Scribbles and Scrambles Beautiful Day

Sometimes Iowa looks like the rolling, green hills the pictures of Irish hillsides

.  Today is one of those days!  Sigh!  And see how my garden grows.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Fleeting Thoughts

I've not been a "good" blogger this week. My weekend and Monday were consumed with moving/schlepping/prepping and painting two bedrooms and intentions to paint a sitting area, hallway and bathroom. (Yes. I do have something planned at my house....this weekend...that's how I roll. You wouldn't want to show up one second early, trust me.)

And while I was beautifying my house, people in Oklahoma were losing theirs...or worse, people they loved.

The tragedies feel like waves that just keep crashing, coming closer together. It feels like we can't even mourn or grasp the horror of the things that happened yesterday because something is looming on tomorrow's horizon.

My heart goes out to those in Oklahoma who've lost someone or every shred of their physical definition of home. On a small scale, I've decided to help by sending some helpful Arbonne products to aid the victims and workers over the next few months. So little in the scheme of things and it does feel a lot like the starfish story that so many use to illustrate how one choice, one person can make a difference. A kid walks on the beach as the tide ebbs, throwing one of thousands of beached starfish back into the ocean. An old man scoffs. "Kid, trying to save the starfish is futile...look at them, they line the beach for miles. Why bother, go on with your life, do something that matters?" The kid bends over, grabs a starfish and wings it into the ocean. "It matters to this one."

One choice. One person at a time. Each life is precious and earth-shatteringly important. Regardless of how it begins or ends. One person at a time, I want to do something that matters. A cold drink, a smile, a meal, a kind word, clothing, prayer, those add up, especially if we all set out to consider one step at a time we can make a difference. (If you want to help fling starfish (or provide meal replacement protein drinks for victims and workers in Oklahoma) email me and I'll give you the details and let you help this way if you'd like. kelly.klepfer@gmail.com.)

Scribbles and Scrambles - Really???

So I thought I might be able to tell you all sorts of funny stories about my wild hair.  Sorry!  I still have it!

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Oh, So Not Cool

So I learned something very important today. Apparently, I'm not up and hip and cool after all. 

Here is a text conversation I had with my violin teacher. I offered to postpone my lesson because a) he mentioned being exhausted and b) I've done so little practice this week I knew for a fact that I'd be simply practicing the same old, same old.

So he responded that I should still show and then ended the our conversation with "word". Hmmm. Word? Thinking he may have the cursed autocorrect on his phone, but not 100% sure that our communication was clear I wanted to clarify... "Word???" I said. 

Before he responded I called my mom to chat. And while talking I mentioned the exchange I had with my teacher. I said, "I don't know if his phone autocorrected the word good or what? I'm like what does "Word" means?" My mom. My mom who doesn't really like the idea of cell phones or texting or any such nonsense says. "Word is slang, it's rapper or hip hop or something meaning okay, yes, amen, that's true...something along those lines."

Then I get his response confirming my mom's awesome coolness. "Word Yo"

Really? My mom knows this and I don't. So, of course, I had to share that possibly embellished tidbit with the teach. He responded with a hearty...LOL...at least I know what that means. I think. And today in my lesson, he actually said beautiful...sigh...either a sympathy for the batty old idiot or his exhaustion pushed him into delirium. Word!

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Mactacular

I bought a MacBook. My seven/eight/nine year old Sony laptop is about on it's last leg/gig. So, spurred on by my friends and family who are Macfans (do you suppose McDonald's has issues with Mac, it's awfully close, but maybe they just own the Mc combo and the super sized version, too, ) I visited Mac of All Trades and purchased a refurbed MacBook.

But. I don't really know what I'm doing. And I'm not patient enough to read and watch tutorials and so I'm working with two computers. A slow-as-molasses-in-January-Sony that holds all my pictures and documents, and a new one that challenges me and has nada in the form of documents or pictures.

And I'm being a HORRIBLE violin student this week. HORRIBLE. I've only practiced three times. And my lesson is tomorrow. I keep hoping that when I pick up the violin that some how, some way, I'll have gotten rhythm. So far that hasn't happened.

So. There it is. My current reality. Oh, and I just took this picture on Photo Booth so I now have 7 pictures on my MacBook. That's a huge relief. Maybe I can just used the confused and dazed me in all my posts so I think I can now blog from my MacBook. Hopefully, I'll figure out documents soon. 

Scrambles and Scribbles ~ Spring Flung

It appears as if Spring has sprung in our locale. It's hard to trust this "fact," though. Last week boasted freezing rain and snow and tomorrow is allegedly going to be in the 90's. I think our spring might possibly have been two days long. Sigh. Spring Sandwich anyone?

And while I'm pondering things such as the weather...let me also ponder things like, how is it possible to be SO tired that you can't sleep? Or why on earth it seems reasonable to cram so many things in in one day that one becomes too tired to sleep? 

Or why leather couches only feel like they've ripped the top two layers of skin off of the back of shorts clad legs but never actually do anything useful like wax the back of thighs so one can avoid that pesky spring ritual? 

"Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?" Are you humming that song right now? 

If a wood chuck could chuck wood, how much could he chuck? Where did the word upchuck com from?

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Rosy Nosed ~ A Modern Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a middle-aged woman named Rosy Nosed.

As a young maiden Rosy Nosed understood that she had been born into a land of plenty, with resources and raw materials all around her, some at her very fingertips.

Rosy Nosed felt an insatiable curiosity about life and had deep down in her soul the desire to change the world. Even the very good land of plenty needed some tweaking.

Armed with her curiosity, her desire to be a world changer, and an ever growing list of lessons learned and skills accomplished, she set out on a journey to find her story.

Early on in life, Rosy Nosed met a very wise guide who offered to come along. She accepted His terms, with a few unique edits, and would consult Him now and again. However, she would use earplugs if she wanted to veer a direction He wasn't keen on.

And this went on, this journey of discovery. It took Rosy Nosed through education, periods of creativity, passionate pursuits, and into sacrifice as she married her handsome prince and brought children into the world. These paths took Rosy Nosed through some very dark, haunted forests, as well. Her wise guide proved to be Her Savior many times during those dismal, dank, days. Those struggles in the gloom, where she battled inky black shadows, things that bumped and gnashed, groping fingers of trees... yes... those struggles brought Rosy Nosed to a few new understandings, and introduced her to a bravery she never knew she owned.

With a renewed awareness of her need to listen to her Guide and let Him show her the paths to step on, and that her bravery was a gift, she picked up the pace and became very aware that this journey didn't lead to her life, but that it was her life. And when she looked behind she could see places she'd been, and could see evidence that by trodding and trying and struggling and moving forward, that she had made a difference in the land. Not the whole land, not every citizen. But where she had been, she had left a mark.

The middle-aged Rosy Nosed smiles at these thoughts. She knows her journey has really just begun, today is, after all the present...the future is not promised and the past is used up, but the present is now and is indeed, a gift. Today, she decides that where she will walk will become a better place because she will pass through. With a hum and a smile, she moves forward, to change the world.