Saturday, November 27, 2010

Words of Wisdom #467...

If one attempts to outrun a pomeranian that has been unleashed in an open field for the first time in said pomeranian's life, one will lose. Badly.

It is written.


Wednesday, November 24, 2010

3 Years....


3 years ago today, you had to leave us.  Too soon, we were left without your smile, your humor, your friendship, and your love.  Not a day goes by that you are not remembered and missed terribly.

Love you whoadie.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Simple Mind, Simple Pleasures...

Oh good gravy, people, do you have as much stuff as I have?  I mean it's like a Belongings Party all up in my homestead.  My lovely parents were kind enough to load all of my belongings that were still behind in the Texas and haul it all down here when they came for a visit. (Ed. note:  My parents RULE parentdom.  Fact.)

When I first moved back to my home sweet home state in March, it was after having been out of work via layoff for almost a year and a half.  I was a little bit broke, and due to circumstances, couldn't afford to transport anything.  But, I had an unbelievable living situation fall in my lap that I could not pass up.  So I loaded my tiny little Mazda 3 down with whatever pomeranians and clothing and miscellaneouses could fit and drove on home. No furniture. No bed.  No nothing.  My dear, darling friends, Shara, Amanda, and TJ, met me at my new townhouse to help me clean and get settled.  I sat in an overwhelmed heap in the middle of a room FULL of trashbags while my little busy bees buzzed all around me, cleaning and organizing and mother henning.  I owe those girls. Huge.  Were it not for them, I would undoubtedly STILL be sitting amongst those trash bags in a fetal position, trying to figure out just where to put everything considering the whole "no furniture" thing. Amanda and TJ loaned me an air mattress and sheets that I would end up sleeping on for a good 4 months.  Some would call them friends.  I call them angels. (OMG, can you believe I said that?!?! hahahahaha. My cheese-o-meter REFUSED to budge unless I typed it! Ha!Sorry! Live, laugh, love, and all that.)

Point:  After living so sparse for a good block of time, it kind of frees the mind a bit. I've been unpacking and unpacking all of the stuff my parents brought me, and while there is a good bit of it that I intend to keep for want/need purposes, I realize how much of the stuff I "needed" is really just stuff.  Something about the sentimental reasons I keep things goes by the wayside when I've lived without it for a significant amount of time. Or maybe it's just in the grand scheme of life, when you've been through the fire, it all of a sudden seems so trivial.  The sentimentality behind it can remain, but the material thing is just that: material. Just because I'm getting rid of that glass dolphin (yes, I have a glass dolphin. Shut up, you know you do too.) that I've been hanging onto all this time, because ohmygosh, I got that from so-and-so that one time at that thing with those people, doesn't mean I'm garage sale-ing the memory, you know? 

Wouldn't life be so much easier if I could just apply this thinking to all areas of life?  I don't want that shirt anymore because it no longer fits or serves a purpose in my life.  Can't I say the same thing for an unhappy memory or an unresolved hurt?   I've been hurt. BAD.  So have you.  So what good does it do us to let ourselves feel that ache everytime a certain song comes on or a reminder pops up?  There needs to come a point when the scar has formed just enough that I can choose to not wince when something hits it.  How much of it is actual pain, and how much of it is just a habit?  How much of it is the fact that I want to hold onto it because admitting it doesn't hurt as much means admitting that I'm letting go?  Nobody likes to let go.  Nobody wants to get rid of their crap that's buried deep in the recesses of home and heart.  Because it becomes comfort.  It becomes what we know.  But what if we cleaned out our hearts/minds like we cleaned out a cluttered closet?  What if we vacuumed and swept and Febrezed the heck out of our spirits so that anytime we open that door, we're bombarded with the scent of fresh and clean and airy?

Whew.  That went down a totally different thought path than I was expecting.  I planned to tell you all about my Electric Youth perfume (with the hot pink lighting bolt inside the bottle!)(!!!!), but instead we had therapy.  What do you guys think?  Do you have cluttered lives? Cluttered emotions? 

Let's share a group hug!

Words of Wisdom #145...

One never knows how flexible one is until one attempts to bathe a dog that does not wish to be bathed.

Go forth young grasshoppper.


Saturday, November 20, 2010

Whole Living...

Ten Tenets of Whole Living
 
1. Happiness is a choice. Make that choice today and every day.

2. Good health isn't a gift; it's a habit you cultivate.

3. A healthy, fit body is not enough -- true fitness engages the spirit.

4. Think more about what you should eat than what you shouldn't.

5. Laugh at yourself. You're funny.

6. Nurture your spirit. It's your source of strength.

7. Stay connected to the natural world. It will feed your soul.

8. Believe in yourself. Your intuition is rarely wrong.

9. It's never too late to take the first step toward your aspirations.

10. What you pay attention to will thrive.


Read more at Wholeliving.com: About Body+Soul Magazine

Monday, November 8, 2010

And the title goes here...

Ohhhh how I'm looooving this weather!  Is it beautiful where you are?  Fall has fallen, and I am in low-humidity heaven.  The past month has been a whirlwind of activity, involving visits from out-of-towners and dancing and football games and bumblebee stingers that just left me completely spent. Having fun with people you adore really takes it out of ya. Life is hard when you're having the time of your life, wouldn't you say?  So this was the first weekend of nothing-to-do-ness that I have had in a quite awhile, and I had BIG plans for me and myself. 

First, there was the doing nothing.  Gracie helped me out with that on Friday night, which was greatly appreciated.  It can be a big task to take on by yourself, but thankfully, my pupster was right by me, helping me carry that burden. I don't even remember Saturday morning.  It was a blur of lazy and nap until about 1 or so.  Doesn't that sound like the most fantastic day ever so far?  I even had on my favorite sweatshirt!

We spent a couple of hours at the dog park that afternoon and made some really wonderful doggy/people friends.  This gorgeous yellow lab showed up and her people brought her into the small dog park which had me all kinds of irritated and ready to offended because hello?! SMALL dog?!  Well, the universe checked me right quick because this was the sweetest, most harmless giant dog I'd ever met.  Gracie pranced her sassy self right into the middle of the park and bark bark barked her head off, desperately trying to get this lab's attention, and that polite girl did not even look Gracie's way.  Gracie is terrified of any and all dogs so this act of bravery was new to me, but I suspect she was showing off for Ernest the Pomhuahua because really, wouldn't you do the same?  By the end of our visit, Gracie and Lady the lab were BFF, bonded by their mutual fear of each other and everything else. 

Something about lazy days at the dog park make me want to go to the grocery store to get food for dinner.  Or maybe it's the whole not grocery shopping for like 2 weeks so there's nothing in the pantry except for a jar of salsa and a can of butter beans that makes me want to go to the store, I don't know.  I was totally gross, of course, after spending hours in the wind and dirt and grass, hugging on dogs of different shapes and sizes and political backgrounds, and really, I just had no business being seen by the public eye.  But man, Whole Foods has some reeeeally good egg salad that sounds perfect right about now.  So I hopped in the car with the dirty, grassy workout clothes, and the eyebrows that hadn't been tended to in 2 5 days because I was just going to run in and run out right? Right.

Ladies.  Here is what I need you to help me understand:  Where is it written in the laws of the cosmos, that when you are wearing a FLUORESCENT PURPLE scrunchy from when you were 15 AND rocking some 5 7 day old eybrows, you are guaranteed to see the most beautiful man that has ever crossed your dirty dog park covered path?  This dude could only be described as smokin' yo, and all I wanted to do was yell "WHY ARE YOU HERE TODAY OF ALL DAYS?!?!"  Because you just know that when you are looking all kinds of  "wow, my hair is so shiny today", and "oh my gosh, have you ever even seen a backside look so fantastic in a pair of jeans?" and "no, of course I don't smell like Ajax.  Nothing but vanilla over here!", you will not see a single soul other than a 90 year old who can't see anyway, gay men, or your brother.  I mean, this is just a fact right? Sigh.

Stupid egg salad.