Joy of Luck, Day 7

Boy, this last assignment got me thinking. Our Personal Rainbow. "We all have something in our future to look forward to. This may be professional growth, spiritual growth, growth of our children, growth of our family, or whatever else in life that gives you hope. What will your luck bring in your future? What blessings do you look forward to? I like to think of this as your own personal “rainbow.”

What is this for me? For us?

Selling this house...



And moving into this one.



I'm so Done with Waiting. We're 3 1/2 months overdue, could possibly get in trouble with the bank, and I'm so stressed out, and so is Eric, and we're so sick of being stressed out. Frankly, I don't like me right now. If I could be Elvis and leave the building, or just take a vacation to fast forward to summer, when Chris would be done with his surgery and potty trained, and we'd be all moved in, I would.

But as a very wise friend told me last night...one more month. I can do one month. It's only one more month, and we're either going to be In or Out. And we'll know, and the worrying can be done.

On a similar note, Sam and I went on a Garden Walk this week at the new backyard. I had planted some daffodil bulbs in the backyard last fall, thinking that I'd be in our new house, sitting drinking coffee looking out my patio window, watching the flowers bloom in our new yard. Seeing flowers come back in our old yard, kind of has been making me a little crazy. It's good and bad all at the same time. But it was good the other day, when Sam and I found a few of the bulbs were coming up. It's Hope.

Hopeful flowers.

So I won't be seeing them bloom from my breakfast table this year, but next year... This yard is Full of Hope.

Joy of Luck, Day 6

Who is a Blessing?



Mommy's little yahoos, that's who? Their love, and their love of life bring me such joy, words can't even describe.

Joy of Luck, Day 5

Tough one today.

When, in your life, do you believe that your life became filled with luck, blessings and joy?

The obvious answer would be When I became a mother. And yes, that's true. My cup never overflowed like it has since I had Christopher. It's the hardest and best job ever. Ever.



However, my path never would have gone in this direction if not for this place. Butler University. My luck changed the day I joined the band.



Before the band, I was painfully shy. I went off to college, and through massively insane coincidence, which is another story, I ended up trying out for the band...for the flags. I was Terrible. They took pity on me, even offering me Flag Tutoring sessions. Who gets that? That's how sad I was. As a joke, someone I met said, Eh, if it doesn't work out, you read music, we'll put you on the drum line. So onto the drumline I went. And I played cymbals. And I loved it. I came out out of my shell and banged things together. And I made friends. Lifetime friends. What luck brought that about!

And the luck of the band, and the friends brought about by that, brought me my husband.

In evenings, I would walk down here to the carillon in the Butler gardens to focus, just run up and down the stairs, or just sit on a bench and watch the water flow, listen to the sound of the woods. Butler is the most amazing little oasis located and surrounded by downtown Indianapolis, but it doesn't feel like that down in the gardens. It was a place of peace for me. My friends would yell at me for going down after dark, but it helped me. Soon to 'protect me' they joined me. Then just one special friend in particular. My husband. Our relationship blossomed at this place.



And without him, without the band and without this place, becoming the woman I am today, the mother that I am today would not have been possible.

Joy of Luck, Day 4

Today's Assignment was a little Tricky. My 7 Favorite Material Things.
7 things I can't live without. Hmm...



1. Running Water - I'm so Thankful that we live in a home where I have clean, running water. All. The. Time.

2. My Camera - My Canon Digital Rebel. It was my 'baby' before I had babies. And I'm only now beginning to really use and enjoy it to its capacity.

3. The Bible - This year I'm reading the Message. I'm a bit behind, but already my bible is looking nice and used. Sam attacked it with his cocoa the other day, and he's pulling beads off my bookmark, and the pages are getting dog-eared. Good. That means I'm using it!

4. Butler ID - Some people use a purse or a wallet. But my freshman year in college I gave up the purse in favor of carrying my ID card and driver's license on my keychain. I've gone through about 4 of these since. Eric bought me 2 for Christmas this year, because now that I'm a grownup and carrying a few more cards than just my license. ;) And I can't live without it.

5. Crochet hook - Idle hands are the devil's playground. I've Got to have Yarn to work on, a project or two going at any given time, or I go a little nutsy.

6. Car - God Bless my new car. It's so pretty, so functional, and so capable of storing Children and Stuff.

7. Computer - While technically my netbook charger died, so I can't use it at this moment, I really thought I'd go a little crazy from withdrawal when it died, but I've been making due just fine with the computer in the basement. And Eric assures me a cord is coming. Someday.

Joy of Luck, Day 3

Today's theme is Lucky Charms...or in our Case...Don't Doubt the juju.

Butler is playing in the NCAA tournament. In case you didn't know...though around here, you'd kind of have to be living under a rock not to know. And we are not.

You have to understand, we are Serious Butler Bulldogs. My husband and I met through the Butler Band...and sat next to each other during year's worth of pep and marching band games. And that was way back before the teams were Good.

The Butler Basketball team made it to the NCAA championship game last year, losing in the last seconds by a single shot. And the same thing was happening tonight. It's enough to give a girl an ulcer.

We have our Superstitions about watching the Butler Games on TV. We got to my best friend Kathleen's house, and watch on her tv. She serves chips and Queso dip.



And last year, I discovered York Peppermint Patty Pieces...which just so happen to be Blue and White. I brought a game to Thursday's viewing...with Queso and Pieces in hand, we won. And again tonight, I had to stop and pick up some more, because the fraction of a bag was just not going to get us through the game. I almost bought two bags, but decided not to, seemed like cursing it. Now I see that was wise.



And as long as I had a steady stream of chocolates going into my mouth the second half, the team was doing well. It was a nailbiter, close down to the very last tenths of a second...and I kept the chocolate going. Every Time Out going for another refill, or sending Eric.

Oh, I feel like I'm going to puke. Or get that ulcer.

May have to book that endoscopy for after the championships are over.

Joy of Luck, Day 1

Our first day in my new class, The Joy of Luck. See the same teacher as the Joy of Love class I took in February. I enjoyed the first one so much, I was thrilled at the opportunity to take this quick one week freebie.

Our focus today was to focus on a Gift. Something we are Lucky to have, or Blessed by. It was supposed to be an inanimate object, that we love, and we were supposed to focus on different angles, but I didn't get something like that.

Instead today, my Gift that I was Blessed with (besides a Butler win in the first round of NCAA, Go Dawgs!) was the Gift of Time. Quality Time with my husband.

He's been gone a lot lately, working full time, and building our dream house for us. He stayed up way late last night, and just decided that this evening, he wanted
The Night Off. And my boys couldn't have been happier.

We took advantage of Members Night, and Daddy met us at the zoo, where they stayed open extra late to meet some new animals, but that's another story. We stayed until the place was empty. And that was so cool. Time at the zoo, stopped for us. It was some Great Quality Time for me and my boys. The zoo people let us shut them down, and as we were leaving, we felt like the only people in the world.



On the other hand, the zoo had something I didn't. Blooming Flowers.



I love spring, one of my favorite times in the world is when the bulbs start popping up. Their Snowdrops were blooming.



So, since we weren't in a great hurry, and got to experience these bonus blooms which were quite the happy gift for me, I took a moment to try snapping pictures of them at different angles.



Getting closer.



On the ground. And contorting the camera into ways I just don't bend.



And I got Lucky. These turned out really great.



Another Great Gift!