Flower or Weed?

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I have decided, after looking outside my window, that I like dandelions.  Yes, call me crazy, but looking at the beautiful, green grass and seeing dots of yellow just screaming out “Look at me!  Look how bright and pretty I am!  Don’t you just love spring when you see me?”  Yes, they talk to me.  Really, I do hear them.

So I started wondering, who decided that green, beautifully manicured lawns were better than the blanket of dandelions?  Does no one see the benefits of dandelions?  Who declared them to be weeds and comdemned them to death anyway?

I decided that perhaps I should research this phenomenon.  I really did not come up with much information.  Not much concerning their ultimate demise, but I did find some other really good information as to why we SHOULD let them procreate and tint our world a lively, bright, yellow.

Did you know that the English word dandelion is actually taken from the French dent de lion which translated means “lion’s tooth”?   The coarse leaves of the dandelion are jagged, like a lion’s tooth.  Hmmm, interesting.  Then I recalled my father talking to someone about dandelion wine.  These lovely buds can’t be all that bad if you can make a fermented drink out of them.  I have heard people make tea from dandelion leaves as well.  Then there are the many recipes of dandelion salad.  Personally, I think it might be a bit bitter for my taste, but to each their own right? 

For the environmentalist, I give you this little tidbit:  dandelions provide an important source of nectar and pollen early in the spring season for bees.  You recall the bee fear of 2009?  NO bees means NO pollination and eventual death to mankind.  See?  Dandelions are very important. 

Don’t you love the sky after dandelions dry out and these beautiful little white fluffs go floating around everywhere in the sky?   It looks like snow (for those who prefer snowy weather).  How beautiful!  (Unless you have allergies, then not so much.  sorry)

My dandelion sources (mainly wikipedia) also state that dandelions have medicinal properties and are used to treat infections and liver problems.  Who knew? 

For those who prefer not to mow their lawns (you know, for ecofriendly reasons) you don’t have to worry about it when there is dandelion power in your backyard.  Once those wonder flowers start spreading and sprouting, you will have a beautiful sea of yellow and subsequently…no more lawn!  No lawn means…no need to mow!

Well, I think I have made my point.  Next time you decide you want to choke out the dandelions, think about the automatic, low maintenance beauty they provide to every lawn.

But now….it’s extermination time!  Time to rip out and weed out those doggone creeping charlie plants that are suffocating my dandelions.  Drat! I can’t stand weeds!

World of Wonder

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The weather we have been having lately has been damp and chilly and wet. I myself need sunshine to flourish on a daily basis.  Without my vitamin D I feel like a slug under a rock.  Sluggish (ouch..bad joke).  I do find that on cloudy, cold days everyone around me also gets into a slump and the world just seems wrong.  Traffic is heavier.  Road rage is at its peak.  Comfort foods are definitely more desirable.  Sadly, the happy smiles of yesterdays are gone.  How does one get out of a weather funk?  In my case, it’s having the privilege of watching my granddaughter love everything about life.

It is amazing how we, as adults, forget the simples joys of life. Here is the perfect example of what I am referring to.

Our granddaughter Kennie (short for Mackenzie according to Wiseguy) came to our house yesterday.  I told Wiseguy that for a snack she would probably like a banana.  Now, when Wiseguy cut big chunks of this simple banana and gave little Kennie one of the pieces, well let me tell you how wonderful life was for her!  Her hands were opening and closing.  Her feet were doing the happy dance.  She smiled the biggest happiest smile.  Why?  Well, it’s a banana!  How can you NOT see how amazing and wonderful a banana is? 

Yup, after watching her eat that banana and smile after eating each piece, I couldn’t help but be reminded about how beautiful life really is.  Sure having a beautiful home, nice cars, stylish wardrobe are all nice to have, but sometimes the having and the appreciation of them are two different things. 

We have many things (as mentioned previously in my spring cleaning blog about hoarding).  Oftentimes, after the initial excitement of the purchase and the owning of the item, the ecstasy and happiness fades.  There seems to be a need to purchase something else in order to get that happy high.  Watching Kennie puts life into perspective for me.  There are so many simples joys all around us and it really isn’t until you actually stop and think that you really DO take time to smell the roses instead of just buying them to make your home more esthetically pleasing.

My goal for today is to actually stop, watch, listen, smell.  I will take in all the beauty that is surrounding me.  I will look at and appreciate that amazingly green grass.  I will take a deep breath and enjoy the aroma from the blooms on the blossoming lilac trees.  I will  turn my head up and enjoy that bright, warm sunshine on my face.  I will not get upset when I get stuck in traffic because this will give me more time to enjoy the scenery surrounding me.  It might not be an easy task, but if I make a conscious effort, I believe I can do this and I will definitely be a happier person for it.

I recommend that today, if only for one day, you give it a try and see how different you feel for the rest of the day.  It might sound easy, but you will be surprised how our typical day revolves around rushing and worrying about how we are going to get everything done.  I challenge you to one day of life appreciation! 

Good luck with your Appreciation Day!  I myself have some important business to attend to. 

Now where is that banana ?

Spring Cleaning?

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There is something about warmer weather that gets my purging juices flowing.  I walk into every room of my home and look at all our belongings.  All my collections.  All my hoarding, as it would be.  Then the quandry begins…which room should I start in?

I have this wonderful habit of starting in one room and then as I carry something off to another room, I continue to work in the new location until I again move something to another room.  Then I wander out and start again.  This could explain why, after nine years in this house, I still have more items than I had when we moved in.  It is understandable.  We did have many goodies before we moved into our new old house.  Grandma moved in with us.  That was a bedroom of stuff.  Then my father-in-law (FIL for short) came to live with us.  That was a whole other household of items.  Pack it in.  (I believe we increased Rubbermaids sales by at last 300% that year by purchasing storage bins.)  After FIL sold his cottage…yup….more items migrated into our home. 

You can understand how every spring I feel the urge..no…the NEED to expunge everything.  I wish to see my floors again and corners in rooms.  I want to see what my house would look like if it was a modern minimalist place.  And then I remember…I am a hoarder.  Definitely something I inherited from my mother.  She is a hoarder too.  My sister is a hoarder.  We live in denial though.  It’s not “hoarding” it’s keeping memories alive.  Sadly, they are tangible memories and not mind stored memories.

Something on sale?  Buy 20 of them…ya never know when it will go on sale again.  (It’s usually on sale again within a month, but you never know right?)  Wiseguy’s favourite joke is about getting shopping carts for our basement so that people can go grocery shopping when they drop by.  (dripping with sarcasm.  Very funny Honey)

This year I am promising myself that the purge will begin and I will find my home beneath the piles.  Not piles really….just labelled bins of surprises.  Oh look..all our birthday and anniversary and other greeting fun cards….oh look….the handmade gifts the kids presented us with.  What’s this?  A Rubbermaid box of yarn?  Sure I’ll learn to knit.  This year even.  Awwww… look at the pretty christmas ornaments…some broken but they were Mom’s.  Can’t part with those.  Yes…this is how ‘purging’ finally ends up being ‘storing’.

This year is going to be different!  I can feel it!

 Maybe I’ll just lie down until that feeling goes away.

Technologically Incapacitated

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You know you’re getting older when…

You get a new cell phone and your 5 year old has to show you how to use it.

What would we do without the younger generation?  Seriously, am I the only one that feels so technologically incapacitated when it comes to newer electronics?  I heard the word “android” for so long on the radio that I thought there was a new Sci Fi movie coming out.  I discovered later, while watching tv, that the “android” was a new type of cell phone.  Go figure.

I myself was so thrilled when I purchased my iPhone.  It’s an antique now.  I bought it two years ago.  They don’t even make the safety-cover-anti-scratch-screen-thinga-ma-jiggy protector for it anymore.  Obsolete.  I am sure that if I bought an electronic gizmo today by tomorrow there would be a new better, faster, smarter, piece of electronic hardware to replace it.

My iPhone was just so neat and compact and colourful.  I just didn’t know how to use it.  Flip through starter manual.  Got it.  Sort of.  My one stepson, The Wiz, sat me down and showed me all the neat-o things my iPhone could do.  We downloaded apps.  We played with the apps.  We surfed the net. We checked out facebook.  Amazing!  All of this in one neat little electronic unit.  Then I couldn’t part with it.  I wouldn’t let the battery level drop below 95% because I couldn’t live without it!  It was like a newborn child to me.  I had to carry it everywhere with me.  I downloaded more and more apps.  I played so many games every evening while making dinner, while washing dishes, before going to bed, at breakfast the next day.  I believe I am missing about two months of my life….all in playing games.  I just kept playing new games and marvelling at what my itty bitty machine could do.  Absolutely fascinated!  Riveted!  This was definitely the adult version of Atari (lost about 6 months of my life playing that as a child).

So it was that about a month ago, I suddenly woke up from my electronic revery wondering where I was and what had happened.  How did winter come and go without my even noticing?  It was then that I decided to review my downloaded apps and came to the conclusion that I needed my life back.  As such, I vanquished many of my game choices to the app graveyeard and found that I could still continue to function without my iPhone being holstered to my side. 

However, I am not immune to the enticing commercials that show me how wonderfully exciting and enriching my life could be if I only owned  _________ (fill in desired electronic gizmo of choice).  The first thing I do after I have been sold on how much I need this new gizmo, is that I invite the kids over for sunday lunch.  It really is a two-sided invitation:   1) I get to cook up a storm of wonderful foods that they will happily devour and 2) I get to have them explain to me, in simple kindergarten terms, what these new amazing portable adventure units can do. 

After lunch, the three of them (The Wiz, The Debater, The Princess) gently guide me to a comfortable seat, in case I swoon from being overwhelmed by information.  They start explaining and I get the deer-in-the-headlight look.  After they slowly explain everything and show me examples,I just sit there in awe and amazement.  It really seems like a miracle to me to see what new things have been created and what these gadgets can do.  It also gives me something new to wish for…besides shoes.

My 17 month old granddaughter likes to play with my iPhone.  She knows how to pick the app.  She knows how to play the app.  She knows how to get out of the app.  Wiseguy (my hubby) got the newer iPhone recently.  He got it with the indestructible manly protector case.  He learned how to turn it on.  He learned how to turn it off.  Then it happened.  HE got the look.  You know, deer…headlights.  I know it well.  So I did what any intelligent and supportive wife would do.  I took the iPhone out of his hands and put it directly in the hands of the 17 month old.  She could set it up for him.    : )

Hello world!

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This is it!

I have finally decided that I should enter the exciting blogosphere world!

I myself am an avid googler and searcher of all things exciting and popular and fun and educational.

My life, like everyone else’s, is full of so many interesting people, places, and things.  I am hoping to share my joys and my sorrows (which I am hoping are few and far far between). Life is a wonderful adventure and with my husband (a.k.a. wiseguy) of 21 years, he has been the one that makes me laugh and has always been the one that could bring me out of a slump or make me laugh until my stomach ached.  I’m a lucky girl for that.

I have happily become the proud stepmom or 3 grown children and 5 grandchildren.  Being part of their lives has also been an experience in and unto itself.  Love you guys!

So, this is it!

Welcome to my blog and to my life.  I am happy to be able to share with you the interesting view I have of life and my opinions on it as well. Agree or disagree with me, it makes for an interesting read.

I welcome myself to the Land of Blogs and am really excited about my new journey into the realm of the unknown.  Computer illiterate…yes, that would be me.  I welcome anyone willing to spend any minute amount of time actually wondering what has gotten into my head on a daily basis.   (We’ll work through the cobwebs and the derailed trains of thought together.)

Looking forward to newfound friends and intriguing commentaries.  Enjoy because…this is it!