Coffee Haiku and a sweet little gift

Not feeling the love
How many beans must I grind
To bring back the love?

It’s a sad day at The Painted House. My beloved coffee beans are showing me no love these days. It hit me yesterday that I’ve gone from drinking one cup in the morning to drinking 4-5 by the end of the work day. The adverse effects aren’t what you’d think either....it’s not like I’m jumping around here like a Jack Rabbit on crack. Oh contraire. In fact, the demon brew is not doing a damn thing. Not even one tiny little mild morning buzz and by the time I reach 2 o’clock I’m actually tired. So, it’s goodbye beans, hello tea leaves. Hey, I know when the Universe is trying to tell me to put something healthier in to my body.

Let me just get on to a serious topic here. Yesterday, I was e-mailing with IGoddess. She had complimented me on my ability to create and cook and raise hatchlings and stay positive all at the same time. She really got me thinking about how many times have I heard someone say to me, “I don’t know how you do it!”. Countless times. The truth is, there has never been any other choice for me but to find some beauty in places and things that have been anything but beautiful. Creativity has been my silent guardian angel for many, many years. When I’m in my rhythm with my morning quiet time, you can bet I’m thanking God for showing me all the unexpected ways He shows me beauty.

I’m coming up on 300 posts on this bog. It’s amazing really. I’ve printed out the entire enchilada. When I first started back in 2006, I had no idea what a blog really was. I remember using it simply as a means of electronic journaling since my handwriting sucks monkey ass BIG TIME and I was tired of looking at it. I really didn’t have a clue initially that people could actually leave comments. I had no idea that within 2 years I would form friendships with some of the most amazing bloggers ever. I’ve met people here whom I’ve connected with deeper and faster than friends I’ve known for years in the “real world”. I’ve formed a community and it is a blessing. There are some blogger friends who will e-mail me to set me straight when I go off on my angry, self-pity, man-bashing fucktard rants and I always appreciate that these people still see the beauty INSIDE of me and want me to be the best I can be. A girl can use a big giant cyber bitch slap from time to time ;)

To honor all of you with my enormous gratitude for your daily visits and pearls of wisdom and friendships, I’m going to send someone a gift. When you leave a comment, I’ll put your name on a slip of paper and have my lovely little diva in training pick a name on March 1st. It’s that simple. Every day between now and the end of February, I’ll put a reminder on my posts. It doesn’t matter where you live; I’ll send it. The connections here in this community span across the world. Just to make this even more fun, you can choose from one of the following:

An original glass coaster encased in copper (this could also be used as a lovely paper weight for your desk):
This necklace which is made with gunmetal black chain and copper components with a gorgeous big glowing bead (about 16 inches in length):
A smaller, pocket sized journal (5x8)...think of it as the “little sister” of my regular 8x10 journals:

Isn’t this going to be fun?!!!