Spring has Sprung a Leak in My Mind...

I'm dreaming about my yard. My bleak, boring, pitiful yard. I'm sure the sweet little old lady who originally owned our house had the yard all spiffed up in old lady yard fashion, as it's full of ground cover and random piles of rocks that I assume once held purpose, but now...now it's drab.

I want flowers. I want color. I want TIME to do the things I want to do to my yard. And I declare I shall make time!

I did buy a fabulous metal pink flamingo - in old school WHIKISU fashion! And I just got my stellar deal-of-the-day swing/bench. (I'm sorry but 25 bucks for an old school metal bench in good condition is what I call a STEAL!). It's yellow right now, but by the end of next week it shall be red. WHORE RED!

I envision two small tables next to my swing - turquoise in color, with a beer on one and a margarita on the other as Kam & I swing together and dream...

Is it grotesque to spray paint plastic flower pots? I hope not, because all my cheap-o dollar store delight pots are getting a make over this year. Bright colors! All colors! It's going to fun and bright and verging on slightly tacky! And I'm going to be in town-yard Heaven, if there is such a thing.

I'll soon be making stepping stones. I'm going to do some mosaic magic to the tops of them, of course. I'm way excited!

Stay tuned for progress on my rather ambitious ideas for transforming my granny-style yard in to a gypsy inspired , wildwood hide-a-way! :)

Check ya later!


~w

Uninspired Inspiration

I need a little inspiration, so in true McNeely girl fashion, I'm going to make a list of things that make me smile...here goes nothing!

~Every day when the sun rises & sets
I am in awe of the colors, designs...the magnitude. I am in awe of our Awesome God!

~My big sister
She's the most quirky, original, talented, intelligent, silly, weird, rockin' cool chic EVER

~Holly's Drive-In
I mean really! You can travel far and wide, but you'll never find a better Cherry Lime!

~Hearing Robert Earl Keen sing "I'm Comin' Home To You" (& pretty much any other song he chooses to sing)

~Dancing with my husband

~Reminscing about my college days

~Quoting movies (even though I screw em up!)

~Dancing in general

~Long walks & deep talks with my free-spirited home gal, Callie Myrell

~Sippin on a cold one, floatin in my "chair" at the lake

~Seeing the Bubble Gum man
If you grew up in or around Garza County, you know who I'm referring to

~The fact that it's March 18th & my Christmas tree is still up! :)
Think about it, Christmas never lasts long enough! Besides, my tree is fabulous. hehe

~Looking through pictures

~Being outside

~Relaxation

~Margaritas
Except for when I have allergic reactions to them (darn real strawberries err)

~Sitting around a fire visiting with friends

~ALL of my family

~Sun shine & SON shine

~Kam's smile

~Our little pop-up crew

~Pitchin horseshoes

~Backroads

~Silly texts from Holly that make me remember the good ole CEV trailer park days

~Handmade boots
It's a love-love relationship & my addiction is crying out for a fix, I mean a new pair!

~Seeing Rylie Roo

~Playing with Ethan Ray & Mack

~Texts/phonecalls/emails from old friends

~Penny when she's being sweet

~Snowball acting like a macho dog

~Hangin' with Nicole

~Butt-fluffing with Courtney

~Old school cherry Slush Puppies

~Hearing Boogie Shoes on the radio

~Random phone calls from my B-renna

~Flowers

~Finding quotes that perfectly explain how I feel, or long to feel

~My gangly old man of horse, Uncy

~Hearing my Momma sing

~Simplicity

~Good music

~The color turquoise

~Stan the Man
Seriously, my dad's a cool cat. Someone once called him the 'Happy Cowboy'

~Hanging out with the coolest 2 year old girl EVER (aka Kyndall Wyndall)

~Listening to coyotes howl
...it makes me feel like HOME



This is all for now...although, there are a million things on this earth & in my mind that make me smile daily...

Peace.

randomness

If you know me at all, you know my mind goes in 100 directions at once nearly all the time. You see, I have a dreamer's mind and a gypsy's soul...but practical, boring feet.

~Sometimes I feel like the lyrics from Nanci Griffith's song, Late Night Grand Hotel, "It's not the way you'll say you hear my heart when the music ends, no... I am just learning how to fly away again...and maybe you were thinking that you thought you knew me well, but no-one ever knows the heart of anyone else."

~I wish I could throw my saddle on my old paint horse and ride to where ever the wind blew me...too many fences and highways to really enjoy it though. Man, what a view this part of the world must have been back before the towns and rail roads and the highways...and before fences held everything in...or out. When I was a kid, I'd ride below the Cap and imagine the Indians were watching me from every rock or tree. I always thought how easy it would be for some of them to still be out there undetected, undisturbed. I've always sort of hoped and dreamed it in to being.

~2009. What a year that was! There were some really, really rough roads and some really great ones too. Amazingly enough, the rough ones hang in my memory the clearest - like losing our friends over something beyond our control, but not understanding why it was us who got the shaft. It's been a hard road to let that go, somedays I haven't at all, other days I'm quite num to it all and other days I do what I should do and give it to God...why is that so hard to do when it's the easiest, clearest & smartest choice of all? Why do we as humans insist on hanging on to everything?

~2010. Well, here we go! Let's hope & pray this is the best year yet! I have a few resolutions - nothing major, but of course, I'd like to lose some extra baggage, i.e. junk, fat, stray thoughts, etc... So here's hoping! :)

Much Love To All.

Peace.
~whit~

A Day of Many Thanks!

So, I'm sure there are going to be a million blogs about being thankful, but I figure I will be #1,000,001! So...here goes my list! I know I'll leave some out because my life is so full of things to be thankful for, but I'll do my best to cover them without being too wordy or sappy (okay, I'm both...so sue me!)


1. My husband. He is my best friend and my soulmate. He brings a smile to my face just thinking about him. He's tempermental, he's obnoxious and he is a worry-wart; but he is also kind, loving, thoughtful, hilarious, quirky, silly and full of warmth & charm. He tries to cover up his big heart with a tough exterior, but he can't hide it from me. When I found Kam, I found the rest of me and I am beyond blessed to be riding this crazy rollercoaster of life with the man who stole my heart right after he became my best friend! After all, where would Johnny be without his June?! ;)

2. Lizzie (aka my car). I gripe about my poor little minnie-me car, and in all reality if I'd gotten what I wanted I'd be in a gas guzzling pickup or SUV, so here's my thanks for little minnie-me, Lizzie- - I love that you are zippy & speedy. I love that you get between 29 and 36 miles per gallon depending on how fast I'm driving. I am thankful for your good breaks, your A/C that actually works, your auxillary outlet for my Ipod and the fact that I do not have to be concerned about whether or not I'll make it to or from work that day...I am thankful for my reliable, affordable car. Ole Lizzie serves her purpose and serves it well. :)

3. Nicole. Who would have thought that two people could be so different and yet so perfect for one another! I am thankful for my best friend, Nicole. I am thankful for our talks, our laughs, our randomness, our shopping trips, our margaritas before meals and our honesty. I am thankful for her height (she reaches stuff for me! LOL). Who else would write me a song about my body being a wonderland? Or flash their lights at me while I tap my brakes to the musical stylings of GREASE! Or 'Bop' a little to hard...or of course, play the air saxophone for a passing trucker while driving down I20...some friends are meant to be. There isn't a doubt in my mind that I have found a forever friend in Nicole! For that, I am grateful!

4. My family. Not just my parents or my sister or my grandparents - my WHOLE family. You see, my "in-laws" aren't in-laws to me, they are simply more family to love & be loved by! I have been blessed beyond measure to have parents who love me and raised me to be me and I am also blessed to have married in to a family who love me and accept me for me. I feel so loved and blessed to be a part of such an amazing FAMILY - whether by blood, by marriage or by choice, family is a blessing. But here's a few I'll expand on: I am thankful for my Gran Gran's kind nature, my Pa's eyes that sparkle when he smiles, for my mother's heart and my daddy's hands. I am thankful for Tataw's random stories and the memory of Nanaw's crackerjacks. I am thankful for Mid & Dickie's honesty & humor, for Kelly's strength and Donna's laugh. I am thankful for the unique Mr. Klent and the audacious WendyBob. I am thankful for family.

5. My house. It's not where I want it to be, but it's a blessing just the same. It's peaceful, it's comfortable and it's a home.

6. The pups. I am thankful for Penny and Snow- for their unconditional love.

7. Our friends. Where would we be without true friends? We are blessed.

8. Cody, Hannah and Kyndall ~ I am thankful to have friends like Cody & Hannah who accept Kam and I for who we are and am thankful to them for allowing us to be a part of their lives and the lives of their precious daughter. What a joy it has been over the past "year" to be able to watch her grow and change and laugh and love. I am honored to be a part of yalls lives. My heart melts each time I see her and she smiles and says "NITNEY!" I thank yall for the blessing of friendship. Kam and I are thankful for y'all. :)

9. Change. O my, so much change has happened in Kam & I's lives this year. We've become "the old married couple." We've gained and lost friendships. Our lives have been severly altered this year by things beyond our control, but no matter how painful, somethings are for the best, even if it still doesn't feel that way. I am still trying to find the silver lining on this, but to everything there is a season - this was just one of those seasons that ended. So, I am thankful for change. If life were to never change, our lives would be stagnant and joyless.

10. Hope & dreams. A dreamer's gotta dream!

11. Passion & curiosity. ;)

12. Jewelry & hair color. You make me feel pretty. :)

13. SONrises - - I love to see the amazing paintings God puts on display for us each morning - each one unique, each one the same. What an amazing artist our God is! I am thankful for his art - I am thankful for His love, His grace, His understanding, His forgiveness, His shield of protection that covers me each day on my drive to & from work. I am thankful for prayer, hope & joy. I am thankful for SONshine...I am thankful for the little things I see and hear that remind me to look up and be in awe of what an amazing God we serve.

14. Work. Amazingly enough, these days I love my job. I am thankful for the great group of people I work for and with. It's been a bumpy road to get to where I am now, but wow, I do love my crazy world of brown!!

15. Life. I'll end with this one, because I am thankful for all the crazy, quirky, hard to understand up and down moments of this life we live. I am thankful for the chance to wake up each morning next to the man I love and to drive to a job where I get to see my very best friend 5 days a week. I am thankful for the hard times because they make us appreciate the good times. And I am thankful for the good times because they make the bad times worth while. I am thankful for hugs and tears and good music. I am thankful for movies that make you lose yourself in them. I am thankful for my beautiful horses even though I don't ride them near enough. I am thankful for memories - good and bad. I am thankful for life. :)

God Bless you all! May your thanksgiving be filled with good conversation & great eats!

peace.love.

whitterbree

hands

Have you ever noticed just how much you can tell about a person from their hands?

This thought came to me because as of right now, my hands smell like horses - dirt is caked under my nails from scratching the coarse white and yellow hairs just above Uncy's tail. It's his favorite spot, he backs slowly up to me with his head cocked to side so he can make sure I understand EXACTLY what he's asking for...

My nails are rarely groomed, all a different shape with haywire cuticles. If I paint them, I let the paint chip away at its own pace rather than using fingernail polish remover. I have calluses, which I am proud of - I earned them, but I don't have as many as I use to, so the few that are left are oddly important to me.

My daddy's hands...o my daddy's hands. His hands are rough and weathered from years of being horse back, years of working with his hands. Cuts and scratches are always evident - after all, he is a silversmith. Now of days, there is a hint of tar from hours working on highways. Calluses, deep cracks and creases. Bear paws - full of so many talents, full of love, full of stories, full of character.

My great grandmother's hands - twisted and knarled from the wrath of arthritis. Years of sewing, farming, knitting, gardening, cooking are hidden in those hands. Hands that held those of my Grandaddy's; hands that held my sweet Pa as a child. Those hands, those swolen, hurting hands - they speak volumes. 97 years on this earth, my Great Grandmother's hands...

So much can be told from someone's hands...from their marital status, to their work ethic, from their age to their passions. It's amazing what can be seen and heard by simply looking at someone's hands and we all know a person's handshake is a telling tale of character, strength and respect.

~peace & love~

WHIT

Harvest is upon us...

"You be the mule, I'll be the plow - come Harvest time, we'll work it out." ~ Nancy Griffith

It's that time again, yes that grueling time where my life becomes one long blur down FM 651, where the focus of my day is whether a truck is overweight. I begin to literally live & breath sorghum. Yes. This cowgirl from below the Cap is up here with the flatlanders harvesting sorghum. O the joys of my job. So I'll see you all around Christmas when I can peek my head out from behind the cloud of grain & dust...someday I'll ride the trail again, but for now, it's on to my post - the scales of mighty Crosbyton Seed Company.

I wonder how well Kam will handle it this year....

My first harvest with CSCO proved tough on not only me, but him as well. My mind got weak, my heart got weary and our relationship got strained. The CSCO troops went over 25 days without a day off - late nights & early mornings wore on my mind and my nerves. Kam grew tired of never having me home, of never eating a homecooked meal and of never knowing what time I'd actually get to head home.

My second harvest proved somewhat easier - less phone calls asking WHEN I was heading home or what the plan for the weekend was. But still, lots of complaints in the housekeeping/cooking department. We didn't work as many days with out a day off, so there were no panic attacks involved (which was a BIG plus for my mental state of mind).

Now, my 3rd harvest (aka this year) has been dragging. I've only worked one weekend thus far and there's only been a few really late nights. But now that the weather seems to be holding, next week we should get to see the bottom fall out. I cannot believe how ready I am, but with such a late start, I hope things come fast & furious.

And...I really really really don't want to work this weekend...it's the TBMBR, baby! And my all time favorite Hooker, Mr. Jake Hooker that is, is playing the dance! So if CSCO needs me Sunday morning, they better be prepared for one rough version of WHIT because this lil lady is gonna live it up on Saturday night! :)

We'll see ya on the flip side!

WHIT

Thanks Ladybug!

Well, after a year long hiatus from the lovely world of blogging, I've decided to revive my lifeless blog and start posting once again. So thank you big sister - you are my inspiration!









Peace,



Whit