Traveling light!

Back yard at little casa ... April

It's a beautiful morning in Central Texas.  The wild flowers are starting to peek out of the ground.  We drove to Waco yesterday and I was amazed at the Blue Bonnets that were coming up.  Won't be long and we will have waves of blue sweeping the countryside.  I definitely will post photos ... the wild flowers peak around mid April!!

Now that the garage is cleaned out at the little casa, I am starting to envision a plan for the backyard.  It is so shady back there that it is tough to get grass to grow.  Will probably need to think about doing some ground covers and paths.  I tried to dig a hole to see how far the dirt went down and I didn't get very far.  The ground is rock hard!!  I did find some paving stones and got part of a path going and decided on what I wanted to do in my first garden.  Perfect spot for a Japanese Maple and some hollies that enjoy the shade sprinkled with sunlight.  I get so excited about plotting and digging and making something beautiful where there was just drabness and mud!

FINALLY!!  Yesterday we managed to finalize a deal on a refrigerator (to replace the one damaged in the flood at the little casa) and a stacked washer/dryer combination.  Yea!  A week from this next Thursday I will be able to buy groceries and do laundry here.  The store manager at Lowe's has been wonderfully generous to give us extra discounts on our purchases.  I know that problems always can occur when doing a complete redo of a kitchen ... I always say that you can tell how good a store is by how they handle problems.  So far, so good!  Lowe's is still my favorite store!

I travel light these days.  For such a long while, I was a collector of just about everything.  We moved because we filled up space and needed more room!  I was living to take care of stuff ... I was worrying about stuff ... I was surrounded by stuff ... I cleaned stuff and organized stuff to make room for more stuff.  I am sort of a neat freak so you can only imagine how long it took me to organize, clean and care for the stuff around me...  Then, one day, I woke up with the diagnosis of having degenerative disc disease, fibromyalgia and degenerative osteoarthritis.  I had the choice of spending all my time taking care of stuff and sleeping or paring down and enjoying more of life.  I chose not to spend all my time with a dust rag and mop in my hands!

Another area where I had to pare down was stress.  Stress causes a lot of problems not only emotionally but physically as well.  You can't control all stressors; however, I found that I could control my reaction to other people and events.  I love the Serenity Prayer!  ... God help me to change the things I can...

Speaking of travel ... On our trip to Waco yesterday, we stopped in Abbott, Texas to see the town and church were Willie Nelson grew up and played.  Willie purchased the church in 2006 so that it could keep going. One of my favorite recording artists has always been Willie so it was nice to take in a bit of his history.    There is so much history all around us and day trips are not only inexpensive but fun as well.  Sing it Willie!!!!

Toby on top of storm cellar

My hubby is off to get some coffee and breakfast burritos.  What a welcome treat!  I like to go out and sit on the storm shelter and munch on my food.  My mind is always going 100 miles an hour creating something and it's a good place to think through my ideas.  Being retired and having a shortage of funds means getting very creative not only in my financing but in my doing.  There is an empty lot across the street where I have gotten ground cover and Iris.  Just took a little energy and ohwala, I had a little garden planted for zero cost!  My neighbor tells me that there are places were I can dig up antique roses as well so that's on my agenda for next time I am here!!

My prayer and hope for you this Sunday is that God will bless your socks off ... that your baggage in life isn't too heavy ... that you are able to travel light and enjoy everything and everyone around you!!  I love the poem Travel Light by Britney Pieta which was inspired by the book, TRAVEL LIGHT, by Max Lucado.

We start our journey with nothing but ourselves,
With no attachments, no burdens, just the clothes on our backs,
As children we have baggage of stuffed animals and blankets.

Growing up, life seems to hand us more and more things to carry,
We carry a backpack for school and take on the task of learning,
Given grades that seem to tell us of our worth.

We carry the task of finding who we are in adolescence,
Awards, trophies, and photo albums that stare at us,
Our schedule of things we need to do in our lives is as long as Santa’s list.

Not only physical burdens make us lose our strength,
Parents trust us with more and more information about the world,
Things that make us feel the world is not a safe place.

We learn about all the hard things in the world,
Carrying emotional heartaches from breakups,
Boxes of stuff that remind us of that person that we drag from relationship to relationship.

We start to feel as though we want to solve the world’s problems,
Having all sorts of files overflowing our suitcase of responsibilities to people,
Trying to become those people that we look up to while we are switching from job to job.

Physical and mental burdens weighing us down like a ton of rocks,
Who can wonder why we can barely move another step?
God didn’t make us to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders.

Release your burdens out the window,
 Let life’s burdens and fears be carried with you no more—travel light.

I declare this Take A Day Trip Day ... It's a perfect day to get outside and enjoy the fresh air!  Don't forget how much you are loved and prayed for ... YA YOU!!

West, TX - famous for Czech restaurants and bakeries!