A Slower Pace

A Valentines Day gift…..

Last night, Thursday, was a special night for me. I had a date with my daughter. She received a special award for completing all her reading for the month of January. Part of that award was a coupon for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut — her favorite pizza place. After that, her 1st grade class was having a craft event where dad’s can go with their kids to make a V-day gift for Mom.

So Pizza Hut it was and then on to the school. We painted a small terra cotta flower pot with her classmate and her dad. Turns out they live 2 miles from us. Play dates will need to be set up. I was also able to meet another of my neighbors who owns the 90 acres across the street from us. All in all it was a nice evening and it helped contribute to the feeling that we are slowly adjusting, meeting people, building our network and making this town, place and community home.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Tonight was family game night and family movie night. Uno was the game of choice with the females dominating over the males. My son became disinterested after the first game and I only won the last. All the others were swept by the ladies.

After that, it was a DVD with my son since he didn’t get into the Uno games. After that we sat as a family and watched family pictures on the ReplayTV. I was a little melancholy but also realised that while we were watching old family memories, we were making new ones right then and there.

When I took the dogs out one last time to do their business before going to bed, I looked up at the gobs and gobs of stars available to me. I look forward to the warm summer evenings where I can take a quilt out there and set up the telescope to show the kids the vastness of God’s creation.

Here’s to the weekend and hoping you enjoy it as much as we do.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

This is us!

Tim McGraw – Where The Green Grass Grows

I’m gonna live where the green grass grows
Watch my corn pop up in rows
Every night be tucked in close to you
Raise our kids where the good Lord’s blessed
Point our rockin’ chairs towards the west
And plant our dreams where the peaceful river cools
Where the green grass grows

I haven’t done country song lyrics in a while. I heard this familiar song by Martina McBride on the way to work this morning and it sounded apropo.

Blessed

I get kissed by the sun each morning
Put my feet on a hardwood floor
I get to hear my children laughing
Down the hall through the bedroom door
Sometimes I sit on my front porch swing
Just soaking up the day
I think to myself, I think to myself
This world is a beautiful place

I have been blessed
And I feel like I’ve found my way
I thank god for all I’ve been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
to be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

Across a crowded room
I know you know what I’m thinking
By the way I look at you
And when we’re lying in the quiet
And no words have to be said
I think to myself, I think to myself
This love is a beautiful gift

I have been blessed
And I feel like I’ve found my way
I thank god for all I’ve been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
to be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

When I’m singing my kids to sleep
When I feel you holding me
I know

I have been blessed
And I feel like I’ve found my way
I thank god for all I’ve been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
to be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

Today was another rare spring day in winter. It actually got up to 57F! We started off the day at an indoor yard sale at the local community center. It was a picture ripped from the country 50’s. And old basketball gym circa 1954 with various locals hawking their wares on folding tables. It was almost a thrift store on steriods. Like a lot of people’s grandmas all died and left them stuff. From a crocheted picture of Jesus to a salt shaker in the shape of Kentucky to a set of John Wayne plates to an old fan that you could stick your whole hand through before they made them safe. It was a eclectic country mix. I’m sure there were a few gems that could end up on one of those antique appraisal TV shows where you bought it for $1 and it is worth hundreds. And then when we left, we spent some time with my son on the outdated playground. You know, the one that has all the good play things from days of old. Like real see-saws. And a skeleton merry go round where if you fell off in the middle it would hit you in the head. And they had really cool back-hoe sand toys that you sit on and control the scooper to dig a hole. It was kinda like looking back on toys of your childhood where they aren’t as whiz-bang as todays electronic toys but they have lots of character.

Spent the rest of the day doing a few chores around the house — cleaning out the garage, cleaning out the basement, and assembling the new smoker I got. I also spent a 1/2 hour chatting with my back neighbor who offered help carrying something heavy into the house when he saw us drive on the grass to the front door.

Dinner was some nice country eats at the Cracker Barrel. I had comfort food — chicken ‘n’ dumplins’. I had never had them before coming to Kentucky but them’s good eats! And the Kentucky sunset escorted us home. I made a statement to my wife that I think I’ve seen and enjoyed more sunsets in the short time here than we saw in California all last year. Don’t know if it is because you can see more of the horizon here or if we are truly slowing down and enjoying the little things in life or what. But they sure are purty.

Tomorrow is Super Bowl. We plan on hitting the late service and then have a new member party at the pastor’s house. It wil give us a chance to meet new people. We’ll make it back in time for the game but I am not that enthused about rooting for either team. As a Dallas Cowboy fan, I have grown up hating the Eagles (right behind the Redskins) however, I am tired of the Patriots. I guess if someone has to win, I’ll go for the green birds but to me it really doesn’t matter. Good thing NASCAR starts in a few weeks.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

Today was an all around gorgeous day. Sunny, no clouds and we broke into the 50’s. Birds were out doing their thing, you didn’t need a coat, and people were generally upbeat. I cannot remember a day when I truly looked around in amazement at the beauty of the weather and surroundings.

When I returned from work and drove down the driveway, my son and two dogs were playing around the pasture and running to great me. It was a great way to be greeted home and to kick off the weekend. We then took the dogs on a small walk around the property. Nothing strenuous — just a stroll around soaking up the afternoon.

Back in California, I looked down on days like this as too cold. It’s amazing what a streak of cold weather will do to your weather standards. Maybe we’ve acclimated to this Kentucky weather. All I know is that winter is still here and I am expecting more freezing days ahead. But today, we thoroughly enjoyed the day as a family. I received a nice welcome home, was able to pick up my kids from school and grilled dinner outside while enjoying a cold one.

Luckily, this weather should hold through the weekend so more enjoyment and relaxation is ahead.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

Monday was a busy day…..too busy for a posting. So my weekend update is a little late but here nonetheless.

Saturday was a family day with lots of errands. On Friday, my oldest daughter brought home a progress report from her middle school. Her lowest grade was an 89% — we were thrilled! To celebrate, we agreed to go to our new favorite BBQ place on Saturday, Smokey Bones. We coupled that with a trip in the city to Home Depot, Target and the mall. Sunday, we were a little late getting up so we hit the late service and did a few more errands. The rest of the day was spent playing the driving game (Sega Dreamcast), watching “The Lion King” and doing a few honey do’s.

More postings later on our school situation and other stuff.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

Going to WalMart late last night, it was dark on the two lane country road. The snow that had previously deposited and subsided had returned to do more. The large, white, silver dollar sized flakes were still gently floating down but then suddenly disturbed as my truck swept by leaving them tumbling in the swirling air. The 35 mph was intensified into what seemed like a maddening pace by the dark road where you could not see anything not directly in the path of the Tahoe’s headlights. And the large, white snowflakes were even whiter being illumated by the trucks lights. The whole scene took me immediately back to any of the Star Wars movies (the original, 2 or 3 — or 4, 5 and 6 for those young punk Johnny come latelies) where Han Solo would be in his Millenium Falcon and switch to hyperdrive to escape the evil Empire chasing him. The empty space around him was an encompassing black and you could see the stars ahead but when he switched on the hyperdrive, the bright spots of light just went wizzing past in a blinding streak. That is a perfect description of my drive last night. It was pretty damn cool to get that effect at a grandma pace of 35 mph.

This morning started out a little rocky. My middle daughter woke up hesitant to go to school.  She isn’t normally the one that doesn’t want to go to school so we were wondering what was up. After a little crying and some questions, it turns out that she was worried about her loose tooth. She didn’t want it to come out at school and bleed. She also was worried that it would hurt and mommy or daddy wouldn’t be around.

After some hugging and consoling, I was finally able to get her to let me look at it. After even more consoling and convincing, I was able to get her to agree to let me pull it out. But it was a stubborn little front tooth. Her small tooth combined with Daddy’s fat fingers didn’t allow for a good enough grip to pull it out. So we took a break for breakfast hoping maybe some chewing action would extract it. That wasn’t the ticket so we took another break for me to take a shower. Well, she mustered enough courage to yank the thing out herself. She proudly ran up the stairs to show me, holding it like a trophy.

She then continued on her way to getting ready for school with a smile…..less one tooth. And a beautiful smile it is!

I am very proud of her.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

After my cardio workout in the basement this morning, I turned on the morning news for breakfast. Imagine my surprise when one of the teasers the newsman throws out before a commercial break was “A city is going to charge extra to take groceries home — find out which one next”.

I turned to my wife and said “What is this, California?”.

Turns out I was right. San Francisco is petitioning to become the first city to charge a tax on plastic grocery bags — 17 cents!!!

Check out an online story of it here — http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1326917/posts

It was events like this that drove me crazy in California. The encroachment of personal freedoms by liberal, taxing, socialist minded lemmings.

And it turns out…..we DID leave absurdity behind. Wheh! That was a close one.

…..Dan at aslowerpace