One Part Inspiration...

In my programming, I am into Springtime activities.  It goes along with putting away the winter clothes.  Let's not think about songs that have snow in them.  Let's bring out the songs of hope and new plantings. Today, our afternoon group took a song called "Springtime in the Rockies" and changed it up to "Springtime in the Valley". It turned out to be so much fun.  We started by talking about the difference between the spring we are experiencing and what the rest of the country is going through.  Apparently it has been the worst winter E.V.E.R. in some parts, with a new load of snow arriving just this week.  One man mentioned that his son who 'lived over there' said there was 9 - 10 feet of snow piled up - and that was BEFORE the new snowfall arrived. Meantime, in the Valley, we have: and and the sound of Much as we try not to rub it in, we cannot relate to the feeling of going out for a walk just to see if there is a ...

I decided to make March my month to release the expired. So far...   I have thrown out all makeup with less than one drop in the bottom of the jar.    I finally dumped the cauliflower in cheeze sauce I made for Christmas dinner.      I threw out the Pepto Bismol from 2010 - not even opened. It feels good to be rid of them.  It also makes me happy that I won't have to worry about bacteria in old makeup   And that my husband won't get sick from my cooking    And that my health has been good enough not to need the Pepto Bismol at all. Inspired by these events, I went through my closets. It is almost time to swap the winter for the summer.  My winter clothes seemed to have stood the test of time for now.  However, my shoes were showing major signs of wear.  I decided on two pairs that I need to say "Farewell" to. The corollary of getting rid of what is expired is that I now have room to add a couple new pairs. ...

I came home from work, made supper and then went to a card-making class.  It was hard work. I enjoyed learning this new skill,  but found the evening taxed my brain.  By the time I went home, I had a bit of a headache.  To make matters worse, when I arrived home, I smelled something 'off'. It smelled like cat pee.  I kept trying to find the source and couldn't pin point anything.  I emptied the garbage, put laundry into the machine, washed down the sink.  Still I couldn't find the reason why it smelled so bad.  My headache persisted, so I waved the white flag and went to bed. All night long, I tossed and turned, trying to sleep.  I did manage to get some rest, but no relief for my headache came.  I tried taking medication.  I tried putting a magic bag on my head.  Nothing really helped. When morning finally came, I decided to make a cup of coffee and see if that might do the trick. The smell of cat pee not only lasted all ...

Those of you who read this blog regularly. might know that profound thoughts occur to me in the oddest places.  One of them is the dentist chair.  It is a spot where I am acutely aware of my surroundings - my senses are heightened.  It may be because my adrenalin is rushing through my body, ready for the fight or flight syndrome.  I will describe them in terms of the five senses for our purposes today.  Or " The Five Schlenches"  which is what I sounded like after three rounds of freezing. Sight:  My dentist`s office looks out (from half-way up the window because the bottom half is blocked out by etched glass) onto the freeway.  I found this strangely calming.  I allowed myself to be mesmerized by the off - ramps, the on-ramps, the small cars, the big cars, the semi-trucks. Mostly I just wished I was on that highway myself, rather than sitting in the chair waiting for my dentist to pronounce certain doom on my back molar. And then there i...

I think I am going to start a website called www.nopromisepinterest.com     Or maybe I will just call it www.pinterest.ish.com The reason is that I have a real skill set when it comes taking the posted projects and making them look no thing like the pictures.  I think my epic fails should be shared with the world.  The world needs the comic relief. I don't even know why I got started on this venture.  Except that one day, someone, somewhere casually said  "Oh, are you on Pinterest?".  And I replied "NOOOOO  that's not for me".  And then not too much later,  I got just a little curious.  So I took a quick peek and then logged off the computer. And then one night when the moon was high and there wasn't much on TV, I caved.  I opened up the site again to see what the fuss was about. It was an eye opener. I quickly realized that on Pinterest, there is no 'little' when it comes to poking around.   Next thin...

  In my bid to continue to evolve and explore new avenues for my life, I decided that this season of my life will include volunteering to help out on various committees, taking leadership on different causes, and just generally challenging myself to go beyond my comfort zone. So when the "Wellness Committee" chairperson  emailed to say they needed help for the upcoming fundraiser, I looked at the list of things that needed doing, and decided that button making was something I could manage. Something I could manage?  What was I thinking?  Button making requires reading instructions and figuring out what part of the button goes where and when to add the little thingies and whazzits that make up the buttons. Time to call in the experts.   One of my spiritual gifts is calling on experts to help me out with the projects for which I have volunteered.   And  I am fortunate to have people in my life who know how to DO things. It's a perfect combinati...

I read an article this week entitled "What Empty Nesters Wish Parents of Young Kids Knew".  I found it very interesting.  Although I no longer have children at home, it doesn't seem so long ago that I was in the throes of raising the family.  Some of the advice centered around taking the time to get to know your children - to play with them, to find out who their friends were and to pay attention to the chatter in the back seat of the vehicle while you were in the driver's seat. As I look back, I see I did many of the things on the writer's list. Even in the early years, I was very conscious of creating memories, and being a parent who was 'present'.  I didn't want to have regrets when the kids left home for not doing enough to be there for them.  I chose to be involved in my kids' lives in many ways.  For several years, I was known as the "cupcake mom" because I baked cupcakes for each of their birthdays with enough to share with th...