Good Times

YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD FOR SLUMBER PARTIES!!!!


It's important to make time to do "girl things."


Calories don't count when you are
having lunch with your girlfriends.

Laughter makes the world a happier place.


Good times are even better when they're shared.

March is Literacy Month

Well, my meager group of followers, I'm back. February has been quite the month of transition for me. How appropriate that it should happen as Winter will be tranforming into Spring.

I have since moved, joined the local Rotary Club, started a fresh journey and given up many many material possessions, as well as, ended a very significant relationship.

With all that being said, I am trying to focus more on doing for the community and giving back. I do it with my job everyday, but I want to do it after work too. We all should. It is good for everyone.

I am stealing some ideas from the latest newletter from Rotary on ideas on how we can all try to contribute to Literacy this month. If you can't do any of the following or they don't seem appealing to you, at least read to someone or encourage someone to read. Or just buy a book for someone. Reading is power, freedom and independence. And to all you ladies, we should be thankful to our foremothers for risking much and sometimes everything so that we would have the right to read and writer and be educated.

Visit the Literacy Resource Group
page on the Rotary International website, and contact
your coordinator for guidance.
Read the group’s monthly newsletters
for ideas.
• Visit the ProjectLINK database
to learn about Rotary club and
district literacy projects that are
seeking support.
• Consult the publication Every
School A Star: A Literacy Tool Kit
for ideas on how to establish a
school-based literacy project in
your community.
• Consider partnering with the
International Reading Association
or the Dollywood Foundation’s
Imagination Library, which have
formal relationships with RI.
• Read the International Reading
Association fact sheet.
• Learn about the International
Reading Association’s annual
convention in Chicago, 25-28
April.
• Read the Imagination Library fact
sheet.

Finding your way

Even a stone, and more easily a flower or a bird, could show you the way back to God, to the Source, to yourself. When you look at it or hold it & let it be without imposing a word of mental label on it, a sense of awe, of wonder, arises within you. Its essence silently communicates itself to you and reflects your own essence back to you.


Eckhart Tolle
Source: A New Earth

To blog or not to blog

Well, I don't seem to have many followers and I am obviously not very good at promoting my blog. Plus, I am not going to spend any money to promote it. So, I was wondering if I should blog at all. But I figure, why not? I like it.

So, this time my topic is related to "lies we I have been told; misconeptions; and our screwed up government."

A must watch: Documentary on the Union of Weed. It is very interesting, many historical facts. I would caution that it is definitley biased in some ways. But, not enough to dismiss it completely. I would especially caution the section related to "it doesn't kill brain cells." Well, I haven't done the research but I'm pretty sure that it does affect other things like, memory and word retrieval and communication. I'm not trying to promote the smoking of or legalization of weed and I'm not not trying to do that. I am just trying to present facts because truth is freedom. So,just remember that anything you watch, watch with a careful eye. But, please check it out. Another good one is called "Magic Weed" But it isn't quite as interesting and it didn't hold my attention, so I didn't watch the whole thing.

Be in the moment

So, why is it so easy to get distracted from all the greatness that we want to do all the greatness we want to be?

Well, I've decided that I am on a guilt free trip! We have to put ourselves first. Of course there are times that we need to sacrifice. But, it feels so good to do what you want when you want to do it.

Here are some examples of things that we should all do when we want:

Take a nap

get an ice cream cone

read a book

watch a movie

snuggle with our pets, kids and other lovables

make a snowman

take a walk

go for a swim

listen to music and sing along

Dirty dishes, unmade beds, laundry, dirty cars....well, we don't want to be slobs but doing the stuff we want to do when we want to do it can come first. We can do the other stuff after even if we don't get to it until tomorrow. Do you know why? Because if there isn't a tomorrow we did all the good stuff and the dirty stuff doesn't matter.

The hardest part is figuring out what we really want to do.

Lately, I have been on a kick... I love to read. Well, for quite some time, I had no time as mentioned in my other blogs. I was reading but not really for pleasure. Reading for school. Then, after graduation, I didn't want to read anything. So, I didn't read anything. I started to learn what it was like to live without homework, class and studying. But then, one day, I decided to read a book. That was the end, I'm hooked again. I read about three or four books a month. I can't get enough. So, for now that is what I am doing. I am still into watching my Netflix. So, I'm still watching them at least three a week. I'm doing some crafts too, but mostly reading.

There is so much to be involved in and a part of....in the community. But for now I'm going to keep reading and blogging. I'm happy when I read. I look forward to it. That is what life is about...doing what makes us happy. Then, we are healthy.

The important part of this blog is to share my experiences and news and "stuff we all should know." Not too many people are interested right now. I see that I only have two followers and of course they are both followers of me whether I blog or not.

I feel like I am babbling. I'm going to just dive right in. Get to the meat. I know you're yelling "Where's the beef?!"

So, here's how it will go... when I have a divine moment as I'll call it I'll share it. Everyone should share these with as many people as they can. Divine moments may be related to something that I experience or something that I learn. Hopefully, this blog will become a great reference source for myself and others. My next entry is going to be on one of my pre-determined topics. Along the way, I'll add divine moments as they happen. But for now I want to get through a lot of good stuff that I'm anxious to share. Then, we'll see what happens. The goal is for me to evolve from my current indulgence of reading, blogging, and netflixing to the next big thing.

Where I am going with this...

I want to share my awareness with the world...hence my blog title. I have lots I want to share. I have some topics that I plan to discuss. I am also hoping to share some "mundane" daily activities, events, happenstances, etc. in such a way that it will inspire others as well as myself, to see the beauty and greatness of the Now. I also want my expression to be recognized especially from a woman's perspective and with permission will be using other women's experiences as well.

A sneak preview of topics with much more to come:

Composting

Deoderant

Shampoo and soap

The Patriot Act

hot labs: Katrina

homemade cleaning products

GMOs

String Theory/quantum physics

Christmas Trees

other little know but useful facts

and now thanks to my adorable incredibly smart sister, C.S.A.s

Cliche: Stop and smell the roses....

How I've managed to learn to stop and smell the roses. Well, first of all I definitely did this the hard way (first cliche, now you can start counting). Hopefully, not everyone has to go through a period of time when they have no time and I do mean no time, in order to get to this point. In addition, I also hope that everyone has the opportunity to have time, like I have now.

In a nutshell: A few months after being married to my husband who I had known for five years while raising his two children along the way, while completing my undergraduate degree, assisting in operating his business and starting a career, my husband was in a vehicle accident while working. Long story, short, he was unable to continue working at that job and was unable to work at all for two years and we ran into a small amount of money (very small) from my Nanna. A CD was cashed. We used that money to start a lawn business in order to supplement my very ,very low income as I was working in non-profit. Shortly after the accident, our three nephews ages 10, 12, and 13 came to live with us and our two boys who were 11 and 14. I was working as a mental health therapist for a partial hospitalization program which was an hour from our home. I had also recently, begun to work on my graduate studies in Mental Health Counseling, which later changed to Rehabilitation Counseling from a different University. So, since this is nutshell, here is exactly what was on my plate for about three years: I was taking care of an injured husband, operating a lawn business, raising five boys (in a three bedroom one bathroom small home with three cats and two dogs), taking graduate classes, working full-time and commuting an hour each way. Say that five times fast!

But, now there is a lull and I love it. My husband is back to work, my nephews live with another aunt, my eldest has moved out, I graduated with my Masters. I have a wonderful, low stress job that pays decent, I only have two cats and one dog and my commute is about 10 minutes. Oh, and we don't have a business anymore (for now).

So....my plate has a lot more room on it. And now, I take time for me. Although you might say well, sure she does, she has the time. Well, it isn't that easy for everyone no matter how much time they have.

So, now that you can see what it took for me to learn that I need to stop and the smell the roses, especially since I'm not moving too fast to actually notice them...

To be continued....

A little about me.

Ahh...to describe one's self. First of all do any of us really understand the Self? But as far as blogging purposes go I'll just describe me as it is expected by the material world. I am a white married woman. I will be 32 in March. I have a strong cultural/ethnic Italian heritage from my mother and a mix of much more from Father. I am not quite middle class... I don't think. Not sure exactly how that is calculated, but definitely grew up working class. My father a bluecollar worker and mother stay at home mom. I am educated... a first generation graduate degree (M.R.C.). I have no living biological children. Two adopted sons from my marriage. The eldest is 20 and the youngest a senior in high school age 17 (do the math on that one). I married at age 25. I have one younger sibling, my wonderful sister. Sometimes it seems like we're twins but ironically we are night and day. My parents divorced when I was 10. My mother remarried. My father never did. He still lives in the same house I grew up in! I live in a small city. Luckily very low cost of living (probably lower than most places in the Nation). Your probably wondering... why the hell is she listing all of this stuff that no one cares about...Well, I feel it is important in relation to my blog. Where I come from and how, means a great deal when you are telling a story, reporting, making statements and voicing opinions. If one item that I mentioned was different, then, everything else about me and my thoughts and perception would be different. That is the beginning of self-awareness. But most importantly we must remember that we are not our story as much as that seems impossible to understand. I rent, which is a sore subject right now. I hate TV but I love movies. I am easy to please and get along with. (Don't ask my husband, kids or extended family about that...) I am spiritual but not religious. (More to come in my blogs, I am sure your just dying to know more about my quirks).