Visit to a Happy Place

After two nights of running in snow and ice and then an ugly run in with a DOT officer over burdened with ego (and he was MT DOT too which makes me sad), my attitude is a bit on the sour side and the truck is not where I want to be.


Knowing it was time to do another blog post, but knowing if I went into trucking, I'd more than likely leave you all in a bad mood too, I'm taking us all on a little trip to one of my happy places. Sometimes you just have to do that, you know?


We're going to my Mamma's house.


I was flipping through my file of "extra" pictures, things that I intend to blog about but have been holding onto to fill a gap when trucking isn't that interesting. Today fits the bill, so I selected the "mamma's house" file. It made me smile when I was looking at the pictures in it.


During our stay for my sister's wedding, it was not all rush and hurry and wedding plans being put into play. We kicked back and relaxed some too. Malcolm spent a good deal of the spare time with his aunt and uncle and so it was mostly me and Mom, which was really nice! We mostly just relaxed, which we needed. And her home is so relaxing! We started off the morning with a cup of hot chocolate and a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera Bread that we had picked up the afternoon before while running errands. Yummy!

I love Mom's kitchen. Even on a cloudy rainy day, its bright and cheerful! She and Dad have collected quite an assortment of antique Fiesta dishes and I love the different ways she has them displayed. They are art in her kitchen.

Every time I am at her house I am inspired by something I see. She is so creative and has so many neat ideas. Its almost torture, because I see things and am inspired to go home and decorate my home, while knowing it will be weeks before I can get home to act on my ideas.

This time, the newest and neatest thing I found was in the kitchen window sill. Somewhere she found these neat little antique chicken measuring cups...

I thought they were neat, but do you see the smallest one? Do you see what she did? One of the eggs from her chickens had a perfect sized hole in the top, so she shook out the yolk, rinsed the shell, filled it with water, and stuck a sprig of some gardening delight in it. What a unique and clever "vase!"

The inside of the house is not the only place I find inspiration, peace, and soul mending. A walk through Mom's yard and garden, even on a drizzly day, can be so renewing and healing.
I always make sure to stop in at the greenhouse and see what's going on. Dad built this for Mom using windows from an old house. I have serious green house envy, even though I don't have anything to grow in a green house.

And as expected, even in early Spring, there were surprises and delights to be discovered inside. Such as these test tubes being used for bud vases. I never would have had that idea and look how prettily it worked!

There are all sorts of things that I'll encounter in the garden that make me smile. Like these guys. Mom and I share a love of birds, and her new whirly gig gave me a chuckle.

After months of rain and snow and ice and cold, it was refreshing to walk up to Mom's garden gate and see so much evidence of Springtime growth! April in Tennessee is so vastly different than April in Montana!

Back inside after my walk, and after Ella had her bath (she had gone with me and run through many muddy spots), I relaxed on the couch and visited some with Toby.

If you've ever visited Tuffy's blog, you'll recognize Toby as "the dog" that has invaded Tuffy's household. And if you haven't visited Tuffy's blog, Tuffy is my parent's youngest "child" (he thinks) and he's been severely insulted at their letting a dog in the house! He vents on it frequently.
Toby, for all his oddities and aggressive love, is a good dog, and when I can love on him without insulting the girls, I like to do so.


Another delight of visiting at Mom's is the evenings when my aunt Lisa is able to come over. She shares our passion for reading and so many other things. We have a tradition of playing Scrabble when the three of us are together, but this time they introduced  me to Banana Grams! It was so much fun!

Same concept as Scrabble, but a little different and just as fun! Give it a try sometime. I plan to add it to my meager collection of games so I can play with someone sometime.

I know this post has been kind of random, but after talking about one of my happy places, looking at pictures, and munching on coconut M&M's while we talked, I'm feeling a lot less stressed.


We're loaded up and headed on a short trip to Oregon. Then we'll grab a Washington load to California. We're trying to get set up to grab a few of those high paying California onion loads. They have started harvesting onions in southern California. The harvest is quick but the loads are worth the effort. And at least there's no snow in southern California!