A magical life

                                                                      Hard at work.

 One of my favorite parts of having chickens? Mutant eggs. The chickens egg production is down for the winter. Shorter daylight hours equals less eggs. We had been getting 5-6  a day from our 6 chickens over the summer. Now were getting maybe one a day. Christmas saw three though! Anyway, chickens dont always lay perfect eggs. We've had shell-less eggs. No shell, just a thick membrane. Apparently you can tear these open and eat the egg within 24 hours. I passed. Anyway. Last week I found this cutie in the coop. I will be making the worlds cutest fried egg one day soon.

I  read this somewhere, I dont remember. But its written on a piece of paper that sits on my desk. "A Magical Life. Living Each Day as Sacred." Strive for that. Hope your day is Magical.

Christmas Spoiler Alert

If I gave birth to you, please, turn back now. Otherwise, feel free to continue on.







This is what our Christmas looks like. And It feels so full. I bought my son a new bike. Like, brand new. We looked in thrift stores for months. I tried craigslist. And you know what? Sometimes you gotta just say screw it and go for it. We are fortunate to be able to. I know. So off to the neighborhood bike store. New bike for Aidan. Yay. My daughter wanted a vintage typewriter. She wants to write a book, old school style. There is still a typewriter repair shop on the west side of town. And lucky for us he repairs and sells old typewriters. A few things from the flea market, an I Love Nerds shirt for my daughter (and some cash for her too. new bike vs/ vintage type writer...). And for the stockings, chocolate. Local, yum, chocolate.

Anyway. Like "A Christmas Story", I remember Christmas past. I remember Christmas with so much stuff. Tons of stuff. New stuff. Too much stuff. I remember Christmas with not so much stuff. Christmas where I spent $50 per kid. I remember. And Im thankful for all that we have. And all that we have gone through, to get here.



Happy Holidays. Whatever they mean to you, I hope you enjoy them.

The way the wholehearted live

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/brene-brown-vulnerability_n_1150976.html?1323965500&ncid=webmail4&ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

Like any good nerd, I took notes on this video. This is what I got:

People who live a whole hearted life all shared the following traits;

Believe that you are worthy of love and belonging. Whole hearted. Deep sense of worthiness.

COURAGE - the courage to be imperfect
COMPASSION - to yourself first, and to others
CONNECTION - As a result of Authenticity. Willing to let go of who they thought they should be, in order to be WHO THEY ARE

Fully Embraced Vulnerability - Belief that what makes you vulnerable is what makes you beautiful. Not necessarily a comfortable experience but not excruciating either. Necessary.

* Willingness to say I love you first
* Do something with no guarantees
* Willing to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out
* Ability to breathe through waiting, nervousness

The way to live is with vulnerability. In our society we have a tendency to numb ourselves. We numb with alcohol, tv, drugs, etc. However we don't get to selectively numb our emotions. We numb the joy and gratitude as well as the pain. Find the ability to live through the pain.

Breakdown or spiritual awakening. They say its one and the same.

Vulnerability is the core of shame, and fear but also the birthplace of JOY, CREATIVITY, BELONGING, and LOVE!

We are imperfect and wired for struggle, but worthy of love and belonging.

Let ourselves be seen.
Love with our whole heart.
Practice gratitude and joy.

I am enough.

- from Brene Brown

Great Read

http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html

And the winner is.

Well it looks like Im back in the antiques business. Im excited. Small stuff. Vintage jewelry and the like. I know it well, im pretty good at it and i like it (usually). Its a way to make money. It makes sense. I walk around outside looking for beautiful, old, treasures. Its recycling too. Sorta. I get to see old friends (yay). It fits around my kids schedule, i can tailor it to mine. Well see what shape it takes. Online selling, selling to friends, a booth somewhere, a shop here? Hmm.... This and the community manager gig, the kids, the gardens, the pets, life. Its enough, for now.

Its funny, I avoided doing this because i wanted to get away from so much stuff.. Now the trick will be to do this without cramming my house full of amazing things. Oh boy. ;)

Enjoy the day.

Look Ma, no gray hair:



My daughter says I look like a Truffala Tree in this sweater.

Vanity post. Not really.

I dyed my hair. Actually, a new neighbor and friend hennaed my hair. First time in four years. Four years of gray hair, and really kind of loving it. But alas, I got bored with it and so... light reddish brown. In examining the gray hair (cause lets be honest, these days I feel compelled to examine most everything) this is what i learned. I learned to love gray hair. I learned to look for and love seeing women (and men) strong enough to rock their authentic hair. I learned people in some places are more prone to wearing gray hair then others. I dont think I saw gray hair on anyone under 7o while visiting Long Island. Not much gray hair in LA either. I learned to change the way I look in the mirror. Or walk away when I cant look in the mirror, and be nice to myself. Im trying to learn to age gracefully. To accept myself through the years. Ive learned that some people really do like gray hair. That for some people, it really is who you are. And now at 40, Ive come to a place of wearing it when I want to, not because i feel I have to. Or because Im supposed to. The pendulum swung pretty far in the opposite direction for me, the last four years. I had to try on other ways of living, to come to the middle ground of where I want to be, where I am, for now.

So Ive colored my hair, not to hide anything but to mix it up a bit. To try something else on for size. Again.

Thanks for reading, for being here, for your support, encouragement and kind words through the years. You help me sit down and write. Even when its about hair color. Enjoy the day. K

How to plant a tree...

So with all my talk of tree planting, I figured i could give a quick over view. There are a zillion and one good gardening books out there Im sure. Though, I for one havent learned much from gardening books. Ive been fortunate to have great gardeners in my life for the past 15 years. I have learned from them, trial and error, and garden center folks. And google. I could google plants for hours.

Basically, ya wanna dig your hole twice as big as the root system of the tree. I once heard "a $10 hole for a $5 tree." Check your soil. Does your soil need to be amended? Here in Florida we are more apt to have a variation of sand then 'good' soil. So now when I plant i add our compost. (Maybe a compost post...). But more then likely, if the tree your planting is good for your area you're good to go. Ok. So $10 hole. You dont want the hole to be too deep. Just a little bit deeper then the trees root system, and wider. Water the hole. If youve got compost or rich soil to add, toss some in. Stick your $5 tree in. Cover the roots back up. Compact the soil around the roots by pressing down or lightly stepping around the base, ya wanna try and get rid of any big air pockets. Water. Mulch with leaves, or straw, or... mulch. And then, depending on your climate and rain fall, water every day for about a week. In Florida or other hot climates for the summer time, you may need to water every other day for the second week. Weekly watering (in lieu of rain) would be good idea for the first six months to a year. I have yet to do this... ;)

Basically my approach to gardening has always been, just do it. Somethings better then nothing. The grapefruit tree that I planted 7 years ago, before i 'knew' as much as i 'know' now? Its doing great. I ride my bike over to my ex-house and pick the fruit because my childrens father and his wife are not down with grapefruit. Lucky me.

Talk to people. Gardeners in general, LOVE to talk about gardening and plants. Find out what works for others in your area, and what doesnt. Support your local, independent garden centers. Their people are often really knowledgeable, local gardeners. Have fun.