Friday, November 30, 2007

Whatever.

It seems that blogger has changed the specs of the current layout that I have, so my lovely snowman picture is being cut off. Well, whatever. I'm not up for dealing with it today, so I'm going to continue eating my breakfast doughnut and not worry about it. I just want to apologize to you, the reader, for having to deal with half a snowman. Sometimes there are things in life that need to be dealt with but the current moment is just not the time to do so. :)

Friday, November 23, 2007

Ok, so I have a confession.

Well, folks, we did it. Another Thanksgiving has passed. I hope it was wonderful for you!! :) But now I have a little confession to make...I seriously love everything about the Christmas season and I'm thrilled that it's that time of year again! :) I love the music, the lights, the cold days, the egg nog, the family time, the Christmas concerts...*sigh*...I love it all! Well, except tacky Christmas music, but that's for another blog! ;) So, here I go! For the next 4 1/2 weeks, I will be soaking it all up. Care to join me?!? :)

Really, now that Thanksgiving is over, it seems, to me, like fall is really over and we are FULL swing into the Christmas season and into winter. Even the temperature outside is letting us know that winter is here!! We've been below zero every night and barely making it into the 20s in the day time. That's why I've changed the look of my blog. I want it to be more winter like. :)

It's crazy, though, to think of how quickly this year has gone! I think all of you know that I work at the UW here in town and our students only have TWO more weeks of classes before finals week and then their month-long Christmas break! WOW!! I just can't believe that it's that time of the semester again! So, the next two weeks will fly by and we'll all be scrambling to finish things up for the semester. Here we go!!! :o)

Here's your funny for the day. As I was looking on the web for different winter pictures, I came across this cartoon and it made me laugh out loud:
Sick, isn't it? But it made me laugh. :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!



Saturday, November 10, 2007

Reflection...and a time for thankfulness.

Update (11.19.07): Seriously, everyone, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!

I've been in a reflective mood for a few days now and I have been pondering a lot of things about life. Here's what has been my most recent line of thought...

Do you know those moments that you experience where everything in life is just perfect and you are blissfully happy? Are you remembering just how you feel in that moment? "Just content." Yeah. I long for more of that.

That particular longing, though, has got me to thinking about some lessons I've learned. Really, who wouldn't want to be perfectly content like that all the time?! But we all know that it's not reality. Life happens and nothing is perfect. But who says that things aren't good? It reminds me of a definition that I heard one time about contentment. It was said that, "Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have." Someday, I hope to be truly living out that definition on an hourly basis.

But thinking of that got me to thinking about an experience of mine. About a year after I was diagnosed with cancer, I decided to go see a counselor. I was living in a world of fear and I was dealing with some severe anger and depression and the whole nine yards. During this counseling, one of my little projects was to create some positive thoughts so that I could work on positive reinforcement. I ended up coming up with the idea of creating an index card for each day of the month with one positive thought on it. Then, what I would do is carry one card around with me during the day and I would keep pulling it out and repeating the thought on that card to myself for the day. At the end of the day, I would put the card at the back of the pile and put a new one in my purse for the next day. It did wonders for me! Eventually, though, I put those cards away, knowing that I was doing much better.

However...every once in awhile I start to feel like I need to be reminded about what I should be thankful for. So, here's the deal...

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, let's start listing things that we are thankful for. Add to the list as many times as you'd like and then think about those things every day!! I will keep this post up for awhile and hopefully people will post comments to it and then if you need a lift for your day, just come here and read some comments. Maybe that will help you to take another step in your "blue" day. :)

Here is what I am thankful for:

* That my cancer didn't kill me...and that I feel like I've been given a second chance.
* That I feel like I have a good awareness of the brevity of life.
* That I can read (because there are a LOT of good books out there!!!). :o)
* Things or people that make me laugh. I love that. :)
* My family. Some days I am in awe over how spectacular (and special!) my family is.

So, there you go. I could go on and on, but I want YOU to keep adding to this list! Let your voices be heard! Tell us what YOU are thankful for!