My challenge to you

Just for fun, I challenge you (whoever you are) to do something.

I am sure most folks have one of those collage picture frames of photos that you arranged to hang on the wall. I have a couple of them. One from around the 70's. I thought it would be fun to sit down with it and describe the picture, no names, and write briefly about what that picture meant to you or what was significant about it. It hangs on the wall where ever I go and has about 10 pictures in it.

See you next week

Thought for the day: I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

OK so its the scarf that won

Last night I picked up a scarf that I started to knit last winter, I think. So I figured I could knit thru the commercials on TV. Have you noticed how there is more time dedicated to commercials than programs? Heck before I knew it I had knitted 2 feet!

Thought for the day: Sometimes I wake up grumpy, and sometimes I let him sleep.

Time on my hands

Lazy long weekend. I actually watched 3 football games with hubby and neither one of us usually watch them much. Worked on my counted cross stitch project pretty steady and have it done. Now what will I do with these hands. Looking thru my projects stuff and have:

1. books on covering baskets, have 2 little sewing baskets that need redone.

2. decoupage something, I have stuff already cut out.

3. finish knitting the scarf thats been in the basket a year.

4. crochet some baskets to sell

5. weave more rugs, but can only do that at the store

6. start another cross stitch project.

7. Maybe I'll just start another book

Thought for the day: No one ever says "It's only a game." when their team is winning.

My book report

What has the book lady read this year? Well I have been keeping track of my reading in a little notebook and have read a grand total of 70 books this year. So here is what I read:

5 Dean Koontz books, they are usually just for a distraction for me from more serious reading, oh, and for the treadmill reading.
I read most of Janet Evonovich's Stephanie Plum books. I don't usually read much mystery but she is a hoot.
I say I don't read mystery but I see that I read several of Jeffery Deavers, Kathy Reichs, and Tess Garrison.
Some of my favorite reading for the year were: Ken Follett's A Dangerous Fortune, and World Without End and A Place Called Freedom. I enjoyed, Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski , Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, A walk to Remember, & The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks.

Just finished The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk, a Utopian novel and Not Between Brothers, a book about Texas and its rise to statehood, a very good book. I enjoyed Bridges of Madison County enough to watch the movie again.

Plans for the new year: I would like to re-read my favorite series by Diane Gabaldin. (7 big books) The Outlander Series. Historical romance of a woman who is transported back 100 years to live in Scotland. Awesome series. Plus I have at least 10 waiting for me. Just like old friends. I could easily live without TV, but don't take my books!

Thought for the day: If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.

Is it just me?

Christmas is over so guess I can stop feeling grouchy and get my act together to start the new year with some zip and a new attitude.

I was coming back home after visiting someone near and dear to my heart and it suddenly dawned on me how we waste so much of our time moaning over little hurts and slights that maybe others didn't even know existed for us. Our own mind can make things so much bigger than they are. I think I find that often from trying to "read my husbands mind". I feel hurt when I don't really know what he is thinking or not thinking as the case may be.

And what a waste of time all this is. You don't know this stuff when you are young. You are ready to do battle to prove YOU are right come hell or high water. I like the saying: "Pick your battles." Now my mantra is "Let it go" Just take a deep breath and let it go.

Another mantra I like is "Its not about ME" And so often that is so true. Others carry burdens we don't know about and when we feel slighted we magnify it often and don't even try to put ourselves in that other person's shoes. We are all made up of our own life experiences and no one else really truly can know someone Else's reality. We are each very unique.

Life is short or at least as we know it in this time/space. We shouldn't waste it our time, the clock really is ticking.

Thought for the day: It's not about Me

Getting REAL

I meet the nicest people in my store. And if you listen they tell you all kinds of things. Guess we always look for someone to just listen to what we have to say. (maybe that's why so many people blog) A gal was in last week and found a book on the shelf and was so excited. It was The Velveteen Rabbit. She said it has so many lessons for life in it and when she got home she would e-mail back the quote from it. I really liked it so want to share it here:

"You 'BECOME' the horse said to the rabbit. 'It doesn't happen all at once. It takes a very long time. Generally by the time you are REAL most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But those things don't matter, because you are real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.' "

Thought for the day: Listen to your friends

web site to read the little book. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/rabbit.html

Car commercial

A couple comes running out of the house, hand in hand, very excited, then they see the car in the driveway with a huge red bow on top. They jump in and seem so thrilled to have a new car, like they can't believe their good luck. Then they look up and see a new Buick driving by and they look at each other and their smiles fade away and they seem so disappointed with "their" new car. Like someone just burst their bubble.

What the heck kind of commercial is that?? Are we so materialistic that we could buy into that kind of propaganda?

Thought for the day: Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift

Winter Blahs

I promised a new friend I would attempt to do a post about winter. So this is my personal opinion and no one elses.

As most people who know me very well know, I do not enjoy the Christmas holiday. It sort of goes way back for me to my "previous" life. I remember how we celebrated Christmas as a family and now that that "family" is no more, at least as it was back then, I always get the Christmas blues. I think others feel that way too. I know that is not the true meaning of Christmas so I try to just get beyond that and look forward to the new year. (maybe this should have been the Christmas Grinch post instead of Winter blahs) But I will forge ahead.

So winter has the cold, snow, sleet, slick roads, and cold feet. The landscape looks miserable, cold, no leaves, naked trees shivering in the cold. Even the air looks unhappy, gray and cold. So what is the good that I should be able to see and enjoy about winter??

Well lets see. It is a time to put on warm cozy socks and sweaters that I couldn't wear all summer. Time to enjoy the fireplace, (I am lucky enough to have one). Time to get together with family and friends. Time to maybe reflect on the year and make plans for the coming year.

So maybe winter should be seen as a time of slumber before the awakening of spring. A time for the landscape to rest and regenerate itself for burst of green and color to come.

Maybe we should look at our lives the same way and look forward to the new year and spring to come. Maybe ponder some of our past mistakes and look for ways to make life richer and show those we love what they mean to us.

Thought for the day: Experience is what you learn just after you need it.

Gonna be a Bear

In this life I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.

When you're a girl bear, you birth you children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, gonna be a bear!

Thought for the day: Familys are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts!

Love your pet

http://silverandgoldandthee.net/V/J_S.html If you have time go to this site and listen to Jimmy Stewart read his poem about his dog named Bo. Just click on the site listed and it will take you there.

I mention this today as it was sent to me yesterday and just by chance we had an incident that made this very appropriate.

Hubby had to take his sister and her little dog to the vet yesterday late, it was the 3rd trip this past week. End result was that he had to be put to sleep. This is her second dog to lose this year. The sister dog died in July. And of course a year ago we had our dog put to sleep so we are a dogless home now. No more dogs for us. It is too hard to lose them.

So I hope you will watch this little video and if you have a pet, give them an extra ration of love and that "pat on the head" while they are still there.

Thought for the day: Sometimes we find answers when we didn't even know we were looking.

OK you lurkers!

How do you like my redo on my blog site? And I have a counter on it so I know how many times someone checks me out. I made it easier to leave comments or at least a check box to indicate you thought it was interesting.

Project for the next couple weeks: transfer 3 boxes of floppy disc photos to the computer then compile them in some order and transfer to disc. Will this be sort of like getting all the photos out of the shoe box and putting them in an album? I still have the big plastic box full of about 10 years worth of pictures before I went to digital.

So you lurkers out there and you know who you are, leave a little message if you have time.

Thought for the day: What is remembered lives

Nursing Home?

Double click on this picture so you can read the words. I cracked me up when I got this. As I used to work in a prison I see the logic here.

Are my nails to long?

I saw a lady in the store the other day with these VERY long fingernails. Like the right hand they were 3 inches long and the left they were at least 6 or 7 inches long.

Now I am thinking, how does she wipe her butt!

Then a little voice had to pipe up and say:


Vaweeeee carefully

Whats in my ear as I walk?

My cheeks are nice and cold and rosy from my walk this morning. Did about 2 miles, sunny and cold out. Going to get a cold front come in tonight so will probably have to hit the tread mill. Have a good Dean Koontz book hanging on it, it helps me keep going.

I enjoy my I-pod while I am walking. I probably don't listen to jazzy music like I should. My walk isn't always about burning calories, usually more about my inspiration for the day. I still love my Enya music. I feel nice and mellow and enjoy the birds and squirrels as I walk. Saw a tree full of cedar waxwings this morning eating some kind of berries in a big tree. They used to come into the farm in the late summer and gobble up the mulberries.

Thought for the day: You always feel like you have lost weight after you have worn the same pair of jeans about 6 days!

OK, just one more!

I wasn't going to do this but again I had a dream and have to put this one down here. Hey does everyone dream? Hubby says he rarely does. I just can't imagine as I dream every night.

Anyway the dream: I was in a large room with desks and people working. Next to me was a gal that I used to work with named Lisa and I was going over some Dr. orders to process (yea, I'm an old nurse) when I looked over and saw a guy sitting on a chair and he stood up to come toward me. I thought he looked familiar then realized he was my husband but was much younger than when I met him. He was wearing a cream colored corduroy 3 piece suit.
Then the dream sort of rambled on and I don't remember much of it.

When I came into the kitchen later I asked my hubby if he ever owned such a suit and he said yes he did but it was alot of years ago. I got goose bumps!

Thought for the day: I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing.

The Hands of God?

OK I promise not to make this blog a place to recite all my dreams, and I don't intend to offend any ones personal beliefs. But since this is MY blog I guess I can say what I want, right?

I wrote down what I could remember of this dream yesterday. It was amazing and it all seemed so clear.

I dreamed that I was standing somewhere and suddenly everything around me sort of folded in on itself till there was nothing left. Then I saw that there were several "worlds" and I was looking down on them and was able to see and "know" that the smaller dense world was Hell and that as the worlds extended outward they became larger and lighter and almost seemed to float in their light. I realized that the different worlds were a way for me to understand that when we die we move up or down in these worlds to live new lives. Nothing is lost or wasted. As we progress in our evolution toward God we get lighter. We choose to go forward or backward with each rebirth so that we can learn what ever it is we still need to learn to be able to get closer to God.

I think it was in a book I read by Echart Tolle: A New Earth, that he wrote that heaven or hell will be for each of us what we believe it will be. Each religion has a different view and that each will have what they believe. That sort of makes sense to me because I really hate it when people think that their religion is the only one that is correct with God, and so everyone else will be just skipping off to hell.

Thought for the day: Do you think that maybe our dreams are the real world and that our "real" world is only a dream?

More Dreaming

When I woke up this morning I thought I had just had the best dream. It seemed like an idea that was so creative I was amazed that I dreamed it and thought WOW. Of course as the morning wore on I forgot alot of it and the wow sort of fizzled.

Now what I can remember of it was that I had figured out a way to organize a huge garage sale and be able to sell everything. By putting stuff in these big color coded mesh bags, people could just walk around and pick up a bag. Blue for $2, green for $3, red for $5. Then they checked out and everything was put into a plastic bag to take home. The mesh bags would be used over and over. Wellllllllll, when I first woke up and it was more clear in my mind I thought it was a really great idea.

Business is very slow, (slower than the usual slow) this week, I figured it would be so I just play on the computer, and sit in front of the heater and read.

Got the gas fireplace going at home, it makes the room cozy, but we still miss the wood burning fireplace. Hubby threatens to get the gas unit removed and convert it back to wood heat. I thought we should at least burn up the propane in the tank first.

Thought for the day: Every path has a few puddles

What are you thankful for?

On my FB I have been trying to write something that I am thankful for each day. It really isn't very hard because we have such an abundance of things to be thankful for, from the big stuff to the little everyday things like a smile or friendly word.

How do I ward off all the gloom and doom that we see on TV. I try to not listen to it. I think it depresses us and we forget all the good things. I mean if North Korea is going to blow us all up it is hard to be thankful for my "stuff" or maybe it should actually make me more thankful. Now that is a thought. We need to live each day like it is our last and find joy in it.

I have 2 extended family members that are fighting terminal cancer and both are only in their 40's How sad for them and their families, but I feel that they are accepting it and the families are finding their joy in having that person for as long as they can and will be able to let go when the time comes. That is probably the hardest thing any of us will face. LOTS more important than being thankful for our creature comforts.

Thought for the day: That love is all there is,
is all we know of love
--Emily Dickenson

Getting old and the merry go round of Doctors

My sister in law will be 86 Monday. For her age she is in excellent health. Did fracture a hip about 4 years ago but is doing great, very independent. Has arthritis, and some problems with dizziness if she moves to quick. Oh, and a mitral valve leak that she has had for many years. Only takes one very low dose BP med. Mentally still sharp and handles her own business.

Now the problem, she seems to have gotten caught up in making the rounds with all the specialists that there is. Her primary Dr. is an internist and he has referred her to the following Doctors and they in turn have to see her 2 or 3 times and order all these tests and procedures: Cardiologist, Pulmonologist, Neurologist, Rheumatologist. Numerous blood tests, MRI's, ultrasounds, CTscans, pulmonary function tests, just to name a few. When we ask her what she will do if they want to put her on medicine she says she won't take it!!! She will look up all the side effects, and of course they are numerous to say the least so she won't take meds. Just drives her nuts that she has to take the one. She could take something for the arthritis but won't take over the counter stuff so I know that Dr. is going to want her on something! I have trouble seeing what the point of all this is. Her comment is that the Dr. wants her to have the evaluations!

My thoughts as a retired nurse is why doesn't her primary Dr. sit down and do his own comprehensive evaluation and give her an honest opinion and tell her some options and listen to her feelings about treatments. It makes her mad if they tell her it is changes due to the aging process. Well you think? Seems these are the cases that are running up the medicare cost.

I liked my Dr. I had back in Co. He took care of his patients himself, he was just a family Dr. but I liked his philosophy. I think I have found one here that is conservative also.

Oh, and guess who takes her to all these appointments???? My poor hubby has become "Driving Miss Daisey".

Thought for the day: With every leaf that falls, we are that much closer to winter sleep.

Fairy Ring and old buildings

I took this picture last week when I was doing my morning walk. Makes me think this used to be a real home to real people and all that is left is the shed and a ring of marigolds as a sort of memorial to the life that was lived here. There are many places in this little town like this. I especially like the "big" houses that must have been on the upper class side of town at one time. The old wrought iron fences and dormer windows. Maybe I will take a series of pictures of these homes and post them here. Oh, the history if they could talk. This used to be an old mining town. Had an old gentleman come into my shop yesterday and tell me he used to flip hamburgers as a kid in the early 40's in the kitchen area here. This building was the local tavern for about 50 years, so I get all kinds of comments about it. One lady told me how she used to sit on the steps and wait for her Dad so she could make sure he got home OK. A lady today said she remembered when there was an outhouse out back and wondered why folks didn't break their neck going down the back steps. She said she got married the day after graduation and left town as fast as she could, as there was nothing here for her in this old mining town. See I have a real historical building here!

Thought for the day: THIS is not a dress rehersal.