Friday Rambling off color post Christmas update...

“To find the universal elements enough;

 to find the air and the water exhilarating;

 to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night;

 to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring -

 these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ” ― John Burroughs

Well it has been a few days since I last posted.  Christmas has come and gone--well not really---I do have Big Daddy's family Christmas weekend beginning this afternoon. 

I was off for almost eleven days from my paying job.  I can't tell you how much I relished my time.  I loved sleeping in late, staying up watching bad TV.  I enjoyed putting my pajamas on in the early afternoon and sitting with the laptop or reading or watching a movie.  Big Daddy and off color daughter have been watching Prison Break on netflix---they are each on a different season so most of the time--I have no idea which country or which prison the characters may be in at any given time.

When I last left you, we were headed to the Western Kentucky Clan where we had a wonderful Christmas.  My mom made her homemade German Chocolate Cake with lots of coconut pecan icing---oh my---it is my favorite food group.  I'm so glad she only makes it on rare occasion because it is one of the most delicious items on her cooking list.  My great-grandmother-the one I called "Fatma" made it almost every Sunday so not only is it delicious---it is also one of my good memory comfort foods--it reminds me of sitting on her old cracked black couch--eating cake out of an old pie tin while watching Fatma crochet and listening to "AS the World Turns....such wonderful memories..  I swear the chocolate part of the cake is so soft and delicate and then throughout there are spots of gooey icing that has trickled throughout in the places where my mother punched holes with one of those gigantic forks then poured the icing over it slow so it will drip down into the cake--oh my--i'm salivating just thinking about it. .  This year the first thing I did when I got home to visit was look at the stove--where the leftover homemade icing resided.  Everyone commented that I didn't eat much lunch---well truth is--I had the left over icing and I was on sugar overload.   

We had a nice visit and sometime during the visit, off color daughter decided to embrace her gift of the "ghetto van".  

On the way home she started talking about ways she could shagadelic it up--we talked about fur on the seats and a battery operated lava lamp---we mentioned peel and stick flowers.  So the moment we got home, she got into the ghetto van and started cleaning....you see I was not a "clean van owner."  I'd used the van to tote muddy football players home from practice,  tote Big Daddy's lawnmower that has to go to the shop every spring because he leaves it out in the snow all winter and it was what I drove when my friends and family go on our hiking trips---so it is also filled with hiking sticks and a backpack or two.

Then if you add in all the books and magazines and trash and grocery recycle bags---oh my---if I'm truthful--it was an awful mess.   Off color son was immediately off to play some basketball and I headed out for last minute stocking stuffers....big daddy was working and off color daughter 

got in the ghetto van and spent hours cleaning---she says I was a dirty car owner---True says me and honey boo boo.

When I got home from the stocking stuffer trip, there she was....

sitting in the front yard--middle seat of the van set up like a couch....an old tire set for the fire pit and the hiking stick put together like a tee pee over the imaginary fire pit.  It looked like the guy from the Will Ferrell movie whose wife kicked him out on the lawn with all his stuff so he set up house there. 

I was so shocked I couldn't laugh and all the while off color daughter was screaming---laugh and give me some approval--I'm funny.  

If I am truthful---I have to admit--she is funny--funnier than most kids her age---but alot more off-color than most as well.

The off colors --plus mama dee had the Big Daddy buffet and went to church on Christmas Eve.   Big Daddy built a fire in our Love Shack---he had the fireplace inspected and cleaned as a Christmas gift to me.  I love watching the flames and wood burn and hear the cracking-----it is mesmerizing and cozy.  We've had a fire every night since.  Off color daughter got up really early on Christmas morning--like 4 am--I mean what teenager sets their alarm to get up at 4 am---she and big daddy watched TV while off color son and I slept in until 7.  The day was quiet and peaceful and just what I wanted.

I'm now taking off the five pounds that I allowed myself to put on and have headed back to work.

Life at the off color house 

well

as far as I'm concerned...

on most

days...

even on the bad days...

it doesn't get much better than here.

I mean how many of you have come home and found a child has set up a living room, created by junk on your front lawn....

now whether I'd tell off color daughter or not--

she's damn funny....

May each of you 

find your bliss

as we prepare to enter another new year....

no the world did not end...

the aliens did not show themselves...

off color daughter and I tried to have an end of the world party but

her friends got scared by us and went home around 9 pm....seems they were scared by our ghost stories. 

Perhaps the even though we are still here---perhaps if we are lucky our world hasshifted abit...perhaps just a bit...for the better we can hope....

I've learned something very important this year....

life is precious and we teeter a fine line between 

here and there

creativity and crazy

blessed and miserable

I choose to be blessed creative and here

present in the moment...

May each of you

enjoy your day,

feel the sun on your face

the wind in your hair and

find the wonder

in your own little ordinary life.

Blessings to you this morning from a rambling rambler...

Hugs.