A new quilter

My soon-to-be husband has decided to take on the quilting world. Never one to be typical, he has ignored the role of the quilt husband and has decided to instead join in the fun. My honey has decided to make a quilt - one that will take up the whole living room, of course. The biggest quilt you've ever seen.

We spent the weekend roaming the local quilt stores with plans to drive a little further this weekend. He's picked out a good stack of fat quarters, some of which will now become part of a pieced back because they don't fit his newly refined vision of the quilt.

The purchased fat quarters and remants have been soaked and hung dry. Now comes the next challenge of teaching him rotary cutting skills. I say challenge because it'll be a righty teaching a lefty this quilting technique. Always a fun new skill even without the challenge of having to teach and learn in opposite directions. It should be a fun experience! Or a bumpy road. I'm not sure which yet.

Counting down

18 days until B is back and 24 until the wedding. Exciting! Each night I make another check off my mental to-do list and just can't wait to hug my little girl and marry my honey. And when all the excitement is over? Well, then I can just get busy again with school, girl scouts, and karate. Whoever said life is dull, just wasn't trying hard enough.

Happy Birthday, B!

Today my beautiful stepdaughter turns six. I want so very badly to hug her, kiss her and wish her a happy birthday. I can't stand that she's away for so very long. Two months is absolutely miserable and my heart is absolutely breaking every day she's gone.

If I miss her this much I can only wonder about her mother who seems perfectly content to only have her two months out of the year. The thought of this going on for ten months out of the year is more than I can bear.

I want my little girl back. I hate being without her.

How many dead horses?

My dad recently wrote a blog post on the concept of riding a dead horse in business. Whether it's keeping an employee or keeping a business concept; we can come up with a multitude of ways to avoid admitting that the horse is just plain dead. For whatever reason, we unable to give up and let go.

So, how often does this idea impact our personal lives as well. It could be how we manage (or don't manage) our finances or our household; how we parent our children; or unfortunately, the people we depend on in our lives. How often do we let dead horses stop us short in terms of personal fulfillment? What is it that keeps us from admitting the truth and moving past the dead horse?

Pathetic

Yep, that's me as far as my writing goes...pathetic. I haven't posted here in almost a year. And it's been the craziest year of my life. But I guess love does that to you; it makes you forget all the typical things in your life.

So in the past year I've gone from single, working adult to working stepmom and Girl Scout leader. An awesome and dramatic shift. My life in no way resembles the life I was living last year. And now nearing the end of another year, I'm excited about the plans and possibilities for 2010.

It seems like a shifting of life's priorities is a natural part of life that will happen throughout. If there's one thing that you can always count on, it's change. But are there those things that will last a lifetime? Are there priorities that will remain regardless of your stage of life? Maybe there is a time and place for each thing with very, if anything, little lasting for all time. Only time will tell.

Love

"Love is sometimes the choice to go against one's feelings." - Gary Chapman

I truly believe this statement. Love is not a feeling. Oh sure, you can fall in love. You can have loving feelings towards someone. But love is really a cognitive process. It's a choice. You have to choose every day to love the people around you. You have to make a choice each day to love your spouse. And when love is at it's greatest - love goes against your feelings. It's a seemingly impossible task, but when undertaken love creates more love where originally there was none. Imagine the world without the decision to love. Imagine the world if the decision was made a conscious effort by every person, each and every day.

Beauty from Pain

When looking back on this period in history, will we see the same as in the past where tough times inspire incredible works of art? Or are we too lazy and selfish in this day and age to stretch beyond our stresses and our traumas to create beauty in a tumultuous world? Can such timeless beauty come from a world filled with the internet, tivo, and wii? I hope to experience the creations that develop from this time of trouble. I want to look back years from now and feel the tug on my heart as I remember. I want to remember the struggle and the joy and to see the human spirit continue to soar.