Stream of Consciousness Sunday - Perceptions Cloud Reality

As I write, AMC is running a Mad Men marathon. Just finished watching my first episode. while it's intriguing, I'm glad it wasn't a show I felt a need to watch. The main character Don Draper seems to be rather crazy in an obsessive, compulsive & controlling sort of way after having had a messed up childhood.

It's been a stressful week at work but a relaxing week at home. The first week in a long while that I wasn't running a million miles an hour trying to meet every obligation. Was even able to see a few girlfriends & celebrate a belated birthday over appetizers & a glass of  wine.

Fadra has taken a couple of weeks off from Stream of Consciousness Sunday posting, but we're back on again this week.

So here's my 5 minute brain dump:



What did we do before the internet...

When feelings of depression overcame us.

When a friend passed away.

When you lost touch with someone who you thought might be your friend forever.

When you couldn't get a hold of your weight & felt hopeless.

When your kids actions made you feel life your control as a parent was slipping away.

When you couldn't find a job that paid a living wage.

When you are homeless and are feeling like there's no light at the end of the tunnel & things will never improve.

All these things passed by my eyes via social media this past week.  Social media is that place where we all feel as if we need to put our best foot forward & show the world that everything is perfect.  Picture perfect posts get likes & heart-warming comments and who doesn't want those things. But sometimes it's ok to be perfectly imperfect. It's ok to extend an ear to a friend who could use someone to stop for a moment & listen, to offer advice or just be a virtual shoulder to lean on. 

There are so many seemingly perfectly decorated homes which stay immaculate & impeccably organized & photo-ready at the drop of a hat which grace the pages of blogs & Instagram - but yours is far from that, no matter how much you shop & rearrange & tidy up your home is just too ordinary to showcase to anyone. But that is the rule - not the exception as the internet would have you believe.

And that's just fine...because perceptions cloud our reality.

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Link your new posts to All Things Fadra (feel free to use her SOC Sunday graphic).

May Showers...Early Flowers

It's Mother's Day 2015 & I have a healthy jump at this season's Gardening.  Yesterday was the better of the two weekend days & I took advantage of it - transplanting a few starts from seed into 10 containers on the deck. Today is pretty much a wash out as it began to rain in the early afternoon just after I paid for a few things at the local nursery.

Last year for Mother's Day my MIL gave all of the girls - her daughters & we "outlaws" tulip bulbs. While I'm a pretty good container deck gardener - learning a little more every year, I'm a rookie landscape gardener.  We dug up the existing borders that line our backyard patio beneath the deck. Hubby let me take over the bed & do whatever I pleased. These are the tulips that were planted last fall.  I had no idea which varieties they were so I just planted them & prayed they would come up & look halfway decent.

The anticipation was immense, but totally worth the wait:

 

 

 

 

I also received a Home Depot basket of bulbs from my big & little boys with both Daffodils & more Tulips, so come fall, those will be added to that same bed & hopefully they will all return next Spring, filling out the bed even more.

 

 

For Mother's Day today, hubby got these fun birdhouses to add to the deck, which has become a haven for so many birds, bees & butterflies.

 

 

These blooms always appear early under the shade of the deck.  I don't know off-hand what they are called but they're so pretty & unique.

 



 



The gardening process is always a marathon - not a sprint.  It always takes a few months to get everything into place & then before we know it the season here in the Twin Cities is gone in a heartbeat.