I'm back! Be careful what you ask for Susan.

Part I--The Rest of the Story


First of all, for those who have been on the edge of their seats since my last blog, dying to know about the "advent calendar project", let me quickly summarize. I failed. I believe about 7 task were completed. Five of them from opening the doors and then completing the task and then another two or three that I just happened to do. The box is still in my room. Last Christmas I actually filled it for the girls with trinkets; you might remember that was part of the reason for creating the project. I figured if I left it out all year it would be available to fill on the first of December instead of finding it among all the other decorations on the 5th or beyond. This year,it was still easily accessible on December 1st, but it did not get filled. I looked at it before starting this and I even opened some doors. Little scraps of paper still reside in it. So...I read them, thus the analysis of accomplished and unaccomplished tasks. Upon reading some of the unaccomplished tasks I quickly surmised they were no longer necessary--over that. Most of them, however, I still dream of completing someday. Also,I am puzzled how I could have possibly made an interesting blog from them. My success of interesting blogging might have been in jeopardy. I guess it is good that I moved on. So anyway, that is that in a gigantic nut shell.

Part II--Avoiding (heh)the "Christmas letter":

It has been two years since I started this blogging thing. It has been well over a year since my last post. I thought maybe my blogging days were over but then...the blog master, my sister Susan, (if you are not familiar with her, you can be; just visit "6 sheep and a llama" blog spot, I think she post hourly) requested that I do an annual blog. Hmmm, interesting concept--annual. Then she went on to hint (bluntly) that she is not looking for a "Christmas Letter". Difficult. An annual blog that is not a Christmas letter? Not difficult, impossible. Was it the length or content Susan feared? Or BOTH? What is she looking for here?

Hmmmmmm....Okay, I will not talk about my children: Connor's adorable family (including a new daughter in 2011), Carley's extremely successful (in academics, acclimating,getting involved and having fun)first semester at Mizzou or Cayden's important place (as a sophomore) on the Senior High Basketball team (including being part of the starting team in a few of the games)all while carrying a 4.0 gpa. Nor will I talk about my wonderful loving husband (of can you believe 20 years this past fall), whom I still have lunch with several times a week and whom I still love spending all of my time with (when he is not holding down the fort at Walmart). No, I won't talk about them. And I won't talk about me: my new love for painting, my old and steady love for running, my everyday tasks that keep me too busy or how much I love living in Bentonville. Now wait a minute. I think (I can't keep up with them all) that is what Susan blogs about. HER life. Yes, I just went and checked it out. She writes about the current players and things in her life all the time. I guess the difference is that not too many people have 6 plus sheep and a llama or for that matter even know anyone else that does. Most people, however, reading this blog, have experienced the family life. So blogging about my current players in my life, to most, would be "been there, done that". But I have an idea.

Now the length of this (now well surpassing Christmas letter standards)is beginning to worry me. I have gone on awhile now without getting to far but...oh well too bad.(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.)


Part IV--The introduction to The New Blog: Smelling the Roses

Before starting this blog, besides checking out the advent box, I reread some of my old post, okay, all of them. It may have been my last blog that I mentioned that maybe someday I would blog about things I see on my runs. So...I have decided that that is the direction I am going to go in. It may not be a walk out to the barn but it is my perspective of my almost daily journey out into the world. Maybe most of you take walks and some run, but do you always catch the "little things"? You know "stop and smell the roses?" I love to find the "little things". They tend to lighten up and provide a sort of balance to some of the heavier stuff. I run usually 4 times a week, I walk usually the other days and sometimes even double up. Kelley and I also biked several times this fall and plan to continue that this spring. So instead of just talking about what I see on my runs, especially since most runs these days are at 6 a.m. in the dark and I don't see much, (although I did receive a nifty headlamp for Christmas that has helped), I am going to blog about something I experience on any of my previously mentioned physical routines. And as far as annual goes, I am going to give this blogging thing another shot. I know it won't be weekly but hopefully more than monthly. We will see.

Part III--The Actual Blog.

So here is a quick little "scene" from Sunday's walk with Kelley. It made me smile, but maybe you just had to be there.

I want to go on and on about all of our great new trails but I guess I will do that another time. Anyway...Kelley and I were on our 2nd walk of the new year together (2 Sundays in a row!!!). The temperature had dipped from the tropical weather we experienced earlier in the week but it was still in the "pretty nice for January" range. There were lots of people out. We quickly caught up to a family (and I mean a family)of five children, mom and dad, and their beautiful dog. The oldest child was probably in 1st or 2nd grade, a girl, a cutie with blond, blond hair. I always make it a point to notice the dogs, but this one, even though a big dog, was hardly noticeable because of all of the kids. Before passing them though, I did notice. The dog proudly pranced among them. "What a beautiful dog" I said reaching down for the customary sniff before proceeding to pet. "He is my dog" beamed the blondie. "Well he is very sweet" I replied. "What is his name?" The girl, with still young speech and absent enunciation, said "Stir-rye-pee". I looked at the dog: stark white, no markings. "Stripey?" I questioned. "Yes" she answered. "Okay..." I said looking at the parents who I am sure have relived this scenario many times. They smiled, shrugged and then the little girl said, "he had on a striped collar when we got him." "Explains everything" I said, "great name." I thought to myself, the only name that would have fit him better is Sport because he is sure a good one to agree to have the name of Stripey. Also, Sport is one of my favorite dog names, that's what my daddy called all the dogs he met (and usually ours--who had other names--too). After leaving them I imagined how the naming of the dog must have went down. Mommy: What should we name our puppy? Little Girl: Stripey. Mommy: No, honey, he doesn't have any stripes. Little girl: (the collar explanation) Mommy: (starts to argue) Daddy: I don't know, picture it: we are on a walk with all of the kids and a lady comes along and just when she is about to say (as I was) "wow, you have your hands full", she sees the dog, asks what his name is, and suddenly her focus is diverted. Mommy: Stripey it is!!! The whole name thing also reminded me of the scenario of when we got our latest kitty. The day after we found her we headed to KC for the weekend. We had not named the kitty yet. We took two cars for some reason and the girls rode with Kelley. When we got to KC I immediately ask the girls what they had named the new kitty. They both looked at Kelley who gave them a daring glareand did not answer. Later, when Kelley was absent, I learned that he had forbid the girls to have any further discussions of the kitty's name. He had just endured 3 hours of contemplations over 500 different names. She ended up Cindylou. And no, she has no resemblance of a Hoo in Hoosville, much like Stripey has no Stripes. THE END.(for now)