3 Nice Things

I couldn't sleep last night until I wrote this, so please forgive the rambling:


Sorry to disappoint, but the title of this post is slightly misleading.  Unfortunately for you, you might get bored before I get to anything positive!  The good news: I have a little story to tell - try to follow my stretched metaphor.

This beach ball has caused me angst - believe it or not - in the last few days and I finally realized its purpose, so let me back up.  The other day, probably a week ago or so, I noticed this beach ball leaning against our building (we live in a condo).  I thought it was odd, because not only were we the youngest people in the entire complex until recently, we are certainly the youngest in our individual building.  Plus, I'm pretty much the only person in the "neighborhood" that spends any time outside, so I really couldn't figure out what it was doing there.  In fact, I was so baffled, I was annoyed.  Then I thought about our neighbors and how every once in a while, they have children, which I assume are their grandchildren, come to visit, so I decided it was theirs.  Therefore, I rolled the ball towards one of their cars and walked inside.


The next time I saw the ball it was resting on the air conditioning unit that cools my apartment, so I was not only annoyed that someone had inconsiderately left their ball behind, but then the "What Ifs" started flying around in my anxious head.  "What if the a/c catches fire?", "What if it melts to the a/c, and we have to pay for a new unit?", "What if the whole building explodes because of this beach ball?!"  Once that negative, worst-case-scenario spiral starts, it is hard to control!  So I pushed it towards their car again; only this time, the wind was gusting that day and before I could walk away from the nuisance, it had blown into a corner of the building where we had recently had some water problems.  So, you guessed it, the "What Ifs" started right back up, "What if the ball clogs a pipe?", "What if I'm the one that causes it?", and so on.  So, of course, I pushed it and ran into the house, before I could see where it landed.

I didn't think about it again, until I pulled into my parking space a couple of days ago to see it mocking me from afar.  Ridiculous, right!?!?  I have let a beach ball cause me anxiety!  Not a lot, but enough to feel taunted each time I parked my car in my spot.  There it was resting where it could do absolutely no harm.  In fact, after a couple of days of it sitting there, I started to like the scene.  An object, sitting in the weeds, with a nice background - including a fence.  Wow, what a golden opportunity for me to practice my photography!


Then, tonight at the end of an ongoing conversation I've been having with Billy about how negative I tend to be, how I find the bad in everything, how I worry to the point of exhaustion, I remembered what my Dad used to make me do once I'd spit out something judgmental or negative about someone or something "Now, say 3 nice things about...".  Ouch!  I knew it was coming if he was around to hear my ugly words, but it was always a slap in the face.


My first thought was, "I better get out there tomorrow and practice my photography on that bright and colorful ball.  I'll put it on my blog and post something positive".  My second thought was more of a realization:  I tried to control that ball, I let the "What Ifs" get the best of me, and ultimately, regardless of what I did to make sure it didn't cause anyone harm, it was out of my control and in the hands of God.


I guess God will use just about anything, including a silly ball, to get his message across to me!

Here goes:  My negativity brings me, and everyone around me, down, but

1.  God is so good!
2. My husband loves me!
3. Someone will read this and understand my thought process!   

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. ~ 1 Peter 5:7 

                                                            

Caldwell Place in Cataloochee Valley, NC

As I said, Cataloochee also had some houses and other buildings remaining from when it was a town before the 1930s.  Caldwell Place was the home of what seems to have been an affluent family in the area.  As you'll see, the house has some characteristics that show their prosperity during the time they built it.

Mama on her way up to the house.

I was pretty surprised to see the teal trim on this house.  I think the color is original, and I've never seen such a bright color on a historic home.

Another one of the many intricate characteristics that I've never seen on a historical site.  This railing isn't what I would expect on a home from the early 1900s.

Inside the designs were very impressive too.

I was pretty sure my hips were going to be too wide for this steep and narrow staircase!

Notice that many people have visited and thought it was appropriate to carve their name into the walls.

My Daddy just barely fit in the doorway.  Meanwhile, if my hubs had been there, he would have had to duck to get through it!

This was so neat!  Again, I was very surprised to see wallpaper in a home this old, but maybe it was common and I'm oblivious - very possible!  The wallpaper seems to be a combination of newspaper and an actual design.

Looking out to the barn from the front porch

I didn't see this sign until after we left the house, but how true it is!

I tried to get a good angle of this spiderweb - thought it was neat!