Neither gone nor forgotten...

Despite having a fairly decent mental outline of post ideas, I just haven't felt like posting much these past couple of days. It is hard to post positively when you positively feel negative. I am working on it. Actually, I quite thought I was on pretty solid ground as far as "keeping on the sunny side" goes but turns out that I did not account for outside influences.

As I am writing this, I can say with all seriousness I can get why someone who wanted to dedicate their life to a spiritual end would find monkdom or nunnery (official or self-imposed) appealing. There is still human nature to deal with, but to some end everyone else at the abbey is on the same page as you are and that would certainly make it all easier wouldn't it. No spouse to breakdown, no kids to throw monkey wrenches, sounds pretty nice about now if you ask me.

Any suggestions on how to quit going to the dark side and stealing cookies?

Festive Fall Friday

The thing about giving is that it goes hand in hand with receiving. Oh sure, once upon a time, I was pretty skeptical myself about the ways of the world. Down right negative really but that is changing. I find myself getting back to a place I used to be, a happier place. I guess, I have been fortunate to be around some really great "teachers" over the past several months. It didn't just happen. I had to open myself up to it and no lying I've had to work at it. How's that old song go? Free your mind and the rest will follow.

What does any of this have to do with Festive Fall Friday? Well, I was getting there. The air around here is ripe with party vibes. For starters, it is homecoming weekend around here and it will be my daughter's first time going to a semi-formal dance. She and her friends have a bunch of plans and it's really hard not to become infected by their energy. It's cooled off a bit, it's sunny, it's going to be a great weekend AND my hubby managed to score tickets to the Oktoberfest preview party tonight!

I am excited. I am grateful. I would probably not personally buy tickets for the preview because I am thrifty and I don't know that I could justify the price of admission BUT higher powers so know me and are looking out for me. When I used to get wrapped up in how nothing was happening and everything was a struggle and no good ever comes to me...I'll be damned if that's how it was. I am very conscientious of the good now, and I make a point of acknowledging it whenever I can. So, yeah, the whole accentuate the positive, it definitely has merit.

My advice for the weekend? Stop worrying and start living, because living is the purpose of life.

Until we meet again...

Post from the middle of a good day

I am having a good day. Got a 98 on the USC pre-test at KMC, I'm thinking that should get me an interview and possibly the job. While I was off doing that my brother came over to hang out with my son. The end result? Both of them napping soundly.



~Circa Nov 2006~

 As I am writing this, my husband is in the beat laboratory mixin' it up. People have asked me how I can stand it and really at this point I hardly ever notice. It helps that he is talented and I have yet to hear anything that completely sucked. It's all music, no lyrics right now, so that also helps. I tend to grow weary of hearing the same sixteen bars over and over when he is working on something. Besides, I knew what I was getting into so I really can't complain. He should probably get back to his "real" job but hey, it's his lunch break.

I have to go grocery shopping this afternoon. I could probably stretch it out 'til tomorrow, but I hate the store on Fridays. I am super stoked because I have a buttload of coupons for things we actually use! Just last week, a friend posted some story of a tremendous coupon conquest which is great for her but a large majority of manufacturer's coupons are completely useless to me. A lot of them are for processed junk which we have worked really hard to eliminate. See, my hubby is on a fairly strict regimen of healthy eating. My daughter is a vegetarian. My son and I just go with the flow because I have no desire to be a short order cook in my own house.

Sooooo, I started pulling up the websites for the products we actually buy and wouldn't you know it I found coupons for quite a few of our favorites. Vegetarian items are quite expensive, and I really don't buy the arguement that it is because of demand. As I see it, if everything I used to have to trudge to the health food store can be found at Kroger then it's mainstream and the manufacturers really need to stop extorting the healthy eaters of the world. That aside I think I just might have to use my grocery savings on a little something for me.

I guess you really can get what you want :)

The Gift of Giving

I read an article about this in Woman's World a while back. At the time, I wanted to share it with a friend of mine who has MS but I guess I threw away the issue and I couldn't remember the details. Those pesky details have presented themselves again, so here it goes...

The story I read, which you can read here, is the story of Cami Walker and what led her to create 29 Gifts and the 29-day giving challenge. It is an interesting idea, a more structured random acts of kindness sort of site.

It is a oft overlooked idea, though. Somewhere along the lines, people have become so self-focused that their tunnel vision only fuels what ails them (IMO). Negativity, self-pity, wallowing...all of that will just eat at you like a soul cancer with your bitterness and resentments oozing like pus from your pores. (Sorry, if you were eating.) Focusing on all that is wrong really does only create more "wrong". It's is for sure how we have gotten to this place in society that is overwrought with douchebags and haters.

So, check it out, think about it, try it out. You don't have to spend a dime, you could spend the next twenty-nine days just being nice, polite, not an ass to people. Wow, think about how much better it would be in a month if people collectively just gave up their bullshit.

One other thing, if you are into online radio and podcast. Cami Walker will be on Unity Family Matters on Unity.fm on September at 1pm CT.

Until we meet again...

Gift giving Ninja skills

I don't remember where I heard about this site but I always thought it was a great idea. I know that I have been in places where I was willing and able to "help" someone that I know out, but to actually hand them the couple of bucks they needed would have caused more damage than good. I think everyone comes across situations in their own life where they would play fairy godmother if they could eliminate the awkwardness that sometimes comes along when you help someone out.

That's where Giving Anonymous comes in! Through GA, you can send a check to whomever you want, in what ever amount you want without revealing who you are. If the recipient wants to thank you, they are given an 800# to call, they can leave a message that will be emailed to you. What if they don't ever cash the check? No problem, GA will process a return of funds for you.

The site also provides an opportunity to give to total strangers which GA pre-screens for need.

I personally have not used GA...yet. I vaguely remember at the time that I found the site, I had someone in mind BUT I didn't know their exact address and so I never followed through.

It seems like aside from the financial boost, giving through GA would help someone spiritually. Think about how you feel when you find money. Ok, now think about how you feel when you find money at a time when you really needed it. I know that there have been times in my life that just ten bucks from anywhere would have renewed my faith in anything.

The name and artist of the song escapes me at the moment, but there is a song which sings:

I cannot do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good I can do.

Words to live by, and if I happen to find the song I will post it up here.

Until We Meet Again...

...The first step...

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." -- Confucius

I started this up sometime ago. It sat and sat without a single post. My original intention was skewed, so I couldn't post. What I was going to do wasn't me, it didn't feel right. Not this entire idea but aspects of my original plan. As always I wasn't listening, well, at least, not listening fully.

I prosper as I live a life of purpose. My friends, that is by far one of my favorite affirmations. So simple, yet so powerful because living with a purpose changes your perception of prosperity. There I was swimming in a sea of people ostensibly doing things with a purpose, but it didn't feel right. Since our definitions of prosperity were starkly different, so was our idea of purpose.

In that time, I started reading a book that I picked up at church: The Transcendent Life by Jim Rosemergy. There is a lot of good stuff in that book, quick and easy to read the meat of it. It is the 40-day guide that requires all the work. Also, in that timeframe, we were in the process of moving...a process that went much less smoothly than expected. So, I have all these things coming at me: moving, passive aggressive emails from the purposeful bunch, a hubby stressed out from all the mess of moving and a whirlwind of work changes, a daughter on the cusp of high school, a son who can climb into and out of his highchair and everything else in his path, can't find anything, living out of boxes, don't know what day it is, second degree oil burns up my arm, god this sucks, something needs to change, arghhhhh!

Flash forward to 1:05 PM EST on this beautiful September afternoon. I have removed all that was offensive to me on this blog page and have refocused on what is important. Am I perfect? Hells no. I'll be the first to admit I have a lot of work to do to be the person I was put here to be.

When I am not waxing and waning on whatever subject tickles me, I plan to share links and stories and whatnot that may be of use on this journey. Most, but not all links with be on the sidebar. There shouldn't be any ads on here, either. All my links are direct as possible to what I want you to see, and I am doing this for the purpose of doing it so I don't see the need to monetize my blog.

Until we meet again...