Wish In One Hand...

This is a beautiful day in Fall 2012.  I wish I was at the beach!  It would be a perfect time to enjoy being by the ocean having a cuppa coffee.  But I'm doing fine having coffee surrounded by dry land and millions of brown leaves covering the ground.  Things could be better but they could be a lot worse too!

I wish I could head down to the fancy mall and buy lots of beautiful, expensive clothes for my family.  Even though we have plenty of wardrobe, the shops are tempting and the cool new styles are just calling out for us.  But, the crowds and noise make me tired right away and then i'd be wishing for the back porch and sweeping leaves again.  And who can afford $60 for a sweatshirt? 

I wish we could all go out to eat and have yummy smokin' hot food brought to us while other people do all the work!  But, seems like every time we go to a restaurant somebody gets an upset stomach.  And who wants to pay $35 to eat eggs in a restaurant when a dozen and a half eggs only cost $2.50 at the store?

Well, I've used up all three wishes for today!

Five Minute Friday: STAY

Five minute Friday is all about writing whatever comes first to your mind when you read the word for this Friday - for just five minutes, no stopping to worry about how it sounds.

So the word for today is STAY.  Right away i'm thinking of Jackson Browne singing Stay just a little bit longer!  was that a great song or what!  All about how a performer was enjoying rocking out on stage with his band so much that he wished they could all ignore their schedules and keep on making music together even after the audience had gone.  He was appreciating the gift of musicians blending their skills.

Everyone loves to be appreciated but it takes time to understand an individual for who they are.  Life goes along better if we're aware of the need to observe and quickly recognize something positive about the people around us, and then appreciate it all.

Because nothing can stop change and nothing will ever stay the way it is right now.

River of Life

http://www.flylady.net/

Evidently our bodies respond very positively to routines.  This is the message and huge mission of the Flylady's website, which includes a whole program of building up cheerful living and doing away with harmful, mindless negativity.

In my opinion, her approach works well (once i finally beat down my relentless inner cynic).  Flylady teaches the importance of living in the moment but simultaneously preparing for future necessities.  Getting ready for bed involves doing things that make the next day better, for instance.  That's a big change from how I used to stay up late reading or watching tv or chatting online, then barely getting teeth brushed before falling unconscious into bed - feeling groggy and grumpy the next morning as I struggled to get the day started.

Instead, there's a plan to begin heading for bed at a certain time.  Putting away craft materials, getting clothes picked out for the next day, checking the calendar, caring for nails, moisture cream for face and hands, maybe fixing packed lunch to take in the morning, etc.  Waiting until the hour when I should actually be asleep to begin getting ready for bed, robs me of sleep time.

That's just the beginning and there's plenty for "flybabies" to learn.  But as her motto indicates, anyone can do anything for 15 minutes - step by step, things get done, and as a routine for everything develops, life begins to flow much more smoothly.

The Flylady website is free of charge!  Feeling happy to get up in the morning is priceless.  Thanks, Flylady!

Copper Moonstone Necklace

Copper Mesa Necklace & Earrings

Copper Mesa necklace & earring set - red jasper, turquoise, copper wire-wrap.

Starvation Has Life-Long Effects

As a child I was starved when my father didn't have enough work to get money for food.

One winter after I turned 10 years old and my brother was six, my father found a 100-lb sack of potatoes for $2.00.  For several weeks that was all we had to eat. 

Later on there were several periods of time when we coped with food shortages but that was the worst.

My father had taken my brother and me away from our mother and moved us across the country and took us out of school so we couldn't be traced.  He had studied "living off the grid."  When you're off the grid you can't take a regular job and get paid by check.  You have to find menial labor that pays cash and no social security number needed.  Some weeks he earned no more than $5. 

In 1963, five dollars bought more that it would now but it still wasn't enough for two growing children.

Finally he was able to falsify his birth certificate and change his name.  He got a job with regular pay and we began eating somewhat better.  Sometimes we had cornbread with creases (greens) which we gathered on the riverbank.  Sometimes we had a plateful of sweet potatoes and that was it.  There was never what you could call a balanced diet.  He considered our life to be good enough and his conscience never bothered him.

Now at nearly 60 years old, I am morbidly obese, at nearly 300 pounds.  I have tried various theories and methods to lose weight.  Currently I'm attending Weight Watchers meetings and have hope of learning how to apply their points system.  But the memory of those months of living without enough to eat often drive me to the kitchen convinced that I've got to get something to eat.

Priorities Are Decisions Are Choices Are Feelings

Oh man! i have got to take a little break from breaking my back in my bathroom, which has not been cleaned thoroughly since we moved into this house a few years ago!  So as the work gets a sweat worked up, my thoughts turned to the WHY i allowed this room to get into such a neglected state!  I only made trouble for myself by frequently choosing not to spend time in here cleaning - and rushing to keep rooms clean that others would be seeing.

I have only been going in there when I had to and everytime I rushed out of the room I would think, I've GOT to take a few minutes and clean this bathroom!

Well finally I just could not stand the sight of the dusty dirty molding around the baseboards; the thick dust on the floor around the back of the toilet; the gray blanket of dust over the tub which i only use for throwing laundry into baskets.  I'm good about cleaning the toilet and shower stall but all around them is DISGUSTING.  I had non-slip mats placed all around the floor that hadn't been washed since i bought them over a year ago.  The container with the toilet cleaning equipment was so dirty i couldn't see what color it is.

I mean this room was FILTHY!  Needless to say i don't let anybody in here, EVER!

So TODAY is the day and I feel good about my feeling to choose to decide that my priorities have to include luxurious time spent making a room enjoyable even though no one else will see it but me.