Wednesday

This week is full. Today I have set things aside in order to just have a quiet and uneventful morning at home. We don’t HAVE to go anywhere so the van is staying in the garage until time to leave for church. That alone is very refreshing.

I’ve been able to add to that a nice Skype conversation with my sister Kristy and three year old Thadeus, a simple breakfast, a little rain spattering while I read my Bible on the back porch, the sound of a five year old boy singing praise choruses while he puts puzzles together and the sweetness of little boys each finding something to do that keeps them busy, happy and out of trouble. It’s been a good morning.

I’ve also been able to control my thoughts a little better the past couple days. On Monday I was scattered and frustrated. My ideals were begging to be met and satisfied, at the expense of my sanity. By Tuesday I begged some quiet of myself and got up extra early in order to take advantage of the quiet before the boys. Just a half-hour makes a big difference and once I collected my thoughts and held on to a few that God gave me, I was able to see the difference between what I want this week to be and what it is capable of. How easy it is to slip into discontentment. I wasn’t looking at anyone’s greener grass, I just wanted to make the most of Owen’s spring break. I realized that it was discontentment with my abilities and lack of time that was causing irritation and frustration, no matter how noble the source of it was. This morning I wrote in my journal that “my perfectionist desires bring clutter to simple needs and cause stress and frustration to overshadow practical solutions.” I hope I can remember that later.

I finally met my goal of getting something to sit on for the back porch. I’m quite happy with it, despite the expense and the fact that it’s not nearly as comfortable as the even higher priced options. It’s clean and simple and even pretty. Kris and I shopped quite a bit for furniture but the price is intimidating to say the least. It would cost us literally thousands of dollars to buy something that we feel is quality as well as attractive. Instead we decided to use the old and somewhat rusted chairs we already have and purchase new cushions for them. Maybe next year the idea of NEW won’t be so far out of reach. Still it cost $30.00 per cushion and we have eight chairs. I also purchased five $13.00 pillows to coordinate with them and it totals out to over $300.00 as the cheaper option. I spent less than $16 to enliven the old cushions when we were first given these chairs. I bought 16 yards of outdoor fabric from the dollar table at Wal-mart and was quite happy with the outcome of my recovered cushions. The fabric faded badly and the cushions inside were pretty nasty after the work of years of insects, cats and other outdoor rascals. So…we threw out the old cushions and almost threw out the chairs as well. I would like to paint them in order to cover some of the stains and such but I think that may be more work than they are worth. I do not need to clutter my needs with excess desires…so I’m leaving them as they are today.

We have had visitors in our attic. Starlings seem to have a liking to our attic vents and the cozy quarters the tubing provides for nesting. A handy-man recommended by the pest control man is coming out this afternoon to hopefully screen up our entry ways and keep the little guys from coming back. The nest found above our master bath was pretty large and the poor guy who came to the house to rid us of our creepy crawlies was showered with insulation as he entered the dark space above. It really didn’t take that long to clean up but I was a bit taken aback when I rounded the corner and saw this all over my closet…

Each morning we have been hearing the sound of a woodpecker outside and finally on Saturday morning I was able to catch a glimpse of our percussionist. He is quite handsome and very punctual. His pounding is not obnoxious, it sounds like a rattle from inside the house and I enjoy the little echo and concise rhythm he is able to produce. He is a Pileated Woodpecker and is much larger than I expected. You can’t really tell from my pictures but he is about the size of a large crow. Don’t you love his red hat? He is a very dapper fellow indeed.

The turkeys are still roaming about as well and this weekend I was able to capture the big gobbler as he strutted about with his lovely escorts. I did not realize until reading a bit that their heads, which are normally pink or red, can turn this pretty blue color almost instantaneously.