aye, today we talk like pirates!
Come on ye landlubbers, join the fun!
Archive for September, 2006
Red Marbles
got this email at work today and wanted to share. this is a moral i try to live by:
Babs Miller was bagging some early potatoes for me. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprising a basket of freshly picked green peas.
I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller and the ragged boy next to me.
“Hello Barry, how are you today?”
“H’lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus’ admirin’ them peas. Sure look good.”
“They are good, Barry. How’s your Ma?”
“Fine. Gittin’ stronger alla’ time.”
“Good. Anything I can help you with?”
“No, Sir. Jus’ admirin’ them peas.”
“Would you like to take some home?”
“No, Sir. Got nuthin’ to pay for ‘em with.”
“Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?”
“All I got’s my prize marble here.”
“Is that right? Let me see it.”
“Here ’tis. She’s a dandy.”
“I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?”
“Not zackley. but almost.”
“Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble.”
“Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.”
Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me. With a smile she said, “There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever.
When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn’t like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, perhaps.”
I left the stand smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering.
Several years went by, each more rapid that the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died. They were having his viewing that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could.
Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts … all very professional looking.
They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband’s casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved on to the casket.
Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.
Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and mentioned the story she had told me about the marbles. With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket.
“Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim “traded” them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size….they came to pay their debt.”
“We’ve never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,” she confided, “but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho “
With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.
Moral: We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds.
Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath.
Today I wish you a day of ordinary miracles….A fresh pot of coffee you didn’t make yourself. An unexpected phone call from an old friend. Green stoplights on your way to work. The fastest line at the grocery store. A good sing-along song on the radio. Your keys right where you left them.
confessions of a pack rat
i’m doing some hardcore cleaning. i’m an incredibly unorganized and overly-sentimental person. my “office” has really been more of a storage room since we’ve moved into this house…full of boxes and boxes of stuff.
some of the random things i’ve found since i started cleaning out the office today:
my handprint imprinted in clay from when i was 4 years old
my magic diary, one of the greatest gifts i ever got from santa (needs new batteries)
my highschool class ring
a carepackage i meant to send to africa 3 years ago, including 20 friendship bracelets i made
vintage clothes galore
and a $100 gift card to Best Buy
geez, i really need to get organized!
on the bright side…
this weekend’s forecast says we will have “abundant sunshine”. doesn’t that sound so much more exciting than “sunny” ?!
One Big Busy Ball of Excitement
I have so many things I’m excited about that I can hardly concentrate!!! and I can’t stop with the exclamation points!
This weekend – Benjy and I buy a new bed!
Next weekend – we go to Asheville for the Brewgrass Festival!
The next weekend – Our 1 Year Wedding Anniversary!!! We’ve rented a cabin in Blairsville, GA and plan to do some long overdue hiking with the puppies.
The weekend after that – I’m going to meet up with two of my best friends from the neighborhood I grew up in. I lost touch with these girls during college, so we have a lot of catching up to do.
And the weekend after that – We plan to have a yard-sale…hoping to get rid of some of this crap we’ve collected and maybe even make a little money.
And the week after that – My parents are coming to visit!!!! I’m super excited about this! My family is so awesome, and I really don’t get to see them enough. And I am eager to show them our house and our puppies. Not to mention, a visit from family is a grrreat excuse to do lots of fun things and eat lots of yummy food!
So the next couple of months will be pretty busy for us…lots of fun to be had! I only hope I can somehow manage to focus and get some actual work done too.
Random Act of Kindness
This week got off to a fabulous start!
A little background…
My co-workers and I often talk about food…restaurants we like to eat at, our favorite recipes, etc. I’ve shocked many people by admitting that I do not own a crock-pot. My parents never used one, and I’ve never had a need to buy one. I’m not sure what you even make in a crock-pot besides soup, stew and cheese dip.
Monday morning my co-worker tells me that her mother was thinking about me when she was at a yard-sale this past weekend and she up and bought me a crock-pot. (See, it’s such a sin that people have even gone home and told their mothers about me!)
I was so shocked and excited by this random act of kindness that it has kept me on a high for the last two days. I’ve been told that crockpot ribs are amazing, so that’s the first thing I want to try. Benjy thinks ribs from a crockpot sounds like a sin, but I think he’ll give em a try if it means that I’ll actually cook dinner for once.
Now I just gotta figure out how I’m gonna pay it forward….any ideas?
the cool kids on the block
our old mailbox that came with the house (we had to add the numbers ourselves)
our new mailbox, painted by our friend emily.
maybe i should be more productive…
…like these guys.
Watch this Comedian in a Horn Suit
or watch this guy who Plays the piano with balls.
I’ve spent entirely too much time watching random entertaining videos on the web lately. But these are amazing and hilarious and almost make me as happy as the dancing dog…almost. (see post titled “randomness”)
ah, the life of a home-owner
if only we’d started this blog a year ago, we could have filled it with so many stories of home-ownership woes.
our most current: benjy is working on fencing-in the backyard. first step, of course, is to get a surveyor to mark our property lines. turns out that 3 of our 4 neighbors have put their fences on our property. we don’t want to cause any trouble, we’re not desperate to have that property back. still, before we put up the fence, we want to make all of our neighbors aware so that they can express any concerns before hand. this gets me thinking about just how much your neighbors can affect your daily life.
Neighbor #1: Cranky old man who actually put his fence 6 inches onto his property. If Benjy tries to cut the grass that is 6 inches on our side of the fence, the man complains about grass clippings on his fence. He’s complained about such things, and we are sure that he’ll have something to say about our fence too.
Neighbor #2: An empty rental at the moment. The property owner, however, feels no desire to maintain the lawn while the house is empty. The grass is now nearing 3 feet high, perfect nesting areas for rodents and ticks…yummy. Needless to say, this man is never around, so how do we approach him adequately about our fence?
Neighbor #3: This woman owns a german shepard that is kept chained outside all the time…rain, sleet, snow, etc. This dog can often be heard clanking his food dish and rattling his chains. (get’s a lil creepy at night sometimes) The dog seems sweet enough, we just feel really bad for the poor thing. We’ve never spoken with this lady, so our approach about our fence will be our first encounter.
Neighbor #4: This couple is nice and friendly, but their kids can kind of get on our nerves. (yes we are curmudgeons already) they cut through our yard all the time, hopping their own fences into our yard. they’ve even tried once to take one of benjy’s soccer balls out of our yard.
don’t even get me started on the neighbors across the street from us. that’s a whole ‘nother blog entry of its own.
so, overall i’d have to say that neighbors (at this house at least) have to go in the “con” category of home-ownership. i still say, however, that the “pro” category out-weighs the “con”….for now.
