Getting My House in Order

16*F was the temperature when I got up this morning. It is suppose to warm up now after last night's Arctic blast. Though the down side is the warming trend is bringing in more rain with it. So any pressing outside chores need to be done today, as they are calling for rain to continue the next two days. Despite the frigid temperature I enjoyed being out with the animals this morning. Sleeping better last night has helped the way I feel today. Amazing what a good night's rest can do for a body. Almost energetic and there is a lift in my spirit besides. I've set for a spell this morning over a warm cup of coffee and made a list of to-do chores for my day.

I've had a beautiful cardinal greet me at the kitchen window as I made coffee in the mornings for several days now. He might have been begging a little and I finally got the hint to help him and his friends out. So I set up a barrel near the well house, scattering some birdseed on top of it. "Mr Red" isn't the only one that has been seen about these parts of the woods. I so miss the activity at my feeders back home. Watching the birds up close has been a favorite hobby of mine for many, many years. I even have a friend who will call me with all of her bird questions, knowing I have spent many hours with my nose pressed up to the glass. Birdwatching is just one of the many hobbies I follow, but one I enjoy where ever I find myself. It is one that needs little equipment and is portable, just needing two eyes to study our feathered friends of the trees. Setting up the feeder in front of the dinning room french doors should give us the chance to watch them munch on seeds and kitchen scraps. As we happily dine on our meals in front of them. Somewhere in all my yet to be unpacked boxes is the collection of "bird recipes" that I have collected and used to keep them coming back for more home cooking.

I feel the need for getting a home schedule in place, to get better organized in several areas of our home. Those cluttered areas are frustrating for me and a waste of energy brooding over them. Time to get with the program! Just getting an area or two settled has helped my mental disposition tremendously already. The starting of a new year, the first day of Spring or the beginning of a calendar month are times of the year when we all tend to want to "get our house in order." I think we were created with a need for order built right into our beings. After all we were created in the image of God, who holds everything in order, all the time. Our difficulty comes in maintaining order in a world of chaos around us. There are plenty of "things" to vie for our attention on any given day. Plenty of reasons to let things slide a little, which isn't all bad as long as it doesn't slide into a total mess. Which it will do when we are not looking. So the key is to see our days, our homes, our lives with open eyes, ready to catch that oil spill that will cause us to slide out of control. To take little steps towards a future free from distractions and disorder. After all it is hard to play on a sunny Spring day, when the messes of Winter are still under foot.

Working my way towards playing,

Deborah