This Perfectly Imperfect Life

In spite of the challenges throughout 2014, (right up until the end in fact!) I have so much to be thankful for and appreciate. Truly blessed!  And I wish all of you a new year full of many blessings, silver linings when the bad seems to out weigh everything else, good health, joy and prosperity!  Please be safe if you're out & about tonight.  I'm already looking forward... Welcome, 2015! 

The name of my blog abode here has changed over the years, as so many of you know.  It started out as Just Diggin' Around, and then became Diggin' Around. Not that long ago, after much contemplation, I made a big change with renaming it The Portable Homestead. And that was the right thing for me at the time.  In recent weeks however, I've been rethinking the name again.  The Portable Homestead is where we live, where Hubbs is caretaker, and where I garden (mostly in containers), so that will continue to be a part of my blog, but (to me) it narrows the focus, or direction of you will, and I want my blog to have a name that's more encompassing of my life as a whole, vs just a specific area of it. Not that I have let the name (TPH) change what I write about, I still share as I always have, but a different name would help me to feel more comfortable about sharing in the same way - if that makes sense.  Earlier this month, I was writing a letter...

Many Blessings! 

Happy Solstice! May you find, and be filled with, the light and warmth of Winter.  (Photos taken during our Winter Solstice Holly Forest walk. More to come, stay tuned).

So I mentioned in my previous post about my battling various incarnations of the plague since at least Thanksgiving (more like since Veterans Day) and the last couple of weeks being particularly awful.  Well, I went back to the doctor again this morning and as it turns out, I do not have the flu like I suspected. I have MONO!  Well knock me over with a feather! Mono?!  I had no idea you could get mono as an adult. I had it when I was 16 and it was bad enough back then! And thus far it's been no fun as an adult either. I shouldn't be contagious anymore given I've been this way over two weeks now. I do however have to limit my exposure to other people/germs so I don't end up with a secondary infection, which could turn things into a very serious situation for a healthy adult, but for someone like myself...? I don't plan on spending Christmastime in the hospital! (knocks on wood) So, very limited outings, if I must (for Sanity's sake or back to the doctor's off...

Christmastime! Although I'm honestly surprised I'm finished decking the halls and shopping already.  I've been battling various incarnations of the plague over the last month, especially since Thanksgiving, and the last week has been downright awful. Awful! It's made me remember when I was in third grade, and I was sick with the flu for all of December into the New Year. My cousin B felt bad for me and took my mom and I to see one of those drive through Christmas lights displays, and I laid down in the back seat to & fro. I haven't thought of that in years! I started and finished my Christmas shopping on Monday and all of the gifts have arrived as of yesterday! Not only was the budget super tight this year, more so than in recent years by a long shot, but with being so sick, physically going shopping, even locally, for gifts is out of the question this year. I am so thankful for awesome sales, coupons, and free shipping!  I've taken my time since the day aft...

A red Amaryllis in the window as the sun sinks behind the trees. There is always something to be thankful for, no matter how 'small' it seems. What does your Sunday look like today?