Happy Luau

Thursday, August 30, 2007

My Sacred Life Day 11

My sacred life today is about chickens and trust.

First, this is for Kikipotamus the Hobo, by request:



Unfortunately, my darling Clementine is deceased, but Izzy, Trixy, and Tallujah are going strong. All but Izzy are laying. Izzy laid for two years straight, so I guess she's due for a break.

Forgive the unflattering views. They look much better when they are out in their coop or in their play area, rather than standing above their...umm...their own bathroom. Reminds me that I've got to get those girls to pose for a recent picture!

LoveHubbie is going to have my yesterday's breakfast for dinner tonight because he got so jealous after seeing the picture I posted yesterday...so Trixy and Tallulah are going to give us our dinner tonight!

The second part of my sacred life today is focused around trust. I have a housekeeper, Jennifer, who is really a friend, and is a great deal like me. Perfectionistic. Full of integrity. Before she cleans my house (every three weeks, and today was the day) I take about three hours to "get things ready"---and it takes that long. Really. Not because I'm such a mess or maybe I am but things are out EVERYWHERE!! Two adults, no kids, BIG MESS!

I pick up ALL of the stacks of books on the floor plus anything else left on the floor so that her employees can find the floor to clean. I swap out the towels and the sheets and wash them, exchanging them for clean ones. I put all kinds of things in drawers that are just unwieldy, like open salt cellars, my many face creams and aromatherapy oils (sitting out and would have to be moved), the "magic stones" and prayer beads and energy stones I leave out, etc. I toss out old flowers, and clean out the vases. I pick up all of the stuff in the garage that has accumulated, like all of the junk from both of our cars since we gutted them this weekend. I've given up cleaning my studio before she comes so she just has her employees work around my mess. Anything that is private---like little notes, signs, open journals, bank statements, bills, Jennifer's check, etc. I put somewhere else discreetly so that it stays private! I clean off the dining room table, close LoveHubbie's roll-top desk---shoving the overflow inside at the same time...Actually, we're slobs, and thank God we have Jennifer in to deep-clean so that the whole house doesn't go to pot and we don't get buried in our stuff!

The point is, I can trust Jennifer, and she and her employees always do a great job. Trust is a big deal with me after my recent past issues with my best friend, an unscrupulous consultant referred by an impeccable friend, and my friend-of-30-years-turned-Internet-stalker.

Last night, we had the first break-in in our neighborhood ever---ever. It was at our next-door neighbor's house, and the door was kicked in and then the door frame ripped off. She called us immediately, so we raced home, but all was okay here. Her place was okay, too, other than the items of value they stole from her and the sense of violation she will live with for a while. And the door and door frame, of course. We are all grateful.

I thought about how hard it is when people violate your trust...but today I'm thinking about how great it is when people really are worthy of trust....and that would be Jennifer...THANKS JEN!

It feels really good to still be able to trust...



Learn more about My Sacred Life Project by visiting Carla Blazek's blog.

~Picture of Our Girls and Our House by LoveHubbie Mark

8 comments:

Leah said...

oh, your chickens are so darn cute!!! :-)

Kim said...

I adore your chickens! Having a coop of my own is a dream of mine that WILL someday come true. I've even got plans for a coop drawn up, not professionally, just by me! Secretly, I've always wanted to show chickens...crazy, huh! Anyway, glad to hear that everything is o.k., within your neighborhood. Break-ins are a scary thing. Don't you just love this Sacred Life of ours!

Rick Hamrick said...

Olivia--I seek to go with my first instinctive reaction, and in this case, it was: what if your friend only *threatened* to send her crew to clean every three weeks? Heck...even better, what if she threatened to send them every other week? Or, any week she chose, as long as it was the right day of the week?

Don't get me wrong--this is not a suggestion based in reality, only a mental exercise. I mean, if you average, today, having the cleaning crew come every three weeks, as long as they really show up 17 times this year and the work is spread out enough, you're covered! What if they surprised you instead of being so predictable in showing up every three weeks?

What if you felt inspired to pick up every week on the appointed day because Jen's people just might surprise you?

Silly, I know. But, you would then be able to spread that several hours of work over several weeks, and it might not be such a chore.

I must confess that I have not yet read of your recent difficulty with both old "friends" and suddenly turned stalkers who were thought of as friends. It is such a great relief, I'm sure, to have Jennifer to count on as a solid area of stability. My recommendations above are light-hearted, and I know they may not fit.

For you and yours, I wish the sanctity of home which you know to be preserved with Jen's people, and the carefree attitude which, when accompanied by locked doors, seems to act as an invisible barricade to those who would violate your home.

Carla said...

I love that you name your chickens. I love seeing your life!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the chicken picture!!! Your post makes me realize that I have so many people in my life I can trust completely. I am blessed.

Olivia said...

Thank you all for the comments and the perspectives you've shared here. I do love this Sacred Life and tonight, how each person who has commented has made a contribution to my life. Now THAT makes the evening sacred for me :)

patti said...

Happy chickens - how comforting!

Wonderful that you can have so much trust with your cleaning lady. I love how you have to clean up before she comes!

Annie Z said...

Wow, how fortunate you are to live surrounded by such beautiful pine trees!!
Jen sounds like an absolute treasure!
Annie
xxx