Poco Mountain Girl

Our May has been a beauty and a beast. The weather has gone from snow to practically summer (70 degrees for a couple of days!) and back to snow, sleet, and rain. And cold–brrr. Today we have a fire in the stove to offset the lovely white flakes that came floating down this morning. I always say Mother’s Day will bring the last snow, but this year proved me wrong several times.

Speaking of Mother’s Day, mine was simply grand. I spent the morning at the salon (I’ve been trying to get there since February, no joke!) while David and the kids roamed Cherry Creek–which is a posh area, not actually a creek. 🙁

I finally got a trim for the first time in a year and colored my hair for almost the first time ever, besides my normal DIY henna job.

The Before Pic–the last of my henna hair. I said goodbye to it because I want to start going lighter, and henna can only color darker. I had a red-gold with light blonde highlights in mind.

The After Pic, when I got out of the salon after 4 1/2 hours! I had a color correction, a balayage ombre job (deposit on roots and lift on ends), a trim, and a blowout. My poor hair! Normally I would never put it through so much, but I really wanted a change.

The leftover henna was a bear to cover (although my last application hasn’t been since January), and the new color didn’t come out exactly as I had envisioned, but it’s a step in the right direction. The henna will take some time to permeate.

This is after washing out the blowout and silicones and letting my hair do its own thing. I always feel more alive with curly hair, although everyone at the salon loved it straight. I don’t think it actually looks this bright–I was just having a sunny moment, LOL.

When I got out of the salon, David and the kids were waiting for me with a card, flowers, and a cherry chia kombucha (my favorite). My peeps are the best. 🙂

And that was when the beastly part of May began. My grandpa had just passed away, and I left for his funeral a few days later. The trip was good, but when I got back home my poor bod came down with several symptoms which left me extremely weak. The past two weeks have been spent either in bed or on the deck looking up at our blue sky.

I have a nice tan from those sunny days, and I’ve been pampered by David and gotten lots of hugs and kisses from the babes. My ex-midwife (is that a thing? I think I just invented it!) came to see me and check my iron, BP, oxygen saturation, etc. She is awesome and I’m grateful she cares enough to help me out even though I’m not giving her midwifery business right now, haha.

Since then I’ve been guzzling lots of incredibly bitter herbal tinctures, teas, and liquid iron, and my body is finally starting to feel like itself.

And Zia made me this super-duper-nuper card (as Cash would say. But he would nevah-evah-sevah draw a babycry heart like that).

To keep myself from going crazy by doing nothing, I started making art as soon as I could sit up. Here are a few things I’ve been creating:

A necklace I made to thank Kristine, my ex. (Midwife, of course.) This is a piece of river glass I found in Boulder Creek. Boulder is her stomping grounds, silver is her metal, and she has green eyes. She really liked it.

Something I made for my friend Darci, who has also been going through a hard time lately. She is an awesome mama and I wanted to send her something–she lives far away and I only see her every couple of years.

Here are a bear, eagle, and wolf which I hand carved. A man custom ordered them (through my shop) to give as gifts to three friends, Eskimo sisters.

Here is the completed eagle. I finished them all with tung oil and a dark walnut stain, and hung them on leather cords.

A new Tree of Life necklace. While I made it, Cash worked on his own project. It ended up being a surprise for me–a beautiful little thing that I treasure very much.

Besides making things, my downtime has been a time of incredible thankfulness. It’s amazing how having a grateful heart can buoy you above your circumstances!  We awoke Wednesday morning at 1:30 because David heard a sound (Mr. I Can Sleep Through Anything). He went to the window and looked down. There, on our covered deck, was the stump our grill rests on, engulfed in flames. It had somehow re-ignited after he made steaks the evening before, and the sound he heard was the grill falling off as the stump disintegrated beneath it.

We raced down and the flames on the stump were about three feet high. The fire had burned all the way down through the stump and partway into the floor of the deck. David doused it with pots of water from the kitchen sink, hosed it down, and then carried the stump down to the fire pit.

If he had not been awakened by the sound of the grill, we would have slept till almost dawn–and no doubt the house would have been aflame by then. See why I’m so thankful?! 🙂

When I saw that burning stump and our deck only touched by the fire, I was overcome by the fact that God’s eye is on us, and He didn’t let the fire go far enough to harm us. It made me understand beyond a doubt that His eye is on me, too. Although I’ve gone from energy and vitality to being stuck in bed, weak and useless, He let me know He is watching over me, and will only let all this go so far.  It makes my heart sparkle to think about it. 🙂

The burn on the deck. David replaced the boards the next day.

Caleb and Zia had their last day of school Wednesday. The little reds and I started our summer schedule yesterday, and we’re loving it. Here’s our plan:

1. Make and Eat Breakfast

2. Bible Study

3. Get Dressed/Brush Hair/Wash up/Brush Teeth

4. Play Outdoors/Woods/Goats

5. Art/Craft

6. Nature Walk & Picnic Lunch

7. Reading/Quiet Time

8. Make & Eat Dinner

9. Straighten House

10. Jams/Wash/Brush Teeth

11. Watch a Movie

12. Bedtime

This morning’s giant snowflakes. Hopefully it’s the very last snow!!!!

I wish this pic wasn’t blurry, because she looks so pretty here. This is David’s niece Makayla, and the event is her promotion from junior high to high school, where she was also recognized for excelling in math.

We’re so proud of you, Makayla!

A bouquet of beautiful roses David brought home for me yesterday. They remind me of strawberries and cream. 🙂

We went to the airport this morning with Caleb. He left for New Mexico to spend time with his mom and attend a horse show with her in Kentucky, then he’s off to Germany for the rest of the summer! He will be living with his uncle and aunt who work in youth ministry. They have several summer activities planned, including hiking in the Swiss Alps and going on a sailing trip. Nothing very fun, obviously. 😉

I had to take this picture at a high angle to fit us both in, since he is so much taller than me now. He’s going to eat lots of brotchen and broiche and spatzle and stollen and wurst of all bratwurst–so we told him he’d better come home with a lot more chunk on his bones.

Our goatsy-toatsies.  The snow finally melted enough so we can let them out of their pen into the woods. I’m sure they’re looking forward to bright summer days as much as we are!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 27th, 2016 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Amigos y Familia, Arty, Caleb, Colorado, General, goats, Jewelry, Making Stuff, Me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.