I am back from my vacation in Oklahoma. It was warm and sunny, but a little windy. There were no thunderstorms this trip, and no tornadoes which is always a good thing. Mom is ok. Being 98 has it's own trials, but she is happy and works hard to be independent. It is hard when your sight and your hearing is bad, but there is nothing wrong with her mind, and she is sharp as a tack.
I made a lot of nice meals for her, did some shopping and dish washing, and bought her a lovely new Lazy Girl recliner in a beautiful wine silk. A lovely chair that she wanted "so she could sit in the sun in her livingroom with her feet up." A good goal, I thought, so off I went to Mathis Brothers, the huge furniture store in Oklahoma City. It is really fun to shop with someone else's money.
I am very happy to be home. Work is good. George is happy and healthy. Life is good. I am enjoying the flowering trees and looking forward to getting back to the health club and back to the garden.
Have a great day.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Quiet Time
I am staying home from church today in order to find a big chunk of quiet time for myself. Before I worked full time, I had lots of quiet days. I turn the TV off, I don't play music, and I just listen to the house and the birds, the stillness. I don't know when in my life I decided that quiet was good. Maybe having 236 channels of mostly unwatchable television stations made me realize that OFF is better. Maybe I got so engrosed in making jewelry in my little studio that I forgot to turn it on.
Since working full time, I have to try hard to find my space of quiet time. I miss going to church, but something had to give. Being quiet stills my spirit, and makes it possible for me to be creative, to think about things, to remember things, and to recharge my juices.
This afternoon my good friend Connie is coming over this afternoon to bead with me. It will be great fun to see my friend again, and being with her will also stoke the fires of creativity. Nothing like a kindred spirit, who knows the value of making something beautiful and what it does to one's soul. She and I are going to Milwaukee in June to the Bead and Buttons show and we are excited enough to pop buttons. It is going to be so much nicer for me to go with something and have a companion for dinners, lunches, breakfasts, and to share the WOW of this vast bead show. I can't wait to share it with her.
My quiet time gives me time to think of all that. Nice.
Have a great day.
Since working full time, I have to try hard to find my space of quiet time. I miss going to church, but something had to give. Being quiet stills my spirit, and makes it possible for me to be creative, to think about things, to remember things, and to recharge my juices.
This afternoon my good friend Connie is coming over this afternoon to bead with me. It will be great fun to see my friend again, and being with her will also stoke the fires of creativity. Nothing like a kindred spirit, who knows the value of making something beautiful and what it does to one's soul. She and I are going to Milwaukee in June to the Bead and Buttons show and we are excited enough to pop buttons. It is going to be so much nicer for me to go with something and have a companion for dinners, lunches, breakfasts, and to share the WOW of this vast bead show. I can't wait to share it with her.
My quiet time gives me time to think of all that. Nice.
Have a great day.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
My new golf clubs!
George and I went to Sports Authority and each of us got a new set of golf clubs! This opens up a whole new world. George knows how to golf and on the few occasions he goes out each year, he manages to do pretty well. I, on the other hand, am a complete newbie. But I have pretty good eye/hand coordination, so I have high hopes.
The salesman was very good and stayed right with us. He showed me a set of pink golf clubs that were high end, and far too expensive, and I fell in love with the pink part, just as he knew I would. From then on, we shopped and looked and took a few swings in the little "batting cage" and I kept looking at the pink ones. Then the very good-at-what-he-does salesman found a set of pink clubs at $100 off the regular price, and bam. I was sold. We also bought George a new set. His are a nice manly black and red. It was time for him to get a new set. His current set of Wilson 1200's are twenty years old. We looked them up on Ebay, and you can buy a whole set and the bag for $10.
I got the names of a couple of golf teachers in the area, and I have big plans. I was a little taken aback when the salesman said that golf lessons cost $35.00 for a half hour session. Oh well. At our age, I call this investing for the future. When your future is retirement, what else is there to do but golf!
Have a nice day.
The salesman was very good and stayed right with us. He showed me a set of pink golf clubs that were high end, and far too expensive, and I fell in love with the pink part, just as he knew I would. From then on, we shopped and looked and took a few swings in the little "batting cage" and I kept looking at the pink ones. Then the very good-at-what-he-does salesman found a set of pink clubs at $100 off the regular price, and bam. I was sold. We also bought George a new set. His are a nice manly black and red. It was time for him to get a new set. His current set of Wilson 1200's are twenty years old. We looked them up on Ebay, and you can buy a whole set and the bag for $10.
I got the names of a couple of golf teachers in the area, and I have big plans. I was a little taken aback when the salesman said that golf lessons cost $35.00 for a half hour session. Oh well. At our age, I call this investing for the future. When your future is retirement, what else is there to do but golf!
Have a nice day.
Monday, March 17, 2008
The problem of overconfidence
I happen to believe that a lot of woes are brought on when people are overconfident. There are people who charge ahead and there are those that take a little more time and lag behind. I am a lagger behinder. I want to see the dark hole opening up before me instead of displaying overconfidence and falling in. I lag behind sometimes just to take the lay of the land, or to make sure I'm not saying something that is offensive to someone, or to make sure that I know what the question is before I answer it. I may seem a little too hesitant, and people may get the idea that they are smarter than me. Maybe.
Overconfidence is what people like Governor Spitzer display when they think they can pull the wool over everyone's eyes while they convince their overconfident selves that they are better than others, and the rules don't apply to them. People who are overconfident make a lot of really big mistakes. Careers (and worse) flounder over a simple case of bad judgement. We get lost when we are confident we know where we are going, and leave home without a map. We lose a game when we think we are so much better than the other team we don't need to practice. We crash our cars when we are overconfident that our big and powerful SUV will still win the race in ice and snow. On a larger scale, overconfidence led to the disasters at Chernobyl and the disentegration of the Space Shuttle. Some little careful person's memo about defects that could cause problems was ignored so that an overconfident superior could charge ahead.
When I was young, my husband and I used to laugh at my husband's mother, whose favorite saying was "You can't be too careful." Well, today I'm not laughing. I'd much rather be a little slower, a little less confident, a little more careful....than fall into the waiting hole.
Have a great day.
Overconfidence is what people like Governor Spitzer display when they think they can pull the wool over everyone's eyes while they convince their overconfident selves that they are better than others, and the rules don't apply to them. People who are overconfident make a lot of really big mistakes. Careers (and worse) flounder over a simple case of bad judgement. We get lost when we are confident we know where we are going, and leave home without a map. We lose a game when we think we are so much better than the other team we don't need to practice. We crash our cars when we are overconfident that our big and powerful SUV will still win the race in ice and snow. On a larger scale, overconfidence led to the disasters at Chernobyl and the disentegration of the Space Shuttle. Some little careful person's memo about defects that could cause problems was ignored so that an overconfident superior could charge ahead.
When I was young, my husband and I used to laugh at my husband's mother, whose favorite saying was "You can't be too careful." Well, today I'm not laughing. I'd much rather be a little slower, a little less confident, a little more careful....than fall into the waiting hole.
Have a great day.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Midwest Airlines
I love Midwest Airlines. I just made reservations for me and my friend to the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee on June 5th. It is going to be wonderful. Last year, I was flying some other airline, like Continental or American, and my flight home was scheduled with a three hour layover in Detroit. I was not looking forward to that. When I checked in for the flight, I was called to the service desk. Usually that means your flight is cancelled and you are in for a bumpy road, but this time, they told me that they had transferred me to a Midwest Airline non-stop flight to Boston that would get me there three hours sooner. Hurray!!
It was double-hurray when I got onto the flight and saw those big comfy brown leather seats. And it was tripled when they came around with those home made, warm, freshly baked chocolace chip cookies which are their trademark. I've heard that when you sell a house, you could make cookies so the buyers can smell them while they are looking at your home. I am just as sold on Midwest Airlines. Their service is wonderful, the planes are not crowded, the seats are huge, and who can resist a cookie after that ordeal at any airport. And round trip to Milwaukee on their Spring sale is $146.00. That is such a deal! So things are looking up....to the cookies in the sky.
Have a great day.
It was double-hurray when I got onto the flight and saw those big comfy brown leather seats. And it was tripled when they came around with those home made, warm, freshly baked chocolace chip cookies which are their trademark. I've heard that when you sell a house, you could make cookies so the buyers can smell them while they are looking at your home. I am just as sold on Midwest Airlines. Their service is wonderful, the planes are not crowded, the seats are huge, and who can resist a cookie after that ordeal at any airport. And round trip to Milwaukee on their Spring sale is $146.00. That is such a deal! So things are looking up....to the cookies in the sky.
Have a great day.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Things are looking up....
I think things are beginning to look up. We would hope. I still have the lingering effects of a bad cold and may have to call the doctor to find out what to do next. I thought it was gone, but it is taking a lot longer than I wanted.
My mother is in the hospital with pneumonia. She is where she needs to be and about all I can do from here is pray that she has nice nurses and they are able to build her strength back up so she can go home. I sent her beautiful flowers yesterday and talked to her caretaker while she was in the room with mom. Her color is good, she has her appetite, and we hope she will get stronger and be safe there. When she goes home, I will go to Oklahoma to help her for a week.
Taking care of the elderly is an issue for a lot of people I know. Us baby boomers all have elderly parents now, and many people are living well into their 90's these days because of amazing advances in pharmaceuticals. It occurred to me yesterday that making myself sick with worry over my mother's health isn't very helpful. There is no pill for worry, and it can lead to illness too. I feel bad when my mom is ill, and I feel helpless. I have to try to put her wellbeing somewhere in balance with my own, which is very hard. Balance is very hard to attain, and life seems to have a teeter totter effect sometimes which makes us concentrate on one thing and someone else goes out of whack. Getting a good work/life balance is often talked about. I feel that we have to take care of our emotions and our mental well being. Like the commercial says, "Life comes at you fast..."
Today George is going to an airplane auction with his club, and I am at home, pretty stuck without a car. Sometimes cars come at your fast too. My accident has left me with the residue of panic whenever I see a car at a cross-street. Crash paranoia is a side-affect of collisions I guess. Being without my own car isn't the best either, but I think they will have it all repaired next week.
With my time at home today, I am going to completely recover from this cold. I also am going to have George take me to the health club this evening for a workout...my first in over a week. No use coughing and spreading my germs to all those people who are trying to get more healthy, but I really missed my work outs.
It's going to be a slow Sunday today, and I'm going to remember that slow is a good thing, since life comes at you fast!
Have a good day.
My mother is in the hospital with pneumonia. She is where she needs to be and about all I can do from here is pray that she has nice nurses and they are able to build her strength back up so she can go home. I sent her beautiful flowers yesterday and talked to her caretaker while she was in the room with mom. Her color is good, she has her appetite, and we hope she will get stronger and be safe there. When she goes home, I will go to Oklahoma to help her for a week.
Taking care of the elderly is an issue for a lot of people I know. Us baby boomers all have elderly parents now, and many people are living well into their 90's these days because of amazing advances in pharmaceuticals. It occurred to me yesterday that making myself sick with worry over my mother's health isn't very helpful. There is no pill for worry, and it can lead to illness too. I feel bad when my mom is ill, and I feel helpless. I have to try to put her wellbeing somewhere in balance with my own, which is very hard. Balance is very hard to attain, and life seems to have a teeter totter effect sometimes which makes us concentrate on one thing and someone else goes out of whack. Getting a good work/life balance is often talked about. I feel that we have to take care of our emotions and our mental well being. Like the commercial says, "Life comes at you fast..."
Today George is going to an airplane auction with his club, and I am at home, pretty stuck without a car. Sometimes cars come at your fast too. My accident has left me with the residue of panic whenever I see a car at a cross-street. Crash paranoia is a side-affect of collisions I guess. Being without my own car isn't the best either, but I think they will have it all repaired next week.
With my time at home today, I am going to completely recover from this cold. I also am going to have George take me to the health club this evening for a workout...my first in over a week. No use coughing and spreading my germs to all those people who are trying to get more healthy, but I really missed my work outs.
It's going to be a slow Sunday today, and I'm going to remember that slow is a good thing, since life comes at you fast!
Have a good day.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Da common cold
George and I just went out to Walgreen's to get cough syrup and cough drops. Yuk. I have a cold. I haven't been sick in three years, but I have had a sore throat for four days and it isn't going away quickly. Everyone I know has been sick. I take lots of vitamins, and eat my fruits and vegetables and wash my hands well many times a day, but it didn't prevent me from getting sick.
The weekend has been a bust. With my car banged up and in the shop, my head stopped up and my throat raspy and hurting, about the only thing that is good is my cup of Good Earth tea and a good book. In fact, I have finished two books this weekend. I finished a book called The Julie/Julia Project, about a woman who cooked her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. It was a fun, fast read. Then I read an Andrew Greeley mystery, "The Bishop and the Beggar Girl", which I got at the library. If you haven't tried Good Earth tea, don't miss it. I buy it at Trader Joe's, and it is worth the trip. More about this tea later. I'm too lazy to go look at the box to read the ingredients, which are many and amazing. Time to go back to the couch.
Have a great evening.
The weekend has been a bust. With my car banged up and in the shop, my head stopped up and my throat raspy and hurting, about the only thing that is good is my cup of Good Earth tea and a good book. In fact, I have finished two books this weekend. I finished a book called The Julie/Julia Project, about a woman who cooked her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. It was a fun, fast read. Then I read an Andrew Greeley mystery, "The Bishop and the Beggar Girl", which I got at the library. If you haven't tried Good Earth tea, don't miss it. I buy it at Trader Joe's, and it is worth the trip. More about this tea later. I'm too lazy to go look at the box to read the ingredients, which are many and amazing. Time to go back to the couch.
Have a great evening.
Friday, February 29, 2008
And we dance...
And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Grateful for strong car doors
I was in a little accident the other night. It didn't seem little at the time. I just sat there after the impact thanking God that the door held. The inside of the car was not changed. I was safe.
My first thought was, "well, I guess I'm not going to the health club." Later, when I told the nurse at the hospital that I was on my way to the health club when the accident happened, she said, "well, maybe tomorrow." She is right. Maybe tomorrow.
I am grateful that my tomorrows are going to be better than my todays and that today was better than yesterday. One day at a time, things get better, old wounds heal, cars get fixed, and I am planning to work out like hell to get in good shape. The doctor said, "you look very strong". I consider that a big compliment. I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before. I am strong! And as I sat quietly waiting for the ambulance to arrive, I felt strong on the inside too. Things are going to be fine.
What doesn't kill me makes me stronger!
Have a great evening.
My first thought was, "well, I guess I'm not going to the health club." Later, when I told the nurse at the hospital that I was on my way to the health club when the accident happened, she said, "well, maybe tomorrow." She is right. Maybe tomorrow.
I am grateful that my tomorrows are going to be better than my todays and that today was better than yesterday. One day at a time, things get better, old wounds heal, cars get fixed, and I am planning to work out like hell to get in good shape. The doctor said, "you look very strong". I consider that a big compliment. I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before. I am strong! And as I sat quietly waiting for the ambulance to arrive, I felt strong on the inside too. Things are going to be fine.
What doesn't kill me makes me stronger!
Have a great evening.
Blogging to say hi
I am ok. I had a big scare last night, but the car stayed in one piece, I was checked out at the hospital and sent home at 11 p.m. I'm a little sore, but more determined than ever to get into shape. I think my new muscles helped me deal with the shock of the incident.
More to come.
Have a good day.
More to come.
Have a good day.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
No more Pitiful Pearl!
George came home safely. He arrived at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, about an hour before the snow started. The snowstorm was responsible for everyone getting off work early on Friday, so I got to come home to watch George nap. Taking the red eye from Hawaii is enough to make anyone want to nap all day. He slept most of Friday, and took another long nap on Saturday, and now he is all better.
George brought me six lovely t-shirts in nice colors that I will enjoy wearing to the health club, and which will see many trips to the washing machine. He went to the flea market and spent so much time choosing the right colors and designs that the seller became surly. I guess there are surly flea market salespeople everywhere...even in paradise.
He also brought candied pineapple, macadamia nuts, Hawaii calendars that were a big bargain at 5 for a dollar (who cares if no one needs another calendar), t-shirts for his grandkids and some really beautiful pearls for me.
On the way to work on Friday morning, he gave me a strand of beautiful brown pearls with a sterling clasp that I put right on. It was an exciting morning! He also bought me a strand of black pearls for me to hand knot, and another beautiful strand of mother of pearl which is white on one side and pearly gray on the other. I have never seen any beads like these, and they will be wonderful to work with. He is always thinking of me, and I was always thinking of him. I am awfully happy to have him back home.
We had a great time at the health club today. He went on my guest pass, and worked with the trainer. It was nice to share that together. Things are looking up!
Have a great day.
George brought me six lovely t-shirts in nice colors that I will enjoy wearing to the health club, and which will see many trips to the washing machine. He went to the flea market and spent so much time choosing the right colors and designs that the seller became surly. I guess there are surly flea market salespeople everywhere...even in paradise.
He also brought candied pineapple, macadamia nuts, Hawaii calendars that were a big bargain at 5 for a dollar (who cares if no one needs another calendar), t-shirts for his grandkids and some really beautiful pearls for me.
On the way to work on Friday morning, he gave me a strand of beautiful brown pearls with a sterling clasp that I put right on. It was an exciting morning! He also bought me a strand of black pearls for me to hand knot, and another beautiful strand of mother of pearl which is white on one side and pearly gray on the other. I have never seen any beads like these, and they will be wonderful to work with. He is always thinking of me, and I was always thinking of him. I am awfully happy to have him back home.
We had a great time at the health club today. He went on my guest pass, and worked with the trainer. It was nice to share that together. Things are looking up!
Have a great day.
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