I have had a very busy week, last week. Getting ready to be gone from my day job for 2 weeks means I have to work extra hard to make sure that I don’t leave work for my coworkers to do. I have to make all of my deadlines that are in the next 2 weeks, now, in addition to tidying up any projects I am involved in.
Plus, at home, I have been working on putting the finishing touches on my new website. I am having a lot of fun with this new design, and new ideas are always coming to mind. I have some new things coming in the near future.
From time to time, we indulge in comfort food; today will be one of those days. We are having beef fajitas for supper. We buy a marinated flap steak at the grocery store that my husband puts on the smoker. He is an amazing cook, and the meat is always perfectly cooked and tender.
He also smokes and chops pablano and bell peppers, and chops fresh onions and cilantro. Our fajitas wouldn’t be complete without guacamole and sour cream; all this goodness is served up on a flour tortilla (all these items we buy). It is one of the few times that we eat anything made with wheat. Gluten free tortilla are a bit too fragile for me. Also, yesterday I made some lavender lemonade! I used the lavender out of my front flowerbed; talk about a treat!
If you are wondering how I eat when I am out of town, I will just admit that I cheat! That’s not to say that I cheat on my diet, but that my husband makes enough food to feed me for the week. Yes, I take with me a cooler full of food; I can do that because I am driving to my home away from home, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
That is where our major training center is located. I have been there more times than I can count in the last 25 years. It is close enough to drive there, and come home on the weekends, so that’s what I do.
There are always a lot of things that need to be done prior to leaving, such as laundry, making sure that I have enough vitamins to take with me, and a bunch of other mundane things. Not to mention the everyday stuff that needs to be taken care of.
We are still trying to get caught up on things around the house that we got behind on due to so much rain earlier in the year, the intense heat that followed the rain, and getting my daughter’s father’s house ready to sell. We got so far behind, that some items on the to-do list are just at the ridiculous stage.
I hate to admit this, but today I finally took down the Christmas lights from the roof…there are no words to describe all the feelings that I have over the fact that it took me 8 months to get this little thing done. It had to be done because they were coming down on their own. Each storm broke more and more of the plastic clips that held them there.
Sometimes, things are just out of your control, and you have to do what you can do. Learning not to let things drive me beyond the bounds of reason to where I can’t sleep at night or be a rational person until my to-do list is completed has been a major life lesson for me.
There have been much more important things for me to focus on, like spending time with my family, relaxing, and doing something fun. Things are starting to come together, and I feel accomplished that I didn’t make myself and everyone else crazy worrying about them.
In about a month, my family from Pennsylvania will be here for a week. I am looking forward to spending some time with them. There is much to do between now and then, but life is just busy; I have decided to take it at my pace. My husband and I make a good team so I know we will be ready.
By the way, the kittens love being outside. They have so much fun that they hardly come inside except for some hands-on, cuddle and nap time. If they are awake, they want to go outside.
The weather has been perfect for them (much cooler than normal for August) and even though it will warm up a bit before summer is officially over, I know they will be acclimated to it. I can’t wait to see if they will snuggle with our bird dog, Hank, this winter.
I hope your next week is a good one. As they say, “Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s all small stuff.”
2 Timothy 1:9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
