Something to Be Thankful For...I took a bath. UPDATED 11/24/2018

I just reread this post that I originally wrote about five years ago, apparently on the evening following a long Thanksgiving Day.  It's funny to me, because we had our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, (Friday), and last night after our family and friends had all gone home,

(Our wonderful family gathering, Thanksgiving 2018)

 my hubby suggested that I should go "take a bath" in our tub and just relax.  Well, I remembered this experience from five years ago, and I knew that I would not be any better at getting in and out of that tub today than I was five years ago...possibly it would have been even funnier and crazier than this...so I reluctantly declined the suggestion and just took a nice long, hot shower instead.

A nice hot cup of chamomile tea would have been a good idea too...this picture was from a few years ago...I wish I'd thought of that last night...but the brain is going...going...going...not gone yet...but going...

 I hope you have had a wonderfully relaxing and peaceful Thanksgiving.  This is a picture of me today, relaxing in the rocking chair on the front porch... The tee shirt is a new one, a late birthday gift from my sister, and it is a "Life is Good" shirt that says "This is My Happy Place"...so here I am...

Okay, so here is the original post from 2013.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the "experience".... It's okay to laugh if you want to...I did when I re-read it today...

ORIGINAL POST, 11/29/2013:

I did something tonight I haven't done in over ten years...I took a bath! Now before you start thinking about how unclean and uncouth a person I must be, let me clarify.  I take a shower every night whether I need it or not! (I always need it, whether or not I am dirty...)  And no, there are no pictures to go along with this post. I can't even find a free clip art pic to insert...so let me just describe this event.

The last couple of days have been rather busy.  I love Thanksgiving.  I love visiting with friends and relatives and eating turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, dinner rolls, butter, cranberries, pumpkin pie smothered in whipped cream, ....well you know the routine.  You eat until you can't possibly stuff another bite into your mouth, and then someone tells you it's time for dessert!

It's a wonderful ritual we go through every year. But all of this eating and spending quality time with our families has a flip side....Someone had to cook all of that food and get the house cleaned and the table set just so, with the little Pilgrim Salt and Pepper shakers filled and the fall flowers, candles, little turkey figures arranged attractively on the table.  Now I am not suggesting that I did all of that by myself...I did have some help from my family...and a lot of help cleaning up from our guests...and others brought food to share as well. But the burden of cleaning and preparing and having things just right in time for our guests to arrive did take a lot of planning and work.  On my feet, back stretching, shoulder/neck aching work.

And so tonight I didn't just take my usual shower and go to bed.  The very ordinary common bathtub beneath my feet began to look extremely inviting as I stood there letting the warm water pour over my tired, aching muscles and joints. I thought to myself, "why not just sit down in that tub and let it fill up around me and sit there and soak awhile?"  And so I did.  I plugged the drain, poured some "Bath and Body Works" Lavender and Chamomile foaming body wash into the tub, and anxiously awaited the tub to fill up deep enough to cover the parts of my body that were hurting. Well, actually not quite THAT deep...remember, this is just a common, ordinary bathtub...not one of those fancy soaker tubs with jacuzzi jets and contours that hug your back and neck in just the right places.  And it wasn't all that easy to ease myself down into that common ordinary tub, but once I got down...I stayed until the water turned cold.  And then I had to figure out how to get myself back up and out of that common ordinary tub all by myself. Because who wants to admit that she can't get herself back up out of the bathtub?  Not me...and have my hubby come in and laugh at me shivering and stuck inside the tub while the last of my soothing, warm soapy water swirls down the drain? No sirree! This old gal slipped and slid and flipped herself around on her hands and knees and held on to the sides of the tub and tried not to pull the shower curtain down on top of herself and somehow managed to pull herself up and rinsed off and got out of the tub without nary a slip or fall!

And I thought to myself, "I just know all my friends out there in blog-land would LOVE to hear about this!"  So here I am, although the bath has left me sufficiently relaxed and drowsy and my eyes are going shut as I write, so this may not even make sense to you. But I want you to know that taking a bath once in every ten years is a worthwhile experience...even for old folks like us.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been a few candles burning, a bigger, deeper tub, some jacuzzi jets, and a toasty warm- fresh- out- of- the- dryer bath towel to wrap around myself ...aaaahhhhh.."Calgon, take me away!"

All in all, I must say, this was a great way to end an already picture perfect Thanksgiving  celebration...Yes, I do have a lot of somethings to be thankful for...and a bath to boot!


This was a little different than my usual Thanksgiving messages...but full of thanks-giving for sure. I am praising God tonight for ALL His mighty blessings...way beyond the bathtub. Too many to number.

Well, the lavender and chamomile has done its work...I am sufficiently sleepy and more than ready for bed. Good night my friends... Now, go take a bath!   And remember to "Give Thanks"always!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!

It's Been A While Since I Just Wrote About Nothing

It's been a while since I just wrote about nothing.  Does that statement even make sense?  Well, I know what I mean.  I've been going through so many serious issues lately that I haven't truly taken time to just breathe. I am trying to do more of that lately.  On the way home from work today I thought, "I don't have any particular projects to worry about or get all tense about"...and it felt kind of good.  I can just live.
Yeah, I still have to go to work everyday (well, almost every day...Mon-Thur), and I still have to come home and take care of the house and the family and all that stuff...but I don't really have to do anything I don't want to do. I can just breathe.  So here goes:

Bye for now

The joke is on me. I just realized that i posted most of these pictures in another post not long ago...duh!"The Sounds of Silence".   I think the mind must be going ... Oh well, maybe you needed a laugh...and time to just breathe too! Enjoy this again.

How to Destress after A Stressful Week -Updated

It's Sunday evening following a very stress-filled, tragic week in our land.  The week started off with a bombing...at the Boston Marathon of all places.  Senseless, horrific tragedy. A couple of days later a fertilizer plant blows up in Texas, killing many more innocent rescuers and destroying many homes...another heartache  for our hurting country.  Some parts of the nation are having floods, others still have freezing temperatures and snowstorms. Five hearty young men lost their lives in an avalanche while snowboarding in Colorado. Thankfully, the perpetrators of the bombing were finally found...one lost his life in the capture, and the other is clinging to life in the hospital.  That's all I am going to say about that incident.

On a brighter note, we're finally getting some much needed rain in our part of the country, and the trees, flowers and grasses are blossoming forth with rampant effusions of joy! Even the deer have noticed...and have helped themselves to my beautiful daylily blossoms.  Oh well...that's why I love living in the woods.

My daylily-before

My daylily-after

So, this evening I needed a respite from the turmoil of this past week's anxiety.  I missed a wonderful opportunity this afternoon. A lovely friend and neighbor dropped by  for a few minutes, and although I offered her a cup of tea or some iced tea...she refused as she didn't plan to stay long...but we ended up chatting for quite a while...and I should have insisted on putting on the teakettle and sharing a pot of tea with her.  Dummy me. I didn't think of it until she was gone. It was one of those hit myself in the forehead moments and I scolded myself for being so dumb.  I'm always wanting to have someone to share a cup of tea with ...and I blew it.  But actually, we had all the best part of a tea party without the tea...we just visited and enjoyed one another's company...and isn't that what tea time is all about anyway?  

After my friend left I took a walk around the yard and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the burgeoning spring foliage...minus the daylily blooms.  I put some broken pieces of bars of Ivory Soap around each of the plants, hoping that they will deter the deer from further snacking.  If not, they will at least have nice clean faces and hooves.  They may even be able to blow some bubbles...Ha!  (someone told me that might work...so we shall soon find out. It's raining now, so I have a feeling my Ivory Soap is floating away...)

I couldn't resist picking a bouquet of the fragrant honeysuckle and confederate jasmine blossoms that are smothering the courtyard fence.  

Then I sat down to relax, finally with a cup of tea and my sweet "baby Elva", and a little book all about sharing tea time with friends.  Today's book was "Tea with Patsy Clairmont", one of my favorite speakers and authors.  If you don't know Patsy, you need to check her out! She normally travels with the Women of Faith Conferences throughout the country each year, and a more delightful speaker you will not find! Be prepared to laugh.  (Postscript added later:)...Patsy Clairmont is a walking miracle...she spent years locked in her home in fear of crowds (agoraphobia)...and now she regularly speaks to crowds of 20,000 + women every week throughout much of the year with the Women of Faith Conference!  I'd say that's a pretty amazing story of God's power to bring healing to a hurting soul, wouldn't you?  What hurt does God need to heal in YOUR heart /soul today? If He can do it for Patsy, He can surely do it for you as well...Check out Patsy's website for more info on this dynamic woman for Christ.

Tea Time with Elva AND Patsy Clairmont!

So, dear friends, I hope your week has ended up better than it started. I pray that you have found a way to de-stress after such an emotion-packed roller-coaster ride of turmoil.  Here are some thoughts to ponder as we  close this chapter:

"Oh sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things;

His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.

The Lord has made known His salvation;

His righteousness He has revealed 

in the sight of the nations.

He has remembered His mercy

and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Shout joyfully to the Lord,

all the earth;

Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.

Sing to the Lord with the harp,

with the harp and the sound of a psalm,

with trumpets and the sound of a horn;

Shout joyfully before the Lord,

the King.

Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,

the world and those who dwell in it; 

Let the rivers clap their hands;

Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord,

For He is coming to judge the earth.

With righteousness He shall judge the world,

and the peoples with equity."

Psalm 98

Goodnight my dear friends.  May the Lord be with you and yours this coming week, and may we all find peace and hope in time of need.

Blessings be upon you.