45 Lessons

My mom sent me this e-mail today and there are some great thoughts here. I enjoyed a lot of them and so I decided to share this with everyone that reads my blog. The original source can be found here. Enjoy!!

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Overprepare, and then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness, except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of whom God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative--dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Friendship

Today I feel thankful for wonderful friends. Have you ever had the experience where you talk with a friend and after the conversation is over you feel MUCH better about a lot of things? That happened to me again this week and I still feel like I have a permanent smile on my face because of it. I'm just thankful for those kind of experiences. :)

For the last little while I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my friendships and about how I am as a friend. I used to be excellent at keeping in touch with people. Really, I was! But then some events happened in my life and keeping in touch with people, unfortunately, was pushed to the back burner. Since then, I have not been as good with keeping in touch with friends and I feel so sad about that! I feel like these friends of mine think that I don't care, when in all reality, I do care!! I just haven't been as good with letting them know that. So if you're reading this and you're one of "those" friends who hasn't heard from me in forever, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I've been so bad that way. I really am going to be better about it!

This has all come up because for the first time in a long time, I've had a desire to really be social again. It's not that I've avoided social situations, but I just haven't felt as enthusiastic about them as I once did. I used to have plans for EVERY weekend of a month and I was always on the go and always traveling. I'm not that way so much anymore. I absolutely love being at my home and for a long while, that feeling caused me to wonder if I was turning in to some kind of hermit! That's not the case, I've learned. :) The reality is that I just like to have a nice balance...I like to enjoy social times and I like to have time alone, too. I do not like being super busy. Being overscheduled really does wear me out in many aspects of my life and I just don't care for the feeling I get when I'm overscheduled and overwhelmed. But when that does happen, I've learned that it's okay to counter those situations with some quiet time by myself. Of course, it's inevitable that some days/weeks will be just plain 'ol busy, but I know now that it doesn't have to be a consistent pattern. It's my choice, for the most part, how my schedule works itself out. But I'm just truly thankful lately for feeling like I've had enough of a balance in my life that the desire to have social time with friends has greatly increased. That truly is a good feeling. :)

So, thank you to all of my friends who have dealt with some of my days of withdrawal and for understanding that it was never anything personal! :) I look forward to future phone conversations and person-to-person visits with you!! I intend to make sure that you know that I do care for you and that it's not just words I say. So, put on the pot for tea (or in my case, for hot chocolate!), because I'm coming over to visit!!!! :o)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

From me and Pepe Le Pew & Penelope...
Have a Happy Valentine's Day!!! :o)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pepe & Penelope, here's a couple of little videos for you...Penelope is really a cat that accidentally takes on the appearance of a skunk. Pepe has no other feelings about it other than he's totally in love with her (he has NO idea she's a cat)!! Of course, she doesn't want a STINKY SKUNK chasing after her because she's a CAT!!! :) Here's a couple of silly stories about them...

Stamps = Price Change!!

May 11 is the change (again!) of the price of stamps! Just FYI!!! :)

http://www.usps.com/prices/pricechanges.htm

I *heart* yoga!!!

*sigh* After a seven year absence, I have finally returned to the world of yoga...and I still LOVE it just as much as I did when I first began to do it!!!! I loved it seven years ago and I have always highly recommended it to people, but because of time and laziness, I quit going. The local gym (Curves for Women) that I go to, though, has just started having a yoga instructor come two times a week and it just so happens that the Monday night class time fits in with my schedule! So, after a month of saying I'd go, I finally went. When the class was over, I just felt thrilled to "be there" again and to be participating in something that I absolutely love! Yoga is not for everyone, but if you've never tried it before, I strongly recommend that you give it a shot. After the hour long class was finished, I felt relaxed, exercised, uplifted, centered, encouraged and just plain 'ol good! :o) This is one exercise where I truly understand the idea of picking an exercise you love to do...it makes a WORLD of difference!! So go and try yoga sometime! I don't think you'll regret it! :)

PS - As an update to the previous post, I have made the decision to just stay where I am for another year and pay off some debt, save a little money and just see what the economy does. I hope to get in an extra trip or two this year with going up to visit the family, but I don't know how much that would help the "save a little money" aspect of my goals, so I'm not sure how things will work out. :) However, I do believe that everything will work out just as it should...so please remind me of this statement when (if!!) I'm singing the blues about decisions made! :o)

Stinkiness.

Why is it that when I finally decide that I'm ready to move back to my home state and be closer to family again, the dumb economy takes a nose dive?!?! Errg. I realize that there ARE people who are moving around and switching jobs and that it's not hopeless, but seriously...why couldn't the economy have just held on for a year or two more so that I could relocate with ease? Double errg.

So, fellow blog readers, I'm asking for your thoughts on this. My question for you involves a little detail, so it's rather lengthy, but I want your opinions and I hope you'll give them to me. Here we go...

I love my current job. There are some things, as with any job, that make me just shake my head, but for the most part, I really do enjoy the work that I do. However, my family is 19 hours away from me!!! NINETEEN!!!! And that's starting to become a little too far away. I have finally made it to a point where I feel ready to close the chapter on my adventure to the wild west and relocate so that I'm living closer to my family again, but as I have already mentioned, the economy has tanked (as we're all aware of) and now I'm hesitant to relocate. What would you recommend? Would you recommend that I stay where I am for another year, pay off more debt, save a little more money and then relocate? (Another year would also give us a better idea of how the economy is going to be.) OR...do you think that I should just take a chance and relocate? Do you think that if I find a job that I might like (not necessarily love...how can anyone know that about a job before starting it??? :) and it pays enough that I can live on, should I go for it? Should I take that kind of chance with the economy being as bad as it is? After all, a move puts me at the bottom of the totem pole again, so if layoffs needed to happen, I may be one of the first ones to go! But...if I miss my family enough, shouldn't I just go for it and hope for the best?? What do YOU think? I'm really curious to hear!! :)

Thanks for your thoughts! And feel free to remain anonymous, if you'd like! I don't care! :)

Resolution Check-up

Well, folks, it's February 3rd. I was sitting in my office today, mulling over a few things about life and I thought about my new year's resolutions and I realized something...I barely remember what they are!! Remember this big 'ol post with all of these things I wanted to achieve? Well, I decided to revisit them today and see just how well I've done since that day back in December when I felt so inspired! Here are my updates:

1. Cook more meals at home. This one has not gone at ALL as planned. I'm terrible at sitting down at the beginning of the week to plan out my meals and if I don't do that, then I don't cook. If I know what to prepare for, then I'm usually okay. So, I need to be better at planning.

2. Restrict my eating out at restaurants to 1-2 times per week and that includes weekends. (And, yes, this one is subject to have an additional meal added (Ex. 1-3 times per week), depending on what I discover in my "eating out tracking" that I plan to do over the next couple of weeks. :) I honestly feel like I've done really well with this. It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. However, that may be because I'm in this phase of being tired of restaurants...yup, I agree...I'll just go with that one right now. :)

3. Cut out music, movies and TV. I feel rather embarrassed to admit that the movie/TV thing has gotten a bit out of control. But maybe, by admitting it, I can leave it behind and maybe you can help me to be more honest with that!! :) (And, no, I do not have a TV, but the internet is an "amazing" tool!) I just think that there are too many "things" around me that hinder my quiet time and I am going to cut those things off completely. I want to be deeper in my spiritual service and these pieces are hindering me, sadly enough. Occasional exceptions to the music portion...instrumental music. And, of course, hymns are allowed at any time. This has been going a LOT better, too. It's quite difficult, however, to get through a day of work without some type of music playing!! Sometimes I just get tired of the chatter and noise going on around me and the music helps to drown that out. So, I might just relax about the music end of it while I'm AT work, but then outside of work, just cut back.

4. Read all of the books that currently own a place on my bookshelves at home BEFORE I go out and purchase any more or check out any more from the Library. Once I have read all the books I currently own, then I will be free to return to the stores and libraries. No exceptions to this one! I've purchased these books for a reason, so now it's time to READ them!! Number of books that I have purchased in the last week: six. But I am reading books that I have had on my shelves for a couple of years now, so that's a plus!! My rule for myself was that I couldn't read the NEWLY purchased books until the older, untouched books were read. So...it's about 50/50 right now on this one!! :)

And how are YOU doing with your resolutions? I just thought that it would be a good idea to check in and get realigned with what I wanted to do! So, in this second month of 2009, I will try again!!! :)