gratitude is popping up like daisies!

this week we have been taking back the yard.   it's been a long fall and winter with me being sick so much.   when mom is sick, no one does anything.   much of what is in front of our house isn't ours but the kids are allowed to play in it so we decided to give it a trim.    in the middle of this mess, we had various flowers popping up.   mostly considered weeds by everyone else, i still saved some of them.     the most important flowers we saved were these daisies.

 my hubby went around them very carefully with the weed wacker.   you may recognize them from my  mommy flowers post.   these poor daisies have been making their way in the middle of the weeds for who knows haw many years, (we just moved in last year).   they had pallets stacked on them last year.   i've been watching them and smiling within every time i see them.   not only have they been hanging on, but i have another reason that i love them so much.

my best friend, my other half, "my sister" loves daisies.   we have been best friends and "sisters" since we met.   i can't explain why, but we just have.   we are so close that we feel each others pain, quite literally.   more than once i have crumpled to the floor in pain for no apparent reason, realizing that it's not me but her.   a quick call and, "what are you doing?!  knock it off!" has always explained the sudden problem.      we thought i was pregnant since i was showing all signs, including milk, until we figured out that it was her.   no kidding.   we are that close.   being so far away has been, to say the least, difficult.   every time i see these daisies, i think of her, i miss her.   sometimes i smile, sometimes i tear, but it just gives me a second of memory and closeness to my best friend.

so, now that i'm crying, back to the daisies.

since they were not covered by pallets of stone this year, i decided to move them to a more suitable home.   i cleaned out a flower bed that sits right in front of where we park and the first thing you see as you sit on the porch or come down the stairs.   i just wanted them closer, somewhere i could have my memories right near by.  its still a mess right now, and the bed needs more work, the daisies need more flower friends, but my sister's daisies are in, the rest can wait.  they are all staked up, they got to be about 3 feet tall to compete with the weeds.   isn't that how life makes us grow?

so, today, i am grateful for the little things that bring back memories, that bring us closer, that just bring us a little joy and love.   i am grateful for the gift of my daisies and the person they remind me of.

slippery gratitude

i don't know how much you might think about this one but i am grateful for oil today.   i have been sick for the last couple weeks and the thing that has been helping is some camphor oil.  i have been using it behind my ears, (you know, the sick sexy smell of camphor), in front of my ears and down my neck.   you can use it in your ears but it does burn a bit.  at least the 35% stuff i have does.   i got some more that was only 10% and it didn't do anything for me.    i have been using it for about a week and it was helping when i used it regularly, but then, i would feel better and not use it and then i would feel worse.   so, i think i will stick with it for a little longer than when i start to feel better this time.   we are our own worst enemies sometimes aren't we?   anyway, i came to thursday and i started thinking about all the different things that we put into an oil and what all we do with oil.

i heard the other day about oil pulling.   i think mostly it's used for dental health but some people are swearing by it for getting rid of colds and such as well.   there are a million sites that are talking about it.   i read in several.   i want to try it but i'm still a bit chicken honestly    it involves putting oil in your mouth and swishing it for 20 minutes.   i haven't gotten up the nerve to try it.   i think i would try coconut oil because it's pretty tame with taste.   coconut oil is actually a favorite in articles i've read as well.   if you've tried it, please let me know, i'm just not there yet.

now, i admit that i substitute applesauce for oil in cake, but there are a million other uses for oil besides cakes.   cooking, baking, hair conditioner, face creams, lotions, baby bottoms, anti-rust, lubricating  therapy, massage, lamps . . .ok, this could go on forever.

so, today, as you drive, eat, rub some liniment on sore muscles, smell a nice air freshener, you know . . .seriously, you could find things all day that have oil.   really, think about it and have a slick day!

faschings!

at the beginning of february, when the rest of the world is having mardi gras and karneval, germany is having fashings.   it's all the same thing.   basically, it's the bad spirits getting a get out of jail free card for a week and then getting swept out for a nice clean start to the year.

here in germany, there isn't the flashing for beads though.   but, being germany, there is lots of drinking.  we are not drinkers but we love the parades.   

the week of fashings is a huge party!   the weird thing for me, is the amount of drinking that goes on.   it's crazy.   the parade goers and the paraders.   for this idaho girl, having paraders hand out candy to the kids and cups of alcohol to the adults, was the craziest thing i had ever seen

  if you can get to a good foot parade, those are awesome.   we went to one last year.   this year, we missed it.   the costumes are sometimes freaky but amazing.  you are going to have the good guys, the bad guys and the other guys.   good guys are chasing the bad guys out.  the other guys are just there to have fun.

some of them are pretty scary for the timid.   my daughter was pretty scared at her first one.  the people were great about it though.   they would loift their masks and talk to her and my little guy from far off and kneel down to talk to them.   by the end of the parade, they were enjoying it all.

you never know what your going to see at german parades.   

we go from this wooden bike, to this bike made for 9!   how much fun is this!?

the thing i love at the parades, is the bands!   they are loud!   you can feel these guys coming and they are cool.   they are not like the american bands that all march together.   it's a party for them too ya know.

this is just another crazy thing that we saw this last time.   this whole board, is covered with bottle caps!

if you visit germany at the end of february, look up faschinigs, umzugs, nachtumzug.  you should be able to find one close to you.   they are tons of fun and definitely not your typical american parade.  don't forget to buy a pin while you're there.   some of the bigger parades have some awesome looking necklaces and pins, the smaller one just have plastic ones.   it's about the collecting though.   come join us next faschings!