Merely a skunk

Lady is notorious for finding four legged creatures...while they look kinda cute, they don't smell quite as nice. Such as the other night. She was barking like crazy in the front yard at this skunk.

Knowing Lady all too well, Dad locked her on the porch to prevent her from getting sprayed...again. She's had her fair share of skunk perfume in the past. :) As Dad and I watched this skunk out the front window, we could see it digging up something in the flower bed.

A rabbit. A half-eaten, dead rabbit that Lady buried there the day before. No wonder she was so upset at this skunk!! That skunk dug up that thing! Once the skunk was gone and it was safe to let Lady off the porch, she immediately ran to the front yard only to discover her "treasure" had been stolen. Poor thing!

Evidence of Spring!

Fluffy clouds!

Wispy clouds!

Happy cows & calves!

Blue skies!

Diminishing woodpile!

Patches of green!

Tractor tire tracks!

Mittens (before she rolled in the dirt!)

Apricot tree!

Full of blooms!

White and beautiful!

One little bloom!

Lots of wind & bad hair days! ;)

Stash of Mom's pillows...

Life without Mom has become normal. Not that there's times that I miss her more than others, wish that she could be here for certain events or just want to talk with her one more time, but she's not continually on my mind like she was several years ago. But there are times when something or someone triggers a memory of Mom.

Like a couple weeks ago as I was spring cleaning the hall closets. At the bottom of one of the closets lies a pile of blankets and extra pillows. Yes, the pillows...among the extras were Mom's "special" pillows.

You see, Mom always struggled with lower back pain, but having a small pillow tucked in behind her was a great help. She would have those pillows scattered around the house - in the schoolroom at her desk, in her rocking chair in the family room, on her bed and even in the car. They were available as she needed them.

There was one in particular that she loved the best! This very lumpy, odd looking, well worn thing was the most comfortable to her. I even made her a few brand new, machine embroidered pillows attempting to get rid of the old one, and while they were nice, they weren't "it". That one in particular and a couple others traveled with her quite a bit.

After Mom's brain biopsy surgery in Wichita, she was in ICU for several days, pretty much confined to lying on her back since her right side was paralyzed. We could tell that much of the time she was uncomfortable, but because she was unable to speak and there was so much else going on with her body, we were never able to discover what exactly she was trying to tell us she needed. There were so many other life changing issues we were facing and dealing with, that we didn't fully realize that being on her back so much was a huge problem.

Until.....that one afternoon. We walked into her ICU room carrying a couple of "her pillows". Oh! The look of relief on her face! Unbelievable! As soon as we were close enough to her bed, she immediately grabbed her favorite, small, lumpy pillow and tucked it behind her. And then sat back, breathing a sigh of relief with a slightly contented smile on her face.

Ahhh, yes...we had discovered one thing that helped. That little pillow.

So now that one favorite well-worn pillow is sitting with the others that Mom used. Do we use it for anything? No. Is it more than ready for the trash? Yes. Am I ready to get rid of it? Nope, not yet. Whenever I see that stash of pillows, it reminds me of Mom and that one afternoon when we managed to get a smile on her face in some of the worst circumstances. I'll never forget that. Never.

Life....just life.

I can't believe my last post here was a couple weeks ago. What's been happening around my house? Not much...just plain, normal, everyday life. Here's a glance at the last few days:

Saturday: Income taxes. A task I dread doing, mainly because there's so much of it I don't understand. Between my slight knowledge and Dad's help, I'm able to get there, but figuring expenses, income and making sure to get it all according to IRS rules it just....well, is just....hard. But my taxes are filed, been confirmed with the IRS and my paperwork stack is much smaller than it was last week. Ahhh....that makes me feel better!

Sunday: Have you ever had two kindergarten girls try guessing your age?! That made for a quite interesting discussion before we started Sunday School. That evening we had a movie watching event - The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, starring of all people - Don Knotts (aka Barney Fife!). I don't care what movie Don Knotts is in, the characteristics he displays in his actions and speech will forever be linked to the "nip it in the bud" deputy sheriff! A fun evening!

Monday: This week we've had 70 and 80 degree days which have been wonderful - makes flip flop wearing weather just around the corner! With the warmer weather and sun shining, I've been trying to get outside and get a slight tan. Let's just say......it's going to take a while. Although I will say my skin has turned color; it's no longer pure white, but not quite the tan I had in mind. Hopefully the "tan" will start appearing soon. :)

Tuesday: Hmmm...what did I do this day?? Oh yes, I finished up some last of the month business deadlines, stitched a couple of alterations that needed to be done and cleaned and sorted the last of my paperwork from doing my taxes over the weekend.

Wednesday: Ahhh...how I look forward to Wednesday afternoons! The kids are so sweet and it's always a treat to spend that time with Erinn and teaching and doing activities with the kids. Our Bible character this week was Thomas and how he doubted and didn't believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. For my introduction into the lesson, I had multiple objects in paper bags and asked several of the kids if they believed me if I told them that there was a green fish, $200, a quarter, a teddy bear or other various objects in each bag.

While I was hoping for a "no, I don't believe you" answer (just like Thomas didn't believe what he was told until he saw Jesus' hands), mostly what I got was a, "yes, I believe you". They continually believed me; which is slightly scary. They are watching and believing what I say and do. My prayer is that my speech and actions are reflecting Christ and bringing glory and honor to Him! What a responsibility! Whew!!

Thursday (today): I just received our VBS program, "High Seas Expedition" yesterday and am soooooo thrilled about getting started on that for this summer! Just imagine - ships, sailing, cute sailing clip art characters, fun-to-sing songs, crashing waves and spy glasses digging out truth from God's Word?!?! And yes, that's what I'm planning on spending my weekend sorting out. :)