When You Give of Yourself.....

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give (Kahlil Gibran) What a wonderful day I had! I played in the dirt! Glads, Cala Lily, Freesia and lots of others got planted today. My purple hyacinths are in full, gloriously scented bloom. The daffodills are out and the tulips are getting ready to flower..all by my mailbox out front. I also saw some hasta, stargazer lily and tigerlily buds and the hollyhocks are coming up...yippee. In the back yard the red carnations and day lily buds are starting. My chives and oregano made it through the whole winter and my new lilac has itsy bitsy buds! Within the next couple of days I will be finishing the rest out front. I really adore this time of year. I'm also very excited that Dave has agreed to help me set up some raised box gardens. I'd like to plant some veggies this year. If only I could grow italian squash I'd be set for food for the summer..mmmm. I was reading this morning about "scrap gardens" and would like to try my hand at it in the containers. It mentioned garlic, onion, potato and carrot as things you could grow from kitchen scraps..it might be fun to try. I will def be trying the garlic. This whole journey started with me going part time and wanting to simplify things. By cutting back on a lot of things that don't really seem necessary, I've been able to go to a part time schedule and can say, without a doubt, I can see the improvement in our family life. As corny as it sounds I love having dinner ready every night for Dave. It feels more familyish. That coupled with going to church together and working as a team on our budget has made our relationship the best its ever been. My next goal is to get my paperwork in to the Big Sisters Organization so I can start doing some hands on volunteering. I really miss it a lot. In the past I've worked with AIDS patients, done candystriping, worked at a shelter and SHARE in San Diego and done Adult Literacy Tutoring. It is a integral part of my make-up that is missing. I will soon be working a 8:30-12:30 schedule and it will be an awesome opportunity to structure some solid volunteer time into my day. I will continue with the monthly monetary donations, but I need to actually see the results of my work. You know...that gratification thing... thus the quote today (which was actually a cryptogram I did this morning :)