Harvest Time

I've been working through my normal fall chaos. Fall has always been the season that I felt compelled to prepare for implementing some far reaching changes in my life. This is usually accompanied by some form of "things running around in the back of my head" antsiness as well as a fair amount of staring into space, forgetting what I should be doing, and generally being unproductive. A few weeks of chaos, and I'm back on track with new direction and improved motivation.

This year, however, I have too much going on to allow for much unproductive time. I really needed to find a way to deal with all of the impending inevitable changes while keeping on track for today. It really had me worried until early last week, when I figured it out. Necessity, as they say....

The answer was - quite literally - all in my head. I just had to re-mind myself of one simple fact. Fall, you see, is not about the change of seasons, the beginning of school, or the looming year end with all of its events. It is the time of harvest. Fall is when you gather in the fruits of your labors. It is a time to see how all of those tiny seeds have fared in the fields. It is time to take stock of what worked so that you know what to plant next year.

Thinking about my fall this way has not made the work easier (anyone that says harvest time is easy should not be believed!), but it is very simple. First I harvest and take stock for next year. But then, unlike other years, I plan to celebrate. Because this year has definitely brought many things to celebrate. Our business, our son, and our whole small world have all undergone some fairly large transformations this year. And in all of them, we're seeing fruits. In my head, I've been exploring my own strength and courage to the point that I'm ready to go forth and conquer! OK, maybe not conquer, but definitely go forth! I'm not big on the conquest thing anyway.

So, over the next few weeks, this will be my place to work through some of my thoughts. I'll be talking about some of the ideas that did and didn't work this year as well as thinking out loud about next year. It should be an interesting ride!

Celebrate good times!

Yesterday, was the fabulous 21st birthday of DS. He spent the day with us. HTH made him a fantastic dinner. These are family favorites - pita bread pizzas with Thai peanut shrimp, black beans, onion, bell pepper and cheese with a seseame ginger sauce. Can you say YUM? I made a carrot cake as well, at the birthday boy's request.


DS and his friends went out for a movie on Saturday night, but Sunday was fairly lazy. The most activity that DS or I engaged in was a small amount of Gus harrassing - as you can see here - and eating yummy food.





It was also Mother's Day, so I got flowers AND the lovely new camera that took these pictures! It is so neato that I haven't even figured out all of the features, yet. In fact, a brief look at the manual has already shown me that these could've been better. Obviously there will be more pictures to come!

It was a very celebratory day, all around. Celebrate DS's age of majority! Celebrate Mother's Day. Celebrate laziness!

I have some HTR news, too, but I won't post that now. I'll either get back to ya'll later tonight or I'll post it tomorrow. It is an awfully good day for a Monday! Celebrate good times!