, too. The good and the bad, they make up who I am, and they will help to move me forward into the best year of my life.

Lot of Livin'

In my last post, I mentioned that I found a new job. Well, that lasted all of 1 1/2 days. If you know me, you know I am not the type to commit to something like a job and then back out of it at all, especially that quickly. It was an extremely hard decision for me to make, but I just didn't feel like this was going to be a good fit for me.

This situation has made me realize that I have to start being more mindful of how I spend my time, my life. If it doesn't fulfill me, if it doesn't take me closer to where I want to be physically, mentally, spiritually, then I don't need to do it.

This might mean that I should take a little technology break. Not a cold turkey, cut myself off from the world kind of break, but more like a limit myself to only X amount of minutes on the computer each day kind of break. My time is valuable and there are so many things I want to be doing. Sitting around in front of this laptop all day is not helping me get started.

This video applies, I think. OK, maybe just the title. But I think it's always a good time for Ann-Margret.

Welcome, December! (In List Form)

I don't want to jinx anything, and I know, we are only 2 days into the month, but December might just turn out to be ok.

• I got a job today. !!!
• I got to spend time with one of my dearest friends, her beautiful family, and my lovely mom tonight. We walked around St. Andrews and looked at the pretty lights, then I finally got to check out the Amavida Coffee House. Yum!
• I started the 30 Day Guns, Buns and Abs Challenge yesterday.

I'm also adding the 30 Day Plank Challenge to the mix because what fun will it be if only my legs are sore?

J is doing this with me, although I'm not entirely sure he is a willing participant. So far, I am...ok. I mean, I've finished two days of the challenge. How hard can it be to make it all the way through?

• The first rehearsal for the Dearly Departed Joy Of Life Singers was tonight. I get to sing with my own personal Dick Van Dyke and it looks like the rest of the choir ain't too shabby, either.
• Diana gets her staples out tomorrow! She is making great progress and healing well. 

Yeah, so, December? Thanks. Thanks for coming in like a freakin' rock star. Finish strong, friend!

A (Not) Starving "Artist"?

I'm not going to claim that I am an artist. I am still very far away from that. Maybe if I put that word in quotes, "artist", I can say it with a straight face.

On my Life List, there is a bullet point that says "Create art, even if it sucks." I've started actually doing that, spending part of my day most days sketching or painting. Here are two of the pieces I've done.

This is hanging in our bedroom. Frank and Lola was the first song J and I picked together as "our" song.

This will soon be hanging in an adorable little girl's room. Her grandfather is a true artist and has painted a large mural on her wall. This pales in comparison to his work, but I'm hoping it will compliment it.

I want to make the Move Mountains piece for another friend who was blessed with a little girl earlier this year. And I want to work on a piece for Matty's room, too. I'm thinking I might put something together tomorrow to send down this week, so they can hang it in his room at the hospital.

This isn't something that I expect to ever make money doing, but J pointed something out - he thinks it is therapeutic for me. His reasoning? "Because you worked on that piece from start to finish without a break." I think he might be right.

The Local Tourist: Goofy Golf

I live in a tourist town. Well, I live on the outskirts of a tourist town, but I grew up in the thick of it. Long lines of traffic trying to cross the Hathaway Bridge; learning early on that eating at a restaurant on the beach was only an option between September and February; working at condos and restaurants, catering to the out-of-town guest who generally brought a maximum amount of rudeness and a minimum amount of tips with them on vacation.

There are days when I wonder why anyone would want to live somewhere like this. And then, I actually venture out and become a tourist in my own town and suddenly, I remember why. Sand between my toes, the Gulf of Mexico stretching out in front of me, this is what it is all about. People all over the country would trade places with me in a heartbeat (or at least, they think they would) to be able to have access to this on a daily basis. I take it for granted most of the time, but whenever someone comes to visit, I try to get out there and enjoy it like someone visiting would.

This is what lead me back to one of the quirkiest places in Panama City Beach: Goofy Golf. This mini-golf course is located across the street from the City Pier (or is it the County Pier? I've lived here for 28 years and I still don't know which one is which). It has been here since 1959. My mom has pictures of me and my brothers climbing on all of the crazy creatures and obstacles throughout the course.

My brother Michael was in town last month, along with my niece Brianna, so we decided to take a trip back in time and revisit this little slice of "when PCB was still fun."

The hole below might not look like a challenge, but it was more than just "send the ball down a sort of straight path." There was a moat around the castle (not filled with water, which makes it a rather Goofy moat) and if you didn't hit the ball hard enough, it got stuck in the moat. And this was just Hole 1!

On every outing, I must take at least one artsy shot of a building or statue or animal or "trees on sky"...this is the artsy shot. I call it "Chasing Windmills."

There is a rule I have put in place that MUST be followed when a trip to Goofy Golf is made. And that rule is: You MUST climb to the top of the Easter Island Statue Thing and you MUST stick your feet out through his nose.

Luckily, Brianna was a good sport...

 And so was Michael...

They practiced the Princess Wave from high above the course. Cheeseballs!

Bree found a little bit of shade under a giant mushroom...

Michael, um..."took a break."

Bree made a new friend.

And now, your moment of Zen.

And it was during this quiet moment that we realized, we forgot our wallets and couldn't pay to play. So, we made an exchange - they were more than willing to take the teenager off our hands as a form of payment. At least the dragon monster looks friendly. :-)

And Just Where Have You Been, Young Lady?

So, I kind of just realized that I haven't blogged in 20 days. Um, whoops. So, what have I been up to? Let me show you.

Love, Loss and What I Wore is a play by Nora and Delia Ephron. We will be performing this as a benefit show for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer on September 27, 28 and 29 at Kaleidoscope Theatre. I am so excited about getting to work with the cast and getting back on stage again.

Fred and Ethel have been with us for a few weeks and seem to be settling in nicely. They are domestic ducks, but we think they have a little Peking in them. They are for playing, not for eating. :-) Bonus points to them for eating all of the bugs in our yard!

The cats and I have done some photo shoots to make the rainy days pass a little quicker.

And we have been eating really, really good lately!

On top of all the other things, my morning routine has changed a bit. This is pretty much what it looks like once I crawl out of bed and make a pot of coffee. It has made a world of difference to start my day with The Word. I'm also really enjoying putting pen to paper.

So, yeah...that's about it. I mean, there have been some other adventures, but I either didn't have my camera or I want to wait and share them in a separate post.

Now that I'm back, I promise not to go away for so long again. I know your world just hasn't been the same in the past 20 days, but have no fear - Flirt D. Lee is here. :-)

DIY: Fabric Softener

You can't have homemade laundry soap without homemade fabric softener, can you? I don't think so.

I found this recipe through Pinterest - thanks to Kat's Custom Kreations for the ratios I used below.

Three ingredients are all you need:

• 8 ounces Hair Conditioner (Cost = $0.40 since I found V05 on super sale at Wal-Mart)
• 12 ounces White Vinegar (Cost = $0.24)
• 24 ounces hot water (No Cost, since we have well water)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the hot water and conditioner. It will be foamy.

Add the vinegar and stir until combined. 

That's it. You end up with 44 ounces of fabric softener.

The total cost is $0.64. Each load of laundry uses 2 ounces of the liquid. This means the total cost per load is around $0.03. !!!

I haven't bought liquid fabric softener in a long time, but the last time I did, I bought Gain. Right now, you can get a 51 ounce bottle of Gain at Wal-Mart for $4.47. The bottle says it has enough for 60 loads. Using that as the calculation, that comes out to $0.08 a load. That is a $0.05 savings per load - might not seem like a lot, but I'll take what I can get.

I put it in a Downy ball, but you can also add it to your fabric softener compartment, if you have one on your washer.

As for the smell, it is lovely while in the bottle, but it does not leave much of a smell on the clothes. It does, however, make clothes incredibly soft, due to the vinegar.

DIY: Laundry Soap

Being unemployed surprisingly has its perks. One of those is having the time to do the things I've always said I wanted to do. An example is making my own household cleaners. I hate using chemicals to clean for a few reasons. I have a very sensitive nose, so even the smallest amount of bleach can send me running for the Kleenex. Also, we live in a cabin in the woods, and we have well water - anything that gets put into our sinks or toilets or bathtubs or washer basically goes right back into our water supply. The more I can do to reduce the amount of chemicals we are exposed to, the better.

The first DIY cleaner I wanted to make was laundry soap. I normally buy the dye-free, scent-free version of whatever brand is on sale, so I wanted to stick pretty close to that. I put an all-call out on Facebook to my other DIY-ing friends, to see if anyone had made laundry soap and what kind of bar soap they had used.

My friend Marissa, domestic goddess and all-around amazing person, gave me her recipe for powdered laundry soap. It even included a cost breakdown, comparing the homemade version to Tide. In her recipe, she uses OxyClean and Purex Crystals. Since I wanted to stay as close to scent free as possible, I left those two ingredients out. Here's what I used to make the powdered goodness:

• 38 ounces of Borax (Cost = $1.52)
• 27.5 ounces of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (Cost = $1.65)
• 32 ounces of Baking Soda (Cost = $1.28)
• 2.75 ounces of Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar, grated ($0.50)

(Note: Since this was my first batch of soap, I didn't want to commit to a full recipe, so I halved Marissa's original ingredients. All measurements above are half of the regular size boxes/bar and all were purchased at Wal-Mart.)

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Store in a lidded container.

The total cost of a half batch is $4.95. Each load of laundry uses 1 ounce (2 Tablespoons) of the powder. This equals a cost of $0.05 per load. According to Marissa's calculations, the average cost of one load of laundry done using Tide is $0.27 per load. Granted, there are only two people in my house, but I do a LOT of laundry. At a $0.22 per load savings, I think I'll continue to make my own soap.

I've already done about 6 loads using this mixture and I like it. A lot. The clothes smell clean and they look clean, too.

One word of warning: if in your brain, Soap Suds = Clean, you need to know that this mixture does not make any suds. Let me assure you, this is OK. Seriously.

ETA: Marissa wanted me to point out that the original recipe for this soap comes from http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent/. Give credit where credit is due. :-)

Just a Nice Saturday

Things that did not go according to plan on this, the last Saturday of June:

• We did not make it to the Watermelon Festival, since there was a crazy thunder and lightning storm going on this morning.
• I did not get to sleep in, not even a little bit, since Nubbins has decided that she absolutely must knead my head and hair by 5:00 am each morning. Thanks, Nubbins.
• I broke our Sun Tea jar, because sometimes, I don't think before I act. A little tip for you: If you have a jar full of hot water and tea bags in the sink, don't pour a pan full of room temperature water into that sink. The result: a sad, sad cracking noise and the need for a new tea jar.
• The living room didn't get cleaned, even though we have company coming tomorrow and they will be sleeping on the pull out couch. Not sure when that's going to happen, since I'm going to church tomorrow morning for the first time in a really long time AND we're heading to Mom's house to help clean out the garage in the afternoon. We might need to get the air mattress out, just in case we don't get around to cleaning.

In spite of everything above, today was a really good day. We went to the Dollar General and attempted to "super coupon" our way through the store. We succeeded in getting a really good deal on shampoo and conditioner (with 2 free samples of moisturizer/styling cream as a bonus) and on cat food, but not much else. I am proud of myself, though, because the girl ringing us up had trouble get the coupons to scan. There were people in line behind me, and in the past, I would have just said "Nevermind, don't bother with the coupons" because I wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting or annoy the cashier or the people behind me. The thing is, we are really trying to live on less right now, and I'm not going to let a little register issue be the cause of more stress for me.

This doesn't seem like much of a revelation if you don't know me, but I am generally a people pleaser and hate to inconvenience anyone. And to a point, I still am - but for something that normally would have sent me into a shame spiral (I can't believe I am waiting in line and making a big deal over a $1 off coupon!), I think I handled the situation very well.

After our shopping trip, we had our Cowboy Shooting friends Hollifer A. Dollar and Kay Sadeeya over for lunch and a Crafty Girls' Day/Wii Shooting Games Guys' Day. This afternoon was planned because Kay liked a picture on Facebook of these fancy-schmancy high heels that were super sparkly and covered with rhinestones. They looked something like this:



I said, "Those look easy! Let's make some!!" So, we did. Here's what mine look like:



A bit more understated than the ones that inspired our craft day, but I love them. I guess it's time to finally learn to walk in high heels, huh?

'Til The Cows Come Home (Or Not)

So, running cows...yeah...it helps when the cows cooperate. We didn't see any cow action on Wednesday, but I did get some pretty good pictures on the farm.

 

This was as close as we got to the cows all morning. They said "Hello" and then a quick "Good-bye."

But still, we waited for them. Just chillin' on a dirt road.

After we blocked off the road, we had a visit from the grader.

Mike tried to convince him to go back home, but he had a job to do. So we unblocked the road, let him pass, and re-blocked the road. And continued to wait.

I passed the time by wandering and taking more pictures.

    

My continued quest to put together a Trees On Sky coffee table book...

This road leads to cows, but it didn't lead cows to us. Pretty view, though.

You're Turning Violet, Violet!

Do you know what picking 40 pounds of blueberries does to a person? Well, for one thing, it makes them quote Willy Wonka over and over. "I've got a blueberry for a daughter!"

Our friends Ms. Sylvia and Ms. Sheila have the most beautiful farm. And on that farm, there was a dog (two, actually).

E-I-E-I...Puppy Smile!!!

Also on that farm, there were some blueberries. Technically there still are some blueberries. We didn't pick them clean, but we came darn near close.

Now to decide what to do with all of these blueberries. A bunch of them, probably about half, will be frozen in their perfect, ripened state, to be used throughout the year.

I've already made one batch of Blueberry Muffins to take with me when I go move some cattle later today.

Yes, you read that right, and no, I have no idea what I am doing. You can bet the camera is coming along for this adventure.