...and now FIVE YEARS later...

December 2, 2011
http://vintagedandelion.blogspot.com/2011/12/first-time-for-everything.html

Five years ago I sat at the same place at my kitchen table and thought, "Why not write a blog?" And so I did. I took a screen shot on my new MacBook and vintage Dandelion was born. When I was a high school senior, in one of my classes, they had us write down where we thought we'd be in one year, five years, ten years and so on. I thought since it has been nearly five years to the day that I started blogging, I'd see where I am from where I thought I'd be.


5 years ago....

• Working night shift as an RN in the NICU was what I did for a living. I was starting to feel like I'd be here permanently.
• My hair was curly.
• I liked coffee; on this day it was Pumpkin Spice. 
• Credit card debt hung heavily over my head, on my back...
• I still had five children at home.
• I didn't need to wear glasses all that much.
• I wanted to lose weight, about 10-15 lbs. 

• I wanted to write more, sew more, read more, cook healthier, garden more, and the list could go on...

Today...

• As of today, I'm taking a break from my career, for about a month or so. You know me, I can't not work, but I am ready for part-time or per diem instead of full-time, full-on RN work. 
• I am refocusing on my family, my home, my friends, and my God (not necessarily in that order).
• The curls? I miss them, but I am enjoying some highlights and low-lights and a few more gray hairs.
• I still like love coffee. Today it was flavored "sugar cookie". I've learned how to make my own creme brulee coffee. 
• Credit card debt? As of November 30th, 2016 the credit cards are paid, my school loan is paid. I have learned a lot about budgeting this past year and how to really get those darn things paid off. It's one huge reason I can now take a month off to refocus and then work less hours. Credit card debt can own you if you let it get away from you. I know.
• My baby girl and baby boy are still at home. The others have fully spread their wings and have flown. Adrienne is in Pittsburgh, Amy is in Columbus, and Aaron and Lisa-Anna are in Frostburg. Heather just told me today that she filled out more forms for Rosedale Bible College for next year. Ryan is a teenager. I really shouldn't think of them as babies anymore, but it's a mom thing and they indulge me. 
• Glasses. Spectacles. Bifocals. Pretty much all the time. I've gotten used to them and seriously can't read at all without them. 
• I still want to lose weight. Except now it's more like 20-25 lbs. Losing weight in the past five years has been non-existent. Not that the creme brulee coffee creamer has anything to do with it.
• I still want to do more, like reading, sewing, gardening, cooking, scrapbooking, and writing; being without a hobby has never been my problem, it is figuring out that balance in my life of work and play. I hope this next month, going into the holidays is a chance to breathe more, pause more, enjoy simple things more. 

Point A to Point B and "the next"

There is a road that stretches from Point A to Point B and I am on it. (I'll get back to that later.)

Last Friday, I knew where my Point A began (my house) and where it would take me: Point B (Columbus, Ohio). The mission: bringing Amy home after being in Thailand for 6 months.

(Insert large uncontrolled smile, random dancing, confetti, and joyful tears.)

Starting any journey involves preparation. For my family, somehow this inevitably involves food. Grapes, pretzels,Whale crackers, oyster crackers, peach rings, minty gum, apple juice and bottled water were strategically placed in a cooler bag and we were off. This organization lasted about 5.4 minutes into the trip.

Traveling also means potential boredom for a certain 12 year old lad; this too involves preparation. A sketch book and pen, a fully charged cell phone with a farming app, a comfy pillow and a portion of my body to lean against and he is set. Ryan comes by this tendency for boredom honestly. My bag has pens, a journal, a book and my cell phone. I also do my best to avoid that awful feeling of carsickness and I made sure I had ginger candy, motion bands, and a non-drowsy form of anti-motion sickness pills on board.

My parents came along for the ride. Actually they were the ride. Or I should say that their van (aka The White Whale) was the ride. They came prepared for the journey with peanuts, a CD variety (think "Chuckwagon Gang") and a GPS. After plugging 2120 E. 5th Avenue in, we where on our way.













       As our journey began that day, it was also the ending of a journey. Amy's REACH experience in Thailand would be "officially" complete at 5:00 PM, and with a certificate in hand she would say her final goodbyes, her luggage would be loaded into the Whale and we would head East once again.





All this thought about preparation and journey makes me wonder about...The Journey of Life....
(insert dramatic, sweeping, emotion-gripping music). I know, cliche. But, my point is this: doesn't one life experience just lead into the next, and the next, and so on? Even for Amy, were the final goodbyes really final? Sure, it will be different the next time she meets up with them, but it is just part of "the next". And her time with REACH is just leading into the next step in her life. Each experiences adds a layer and texture that make the next part of the journey richer and deeper.

Maybe it is like a book, where one chapter leads to the next. Even death, which rather loudly proclaims, "THE END" is setting us up for the sequel.  And while that all sounds hopeful and promising, I know there is hard stuff along the way. Really hard, ugly, this-isn't-how-I-thought-my-life-would-be kind of stuff. So, what's the point?

Point A to Point B. I'm on that road. I don't always like it and I really want to stop, take a detour, or go back to where I started and try again. But here I am and I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and I am reminded that when it gets really difficult and I keep falling down, that maybe it is because I didn't prepare.

I need nourishment (both literal and spiritual). I need encouragement and sometimes a push. And I need to remember to stop, pause and rest along the way. This kind of journey doesn't happen in a day. I want to enjoy the sights along the way. A day at a time.

And today? I'm going to be thankful for those that gave their lives to protect our country and our freedoms. I'm going to be bask in the blessing of having my Amy home again for a time. I'm going to relish the days Heather and Ryan are still at home and look forward to long weekends when Adrienne comes home to hang out with us. I'm going to keep loving Sunday afternoons when Aaron and Lisa-Anna are here for lunch. I'm going to keep going, one step at a time.

Love,
Dianne


 P.S: Boredom sets in at about 15 minutes into the trip:

P.S. 2 Any guesses as to what this is?

Keys Locked in the Car...Again

I am a little bummed right now. Annoyed. Aggravated. Bummed.

I locked my keys in my car. And not only my main set of keys, but my spare key also which is in my purse. Inside the car.

Why, oh why? How could I be so stupid?

Wait, don't answer that.

So now, I have to go fishing with a coat hanger in hopes of catching the button just right, thus releasing the mechanism.  Usually when this happens, the problem is getting the coat hanger to get through the crack above the door without causing any damage to the vehicle.

Did you notice, I said usually when this happens? Yes, this has happened before. Quite a few times actually. It's kinda like me and running out of gas. You would think after it has happened once or twice, I would learn from my mistakes. It seems that it takes me much longer than that to learn something. I think it has a lot to do with pride and being stubborn; being resistant to change up my routine.

Perhaps it is time to break down a couple walls here; get rid of some unhealthy habits and unnecessary rituals.  Perhaps it is time to unlock (ha ha) some better organization and time management skills. If I had done that already, I may not be in the predicament I am in now. All I had to do was take my purse in the house first. Voila!

And did you notice how I am still avoiding going out into the cold darkness to poke at my car? I am hoping Leo gets home soon and will be my knight in shining armor rescuing his damsel in distress.

Or I could go out there and get the deed done...

Or not...

Organization, time management, being able to be independent in these kind of situations...all things I need to work on. So, I guess I'll go put some boots on and a jacket, go find a coat hanger, and get this done.

Here I go...really I am...I am thinking about it anyhow.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it ends.

Love,
Dianne

Ink Spot Blotting

Sometimes it is the unexpected things that take up your time.

Like a mischievous pen that decided to leak black ink on the futon.

I just happened to be folding clothes and sorting them on the futon while I watched HGTV. Too bad they weren't having a show about removing stains. Maybe if it was Martha Stewart...

Maybe if I was Martha Stewart...

Okay, I started by just blotting the ink spot with dry napkins. And I blotted and blotted.
Then I got some hairspray and sprayed it on, and blotted and blotted. And blotted.

Even after spending 20 minutes doing this, I still haven't gotten it all out. It's like the Dr. Suess book where Thing 1 and Thing 2 get all this pink ink everywhere. To clean it up, The Cat In The Hat used Vroom.

 I could really use some of that now. I wonder if it works on skin?
And it seems like it is getting darker the longer it is on my skin. I think I prefer paint to ink.

So, it is the unexpected things that take up my time sometimes. The choice I have to make, is what I am going to do with the unexpected. Sometimes, the surprises in life are nice, like your husband calling out of the blue and asking you to meet him for lunch. Or you get an unexpected package that you need to run out to the post office for.

But sometimes, the unexpected is not so nice. A sick child, a flood in the garden, a flat tire, your husband calling to say he is not going to get home until late, and the list could go on...

I could talk about the really bad things, like finding out you have a serious illness, or the death of a family member or a close friend, but for today, I'm not. I need to work on dealing with the small things. Somehow, that reflects more how anchored I am in what I believe than the big things. If I react with a meltdown over the small things, or have a crisis over a change of plans, that tells me that I am not grounded very well. It's time to find some balance. Faith, family, work, life...they all need balanced.

And somewhere in that balance, I need a way to maintain and reestablish equilibrium when the unexpected occurs.

Like a pen leak.

2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV) For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Love,

Dianne

Color Me Bold

I really don't think that "coloring your hair" means to streak it with various shades of primer white, Chilled Wine, and Wild Geranium.

I am not a neat painter.
I get it on my hands.
I get it on my face.
I get it in my hair.
Here and there, I get it everywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. (oops, wrong story)

Yesterday, I got the ceiling painted. Not sure I will ever do that again. Of course, after I was done I discovered that, yes, we do have one of those pole extender things so painting a ceiling is easier. Sigh.

 I got the bottom painted in the chilled wine color. The first coat was spent with me wondering what on earth I was thinking of when I picked the color. Bold, really bold, was the word that came to mind. It needed THREE coats to get good coverage. Whew.

First coat. Yikes!

Amy, Heather and I painted the top with Wild Geranium. Today I will attempt to color-wash with Keepsake Rose. It is all such a dramatic change from the whitish color it was before. I am hoping it will all pull together with the border, curtains, linens, and floor covering. Right now though, I'm second guessing myself.

This morning, before getting back at it...

Sometimes change is welcome. Sometimes it is scary. Sometimes you just have to be bold (like the color!) and step out in faith. In my life, change is usually of the scary variety, or at least I make it that way. Not all change is by choice either. My choice however is what I will do with the changes. Embrace it? Push it away? Trust that the God who does not change will walk me through it? 

Until that moment comes, I'm not sure what the answer will be. I wish I could say I always embrace change with a smile, a spirit of adventure and a British accent (you know, like Agent 007), when really, I usually just want to hide under the covers. Be that as it may, whatever I do, I will certainly do it with streaks of purples in my hair.

Love,

Dianne