Garden CleanuP, Our New Donkey, And Learning To Be

 Hi friends,

Well; 

Last week I shared  

THIS mess. 

It about got the best of me but...

persistence pays off.  

Sometimes you just gotta keep chipping away at things-

or pruning away I should say.  

Pulling, hauling, and even grunting a little too.  

I wound up with a huge load of vines to haul to the burn pile. 

Tomato vines, dead clematis,

and the morning glories; ... well... -- I almost shudder at the 

millions of seed that kept falling from their pods as I pulled those wretched 

things off fence posts.  Okay; maybe that sounds harsh... but seriously 

give a morning glory an inch and ... 

well... 

you know the rest 

of the story.  

Last week I forgot to share with yall 

about our newest family addition:

 A friend on facebook shared a post with me about 

a free donkey.  I saved the pic to my phone
and later added her to my Hobo that night.
 I didn't even respond to the ad right away thinking;

surely she was gone already.  

But ... what if??? 

I kept thinking about it so finally private messaged the lady who ran the ad and 

she gave me the number to her Aunt. 

I phoned her and we talked quite a long time.

Her husband had passed away just three weeks earlier and this donkey was his.  

The woman said she was 80 years old (same age as my Momma in heaven) and 

 told me she knew she couldn't care for "Ruth the donkey" through Winter.

As hard as it was; she had  to find her a good home.  

I really enjoyed visiting with her... and if you know me... you know how much

my AngelMother  loved our donkeys.  I don't know but ... it felt like something was just clicking
 between this woman and myself??  

Before we hung up, she told me we could have Ruth.  

I was so excited and text Myguy right away about them.
Happily; he was in full favor of us getting another donkey.  

(sigh)....I just love Myguy!  

 So that  Sunday after church we drove to West Fork with our rusty, olde stock trailer in tow.  

The woman... well; she did indeed remind  me so much of my Momma.  

That's her in the upper right hand corner of this little collage.  

And this sweet donk is Ole Ruthie.  

We put her in the corral when we got home and let Spirit, Violet and Gracie walk up and meet her.

It went really well...
So much so that it just seemed 

meant to Be ....  

I keep adding her in my journals.. lol
She's fun to watch and  

is very sweet natured,

After turning her out into the big pasture;

at one point I looked out and didn't see her anywhere.  

I think this  was actually the next afternoon.  

So I walked around the place and finally found her all alone in the woods.  

I think I woke her up. 

She refused the apple I carried, but did 

come back up to the barn.
I told a friend of mine how she went off to the woods alone and how her owner had died
three weeks prior to this and she wondered if maybe she was grieving?
It does make you kinda wonder.  

I believe we've become friends now. 

I bought a bag of the same brand donkey treats my Momma used to get-

and Ruthie; ... she loves em.  

We've wormed her and the farrier has us on his schedule 

so soon she'll get her feet trimmed.  

Myguy managed to get her halter off thee other day.  

She'd worn it a long time and as you can see; it  was wearin the hair off her nose.  

She now thinks I have a treat when I walk in the pasture and I can 

walk right up to her.  She stays  with her herd now too.  

When she discovered the salt block I thought she was gonna eat the whole thing.  lol

The girl likes things salty n sweet!!   

Let's see; the next news to share is 

I finished  my last surgery to uncover thee ..

is it ... abutments?  That's not how I thought my dentist was saying it 

but I guess it is after looking it up.  

This has  been one long, lonnnnng ordeal. Years now.

It's really not anything I just "like" talking about BUT.... 

It just is. 

And like it or not;

it's part of my story. 

I remember when all this started being beside myself. 

In hindsight I can now see a lot of good things that have come from it all.  

  

Anyways, I can't remember how many bone grafts I've had now, 4?....and 

a sinus lift surgery... and the other day; the last little surgery to uncover

all the screw thingys.  (That's what I call them but really they're more like

little titanium screws that are hollow and go up into my new bone.  Part of them are sticking out

and now I just gotta heal again.... before getting the final implants.  

This waiting is definitely the hardest part.  

I have stitches from one side to the other again,

but the day after didn't even need ibuprofin.

So that's pretty awesome.  

I think this was the night of  surgery.
Sacked out with Myguy on the couch. 

I slept all day long- probably coz the night before I was pretty wired about it all.    

I thank God so much for my wonderful husband and sons.  

They have been so supportive and 

rally around me. Their genuine love ...
is such a gift.

One learns alot through an experience like this.
You learn who your friends really are.
-Who you can trust... who you  shouldn't.
And who you never ever would!  
It's very eye opening on many levels.
 At any rate... I'm just thankful.
I give thanks in all these crazy circumstances.  

- Anyways; I'm chilling out and counting my blessings.  

A day or two after this surgery;

I discovered these beautiful flowers on the front porch.  

Our youngest son's fiance dropped them off for a pickmeup.  

I feel so blessed.    

They've brightened up the whole week. 

And I find myself  carting them from room to room. lol
- Depending what I'm doing.  They've been in my little art porch alot!   

Yesterday this was my share on Instagram.

 My time in the word had brought the word 

TRUTH; around again.   It keeps popping up!!!  

A friend commented on that Instagram photo and shared her time with the Lord 

calling  it her TRUTH Time.  

And just prior to that  I put Truth 

on this picture created at Picmonkey.  

While doing my devotional; I found  myself reaching for a scrap of painted paper and 

writing one of my favorite quotes about TRUTH on it.  

Has your voice ever shook a little when 

you've had to speak TRUTH to someone? 

Mine sure has.

Anyways; it's kind of wild when a word keeps repeating itself isn't it? 

Reaching for my Bando; I realized
how well the colors  above matched.
Thought I'd share it here because some of you are "listers" as well.
Listers Gotta List has become something I enjoy doing so much. But not using my Bando
 much I decided to try using  it to keep my listing.  In the past I've most often used a Midori
insert book but that gets kind of expensive over time.  Love how Listing  gives a creative outlet
for every day but sometimes I don't really feel like decorating all those pages; yet still enjoy
listing.  So far the  Bando is working out pretty well. 

It has a front pocket to keep each month's list of prompts... and 

there's quite a bit of room to jot down your answers.

Add a little washi and  stickers and the pages get colorful pretty quick.  

I like that I'll have just one book to house all the years listing.  

I suppose if you had more you wanted to write you could always use tipins on the pages.

And not long ago I shared my tall dark n handsome Mr. Darcy 

leather traveler's notebook here.  (Is that a mouthful or what?)  

He's worth it though.  

Having a long standing journal and now planner book addiction;

you can imagine I have quite a few from over the years.  Most of my planner books have been used for memory keeping

and looking through my stash of them I'm so glad I've kept them.  Picking the old ones up; I can read

about the funny things our boys did when they were mischievous little things. Reading them brings 

back so many wonderful memories.  The good bad and all.  

Mr. Darcy here is quite unlike any I've had. The leather is smooth and .. strong and he wraps around  the inserts so well. They say the Darcy leather really takes life on... meaning they show their journeys.  They get scratched, and marred and scarred... just like us!     

He's become the place to document my whole 

going gray journey.  

I really think everything I've been going through with all these dental surgeries added in

is putting a whole new spin on things.  

No wonder my one word this year is 

Perspective.  

Here's my first tabs 

There's a lot more to going gray for me than

just hair.  

It's mental, and emotional along with the 

physical.  Think I'll need more tabs.  

Sometimes I wonder if it's really about hair at all?  

And so begins the inside of my book.

One feather.  

.... I can't even explain.

Maybe it's to take flight...

give wings... 

to fly...

but...

I'm finding it starts at the beginning.

As far back as I can remember.  

Before this day and 

on this day.  

Who knew?  

Just ONE.  

Going gray is 

gaining perspective.  

Seeing differently.

Inside 

and outside.

It's soul seeing.

So tomorrow is another month of ditching the Clairol Nutmeg dye.  

This is two months of grey growth 

...as well as the mouthful of stitches you can't see.  

This mop has  grown quite a bit and I can almost

get it all in a little pony tail.  

While I know it's not gonna be easy; so far 

I love the new sparkles.

This card Be you, was recently in the planners society kit.  

It's staying right here in the back of Mr. Darcy as a reminder. 

Be YOU!! 

Well that's the lastest at the Potting shed.  

Thank you for stoppin by and spending your precious time  with me.  

Yall   mean so much to me.  

Until we meet again.... 

xoxo  

A Day Of Firsts and Recording The Journey

 It was such a great weekend;  

How was yours? 

Saturday evening, Myguy got our bike out and we rode it to town and back just before dark.

It was running so rough so he drained all the gas out and put new spark plugs in.

That made a world of difference.  So, Sunday morning we did something out of the ordinary.

We rode the motorcycle to the Journey.  (church)  

No denim skirt this Sunday... instead

jeans, tshirt and boots.  Thankfully the Journey very much embraces

"come as you are."  And we did just that. 

We were running short on time because it starts alot earlier and 

is clear on the other side of town.  

Myguy came in the bathroom saying, "We've got to go if we're gonna make it to early church." 

I looked down and my fingernail polish was all chipped up and there was NO time for 

a quick coat of Sally Hanson.  

(Yall just don't know how that bugged me.)  

... Oh whatever... so I grabbed my phone so I could use biblegatway on it,

and my Sparrow "traveler's notebook."

 This is how we went to church.  

I didn't even bring a comb.  I was the girl with 

helmet hair.  

Oh yeah and those jacked up nails.  lol  

Oh and I almost forgot another first...

it was my first time on the interstate on our motorcycle.

Yeah we had to take the interstate to get there faster. 

The first little ways, my stomach was in knots.  

Myguy patted my leg and asked, "How ya doin."

(We have an intercom in our helmets so we can carry on conversations easily.)

"Well.... I'm kinda terrified," but... okay."  

He patted my leg for reassurance. 

I really don't like getting all boxed in with semi trucks ya know what I'm sayin?   

But ..we made it just fine... and it was quite delightful I must say!

The praise and worship and message... awesome!  

Never cared about my ugly fingernails or wild hair the whole  rest of the day!   

 What a JOY it was to carry my sparrow to church in my saddlebag!  

My traveler's notebook... yeah it  got to travel!  

This is the cover I made awhile back for a sermon notes insert.  

 The sermon was about our decisions in life and they showed

some movie clips so I sat in the dark taking my messy notes.

 Had to laugh later looking at them and then realizing that 

I had Beautiful Mess stamped on the front of the leather.  

:)   

After church we rode to Pizza Hut for lunch.

Oh my gosh, the buffet was so good!  

Another first:  Barbecue beef pizza!

If you haven't tried it... I encourage you! 

You must!!!

We then headed up in the mountains.

Out of the blue, the mirror 

fell off and broke on the road.

After that a lens fell off and broke too.  

That kind of makes ya stop and think "Hmmm... hope everything else 

holds together!"  

It did.  haha 

 We put almost 200 miles on.  

When we first got up in the mountains, it was kinda  cold wearing just a tshirt.

But the weather warmed through afternoon and it was plumb beautiful!  

We love riding up around Jasper.

Mount Judea has a special place in my heart too.  

 This little church was right off the side of the road.  

Wish we coulda looked around but the chiggers are still out.  

 We stopped to stretch and drink some water here and there.  

Both our cabooses were sore by the time we got home.  

We're talking about trying to get a different seat and see if that helps.  

 Today is the last day of August.  Hard to believe!

I have one more page to finish in the Listers gotta List Challenge.

This is the book I did mine in.  

Listing is one of the things I've come to enjoy so much!  

It doesn't take much time and it's a quick something creative to do every day.

I kind of like decorating my book ahead of time with pretty papers, then 

filling out my answers on the computer and printing those off and gluing them in.  

 This prompt is what are your favorite cliche's?   Have you ever heard anyone say,
Give me some more chicken?   It's a term down here when someone needs more rope, or more cord or whatever you are  handing them. lol  Isn't that  crazy lingo? Makes me laugh. 

 Some pages can get pretty gritty, and I love that.

This one I looked back to being sixteen.  

And also things I believe... 

I really love seeing where I've been ... 

and changes in my life and walk!    

 This prompt was My glorious imperfections.  

This little print was a painting I did one day and I'd been thinking

alot about our souls?  In some very dark days I experienced going through my bone graft surgeries

I was feeling really bad about myself.  Myguy would speak truth to me and he so often would say,

I love your soul... to the bone!  

  He kept showing me the love of Christ and kept speaking it 

into my very soul.  

Now, this print of the painting reminds me of this everytime I see it.  

In the listers book, I used a tip in with that soul painting picture on the outside

and then under that...  a picture of me, hot and sweaty .. no makeup ... 

the real deal.  Then I journaled some of my glorious imperfections on the library card.

I like doing hidden journaling that way, although sharing it here doesn't make it very hidden does it.  

One night Myguy read this list and he smiled real big and "nodded."  

I guess he agreed. lol  

Nothin like some sweet affirmation there huh?  

Last I share with you a page out of my hobonichi.  

If you like to record your journey... I would encourage you to think about doing a quick daily sketch. 

I just discovered doing this in the last year and seriously I look forward to it every single night.  

Yall know I'm not some gifted artist at all.... nadda... but you don't have to be to do this; I'm proof!

The whole idea is to just sketch something that stands out of your day.  If you love sketching maybe it's several things... or maybe just one and then write all around it.  It is so much fun and looking back ... you'll remember and it will just spark all these wonderful memories of what happened that day.  

Here I recorded my day of firsts. 

The hobonichi paper is really smooth and I love writing on it.  I've been using my fountain pen to do a quick sketch and use permanent ink in it.  Then I can use watercolors to fill it in.  Usually I do this while we're watching the news in bed.  

I found it kind of difficult ordering from the Hobonichi store in Japan but it was so worth it.  

I'll definitely get a new 2016 as well, just can't decide if it will be a "cousin" size as this is or go smaller?  

I need to get supper going!  

Myguy nearly cheered when I mentioned tator tot hotdish...can't disappoint the man now!

Thanks for spending your precious time at the shed.

Love. Leaon Mary