The Sweet Sound of Chaos
Monday my children were off from school due to President’s Day. While I had to work that morning, I decided to finish up some things to take off early that afternoon to spend with my girls. It was all but a quiet afternoon at home, though.
Shortly after arriving home, I opened the gate to our pasture to let our five horses roam free over our entire yard. They ran out of the gate so joyfully, kicking their heels up to show how good they were feeling! I also let our goats out and our Pomeranian that is always hyper and loves running around.
I went inside with my girls and had macaroni and cheese that I had going in the crock pot. It was delicious, if I must say so myself.
Later, my youngest daughter and I broke into song to one of Taylor Swift’s latest hits. We sang our hearts out together and laughed so hard as we exaggerated every movement as we danced around the kitchen. I love seeing that sweet smile as her entire face lights up.
My oldest daughter was in her bedroom painting a masterpiece, but she took little breaks to come dancing in the room making her presence known.
My little teacup Yorkie start barking as she wanted attention, and I kept going to the window to check on the horses. Although we have a fenced in yard, I worry when they are out roaming.
Finally, I decided it was time for everyone to go back to their designated areas. I walked out to the pasture with their feed buckets and had five horses in my back pocket! They get a bit territorial when food is involved, so soon I had the bigger, more dominant horses running the little ones off. It was quite the chore getting everyone back in their assigned eating places. Whew!
After getting the horses settled, I let our very big German Shepherd guard dog out of his kennel only to discover, by my youngest daughter running flaring her arms around, that I hadn’t put our big goat up yet! Oh no! We were both scrambling to get the very heavy goat back into her kennel before our German Shepherd realized he could cross over the electric invisible fence boundary into the goat’s area! The goat ran straight to her kennel, then took a turn in the opposite direction almost as if she was saying, “Naaa, I changed my mind … now you can’t catch me!” It was a chore, BUT caught her we did!
When she was safe in her kennel we could breathe easier … until we realized that our Pomeranian was now missing. Oh brother!
Both of my daughters and I then went on a mad search for this little rascal! We called, we sweet talked, we searched high and low … and about the time we were ready to give up our search, the little rascal came running from the other side of the fence. Apparently, she was feeling friendly today and wanted to visit with the neighbors. When she was back home where she belonged and secure, I went into the house to … REST!
As I sat in my recliner letting my mind wander with the news station on in the background mainly for noise, I thought to myself of all of the chaos my afternoon off had held! But, you know what? In a strange sort of way, I LOVE the sweet sound of chaos that comes from the walls of my house that is overflowing with love for our human family members as well as the love that flows over the grass and our entire six acres as we extend these feelings to our furry family members as well.
Yes, the sweet sound of chaos. I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Weekend of Love
How was your weekend of love? Did you do anything special on Valentine’s Day with your sweetheart? Flowers, chocolates, candlelight dinners … they are all so nice! What a way to show your special someone how much you care! But, you know what? They shouldn’t just be “celebrated” one day a year just because that day has been set aside as a lover’s holiday. You should be striving to show your husband or wife DAILY how much they mean to you.
Do you share anything in common with your spouse? Besides children, do you have any thing that you do together? Or, does your spouse have a hobby that is different from your own? If possible, just try something your spouse likes. It will make a difference to them that you’ve shown an interest and are alongside them in their favorite sport or hobby.
For me and my husband, I am thankful to say that we share several of the same interests. From horseback riding, fishing, camping, and things of that nature, we enjoy doing things together side by side. I hear of a lot of couples that go their own way in this area. Some times it works out fine if there is a group of guys that go golfing. However, if there is a lady in the mix that shares the same interests as your husband and ends up spending more time with him than you do, trouble will soon begin to brew. The same can happen if a man shares an interest in an activity that your wife is involved in. You would be surprised to learn the number of affairs that begin with something so simple as a desire to work out, get fit, and become healthier. If you go to the gym alone, you might develop wandering eyes while you’re there. It’s just better to go with your spouse, in my opinion. Find something that the two of you can do together to keep the interest and adventure alive. It will matter if you take an interest in something your spouse enjoys. Think of how you’d feel if your husband took a sudden interest in something you love to do, too. It works both ways.
Our weekend of love was spent together by having dinner and a movie out just the two of us on Friday night. Then Saturday we went horseback riding with our youngest daughter. We all three share the love of horses, and the faster my daughter gets to go on her horse, the more smiles, laughter, and giggles you will get out of her. At one point, we three lined our horses up as if we were going to race, and we had the best time loping across an open field together. With the wind in our hair, feeling as if we were riding the magic carpet each time our horses went into a full gallop, with smiles plastered across all three of our faces.
In between trail riding and galloping our horses, my daughter enjoyed playing on the monkey bars, sliding on the curvy slides, and swinging together on the swing set at the park by the pond.
Later, my daughter’s only request was Subway for dinner. She was easy to please! And so, we had Subway before we headed back home.
Sunday we spent a leisurely day together at home with both daughters. I’m thankful that my 18 year old daughter still likes to hang out with the family. We made potato soup and stayed inside as much as possible since the high was only 37 degrees here in the South!
We enjoyed our weekend of love together as a family. We hope you took time for your family as well this weekend.
As we go forward, make sure to do something daily to let your spouse and your children know that you are thinking of them and love them. Don’t just celebrate them one day a year because you feel obligated to do so. They deserve to be shown your love daily!
Saving Valentine’s Day
Thursday afternoon my husband attempted to surprise me by picking me up in his classic 1989 Camaro Iroc-Z. This black beauty of a car has always held a special place in his heart. It is the first car that he purchased with his money “back in the day.”
He held my office door open for me and then escorted me to the passenger side of the car. As he opened the door, I saw a balloon that said “I love you” along with a large box of chocolates and a card! How sweet!
Once inside the sports car, he leaned in to kiss me. This was going to be THE greatest start to Valentine’s Day EVER!
Until …
The roaring thunder of the engine quieted as we began losing power. My husband was embarrassed as his plans, in his mind, were ruined. We coasted into the nearest parking lot which just happened to be by the bank’s ATM machine across the street from my place of employment.
He got out of the car and attempted to find the problem. Although we had just recently put a fuel pump on the car, we feared this was where the problem was stemming from. Since it is a classic, this isn’t a car that we drive every day. Sitting up did not help this car, and unfortunately, this was the result.
My husband became more red faced by the minute as his embarrassment turned to anger. His best laid plans were falling apart at the seams. I tried to reassure him that it still hadn’t ruined what he planned and we just had to make the best of it. Easy for me to say, right? But, it was true. Getting mad wouldn’t do a single thing to solve the situation we were in.
People were waiting in line behind our car, and he waved them past at this point. I was surprised by the lack of people that actually cared and tried to help. There was NO one at first. Then, as he tried to push the heaviest car in the universe out of the exit lane of the bank and into a parking space, someone got out of their vehicle and came running over to try to help him push it. I volunteered, too, but he insisted that I stay inside the vehicle since the car was so heavy. Another gentleman got out of his car at that time and helped push, too. My faith in humanity was restored at that point when those two people tried to help us! The first one worked at a part’s store and suggested what might be the problem, which was the same as my husband suspected; the fuel pump! They suggested that he could beat on it to loosening up any “junk” that had gotten trapped in the fuel pump, so my husband went to the hatchback and pulled out his tools. Nothing seemed to work, so he went to put the tools back in the hatchback only to discover that the hatchback would not close now! Frustration was mounting as he attempted several times to close the hatchback. I tried, in between slams, to ask him to come sit beside me in the car. He would have none of that as he continuously slammed, slammed, and slammed some more with each time feeling as if my ear drums were going to burst as I was still sitting inside the car!
Finally I just yelled over the slams in my sweetest voice ever … “HONEY … we have AAA!”
A look of bewilderment swept over his face as he didn’t seem to really grasp what I said. He paused for a moment, then slammed some more. The hatchback just was not going to close that day!
I took out my cell phone, nervously noticing that the battery was dying! Ugh! Of all days NOT to charge my phone while at work … ah, but I would use it until it stopped working completely.
I dialed the number for AAA roadside assistance, told them of our location, what car we were in, and they reassured me that someone would be there within the hour. I was dreading telling my husband that we would have to wait an hour, but knowing that it was an hour we were together was all that truly mattered! I finally got him to sit down beside me in the car. I hugged him, and despite temperatures in the 40s, I joked that he had worked up quite a sweat! We laughed at that, and then he looked at me almost in disbelief again and asked, “We have AAA?” To which I replied, “Yes, remember I told you that I signed us up last year? It won’t cost us anything to have the Camaro towed.” The look of relief on his face was priceless as he teased, “Why didn’t you just SAY so?!” Um, I TRIED!! We got a good laugh out of this, and within a few minutes my dying cell phone rang. It was the wrecker service calling. They were right down the street from where we were stranded at the bank ATM parking lot. It wouldn’t be an hour after all. Instead, they were going to rescue us in just a few minutes. GREAT NEWS, which I immediately passed on to my husband who was smiling by now.
When the wrecker service arrived we were actually smiling and joking with each other. As they were loading the Camaro on the roll back, I got inside the cab of the wrecker. My husband immediately took a picture of me, and I was quite impressed that my phone hadn’t completely died yet! It was still hanging in there, just like us! My husband later joked that this was my white limousine.
Within 20 minutes we were home, and I, of course, had to take a picture to mark the occasion as well. Notice his lip poking out in this picture as his precious Camaro is being lowered off of the roll back.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is what you call SAVING VALENTINE’S DAY!
Thank God for AAA!
