It's a good day to ramble. RUN-Leave now, if you know what's good for you :)
I'm enjoying a crisp autumn day with a hot cup of coffee with cream (with corn syrup solids.) Corn syrup solids? After a little exploring I have found that corn syrup solids are dehydrated corn syrup. Corn syrup comes from corn starch which comes from corn. So, dried corn that's been liquefied to produce corn starch which is liquefied more to make corn syrup which has been dried to make corn syrup solids has been dumped into my coffee. Yep. As soon as this jar is empty, it's back to plain old milk for me. I have learned a bunch with this week's challenge. The biggest lesson has been how EASY it is to turn a blind eye to the facts, to pretend the ingredient label isn't even there!
DH is working out of town but in the same state- so I"m visiting HIM for a couple days! He found a motel that has tomato plants in the landscaping- I think I must have been on his mind when he was looking. :) There is also a shuffleboard game here. I love that! I'm hoping we will get time to play before I leave. I have to admit it's fun to have my bed made for me and not have to worry about doing dishes or feeding the critters.
But I do worry about the critters. I've got a broody hen, a goat that thinks he's a human, a sick beagle, a cat who will only come out of hiding while I'm home, and a guinea who frequently flies into the goat pen and can't find his way back out. DS#3 is taking care of all of them while I'm gone. I'm sure he gets tired of the constant texts from me asking about them. But he doesn't say it. His last reply said, "Dogs are happy, rabbits were hungry, cat was hiding, chickens were chickens, and goats were annoying." Between the lines I read, "Mom, everything is fine, stop worrying." OK
How time flies. In the spring of 2010, DH had neck surgery that disabled him for about 4 months. It was a scary time of hoping for full recovery and unspoken "what ifs?" We had a bunch of "sitting around the table with nothing to do" talks. I remember saying something about wanting to try raising a chicken or 2 to see if I would like it. He was so excited! A few weeks later, we went to an auction and bought a couple. We kept them in the old dog pen with a dog house for shelter for a few days. Then the news broke about a huge salmonella outbreak in eggs. We went back to the auction and bought a whole flock! It was a double blessing, DH wasn't released to work but was bored out of his mind, so I set him to building a chicken coop. And as I was internet surfing "how to raise chickens" I came upon several homesteading sites. It was all downhill from there. My whole outlook on the way I lived started to change. I saw myself as a wasteful consumer and I started to wonder, "in this day and age, with the economy the way it is, can I honestly say all is well?" It's hard to believe it's been a year.
I realize now that God is opening my eyes daily to what He provides and how it's my choice to honor or shame Him for it. And I have to ask myself, "If my children treated my gifts to them the way I treated the blessings God has rained down on me, would I be disappointed in them?" How patient and good He is!
