No Buffalo today
The low laying clouds hide the mountain. It makes for a nice temporary change in view.

Winter garden
A hand full of fresh greens makes a nice salad.

What’s a girl to do? I am off for the next 13 days, I wonder if I can keep busy? Yea I think I can find a few things to do. Today it’s kinda dreary but who cares? It’s a good day to read and cook chili. Not cold enough for a fire but you cant have everything.

I have been awake since 4am today. I was so tired last night that I was in bed by 8pm and asleep not long after that. I tried to go back to sleep this morning but for me 8 hours sleep is a lot of sleep so that did not happen. There was a nice side to waking up so early I was able to watch the sun come over the mountain and light up the Buffalo. The sun has not shown its self in 3 days but today promises to be mild and sunny. It will be a good day to be outside but first the inside things must be done and since I have been up since 4 one would think that I should have the inside things done but to tell you the truth I have accomplished nothing. I read for an hour and then I watched a show I taped. I am sitting here writing when I should be doing laundry, working on the dry wall we put up last weekend, sweeping the floor bla bla bla……

Right now I don’t feel like doing anything and you know what after I put that load of laundry in the washer and sweep the floor and get the trash out to the jeep I’m going to just sit down on that couch and read a bid more, of course maybe I will get down to the garden and pick a little broccoli, give the dogs baths, Trip did get into that skunk last week, I need to hang the peg board in the shed. Oh the heck with it where is that book!!!

Yesterday morning I sat down at the table and made a list of what I wanted to get done. I was going to keep it at 3 things but more and more HAVE to get done things came to mind and then to paper. Of the 6 things on that list only 3 got done. I started the list again last night and today there are only 5 items on it………..

I am trying to get my precepting done as an EMT so I spent a few hours down at station 4. This is the sunset view from the parking lot

Ever since I moved into the cabin I have woke up in the morning put my feet on the floor and not stopped until it was time again for bed. Last week while I was on my way back from a, gotta get something so I can do some work on the cabin, trip to Roanoke and flipping through the radio stations looking for an adult alternative radio station, which there isn’t one!!, I came across a motivational speaker who was basically saying that god wants us to have fun and enjoy life. Well he wasn’t teaching hell and damnation or fire and brimstone so I listened. He went on to say that we should simplify our lives and slow down. This caused me to think about my own life at this time.

My #2 son just got back from the Philippines and he commented to me that he loved the way the Philippinoes on the little island he was on always smiled and seemed happy. Other than scooters/motorcycles and cell phones they really did not have much. Back in the states he noticed how no one smiled or seemed happy and were always in a hurry. Their mood just seemed much dimmer to him. He misses the Philippines.

I moved to the mountains to slow down and simplify and I’m not doing that. I am busier than ever. I get so caught up in what I am doing that I miss what is around me. I don't smile that much. Starting today I am going to take a few minutes every morning and relax, drink a cup of Joe and reflect on the day. I have just started my life here I want to enjoy it with a smile on my face. I want the neighbors to wonder “what’s she so happy about?"

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My #1 and #2 sons were up to pick up my #2 sons dog that I had been taking care of while he was in the Philippines so we spent some quality time together yesterday morning shoot’en a shot gun. When you have sons you don’t spend a lot of time playing with dolls, gotta do what the boys like and shooting a gun is kinda fun. I wont kill anything but I do like to target practice.