Five Minute Friday- Exhale

I'm joining Lisa-Jo Baker and a bunch of other brilliant bloggers for Five Minute Friday... 

Go:
Exhale... Is that the same thing as let it go?  Not the popular Disney song that is stuck in everyone's head... but actually releasing the stuff that really doesn't matter?

I want to recognize when I what I am stressing out about just isn't important... Like really... is my life going to change drastically if my floors are spotlessly clean?  Who cares if there is stuff on my living room table?

On the other hand doesn't minimizing give me room to breath?  To really relax and let out the air I have been holding in all day?  Perhaps I can create calm with routine... or just without the crap that piles up... go away... give me space... I need to exhale.
Stop.

Five Minute Friday: Writer

I'm joining Lisa Jo for Five Minute Friday this morning... the prompt is writer... come write for 5 minutes and link up!

Writer... it's a word I want to be a strong part of my identity... right up there with Mother, Sister, Wife... I used to write stories and poems...

Back when I wasn't afraid that my writing wasn't good enough... but I let that slip away...  It was just a silly little girl thing to do anyway right?

But I am oh so thrilled to have found 3 other women who also want to write... women to meet with... share with... allow to read what my soul wants the world to know.

To be a writer... to let loose my imagination... to welcome and practice a craft to make my own...

Writer, it's who I am.

 

photo credit: katmary via photopin cc

Five Minute... er Saturday: Small

I'm joining Lisa Jo and a bunch of other fine bloggers (a little late) for Five Minute Friday...

Go

There are daffodils on my kitchen counter I bought them when they were still closed buds... and they held the smallest hope of beauty... now they are mostly opened and the bring a small amount of spring into our home... even though the snow falls outside my large living room window.

These sunny yellow flowers also bring my smallest child great joy... "Mommy I sniff 'em?" says a small voice several times a day.

Life really is about the small things... the simple pleasures day to day... hot lattes, sunbeams casting eye catching shadows across the wooden floor, stories read with my small ones... and sniffin' daffodils.
Stop
 

Five Minute Friday: Ordinary

I'm joining Lisa-Jo Baker and a bunch of other profound bloggers for:

Start

or·di·nar·y /ˈôrdnˌerē/ Adjective With no special or distinctive features; normal.

I do not come from ordinary stock... my family is a rare and special breed of humans... we are quirky... funny... loud... and flawed.

As a teenager I hoped to marry into a "normal" family... Ordinary... no quirks... no flaws... and for years I believed I'd accomplished that... My inlaws are calm... gentle... thoughtful people.

 But I am so happy to discover that they are not without quirks... or flaws... because if they were they would be so much harder to love... My heart would struggle to be tender toward ordinary... perfect people.

My spirit would not relate... and so I embrace the extraordinary.

Stop

 

Five Minute Friday: Write

I'm joining Lisa-Jo Baker and a bunch of other profound bloggers for:

Start
When I was a little girl I would write stories... I once attempted to write a novel... I may have gotten 3 chapters in and abandoned the project.

When I was a teenager I wrote dark poetry... in fact a poem that I titled "Death" made it into the book that my school published.

Thankfully I grew out of that dark time... and now I write because the questions need a place to live... I write because my thoughts need an avenue to stroll... I write because sometimes its a better idea than telling that person face to face.

I read the writing of others... I read to expand my thoughts... to relate to others... to adopt tidbits of others ideas... to change my life... because that's what writing does for me... mine and others.

Its therapy... it is calm... it is emotional... it is connection... it is community.
Stop
 

Five Minute Friday: True

It's time for Five Minute Friday again!
Go
Here is what I know is true about me: I am 31 years old... I have a perpetually messy house... I tend to blame other people for the mess... I worry about what other people think of me... My heart breaks if you don't like me... I fear ruining my children... I wish I was happier... I miss my sister... I like to be warm... I love sushi... I NEED quiet time... Music irritates me at times... Other times it motivates me... Sometimes I think I am really cute... Alas not all the time of course... I want to love better... All this and more is TRUE
Stop

Five Minute Friday- Mercy

I'm joining Lisa-Jo Baker and a bunch of other profound bloggers for:

   

Today's topic: Mercy

Go

The first thing that came to mind when I read the word mercy was the lyrics to Multiply Your Love:

Let us see Your kingdom come
To the poor and broken ones
Let us see a mighty flood
Of justice and mercy, O Jesus
Let love be multiplied
Let love be multiplied

~Andy Park

... because if I really think about it... Mercy requires a tremendous amount of love...  Mercy requires that we set aside judgement... that we sacrifice somehow... rarely is it convenient... but it is required for a fulfilling life.

... and when we pour mercy on to others... we invite mercy to be bestowed upon us... and that hopefully becomes a cup that runneth over.

Stop

Five Minute Friday: Red

Go
 I have a very special red blanket... I call it my Frankie Blankie... My Grandma Frank crocheted it for me...

My Grandma is at my house right now taking care of my children and I since I had my wisdom teeth removed...
My floor has been cleaned... meals have been made... and I have been loved.

Red- My grandma's love for me... Crocheted into a cozy blanket... pumping through our hearts... passion from a maternal figure... unconditional and sacrificial...
Stop

Five Minute Friday: Rest

Go
Rest where are you?  Why are you eluding me? Have I not denied my Downton Abby and Glee, Netflix obsessions to seek you out?

My weariness so great that my head hit the pillow at 8pm and slept through the construction noises of bathroom renovations just one wall away... and yet when the morning comes I feel as though I could sleep for another 11 hours.

I am intentionally perusing you... scheduling a 2 hour break weekly... dragging myself into the cold to refresh myself with a run... but you insist on this game of hide and seek... and you are good at it.  The best in fact.

Perhaps I will find your brother refreshment or sister energy and we will sit together with a cup of something hot (probably coffee for me) and you will be so tempted by this that you will want to join us to.
Stop
  photo credit: Tony Fischer Photography via photopin cc

Five Minute Friday: Home

Go
 I am a girl with 2 places to call home... two towns where there are communities of people who love me...
I moved away from my hometown a while ago... and established a heart family in the place I lived.

There I had friends who were the people to celebrate occasions with... to mourn and cry with... to fight with and make up.

And now I am back where I started... with my honest to goodness relations... striving to find my groove among relatives I have known my whole life... creating new relationships with people who raised me.

Welcoming new heart family members and creating community... as the bits and pieces intermingle with one another.

So home is where my love is... and that love is definitely divided...
Stop

Our current fixer upper house...  before renovations began...
 

Five Minute Friday...What Mama Did

Go
I inherited my singing voice from my mother...  I would love to claim that it is beautiful and melodic... but alas it makes people stare at me during events where I dare sing the national anthem... I am extremely self conscious of my voice... but she's not.

I remember my childhood... being annoyed when my mom would make up silly songs... singing the words all wrong...  and as a teenager roll my eyes and cringe in embarrassment at the very same thing.

Listening to her off key voice in church made me want to melt into the pew... especially knowing that my own song would come out the same...

Yet she didn't care what I thought... or what those around us in the congregation thought.

My mom sang in an attempt to play with her children... she sang to the radio as she taxied us about... and she sang to praise God.

I'm sure it makes her happy to just sing even if there are no applause waiting afterward.

Stop
 

Five Minute Friday: Opportunity

Go
I believe it was Anne of Green Gables that said “Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” 

And I am choosing that as my motto this year... there is opportunity to start again with each new day... each new hour... each new moment.

Like today... I yelled at my children for doing something wrong that I had not taught them how to do right.

Oh yes there was guilt... but there was also repentance... I sent us all "back to bed" so we could start again and mommy could have a kinder day.

And so I will not wallow in my mistakes... I will turn over a new leaf and start again to make a better choice.

I will cover my multitude of sins with love... and cherish the beginning of every tomorrow.

Stop