The Meaning of Life

The chickens are running... well, not exactly. But, we finally have our garage back! It’s such a wonderful thing. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the sound of cheep cheep cheep… but the smell of poop poop poop was getting to me. The “ladies” are out in their new house now… just where they should be. And they are oooooh soooo happy! A few have tried to become escape artists but only in vain. That's right. There's no "run" for them right now... just a spacious mansion in which to walk about and ponder the meaning of life.

The garden is coming right along. Terry now has 2 full strips dug. Working on a 3^rd strip over time – but no rush for this year. So far I can see my cucumbers, squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and peppers all growing nicely! We’ve also added another strip over along the north side of the upper lawn for Sunflowers! I can’t wait. It will be a big beautiful row of Mammoth Sunflowers layered with smaller sunflowers layered with Shasta daisies & marigolds. What a wall of HAPPY!

Grace has moved out. Out of her nursery into her big girl bedroom… and she is quite happy to be there. I wondered how she’d handle the change of venue, but it’s been quite smooth… illnesses and all. Yes, we’ve all been passing around a nasty little virus of head and cough congestion. The other 2 ran fevers… so far I’ve been luckier. ANYWAY, Grace’s new room is about the girliest thing I’ve ever seen. I have to admit, it was quite an involved process getting all the "layers" of paint on the wall. Normally I don't have the patience for such a thing but I mean, come on, it's Grace's room! Those are “Candy tuft” pink walls with “Sassy pink” stripes. And the polka dots really add some Gracie flare, don’t you think? We bought the bed used through Craigslist (Sherry’s personal addiction), and the dresser came from Craigslist as well. It got refinished – painted, and tumble-polished hardware, and now is a great dresser with plenty of room for ALL Gracie’s clothes… and let me tell you, she’s got a ton of clothes (thanks Barb)! Anyway, the change from crib and rails to wall-less toddler bed went fairly well... Grace did manage to fall out of bed a couple times the first night! We have since added a small little partition (i.e. white plastic cutting board) on the outside edge in the middle section to help keep her from falling out again... so far it has worked. Who knew cutting boards could be so versatile?

It's not all been all about chores and painting... we've been having some fun time too. Grace has spent many of these nice summer days on the back deck reading in her patio set. She's also donned her sunglasses and played it cool with her very cool dog Zelda.

I wish I was a kid again.

And with all that said, the title of this post was "The Meaning of Life" No, this is no reference to a Monty Python movie. This is just reality... everyday day-to-day stuff...what many would consider the boring filler. But I disagree. The meaning of life is what God provides for us everyday - some chickens to laugh at, a garden to dig in, a little girls' room to obsess over (ha!)... that's the real meaning of life.