Finding My Quiet In a Noise Filled World
To quiet the mind! How is it all working for you? As I position myself, keyboard in lap, coffee at my right, dogs in crates behind me, and a pot of boiling water on the stove, right now life is quiet and at a standstill! these early mornings at 4:30 am are getting on my last sympathetic nerve but the world is still. I watch the sunrise and sit and think until the dogs stir and need to be fed. (I have roughly 35 mins and then I will get the glare)
This is my last Sunday off for a while! It is what it is until some sort of normal resumes my life. My gig last night was canceled lack of attendance. Again it is what it is! You can't turn a pig's ear into a silk purse. Especially when the purse is empty. Sunday night working is all a crap shoot! Those last-minute guests, trying to make the most out of the weekend and stretching in on more dinner out before the rooster crows Monday morning at 4:30 am. {I do believe that is the new normal as we age}
I have spent most days off cleaning and baking. My friend, she asks, "Are you ok?" Loaded question, lol! Yes is always my response. It is how I zen out the noise from the establishment where I work during the week. The combination of 4 genres of music throughout the building and the damn TVs drives me! I hear myself yelling to have conversations. It physically hurts to speak at a decimal not meant for dining. I hate it! Oh trust me I love speaking but please give me a microphone! Nonetheless, my house it clean, organized, and decluttered and the pantry is stocked for baking the goodies. Last weekend I baked an apple pie, bread, and a delicious pork pot pie! Yesterday, I baked double chip cookies, and cherry cheesecake as I whipped up a mock beef stroganoff. It is just what I do... who I am!
The boiler is fixed! ( I believe); the nice kid up the street, who happened to be cleaning out his work van, as I was walking Frances, I say, "Excuse me, are you a HVAC guy?" Through the truck door he responds are you speaking to me? I laugh and ask, "Can I pick your brain, I have a boiler issue." We stand there for about 10 mins as I am explaining in depth what's going on. Let me say there are THINGS I should not even know! I am explaining sounds and noises flame exposure and heat response. Relay connections and gauges and metrics of water pressure, it is insane. The kid says, "Let me look at it" I about fell over! He grabs his bucket of tools and bag and off we walk 4 doors down. (isn't that a band?) lol He pulls covers off everything and turns off switches. I hand him the shop vac and I stand back and watch him do his magic!
Now in my defense, this cleaning spree I have been on, there was no debris around the area other than my paint table and the kids telescope. The floors are swept and I had just bleached the floors that morning. I ask can I move anything away and I apologize for the art store room that has taken over the whole basement. he responds this is nothing compared to his! I peeked inside the boiler as he was taking everything apart. What a contraption! Long story very short, there was no airflow and the pilot light was clogged only producing half a flame. (mind you spire was just there not but 2 mos ago doing the routine change-out meters. The guy turned everything off, Do you think he would have checked to make sure it would work before he left? {angry face} No he did not!) Anyway, all burners were clogged combined with the gas switch was not in the correct position. The kid was here at my house for maybe 20 minutes. I tried to pay him and he refused! I did offer a 24 pack of Yengling to him. {Fridge is stocked. It was a tasting I did and I got to keep the product) He kindly accepted it! With great fanfare, it works, I have yet though to turn it on. The steam-on-stove method is doing the job nicely! (for now)
My little house on the prairie mode is sufficed. I have one more room to tackle before the real cold sets in, my sewing room. Dog coats are on the agenda! When you have 4 dogs and 3 of them have next to no fur, they need coats! As we are positioning (fighting) for spots under my blanket because they are cold, I remind them... hey, mom needs space too! Move there isn't enough room here and or enough blanket to cover all 5 of us! I get the usual glare! "what do you mean, mom?"
I think back to when the kids were little and we would all huddle under a blanket and I would read to them or they would watch TV while I napped. A lifetime ago! There are days, I wish I could repeat that! It's the nurturing and the unconditional caring... again it's who I am ... and what I do! Still at 63! {Even in my daydreams, I think if situations were correct and money was there and MY HOUSE WAS BIGGER! I'd adopt. Mathilda Alyce} It is a nice daydream! It is a silly habit of mine to just pick out random names... It is how the puppy got her name Frances Bean before I even got her! #manifest
I have other sewing projects and of course, the great need to tackle the kitchen! I say to my friend, Mindy, I need to stock up on paint, the wall and furniture kind. She says, "That's a lot of work." Yeah, it is... no rest for the fight or flight mind. Projects to quiet the mind! The slop sink is backing up and an outlet needs to be changed out for the new space heater that sits in my Amazon cart! I laugh, of course, I have projects, c'mon, do you not know me? It will get done and I will figure it out! Even if I have to beg the kid up the block ;)
My last Sunday off, I''ll make the most out of it. I could run out to Ruby. She is finally healing and gaining weight. I could throw a saddle on her and work her. I'd like to try to get a good ride on her before that cold sets in. It will be good for both of us. Zen of another kind... I promise her, soon, she WILL BE IN MY BACK YARD! Well not here but somewhere...
My plan is the same! Teach, board a few horses, and sell my merchandise on my property. {Hire a handyman that will PARTICIPATE in helping me build this life, I do not want to escape from.} It's called homesteading. It's a modern-day prairie surviving the only way I know how. With ingenuity and tenacity getting away from all the noise and people who do not understand what tranquility and peace look like.
Gawd, I hate noise!
Kitryn Marie
