K.I.S.S.

So this is the new year

And I have no resolutions

For self assigned penance

For problems with easy solutions

"New Year" by Death Cab for Cutie

  Well, isn't that little lyric just a ray of sunshine?  Every year since my post high school pseudo closeted emo stage, this song has played in my mind soundtrack every New Year's Eve.  I love the last two lines.  Think about it.  Almost every cliche resolution doesn't have to be complicated.  They are common struggles with easy solutions.  It's all about perspective.  My problems can be a negative black hole of all things that suck, or I can choose to view my problems as opportunities.  Opportunity...now that sounds like a Wild and Precious word if there ever was one.

  I have a hidden talent.  I can make things much more complicated than need be.  It's nobodies fault but my own.  Here is my light bulb moment:  I am the one who complicates things.  Therefor, I am the one who can UNcomplicate things!  What a relief of a realization!

  My motto for 1.01.11: 

K.I.S.S.

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID SWEETIE

  

  I have a jump start on 2011.  Responding to a giant urge to purge all things unnecessary and be as minimal as possible, I have decluttered my house from top to bottom.  I am shocked with the amount of "stuff" I am riding the house of.  "Stuff" that used to stress me, trip me, and even interrupt my sleep.  I'm going to have one helluva garage sale!  With the money earned from selling the things I used to think I had to have, I am going to buy a dining room table.  The table is a response to me growing up.  Yup.  I am 27 years old and have out grown my beloved college era 1950's diners table complete with orange chairs.


  Peaceful.  That is what I am feeling at the moment.  Peace from a clean house.  Peace from knowing that I am blessed beyond my wildest imagination.  Peace from the little baby that just crawled into my lap.  Peace from the future meals I will serve my family around a dining table.  Peace from the knowledge that I am free to K.I.S.S.  


  Happy and Joyful New Year
  *Scout

Giving Thanks

A recap of my very blessed Thanksgiving:

Love,
Scout

The Dixie Chicks Would Scoff at Me...So What?

 When I left for college, it was with the intentions of studying international relations, graduating, and then bidding the US "adios" and living in a major European city.  This country girl was going to live the fast life, rub elbows with international political superstars, and remember fondly, those back home who were probably eating a chicken fried steak as I was enjoying my fancy, five course dinner, blocks away from any notable European landmark. 

  You know the quote, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"?  Well, God laughed large at Ole Scout.  I am everything the Dixie Chicks sing about.  I live in the same zip code as my parents, married my high school sweet heart, and had a baby that will graduate from the same high school I did.  For whatever reasons, my lifestyle is one media types either think is quaint in a cutesy, simpleton way, or pathetic.  I disagree.  Perhaps, this thinking is dirived from lack of experience with a small town, other than them being a stopping point for fuel.  Let's face it.  Small town gas stations aren't exactly the accurate representation of what one will find hidden within Small Town America...but sadly, and humoursly, sometimes they are!
  Even if we do not understand at the time, God knows exactly what he's doing. I have a huge love for all things urban.  I feel so alive wandering unfamiliar streets, strolling through notable art museums, overwhelming my senses window shopping, and surrounding myself with those who are nothing like those "back home".  I agree with Scarlett.  Every one of us has something to learn from someone who may be the total opposite of everything we know and hold to be true.  Yes, unfortunately, there are those in my small surroundings who are so set in their ways, and unwilling to accept an opinion that differs from their own, they miss out on any opportunity to make this world a better place by embracing, or at least, educating themselves on the differences others are blessed to possess.

  Instead of riding in a cab with an argumentative Parisian taxi driver, I ride shotgun, with my high school love, a baby in cowhide print car seat, and a loyal dog in the bed of the pickup.  We pull up to our home, on a ranch, that just so happens to be home to the most beautiful show cave in the world.  Even though I live in the country, I constantly have new neighbors who stay and camp overnight.  New neighbors who arrive on my front porch from every corner of the globe.  Imagine that.  It was not for me to live abroad, but to come home, and have the world come to me.
 
 I love to create and learn.  When I learned I would be moving back home, I vowed to myself to never become complacent and to continue creating and learning.  My silent promise has been met with artists, professional photographers, and even college professors who instruct class, right in my front yard.  Scarlett does hear ten different languages on the metro.  And, on a peak tourist day, I too can hear unfamilar languages as they filter in with the breeze through my open windows.  Not from a busy city street, or crowded cafe, but from the Wide Open Spaces of the place I now , once again, call "home". 

 

 

 

I Hate Colored Lights

  "I hate colored lights."  What? I thought.  I just spent all day pulling my holiday decor from storage and adorning our modest Christmas tree with strands of pink, green, yellow, blue and orange lights, and you not only dislike, but hate colored Christmas lights?   Geez, Scrooge.  Way to kill my Christmas spirit even if it's not even Thanksgiving, and even if I still have the Halloween decor displayed.  Don't you know, nothing says, "Welcome, Baby Jesus!", like hot pink lights? 

  My husband was just being honest admitting his distaste for my (lack of?) taste.  He didn't say it mean, or hatefully, just simply stated his thoughts.  I had two options:
A.  Be a witch and get my feelings hurt.
or
B.  Turn this into an opportunity to involve my husband in my favorite time of year.

  Normally, my first reaction would be 'A'.  'A', I am tired of you and you don't do anything for me, so I'm going with 'B'.  I'm glad I did.  ECM (My husband) lost both his mother, and is aunt last year during the holidays.  We also had our first child, Sweet P.  It was emotional, and not in a good way.  We found ourselves grieving, anxious, and stressed over the loss, and then over the splitting of holidays between our two families.  It was a disaster and left us both drained and in tears.  Unfortunately, this is how I will remember my daughters' first Christmas.

  Not this year.  After learning ECM's hatred of all things fun colored, I asked him what he thought would look nice.  "White lights...and a bigger tree."  A bigger tree?  This surprised me.  I have done the decorating for Christmas the last four years, and this is the first time he has ever said anything about our tree.  I just listened as he continued.  " Growing up, our tree had white lights.  And little doves.  There were red hearts, too.  We would also hang the ornaments we made at school on the tree."  It sounded so simple, and beautiful.  I want to make this tree happen for him this year, and every year God blesses us with.

  This is why I am choosing 'B'.  This is why I am taking half of my Friday to travel the 80+ miles to the nearest big city to buy my husband and daughter a new Christmas tree to symbolize our new family.  It will be my "Wild and Precious" tree.  This is why I am bowing out of the self inflicted holiday stress game, and having our own, three person Thanksgiving dinner, lovingly prepared by me this weekend.  (No turkey per EMC's request, but Elk meat.  ELK?  I now have a freezer full, thanks to a generous rancher who thought enough of my dear husband to share his kill with us.  One of the many perks of living in a small, rural town, might I add.)  This is why my holidays will not be filled with haves and wants, but filled with our new, family centered traditions and cookies.  Lots of Christmas cookies.

  I'll probably put the colored lights in Sweet P's room.  It may sound silly, but this season, I am thankful for the wisdom to choose 'B'.  I think I'll choose it more often.

-Scout