Stepping outside the box

While reading "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert while traveling down country roads in Minnesota, I ran across this quote: "It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody elses life with perfection."

Firstly, I highly recommend this book. It has opened my eyes and heart even more so. Secondly, this quote spoke to me. Rather, it screamed to me. I read it over and over, and over again. Then I'd look out the window and think. Then I'd try to begin reading and my eyes kept going to this particular sentence.

Ken and I as a couple have been going through some pretty deep stuff. We still have some pretty not too swell days since our niece left our home. I struggle on days with what I should be doing, what I want to do and what we are doing. I do not regret our decision to let Joy go and I never have. I just miss her immensely. There has never been any other child who felt "just right" like she did.

Both Ken and I have been reflecting on what we want to do with our lives, and how we can get there. We know that the life we are living right now is not what we inspire to do. But yet we continue and sprinkle a few of our core values and inspirations in our lives when it's possible and live the "American dream."

We live rather comfortably. Meaning, bills are paid and we can go to a movie or play or out to dinner a couple times a month. Can we splurge and go on some exotic vacation on a whim? No. And that is alright with us. I admire Ken because he is on the path in life that he has always dreamed to do. He has always wanted to be a truck driver. He also has strong feelings toward a country lifestyle. Having a hobby farm, a large garden, raising animals...being self sufficient.

I also have many of those dreams...minus the raising of farm animals. Well chickens would be fine. We'd use those for eggs. But to feed an animal only to have to butcher it does not appeal to me one bit. No, I'm not a vegetarian but there is no way I could bulk up an animal day after day and then serve it for dinner. This is a big area where Ken and I differ.

I sometimes find myself letting go or putting my dreams on the back burner so Ken can chase his. That's one area that this quote was calling my name. I need to allow myself to chase some of my dreams. I know Ken would support me 1000000000%

Another area is on what people expect from me and what I allow myself to be. In certain areas I am sacrificing my destiny and living what people would see as a perfect life. I need to do things for myself and allow myself to chase my dreams...whatever they may be. No, I'm not gong through some mid 30's crisis or any other type of change. Ken and I both have these feelings of always doing what feels right or what people may expect from us. We've come to this realization after having Joy in our home for those few days and then making the choice/sacrifice to let her go. We had no other choice but to let our dream of having a family go, even though we had numerous people telling us to stick it out, everything will work out, they wanted another family member...we had to let that dream die...and never revisit that dream again.

With that dream dying we have realized many different things we want to do in life. We want to live in the country, have the big organic garden, be self sufficient, get rid of the nonsense of clutter we own. Be more simple. We want to honor our values and live them to the fullest. With these dreams of ours we know there are some risks and we feel that we can chase them seeing we won't have to drag a child through them. We've always done what's right or what would be perceived as the "norm" It's time to step outside the box.

Wild blueberries are bursting in the forest...and we've been out to pick three times. The taste of wild blueberries is astounding. Nothing like the flavorless bluckoid tasting store bought ones. Plus, it's oodles of fun taking a ride to the middle of nowhere and foraging for berries...that got made into jam last night.

Check this out...a Smurf house!! Call me silly but when I saw this mushroom when we were picking I giggled and had fond memories of my childhood. It's the little things like picking berries and stumbling upon a "Smurf's home" that tickles my funny bone and reminds me just how awesome life is.

Today's sunrise bikeride came with a pleasant surprise

I got up at 5am today, got dressed and hopped on my bike and headed for the lake to watch the sun rise.

As I sat on the bench on Municipal Dock, watching the lake I saw what I thought were two "dogs" running toward me out of the corner of my eye. I was sure their owner would follow soon. No owner followed and these "dogs" were running right toward me.

By golly! They were deer...running toward me. They got about 10 feet close and I made a clicky noise to kind of scare them off. I think deer are gentle but didn't want to chance having a hoof print in my face.

What a treat to see!! I'm really diggin this early morning thing and cannot even wait to see what tomorrow morning brings.

Get out an enjoy life! Don't forget to brng your camera. You never know what you may see.

We give new meaning to the phrase "Bag Ladies"

I'm not sure that any of these pictures need a description. My friend Sammi and sister Jamie got our hands on some bags and got creative. Tons of laughs were had. It's the simple things like this that make life that much funner!!

Like our bonnets and halter tops?

Nice tankini right?

If you look past the bag lady you will see the veggies are growing in the raised garden bed...I know, it's hard to see past my sister in her pretty outfit.

Sammi went for the biker chick look.

Walk to the park

I take a lot of walks and when I do, often times I am greeted with awesome things. This was written on a sidewalk on the 20th of May which just so happens to be the same day that Ken and I decided we would try to adopt...one more time. I needed to see this =)

"When the world says, "Give up,"Hope whispers, 'Try it one more time.' "~ Unknown

Ok, so maybe we're not "normal"

I've never claimed to be "normal", in fact, the word normal is boring an to me insinuates the complete opposite of fun!! Anytootles, my sis & I went to the thrift store today to rummage around. It seems each time we do this we find ourselves doing something so off the wall goofy.



Sometimes our silly antics have us ready to pee our pants from laughing. Like when we find a hard baseball hat, a wiffle ball and a brand spankan new athletic supporter. Take a picture of the wierdo holding and wearing said items...minus the athletic supporter...and you have some free laughs!!

You could also go in the summer section and find yourself some out of this galaxy awesome face masks...now if they only had a ducky inner tube or arm blow up floater things.

Oh look!! They had these stylin goggles that really accentuated our...ummmmmm...yeah, I dunno!! But we did laugh so hard that we began snorting!

Move over Minnie Pearl. We're holding down the fort here in Esky with these glorious bonnets.

Who says you need money to have fun? Try on some hats, take some pictures and get laughing!!

An afternoon walk to the lake

I've had so much on my mind these past couple months. So many changes, excitements and hope of new possibilities. So many that my brain was complete mush yesterday. Usually when I get like that I hop on my bike and take a ride. Yesterday, however, I decided to take Arizona for a walk. We ended up by the lake. The water was actually great so I put my toes in. A good walk is good for the mind and soul...not to mention your health. Plus, seeing the doggie smiles on lil Arizona's face was well worth the pain of my shin splints. LOL
On the way home I meandered through various blocks rather than taking Main Street home. Gosh, am I ever glad I did. How often do you see something like this written in chalk on the sidewalk?

Talk about awesomeness!! Now that was one kid who put their sidewalk chalk to great use and put out a great reminder for all of us.

Have a remarkable day!! It's 75 degrees here and I am off to take my furry boy Brayden for a stroll. I wonder what I'll find today.

A sunrise bikeride

I woke up at 3am this morning with all sorts of ideas running through my head.

So, I went downstairs so Ken could sleep. I started the laundry, emptied the dishwasher and scoured through a couple cookbooks for a breakfast recipe.

I settled on making us pancakes, juice and coffee. Ken had to leave around 5am to go on a run for work.

I decided to hop on my peddle bike and head for the lake.

The sunrise was stunning. The birds were just waking from their slumber and singing. The air was calm and the waves were soothing. There were a few Canadian geese by the lighthouse that seemd to be following me. I met a couple other people who were out for an early morning stroll. I think I am liking this early morning thing.

Finding peace in the simple things

Today was a blissfully good day. One that was full of house cleaning, getting my fingers immersed in some soil, sitting in the screen porch watching the birds nibble away at the feeders. I began reading the first book of the Anne Of Green Gables series and came back in the house as the sun was setting. I hung blankets on the line, watered my veggie garden and took pictures of my gardens. I enjoyed every minute of cleaning my house. Some may call that borderline nuts but really, I do like cleaning my house most of the time. Tomorrow I will organize my kitchen cabinets. I am slowly but surely letting go of the nonsense. I know for my own happiness I have to omit the nonsense in my life. Even if it means bidding adieu to some people. I recently came upon a quote. Yes, I am a quote geek.

"Enjoy life, how it is, and as it comes.There are always those who are worse off than we are. There are many things in your life that will catch your eye, But only a few will catch your heart... pursue those..."

I am going to be implementing this on a daily basis.

Nana's Machine

Welcome to a corner of my craft room. I would like to introduce you to one of my sewing machines. This one is near and dear to my heart. This was Ken's Nana's machine and it was given to me after she passed away. I was completely honored the family would entrust her to me. I've had it since June and for some reason my heart could just not use it. But, it's time to put her to work. I believe it will be another step in the healing process. Plus, I love to sew and my recent "blowout" of my most favorite pair of capris has me itching to make some garments. I'm no seamstress by anymeans and I learn as I go. My hopes are high, I am determined, and Nana's memory will guide me.

I will use this cotton below

To make this white top. I also love the lines of the top right shirt. If this 1st shirt goes well, I am totally making more.

This peachy fabric will be made into...

a pretty skirt. Ken stood at the counter and had the worker cut his fabric for me. I'm going to have plenty extra. That's ok, if all goes well, I will use the remainder for a sundress. I adore the bottom left skirt the most. I am sure I will play around with different fabrics for a few skirts to add to my wardrobe.

For the next garment I am going to use this fun, retro-ish fabric to make....

a sundress!!! Isn't the dress that the model is wearing just fantastic? The bottom right dress also tickles my fancy. I can totally see myself whipping up a half dozen of these in various shades, textures and fabrics. The possibillities are endless!!

Between sanding the drywall, laundry, bike rides, baking, and gardening I shall be working in my craft room creating what I hope to be, wearable pieces.

Busted...at the seams...literally

Imagine this: You hop in your pickup truck to take it to the car wash. You hop out of the truck, put your coins in the tower, select what wash you'd like, go to hop in your truck, your foot slips a little, you don't fall, but....you split the crotch out of your most favorite pair of capri's. Ever. Yes, my friends, this happened to me this afternoon. Luckily I was wearing Ken's John Deere tshirt which is extra big on me and was able to pull it down to hide the huge gash in my trousers. I hope nobody saw. We really need to get some sort of running board or nerf bar type thing installed on the pickup so my very un-tall self can prevent another blow-out.

After the blow-out I went home, changed, and made my way to Goodwill. I am dead serious about losing 50lbs and I absolutely positively refuse to spend big bucks on jeans in my current size. Plus, Goodwill has some pretty neat stuff now and then. I tried on a good 20 pairs of jeans. Some went up to the bottom of my bust, some barely covered my heine, some were just....unsensational to put it nicely. I ended up with one pair of jeans that I liked and they fit well in the heine and tummy. My tummy is so tender from my surgeries so jean buying is quite an ordeal. The drawback of these jeans was that they were too short for even my short stature. Oh well, they will become my NEW most favorite pair of capris. I also found a really pretty blue dress and a couple skirts. I do enjoy wearing skirts on a summer day. These two are just so stinkan cute and there is no worries of them showing off things that should be covered and they are long enough that I don't have to be paranoid if I am sitting absolutely positively proper. I made my way through the store and looked in all the nooks and crannies. I found an amazing frying pan. You know, the deep ones, with the wooden handle. The kind you can put in the oven...for $1 and some odd cents. I also spotted an enamel frying pan. That will be out of this galaxy awesome to put in the camper for when we cook over the campfire. Hold on, I'm not done. Folks, I found an old hardcover copy of Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" Yup, you read that right!! I took all my treasures to the checkout, trying not to make it completely obvious I was about to jump up and down, do a happy dance, holler "woot woot"with excitement over all my "finds"

What was your excitement of the day?

Fantabulastic-ness

What a fantabulastic weekend!!! Friday we went to the deli for lunch and that night we stoked up the chimnea and cooked our dinner over the open fire. I am pretty sure there is nothing more soothing than a bonfire. Saturday we grocery shopped, worked on the house remodel, organized the pantry in the basement and Ken bought me four new books. Two of which are Amish Cookbooks, another about gardening in Michigan. The other one is called Amish Peace by Suzanne Woods Fisher. I will most likely talk about this book for months to come. Saturday night we rented the movie "Precious", and oh my skittles!!! What an intense movie. It made my blood boil. As much as it angered me, I totally plan on reading the book "Push" by Sapphire, which the movies was based upon. Just, wow!!! What a film and testimony of this young woman.


Ken took me on a surprise adventure on Sunday. We ended up at the DeYoung Zoo in Wallace. What a perfect day. It was in the low to mid 60's and not a cloud in the sky. Spring is here folks!! Well, for the time being at least. The warm weather has me itching to start planting in my new garden box.


We are thinking of going camping for our 14th wedding anniversary this weekend. I sure hope the weather cooperates.

I know this is random, but, have I told you lately how ultra fab my hubby is? Oh, and yes, I am aware that we are both wearing Bosox shirts and Jimmie Johnson hats. It wasn't planned out like that. LOL

Sunshiney Sundress

This is the newest item I've made. After a day of complete chaos, sitting down tonight & whipping this up was just what I needed to clear my head. It needs a little sunbonnet and booties now, don't you think?

Three of my friends are having babies in the coming months. Sparks will be flying from my hooks with all the projects I have planned.

My solar clothes dryer

On Tuesday I hung the first batch of clothes of the season on my solar drying machine...aka the clothesline!! Can you tell we're sports fans? Ahhh, there's nothing quite like line dried clothes. The crisp fresh smell is better than those greasy fabric sheets!! I'm hoping to expand my solar drying system this year and add another line to the two we currently have.

My garden box

This past weekend we made a raised garden box.

Once the box was made it was time to get some soil!! It's a total bummer that our city moved the community compost pile to the dump and the public no longer has access to it. =( So, we set out to Menard's & bought organic topsoil & peat moss. They were all out of compost/manure. Seeing Ken said it was pertinent we add manure to the soil we went to our local lawn & garden store. Ken said I would have to ask the guy for what we needed. The man asked, "can I help you?" I went blank.....and said, "I need poop!!" The man laughs, Ken goes, "OMG!! Katherine!!!" He then tells the man, we need MANURE!!! Anyways, they didn't get their shipment in yet so our soil remains poopless for the time being. I do have a large garbage can of our own compost to add to the soil though. I'm hoping that saving those banana peels and other fruity scraps really set our garden up for a successful season.

I envision crisp lettuce, dark green spinach, vines of cukes, zucchini and butternut squash. Green peppers will grace the garden and the radishes will keep pests away & add total deliciousness to our salads. I hope the bunnies don't get to our carrots & broccoli. . We're going to also grow corn & our pole beans will climb the stalks. The bush beans and wax beans will be AWESOME!!! The jalapeno peppers will be grown in containers again.

I am hoping to secure a plot at the community garden to grow a boat load of tomatoes. The herbs will be in window boxes & be wunnaful tasty additions to our meals. We are also planting zinnias and Iponopsis in the flowers bed to attract the humming birds, sunflowers to bring us a smile and provide our feathered friends nourishment, along with other petaled beauties. The lilac tree is beginning to bud and the first signs of the tulips, daffodils and iris's are beginning to emerge from the soil. Spring is on it's way!!

I hope you don't mind the sheer dorkiness of the video. I had no clue Ken was recording. You'll see by my face...and then a couple colorful words.

Happy Gardening!!

Think about this...

(Hiking in the Porcupine Mountains with my main squeeze...in the rain)

This song is so super fabulous!! The words are lesson for us all. Hope you all are having the bestest of days. My bags are packed to head on an on the road adventure with the hubbykins for a couple days.

Kris Allen "Live Like You're Dying"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3N5CsXYlCk

Sometimes we fall down, can't get back up

We're hiding behind skin that's too tough

How come we don't say I love you enough

Till it's to late, it's not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come

And we could make a feast from these crumbs

And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun

So if your life flashed before you,

What would you wish you would've done

Yeah, we gotta start

Looking at the hands of the time we've been given

If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking

If every second counts on a clock that's ticking

Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies

Who would you call with your last goodbye

Should be so careful who we live out our lives

So when we long for absolution,

There'll no one on the line, yeah

Yeah, we gotta start

Looking at the hands of the time we've been given

If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking

If every second counts on a clock that's ticking

Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying..

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying

You never know a good thing till it's gone

You never see a crash till it's head on

Why do we think we're right when we're dead wrong

You never know a good thing till it's gone

Yeah, we gotta start

Looking at the hands of the time we've been given

If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking

If every second counts on a clock that's ticking

Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to

Turn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying..

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day toTurn it all around or to throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them

While we got the chance to say

Gotta live like we're dying..

Take a ride with me

I go down to the lake to think, to daydream and reconnect with myself and my thoughts. It's where, 16years ago I met Ken. As I ate my sandwich I watched the snow drift from the lake onto the road creating 2 to 3 foot snowdrifts. The area lacks snow & our lawns are exposed but not down by the lake...a mere handful of blocks from my home. There are still fish shacks on the lake but soon the ice will melt & the big ore boats will resume their shipping. We truly live in a beautiful area. Come, take a ride with me. I'll prove it to you. =)

As I sat down by the Museum I looked out at the Lighthouse as the snow blew all around me, making the snowdrifts on the bike path even bigger

Man was it windy! See the little sapling trees all bent?

I see snowdrifts! Heck, just the sight of snow makes me giddy like a school girl getting a Valentine from the cutest boy in the class. Just a smidgen of the bike path is showing. I look forward to our nightly 10-15 mile bike rides. This is on our route. Pretty awesome huh?

After I make my way out of the drifts I turn onto our Main Street & the parking stalls by the lakeside are nothing but a snowdrift.

The grass on Municipal Dock is exposed!! It's just by the Museum and beachhouse where the wind had whipped up some snow. Very soon we will be able to go biking!!

The last whoosh of wind blows snow across Main Street.

And there is snow on the grass to my right...

But maybe 50 feet from all that blowing, snowy driftyness I am in a place of nearly no snow. There are a couple businesses on the right hand side, which are lakeside. The buildings block the lake from blowing all sorts of snow. Kinda funny how it looked like a winter wonderland one minute & the next it looks like Spring is right around the corner. Only in the U.P. of Michigan do we get such diversity. Such a simple way to enjoy what is in my own backyard.