What am I busy about?

I'm not sure if you have noticed, but I changed my quote last week to one that my friend Bryn passed along. It seemed so very indicative of my life...and not just my life lately but always.

It is not enough to be busy;

so are the ants.

The question is:

What are we busy about?

~Henry David Thoreau

I don't know about you but I seem to be constantly saying "I've just been so busy lately" or "I wish I could but I'm just too busy" or here is my favorite "I can't wait 'till_________is over and I'll have more time". The thing is... ________ is never over is it? So if I just give in to the fact that I'm always going to be busy and let that be okay; the question now becomes "what am I going to be busy about?" As I see it, I need to be busy doing 4 things... 1.) Busy at work - whether work is at the office, taking care of my family, getting an education or something else entirely I owe it to myself to put good effort into it. 2.) Busy giving back - to other people, to my society, to my earth, to my children - you name it - giving is the greatest form of receiving. 3.) Busy with enjoyment - I guess good 'ol hobbies would fall here - for me it would be reading, taking photos, writing, cooking, hanging with my family. 4.) Busy resting - I don't forget this one! Sleep is my preferred drug of choice. So when I really sit down and look at it, yes I am busy. And that is not likely to go away, but I think I'm busy doing a nice mixture of the right things. Like stopping to smell (and take a picture of) the flowers :-)

A walk with Coop

Took a walk with Coop around the lake this past Saturday. I absolutely love one on one time with my kids. Love the conversations and love the just quiet "togetherness".

I did it!

Remember my post about trying to be more green and planting the seeds? Well the seeds grew; they grew and grew and grew. They grew so much we finally had to make a home for them outside. We mixed some dirt and some sand and some potting soil and in our plants went... And we waited. And watered. And waited some more. And although things seemed to be growing - somehow I'm not sure that I really believed it would actually produce food. So you can imagine my utter amazement when I found THIS!! 'Bout fell over! It's a green bean. A real honest to goodness green bean! I stood in my garden (I use the term "garden" loosely) and said to myself "well would you look at that!" Now mind you, I'm not sure I'm quite ready to start taking reservations for dinner. My crop is...well...you're looking at it. But I do believe it may just be a sign of things to come!

Praise for PA

Ya know...I gotta say...

there is something to be said for living in Pennsylvania.

Given enough time

If you know just a little bit about Astrology, you may know the four elements are Earth, Fire, Water & Air. I'm probably going to botch this a bit...but I believe we each have 3 elements (maybe more?)...something like your "rising" and maybe your "sun"...oh who knows, but anyway, my mother always told me I was all Earth (instead of maybe Earth +Air+Water for example). And by having 3 Earth signs it meant I was solid & immovable (like the Earth)...I believe stubborn may have been another adjective but I can't be sure :) So mom, I thought you might like the quote above...apparently I just need time.

Hello Tuesday

Promise to post more later today... Side note: so sad to hear of Tim Russert dying on Friday. I really liked him, in fact I just recently did a Wikipedia search on him to learn a bit more history. My heart jumped a bit when I saw he was only 58...my thought was "o good, he's young, he will still be doing this for a long time". I actually cry each time I see something in memory of him on tv - I wonder how it is that we can get so emotional over someone we never even knew?

Within us

Learning more in Adobe Photoshop. If you can't read the quote, I think you can click on it and it will enlarge.

Canyon

The photos of the Grand Canyon actually began on the ride there...

with the snow topped mountains (in June). Elevation peeked at 8046 ft.

With my love of quotes I couldn't resist. This was on the glass wall of the Canyon observatory (you can see some of the canyon in the background). I really only took a few photos of the Canyon - which is surprising for me; but what I realized once I got there, is that the Grand Canyon is something you not only need to see for yourself, but it is something you need to feel . There is no camera, no matter how complex or fancy that can capture the enormity of the place. You truly need to stand on the ridge and look to your left, then look to your right and try and wrap your head around 277 miles of enormity. Then stand on the edge with the dizzy sickness in your stomach which is a cross between terror and excitement. I stood there with a sense of vertigo looking 10 miles across to the north side and looking 1 mile down into the canyon. I understood that my camera was no match for the place. The few photos I did take were more picturesque vs. documentary. I highly recommend it.

Out of Africa

Moving on with our trip... After my convention the family

showed up and we were off to the Safari.

Feeding the giraffes was definitely the highlight. It certainly seemed like each day I saw something amazing, something beautiful and something breathtaking on this trip. It is doubtful that my boys will remember much of the trip as they get older, but I'm still glad that I had the opportunity to expose them to this as small children. Next we were off to the Grand Canyon...stay tuned!

SO proud to be a Comfort Keeper

Wow, where do I start? At the beginning I suppose. I just got back from beautiful Arizona. My Comfort Keepers convention was in Tucson this year. First, may I just say...I LOVE MY JOB. Comfort Keepers owners and staff must be THE nicest people I have ever met. Every year, going to convention is like a family reunion (with family you actually like). It is three or four days with the kindest, most generous people + I have an opportunity to get re-energized about my job and my business. The creme de la creme this year was location... I got up at 5:15 to walk the golf course with a friend/CK Owner. These photos are for Dad and Annie (and any other golf fans out there)...

Don't ask me what holes these are...I haven't a clue.

I personally could not get over the backdrop. Then there were the 5 (yes I said five) swimming pools...

This year I took a Stacie and Tammy from my office...

Couldn't complain about the food either. Here is breakfast...eggs, green pepper, onion and cheese in a tortilla...with guacamole!! For breakfast!!! Can it get any better???

The answer is yes...because this was the view.

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Think only of the best, work only for the best,and expect only the best. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you! ~Christian D. Larson

Yellow boots

It's been the weekend of the yellow boots...

Dunc came down from his nap yesterday looking like this...

Mint Milano in one hand, chocolate pretzel in the other.

Caught him watering the plants in his pj's this morning...

But this took the cake...

Slowing down

We can only be said to be alive in those moments

when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

~Thornton Wilder

Green

With all the crap in the world today it could certainly be hard to find much good. Our airways, our newspapers our televisions our magazines and even our bookshelves seem to be cluttered with a slacking economy, high gas prices, the battle of politics, who is going to win American Idol and whether or not Brittany is back in rehab. I however, am a die hard optimist. If you know me, I am rarely in a bad mood and pretty much always trying to "look on the bright side". I don't have bad days and you would be hard pressed to find me without a smile on my face. Don't know why, just born that way I guess. Which is maybe why I seem to be noticing a lot of good lately. Because we hope to build a house some day on that nice lot of land that we own...the focus in our life has definitely been on houses, building, decoration, energy, building materials etc. John reads Fine Home building and I browse House magazine. We tune into Home and Garden TV and we now peruse the isles of Lowe's for entertainment. With this being the focus in our home it would be almost impossible to miss the global movement to try and be a bit "greener". John and I have had lengthy conversations about how we see "green" everywhere. John said his magazines are packed with green information. HG TV is now giving away a totally "green" home in their Great Home Giveaway for the first time ever. The weather channel is constantly doing segments on being greener. Car manufacturers are exchanging the once massive market of SUV's into the more economical Hybrid. Can I just say - I love this. Don't get me wrong, I am certainly far from being a tree hugging radical activist. But I love that the county (world) is starting this conversation. It's movement, and I believe it's good movement in a good direction. I believe it's necessary. It gets me excited and makes me want to participate and I believe that is all it takes is one person, and one more and so on. I remember my mother once said (of raising us kids in the 70's), "back then it was cool to be poor". I believe it is actually becoming cool to be green - and how awesome is that? So in our little home, in very little ways, we have started the conversation and have made some little steps in a greener direction. We have planted some seeds, bought some vegetable plants and hope to actually harvest some of our own food this summer. This has been awesome for Coop and Dunc too. They have just loved the process of planting, watering and well...take a look above. In a child's eyes, that is magic.

Mom

Can I just skip May? No I have not been on vacation. Nope, not in the hospital. Yes my internet connection is just fine. No computer problems, everything works. I won't bore you with what has kept me away. It's very simple really, it's called life. It's been too busy, that I will admit. When whole months go by and I haven't taken a picture or stopped to write a few words I know it's time to slow down. I do see light at the end of the tunnel and I am patiently awaiting it. Summer looks to be grand - I can't wait. I missed Mother's Day on the blog and wanted to at least mention it. The sandals above were my gift along with the picture below. I also got a coupe homemade gifts from the boys that were wonderful. They are getting to that fantastic "homemade" age. Cards especially - love it.

A few things I have learned from my mother:

1.) You only cut one end of the green bean

2.) There is no substitute for real butter

3.) Sheets come with a % not a /

4.) It okay to let a baby cry

5.) Luxury is a stack of unread books

6.) Quality toilet paper is a must

7.) How to sew

8.) How to cook (pretty damn good)

9.) How to take a chance

10.) How to be a wonderful mom

Mine is the mother who was eating brown bread, brown rice and brown eggs before it was cool. She was green before anyone knew what green meant. She talks to god in her garden, not in a church. Most of her education has come from books, travel and an open mind, but I dare you to challenge her to a game of Trivial Pursuit. She is a grammy, a mommy and a friend - but let that not be the only things that define her. She is Chanel #5, kasha, Beechnut Gum, sun, Rolling Rock and clean teeth. She is tall, she is Noxzema, James Taylor and a black Cadillac. She is Sunshine Farms, she is the Caribbean. She is all these things and hundreds more. She is these things + the thread that makes them a quilt. She is my mom and I love her.