Perfectly Imperfect

The Color Run 2012

2012-01-27T14:49:00.000-08:00

Doesn't this look fun? I so want to do this. I am going to try to do it with my sister and nephew. You get powdered pigment thrown on you for each kilometer you run up to 5k. There will be one of these in 18 cities starting in San Diego and finishing in Fla. Ours here in Nashville is on Oct 11.

Check out the you tube video and come join me!

2012-01-22T14:16:00.000-08:00

I have enjoyed all of Lisa See's books but I think I like this one and Shanghai Girls best.
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I really enjoyed this one as it takes place during the Chinese Revolution in the 1950's.I find that my favorite character in both books has been Pearl. I admire Pearl's character for her strength and her love of her child. I think with Joy's character she sees herself come full circle.
I feel Lisa See does really well in depicting a sense of place and time in history and helps us to see parts of the Chinese culture in ways we might not otherwise.I also think that she can take a time in history and place us there and help us to see what those who lived through it were like. I found that after reading this book that I have a keener understanding of how China became such an international industrial state.

I think this is a very good read for anyone who enjoys and good historical fiction book.

This review from Good Reads:In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and, most recently, Shanghai Girls, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the potent bonds of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in her most powerful novel yet, she returns to these timeless themes, continuing the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy.Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the communist regime. Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy’s and Pearl’s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China’s history threatens their very lives.Acclaimed for her richly drawn characters and vivid storytelling, Lisa See once again renders a family challenged by tragedy and time, yet ultimately united by the resilience of love

2012-01-20T03:55:00.000-08:00

I am up early waiting for the phone to ring as I am on call today at work. It is my least favorite part of work as you can't plan anything on this day other than sitting by the phone waiting to have to go to work.

Oregon especially Western Oregon is on my mind because they are having very bad flooding the worst since the mid 90's and as most of you after having lived there 5 years this place holds a special place in my heart.

Today I am:

Tasting : Diet Coke which is my way to start the day. I have never really like coffee.
Listening: to the quiet of the house with everyone asleep.
Touching: a fleece blanket that keeps me warm on the couch
Watching:Coast Guard Alaska on dvr. I find of late I love all the shows filmed in Alaska.
Reading: Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
Outside: it is cold with stars brightly shining. I love winter nights
Inspired by: Karen Russell (please go read her most recent post and follow her link to Momastery)
Smelling : my fake scentsy wax warmer from Wal-Mart that smells like Vanilla.
Wishing: for snow on a weekend that hubby and I don't have to work.
Thankful: that hubby got a job working for the state with benefits.
Anticipating :Springtime.
Dreaming of: going to the beach this summer in either Flordia or North Carolina.

Thoughts on a Sunday

2012-01-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

Thoughts for Sunday . I think this is as good as any sermon on what is important in life!

Click on picture to make it pop out larger.

Goals, Plans and Wishes

2012-01-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

Isn't this beautiful? It is on the island of Oahu in Hawaii! Why you may ask do I show you?I show you because it combines a goal, a plan and a wish.

Here in the south there is a church on every corner and most have a sign out front that has a quote on it.One I saw just last night said : A goal without a plan is just a wish.This really struck home with me and made me stop and think about what my goals are and how do I plan to reach them.

One of my goals I have set for myself this year is to Move More and Eat Less to become more healthy and fit. It is not necessarily a diet but a lifestyle change which I know will take years not days or weeks. I want to change my unhealthy lifestyle to a healthier one because I want to feel better and not be so tired all the time. I want to Explore (my word for the year) a more healthier way of life.

In that context one of my goals that I have set for myself is to do 2 5 K's, 2 10 K's and beginning training for a half marathon by 2013. I want to be able by my 50th birthday in 2014 To be able to hike this trail in the picture above without getting out of breath with my niece and nephew.It will include a goal(to be healthier and fit), a wish( to see this place and experience it actively ) and a plan ( listed above). It also contains one of my passions which is travel.

I feel like that over the past couple years but especially the last year that I have been existing not really living but just going through the motions and I want to live again to explore the joys of life. I want to find my simple joys in life that make me feel alive and happy which are travel, family, nature and books. I also want to explore my faith and grow deeper in it.

I also want to say thanks to all who prayed for me and my hubby. I passed my test which was such a relief as if I had not passed it I would have lost my job and hubby is in final stages of hiring process so please keep him in your prayers.I know that when I saw that I had passed this test it felt as though a weight was lifted off me because I knew that we would still be able to pay our bills and keep our health insurance.

I am continuing with my 1000 gifts:

37. For prayers that really work.
38.For the joy of catching snowflakes on my tongue
39. For the beauty of a cardinal in the snow
40. the winter sky full of a multitude of stars
41. for the laughs I get from The Big Bang Theory
42. the joy of public libraries and getting lost in them
43. for the pruning of god on my soul
44. for a roof over my head
45. for a warm coat and gloves
47. for a good night's rest.

Hope You Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Life's problems wouldn't be called "hurdles" if there wasn't a way to get over them. ~Author Unknown

Scandi Love

2012-01-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I am mildly obsessed with all things Scandinavian. I would love to go to this part of the world and Iceland and Greenland. The above Picture is of a village in Norway. One of my bucket list dreams is to someday see the Northern Lights.

I became more interested in this part of the world after reading the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series of books and since then I love all of the different authors I have read from this part of the world. I love reading Nordic mysteries in winter as I can more easily identify with the setting.

In compiling my too long To Be Read list for 2012 for Good Reads I have many authors I plan on reading from this part of the world in the winter months. (Click on Good Reads link in red if you would like to read about each book and see my books I want to read for 2012).

I recently read Snow Angels by James Thompson which was set in Finland and liked it very much for the dark characters which so reflect the Nordic Culture and for the excellent descriptions of the setting. I plan on going to the library in about a week and plan on checking out The Snowman by Jo Nesbo and The Cruel Stars at Night by Kjell Ericksson.

I also have found two Scandi blogs one on Scandi food and one general interest. Here are the links:

Kanelstrand

Scandi Foodie

I also would like to ask that if you pray could you say a silent prayer for my husband and I . He went for a job interview today for a job he likes and is qualified for after no luck for 4 months and I have a really big test for work in a week. I would certainly appreciate any good thoughts and prayers you could send my way.

I thank each of you who left comments on the last post. You encouragement and words mean so much to me.

My wish for you

2011-12-30T15:14:00.000-08:00

I know I have been absent for awhile here but I wanted to stop by and wish each of you a wonderful New Year.
It has been a year of tremendous change for me and been extremely hard but I am eager for the new year to come.I know that we all have these years and this one was mine.I know at times this year I have felt like a ballon floating along in the wind with no moorings. It seemed that the foundations of everything I held to be true was shaken but I am still standing and still here.

I have a couple of questions for each of you if you would take a minute to answer them.

Would you like to see this blog stay the way it is or change to being a book blogging ,craft type blog?

Do you prefer Blogger or Wordpress?

Do you think I should start a new blog or keep this one?

Any information and feedback on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

I have decided my word for 2012 will be explore.I thought about savor,quest, up, light, and story.I settled on explore because I have much I want to change about my life the way it is. I want to explore fitness, find a creative outlet that I enjoy, find a church home and explore the new community I find myself in. So explore is my word. What did you choose?

Here is hoping 2012 is the best year yet!

2011-11-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

I just want to say thanks to all who serve now and in the past.They deserve out thanks and support.If you have read here for very long you know that I am very pro military. My dad, uncle and 3 cousins served in the Korean War and WWII. My father in law served in both the Pacific and Atlantic theatres during WWII.It makes me so mad when those people who call themselves Christians protest at Military funerals I feel that this is such a mockery of what Christianity is. I know that without our military the world we live in would be a vastly different place.

2011-11-09T18:20:00.001-08:00

Source: fadinglikearose.tumblr.com via Yolanda on Pinterest

An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life…

He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil—he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego.

The other is good—he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.”

They thought about it for a minute, and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”

The Elder simply replied, “The one you feed

I try to feed the good one but I feed the bad one more than I like to admitt.

One Thousand Gifts

26.The beautiful fall weather
27.Grateful to be home for good this holiday season and knowing it will be a true Tennessee Christmas
28.Watching the CMA's in Nashville and being glad to live in music city where everybody does play and sing.
29.Grateful to find out I will be going to dayshift soon .
30.for the Joy that music gives to my life and for my roots in this place where even our drivers license have music notes on it.
31.For Good Chinese Food
32.for gridlock free commutes to work and back
33.for our veterans and active duty military
34.for the Big Bang Theory and the way it makes me laugh (love me some Sheldon)
35.for sleep
36.for washing machines and dryers

2011-10-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

Photo by Critty Joy

Hope Everyone is enjoying this weekend. I am working nights :( but alas I have a job.

One Thousand Gifts:

21. For the beauty of the first frost this morning and the fog which made everything look magical.

22.The fun of seeing all the kids dressed up for Halloween and smiles and giggles of this day.

23.For the beauty of the fall leaves and all their spectacular colors of this fleeting beauty.

24. For dog videos on you tube that make me laugh when I'm having a bad day.

25.For finding new music to share with other people.

2011-10-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Isn't this picture pretty? It is Mt Etna. I chose this picture today because these last few days I have felt sort of like Mt Etna.

Aren't there times in all our lives when we feel like a volcano? It seems on the outside that all is well but underneath the surface our emotions and fears are bubbling like hot lava until they come spewing forth in an eruption either of anger, tears or hurt . I think it is more beneficial to us all to let off steam in slow short bursts rather than a big eruption.

I just moved back from Oregon and one of the things I learned living in the Northwest was that the beauty that is created there comes from the thing that makes it dangerous to live there and that is the fact that it is on the ring of fire. If you ever want to experience the awesome power of nature you need only go to Mt. St. Helen's. The time I went there it still is amazing to see the power that was unleashed there and still it is just beginning to recover some 31 years later.

I have learned that tears are sometime like the lava that spills from Hawaii's volcanoes and that tears can release the pressure that sometime build up inside our souls and that by releasing them it gives us the strength to face another day. It took me a long time to learn this because when I grew up tears were something to be hidden but the older I get the more value I see in them
.I guess I've learned that sometime I have to be weak to be strong. How about you?

One Thousand Gifts :
11.The sound of my dog snoring at night
12.My neice telling me she loves me
13.The escape to be found in a good book
14.The setting sun as it paints the sky in sherbert colors.
15.My sister telling me she was glad we moved back
16.The feel of my husbands body next me as we go to sleep
17.The taste of a homecooked meal
18.The laughter of children at play
19.For tears that cleanse my soul
20.For guilty pleasures like chocolate

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Simple Thoughts for Saturday

2011-10-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

I love this Prayer I need to pray it everyday. There is so much truth here.I didn't write it but at one time or the other I have had all these nots.

Another something to melt your heart this Saturday!

Source: puppyintraining.com via Yolanda on Pinterest

He had just saved her from a fire in her house, rescuing her by carrying her out of the house into her front yard, while he continued to fight the fire. She is pregnant. The firefighter was afraid of her at first, because he had never been around a Doberman before. When he finally got done putting the fire out, he sat down to catch his breath and rest. A photographer from the Charlotte, North Carolina newspaper, “The Observer,” noticed this red Doberman in the distance looking at the fireman. He saw her walking straight toward the fireman and wondered what she was going to do. As he raised his camera, she came up to the tired man who had saved her life and the lives of her babies, and kissed him, just as the photographer snapped this photograph

He is a Chief Master Sergeant in the USAF serving in Afghanistan
As high as you can go in enlisted ranks (E-9)
John Gebhardt's wife, Mindy, said that this little girl's entire family was executed.
The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her.
She was cared for in John 's hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan.
The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing.
He is a real Star of the war, and represents what the combined service is trying to do.

God Bless our Military and all those in public service.There are no words to expresss my gratitude for what they do.

2011-10-16T15:53:00.001-07:00

"I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.
It would be terrible if we just skipped
from September to November,
wouldn’t it?”

L.M. Montgomery,
author of Anne of Green Gables

the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

don’t go back to sleep.

you must ask for what you really want.

don’t go back to sleep.

people are going back and forth between the

door sill where the two worlds touch.

the door is round and open.

don’t go back to sleep.

-rumi

found via Positively Present

2011-10-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

I love this print that I found on Pinterest and which I could find a copy for my home.It so illustrates what I am about.If you don't know about Pinterest you need to check it out. It is like a virtual cork board of inspiration for meals, decorating,quotes,church ideas etc. You name it and it is there.

I grew up in a small town which is sometimes good and sometimes bad.The town I grew up in was less than a 1000 people and you knew everybody and their families and history and they knew yours. Its funny even in this modern age we still keep up with people from where we grew up with via Facebook.I think that is one of the good things about Facebook is that if you live away from where you grew up it allows you to keep up with those you knew and still care about.I know growing up in the south people identify you by who you are related to.Yesterday while checking Facebook I noticed a lot of updates about a young woman who is the daughter of a former classmate. She had been in a coma for a week after giving birth to a 1 week old baby and she passed away yesterday leaving also a small child. I feel so for this family and those children who will never know their mother.I ask that you keep the Frazier/O'Toole families in your prayers..

This young ladies passing (she was only 25) reminded me of how fleeting and fragile life is and how every moment good or bad is to be treasured as a gift.Life is a gift as I am reminded of everyday in my job as a nurse .

I have wanted for some time to start a One Thousand Gifts list after being inspired by Ann Voskamp on her blog A Holy Experience.I am going to start today on this as a reminder to Be Grateful for the life I've been given each day.

.
1.The beauty of a perfect fall day.
2.The rain of the fall leaves down during the winds like a shower of blessing
3. That I have a job
4.For my animals
5.For the friendliness and warmth of my fellow southerners
6. That I have roots in a place that rallies around its own during tragedy.
7. The sacrifice of the military and their families.
8.The joy of my animals greeting when I get home after working 12 hours
9.The smells and colors of fall.
10.The tradition of SEC football

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

2011-10-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

It seems over the last 2 months that my life has been about change. We have moved cross country and I have started a new job with many new challenges. I am trying to adjust to working nights again after 23 years of working days.We have downsized to a smaller house and downsized to one income until my husband can find a job. Our house has come with its own challenges as we are renting but I decided that I wasn't going to choose discouragement or doubt. I decided that I am going to be content and to Choose Joy.

Recently one of my favorite bloggers Gitzen Girl died but she left such a legacy in how she lived and approached her life. I admired her because like her I deal with several chronic illnesses ( I have a malformation in my brain that causes pain and fibro like muscle systems for which there is no cure and also diabetes, and PCOD. I decided long ago that I was not going to give in to these conditions and as long as I am able I will continue to work and provide for my family. I feel that the disease might be a part of me but it doesn't control me.

I have shared all of this to say that I have thought long and hard about my place in blogging world and whether I have anything relevant to say or that anyone cares but I believe I do have something to say that might be encouraging to others.

I have been in a valley for the past five years with my faith but I feel a renewal , a blossoming of hope in my heart for the future despite all the difficulties and I feel that with all the trials I have been through I can understand how others going through these spots feel.I don't know why I have faced all the things I have faced but maybe God is using them to help me to help others.

I can identify with so many groups:
1.I can identify with those who are single later in life. I didn't marry till I was 36
2.I can identify with those who have a chronic illness.
3.I can identify with those who are facing difficulties financially in this economic climate.
4.I can identify with those who lose hope.
5 I can identify with those who struggle with their weight.
6. I can identify with those who have lost family members . I have only my husband and my sister and her kids left.
7. I know what it is like to take care of a family member who is dying.(My mom died of breast cancer on hospice at my house)
8. I know what it is like to move somewhere you know no one and start over again. I have done this three times.
9.I understand the burdens it places on a woman to be the primary breadwinner.
10.I know what it is like to deal with depression.

I know through my reading of blogs that a lot of bloggers present the rosy side of things and we who read compare ourselves to those bloggers thinking why isn't my life perfect like theirs . I want this blog and my testimony here to be that life is not fair, it hurts sometimes but there is hope and a way through. I want what I write here to be real like life.

I hope that you will come along with me as I adjust to a new kind of normal,find a church home and regrow my faith in new soil. I think God had to do some pruning on my branches to bring forth new growth.

I will try to blog regularly (the days I don't work 12 hours) and I will always be real.I know that sometimes all I really want is to know there are others like me who struggle but don't give up.

quote by muchlove-anna.blogspot.com

2011-09-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

There are stars whose radiance is visible on Earth though they have long been extinct.

There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world even though they are no longer among the living.

These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind."

— Hannah Senesh

I was at work that day in a patients room starting and IV . I remember hearing that a lot of the schools and business were closing and that I wanted to be at home with my family not at work but like all those who are in public service I stayed at work that day with my fellow nurses and doctors and watched the tragedy unfold on TVs in patients rooms. I remember thinking that I wished I could be there to help in some way in NYC,WA, or Penn. I remember hearing on TV that they wanted all health care workers to come back to the hospitals if they could. I remember getting home that night and hugging my husband and feeling safe.

Today I am thankful for all those who serve this country the military and their families, the cops and firefighters and first responders and their families and also the doctors and nurses . I know firsthand that these professions can never be compensated for the good they do for their fellow human beings and the sacrifices they make to keep us safe and healthy. If you get the chance this week thank them for what they do. I know being a nurse for 27 years that it means so much for someone to tell me thank you on a day when nothing seems to go right and you can't seem to please anyone. It means so much.

I will be back later this week with more to share. We have been settling in here in Tennessee and I start a new job tomorrow but I have lots of ideas for the blog and reconnecting with all of you. I just wanted today to be about the solemnity and sacrifice of those who died and those who still serve.

May we all never forget.

photo by Anthony Correia/Getty Images

Happy Birthday Lucy

2011-08-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

It is the 100 th birthday of Lucille Ball and the 60th anniversary of I love Lucy.It is still my favorite show of all time.
I hope wherever she is that she is smiling down on all of us today along with Vivian Vance.
I remember when I was small watching I Love Lucy reruns in the afternoon after school and I still love watching them when I am sad or sick. She always makes me laugh.
It is so rare that she is so timeless and she made us all laugh without cussing or being derogatory to any group. I love her timeless humor and that of Carol Burnett who also still makes me laugh.
So lets all watch an I love Lucy rerun this weekend and laugh and remember this wonderful woman and show.

Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle

Enjoy the Ride

2011-07-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about life lately.A couple of nights ago while fliping through the chanels I found on the BYU network a show called The Story Trek. The premise behind the show is that this reporter has a person he meets on the street pick a spot on the map with their eyes closed and then when they get to that town he has another person pick a street in that town and he goes to houses on that street till he find someone who will tell him their story. He believes that everyone has a story and that all of our stories have value. I beleieve that too.

I know that over the past couple of years which haven't been easy living in Oregon that I have learned lessons that I would not have learned otherwise and I am glad that I did learn those lessons.

I believe that we all have choices and it is our choices that shape our moments and it is the moments that shape our lives.Many times in my life when faced with all the struggles that we have been through we could have given up and just existed but we chose life. Life is a choice and how you chose to live it directly effects it is quality.

I try everyday(some days I don't suceed) but I try to look at each day as a gift and I can chose to be positive or negative in it.

I try to turn the obstacles and hardships that we all face into stepping stones not bitterness that will eventually weigh you down like an overworked pack mule. I think that even the mistakes and the bad things go through can be learning points that you can help others with who follow along behind you. If you live a charmed life and never face hardship,loss, financial difficulties then really how can you be empathetic toward others. I know that when I am deep in the valley I don't want someone to give me a handout so much as a hand up.

So for all the sadness and tears that living here in Oregon has brought us I have been immeasureably blessed by the people I have met and worked with and by the awe inspiring beauty of this place.Truly god smiled the day he made the Pacific Northwest.

It is hard to believe but in 2 weeks from tommorrow it will be my last day of work and 5 days later we will begin our journey home.

I look forward to the drive back through eastern Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colarado and on through the Midwest.I love cross country trips because you realize just how big our country is and how beautiful it is and how diverse.

Changes, Changes

2011-07-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have posted and I have missed all of you so much.

We have been doing lots of soul searching and after much thought we will be moving back to Nashville in exactly one month. I am presently in the midst of phone interviews for jobs and I think we have found a place to live in Murfressboro TN.

The house we have found as a bonus room which I would love to turn into a craft room or studio.

I am excited and scared but I am up for the challenge . I thrive on change.

I have loved living in Oregon and I will miss her immensely. Oregon is heaven to me but it doesn't include our families and that is what I am missing most.I will be back and I will carry a part of Oregon in my heart forever.

I know that this move is the right thing for us as it will decrease my husbands work hours and allow me to see him more. It will also allow us to be close to our families. It is weird but when I call anyone back home and hear the southern accent it just makes me smile and reinforces my decision that I feel that is right.

I have prayed about this for months and it is beginning to come together and for that I am grateful.

My hope is that once we get settled that we will find a church to attend.

I can't wait to see the hills of Tennessee and Southern Food. I have missed my thunderstorms and Waffle Houses (lol).

I have missed all of you so much and I am glad to be back in this space.

I hope you will continue to read here and follow me back across country to TN.

The time away allowed me to get my thoughts and goals together.

Hope everyone is having a lovely summer.

2011-05-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

I think I am going to take a break from this blog for the summer.I have been blogging for 5 years now and I have made such wonderful friends here and I will continue to stop by all of your blogs but for now and with all the upheaval going in my life right now what with the upcoming move to Nashville and job hunting and working full and part time I just don't have the time, ideas or energy at this point.
Once I get settled in our new home this summer I may resume blogging we will see.
I again thank you for all your support for the past five years.

Mississippi Tornadoes 2011

2011-05-04T15:30:00.001-07:00

These are photo's of a little town in Mississippi called Smithville. It had only 2800 people and a small little school that we used to play in football when I was in high school.This little town sits on the Ala border.This little town lost its school, bank, grocery store etc. and of course in a town that size there isn't another.
My heart breaks for the southeastern US right now . I know that to most of the rest of the country it was just a blip on the national news radar but to me it was personal.I have been to most of the places in MS and Ala it hit.I lived in two of the areas. My best friend lives in Hackle burg.(She received a lot of damage but she is safe).I know that the death of Ben Laden was important and who could forget the Royal Wedding but these people in these states have lost everything.I encourage all of you to keep them in your thoughts and prayers and keep their plight in the media (on facebook, twitter etc.).
My heart is also proud because as always the people of the south so their strength, sense of humor, kindness and humanity. It makes me so happy to see other areas of the south come to they're aid and not only with supplies but with manpower.
I just encourage all of you if you can to give to your charity of choice to help all those in these states that are affected as the need is great.

Some see a hopeless end, while others see an endless hope. ~Author Unknown

Photos by the American Red Cross

2011-04-25T20:55:00.001-07:00

Whether you are a Christian or not I encourage you to watch this performance from Girl's Night Out on Friday night on CBS. This duet with Vince Gill was amazing and brought the audience and me to tears. No one can deny that these two have truly God given talent.This is the reason Country music is so near and dear to my heart.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Breathe & Smile

2011-04-07T14:11:00.001-07:00

I am fascinated by the new show Extreme Couponing although I don't think I would go to the extreme that some of the people on the show do I can see the value in what they do and am thinking of doing it on a smaller scale.I also am excited to have E- Mealz and am going to give it a try for ony $1.25 a week if it can help us eat better and healthier I think it would be well worth the money.

I am in the beginning stages of planning our move back down south later this summer. The goal is for us to be in Nashville by the first part of Sept.I am planning on decluttering a lot before we make our cross country trek.

I am about to start reading The Peach Keeper . I love her whimiscal writing style.

A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower. You didn’t have to struggle to make your face different than anyone else’s on earth. It just is. You are unique because you were created that way. Look at little children in kindergarten. They’re all different without trying to be. As long as they’re unselfconsciously being themselves, they can’t help but shine. It’s only later, when children are taught to compete, to strive to be better than others, that their natural light becomes distorted. — Marianne Williamson

Wishes or Weeds

2011-03-17T17:42:00.000-07:00

When you look at this photo do you see a weed or the beginning of a milkweed that you can blow on to get wishes? I see a vessel for wishes.
I wish I could blow on it right now and make the people of Japan's life a lot easier. It just breaks my heart to see what all the people and animals of Japan are going through. I encourage everyone to do as much as they can to help these people who have suffered such a tragedy.
Do you ever have days that you just wish that you hadn't gotten up? Today was one of those days for me .It seemed today that I could do nothing right and I had myself a good cry. It seems that sometime we have to go in a quite place and just let it all out and scream or cry to get your frustration out and I think that rather than it being a bad thing it can be a good thing like a cleansing for the soul.I did that today . It didn't necessarily make the problems go away but I felt better about them.
I do know though that any problem I have pales in comparison to what those in Japan are going through and that definitely puts everything in perspective and makes me feel incredibly lucky.
In less than a week on March the 24th this blog will be 5 years old. I can't believe it.I haven't been the most prolific and I certainly don't have the biggest fan base but for 5 years I have come back here to share my thoughts and photos.In celebration of its birthday I will be hosting a giveaway next week of some sort and I hope you will come by Monday to see what it is. I wish I could give away cameras and I pads like a lot of the bigger blogs but alas that isn't in my budget.
I hope that you all have a wonderful rest of St. Patrick's Day.
Looking forward to Idol tonight? Who is your favorite this year?

“What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise”-Oscar Wilde

2011-03-12T05:44:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is doing okay. I feel so bad for all the people in Japan and my hearts and prayers go out to them. It could just as easily been the West Coast. Here in Oregon we received only minor damage mainly to our harbors and their small craft and to some incredibly stupid people walking on the beach when a tsunami warning is in effect.I am always amazed at people who do things like this .

Lately I have become Pinterest obsessed. Have you heard of it?If not you should check it out. It is a web site that allows you to collect images from all over the web and store them on a site allowing you to go back and refer to them and organize them into categories. So awesome!

I am so happy to see spring arriving .I love hearing the frogs croaking when we take our nightly walks and the first daffodil ls blooming and the trees beginning to bud. I love the ability of the earth to renew herself and I think we should take a cue from her sometime in how to live our life.

I love the photo above. It is a reminder to me that I have all I really need.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and hope you don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight.

Photo from amylapi

Decisions

2011-02-24T11:38:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, sorry I have been away for so long but I have been doing a lot of thinking, soul searching and working.It seems to me when I have major decisions to make in my life that I turn inward and contemplate on my choices until I reach a decision.It seems that over the month of Feb. that is what I have been doing. I am back and will continue to post regularly.

In the last post I spoke of the south calling me home and my hubby and I have reached a decision and hopefully by the end of the year we will be going home to either TN,NC,GA,SC, or Ky.The exact place will depend on job opportunities and housing. I love all these states for a variety of reasons. I look forward to maybe being home and able to spend Christmas with my family this year.I hope you will follow me in this year of choice and changes and as we eventually venture back across country.

I still love Oregon with all my heart and this was a bittersweet choice for us as I love living so close to the Ocean and I love the West but in the end family won out. I want to be able to see my sister and her kids and watch them grow up. I want them to know me as an aunt more that just someone they see once a year.I do know that as long as I live Oregon will have a huge part of my heart and I do not regret living here and the lessons I learned here.

I believe that anything that happens in life you can learn from and I have learned so much about myself as a person while living here that I would never have learned had we not made the move here.

I look forward to the year ahead with some fear,much anticipation , and seeking what lies ahead and the lessons to be learned. Here's hoping you will join me on the journey.

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.
— Author Unknown

Photo by Kyle Kruchok on Flickr

37/365

2011-02-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking a lot about choices lately and changes and about letting go and following my heart. My heart is beginning I think to tell me to go home.One of the things I want to do this year is nurture my family relationships and that is hard to do cross country.Don't get me wrong I love Oregon and no matter where we go I will carry a huge part of her with me always. She is a gorgeously beautiful place and I love her but home to me is the South.

I find myself smiling when I hear southern accents on the TV and am finding I want to read books set in the south.I never knew nor would have known if I hadn't lived elsewhere how much my roots mean to me and how proud I am to be southern. I get teased almost daily by patients and family members at work about my accent and some seem to think that because I talk slow I am slow but I am not. I just smile and go about my business.
I love the south for so many reasons:
The food-no place has better food, and I love the way the food is such a part of the culture. It is how we say I love you, I am sorry , and welcome.I miss sweet tea, real bbq,catfish and hushpuppies and on and on.
The music-I miss the haunting melodies of bluegrass in the mountains, the mourningly beautiful blues and the poetry of country music and the anthems of my youth from Southern Rock.
The landscape-the beauty of a magnolia in bloom, the sweet beauty of azaleas blooming as if dressed for a prom, the Spanish moss hanging from trees like tears, the lightning bugs on a summer night , the sugar white sands of the Florida panhandle.
The history- We southerners appreciate where we came from and know that it makes us who we are. I find that even on facebook sometimes we southerners can trace a family tree like no other people.
The faith-I find it comforting that in most towns in the south there are more churches than anything else. It is such a part of life and the fabric of the south.There is nothing more beautiful than a Black gospel choir praising god .
I don't know when but I think eventually we will be going home to either Nashville or North Carolina. I want to be able to spend holidays with my sister and watch my niece and nephew grow up.
So this year will be a year of choices and changes and I am okay with that. I am okay with letting go and following where my prayers and heart leads. I don't know who the quote is by below but I love it

In the South, the breeze blows softer... neighbors are friendlier, nosier, and more talkative. (By contrast
with the Yankee, the Southerner never uses one word when ten or twenty will do). This is a different
place. Our way of thinking is different, as are our ways of seeing, laughing, singing, eating, meeting
and parting. Our walk is different, as the old song goes, our talk and our names. Nothing about us is
quite the same as in the country to the north and west. What we carry in our memories is different,
too and that may explain everything else.

2011-01-31T21:29:00.000-08:00

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
-
Henry David Thoreau

I needed this advice myself today.

photo by bogdan on flickr

Perspective by Danielle Laporte

2011-01-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

why you’re privileged: perspective from the dark side by Danielle Laporte

If you're reading this, the highest probability is that you are living in the western world, above the poverty line, in a democratic environment.
Your heart may be broken, you may not have enough money to get to the end of the week, you may be fighting for your life.
But by many accounts - you are extremely fortunate.
By many accounts, you and I have every advantage to be happy, healthy, and deeply fulfilled.

Somewhere else...

: Are you gay? If you're found out, you will get jail time.
: If you were unfaithful to your spouse, you would be stoned, likely by your neighbours.
: Want to convert to a religion other than the one you were born in to? That would warrant execution.
: Thirsty? Clean water is five miles away. Walk to get it. You have one bucket.
: You may want to play soccer with the other boys your age, but you have weapons training.
: Have you complained about the government in an email? You're going to court.

Women...
: Long to be thin, to run in the sun? Forget it, men in your village like large women and you are force fed.
: Raped? Refuse a marriage proposal? If you're lucky, they won't kill you, they'll just throw acid in your face.
: Long for erotic pleasure? It's difficult since your grandmother cut out your clitoris with a razor blade when you were twelve.
: If you're menstruating, you will miss school rather than face the ridicule.
: You can't get a job because by law, women are considered "half the value of men" you can't even vote. You can't even look a man directly in the eyes.

We could go on with the atrocities and restrictions -- from the extremes of human trafficking (the average American girl is thirteen when she is forced into sex slavery,) and torture, to what we consider basic health-care, like clean needles and dentistry. The hell that is Haiti, and parts of Uganda, Sierra Leone, West Bengal...and our own cities...

Sometimes, the most direct route to appreciation is through the darkness - even if it's merely imagined. Facts, faced: even in our struggles, most of us are privileged. We have so many rights, must we exercise the right to complain?

I'm writing this from an airport because I missed my flight - which derails my luxurious escape plans for a day. I'm lucky to have plans, to be sitting by a $2 million dollar sculpture, in a gun-free airport, drinking my peppermint tea, in a new warm coat, using free wifi. I'll choose to be appreciative.

Your mother had the right idea: eat your dinner, there are children starving in the world.

That fresh salad you get with your entree; the insurance on your car; the clothes you wear, where you want; the hands you hold in public.
That vaccination scar on your arm.
Your innocence.
The light you're reading by.
Really, what's the worst of your problems?

Perspective isn't everything in terms of have's and have nots. But you can work it to your very great advantage.

This is very thought provoking and timely from a wonderful writer.

photo by Mike Mazzo

It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community, be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader. There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold onto the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its own destination. We must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above water. Now, see who is in there with you and celebrate.
-
Hopi Elder Prayer

Wednesday Poetry

2011-01-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

I love Mary Oliver and this is a favorite. Hope everyone is having a good week and all of you on the east coast are staying warm and safe.This is my busy work week with 3 12 hour shifts so not much time for blogging this week.

Morning
Mary Oliver
Salt shining behind its glass cylinder.
Milk in a blue bowl. The yellow linoleum.
The cat stretching her black body from the pillow.
The way she makes her curvaceous response to the small, kind gesture.
Then laps the bowl clean.
Then wants to go out into the world
where she leaps lightly and for no apparent reason across the lawn,
then sits, perfectly still, in the grass.
I watch her a little while, thinking:
what more could I do with wild words?
I stand in the cold kitchen, bowing down to her.
I stand in the cold kitchen, everything wonderful around me.

Photo by PMcrae on flickr

2011-01-24T21:20:00.000-08:00

I like this picture because to me it speaks of solitude and introspection.I have been thinking a lot about solitude lately . It seems to me that we as a society could benefit from it a lot.

I like the wonders of modern technology a lot. I enjoy my cell phone, laptop and digital camera but I also know when to turn them off. I have noticed in my work as a nurse and in my daily life that people can be so rude with their cell phone use. I noticed just today a visitor at the hospital walking by the desk and back and you didn't see this person the whole entire day when she wasn't on the phone and talking loud enough for everyone to hear.I also observed another example at a restaurant where an elderly man was trying to talk to his adult daughter and she wouldn't stop surfing the net on her phone long enough to talk to him and when he did get through to her she would snap at him.I thought to myself what I wouldn't give to be able to talk to my parents again.

I find that when I go out and walk my dogs that I do my best thinking. It is quiet and I have only my thoughts to keep me company . I feel that if sometime you don't allow your mind to be quiet and rest it causes even more stress . I found it kind of sad that during the recent snowstorms that I heard several people on TV say that they enjoyed not having electricity because it forced them to spend time with their families doing activities such as playing outside or playing a board game. Wouldn't we all be a little better off if we spent more time with those we love and less time with gadgets and gizmo's?

What are your thoughts on this?

“Solitude is such a potential thing. We hear voices in solitude, we never hear in the hurry and turmoil of life; we receive counsels and comforts, we get under no other condition . . .”-Amelia Barr

Thanks and Positive Thoughts

2011-01-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

I encourage you to go to Kind Over Matter and print this off today. Wouldn't it be nice to see one of these in your church, school, or any public place.We all need positive thoughts each day.

I just wanted to thank all of you for your heartfelt and inspiring words on my last post. It made my day that so. many of you cared to comment. I am so grateful.I know everyone who commented doesn't share my personal beliefs but that is okay because that is what makes our world so different and good and at the core of all religious faiths is that good always overcomes evil, and that love overcomes hate and isn't that what we all need.

I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.
-Dawna Markova

Faith and Figuring It Out

2011-01-17T15:40:00.000-08:00

This wonderful video is from a blog I love from Ann Voskamp and it is called A Holy Experience.It speaks so much in this video to my Philosophy of Life,my messy perfectly imperfect life.
One of the things that I wanted to do this year with the word Nurture was to begin to Nurture my faith which for about the last ten years has been in a dormancy of sorts so much so that at times I wondered if it was still there but yes it was and still is there and I can feel stirrings in my heart and soul of its rebirth.
I grew up in a family that believed in God but never attended church and with a dad who made fun of me when I attended church on my own and even on the day I was baptized no one from my family was there to see. In the intervening years since I have alternately been active in church and not. In the last ten years I lost my mom,dad and a pregnancy that I had tried all my adult life to have and dealt with moving cross country and very difficult. financial circumstances.I often questioned Why and felt I didn't receive an answer but I think now that a lot of the reason that all this happened is that now I feel that I can identify with so many people who hurt and feel alone and lonely and feel like their heavenly father has abandoned them.
I know that now where I am in my life my faith means more to me now that is beginning to flower again from the dry desert floor of the past decade because it has been tested through the fires of life and survived it all to become stronger.

I know some of you who have read this blog for awhile remember me posting about an event that happened right after I moved here .There was a local blogger who put on her blog that she wanted friends and felt alone so I sent her an email and told her that I would love to be her friend. She wrote me back an email that said after reading my blog she didn't want to be friends with a southerner who was a religious fanatic and a bigot and not open minded. I went back and read my blog and couldn't see what she saw but in a round about way she helped me more than she ever knew because she made me see that the kernel of my faith was still there and that I was okay with that.

So here I am once again a believer who is going to take this year to Nurture my faith. I hope you will come along as I discover things about the walk of faith and myself in this messy thrilling thing we call life.

"Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today...the Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm." (Exodus 14:13-14, NLT)

2011-01-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

The photo above is of Tilly taken by her mom of Andrea's Photography. I love this photo for a lot of reasons but especially because it represents Tilly's childlike wonder in snow and the joy you can see on her face just from being out in it.

In a prior job I worked at a center that was for the care of the developmentally delayed and even though they may not have had the highest IQ's in the world I found them to be wise in so many ways as compared to their higher IQ contemporaries.I find them to take delight in small things and they derive such great pleasure from small things like twirling around to a song and dancing with abandon to a song they like without worrying what others think .

I want to learn from these wise souls the joy of childlike wonder to be found in the world around me. I find that often in the technological world we live in that we have somehow lost our wonder in the world and we go through life with a sense of dullness and we find that nothing really takes our breathe away as it did as a child. I want to recapture this in my life.

I think one of the ways we can do this is by looking at our lives and searching through the file drawers of our souls to find what makes us feel the most alive.

Here are the things that make me feel alive and with a sense of wonder.I hope you will share yours with me.

*Opening the door on a snowy morn and taking the first steps in the snow while listening to the snowy quietness of it all.

*the first signs of life from a comatose patient as he speaks are squeezes a hand for the first time.

*the beauty of a field of sunflowers on a summers day stretching as far as the eye can see.

*looking out the window when I fly and seeing the world in miniature and when flying into Portland seeing the Mountains lined up like sentinels marching across the spine of Oregon and Washington.

*the beauty of a cardinal on the newly fallen snow

* the grandeur I feel as I stand by the ocean

*the smallness I feel while listening to it thunder and storm when I visit home.

*finding a book or piece of music that speaks to my soul as though I had written it.

* connecting with friends like those I meet online who seem to be kindred spirits.

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination. ~Robert Fulghum

Speak gently

2011-01-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

Speak gently! -- It is better far
To rule by love, than fear --
Speak gently -- let not harsh words mar
The good we might do here!

Speak gently! -- Love doth whisper low
The vows that true hearts bind;
And gently Friendship's accents flow;
Affection's voice is kind.

Speak gently to the little child!
Its love be sure to gain;
Teach it in accents soft and mild: --
It may not long remain.

Speak gently to the young, for they
Will have enough to bear --
Pass through this life as best they may,
'T is full of anxious care!

Speak gently to the aged one,
Grieve not the care-worn heart;
The sands of life are nearly run,
Let such in peace depart!

Speak gently, kindly, to the poor;
Let no harsh tone be heard;
They have enough they must endure,
Without an unkind word!

Speak gently to the erring -- know,
They may have toiled in vain;
Perchance unkindness made them so;
Oh, win them back again!

Speak gently! -- He who gave his life
To bend man's stubborn will,
When elements were in fierce strife,
Said to them, 'Peace, be still.'

Speak gently! -- 't is a little thing
Dropped in the heart's deep well;
The good, the joy, which it may bring,
Eternity shall tell.

David Bates

Photo from weheartit

2011-01-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

I have a dear friend Relyn who loves books as much as I do and is a huge fan of Elizabeth Berg and before Christmas she said that she often starts out the year reading this book and now I see why.

It is a wonderful book about life and enjoying it the good,bad and ugly.

The book starts out with Betta driving cross country and finding a house in a small Ill. town where she befriends a small boy and two college age kids and reconnects with her friends from her college days.Betta is dealing with losing the great love of her life and wondering how she will go on without him.

I found this book as I do most of Berg's writing to be applicable to life in all it's facets. I think Mrs. Berg understands us humans with all our imperfections and she encourages us to look for the good and give kindness to those around us.

The title comes from a passage in the book where Betta's friend is talking about her own loses and encourages Betta to maybe make this her Year of Pleasures.She reminds Betta that the pleasure that we as humans most enjoy are those found in simple things.

I am going to take Betta's advice and try to make this my Year of Pleasures and try to find something that makes me happy in each new day and be thankful for it.
It can be something as simple as listening to my lab snore which makes me smile because I love that dog so. That is my pleasure of the day.What is yours?

"I always think incipient miracles surround us, waiting only to see if our faith is strong enough. We won't have to understand it; it will just work, like a beating heart, like love. Really, no matter how frightened and discouraged I may become about the future, I look forward to it. In spite of everything I see all around me every day, I have a shaky assurance that everything will turn out fine. I don't think I'm the only one. Why else would the phrase "everything's all right" ease a deep and troubled place in so many of us? We just don't know, we never know so much, yet we have such faith. We hold our hands over our hurts and lean forward, full of yearning and forgiveness. It is how we keep on, this kind of hope."
— Elizabeth Berg (Talk Before Sleep)

2010-12-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

The day started out here foggy and has remained so throughout the day.It seems as if everything is cloaked in a gossamer curtain. It seems sort of fitting as the year is slowly coming to a close and we peek around the corner of the curtain to the New Year.

I love New Years and the unwrapping of new calendars with days stretching forward waiting to be filled with hopes,dreams and life. I know it is just another day but I think we need days like this as sort of touchstones for life. I think they also allow us to see where we have been and where we are going .I think it allows us to excavate our souls like a bulldozer scraping away the hard packed ground of our lives allowing us to reveal who we are when no one else is around andwho we are behind the mask we show the world.

In this newly turned earth of our lives I think we see things we need to let go of and things we want to nurture and grow in the coming year.

I hope in the coming year to let go of my feelings of failure, perfectionism, and my need for acceptance by others and continue to understand I am okay just the way I am. I know growing up my mom knew I struggled with peer pressure and feel.ings of low self esteem and she bought me a plaque that said "I know I am somebody cause God don't make no Junk" and I know that is true . I hope in the coming year to nurture the things that need nurturing in my life and to Bloom

I will be working the next two days 12 hour shifts at the hospital so If I don't get back here to post please know that you are all blessing in my life and I wish you the best NEW YEAR EVER.

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”
- Edith Lovejoy Pierce

2010-12-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

Hope Everyone is having a lovely , happy , and safe Christmas. I am so glad my friends down south (home) got a White Christmas. I will be back next week with posts and Book Reviews. Hope all of you know how very bright and merry you have made my holidays.
Lots of love,
Yolanda, Vince, Moe,Sadie, Kalu and Emma(the furry babies)

Deep down inside we know
that the best gifts
don't come from catalogs
or shopping malls
They don't come in brightly-colored packages
or fancy envelopes
and they're not sitting under a tree somewhere...
The best gifts come from the heart.
They come when we look at each other
REALLY look at each other
and say 'You mean a lot to me'
or 'I'm so glad you're a part of my life'
A gift like that
will never go out of style
or be forgotten
or be returned for a different size.
A gift like that can change the world.

Ron Atchison

2010-12-20T18:28:00.000-08:00

I have been for several years choosing a word to be my touchstone for that year. I have found that even though I don't think about it every day I do come back to it throughout the year and reevaluate my progress toward it.

In 2011 my word that I have chosen is NURTURE. I chose this word because there are many areas of my life.that need nurturing . I also was looking at my Disciple's Study Bible last night and . in the back in the Life Help section was a section which I found called a ministry of nurture. I knew after I found this this was meant to be my word.

Nurture by definition means to bring up;help develop;help grow,enrich or provide noursishment . It is used also in relation to things needs special attention.

Here are the areas that need nourishment in my life and the areas I plan on working on this next year.

1.Faith- I feel for the past several years I have been in a valley in this regard and I need to find my place and footing in my faith again and make a recommittment .

2.Health- I am overweight and need to excercise more that about sums it up. I need to eat less and move more so I plan on doing just that. I have found that diets fail for me but I think I can work with this.

3.Friendships-I want to continue to nourish friendships both in person and online the ones that bring joy and positivity to my life.

4.Family- I want to make an honest effort to work on cherishing my family and making every effort to let them know they are loved .

5.Profession-I want my patients to feel as though I am competent and caring and that while in my care they are safe and like they are the only thing that matters in that moment.

6.Creativity-I want to nourish my creativity and learn new things such as knitting and crocheting .

7.Being Green- I want to continue to nurture the plantet by reducing my carbon footprint on the earth

8.Procrasination- I want to nurture a can do attitude and not put off that which I can do today.

9.Clutter- I want to nurture decluttering my life as with less clutter my mind and life flows a lot better.

10.Photograpy-It is one of my greatest joys and I want to continue to nurture my love for this art form.

11.Quiet Time-I want to establish and nurture a period of quiet in each day where I can be alone with my thoughts and reflect.

I want you all to share your words with me.Why did you choose them?

If some.of you don't get back around before Christmas I wish you the Best Holiday Ever and Stay Safe.Please know that each of you who visit and leave comments here are some of the best gifts I could recieve.

And while it takes courage to achieve greatness, it takes more courage to find fulfillment in being ordinary. For the joys that last have little relationship to achievement, to standing one step higher on the victory platform. What is the adventure in being ordinary? It is daring to love just for the pleasure of giving it away. It is venturing to give new life and to nurture it to maturity. It is working hard for the pure joy of being tired at the end of the day. It is caring and sharing and giving and loving…

Marilyn Thomsen

Photo is from positively present don't really know the source.

2010-12-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

I found this on the Kind over Matter blog. It is a printable Pdf . I plan on printing this off and putting one in my locker at work and one here at home so I can remind myself of this each day throughout the coming new year.
I have had an icky cold and am trying to get over it. I am thinking of my word for next year.I have chosen a word ever year for the past 4 years to kind of be me touchstone for that year.In previous years I have chosen : abundance,revitalize, and enough. I plan on posting later this weekend with my word for 2011.
I hope you all have a wonderful last weekend before Christmas weekend and a lovely Christmas week.

2010-12-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

I have been following the prompts on Reverb 10 recently and one that really struck home with me was the theme of Beautifully Different.
I grew up as one of those kids who from an early age was made fun of and bullied . I was clumsy, went through puberty early and just generally the ugly duckling and because of that I have dealt with issues of self esteem my whole life.I have come to an understanding at the age of 46 that I am beautifully different .
I see that true beauty and by that I mean beauty that lasts comes from inside and is seen in the most unexpected places
I see the beauty of being different in:
*the smile on the face of the downs syndrome child as she dances in the rain just for the sheer joy of it.
*the beauty born of age in the smile of an elderly woman to me at the store
*the gruff exterior of the homeless man who asks for money at the main crossing in town
*the little girl with braces and glasses who smiles at me at the doctors office
*the beautiful breast cancer survivor I see during the breast cancer walk who has no hair
*the dread locked cashier with piercing and tattoo's at the local mini mart

Beauty to me comes from the soul and surrounds us all if we only look past the outer exterior o a person to see behind the masks we all wear to the soul of a little child that resides within us all.
I apologize to anyone I offended with the video of St. Jude Fri. that was not my intent . I only intended to promote the good work that this hospital does.
I encourage you to look for the beautifully different in the next week.
Hope you all have a lovely Sunday and week .

If you're really listening
If you're awake to the poignant beauty of the world,
your heart breaks regularly.
In fact, your heart is made to break,
it's purpose is to burst open again and again
so that it can hold evermore wonder.

Andrew Harvey

What Christmas is Really About

2010-12-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

I warn you you will cry when you watch this. It shows what a community can do when they come together to help someone.

I grew up about an hour from St . Jude and I know that they do the most wonderful work and every penny that is donated is used . I have had pediatric patients who went there and they never ask for a penny from the parents and they take patients with cancer from all over the world. It is a special place. I once had a mother who had one child at St. Jude with cancer and about a year into the treatment she found that the other child(they were twins) also had cancer and even though she was going through the most heart wrenching thing a mother could go through she still loved and was thankful for St. Jude.

I think the video conveys much more than my words ever could. The performer is a gospel/country musician from Nashville named Matthew West.You can go to his site and learn more of Dax's story and about this incredible artist.

"But God taught me a lesson about angels that day. They don't always wear wings and carry harps. Sometimes they can just be people. People who open their hearts up to do things God tells them to do." - from Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent

2010-12-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday on Yahoo's front page was an icon about starting a Ripple of kindness and I thought that was a very neat idea . I think in the holiday season and all year through that we should all try to create ripples of kindness because one tiny ripple can create a change in someones day.

I was working on a pediatric unit many years ago on Christmas Eve and a man came to the desk and asked if there was a family that could use some money to help provide Christmas for their family and we gave him a room number . He went to that patients room and gave them an envelope and walked out it had $250.OO in it and provided that family with the means to have Christmas that year. I know that most people can't afford to do that but there are so many things we can do that cost little or no money.

Here are some things I try to do:

*When I know a friend is having a hard time I try to send a pick me up card, text message or comment on their Facebook page.

*I go out of my way to welcome visitors to church and invite them to sit with me.

*I try to buy anything kids come to the door selling because I remember how hard this was.

*In the neighborhood when I know someone is new I try and make cookies or a casserole.

*In line at the checkout when someone has only a few items and I have a whole basket full I let them go ahead of me. .

*I leave text messages and voice mails letting my sister and her family and friends know that I love them.

* When I hear an ambulance,fire truck or police car I say a prayer for the person they are going to help and for the first responders .

*I try to take our cans that we have and donate them to organizations that collect them for the schools.

*I like to do guerrilla art like takingsidewalk chalk and writing messages like the one above or "You are beautiful" that make people smile and don't destroy anything (positive graffiti).

*I plan on participating in a Love Drop this year.

Here is a website I love Kind Over Matter.

I would love to hear what you do to create ripples of kindness. Please share your ideas with me!

Book Review coming up Friday!

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson

photo above is by Emily on a sunday on flickr

Winter's Day Poetry

2010-12-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

Invitation
by Mary Olivier.

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude—
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

from Redbird:Poems

Isn't that how we should live each precious moment of each day?

2010-12-01T14:33:00.000-08:00

Things I love about the Holiday Season:

The way the Christmas Tree looks with all the lights off.
A cup of Hot Cocoa.
Children on Santa's Lap.
Catching Snowflakes on your tongue.
The delight on peoples faces when they open gifts.
The Christmas Lights on the Trees Downtown.
Unwrapping treasured ornaments.
The Smell of Christmas dinner cooking.
Christmas Pageants at churches.
The beauty of the night sky on a clear cold winters night.
The smell of a Christmas candle.
The glow of candlelight.
Christmas carols on the radio.
Nat King Cole.
Christmas movies on AMC,Hallmark, TCM.
The Santa Watch on TV Christmas Eve.

I am so grateful to each of you who visit here old and new and feel the following quote speaks as to how I see each of you and the value of each of you to me.

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” ~Albert Schweitzer~

Photo from JenniPenni on Flicker

2010-11-30T13:00:00.001-08:00

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I recieved this as an ARC from Library Thing and I didn't really know what to expect but upon opening the book I was hooked from the first page. This is the first book I have read from this author and I think now I might go back and read some others.

In this book Kristin Hannah tackles real life at its core and also motherhood in all its forms.In the beginning you meet Lexi who has an imperfect life growing up with a mother who doesn't care and The Faraday's who have the perfect life . They are wealthy, affulent and with all the material things a family could want.

I will try to explain without giving away the story that the families become interwined until one tragic night when a teenage party and a mistake that happens all to frequently happens and one of the main characters is killed in an accident.

The rest of the story deals with how this affects all the rest of the families with shocking results. Although I could understand Judes grief I also got mad at her often for being so self absorbed in her grief that she forgot the others who needed her love. I have seen this so often in my work as a nurse. In the last part of the book it deals with the power of forgivenss and how when we forgive the forgiveness helps the person who is forgiving more than the person who needs the foregivenss. I cried in this part and for me to cry a book has to be really good because I don't cry easily.

I encourage you to read this book and be touched . This book reminded me of some of Jodi Picoults books.

This is a book that will touch you , make you angry and make you really think about what you would you do if put in the same situation.

View all my reviews

2010-11-26T12:44:00.000-08:00

I truly enjoyed this book.It is quite possibly my favorite so far of the books Karen White has written.

I am a huge fan of books set during the WWII era and this one is no exception as it deals with the threat of German Invasion during the war and the actual historical presence of U Boats off the Coast of South and North Carolina. I enjoyed reading about this era and its context in history to Folly Beach, SC.
Karen White has the unique gift of capturing and era in time and a setting so real that I can smell the Pluff mud here in Oregon.
I visited here in 2004 and her descriptions of the area and culture are spot on.
She also crafts complex characters for which we feel empathy for even those that are unlovable like Peter and Kat.
I have always been intrigued by the Bottle Trees whose roots run deep in the MS Delta and have toyed with the idea of starting one here.
I felt that Lulu with her complex bristly personality was one of my favorites and I loved Maggie who never gave up hope to see the one she loved again.
It is a wonderful book and one I would recommend to anyone who loves a good story

2010-11-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

Hope you all Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and start to the holiday season.

I am so Thankful to all of you who visit here and for your friendship.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS,

YOLANDA AND CO.

2010-11-12T13:24:00.000-08:00

I saw the picture that is posted and thought I would share it here. It is the definition of Thanksgiving printed on burlap from a printer . I loved this idea and think it would be a good reminder to read throughout the year not just on the holiday.
I am so grateful for all the things I have in my life and I thought I would share some of them here.
I am proud to be an American.
I am thankful that I have a job.
I am thankful that we have food to eat and a roof over our heads
I am thankful that my sister and my husband are my best friends.
I am thanful for my animals.
I am thankful for the beauty that surrounds me here in the Northwest.
I am thankful for my nephew and neice.

What are you Thankful for?

When you have come to the edge of all light that you know
& are about to drop off into the darkness of the unknown,
faith is knowing one of two things will happen:

There will be something solid to stand on .
.Patrick Overton

.

2010-10-26T12:44:00.001-07:00

The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I started reading this one on a cold, dreary, rainy day here in the Northwest yesterday and finished it this morning. The book by no means was earth shattering but it was good and it was of those books that just make you feel warm inside.I think sometimes we just need books like that.

I loved all the characters especially Jo and Gran and Trevor the dog. I would love to go and visit this yarn shop and sit and take classes with all the women of the village. I wish I had a yarn shop like this close by.

Although I don't knit this book inspires me to try it sometime.Luckily I live in area of the country with lots of sheep and alpacas so yarn is readily available.

I also loved Jo's imperfect children especially Archie.

I hope you will like this book as much as I did.

View all my reviews

2010-10-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

I love this manifesto of sorts and thought I would share it with all of you.It sums up my philosophy of life pretty well .

I enjoyed my trip back home to see my sister a lot and loved seeing my niece and nephew so much. I only wish they were closer.

In the pat couple of months I have been having trouble with my left knee and last Monday night it went out.I had to have an MRI which showed and meniscus tear which will probably require surgery at some point in the near future. This was not what I wanted to hear right before the holidays.

I know though that even with that piece of bad news I have much to be grateful for and I am counting my blessing everyday.
I hope to get back to blogging regularly and posting book reviews. I have a few book reviews to share this week. I have read 56 books so far this year.I know this doesn't seem like a lot compared with other people but is good for me as I work a full time job.
The weather is definitely changing here . This weekend was our first big storm and MT Hood got 24 inches of snow. I actually heard thunder last night for the first time in four years. The sound of thunder in itself is something to be thankful for.

I hope you all are having a good week and I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook( see links on right).

2010-09-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

I took and unintended blogging break this summer but I will be back. I am leaving tomorrow for two weeks back home in Dixie(Tn and Ms) and then back to regularity and fall. I love fall it is my favorite time of year. I hope to have lots of pics to share along the way from home.
I feel the winds of change stirring and it is good. I look forward to reconnecting with all of you this fall.

2010-07-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel—an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics—their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.

An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.{From Good Reads}

I loved this book. It is a long book but well worth the effort. Marion was my favorite character but I came to love all of the characters.

This book is written by an MD and shows the beauty of medicine, surgery and the human body . He relays this knowledge so well to the reader.
This books also takes us on a journey through Ethiopia's recent past and the feelings all immigrants must feel when coming to America.

I read a lot of books and this book is onein which you become invested in and with the characters. I will long remember Marion, Shiva, Sister Mary Joseph Praise , Ghosh, Hema , Genet,and Matron.

I feel this book will become a classic and I think anyone who loves a good novel,heartbreakingly real characters and places will love this book.This book shows how the accidents and twists and turns of life lead us in the end to the people we are with all our faults but still capable of love and being loved.

Here is a story found on the web that seems the demonstrate what the book above was saying.

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2″ in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous – yes.
The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar – effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, and your children – Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house, and your car.
The sand is everything else. The small stuff.”
“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.
“Take care of the rocks first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.
The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.”

2010-07-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands by Susan Carol McCarthy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here is one of those rare and remarkable debuts that herald the appearance of a major new talent on the literary scene. Inspired by real events, Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands is a wise and luminous story about a northern family, a southern town, and the senseless murder that sparks an extraordinary act of courage.

To this day, my family is in disagreement as to precisely when the nightmare began. For me, it was the morning Daddy and Luther discovered Marvin, beaten, shot, and dying, in the Klan’s stomping grounds off Round Lake Road. My brother Ren disagrees. He points to the small cluster of scars that begin just outside his left eye and trail horizontally across his temple to the top of his ear. Ren claims it started when the men in white robes took the unprecedented step of shooting at two white children. Others say it was when Mr. Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP and Mr. Hoover’s FBI came to town. Mother and Daddy shake their heads. In their minds, the real beginning was much earlier.... -Good Reads synposis.
I found this book by chance while looking for books to purchase from Paperback Swap. I thought it sounded like it would be a good southern novel and it definitely was.
I tells the story of the civil rights movement from the perspective of a young girl and the way in which the division between blacks and southern whites divided a small community. It depicts the civil rights movement from withing Fla which you don't often hear about as most of these type books are set in MS or ALA.
I fell that Susan Carol McCarthy captures the southern voice as only a southerner can and this book evokes To Kill A Mockingbird and The Help.
I would highly recommend this book to everyone who loves good Southern Literature.

2010-07-09T09:16:00.001-07:00

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book Synopsis from Good Reads:

Fresh off the success of his Edgar® Award-winning, New York Times bestseller Down River, John Hart returns with his most powerful and intricately-plotted novel yet.
Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: happy parents and a twin sister that meant the world to him. But Alyssa went missing a year ago, stolen off the side of a lonely street with only one witness to the crime. His family shattered, his sister presumed dead, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown in a last, desperate search. What he finds is a city with an underbelly far blacker than anyone could’ve imagined— and somewhere in the depths of it all, with the help of his only friend and a giant of a man with his own strange past, Johnny, at last, finds the terrible truth.

Detective Clyde Hunt has devoted an entire year to Alyssa’s case, and it shows: haunted and sleepless, he’s lost his wife and put his shield at risk. But he can’t put the case behind him—he won’t—and when another girl goes missing, the failures of the past year harden into iron determination. Refusing to lose another child, Hunt knows he has to break the rules to make the case; and maybe, just maybe, the missing girl will lead him to Alyssa...

The Last Child is a tale of boundaries: county borders and circles on a map, the hard edge between good and evil, life and death, hopelessness and faith. Perfectly blending character and plot, emotion and action, John Hart again transcends the barrier between thrillers and literature to craft a story as heartrending as it is redemptive

2010-07-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I saw this book recommended so many times here and on other sites and blogs and knew I wanted to read.it. I didn't know what to expect but this book well exceeded my expectations.
The novel was fas tpaced and well plotted with believeable but flawed chracters.
I loved the main character and felt he was believeable . You feel his frustrations, hurt and hope throughout the book.
I sometimes wanted to sock his mom !
This is one of those books that will stay with you long after you read it. I feel this book will also establish John Hart as a major player in the fiction world today. I also can very easily see this made into a movie.

Book Synopsis from Good Reads:

Fresh off the success of his Edgar® Award-winning, New York Times bestseller Down River, John Hart returns with his most powerful and intricately-plotted novel yet.
Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: happy parents and a twin sister that meant the world to him. But Alyssa went missing a year ago, stolen off the side of a lonely street with only one witness to the crime. His family shattered, his sister presumed dead, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown in a last, desperate search. What he finds is a city with an underbelly far blacker than anyone could’ve imagined— and somewhere in the depths of it all, with the help of his only friend and a giant of a man with his own strange past, Johnny, at last, finds the terrible truth.

Detective Clyde Hunt has devoted an entire year to Alyssa’s case, and it shows: haunted and sleepless, he’s lost his wife and put his shield at risk. But he can’t put the case behind him—he won’t—and when another girl goes missing, the failures of the past year harden into iron determination. Refusing to lose another child, Hunt knows he has to break the rules to make the case; and maybe, just maybe, the missing girl will lead him to Alyssa...

The Last Child is a tale of boundaries: county borders and circles on a map, the hard edge between good and evil, life and death, hopelessness and faith. Perfectly blending character and plot, emotion and action, John Hart again transcends the barrier between thrillers and literature to craft a story as heartrending as it is redemptive

View all my reviews >>

2010-07-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

This was another 5 star read for me.

I have always been an avid lover of storms so I can identify with the brother in this book.
This book is an honest depiction of sibling love and mental illness . In this book the main characters brother has severe bipolar disorder and Mrs. Blum deals with the disease honestly without sugarcoating it.I have a friend with this disease and it is heartbreaking to see the struggles someone with this disease goes through and the effect the meds to control it have on the person.
I felt that the author made me be in the car with them when they were storm chasing and made me identify with both the main characters.
I hope you will read it and enjoy it as much as I did.
Below is from Pulishers Weekly:

Jenna Blum (Those Who Save Us) visits Tornado Alley in this vivid novel about a set of twins with a dark history. At home in Minnesota, Karena Jorge gets an unexpected call informing her that her twin brother, Charles Hallingdahl, whom she hasn't seen in the 20 years since something went very wrong during a storm chase, has been admitted to a Kansas mental hospital. Charles suffers from rapid cycling bipolar disorder, and all Karena knows is that he refuses medication, he can be a danger to himself and others, and he is still obsessed with storm chasing. When she rushes to the clinic and finds he has already left, Karena joins a professional storm-chasing tour company, hoping to find her brother in the caravan of watchers who follow major storms. In the course of the tour, Karena confronts the past and the way it has shaped her life. The unpredictable and dangerous storms provide a framework for an exploration of the bond between siblings (and its limitations), and Blum renders the stormy backdrop as richly as she does her nuanced characters. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

2010-06-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

I would give this book five stars. I really loved this one.

I know I haven't blogged in awhile and the main reason is I couldn't decide what to do with this blog so for right now I am mainly going to do book reviews.I find that at this point in my life I am trying to simplify my life and don't really have that much to say about my personal life right now. I will from time to time share things from my life but mostly will let this space be about books.

I love sharing good books that I have read with others and this is one of them.

It tells the story of Sarah who is in her 70's and how her life changes after the death of her husband in unexpected ways. I so identified with her in this book in that in my 46 th year of life I have reached a place where I am comfortable with who I am .I am like Sarah in that the only peoples opinions that I care about are those whom I love and otherwise I am a take it or leave it type person. I live a simple life and am okay with that .
I found that the author's description of passion and mature love was heartbreaking and poignant.,real and worth the price of the book.I think that our youth focused society believes that when when you reach middle age you no longer have passion or sexual urges and yet at any age that is still a part of life.I also love that she portrays an acceptance of her body later in life and is finally okay with it.
I also felt that she conveyed to the reader the joys of finding love in unexpected places at any stage of life.
I would highly recommend this book to all.
I hope everyone has a lovely 4th of July weekend.

2010-04-02T05:24:00.000-07:00

Have a Lovely Holiday Weekend with your friends and family.

photo -Positively Present

2010-03-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

If I were a day I’d be SUNDAY
If I were a time of day I’d THE GOLDEN HOUR
If I were a planet I’d be SATURN
If I were a sea animal I’d be an SEA LION
If I were a direction I’d be WEST
If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a TABLE
If I were a liquid I’d be HONEY
If I were a gem stone I’d be an PEARL
If I were a tree I’d be a LIVE OAK
If I were a tool I’d be a HAMMER
If I were a flower I’d be a WILD ROSE
If I were an element of weather I’d be a SUMMER THUNDERSTORM
If I were a musical instrument I’d be an GUITAR
If I were a color I'd be AQUA
If I were an emotion I’d be PEACEFUL
f I were a fruit I’d be an MANGO
If I were a sound I’d be a CHILD'S LAUGH
If I were an element I'd be WATER
If I were a car I’d be a VINTAGE ORANGE VW BUS
If I were a food I’d be SOUTHERN FRIED TATERS.
If I were a place I’d be SAN FRANCISCO
If I were a material I'd be COTTON
If I were a taste I’d be SALTY
If I were a scent I’d be LILAC
If I were a body part I’d be EYES
If I were a song I’d be the CLASSIC ROCK.
If I were a bird I'd be a OWL.
If I were a gift I'd be BOOK
If I were a city I'd be in CALIFORNIA
If I were a door I'd always be OPEN
I were a pair of shoes I’d be WELL WORN BIRKENSTOCKS
If I were a poem I would be HAIKU

And what would you be?

Nothing Better

2010-03-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not posting sooner but just haven't felt I had anything to say . I suspect it was just the late winter funk.lol.

I am so happy to see all the flowers and trees blooming here in the Northwest and the appearance of the blue sky.

I have found that there is NOTHING BETTER:

than the beauty of fresh cut daffodils in my house from an area flower stand grown locally.

than the beauty of all the trees blooming and the tulips so pretty in their splendor.

than the wonders of modern technology that allow me to use facebook to see pics and videos of my family back in TN almost instantly.

than planning for a trip to the Southern Oregon Coast in early April.

than the appearence of the blue sky here in the northwest.

than the joys of a good book.

than the simple pleasure of going to used bookstores and finding books that I have wanted to read for awhile.

than watching movies from Netflix that stir my soul like Bright Star .

than the voice of my friends on the telephone.

than the sheep placidly grazing on the new grass in countryside near my house.

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

photo by Pink Sherbert Photography

2010-03-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

I love this photo by May All Your Seasons Be Sweet To Thee.Here are my Simple Things I am loving right now.

The smell of freshly cut grass.

The daffodils in bloom.

The appearence of blue sky days and sunbreaks here in the Pacific Northwest.

The new season of American Idol.

Talking each week to Cindy on the telephone.

Planning things to do this summer.

Seeing the birds return and hearing the frogs croaking.

Just enjoying being alive.

Seeing the Everyday

2010-02-17T08:14:00.000-08:00

I found out about this magazine on another blog and it sounds just like the magazine for me. I would love to have a subscription as it sums up my philosophy on life and what I try to to do everyday.Here from the magazine is what basically it's goal is.

Why See the Everyday?

Because our lives are the sum

of each moment and interaction.

Each day we

work,eat ,laugh, teach read , play and remember ...

and work at it all again the next day.

Because within daily rituals

we find opportunity to build

relationships,develop character,find joy

for the price of our time.

Because the most common rituals are manifest plainly in our homes.

It is where we

share, teach,grow , learn,serve, give

our best without praise or fanfare.

So we pay tribute

to fathers and mothers who have sacrificed self

for the good of their children.

That perhaps we might each find

the poetry within life's daily prose.

To all who see the everyday.

This really speaks to me and I would add To all who see the ever day as an ordinary miracle.

The table of contents is divided in sections that could be sections of our daily lives.

eat: Eating together provides a space for listening,sharing and growing.

work: Simple home needs when done together sustain and nurture the whole.

play:All hard work deserves a healthy dose of honest play.

listen:Things made by little hands have marvelous purpose and explanation.

teach : A mother is first of all a teacher.

laugh: At times ,small voices. almost unnoticed bring grand responses.

build: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us" Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"Cloaked in their very ordinariness, the prosaic events that truly shape our lives–escape our notice . . . . The infinitely numerous and apparently inconsequential ordinary ones, which taken together, are far more effective and significant.”
- Gary Saul Morson

2010-02-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

I have always been fascinated with the WWII era and I am always interested in books set during the time period. I think my fascination with this subject matter started when I read The Diary of Anne Frank. She and I both share the same Birthday.

I found this book at my local used book store and bought it not knowing what to expect but it was good and I finished it in just two days. The book deals with a little known segment of history in which Hitler set up maternity homes in Germany and the countries he occupied to produce his master race.

The main character in this book is a Jew who we follow as she poses as her cousin who was pregnant by a German officer in one of these homes. Cyrla is a strong character and through her eyes we see this little know segment of history from a personal point of view.

I would rate this as 4 stars and highly recommend it.

In the process of reading this I found a book a patient had left at work about Parkinson's Disease and was looking through it and it said that Hitler before his death is thought to have had this disease.

I am trying to decide which way to take this blog. Do I continue it and share day to day tidbits of life or do I primarily use it to review books with some day to day things thrown in,along with some introspection , recipes and crafts. What do you all think I would love to hear your opinion.

Here's Hoping you Have a Wonderful Weekend.

I hope the Colts win tommorrow but I also like the Saints too.

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing itis like wrapping a present and not giving it."
William Arthur Ward

A Book and A TV Show

2010-01-20T16:41:00.000-08:00

I read a lot of books some very good and then some that are just okay. This one was wonderful. It left me with the feeling that I got when I read The Secret Life of Bees and The Help.I confess that I am a sucker for a Southern Novel because even though I love with all my heart the Northwest I yearn for home sometime.In the beginning of the book Ceecee lives with a mentally ill mom who she has to be a Mom toand as the book goes on her mom's death prompts a move to live with her Aunt Tootie in Savannah and the friends her Aunt Tootie has that become her family.

The book and it's characters are yet another affirmation of the fact that your family doesn't have to be of theblood butthey can be those you choose.Beth Hoffman so captures the Low Country of Georgia and South Carolina that I felt like I was back there again in summer walking along the beaches of Tybee Island, watching a summer thunderstorm and walking through Forsythe Park. I can almost smell the night blooming jasmine and the Magnolias and Azaleas in bloom or feel myself sitting on the front porch drinking sweet tea.I think you will love Ceecee as much as I did and the other characters that Beth Hoffman creates . I almost wish I could go live with Aunt Tootie myself.

I also love this new series on The CW called Life Unexpected . It is set here in Portland and it manages to capture the funky, outdoorsy, laid back vibe of the area I love so well it is billed as a cross between Juno and The Gilmore Girls and I think I agree. I hope you will watch it.

2010-01-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Do you find that at times your life seems cyclic?

I have found at midlife that it seems that (now don't laugh) years that end in 9 are years of upheaval and years that end in 0 are years of growth and possibilityfor me. Let me explain:

In 1989 I was just ending a valued relationship and changed jobs and moved to a new city alone without knowing anyone . In 1990 I learned that I was a survivor and that I am adaptable and I wouldn't have learned that if not for the year of upheaval before it.

In 1999 my mother became terminally ill and in 2000 we would find out that she had breast cancer and that she would try chemo but eventually stop to spend the rest of her days enjoying life her way. In 2000 I met my husband and my life again changed drastically. I learned during this year that life each day, each moment is precious and that we don't need to waste any moment of it with the what ifs. I learned that the most important things in life are family and friends and the times you spend with them and that as soon as we are born we begin to die and that is inevitable and something none of us can change and we all must decide how to spend the days we are allotted.

In 2009 my life so another upheaval of which I have mentioned in the past here namely financially but even through this I have learned a great deal . I have learned again that life goes on, that it is people and moments and those you love that matter and the other things are just things. I learned that it takes little to make a happy life and that my marriage is strong and is based on friendship. I also continued to learn that I am a survivor and that no matter what I still believe that life is worth living.

I chose the picture above because it visually indicates how I feel inside. I feel as though the storm clouds are clearing and that this year is another year of change but good change and is pregnant with possibility.I am sure along the way it will present failures and bad days but that is just part of the circle called life.

I want to have the philosophy that Robert Schuller used to say at the beginning of his sermons and that is "This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it".

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France

photo found -claus rebler

2010-01-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

Photo Credit:we heart it

I don't make Resolutions anymore but here are some goals I am going to strive to achieve this year. I may not accomplish them all but I am going to try.

Be positive. I struggle with this one at times but I think the more that I try to live this way the more I tend to see the glass half full instead of half empty.I will continue to work on this area.

Be present. I am also continuing to work on this goal also as I try to enjoy the simplicity and beauty of each day and hour and realize it is little moments that I treasure and will continue to treasure as I go through life. I find that sometime when I walk the dogs I will stop to admire the color of a leaf or the raindrops on a spiderweb and cherish the life I have.

Enjoy life. I sometimes think that in the times we live in that we find ourselves saying I will enjoy life when I have enough money or live in a bigger house or have a better job but I will continue to enjoy the little things in life and treasure them like a bowl of soup on a winters day watching old movies on TV, sitting in a beach chair by the ocean on a summers day and reading a good book, camping in the cascades , being with family.

Keep learning. I have been a lifelong learner and even at my age there are still so many things that fascinate me . I want to learn to crochet and knit this year. I want to research our family tree as gifts for my sister, husband and niece and nephew. I want to learn about the constellations and fungi. I want to be more domestic and cook more.

Be passionate. I want to live with a sense of purpose and put my whole heart into any task I do and the causes I support.

Celebrate others. I want to return to my old habit of being the card sending,cookie baking , gift giving person. I want to let others know I love and care for them in the here and now. I want to celebrate and thank those who make a difference to me.I also want to find some sort of volunteer work that I enjoy . I really wanted to be a casa volunteer last year but the training just didn't work with my schedule as a nurse but maybe someday. I am thinking of maybe volunteering with Special Olympics. I want to do something that gives back to my community.

I like this quote I saw recently although I don't know whose it is but it rings true for me .

Don't be fooled by the calendar there are only as many days as you make use of.

Happy New Year

2009-12-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

This will the last post for me this year as I work the next two days 12 hours then off one day and work Sunday.I wanted to wish all of you a Happy New Year.
I thought yesterday was a perfect ending to the year as we got about 6 inches of snow which made everything look magical as it always does here when it snows with all the fir trees. It looks like a Christmas card and it makes everything seem so quite and magical. It is all melting today but it was pretty while it lasted.
I think on Saturday when I am off for New Years we will have this recipe for: (click on red links for recipes)
Black eyed Peas from the Homesick Texan
Peanut Butter Collard Greens from the Homesick Texan
Cornbread
Cake Balls from Tasty Kitchen ( which are all the rage where I work) . I can't get the link to work just go to the site and type in cake balls.

My hope is to live with intention this coming year and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

photo by Pink Sherbet Photography

NEW POST OVER AT THE MERMAIDS BOOKSHELF.

2009-12-28T12:46:00.000-08:00

I really like vintage images and this one by artist Duane Bryers and she is called Big Hilda. I love that she is built like a size 14 and not a size 4 and that in all the images of her she is always laughing and poking fun at herself.

In the past 3 years past I have chosen a word each year to be the word I try to live by for that year. In past years I chose:

Abundance-2009
Revitalize-2008
Authentic-2007

This year I have chosen ENOUGH( occurring in such quantity, quality, or scope as to fully meet demands, needs, or expectations) for a variety of reasons. This past year has been a hard one for our family but we have come through it and I believe that in doing that I have come to know that enough is a good word.This word to me means that I may not have everything I want but I have enough love, family, food, friends, and the things I need to enjoy life in all of its ups and downs.
I hope to explore this word throughout the year.
What will your word be?

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.

-Martha Washington

2009-12-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays from all of us here at the Campbell's! Thank you for being such a nice, warm generous, and happy part of my world this year. With much love and best wishes for a truly peaceful new year.

Happy Holidays and with much love and warm thoughts,

yolanda,vince,sadie(the lab),Moe and Kalu(the pek a poo's)

We Wish You a Merry♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Christmas♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪We Wish You a Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♥ ♥ ♥We Wish You A Merry♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...And A Happy New Year!

2009-12-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

The Opening of Eyes

That day I saw beneath dark clouds

the passing light over the water

and I heard the voice of the world speak out,

I knew then, as I had before

life is no passing memory of what has been

nor the remaining pages

in a great book waiting to be read.

It is the opening of eyes long closed.

It is the vision of far off things

seen for the silence they hold.

It is the heart after years

of secret conversing

speaking out loud in the clear air.

It is Moses in the desert fallen to his knees

before the lit bush.

It is the man throwing away his shoes

as if to enter heaven

and finding himself astonished,

opened at last,

fallen in love with solid ground.

-- David Whyte

2009-12-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

First of all I know this picture really has nothing to do with this post other than I love vintage globes and I love this idea of painting a thrifted globe with chalkboard paint and writing down on it where you would like to go someday.

I found this on another blog and though it might be fun to share here.

1. Where is your cell phone? bed

2. Your hair?thick/coarse

3. Your mother?deceased

4. Your father? deceased

5. Your favorite food?sweets-sad isn't it?

6. Your dream last night? none

7. Your favorite drink? diet coke

8. Your dream/goal? writer

9. What room are you in?office

10. Your hobby? reading/birdwatching/nature walks

11. Your fear?abandonment

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?content

13. Where were you last night?party

14. Something that you aren’t? frivolous/high maintenance

15. Muffins? blueberry

16. Wish list item?car

17. Where did you grow up? Mississippi

18. Last thing you did? laundry

19. What are you wearing? PJs

20. Your TV? old

21. Your pets? dogs

22. Friends? wonderful

23. Your life? unsettled

24. Your mood? anxious

25. Missing someone? yes/my sister and niece and nephew

26. Vehicle? green

27. Something you’re not wearing? bra .

28.Your favorite store? thrift

29. Your favorite color? purple

30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday

31. Last time you cried? don't recall /I cry very seldom

32. Your best friend? husband

33. One place that I go to over and over? library

34. One person who emails me regularly? Cindy

35. Favorite place to eat? chick-fil-a

2009-12-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

I really like this simple image above for an advent calendar idea so cute.

I thought I would share my holiday edition of Simple Things and I hope you will share yours with me.

*The smile it puts on my face when I see Christmas Trees going home on top of cars and trucks to be enjoyed for the holidays.

*The smell of pine , cinnamon,fir and candles burning and sugar cookies baking.

*The old standards on TV -Frosty, Rudolph,National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

*Watching old movies on TCM such as Christmas in CT,The Bells of ST. Mary's

*The memories and the joy I get from unpacking treasured Christmas ornaments and hanging them on the tree

*Receiving surprise Christmas Cards in the mail and online

*Seeing the children in Santa's lap in the mall

*Listening to the kids on the radio tell what they want for Christmas

*The bustle of shoppers this time of year and my town all decked out like something from It's A Wonderful Life with Christmas lights everywhere

*The joy of Christmas plays and pageants especially children's ones

*Christmas music on the radio

*The taste of warm hot chocolate as I sit and watch the Christmas tree lights while all the other lights are out.

*Reading about others holiday traditions while visiting blogs.

*The gorgeous moon glow and clarity to the stars this time of year in the night sky.

*Christmas Eve services at churches locally.

"Make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!" Amanda Bradley

2009-12-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

At twenty years of age

I'm still looking for a dream

A war's already waged for my destiny

But You've already won the battle

And You've got great plans for me

Though I can’t always see

(Chorus)

Cause I got a couple dents in my fender

Got a couple rips in my jeans

Try to fit the pieces together

But perfection is my enemy

On my own I'm so clumsy

But on Your shoulders I can see

I'm free to be me

When I was just a girl I thought I had it figured out

My life would turn out right,

and I'd make it here somehow

But things don't always come that easy

And sometimes I would doubt

(Chorus)And you’re free to be you

Sometimes I believe that I can do anything

Yet other times I think I've got nothing good to bring

But You look at my heart

and You tell me That I've got all You seek

And it’s easy to believe

Even though

(Chorus)

I love this song it is sort of my philosophy on life-Perfectly Imperfect.

Song is Free to be Me by Franscesca Basttistelli

2009-12-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

MY WISH FOR YOU THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.

2009-11-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

To each of you who visit here often or just stop by from time to time I am grateful for each of you and the friendship we share here. I wish you a wonderful holiday weekend and a good start to your holiday season. I hope you will all be safe and have a wonderful time with those who you love.

2009-11-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

I received this book as an ARC from Library Thing and at first put off reading it as I was into about 3 other books at the time.I picked it up on Friday and finished it Sunday. It is fast paced and a very believeable read.

The book deals with an Iraq vet and his daughter who are homeless and what the system of govt tries to do for them believing they know best. It truly makes you think about what home really is and family and that sometimes in trying to do good the system actually does harm when it separates families who are only guilty of poverty. The book is loosely based on actual events that took place here in Portland in 2004 I believe.The city in the story is actually Portland and the Park is Forest Park in Portland. There is another book based on this event called My Abandonment which is a good book to read along this with this one. I found at the end of the story wondering what actually happened to the girl in the real story.

I feel that Jennie Shortridge who is from the Seattle area also gets the culture of the Northwest and Oregon down to a T. This is the first book of hers that I have read but will read more.

. Here is a link to the actual story from the newspaper .

2009-11-15T16:27:00.001-08:00

What Acceptance Means

Regaining focus and perspective of your true purpose in life. We often don’t accept things because our mission in life is not clear and so we mistake simple shortcomings for true loss. We confuse the authentic value of things for inauthentic ones.

Synchronizing your heart and mind. Emotional turbulence arises when your beliefs and thoughts are not aligned to your heart’s desires. Little mishaps upsets you more than they should.

Trusting yourself and your relation with the divine. To accept things means that you openly trust the divinity that works through you to bring forth more life.

Experiencing life without unnecessary criticism and judgment. With accepting comes the joy to embrace life without trying to classify the event or criticize it. Just let it be.

Realizing that you can’t control everything in your life. Control brings pressure and stress. You have to understand that in as much as there are things you can consciously change, there are other which you cannot but can respond to in a balanced and healthy way.

Learning to fail. Getting in terms with the fact that people very often fail and this is only a natural cycle of life. Failure is good if you respond to it wisely.

Realizing that the world or the universe is not conspiring against you. This can make some people not accept a given situation. We sometimes say “why is this happening to me?”, “What did I do to deserve it?”, “Why am I stuck here?”

Putting an end to victimization. In relation to the above, understanding that you are not a victim of your fate. You are still responsible for whatever happens to you by responding to it in the right way.

Learning that you are part of the bigger picture. We tend to see things from a self-centered point of view. We think that our problems are bigger, different and special than those of others. By accepting we see that we are in no privileged position and others have problems too which can be much bigger than ours.

Gaining emotional freedom that no other thing can match. Accepting means letting go of the emotional baggage and opening your heart to a richer and broader experience of life. An open heart can give you a full life that an open mind alone cannot.

Knowing yourself better. Accepting implies getting one step closer to your true self because acceptance makes you see the true nature of things including yourself.

Feeling a lightness of being that brings relieve, joy and happiness. Learning to accept things makes you understand that even though you are responsible for your actions you don’t need to bear the whole weight of consequences on your shoulder. Failure happens and some things are out of our control.

Working with life and not working against it. When we don’t accept things we create currents of negative energy and friction that attracts more negative energy towards us. Accepting makes us at peace with life and with ourselves. You’ll see how things will work out better.

I know it’s not always easy to accept whatever dire circumstances come your way. I also know that some things are harder to accept than others. I’ve been there many times. But once you let the power of acceptance to work in your life, you will unleash so many positive effects that it’s hard to let it go once it touches your heart.-Gilbert Ross(Soul Hiker)

2009-11-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky,The larks,
still bravely singing fly.
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
-Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae Born, Guelph.Final resting place, Boulogne

May we never forget those from all wars/conflicts who gave their lives in service to our country and those that continue to serve and continue to let us live as a free people .

In deepest Gratitude to the Military of our country.

2009-11-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviours.
Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”

Mahatma Gandhi

2009-11-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite speeches by one of my favorite writers Anna Quindlen. I needed to me reminded of it myself today along with the message on this button.
I think it also appears in her book: A Short Guide To A Happy Life. Seems like a good time of year to share it:
I am a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know.
Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work.
You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life.
Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.
People don't talk about soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to craft a resume than craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter night, or when your sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've gotten back the test results and they're not so good.
Here is my resume:
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say.
I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cutout. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch.
I would be rotten, or at best mediocre, at my job if these things were not true. You cannot really be first rate at your work, if your work is all you are.
So, here is what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so much for those things if you blew an aneurysm one day, or found a lump in your breast?
Get a life in which you notice the smell of the salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone, send an email, write a letter.
Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about the goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a Big Brother or Sister.
It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get.
I learned to look at all the good in the world and to try to give some of it back, because I believe in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that in part, by telling others what I learned. By telling them this:
Consider the lilies of the field.
Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear.
Read in the backyard with the sun on your face.
Learn to be happy.
And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.

photo by timilings on flickr

2009-10-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

I am complex.

I want peace and stability in my life.

I have a wonderful family.

I wish for financial stability.

I hate whiners.

I miss my sister and her family and the South(sometimes).

I hear music and the voices of those I love.

I wonder if my life will ever get easier.

I regret that I could never have children because of infertility.

I dance when I am alone .

I sing to Daughtery and Nickleback on the radio (very badly).

I cry very seldom(except at sappy commercials).

I am not always empathetic toward people who are going through similar things that I have been through and who whine about it.(I see a lot of this in my job)

I take photos and want to learn to crochet.

I write to express what I feel inside and can't voice out loud.

I confuse myself sometime.

I don't blog when I am stressed but do blog on a lot of Wednesdays(only consistent day I have off each week).

I need very little to be happy( books, a roof over my head and someone to love me).

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon--instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. - Dale Carnegie

Photo by Pink Sherbert on Flickr.

2009-10-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

I received this book as an ARC from Library Thing and upon receiving it I thought to myself I will just read it sometime in the future.I flipped to the first page as a I sometimes do to see if the book would catch my interest and boy did it ever.I began reading and after the first few words I was hooked and had read half the book by bedtime and finished it the next day.

Rhoda Janzen is a wonderful writer who writes with the wit/truth of Anne Lamott about the ever day life we all experience and about the spiritual doubts and triumphs that we all face going through life.

I didn't grow up Mennonite but who knew that growing up in the South as a Conservative Baptist would be very much like the Mennonite way.I identified with her as she went to school and ate out of her Shame Based Lunch pail and how her mother was the Queen of Frugality.I also could clearly identify with the use of food as a tonic in time of death or hardship as this is the Southern Way too. This book will is laugh out loud funny, tender and truthful. In reading Rhoda's book I felt as though I was reading letters or emails from an old friend.

In a nutshell this book is a laugh out loud funny,tender memoir that we can all identify with and will make us smile.I know while it may be true you can never go home again I also know that in small towns and religious communities they will always accept you back with open arms and love.

...with your seemingly slow progress. Do not try to run faster than you presently can. If you are studying, reflecting and trying, you are making progress whether you are aware of it or not. A traveler walking the road in the darkness of night is still going forward. Someday, some way, everything will break open, like the natural unfolding of a rosebud."Vernon Howard, 1918-1992American Author and Spiritual Teacher

2009-09-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

Do you like receiving handwritten letters and packages through the mail?There is just something about going to the mail box after a hard days work and finding a letter or card from a friend. I grew up in a rural community and I remember everyone knew when their mail carrier came and I would run to the mailbox to see what was inside. I always was very excited when it was a catalog,a Readers Digest or a free sample.

I began pen paling in my teens and continue into my 20's because I just loved the idea of getting mail from other parts of the country and world and learning about other peoples lives and customs. I still do.

In recent weeks I joined over on Good Reads a group called Chicks on Lit and they had a solicitation for pen pals which I eagerly applied for and have made a very good friendship with Cindy in AZ. I am excited still to go to the mailbox and find a handwritten letter from a friend. If any of you reading here want to join in the fun let me know Just email me your address. I will write to you or when can have a match up.I know that it will delight you as much as me to receive a personal piece of mail rather than a bill or junk mail.It doesn't have to be long it can just be a card.

Here is another site Post crossing (where you can exchange postcards with people from other parts of the world.

Handwritten letters are another simple pleasure.

During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. "Absolutely," the professor said. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. ~Joann C. Jones

2009-09-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

Just a thought for today and the Coming week. Hope everyone has a wonderful week as September slowly passes into October.

2009-09-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

photo above is by Erica Marshall

I love to find beauty in the unexpected places and on our walks with the dogs I often look for hearts in nature.I also find faces in the bathtub faucet(the eyes are the knobs,the nose the spout,and that metal thingy is the mouth).I know I am strange but what can I say.

The Simple Things that I am enjoying right now are:

The fragrance of roses in the autumn air.
The Harvest Moon in the sky at night.
The Yellow Butterflies as they flutter here and there.
The start of Football Season.
The beginning of the New Shows on TV{Criminal Minds, CSI and CSI NY}
The guilty pleasure of watching Project Runway on Wed nights.
The fog that lays across the earth like natures blanket early in the mornings when I go to work.
The smell of books -yes I must confess I am a book sniffer.
The small joy I get of adding new books to my ever growing TBR list.
The sight of woolly bears preparing for winter.
The smell of campfires.
The taste of the first homemade chili of this season.
The sight of apples on the trees ready for harvest.
The smile each of your comments give me.

“The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.”

2009-09-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

This is from the file labeled (you never know what you might find on a back road).I was watching TV last night on CBS and waiting on the premiere of CSI Miami( I am a forensics nut) and the tail end of The Big Bang Theory was ending and a character on there said that he wished he could see a cattle drive. I actually got to see one (see photo above).This photo was taken as we were driving back to Crater Lake from Klamath Falls , Oregon.You can see in the photo that traffic actually had to stop and let them by. This was a highlight from our trip and one I will never forget although recently we were on a back road outside of town and had to wait for a herd of llamas to clear the road.

Here is some linky love for you:

If you love to cook and are looking for home cookin' recipes try the -Tasy Kitchen.

I want to try the Apple Cake in the Iron Skillet.

If you love poetry you can go to this site and hear poetry read out loud.-Slate

I want to try this embroidery hoop art here-Each Pretty Penny

If you want to find fairytales to read to your kids or if you just like them yourself-Fairy Tales

If you love to read like I do and want to find good books this is the site-Good Reads

Slow Dance
Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round
or listened to the rain slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?

You better slow down, don’t dance too fast,
Time is short, the music won’t last

Do you run through each day on the fly
When you ask ‘how are you?’ do you hear the reply?
When the day is done do you lie in your bed
with the next hundred chores running through your head?

You better slow down, don’t dance too fast
Time is short, the music won’t last

Ever told your child you will do it tomorrow
and in your haste not seen his sorrow?
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day
It’s like an unopened gift thrown away
Life isn’t a race so take it slower
Hear the music before your song is over…

Chocolate Gravy and Cast Iron Skillets

2009-09-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

I saw this video on Time With Shelby's site and it made me laugh so hard. I grew up like Shelby in the Mid South and the people who live in this part of the country are hard working make do with what you have type people. I have found memories of eating chocolate gravy over biscuits made by my granny in a cast iron skillet.

My granny more that any other member of my family shaped who I am.She was known county wide for her cooking and had worked for a county home (sort of like a group home and nursing home combined)and a cafe. She could make the best corn bread,fried chicken and fried potatoes .She expressed her love for us through her food.It seems to me that sometimes now days that you have to have top of the line appliances for the kitchen and the best knives and dutch ovens that cost hundreds of dollars but the best food I have ever eaten came from Lodge Cast Iron and my granny.In the years that I have been adult and moved to different places wherever we have lived my lodge cast iron has gone with me and when I lift that big iron skillet,dutch oven or griddle I think of all the strong women in my family and of the way they expressed love to us through food. That simple black skillet or pot brings back the best memories of my life.

Photo and recipe that follows courtesy of The Bitten Word

Granny Ragland's Chocolate Gravy

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix dry ingredients well. Slowly add milk until mixture is smooth. Cook very slowly over low heat, stirring frequently. When it gets thick enough, remove from stove. Add vanilla and butter.

Enjoy over biscuits.

Southern Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter or shortening

3/4 cup of milk

Preheat oven to (425 F) Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in butter until it is smaller than pea size. Add milk and stir swiftly. If rolling out and cutting, coat dough lightly with flour and turn onto a floured surface. Work quickly to avoid tough biscuits. Otherwise, form to the desired size by hand.
Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake 10-15 minutes (depending on the size of your biscuits) until golden.

Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn. ~Garrison Keillor

Storms of Life

2009-09-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel tossed about like a leaf in a storm? I think we all do sometime and I know that for most of this year that is how I have felt.

I knowthat even though the skies are dark and sometimes I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel I am much stronger than I thought I was and that no matter what happens I will make it to the other side.

I am one of those people who feel that no matter what situation you find yourself in that it has something to teach you and from this rough patch in my life I have learned a lot.

Lessons Learned:

*home cooked is most always better than takeout and better for you
*family and friends are life's greatest treasures
*a strong marriage is worth it's weight in gold
*that sometime the most beautiful place on earth is right in your own back yard.
*I feel closest to God in nature and the natural world.
*that material things tend to weigh you down in life
*that new isn't always best
* that having a job is a blessing
*that smiles and thank you's go a long way.

I want to return here and start blogging more in the fall and winter and to share what a lovely part of the world I live in and learn from each of you who visit here.

I hope that with the fall leaves that drift down that a lot of the fear and stress that has resided within me the past year will slowly release and let go and that come springtime I will feel renewed.

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."
~ Henry Miller

Song:Hope by Jack Johnson

2009-09-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

I woke this morning and for just a few minutes didn't remember it was 9/11 till getting on here.

I just wanted to take today to remember all those who lost their life on this day. I also want to express by deep appreciation to all those who serve our country and are there when everyone else is fleeing( the military,police officers, firefighters, paramedics, first responders and nurses).I know that when things are at the worst and disaster looms that those who protect you in times of peace will always be there in times of turmoil.I know from being a nurse that often one of the most appreciated things you can do for this group is a word of Thanks.
I wish to say Thank You to those who protect us.

“...when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.” –Sogyal Rinpoche

2009-09-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

No I haven't fell off the face of the earth but just having major computer issues right now. I hope to post this weekend when I am off work. I hope you all have a lovely labor day weekend.

2009-08-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

I am back . We had a wonderful time. This is a wheat field field near my house it look so much like a Monet painting to me.
I go back to work tommorrow and am actually looking forward to it.
My nephew starts school next week which is hard to believe.
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

2009-07-26T10:02:00.001-07:00

I will be away from the computer for the next 10 days but may pop in to post from time to time. Off to the airport to pick up my sister.

2009-07-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I have been getting ready for my sister to come next weekend with her family. I will get to see my new niece and my nephew and just spend quality family time with them all.

We plan on going camping at the beach for two days and hopefully flying kites, beach bonfires and smores at this beach above near Newport, Oregon.I think we also will be going back to Crater Lake and the Olympic Peninsula.

I hope to take lots of photos to share here.

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far.

Any good book recommendations from anyone?

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I will be at work unfortunately but glad to have a job.

New Reviews up at The Mermaids Bookshelf.

2009-07-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace. ~Hamilton Fish

I hope all of you Have A Wonderful Holiday Weekend. I also want to thank all those who serve our country in the military at home and abroad and their families.I also would thank those public servants who keep our families safe here EMS personnel,Police Officers, and Firefighters .

I thought it was kind of good that my 300th post was on America's birthday.

2009-06-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

I first want to say that I love my husband with all my heart and he is the best thing that ever happened to me now and always will be.

Do you remember when you were in your teens which celebrities you had a crush on? Now come on you know you did? I will admit mine were Leif Garrett, Shaun Cassidy,Lance Kerwin(James at 15) and Dean Butler(Little House on the Prarrie) . I had posters of some of them on my wall and would swoon when I looked at them.

Here I am in midlife and there are a few men who I think are worthy of crush's maybe we should call them Cougar Crush's.Oh come on you know you have them too.I have always found Mike Rowe cute even back in the day when he was on QVC. I like that he isn't afraid to get dirty and poke fun at himself.Johnny Depp(oh how sexy he is )has grown better as he has aged and I am always amazed by his talent in any movie he is in. I have been a fan of his since the Gilbert Grape days. Then there is Anderson Cooper(I love that gray hair ) . I will admitt sometimes I turn to CNN just to catch a glimpse of him. The last one is William Petersen. I have liked him since CSI first debuted to me he represents the Braniac Sexy Person. I know you are laughing but that is the point isn't it.Who are your Cougar Crush's?

On another note the next time I post it will be my 300th post which is hard to believe but in honor of that I will be doing a book giveaway. I will be giving away The Host by Stephanie Meyer,Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver, and East Wind Rain by Carolyn Paul .Please Enter to win one of these and I will draw the winner Next Wednesday July the 8th which will give everyone ample time to enter.

Parts of My Youth

2009-06-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

First I would love to THANK Lissa for my new blog header. I encourage you to go to her blog and check it out.She is a gifted writer and graphic designer and such a sweet person. I so thank her for wonderful work she did here.She is truly gifted.

This week has seen the passing of many of the icons of my youth bringing home with great detail the fact that I am getting older.

I remember growing up we lived out in the country and had an antenna and we could only get two channels on TV (PBS and NBC) and maybe on a good day CBS.In those days a lot of your TV viewing depended on the weather and I spent many evenings going out to turn the antenna while someone would yell if the picture was clear inside.

I loved to watch Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon was one of the highlights of the show. I loved the banter between the two and watching Carson only made my West Coast yearnings grow. I was so sad when Leno took over and I don't think the show has been the same since.

It was also so sad to hear of Farrah Fawcett'spassing. She struggled so valiantly with the anal cancer and I so admire her for the documentary she did. I remember when Charlies Angels was popular I wanted to have her hair and be as beautiful as she was.She was a true Steel Magnolia and even to the very end she lived with grace .

Yesterday I had been out helping my husband do stretcher trips for the medical transport company he works for and then tocome home and hear the shocking news of Michael Jackson's death. I truly believe he was a gifted performer and my heart goes out to his children.

I will send along my prayers to all these families and loved ones.I thank them all for making me life richer for their body work .

The death of someone we know always reminds us that we are still alive - perhaps for some purpose which we ought to re-examine. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

New Book Post up at The Mermaids Bookshelf.

The worth of a Soul.

2009-06-14T16:43:00.001-07:00

She loved saying hello, to anyone. People remembered that about her, the woman on the bench at the downtown corner of Southwest Sixth Avenue and Alder Street. She considered it her purpose to bestow good cheer, if only with a flash of her smiling baby blues. Her long red hair bounced when she nodded.
The first-year medical students knew none of that, of course. In a well-lit lab at OHSU, four of them stood in scrubs, plastic aprons and gloves around a gleaming stainless-steel table where the 71-year-old body lay. They took in the details: tattooed biceps, slender fingers, that red hair.
She came to them not by choice but by circumstance.
She had nowhere else to go.
She was unclaimed.

This story by Anne Sexton was on the front page of The Oregonian today I encourage you to go there and read it.The photo above is the only photo that exists of this woman.

In Oregon the homeless are quite prevalent due to our mild climate here in the valley and like lots of people seeing them over time becomes part of the fabric of our lives. I find it hard at times to make eye contact with them because I sometimes wonder if but for the grace of god that it could be me. I try to give them food when I can but probably don't do enough to help them.

The article deals with what happens when you die with no next of kin.This story made me sad to think of the number of people who exist all around us that have no one who loves or cares for them and who would miss them if they were gone. It really makes you stop and think and be grateful for all that you do have.

Even though the woman in this Picture whose name was Anita I believe didn't have much she tried to make the world a better place.She would sit on a street corner in downtown Portland and smile at everybody and wish them a good day.The day her two sons had a small memorial service for her at her bench when they turned the corner there were at least a 100 people there whose lives she had touched(office workers, merchants, etc.). It just made me realize that whatever we can do to help another person each day maybe even if it is only a smile just might touch another persons soul. It also makes me know that every human soul has worth and value.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if we could exhibit a little of her sweet spirit?

Seldom do people discernEloquence under a threadbare cloak.~Juvenal

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. ~Mahatma Gandhi

Simple Things

2009-06-10T12:47:00.001-07:00

Christinia of Soul Aperture is hosting Simple Things today .The goal is to list things that make you happy that make your soul sing and bring a smile to your face when you think about them. Here is mine.

The smell of rain on parched earth after a dry spell.

The sound of distant thunder and the sight of heat lightning on a summer night(my granny used to say when it thundered that the angels were rolling pumpkins).

The sight of kites above the sand dunes on a summers day here in Oregon.

Tide pooling on the Oregon Coast.

Sparklers at the beach even when its not the fourth of July.

The sound of lawn mowers in the distance on weekend mornings.

The discovery of a birds nest or the sight of a hummingbird.

The angel sounds of children's laughter on the playground,the voice of my husband and family.

The wet noses of my pets against my cheek.

Blowing bubbles and playing with squirt guns in the backyard even when you don't have children.

Buying lemonade from kids selling it on the sidewalk.

Sidewalk Chalk Art.

The feel of my husbands hand on the back of my neck when we are driving.

The joy of comments here on the blog and the new friends I meet through this medium

and

It being me the smell of books old and new and New and Used Bookstores and Independent Booksellers and libraries. {You knew I had to get books in there somehow}

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. I work the next two days 12 hour shifts and on my birthday Friday .( Although I am grateful to have a job )

Photo above is by Pink Sherbert Photograpy

"Little things. The thought of losing them makes them unbearably dear ... I only think of the sweetness. Simple things. The quarter moon, the taste of an orange. The smell of the pages of a new book." — Patricia Gaffney (The Saving Graces: A Novel)

Simple Joys

2009-06-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Doesn't this image just speak to you of peace? It is from a site called Amolife and I just loved it and wanted to share it. I love looking a clouds and feel it is one of the simple pleasures of life and apparently others feel the same ways since there is an organization called The Cloud Appreciation Society.

I have a problem sometime with getting to sleep and when I do I often compose blog posts in my head while waiting for sleep(wierd I know). I know that over the last couple of months I haven't posted often but like a lot of middle America right now we are struggling financially and sometimes when I feel weighted down with worry I find that I just don't have a lot to say. I still visit each of you though I need to comment more because you all inspire me so much..It has been over these many months that I have come to a conclusion and that is that if we look back to ourselves as children we will find the simple thing that still bring contentment to us as adults and most often these things are not expensive.

As a child growing up I didn't have many material things but we had a local library and from a very early age I went every week. I think from this came my deep and abiding love of books and the written word.Literature and Books have always been my solace and comfort when I was sad or lonely and my magic carpet that took me on adventures to exotic places and peoples and still does. I am happiest reading and this hobby costs very little and is available to everyone who has a local library.

The other great love of my childhood was being outdoors. I lived in a rural area and when I was a tween spent most of my summer days in the woods looking at plants,animals, birds , the sky and listening to the symphony of the wind in the cathedral of pine trees in my native south. I think from this comes my love to this day for the outdoors, birdwatching ,gardening and just observing nature and the world around me.

In the present day I find that both of these still give me the most pleasure outside of my family and animals and both cost very little .

I think it would do us all good to search our souls and find that place as a child that we were most happy and try to find that simple joy in our adult life.It is what I am searching for this summer. What are you searching for this summer?

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."~Thomas Moore, 19th century poet

I just post a book review over at The Mermaids Bookshelf stop by and take a look.