Doggie Sarcasm

We have a very strict policy of 'No Dogs On The Furniture' (insert HUGE tongue in cheek here).

Today Otis decided he was not only going to flaunt the rules, he was going to blow a raspberry at them. 

Exhibit A to your left.  Notice how he is stretched out on his back (under the ceiling fan, of course) laying ACROSS the bed, up at the headboard.

King of the castle/dirty rascal syndrome. 
I love my dog.

My Ode to Joy

I love learning new things.  Each day I like to unearth a new little nugget and be able to say 'You're my learned something new today'.

I remember reading Zig Ziglar and Earl Nightengale at quite a young age; I attribute this gift to my Dad as he never preached self help, but I was always consciously aware of it through him.  I remember he would wake us up in the morning saying "Good morning!  I feel happy!  I feel healthy!  I feel terrific!" 

Now having had an interest in this topic over the years, I found that I received a momentary boost at the time, but a lasting change from what I was reading seem to elude me until recently.

I picked up a book called 'The Astonishing Power of Your Emotions'.  The recommendation was 'anything written by these authors'.  I flew through it as if page after page was speaking directly to ME.  I couldn't believe how this information was resonating with me.  I then picked up Ask and It Is Given (same authors) and once again found myself racing through the pages, nodding yes to myself at what I was learning.

I have since read everything by these authors and am now reading something they mention in one of their books by another author and am, yet again, enthralled by what I am learning.  This has changed how I look at things, how I react to things, how I feel about things at my core level.

I feel forever changed by what I am learning.  Like I finally have a user manual for myself and all that is.  I feel liberated from pettiness.  I feel that everywhere I look there is something for me to appreciate, I just have to open my eyes & ears and there it was all along just waiting for me to wake up and notice its beauty.

Being reminded it is just as easy to reach for a compliment as it is a derogatory feeling.  It is just as easy to appreciate something as it is to criticize.  And the best part is with every appreciative thought I reach for, another seems to fall in place behind it and then another and then another until I am overflowing with amazing feelings of well-being. 

I have been brought to tears just thinking appreciatively about someone or something and how much I love them while doing this.  It is as if my heart swells and my spirit sings when I intentionally look for the best around me; I am instantly rewarded with fantastic feelings.

You know those first moments of 'new love' feeling?  That's how I feel when I look around me.  So blessed to be in this lifetime, with these people, with these puppies - I am surrounded by well-being and am finally cognizant of it.

So, thank you to Dad for having little gems of 'you can do it' in our childhood and thank you to Mom for being an everyday reader.  I believe the combination of the two has led me to where I am now and I am eternally grateful.

Abbracci Gratis

I love hugging.  My sister Debbie sent me this link to a video of people holding up signs that say Free Hugs and showing the responses they received. 

Apparently it is the brainchild of a man named Juan Mann "whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.  A simple heartfelt idea that makes a beautiful statement of the spirit of our humanity." www.freehugsmovement.org

In this age of 'stranger danger' and stalkers, where we are taught not to touch that or breath on another, it seems the physical space between us is fast becoming a chasm.  The want to reach out to others is tentative at best so todays message is to the huggers out there. 

The slight huggers.  The one-armed huggers.  The hug and squeezers.  The hug and back rubbers.  The two arms wrapped all the way around, laughing in your ear huggers.  The lift you off the ground they're so happy to hug you huggers.  This message is to them.  Keep hugging.  Thank you for putting yourself out there and risking rejection just to touch another's heart for an instant.  To help another loosen the restraint they have on their emotions.

To other huggers it is so very welcome. To the shy amoung us it is unexpected but usually well received.  To the Don't Touch Me crowd, it won't hurt long; you just may surprise yourself and like the oh-so-brief moment of connection you got to share with a complete stranger.  To those who have no one left in their lives to hug them on a regular basis, what a gift you have given them.

So very well placed at the end of the video (turn on your speakers):

For one moment our lives met, our souls touched     - Oscar Wilde

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN8CKwdosjE&feature=player_embedded

Dani Questions

My lovely niece had some questions ( click here for her blog http://danisletters.blogspot.com/). 
Here are my answers:

1. When and where would you like to be right now?
       Where I am, doing what I am.  I am looking to be more present in everything I do.  So, whether it is enjoying the ride to wherever I am going, reading or even having a nap, I want to enjoy it all.

2. What's your favorite thing ever? (It can be anything.)
       The list grows every day as I am a girl and we have more than one of just about anything (shoes, purses... anyone?  Anyone?)

3. Why should I vote for you to be the president?
       Please don't vote for me for President.  The press is too invasive and I value my privacy too much.

4. How do you remember appointments and such? (I need some tips from this one.)
      My favorite way is to have my phone synced with my computer.  As I enter appointments in either the phone or the computer, as they sync, they are both updated and will both give me appointment reminders.  Easiest one I've learned yet.

5. Would you rather stop hunger or homelessness?
      Homelessness.  If people had a home, they could grow their own veggies in a very small space so, in my mind, this would help both situations.  That and I couldn't imagine sleeping on the streets.  It must be very scary for them.

6. Do you like things to be clean? As in SPOTLESS. (I know a few people like that...)
       I like things to be that way.  Do I like making them that way.  Noooooo.  I wouldn't mind paying someone to do it for me, though.

7. What would be your universal symbol? (Like with Batman, it was a bat. Obviously.)

              

A hot glue gun.




8. What's your motto?
       All that Glitters...

9. Would you wave back to somebody on the freeway?
       No.  It leads to men following you for miles.

10. When do your ideas come to you?
       All the time.  I like to have a pencil and a notepad with me all the time as I like to write and good ideas come all the time.  I am aspiring to a voice recorder as it is so much faster.

Inner Workings

In this story I'm creating, a man and woman who have yet to meet have been writing back and forth. He is a chemistry professor who (I think) believes he is the smarter of the two.  After a back and forth about simplifying life (her stance on why salt should be on the periodic table of the elements as SaLt instead of Na Cl - they are both four letters, she reasons, her way would be much easier) he receives this from her and considers re-evaluating his opinion about those with a Ph.D and those without.

I am going to let you in on a secret that could have my 3" heels revoked for revealing. What I am about to share with you is the Inner Workings of a woman's mind. No man gets a copy of this map, so don't go passing this around or posting it on the Internet. A few brave souls have learned some of it, but it's usually after two expensive divorces and at least one heart attack.

As you can imagine, most men are not attracted to a woman's mind, so I don't normally attach a picture of my brain (does this shot of my brain make my cranium look fat?). And I NEVER attach the key to the map. This is a first. Some items are Universal to Women and some are Woman Specific.

The Question Mark represents things we are willing to admit we don't know. Notice the verbiage. This is not necessarily that which we don't know, just that which we are willing to admit to not knowing. This area is not usually this large in most women, but I am a forward thinking woman. Things I don't want to know or learn also get stored here. Hidden in the depths of this area is the true meaning of why salt is listed as Na Cl and as a woman, I am honor bound to leave it there.

The Diamond represents my ability to be instantly, and sometimes mid-sentence, distracted by bright shiny objects -  the sparkling, twinkling sights and lights of Christmas are especially hazardous for my attention span. Rapid change of subjects are also stored in this location.

Which leads us to The Shoe. This represents my ability to spot cute shoes on sale at 20+ paces, with or without my glasses. This ability is not limited to shoes. Especially during the holidays, this section of the brain has been working overtime since July, constantly on the subliminal hunt for that perfect little intake of breath moment, of 'You shouldn't have' Christmas morning. There is not a dollar minimum or maximum (within reason) to this section as handmade/homemade/from the heart is often far more precious than gold. Or fine Italian leather, as the case may be.

The Lips represent my spoken and written ability to laugh/tease/cajole or verbally horsewhip as the occasion warrants. As I would much rather use my powers for good instead of evil, the last rarely makes an appearance as I would rather kill with kindness. That being said, I do not like confrontation, but will not run from it. The amount of caffeine coursing through my veins will determine the rate at which these words tumble forth. I do have an Internal Edit Button, but it is extraordinarily dusty, smaller than my G-spot & harder to find, and buried under 30 years of issues. (It's not to late to run screaming, you know).

The Heart, of course, represents, the heart of a woman. This represents the fires we would walk through for those we love. The tears shed for pound hounds that worm their way into your heart when you're not looking and change your life for the better in so many ways. I find this section of my brain squishing into the alternative areas that were delineated for other purposes as the more I give, the more I receive and I am blessed with some of the most amazing people in my life.

The Apple is for the teacher and is making a special guest appearance today on our map.

Self Improvement is in there somewhere, but as the book on procrastination hasn't been finished yet, an icon has yet to be assigned.

What???

I love word mix-up stories.  They are like a favorite pair of jeans that fit perfectly and never go out of style.

For years at Christmas one of our favorite Christmas carols was 'God rest ye, Gerry Mendelbaum'.  I never thought to ask, I didn't know where it came from, it was just a long-standing family inside joke. 

Finally, a couple of Christmases ago I asked my Mum just where that had originated.  She laughed and said 'You girls'.  Apparently, that's what the three of us sang when we were little whenever that particular Christmas song was sung, never realizing we had it all wrong.

Same age bracket, different offender.

SweetBabyGirl is about four years old and we're eating dinner at a pizza place one night when someone orders pie a la mode for dessert.  Delicious pie with a big old scoop of ice cream melting down the top of it arrives.  Eyes as big as saucers, fork in hand, digging in, BabyGirl is in heaven.

Fast forward a couple of months and we are back at the same restaurant.  Dinner is finished, the waitress is back to ask if anyone would like dessert and SweetBabyGirl (enunciating very clearly) states "I would like pie and a load, please".

Pie and a load it has remained.

She is so delightful.

I'd Like To Teach The World to Sing....

I like old commercials that stick with you.

I love the coffee commercials at Christmas where the kid makes it home for Christmas morning and wakes the parents up with the smell of coffee wafting up to their bedroom.

Or the Clydesdale beer horses playing in the snow. The beer companies usually break out the big guns in time for Superbowl so it’s fun to guess which commercials will be around for a few years - you have a pretty good idea which ones won’t be shown again come Monday morning.

Or, and this one will take you waaaaay back. The commercials for the Mrs. Beasley doll with her blue and white polka dotted outfit and glasses. Pull her cord and … “If you were just a little smaller I could rock you to sleep.” Oh my goodness!

“I’m a Pepper, she’s a Pepper, he’s a Pepper, they all Peppers, wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper, too? Be a Pepper, drink Dr. Pepper.”

I think my all time favorite oldie has to be the Coke commercial from years ago “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony. I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company, that’s the song I hear”… (I can still see the people sitting on the hill swaying back and forth singing).  Come on, admit it. You were singing along by the time the first four words registered, weren’t you?

You will, undoubtedly, be cursing me at some point later today when you find yourself singing a jingle from way back ("They're Greeeaaat!!!"  Oops, sorry.  That's a slogan, not a jingle).  But you’ll probably have a little smile on your face at the same time, so it’ll be worth it!

Madam President

I love how smart SweetBabyGirl is.  My niece Danielle just finished her last day of school today.  She was asked to come to 'the office' and when she got there she was awarded the Superintendents Award for academic excellence.

I love that she tries so hard and it shows in the grades she receives and the amazing comments on her performance from her teachers.  I love how her teachers recognize her effort and create extra tasks for her so she won't get bored or stop trying because it's too easy for her.  Let's hear it for her fantastic teachers!

I love that she is the President of the National Junior Honor Society.  Although we now have to address her as Madam President and I have to learn how to play Hail To The Chief on my accordion - still ... totally worth it.

So, here's to you, BabyGirl.  Keep reaching for the stars and always believe in yourself.  You are creating your reality and you are doing an extraordinary job.  We are all so very proud of you and all you do.

Love,
Auntie
xoxoxo