February Continuation (The theme of Water)

It seemed that many of my distractions that I had to look at through a better lens revolved around the conversion from well water to public water.  I felt this deserved its own post.  Here is something I wrote poetically.  I shared it with the writing group I belong to.

House Water

 Ebb and Flow

Kathleen Moore

Blessing Basket 

2017  (February)

With preparations underway for the conversion from well water to township water, I dreamed of the next storm causing an electrical outage and smiled with the knowledge that I no longer would need to store jugs of water in the garage for task such as toilet flushing.

• Estimates for work ✓
• Permits obtained ✓
• Money saved   ✓

One evening, I heard a holler from the bathroom

Mom, did you just run the dishwasher?

No

There’s no hot water

• Plumber Called  ✓
• Part replaced  ✓
• Put away the pots for heating water  ✓

A few days later, digging, drilling, banging and clanging,  I dreamed of the water flowing through my pipes and smile with the knowledge that  I would no longer have to schedule my household tasks around  the water pressure

One evening, I received a text at work

Mom, did you hear leaking under the hall closet?

No

I had to use the shut off valve and turn off the water

• Call into the plumber  ✓
• Text the boss to say I'll be in late  ✓
• Get the water buckets back out of the garage  ✓

The next morning, digging drilling banging and clanging, I dreamed of a warm shower and smiled with the knowledge that I was not one of the ladies I saw during a Super Bowl Commercial walking miles with buckets for clean water.

The following morning, I heard singing coming from the shower

Mom, Isn’t this great to have hot water?

Yes

I’ll get rid of the buckets in the garage today

• Take my shower ✓
• Be Grateful for my blessings✓
• Say a prayer for those less fortunate✓
  

February Blessings Sampling

Twenty- Eight Days of Counting Blessings
Some beautiful moments that would have normally went by unnoticed were:

Call from niece at 6am

Ride home from work from Wendy

Ron's trip to the ER for his eye turned out fine and we enjoyed a late dinner that night (Thanks Marissa for taking him)

Unexpected after Church breakfast with Grade School classmates

Silent Witness to Pastor tending to  flock

The choices we have as consumers

Book recommendation from Marya at Meditation

Finding my glasses (right where I left them on my shirt) 

Warm, fuzzy socks

Chasing  doggie and reminding her she is loved at home

Dedicated worker (who happen to be old neighbor) who takes the time to ensure the job gets done right which made for a nice happy birthday for my mother

Wawa coffee lids that fell on the floor.  I was aggravated watching everyone walk by kicking them to the side.  I mumbled and cussed while throwing them out but then took the time to Thank God that I have the ability to move, bend and stretch to pick them up and throw them out.

Video chats with daughter

Birthday celebrations for Mother (80) and son (31)

Mid Feb Blessing

One of the best decisions that I have made was signing up a few years ago for a creative writing class at the library.  When I did this, I never would have imagined the world that it opened up for me.  Our wonderful instructor, Eva Feeley, was not only informative but genuinely interested in people's stories inside and outside of class.

Eva opens up her home for the past year on Thursday evenings for a group to share the peaceful experience of group mediation.  Each week we talk about ways to make room in our lives for peace and we pray for others, as well.

Eva was kind enough to share her poem for my blessings basket blog:

WANT NOT    By EVA FEELEY

If wanting was a concept

I could unlearn 

the cataracts of greed

would fall from my eyes

to reveal the diamonds that float in

on the tide of each moment

and surround me like

the foam of a breaking wave,

there to capture in the cup of my hand

before they recede into the deeps

of unrecognized blessings.

Eva Feeley    

https://www.facebook.com/Eva-Feeley-Creative-Writing-Services-242384769131799/

I am blessed to have a friend in Eva.  Someone who has so much wisdom to share in her words and deeds. 

January Blessing (sampling)

Thirty- One  Days of Counting Blessings


Some beautiful moments that would have normally went by unnoticed were:

On the day that I spoke about my blessings basket at meditation, a woman thanked me and told me that was Just what her daughter needed.

I had a conversation with somewhere and they said something  that confirmed a hurt that I sort of knew about.  I have been working on forgiveness issues revolving around this person that I see intermittently at my seasonal job.   Obviously, from the feelings I had after this conversation, I see that more work is to be done and I haven't really achieved forgiveness.......just sort of an acceptance. I will take this as a challenge to continue to work in this area......a blessing

Yummy hamburgers on Monday night with Co-workers

The ability to come home during lunch times

Memories of being there during my father's final hours and thankful that I had the opportunity three years ago to be there.  

Snowy day that I can be home on
 (glad it wasn't my Saturday to work)

Making Clam Chowder

Substituting   for 1st grade cherubs

Tom  taking assignment in Virginia to provide continued healthcare coverage

Watching my nephew make the time to  bring his elderly grandfather (his mother's father) to visit his grandmother (his father's mother)

Coming home to supper made by Sheri when I got in from work

Something fell into washer, made a big mess while I was rushing to do laundry.  Ron finished cleaning it out for me.

Buck a bag sale at the Acme

Baby therapy instead of bunny therapy at work this week 
 (Someone usually brings in their bunny for us to pet, this week they brought in the grandbaby)

Mid-January

Although the past few days I certainly wasn't feeling too blessed having to get washed with cold water in mid-January, since the hot water heater got fixed today I have a different outlook

I feel blessed because:

I had off today (MLK Day/ Paid day off)
Received a call from the plumber that he could come today
Cleaned out my hall closet since that is where the water heater is
( Filled  two bags of clothing for the donation bin)
At least I had water the last few days even though it was pretty cold
Didn't need a new hot water heater
They were able to put a new thermostat in it

Oh and the best part, Ron learned to use only two big pots of boiling water to add into his water for bathing instead of the 32 pots of water he tried to walk by his grandparents with when he was a teenager
 ( disclosure: according to grandparents, I was at work that day)

Ushering in a New Year 12-31

I saw this idea of starting a blessing jar and I think I will be starting one for this year as a reminder as to how many nice things happen during the year.

On December 31, when I sat in front of the Post Office for two hours when my car wouldn't start,

I started grumbling to myself because I had good intentions to start my errands early and be productive.

Later that day when I had time to digest what happened, I started to count my blessings:

 I was blessed to be able to use their phone (I forgot mine)

I was blessed someone picked up my home phone and didn't think I was a telemarketer calling

I was blessed that it wasn't too cold out

I was blessed that I didn't need a new battery, it just wasn't making the connection

I was blessed that I could continue on my journey and didn't miss the last day of the ShopRite sales

I think it will be fun at the end of the year to look back at my blessing basket  and maybe discover that even in some of our sour moments, life is providing us many blessings

My Blessings Basket

After seeing all the posts online about starting anew, I saw a post with a "blessing jar"
The post was about a couple who wrote down their blessings during the year to review at the end of the year.
They wrote things as simple as
receiving a handwritten note
a call from a friend
a short line at the supermarket

It is amazing
day after day
 we choose to focus on 
What went wrong
Things that could have been better
Things that other people have

This year, my focus will be on my blessings

For this I will be using my blessing basket

Here is the reason I choose the blessing basket

I was babysitting my 10 year old nephew so that my brother and his wife could celebrate his 50th birthday weekend in Atlantic City.  
I invited my mother to spend the weekend with us.  I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to do something together during the Christmas season. (Great Idea)
On Saturday there was an event in West Cape May.  The event was a fund-raiser for a children's charity and they had some activities geared toward children.  
Did my nephew want to make a decoration ?
Did my nephew want to eat the popcorn or pretzels?
Did my nephew want to get his face painted?
No- He wanted to go out to my truck and get his electronic device
Did he want to put the tickets into the baskets for the prizes? 
No!
He wanted to go out to the truck to get his electronic device
He headed out the door. I followed him and ordered him back in.


Since now, we would be forgoing the trip to McDonald's,
I had time to put my tickets in the basket while my mother ate her hot dog and my nephew sulked. I put my tickets in baskets that probably wouldn't have been his choices.
Not how I anticipated our fun filled day 
But, out of this I did glean a few blessings.

I won a nice basket with a sweat shirt and baseball cap
Since I followed through with my threat and we didn't go to McDonald's 
My nephew had a change of heart,especially since the electronics stayed off when we got back to the house.
We rode around and saw festive holiday lights and stopped at Congress Hall to admire the decorations with a parking spot right there as we pulled up.  He enjoyed the activities with his aunt and grandmother which earned him his electronics back later that night.

My prize basket

Becomes my blessings basket