Perfect for Me

 A few weeks ago, I looked at my husband and said "Can we run to Menards?" 

Now, Menards is maybe one of our favorite places to go wander around in. They have pretty much everything, and we're both capable of spending entire paychecks in there. I had a specific mission, though, and he knew that immediately. 

He asked what I was after, and I replied that they had a simple, steel fire ring for under $50 and I was going to buy it. 

He looked at me for a moment, preparing to challenge me. You see, we have plans for our back yard that include a deck expansion, patio pour and fire pit. The thing is, we have had "plans" for years. What we haven't had is the time, finances, motivation - call it what you want, but this back yard oasis has lived in my mind and heart forever, but who knows when it will actually be in my back yard. 

I, however, was tired of waiting on evenings by the fire. The rest sounds lovely, and I very much want it all, but I want crackling, and smoke, and sometimes a burnt, sticky marshmallow. I want hoodies and cold beers and laughter. I want quiet nights with the frogs, crickets and cicadas. And I no longer was willing to wait for it. 

That day, he heard me. He understood that I didn't need the perfect space, just *A* space. So, off to Menards we went. 

I put that little fire ring together, and that night I sat as I burned off some branches from our property. I came in smelling of smoke and fall. I spent three hours in solitude and peace, and came inside feeling more free and whole than I had felt in months. 

The outside sings to me, and it sounds like neighborhood dogs, frogs, crickets and cicadas. It feels like crisp fall breezes offset by the warmth of the fire. It smells like chili, and warm cider, and yes - like a campfire. 

And while the back yard isn't yet our perfectly planned out deck and patio, complete with a fire pit, this little inexpensive fire ring is perfect for me. 

It's Baaaack!!

If you've been a reader here before, or have followed me on Twitter for any length of time, you may have seen mention of Mario Marathon before. If you haven't, here's a quick synopsis -

Some guys here in Indiana hijacked the idea of playing video games, streaming it online, and using it as a fundraiser. They picked an awesome charity, Child's Play, to support, and ended up making it a mostly annual event. (They took one year off in there because sometimes adulting is hard, and people move, and have kids, and these guys were forking out literally thousands of dollars making it all work and, frankly, they needed a break.) But then they came back, and my crew is yet again totally stoked about it. The cool part? Audience participation, which equals donations to Child's Play, to the collective tune over the last 10 years of over $560,000!!    

So, what the heck is Child's Play? Good question. Child's Play Charity is a charity that provides games, books, DVDs, toys, etc to children's hospitals around the world. Founded by "gamers" with the idea of "gamers giving back", Child's Play uses funds raised to help kids have fun in a situation that could be... less than fun. (Because hospitals are not so much fun!) 

So, anywhooo... This is taking on some cool new meaning for me as we will officially become patients of an area children's hospital soon, courtesy of our Bump. Both of the children's hospitals in Indianapolis are partner hospitals with Child's Play, so this has really started to come full circle for me. 

Gist of all this is that Mario Marathon is back, and will be streaming live beginning at 11am Eastern on June 23, 2017. We're looking forward to it, and hope you'll join us. If you'd like to support Child's Play, you can make a donation (which goes DIRECTLY to Child's Play, the team gets information for tracking purposes only, but your funds go 100% to the charity) using the button there in the left sidebar. 

Want to read other posts I've shared about MM in the past? Find those here! 

That day that I Louis C. K.ed

I shared this on my Facebook the other day. When I did so, I did while mostly thinking about it from the side of the person who was hurt, not the person who had committed the hurt. 

Yesterday, I had an interesting experience. I was volunteering at an event where I was selling programs. At one point, I had 3 people approach me nearly simultaneously. From directly in front of me, a gentleman approached, and there was a woman right behind him. Mere moments later, as the first man reached into his pocket for money, a second man approached on my right, asking if I had singles to be able to make change for his $2 bills. (Programs are $5.) I did not, as I had not received any singles so far in the day, but the man already pulling out his cash said he had a couple of singles, and would be able to help the man to my right. 

The man in front of me, with the woman on his heels, purchased two programs, handed two one dollar bills to the man on the right, took the two dollar bill, and walked away. The man on my right then handed me one of the singles and two two dollar bills, took his program, and walked away. Then the woman stepped up.

"How much?" she asked. 

"Five dollars." I replied.

"Well, you just lost a sale. I was here before that man, you should have waited on me first. Stop giving preferential treatment to men." 

I had begun to interject with an "I'm sorry" - you see, I had thought she was with the first gentleman. She wasn't interested, however, and walked away. 

I was left a little dumbfounded. I certainly had not intended any slight, and there was only a few seconds between the first man walking away and the second walking away. Less than 10 seconds. I didn't view any of it as preferential treatment, as the first man and the second man held the bulk of conversation between themselves, while I waited to hand them their programs in exchange for the cash. Frankly, I was offended by her reaction. I'm standing alone with a cart full of programs (we usually have at least 2 or 3 of us together, but we were shorthanded, so I was flying solo) and three people come up within mere moments of one another. I'm making eye contact and responding to direct questions, smiling, and trying to be as helpful as I can, and it wasn't good enough for this woman who perceived my (volunteer!) work as insufficient. 

As I thought back about the entire exchange, trying to determine what went wrong, this quote came back to my mind. She was hurt by my actions, or at least offended enough by them that she was going to stand there long enough to make her statement. While I didn't intentionally slight her, she felt slighted, and that was real enough to her. 

Was I responsible for her feelings? No, I don't think so, but that doesn't mean that her feelings were invalid. I hope that she felt better after scolding me, and I hope that just maybe she stopped at one of the other spots where the school kids who we are selling the programs to support were standing and bought one from them. 

Fall in Indiana

I love living in Indiana. We truly get to enjoy all four seasons, and currently the leaves are changing into a beautiful colors of fall. We took a little drive through Morgan county Indiana and I took a number of pictures while we were there.

 

Even on the heels of the significant drought we had this summer, the colors have been lovely. I was probably a couple days late to catch them at their peak, but we really enjoyed what we saw.

We were out that way to pick up my mother-in-law, who was visiting from out of state. As we pulled in to the drive of the farmhouse where she was staying with friends, I snapped this one…

We had a short visit, some breakfast, and then took MIL back to the farm. While we were there, we did a few family photos, and the kids found the barn kittens.

Then I spotted this little guy, the runt of the litter, hiding in a stack of palettes. His eyes? Killed me.

My husband had to all but drag me away. If I could have caught that one? It might have come home with us.

This was just a cool old dinner bell on the farm.

Did you end up with fall colors in your neck of the woods?