The Learning Curve

I guess I am a slow learner.

Having finally realized there is a learning curve for everything, I am free from the bondage of perfection.

Looking back I can see now that I gave up too quickly on many things.

Things that I've since returned to and found to be wonderful.

I missed out on them all these years.

The upside to my perfection is that I didn't continue to struggle with things for the wrong reason.

Sometimes the wisest thing you can do is 'give up'.

Having the wisdom to discern is key.

So treat yourself like a well loved friend or child.

I am often a cheerleader or offer the figurative cup of cold water to people in my life or who cross my path.

Giving myself the same kind treatment is a positive thing.

Give it a try.  You just might be amazed in the difference it can make in your life.

How Much Do We Owe Others and When Should We Walk Away?.

Read this link --it says everything I've been thinking of late.

 In case the link doesn't work, copy and paste below:

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/09/12/how-much-do-we-owe-others-and-when-should-we-walk-away/

Sprinkles Are Pretty

But they can make you feel like swearing.

Even if you are not a person who typically uses swearing words.

I warn you.  Do not eat sprinkles over or near your computer keyboard.

Especially the large hard round ones.

Why?

Well, they can wreck havoc when they bounce from your mouth and under a key.

The key, you see, won't work.  It can't go down.

To get your stuck key to work you must dislodged the sprinkle.

The round hard ones won't be smashed by forcing the key down.  

This I know this for a fact.

They are that hard.

They must be blown out.  Preferably with canned air.

But first, you might have to dislodged them with dental floss.

Once out from under the key, they tend to migrate to other keys.

So just when you think you are home free you find another key is stuck.

By one single solitary rock hard sprinkle. 


Which is no longer an object of fun and delight, as sprinkles tend to be. 

But one you want to cuss.

Eventually, in my case, I got the sprinkle out.

After much frustration.

And a lot of googling which yielded information on how to remove the key from the keyboard.

With the dire warning to not break it in the process.

Which would necessitate buying a new key board.

No prettily sprinkled food is worth the cost of a new keyboard.

 I vowed to never again eat a dipped and sprinkled pretzel while keyboarding.

At least not close to my keyboard.

I lean far away from it and hope the little balls don't bounce THAT far.

No Man is an Island

I guess they don't teach that in public high school anymore.  Listening to a morning program I heard a young musician--singer/song writer--say that because he had a new baby, he had to be careful about what he wrote NOW since his boy would grow up and be able to hear it.

WHAT ABOUT EVERYBODY ELSE'S KIDS PRIOR?  Honestly--he had no concern that what he wrote might be detrimental to them????

Granted, none of us are perfect and we are always more bothered about our own kids knowing our 'secrets' than some stranger's kids.  

But no man is an island, and we are our brothers' keeper.  And my brother, he ain't heavy.  So it's a small thing to do the right thing for the greater common good.

Only 43 Shopping Days Until Christmas

I miss the days when there was a nice down time between Halloween and Christmas. And when the Christmas decorations and mad rush didn't begin until we'd turned the page on the calendar to December.

We'd never have considered using a fake tree...and since a real tree wouldn't remain fresh very long--not even with daily watering--we were forced to delay the trimming of the tree which added to the anticipation, making the event a real treat when it finally arrived.

For quite a few years now when Christmas finally gets here I am sick to death of it. Sad I think.

That's the end result of commercializing what should be a holy day into a mega big bucks season.

I was at the super store this weekend perusing the Christmas section and overheard a five year old saying-- in disbelief-- 'they skipped Halloween too!". It tickled me. I imagine his mother had commented that they'd skipped Thanksgiving and because he didn't see any Halloween stuff he thought they'd skipped it as well. He could have rested easy though--it was all front and center in the store for the last minute shoppers hoping for a bargain or two hours before the big day.

While my blog is decorated for Christmas my home won't see any Christmas decor until the day after Thanksgiving at the earliest. In my world we follow the 'old' ways.

Should I find a great vintage nostalgic Thanksgiving background I will put it up.  Until then it's Christmas in my blog spot.

Choosing Life--the other side of the coin

I used to awake on Fridays and think "it's cleaning day.  Yuk".  And I'd rush through the job, hating it, just wanting it to be over and done for another week.

Then I was diagnosed with cancer.  In my spirit entered the stab of conviction and guilt.  And with that conviction followed by guilt came a moment of clarity.

I had wasted my life.

Each moment is a gift.  And I possess the gift of free will.  My choices are mine.  (As well I live in a free country where I can express my free will.  Praise God.) 

I had chosen to gripe and complain--I was a murmurer like the Israelites wondering in the wilderness! ( You can read the account in the Old Testament of the Bible.)

God gave them provision freely as they had requested, yet they were not satisfied.  Each morsel they ate was not received with thanksgiving in their heart, but with resentment and anger.  They ate and pointed their figurative finger at God as if to say 'you are not gracious'.  All the while they were showing themselves to be ingrates.

In my moment of clarity I realized I too had been an ingrate.  God had given me life, a home, a family, and the ability to care for--to enjoy-- all that provision.  Yet I complained.

On that day, in that moment, unknown to me how much time I had left on this earth I determined that I would never ever again complain about housework.  And I haven't.

I do it with joy in my heart, thankful that I am here, I am alive, with my family.  Mind you, were I able to pay someone to do it for me--I would!  And I would fill that free time with other joyful activity.

Joy is where you find it, where you will take it.  In every choice you must make, you can choose the way that is life giving or you can choose 'death'...death of your spirit, body or soul.

Having an intact physical body is a precious gift.  Using that body to create life is a demonstration of thankfulness.

How will you feed that body?  Healthfully?  Instead of thinking of it as denial or restriction, think of it as your choice--because it is!-- when you forgo those foods that don't nourish your body.  And don't be resentful.  It is your choice, your free will to eat or to not eat, to eat poorly or to eat well.

If you want choose death instead of life, so be it.   But do that with joy--if you can.  If you are gonna eat junk, overeat and burden your body with extra weight, let no one judge you in that--it is your free choice, your free will.  But quit beating yourself up.  And quit being resentful.  Why?  No one is doing it to you--you are doing it to yourself.

And should you realize you no longer want to travel that road that leads to death,  don't beat yourself up either.  Instead, change direction.  It may take time to get in the habit of choosing life, but if the desire is there you will succeed.

Countdown to FALL!

The Fall equinox--the day when light and dark are equal in hours--for 2010 is September 23.

Over at Brocante Home Alison listed some of her favorite seasonal scents. 

• coal fires
• chips wrapped in newspaper
• the top of  her little boy's head
• figs
• cinnamon bubble bath
• bacon sizzling on the grill
• line-dried washing
• green apples
• brown cake baking in the oven
• vanilla candle
• strong coffee

Now, don't you want to light a vanilla candle, whip up a cake and put on a pot of coffee?  Or go apple picking?  Or fry up some bacon in a pan for breakfast?  Or eat some deep fried hot fish and chips-- while it's dark and chilly outside and you're warm and cozy inside-- followed by that cinnamon bubble bath?

And freshly dried laundry from the line?..heaven scent, that's what it is--haven't had that luxury in years.  And a fire burning on the hearth.  Lovely.

For more goodness of the season head over to Brocante Home.  It never fails to delight.

My Newest Obsession

I may be in my second childhood here.  But I've 'discovered' paper beads.

Rubber stamping on beautiful paper is something I've been doing for a couple of years.  Trying to develop my craft I read a lot of internet sites that show paper crafts and when I came across a tutorial for making paper beads I had to try it.

And my paper of choice?  A McDonald's paper 'to go' sack.  Yep.

It had many colors on it--pinks/reds, blue, yellow, white...some polka dots, the text....all of that shows up in the beads.  And I was able to get enough beads out of my sack to make a bracelet.

At first making the beads--cutting the paper, rolling them, top coating them-- seemed a tad tedious....but somewhere along the way I developed a rhythm in the process and it became very soothing.  Time passes quickly and I don't want to stop making beads.  They look so pretty all piled up once rolled.

I have no idea how to make jewelry so my beads are strung onto elastic jewelry cord--no clasp necessary.  And it's easy to make any size needed.  Child size, adult size..whatever.

This would be a great craft for kids.  To my surprise there are adults who have made a business out of making and selling paper beads.  I guess there are other people out there who love them as much as I do.

This new hobby is a better pastime than being consumed by food and eating.  And it makes me wish I'd been exposed to arts and crafts growing up.  At best I can remember coloring some mimeographed picture with some crayons and cutting with rounded scissors and pasting--and eating the paste, which tasted like wintergreen.  But that was the extent of art for me.  Sadly the kids today are missing out as well.

Perhaps if we'd fill ourselves with arts and crafts and hobbies that empty place we try to fill with food wouldn't exist. Reading is good and watching television can be relaxing, but they are passive activities. We need to be doing--we need to be living..not reading about  or watching others' lives, but living our own life.

The take away here for all the dieters out  there is this:  if you hate exercise, get busy with a hobby that does appeal to you.  You may not be burning many calories but you will be filling your time with activities that don't involve food and eating.

Update

Not much to say here.  Still eating healthy and losing, albeit slowly.  Had some special eating including Mother's Day.  But the scale is going down, down, down, in two tenths increments...I don't count it though until it is a full pound, so I'm still at 11 pounds though I've lost more than 11...should be at 12 soon.

The thing that surprises me most is that the scale is down each time I weigh.  For the past 7 years it was down, then up considerably, then down, then up.  I kept losing the same pound or two over and over never making any progress.  There was no incentive to continue dieting.

My biggest change this time compared to the recent past is lower caloric intake overall, lots of fiber and trading out some foods for fat free foods.  Guessing my body is burning my fat since I'm cutting out some of the fat.  I still eat good fat, but small portions. 

I've learned to like mustard on my sandwiches as much as I like mayonnaise.  I haven't found a reduced or low fat mayo that is worth eating to me, so I go for the mustard.  Today I had a delicious sandwich for lunch--what could be simpler?--of 2 slices of 50 calorie high fiber bread, an ounce and a half of smoked turkey breast, a wedge of LCL cheese, lettuce, a sprinkling of dill weed and a smear of mustard.  All for 200 calories. 

Planning to report 12 pounds lost very soon.

Wasted

It's easy to see the folly of one who wastes his mind and life doing drugs.

But have you ever considered what a waste of time and life worry is?

There are some things you can't control-- period. Worrying about them is a total useless waste.

The things you can change? Do it. Quit worrying. Quit directing your energy to an activity that won't net a darn thing that is of any benefit to you or anyone else.

How long is it going to take you to quit worry, make change where it is reasonable and possible, and get on with you life?

Have a little faith. On earth if you drop something it falls down. If you hit your finger with a hammer it will hurt. There are natural laws that are in operation--laws that are complex and hard for some of us to understand or explain. But they operate nonetheless. I flip the light switch expecting the lights to come on. And they do. When they don't I know that the power is off or the bulb is burnt out. When all else fails I can call an electrician.

As a little girl I remember hearing a song by Doris Day. She sang 'que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be; the future's not ours to see, que sera'. As a child I had no idea what that meant. But it is truth. We only have so much power, the rest is not in our hands to control.

And if that bad thing does happen, well, you'll live. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and do the next thing, all the while grabbing onto faith, believing that there are better things ahead. Worrying that there are not keeps you stuck, rooted in that bad place.

Worry is like a rocking chair. It keeps you moving but takes you nowhere. So, quit worrying, focus your energy in a positive direction. Have a little faith.

The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.
Proverbs 16:33

FUN IN TEN

Instead of making resolutions for the new year I resolved to have fun this year. Fun is my byword for 2010. Accompanied by my fun will be beauty--they will go hand in hand. Let fun and beauty reign.

It doesn’t cost a fortune to have a beautiful life. Beautiful things can be had for mere pennies. Some can be had for free.

If you bother to look out a window and take in the vista, there is delight to behold and if you ponder over what you see, wonder may also be part of the experience.

Venture outside and pick a flower or a branch of leaves and bring it into your home. Place it in a clean jelly jar or a favored glass or cup. You do have some fun or lovely glasses and cups don’t you? No? Then remedy that a.s.a.p. If you are going to drink, do it from something that delights your senses. Function does not have to be devoid of beauty and wonderment.

Don’t neglect to beautify the inner person. For out of this inner self springs the fountain of you. Considering what goes in must come out, examine what you are filling yourself with.

Is it that which is lovely, kind, pure, of good report, of praise, of virtue, of mercy, of grace? This goodness will displace whatever makes you ill at ease, causes you discomfort, causes you to distress.

We all live with and must deal with stress. Stress in and of itself is not a bad thing. Dis-tress is the ill, and can make us ill. So if you stress, you are human. If you are distressed you are weighted down, burdened, filled with care.

I love to begin my day with a prayer of thanksgiving, spilling from my heart onto my lips, heavenward--a whisper in God’s ear acknowledging his beneficence. A prayer as simple as breathing--in and out.. Natural--no fancy words or utterances. Just pure, plain and simple. I do not have to cloak my being in words, for God reads my heart. I need not even form my words. He knows me intimately. But he delights in hearing my utterances which are a testament of my belief, of my faith.

A good cup of coffee--or tea, a candle lighted to dispel any darkness or gloom, and music to soothe my soul--all these are good things, a good beginning to prepare oneself for inner beautification. A hefty dose of the Rx for all that ails me--meditating on, reading of God’s word--the Bible--which is his revelation of himself, his promises, his statutes and declarations--is medicine for the soul. It is the mirror. What shall I see in its reflection. A mask? Or the real me, uncovered, bare, devoid of pretense?

Attending to the needs of the day--the urgent and the important--with a slow grace, one that acknowledges all is ultimately in God’s hands--he is my pilot--allows me to function with grace and ease, full of joy and peace. I am his passenger, along for the ride, the journey, the adventure of a lifetime, my life.

This is the stuff of life--the abundant life--promised by Jesus who said he came to give us ‘life, abundant life’. He came not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved.

Take, drink, feast, delight. His yoke is easy, his burden is light. Learn of him. He is life. Abundant life, beautiful and free.

I know of no other way that is as wonderful. Is your life wonderful? Are you really living?

There is time and way to make change. Begin now. Make haste. Life is fleeting. Put the cup to your lips. Taste and see that the Lord is good, life is good. Change what you can; accept even embrace what you can’t change. This is your lot, you assignment, part of your unique curriculum. Don’t envy others their lot. For it was designed especially for them by their Creator. He doeth all things well.

Now, pass it on--share your joy, your love, your fun, your beauty and see how it grows and multiplies, becoming more than you ever dreamed or imagined. To life! To love! To joy! To beauty! To fun! And praise be to God from whom ALL blessings flow. Amen.

2010 Handbook

A friend sent me a forward with this great list of suggestions for 2010. I'm posting it here 'cause I think it's that good-- it needs sharing. ( Note: I tried to line this up--like I was taught in school, but blogger has a mind of its own, so I gave up.)

HANDBOOK 2010

Health

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in a factory.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society

25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life

32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come..
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Final Day of 2009

The last day of this year dawns. Outside it's gray and cold. Inside there is cheer and warmth.

Looking back over the year, it's been one of change mostly. But there were many many blessings, for which I am thankful to my God, who is beneficent--a loving God, who is wise and kind and who promises, to direct my paths if I will trust in Him.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV

Where will my paths lead in 2010? I have no certainty, though I have some generalized idea. But where ever they lead I can go, knowing that I am being directed...knowing that the trials and tribulations of life are not 'for nothing'.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1.

We may look at life and commiserate as King Solomon did here:

I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?

³I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

⁴I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:

⁵I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:

⁶I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:

⁷I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

⁸I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

⁹So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

¹⁰And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

¹¹Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

¹²And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

The King, who was exceedingly wealthy and had everything and had experienced everything found it all lacking. His summation--there is nothing new under the sun, there is nothing left..it is all vanity, all empty.

How sad. Perhaps you feel that way at times as well. Many are often depressed at Christmas or following Christmas, owing in part, I think, to the 'largeness' of the holiday. It is, after all, 'the most wonderful time of the year'. But I think we come away feeling empty because, just as with Solomon, the 'stuff' of Christmas is for the most part vain. When we fail to celebrate the real reason for the season it is highly likely we will feel a letdown at some point.

Solomon finally concluded this:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

¹⁴For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Let us learn from the wise King Solomon.

Fear God. This does not mean 'be afraid of God'. The definition for fear as used here is this: extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power. In other words, revere God. He is supreme. He is power. Hold him in awe. Look to him, trust him.

Keep his commandments. This means do what he says to do, follow his direction, don't lean to your own understanding, your own thinking, but seek his.

There are many paths. One path leads to life, all others to destruction.

If you look to God and follow his direction you can rest assured, you will be walking the path that leads to life.

May this be a year of great blessing. With Tiny Tim I say "God (would you please) bless us everyone."

Decorating For Christmas

"She sifted powdered sugar over the great platter of beautifully brown crisp doughnuts . . . she cleaned the fine old family silver, and got out the best long tablecloth to look it over for possible breaks, counted out the napkins, and arranged everything in order in the sideboard so that the dinner tomorrow would be assembled with the least possible effort . . . .

Grace Livingston Hill, The Substitute Guest

Sounds lovely doesn't it? But a bit removed from your harried life?

Here's a little holiday embellishment advice that might give aid to your own efforts, encourage, possibly inspire you to the task of making ready for the Christmas season.
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Take a page from Allison's BrocanteHome puttery treats. She says:

"I like to think of Christmas decorating as a process of layering, culminating in the decorating of the tree and the lighting of the lights in mid December. Start with scent. Spray a little Christmas into the air. Play Christmas music. Patch cushions and old blankets with floral jingle bells or snowflakes. Add pine cones to a bowl-ful of shiny red apples.Wrap soap in vintage Christmas Hankies and pile into a footed dish. Add a little Christmas to every surface in the house before you begin to decorate."

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More good advice from Anna at Pleasant View Schoolhouse , from her post Decorating Without Clutter:

"I like the house to look dressed for Christmas, but I don't like a lot of extra things strewn around. Too busy for my eye, too crowded to live with. Instead of *adding* Christmassy things, I like to edit the house to make it look festive. The stack of dishtowels folded by the sink? If I take out the blue and yellow ones and tuck them away for the month, I have a stack of red and white. Topped with a useful tub of peppermint hand cream, this looks deliberately Christmassy.

A quick switch of quilts, from autumn colors to the red-and-white schoolhouse quilt.

One cutting of red geranium turns a pot of basil into a holiday decoration.

Pure white flowers in the living room.

By putting away all my pink and blue aprons, and pulling out my three vintage Christmas aprons, my hanging display is deliciously decorative.

A stack of red books on the coffee table."