I Did It

In my last post, I talked about giving money to Heiffer International, something that I've wanted to do since I first heard of them, but always seemed to find ways to put it off. I finally donated some money toward a goat for a needy family. I would have liked to give more, but had planned to donate to a couple of charities that I usually give to. I'm now wondering if it would be better to pick just one charity and give all that you've budgeted, thereby, possibly accomplishing more, at least for that one charity. Then again, there are a lot of worthy charities out there, isn't a few dollars better than none? It's something I'll have to think about.

Decorating and Giving

I've spent the last several years simplifying my Holiday decorating. In fact, up until my Mom got too ill to travel, I didn't decorate inside my home at all, since I and my daughter, would be in Washington with my Son and his family. After my Mom got too ill, I purchased a small tabletop tree and pulled out some of my old decorations.

Today, my Aunt and I decorated our home. I have a very small collection of Santas, but my Aunt has some wonderful Santas. We still have a tabletop tree, but there are lots of Christmas bears and ceramics, as well as stuffed bears. It took all morning to trade out the regular bears for Christmas ones, and there are still lots of boxes in the basement untouched. I also have things in storage that I probably haven't even thought of in years.

When I was still married and my children were young, my ex-husband and I would put up 2 trees, one upstairs and one down. We also put up lights. It was a lot of work, but we enjoyed the results. I'm not nearly as enthusiastic as I used to be. Maybe that's because there's no young children around the house.

I still enjoy the Christmas season, but I think it may be time to change my focus a little. I'm not quite ready to serve dinner to the homeless, but I think something like that is in my future. I've been aware of an organisation called Heifer International for several years. I've often thought of donating to them. They provide the poor, mostly in undeveloped countrys, a way to help themselves by giving them livestock like cows or goats or chickens and ducks. This gives them a way to feed their families and down the line be able to sell baby goats or eggs to help themselves and ultimately, their neighbors and villages. This has always seemed to me, to be the ultimate way to offer help to the needy. I kept thinking that I needed to buy a whole cow or something and couldn'y afford it. I still can't afford a whole cow or llama, but I can afford one or even two shares of a goat, or a flock of chicks, or seeds for planting. This year, I will put my money where my mouth is.

Anyone who is interested in donating, or just wants more info can go to http://www.heifer.org

Getting With The Season

Today my Aunt and I got the outside Christmas lights up. There are 3 deer, a polar bear, and 2 pine trees, one large and one small. My Aunt was worried about getting the timer set right. Last year, on the first night, the lights didn't go on until 2 am. I checked at 5;30PM and they are on, at least part of them are on. One deer only has it's head lit up, the large tree is very spotty.I guess we'll have to run down the dead bulbs or missed connections. I picked my daughter up for one of her overnight visits and her tree was up and decorated, done on the 1st of December. I don't think I've ever been that early. I guess we'll do the inside decorations next week.

I've been reading about and seeing on the news, the huge rain and wind storms battering the Pacific Northwest. Fortunately, my Son and family live on somewhat high ground, But I still need to call them to check that they are okay. We're supposed to get another snow storm again this weekend. It's too bad I work weekends. At least it's not supposed to be quite as cold as the last one. It was in the 20s, so everything was frozen or freezing. Hopefully, it will stay above freezing this time.

I finally had enough of our electric can opener not opening. I got an old fashioned, handheld opener! I think it's always better to have a way to cook and clean by hand,just in case.

Thanksgiving

I had intended to post on Thanksgiving, but it was a little busy, then came work and that was that. So here's my Thanksgiving musing.

There are many things that I'm thankful for, my Aunts for being there when I need them, my Daughter Michele, just for being herself and loving me unconditionally, my Son Robert, for being a wonderful son, father and husband, a good man. Thank you to my Daughter-in-law, Lisa for being a good wife and mother, and for being a roll model of strength and determination. I'm grateful for my Grandchildren, they are turning into wonderful people with loads of potential. I'm grateful that I have a job that I can find pleasure and satisfaction in. I'm grateful for my co-workers. I enjoy the people I meet on the job, especially the little children. They are a delight!

There are always the "little" things that I'm thankful for every day. The many beautiful sunrises and sunsets that I see daily, the view of the Great Salt Lake when I'm traveling to and from work. There was a huge, nearly full moon on Thanksgiving, beautiful. When I left for work the next morning, I looked up at the western sky, and there it was, getting ready to set, poised between the rosy glow of sunrise and the darker sky of night, really wonderful.

I bought something new on meditation recently. I've often thought of buying a book by Sharon Saltzberg, who writes about Loving Kindness and Insight meditation. She has a kit out, sold by Sounds Easy called "Unplug". It consists of an instuction booklet, idea cards and 2 CDs. On the CDs she walks you through meditations. Unlike many I've tried, she gives you periods of silence where you can count your breath and really get a feel to meditation. She really has you count, brethe in, and out, one and then breathe in, out, two and so on to ten and start over. If you get distracted, start again with one. She says not to judge any thought, just think of it as "not breath"and start again, being very gentle with yourself. So far, I'm quite impressed.

Just Musing

Our kick off the holidays event at work is over. It seemed to go quite well. People were pretty receptive, for the most part. It was a lot of work, but also pretty fun. We were set up in pairs in order to keep the demos open and serving all day. It had the advantage of giving us someone to talk to during slower times, getting to know a co-worker better. Our customers were a little surprised at the fancy dishes we provided. They seemed to enjoy themselves. Even with the fun, I'm glad this event only comes once a year. Boy was I tired!

Today is my Son's birthday. He occupies a special place in our family. Not only is he my first-born, he is also the first grandchild born on my maternal side and he was also born on my Aunt's birthday. She feels he's part hers, I think. Bob is a wonderful son, everything a mother could want but for one thing. He and his family live in Vancouver, WA and I live in UT and I miss him. I miss them all, my Daughter-in-Law, and my Granddaughter and 2 Grandsons. I certainly wish for Bob to have a great day today and a wonderful year.


The weather around here is pretty strange this year. The last 2 days were of record breaking warmth and today it's cold again, we may even have snow, though the storm doesn't seem to have a lot of moisture. That seems to be the problem this last year or so, not enough water.
Utah frequently has unpredictable weather, but it seemd to be a bit more so recently. Maybe global warming? Could be.

Dates of Note

November is a busy month for me. Today is my Daughter's birthday. Next week is my Son's birthday, plus my Aunt's birthday as well. Also next week, is Thanksgiving. This week will also be busy due to a big promotional event that my company holds every year the weekend before Thanksgiving. As I've probably mentioned, I am food demonstrator. We are a bit under staffed right now. We have to stay on the floor, serving from 10AM to 6PM for all three days. As we are short people to relieve for lunches and breaks, we will operate in tandem, 2 people working 2 demos together and covering both demos for breaks and lunches. It will be a little tricky, but should work.

My daughter will be 41 today, I think. I don't always pay attention to my kid's ages, then I have to pay attention to my own. Michele won't mind my giving away her age though. She doesn't pay attention to things like that. In fact, she had forgotten her birthday herself. She was too busy looking forward to "turkey day". Michele is my handicapped child. She is mentally disabled and also has some autistic behaviors. She has been able to live in a supervised apartment and work in a sheltered workshop enviornment for about 14 years or so. She's managed, with her staff, to build a life of her own, for which I am very grateful. She lives a fuller life than she did at home, though I'm sure she misses some of her family at times. She does spend an overnight visit with me and her Aunt every 2 weeks. Unfortunately, she hasn't seen her brother and his family for quite awhile. Hopefully, we'll remedy that sometime this next year. When I think about things to be thankful for, all the things I've learned from my children and greandchildren are high on my list.

Time and Money

It seems like so many of our problems link back to either time or money or both. Last year, I worked full time during the last quarter of the year for the Holidays. It worked out well because I was 15 to 20 minutes from work. This year, I am 45 minutes from work, gas prices are on the rise again, and I recieved two raises, putting my social security in some jeopardy. I decided to work 4 days per week, thinking that an extra day per week wouldn't put me at too high a salary that I would have to pay soc sec back. Of course, that decision was made before the most recent upward spiral in gas prices. At this point, I'm only hoping to keep ahead of the extra miles paid for on my gas bills. Then there's the matter of time. I seem to only manage to post in my blog once per week. I've started sewing again, but I'm still finding it hard to find the time.

When I stop to think about it. I realise that I probably have plenty of time for everything if I just get organised and stop wasting time with TV and crossword puzzles. I could also save money with gas by riding the commuter bus into the city a couple of days per week. That brings up the time issue again. The schedule for the bus requires me to go into town earlier than if I drove, and coming home later. Guess I could do crossword puzzels?

My Favorite Month

October has always been my favorite month. I really like fall, but September is frequently just a continuation of summer. October brings the cooler days and nippy nights, sometimes even some snowthat doesn'treally stay.It's just a teaser for winter. This year we got several snow storms in the early part of the month, then we got down to the sunny days and cool nights. On the 24th we had a gorgeous Harvest Moon. It was probably so colorful due to the the coming temperature inversion last week end. The air was horribly smoggy. When I was coming home from work and passing the Great Salt Lake, it almost looked as if the world dissappeared into mist as I looked out.

Even though there's 31 days in October, it felt like less. The month just whirled by. It's hard to believe that it's November tomorrow! Hopefully, the nice weather willcontinue for awhile. I'm working an extra day a week for the holidays and I'm dreading driving in snow. The extra time is playing havoc with my blog writing as well.

Count Your Blessings

I was reading a quote from Charles Dickensthat every man should count his blessings, as any man alive has many. We should not concentrate on the past, as everyone has some problems and disappointments. That's a loose quote, but the meaning should be clear. I'm sure that each and everyone of us has had problems and disappointments in the past, done things and said things that we regret. The secret is to learn from those mistakes,then move on. As far as blessings in the"now", well, we're alive and breathing, then go on from there.

I had my handicapped daughter for one of her twice monthly overnights last night, She went to sleep around 9:30 p.m. and slept all night. That was a great blessing. Sometimes, we're lucky if she's able to sleep 4 hours. The traffic into town to take her to her workshop was pretty well behaved. Another blessing. It's a pretty day, despite the building up of smog, the skies overhead are a beautiful blue.

I went to my lawyer to finally get some things finalized that have been hanging for quite a while. I discovered that I had more money in the bank than I thought, a mixed blessing though, there are still too many checks that haven't been cleared yet. Oh well, I'm just getting used to debit cards and paying online I guess, think things should be quick, quick, quick.

Another blessing, I have no credit cards. It can be interesting living on a cash basis, sometimes quite liberating. I have no doubt that this will prove, ultimately, a very big blessing indeed.

I have a wonderful and supportive family. I have super grandchildren and my granddaughter is having a birthday next week, my oldest grandson is in college and the youngest one is becoming a wonderful young man.

My health is relatively good. It's been a little over a year since I first went to work in a job that requires me to be on my feet for hours. I remember coming home and soaking my feet most nights. I haven't done that in quite a long time. I can do my day and still have some energy left on most days. A true blessing. there are many more, but you get the idea.

Moody

Today I'm feeling a bit down and I can't quite figure out why. The sun is shining,though we're starting on a new weather pattern of more frequent storms. I guess I should get out and enjoy the sun while I can. Maybe that's what I need is a little more mother nature. My work days were busy with lots of cooking. Yesterday was laundry day, plus I cleaned out a closet. I actually got my sewing machine up and running last week and started on an outfit that I've had cut out and waiting for over a year. Unfortunately, the pants are summer wieght fabric. Oh well, I'll wear them anyway.

I used to meditate every morning, but since I moved in with my Aunt, I don't manage to do it very often. Maybe that is what is making me feel out of balance. I keep planning on renewing my yoga practice, but don't. I could be lazy, or just have not quite enough motivation or maybe energy. Of course the activity would boost my energy,but where to find the initial energy to start with?

I just rejoined AARP. I went to thier web site to see what they have.On thier games and humor page they print a cartoon called "Bound and Gagged"that is really cute. Also on the site is the results of a poll about how people over 50 feel about death and dying. 94% believe in God. Something like 74% believe in heaven and 66% believe in Hell. I may have the numbers a little off,because I didn't write them down, but I'm close. I was a little surprised that there weren't so many who believed in Hell. Maybe by the time you get into your 50s, you start taking responsibilty for yourself and stop blaming "the Devil" for your problems. Just a thought.

Just Ramblin

I just received an ecard from my Granddaughter, Caitlyn. I really love hearing from her because it's almost like she's right here and I can hear her. She writes just like she sounds in person. It's always a bright spot in my day when I hear from any of my Grandchildren or from my Son or Daighter-in-Law. Since the Grandkids write infrequently, it's fortunate that my
daughter-in Law keeps me a little better posted, otherwise I wouldn't know what's going on. I know I could pick up the phone and talk in person, but they are all so busy, that it is hard to catch them at home. Holidays are hard, 'cause though I miss them all year, it seems most acute around the Holidays.

We've already had two snowstorms in the mountains. It gets warmer between storms. In fact, yesterday, it got quite warm, in the 80s in SLC. Today is a perfect Fall day, sunny, clear and in the mid 60s.

I heard on the news yesterday about the 14 year old boy in Cleveland, who shot 4 people and then turned the gun upon himself. While it is fortunate that he didn't kill anyone but himself, it is quite horrifying to think of a 14 year old with no reason to live. What is wrong with our society that leads these young people into a state of mind where they seem to feel their only option is violence and death?

While we need to address the problems of the depressed and hopeless, we must not forget the many young people who view life positively and look for ways to serve others, and there are many of them. I read a column by Thomas Friedman today. He had been to several colleges, talking to students. He's very impressed by their idealism and willingness to do their part to improve the world. He does, however, label them the "Q" generation,because they use the internet to communicate with others of thier mindset, but they don't get out and get vocal. He thinks they should be protesting, and certainly, they should be voting. I'm not sure about that, except for the voting part. The internet has been changing things. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how effective it is about changing the way politics is carried out. By the way, Friedman calls us the greedy generation. Ouch!

Me Thinks He Doth Protest Too Much

Recently, Pres. Bush said, again, that The U.S. does not torture. Has anyone kept track of how many times he has seen reason to make this comment? It seems like a lot. Makes you wonder if he's protesting too much. If it were really true, that the U.S. doesn't use torture, he'd not need to keep saying it.

Yesterday I read an article from Harper's Magazine online written by Scott Horton on the subject of torture. He talks about our "enhanced" questioning techniquics and the rendition policies that supposedly aren't torture and are viewed by the Bush Administration as an important part of fighting terrorism. I wonder what kind of Presidency Bush would have had if 9/11 had never happened. How would he have gotten us into Iraq? I'm sure it was on someone in the Administration's agenda from the very beginning.

Back to Scott Horton's article. He talks about torture being a crime greater than most because it corupts the core of state and society, a rot that spreads quickly, destoying other values. It breeds secrecy and tyranical expression of the power of the executive and imperils the democratic institutions. He goes on to point out that love endures and overcomes, while hatred can only destroy.

Really Cruel Veto

Today is a beautiful, sunny day. It's in the 60s, but we're starting to get a south wind blowing. This will blow in a storm in a day or two. It's too bad we can't guarentee a storm blowing in on President Bush as a response to his veto of the SCHIPS spending bill. His reasoning is that it puts us on a "slippery slope" toward national health care. I suspect he doesn't want to cut money from his war or offend the health insurance industry, though I can't see how providing health insurance to children who's parents can't afford it could possibly cause the insurance industry any problems. After all, they aren't losing customers at all. These are children who go without health care unless SCHIPS is there. These children go without basic care, wellness check ups, many vacinations, etc. They have to be sick enough to go to an emergency room. It very often ends up costing hospitals and/or State programs more money than SCHIPS would, not to mention children having to get sicker and take longer to heal.

My suggestion to those who care about children's heath, is to write, call or email your State Representative and your Senators that you want them to override Pres. Bush's veto. Surely, with all the money we're spending on Haliburton and Blackthorne, we can spare some for our children's health!

The Secret to Happiness

I read a news article today about a new study done about happiness. According to this study, Americans report being happy more than Europeans and Japanese, and report being happier. The study was about quality and quantity of happiness. It found that many Americans are very happy, but that they have such high expectations, that new happy experiences aren't always what they expect. It also found that nearly anything that went wrong with thier lives was cause for frustration and unhappiness. My opinion on that is that these people were looking outside themselves for happiness, rather than looking within.

The thing that drew me to the article was a story of a man who was in Italy when he was 70 years old. He was riding a bycycle down a hill, going fast, when he hit a bump. He was thrown over the handlebars and sustained head and spinal injuries. He lost part of his memory, the use of his legs, and though he could move his arms, he couldn't pick up small objects with his fingers. This man is now 80 years old. He still cannot walk, but has regained his memory and made other strides in being more self sufficient. While many might expect him to be bitter and unhappy. However, he says he has never been unhappy. He accepts responsibility for going too fast and causing his accident. He feels joy in being alive and is grateful for any progress he makes in being more able to take care of himself.

I feel that this man knows a great secret. Number one, he takes responsibility for his own actions and equally important, feels gratitude for all that he has. This man probably does not have the ups and downs that the people in the study have. He looks to himself to create his own happiness and his gratitude probably sustains him. The article doesn't mention anything about the man's religion or spiritual practises, but I would bet he is a spiritual person whether or not he belongs to any organised religion or not. It seems to me that we could all learn a lesson from people like him.

Progress, or Not

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Overdue Post

It has been 10 days since my last posting. I realise I'm getting lazy, or more likely just impatient. I got so spoiled when I had broadband, that I now rarely have enough patience to deal with anything more than checking emails and my bank balance online. It just seems to take forever whenever I try to do much online. My laptop isn't even plugged in when I'm not using it. I always kept it in hibirnation, but turning it on brought it right back. Now I need to take it into the kitchen and set it up every time I use it. Otherwise, I end up using my Aunt's computer.
she also has dial-up, but at least it's plugged in and on stand-by.

I've mentioned before that Fall is my favorite season.Unfortunately, Fallis not perfect. Fall brings the allergic reation to the dreaded chenopods and sage brush. At least this year I didn't start really reacting until mid September. Sometimes I have problems frrom mid August. I've had a sinus headache since Monday afternoon and it's now Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, it waxes and wanes in intensity,sometimes almost disappearing altogether. I've noticed, it's almost gone when I'm in a store with filtered air. It's good that I work in a store. It would help if the south wind would stop blowing, but as there's aslow moving cold front in California trying to get to Utah, I suppose it will be blowing for a few more days. Sadly,my best remedy is a good hard frost. Unfortunately, that can also be the start of winter, though not always. One can only hope I guess

This and That

I've actually been chilly today! After one of the hottest summers on record in Utah's Wasatch Front, we're actually getting some cooler days. Today may be only 69 degrees, tomorrow 72 or so and low 8os the rest of the week. I didn't even use my car air conditioner Sunday morning driving to work. I'm enjoying it, but am thinking of dressing a bit warmer. My Aunt wore a sweatshirt golfing last week!

The past 3 Saturdays, I've been acting Chef for our Saturday Chef Event at our Sam's Club. We normally have a wonderful chef named Harry, but he had to go back to Indonesia when his father passed away. The first Saturday was pretty scary, but my supervisors helped out a lot, doing much of the prep work, so all I had to do was cook the pork ribs. The next week, I was more comfortable cooking salmon, which I've done a lot of, so I did my own prep work. In this recipe, I breaded the salmon with a mixture of chopped almonds and seafood seasonings. The pasta dish that went with it was a Bertoli frozen dish that only needed heating. The last Saturday was pretty challenging. I cooked pork loin with mesquite seasoning, and a pasta dish from scratch. The pasta dish is great, with asparagus, onions, garlic, olive oil, parsley and parmesan cheese. Most of the cooking is done in the store proper, just the prep work is done in the kitchen. I was so worried about cooking pasta in the area we have to use. Fortunately, I had co-workers who helped, cooking pasta ahead of when I'd need it. There's 2 of us working the event, one cooking, one serving and both setting up and cleaning up. This Saturday, my server had the extra work of putting olive tappenade on crackers as well as serving the pork and pasta dishes. Of course, we were busy too. I was so delighted to see Harry this recent Saturday that I just had to give him a big hug.

The past several Mondays, my Aunt and I have been working on cleaning up the basement. I must say, it looks much better. There's still work to be done, organising, etc. but at least there are actually places with empty floor space. We threw away and gave away stuff. Of course, we still have lots of stuff anyway, but most of what we have is still usable and hopefully, some of it will actually be used eventually. But that's for another day.

Choose How You Age

I just recently read an article in Science of Mind about the new frontier of Ageless Living. The point of the article is that since we are living longer lives, we can choose to use our later ages to live in new ways from the first part of our lives. We can develope a new job and livlihood, start new hobbies and interests, try something we've thought about, but were too busy making a living and raising children to do. We can choose to be wise elders or cranky elders. we can blaze new territory, not worrying about being too old, or we can follow the old aging ideas of the pass and retire to our rocking chair on the front porch and complain about our aches and pains and complain about the younger generation and the state of the world. I think I prefer the first idea. I have days, like today, when I am tired and achy and want to take a little break, but the reason for the tiredness is some work days filled with activity and challenge and our usual Monday cleaning projects. At least with challenges you feel more alive, even though stressed. Besides, not all stress is bad for you.

There was a wonderful quote in the article of an e-mail that had been circulating on the web. No one seems to know the author,but it is a great sentiment, so I include it in today's posting. "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body.But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming woo-hoo, what a ride!"

It seems, to me, the trick would be to time it so you're not completely worn out until you're ready to go. Still, I really appreciate the quote's sprit, life is meant to be lived, and living can be messy and sometimes a little hard, but it's much better to live free from too much concern about appearences and opinions. I sometimes catch myself unconsciously limiting myself because I am of an older age, then I see a woman of 95 getting her BA degree and planning on getting her Masters next!

Obviously, getting older often brings some physical changes, but people often let that define them and limit them. Even with arthritic knees and carpel tunnel, you can still live a full life and do much of what you want to. You just need to work around any problems and don't make them reasons to stop living before you're actually dead.

I recieved an email from my daughter-in-law and she was commenting on the odd summer they've been having in Vancouver, Washington. They have lived there seven years and this time of year has always been dry. This year is different. The rainy conditions usual in other times of the year have continued all year. She's wondering if there has just been drought conditions the past 7 years and now it is reverting to normal. It's possible that's true, of course, but it seems to me that the weather patterns have been pretty skewed all over this year. I live in Utah and we're high desert country,so we're pretty used to dry conditions. Two years ago we were recovering from a 7 year drought. This last year, we didn't have enough snow pack and this summer has been hot and very dry. This July was the hottest July on record. We've had I think, 18 days of temperatures 100 degrees or over. We're nearly 6 inches below average in our water year. Even so, there are places in the South where they've had 100 degree temps with 90% or more humidity, causing deaths in the populace. It seems as "odd", in the sense of weather is getting to be the norm. I guess time will tell if this is a persistant trend, or if it's a fluke.

Internet Decisions

I realise that in my previous life,(living in the city, working full time with more money) that I got pretty spoiled with having broadband service. I also had a pretty good rate, bundles with my cable service. Now I am living with a relative,working part time so having considerably less money, and dealing with dial-up again. The bigger problem is that I have to move my laptop into the kitchen to be able to plug into a phone jack, as the other one is being used by my Aunt who logs on maybe once a week. In addition, it's an old house and until I get an 3 prong adaptor, I can only plug into the kitchen outlet. I've been looking at signing up for broadband again, but can't decide if I can afford it.The other option is to have a new phone line in my name put in and stay with dial-up. That may be the way I go for now, but eventually I'd like to send pictures to my kids and download music and that's really slow and sometimes impossible with dial-up. Darn,decisions, decisions. Changing your life always results in both positives and negatives. Heck, not changing your life is the same both positive and negative. I guess we just have to try to make choices that result in positive changes more than we choose changes that end up with negative results. The problem is choice. We don't always know whether the outcome will be the positive result we're hoping for. I'd had a little more frustrations lately, and that usually means that I need to spend a little more time in reflection and meditation. Now to find the time.

Back to Heat

The weather has gotten hot again. We were at 100 degrees on Sunday, 102 yesterday, and it's supposed to be over 100 again today. It's been staying fairly warm at night too. We may get some rain storms tomorrow, hopefully. The normal temp right now is 90 and it should drop into the 80s by the end of August, but who knows anymore.

Our miners are still in the collapsed mine. There seems to be very little progress being made. They've shown pictures from the camera lowered into one of the bore holes. There's empty space, no miners. They've started another hole farther down. They've been pumping air into the other holes, just in case. Nobody wants to give up hope just yet. I guess that's all the families have, that and the support of thier nieghbors.

There are some of our school districts that are starting school next week. It's going to be warm the first few weeks, most schools aren't air-conditioned. Many teachers around here buy fans out of thier own pockets to help make thier classrooms bearable. I know that's what my Aunt, a retired teacher used to do.

I just had my yearly review at work. I earned my raise for this year. Nice. They've made some changes this year in how your sales are counted and I wasn't sure I'd made it. You're given sales goals on whatever product you're demoing. It used to be 3 times the average daily sales, now it's 4 times. The fun thing is, the more successful you are by raising daily average sales, the higher your goal is the next time the product is demoed. Soon, they've raised the bar nearly beyond reach, unless you make a big business sale. Even if that happens, the bar is raised again. Still there are some good things about the job, like the people you meet and there are some sweet kids along with Mom and Dad too. Nice perks. That's it for today.

Just Musing Again

It'sfinally getting a little cooler here. It's still in the 90s, but the lowerand mid 90s.We'recloser to our average normal temps. Sofar, no 100s this month, though it is early in the month. We had a little fire just south of town yesterday,but they got it out fairly quickly. It only burned 45 acres.

There's been a mine cave-in down in central Utah. There are 6 people traped in a coal mine about 1500 feet deep and 2 and 1/2 or more miles from the mine entrance. It seems very scary to me to think of working that far under ground for any length of time. I'm afraid I'd get claustophobic. Maybe you get used to it. The mine owner claims that the collapse was caused by an earthquake. Scientists are claiming that the mine collapse caused the earthquake,which seems a little wierd. Yesterday, they were claiming that there was no quake,that the siesmic trace was just the mine collapse. I'm pretty sure that the miners and thier families don't care too much about the cause just now. They're more interested in being rescued,assumming that they are still alive,which nobody knows just yet. It may take several days to get to them, but they are drilling holes in the mountain above where they're supposed to be in order to get them air and supplies and communicate with them. That should be done sooner. In the meantime, everyone just hopes and prays.

Then there is the bridge collapse in Minniapolis. That certainly was a horrific site. The surprising thing was that there weren't more deaths.Maybe it fell slowly enough for people to get out,although the first people to go down probably had less chance. There have been warnings for a long time about the status of America's infrastructure. It's a shame it takes a disaster to get people to do something. I guess that's one problem with our form of government, it's run by committee. At least there's been inspections here in Utah, and I imagine most other States are doing the same.

We'reall going to see"the Bourne Ultimatum" tomorrow. It shoud be good.I enjoyed the first 2 a lot. Well, enough gab for now.

A Sunday Off

I finally have a Sunday off! My supervisor made me a deal. She needed me to work an extra day at the end of July to finish up the extra demos we'd been sent for the end of the quarter. I know most businesses have a different schedule for quarters, but our company's finacial year goes from Feb 1 to Jan 31. Go figure. Anyway, for doing the extra day, I was offered the whole weekend off for the first of August. I couldn't afford to take off 2 days, but I was more than happy to take off Sunday. I was invited to go to church, but I declined. I want to do mostly just what I want that is rejuvenating or uplifting or even lazy today.

So far, I've read my spiritual reading and added more, after all, it is Sunday. I've devoured the Sunday paper, I usually only hit the high points. I've checked my email, and I'm now updating my blog. I've also done dishes and thawed some chicken for dinner. Next on my list is making fruit smoothies for lunch.

I try to include God in my life everyday, so I'm not really prone to spending one day in church to spend my time with and for God. I think Spirit is with me always, I just need to quiet myself and listen, there He is! I admit, there is a nice social element to church, being with people of like minds, and it is a good place to organise people to help others that need help. To me, that element of serving those that need help is church's greatest function.

I erased my last paragraph as being too judgemental, something I keep trying to work on. Well, off to the rest of my Sunday.

Harry Potter

Last week I joined millions of others in reading the final installment of the Harry Potter series. I read it within 24 hours with time out for sleep, fixing dinner and doing the weekly laundry. I usually read the Harry Potter books at a fairly fast clip as they are so good, they are hard to put down. Whatever shortcomings J.K.Rowling may have in some things, she is a consumate story teller.

I approached book seven with just a little sense of trepidation. There had been so many questions about Harry's fate. One chapter had me quite worried, but the faith I had in Rowling was justified and she provided an elegant solution to Harry's being the 7th Horcruxe. She also answered the major questions and put the pieces together. My only complaint is that the epilogue takes place 19 years later. What happened in those 19 years? Maybe Harry got his wish and had a quiet happy life with no troubles. As he said, he'd already seen enough problems in his short 17 year life. Even so, it opens the door to more stories if Rowling ever decides to do them, though her latest interview says she's got no plans to go back to Harry's world.

I've tried to understand why I have been so enthralled with a so called children's book. Still, I've enjoyed quite a few other young adult or children's books before. I do like the way Rowling brings attitudes of caring and respect and ethical conduct into the stories without sounding like she's on a soapbox. I'm impressed with how she shows the love of thier children that the adults have, even to having the Malfoy's turn from Voldemort for Draco's sake.

All in all, the Harry Potter series has been a great edition to literature. I'm sad that there may be no more books, but look forward to the 2 movies yet to come. I have enjoyed being there as Harry, Ron, Herminone, and all the rest of the Hogwart's students grew up into full grown witches and wizards. Hopefully, J.K.Rowlings' next projects will be as exciting.

Growing Up is Over-rated

Today, my Aunt, who is in her 70s was told by her older sister,(80s) that we hadn't grown up yet because we were excited about the new Harry Potter film and book. I'm in my 60s, so I figure that if I'm not grown up yet, it's not likely to happen at all. Somehow, that does'nt seem so bad to me. After all, if growing up means losing the ability to use my imagination and get excited about new things, then I want no part of it. Obviously, we need to grow up enough to take responsibility for our actions, enough to function in a complicated world, but I believe we need to keep the heart and imagination of a child. We need to keep the ability to view things with the eyes of a child,to keep the beautiful wonder that can be our world and lives if only we're able to view it like a young child. We can't allow ourselves to buy into the cynicism that so many people have, thinking that it's just part of growing up. Let me be able to look at my world and find the wonder of a beautiful sunrise or sunset, a perfect flower, a beautiful baby. Life without wonder and thinking of "what if?" would be grim indeed!

Nothing Special, Just Rambling

It's been nearly a week since I've logged on to my blog. Between work and chores, etc. I've been a little lax. I've been reading a couple of new books. I,m reading the latest Darkover book. So far, it's pretty good, even though Marion Zimmer Bradley has passed on, the author she worked with and planned the futre of the series is doing well. I'm also still polding along through "The Secret" It's an okay book, it's just that the principles are not new to me. I had hoped there would be a little more about the "how" of applying the ideas. I'm half way through the book and the author finally mentions the importance of gratitude. I would expect it to be almost chapter one, after an explanation of the principles. You'd think that if I know the principles of the Law of Attraction that I'd be rich right? Obviously, I'm missing something. Probably too much negative thinking, or lack of faith or something.

Speaking of new books---what a tremendous amount of hype for the new Harry Potter book! Of course I will buy it. Usually by now I would have pre-ordered it, but as I am living on a cash basis, I'll wait . I'm planning on seeing the movie tomorrow. I kind of hate to see the series end in a way. I've really enjoyed it. I think J K Rowling understands the Law of Attraction, I understand she is a billionaire, plus she's given a lot of enjoyment to a lot of people.

Be Kind, Especially To Yourself

In the course of my lifetime, I've discovered that we are our own worst critics and judges. Now that isn't earth shaking news to anyone out there I'm sure. Still, when we're in the throws of beating ourselves up, we tend to forget to be kind. We wouldn't tell our best friend that they were being stupid and self destuctive, at least not in the uncomplimentary terms we use on ourselves. I'm not sure why we forget to offer ourselves the basic kindnesses that we would offer a total stranger, but that often seems to be the case. I know that I once obsessed for almost an entire week over a mistake I had made. Now I did learn from that mistake, but I didn't need to obsess for a week, I learned my lesson almost immediately. The rest of the time, I think I was intent on reliving the past enough that I could change it which is totally impossible!!

I guess what I'm saying is that we aren't perfect and we allow strangers the right to be imperfect, but not ourselves. The Bible tells us not to judge one another, but we still insist on judging ourselves. Let's be kind to one another, especially ourselves.

I just recieved an email newsletter that I subscribe to called Images of One. It contained some alarming information regarding something that many of us consume on a daily basis, thinking that it is a fairly safe product. The article was about the additive aspartame that is used in nearly all of the diet sodas, drink mixes and other products sold as light or diet foods. I remember that saccharin was removed from diet drinks for being a carcinogen. This article claims that aspartame is also a carcinogen. Aspartine is, scientifically speaking, a member of a group of chemicals called excitotoxins. This group of chemicals stimulate the neurons in the nervous system and makes it fire excessively. When used excessively, it can exhaust the system. Aspartine is made up of a methyl ester, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. In the body, the methyl ester is comverted to formaldehyde, you know, like what's used to embalm bodies. When the aspartic acid and phenylalanine are split, you get a neurotoxin. Phenylalanine itself carries some damage that includes depletion of serotonin, mood swings and the lowering of the siezure threshold. Pretty scary huh? For more info, you might want to go to http://www/ImagesOfOne.com

The Fourth of July

Another 4th of July has passed. We had a fairly quiet day, just a barbeque for my Aunts, my Daughter and me. I had to get my Daughter home by 3 PM, so we didn't worry too much about fireworks, except for the effects on the dog. She held up pretty good, but was plainly unhappy with the noise. We didn't get up quite early enough to walk down to the park to see the end of the parade, though we did see some of the entrants going down our street afterward. We were also out for a walk when the Air Force jets flew over, folowed by their flying "gas tank". The jets were flying over all the smaller towns and their celebrations, so the refueling plane was probably more convenient and more cost effective than going back to base for a fill up.

It was quite hot, but we frequently have hot Fourths. It will be even hotter the next 3 days, which are expected to go to 100 degrees and higher. The whole West seems to be sweltering. Still, the Midwest is busy being flooded and having oil slicks in thier rivers, probably worse for disrupting families and causing property damage. The west is having some disruptions and property damage in the form of wild fires, which are likely to get worse rather than better as the summer progresses.

It's funny how we all seem to so look forward to the summer months and frequently, before the summer is over, we're looking forward to the relief of Fall. Maybe we should try to look for the best whatever the season, just live each day the best we can and hopefully find the good in our lives.

Lovely, Lovely Water

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent several days in and around Vancouver, Wa. One day, the rest of the family was busy, so my Aunt and I decided to go to the coast for the day. Notice I said "coast" not"beach". Beach conjures up images of southern California style beaches and the beaches of northern Oregon and Washington are not the same. They tend to be a little wilder and less civilised than in So. Cal.

We had been to the coast in Oregon,in Astoria and Seaside, so we decided to tale I 5 up to Longview, Wa and get off on highway 4 and make our way to the coast. Now we had just come from drought plagued Utah, so even the views on the interstate were showing us bounteous amounts of water. In Utah, we'd gladly take even a quarter of the water this area has.

Highway 4 is a small 2 lane koad, very picturesque, that stays fairly close to the Columbia River. We did run into about 3 areas of road work. I guess summer's the same everywhere on that count. We must have missed a sign because soon we were away from the river, but we kept going as the signs still proclaimed Long Beach ahead and that was our destination.

Eventually, we saw more water, then a really lot of water! There were islands and somehow,it didn't quite look like the Columbia River. We pulled over to take some pictures and stretch our legs.I mentioned to my Aunt that I bet the water was salty. Later, after checking a map, we realised we had gone north and were at the bottom of a huge bay that actually is behind Long Beach.

We did make it to Long Beach, a kitzy little tourist town with lots of places to buy seashells, sea food and kites.(They have a kite festival there.) The beach is sand, quite hard packed, not ankle deep like SoCal beaches. My Aunt thought the ocean was dirty as the waves were rolling up lots of sand and seaweed. To me, it was beautiful! I love the sound of the waves and the calls of the sea birds. I really hated to leave.

We crossedthe bridge over to Astoria. It's quite a climb. I'd had to have to use it on an icy day. They have to have it high for the big ships that go up the river. We took highway 30 and went over the Longview bridge to go back to Vancouver.

I wonder if the people up there know how blessed with water they are. There were ferns next to the road growing thigh high and Queen Ann's Lace as high as my waist, plus larkspur and flowers I didn't have a name for. It was a wonderful trip that I was sorry yo see end!

Proud Grandmother

I went to Vancouver WA last week for my oldest grandchild's high school graduation. What a wonderful experience! My oldest Grandson and my Granddaughter attend Vancouver School of Arts and Acedemics or VSAA for short. To say I'm impressed with the school would be faint praise. This is a wonderful school....small class sizes.....personal teacher advocats for each student...a 7 year curriculum where students can start in 6th grade.....all this and it's public not private. Here in Utah, students would only get these advantages in a private school setting with expensive tuition. I was also impressed with the encouragement of diversity. Each student is encouraged to go with thier dreams. A very lofty goal.

My graduation was quite awhile ago, but I don't seem to remember it as being quite so raucus and joyful. Mine was nice, I remember a feeling of anticipation about going out in the "real" world, but these students seemed to bring a joy to the celebration, a confidence of their being capable of living their dreams, and there were many under classmen there cheering on the new graduates and plainly anticipating thier own glory in the future.

My Grandson played in his string quintet, He also gave a talk. He has some good comedic talent. I'm very proud of the young man he's become.

Another thing I approve, they save and raise money all year for an all night party for the graduates, no drugs,booze or crazy driving.They get transport from the school to a nice place, like a hotel where they have a variety of fun activities for the night with breakfast in the morning before returning to the school and home. I'm sure they all will have some wonderful memories!

Congratulations

As I may have mentioned before, my oldest Grandson is graduating in a little over a week. He was also chosen by his peers to be one of 3 speakers, a nice accomplishment. I talked to him on the phone recently, to make sure there will be space for my Aunt and I if we drive up. Fortunately, he did have extra tickets for us as I had made arrangements to take a couple of days off and my Aunt had reserved space for the dog in the kennal. We're looking forward to the trip, despite the high gas prices. We haven't seen my Son and his family for over a year and we both miss them.

I remember when my Grandson was a cute, chubby baby. He had a ready smile and giggled easily. Now he's a lean 6 footer, sometimes sullen, as teens can be, but still with a ready smile. I'm frequently amazed at the able young man he has grown to be. Of course, he still has growing to do, but that's true of most of us. I firmly believe, that growing is a lifetime thing, if you're lucky. If you don't grow, you stagnate. Though you are allowed some rest periods I guess.

I remember my own graduation. I felt like the world was spread out before me, like a banquet. Life is probably still that way, if we could just see it. It seems that we often let the everyday events of life take over and wear us down, but there's still a banquet out there if we'll just see it!






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Dealing With Stress

It seems to me , that dealing with stress starts with recognising things that give you stress and anticipating whether you're coping adequately on a daily basis. If you're just going on with your life, going from day to day without checking in with yourself, noticing behaviors or symptoms that usually indicate stress for you,you may wait until you are overstressed before you act. When you do that, it can take more actions to get you back on track and centered.

I can usually take changes fairly well unless they are really big changes, or thing that may really complicate my life. If it is a change that I have initiated or I'm enthusiatic about, then I usually will have "good" stress. Of course even good stress can get out of hand. Changes that are required of me, but without my choice, like new procedures at work can get stressful. Sometimes, these changes are easier than anticipated, so they go pretty well. We recently had to start using handheld scanning computers to record the products that we use in our demos. It turned out to be fairly easy and not all that stressful. The stressful part is the difference in our work orders, harder to understand and harder to figure out if you're making your sales goals or not. Since our pay raises are tied to preformance, this gets stressful. Still, you do your best and watch the stats and hope it all works out. Not the best way to manage stress.

A big stressor for me is worrying about disappointing a loved one, like maybe not being able to attend a function because of your work schedule. Hopefully,a supervisor will be accomodating, but the stress is there until the problem is resolved.

When you get several problems all giving you stress and the problems will not be solved very quickly, you may just have to have faith in yourself and the people that you deal with and in the power of Spirit. And whilr you're waiting for resolution, do something for yourself. Relax, meditate, listen to good music, plant some flowers, read a good book and be sure and laugh!

Just Musing

I had a nice birthday. My Aunts insisted in giving me more than I thought I needed, but still, it's nice adding to your wardrobe right? The weather has been as changable as is typical in Utah's springtime. We got some pretty good rain on Monday, but we're still heading for a draught this year. It seems like we only just got over one.

I just bought African Daisies and Zinnias to plant. It's nice to have a yard to grow stuff again.

I'm finally getting to the point where I have very little furniture left in my condo. I've sold or given away most of the larger stuff. There's still "stuff" there, but I'm making headway--good thing too, as my storage is pretty full.

We've got a large bush of old fashioned yellow roses in the backyard and even some Oriental Poppies coming over from the nieghbor's yard. The peonies are blooming and the roses are starting to bloom. We have Geraniums and Dianthus in pots on the steps.The tulips are finished and the Irises nearly done.Spring seems to go so fast, but I love it! Yesterday, I was coming home from Salt Lake and came over a hill and saw the Great Salt Lake. It was so blue! The air was clear and you could see many of the islands so sharply. I wish I'd had my camera, we don't always have such clear days anymore.

My oldest Grandson graduates high school this year. I have a picture of him in the living room and he's less than a year old and so cute. It seems like just a few years ago he was so small. Now he's over 6 feet tall and getting ready to venture out into the world. It really seems amazing.

Odd Musings

I thought I'd better write something, here it is mid May and I haven't posted yet. I've been working a little more, and I've been a bit lazy.

We've had only a few days of spring here, but more summer weather than spring. We've aldeady been into the ninety degree weather. The last 2 days have been in the seventies, more spring like. Tomorrow we'll be pushing back into the eighties.

My birthday is tomorrow and I'll be celebrating with a shopping trip and a lunch out. It will be nice I think. It's always good to have a little fun once in a while.

I've been thinking of planning a get-away this summer. It's been awhile since I've been anywhere. The gas prices may dictate how far I'll go, or maybe I won't be able to go at all if prices keep climbing. It's hard not to believe in some sort of conspiracy sometimes, especially with the prices going up almost daily. I mean really, the prices really are changing several times a week. What's up with that? One of these days, maybe this country will finally get it's act back on track. Well, that's my soapbox speech for today.

Progress?

Since my last post, I did manage to sell one bed, a bookcase and both the washer and dryer, all thanks to my wonderful nieghbor. I'm thinking that it is definitely time to let go of the condo if I can. I really need to cut down on trips between Tooele and Salt Lake. My last gasoline bill was $130.!....and the cost of gas keeps going up! To make matters worse, I'm working an extra day a week for the next 3 weeks. I suppose I'll make more than spend in gas, but maybe not much more.

I haven't heard from my kids who live out of state for awhile. Hopefully, they're just busy,but I can't help but worry. Time to make contact or at least try to I guess.

We are having summer here lately, though just a bit over a week ago we were back to winter for a few days after some lovely spring days. Hopefully we'll go back to spring again and get to summer gradually over weeks and not days.

Catching Up

It's been a long time between posts.I've been busy trying to finish up with my moving. It seems to take forever! I still have quite a lot of things left in the condo and very little space left in my storage unit. I really don't have any space left in my bedroom and the basement is getting full. I may have buyers for my 2 beds and even possibly for my washer and dryer. I've been thinking of ways to donate the rest that will have someone other than myself doing pick-up. One of my problems is that I can't always be available at the condo, but I have a wonderful neighbor there whom I've left with a key. I will certainly be glad when I can finally let go of the condo permanently.

Living with someone again has been good. I seem to function better when there is someone else in the household to consider. Both my Aunt and I have lived alone for quite a few years, though I did have a few years recently with my Mom. I think there are advantages to being alone, but only if you can keep active and busy,otherwise, it's too easy to spend your time in front of the TV watching things you don't even care about rather than actually doing something alone. Of course that's just where my life is now.

Changes

Earlier in March, my supervisor was wanting me to give up shifts, as there were'nt enough demos being ordered. By the end of the month, there were suddenly more demos than we had people and they all had to be done by March 31. I went from sometimes only 2 days a week to 5 days a week and working any hours I wished, as long as I worked. Since my health has finally improved, I was able to to do the work and enjoy it too. Mother Nature decided to flex her sense of humor again too..We had been having beautiful spring weather, then getting a couple of cold days with a storm most of the month, but the end of the month brought some real changes to some of us. I'm now living west of Salt Lake, though I still drive into the city for work. The city mainly got lots of rain, the the town I live in now got 12 inches of snow in 2 days. It was very wet snow and I'm still sore from shoveling. Amazingly, the desert west of us got 36 inches of snow in 1 day while the ski resorts got 18 to 20 inches. Really strange. Now it's April and the spring lowers are blooming and the sun is shining. We're still holding our breaths a bit waiting to see if we get an even later snowstorm.

Endless Moving

My last post was March 12 and here it is March 26 and I'm still trying to get the rest of my stuff out of my old condo! It doesn't help that I usually only get one or 2 days to work. This week, I'll only get one day as I am working extra hours. I did manage to sell some furniture, but still have beds, bookcases and TV and entertainment center. I still have dishes and books to take to storage. I'm beginning to think I'll never be finished, especially when you factor in all the stuff I have in storage that I'll probably never use.

I've had an idea for quite some time that we don't own our stuff, it owns us. Now, I'm pretty well convinced that this is a truth, especially with things you don't really need. They take up space, or you pay for storage. This certainly isn't economical. It also drags down your energy. I think my goal for the rest of this year is to get rid of stuff that isn't used or really wanted. That should free up both space, money and energy.

Moving

I'm sort of moved. That is, I'm now sleeping in the new place, but there's still gobs of stuff in the old place. I find myself almost hoping to be robbed. It's amazing how much "stuff" you can accumulate. The last time I moved, about 12 years ago, I had 17 years of accumulation. I sent truck loads to the dump and to charity. Still, I managed to keep a lot and accumulate more. Now, here I am again, trying to devest myself of a bunch of stuff.

I had always fantisized about moving with just a small trailer, only taking the very basics. It's hard to really throw stuff away when it comes right to it though. I did get away with very little, but now, what do I do with the rest? It would help if I still owned a truck, but I don't. I guess I'll just keep trying, or maybe hold a moving sale.

What Fun!

I went to work yesterday,not because I was healthy, but because I couldn't afford another day off. I was still having some problems with laryngitis, sometimes my voice was there, sometimes not so much. I'd originally been scheduled for a cooking demo, but my supervisor traded me to a demo of giving away a product. The product was a high quality bathroom tissue, something everyone needs. I had boxes and boxes of roles of bathroom tissue to give away on my shift. Voice or no voice, I still managed to convey to people that it was free. It was so much fun! After 6 days of being sick and basically self concerned, giving something away was just what I needed. Normally, my feet hurt half way into my shift. Last night I got home and realised that my feet hadn't bothered me. What's up with that?

Despite the fact that it was a pretty universal use product, there were people who turned down the freebie. My only conclusion is that they were afraid there were strings attatched. All the manufacturer wanted was for people to take home the product and try it. If they didn't like it, they could throw it away. If they did, then it was hoped that the customer would give consideration to purchasing the product the next time they needed some. All the risk was on the manufacturer. Plainly, they have confidence in their product. Still, the power of habit in the buying public cannot be over-estimated.

The Strange Effects of Illness

I've spent the last 6 days experiencing the joys and tribulations of a major cold. Instead of getting a scratchy throat, then sneezing, then a cough, I just started right in with a persistant cough, then the sneezing and stuffiness. I even got a fever and body aches, so maybe I've got the flu. Anyway, when I get a virus that causes a cough, I generally get asthma symptons as well. It's so fun to try to sleep while listening to your own wheezing. I thought I'd go to work today, but discovered that I couldn't talk. It's funny, when you live alone, you don't really realise you have larangitis until you try to talk outloud and you don't usually talk outloud except maybe to answer the phone......very embarassing. Still, the mega-sore throat should have been some indication.

When I'm quite sick, and I finally give in to it, it seems like the world just goes away a little, or at least recedes a bit. I guess that's purposeful on my part.I only answer phone calls from people I know and want to talk to. I leave my mail in a pile, to get to later. I watch kid's shows on TV. Sometimes I wonder if I've gotten sick in order to give myself a break? If so, I may have overdone things this time. Even if I like this tiny little world I'm in right now, I've got to break out and get back to the real world, tomorrrow, hopefully.

Moving

Life just seems to go on whether we want it to or not. I guess maybe you can take a break sometimes, but then everything is just waiting for you when you come back. I'm supposed to be moving this week, but I got another cold. ( maybe there's a reason for that ) Fortunately, I have an extra day off this week, so I can postpone moving day one more day.

It's amazing how much "stuff"we accumulate in 11 years! Now I get to decide what to store for possible selling or give away, what to move, and what to throw away. The longer I work and the worse I feel, the more I throw away. Hey, maybe that's the reason for the new cold!

It's Snowing!

After the frigid weather in January we finally got temps closer to normal.This past weekend was beautiful with temps in the middle fifties. It was a great precoursor to spring, but Mother Nature was just teasing us. I got up this morning to a couple of inches of snow and it's still coming down. Not to fear, it's supposed to clear later and be warmer tomorrow. The ski resorts are probably loving the new powder for the President's Day crowd! This is my week to move, so hopefully, the weather will really do as predicted.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is about love. Today, it seems that romantic love is the most celebrated. There are hearts with arrows and little cupids flying around, but the original purpose of the day was to honor Saint Valentine,a man filled with love for all. Valentine's Day is about LOVE, in all it's forms. There is love of our children, of our families, our spouses,our fellowman,Mother Nature and the world, even love of ourselves. It's too bad we only have one day to celebrate love. We need to remember that all of the Universe and it's Creator is LOVE and we are LOVE. The strongest power in the Universe is LOVE, and our Creator loves us unconditionally. Can we do any less than to try to do the same in our lives?

Free Will or Determinism?

I just read an article from the New York Times speculating whether we have free will or are our lives predetermined? As near as I could understand in the article, if our acts are pre determined, that determining factor seems to be our subconscious mind. Excuse me, but isn't our subconscious mind a part of us? While it's true, our parents and culture tend to program certain things into our subconscious, it also gets programed by our experiences and observations as they impact our conscious mind. The article talked about genetic and evolutional programing as well, even mentioned particle physics. There was a study done where people were told to make random movements. Supposedly, the movements came a fraction before cognition, or the mind deciding the movement. The conclusion to the article was that we had enough free choice, or illusion of free choice for us to be comfortable.

Nowhere in this article was there any reference to a Spiritual Element. Maybe the author didn't want to bring another source of determinism, or he was just skirting the issue. I've always believed we could be moved by Spirit, if we're open and listening, but that it was our choice as to whether we took Spirit's advise. Then again, if Spirit is really serious about us doing something, I suppose It could manage conditions in our lives to encourage us to decide to do as It suggests eventually, even if we're stubborn. There are others who believe that our Souls determine our path in each lifetime. That's probably as good an idea as any other. Maybe we'll find out all about how things work sometime. In the meantime, we'll just keep muddling through.

Mommy, Inc.: * Tea Time With Shannon: Got milk?

Mommy, Inc.: * Tea Time With Shannon: Got milk?Here is a great post by Shannon. She is getting her milk delivered by a local farmer. It's a little more money, but in return, she supports her local economy.gets really fresh milk( she can get to know her cows personally), she saves the environment as her milk doesn't get trucked in from who knows where. All of this and it tastes better too!

Negative Programming

Have you ever noticed yourself getting stuck in a negative thinking loop,where you keeping going over some mistake that you made or some hurtful remark soneone has made to you or about you? You just keep thinking of what you should have done or said that was better than what you actually did or said. It's like a part of you thinks you can change the past if only you keep thinking about it. You even realise that trying to change something that has already happened is a really crazy idea, but you keep doing it.
I've spent the past 2 and 1/2 days doing just that, knowing the futility, knowing that the smart thing to do is take what you've learned from the experience, then let it go. I know that letting go can be a little hard sometimes, but you just need to be persistant.
I don't usually hold on to something quite that long and I was upset with myself for doing it this time. I really let an incident at work almost throw me into a major depression. I guess since my private life is so unstable right now, it really bothered me to have my work life upset too, especially since it had been going pretty well.
I'm pulling myself out of my funk by focusing on the fact that there's no one single event that defines me unless I allow it to. We are more than single events or criticisms. We are more than our looks and more than any single deed that we may do, and we are all loved by God,just for existing.

The Joys and Pain of Blogging

I have another blog on a paid host. I paid for 2 years of hosting as I was hoping to achieve some financial returns on that blog. Now, I'm unable to access it due to possible problems that my host server is having. This is very frustrating to me. I actually have some people who read that blog and I assume they're not able to access it either.
Still, I can always seem to access my Blogger blog, so I can exercise my need to write something even though there may be nobody reading it. Oh well, Life isn't usually perfect.
I have read theories that we create our own reality, and I believe that we do. No 2 persons experience reality the same, it's always filtered through our own viewpoints. Maybe if we envision a "perfect" reality, it will be perfect, though different from someone else's perfection. Maybe we all ought to compare notes and figure out what we're really doing with reality.

Acceptance

One of my favorite prayers goes some thing like --God give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can't and the wisdom to know the difference. I don't have it quite right, but it's known as the Serenity Prayer. It is really hard to know the difference, whether we should be butting our heads against a wall trying to change something we should be learning to accept, or if we're accepting something that could really be changed.

I think that if we're upset or irritated about some person's personality quirk or behavior, we might be better off accepting that person as he/she is or keeping away from them if possible. Sometimes a person that just drives you up a wall is a person that you work with or is otherwise pretty hard to keep away from. This person may be in your life for a purpose, to teach you something you need to learn and if you manage to keep away from them, someone else will show up that's even more irritating. Perhaps it's best to learn the lesson, then move on.

Winter Time

Here it is, just ending the first week of January and I'm ready for spring. I know, it's not gonna happen. I'm just so cold! I realise that I spent much of the summer bitching about the heat and now I'm bitching about the cold. I guess I don't do well in extremes. I'm actually okay when it's cold, even quite cold, as long as it isn't windy. The wind just cuts through any coat I've got. It blows around my neck and up from the bottom of the coat and makes me shiver. If there's snow blowing too, I really want to burrow at home under blankets with a hot cup of tea and a good book. Maybe if I practised some kind of winter sport it would help my attitude. I've thought of snowshoeing since I don't like heights and riding on a ski lift. I used to ice skate, but I'd probably wear out my butt. Oh well, spring's only a few months away right?

An Insirational Video

I get a newsletter from the owner on Images of One site. He has produced a feel good video that is free to view with no sales pitches. It has nice music, beautiful pictures, and inspirational quotes. The address http://www.imagesofone.com/fg/ Give it a look.

The Holidays are Over

The Holidays are over,at least that's what the calendar says. However, my decorations are still up. An extra job for the week, I guess.

It was a little different Christmas this year. It was quiet, not like last year when we were in mourning for Mom, but more because of reduced expectations. Several of the family members have experienced some financial problems and reversals, so we didn't do much in the way of gift giving. I did try to keep things more like normal for my handicapped daughter. I wasn't sure she'd understand no gifts. Still, she's not demanding; an umbrella, chocolate, bubblebath and a bag of coffee beans and she's pretty much happy.

I had my Aunts to a potluck dinner with my daughter and me. The day was pretty sunny and very enjoyable. We all missed my son, his wife and 3 children. We've not spent Christmas with them for awhile. Hopefully, next year we can see them.

Anyway, it's plain to me that a good Holiday doesn't require lots of gifts and fancy decorations, just being with the people you love.