Looking out, looking in, looking up - Happy New Years

I bundled up to venture out in the backyard to snap a picture of the sky. I didn't want to do it because the sky is a never ending sea of nothing today. I wanted to capture something beautiful....something I consider beautiful. A lovely sunset of pinks, oranges, and purples. Or whispy white clouds against a backdrop of blue. But there won't be any of that today....just cold, stark white.

But as I wondered around my little back yard, with my camera pointed at the sky, I did find a little beauty in the stillness of the cold. And I couldn't help but notice how lovely the ice covered branches were against the bright white sky.

It made me think about this new year, how everything can be considered new. A true blank slate. A quiet moment to just stop, take a moment to breath and decide how you want to start this new chapter. And it also made me think of this last year. I've been telling myself 2014 has been the year of the holding pattern. Not much has changed, on the outside. But I feel like I've learned more about myself this year. I've stripped away many of my long held notions of how people should act, how I should act and my confusion about why those things didn't make me happy. Things that didn't make sense for a very long time have started snapping into place. I'm sure my friends and family are just about sick of me using the term "introvert" but I am just so excited to finally have some idea of why I have always acted the way I do...why I feel the way I feel. And the more I learn about what it means to be introverted, the more comfortable I have become with saying no, with walking away, with staying in, with telling people what I need.

I can't say that walking away from things and having no one notice hasn't hurt my feelings. I might be introverted but I still crave to be needed and wanted and important to others. I'm still dealing with my feelings of being inadequate, feelings of rejection when I'm not recognized for the things I do. Those things are on me to deal with, not the people around me.

I can say that having a better understanding of how I gather and dispense my energy makes a world of difference to my psyche. I've learned to pay attention to things and people that make me feel good, that make me happy. I'm still trying to get better at or continue to acknowledge those in my life that I love and appreciate. And I've become better at getting rid of things and people that stress me out or drain my energy.

Overall I am coming into this year peacefully hopeful. I'm not looking to dramatically overhaul my life, I don't want to make any grand resolutions or plans. Always reaching for the next thing makes me tired and wears me out. So, I resolve to find my happiness in the very moment that I'm living, I don't need any more or less than what I have right now.

I hope you find your perfect balance this year of peace, love, and hope this year.

Is anyone still here?

Hi.

I'm Jinny. You may remember me from back in the day when I actually posted regularly to this blog. Work totally and utterly devoured my life for about four months. Most everything outside of work came to a screeching halt. But that doesn't mean that nothing has been going on.

So, let me get you all caught up.

The hallway project we started in March has finally come to a (almost) finish. It's down to painting doors, so I'm calling it finished.

We've started on the bedroom but it's going at a snails pace. Which is fine, we aren't on any time schedule here.

We spruced up our outdoor space. The café table and chairs was actually a surprise birthday present from Jeremy. I went out of town for a weekend and when I got home this was waiting for me. I cried, I was so surprised.

I've been out of town a few times. I went to a wedding in Austin. So, Kenedi, the bride, met my sister when they were both in college. This is how I met Kenedi. Eventually Kenedi ended up in San Marcos and started going to the same church that my cousin and her husband work at. So now Kenedi is practically part of the family so when she got hitched this summer we all had to be there.

I went to Canyon, TX to see Texas, the musical, at Palo Duro Canyon. It was a charter bus trip and my Grandma invited me to go (who says no to their Grandma? Not this girl). It was a fun trip and I had a good time spending the weekend with the ladies of my family. I'm very thankful that my aunt Gail didn't laugh at me while I had a death grip on her hand when the charter bus drove us down into the canyon. It was pretty hair raising.

Aunt Bev, Grandma, Great Aunt Lynette

 My Mom and I went to Dallas to help my sister get her new apartment situated. She's lived in Dallas for many years now but this is the first time she has ever had an apartment by herself. After living with our cousin for years we have jokingly compared it to a divorce. I wasn't sure what she got to keep or what she needed to replace. So we went shopping and did manly things, like put together furniture.

We adopted a new family member! Ferguson, the fish. He's pretty low maintenance, doesn't make a peep, and doesn't need a lot of attention...no nail clippings or insulin shots, no grooming or heart guard meds, no walks or toys required. And he is pretty to look at.

We had to take Harley to get her teeth cleaned. I wouldn't even mention this but her recovery from the anesthesia and pain meds was unlike anything we've had to deal with before. If any of y'all have had to have a pet put under to have any type of work done, I'm sure you are familiar with the little speech the office people give you on the way out. "Keep them quiet", "They might not feel like eating", "They will probably be drowsy", etc. In the past, all of our pets have bounced back from being put under with ease, not even a hitch. But poor Harley girl, she's old and doesn't bounce like that. She couldn't walk, but she sure did try, and when she fell over she would just lay very still like 'I'm just going to stay right here'. She was the funniest little drunk kitty ever. But while it was funny, it was sad at the same time because we could tell her mouth was bothering her. They extracted 5 teeth and noted that there were others already missing. So now we call her Toothless.

So, you see, I haven't been a complete couch potato this summer (although there was plenty of couch wallowing). Overtime at work is easing off, for now, and I really hope to have more time to come back to this space. I've missed it.

 





Life on the home front.

Every morning, when I walk out of the kitchen to the living room to open the curtains, Lola pops her leg up in the air and insists that I give her a belly rub. A morning belly rub to get her through the day. A day full of lolling and sleeping. Her life is so rough.

Summer is coming at us like a fright train, with temps reaching the 100's already. On days like that the ground gets too hot to take the dogs for walks. So we take them on rides instead, which suits Duke just fine...especially when we roll the window down for him.

Jeremy surprised me with roses, chocolates, and Mother's Day cards from him and the fur kids on Saturday. But that wasn't ALL..he also brought me new plants for our front yard. West Texas is in a serious drought. Just about everyone's lawn is brown and dead due to severe water restrictions. Between no water and the extreme heat in the summer and rare freezing temps we have had the last few winters, many of our trees and shrubs have died. So Jeremy spent his day out in the heat, chopping down trees and digging up plants. And planting new, pretty things.

 

On Sunday, we had my mom and Jeremy's parents over the lunch (next time I promise to have dessert, Mom). Dolly was there too, of course. I didn't get a picture, but I painted her nails a silvery-white (she brought me the polish she wanted to use). We also watched one of her favorite movies, currently, 'Dear Dumb Diary'. I swear the songs will be stuck in my head for days. But it was still a cute movie.

I hope you had a fabulous Mother's Day weekend!

Where am I? What day is it?

So...hey.


I think this is the longest I have ever gone without blogging something. To say that the last two months have been crazy hectic is a very sorry understatement. I honestly can't remember another time where our daily routine was so jacked up for such a long time. And it's STILL not back to normal.

First things first...

Precious has gone to another foster home. I am a foster failure. But not the good kind you hear about where they fall so in love with their foster that they adopt them. No, I'm the other kind. Precious was really coming out of her shell, but only as long as she was within the four walls of this house and with Jeremy and me. Take her outside the house, and she totally freaked out or shut down. Bring someone else into the house, total meltdown. And, she was feeling so very comfortable in the house that she started chasing our cats. Precious is a great dog, she was very attached to us and loved being with us. And by with us I mean glued to our side and in our face all of the time. We brought her as far as we could in her journey and I knew that she needed someone else to help her along for the next part. Someone who could work with her to socialize her better. Someone with no kitty cats. So, off she went on a new adventure. I can only hope that she is doing ok.

Second....

Jeremy had surgery. It was day surgery, but still surgery. We spent the first half of the day at the hospital. Thank goodness my Mother-in-law came to sit with me. It made the waiting go by so much faster. That was two weeks ago. Jeremy is doing great. All of his stiches were internal and dissolvable, only two butterfly bandages on the outside (which he was already able to remove). Once his incision heals completely, he and I will have matching belly button scars. Twinsies!

Third...

We are still working on the hallway. Jeremy has pretty much completed his part and so it was time for me to do my part. The words...the words on the wall.

We have Sparrows that come and try to make a nest under our patio every single year. The west Texas wind always blows it down, every single year. Not that it keeps them from trying. So we decided to help the birds out and put up two birdhouses under our patio. The sparrows are already building a nest in one.

And, just to wrap it up,...

We finally made it to Enchanted Rock for our 14th Anniversary this month. We tried going two years ago for our anniversary, but we made the fatal mistake of going on Saturday. The line to get into the park was down the road, so we bailed out. This time we played it safe and went on a Tuesday, our actual anniversary, and getting in was a breeze. No line! The weather was perfect, overcast but not cold. By the time we were leaving the park the clouds were gone and it warmed up, so we picked the perfect time to go. I was a little nervous climbing up that huge rock, it was pretty steep in some spots. But there were other people, some younger and some older than me, out there making the climb. So I kept telling myself if they could do it..I could do it too. Jeremy helped encourage me to keep going. And I'm glad I did. The view from the top was pretty amazing. I hope we get to go back some time to explore the park more.

I am hoping..and praying..that things get back to some type of normal very soon.

Giving Thanks

{1}

I'm thankful for all the rain we've been getting. It brought our Crepe Myrtle back from the dead.

 

{2}

I'm thankful for tattooed husbands that pitch in with a cleaning.

{3}

I'm thankful for being able to spend time with such great dogs.

 

{4}

I'm thankful for a Momma that is always generous with everything.

{5}

I'm thankful for this dude. He's brought a lot of joy into our lives.

 

Hunting 101: Boonies Style

I know I keep mentioning it..on Twitter and Facebook..but I am so sad when I found out that The Bloggess grew up just 10 minutes from where I live and that we didn't know each other growing up. But at the same time it makes me proud that she is from around here and made me look back on my own upbringing here in West Texas.

I have never considered myself to be a country girl. Ask my husband, I am NOT a country girl. Even so, there are things you just can't avoid when you grow up IN the country. Like hunting...and everything that goes along with it. My dad lived on a 100-acre spread about 45 minutes from town. There was nothing on all of this land except for a tiny house, a large shed, and animal pens. That's it. I hated going out there for weekends. I was a teenager! I had a social life and my dad had a party line...oh the inhumanity! There was a lot of hunting that when on out there. Sometimes from my dad's front porch, just grab a shotgun!

But out there in the sticks they didn't need guns to hunt. Oh no. One time, two of the kids that belonged to two of my dad's friends (it was a party every day out there) decided to hunt for Dove. No guns? No problem. Mark, who was 18 and...husky, tossed a rock into the middle of a grove of trees. This was just to startle the dove he'd seen fly into the trees. I can't say why that stupid bird flew DOWN instead of flying UP, but it flew down out of the trees and Mark reached out and caught the dove. Just reached out and grabbed it. WITH HIS BARE HANDS. And then, calm as you please, he handed that dove to a little 8 year old girl named Tatum. That's right, the girls name was Tatum Rainwater. NO, I'm not making it up. Anyway, he handed the dove to little 8 year old Tatum who snapped the birds neck. Like, no big deal.

I swear I heard dueling banjos off in the distance.

I'm BACK!

Things I learned while on vacation:

1. It is hard to be disconnected (not by choice) for so many days straight. My husband didn't understand why I was so antsy but I really wanted to be sharing everything while it happened and I couldn't.

2. Don't let your sister book your reservations. I'm KIDDING, seester! But really, make sure legal names are used..especially for traveling out of the country.

3. Canadian money confuses me...even though its not that different from American money. My brain was just having such a hard time computing, which probably made me look really stupid..but oh well.

4. Everyone really does say 'eh' in Canada. AND, 'no worries'. AND, 'hi there'.

5. I really don't enjoy flying. I can't decide it is flying in general...or flying coach. Tell me it would be better in first class and I would have to take you at your word, because it will probably never happen for me.

6. Vancouver is a beautiful city. People were friendly, for the most part. It felt safe, even in the evenings.

Make It Stop!

This wonderful spring weather has brought with it the WORST case of allergies ever to the Just Jinny household. I don't normally even suffer from seasonal allergies and my eyes have been burning on and off for the last two weeks. Jeremy has been doing that 'clearing the back throat' cough/choke.

And the dogs. The dogs are both so itchy. A few weeks ago I mentioned Lola was shaking her head like her ear was bothering her. Turns out she had a sinus infection...from allergies. First time that has ever happened (hopefully the ONLY time..please, God). She has been doing her butt dance/fish flop because she can't reach her back to scratch any other way. And Duke has been chewing on himself...in the middle of the night..which is keeping me awake.

I've been trying to do my part, stepping up the sweeping and vacuuming to keep the dirt and pollen in the house to a minimum. I've been keeping both the dogs on allergy meds (and Duke has never needed them before) and trying to bath them at least once a week with hypo-allergenic shampoo.

*sigh*

It's exhausting. And slightly stressful.

I just wish that whatever is in the air that is bothering ALL of us would just move right along.

So tell me...do your animals suffer from seasonal allergies? How do y'all relieve their symptoms short of taking them to the vet for shots?

Friday Randoms

1. Overtime is back on at work. 10 hour days are great for the paycheck but put a serious hink in my normal routine. My sister laughs at me, but losing those two hours to work totally derails the rest of my day. They offered voluntary overtime for tomorrow and have already called mandatory overtime for NEXT Saturday, all eight hours.

2. My eating has been totally crappy this week..or at least I feel like it has been. Ice cream, pizza, doughnuts. Not good.

3. I had a dentist appointment (that I scheduled six months ago, for a time that is after my normal work day) which turned a 10 hour day into a 11 hour day.

4. I've worked out once this week.

5. The dogs have been walked once this week.

6. I had some mini-drama earlier this week. I seriously try to avoid drama but sometimes its just not possible. It sucks up so much energy and its stupid.

7. A co-worker complimented me on my new Varana heels {I couldn't wait for winter to wear them}.

SSSSooooo, that was my week in a nut shell. I'm glad its over.

Things I'm looking forward to this weekend:

1. My hair appointment tomorrow morning {Thank you, Lord, for no mandatory OT on Saturday}. I only had my bangs cut two weeks ago so I'm going back for an all over trim. My long ass hair is getting a little crispy on the ends.

2. Birthday celebration for my niece, Maddy J.  I haven't seen her in months so I'm super excited. Plus I get to go shop for a fun birthday present.

3. Possible night out with some friends..maybe...

4. The draft for the only Fantasy Football league I'm playing on is happening Sunday. The Pink Punishers are ready to rumble.

5. No work on Monday.

6. At this very moment, The Weather Channel says the high for Monday is only suppose to be 89. 89! 8-freakin'-9!!

6. S.L.E.E.P

Conversations At Home

Me: All these earthquakes are making me nervous.

Jeremy: Why?

Me: I don't know. I feel like the earth is gearing up for something big.

Jeremy: There are earthquakes all the time, its just the media trying to work everyone up. 2012 and all that end of the world bull crap.

Me: I'm not worried about it being the end of the world. No one can predict that.

Jeremy: Right. Besides I think when this world comes to an end, human beings won't exist anymore. Actually, I think human beings are going to be the end of human beings. We are going to destroy ourselves.

A Simple Life

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ~John Burroughs


{Pictures via my backyard and a zoom lens}