“Running out of propane sent me running for the farm.”

I had a lovely, slow start to my morning yesterday. I had a full day planned out in “the office”, reading and editing the rough draft. Went out and turned the furnace on ahead of time to warm it up since it was a frigid 17 degrees. I fixed my coffee, gathered my book bag, kissed Mr. FixIt goodbye, and headed out to TOW-Wanda.

“Still winter in your neck of the woods?”

We live in a house of the ‘70s. The dead giveaway for that is the sliding doors on the closets have mirrors. While I am not excited about the decorating style of such things, I do love that I can open my eyes in the morning and see the bedroom window reflected in the mirror. When I awoke yesterday, big puffy snowflakes the size of marshmallows were floating down. Even though I am WAY over the winter thing, I’ve got to tell you…it was such a serene scene, I just laid there and looked at it for a long time.

“March forth on March 4th!”

One of the benefits of being 65 is hindsight. I look back over my life and see a mishmash of events and situations that have led me to the exact spot where I stand today. Any decision along the way could have taken me in an entirely different direction. What if I hadn’t had the two marriages that ended in divorce? I wouldn’t have these beautiful daughters that have blessed my life so tremendously. I wouldn’t have Big and Little to make my heart sing. I wouldn’t have the in-laws and extended families that come with marriages. I wouldn’t have the lessons I learned through it all.

“Winter is having a blast this weekend….but spring is around the corner!”

I should write a book every February. Sitting in TOW-Wanda for the entire month made the time fly by. I try to like winter. I try to have a happier outlook. And, it’s not even like we had a bad winter. It’s just not green. I like green. It’s not warm. I like warm.

I think maybe this winter was easier too because I took a cue from Mother Nature. God puts all the trees and flowers and grasses to sleep in the winter. He gives them a break. It’s a time to rest and regroup. I like that. I tried not to make it too slug-like and just sit for weeks on end doing nothing. I tried to keep busy with things. I didn’t keep my body as busy as I should have. But I sure kept my mind occupied. And that helped the time go by.

“There are sneaky snakes in our midst!”

I have a helpful little app on my iPhone called Moment. It was designed by a guy who realized he was getting sucked into addiction to his smart phone and he didn’t like it. So, without any venture capital, he created this app and it’s doing very well. So well, in fact, he was contacted by the former president of Pinterest who offered him $7M for the app, with the stipulation they work together to try and save an entire generation from being Screen Zombies.

“I’m pretty wordy!’

I finished the rough draft! If you count my blog posts, I’ve written somewhere over 75,000 words in the month of February alone! Hokey Smokes!

I spoke to my publicist friend and she advises I step away from it for a while so when I go back and read it, I can be discerning and find any spots where the story weighs heavy. When I’ve tried this before, I get so sick of reading it over and over that I’m convinced everyone else who reads it will think the same thing. 

“Unexpected things can be really, really good…or really, really bad. Anxiety can stem from the unexpected.”

My last small group gathering of the winter session is tonight. We’ve been studying Louie Giglio’s book…Goliath Must Fall. It is truly an amazing, insightful look into the giants we all face in life and how to get rid of them…once and for all. I hate to see this series end. I would like to do it all over again. At least I bought the book as well as the study guide, so I plan to read it again and again. I even have friends buying it and we can discuss it.

“Prayers, Praises, and Persistence”

I was a little worried when I went out to TOW-Wanda yesterday morning. Were the words going to come? Or was I going to hit another roadblock like I did Monday? I gathered my gear, grabbed my coffee, kissed Mr. FixIt, and headed to “the office”.

Once the furnace was on, I slipped out of my shoes and climbed into my little writing nook. I took a few moments to gather my thoughts and figure out a plan of action. Holding the warm coffee between my hands, I closed my eyes and prayed. 

“When the words don’t come, you have to go with the flow.”

I took Saturday and Sunday off from writing, other than my usual daily blog post. I didn’t get home from town till around 3:00 Saturday afternoon and I decided to give the rest of the day to my sweetheart. Sunday was church with the family and we weren’t back home till late and with the power outage, I needed to focus on keeping the generator running while Mr. FixIt was bowling. 

“A power outage is not uncommon in the country.”

One of the disadvantages of living way, WAY out in the country is the frequent power outages. I do have to say, I believe this is the first one I’ve experienced here at the Ponderosa. Mr. FixIt has told me stories of outages that have lasted over two weeks out here so I am sure praying this isn’t one of them.