Laughter is the Best Medicine

Clean House, Clean Clothes, Ironed Clothes, Cooking, etc.  Blah. 
Don't get me wrong: I love those things, I just don't love to do them.  I know many people DO love to be domestic and I think that's great.  I just want a magic wand, or a wrinkly nose, or a powerful arms-crossed-in-front-of-chest blink.

Even when I didn't work (ahem, yeah right) well, didn't work for someone who wrote me a check every couple of weeks, I didn't particularly care for the domestic life.  Working outside and planting flowers, I LOVE.  I've just never been real excited about being Susie Homemaker or Betty Crocker.

Sunday was an exception.  I did laundry, organized my closet and shoes, vacuumed said closet and rest of the house, pulled up my potatoes, scrubbed kitchen cupboards and stove, and now need to iron.  I get this way when I'm trying to avoid thinking of unpleasant events.

Yeah, unpleasant is an understatement.  The dreaded "C"-word has reared its ugly head again.  Tony went the end of August for his routine every-six-month check up complete with bone scan, CT scan and lab work.  For nearly 10 years this has been going on with nearly everything staying status quo.  This time there's no status quo, but status Qurap!  Multiple "areas of concern" that are probably metastatic malignancies on pelvis and femur.  I'll write more later.

We now return to our previously scheduled program.

Monday morning Tony has a biopsy of one of the "areas of concern" mentioned above.  Now to wait for the pathology report before knowing what we're dealing with.  This is all combined with the return of his shoulder pain, yes THAT shoulder.  The one he endured 3 separate surgical procedures on just last summer.  It causes continual discomfort and we're waiting on the MRI of that area now too.

If you have friends that make you laugh, spend lots of time with them.

"The Best Things in Life Aren't Things" ~ Art Buchwald

For me, that quote is transmitted through my brain several times a week. Sure, I like things; especially NICE things, and looking around me I have a lot of nice things.

I have a home that is a "thing", but more than that I have around me trees, birds, deer, wild turkeys, Todd the Fox, a crackling fire in the woodstove, a hot cup of coffee.  My Dad was here not too long ago and made the comment that you can look at pictures and appreciate of where we live but to really see it you have to be here.  Sitting on the porch you see it with all the senses.  You see the blue sky and the trees but you feel the air, crisp and clean.  You smell the woodsmoke, the evergreen trees.  You hear the windchime tinkling and the wind gusts making the ocean roar sound through the trees, the chickadees, finches and bluejays busily emptying the various birdfeeders around the house. 
The peacefulness of my home is one of life's best things.

Condiments of My Week

Catchup & Relish.
Wednesday, I and two of the staff went to a seminar in Denver on Ace Paint.  Interesting information on product and color but  A LONG DAY with a lot of traffic.  I left the house at 6am and got home at 6pm...and I drove. Don't get me wrong; the traffic in Colorado is NOTHING like what N. California-Bay Area traffic that I used to experience, it's just that my commute usually entails a 30 minute drive that has so little traffic that when you do see another car you wave at the driver!
The more amazing thing of the day was that, are you ready for this?  IT WAS 74 DEGREES IN DENVER AT 4PM, and it's MARCH.  Weird but wonderful weather.  Last weekend we had a bear cruise through the backyard.  They've woken up early this year.  Of course it may still snow...(it actually snowed a bit during the night), but we're all really enjoying the warmth right now.  I've even seen my first bluebird of the season.

so now....to find my mustard.  It's Friday.

Why Now?

There's a question for you that can be attributed to so many different areas, but for today I'm going to stick with the "why now" as in "Why are you trying to figure out a blog now?"  My answer is, "I don't know. Why NOT now?"
Maybe it's because my children are grown and gone and instead of telling them to do homework, turn off the TV, unload the dishwasher, etc. I have mental time to spare.  Maybe it's because my family and friends are scattered all over and I am finding that I can't remember who I told about significant happenings and who I forgot to tell.  Maybe it's just that I think someone out there just might be curious as to what my rambling mind tells my fingers to type.  Whatever it is, "NOW" seems like as good a time as any.
So, here's some random things you might not know about me.
1-I have been known to be a control freak. I like to plan and organize so that there are no surprises that cannot be handled quickly and efficiently.  Trust me; it doesn't always work out.
2-I fear snakes.  In my younger years I had terrifying dreams that would wake me up, sweating and shaking.  Now? I'm better, not cured of my fear but it's no longer irrational.  I have no idea why they freak me out other than they wriggle unpredictably in all directions and are....hmm...snakey.
3-I wish I still played the piano but more than that I wish I could play the piano like I feel when I listen to it. 
4-If you want me to hire you, write your application neatly, dress neatly, take out the facial piercings, shake hands with a firm grasp and look me in the eye.  If you can't do that then don't waste both of our time.
5-Everyone we encounter in our lives makes an impression within us no matter how insignificant our meeting.  What kind of impression we leave is up to us.

Sometimes I wonder if we will ever 'catch-up'.  You know, "I'll bake some cookies for the new neighbors once I 'catch-up' at work." or whatever excuse we use. 

What does that have to do with being a Dixie Widow?  Nothing, except that I have wondered for a long while now if I would ever 'catch-up' enough to figure out how to start and maintain my own blog.  I haven't done either but yet here it is and here I am.

Dixie Widow was the title of a book loaned to me 20 or so years ago by my Nana; a religious novel of sorts about a woman that pretended to be a Southern sympathizer to spy for the Union during the Civil War.   The story stuck with me and when it came time to define my "person" for re-enacting a few years later the moniker jumped out of my mouth without much thought. Over the years it stuck, creating an almost life of its own.  And now, through this Blog perhaps we will discover together, Just what is a "Dixie Widow?".