The Surprise Lily

We have a large pipe entranceway at the end of our driveway….it serves many practical purposes.

Mainly that I tell new visitors to Cocklebur Junction to turn in at the large white pipe entranceway. We’ve never put our name on it, and now as we have lived here for a few years, we doubt we ever will.

1) Everyone already knows who lives here…gossips spreads fast even in the country.

2) We like being anonymous to those who don’t belong here.

It makes me think of this quote:

“I have made my world and it is a much better world than I ever saw outside.” — Louise Nevelson

That’s how I feel about our little world we’ve made here. It’s our safe place to hide away. The kids can play safely in the wide open spaces. I can go for days without answering the phone or seeing anyone outside of my family. We can bury ourselves in the garden or the dusty mane of a loving horse.

And that’s how I feel about the blog world too. We’ve made our own world here…one where every mom is accepted and understood. Where we can be as down or as upbeat as we want to be. Where we can celebrate with each other the little moments that probably only matter to mom’s — like getting to sleep in or being able to serve spaghetti to the fam without having to hose everyone off afterwards! Those little things that make us feel like we have a large pipe entranceway. We can say “come on in” or we can close the gates for a while and have a little quiet.

My neighbors and friends will tell you that sometimes the gates are closed at Cockelbur Junction. I don’t mind if they come on in….but most understand that it means that we are having alone time. Time to restore the balance to our lives.

I know it sounds a little frou-frou, but balance is important. Just as our kiddos need a rhythm to their lives of meals, play and rest to balance their little bodies and minds — so do we parents. Sometimes I simply need to say no. No to running around all the time trying to get us hear and there on endless adventures. No to worrying about getting my house cleaned so that anyone can pop in anytime. No to going out of my way to serve three outstanding meals a day.

I’m tired. I’m worn out today…and the day hasn’t really even gotten into full swing yet. All night long, I was up taking cold medicine.

So the gates are definitely closed today…the kiddos have eaten, have clean faces and hands and are dressed. But I plan on staying in my pj’s for the rest of the morning, curled up on the couch….just being quiet.

The dishes can wait. The laundry can wait. And the chaos will just have to go on around me.

Tomorrow, I’ll open those gates again. But as for today….I’m going to enjoy the blessings of my world.

I’m happy to join Supah Mommy in her Post it Note Tuesday….what a great way to say everything I’ve been meaning to say, but haven’t had the nerve….cuz, frankly, you can say anything you want on a stick ‘em without any guilt….

I’ve been collecting these all week….now, where did I stick them?

No, I’m not dancing around it either!!! Hee hee. Could you imagine? It would be awful….I would probably hurt myself.

I am talking about the worst part of my Hughesnet experience. Oh, I love how fast it moves so far. I have literally been to a lot of sites that I never went to before because of the time it took to download them.

There are lots of new pics of my kiddos on my facebook page.

But there is now a pole in my life.

Apparently, for liability reasons, they can not mount the dish on a metal roof or home. So they mount it on a pole instead.

Yep, it’s not really a great look.

You see, my desk is located in the living room for two reasons: 1 – easy to watch the kiddos from the desk, and 2 – the view from the windows.

You may remember this view….

It rocks. Our goal is to pretty much make this side of the barn all windows.

But now…..well, there’s a big dish on a pole in the middle of my view.

Yee haw.

At least it’s temporary. A porch is going there sometime in the next few months. And the dish will be relocated to the porch roof.

The price of technology….I miss my view.

Sorry all for the really long break I’ve taken. You see, I’ve had a series of computer mishaps.

First, my laptop stopped working correctly.

I took it to the computer guy.

It worked fine.

Brought it home.

It wouldn’t work.

Took it back.

It worked fine…..you get the drift here.

Well, their theory was that I vaccuum too much. Yep, you heard it. I am the queen of vaccuuming. I have two kiddos and do it once a day (on good days, well….once every other day).

The nice guy at the computer place said that vaccuums create static electricity which can fry your laptop……I was willing to go with that theory.

It was soon shot down by a tech support guy who I happened to mention it to. So, who knows? All I know is that it won’t work inside the barn anymore.

So I went and bought a new computer. Got it home. It didn’t work.

Took it back.

Got a new one.

Bought the kiddos gummy worms because I felt bad about being a very grouchy mommy.

About an hour later, I found out that they aren’t going to keep putting dial-up modems on computers any more. Like in starting with my new computer.

So, as Cockelbur Junction is located in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma (and we like it that way), we are left with satellite internet. A few hours into it and I have very few complaints against hughesnet. Um, it’s our only option. I’ll post about the one downside tomorrow.

A week later, here I am. I’m back. Cruising along. And loving in.

I’m sure you look forward to more pictures, more posts and all the more surprises to come.

Because it no longer takes me four hours to post something on here.

Okay, now back to going through the five hundred emails that remain in my email.

Gosh, I’ve missed you guys too.