Happiness – Page 2 – Gracious Rain

April 16, 2018September 16, 2018

Puzzle Nut

I have a confession to make. Not a confession really, but more, an admission. I’m kind of a puzzle nut…freak, actually, if you must know.

I loved puzzles so much that I used to go to Hallmark every few weeks to see what new ones they had, and buy them. All of them. I had a cat puzzle, a King Tut puzzle, a Piata puzzle, and every Thomas Kincade puzzle you can think of. I had rainbow ones, candy ones, donut ones and every animal in the kingdom. Why, I even had a puzzle of a puzzle that I LOVED and put together a zillion times.

One year for Christmas, my cute little dad made a special board made that was light weight and thin, but sturdy enough to last for a million years. It was my special puzzle board. And I had it for about 20 years.

Some unsuspecting soul tossed it in one of our many moves a few years back and I was heart broken. Funny thing is that when I moved into this old, cute house while we were rummaging around in the back patio–there was a piece of the same kind of board–in nearly the same dimensions as the awesome one my father made all those years ago.

In fact, if I could pass on a love for something, to my grandkids, it would be the love of calming, soothing, lovely puzzles.

It just might be working!

November 26, 2016November 23, 2022

So, So Thankful

So very much to be thankful for this year.

The new exciting things, the old, comfortable things.

A few very, very hard things…

and some incredibly wonderful, happy things.

All, I believe, designed by our loving Heavenly Father to help us stretch and grow and love harder and stronger and ultimately…

to bring us closer to Him.

I am indeed grateful for my sweet home and cute chickens and my dear, dear family….

some of whom may or may not be playing chess…

at the dinner table.

And I love them to bits.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends.

May 9, 2016June 6, 2016

Out And About

The girls have been so sweet about being out in the chicken yard, but now and then, they look longingly out at the green grass and plants beyond their little pen.

So, this morning…I opened the door and let them out!

At first they stood there looking at me, like, “Ummmm…lady? You know the gate is open, right?”

Yep, I know.

In fact, I had to stand outside in the grass saying, “Come on-come on-come on.” Then, once they realized I wasn’t kidding, they tip-toed out…then ran!

Oh, my goodness did they have fun. And what a huge deal they make out of this funny, little bush! They pecked at the leaves for an hour.

And see those purple flowers? Most of them were barely out of reach so they would stand just below and…JUMP straight up to snatch them. It was awesome.

We’ve left the grass long because we didn’t want to scare them with the mower just yet. But they loved it that way. I think they felt a bit stealthy, sneaking around in the tall grass…

and pecking at all the silly little bugs crawling around.

Then, as though someone rang a dinner bell, they all marched into the yard and gobbled up their grains–that had been sitting there all day long.

Then they promptly curled up in a bunch of heaps and went to sleep–inside the pen. I don’t think they totally understand this freedom thing yet.

Soon enough, I suppose.

I think we’re both going to love it.

April 29, 2016May 27, 2016

The New Digs

We’ve attached the smaller of the two coops that we have to the opening of the big pen. This way the girlies can have shelter at night or when it rains–which it’s been doing a lot lately.

They can play and scratch around in the yard all day, nibbling on a pile of weeds…

and then dart inside whenever it’s too nippy or something scares them. Right now, the two most frightening sounds for these ladies is the train whistle–which blows from half a block away several times a day–and a small plane flying over head.

They run inside like a Pterodactyl is swooping down on them.

Luckily they recover quickly and go right back to their weed feast…

and photo bombing. They totally do it on purpose.

See?

April 26, 2016May 18, 2016

Ready To Rip

My sweet Jillian came over one day with her work gloves on…

and said, “Are you ready to rip out that carpet, and have a look at what is underneath?”

She’s a very brave soul and I’m more the contented with whatever, “Ummm, sure!” kind of person.

So, I stepped back and she started yanking–only took her about 15 minutes and she had the whole thing loose and curled up in the middle of the room.

Sure enough–there was dusty, staple-y, positively potentially lovely hardwood underneath that blue carpet.

I am officially the staple remover, duster, sweeper lady now. When that’s finished, I think we’ll have a dang pretty floor here.

That’s my bet.